The small warship named the Shore of Destiny pulsed away from the station, followed by a black shuttle that failed to register on sensors. Grigory tried to lock sensors on the shuttle, "for fun," and the EMDIS couldn't generate a fix outside of ultranarrow scanning range. The shuttle was equipped with advanced stealth technology, modern military stuff, and the Destiny's crew wondered how Rolf had gotten a hold on it.

Grigory was resting alone on the command deck when the other crew members emerged from the berthing area. The autopilot sounded an alert that the ship had reached a predefined control point. Arius suspected his brother had piloted the shuttle on manual the whole way, out of spite. Arius' brother was a better pilot, but despite the useless demonstration, resting in preparation for the upcoming fight seemed more sensible. A small crew of four was insufficient to run the Destiny according to regulation, but the team managed the effort through luck and skilled use of automatic controls.

After a hundred kiloseconds of calculated acceleration, the Destiny approached her prey. Meghan's fingers massaged a control panel, bringing the Destiny's ignition cannons and missile batteries on line. Alone, the warship shouldn't engage the cruiser in a direct confrontation, assuming the pirates had gotten the weapons operational. Layla knew she would win, but she would suffer losses and damage. She had hired the others so that they wouldn't have to trade shots. Layla had offered to provide the small crew with a handful of conventional weapons, but Rolf insisted on cash instead, and promised that he could get his own stock.

Meghan glanced at Arius across the ten meter width of the command deck. "Will your brother come through?"

"He's difficult, but he's competent. He'll take this as seriously as any of us," Arius spat.

Grigory glanced, annoyed. "Any competent sibling of yours must undoubtedly be able to drift some mines onto a crippled cruiser."

Layla stretched while verifying coordinates with the navigation computers. "I've had a chance to look at their shuttle. It's surprisingly sophisticated. I'm looking forward to seeing it in action. Might have to take one out some day."

Grigory smirked and the light glinted awkwardly off his tattooed-black lips and chemical-green skin.

The cruiser came into range of the short-range sensors. Layla set the ship on a closing trajectory. The warship, with modern weapons and heavy armor, would act as a decoy, while the stealthy shuttle dropped her mines in front of the cruiser. With any luck they would disable the cruiser's lateral defense array before the shuttle was detected.

Arius kept the ship oriented towards the cruiser until the forward sensing array could complete a scan, then veered along a strafing trajectory. The generators screamed as they reached peak power output, pouring energy into the dilaton mesh and propulsion system.

Meghan's eyes searched the partial image of the cruiser displayed on her console. The other ship's main gun was protected by dense armor, and she couldn't get a firing solution from the trajectory Arius had chosen. She chose other targets, brightly lit points on the display where the computer predicted fragile hypergolics and critical defensive weapons to be installed, and viewed the detailed images of those points that the sensors had collected. Deciding which targets were threats and which were merely vulnerable points, Meghan queued a firing sequence into the computer and glanced at Layla, waiting for the command to kill.

Layla nodded. Meghan pressed a small tactile switch. The Destiny opened fire with ignition cannons. The lead armor of the cruiser shone white-hot, boiling away and into space. The computer steadily executed the firing sequence while Meghan queued more targets. The cruiser returned fire with conventional artillery: explosive shells traveling at modest velocities. The guns must have been retrofit and weren't a match for the ship's original loadout.

Arius scanned, computing a trajectory that would distance the Destiny from the incoming shells, and returned the sensor suite to Meghan's control. The cruiser wasn't maneuvering, and Grigory felt no threat from the ship's main guns.

Grigory engaged the counter-sensor systems, releasing drones and energy trails that would confuse any automatic targeting systems on the cruiser. Against two opponents, the cruiser would not need to use automatic targeting, but if the crew was so unskilled... Grigory had expected his tactic would have a substantial effect on the ability of the cruiser to lock on target and return fire. He considered trying to mask the shuttle, but the cruiser wasn't firing in that direction, and his own sensors were unable to detect the thing. Releasing chaff canisters might do more to give it away than anything else.

Meghan was bored by the ease with which the ignition cannons tore apart the cruiser's defensive weapons and watched with a lazy smile as the shuttle matched velocity under manual control with the cruiser and jettisoned four small spheres. Arius' brother was skilled, after all. Meghan focused the warship's aft ignition cannons on a single spot on the cruiser. The Destiny maintained course and continued past the cruiser; layers of lead and plastic ablated until the ignition cannons penetrated an oxygen management system. The resulting fire incinerated four empty decks of the cruiser, but Meghan thought the flames were magnificent and the view worth the effort.

