Though he didn’t say anything, I could tell that Tiroteo was immensely curious to know why we changed course. Throughout the night after finishing our shift, I caught him giving me curious glances, but thankfully he kept quiet about it.

  Things came to a head during my next shift.

  “Ma’am,” I said, addressing the XO. “It’s time.”

  Commander Estradari nodded and called for the captain who entered less than a minute later. The XO handed over command, and the captain sounded general quarters.

  Over the intercom, she called Lieutenant Cathka, the senior pilot, to the bridge.

  “I apologize, Specialist Anabadas, but we’re going to need our most experienced pilot for this.”

  He glanced at me, probably wishing I had informed him what would be happening, before nodding. When the lieutenant arrived, he handed off the controls to the demon woman.

  Once everyone had time to reach their battle stations and the new pilot was ready, the captain made an announcement.

  “Crew, we are in trouble. An enemy has us in their sights, and we cannot risk leading them to occupied space. Our only chance of survival is a desperate gambit with a low chance of success. There is an aether storm incoming, and we are sailing right toward it. We hope to barely outrun it, leaving the enemy vessel to its mercy. I won’t lie—this will likely lead to our deaths, but we have no other option. Strap in, and may the fates have us find our way home.”

  This was my wild, utterly ludicrous plan. Aether storms were natural phenomena wherein the aether raged like a storm. The constantly-changing currents and shear forces could easily overwhelm a ship, leading to its shields overloading and, ultimately, the vessel’s destruction. Our best option was to run the engines at full blast and hope to outrun it.

  I was honestly somewhat surprised the enemy vessel decided to follow us. Surely they had detected the storm? But they had, and we were taking the risk.

  After her announcement, the captain called down to engineering.

  “Lieutenant Coresonia, prepare the engines for full burn.”

  “Aye, ma’am,” came the response, a hint of trepidation in his voice.

  “Lieutenant Cathka, our lives are in your capable hands. Full speed ahead.”

  “Aye, captain.” The demon woman straightened her shoulders, a look of determination coming over her features.

  “Lieutenant Rokloth, do your best to plot the fastest course possible, knowing that if we don’t outrun the storm, it could mean our destruction. Ensign Juniper, keep an eye on those sensors—let us know if the enemy’s behavior changes.”

  I got to work. The next two hours were incredibly tense, knowing that it was a race for survival. Like us, the enemy ship accelerated, likely running their engines as high as they would go, resulting in them staying about an hour behind us, moving at about the same speed. Meanwhile, the storm crept ever closer to our current, the knowledge of its threat ever-present.

  I couldn’t imagine how it felt for the rest of the crew, strapped in and just waiting to find out if they survived. At least I felt like I was involved, that I had some degree of control over the situation, no matter how minuscule.

  I looked at the sensor data. The storm was nearly upon us. Our escape was still possible, depending on how the chaotic currents moved in the next twenty minutes, but it would be close, at best. Checking the engine data, I saw that we had enough mana to make it if things went well, but we’d be limping along after that. All I could do was hope that if we did manage to survive the storm, it wouldn’t catch up with us after.

  Sixteen minutes later, the storm caught us. “Brace!” Lieutenant Rokloth cried out moments before the aether slammed into our ship, sending it off-course. Even the inertial dampeners couldn’t keep up with the motion, and the ship jerked us around.

  “Status,” the captain called out.

  “Shields took a hit, down to 83%,” I replied.

  “Cathka, get us out of here!”

  “Working on it, ma’am!”

  Lieutenant Rokloth was frantically typing on her system, though I wasn’t sure her plotting was going to help. This was all on Lieutenant Cathka—she would be flying more on feel than anything, a terrifying thought.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Sure enough, a few seconds later, another shearing force tried to tear the ship in two, only the shields distributing the force enough to prevent our destruction.

  “Shields at 59%!” I cried.

  The next few minutes were a mess of shaking and spinning as we were tossed around like dice in a cup. I sincerely hoped everyone had listened to the captain and strapped in.

  “Shields at 4%!” I called, terrified.

  “Almost… there…” grunted Lieutenant Cathka.

  Just as we pulled beyond the worst of the storm, one last wave hit us, knocking out our shields and shaking the ship.

  “Status!” yelled the captain.

  “Shields are down. There was an outer hull breach in section three, but the isolation protocol successfully activated,” I replied.

  “Navigation?”

  “We are successfully past the storm, so long as it doesn’t change direction and head for us.”

  “And the enemy?”

  I looked at the scan data. “They’re deep in the storm. The interference makes it impossible to know their status for sure, but it’s unlikely they’ll escape.”

  She spoke into the intercom next. “Engineering, status?”

  “The engines are nearly out of mana, captain. We’ll be limping along at half speed until they recharge.”

  “Bosun, any injuries?”

