Desolation of Erimos
Copyright© 2026 by Rycliff
Chapter 3: The Last Waypoints
The second waypoint was older than the first.
Half its docking ring was dark. One of the guidance beacons identified the Star Shadow incorrectly on the first handshake and had to be reset before Viki could convince it they were not a bulk ore carrier registered one hundred six years earlier.
“Your databases are insultingly obsolete,” Viki told the station computer.
The station computer did not respond.
Kahlan looked toward the speaker.
“Are you arguing with another machine?”
“I am identifying a deficiency.”
“It cannot hear you.”
“That does not make the deficiency less real.”
They bought only water, filters and two replacement cooling units there.
The attempt to keep the purchase small did not help Alliyanna’s account.
The second autonomous waypoint refused Alliyanna’s account before she even finished entering the authorization.
IMPERIAL SENATE AUTHORITY RESTRICTION ACTIVE.
Talak used his personal account again.
Talak’s payment cleared, but the event changed the mood aboard the ship.
Until then the freeze had been Alliyanna’s problem in a legal sense. The Senate had restricted the person it was ordering into custody.
That was unpleasant.
It was also understandable.
When Talak’s account failed at the next stop, the pressure became something else.
The Empire was reaching outward from Alliyanna and touching the people around her.
That was exactly the kind of pressure she had feared.
The third waypoint was different.
Talak entered his authorization.
DECLINED.
He tried once more.
DECLINED.
The message appeared a second later.
ACCOUNT ACCESS RESTRICTED.
Alliyanna stared at the terminal.
“They froze you too.”
Talak’s expression hardened.
“I noticed.”
Kahlan stepped forward.
“Try mine.”
His transaction cleared.
No one celebrated.
The pattern was obvious.
The Empire was narrowing their choices one account at a time.
They returned to the galley after undocking and put the numbers on the table.
Fuel was nonnegotiable.
Water was nonnegotiable.
Food could be stretched because Outpost 297 had given them more than enough, but life support and propulsion could not be negotiated with.
They needed at least one more refueling point before Erimos.
Possibly two.
Kahlan looked at his remaining funds.
“I can cover another stop.”
Talak shook his head. “Not if they freeze you next.”
“Then what?” Alliyanna asked.
Talak did not answer immediately.
Viki did.
“Clan accounts remain accessible to Talak under current authentication.”
Talak looked toward the ceiling.
“No.”
Alliyanna studied him.
“You have legal access.”
“That isn’t the point.”
Kahlan knew enough to stay quiet.
Talak had explained the rule before. Clan money was not his money. He might administer it. Move it. Invest it. Spend it on clan needs. But he had never used it for personal purposes.
Not once.
Alliyanna leaned forward.
“This isn’t a new coat.”
“I know.”
“This is fuel.”
“I know.”
“If we run out of it, we die.”
Talak looked at her.
“I know.”
The memory came without invitation.
He was a boy in a marketplace. Hungry. A pastry close enough to take.
His father making him return and apologize.
Authority over something does not make it yours.
Talak closed his eyes.
Alliyanna waited.
Finally he opened them.
“Viki.”
“Yes?”
“If I use the clan account, create a separate ledger. Every credit. Every transaction. Nothing mixed with ordinary clan business.”
“Understood.”
“We repay it.”
“Yes.”
Alliyanna nodded. “We repay it.”
Talak looked at her.
“This is not your debt.”
“It becomes my debt if it keeps me alive.”
Kahlan leaned back. “If we survive this, I’m looking forward to the argument over who gets to repay whom.”
Talak entered the clan authorization at the next waypoint.
CLAN HEAD AUTHORITY CONFIRMED.
The transaction cleared.
Fuel flowed into the Star Shadow.
Water followed.
Talak watched every number.
Viki created the ledger exactly as ordered.
They left.
The use of the clan account bought them survival and left Talak in a foul mood for most of the next day.
Alliyanna did not try to talk him out of it.
The decision had been necessary.
That did not mean he had to like it.
She found him in the cargo bay checking the separate ledger Viki had created.
“You know she is not going to lose a credit,” Alliyanna said.
“I know.”
“You checked it three hours ago.”
“I know.”
She leaned against a crate.
“Do you want me to leave?”
Talak looked at her.
“No.”
So she stayed.
After a while he closed the ledger.
“My father taught me there would always be a reason.”
“For what?”
“To use something that wasn’t mine.”
Alliyanna waited.
“He said the reason would always sound good when I was the one making it.”
“That sounds like a useful lesson.”
“It is.”
“And you think using clan funds to keep the clan leader and three other people from dying proves he was right?”
Talak looked at her.
“I think it proves why he said it.”
Alliyanna nodded.
That answer made sense.
“So repay it.”
“I will.”
“And remember why you used it.”
“I will.”
She turned to leave.
Talak stopped her.
“Allie.”
She looked back.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For not telling me it was obviously the right decision.”
Alliyanna gave him a small smile.
“It was obviously the right decision.”
Talak stared at her.
She continued before he could speak.
“You just didn’t need to hear it yet.”
Then she left.
The final waypoint before Erimos was not abandoned.
That changed everything.
The station had been downgraded from full Imperial service twenty-three years earlier, but it remained active enough to support traders, miners, survey crews and fringe-world traffic. Viki counted seventeen recent arrivals over the preceding month.
“That is far too many people,” Talak said.
“That is not a lot of people for a functioning port,” Kahlan replied.
“For us, it is.”
They could not skip it.
They needed a final full load before entering Erimos’s system.
So they prepared.
No disputed title.
No unnecessary conversation.
No flight plan beyond what the station required for immediate local safety.
The active station forced them to behave like ordinary travelers.
That was harder than hiding.
They could not dock with weapons visible and act suspicious of every person in the corridor. They could not refuse every automated identity query without drawing attention. They could not stand in the cargo bay staring at anyone who walked past the ship.
So they did what normal crews did.
They filed a local docking declaration.
They paid service charges.
Talak went ashore long enough to inspect the fuel sample personally.
Kahlan walked through the station market and returned with three cups of something he claimed was coffee.
Alliyanna took one sip.
“This is not coffee.”
Kahlan drank his.
“It is brown and hot.”
“That is not the definition of coffee.”
“On this station, it may be.”
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