Both the shuttle and warship activated electro-magnetic counter-radiation protocols before the mines burst. The mines had oriented their payloads, then released their charge in a wave that transformed the entire cruiser into an enormous blob of molten metal and burning hydrocarbon. Meghan was disappointed at how easy the victory had come. Rolf had mentioned they might have a extra contribution to throw into the fight, but Layla hadn't expected nukes. The ignition cannons had halted fire automatically when the sensor system lost target coherence.

Arius sent a message to his brother on the shuttle, congratulating him on a successful mail drop, and attached a quarter of the bounty they had been paid by Mister Nought for dealing with the elusive bandits. Layla felt a twinge of guilt for sending only twelve thousand credits to a larger crew who had risked their lives twice to bring down these pirates, but after all, her crew needed the money and had performed much of the work of locating the bandits to their home base. Rolf and his band had helped when they managed to slaughter the bandits on the station Grace-919, leaving Layla ample time to scavenge data from the frigate computers blithely ignored by station security.

***

Rolf distributed fifteen hundred credits to each of the crew members, except for Ross, who had gone ahead to the Liberty station to visit a professional doctor with the equipment to replace his shoulder with something more intact. The shuttle arrived on Liberty, matching course with the Destiny, two cycles after Ross had arrived. Rolf made sure Ross got his share, and told the man that Layla's crew had taken care of his medical expenses.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Rolf was the only crew-member who left the shuttle after docking, and only to find Ross. Colin relaxed in the common room sofa with a ratty book. Ina sat on a chair in the corner, motionless. Bronco paced around the room while Pathik returned to the command deck and Liam idled in his quarters.

Ina struggled with the fog in her mind, emerging from an attempt at simulation that had transformed into a fractured nightmare. She looked at Bronco. "How long have you been with Rolf?"

Bronco stopped and turned. "Maybe thirty megaseconds, I guess."

Ina's gaze turned to the floor. "Does he always behave like this?"

Bronco smirked. "Feast or famine, as long as I've been around. That's not Rolf, miss, it's just the life. You're just getting a glimpse."

Colin put the book onto the table in front of him and looked over at the two. "Well, fewer injuries, lately."

Bronco continued, "A young kid hitched a ride a few megaseconds before we started transporting cargo to N-X-171. Got spaced on a station, pissed off some locals. Before him, there was a woman my age who decided she wanted a vacation and put a bullet in her head. This life ain't for everyone."

Pathik's voice cracked over the announcement system. "Hey. Get up here."

Bronco looked towards the command deck and shrugged. Colin lurched off the sofa and led the trio onto the command deck. Pathik had an overhead monitor playing a recorded news announcement. The video looped a scene of debris erupting from mountains of metal, somewhere in space.

"The Gorman Protectorate has declared themselves free of the Quorum edict. The nearby Quorum Neptune-class station Omicron-Tau was destroyed by inchworm missiles after Quorum warships entered Protectorate space."

Bronco gestured at Pathik. "How big is a Neptune?"

"Five million people, if she were full. I don't know about that one. Barbaric," Pathik said. "Think the Quorum will retaliate?"

Liam stumbled onto the deck, eyes dazed with a chemical haze. "What?"

The video and message repeated itself. The crew were informed that the Gorman Protectorate had been placed under restricted law, and that all transportation into or out of the sector was prohibited.

Ina looked towards Pathik. "That is on the opposite side of Quorum Core Space."

"Yeah. And?"

Ina continued. "What will happen when the Quorum attack?"

Bronco turned towards Ina with a nervous expression. "What do you mean, when?"

Liam said, "Duh. Everyone hates the Gormans. Why do you think they pay so well? The Quorum will strike." He smashed one fist into an open palm. "Hard! This is beyond Quorum legal interdiction. I think it means war."

Pathik turned and spoke to the wall. "Too bad the Quorum don't pay at all, or we wouldn't be docked in a shit-hole like this." His head swiveled towards Colin. "What do you think the odds are that the boss will want to head over there?"

Colin said, "Yeah. We could take a jump cruiser and be there in half a megasecond. Early contracts are flexible and less dangerous."

"Without a ship. This isn't going away. We could take the slow route, hop a gravity gate, and arrive in a bit more than twice the time."

Ina looked at Colin. "Heading towards a war seems to be a poor choice."

"Even for money? Well, you're right. But yeah, that's what we'll do."

***

Layla looked at Grigory. "It's too fucking soon. We're not ready."

