He always got jitters before a score. It drove him insane. Floating in space was stressful enough without feeling like your veins were going to burst.

As James Gideon peered out through the visor of his helmet, he grimaced in frustration, trying to keep his focus. The rhythm of his heartbeat pounded through his body, every breath he took burning through both his air supply and his patience.

Trying to concentrate, he focused on where he was. His right hand was clinging to the asteroid, his feet planted in the craters covering its surface to keep him from drifting off. His other arm was pinned by his side, his fingers gripping his gear tightly against his hip. His face was clammy, his ears stinging from the constant hissing of his breathing.

The young man then assessed his surroundings. A vast array of floating rocks swamped his sightline, some as small as pebbles and others as large as mountains, all held together by the force of a great burning star a million miles away. Its light glinted on the edge of James' sightline, but he dared not look straight at it. Even the sun filter on his visor wouldn't protect him from gazing directly into a star.

Going blind before a mission was a bad idea. Especially this one.

Just two hours ago, back on Hermes station, he'd picked up an unidentified ship on the radar screens, passing through this system. A system that belonged to the Malevir Cartel, a criminal syndicate that despised trespassers. James had reported the incident to his superiors, and within seconds he had been sent out to oversee the problem.

But he wasn't sent alone.

As his asteroid rotated, the young man felt himself becoming dizzy, and the pulsing in his veins grew more severe. His fingers tightened around the rock he was holding on, his knucklebones aching as he did so.

"Gideon." A jeering voice filled his helmet. One James recognised instantly.

He gazed across at another asteroid twenty metres away and spied a lone figure, clad in jet-black armour, clinging to the rock. As he glared at it, he saw the head gaze in his direction and flick upwards in a mocking gesture of greeting.

"You gettin' the shakes yet, compadre?" The voice had a Camaztozian accent.

"Fuck off, Colomar." Gideon retorted.

"Ayy, no need to get angry, amigo. I just wanted to see if you were okay..."

"I said fuck off!"

"Shut it, both of you!" A third voice barked through the comms channel, making James twist around. A second figure floated above him, clinging to yet another asteroid.

"If you two bungle this job, I'll fucking shoot you myself!" a female voice bellowed.

"Sorry, boss," said Colomar, his words seeming to tremble. "Things just got a little heated is all..."

"Don't fucking play that game with me, Col! Say one more word and I'll rip your throat out with my bare hands!"

James smirked as Airra's threat shut Colomar down. The woman had a way with words, that was for certain. There was a reason the rest of the Cartel called her the Harpy whenever she was out of earshot.

"Gideon," Airra addressed him. "Is the charge armed?"

James blinked. The object held against his hip seemed to quiver in his grasp. "No, ma'am."

Airra's voice calmed and quietened. "Have it ready. The ship'll be here any moment."

"Hear that, Earth boy?" Colomar remarked. "Don't drop it, or you'll have me dancing on your grave when we get back to Hermes."

An image of Colomar's smug grin appeared in James' mind. He glanced down, peering past the rim of his helmet to see the plasma pistol holstered at his belt. An immense urge to turn his compadre into a smear of red space goo loomed within his brain, but he kept it under control. Killing the Camaztozian would be short-term gain, long-term loss. Turning on a rival crook during a job made you an unreliable asset.

In his line of work, unreliable assets went missing.

A fourth voice filled his right ear, its words spoken in a deep, rumbling baritone that seemed to shake the human's visor.

"Boss, it's on its way. ETA, 40 seconds."

James turned to see another meteorite aloft in the belt, its massive bulk slowly rotating on an irregular axis. And, as it spun, the fourth member of their gang, Tharkus, began to enter his view. First came his massive left arm, tipped with a three-fingered hand, then his bulky body, short legs and long, snouted face, all encased in an oval-shaped helmet the size of a rhino's skull.

James had met the Kropen just this morning, and marvelled at the sheer size of him. Standing on his knuckles, the alien was nine feet tall at the shoulder and had to duck through every doorway. He didn't know how a nonhuman came to be part of the Cartel. All the other crooks he'd seen on Hermes were humans like Airra and Colomar, mostly from the colonies the Human Union of Worlds had made on planets throughout the galaxy. Martians, Sitans, Camaztozians, Mjolnirans. All sorts wound up in the Cartel's grasp, by choice or by circumstance.

