Commander Zyn’vak gripped the edge of his flight couch as the ship shook violently. It wasn’t the first time, and probably wouldn’t be the last. He had worried about the phase coils surviving the journey, but he should have been more worried about the ship.
Thankfully, it only had to hold together for a few more minutes, and they would arrive at their destination. Everyone on the bridge was strapped in, but he worried about the civilians. There was no easy way for that many people to secure themselves against the rough flight. He expected most would be banged up. There might even be some broken bones, but hopefully, they would arrive without any deaths.
He knew that was an unlikely outcome, considering the ship was practically tearing itself apart, but he had to hold onto any hope that he could.
After another violent series of vibrations, something popped deep inside the vessel, and the lights flickered out. Only the glow of the terminals illuminated the bridge. Before he could ask what was going on, Vo’tek sent a message.
“Commander, we lost one of the auxiliary power buses. It won’t affect the drive or ship controls, but we aren’t going to have any lighting until it’s fixed.”
“Acknowledged,” Zyn responded.
They would not be fixing that system. It wasn’t like they had a fabrication center onboard, and replacement parts were few and far between. He had invested their remaining funding into additional phase coils and shield generators.
He would have preferred having weapons, but the cost to purchase them was too prohibitive. He couldn’t complain too much. The additional generators had already saved their asses.
“Exit in ten seconds,” a tek said.
Zyn didn’t know the specialist’s name. She had been part of another cell, much like his, but their commander had been killed by bounty hunters shortly after they arrived at their planet. Those same bounty hunters are the ones who had chased them through FTL.
Even after years of remaining in hiding, the hunters had not given up their search. Zyn would like to say he was surprised, but he wasn’t. Capturing eiraxin dissidents alive paid extremely well. A prisoner could be questioned, which is why most chose to die fighting.
Not that any of them would give up Adjunct Xing’che. Most probably didn’t even know who was in charge. Only the vak’s commanding the military cells and the va experts leading the civilian ones even knew who had recruited them. Those people were all handpicked and vetted by Adjunct Xing’che and were true believers in their cause.
The ship shook continuously, as the last seconds of FTL ticked away, almost as if it was reluctant to return to normal space. Zyn could only clench his jaw tight in hopes of not biting off his own tongue. Then, as quickly as the shaking began, it stopped, and the forward display showed the station hanging in the black of space. The sight was like a beacon of hope in the darkness, and he gave a weary chuckle of relief the moment he saw it.
As the moment passed, he started giving orders. “Send the docking request.”
Before the tension of the journey had time to fade, one of the people manning the comms stations turned toward him with a stricken look. “Commander, multiple Astryx warships are patrolling around the station. One of them is hailing us, asking for our identification and reason for being here.”
Zyn’s heartbeat skyrocketed.
Why are the Astryx here?
He had been expecting to arrive as a welcomed guest, or at the worst, the station would be dead and quiet. “Is the planetary conditioning vessel still here?” If the adjunct had been able to gain control of it and leave, then at least she would be safe.
“Yes, Commander. Zyn’vak. It looks like repairs are ongoing to it as well.”
What the hell was going on?
If the Astryx were here, they had to know what that ship represented, so why hadn’t they destroyed it? The station had no way to defend itself against a shielded foe. None of this made sense.
“Commander,” the same comms person said. “The station has accepted our docking request without issue.”
He had to make a decision: transition away or stay and see what was going on. Both had a good chance of leading to everyone’s capture or death, but he had to trust the adjunct’s wisdom.
“Ignore the military vessel and get us into that hangar as quickly as possible.”
“Yes, Commander,” multiple people replied.
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They didn’t make it far before the bridge alarms blared and three yellow icons appeared on the display.
“Commander, the three Astryx vessels are targeting us. I’m detecting energy buildup in their weapons systems as well.”
“Are the shields at full power?” he asked.
“According to our instruments, they are, but with the damage we took during that last transition, I can’t say for sure,” Tahl’rek said.
The man had recovered from his injuries the last time they were here and had earned the new title of rek. All of his people had.
Zyn sent a comm request to Vo’tek.
The man quickly answered. “Yes, Commander?”
“Did the loss of the auxiliary power bus affect our shield generators?” he asked urgently.
There was a slight pause, which wasn’t reassuring. “Not the ones that existed before our retrofit, but some of the ones we added were on that auxiliary circuit, which might help explain why it overloaded. Why?”
Zyn cut the call short without responding to the tek. He had more urgent matters to deal with than the inquisitive man.
One of the icons on the screen turned red, and bolts of energy bracketed the ship. They had fired a warning shot, but he wasn’t about to stop and answer their hail.
