Coming to Earth always felt like a big event despite the fact that neither Nick nor Rob had any kind of attachment to the cradle of humanity. They grew up in one the most remote corners of the galaxy (the way subspace behaved in that area made travel to the planet last for almost a month; but rare metals mined from the surface made it financially worth it) and first visited Earth well in their forties. However, the crew was always excited to return to Earth a couple of times a year, which led to schedules descending into pure chaos.

That’s why they made their stays as long as they could (as long as the port authority would let them stay for) and everyone willing could take a 3 hour shore leave. There were crucial positions, of course, but enough people had no desire to step off the ship and stayed on watch.

Most of them were engineers. The main workaholic amongst them was Nick’s husband.

If not for Robert, Hopestar wouldn’t have existed. Of course, the same could be said for Nick, but he felt that Rob’s commitment to their shared dream was the driving engine of their life. The flipside of this commitment was that Rob never stopped working, even when he could. Like right now.

“All I’m saying is that if we don’t stay at Kashi-Sulak for at least three days, we may not reach the next port fit for engine overhaul safely.” Rob glared at him from the screen, the camera positioned just off centre, and other engineers visible walking from station to station in the background. His long dark curly hair was tied in a low ponytail as usual, though one strand escaped, and he kept pushing it over his ear with not much success.

“I’ve understood the urgency the previous three times you’ve mentioned it.” Nick answered with a small smile. “And I’m trying to make sure we won’t fall apart at our next subspace jump. However,-”

“The engines. Need. An overhaul.” Rob raised his voice.

“Yes, Rob, and-”

“If we delay this overhaul, the coolant system upgrade will go into a critical delay, and how about blowing up on atmospheric reentry next time?!”

“Rob…”

“You know what’s after that? 

“Rob-”

“The wiring for the stabilisers system! Who put that on the list? Oh, it says Nikolai Kamenev, huh.”

“Robert!” Nick couldn’t help but start laughing. Rob huffed and leaned back in his chair, hands crossed on the chest.

“I just don’t see what’s so amusing about this whole situation.”

Nikolai smiled gently and pressed his palms together. “I’ve been trying to tell you for the past five minutes that I hope we can make our stop on Kashi-Sulak shorter because I’ve managed to book a service dock on Colossus for eight hours. You can start the overhaul there and finish on KS.”

Rob blinked then scowled. “Why didn’t you fucking start with that?!” Then he sighed heavily and shouted to someone out of the shot. “We need a new schedule for the Colossus stop! Eight hours in the service dock!”

“I didn’t expect you to go on an offensive right away.” Nick replied suddenly embarrassed about this whole situation. “I also just learned about this from the mail. I think our relay is struggling to pick up outernet drops until a certain distance…”

Rob caught the change in mood. He always felt this, even over the video call. “I’m not angry. I just have some critique about the phrasing you chose.”

They both chuckled and sat in silence for a couple of moments. Nick pondered this answer, the ever present inner voice of self doubt creeped back in and murmured nasty lies (truths) into his ear. He shook it off. “I’ve just been so stressed during this last leg. The way Ahli Co cancelled the cargo at the last moment and all that. We can’t afford another flop or we will have nothing to pay the crew with.”

Rob sighed and rubbed his nose. Something they both agreed on before the ship was even complete - they were doing this not to become rich. Hopestar wasn’t a business but a statement. A ship built by stamped to be used by stamped. The second part got slightly reworked since then, as it was impossible to keep afloat by denying passengers and cargo from the biggest chunk of the population, but the crew was always meant to become a family for its members. Layoffs were not an option. The main losses were caused by not having enough crew, actually.

Passenger travel was profitable enough, especially when there wasn’t much competition because companies who relied on government subsidies were choosing to travel to Gemi space as little as possible. As if humans of various stamp situations didn’t live there. Hopestar was the only human-crew and human-adjusted vessel to regularly travel between human SOI and mixed colonies on the frontier. What really paid for all this crew was cargo.  You could increase the load twofold and still have the same three cargo engineers to look over it. However, the rising number of passengers required a higher number of personnel. There was enough interest from stamped citizens across the inhabited space to fill in the spots, but not enough extra income to raise the wages fund. And then Yaya quit. They’ve been down a pilot for three hops now. 

