Chapter 145
Running DarkAlexander stood to the right of the captain’s chair, watching the viewscreen as the Sleipnir closed in on their fourth harvester. The mining machine drifted through the asteroid field ahead, its bulk silhouetted against the distant stars.
To his left, Carmen sat in the captain’s chair, relaxed but attentive. Ryan stood beside her, arms crossed, overseeing the bridge crew at their stations below.
“You know,” Yuki said from the pilot’s station, “my mother would absolutely kill me if she found out I’d become a pirate.”
Davis snorted from weapons. “Mine would die laughing if she found out I was one. So I guess that evens things out.”
“That’s not how that works, dumbass,” Petra called out from sensors and comms.
“Sure it is,” Davis shot back. “One death cancels out the other. Basic math.”
“That’s not even close to how anything works.”
“Your logic isn’t how anything works.”
“At least I have logic.”
They continued bickering back and forth, hurling insults with the ease that came with long friendships that had survived months of close quarters and frustratingly little privacy.
Ryan cleared his throat. “Focus, people.”
His tone was commanding but not aggressive. Just enough edge to redirect without coming down hard. The bickering stopped immediately.
Alexander was amused by their antics. He wondered briefly what his own mother would think of all this. She’d probably still be annoyed about the whole supervillain thing more than anything. He pushed the thought aside and focused on the task at hand.
The ship slowed to a complete stop, main engines idling, as the asteroid harvester came into range. Alexander reached out with Technopathy, feeling the machine’s systems respond immediately to his intent. The connection was good. The harvester ready to obey without even the slightest resistance. He commanded it to offload the freight container and switch to transport mode.
On the viewscreen, the harvester released its cargo, magnetic clamps disengaging. The container drifted slowly away from the main body. The harvester began to fold in on itself, mining equipment and collection arms turning inward as it reconfigured. Within moments it looked less like an industrial platform and more like a compact transportable unit.
Alexander guided it carefully around the ship’s hull, maintaining the connection as he directed its trajectory toward the open cargo bay doors.
“That makes four,” Carmen said from the captain’s chair. “You’re thinking two more, right?”
Alexander nodded, still concentrating on guiding the harvester in.
“Nav, locate the next one and plot our course,” Carmen called out.
With James Carter’s passing, Vikram Ravi Singh had moved from second shift to fill the empty navigator position. From what Alexander had seen so far, the man fit in well with the others, with no obvious tension.
“Already done, ma’am,” Vikram responded from the navigation station. His voice was calm. “Ready to—”
Petra interrupted. “Captain, we’re picking up a jump signal.”
There was a brief pause as her fingers danced across the screens in front of her, pulling up streams of data that only she could read and interpret.
“It’s a UEG destroyer, ma’am,” Petra continued. “Probably a patrol ship. They’ve pinged us already, so they know we’re running dark.”
Davis cursed under his breath.
“Nav, plot the nearest jump route,” Carmen ordered. “Angle us to avoid their weapons envelope.” She turned to the pilot. “Yuki, start building thrust on the main engines. Use RCS to hold position as long as you can.”
Vikram and Yuki replied in unison. “Aye, Captain.”
Alexander understood the plan. With the ship brought to a complete stop, the drives were idling. Returning them to maximum output took time, unlike with some engine designs. The Reaction Control System’s maneuvering thrusters would counter the forward thrust in order to keep the ship steady while Alexander loaded the harvester.
For a time. The main engines would quickly overpower the maneuvering thrusters.
“They’re hailing us, ma’am,” Petra added.
Carmen was quiet for a moment. Her expression turned thoughtful as she considered their options.
Then she looked over at Alexander. “How much longer to get it aboard?”
Alexander checked the harvester’s position. It was approaching the cargo bay doors now. “Almost there. Thirty more seconds.”
Carmen turned toward navigation. “Does thirty seconds make a difference?”
Vikram’s response was somber. “No, Captain. We’ll be inside their weapons envelope even if we leave immediately. There’s no way to avoid it before we reach the minimum safe distance for a jump.”
“Captain,” Davis said, his tone carefully neutral. “Permission to bring weapons online?”
Carmen shook her head immediately. “No. We’re not fighting the UEG military.”
“Agreed,” Alexander said.
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He kept his focus on the harvester, closing the cargo bay doors as it passed through, but his mind was already working through the tactical situation.
“Harvester’s aboard.”
Carmen activated the ship-wide comms. “All hands, brace for sudden acceleration in five seconds.” She cut the connection and looked at Yuki. “Make for the jump limit. Full burn.”
“Aye, Captain,” Yuki responded.
Alexander grabbed the railing beside the captain’s chair. Across the bridge, clicks sounded as crew members at their stations belted themselves in. Ryan seized the rail on Carmen’s left, stance widening for balance.
Yuki cut the counter-thrust.
The ship lurched forward.
The acceleration hit hard, pushing Alexander back as the main engines roared to full output. The Sleipnir shot ahead while turning sharply and climbing at the same time. Alexander noted absently that directions like right and up only made sense relative to the ship’s orientation. In the void, there was no universal frame of reference.
Then the inertial dampeners caught up. The crushing sensation faded as the compensation systems balanced out the G-forces, returning the bridge to something approaching normal gravity.
Carmen turned to comms. “Petra, connect us. Mask the feed.”