It had only been a day, but I could see how my people were settling in. It was rough and thrown together in a panic, yes, but it was stable, for now. The tribes and clans still existed, but they had come together in a manner that seemed perhaps impossible. The things which had separated us had melted away, and we are working towards a future for all of us, rather than only for some. It was reassuring in a way I had not thought possible.

But some small part of me said this couldn’t be right. It wasn’t right. Our home should never have been destroyed, we should never have been exposed to a universe like this until we were ready. We were not ready for this… who could ever be ready for this?

I sighed softly as I made my way through the throngs of people who were simply trying to find some sort of routine in this strange place, unaware of the loss of their world. They knew it was gone, yes, but not the exact nature of its destruction, and I hoped to keep it that way, till we were somewhere less crowded perhaps.

I stopped by a window, one of the few actual windows built into the ship and stared out at the passing stars. How many worlds were we passing that were just like ours, but didn’t have Intra to influence things? I did not know, nor did I want to know. I felt dampness trailing down my cheek and reached up, brushing my fingertips through my tears. I knew then what I wanted most as I turned away, to head for my room.

I wanted to go home…

⫷⟪∞⟫⫸

I was honestly rather surprised by the number of friendly contacts that were steadily appearing on my sensors. I worried that perhaps the war had never stopped, and that perhaps this was just a prelude to an allied assault upon the Yil’kaa. But the way several groups seemed to converge upon my exit point suggested otherwise. More likely than not, they were there specifically for me, to keep the Yil’kaa from pursuing me into allied territory in some madness induced desire to destroy me. I was… touched, I suppose that’s the right word, that my people would value me so highly as to bring out such a large welcome home escort.

But I had other things to worry about now, I… no we, we weren’t out of the woods yet. Already I could detect several Yil’kaa ships on an intercept course, and based on the strange readings I detected, I could already tell they were interdictor ships. Which was bad, because unlike the neutral zone in a certain piece of sci-fi drama, both sides could enter it, up to a point. There was a designated no go area, the direct center of the zone. Cross that line, and you were declaring war. Stay on your side and you were free to do whatever really, like rescue ships that were dangerously close to that last line.

I knew they wanted to keep me on their side of that line, so they could destroy me in front of everyone without consequences. Sure they’d probably get reprimanded but nobody would legally be able to do anything.

If I crossed that line though… then we were safe. Hopefully. But they didn’t want me to cross it, and so they were pulling out all the stops.

Just another day though… Just one more day.

⫷⟪∞⟫⫸

Admiral Kirkland stared at the projections a little longer, watching the blip that was Intra growing steadily closer to the neutral zone, then entered it.

“Just a little farther you old gal, just a little farther.” He murmured to himself, only drawing the attention of his XO, who made no comment on his utterance. Ever so slowly she got closer, and as it stood the probability that he’d burst a blood vessel was more likely than her crossing that line any time within the next few minutes, not unless she got some sort of extreme speed boost, but that was doubtful.

But a man could dream right?

He finally sat, and continued to stare at the projection.

⫷⟪∞⟫⫸

When I awoke, I could feel the tension in the air. The drones were moving quicker, many of them foregoing the use of legs and simply floating around above everyone’s heads instead at speeds typically only seen in birds. I wondered what was going on, and Intra filled me in.

“We’re nearing the line. We’ll be safe once we’re over it but the Yil’kaa are getting closer. We may have to fight a bit more before we reach safety. I suggest you ensure your people are properly secured and ready for what is coming.” She said, and I nodded, knowing that a thought of confirmation was enough for Intra.

I slid out of the strange bed that I called mine, and dressed quickly, before setting out to do as she asked. Several hours passed in a blur, but the people listened to me dutifully, and I managed to get them settled and secured in record time I felt. I could be wrong, but Intra seemed pleased with how quickly my people did as they were told.

I made my way back to the bridge, and this time I was alone. For now at least. I settled myself in the chair I had claimed earlier, and it felt right to sit there. I felt a strap slide around my waist, and though there was a moment of panic, Intra told me it was alright, it was there for my protection, to keep me from being flung around if things got especially bad.

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

I closed my eyes, knowing that it was time.

⫷⟪∞⟫⫸

“STATUS CHANGE!” This outburst had Kirkland’ head snapping up from the report he’d been reading, looking towards the officer who’d spoken. “Yil’kaa interdiction systems have just come online, they’re closing in on her!”

“ALL COMMANDS! PUSH FORWARDS TOWARDS THE LINE! DO NOT CROSS IT OR OPEN FIRE, WE’RE HERE TO RESCUE A LOST COMRADE, NOT START A WAR!” He yelled as he stood, his voice carried out to every ship in the immediate vicinity. Immediately engines sparked to life, producing the thrust necessary to push those ships through the void.

“Horus, stand ready with the tractor beam, if she gets disabled right at the line, I want you to pull her over, understood?”

