“Ullir, this is amazing!” Rhubin said as we flew through hyperspace. “We're at... point five times... no, one times... one point five times... one point seven times... by the Goddess! We're at two times light speed!” He shook his head at the readout and looked at me. “Ships aren't supposed to travel this fast!”
“I don't know what to tell you.” I said. “This trip into hyperspace feels completely different than what it did on the long haul transport.”
“That's probably because the ship is so much smaller.” Rhubin said. “You weren't near the edge of the ship for any of the jumps in the long haul, were you?”
“A few times when I was working on the bridge.” I said. “It didn't feel anything like this.”
“What does it feel like?” Luxea asked.
“It's like...” I stopped talking and thought about the best way to put it into words. “It's like we're on a big water slide. The engines are the water pushing us along and the Presence is holding us steady in the slide and protecting us.”
“Holding us steady?” Rhubin asked. “That's my piloting skill!”
“Don't the deflector screens protect us?” Luxea asked, a little confused.
“You asked me how it felt.” I said. They don't believe me, even though I've told them that the Presence is in everything. I thought. “How long until we reach the system you set the coordinates to?” I asked, to change the subject.
Luxea typed at the console and brought up the course data. “At this ridiculous speed, about six hours.” She said, then checked the numbers again. “By the Goddess, it's only going to take six hours!”
Rhubin laughed. “I really like this ship!”
“Me, too.” I said. “Luxea, can I talk to you for a few minutes?”
“Sure.” Luxea said and followed me out of the cockpit and down to what I considered the living room on the ship. It had the console my mother worked at while I played on the floor. “What is it?”
“I know you only wanted passage to a system where the major trading routes go, so you could try and find another ship to take you wherever you want to go.”
I stopped talking for a few moments as I took a deep breath and let it out.
“I'm way out of my depth here.” I said. “I can use the systems pretty well, thanks to all the practice I had on the long haul transport. Your lessons on maintenance will help me immensely for any of the little things that might happen; but, this ship... it's...” I turned away from her and waved at it. “You're right. It's like a luxury craft. There are so many extras and little things all over the place that I have no experience at all with them.”
“What are you saying?” Luxea asked.
“Luxea, I... I want you to stay.” I said and turned back to face her. She had wide eyes and raised eyebrows, and just stared at me. “I know it's a lot to ask of you. I'm wanted by The Order and there's a bounty on my head.” I said. “It's not going to be the nice easy life you had on the long haul transport. I know that for sure.”
“You remember being on the run from The Order, even though you were only a child?” Luxea asked, surprised.
“Yeah. I remember learning to walk right here.” I said and pointed to the floor. “I walked over to my mother and said my first word.”
“It was 'Mom'.” Luxea said.
“How did you know that?” I asked.
“She's the first woman you loved.” Luxea said with a smile. “The first man I loved was my father.”
“Aida was very beautiful and she loved me more than I thought I deserved.” I said.
“It was the same with my father.” Luxea said. “He was a great man and I miss him dearly.”
“It tore my heart out when The Order killed her.” I said, my voice full of sadness. “I was filled with anger and I tried to get to her, then (Undecipherable) and his apprentice showed up and took me.”
Luxea stepped forward and put her arms around my waist and rested the side of her head on my chest. “My dad was mining on an asteroid that was dense enough for gravity but not air.” She said. “He was covered in dirt and grime and one of the droids that cleared away the rubble while the workers dug, mistook him for rubble and cleared him out of the way, too.”
I put my arms around her and held her tenderly. “I think we're kind of tied for tragic parent deaths.”
“No, you win that.” Luxea said with a sad smile as she looked up at me. “My mother is still alive and living on my father's death pension.”
“I'm glad the mining company is taking care of her.” I said.
“It made them overhaul the outdated recognition software and program them for rescue operations as well.” Luxea said. “Once they figured out how to get it to work without any bugs, they shared the update for free with every other mining consortium that used those droids.”
“That was nice of them.” I said. “They could have made a fortune selling those updates and not all of them would have gotten it.”
“I was really angry at them, at the droids, and... and with myself... for a really long time.” Luxea said.
“Blame can be like that.” I said and used one of my hands to rub small circles on her lower back.
“I eventually grew to accept it, because his death helped so many people in the end.” Luxea closed her eyes for a moment and looked back at me. “I became an engineer because of him.”
“Now I'm really glad.” I said and smiled at her, and her sad smile became a normal one.
“Yeah, you might not have met me, otherwise.” Luxea said.
“Maybe, maybe not.” I said, and she raised her eyebrows. “I think... no, I know... I've met certain people in my life, and...” I stopped talking, unsure if I should say it out loud.
“And what?” Luxea asked.
“It almost always turns out that I meet them for a reason.” I said. “I can't really explain it, since some of the people came and went without consequence; but, a few have stood out and my life changed after meeting them.”
