“What do you know about conditions planetside, Fredrak?” Saketa asked.

“The invasion itself was never within my sphere of responsibilities,” the agent replied. “I just know the basics. The Authority leaders know perfectly well that their main manufacturing hub is a target. They’ve poured the planet’s energies and manpower into setting up defences, no matter what any of the locals think of it. From what I understand they’ve left only the barest infrastructure needed to keep the populace alive and the power grid running. All else is about arms manufacturing.”

“Gods, it must be fun over there,” Ayna snarked.

“But there is still a semi-functioning society,” he continued. “People travel for work and for shopping. There will be crowds for us to blend into, and we ought to be able to use public transport as long as we don’t draw attention to ourselves.”

He looked at Ayna.

“And on the topic of blending in…”

“Yes, yes,” the girl said with some exasperation.

She held up the small injector he’d given her, and twirled it between her fingers with a displeased look.

“I’ve always refused to do stuff like this. Even when I know it would make things easier for me. Just on principle. I’ll pretend not to be somewhere, but pretending I’m not Dwyyk is something else entirely.”

“The need for it isn’t right,” the agent said. “But it is a need all the same.”

“Yeah, fine,” she grumbled, and placed the business end of the injector against her cheek. “Here is fine?”

“Just anywhere, really.”

“Mm.”

The girl pressed the button and there was a soft hiss. She grimaced.

“Ooh. Ow. Owowowow. It sort of hurts and tickles.”

“It’ll pass.”

Even as Saketa watched, a darkening of Ayna’s skin started spreading out from the injection spot. In a little while she would look merely pale, as opposed to the bone-white of a Dwyyk. There was no injection for her huge irises, so the sunglasses would have to do for that.

“It will be fully settled by the time we land,” he said. “And it ought to last about two more days after that.”

“So we’ll be able to move around, as long as we keep our weapons out of sight,” Losan said. “What about help? Surely there are sleeper cells of saboteurs at the ready, for such a big operation?”

The agent turned his ever-controlled face the man’s way.

“It is simply common sense to assume as much. But if you think I have their names and location, then you overestimate my importance.”

“Tyroya told me she has access past the orbiting platforms,” Vanaka said. “But there is only one place she is allowed to set down, and she doesn’t know of any way around that that won’t get her blasted out of the sky. It’s near the equator, by a minor city.”

“And then what?” Ayna said to Saketa, then picked at her face a little. “Ow.”

Saketa crossed her arms. The unpleasant fact was that this whole thing was riding on her, and the question of how much of her old strength she would be able to salvage.

“I might be able to track him,” she said. “Failing that, I will be able to find the place of power he intends to use. The problem is time. I will need to get close enough to sense it, and I cannot predict how big my effective range will be.”

“Place of power,” Ayna muttered. “It’s weird to hear someone say that so sincerely.”

“At the very least, I will know where he is once he starts his part in the battle,” Saketa went on. “Of course, I will then need to cross the distance. And damage will already have been done.”

“We should prioritise getting a private vehicle,” Losan said. “And since simply getting a rental probably won’t be in the picture, we’ll need to steal it.”

“Which, uh, seems likely to attract trouble in very tense times,” Ayna said.

“A planetary invasion is a time of chaos,” Fredrak said. “There is simply no amount of planning that can account for an entire planet of frightened people. I think minor vehicle theft will actually be far from anyone’s top concern.”

“And once he is found, then what?” Vanaka asked.

Saketa again found herself the centre of attention.

“Once we have passed whatever obstructions might be in place?” she said. “Then you leave him to me.”

“I won’t contest that you should lead the charge,” Fredrak said. “But this is all rather too important to leave up to a single person.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Remember that he brought down the Brankon by himself,” she said.

“Shouldn’t you remember that as well?” Losan asked.

“I-”

A chime came from a speaker hidden somewhere in the ceiling.

“We have a problem,” Tyroya announced over the intercom. “Two Authority scouts just came into sensor range. They are demanding I stop for a boarding.”

Vanaka was the first to react and hurried over to the nearest call button and pressed it.

“How long will it take?”

“Last time they went all over with handheld scanners,” Tyroya said. “It took three hours.”

“We…”

Vanaka turned to the rest of them. She looked unsure for a moment, but then carried on.

“Can’t you reason with them at all? Don’t you have passage?”

“I… I have… passage, but…”

Saketa heard the uncertainty in the woman’s voice, as the venom inclined her to go along with Vanaka’s wishes. But compulsion had to contend with reality.

“No, they’ll search whoever they want,” the smuggler went on. “There is no way around it. It’s not like we’re friends. I’m going to slow to a stop.”

“They are going to have questions for us,” Losan said grimly. “They-”

Saketa broke into a run, and Vanaka followed on her heels. They passed down the engine room hallway and Saketa jumped up the steps to the cockpit.

