Bryce

"Yep, that’s definitely a Union registration,” Samira said. “They didn’t even hide it all that well, just attached their normal registration to a Legion header. Honestly Sora, if you had taken thirty seconds to look at it, then you probably would’ve realized right away.”

We were all gathered back on the bridge, trying to figure out our next step while we flew back to the beacon.

“No Sami, you’re just weird. Not everybody has all the corporate registration signatures memorized.” Sora turned to me in order to avoid Samira’s glare. “Captain, what do you want to do?”

A ship from the Anarchist Union meant trouble. To make matters worse, they had managed to capture all eight residents of the station alive. I had no way of knowing how they figured out where the station was, but if we didn’t intervene, then the researchers would be turned over for the bounty and likely tortured to death by Iefyr. It wasn’t a fate I’d wish on anybody, and we still needed Doctor Phaylex.

“They have a two-day head start on us. Can we catch up to them?” I asked.

“Not in real-space,” Sami said. “We’re faster than them in theory, and in the Aether we wouldn’t have an issue, but we don’t have the fuel for that kind of acceleration. Assuming they haven’t modded their ship since their last registration twenty years ago, then they’ll get to the beacon about half a day before us.”

They were going to shift the moment they reached the beacon, and once they did, we’d have no way to track them. It was one of the many downsides of Aether travel. Or benefits depending on which side you were on.

“Do we have any idea where they’re heading?” I asked.

“Probably straight back to the Union to turn in the bounty,” Sora said. “I can’t imagine they want to sit on eight Legion researchers for all that long. Anybody who learns about it is going to want to take them for themself.”

“Union space is on the other side of the Network,” Samira added. “If they’re going there, then they’ll need to stop for fuel.”

“Can’t they just fuel up in the Aether like we can?” Thea asked.

“Hardly,” Samira scoffed. “We have an Aether converter, they don’t. I can guarantee that much. Hells at least half our ship’s value is rolled up in that thing, and most people don’t think it’s worth the fuel savings. Mostly because it’s absolutely not.”

“I thought you liked our Aether converter?” I asked. Samira had been incredibly excited when she learned The Fury had one.

“Of course I do. Didn't you hear me say that it costs fifty million credits? Who wouldn't love something that expensive?” She asked. “I’m just saying it’ll never actually pay for itself or justify its own value.”

“If they have to stop to refuel, is there a place they’re most likely to do that?” I asked. “Union ships aren’t exactly welcome everywhere.”

“Or anywhere.” Samira added.

The Anarchist Union was, well, a union full of anarchists. It had always been a stupid name, and more than a little oxymoronic. But Iefyr kept some semblance of order among the larger gangs just by virtue of being the biggest, baddest bitch around.

She didn’t bother policing the individual members, and instead actively encouraged them to break as many laws as they could. Even if the laws were her own.

Needless to say, most stations didn’t welcome them.

“Paradise is the most likely place for them to refuel,” Sora responded. “They’ll have to stop once or twice on the way, but they’ll definitely end up there, eventually.”

“Paradise?” I asked. “Where is that?”

“It’s at the center of the Aether,” Samira answered. “And probably the last place we would ever want to be. It’s where all the Network’s worst people hang out, including hunters.”

“That doesn’t seem like much of an option,” I said.

“Seems like a pretty fun one to me,” Thea added, helpfully. “Besides, do we have any other options?”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“We could always abandon you on an asteroid and let Kai eat you,” Sora offered.

“Kai probably wouldn’t eat me,” Thea argued. “She’s only done that to like four people. She’s way more likely to just throw me in a puzzle prison for the rest of time, so you know, much worse.”

“Is there any way at all we can cut off half a day’s travel to the beacon?” I asked.

“Maybe? But it’s a literal long shot,” Samira said. “And if we miss, then we’re drifting without power.”

“What is it?” I asked.

“We adjust course and cut the deceleration cycle,” she explained. “Maybe even lose it entirely. It would mean hitting the beacon fast, really fast, and Sora would need to shift the moment we enter its range. I haven’t done the math, but we could probably cut off a full day.”