Luxea looked into my eyes for several moments before she spoke. “I'm one of those people?”
“You are.” I said, and I saw her face flush slightly red.
“I... ah... suppose that... I could stick around for a while.” Luxea finally managed to say.
“Thank you.” I said sincerely as I bent slightly to give her a tighter hug. She hugged me back just as tightly, and we stood there for several minutes without saying anything.
*
“Master Moor, we have a problem.” The pilot said over the ship's communicator. “We can't find them.”
Stolen novel; please report.
Kara stepped into the cockpit of the fast courier ship. “What do you mean you can't find them?”
“Up until now they have been using the normal shipping routes, since we suspect they don't know we have been following them.” The navigator said. “We were more than lucky to stumble across their path in the Granis System and the station manager was willing to hand over the long haul's shipping manifest. Each place we've stopped at since then, following the supply trail, has brought us closer and closer to catching them.”
“The last port said they had left barely a week ago and this was supposed to be their next stop.” Kara said. “It's only a short hop through hyperspace, so they should be here.”
“It's a short hop for us.” The pilot corrected. “For a long haul cargo ship it could...”
“Did you contact the station to see if they docked and left already?” Kara asked.
“They haven't been here yet.” The pilot said.
“Hm.” Kara crossed her arms and thought for a moment. “How long do we have to wait before they show up?”
“It could be anywhere from right now to several days.” The navigator said.
“You have got to be kidding me.” Kara said. “Now I'm starting to wonder if they skipped this port.”
“They can't. Not without incurring a large penalty for non-delivery.” The pilot said. “They will have to show up here eventually.”
“Then we will wait.” Kara said. “This is the first time we've actually gotten ahead of their movements.” She looked at the navigator. “I assume they'll be dropping out of hyperspace within this general area?”
“Yes, Mastrer Moor.” The navigator said. “They are a much larger ship and displace a lot of volume, so they will be slightly off the normal jump coordinates from smaller ships.”
“Then I want a short patrol route set up for this area.” Kara said. “I don't want to give them a chance to jump before we can catch them in normal space.”
“Do you want me to request help from the system's normal patrols?” The pilot asked.
“No, we should be able to handle this ourselves.” Kara said and walked away from the cockpit to resume her seat in the small passenger compartment. “We've come this far and our chase is almost at an end.” She said to the two other Order members with her.
“Thank the Goddess.” One of the Order members said. “I enjoy travelling most times; but, these tight quarters have been less than comfortable.”
“Comfort is a condition of the mind.” Kara said and closed her eyes. Ullir, why couldn't you stay comfortable with me? She asked herself. Everything was fine at first, and then... She held in her sigh. All I wanted was for you to become the man I want you to be, and all you did was fight against it. She used a mental technique to enter a meditative state and relaxed. I almost have you back, now. This time, things are going to be different between us. I just know it!
Less than six hours later, the ship they were looking for appeared in the system. The Order fast courier ship had just completed a loop in their patrol route, which put them right in the middle of the long haul transport's projected course.
WOOOONNNN! WOOOONNNN!
The collision warning sirens on both ships blared out and both of the pilot's reacted.
“BY THE GODDESS!” Rus yelled and hit the emergency button. It reversed the engine thrust and kicked in the one-time use engine thrusters that were mounted on the front of the ship. They had never been used before; but, they worked as intended and the long haul transport's forward momentum was greatly reduced as the massive ship slowed down. The quick deceleration was joined by the sound of metal groaning and a lot of vibrations, since large ships weren't supposed to slow down like that.
It was a relief to the pilot of The Order's fast courier ship, because it gave him just enough time to divert his course from colliding with the front edge of the long haul transport's cargo area. He hadn't been going very fast; but, even relatively slow ships in space were still moving quite fast by normal standards.
The collision sirens ceased and everyone relaxed as the large ship came to a stop, then Rus clued in on what just happened and hit several buttons to call the little ship he had almost made into spare parts.
“What the hell were you thinking?” He yelled at the other pilot's face on the small display screen. “You can't just fly through the heavy shipping lanes like that!”
It was then that The Order pilot swung around and flew into the long haul transport's view, and Rus looked up to see the distinct color and markings for The Order.
“We were waiting for you.” A distinctly female voice said and he looked back at the display to see a much wider view and a pretty woman with pink hair stood behind the pilot. She also wore the master robes of The Order. “Prepare to be boarded and hand over the fugitive.”
“Fugitive? What fugitive?” Rus asked, and Kara felt the flow of Presence waver.
“Lying won't make things easier for you.” Kara said. “You know who we are looking for.”
Rus opened his mouth for a moment, then closed it.
“Ullir's no longer on the ship.” Cassie said as she leaned into the display's view.
“CASSIE!” Rus yelled.
