On the bridge, Sage kept his face composed as he watched the sensors and the view screen as the Falcon 8 soared into the Cronos System. With more crew than Zakota on the bridge now, he felt he had to maintain his command presence, the unflappable calm that the crew expected from him.

He’d brought Lieutenant Ku in to run the weapons station, more because he wanted to keep an eye on the man than because he thought they would need to engage in battle while in the nebula. But it was always possible they would come across smugglers or hostile aliens in here. The Scyllans themselves never left their system, so he wasn’t too worried about finding them in here or about running into any trouble at their gate, but if he was wrong, he couldn’t think of anyone better than “Killer” Ku to have at the weapons.

As he’d promised Dr. Tala, he’d also brought Lieutenant Coric onto the bridge. In addition to being a competent combat officer, she had a knack for cryptography and linguistics. Zakota had once joked that she could out-translate the translation chips. Sage might not believe that, but he’d seen her crack more than a few codes being used by criminal organizations. He didn’t think there was anything to communicate with out here, but the system was largely unexplored, at least by humans, and he couldn’t be certain there wasn’t an intelligence of some sort in the nebula. There were stranger things in the galaxy than he could grasp.

In addition to all that, Coric probably wouldn’t be as affected by the nebula. He’d already told her to comm Tala if any of the bridge crew became unreliable. He hadn’t mentioned himself specifically. Admitting his weaknesses to his crew—he felt that was something a commander shouldn’t do. As he’d come up through the ranks, the commanders he’d respected, including his own father, had been stern, smart, and unflappable. They’d instilled great confidence in the men and women under their command.

Sage trusted Coric would figure it out for herself if he started behaving irrationally. He hoped they would get to the Scyllan gate before that happened.

The last time he’d been here, his ship had patrolled the entire system, looking for Zi’i hiding places. They’d spent nearly two days exposed to the nebula before getting out. All it would take to reach the gate was a few hours.

“I am gathering particulate matter for analysis and studying energy phenomena in the system,” Commander Korta, the other officer on the bridge, announced from the forensics and science station. His voice, which came out of a speaker on his boulder-like chest, sounded like rocks grating on rocks, but the excitement still came through. Forensics might be his specialty, but he loved all science, and since those of his race weren’t explorers, there were no Alabaster science ships he could have served on. “The sun is not the only energy source. Fascinating.”

“If any data could be useful to Dr. Tala—Matapang—” Sage corrected, remembering her surname, “—forward it to her.”

“Yes, sir. Shall I also forward interesting information to your logostec?”

Sage was more interested in reaching that gate and fulfilling the mission he’d given himself than being distracted by nebula data, but he knew Korta would be disappointed in him if he said no. Besides, he did enjoy reading science and technical journals during those rare instances when he had time to relax. “Yes, thank you.”

“The captain does know how to say thank you,” Zakota said to Ku.

Ku gave him a flat why-are-you-talking-to-me look.

“Though I suppose please was the word that Dr. Tala missed him using.”

“Focus on your task, helmsman,” Sage said, then frowned when he noticed a tiny blip of light on the sensor display floating in the air between the two men. “What is that? Korta? Are the energy sources you mentioned near the Scyllan gate?”

“No, Captain. I was curious about some geothermal activity and what appears to be natural radiation coming from planet X—”

“Look at the gate, Commander.” Sage left his chair, gripping the backs of Ku’s and Zakota’s seats as he studied the sensor display. There were more blips. Ships? No, these weren’t that large.

“Ah, yes, I see them,” Korta said. “Examining.”

“Quit looking at me like that,” Zakota growled.

Sage blinked, thinking the order for him. He was ready to deliver a reprimand, but Zakota’s gaze was on the stone-faced Ku.

“Your stupid carvings are bumping against my station,” Ku replied, leveling a dark glare at Zakota.

“They’re nowhere near the station. That’s the captain touching your stuff.”

“The nebula,” Sage said, realizing it must already be affecting his men. Ku didn’t have the sunniest of dispositions under any circumstances, but laid-back Zakota never picked fights. He’d much rather sell his talismans to people than brawl with them. “It’s affecting us. Keep your calm.”

Ku’s frown turned introspective, and he returned his focus to the sensor display.

“Yes, sir,” Zakota said, but there was still a surly curl to his lip as he manned his controls.

Sage tried to analyze his own mind, but he couldn’t tell if he felt more irritable yet. There was a faint headache starting to build behind his right eye.

“Raise shields, Ku,” he said, though he knew from past experience that the Falcon 8’s shields, which were excellent at repelling enemy fire, would do nothing to stop the nebula’s effects.

“Yes, sir.”

“Ah, Captain?” Korta’s gravelly voice had raised an octave, a sign of concern from him.

“Yes?”

“We’ll have to get closer for me to confirm it, but I believe those are mines.”

“Mines?” Sage asked, feeling his irritation rising. What new obstacle was being thrown in the way of him doing the right thing? “Are you telling me, someone has booby-trapped the Scyllan gate?”

“It may be that the Scyllans have decided to deny access to their system through a more blunt method than they’ve used in the past,” Korta said.

“It’s hard to get blunter than sending warships to fire at anyone who enters theirs gates.” Sage wouldn’t be tempting fate by flying through the system if the latest intel hadn’t said that the fire falcon ships were faster than anything the insular aliens possessed. He rubbed the back of his head, feeling his headache spreading. The back of his neck felt strangely itchy, and he scratched at it. “It’s possible smugglers with fast ships might have been using their system as part of a short cut, much as we are, and it’s irritated them, but if the Scyllans were responsible, who placed the mines?”