“We’d still need to decelerate in the Aether,” Sora said. “But we’d have all the power we needed.”

“And we’d need to transfer almost everything to shields after we shift,” Samira added. “Even then, there’s a chance we might not hold together.”

That didn't seem like much of an option, either. Sora would only have seconds to make the shift before we left the range of the beacon, and we'd enter the Aether at an incredible speed.

To make matters worse, there was no way of knowing what would be in front of us after we shifted. There was a very real chance we'd shift just to immediately slam into something and die.

That was assuming our shields would even hold in the first place. They weren't designed to move at that speed in the Aether.

“Our problem is just fuel, right?” I asked, and Samira nodded. “If we ignored the fuel consumption, could we catch them and match speed?”

“Captain.” Samira stared at me. “You’re talking about an absurd amount of very precise math, all based on the assumption that they haven’t upgraded their ship in twenty years.”

“So you can do it?” I asked.

“She can do it,” Sora answered. “What’s your plan?”

“It’s simple,” I explained. “We need fuel, they have it. So, we take it.”

~~~~

As it turned out, the plan was anything but simple. We were moving fast, like relativistic speeds, and we were standing on top of the ship with only the shields and an EVA suit protecting us from the vacuum of real-space.

Samira was managing the engine speeds manually and Sora was piloting, which only left me and Thea. She was standing next to me, grinning like an idiot.

“I think I can see them!” Thea shouted into the comms. “Are you ready for this, princess?”

“Thea, I can hear you just fine. You don’t need to shout,” I replied. “And make sure you wait for the signal before you jump. We’ll need to be close enough that our shields overlap, otherwise we'll be shredded by space dust.”

The plan, if you could even call something this stupid a plan, was to use a concealment spell to move close enough to allow our shields to overlap. Samira had managed to find a way to extend the shield radius to make that not certain death.

We had landed on this plan because boarding a ship moving at a large fraction of the speed of light is complicated. The shuttle’s shields weren’t rated for anywhere near these speeds, and our airlock was never designed to dock with a ship of their size, especially not at these speeds.

“Alright captain.” Sora’s voice came in over the comms. “We’ll be moving into range in about a minute. Remember, if you miss, then you’ll be dead pretty fucking fast, but we’ll be left to drift until we freeze or suffocate, and that’s not how I wanted to die. So, don’t miss.”

“You’re being a baby. I’m sure your new girlfriend would be more than happy to save you,” Thea said. “Besides, is there a way you’d actually want to die?”

“Heart attack in bed covered in credits and attractive people when I’m fat and old,” Sora replied. “And I’m relying on you to make that happen, so you’re not allowed to die doing something stupid.”

“Softie, you know we would never do anything stupid,” Thea said. “Now, how long until we jump?”

The union ship was visible at this point and approaching fast. If the Fury had an opposite, then this would be it. It was essentially just three large rectangles in the approximate shape of a ship, with a single large engine that was glowing red with heat as it struggled to decelerate.

“Three… Two… One… Jump!” Sora shouted through the comms. Thea and I held hands as we leapt through the air.

For a moment we were just floating through the silent void of real-space. And then we hit the union ship's hull hard.

I engaged my boots, but the force of the impact overwhelmed the magnets and caused me to fall flat on my back, knocking the air out of my lungs. Thea nearly tore my arm off as she stopped me from flying off the ship.

“Whoa careful, princess.” Thea smiled down at me. “First step is a doozy.”

“Thanks, I'll remember that for next time.” I was a bit breathless from the fall, but managed to stand with a little help and looked around. “Any chance there's a door?”

“That one looks nice enough.” Thea pointed to a hatch a few meters away. “Want me to knock?”

“Let’s try to do this quietly." I continued my explanation as I walked over to the hatch. "I’d like to be able to change out of the EVA suits before any fighting breaks out.”

“Sure." Thea followed me. "Would you mind getting the door, then?”

I summoned my sword to cut the lock with a flourish. The blade passed through cleanly, and the lock floated away in two pieces.

“After you.” I lifted the door and gestured to Thea.

“Why thank you, princess.” She stepped forward and dropped into the hatch.

I used the ladder.