“All right,” I said, clapping my hands. “First off, we need some food. Ani, you said you found food.”

  “Aye, ma’am. There’s plenty in the mess for now and more in storage.”

  “Good. Let’s get to know Ms Videlfurrow here over a meal, then we can bring something to our prisoners.”

  We headed to the mess and warmed up some prepackaged food.

  “So, Ms Videlfurrow, talk to us. What do we need to know about you?”

  “I—uh, I’m not sure, ma’am. Like I said, I’ve spent the past cycle and a half on board this ship. It hasn’t been great.”

  “By the way, what is this ship called?”

  “According to its registration? The Beam of Light. The crew actually calls it the Red Banshee, though.”

  “Well, we’re going to call it by its official name because that sounds better.”

  “I, uh, can’t disagree, ma’am.”

  The next minute or two was filled with an awkward silence as we ate our mediocre meal. Finally, though, our “guest” worked up the courage to ask a question.

  “If I may—what are your names?”

  “Oh!” I laughed. “I’m Dax Juniper, the current captain of this rust bucket.” A strange look crossed Isa’s face as I said my fake name, and I was sure Videlfurrow caught it.

  “I’m Anibadi Golgoriani. Ostensibly I’m a gunner and general gopher, but I’m not sure what that’ll end up looking for now.”

  “Jara Eskivon. Marine.”

  “And I’m Isa Dalgado. I was an engineering tech on the Bluejay, so I guess that makes me head of engineering for now.”

  “It’s, uh, nice to meet you all. I think.”

  I nodded. “I guess we’ll find out. Speaking of that—where are you from?”

  “I’ve been a spacer my entire life, ma’am. I grew up on one of those large train freighters—you know, the modular ones that carry a bunch of storage modules around them. I ended up learning to pilot, got my license, and found a job piloting a smaller freighter. That was great until, well, you know what happened.”

  “Any family?”

  “Last I checked, my parents were still working on that freighter, but I haven’t exactly had access to use an ansible for a while.”

  I winced at my faux pas. Fortunately, we were all finishing up our meals, so I let it lie.

  “Okay,” I said when we finished. “Let’s discuss plans. I need to check on the status of the other ships—hopefully they’ve left the system and we can proceed at a leisurely pace to avoid them. Ms Videlfurrow, I’ll handle navigation and the other bridge duties while you pilot. Jara—Private Eskivon, I mean—will be on guard.”

  “Just call us by our first names. We’re not on the Bluejay,” Jara interrupted to say.

  “Y-you can call me Ontari.”

  “All right. Ontari will be our pilot. Jara will be on guard to make sure she doesn’t backstab us, though I’m trusting you to behave. Isa will handle engineering, while Ani looks after our prisoners and handles other miscellaneous tasks as necessary. Any questions?”

  Ontari raised her hand. “Um, where are we going? We’re a pirate vessel, and I’m sure your captain—I mean, the captain of your other ship—has contacted them about us.”

  “Well, we’ll just have to take the only route I know and hope that I neither mess up navigation nor that we get blown to pieces before I can communicate our identities.”

  She looked nervous at that—well, more nervous than she already was. The others looked calmer, but I could tell there was an undercurrent of unease about them.

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  Back on the bridge, I made sure to lock the consoles and only enable Ontari access to the minimal functions she needed for her job. Fortunately, the captain hadn’t thought to set up security features, or maybe he didn’t know how. Either way, it was to my benefit.

  I settled in and looked over the scan data. Indeed, there was no sign of the other ships within the system, so that was good. They wouldn’t be able to reach us any time soon.

  After plotting a course toward the exit, I turned to Ontari. “You ready?”

  “Aye, ma’am.”

  I sent over the course and told her to keep the ship to sixty percent speed. She followed my instructions and demonstrated her proficiency in piloting.

  I spoke over the intercom. “This is the captain speaking. We’ve begun heading towards the next system. Congratulations, everyone, on a successful capture of the Beam of Light. Now, to home.”

  Ontari did a good job taking us to the appropriate system exit. As we neared, I told her to wait just outside the entrance. There, I ran another scan, verifying that there were no nearby ships before allowing her to take us forward.

