Carter Bowman could still hear his old instructor’s gravelly voice.

  Keep it simple.

  It had been his mantra since he had learned, the hard way, to take it to heart.

  Not that it’s ever simple in space.

  The exit point for the Interlopers from the Cluster was a known variable, and it was relatively small. On this side of the I.O.C., the immense forces that threatened to rip ships apart lessened but were still lethal. Laying just outside the inbound boundary of the Orbital Cluster was a static asteroid field. It was not as big as the Navorian Belt, but it still presented a major obstacle that required navigating after transitioning from the Cluster. Long ago, the empire had a cleared single space lane through the field, through which all incoming and outgoing craft funneled. Once clear of the asteroid belt, inward bound ships could maneuver freely and continue their transit towards the inner planets.

  The first part of Bowman’s plan was to deploy the remaining drones in a starburst pattern behind and around the exit of the asteroid field. The drones had taken a beating in their pursuit of the enemy craft; some had blown their engines, and a few had succumbed to the radiation emitted by the Cluster, their shielding not being quite up to spec. The Rishi had only six drones left, but that was enough for this deployment. Senior Chief Draskol would again cloak the drones, ensuring the enemy ship would not detect them.

  Next, the Rishi would position herself in the center of the exit, directly in the Interlopers path. Loaded missile tubes would be set to fire, and the laser turrets primed. Bowman assumed his counterpart would try to cut hard to starboard because of those damaged thrusters, angling the enemy vessel sharply away from the Rishi. They would try to run for open space where they could take immediate advantage of their cloaking technology.

  The Captain’s yacht, the Gemini, had launched off the flight deck an hour ago, piloted by Tanaka. It was currently laying mines around the exit, with proximity alarms and strobes enabled. These, they were not trying to hide. To get the Interlopers’ full attention, the drones would uncloak and turn on their active scanning and bombard the enemy ship with pings once it entered their trap. The Interloper ship would have to fly directly into their kill box.

  With no where to run.

  Bowman hoped his counterpart was reasonable. They wouldn’t be getting away this time. He had chased them far enough, and now it was time to get answers. His plan eliminated any avenue of escape. Thanks, mostly, to the time the insane battering ram maneuver had given the Rishi to prepare.

  That’s definitely going into the history books … Nope. Actually. They’ll just classify it, keeping it to themselves.

  Bowman sighed. He hated the politics of this sort of situation, something his old life had let him circumnavigate whenever it suited him.

  “Sir?” Corporal Mathers, the marine C.O., asked from where he and his aide sat in the captain’s ready room.

  The marine knew a distracted captain when he saw one. He was also in the pool that was trying to figure out that captain’s old life. They all took any opportunity to pry a few loose nuggets free.

  Bowman looked up from his espresso, which he had been staring into.

  “Everything alright, sir?” the corporal repeated.

  A slight shake of his head cleared the cobwebs of Bowman’s past.

  “It is, Corporal. Thank you. Just some old memories taking advantage of this old man.”

  “Anything you care to share, sir?”

  Bowman smiled inwardly at this. He knew of the pool, of course, and found it amusing how often his officers tried to pry information from him.

  “Not really, Corporal. Thanks,” Bowman said, taking a slow sip of his espresso, feeling the fire burn as it moved down through his body. He let the sensation bring him back to the present. “All set with the plan?”

  You almost had him, Mather’s. Got a little too pushy. Damn it.

  “Yes, sir. One last question. What about the rules of engagement?”

  “I’ll leave that to you, Corporal. I want answers, and I need prisoners for that. But it’s an enemy craft with unknown variables. The empire has never captured an Interloper ship before, never mind any prisoners. I can’t in good conscience hobble you on this mission. Do your best, but keep your men alive first and foremost. These Interlopers like to blow themselves up, given the chance. If things get too harried in there, abort, and return to the Rishi. With expediency. Once clear, we’ll blow them from the sky, so to speak.”

  “Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.” The marine said.