"Thanks, Thark." Airra replied. "Gideon, arm the goddamn charge, then push yourself free on my mark. No thrusters, or they'll pick us up."

Colomar spoke up again. "You know, Boss, you still haven't told us why we're targeting this ship anyway." James sneered as his fellow criminal spoke. "We're way outside the shipping lanes. Nothing worth our time's gonna come through here."

Airra replied. "If nothing was coming through, I assure you, I wouldn't be suffering out here with you, Col. But Gideon picked up a ship's signal in this area. We don't know who it is or what it's doing, but it's trespassing in our space, and that's all that matters."

"You found it, Gideon?" Colomar scoffed, his voice awash with disapproval. "You're the reason I'm stuck out here instead of counting my credits back home?"

James glanced over at Colomar and shrugged. "Just doing my job, Col."

"Anyway..." Airra continued. "Now you know what I know. We'll find out the rest when we breach and show these cocksuckers why you don't mess with the Cartel!" She paused before spitting her last sentence. "Any other questions?"

Colomar responded. "Well, I just hope it's not a Union warship" he quipped. "Breaking rocks on Tartarus isn't part of my retirement plan."

James opened his mouth to speak, but then Tharkus cut him off. "ETA, 10 seconds."

"Gideon. That charge armed?" Airra asked.

The Earthborn lifted his left arm, his fingers gripping the object in his hand tightly to keep it from floating away. Moving it in front of his torso, he turned his gaze downwards.

He held a large disc-like object, its underside flat while its top was covered in wires and switches. Next to his fingers was a big red button and a light that wasn't turned on.

James reached to push the button, but then noticed something. The light of the nearby star was no longer glinting against his visor.

He looked up and saw a ship passing through the asteroid field, its front and rear thrusters burning to control its speed. From its pointed prow to its broad stern, its hull was dull grey plasteel, unmarked by insignias but heavily dented and scarred from the asteroids colliding against it.

James braced himself where he was, waiting patiently.

"Gideon?" Airra asked, her voice hushed to near-silence.

James immediately pushed the button. The device beeped and the light glowed red.

"Charge primed. Ready to jump."

The ship floated just overhead, maybe twelve feet away from him, its passage eerily silent in the vacuum of space. Still clinging to the asteroid, James shuffled across the hunk of rock using his legs and free hand, aligning himself so that the vessel was directly above him.

"Five..." Airra started counting in a taut whisper. "Four..."

The ship passed above him.

"Three..."

Its hull twisted to avoid another asteroid.

"Two..."

James braced his legs to jump.

"One... Now!"

With all his strength, James leapt off the asteroid, hurling himself into the void between the asteroid and the ship. He felt no air rush past his face, no sense of gravity pulling him up or down, no senses in his limbs as he ascended.

The ship's flank lined up with him as he came close to it; the timing spot-on. As he neared, James swung his legs upwards, simultaneously pressing a button on his wrist. A beep sounded inside his helmet, and his feet suddenly snapped tight to the voidcraft's hull, his magnetic boots activating.

The ship continued to drift by, unaware of his presence. Perfect.

In one swift motion, James planted the breaching charge. As the disc clamped against the plasteel hull, a screen on the charge flared to life.

10 seconds.

Adrenaline poured through James' body, and he hastily deactivated his magnetic boots. Kicking out with both legs, he felt himself launch free of the ship's ragged-looking hull and back into the emptiness of space. Looking up, he saw Airra, Colomar and Tharkus leave their positions and move slowly towards him. Further and further he drifted out, his muscles tensing as he braced for the blast.

Something pulsed behind him, a burst of orange flame turning his surrounding as bright as a supernova. James' head swivelled around to see the ship suddenly lurch sideways, smashing headlong against an asteroid, its hull shattering and fraying into pieces. The explosion was silent, but its effects were devastating.

The ship was now scuttled, whatever crew it had marooned. Now was the time.

"Right, boys..." Airra said confidently. "... lets get to work!"

The group all fired up their thrustpacks, boosting their bodies towards the wreckage. When they drew close, they scrambled one-by-one through the breach James' charge had formed. Tharkus went first, his colossal bulk barely squeezing through the gap, followed by Airra.

