“If you encounter demons, you either fight or die. It’s as easy as that.”

- The Guide to the intelligent species of the galaxy.

***Deep Space***

***Antioch***

I regard the screen with a dark expression, realizing that there is no way to escape. We are nowhere near a solar system. If there were any planets or asteroids, we could use them to hide the ship. Though, that wouldn’t solve the overlying problem.

“How did they find us?”

I look at Silith who asked the question. “That’s what I want to know. Either they bought the information from Hob, or they have a large sensor array in the vicinity. I don’t want to consider the possibility that they have enough ships on the hunt for us to have us found by sheer luck.”

Accessing the map of the quadrant, I make a few quick calculations. If I take the point in time into account when we met the G.S. ships, and how long we were flying with the warp-drive… the number of required ships rises quickly. “Even if I assume that each of their ships can detect a warp-drive at a distance of over a light-year, they must have well over a thousand ships on the hunt for us.”

Shaking my head, I abandon the calculation. I simply cannot believe that they can muster so many ships, just to hunt us down. Oh, I don't doubt that they would if they could, but why should they have so many ships available? They would have had to be on standby somewhere in the vicinity. If they had that many, they would have much more of them on guard-duty around the station. Instead, they had just seven.

There must be another explanation. “It must be some kind of large sensor array. We flew past it without realizing it, and it reported our course. Still, if that’s the case, then there are more ships coming. Those three are just the first ones we can see.”

Lisandra sits down in one of the spectator-chairs. She wrings her hands, a frightened expression on her face. Pulling the chair’s controls closer, she links up to the ship’s network. Her pupils dilate for a second when she accesses the sensor data. “They are faster than us. Not much, but they will catch up if we do nothing.”

“Should we fall back to real space and fight them in the relativistic universe?” Silith asks, looking at the data. “We already did that once, and it worked fine.”

“We had a close flyby and exchanged a few greeting shots,” I correct her. “We escaped because we pre-planned the activation of our warp-drive, while they were powered down and on guard-duty.”

The emitters which create the warp-field are very power hungry. I can’t imagine that any ship would have them up and running if they don’t intend to use them in the next few minutes. It would wear down the components very quickly, making it a very costly entertainment.

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“If we deactivate the warp-drive and fight them, it won’t be over quickly. If they don’t want to fight, they can draw out the engagement for a long time,” I muse.

“Why should they do that? They are the ones who are hunting us?” One of the women asks. It’s the big one, I think her name is Ailes. They are all peeking in through the airlock which allows access to the cockpit. Since we added Lisandra to our ranks, we installed more chairs to accommodate others, but the small room is getting crowded with more than four people inside it.

“Of course, I can’t be certain,” I admit. “But that’s what I would do. Our ship is an unknown to them… and they surely have reinforcements on the way. Why shouldn’t they play for time? As far as they know, we could blast them as easily as their space station and escape into the void. We have no clue if we are still within the reach of their sensor array, but as long as those three ships stay close to us, they can transmit our position to the rest of their hunting party. We have to get rid of them. Fast. Fighting them in real-space turns us into sitting ducks and gives their reinforcements time to catch up. Then we have to fight them too. To be honest, I am not sure if the Haven can take three of their battleships without serious damage. We might be unable to escape afterwards.”

“Okay. The situation is bad,” Silith sums up my rant. “Do we have another choice? I wasn’t informed of any weapons which could attack another ship while they are using their warp-drive. Unless you hid something from me?”

I bite into my inner cheek and avoid her eyes. She won't like this solution and neither do I. “I didn’t exactly hide something from you. It’s just that the possibility isn’t fully tested. I have it locked up in one of the research areas.”

“Why are you trying to avoid the core of the matter? Do you have something that can solve the problem? Either you do, or you don’t. What is it?” Lisandra asks, clearly annoyed.

I sigh and call up the specifications of a small ship, displaying it on the main screen. “It’s a little project of mine. I wanted a small, personalized ship, which is capable of warp-flight. It’s really nothing more than a hull and an engine at the moment. I used anti-matter to power the emitters, since fusion reactors would require too much space.”

The ship is about thirty metres in length and shaped like an elongated diamond. When I built it, I wanted it to be as fast and as manoeuvrable as possible. Ever since I got my piloting skills from G.O.D., I felt like they were wasted. My reflexes are too fast and my instincts too accurate. None of the shuttles I flew so far was up to the task. It felt like I was flying a garbage can. What’s the point of having these awesome abilities if the tool isn’t adequate. When I flew the pirate shuttle, I gave a command and it only reacted after I already wanted it to do something else. It was infuriating.

“The ship is fine, but it has only limited reach. The warp-emitters will burn out fairly quickly. The more I miniaturize the technology, the less effective it becomes. What I suggest, is to use the ship to drop some containers with antimatter directly into the path of our pursuers. They may have the sensors to follow the Haven, but this little fighter should be too small for them to pick up. It’s like an insect, especially if we force Haven’s emitters to their limit and try to mask the fighter’s warp-field. It will be like shining a bright light into their eyes. The blast should overload their emitters and force them out of warp. Normally, that would be an impossible task. Even with such big ships, it should be impossible to drop something into their path with adequate accuracy.”

I clear my throat. “Though, this fighter should be able to do it. I can drop the payload directly into their face. There is just one problem.” I switch off the main-screen. “The ship doesn’t have enough power to catch up to the Haven. I would have to rely on my Hardware Backup to get back.”

“No,” Silith commands firmly. “We’ll find another way.”

Turning, I look at her. “I don’t know of any other way.”

“Then someone else will fly.” She crosses her arms in front of her chest. “This is nothing more than a suicide mission. What if the Hardware Backup doesn’t work? What if this admin takes another shot at you? The last time he tried to trick you while you were at death’s door. What will he do if he gets another shot?”

I furrow my forehead. “Well, that would suck.” But I would like to meet him again. Maybe I’ll shove something nasty up his nose. Depends on what’s within reach. “But I doubt that anyone else on this ship wished for perfect piloting skills?” Turning, I look at the others.

One by one, they shake their heads, making clear that they aren’t qualified for the job.

“Then I’ll ready the ship.”