“Nothing useful up here,” Tyroya said dismissively as Saketa walked through the doorway. “It’s all-”

“How long would it take you to reach the next lane?”

“Only fourteen minutes if I really go for it, but I’m not going to,” Tyroya said. “This ship is built for speed, but so are those. And they have guns. I… hey!”

Saketa touched one of the screens and enlarged the feed of the two scout ships. They were very standard Authority scouts; small, nimble and very fast, intended to ferry priority messages, intercept civilian vessels, or dart back to the nearest lane in case of trouble to alert of an incoming fleet.

“Don’t mess with-” Tyroya started, but fell silent as Vanaka put a hand on her shoulder.

“Let her work,” the Vylak commanded softly.

Saketa memorised what she knew of the layout of the scouts, and fixed the bridge in her mind.

“We are good to go,” Saketa said. “Just blast towards the lane entrance. They won’t follow.”

“What are you talking about?!” Tyroya demanded.

Saketa kept the bridge in her mind’s eye and drew the sword. Vanaka leaned down to put her ear next to the smuggler’s ear.

“Do as she says,” the girl told her. “It will be fine. We will make it to that lane.”

“I… ah…”

Tyroya looked exasperated, but also like she was losing an argument. Vanaka put her other hand on the woman’s other shoulder, and rubbed gently.

“Do it,” she ordered. “We know what we are doing.”

The smuggler grunted and put her hands on the controls. Vanaka turned a look towards Saketa that asked what they were, in fact, doing.

“I will keep them from following,” Saketa said. “I’ll be back. Just head straight for the lane.”

Tyroya reactivated the thrusters, and sped up like only a certain kind of ship could. The two scouts reacted promptly, and shifted their interception route. One of Tyroya’s screens counted down the estimated effective range of their guns.

Saketa Shifted.

It was always so much easier with no atmosphere in the way, and with almost no emergence points to choose from. Even in a weakened state she could direct her will to the lead scout and cross the distance.

The bridge she popped into was small, plain and dimly lit, and not a single person on it was prepared for a fight. The nearest person took Nara’s pommel to the face before they could even begin to react, and down they went.

The officer was next, and the shocked woman went for a pistol at her hip. Saketa plunged the blade into her arm just as the weapon left the holster, then kicked her in the face. She continued the movement and turned on the helmsman. He did manage to draw his weapon and even aim it, but Saketa needed only two quick steps to close the distance and chop his hand off.

She pommelled him before he could scream, and that left only the gunner. The man didn’t have a weapon, and just tried to run around a console and towards a door in the back. Saketa ran and threw herself into a slide across the console’s surface, and slammed into him. She raised the sword and got him to cower and desperately shield himself just as she’d wanted, and she swung a kick into his face from the opposite direction.

Saketa strode over to the officer and snatched her pistol off the floor. It was small, but plasma was plasma, and the comms console was not designed to withstand it. It spewed sparks from its brand-new hole.

She sheathed the blade as she walked over to the gunnery station. She was no ship gunner, but the other scout ship was close, flying in parallel, and the main weapon had already been unlocked and readied.

She twisted the weapon towards the second ship and pulled the trigger. The heavy plasma shot hit home, as did her second one. The other scout shifted direction, trailing a bit of exterior armour as it went. Saketa shifted her aim and fired again. She missed. Her fourth shot was a closer miss, but now the scout fired back and hit the ship dead-on. She fired off a quick fifth shot and didn’t even bother to try to land it; she had the desired result.

Instead she raised the pistol again and now shot the steering controls. They were no more durable than the comms, and with that the ship was out of the game.

As a second and third shot rocked the ship she’d landed on, Saketa stuck the pistol in her belt and Shifted again. The distance was much shorter, and so it was even easier. She emerged into the other scout’s bridge.

All of the crew’s attention was on the sudden, inexplicable betrayal, and so Saketa had struck two down before the other two even noticed. One managed to raise a gun and took Nara’s sword to the heart for his troubles. The other tried to tackle her from behind, and Saketa broke his leg with a kick, then his jaw.

She drew the pistol and fired into the comms and then the steering. Then she Shifted again, and emerged into the smuggler’s bridge again.

“Whoa!” Ayna exclaimed. “So, uh…”

They were on course for the next lane, while the two scout ships were heavily damaged, drifting, and silent.

“So that’s what happened last time,” the Dwyyk went on. “And at the station. One Authority ship started to fire at another. Pietr…”

“The old Johani Move,” Saketa said. “Simple, but effective.”

More gentle coaxing from Vanaka kept Tyroya’s attention away from what had just happened and on her piloting. They reached the lane without further incident, and leapt into the Other.