When Meisha had joined the UCDF, she had known that she would see and experience some weird things. Colonies had plants and animals that were vastly different from Earth’s. Sunsets and sunrises on colonies were weird. Having multiple moons was weird. But never in her life did she expect to find out that intelligent aliens were not only real, but hostile. Not only that, but Fubuki had known.

  The whole time she had known what was responsible. Of course she had. Even if not certain, she had an idea. Which was more than Meisha had at the moment. She wished that she had asked Fubuki more before the woman seemingly stepped off the roof and disappeared. Any information would have been helpful. “This is not at all how I imagined first contact would go.” She muttered out loud.

  Briggs shook his head, studying the images and video that Meisha had captured on her helmet camera. “Do you really think that Fubuki can distract them?” Around them, curious troopers listened in. Meisha had sent the images and video across the whole outfit’s HUD, figuring everyone left should at least have an idea of what they faced.

  “Briggs, I don’t know what the hell I think anymore.” Meisha said laughing. “What are our numbers like?”

  “Forty-Three dead. We collected the ID’s we could. “Seventeen injured, eleven seriously. That's two per stretcher, so we lose twenty-two carrying them out. That leaves us with 158 able troopers, and two full squads of REAPER armor. 68% of our full fighting force.”

  Meisha started pacing; a bad habit of hers when thinking. “We’re trying to avoid conflict and just EVAC right now. We need to move fast and quiet.”

  “If I can speak freely Ma’am, I disagree.” Lupus said. “We need to move fast, sure.But if Fubuki is able to distract them, we don’t need to move quietly.”

  “What did you have in mind?” Meisha asked, her curiosity piqued.

  “Well I grew up on stations like this, though admittedly much older ones.” He chuckled. “The big districts like this have their own dedicated maintenance depot, with things like heavy lift gear, wheeled tractor trailers. Big vehicles to move things like battery banks, modular fusion reactors and such. There should be a flatbed hauler there.”

  “We passed that depot on our way here.” Briggs said. “There was a heavy mover there. It was a… Beinhoff? The thing was massive. Could probably fit half our guys just on its front platform alone.”

  “A Beinhoff?” One soldier asked. He froze, realizing he had spoken out of line. Meisha looked over at him.

  “What’s your name trooper?”

  He swallowed hard. The kid was young, maybe just 18 years of age and still green. “Name’s Emanuel, Ma’am.”

  “Are you familiar with Beinhoffs?”

  “Uh, sort of Ma’am. There’s only one Beinhoff model, the BH585. It's a 20 meter long, 500 ton hauler. One of the largest permitted on station use. I used to drive one for my dad's company before joining up."

  Meisha grinned. "Well that sounds perfect. You're driving then." She looked around. "Donovan, Reiya, I need my engineers." Reiya pushed her way forward, her left arm in a sling and her uniform covered in dried blood. Meisha felt her heart sink. "Donovan?" She asked. Reiya shook her head.

  "He was lost when the transport crashed. " Gabriels said, his voice cracking. Meisha felt her heart drop. He had saved her life less than a day ago, and now he was gone. She grit her teeth and resolved that no more would die.

  “Ok, Reiya. I’ll need you to walk me through hotwiring this thing when we arrive. Briggs, prepare everyone to move. We get there and load the wounded and as many people in its bed as possible. Five REAPER suits on the front platform, 5 in the back. If we can’t pile everyone on, We go slower and they march behind.”

  “Oh we’ll load everyone on.” Briggs muttered. “This thing is a beast.”

  Meisha gave a nod, and studied her small army. “We have our objective. Let's make it happen.”

  Throughout her life, Fubuki had experienced a lot of bad days. Bad days didn’t bother her as much anymore; she had learned that she could not control everything and that rolling with the punches and keeping a cool head resulted in the best outcome for everyone involved. She also had known that this would happen at some point. First contact between humanity and any number or races was a ‘when’ question, not an ‘if’ question.

  She had expected it to go much better than this, though. In her mind she imagined diplomatic fleets of the brightest minds each species had to offer, convening and discussing culture and history and science. She had not expected Ferronians to attack some backwater human colony, massacre their population and ambush its military with illegal weapons.

  They had let the first transport ship land, she assumed, because they wanted to test the human’s military force. They weren’t trying to be quiet about their presence; they had waited for the humans to establish themselves and then started marching in like they owned the place. Fubuki started counting the number of violations this Ferronian force had created, and lost track when she got into the hundreds.

  “This is still containable.” She said to herself as she examined the Ferronians moving through the streets. “Maybe it's a rebel group or a breakoff from the military?” Her eyes were good though, and she could clearly see the insignias on the Ferronian’s powered armor. Behind the marching troops were two bulky vehicles hovering off the ground, gun turrets swiveling back and forth. Gravity tanks.

  “They really mean business.” She muttered. With a sigh, she realized that there was no right or easy way to roll with these punches. She just needed to suck it up and do it, consequences be damned. She took a few steps back and sprinted forwards, leaping off the building she had been watching from and onto the first tank. The tank halted, falling to the ground as its gravity propulsion gave out. The columns of Ferronian soldiers spun around, and Fubuki took a seat on one of the tank’s gun barrels. She flipped up her helmet’s visor and smiled warmly at the aliens.

  “Well, let's hear it.” She said in perfect Ferronian. It had been a long time since she had used the language, but she was more than fluent. She crossed her legs and started drumming her fingers on the tank’s barrel. “Be quick about it too, I’ve got many questions and I’m not very happy.” Weapons were raised and pointed at her, and she smiled. “Oh come on, you all know better than to try this. Do you really think if all it took to take me down was a few shots from a chargerifle, I’d still be alive? They might have scared the humans on this station, but they won’t scare the human’s military captain.” Her eyes went hard and her warm demeanor dropped. “And it won’t scare me. I want your commander in front of me. Now.”

  The Ferronian commander was already making his way forward, his soldiers parting to let him pass. The golden insignias of Ferronian leadership reflected off his powered armor, and he stopped in front of Fubuki. “Ahh, the Dragon of the Abyss. Queen Fubuki, what a surprise. Whatever are you doing here on a human’s station?”

  “I’m on vacation. I should say it's more of a surprise to see you here, General Aki-Mar. A man of your leadership and record knows much better than to try and raid an unindicted race. Once word makes its way to the Senate-”

  Laughter broke out among the Ferronians, or what passed for laughter among them. “Dear Queen, what would you know about the state of the Senate or our Federation? You have been gone for a long time, leaving the Cenonians, Draconi and Illarians to grow fat and lazy.” The general growled. “The balance of power has long since shifted away from the Ferronian people. The most prosperous colonies are given to others for favors, while we are ordered to clear and guard them to be given even the worst of resources. We have gone from equal on the council to all but forgotten! Our representatives appeal and plead for balance, but still we are bred for the slaughter. I no longer care for your senate or what they think.”

  “If this is merely a political issue, I can return with you and we can work something out. You are right, I have been gone for a long time, but I doubt this is so irreparable that we cannot solve this without bloodshed. There is no need to be extreme in your response. Peace should be the goal here.”

  “And why is that?” Aki-Mar laughed. “So our people can be trampled on yet again as soon as you turn your back? And why should peace be the goal here? That is your philosophy, only formed after your guilt of war. My philosophy is doing whatever is best for my people to prosper. And dear queen, as you know very well, we prosper in conquest. You have let our people wallow in oppression for long enough and your system of governance has failed. Turn your back once again on this conflict and retire somewhere quiet. Our conflict is not with you.”

  Fubuki’s eyes widened at the treason she was hearing. “You’re saying the Ferronians are turning on the Federation. Destroying thousands of years of peace and interracial stability. You do realize that means going to war against me, right?”

  “As hard as you are to kill, Fubuki, you are not indestructible.”

  Fubuki crossed her arms. “So why attack humans? They have nothing to do with the Federation.”

  The general seemed to hesitate. “Not yet, they don’t. However they’re an interesting species. You definitely think so, they seem to be your chosen people. They most closely resemble you. Your sons and daughters, perhaps.”

  “No.”

  “Regardless, It seemed prudent to test the waters and see what the Human’s technology could do against our own. We dusted off our rules of engagement that you had forbidden and the Ferronian elders have initiated the Sacrificial Battle rite, with myself and mine under me as our representatives. So far I am not impressed with the human’s capabilities but time will tell.”

  Fubuki furrowed her brow. “Sacrificial Battle… two sides sending their best warriors to test…”

  Aki-Mar studied her, almost pitifully. “As I said dear Queen, Our conflict is not with you. Our people appreciate what you have tried to do for the galaxy and its inhabitants, but you are not all knowing nor all powerful. It is time for the Ferronians to take our future into our own hands.”

  This information made Fubuki’s head spin. This wasn’t the outcome that she had imagined. She had worked so hard to build a system of governance that promoted peace between the galaxy’s species. It went well, and she was always able to negotiate and intercede to help keep things peaceful. But the general was right, she had been away for a while. She thought it had been long enough that the Senate and its democratic process could keep things in line.

  Apparently she had been wrong, and the Ferronians were now on a warpath of retribution. Of all the races in the galaxy to anger... It was something she would have to deal with later. Meisha and her crew had to survive. They could be used as a tool to unravel both the Admiralty and the Ferronians, maybe even crying wolf to prevent a war. But to make that happen, Fubuki needed to get them off this station. She stood up, grabbing her helmet and putting it on. “So, I’m guessing you have a carrier hidden somewhere?”

  “Yes. With escorts.”

  “You know I won’t let this happen. And you know that you will all die trying.”

  The general folded a set of his arms. “I don’t believe you have the power to stop us on your own.”