“Sir?” Korta asked at the same time as Lieutenant Coric looked across the bridge and said, “Good question, sir.”

“Keep up, Korta,” Sage heard himself say. “You’re my genius science officer.”

Coric threw him a startled look, and Sage winced.

“Yes, sir,” Korta said, sounding more puzzled by the outburst than offended. “Ah, you refer to the fact that the Scyllans have never been witnessed leaving their system. It’s uncertain whether they are merely insular or whether their species is incapable of wormhole travel.”

“Yes,” Sage said. “The military keeps an eye on them since they’re close neighbors, and latest intelligence affirms that they haven’t been seen outside their system. Ever.”

“Maybe they popped out long enough to set those mines,” Zakota said. “When nobody was looking. Speaking of looking, I said stop looking at me, Ku, you ass.”

Ku rose to his feet in a swift motion.

“If you wish to challenge me, do so,” he snarled at Zakota. “Do not insult my honor with your accusations.”

“Sit,” Sage roared and swatted at the damn itch on the back of his neck. “Both of you,” he added, since Zakota was halfway to his feet.

Zakota sat back down, his shoulders tense as he gripped the edges of his console.

Ku turned his glare on Sage, the cold intensity of it making Sage want to raise his fists and assume a fighting stance. To defend himself. Or maybe to deliver a punch. Who did Ku think he was to glare at his captain that way?

He recognized the belligerent thought for what it was, took a deep breath, and did his best to curb further ones. He had to stay calm. Something that would be easier if that itch would go away.

“Sit, Ku,” Sage said. “Or leave the bridge, so someone else can take over your station.” He looked toward Coric. Everyone had training on everyone else’s station up here, so she ought to be able to handle weapons. Shooting unmoving mines, if it came to that, wouldn’t be that difficult. And if Sage had to, he could take over Zakota’s station and pilot the ship.

“I’m more than ready to fire at something,” Ku said, glaring at Zakota, though he did turn and sit down. “Especially since my honor has been besmirched.”

“Your honor,” Zakota said. “You act like you come from some great mystic tribe of warriors, but we’re from the same planet, a bunch of hunter-gatherer nomads living at the subsistence level.”

“On my continent, honor is everything,” Ku said fiercely.

“Would you two shut up and focus on those mines?” Sage said, then unclenched his fists and silently cursed himself. “My apologies. To both of you for my ill temper. And to Korta, as well.”

“The effects of the nebula, Captain,” Korta said. “It is as we anticipated. I have sent pertinent data from my samples to Dr. Tala. She sent an enthusiastic note of gratitude. She likes my data.” He sounded surprised. And pleased.

Sage made a note to show more appreciation for Korta’s data in the future. When his head wasn’t aching so much.

“I’m glad,” he said, “but the mines, Korta. Find out as much about them as you can as we get closer. If we’re forced to blow some of them up to get by, is there a way the Scyllans will know about it in their home system? And Zakota, get us to that gate quickly, so we can get out of this nebula, but slow down before you get too close. It’s possible there are also mines that are camouflaged and that we can’t see yet.”

Several alien races had that technology, humans included. Sage wouldn’t be surprised if the Scyllans did too. They might be insular and not have the fastest ships, since they had no interest in going anywhere, but that didn’t mean they weren’t advanced in other areas. Several human diplomatic ships had been destroyed before the Confederation got the message that the aliens truly wanted nothing to do with them—and would slay anyone who entered their system. That past and the lack of a treaty of any kind were the reasons that Sage didn’t feel bad about slipping through their system for his needs.

“If that were possible, wouldn’t they have camouflaged all of them, sir?” Coric asked.

“Perhaps, but cloaking technology is imperfect, especially on small simple devices with energy signatures. They may have known the mines might be detected by an astute helmsman.” Sage fought down the urge to point out that Zakota was anything but astute at the moment, recognizing the sarcastic thought as the irritation being instilled in him from without. “Placing some out in the open could serve two purposes. First, as a deterrent. It’s clearly a threat, a promise of death for those who trespass. Second, it may make people less likely to notice the hidden ones. We see the clear threats and, in being careful to avoid them, miss seeing the subtle ones.”

He remembered playing grammar games in school where he’d been tasked with finding errors in sentences. Often times, students had spotted an error and moved on, not noticing that there were multiple ones in each sentence that the teacher hadn’t warned them about. It was amazingly easy for the brain to stop working once it believed a task was sufficiently complete.

And it was amazing that he could think of anything right now except that itch. It felt like Drokvian ants crawling all over his skin, leaving their irritating little stingers behind.

“I am doing my best to look for more, Captain,” Korta said. “We do need to get closer first.”

“How far to the gate, Zakota?” Sage asked.

“Three hours.”

Sage grimaced, though he’d estimated the same. “Best possible speed.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Korta, is there anyone else in the system?”

“No, sir. I checked as soon as we entered. Unless they’re cloaked, there are no other ships in the system.”

“Good.”

As Sage watched Ku and Zakota exchange glares again, he wondered if he should consider sedating the bridge crew and having Korta and Eridanus handle the flight. But the mines would need to be dealt with, and they might signify the presence of further threats. He needed to be awake, and he would certainly prefer his best helmsman and weapons officer be awake.

He just hoped the three hours wouldn’t cause anyone’s symptoms to escalate to unmanageable levels. And he wondered if there was any chance Tala would find an antidote, or whatever was needed to clear his head, when military doctors before her with understanding of more sophisticated medical technology had not.