Marcus didn't rest until he was two systems out from the Den and well on his way to the third. After succumbing to exhaustion, he fell into an uneasy sleep punctuated with nightmares where a blood-stained Hamasa hunted him and Sophia with a long knife.
He started awake in a cold sweat. When his breathing slowed, and the panic subsided, he got up and into the shower and stood under the hot water until it almost scalded his skin. Despite sleeping, exhaustion still weighed him down. He prepared the first food since the meal he had shared with Hamasa a lifetime ago. If the Interest hadn't kept a record of his escape from the Vale, it could have all been a dream.
Marcus slouched down in the cockpit chair with a steaming cup of tea and tried to work out what to do. Hamasa had given him the package--it was there logged in his implant. He tried it again but it stayed resolutely shut.
He also didn't know how to handle the journey to Caxis. The smart thing to do would be to take his time, checking in with a bank branch or two to give himself a solid alibi, but the Alliance would soon know he had been with Hamasa--the security cameras in the Den showed them together. They couldn't track his journey from the Vale--that was only possible under the right circumstances--but if an Alliance ship came across him, and if a stop order had overtaken him after being diffused out of the Vale, he would be in trouble. That was a lot of 'ifs' though.
He sighed and sipped his tea. He plotted the quickest course to the Magadan system, the last stop before Caxis. The flight to Magadan would be easy enough, but getting through the blockade would be another matter. For now, there was nothing for it other than to make it to the gate and hope that Hamasa's plan worked.
He imagined explaining this all to Sophia--she wouldn't believe it.
The Magadan system was empty save for some rocky planetoids stripped bare by mining over the years since humanity first spread out through the Perseus Arm. It still served as a helpful junction between several worlds through the spine of Alliance space.
He steered the Interest into the Lanes and tried to contain his anxiety at the thought that something else was about to go wrong. He scanned for Alliance vessels. The only two in range were only smaller patrol boats on the other side of where he needed to get to--the first thing to go his way in months. There were no complications, and he soon faced the gate to Caxis.
He took a deep breath and steered the Interest through the gate and into jump space; the nerves became almost too much for him but he needed to keep himself together. The opposing gate came up quickly and Marcus reached up to touch the photo of Sophia and Lio on the cockpit as jump space dissolved around him. He realised he had been holding his breath.
If I can just get past this blockade, I can see Sophia again. I can see Lio.
Marcus levelled the Interest out, and strained to look for the planet. There it was, only the size of a button, but that didn't stop his heart from burning with an even greater longing to be home.
He shook himself; he couldn't afford any distractions. He brought the ship's systems back online and ran a scan to see what he was dealing with--countless smaller attack vessels and frigates, accompanied by two huge Alliance warships that stood out--the Edinburgh and the Mandrake.
Marcus swore--the Mandrake had been at the Den, and they would have logged the Interest. Warships were fast, but nothing had passed him; it must have come by a different route.
"Attention Compound Interest. This is Captain Chi-Young of the Mandrake. Please submit your credentials or we will open fire."
"This is the Compound Interest, transmitting now." Marcus prayed that it worked. The wait was unbearable.
After an eternity, his console lit up with another incoming message. "Compound Interest, you are cleared to pass through the system. Do not, I repeat, do not approach the planet or communicate with it."
"Understood, Daptain. Thank you."
It had worked. He couldn't believe it.
He set the Interest to head towards the lanes and dreamed of landing back on Caxis at last. He still needed to avoid whatever Alliance presence orbited the planet, but he didn't think that would be as hard as getting past the blockade. All seemed to go well until his personal transmitter went off.
"Message buffer transmitted," the ship's AI said.
No. No, no, no! He had forgotten to disable the automatic transmission of the messages he had recorded for his family. All the Alliance ships would have received that message, and now, they would come for him.
He gunned the engines of the Interest and burst forward hoping to catch the Mandrake off guard. Marcus had a head start, but not a long one, and the lanes weren't open to him--the military override would shut them down. His sole advantage was the Interest's quicker acceleration than the cumbersome warships, though they would have a higher maximum velocity.