James hovered next to the gap, looking over at Colomar. "Lead the way, Col."

Through his teammates' gold-tinted visor, James saw a wrinkled visage of brown skin sneer at him, scraps of grizzled hair writhing like tentacles in the gravity-lacking environ. "No, no... after you, Earth boy..." The aging man gestured to the breach, a wicked smirk on his face.

James paused, but begrudgingly complied, easing his body through the hole so that Colomar would follow. The jungle-dwelling backstabber clearly didn't trust him, and James refused to give him any reason to do so.

The Earthborn didn't require their trust. He just needed them all on the ship so the plan could go ahead.

As he entered the ship, James twisted his body, aligning himself so the ship's floor was underneath him. Tapping his wrist, his body was yanked downwards, the magnetic boots kicking in again. Airra and Tharkus followed, along with Colomar. Surrounding the group was a narrow, barren hallway, bereft of the floating blood and body parts one would expect to see after an explosion of this magnitude. It was spick and span, with not a corpse in sight.

Behind him, Colomar made a mocking remark. "Looks like your little charge didn't burst anyone, Gideon..."

"Shut your fucking rat hole, Colomar!" Airra hissed. "Thark, anything on the thermal tracker?"

Next to her, Tharkus lifted his hand and gazed down at an object clutched in his palm. Through the helmet's visor, James saw the Kropen's black-furred face pinch pensively, his venom-green eyes sunken and narrow in their sockets. "I'm getting something faint from the bridge, but nothing else," his resonant voice spoke plainly.

Airra smirked. "Looks like we got a small crew left over on this crate." She glanced up at the others. "Right boys, let's get to the bridge and find out what these cunts are doing on our turf..."

Immediately, the group strode through the corridor, Tharkus in front and Colomar bringing up the rear. Even though they were inside the ship, the blast had depressurised it, leaving it just as cold and empty as the void outside. Still breathing from their air tanks, the four pirates advanced through the wrecked hulk of metal.

They approached a closed door, but Tharkus easily ripped it open, his colossal strength tearing the metal as if it were paper. Then, the four stepped out onto the command bridge.

But what they saw amidst the control consoles and holoscreens of the room racked them with surprise, for they saw... nothing. Not a drop of blood or flesh anywhere, and no living creatures in sight. The place looked as though it had been untouched.

"What the fuck is this?!" Airra shrieked in alarm and dismay. "Where are the crew?"

"I believe we have a more pressing concern..." Tharkus announced. "If this ship had no crew, then how was it capable of navigating an asteroid field?"

Airra's shoulders tensed inside her armour. "I don't know...

As Airra, Colomar and Tharkus glared about in suspicion, James slowy lifted his arm and flipped a switch on his wrist. Static fizzed in his ears, and then he heard a voice. One that didn't belong to any Cartellers.

"Lieutenant, this is Bravo One. Targets acquired. Awaiting your command."

James' heart pulsed, his hand flew to his pistol, and he opened his mouth to speak.

"Engage!"

In an instant, the bridge's hull was blasted asunder by another explosion, a breaching charge set off with eerie silence. In an instant, James saw Airra and Col reach for their pistols. But it was too late for the crooks.

Three rifle barrels protruded through the breach. Then, with a cobalt-blue flash, three bolts of lightning surged forth and struck their targets with deadeye aim. Airra and Colomar collapsed, while Tharkus stood stunned, his body shaking as electricity coursed through him.

Seizing his chance, James whipped out his pistol, took aim, and fired a bolt of plasma straight at the Kropen's oxygen tanks. In a fiery blast, crimson gore and ebony fur were splattered around the room, pouring onto the abandoned command consoles, then either sliding off or floating up again, leaving trails of thick red sludge in their wakes.

The explosion was silent. If the alien had screamed, the Lieutenant hadn't heard it. All he glimpsed was the freezing remnants of shattered teeth and bone, all slick with ichor.