  “I’ve raised and led armies before.”

  The Ferronians laughed again, this time harder. “The Dragon has lost her bloodlust, I think.” The general said. “The creature who conquered before is no longer you. You care about peace and unity, not dominance and rule.”

  “My rule…” Fubuki responded. “Has not been challenged until now.”

  The general stepped forwards, goading her. “Alright then, Dragon. I am challenging you. Do it, kill your own people. Spill the blood of your subjects and show us all how-” His speech was stopped as Fubuki’s blade sliced through his powered armor, starting in between his arms and cleaving up to his opposite shoulder. His golden blood arced in the air, and his body crumpled to the ground, torso cleaved in two.

  “For turning against my rule and threatening my kingdom, you have been judged. Your sentence is death.” Fubuki growled. She looked up at the rest of the Ferronians, who were still aiming at her. It had been a while since she had been in battle, and she decided it was time to remind them of her abilities.

  Meisha heard a crescendo of noise in the distance as she had her head stuck into the Beinhoff’s fuse panel. The noise echoed around her, getting amplified and distorted by the truck’s maintenance hatch. When Briggs had said it was big, she hadn’t realized that he meant massive. It stood 9 meters high and 10 meters wide, with sets of steel folding stairs required to access its operator cabin. Briggs and Lupus had gotten straight to work getting the wounded and many of the troopers in the bed of the truck while Meisha, Reiya, Gabriels and Emanuel worked in the operator cabin trying to start it. For being such a massive vehicle, it was low tech. Reiya was watching Meisha’s camera feed, trying to instruct her how to hotwire the beast.

  “Now cross the purple wire with the green.”

  “There are like three purple wires and five green ones, be more specific!”

  “Jesus captain I could do this faster than you even with a broken arm. Purple E2 with Green K1.”

  Meisha crossed the two wires and yelped as a spark shot out, lucky that her gloves were bad conductors. The Beinhoff started up with a roar, and Meisha crawled out of the maintenance hatch, slamming it shut. “Everyone loaded?” She shouted over the noise of the machine. Lupus gave her a thumbs up from the bed of the truck, and Meisha stepped aside to allow Emanuel access to the driver’s seat. The Beinhoff lurched forwards with a growl, and then rolled onto the boulevard. It was a bumpy ride, and Meisha had to hang onto the railing around the cabin. Reiya was braced against her, navigating for Emanuel with a holo-pad Briggs had given her. As they picked up speed, the Beinhoff coughed up some black smoke and roared.

  “We’re about fifteen minutes away at this speed.” Reiya shouted over the noise.

  “Ma’am, we got a problem!” Emanuel shouted. He pointed forward with one hand. “Intersection!” Meisha’s eyes followed and she grimaced. A few of the alien bastards had set up some sort of encampment in the intersection, and had started firing. Bright bolts of fire splashed against the front of the large vehicle, not doing much. Meisha jumped as something cracked next to her head. A projectile weapon of some kind. The truck lurched as another blast of what Meisha could only assume was plasma hit the front of the vehicle. She gripped the guardrail and turned to the five REAPERs on the operator platform with her.

  “Light them up!” All five fired at once, adding to the cacophony of noise. Meisha turned to Emanuel. “Push through them. Don’t slow down.”

  The young soldier nodded and continued driving ahead as the REAPERs poured more fire onto the aliens. Meisha watched the REAPER cannon’s effectiveness with a sinking feeling. The sheer amount of fire was pushing the targets back, but the targets were still moving. The fire wasn’t breaching their armor, or doing anything more than annoying them. Meisha studied the aliens closely.

  They didn’t show signs of fear, and they were decisive in their movements. Fubuki had been right; these were very well disciplined soldiers in their own right. Unfortunately they seemed smart as well. As the Beinhoff bore down on them, the aliens moved their equipment out of the way and focused their fire on the Beinhoff’s massive tires. The vehicle gave a shudder and lurched as one of its tires exploded, slamming its rim onto the concrete road underneath. Emanuel struggled to keep the Beinhoff straight while cursing under his breath.

  Suddenly one of the REAPERS fell backwards, motionless. Meisha scrambled over to him, noticing a single puncture in the armor’s helmet. The soldier was dead. A round had torn through the REAPER armor’s multilayered, reinforced alloy and gone clean through the poor trooper’s head. He had been dead before he hit the ground. She cursed under her breath and whispered an apology to the dead trooper before looking back at the aliens, who were simply shrugging off the REAPER’s weapons.

  Her mind raced. They needed to punch through this armor somehow if they were going to survive. The REAPER’s cannons were fast firing, but not high enough caliber to puncture it seemed. The alien’s shots were getting more accurate, and Meisha’s troops didn’t have much in the way of cover on the front of the platform. She grabbed a nearby REAPER’s arm. “Throw me on the roof!” She shouted over the gunfire.

  “What? Are you crazy?”

  “That’s an order, soldier. On the roof, now!”

  The REAPER grabbed her by the waist and scooped her up like she was a child, tossing her up on top of the Beinhoff’s operator cabin. She scrambled on all fours to the lip of the bed and pulled herself up, rolling over the lip and falling into the bed where the rest of her troops lay protected by its heavy steel plating. She landed hard, wincing as a few of the troops helped pull her up. “Ma’am, what the hell are you doing back here?” Briggs asked.

  “Those bastard’s armor is too thick for the REAPER cannons, and they’re gonna take us out if we don’t find a way to take them out first. What weapons do we have?”

  Briggs thought for a moment, then grabbed a rifle from one of his soldiers and tossed it to Meisha with a couple batteries and spare mags. “Gauss Lancer.” He explained. Meisha’s eyes widened.

  “I didn’t know we had any!”

  “Only First Platoon does and we only have two, so be careful with that one.” The Gauss Lancers were extremely potent anti-armor rifles used to destroy tanks and smaller aircraft. They fired massive slugs supercharged by electromagnetic coils; miniaturized versions of the TAR cannons used in the fleet. One could adjust the charge time of each shot for the target and fire rate they desired. Meisha gave Briggs a nod and set the Lancer to its highest charge level.

  “Throw me back on the roof, and have whoever has this second Lancer follow me.”

  The troopers pushed her back over the lip, and she was followed moments later by another soldier with a Lancer. He nodded at her. “Have you ever fired a lancer before?”

  “First time.” Meisha said, laying down on the roof of the operator cabin. The soldier gave her a smile. “They’ve got a hell of a kick. Brace for it.”

  Meisha looked through the Lancer’s automatic targeting sight and lined it up on one of the alien figures. The scope instructed her to move the barrel a few degrees to the right and up, automatically calculating range and bullet trajectory. Once lined up on the creature's chest, the scope informed her that she was ready to fire. The Lancer began charging up, energy crackling inside the barrel as its magnetic coils were pushed to the point of overloading.

  “Let's hope this works.” Meisha muttered, and pulled the trigger. The rifle kicked back with a dull thump as its slug shot out, impacting its target in the chest less than a second later. Golden liquid sprayed out, and the alien fell backwards, twitched, and lay still. “I think it's dead?” Meisha said to nobody in particular. The soldier next to her fired his rifle and another alien dropped. Together, the two picked off a few more as the Beinhoff tore through the intersection, running over the bodies of the creatures they had shot.

  Meisha jumped back down to the platform and looked at the REAPERS and the soldiers around her. “We know they aren’t invincible now. We can slow them with the REAPER cannons and take them out with Gauss Lancers. We only have two of the latter and limited slugs so we’ll have to be careful on how we handle this.”

  “We’re close to the hangar, ma’am.” Emanuel said. “And good thing too because I think our engine is having a rough time with damage.” The private was right. The engine was screaming as it pushed the Beinhoff closer and closer to the hangar, which was now in view. The station’s atmospheric shielding was still active, and its doors were hanging open. Meisha could see the massive alien transport inside, but not its two escorts. She looked around for the emergency platform access and spotted it off to the side of the central hangar. It was a small access ramp that led up to the edge of the station. It was much too narrow for the Beinhoff, meaning they’d have to stop, unload everyone, and file into that access ramp. Which meant they’d be open for any sort of attack, this time without the protection and bulk of the Beinhoff. Any guards in the hangar would surely see and hear them, and with only two rifles capable of puncturing their armor, it would be a massacre. Unless…

  “Stop here.” Meisha ordered. Emanuel slowed the Beinhoff to a halt.

  “What's wrong ma’am?” He asked. Briggs himself peered over the Beinhoff’s roof, looking puzzled.

  Meisha glanced up and tossed him the Gauss Lancer. “Unload everyone and start towards the emergency landing pad. Make sure everyone has their suits sealed, and make sure the wounded aren't breached. Four REAPERS first, Five last.” She moved over to the dead REAPER and gently removed his helmet. “Take him with you.” She turned to Emanuel, a grim expression on her face. “How hard is this thing to drive?”

  “It's not too complicated.” He admitted. “It's sort of like a skycar if it got disconnected from the city’s traffic AI, except this one doesn’t raise or lower, or go side to side. Just kinda goes forwards and backwards and you have to turn the wheel to turn the vehicle.”

  Meisha nodded and motioned him out, taking his place in the driver’s seat. She set the REAPER helmet to the side and watched her troopers disembark, waiting nervously. Briggs rapped his knuckles on the windshield, concern on his face. “You aren’t planning on doing anything stupid, are you?”

  “Not too stupid, no. Get the troops to that platform, Briggs.”

  “And then what?”

  Meisha frowned, realizing that Fubuki had never told her. “Shit, I guess we’ll find out. One thing at a time, man.”

