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accident, training new cadets, that had shocked me out of my immature pursuit of a professional soccer career and driven my decision to join the Union Navy and the Lightship Program. I had fought hard to get in, and made it on my own merit, but my mission now seemed somehow incomplete. I fingered the box with my—no, Derrick’s—commander’s stars inside. I wondered if somehow I had failed him by not making it to
Starbound
.
    I fought off a wave of sadness as I looked at my father. We were both holding back tears as we sat in the quiet of the enormous office. I couldn’t imagine what he had felt, having lost his wife, my mother, to cancer such a short time after the Historians had arrived from Earth. And of course they had both the knowledge and technology that could have cured her, but contact had come too late. Then he had lost his oldest son, the one he had staked all of his hopes and dreams on, and he was left with only me. I wondered if I even came close to Derrick in his mind. By my own measure I didn’t. How could I? I had chosen the life of a second son, filled with sports and games and casual pursuits. Derrick had followed our father’s path from the day he was born: the duty of a duke’s son, the military and civil training, always focused on what was expected of him. I vowed in that moment, looking at my father, that I would do everything in my power to be the son that he wanted, the son that he needed to succeed him.
    Finally my father spoke and broke the silence. “These are difficult and complex times, Peter,” he said. “I was just thinking that before the Earthmen came with their technology and their science we led a much simpler life. Things changed so suddenly when I saw the Earth ships approaching Quantar. Our universe was smaller then, less complicated.”
    â€œOf course, sir,” I said, unsure how to react. He leaned back in his chair.
    â€œThose were good times, hopeful. Just you and Derrick and your mother and I. Now there’s only the two of us left,” he said, looking at me again. “I don’t want to lose you too.”
    â€œYou won’t, sir. I promise,” I said. I meant it down to my core.
    My father accepted my promise silently, then he stood and came around the desk to hug me. He held on tightly for several moments before he let me go.
    â€œGood luck, son. You’re all I have now. I know you’ll make us all proud,” he said. I knew what he meant by
all
: all of the family, here or gone, and all the Cochranes of Quantar that had come before me. I took his offered hand and shook it.
    â€œI will do my best, sir,” I said, then broke the handshake. I acknowledged the conversation was over with a nod, picked up my cap and turned to leave. When I got to the office door I opened it and then stopped to look back at my father. He was sitting behind the desk again, gazing out of the window at the New Briz skyline. The sight of such a strong and forceful man reduced to such a state filled me with fear and anxiety.
It’s all on me now
, I thought.
    I stepped over the threshold without another word and shut the door behind me.

On High Station
    E ight hours later, after a frantic packing session and a hypersonic plane ride from New Briz Airfield I was on High Station, in the quarters of
Starbound
’s assigned Earth Historian, Serosian. After throwing my bags onto my temporary bunk, I’d made my way here to be with my friend and mentor, hoping for some consolation and perhaps some wisdom from him as well.
    I had spent many hours in Serosian’s company during my three years of Academy training. He had taken me under his wing as his pet project upon my enlistment, for which I had always been grateful. I had known him a bit before—he had been Derrick’s mentor as well—but not in anything more than a passing way. It seemed that I had always been off on some soccer foray or a social expedition