“Yes sir. I’m not keen on losing a sister today.”

“Good man.” Kirkland muttered in his head, feeling the engine's soft vibrations become far more noticeable as they advanced towards the Line. This was it, it was really happening, and one way or another they’d be getting their long lost comrade back.

Even if that meant they had to kill every last Yil’kaa here to do so.

⫷⟪∞⟫⫸

I felt my jump drives seize and then go offline, causing me to suffer immediate and violent deceleration. But thankfully, the only injuries anyone suffered were nothing more than bruises really. Anything worse than that was immediately tended to. I knew the people were in good hands, so I turned my attention elsewhere.

Before me sat two small battle groups. Nothing major, a few destroyers, at least one battleship and a pair of carriers. The bulk of the forces before me were smaller classes, frigates and corvettes mainly, plus two interdictor class ships. They were quickly moving to block my route, knowing that it’d take time for me to alter my course, as I would have to arrest forward momentum slightly to do anything. So I decided to fly straight and true, or as straight as one could reasonably get while in space.

An amusing thought drifted through my mind, that if there was ever a time for dramatic music, this would be it. I chuckled to myself and hummed softly, a sound I didn’t really realize was being broadcasted to everyone, but in hindsight it seemed to help the more anxious individuals amongst the populace.

I put as much power as I could into my engines, watching my speed climb considerably, before cutting power and letting myself simply drift, allowing me to divert power to weapons and shields instead of propulsion. I saw many small fighters streaming towards me, they’d be the first contacts I engaged, and they were clearly aiming to tie up my point defense, perhaps in the hope that if it was too busy focusing on them, that I’d be unable to defend myself from anything else like missiles or torpedoes. Normally, they’d be right, but I can do many things all at the same time, and target prioritization has always been a strong suit of mine.

Which is why even before their larger ships came into range of any of my guns, I was firing. It was a trick I’d learned from some old show that did a really good job of being true to reality when it came to space combat, and it seemed to work here and now wonderfully.

First I fired railguns directly at the enemy, and did so in a manner that required them to shift in one direction, and only one. It just so happens to be where my PDCs had fired kinetic rounds mere moments ago, and the sudden shift in power to shunt those large ships out of the way had weakened the shields enough for the smaller cluster of shots to shred both shields and organic armor.

It didn’t do much damage, but I forced them to do it again and again, and eventually decided that perhaps it would be better if they just ran into one another, so my shots became less about damage, and more herding groups of ships together. They knew what was happening, but it was either let the heavy railguns hit them, or they hit each other. And worse, the fact their ships were organic beings didn’t help either, as they too had a keen sense of self preservation, and more importantly, they could panic.

Panic they did, and they constantly kept flinging themselves into one another in attempts to avoid my shots. But it only served to make them bigger targets. By then the fighters had reached effective combat ranges and my cannons turned on them instead, directed laser weaponry flicked back and forth, slicing red beams through the wings, engines and small reactors of those organic buzzards. I was grateful that nobody aboard could hear me laughing as I exacted considerable losses upon my enemy.

And then I was in range of the larger ships, those that had survived turned their weapons on me and fired, and I did the same. We traded blows, back and forth, our shields flaring onto the visible spectrum as shots impacted. I grit my nonexistent teeth and kept firing, splitting my consciousness into several parts. One focused on keeping the fighters at bay, the other on my trajectory, and the last on making sure my shields held out and my weapons kept firing.

I was finally in the middle of the formation, and the battleship was moving to cut me off. I suspect they thought I was going to change course, but I wasn’t. No sir, I wasn’t planning on doing a damn thing. Instead, I fed some extra power to my engines and pushed them to their limit. I think that captain knew what I was doing when I didn’t change course, because they started to do just that instead.

“Cowards.” I hissed, just as the blade-like bow of my body connected with the enemy’s shields, caused them to overload and then dug into that organic hull. The sudden connection of two masses allowed me to ‘hear’ the scream of panicked agony from the living ship, as my bow embedded itself into that battleship’s flank. I must have hit something critical to its weapons and shield systems as well, because it wasn’t firing at me anymore.

“This is for my brother and sister.” I spoke softly, the anger I felt at their deaths still fresh. At point blank range I turned my closest guns upon the battleship and opened fire. I tore through chitin plating, soft flesh and enemy crew like they were nothing. I unleashed my millennia old fury upon that helpless ship and I watched with satisfaction as it died upon me. My momentum had carried us a bit closer to the Line by now, and as my guns continued to hammer the dead ship, I felt it starting to split apart and so turned my guns elsewhere, focusing now on the enemies behind me.

Flesh and tendons, blackened by lasers and gouged by kinetic shells stretched then snapped in rapid sequence. And just like that I cleaved it in two. Viscera and other vital fluids streamed from the gaping wounds I had inflicted, streaming over my hull as I put more power into my engines and picked up the speed I had lost when I rammed the ship.

And in minutes I crossed the Line.