  “Well, everyone is off, captain.” He said. “Except for myself, you’re all clear.”

  She nodded and breathed in deeply, wincing as her burnt throat and lungs expanded more than they had been. “Alright Briggs, see you later.” The Lieutenant hesitated, before giving her a single nod and hopping off. He moved his troops away from the Beinhoff and gave her a salute. She saluted back, and put her foot on the pedal. The Beinhoff roared again as it was forced forward, lurching awkwardly with its missing tire. As it picked up speed, the ride became much bumpier. She could make out figures in the hangar.

  The aliens, the Ferronians as Fubuki had called them, started firing at her as the Beinhoff picked up more and more speed. She sped closer and closer to the hangar, the Beinhoff’s engine screaming, cursing her for forcing the poor machine to endure. She would only have a few seconds to pull this off, and needed a lot of luck. As the Beinhoff sped through the massive hangar doors, Meisha wedged the REAPER helmet against its throttle, let go of the steering wheel, and scrambled out of the operator’s cabin. She sprinted to the right and vaulted the platform’s side railing, throwing herself off the Beinhoff and falling hard. The landing knocked the wind out of her, and she took a moment to recover before sitting up just in time to see the Beinhoff.

  It slammed into the transport at top speed, engine still screaming and starting to smoke. There was no explosion, but the sound of metal and alloy crumpling was enough to momentarily deafen the whole hangar. One of its tires flew through the hangar, slamming into a Ferronian and bouncing off it, sending the alien creature flying through the air. As massive as the transport was, it lurched with the impact as its own metal and alloys gave way, crushing what Meisha could only assume to be the cockpit. Electrical systems sparked and batteries burst into flames, sending clouds of smoke into the air. The hangar’s safety systems activated, beginning to seal its doors behind Meisha as alarms started blaring.

  “Oh shit.” She said, eyes widening. She hadn’t considered that she may lock herself in with the Ferronians. Stations like this had to isolate fires as quickly as possible, especially in hangars. She got to her feet and started sprinting as fast as she could, gritting her teeth and wincing as each breath sent a shock of pain across her chest. She could hear the Ferronians speaking in their language, a strange mix of noises and clicks. They had seen her and were firing, giving chase. She drew her sidearm and fired blindly behind her, knowing that the smaller caliber wouldn’t do much but hoping to slow the alien warriors. Energy crackled around her as Meisha scrambled between shipping crates and industrial machinery littered throughout the hangar, trying to make herself a harder target to hit.

  The hangar doors had almost sealed, with just a narrow slit left. “Oh do not make me do this.” Meisha shouted in frustration. She lowered her head and pushed herself to go faster as the sound of Ferronians sprinting behind her got closer and closer. She heard a familiar crack, and turned to see one of the Ferronians keel over. Briggs and Emanual stood at the hangar door, firing through the smaller and smaller opening.

  Meisha leapt for them, and another hand reached out and caught hers, pulling her through. It was Reiya who had pulled with all her might with her good arm, both of them crashing to the ground. The doors sealed with a pneumatic hiss, seconds away from taking Meisha’s legs. She lay on the ground breathing hard. After a moment she was helped up by Briggs. “I thought I told you to lead the men on the emergency pad.” She laughed.

  “And I told you I wouldn’t let you feed troops into a grinder. That includes yourself. You have got to be the most suicidal captain I have ever seen.” Briggs retorted, patting her on the shoulder heartily.

  “Resourceful, not suicidal.” She corrected. She looked at Reiya and Emanuel. “Thank you for coming for me. That probably would not have ended well.”

  “It wouldn’t have.” Reiya agreed. Briggs nodded towards the emergency landing pad.

  “Gabriels has everyone organized and waiting for pickup on the platform, but we have no clue what we’re waiting for.”

  “Neither do I.” Meisha admitted. “We’re trusting Fubuki here, and I hope that's not a mistake. Let's get there though and figure out our options.” The small group set out towards the emergency platform.

  After all of the chaos that she had gone through, Meisha was tired. She could feel herself beginning to slow down again, though how much of that was her injuries versus the adrenaline from combat wearing off was hard to tell. As they emerged from the tunnel and into the actual atmosphere of the gas giant, Meisha could see that night had fallen. The clouds of various gasses that made up the planet’s atmosphere blocked out any view of moons or stars that the planet had. It was as if they were standing in the middle of pitch darkness with only a small amount of light to illuminate them.

  The platform itself was lit with white floodlights, and her troopers looked around nervously. They were standing in the open, milling around with nothing to do and no way to defend themselves. If the two transport escorts were still out there, then one good hit could send all of them to their death. The platform creaked and groaned as the planetary winds pushed against it. It hung off the side of the station, gently swaying as the stronger gusts howled past. It was colder out now, Meisha realized, and shivered as her suit’s heater kicked in. Just a drastic temperature change from before. Briggs looked over at her, and she could see concern on his face through his helmet.

  “So what's the plan if Fubuki doesn’t show?” He asked, his voice coming through his helmet’s speakers.

  “She’ll show.” Meisha replied.

  “Captain, that doesn’t answer my question.”

  Meisha didn’t reply; she had no answer. She had the sneaking suspicion that she had just led herself and all of her troopers to their death. She was still pondering over this as the first cries of alarm sounded among her troops. She glanced over and saw some pointing at a light off in the distance, one that was rapidly approaching through the dark skies. It was a ship’s drive plume. She smiled, relief boiling over the dread that had built up in her. It was one drive plume, not two. One ship, not the two escort ships from before. As it got closer and closer, the smaller lights on its hull were visible, illuminating its profile and name. ST01:Hanaloi was stenciled on its side, and it roared over the troops who gawked at it. “It's the starshot’s transport ship.” She shouted.

  There was a problem, however, that was realized as the transport began to hover. With the two hundred or so soldiers on the platform, there was no easy way for the transport ship itself to land. It slowed to a hover and lowered its boarding ramp, positioning it on the edge of the landing pad which creaked under the weight. The interior of the transport spilled golden light onto the platform, and Fubuki emerged, standing on the ramp, dress fluttering in the wind. “Climb on.” She said, her voice carrying further than it should have. “We don’t have much time.”

  “You heard the lady.” Meisha shouted. “Everybody load up! Wounded first.” She stared as Fubuki disappeared back into the cockpit of the transport, wondering how she had managed to not only distract the Ferronians, but also escape, return to where she landed, and take her transport. She’d ask the woman about it later when they were safe. For now, she savored the moment watching her troopers walk into the safety of the transport. Briggs looked over at her, and she shook her head, knowing what he was going to say. “I’ll board once everyone else is. I’m going to make sure that I’m the last one off this damned station.” He wanted to argue, but gave her a nod and climbed aboard himself. Meisha watched as the platform gradually became empty. Fubuki emerged on the ramp again, looking at her expectantly.

  “All your guys are loaded and strapping in. You coming or what?”

  Meisha nodded and started moving towards the ramp. The hair on her scalp rose, and Fubuki’s head snapped up as something impacted the platform and exploded. Meisha and Fubuki both stumbled as the platform screeched, and steel supports snapped. Above them were the two Ferronian escort ships. They fired again, and green lightning reached out and smacked into the platform. Fubuki stared into Meisha’s eyes, which were filled with fear. She darted back into the transport as the platform shrieked again, and snapped. Meisha was thrown off, tumbling once again into the atmosphere in an uncontrolled fall. She was spinning, arms and legs flailing, hyperventilating. She tried to calm herself but the animal part of her brain screamed in terror, refusing to let logic play out. As she fell, she could feel the pressure of the atmosphere increasing on her body, and knew that she would die from being crushed long before hitting any sort of solid object. A part of her wondered if it would be better to take her sidearm and put herself out of her misery instead of allowing herself to suffer.

  The transport sped past her, shooting straight down like an arrow. She could see Fubuki at the controls fighting to push the transport faster and harder. The transport positioned itself underneath her and opened its access ramp, light spilling out into the darkness. It began to slow, the entry getting closer and closer to Meisha. Relief flooded her senses and logic was allowed to take over. Meisha stopped flailing and spread her arms and legs out, slowing her fall. Fubuki was an expert pilot, she realized. She had matched Meisha’s speed and was slowly decreasing her own, easing Meisha into the transport. Briggs reached out a hand and pulled Meisha in, and shouted “Got her!” The hatch slammed shut, and both of them were pushed against the transport’s wall as Fubuki leveled the transport off. Briggs shook his head. “Damn it Captain, if I have to pull you through one more set of doors, I’m quitting. Lupus can have my job.”

  “Put her in here and strap up!” Fubuki shouted back. Briggs gave Meisha a pat on the shoulder and pushed her forward towards the cockpit. Legs still shaking, Meisha moved past all of her troopers in a trance, and entered the cockpit where Fubuki was gritting her teeth. She looked at Meisha as she entered, and nodded to the co-pilot’s chair. “Fine time to go skydiving.” She joked. Meisha didn’t respond, and Fubuki looked over at her. “You ok?”

  Breathing out shakily, Meisha nodded. “Yeah. Yeah I think so.”

  “Good because we aren’t out of the woods yet. Those two fighters are the least of our problems. There’s a carrier and two destroyers below us that have been stocking up on gas for the past week.”

  “How do you know that?” Meisha asked.

  Fubuki wiped some golden liquid off her helmet and onto her dress, which was also splattered with gold. “Let's just say I am very good at learning what I want.” She stiffened again like she had before on the platform, and jolted the transport to the left. Seconds later a beam of yellow light shot past them, slicing through the atmosphere near the ship’s rear thrusters. Thunder rolled as the atmosphere itself was split in half. Meisha stared at the woman as she began to pull the transport up and head back towards the station.

