Caught off guard and wearily tired, I didn’t know what to say. I managed to croak out a “thank you.”

As I turned to go relieve the crew, Firus’ voice stopped me. “You wouldn’t know anything about a ship following us, would you?”

Suddenly awake, I spun to face the Captain, a much quicker answer on my lips. “Nossir!”

Firus went on. “It’s too small to be a danger to us but I’ve altered our course twice and they stayed with us. Think that’s coincidence?”

“Even given our relative location to the Raventops, that’s extremely unlikely.”

“I agree.”

“Are they making any attempt to hide their presence?”

“They drift in and out of cloud cover, but no, they don’t seem to care about being seen. It’s a little strange but there isn’t much out there- hiding for long periods of time would be futile.”

“Have we tried contacting them?”

“Not yet. They’re far enough away to merely be a curiosity. If they get closer . . . " Firus trailed off.

“Understood- and thank you again.”

He nodded and I left to carry out my orders.