  He appreciated a commanding officer that trusted his crew to do their jobs, knowing their objective and giving them leeway to operate as needed. It was also rare for a commanding officer to make his men’s lives a priority. He had heard the rumors of the captain when he first came onboard almost a year before, but until now had no cause to test those against the man himself. It was good to confirm the rumors were accurate.

  Bowman glanced at the monitor on his desk across the small room. The countdown timer showed less than forty-five minutes before the Interloper craft would be at the exit. That time was firming up from an estimate to a certainty as each minute passed by. The drone, the one tasked by Draskol on the other side of the Cluster to follow the enemy ship, had survived. As soon as it was clear of the Orbital Cluster, its encrypted broadcast had grown stronger. As it followed the enemy craft through the asteroid field, making its way closer to the Rishi, that signal had firmed up. They were now receiving real time information.

  “Good luck, Corporal,” Bowman said, finishing his espresso before standing up.

  “Thank you, sir. We’ll get it done for you.”

  Bowman nodded to the corporal, who stood, along with his aide.

  “Sure either of you don’t want a shot before you go?” Bowman said, a glint in his eye. He loved seeing his crew react to that particular offer.

  Mather and his aide glanced at each other. Bowman saw the aide’s eyes go wide and chuckled.

  “Alright. Maybe next time. You’re excused. I know you’ve got some planning to do, and time is short.”

  “Yes, sir,” Mather’s said. His aide merely nodded, his voice escaping him as a blush crept from under his starched collar.

  The two men turned, leaving the captain alone in his ready room.

  Bowman walked to his desk, setting down the small espresso cup. He picked up the rest of his roast beef sandwich, taking a bite. He relished in the simple pleasure as he made his way back to the bridge.

  This time, the Rishi would not be caught off guard. This time, she’d have the element of surprise.

  The Rishi’s captain made his slow way across the bridge from his ready room, finishing his sandwich and taking the time to look over the shoulders of his crew. He was not the sort of captain to micro-manage, but a good captain took whatever opportunity he could to let his crew see he was engaged and knew what they were doing.

  “Tosh,” Bowman said as he approached his command chair.

  Toshi stood from the where he had been manning the con in the captain’s chair.

  Bowman nodded thanks before sitting down in the vacated seat.

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  “I’ve got the con, Tosh.”

  “Yes, sir,” Toshi said. He turned and made his way back to his station, checking in with the junior officer manning it.

  Bowman toggled the ship-wide mic.

  “Rishi, hopefully we’re nearing the end of this chase, but there’s still one last hurdle to surmount. We’ve placed an effective net for the Interloper to fly into, and they should have nowhere to go. Hopefully, their captain sees this and capitulates. If not, the marines are ready to launch and subdue the enemy craft. You all know your duties. Good luck.”

  The captain keyed off the mic, sitting upright in his command chair. He was confident in their plan, but whoever captained the other craft had shown a determination that bordered on suicidal.

  Why are they here? Where are they going? What is their mission?

  These were the questions Bowman wanted answers to.

  He pulled up another screen and typed in a command, asking the computer to show him the whereabouts of Draskol and Tavu. The system took a moment, then returned an error, stating that the ship's directory showed no such requested personnel.

  Bowman sighed, remembering that they had come aboard as part of a research crew. At the time, they hadn’t been critical enough to supply with communication badges, which doubled as location beacons for the Rishi’s officers. Since this whole chase had begun, during which the two Powers had revealed themselves and had been integrated into the chain of command, there obviously hadn’t been time to fix that oversight.

  “Toshi?” Bowman asked, looking over his second in command. “Any chance you know where Draskol and Tavu are?”

  “Last I saw, sir, they were headed to the med bay. We really worked Tavu hard with that battering ram maneuver, and Draskol wanted her looked at by the doc.”

  “Understood,” Bowman said.

  “Sir?” Toshi asked.

  “Don’t worry about it, Tosh. Just a thought I wanted to run by them, but I’ll leave them be. You’re right, Ms. Tavu did some incredible work; best to let the doc give her a clean bill of health before anything else. We’re all set?”

  Toshi looked at his status boards.