  “What the hell are you?” She asked.

  “You and I are going to have a very long talk aboard your ship later.” Fubuki responded. “I’m going to try and use the station as cover from their Ion cannons.”

  Meisha immediately shook her head. “No way, we need to keep that station as intact as possible so the Admiralty can review all of this. That's all evidence and we need to preserve it as much as possible.”

  “Forget the Admiralty for a moment, Meisha. We are in deep trouble right now and that station gives us the best chance for survival.” Fubuki growled. She looked over at Meisha and softened a bit. “I know you’re tired, dear captain, but I need you right now. Can you call your ship and let them know that we’re coming in fast with hostiles behind us?”

  Meisha breathed in, and turned on the transport’s com package. It was relatively new and still functioning, broadcasting on all frequencies. She narrowed the broadcast to the Dauntless Midnight and keyed the mic. “Pirique, I need you on the line and I need the bridge ready to go.” Static blasted through the speaker, then there was a fumbling noise and Michelle Pirique’s voice rang out clearly.

  “Captain, is that you? Jesus I though, I mean it's been almost 24 hours-”

  “Focus Pirique, we’re in some deep trouble and I need you to pull us out.” Meisha snapped crisply. Pirique’s voice tightened.

  “Yes ma’am. What’s your situation and how can we assist?”

  Fubuki cursed and pulled the transport to the side as a beam of energy passed where they had been seconds ago. The beam cut through the station below them, melting its steel plating and tearing through its districts and infrastructure. Things were exploding and the station was starting to give way. It wouldn’t be long until Hanaloi gave in to the temping pull of gravity and fell to the gas giant’s core, it’s massacred civilians and secrets lost to the rest of the universe. The transport rocked as it was buffeted by the gas giant’s winds, and Meisha gripped her chair.

  “I don’t know how to say this Pirique but we have three alien ships firing on us from the core of the gas giant, and two escort fighters chasing us. We’re in the Starshot’s transport ship, and we’ll need immediate support and medical staff when we dock. As soon as we’re aboard, turn tail and run.”

  The radio was silent for a while. “I, uh, what?”

  “Bring the Midnight as close as you can to the planet’s atmosphere, open the hangar and prepare for a fast entry. Scramble the Hellcats and get them out here to give us some covering fire as soon as possible.”

  “Ma’am did you say aliens?”

  Meisha took a deep breath. “Liaison, I am not going to repeat myself. Scramble the Hellcats, put the Midnight in close, and prepare for a very fast reception. I want Anderson ready on the guns and Thorn ready to bolt.”

  A sound of excited clapping could be heard on the other side of the radio. “I always knew they were out there! They exist!”

  “Pirique! Now!” Meisha roared.

  “Eh yes Ma’am, the hellcats are scrambling!”

  Fubuki cursed again as she spun the transport, trying to dodge another blast from below. Meisha could see the alien escort ships ahead of them, moving to intercept and destroy the weaponless transport. She could also see a handful of glowing lights flying at them as well. “Ahh shit the energy bolas are back.”

  “Watch and learn, captain.” Fubuki said with a wicked grin on her face. She flew straight at the enemy escorts, and screamed past them as they spun to give chase. The escorts were firing all sorts of strange weapons. Lasers shot past them, glowing green missiles tried to impact their engines, and magnetically accelerated slugs missed them by centimeters. Fubuki fought the controls, moving erratically and trying to keep the escorts from lining up a killing shot. She was pushing the transport to its maximum speed, and the engines were screaming as they were forced to their limits.

  The bolas mines were close to them now, moving to intercept. The first one ahead of them split just as it had done before, Energy arcing between its two halves and flying straight towards the cockpit of the transport ship. Fubuki grit her teeth and turned off one of the engines, yanking on the control yoke as hard as she could, sending the transport into a flat spin and instantly decreasing their speed. Meisha was pressed into the seat by the momentum change, and observed with grim satisfaction as the bolas mine continued on its course.

  It began to close and reorient itself towards its target as the first of the interceptors slammed into it, destroying the mine and damaging the escort. Its wingman raced past its wounded comrade, sensing an opportunity to strike against the slowed human ship. “This might take a bad turn.” Fubuki growled, looking at her radar. “I’ve got 12 unknown contacts heading for us on a direct intercept path."

  Meisha's face lit up and she grinned. "Those aren't enemies, those are my Hellcats." As she spoke, the twelve human ships became visible. They looked bulky and boxy compared to the alien crafts; their surfaces built of sharp edges and angles to help them remain hidden from radar. Each one was built around a railgun that ran the length of its body, along with an internal bay on its belly and two smaller bays on its sides for missiles and bombs. Their engines had 360 degrees of thrust vectoring, allowing them to move with incredible precision in atmosphere, while the smaller thrusters on their wingtips allowed them perfect maneuverability in the vacuum of space.

  Meisha admired the hellcat pilots. Their crafts were too small for the inertial drives and they often pulled insane Gs during maneuvers. She was equally happy to see them now. Energy sparked around the lead Hellcat's railgun as it charged up a slug. The alien craft broke off from its chase and turned back into the clouds, but the railgun's slug was too fast for it. It sliced through the clouds leaving a visible trail and slammed into the alien craft's engine, causing a small explosion and a billow of smoke. The craft sputtered out of control and started falling towards the planet's core, joining Hanaloi station in its grave. Fubuki visibly relaxed and gave Meisha a tired smile.

  "That went better than I expected. Those Hellcats are quick."

  Meisha gave her a nod. "Good pilots help." She said, allowing herself to be proud of the squadron. She got on the radio and pinged the lead craft. "This is Captain Al-Jihlani. Thanks for taking care of that mess. Mind walking us home?"

  Laughter echoed over the comms, and the pilot responded cheerily. "Howdy Captain, wing commander Stevens here, happy to assist. We're getting all sorts of movement lower into the planet though, what the hell is going on?"

  "No time to explain but keep your eyes and ears open. They've been shooting at us from below and they're pretty accurate." Meisha flipped the frequency back to the Midnight. "Pirique, thanks for getting the Hellcats out. How is the Midnight? Are we ready to turn and burn?"

  Pirique didn't answer for a very long time. Finally, her voice crackled through. "We can't find Thorn, and we're locked out of the flight controls."

  "... what?"

  Pirique's voice was apologetic, stressed, angry and scared all at the same time. "I don't know what happened, she said she was going to catch some shuteye and left the bridge. Anderson offered to take watch, and we haven't seen her since. She's not in her cabin or the mess hall, we've paged the entire ship. We're locked out of the pilot's station too, my credentials aren't letting me in."

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  Meisha's mind raced. Something was very off here and it didn't bode well for the Midnight. "Ok. So what all has happened while I've been gone?"

  "In reality, not much, Ma'am. We went over the starshot's data, moved that mysterious ship into our hangar for inspection, and have just been waiting on station for your return."

  Fubuki looked over. "Oh they have my ship? Awesome! Is this Thorn person the only one who can pilot your ship?"

  Meisha shook her head, lost in thought. "I've flown much smaller ships. I can pilot, but only at the bare minimum level. I can't fly in a fight. We need to try and outrun these guys, and hopefully find Thorn."

  "I have an idea." Fubuki said hesitantly. She looked over at Meisha. "When we land on your ship, I’ll take mine and your hellcat squadron. We distract and disrupt the Ferronians while you start retreating. We should be able to catch up to you and we might be able to buy you some time."

  Meisha was already shaking her head. "Absolutely not. First, I'm not letting you go anywhere without answers to a lot of questions I have. Second, I'm not letting you and my guys try a suicide attack on a bunch of alien warships. We don't know their capabilities or what they even look like, I'm not going to risk the lives of-"

  "I know their capabilities." Fubuki replied in a gentle, almost motherly tone. "They're dangerous but the hellcats are tiny compared to them. They use directed energy weapons and you can detect the energy buildup before their weapons fire. We can harass them for just a few minutes." She paused, placing a hand on Meisha's shoulder and looked into her eyes. "I won't mislead you or your men, dear captain."

  Meisha broke eye contact and leaned back with an exasperated sigh. "Ok. Just for a couple minutes while we warm up the engines. As soon as I order you back, you come back."

  "Yes ma'am." Fubuki grinned, giving her a mock salute. Meisha gave her a withering glance in return.

  “Don’t push your luck, lady.”

  The transport and its escorts broke out of the planet’s atmosphere, orange clouds giving way to dark blue, then to inky black speckled with pinpoints of light. The Dauntless Midnight was parked nearby, its hangar bay doors wide open and all manner of warning lights flashing across its surface. Even from the distance they were at, Meisha could see point-defense guns watching them as they grew closer. If someone were to get jumpy and misfire… Meisha pushed the thought from her mind. She clicked the radio on one last time and prayed she wasn’t about to have more of her men killed. “Commander Stevens, I want you guys hovering around outside for a bit. We’ve got an expert onboard who knows a thing or two about the enemy ships and we’re going to send her out to guide you guys on an attack run. We’ll be following up from behind to clean up once you cripple them.”

  “Roger that ma’am.” Came the response. “Is she leading the formation or advising?”

  “Advising.” Meisha said firmly. Fubuki rolled her eyes, and began to spin the transport around, using its thrusters to back the ship into the much larger hangar. Meisha watched out the viewscreen as they passed through the thin barrier of energy that made up the Midnight’s atmospheric void shields, and the hangar closed in around them like the mouth of a hungry animal.