"Computer," he tried to keep his voice level. "Plot a course through the asteroid belt to use the fourth planet of the system as a slingshot."
"Plotted."
"Let's go." The Interest veered away from the figure-of-eight shaped lanes and instead shot deep into open space. Marcus' readouts showed that the Edinburgh had entered the Lanes to come at him from the other side, and the Mandrake was heading straight for him.
A connection request came through, and with nothing to lose Marcus accepted the link. A man with close cropped hair appeared on the viewscreen which, judging by the rank insignia on his shirt, was Captain Chi-Young. "Compound Interest, cut your engines and prepare to be boarded or we'll open fire. Any further attempts to escape will be met by lethal force."
"Sorry, Captain, I haven't got a choice--my wife and son are down on Caxis," his voice cracked.
"Don't do this, son, I can help you."
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Marcus laughed bitterly. "If I stop, I'll spend the rest of my life in an Alliance detention facility."
"Better alive than dead." A beam shot out of the Mandrake reaching out for Marcus' ship. "That was your only warning shot. Cut your engines, Compound Interest, this is your last chance."
"Please--I'm begging you! I haven't got a choice." He was nearly at the asteroid belt. Marcus willed the Interest forward.
"Compound Interest, let the record show that you have repeatedly ignored warnings to stop, and you will be met by lethal force. Chi-Young out."
The figure disappeared, and he sweated watching the distance between the Mandrake and the Interest grow ever shorter. He inputted the weapons range of the Alliance vessel and the readout displayed the time and distance until he would have real issues. Marcus' heart sank--he would be about 2 minutes away from the relative safety of the asteroids.
The Mandrake now began attacking in earnest. Beam after beam streaking towards him. Marcus swerved to evade the beams, but he knew it was pointless--he had about 30 seconds before they killed him.
He had one last desperate roll of the dice. "Computer, take over the controls--get us to Caxis."
Without a word the AI took him on a dizzying array of spins and turns so strong that they overrode the ship's force dampers, he felt a huge weight crushing his chest. He couldn't breathe. The last thing Marcus was aware of was throwing up before he blacked out.
#
Marcus was surprised to wake up still alive.
Alarms blared in the Interest and there was a strong smell of burning, though judging by the readouts the fire suppression systems had it under control. He had a pounding headache and could taste blood in his mouth.
He panicked when he saw that Caxis was no longer a small marble. It filled the screen as the Compound Interest shot towards the planet. He could make out the familiar shapes of the continents -- Marsham, the continent where he grew up and the far larger landmass of Corporeal which contained the planet's capital -- Truthan -- and much of the population. He could see the Strait of Markese weaving around the planet's northern pole, and the frozen Sea of Isolation at the top of the Tigris Mountains.
His heart melted. If Sophia were to look up from their house at that instant he would be in the sky above them. But to his horror, he realised there was no chance he would see her any time soon. For a while he could see Caxis in front of him, the image was distorted, like it was coming through a forcefield. Marcus looked to his left and right and saw shining metal deck plates, on top of which stood lines and lines of armed Alliance officers.
He had been caught. He was never going home.
"Visitor requesting access," the AI said, unaware or unmoved by the fact that the Interest was in the clutches of the Alliance.
Marcus swore and slammed his fists down on the console. He had come so far, done so many things that kept him awake at night, just to get home to Sophia and it had all been for nothing. Instead all it was likely to have earned him was a summary execution.
"They are forcing the door, Marcus," the AI's voice was as flat as ever.
Before he could react, there was a metallic screeching noise, followed by the sound of heavy footsteps and the crash of whomever had come aboard throwing the contents of his kitchen out of the way. He didn't even look up when someone grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and dragged him through his ruined ship and dumped him onto the cold deck of whatever Alliance ship had caught him.
"On your feet." He recognised Chi-Young's voice, but Marcus wasn't in any mood to move. What was the point?
When he didn't say anything he felt more hands under his arms that pulled him upright. Begrudgingly he looked up at Chi-Young.