Yaya quitting was absolutely unrelated to their stewards crew being so overworked, of course.

“I still think you shouldn’t have returned that advance. It’s in the agreement, legally binding and all. They informed us too late.” Rob grumbled and raised his eyebrow.

Nick smiled apologetically. “I know, but I didn’t want to spoil our professional relations. Next time, they will remember us and may contract another haul. We can’t be picky about big clients like this.”

Rob rolled his eyes. “Doesn’t mean you should allow them to step all over us.”

Yaya quit because she faced a perfect opportunity. Starting a local shuttle business on K’chs, one of the mixed colonies with a big human presence, first of its kind there, was a wonderful cause. It felt like she took the possibility Nick and Rob offered her fifteen years ago and rescaled it to fit her style. Also,the dashing co-founder of the business felt like one of the main reasons Yaya stayed behind. They would make a cute couple.

“Yeah, you are not even listening anymore.” Rob sighed.

Nick blushed and rubbed his face. “Sorry, it’s just… There is a chance Thoresson will bring a potential pilot candidate for an interview in an hour or so, and you know how good I am around new people…”

Robert tilted his head. “Do you need me up there?”

The initial urge was to say “yes, always”, but it was quite irrational, so instead Nick shook his head. “No, I’ll manage. I’ll need some care afterwards though.”

Rob checked the time display and a small smirk stretched his lips. “In approximately 6 hours and 22 minutes, I will finish my shift and get to our room and will provide such an impressive amount of care, you will sleep like a baby for a full shift afterwards.”

Nikolai leaned back in his chair, his cheeks growing red. Somehow he was never prepared for these things despite decades of living together. “Well, you better remember this promise when you have an urge to stay for a little bit longer.”

The confirmation from Second Pilot Thoresson (freshly promoted) came twenty minutes later and in another fifteen, Nick sat in his office on the crew deck and tapped anxiously on the simulated wood of his desk. He read through the resume three times now and had trouble believing it was real. An actual fully licensed pilot fresh out of the Pan-American Flight Academy? Hopestar had about a dozen of pilots in the crew over the course of its forty year travel history, and so far Andrade (current Chief Pilot) was the most qualified and even he got stamped 5 months away from graduation. 

Having a licensed pilot in the cockpit could open new destinations.

The notification on his workstation informed Nikolai of the request to come in. He straightened, then remembered he was actually a captain and tried to look a bit more relaxed. Oh, and he pressed the release button for the door. And smiled, smiling was important for good first impressions.

Rin Richard (surname clearly a heritage from the care system) hesitated at the door, unsure if he should bring his hovercase inside, but Thoresson pushed him forward with a smirk and promised to watch over the luggage. This was somewhat reassuring: they both felt quite awkward in this situation. Richard looked really young, younger than the 25 on file, was of a smaller build, with dark eyes piercing from under a long brown fringe. The rest of his long hair was neatly tied back in what Nick could only imagine was in fashion locally.

“Come in, come in, Mister Richard. Get comfortable, hopefully this won’t take long. My name is Nikolai Kamenev - captain of this fine vessel of ours. I’ve looked over your file and that is one impressive list of- What?”

Richard was staring at him wide-eyed, but clearly attempting to master the surprise. “You… You are the one who built this ship?!”

Nikolai locked his fingers in front of him, then made himself to unlock them. “Uhm… Well, I wasn’t doing it alone, but yes. One of them. Why?”

Young pilot swallowed and tried to regain control, clearly embarrassed by his reaction. “Sorry, I guess I… I expected an HR leader or something, not the captain himself… Yourself, I mean.” 

“Well, that happens to be me. HR, accountant, sales manager, but crucially - not a pilot. Which brings us to you and your impressive list of licences.”

Licences that could allow access to systems and planets with challenging subspace lanes or those with long hops that were not as favoured by passengers but promised expensive cargo. Nikolai really wanted this boy to stay. 

The interview was mostly to make sure there wouldn’t be any major clash of personalities in the cockpit.