You start doing the real-space time calculations, because those don't shift from one day to the next. They are only ever an estimation, but they tend to be a good average time. You start by tracing the standard route: spinward to Kerellia, rimward two systems to Viking, spinward to Kania, then rimward to Polaris, and rimward again to Outbound. Six systems, an average of five to ten days between each, call it thirty to sixty days. All of it would be along known stable Warp routes, which would be fairly predictable, and therefore safer. It would also take longer, which would give more time for things to go wrong. The chance of something going wrong on a given day would be much lower, but there would be more days. You next step is to plot the faster direct route to figure out how much time you could save.

Tracing a direct line from Riptide to Outbound skips over Kerella and Viking, but goes more or less through Kania and Polaris. Only four systems, so twenty to forty days on average, half of it not on known routes. It's slightly more risky, but it would shave ten to twenty days off of the 'standard' route. Being off of the usual routes would mean a slightly higher chance of something going wrong, but only for the first half or so of the transit.

The Ignis being so quick in the Warp will cut about five days off of either of those estimates, but it would still be fifteen days for the 'fast' estimate, or 25 for the 'safe' route. Not too shabby, and your actual course in the Warp and lock on the Astronomicon can reduce that time even further. Or stretch it out, if you get a weak lock or the Warp throws a wrench in your course. You store your plans for the upcoming transit and head for bed. Tomorrow will bring troubles enough, and you feel no need to rush into them.

Tomorrow does bring trouble aplenty. After breakfast, you head for the Vestibule again, to get a head start on the upcoming transit. You find a comm message waiting for you however. It's Helheim, and It's not good.

"Navigator Dannan, I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist that we expedite our transit to Outbound. A local contact has gotten a report through, and things are escalating far more quickly than we anticipated. I can't say any more. Helheim, clear."

You discard your work on the stable route you had been planning and focus on the fast but risky option. You quickly refine your estimate down to fifteen to thirty days, assuming you press the Ignis almost as fast as the Warp will let her sail. You link into your throne, feeling the pulse-beat of the Ignis' electronic blood and star-fire heart. You caress the runes that anoint her adamantine bones. +Time to fly Ignis. We are called in all haste, to be sent onto the anvil.+

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

The Ignis purrs in response. Her engines burn a tiny bit brighter, her point-defense turrets cycle through a self-test routine on their own, and a half-dozen evasive Warp-exit maneuvers pop up on one of your secondary monitors. You hope you won't need them, but you have then if you do. You raise your Sight a bit higher, opening your Third Eye to the light of the Astronomicon. It's pulsar glow is strong and steady, Illuminating your course forward. The warp-currents are as turbulent as ever, but you can See their vectors like burning oil on water.

You give the entry-vector commands right on cue, and drop right into a fast-flowing vector bound towards Outbound. Your course is anything but straight and true. You have to flick-switch between close-hauled to a storm-fanged gale to slewing around rip-currents. You vector-dance your way through a flickering congruence of hell-tides. You can feel the Ignis respond to the commands, squirming around onto the desired courses, bursting across wavelets of faith and fury. You have never driven her this hard, but she responds beautifully. Thirty days turns to fifteen, and then to seven as you streak across areas that would mire a slower ship in despair.

Nothing slows or disrupts your passage, and by the mid-point of the eighth day, you are preparing for your return to Reality. You time the translation with razor-tight timing, leaving the Ignis screaming onto an inner-system approach vector. The Dannans and the Von Sebastions have history with this system, as does Helheim and Pyrus. This time, the Ignis is here to settle that score, leaving however much of the system in ashes as is needed. Even as you complete the translation, you can feel the Steel Rain Drop pod bays surge to readiness, and a coil of power gathering in the Teleportarium. Whatever the situation is down on Outbound, the Ignis intends to greet it with extreme prejudice.

You close your Third Eye, disconnect, and stand down from your watch station, heading for your quarters for the rest that you require. Whatever situation is in Outbound, Helheim, Pyrus, and the other Deathwatch members can deal with it. You hope.

Three days later, as you pore over another book, you are startled by a comm call. "Faunia! What's going on?"

"A little bit of mayhem actually. Deathwatch has called on our armsmen to help maintain order in the civilian areas. I'm sending Ekhi to coordinate, and was wondering if you wanted a chance to stretch your legs...?"