  “Yes, sir. The Gemini has docked, and Tanaka is reporting all the mines placed as requested. He’s on his way to the bridge now. Frostmere has the drones in place, and his pilots are in their StarFires. Draskol already cloaked the drones, locking that setting in so he could go look after Tavu. He said he’d be back at his station before the Interlopers emerged from the field. I just got an update that Corporal Mathers had to make a personnel change because of an illness, but he’s reporting ready status and the marines are in their breach tubes.”

  “Thanks, Toshi.”

  “Aye, sir.”

  Bowman knew there was nothing left to do. His crew was ready, and they had a solid plan. He sat still, not allowing himself to fidget, showing his bridge crew a calculated calm. He wanted another shot of espresso, but that would have to wait.

  And maybe a sandwich.

  __________

  “We still can’t find the Rishi?” Zirenna asked, coming back to the bridge.

  She’d been to Engineering, seeing for herself the damage the transit through the Cluster had caused. The Oshakati was in a bad way. No way they could complete their mission, not without supplies from the Forsetti. Even then, she wasn’t confident in their chances of success.

  Ikora shook her head, handing her captain a meal bar, knowing she had been ignoring her basic needs again for the sake of her duties.

  “No. We’ve been able to cobble together a partially working sensor and communication array, but its range is limited. We mostly have only visual sensors, some forward-looking radar, as well as local communications. We’re not completely blind, but pretty close. Yaziri can still pilot the ship out of the cursed place, but we aren’t doing much more than that.”

  May the breath of the void help us.

  “Nothing we can do about it,” Zirenna said, weary resignation filling her voice. “What about shields and weapons?”

  “Forward and starboard shields are back online, but at sixty percent capacity. Weapons are offline. I don’t think we can count on those coming back online without a major overhaul.”

  Zirenna stood just inside the hatch to the bridge where Ikora had met her, taking distracted bites from her meal bar. They had exited the Cluster and were moving through the last asteroid field in its single space lane.

  This definitely feels like we’re flying into a trap.

  She didn’t know what was waiting for them on the other side and had no clue how she was going to complete her mission. It wasn’t the first time they had failed a mission, but this was by far the worst position the Oshakati had ever been in while under her command.

  “ZIRENNA!” Akandi barked.

  Zirenna and Ikora looked at each other and hurried over to the communications station. The comms specialist was frantically working on her system, deep in concentration.

  “What do you have for me?” Zirenna asked.

  The officer held up a hand, indicating she needed a moment. Ikora started to tell the officer off for disrespecting the captain, but Akandi simply waved her hand at the distraction, pressing her headphones tighter to her ears.

  Ikora looked at Zirenna, who gave a slight shake of her head. Obviously, Akandi was working on something, and they could, would, be patient.

  After a brief wait, which both women felt took much longer than it was, Akandi unplugged her headphones from her board, the sound she had been working on now emitting from the speakers. Both women strained to hear what had Akandi worked up, but it was full of hisses and clicks. Zirenna thought she heard a faint voice between all the static.

  “Give me another moment. All the electromagnetic interference from the Cluster is playing havoc on my system.” Akandi said, without looking up from her boards, her fingers flying over the keys, adjusting filters and levels.

  The rest of the crew noticed the exchange, and the bridge had become deathly quiet.

  “...Osh…..we…..age….ambu…..Rish….be…pared….Trave...you….zero vel….exit….mines...ful...eti out...” The signal broke off again in a burst of static that had Zirenna cringing.

  “Can you clean that up at all, Akandi?” Zirenna asked, suddenly alert, her fatigue forgotten.

  The specialist didn’t answer, continuing to work, her concentration intense. The captain let her be, knowing her pestering would hinder her ability to get answers. Zirenna thought she knew what the broken message was saying, more importantly, who it was from, but she had to be sure.

  “Ikora, get the ship ready. We come out of the space lane in less than ten minutes. I’ve got a bad feeling about what is going to be waiting for us on the other side.”

  “What is it?” Ikora asked.

  “No time,” Zirenna said. “I want everyone ready to evac at a moment’s notice.”