With a dour look on his face, James wiped his visor clean, and watched as an armour-clad figure dropped down through the breach. He was identical to all the rest of them; jet-black spacing gear covering him completely. But unlike the rag-tag and cobbled together gear of the Cartellers, his attire was uniform and high-tech. Motion sensors and HUD energisers decorated his face-covering helmet, while state-of-the-art plasma jets hung on his back, arms and legs. An AE-4 plasma submachine gun with underslung tesla beam was gripped within his gloved hands. Upon seeing James, the figure immediately stood to attention and saluted, his faceless head held high in pride.

"Your orders, sir?" asked the Void Marine.

James grimaced. "Take them to the Lusaka."

***

In the brig of the UWS Lusaka, Airra and Colomar lay slumped in their cells, still unconscious. James, now dressed in Union Navy officer's attire, stood in the foyer outside, eyeing his former comrades.

He saw Airra's body, seven feet tall with limbs like twigs, the remnants of hair that clung to her scalp bleached white as snow and stuck tight against her skin. Skin that was ghastly pale and criss-crossed with pulsing blue veins. He then turned to eye Colomar, who lay twitching against the cold steel ground thinning, the greasy wrinkles on his tanned face pinching in pain. The slimy man's proportions were shorter and wider, with his hair a normal grey and his body covered in slops of fat.

It pained him to say it, but of the two, Colomar looked more human.

Contempt panged inside James, his eyes unblinking as he gazed down upon those he had captured. It was just as it had always been. Even after living with them for years, he felt nothing at the Cartellers' plights. Hope strained to tell him he was doing the right thing, only for guilt to quickly smother such a feeling in its crib. The conflicting emotions neutered each other, leaving nothing behind.

It was then that the entrance door slid open. James immediately turned to see a grizzled human, dressed in the same uniform as him, stride into the room with a swaggering step. Without a word, the Earthborn stood to attention, and the man came before him, a proud smile on his bearded face.

"It seems these criminals fell for your little bait-and-switch after all... Good work, Lieutenant Gideon. You do Unit 19 proud."

James stood unmoving. "Thank you, Captain."

Captain Ward, commander of the Lusaka, then turned to face the cells. "So... tell me, who are these Frontier-dwelling scum?"

James turned and stood alongside his officer. "First one's Gwendolyn Airra. A Voyager. Father worked for the Cartel, and she followed in his footsteps. Settled down on Hermes after committing the ACC Bank Heist on Mars two years ago, and she started running Cartel operations there. She won't rat. Too fierce and loyal."

The captain scoffed. "Voyagers always are" he said, eying Airra's spindly, gravity-starved body with disgust in his eyes. "What about that one?" he then asked, gesturing to Colomar.

"Sebastien Colomar. Camaztozian. Former army veteran. Fell in with Cartellers after deserting twenty years ago. Now he uses his army skills for piracy and bounty hunting." James smirked. "Acts tough, but a snivelling wretch at heart."

"Perfect." Captain Ward exclaimed. "We'll take him back to the fleet for interrogation. If he's as cowardly as you say, it'll save us the effort of torturing him."

Lieutenant Gideon glanced at Airra. "And the Voyager, sir?"

The commanding officer scratched his beard with a gloved hand. "She'll be sent to Tartarus. Thirty years of hard labour on that hellhole should straighten a nomad like her right out..."

As he heard that, a thought flashed in James' mind. A world shrouded by ash-soaked sky and laced with toxic mist, where the destitute and condemned lay wretched and broken.

A horrible place, but the only destiny of those who betrayed the Union.

"You've done well, Lieutenant. When we get back to base, I'll see you promoted for this." Captain Ward announced proudly.

James immediately raised his head, straightened his back and saluted. "Just doing my job, sir."

The Lusaka's commanding officer smirked, then turned on his heel and began to stride out of the room, his head held high and his gait radiating pride. Meanwhile, James stood stock-still, gazing with a blank face upon those he had captured.

Another mission complete. Another service to the Union fulfilled. And another would soon follow...

A cold, harrowing feeling began to snake through James' chest, slithering between his organs and settling around his heart in a icy, constricting grip. As it did so, his heart rate suddenly quickened and he bolted for the door, walking quickly and breathing deeply as he tried to shake the feeling away.

For he knew exactly what this feeling was. A feeling that tried to subvert his loyalty by pulling at his heartstrings and tugging at his mind. A feeling he'd been taught not to feel at times like this, but could never truly shake away...

It was the feeling of regret.