"I warned you." Chi-Young shook his head. For some reason, he didn't look as imposing as he had done on the messages, not that it mattered. "Take him to the detention centre."
The two figures who held him up dragged him along the corridors, Marcus made no effort to walk, but he did glance over to see what had become of his ship--it was bent and broken almost beyond recognition. There was no way it would ever fly again. It was this fact that threatened to push him over the edge. He looked down at the floor to avoid the eyes of the others on him, unable to bear the shame of his failure. Once more he was dumped on the cold floor. When no one spoke to him for what felt like hours he roused himself to take in his surroundings.
The detention cells were not the worst place Marcus had ever had to stay in, but they were close. His cell had a hard metal bed to match the walls and floor; he knew there was no chance of ever getting comfortable on it. A glowing purple force field blocked the entrance, and if he peered through it he could make out a long corridor of matching cells, though it was impossible to see if there was anyone in them. An indeterminate period of time passed before an officer came along to pass him a tray of lumpy grey food through a slot that opened in the field. It tasted as disgusting as it looked.
At points he tried to sleep, though it wasn't clear whether it was nighttime or not and he was tired most of the time now. There was little else to do in the cell other than go over and over in his head how he would never see Sophia again. How he wouldn't see Leo growing up.
He didn't know how long had passed when more figures appeared to escort him somewhere. This time he walked, knowing there was little point in resistance anymore. The officers opened a door that to Marcus looked no different than any of the others they passed, and inside sat Captain Chi-Young next to another man Marcus didn't recognise. He could immediately tell that this second man was in charge by the way he carried himself. He had dark skin and close cut greying hair, and there was a fire behind his eyes which meant Marcus couldn't hold his gaze.
"Sit down, Mr Fenig." The man held out a hand to point towards the empty chair in front of them. When Marcus sat, the guards left the three of them alone. "I'm Admiral Allison of the Alliance military. You are aboard my ship, the Phoenix Rises. We captured you before you made it to Caxis."
He was stating the obvious, but something in the way that Allison said it made Marcus realise how foolish his hope had been. There was no way he could have ever made it down to the planet. What was he thinking?
Allison continued speaking. "We know that you were at the Den, and that you were in contact with the Whisper." There was no point in denying it, so Marcus didn't bother. "We also know that you were given a package, I would like you to give it to me."
Marcus scoffed. "That package is for Caxis, and it's encrypted."
Allison smiled and leaned back in his chair, which only served to make Marcus more unsettled. "What makes you think it was for Caxis?"
He thought back to what Hamasa had told him, and worryingly he could only remember her saying the message was for the Caxis system. Could this Admiral be who it was meant to be for?
"You said yourself it was encrypted, and I assume the Whisper told you it would only open for its intended recipient?"
"If I give it to you, you'd just get someone on your ship to crack it."
"You don't know Hamasa as well as I do. If she doesn't want something opened, it won't open."
Marcus' mouth fell open. Maybe he did know her.
"Look at it this way, Mr Fenig. We can forcibly extract it from you without much trouble, but I'd much rather you pass it over willingly because I think you might be useful for us."
"For the Alliance?" Marcus said.
Allison shared a chuckle with Chi-Young. "For your planet, and if that isn't sufficient motivation, for your family. You have a wife and child, do you not?"
"What's that got to do with anything?"
"Believe me when I say, Mr Fenig, that giving me that package is the best thing you can do to secure the long term safety of your family." All trace of joviality was gone from Allison's face now, but Marcus couldn't help but feel he sounded earnest.
"How can I trust you?"
"You're alive, aren't you? If we wanted you dead, we would have blown your ship into atoms," Allison said, and pulled the sleeve on his uniform up to reveal his wrist implant. "Now, are you going to share the package with me?"
Marcus considered this for a moment and thought back to what Hamasa had told him when they parted ways--'you'll know when you see them--they'll be looking for you'. The only thing that made sense of all this was that she meant for this package to be delivered to Allison. That raised more questions, but those would need to wait. He held out his wrist to initiate the transfer.