Hours later, the crew started coming out of their rooms and back to the bridge. Mira was first, relieving Duke at the command console, “Anything of note?”
“Not really. I think we are finally getting some real acceleration. Maybe we are finally getting out of the gravity well. Oh, and I RESTORED the engines a few times just to make sure they don’t get strained too badly.”
“Thanks for that,” Mira checked a few readouts before continuing. “Yep, we are pulling out of the gravity well. We should see increasing acceleration until we cut the engines off. It looks like we have used up over 40 million of our Mana capacity to get this far. That would have depleted our entire Mana supply almost twice over before. Now, it just brought one core down to 40%. That’s an unimaginable upgrade.”
“I know a thing or two about what cores should look like. The cores you had in there were passable at best.”
“Passable? They are the best I could find – the standard that anyone can find.”
“Then don’t let anyone know you have them, or we will have to fight people off for yet another reason.”
“The more I look at things, the more confused I get. The technological level of mechs and ships are far beyond what I’ve ever seen before, but every time I delve into it, I find things that need improvement. It’s like whoever developed this stuff got to a point where it worked and then they decided that they were done. Where are all the incremental improvements? The cores are just one example.”
“Magitech is different. There are only so many things that can be done with it. I’m no expert on it by any means but I’ve had to learn a bunch to keep my ship running. There is a science to combining the runes together for different effects. And there are only so many runes, so once you find something that works, you stick with it. The Runemasters control that knowledge tightly. Other than them, there are technicians who can repair runescript, but only the standard rune layouts. They know that A comes after B but not why.”
“So, it’s a monopoly situation. But I still would expect someone to figure it out on their own. Let me guess, anyone who does gets hunted down and given the ‘join or die’ ultimatum?”
“Probably. That’s way above my head. I am happy to just keep my ship running and delivering mechs to where they need to go.”
“That sounds like it’s becoming a problem though.”
“Yeah. The Syndicate is really taking over. I don’t know where I’ll be able to operate without running into them.”
“Maybe we make it a habit to run into them. Make it too expensive for them to operate and they will back off.”
“They have more resources than you could imagine. They can handle any losses we give them. I’m actually surprised they didn’t identify you and try and collect the bounty.”
“That thought did cross my mind. If they try, I’ll do what I need to do. I tried pretty hard to not reveal my capabilities so hopefully, they won’t be able to handle me if it comes to it.”
“Sorry to disappoint you, Duke, but expect them to have retrieved every recording crystal and collected every eyewitness account of what you have ever done by now.”
“You think so?”
“They are one of the few organizations in the cosmos that actually could pay the bounty on your head. You need an alternate path to deal with them. And your bounty. Any chance you can get it lifted?”
“I doubt it, but the Tier Four restriction makes it almost laughable for me at this point. I really don’t think anyone in Tier Four could take me down no matter how many resources are put into them.”
“Confidence is good, but that level of arrogance is going to get you killed.” She paused as the sound of the engines changed, becoming a deeper thrum than previously. After checking her control station she gave Duke a slight smile, “Can you hit the engines up with some repairs? We are almost completely out of the gravity well.”
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Duke flexed his RESTORE Ability across the entire ship once again and the sound of the engines returned to a quiet background hum. “Better?”
“I think I’m going to keep you around just for that.”
Another voice entered the conversation, “It looks like we are out of immediate danger.” Gro’nok strode his way onto the bridge, his face pulled in an annoyed expression. “I know we never negotiated passage to Altis Marin Six or that you even agreed to take us there, but I would like to do so now.”
Mira looked over to Duke who gave her a nod in response. “When the Iron Reaver was under attack, you and your Steel Tusks leapt in to defend us without question or request for anything. Even now, you come to me requesting to negotiate, not demanding or insinuating anything. This places you as a friend of ours. Friends help friends. We’ll get you to Altis Marin Six so you can help your own friend.”
The look of annoyance and worry drained from Gro’nok’s face, “You have our thanks and our loyalty, Captain. The Steel Tusks will answer your call should you need us.” He spoke with particular gravity and the notification that followed let Duke know just how serious his words were.
*** Attention! You have been included in an Oath of Loyalty. The Steel Tusks have pledged to come to your collective aid should you ever call upon them. This is an enforceable oath and cannot be cancelled. ***
Mira bowed her head as the same notification crossed her vision. When she raised her head, she moved to the navigation console and began to try and figure out their position. The longer she looked, the more worried her face became.
“What’s wrong?” Duke asked.
“I thought the black hole was messing with our positional data. The gravitational lensing is known for warping sensors and making it hard to determine location, but we are out of the gravity well and the lensing should only affect the sensors behind us. But I can’t even get a fix on anything in front of us.”
“There’s nothing in front of us?” Gro’nok asked, concern raising in his voice.
“No, there are plenty of stars ahead of us, we are in the middle of a galaxy after all. But none of the stars or even this galaxy-shape corresponds to anything in my starmaps. I can tell you that this is a barred, spiral arm galaxy, about 100,000 light years across. Best guess is that there are about 300 billion star systems in the galaxy. So, yeah, the data is coming in and the systems can even account for the black hole’s lensing effect. The problem is that this is no galaxy that I have ever seen in any of my cosmological maps.”
“We are so lost, that we are in an unmapped galaxy? Is that what you are saying?” Gro’nok asked, concern growing deeper in his voice and demeanor.
Duke joined Mira at the navigational console and started his own exploration of the galaxy they seemed to be within. The visual that Mira had put on the main screen had piqued his interest.
“I’m sorry, Gro’nok, but I don’t think it will be possible to get you to your destination anytime soon.”
“I understand. We all knew the risks when we made the Lens Jump.”
“What happened now?” Lya asked as she joined the rest of the crew on the bridge with Aurelia and the rest of the Steel Tusks in tow.
Mira looked up and noted that everyone was now there, “So, we seem to be a bit lost. We are in a galaxy that is not on any of the starmaps.”
“That sounds like a serious problem.” Lya commented.
“Is it possible that we shifted to another dimension?” Duke asked as he continued to sort through the data on the navigational console. “This console is amazing by the way. How can it pull up data on individual star systems that are not only not on the charts, but this ship has never visited. Where does it get the data from?”
Mira responded, “It is a form of scrying magic. It can pull up details as far as planetary data for about a hundred light years, but for anything finer than that, we’re going to have to get close enough to do an active scan which is anywhere within about a light week of the target.”
Duke shook his head in wonder as he continued to filter through data. He mumbled to himself as he narrowed his search down. “Fifteen billion. How about those with planets? Twelve billion. That’s still too many.”
The others soon realized that there was nothing better to do than to watch Duke sifting through data. They soon all took seats and watched as he narrowed his search down further and further.
“8 million. Well, that’s closer but still too many. How about ones on the outer half of arms? 421 thousand? Better. I wonder…yep, here it is. Breathable atmosphere with nitrogen being the primary gas…812. Ok, now we’re getting somewhere. Water and continents. Yes, 67. Ok, let’s take a look through those.”
One by one, planets appeared on the viewscreen as Duke flipped and rotated each with the controls, briefly studying them before moving onto the next. When he reached the 27th one, he stopped and stepped back from the controls, whispering, “Well, shit. I know where we are. I have no fucking idea how we got here, but that’s definitely it.”
All eyes were locked on Duke as he sat back in the chair, his head resting on his fingertips. Aurelia tentatively came forward and placed a hand on his shoulder, causing him to startle and nearly leap out of the chair. He looked up to see everyone staring at him.
“Where are we, Duke?” Aurelia asked gently.
“This is the Milky Way Galaxy and that is a planet called Earth.”