  As soon as the transport was inside, a magnetic clamp grabbed a hold of it and swiveled it towards a dock. Thick blast doors closed over the hangar entrance like teeth, and Meisha let out a long sigh of relief. She wanted to head to her cabin and curl up in her bunk. “Just a little bit more.” She thought to herself. The back hatch of the transport opened and medical techs and small drones poured in, starting to assess the wounded. Dr. Serrano swept in behind them, her eyes cold and calculating.

  “Stop the bleeding, seal up any puncture wounds. Anybody who is injured and able to walk to Medical, do so under your own power.” She turned to two of her techs that were beginning to move one badly injured soldier onto a gurney. Meisha could see that the man was shredded with shrapnel, and barely breathing. Serrano snapped her fingers at the techs and shook her head. “Not that one, leave him. It's too late for him.”

  Meisha balled her fists and stood. “You’re not gonna leave him here to die laying on the floor. Get him to medical and patch him up.”

  Serrano turned towards her, pausing to look her up and down. “Captain, you either think that I know what I’m doing, or you do not.”

  “It's not about that, it's about the fact that I won’t let him die on the damn floor. Not after bringing him this far. He still has a chance.”

  “Listen.” Serrano said. The tone of her voice was gentle, and she gave Meisha a small, empathetic smile. “I wish I could, Miss Al-Jihlani.”

  “Captain Al-Jih-”

  “The simple fact of the matter is I don’t have enough supplies to save everyone. I can’t spare any extra blood, any extra morphine or antibiotics. It's going to be hard enough to triage all of these kids already. I told you that we didn’t have the resources to fix up this many people.”

  “I-”

  “I have to do what I can for who I can. That kid? He’s got 147 bits of shrapnel in him, shredding his spine, brain, lungs and everything else. His ribs are broken, he’s lost 46% of his blood. The very fact that he’s still breathing is shocking, but even if I did have the resources to replace the blood he’s lost, I don’t have the time, staff, or medicine to stabilize him. Much less ever give him a chance of waking up. That blood I can use for other injuries, the antibiotics for those that stand a better chance of surviving.”

  “But-”

  Serrano’s voice had gone cold again, and her eyes held a quiet fury. “This is my domain, Captain.” She snarled the last word. “If you have a better idea on how I can save every single injured kid that your orders put in the line of fire, then I’m all ears. If you want to take over for me and decide what resources go to who, and who is worth saving more, then be my guest. I sure as hell don’t want to, but someone has to. It's called triage for a reason.”

  The doctor raised her arms and gestured to the surrounding carnage. “I warned you about this. I told you specifically that we couldn’t handle a fight and what did you do? Marched them right into carnage. Don’t you dare stand there and tell me who I should and should not be saving with the limited amount of medicine I have. Every damned second you spend stamping your foot here is another second I could be using to save as many lives as I possibly can. You don’t have the experience or knowledge or even the damned courage to make these choices, so shut up and vacate the area.” Serrano’s voice had risen to a shout, and her glasses had fallen off her face and onto the floor from the doctor’s hand waving.

  Meisha breathed in slowly, trying to keep her temper. Seeing the doctor lose her cool composure had shocked the young captain. Serrano was right, of course. There really wasn’t a whole lot they could do for the critically injured. “At least move him to a bed and make him comfortable.” She murmured.”Don’t let him die on the ground.”

  Serrano’s gaze softened, and she nodded. “I’ll move him after the others, Meisha. We won’t leave him here.” She tapped a few buttons on a device she was wearing on her wrist, and a drone approached Meisha. It swept over her with a blue grid of light, and Serrano frowned. “You shouldn’t even be awake, much less standing and moving around. Face and throat are burned, you’ve lost blood, arm fractured with multiple lacerations and shrapnel fragments embedded. Bruising all over. Enough drugs in your system right now to cause permanent damage if we aren't careful. Shit captain, you’re lucky to be alive. We need to fix you up in medical fast before your system crashes.”

  “She’s definitely lucky.” Fubuki said as she stepped out of the cockpit. The medical drone went to scan her, but she waved it away. “But we don’t have the luxury of time right now.” She turned to Meisha and gave her a weary smile. “I’m going to launch as soon as possible and get your hellcats moving. You need to find your pilot. The Ferronian ships are fast; I would estimate that we have about twenty minutes before they’re on us.”

  Meisha nodded, trying not to let her fear show. “Keep in touch?” She asked.

  “You know I will.” Fubuki said with a wink. She spun with a twirl of her dress and left the transport. Serrano looked at Meisha curiously. “And who, pray tell, was that?”

  “Long story. Like she said, we don’t have the time.” Meisha turned to Briggs. “Leave as many troops as Serrano needs to help with the wounded, then have the rest spread out and start searching the ship for Thorn. If you find her, bring her to the bridge.” Briggs nodded once and turned to his men, barking out orders.

  Meisha moved off the transport just in time to see Fubuki touch the side of her ship. A gentle pulse of light rippled away from her touch, and a hatch unsealed from its previously seamless hull. Fubuki reached up and lowered her helmet’s visor over her face, sealing it and looking back at Meisha. She gave the captain a single small nod before disappearing into the strange ship, the hull resealing behind her.

  Meisha jogged over to a small lift and rode it up to the hangar’s control room, where the hangarmaster was managing his small team of flight control specialists, crew chiefs, and resupply officers. He saluted as Meisha walked in.

  “Captain, what can we do for you?”

  Meisha pointed at Fubuki’s ship. “We’re going to be launching her out. Drop the blast doors for a moment, then bring them back up once she’s away.”

  “Aye captain.” The Hangarmaster nodded at one of his staff, and the man set to work. The blast doors lowered, the hangar’s colossal mouth opening once again. Klaxons sounded throughout the room as red warning lights kicked on, spinning and casting shadows in every corner. From up above, Meisha could now make out more details on Fubuki’s ship.

  It had two thrusters at the very back of it that seemed to rotate, pointing down now to provide lift in the hangar. She could see two smaller thrusters close to the front as well. A small hatch opened under each wing, with tiny multi barrel turrets sticking out as if they were too shy to emerge. Missile defense, Meisha realized. A railgun emerged from a hatch on the top of the ship, and Meisha could just barely make out the outline of small multi-rocket launchers emerging from multiple points on the hull. The hangar’s comm terminal cracked, and Fubuki’s voice burst through.

  “This is the Abyssal Dragon, ready to launch to provide support for your Hellcats.”

  The Hangarmaster looked over at Meisha with a puzzled expression on his face. Meisha just gave him a nod. “Rodger. Dragon, you’re clear for launch. Link up with the lead element of Hellcats at 50 kilometers on grid 15 vertical, 15 horizontal. Good hunting.”

  “Grid 15V, 15H copy. Dragon out.” The red and silver craft seemed to freeze for a moment, before shooting out of the hangar in the blink of an eye. The big mouth of the hangar once again sealed itself, and the lighting and emergency warnings returned to normal. The hangarmaster turned to Meisha, confusion on his face. “Ma’am, what the hell is going on?”

  Meisha drew in a deep breath, and began to ready herself for the upcoming fight. “We’re about to go to war.”

  The Bridge of the Midnight was much less put together than when Meisha had last left it. Anderson was trying to direct some of the less experienced officers at their stations, while Pirique frantically moved from workstation to workstation, data pad in hand as she reviewed every intelligence officer’s anomalies as they reported it.

  On the view screens, three massive ships had pushed out of Hanaloi like some sort of parasite leaving its host; their engines burning hard enough to cause firestorms in the planet’s atmosphere. They were jet black and angular, only visible by eye because the ships blotted out the stars behind them as they moved. They were highlighted in red by the Midnight’s Friend or Foe identification system, with the much smaller Hellcat Fighters and their mysterious guide highlighted in green.

  The Midnight’s impressive intelligence gathering systems had zoomed in and identified what seemed to be weapons systems on these three massive ships, and cheerfully displayed their estimated height, length, engine power, and weapon loadout compared to the Midnight’s own. All three dwarfed the Dauntless Midnight entirely.

  Pirique glanced over at Meisha, subdued panic in her eyes. “Ma’am we’ve gotten as many readings as we have from them and tried to beam them back to Earth but I think we’re being jammed. They’re trying to hack us as well, I have our full cyberwarfare suite running at its max trying to fight it.”

  “You’re doing fine, Pirique. Keep it up.” Meisha said reassuringly. “Anderson, how are our weapon systems looking?”

  “We’re having some issues with the loading mechanism for the TAR cannon. It's working but drawing much more power than it should. If we fire it, we could overload some of its systems.”

  Meisha grunted as she sat down in the pilot’s seat, moving the captain’s displays to some of the surrounding monitors. “So we only have one shot with it before we risk not being able to use it.”

  “Correct.”

  “What can we use?”

  “We have sixteen missile batteries, twelve 960mm anti-ship cannons, and twenty four point defense cannons up and running, as well as 8 fusion warheads. We can send a wave of missiles at them and pound them from range with the 960s, but if they have missile and projectile defense like we do I’m not sure how to break through. If it were just one ship I think we could take them, but three…”

  Meisha let the piloting terminal read her biometric data and breathed a sigh of relief as it unlocked. She powered on the Midnight’s thrusters and activated the inertial drives. “We’ll have to make do with what we’ve got. The Hellcats are going to poke them for us; we’ll see how good their defensive systems really are.” She keyed the shipwide broadcasting system. “All hands, to your stations immediately. We are entering a combat situation. I repeat, to your stations immediately.”

  She put on the pilot’s headset and visor, and changed it to the captain’s view. “I want the reactors at full power. No use going dark and trying to stealth away, they already know we’re here.” She felt awake now, the fear and uncertainty replaced by the task of keeping busy with leadership. It didn’t feel real, but Meisha knew the adrenaline and nerves would come later. If there was a later to be had.

