Five days later

"You think he would actually let us go?" you ask Elena at one point during your preparations.

"We will do what we can," she answers. You don't speak about the subject again. There is no sense doing so.

The rest of the five days are spent exactly as Neil suggested. In the morning, you spend your time in the makeshift shooting range set up in the cargo hold. In the afternoon, you practice self defense. At night, you keep scrubbing the ship and fixing whatever systems that might be out of order. All at the tempo of maniacs!

---- NEW SKILL GAINED: GUNSLINGER ----

Five days later, the signal comes, and you start out your journey. That night you don't sleep much. Despite that, as you enter your ambush position, a few clicks before the point where Gus and his crew are about to exit FTL, you find yourself with plenty of energy. This is part of a survival mechanics that you observed. The human body tends to do pretty damn well when faced with the impossible.

You also realize that you are more aware of the happenings around you as usual. The Zeta Sector is an unforgiving place. You've learned this lesson the hard way. But all that matters now is that you know this.

---- NEW SKILL GAINED: SUPERIOR AWARENESS ----

Let's just hope that it will be enough, you think to yourself, as mentally prepared as one could get for the engagement.