This is the story of one pirate crew and one of their voyages—a journey that will change the lives of the entire crew and the history of the galaxy they explore. Though their ship currently travels peacefully through the expanse of space, soon the entire crew will become entangled in a story whose ending is difficult to predict.

The gray spacecraft drifted slowly through space, catching the favorable stellar winds. This somewhat uncomfortable situation was compounded by the loss of essential fuel needed to propel and maintain the ship’s functionality—if the current Captain-Don of the Kodron pirates heard how they had lost this fuel, his laughter would be unstoppable.

Navigator Ekrenia did not stray from the calculation panel, monitoring the wind direction shifts while plotting a course to Alpha Centauri to extract the necessary fuel. During another route check on the locator, a purple beacon appeared, accompanied by a recurring sound signal.

The peleng of the pirate spacecraft detected background magnetic waves from another vessel—even with all the ship’s systems offline due to the energy type in use, the technology continues to generate a magnetic dissonance around itself against the surrounding space. However, even knowing the target point, reaching it remains complicated.

Even in the age of space voyages, navigation remains a complex field. To pilot a spacecraft safely, simply understanding course arithmetic and calculations is not enough. Space is filled with unique magical fields and shifts, as well as biological dissonances emanating from living planets and other cosmic entities. The coordinator and navigator must be able to sense when locators, calibrated by mathematical calculations, fail due to electronic signatures, and correctly adjust the course to avoid getting lost in the void of space.

By Captain Lorenz’s order, the pirate vessel headed toward an alien spaceship. The discovered, large ship had been completely wrecked by foreign attacks. Clearly visible on it were the symbols of the Hyades Star Cluster United Republic. After checking the status of the ship’s life support systems, the pirate crew boarded it.

While Ramsilla checked the furnace and the belly of the republic ship, the others searched for «surprises"—among pirates, this term literally referred to everything on a prize or dead vessel, from living people to useful trinkets.

The twins, Kalid and Cardi, were opening sealed doors and compartments. While opening one of these doors, they hit a wall. It turned out there was a secret compartment behind it. Apparently, because the ship was in an energy-saving mode—given that the attackers had taken everything necessary to power the legal spaceship—it was surprising that it hadn’t powered down completely: the cryo-chamber, in which someone was sleeping peacefully, had shut off.

They passed along news of their discovery by radio. The Captain and Kayirkan, who had largely served as a silent and imposing medic, headed toward them. By that time, the twins had already removed the girl from the crib compartment; she was still softly snoring in Cardi’s arms, not fully awake.

It was difficult to understand what the girl was trying to say after she opened her eyes. It seemed as if a hundred different languages were mixed in her words. However, based on how she patted her chest and repeated, «Ulfa, ” there was no doubt about her name.

Fumbling through the navigation panel, Ekrenia discovered a plotted route to Belkrug—the only planet currently created from a White Hole—marked only with the note: «Deliver U.O.L.F. to Belkrug.» The familiar, long abbreviation for her name—at least that was the team’s assumption, given how the girl introduced herself.

The decision to deliver her to her destination was made swiftly, without lengthy debate—although everyone clearly had different reasons, whether it was a pleasant ransom for the child or a desire to return the girl to where she belonged.

The goal of collecting fuel remained the same. The journey to Alpha Centauri turned out to be livelier than usual. The little girl happily chirped in some of her own language, sketching out unusual — sometimes patterns, sometimes diagrams — on the screen. It seemed as if she were everywhere at once. And Morris—an arrogant, low-earth feline—followed the girl occasionally when Ulfa wasn’t carrying him, although he previously acknowledged no one but his owner, Ekrenia.

Upon approaching the star system, the twins blocked the radar and energy shields so they wouldn’t be detected by the guards at the fuel extraction site. Meanwhile, Ekrenia took manual control for complete flight oversight, while Ramsilla and Lorenz prepared to deploy the «proboscis.»

By the time the engine compartment was almost completely full, the security personnel noticed the «blind spot» created by the twins and Ekrenia. Hurrying to restart the ship—which had been intentionally silenced to reduce the magnetic waves detected by homing devices—and retract the «snout,» the pirates fled from the guards, but a chase ensued.

The destination was set toward the Southern Cross Star Archipelago. The plan was to hide within the shuttle route used between the stars of the constellation.

However, such a sectional route only manages to evade a couple of ships. Then, Ulfa appears on the navigation panel, rerouting Ekrenia and guiding it through the Whale Cradle—an area with a high concentration of stellar dust and interstellar winds; this is where whales hibernate and reproduce within the magnetic fields. Stellar whales could easily crush the spaceship, making this location one of the most dangerous territories in space.

The argument about the correct course is barely underway when it’s interrupted by an attack from pursuers. Relying on luck and Ekrenia’s piloting skills, the pirates fly along the coordinates Ulfa has provided. As soon as the pirate spaceship crossed the dusty golden layer, the pursuers abruptly halted their ships, not moving further in while the pirates pressed deeper. Ulfa, humming a tune, drew new paths onto the Cradle’s map, charting a safe route.

This is how the pirates successfully escaped the Cradle, carefully circling all the whale families they encountered with their young calves. Because of the calving season, the young whales only leave the Cradle to swim near territory boundaries, and this is what the whaling pirates take advantage of.

The pirates witness a pair of ships attempting to spear a calf with harpoons. Ulfa reacts to its pain when a pair of crystal harpoons hits its mark. She clutches her head and screams as if she were in pain, rather than the young whale. While Kayirkan tries to examine Ulfa and figure out what is wrong with her, the girl attempts to explain through her pain and cries that they help the calf. Before anyone can do anything, the Elder Whale forces the whaling pirates back simply by closing its jaws on the ships. The calf is freed from the harpoons, and Ulfa is released. She loses consciousness.

Comparing the routes sketched by Ulfa with the drawings preserved by Ekrenia and Kayirkhan, the team notices a striking resemblance. The girl was literally drawing maps with various paths, traversal of which depended on wind conditions, magnetic signatures, and the ship itself. This incident involving the whales and the drawn maps led the team to realize that Ulfa is no ordinary child—perhaps not even human. The way Ulfa constructs her routes represents an entirely novel form of navigation, one that has been sorely lacking in the current space age.

The path ahead is calmer. Kayerkan looks after the baby’s health, conducting checkups, while Ramsilla puts her to sleep. Ekrenia charts new routes with the baby and draws—and the fact that Lorentz secretly keeps these drawings with him is a huge secret of Morris, who caught him doing it, and the captain himself. The twins create a ruckus, teaching the girl playful pranks and jokes—as if there weren’t one child, but three, on the ship.

The journey ahead is calmer. Kaierkan monitors the little girl’s health, conducting checkups, while Ramsilla puts her to sleep. Ekrenia maps out new routes with the girl and draws—and the fact that Lorentz secretly keeps these drawings is a huge secret shared by Morris, who caught him doing it, and the captain. The twins keep the girl entertained with fun pranks and jokes—as if not one, but three children were aboard the ship.