  “Anderson, I want targeting data on those ships as soon as possible. Find weak points for me. Pirique, stop broadcasting to Earth. Try and jam them back. Fill their sensors with junk.”

  “Aye, Captain.” Both responded sharply, and went about ordering their teams.

  Meisha’s eyes narrowed as she saw a spark of light blink from one of the Ferronian ships. She cursed and jerked the Midnight to the left as a massive beam of energy slashed through the space they had just been. Two more shots followed in rapid succession, trying to predict the direction that the Midnight would evade and catch her off guard.

  Meisha jolted the Midnight vertically and to her left; fear twisting in her gut as one shot scraped along the starboard hull, causing alarms and sensors to blare. It was a glancing blow; only destroying a few of the weapons on her side and luckily missing her maneuvering thrusters. If the beam’s angle was a few degrees more to the left, it would have pierced the ship’s midsection instead of just running along its side. The energy from the beam itself was absorbed by the Midnight’s anti-radiation shielding, meant to protect against solar winds. They were lucky to be alive, They had been fired upon. The battle had officially begun. She angrily contacted the Hellcat squadron.

  “Commander Stevens, you copy?”

  “Yes Ma’am.”

  “ At this time you have permission to engage.”

  “Copy that. Squad, form up on Dragon, we’re going in for an attack run.”

  The hellcats zipped away from the Midnight on the displays, their drives creating a trail of fire behind them. Meisha pushed the Midnight after them. There was no reason to fly closer in this fight, but doing so would distract the Ferronian ships from the smaller fighters and create less time for the Ferronians to evade the Midnight’s big 960mm cannons. Of course, that also meant the Midnight would have less time to evade the Ferronian’s energy weapons as well.

  “Anderson, let's see what they can take. Fire missile batteries one through four, targeting the lead enemy ship. Follow with six shots from the heavy guns. Set PDC’s to defend. Time it so they hit 4 seconds before the Hellcats arrive.”

  “Copy, firing. Hellcats, clear the lane we’re sending fire.”

  Multiple small thumps resounded through the Midnight as its missile batteries fired, each one sending 36 room sized, nuclear tipped missiles towards its enemies. The missiles started out at a drift, speeding up as their engine plumes ignited and burned towards their target. A few seconds after the missiles had been sent, the 960mm guns followed suit, firing their massive desk-sized shells in the direction of the gas giant. The shells fired at a speed faster than the missiles, and would only be one second behind as they impacted. The swarm of missiles and shells denoted on Meisha’s screens as blue dots; getting closer and closer to the Ferronians as the Hellcats followed suit. As the first missiles arrived, the lead Ferronian ship vanished in a flash of light. The blue dots on the screen traveled past where it had been, harmlessly falling into Hanaloi’s atmosphere as the weapons lost their target lock. Meisha blinked. “What the hell just happened?”

  “All shots missed.” Anderson relayed. “I’m not sure.”

  “We just picked up a massive spike in gravitational waves, Captain.” Pirique announced. Suddenly there was another flash of light, and the Ferronian ship reappeared, this time behind the hellcats. The comms and sensors on the Midnight squawked, background radiation spiking. Meisha stared in horror as the Hellcat squad was caught in between the three Ferronian ships, cut off from the Dauntless Midnight. She hit the mic.

  “Fubuki, Stevens, retreat now. That's an order!”

  “They weren’t supposed to have leap tech.” Fubuki cursed over the comms. Meisha could hear fury in her voice. “I didn’t give them that, they weren’t supposed to-” The Ferronian’s point defense lasers opened fire on the small ships, catching them in a deadly crossfire. Meisha stared in horror as her hellcats began to disappear one by one in blasts of yellow light.

  “Not again.” She roared, and pushed the Dauntless Midnight as hard as it would go. The ship sprinted forward from its leery pace, engines burning through the vacuum. “Anderson, Missile batteries 5 through 8 on ship 1, 9 through 12 on ship 2, and everything else on ship 3. Open fire with everything but the nukes and TAR. Pound them like a drum and track them for as long as you can.” The only response that her orders had been followed was the sheer insane volley of steel that sprang forth from the Midnight and split into three different pathways, each one heading for its own target.

  The first two Ferronian ships disappeared in a flash of light like the first one had, but the one who had already jumped started flaring its engines to evade. It pushed to the side as the first missiles flew past, its PDC’s firing wildly. Several missiles were destroyed by the defensive fire, with the rest flying past, missing their mark. The missiles, however, had been tracking their target, and adjusted their trajectories as they swung back around for another attempt.

  The shells from the Midnight’s guns had no such tracking capabilities, flying past their target and out into deep space. The Ferronian ship rolled again, this time presenting its other side to the missiles and letting the untested PDC’s do their job. Their projectile defense system was fantastic, Meisha had to admit. The wave of blue dots on her screen dwindled down to just a handful flying into deep space, the rest all destroyed. But it had gotten Meisha what she wanted, a chance for the Hellcats to limp back home. They had taken the opportunity to retreat, having lost nearly half their number.

  Stevens was gone, his FoF tag had gone offline the moment the firing started. The two Ferronian ships reappeared next to their companion, and Meisha felt their chances of winning this battle slipping away. She slowed the Midnight down, allowing the Hellcats to dock back into the hangar as the ferronian’s stared at them from across the debris field of her own pilots. There was only one interceptor left out there, the one acting as a rear guard for the rest of the Hellcats. “Fubuki.” Meisha whispered. As if reading her mind, the comm crackled to life.

  “Meisha, I’m so sorry.” Fubuki said softly. “I didn’t know. The Hellcats should have… it shouldn’t be like this. I’ll get you guys out of here, I promise.” Meisha watched the small red ship turn from the debris field and start heading back towards them. She shook her head sadly.

  “Escape, Fubuki. Full thrust away as far as you can. Fly to Earth, warn them. We’ll distract them.”

  “No Meisha, you don’t under-”

  “That's an order.” Meisha barked. She turned off the comm and refocused on the enemy ships, just in time to see a volley of incoming alerts fill her screen. She cursed and started moving defensively, shifting left and right as the Ferronians responded to her attacks with their own guns and missiles. The Midnight’s PDC’s fired as fast as they could, tracking and destroying incoming projectiles while Meisha maneuvered the ship to avoid the energy blasts from the Ferronian’s guns.

  The next few moments seemed to unfold in slow motion. Fubuki herself had been maneuvering with an air of desperation, dodging the PDC lasers and some sort of torpedo. It was then when Meisha saw Fubuki’s ship get hit. She spun her ship away from a swarm of torpedoes, and was hit head on by an energy blast from the lead ship. The flash of light was massive, filling the cameras and sensors of the Midnight as they auto adjusted to not blind its crew. Once it faded, Meisha could see the wreckage of the Abyssal Dragon hovering in a ring around a small body wearing a red dress, frozen and drifting in the void.

  Meisha stared at the wreckage, unable to comprehend and unwilling to process what she saw. Tears filled her eyes, running down her cheeks. She was gripping the flight control sticks so hard her knuckles had long since turned while, and she was unable, or unwilling, to let go and wipe her eyes. Loud alarms snapped her away from her grief as the Ferronians landed their first hit on the Midnight itself, tearing into its armor with their PDC’s.

  Meisha pushed the ship back to its maximum speed, trying her best to evade fire from the three ships as Anderson and Pirique shouted out information and frantically looked for some way out of their situation. One PDC overheated and froze up, allowing a missile to slip past the Midnight’s defenses and slam into a thruster, crippling their speed and evasive ability. The ship spun as it tried to compensate for its loss of stabilizing thrust, leaving it unable to maneuver defensively. Torpedoes and gunfire peppered the side of the human vessel, looking for critical spots and cracks in its armor.

  Meisha’s eyes widened as she saw the three main cannons begin to charge again, knowing this time there was nothing she could do to prevent a hit. This was it. She wanted to think it had been a good life, to console herself that she had done her best. All she felt was a crushing sense of misery, failure, and shame. The Ferronians fired, and the screens once again filled with light. And then, nothing.

  There was no explosion, no destruction. The light dimmed once again, but this time, it revealed a different landscape. Hanaloi was burning. The blasts meant for the Midnight had somehow impacted the gas giant, cutting through its atmosphere and spilling fiery gas and rapidly transforming liquid from its core into space. It was as if the planet itself was leaking. The Midnight stabilized itself, alarms ringing throughout the bridge and crews reporting atmosphere leaks and all sorts of damage. But they were alive.

  “Did… did they just attack the planet instead?” Anderson asked, disbelief in his voice.

  Meisha shook her head. “I dont… I don’t understand what just happened.” An alert chirped on screen; catching her attention and zooming in on detected movement. Her camera was focused on the debris field, left over from Fubuki and the Hellcats, and Fubuki’s body could still be seen, light reflecting off her silver helmet. And then, her arm moved again. Suddenly there was a flurry of motion on the camera as the debris from the battle stopped drifting in its lazy orbit and became animated, forming itself into a flat sheet underneath Fubuki's body. The woman kicked her legs and landed on the platform, standing up.

  “Holy shit she’s still alive.” Meisha breathed. She enhanced the camera image, focusing on the distant figure in a red dress.

  “What just happened with all of that metal?” Pirique asked. Her eyes widened as she was immediately distracted. “Gravitational waves are picking up. Energy readings are off the charts, background radiation levels are rising like crazy.”

