Chapter Twenty-Five - Velocity

The three Emperors might have been the de facto rulers of the solar system, but the true king of the universe? That was velocity.

To a layperson, something moving at a relative speed of a metre a second might seem like a joke.

To a spacer, it was a nightmare.

In the vast emptiness of space, speed was as good as mass when it came to ruining your day. There was a reason that even with near-magical technological advancements, the humble bullet was still prized by everyone who wanted their neighbour dead.

That's why Ivil was moderately impressed as the pirates came in close and one of the ships swooped in and captured the Held Together. It was a beautiful manoeuvre, the ship slowing down just a few kilometres away, matching their velocity and almost matching their heading so that the two ships came in closer in the span of a dozen minutes.

The pirate ship adjusted its flight with manoeuvring thrusters, then collided with the Held Together like a bowling ball landing in a pit full of feathers. There was a loud crash, then an uncomfortable crunch as the Held Together was grabbed.

Twenty-Six whimpered at the noise, and Ivil could imagine why. That sounded like an expensive amount of damage.

Then the pirates called again. This time there was no video, and the speaker was some uninteresting nobody that Ivil tuned out.

They were to get into crash seats now, or forever be turned into pieces.

The Held Together had enough seats in the bridge for everyone, even if it meant that Aurora had to sit in front of the communication's console. They were strangely, oppressively, quiet as they all sat in the unfolding crash seats and buckled themselves in.

The pirate ship took control over the Held Together's systems, slaving them to their own, then they were turned around.

There was little warning as, a minute later, the pirate ship did a hard slow-down burn that had the entire crew pressed into their seats.

It wasn't as intense of a burn as what they'd used to accelerate. Probably because the pirates were aware of how foolish such a hard burn would be when only connected to a ship via some flimsy supports would be. That did mean that to change their path, they'd need to burn for a lot longer.

Ivil shifted in her seat, making herself comfortable. She was aware that the others weren't enjoying it nearly as much. A hard burn that only lasted an hour or two was one thing to experience, a softer burn that still pressed them into their seats for several hours? That was a whole other ordeal, and it seemed as if the crew, passengers, and ship weren't appreciating it all that much.

She heard things snapping and breaking deeper in the ship. The Held Together wasn't living up to its name at the moment.

The burn ended as suddenly as it had begun, but before anyone could unstrap from their seats they were spun around, then the burn resumed, this time pushing from the other direction.

An immediate speed up and slow down, which could only mean that the pirates were rushing to get them back, and probably didn't care much about their own fuel consumption. The turn took a toll on the ship. More parts snapped and crunched.

Ivil expanded her attention and felt an uncharacteristic pang of pity, specifically for Twenty-Six. The ship wasn't enjoying the pirate's treatment of it.

Ivil sat back and relaxed.

It might have seemed uncharacteristic for her to be so calm while doing so little, but the reality was that she'd long grown used to inaction. Even when she wanted to move at her own pace, the realities of grand distances meant that at best, she could rush ahead and start trouble a day or two before reinforcements arrived.

Being so fast all on her own was an advantage, but so was showing up with an entire fleet as backup.

For a long part of her career, she'd been a threat that was easily dismissed. One person, no matter how powerful, was still just one person. Some people couldn't appreciate the level of threat she posed. They were far more respectful with the might of Mars at their doorstep.

That had changed as she became one of the three Emperors, but it had taken a while to reach that level.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The slow-down didn't last as long as their ramp up, though there was a moment at the end where they boosted much harder and Ivil heard almost everyone in the bridge grunt as they were crushed into their seats with no warning.

Finally, they slowed to something more reasonable. The deceleration was still noticeable enough that they were being pushed back, but it wasn't nearly that bad.

Missy reached to the console before her and tapped a few things. The screen at the front of the bridge turned on, showing them an image of empty space. Or nearly empty. Missy zoomed in on something in the centre, a small, distant white speck that might have been one of the stains on the screen. As she zoomed in, the form became more obvious.

A station, embedded into the side of an asteroid, with several dozen long sections reaching out of it, and two large rings in its centre. There were some two dozen ships docked at the station already, and a small patrol of them hovering nearby.

"Is that our pirate's hideout?" Ivil asked.

"Looks like it," Missy replied. The colours were right. Lots of reds and blues. "We need to decide what to do."

"We negotiate, and we hope," the captain said. "We've slipped out of tougher situations before, I'm sure we can make it out of this."

Ivil glanced at the captain, noting how she was gripping the arms of her seat with white knuckles. It was unfortunate, but Ivil didn't expect that the captain would have a ship by the day's end. It had to sting. The Held Together was a generationally owned ship.

"We could steal one of their ships," Ivil said. "They certainly have plenty."

Some of the pirate ships looked decent enough. There was even a berth on the far side of the station that looked more like a shipyard than anything else. Large mechanical arms were reaching out towards a half-built vessel, assembling it piece by piece.

"Where are our escorts?" Sonic asked.

"Behind," Missy replied. "Two ships, keeping about five kilometres between us and them. We've been getting lock-on signals this entire time. Not that it really matters at this point."

Missy looked ready to fight, and Ivil suspected that she wouldn't be taken so easily. But if Missy fought, then it might not end so well for her.

Ivil sighed.

It was time to make a choice, and she was tired of being held back. So she unbuckled herself from the crash seat, sat up, then stood.

The first to notice was Twenty-Six, in the seat just next to hers. The girl reached out, as if to catch Ivil, then looked confused as Ivil stood straight, in complete defiance of the pull towards the back of the ship.

She tidied up her dress, gave Twenty-Six a soft, hopefully comforting smile, then walked up to the front of the bridge and stood before the crew.

"Hey, uh, how're you doing that?" Donny asked.

"That's between me and gravity," Ivil replied. She scanned the bridge, then nodded. "I'm afraid that this situation has deteriorated too much. My cover will not be safe from this point onwards."

"Your cover?" Missy asked. Her eyes were narrowed. As a Warmime, she must have once known all there was to know about cover.

"Yes," Ivil replied. "I am, as you may have surmised, not an astro archeologist."

"Are you a soldier?" Twenty-Six asked. "From Mars?"

Ivil blinked. "No. In any case, seeing as how I don't want any--most of you to die in the coming conflict, I've decided that I'm going to take charge of things from here on out. I expect everyone to do what they can to follow my lead. I understand that most of you don't have military training, or experience with this kind of thing, but I assure you that if you listen I can keep you safe."

Aurora was glaring at her, Missy was trying to make her face neutral but her suspicion was leaking through, and Twenty-Six... actually looked hopeful.

Maybe this was the right move after all, Ivil thought even as she ignored Sonic's sigh.

"We'll begin by allowing the pirates to link the ship up to their base. It's the easiest way to ensure that most of the fighting will occur in a tight, controlled environment. Once we've established that we are a threat, I will attempt to negotiate with the leader of these pirates. If all goes well we'll be back on our way to Calipso with no one harmed. Understood?"

***