  “Checking, captain.” After about a minute, the bosun replied, “Nothing serious, ma’am. A couple bumps and bruises. I’ll send them to the infirmary.”

  “When can you get the hull patched?”

  “We’ll get on that as soon as possible. I’ll need to inspect the damage but it’ll likely be at least a day before it’s repaired.”

  “Keep me informed.”

  “Aye, ma’am.”

  She turned back to me. “Status on the enemy?”

  I checked the latest scan data. “Ma’am, I’m reading two bodies. It looks like the ship was destroyed.”

  A cheer went up among the others on the bridge before the captain quieted everyone down and went on the intercom.

  “Crew, I am pleased to report that we escaped the storm with acceptable damages. I am just as pleased to report that the enemy ship did not survive. Unfortunately, we are still lost in the deep black with a damaged ship. We will be effecting repairs as quickly as possible before attempting to find our way home. I thank all of you for your service in this extreme situation.”

  After that announcement, she turned to the XO. “Commander, please draft a report on these events to central command for my review.”

  “Aye, ma’am. If I may?”

  She nodded. “Dismissed.”

  From that point, things became more routine. We had to move at half speed for an hour while the engines recharged from our high speed movement. We were able to start the shields up after fifteen minutes, but then it took nearly three hours for them to finish recharging to full power.

  By the end of my shift, operations had smoothed out. The only major issue remaining was the hull breach, and the bosun and sailors were on that.

  As I entered the mess after taking a few minutes in my room to come down off the stress of the day, I saw my friends gathered and talking. When I approached with a tray of food, Tiroteo stopped talking and looked at me.

  “That was your plan, right?”

  Everyone seemed to hold their breath as I hesitated, surprised at the question. “Yeah,” I mumbled, just loud enough for them to hear. My embarrassment peaked when the group started cheering.

  “Bold move, but it paid off,” commented Jara. “Good work.”

  Ani laughed. “That’s something I expected from Isa, not you!”

  “Hey!” Isa exclaimed, then placed a finger to her chin in thought. “Okay, yeah, I can see it.”

  I rolled my eyes at their antics as I set my tray down and took a seat next to Isa, who nudged me with her shoulder.

  “Good job,” she whispered.

  From there, the others made me recount every detail about the event. I didn’t think it was all that great a story, but they hung on the edges of their seats as I told it.

  Over the next few days, it was clear that everyone knew I had come up with the plan, and they all wanted to express their thanks. During that time, the hull got patched—the ship would need repairs at the next shipyard, but it would hold for now.

  Once we reached the next system, we could take a little bit of time. We ran scans over the exits, then sent the data back to central command for review. They then took what data they had and compared it to ours and suggested which major current to take next. It wasn’t a guarantee we’d make it home, but having more data helped us increase the likelihood.

  Having eliminated our pursuers, the mood on the ship was higher for a while, but by the time we were leaving the system, the reality that we were still lost in the deep black began unsettling people again. It wasn’t as bad as before—we had a lot more hope—but it was still a struggle for many of us.

  Everyone was affected to some degree. As before, Tiroteo got surly, while I often noticed Ani staring at nothing, a slight sheen to her eyes. Jara seemed to get more rigid—she spoke in a more stilted manner and harped on procedure more often. Even Isa wasn’t the same—she was quieter, less bouncy.

  Me? I found myself lost in thought a lot. On the one hand, I was glad to be alive and free from my family’s direct influence. On the other hand, there was still no guarantee we’d survive this.

  “Hey, Pet,” Isa said one night, dropping next to me as I zoned out instead of sketching.

  “I thought that nickname was over.”

  “Eh, I’m thinking about bringing it back.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Wonderful,” I said, sarcasm lacing my voice.

  She laughed. “I’m sure you’ll get used to it.”

  With a tired sigh, I set my tablet down. “Was there something you wanted to talk about or are you just here to tease me?”

  “Hmm,” she said, tapping her chin. “Teasing you is fun, but that wasn’t the point.” She then sighed before continuing. “We need something to keep morale up.”

  “What do you think I can do?”

  “I don’t know, but you figured out how to get rid of the Kaksholi ship, and I’m a genius inventor, so I’m sure between the two of us, we can come up with something.”

  “Ah, yes, as two of the brightest minds Erythralia has ever created, surely our brilliance will lead us to a solution.”

  “See? You get it. I knew you would—after all, you’re almost as smart as I am.”

  I stuck my tongue out at her, an action she decided to mimic. With an exaggerated eye roll, I decided to give in to her insistence, and we began plotting.

  “That should work,” she mumbled. “Operation: Sunshine will commence tomorrow.”

  “Really? Operation: Sunshine?”

  “Yes,” she replied firmly. “Operation: Sunshine.” Her gaze dared me to contradict her.

  “Fine, Operation: Sunshine it is.”

  With that, she bounced up off of the couch and headed out, presumably to begin her preparations.