  Her first mate looked confused.

  “Evac?”

  “Just do it Ikora. Now!” Zirenna said, fixing the other woman with a hard stare that told Ikora not to question her again.

  Ikora nodded and strode to her station, starting the process of getting the crew into the evac shuttle. That would not be pleasant. She always hated the evac shuttle. It was so small. With the entire crew loaded, it would be standing room only. The shuttle had minimal supplies, with only basic engines and shielding. It was a life raft, one whose function was to get the crew to the nearest habitable planet and not much else.

  “I’ve got it as clean as I’m going to get it, Zirenna.” Akandi told the captain as she turned back to the communications station.

  “Play it, my ears only.”

  Akandi nodded, handing her a second pair of headphones before plugging both pairs into her board. She hit a key, replaying the message.

  “Oshakati...received your message…. ambush…. The Rishi is …. The exit to the ...field… we are in position to attack...we have the Traveler….boarding our shuttle and he will come to you. Come to zero velocity…. soon as you exit… mines… be careful. Forsetti out.”

  Zirenna realized she had been holding her breath and let it out in an explosion of air. She let herself hope again. The Forsetti had received their message just before they entered the cluster. And they had Esplin, the Traveler who they were supposed to rendezvous with.

  The captain clapped Akandi on the shoulder and gave her a grin, which the diminutive woman returned. Zirenna turned on her heels and stepped quickly to her station.

  “Ikora, belay my last order. I want everyone to the hangar bay right now. Send word to jettison the evac shuttle and clear the hangar bay. Get yourself there as well. I need you to stop by my quarters first and open the safe. Code 33FG754. Bring the data-chip marked ‘Solvonus’ with you. Leave everything else.”

  Ikora knew better than to question the captain when she was like this, her mind working so fast it left everyone else behind. That’s why Zirenna was captain, and she wasn’t. She had a hard time ignoring her emotions and achieving this level of calculated coolness under pressure. Ikora left the bridge at a dead run, already calling out orders on her communicator.

  Zirenna had already moved on, not watching Ikora leave the bridge.

  “Yaziri, as soon as we exit the asteroid field, come to a complete stop. There are mines laid around the exit, but I’m not sure where.”

  Yaziri did not bother to act surprised. The pilot simply gave a nod in acknowledgment and turned back to her screens. She played it either very cool, or the hours of tactical flying had worn her out.

  Zirenna keyed on her mic, addressing the entire ship.

  “Oshakati. It’s time for us to move on. The ship has been home. We'll miss her. But the mission comes first and foremost. Her sacrifice will not be in vain. Ikora will detail evac orders. Be prepared to move at a moment’s notice. I don’t think we’re going to have a lot of time to make this work. Zirenna out.”

  With that, Zirenna keyed off her mic and ordered the entire bridge crew, except Yaziri and Akandi, to the hangar bay.

  “Akandi, let me know if you receive any more messages. Yaziri, once we are at zero velocity, set station keeping and head to the hangar deck as well.”

  Both women nodded their understanding. They trusted their captain to see them through this fresh development.

  Zirenna moved to her command chair, sitting down, and brought up her own screens. She linked the ship’s defenses to her terminal, putting all available power to the forward shields. She didn’t think they could take more than one or two hits, but hopefully, that test wouldn’t come.

  As she worked, she could feel the Oshakati decelerating, the grav-generators not operating at peak efficiency after the load they had been under in the Cluster. The ship was exiting the asteroid field and Yaziri was bringing the craft to a stop, as instructed. Zirenna saw the pilot punch in a few commands, then she was up, heading towards the aft hatch that would lead to the hangar bay.

  “Yaziri, you did an amazing job getting us this far. I won’t forget it.”

  “…Thanks…,” was all the pilot said.

  “Ask Ikora to let me know as soon as he arrives,” Zirenna stated, knowing how cryptic it sounded, but having no time to explain, she could see that Akandi was trying to get her attention. She needed to stay focused.

  She had an enemy captain she had to meet, and she needed to play for time.