  Fubuki stood on the platform of twisted metal and stretched, looking out at the three alien ships perched kilometers away from her. Compared to the massive size of the starships and the vast distance between them, she was no more than a speck of color against the empty void. The woman would have been invisible if not for the advanced cameras on the Midnight, and yet something about her seemed to draw the crew’s attention, halting them in their fight to stay alive.

  Slowly she reached up to her helmet and unclasped it, tossing it away as it drifted to the side. Long silver hair flowed in the vacuum behind her, and what resembled two pointed black blades poked out of her head, seeming to reflect the stars and galaxies around her.

  “Are those… horns?” Anderson whispered. Meisha didn’t respond. The captain was frozen, overcome with both fascination and fear.

  Fubuki breathed in deeply, seeming to thrive in the vacuum. Her eyes were hard and merciless. She drew the sword she had worn on her hip, and pointed its tip at the closest Ferronian ship as if the sword somehow would shorten the distance between the woman and the massive starship.

  “I have given you the chance to run.” She said, her voice broadcasting in radio waves and forcing itself across the intercoms of the Midnight. “But if this is what you want, then you can have it. For crimes against the Federation, Humanity and myself, you-”

  Her words were cut off as one of the Ferronians fired a stream of rapid fire cannons at her. Fubuki held out her free hand and grit her teeth, a snarl of rage on her face as thousands of meter long shells raced towards her. The shells began to slow the nearer to her they got, easing to a halt in front of her outstretched hand and forming a lazy cloud of metal.

  “Fine then.” She snarled. All at once, the bullets spun to face the ship that had fired, and shot out with incredible speed. The Ferronian ship had no time to jump away before the bullets riddled its hull; piercing its side and damaging one of its engines. Trails of vapor leaked from its damaged sides. The struck engine sputtered and died. For a moment, nothing happened as everyone sat frozen, staring at their screens as they tried to process what they had just witnessed.

  “My scanners are saying… I’ll be honest, I don’t know. What the hell just happened?” Pirique asked nobody in particular. Meisha shook her head, and her eyes widened as the Midnight’s scanners warned her of a massive energy buildup detected.

  All three Ferronian ships simultaneously engaged with every weapon they had, flaring their engines to counteract the sheer volume of fire. The beams of energy flew, missile barrages flared and cannons fired as their barrels began to glow red hot as the heat of friction built up, creating pinpoints of orange light that dotted the distant ships. The data sensors on the Midnight threw up alerts and painted a map of incoming energy and projectiles, throwing thousands of red dots and painted trajectories onto Meisha’s screen, all intersecting on the tiny point where Fubuki stood.

  It was hard to see missiles or cannon rounds against the background of space, as the weapons themselves were so tiny compared to everything else. Now though, the fleet of munitions sent after Fubuki were visible to the naked eye as an angry swarm of metal, dwarfing the woman who stood on the destroyed hellcats in the vacuum.

  Fubuki had no such qualms about her situation and reacted immediately to the attack, shifting her stance and seeming to dare the wall of metal and energy to challenge her authority on space itself. The first missile to reach her was plucked from its trajectory; its thruster burning defiantly as Fubuki arched it around herself and back at the Ferronians with a simple wave of her free hand. The other missiles met the same fate as they were redirected around Fubuki and fired off at the very same ships who had launched them.

  The massive energy beams that the Ferronians had used to devastating effect previously were turned into nothing more than a light show. Fubuki seemed to dance around them, turning the vast emptiness of space into her stage. With a step to the side and a turn of her sword, she deflected the beams either into Hanaloi or off into deep space where they could do no harm.

  Bullets were frozen in their tracks and sent to intercept missiles or ships. They arced around Fubuki like miniature comets, and impacted the Ferronians like supernovas. As the final shot of the barrage was redirected, Fubuki stood on nothingness, completely unscathed. The woman stared across the vastness of space at her enemies, and smiled. Her expression was merciless.

  “Is that all you have to show for your rebellion? Please, I expected more from such impudent children. You’ve had hundreds of years and you can’t even test me?”

  Something shook itself awake inside of Meisha, as she tore her gaze away from Fubuki and surveyed the bridge of her ship. The crew of the Midnight studied their cameras, mesmerized at the display of flashing lights and the defying of reality in front of them. “We’re still part of this fight too!” Meisha barked. “Eyes on station, I want our weapons hot and ready to go!” She turned to Anderson. “Warm up the TAR cannon and send me a firing trajectory on the most intact enemy ship. We’re going to spear them.”

  “Aye captain.” Anderson replied. He worked for a moment and the trajectory of the TAR’s shot overlayed itself on Meisha’s screen. “We have a shot, but the detonation might kill whatever is out there tearing them apart.”

  “I figured. I don’t know what this thing is or who’s side it's really on, but I wanna be able to kill it if we need to.” Meisha turned her gaze back to the controls and pushed the Midnight forward. It moved through the vacuum, damaged engines screaming in protest.

  “Missile batteries 1 through 4 are ready to fire, and so are our 960mm guns.” A junior officer reported. Meisha targeted the lead ship, hoping Fubuki was enough of a distraction for the human attack to go unnoticed. “Fire.” She ordered.

  The attack shook the Midnight as it once again fired at the Ferronians. Unlike last time however, Fubuki was directly between the battered humans and their attackers. The woman sheathed her sword and held out her hand, grinning devilishly. “Now let me show you what I can do.”

  With her other hand she reached out to nothing, and clenched her fist. One of the Ferronian ships halted in place; its engines burning with large plumes of fire but unable to push forward. Its hull began to dent and buckle, cracks appearing in its armor plating and shards of metal snapping off. The engines died as the ship began to crumple like tinfoil.

  Meisha watched in horror and glee as the first of the Ferronian ship folded in on itself. Its lights flickered and went out, and the ship died as gravity crushed it more and more into a perfect sphere. It began to rotate rapidly and shot towards one of the other Ferronian ships, impacting its side and creating a gaping hole in its armor. Seconds later, the Midnight’s attack slammed into it; missiles and cannon shells timed perfectly to impact together.

  The Ferronian ship shuddered under the assault, venting atmosphere from multiple places. The force from the massive impact to its side had sent it into a gentle spin, and it lazily fell back towards Halaloi as the ship’s engines died and gravity captured its dead hulk. What resembled escape pods launched from its belly as the crew inside tried to escape the strong pull of the vengeful gas giant. The final Ferronian ship flipped itself and began to burn its engine as hard as it could.

  “Where’s my TAR trajectory?” Meisha shouted. Anderson sent her the targeting data, overlaid directly onto the final enemy, with its detonation radius spread out for kilometers. The Midnight was just outside the minimum safe distance of the attack, but Fubuki and the fleeing escape craft of the damaged ship would be caught in the explosion.

  “Do we fire?” Anderson asked.

  Meisha hesitated. If these were humans, she wouldn’t have a second thought. To fire now would be reprehensible; killing an ally and defenseless crewman who posed no threat, as well as shooting an enemy in their back when they could very easily disable and arrest them. But these weren’t humans, they were an alien species that had attacked and massacred a population of innocent people. Still, if she would not afford them the same morality that she would afford humans, what did that say about herself? And what of Fubuki, who had been nothing but an ally so far?

  “No,” she said, relaxing back into her chair. She had been so tense until now, she realized that it hurt to unstiffen her muscles. “Let them go, but send a couple 960’s their way just in case they decide to turn their heads around.”

  “Aye captain.” Anderson responded.

  “We’re just letting them go?” Pirique asked, confusion in her voice.

  “Right now our only goal is getting back to Earth and warning them.” Meisha explained, her tone more calm than she felt. “We don’t need to push our luck any more than we already have. Besides, we still have to deal with whatever She is.”

  As if sensing that she was being talked about, Fubuki looked over her shoulder back at the Dauntless Midnight. The fury on her face had morphed into the tired expression of a parent who had just finished dealing with a rebellious child. It was possible, Meisha thought, that is exactly what had happened. The woman and the starship faced each other for a moment, neither one moving. Finally Meisha hit the open broadcast comm and cleared her throat.

  “So how do we pick you up?”

  Fubuki’s face broke into a smile, and she shook her head. “I’ll come to you, captain.” With a wave of her hand, space itself seemed to open and swallow her, crackling energy shimmering around her. Seconds later, the air on the bridge of the Midnight thinned as reality tore apart at a singular point and Fubuki stepped out of the wormhole she had created. A few panicked whimpers sounded out and one lower enlisted member dashed out to the hallways. Some were unable to comprehend what they were seeing. Nobody said a word.

  Meisha studied Fubuki up close through a new lens. The Midnight’s camera was good, but it hadn’t picked up all of the details of this enigma. Her short black horns were speckled with the reflection of stars and galaxies, resembling the universe itself. Sweat was dripping from her brow, implying that whatever power she had did require effort from her. Her dress and the armor underneath was scorched in places from the destruction of her ship. The woman, or creature, took in a deep breath and began to say something, but Meisha cut her off.

  “Fubuki right now I need you to answer two questions for me. After that we can talk for as long as you want about anything you want.”

  “I’ll hold you to that, Captain.” Fubuki replied, a familiar playful tone in her voice. Hearing that relaxed Meisha. The fact that Fubuki’s personality seemed to be the same was a comforting thought.

  “Are you a threat to my crew or Humanity as a species?”

  “No.” Fubuki answered.

  “Do you know what's going on here?”

  “Yes I do. The sooner we sit down and talk, the better.”

  Meisha nodded and began to pilot the Midnight away from Hanaloi and the battlefield that surrounded its orbit. She scanned the sector map and the trajectories of this system’s planets and bodies, looking for something in particular. After a moment of searching, she found it: one of Hanaloi’s distant moons. It was small, but would be enough for the Midnight to hide in its shadow while they made emergency repairs and figured out what was going on. Fubuki leaned over Meisha’s shoulder and surveyed her screens, giving a small nod of approval.

