I woke up the following morning in medical, dazed and slightly confused that I was somewhere other than the floor on deck nine. The fall to the ground heavier than I thought at the time.

“Ah good you’re awake Private Carter. I’m Dr Sted. You must have taken quite a hit to the head last night, you were out cold when your team brought you in. Sergeant Ro has been waiting to help you back to your quarters. Make sure to take it easy for at least the next week okay.”

One the doc signed off on my discharge, Ro came in with a wheelchair and an annoying smirk across her face.

“Hop on in cowboy,” she joked as I hopped into the chair. I just wanted to get back to my own bed without getting shit for a concussion on my literal first day in Miltech.

“So what happened on deck nine in the end?”

“Ha! Well let’s just say that my job down in the brig got a whole lot more entertaining. But that’s not important right now anyway… that anomaly salvation hit? Well it did something.”

“W—what do you mean did something!?” My voice trembled thinking possible worst case scenario.

“Nothing bad… I guess you could say that we just jumped ahead of schedule by a year give or take”

I turned in my wheelchair to face her. A stare-down to get to the point.

“Well no one is really sure exactly how it happened but we were gaining on Jupiter before the anomaly, and now we’re on the edge of our solar system.”

This sort of brain zinger was hard to take on a concussion and it was even harder to process. It was crazy in itself that we had already made it near Jupiter so soon but now we were on the edge of the solar system.

When the ten year window to evacuate began on Earth it was all over the news how physicists, engineers, and scientists were working together to build and test theoretical propulsion systems. It’s amazing the strides they made in a short period of time - I guess that’s what happens when you let them have at it.

They were able to construct systems that could slash travel times from hundreds of years to a mere several. Not to mention the ability to grant us all the luxury of gravity in space!

As we ventured further from Earth it was normal to have the occasional anomaly that would mess with the ships equipment but nothing that ever disrupted Salvations gravity or plunged us deeper in the universe by millions of kilometres in a matter of seconds.

“So it’s a good thing then?"

“I guess, but we have one of our first missions coming up sooner than expected. The engineering teams have to assemble a satellite and construct framework for a station for precise deployment. So the next week or so will be mayhem aboard Salvation. From there, we continue to Alpha Centauri”

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

—

Once Ro dropped me back to my quarters I spent the rest of my time watching the craft tracker. Zooming out you could see our path with a massive break in it from where we jumped, along with several other transporters left behind. As I scanned around I happened upon a tiny blip on the screen, it was barely visible but it was there. I had to wipe the screen to make sure the concussion wasn’t making me see things because it was ahead of us. How the hell could a ship be in front of us? I thought as I pressed on it.

It was named the Dominus and had a small fleet attached with it. There was no other information about it other than it was a private craft and my curiosity was piqued. I sent Jeremy a message from my slate, not getting a reply until late that night where he vaguely told me to come down to the dive bar on the main deck.

Puzzled by the vagueness and slightly annoyed having to leave my room, I made my way down there. Jeremy, except for a few late night stragglers, was sat alone in the empty bar. Looking disheveled, he turned to face the door, tipping his glass to acknowledge my arrival. I pulled up a stool next to him and ordered one of their dirtiest beers (making it to a transporter didn’t equal rich by any means).

“Shouldn’t be drinking, should you?” he said with a scoff kind of chuckle.

“Eh, It’s the only way to numb the pain right”.

The suds from the beer burnt my tongue as I set my glass down and asked Jeremy about ‘Dominus’.

“There’s not really much to say other than It’s a private fleet from one of the mega-wealthy elites back on Earth.”

“What and they somehow made it all the way out here?”

“I guess so. The only way that would be is if they hit the same anomaly we did. That or they have more advance tech than us, which is unlikely. One thing I do know though, is that we caught them off guard and they have requested to dock when we catch up with them.”

Jeremy took the last gulp of his beer and pushed his stool back to stand.

“Wait, are we going to dock with them?”

With his trademark larrikin grin he pat me on the back “Salvation isn’t. But Mortifera will be”

“Morti—what!?”

“Mortifera” he laughed…. “Bringer of Death”

Leaving me utterly confused at what that was suppose to mean, he turned and made his way out of the bar where I heard him quickly exchange some not-so-pleasant words with another man as he entered the bar. It was an obnoxious sounding man and one I had recognised immediately. My hand clutched the glass in anger, and in anticipation of what was next.

“Well if it isn’t Private Bitch. Movin’ up in the world aren’t ya!” he said as he pulled up a barstool next to me.

“I heard you got a little boo-boo on deck nine yesterday”

I turned to get a good look at the guy and confirmed that it was indeed the thug wannabe crewman from back on Earth. This time he had his crew badge on and finally I had a name to put to the douchebag.

“Oh yeah? And how did you hear that, William, when they’re all down in the brig?”

“It’s Bill to you and let’s just say right, that you guys aren’t the only ones who know how to sneak around this ship”

“Lucky my doctor said to take it easy or I’d upset my boo-boo otherwise you’d be down in the brig with your pals. And remember, I might be private bitch to you, but I’m in Miltech now and there’s plenty of airlocks around here for you to fly out of.”

And there it was. All up it had been a day or two and I was already having a pissing contest, using my new found position within Miltech to one up somebody else.

My conflicted thoughts blocked most of his anger outburst in response as I walked out of the bar and made my way back to my home deck. I just became the one thing everyone hates about Miltech - Flaunting unrestricted power over civilians.

Over the next few days I barely left my room. Due to our jump people became more panicky and the underbelly of Salvation started to rear its head. Deck nine was just the beginning and I was reluctant to risk getting dragged into anything else. Or so I thought.

“Major Jeremy Lewis requests entry”

“Approved” I shouted and the door to my quarters opened.

Without even a hello, Jeremy stood at the doorway and called out “pack a bag, you’re coming aboard the Mortifera.“