“Commander!” the sensor operator shouted in surprise. “The station’s weapons are coming online, but they aren’t targeting us; they are targeting the Astryx vessels. The station is ordering them to stand down, or they will be fired upon.”
“I want to hear the communications,” he ordered.
Soon enough, the bridge speakers came to life. “This is your last warning,” the familiar voice of Captain Jacob said. “Stand down, or I will fire.”
“That ship could be full of privateers,” the Astryx captain responded in annoyance.
“If it is, I’ll handle that,” Jacob replied coldly, “but so far, all I see is an unarmed vessel looking to dock and you bullying them.”
Zyn’vak could practically feel the annoyance radiating off the captain of the Astryx vessel as he gave his response. “The judicator will hear of this.”
Hearing a judicator was involved was almost as surprising as seeing the Astryx out here in the first place, but whatever deal Captain Jacob had struck with them seemed to win out, and the icons of the Astryx warships changed from yellow to grey once again.
He couldn’t help but chuckle at that as the ship continued its approach to the hangar. Their vessel was easily as large as one of the Astryx warships present, but as they passed through the hangar doors, the sheer size of the station made it feel tiny.
Soon enough, the vessel was parked on the hangar deck, popping and groaning as the metal cooled slightly in the air being pumped back into the massive space.
Zyn’vak wasn’t worried about that, but he was concerned about the dozen combat drones that had been waiting for them as they set down in the hangar. An unsuited eiraxinoid drone appeared shortly after the air was pumped back in.
The fact that the drone was here, and Adjunct Xing’che wasn’t, didn’t reassure him. He unbuckled himself from the flight chair and rose. “Check on the civilians in the cargo hold and see if you can assist with any injuries. You’ll need to get them ready to exit the vessel in a hurry because you’re also going to prep the contingency plan. I’m going to go meet with Captain Jacob.”
The crew didn’t even look shocked; they understood what was at stake.
“Sir, let me go with you,” Tahl’rek declared.
“No! You have your orders, now carry them out.”
The young man ground his teeth for a moment, looking like he wanted to ignore the command, but eventually he nodded stiffly, saluted, and hurried out of the bridge.
Zyn made his way to the lower decks. Ships as large as this always had a personnel elevator because nobody wanted to walk all the way to the rear of the vessel to exit. There were airlocks on the other three sides of the ship as well, and they were actually closer, but they were mainly used when stations didn’t have hangars large enough to fit a vessel of this size.
Those exits were equipped with emergency ropes, but climbing down those synthetic ladders was a challenge at the best of times. Zyn’s knee had never fully recovered from the fall he took when Captain Jacob cranked up the gravity plating on his ship, and trying to climb down the swaying ladder sounded awful. There was no point torturing himself when he could just take an elevator. The extra time would give his people time to prep as well.
Even the fixed ladders inside the ship made his knee flare in pain, but he sucked that up and did it anyway. Soon enough, he was sitting inside the spacious elevator as it extended downward from the hull.
He had to turn away quickly as the bright lights inside the hangar spilled through one of the four small portholes in the elevator. He had grown used to the limited light aboard the ship after the auxiliary died, and even before that, the lighting inside the vessel hadn’t been great.
The elevator jerked to a stop, and a loud clunk announced the deployment of the small exit ramp. With a sigh of resignation, he stood back up and exited the elevator, ready to face whatever justice Captain Jacob demanded. Being imprisoned was a possibility he had always been aware of during his trip back here. The captain had been rather specific when he sent them packing the last time, and it was clear he was even more prepared this time around.
“You,” Captain Jacob said in annoyance. “I should have guessed she had other plans. Turn around and place your hands behind your back. You’re under arrest for violating the banishment you agreed to.”
“What about the people I brought?” Zyn asked as he complied. “They are just refugees, looking for a place to live and work.”
“If they were part of your original team, they will be joining you. The rest will have to take the ship and find some other home.”
“I see,” Zyn said. Then he sighed and activated his comm. “Do it.”
Shortly after he said those words, a series of muffled pops echoed out from within the ship, and the cargo ramp crashed to the ground with a booming thud. Soon enough, people were streaming down the ramp as oily smoke poured out of the ship.
The drone jerked him around. “What the hell did you just do?”
“Scuttled the ship. I would rather my people’s tomb be here than in the void of space.”
“Asshole!” Captain Jacob shouted as he turned Zyn around once again and handed him off to a maintenance drone.
Zyn was roughly shoved into the front of the drone, which doubled as an impromptu seat. His feet dangled off the ground as it trundled off to lock him up. Despite his circumstances, he couldn’t keep the smile off his face. Captain Jacob might be able to round everyone up and ship them back to Astryx space, but with so many, it would take time. That time was exactly what the refugees needed. If they could argue their cases with the man, maybe they would be allowed to stay.