The Line of the Sol Empress

Chapter 2.3

[Moon]

With a spread of his arms, Moon immersed himself within the holographic star map. He pointed to the star nearest to the ship icon. "There!" he called out. "Sai, how long till that torpedo catches up with us?"

"At current velocities, approximately sixty-four minutes."

He put a hand to his chin. "Hmm. Not enough time... Sai, push the drive harder, ignore all operating limits."

"Sir, confirm operating limit bypass?"

"Confirmed. And make for that star, the nearest red dwarf."

The ship shuddered. A deep hum originating from the quantum displacement drive and the fusion power reactors, invoked a shiver in Celeste. Her knuckles turned white as her fingers sunk into the padded arms of her chair.

Moon turned to her, narrowing his eyes. "Here's a fun fact. Did you know that a quantum torpedo kill rate is about ninety-five percent?"

"I am so sorry, Moon. I did not mean to take your life with mine." Her face paled as she dipped her head.

"And yet, here we are. But we are not dead yet." He pointed a thumb at himself. "Lucky for you I have the fastest hauler in this part of the galaxy. Fixed her up myself. And I have an idea to improve our odds, although, if you have the ear of a deity, a bit of divine help would be welcomed."

He leaned back and called out, "Sai, this is what we are going to do. First, turn off our identification beacon. No use making it any easier for that torpedo. Plot a course to skim that star, go right through the corona. That should mess with the torpedo tracking. Then switch off the quantum drive and use the fusion thrusters and the star's gravity well to slingshot us around to the other side."

Sai replied, "Sir, if we come across a solar flare--."

"Yeah, I know. We will be toast, literally. But our odds are better than against that torpedo."

"Toast, sir?"

"Yes, Sai. An analogy. Burnt toast might be a better description." He turned toward Celeste. "So, what did you mean about the last hope for the Line of the Sol Empress?"

Celeste dropped her jaw and huffed. "There is a torpedo bearing down on us! This hardly seems the time to have this conversation."

"We have some time," Moon replied. "If I am going to die, I at least want to know why."

She took a deep breath. "Just before the Empress died, we took all the ova we could from her ovaries. For those not yet viable, we tried to mature artificially. There were five of us. We each took a portion of her eggs and fled. We intended to reestablish the genetic line of the Empress. The Order of the Phoenix, we called ourselves."

"What the hell? You brought that on my ship?" Moon shook his head. "And I take it somebody really does not want you to succeed, like bad enough to fire an expensive quantum torpedo at you?"

She nodded. "Yes. Some in the highest levels of the Commonwealth, I believe. And I think the Trade Consortium is also somehow involved. Empress Iona opposed them."

Moon blew out an audible breath and shook his head. "The Consortium is as corrupt as hell. They and their big corporations have been trying to push out independent haulers like me."

"And the current Empress Pro Tempore, Ali Zahra, is nothing but a puppet of the Consortium."

Moon nodded. "No argument from me on that. Damn shame those Free Dawn anarchists murdered Iona."

She shook her head slowly. "I do not believe they did."

He lifted his eyebrows at the implication. "Are you implying that the Consortium had something to do with the Empress' assassination?"