“I'm not going to face imprisonment for that jerk, Dad.” Cassie said to him and looked back into the display. “We just dropped him off at a super gas giant planet where he picked up his ship.”
“His ship? What ship?” Kara asked.
“His parents' old ship.” Cassie said. “I don't know what kind of condition it's in, though.”
“Send me the coordinates.” Kara said and Cassie disappeared from her view.
“Cassie, what are you doing?” Rus asked.
“I told you.” Cassie said and sent the data about Ullir's ship. “I won't become a criminal for something that they can easily discover from a quick survey of the area.” She came back to the display and looked at Kara. “There's no ship information, since it wasn't fully powered and we were pretty far away.”
“Is he still there?” Kara asked.
“He was when we left there yesterday.” Cassie said. “I don't think he's going to be there for long with Luxea onboard, though.”
“Who's Luxea?” Kara asked.
“She was our engineer and abandoned us.” Cassie said, angrily. “Good riddance, I say.”
“Are they together?” Kara asked before she could stop herself.
“Ha!” Cassie barked a laugh. “She wishes!”
Kara smiled. “As a member of The Order, I request that you remain here while I investigate your claims.”
“That's fine. We have to look for another engineer to replace her anyway.” Cassie said. “Especially after this emergency stop.”
“Have the locals check your ship over and The Order will handle the cost of repairs.” Kara said, and both Cassie's and Rus' eyes widened at the offer. “Information leading to Ullir is very valuable to me.”
“He has a pilot, too!” Cassie blurted, and Rus glared at her. “Rhubin Tromazz. He's pretending to be coerced; but, he's going along with Ullir willingly.”
“That saves me from having to ask what happened to the shuttle pilot.” Kara said and nodded. “I'd still like to board your ship to look around for myself.”
“We're not going anywhere for a while.” Cassie said. “You should go and try to catch him first.”
“I intend to.” Kara said. “Good day.” She ended the call and looked at the navigator.
“We can be there in about eight hours.” He said.
“Is that the fastest we can get there?” Kara asked, doubtfully.
“If you want hypothetical answers included, no.” The navigator said and smiled. “We can push the ships systems past the recommended limits and risk something failing.”
“Which is the polite way of saying we might explode.” The pilot said.
Kara nodded acceptance. “Send word to the station and to the patrol ships to make sure that ship doesn't leave the system, then get us on course to the coordinates and jump as soon as possible.”
“We'll be ready to enter hyperspace in about five minutes, according to the computer.” The navigator said as the pilot swung the fast courier ship around and accelerated away from the long haul transport.
They jumped five minutes later, almost to the second, and the eight hour trip seemed to take three times as long for Kara. She had tried to relax and used various mental techniques to pass the time, and none of it seemed to help ease her anticipation. As the time ticked down, she became more agitated, and the other two Order members remained very quiet so that they wouldn't attract her attention.
When the ship exited hyperspace at the proper coordinates, Kara jumped to her feet and entered the cockpit to see what the situation was. It took a frustratingly long time for the navigation computer to update for the local region. When the navigator sighed, she knew Ullir was gone.
“The ship isn't in the polar region of the super gas giant or docked to the station.” The navigator said. “In fact, there are no ships in the area right now.”
“Well, it is a very low traffic system.” The pilot said.
“Why is that?” Kara asked.
“The super gas giant is almost completely mined out of useful chemicals.” The pilot said. “It used to be a big hub for trading and transshipping goods about twenty years ago.”
That information made Kara think about what it would mean for the people that had used those old routes and they died out, then she thought about what those routes would mean to people that didn't want to deal with The Order. She caught her breath as she made the connection between Ullir's parents being rogues and coming to this station while on the run from The Order.
They were killed here. Kara thought. “Take us in on a fast approach and contact the station manager.” She said. “I want to know who was on shift when Ullir got his ship and where it went.”
“I don't think they would have that information.” The navigator said.
“What? Why wouldn't they?” Kara asked. “All ships are supposed to file a flight plan with...” She stopped talking for a moment before answering her own question. “There are no Order representatives here.”
“I also doubt that the station would care where a ship that's been in storage for so long went, as long as they were paid.” The pilot said.
“I bet the fees were enormous.” The navigator said. “Can you imagine what condition it would be in?”
“It depends on if it was sealed or not.” The pilot said. “If it was me, I'd have stripped the thing and sold it off for salvage years ago.”
“It was being held upon request by a member of The Order.” Kara said. “(Undecipherable).”
“By the Goddess.” One of the Order members said. “That would mean he...”
“Killed Ullir's parents here.” The other Order member said.
“...and Ullir came back here.” The first one said. “That's... he's...”
“Quiet.” Kara said to them and looked back at the pilot. “Follow my orders.”
“Yes, Master Moor.” The pilot said and flew them towards the station as he called them, then started to talk to the alien and demanded information on who had worked the day before.