Grigory said, "We could hitch a ride. Jump."

"What about the ship?"

Grigory nodded at the man to his side. "Arius, think your brother wants another job?"

Arius put his hand under his chin. "Seems like a stupid idea to fly around in a warship, where we're going. Rolf's good at stupid."

Layla took in a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "Yeah. Arius, make it happen."

***

Rolf flicked a switch and the video vanished. "Well, this is it then. If you're not in, the bus is leaving."

"Bus?"

Rolf ignored Ina's question. Pathik stretched and mentioned that he was going to go get a few kiloseconds of sleep before the shuttle would leave. Bronco and Liam returned to the station to do some shopping. Ina followed the pair down the docking corridor once they had passed out of sight.

Doctor Sanders found Ina in the station's central hub. She was upset that he followed her, and wondered how she would remove the tracking equipment. He walked beside her, remaining silent.

"You said I wouldn't see you again."

"There's something I should tell you... I contacted an old friend. Ina, I registered you with the Quorum personnel database. As... what you are... you're automatically a citizen. I meant to protect you. This won't... should not cause you problems. As long as you're not a problem. It's the best I can do."

She was confused. Machine intelligence is illegal. The Quorum would take her into custody and destroy her if they knew. She was certain. She knew the law. She accessed her communicator. She scanned a quick blurb on the net. There was no such law. FUCK.

Ina would have to deal with that later. She changed direction and left Sanders pacing alone in the hub. Layla had left a message, asking to meet for a few moments. They found each other in a sparse hallway near the Shore of Destiny.

"Hey."

Ina mimicked the woman's cold tone. "Hey."

"Don't go with Rolf."

Ina crossed her arms. "This decision is mine. I have agreed to pilot the shuttle while Rolf is in control of your own ship."

Layla shook her head. "Great. Take the shuttle and go somewhere else. This is going to be messy. I'm being selfish. I've been crushing on you since we first met, and I don't want you there when things aren't pretty." She wore a sad smile.

Ina returned a blank stare. "That's irrelevant. We have business in the Gorman sector."

Layla put her hands on Ina's shoulders. "Don't do this for money. Rolf's gonna go to war after he gets there. He's gonna get his people hurt. Lay low. I'll take you with me after we've done this next thing."

Ina shook her head. "I'm not seeking money. This is-"

"I'll buy you fare to a Friesian station, if you need. Don't follow me."

She turned from Layla's grasp. "What is your concern? Why do you think you can tell me what to do? Because you're bound by chemicals flowing in your blood? You're wrong."

***

The cruiser's engines flared at full power as the kilometer-long egg achieved sufficient momentum. The inchworm engines screamed and the shell of the ship vibrated.

The probability field of the first inchworm engine collapsed, releasing a brilliant pulse of light and radiation around the cruiser. The ship had moved forward less than a meter. Microseconds later, the next engine pulsed, and the next, six hundred machines in all, fields building and collapsing in sequence. The cruiser tunneled through space, meter by meter, each tiny step taken at velocity that was both zero and infinite. A lightning arc crackled through space, and as the cruiser passed by a shriveled black ruin, the ship left behind a fragment.

The small planetoid was warmed by a molten core and artificial atmosphere, though it lacked a star. A life pod floated down from the jump cruiser, with four bodies inside, and slowed first as thrusters fired in space, then through the atmosphere, until it landed at a precise coordinate on the planet's surface.

***

The seven priests stand in a circle chanting around me. They call me Shedu, but I don't know the name. They say they love me. One steps forward, and his hands slip out from under his robes. His hand holds a small wooden bowl; the priest walks in a circle as the celebrants dip their fingers and flick the red liquid at me. I'm standing. I look down at my body. I'm just a child. I see myself naked in front of them and cover myself with my arms. The chanting grows louder, the flecks cover my skin over and over, and my head splits open and I fall to my knees.

I vomit and taste blood and acid. I put my hands on the floor and try to keep from falling as the mess splashes on the filthy stones. The chants rise to a shriek, and bits of raw, rotten red flesh pour out of my mouth. The sight of the mess makes my stomach heave even more, and as I puke, I feel full inside. Full to bursting, my stomach convulses and everything that comes out turns to white. White covers the floor, covers my hands and knees, and something bites the back of my neck. Layers of pain and noise and rage scream in my head. I touch the floor and feel the cold take hold of me.

I float upwards, watch the blood pumping out of my body. My head hangs beside my neck, half-severed. But it isn't my body. It isn't my blood. It isn't blood at all.

I wake up, screaming against the darkness.