  Suddenly, alarms rang out across the Midnight as space itself vanished behind them. Light blinded the cameras, and the Midnight's sensors threw garbage on the data displays, unable to make sense of what was going on. As the radiation flare and light died down, Meisha’s eyes widened in horror. Behind them were hundreds of similar ships to the Ferronians; engines all burning after the small human ship.

  “Shit that survivor must have called for backup.” Anderson growled.

  “Ma’am we have lots of energy buildup!” Pirique warned. “How do we make it out of this?”

  Meisha tried not to panic and pushed the Midnight’s engines as hard as they could go. Alerts chirped as the Ferronians began to fire, a wall of red incoming shots painting the displays. The Midnight was trying to outrun a tidal wave of fire.

  “You won’t make it out of this.” Fubuki said, soft enough that only Meisha could hear. “Do you trust me?”

  Meisha grit her teeth and looked up at her. “Yes.”

  With a single nod, Fubuki stepped forwards and placed her hand on the center console of the pilot’s chair. She closed her eyes, and the camera’s view began to warp. The Midnight started to shake as space around the ship was torn open. It engulfed them; the last of the stars winking out behind them as the Ferronians watched their prey disappear. The Midnight was left drifting in complete darkness, alone. The violent shaking subsided.

  Meisha gripped the command chair’s armrests, her eyes flicking over the data readouts from the Midnight. She looked up at where Fubuki stood. The woman had one hand stretched out, resting on the navigation console. Her eyes were focused in front of her, her dress and hair seemed to shift with an invisible wind. Her black horns were glowing with energy, yet her breathing was steady, and she seemed to have a smirk on her face, relishing in the surprised stares from the crew.

  “We seem to be safe, dear captain. Perhaps we can talk now?” Fubuki said, a playful tone in her voice. She turned back to look at Meisha. “The Ferronian ships won’t be able to follow us at this speed. It seems you’re making it a bad habit of needing me. You’re welcome, by the way. The Ferronian ships would have torn you apart with plasma fire. Your crew is good, captain, but not good enough to take on a scout fleet by yourself.”

  The captain just stared back, mouth slightly agape. “What?”

  “That fleet behind us? They can’t follow us here.”

  “How did we escape?” Anderson asked. “There was no Starshot jump, and most of our sensors and systems are freaking out.”

  Fubuki dismissed him with a wave of her hand, visibly more relaxed. “Starshots are so ineffective, all that wasted energy used to try and fire something close to the speed of light. Tell me, have you ever heard of a warp drive?”

  “Yeah, it's a theoretical device that shrinks space in front of it and expands space behind it, letting the user go faster than light speed. Our scientists have been trying to build one for centuries but they can’t figure it out.” Pirique answered. Fubuki gave a humble shrug.

  “Well that's what I did. And am currently doing. I’m a biological warp drive, among other things"

  Anderson rose from his chair. “What? How?”

  “I can control physics and matter, to an extent. Don’t ask me how, I’m not sure how it works. Ever since I can remember, I’ve been able to affect things around myself. Controlling gravity in a local area, stopping projectiles, even creating small black holes. That last one was a mistake… turns out that once it's open, a black hole stays open.” Fubuki said with a nervous laugh. “I can harness and bend the known laws of nature to my will.”

  Meisha rubbed her eyes, trying to come to terms with what she was hearing. “If you told me this yesterday I would have laughed at you. Turns out, the lady who just destroyed two starships and warped my ship has big glowing horns and can bend reality. I don’t know what to think anymore.”

  “Ah, my horns! Do you like them? For the most part, I cover them with a helmet so I don’t scare you poor people.”

  “I don’t know what to say.”

  “I do. First peaceful human contact with an alien! Yay!” Fubuki said, her voice filled with mock excitement. “This is a big moment for you guys. Would have been better if I could have introduced you to the Federation through more peaceful means, but this is a turning point in your history.”

  “Yeah, turns out that you’re not just a ‘starship scavenger, here to work out a sale, huh.”

  “If it makes you feel any better, I technically didn’t lie.” Fubuki huffed. “I do have a scavenging permit under UCC law. Just not as… well myself. I have lived among human colonies here and there to watch you develop. Your food is quite good, and while I don’t care for much of the culture, the music is nice.”

  Meisha stood up, frustrated. “Alright enough. Enough playing around, enough secrets, enough bullshit. What and who are you? I want a straight answer, now.”

  Fubuki sighed, giving the captain a sad smile. “I’m a mystery, Meisha. My name is Fubuki, that part was true. The rest of the galaxy refers to me with a plethora of titles: Mother of Peace, the Dragon of the Abyss, Defender of the Entente K10 system… you get the point.” She leaned in, her eyes hardening.

  “I don’t know where or when I came from. All I can tell you is that I have lived a very, very long time. I have seen races rise and fall, destroy themselves and each other. And one day, I got sick of it. I crushed armies and fleets, and united those who sought for peace. I helped guide and form the Galactic Federation, a collection of those alien species who survived, and for the past five thousand years have been keeping the galaxy from war. Though that seems to be changing now… The Ferronians know that human contact is forbidden, it's a crime to enter human colony airspace. We planned to bring you into the Federation in the future, but wanted to watch you develop first. There will be fire and hell for this.”

  The alien clapped her hands, her face brightening up again. “However, you don’t need to worry about that. I’ll punish them myself. As for you and your crew, I’ve started us towards Ephora. It's a Cenonian colony that's relatively close, so we can refuel and restock your ship and send you home. There’s no reason for humanity as a whole to involve themselves in this little mess.”

  “I’m not just being refueled and sent on my way.” Meisha snapped. “This is our fight too, it's our colony that was attacked. I won’t sit back and let some stranger fight this for me. Besides, humanity and the Admiralty need to know what happened.”

  “Dear Captain-”

  “You aren’t convincing me to walk away. You’re telling me that there have been other alien races alive all this time, just hiding from us. And when one of those races attacks mine, kills my men, you want me to run and leave it to you to solve.”

  “Well that's not the way I’d put it, but yes. I want you to do the smart thing and leave all this behind. If you let me handle my own, then humanity won’t be dragged into a war with an alien race. If you go chasing vengeance, then other races may decide to get involved. You’re way out of your league here.” Fubuki hesitated for a moment.

  “You seem like a good leader with a pure heart, albeit a little lacking in experience. Your Admiralty is made up of a bunch of warmongerers looking to pick a fight; if you go back talking about an alien invasion and convince them to send a battle fleet, an intergalactic war would follow.”

  “And all the work you’ve done would be undone.” Meisha finished “All of that peacebuilding and keeping humanity in the dark about what's really out there.”

  “Yes but that's not what matters here.” Fubuki said. “Obviously some Ferronian ships attacked a colony. But why? Were they actually Ferronian military, or pirates? There’s a lot of context I need before justifying a war between an alliance of races and one of the largest races in the galaxy. What I need from you, captain, is level headed thinking.”

  “I think you already know what they were. And I think you know how this ends.”

  “Perhaps.” Fubuki admitted. “But I’ve met a lot of people, from many corners of this weird universe we call home. I’m typically a good judge of character.” She gazed at Meisha with a soft, sympathetic expression. “I need you to slow down a bit, Meisha. This is historic in so many ways right now. I need to know that you’ll be doing what's best for your own people, not just your own pride and sense of vengeance.”

  Meisha cursed, pacing up and down the bridge. “Alright.” She said, “Say I do agree with you and swear my ship and crew to secrecy. What do I tell the Admiralty?”

  “Simple! Pirates hit the colony, colonists detonated the stations instead of giving up their lives. Quite a heroic tale of a last stand.”

  “And how will we explain the hull damage and the missing ammunition?”

  “We’ll have all that fixed on Ephora.” Fubuki promised. “I can’t wait for you to see it, the planet is one of my favorite places in the galaxy. It's absolutely beautiful. I’ve never seen prettier oceans, more regal mountains… ahh and the sky islands are majestic.We are quite lucky. Another hundred years or so and it will be colonized and much less wild.”

  “How long do we have until we arrive?”

  “At least 24 hours. While fast, my warp abilities aren’t instant over long distances.”

  “We’ll have to discuss this with the crew.” Meisha admitted.

  “Is that a good idea?” Anderson asked.

  Meisha gave him a sidelong look and sighed. “Probably not. But if I was a crewmember, I’d want to know what the hell was going on. We’re in a rough way. We need to come together and make a decision that we all can agree on.”

  “Captain!” Pirique exclaimed, alarm in her voice. “The data we recovered from Hanaloi’s Starshot. It's being wiped!”

  “What? Who has access to do that?”

  “In theory, nobody. It would require going into the Midnight’s AI core and overriding all of our security protocols from the terminal in there. The only thing I can think is that somebody was given specific access that we didn’t-”

  “It's Thorn.” Meisha growled. She pinged Brigg’s radio, gritting her teeth. “Briggs, I’m certain Thorn is in the AI core. I don’t know what she’s doing, but don’t treat her as friendly.Remove her and put her in the brig.”

  “Rodger,” Briggs replied.

  “Pirique, can you hide that data?”

  “I can try moving it around and keeping it from her, yes. I’ve also tried beaming it back to Earth so we can hope that someone picks it up, somewhere.”

  “That's all we can do then. I think in the grand scheme of things, we have something more valuable than that data.”

  “I can go help.” Fubuki suggested. Meisha hesitated, then nodded once. “Alright, come on. Let's go see what our wayward pilot has been up to.”