  It was challenging juggling everything, but I thought I did a reasonably good job over the next two days. We worked eight hours on, four hours off, which wreaked havoc on our sleep cycles but would be barely sustainable for a couple weeks. Ontari proved to be a skilled pilot, maybe not as skilled as some of the better military pilots, but more than capable of what we were doing.

  The problem came on the third day. We returned from our short sleep and meals to the bridge, and I looked at the scan data in horror.

  “Fuck this ship and its shitty scanners!” I yelled.

  “What is it?” Jara asked, alarmed.

  “A fucking aether storm is coming, and I don’t think we can outrun it.”

  Jara let out some curses I hadn’t heard before.

  “What are we going to do?” Ontari asked, wide-eyed.

  I ran some calculations. “Fuck, we’re definitely not going to outrun it.” I started pacing, unsure what to do with my hands but feeling like I needed to do something.

  “Okay, we can’t outrun the storm. We can’t backtrack, of course. Shit! Fuck!”

  “If we can’t avoid it, we’ll have to ride it,” Jara said.

  “Are you insane?” Ontari belted. “Ride an aether storm? That’s suicide!”

  “What other option do we have?”

  I stopped pacing. “Actually, maybe we could. It’ll almost certainly kill us, but it might work. We’ll need a smaller ship with adequate shields—a shuttle, maybe.” I activated the intercom. “Ani, Isa, I need you on the bridge.”

  I thought through my probably-impossible plan over the next few minutes as I waited for the others to arrive.

  “So here’s the situation—we’re facing an aether storm. We’re going to ride it.”

  “What?” Ani asked. “How the fuck are we going to do that?”

  “Very carefully. Now, Isa, how can we buff up the shields on a shuttle?”

  She paused to think. “Shuttle shields are pretty weak, but I could probably take the crystals from this ship and make some modifications to the interface so they fit. I could try making them swappable, maybe even an automated fallback if I have enough time. When’s the storm going to hit?”

  “We have a bit less than a day.”

  “It’ll be tight, but possible. Probably not an automated fallback, but a manual swapping might work. I’ll go get started, if you don’t mind.”

  “Go.”

  “I can’t believe you’re all actually considering this!” Ontari exclaimed.

  Ani shrugged. “Dax used an aether storm as a weapon against a Kaksholi scout. I know she’s got some screws loose, but if she says this is our only chance, I trust her.”

  “Thank you, Ani. Ontari, you’re going to have to ride the currents. Our goal is to keep on the edge of the storm, using the turbulence to allow us to travel outside the main current. Hopefully we can get back, but if not, well, we’ll see what’s outside the major currents.”

  She threw her hands in the air. “This is outrageous, you realize that, right? We’re all going to die.”

  “We’re all going to die anyway. This might give us a chance.”

  “Fine! What do you need from me?”

  “Help Ani load whatever supplies we can into the shuttle we’ll be taking. At this point, we’ve got to trust you.”

  Jara took the opportunity to ask, “What about the prisoners?”

  I took a deep breath. “We can’t take them with us, but I’m not going to force them to endure an aether storm chained up. I’ll execute them for piracy in my duties as an officer in the imperial navy.”

  Jara gave me a solemn nod. I was worried Ontari would object, but I was clearly underestimating her hatred for her abusers, another sign that she was telling the truth.

  I decided at that point to trust Ontari—if she wasn’t trustworthy, we were all dead anyway. “Ontari, is there anyone else worth saving among the prisoners?”

  She shook her head. “No, they’re all scum.”

  “All right, then. Jara, you’re with me. Ani, Ontari—go ahead and get started on those supplies.”

  I led Jara down to the cargo hold while the other two hurried off to gather food and whatever else they decided we’d need.

  As I approached, I got a perfunctory glare from the captain, but he seemed to have lost his fire.

  I stood tall, or as tall as my somewhat short frame let me. “Crew of the Red Banshee, I am sorry to say that this ship is doomed. An aether storm is on the way, and we will not be able to avoid it. The five of us have a plan that might let us survive, but only the five of us. As for the rest of you, I am not so cruel as to force you to die suffocating in the void, suffering aether toxicity as the ship is torn apart in a storm.

  “As such, by the power vested in me as captain of this ship and an officer of the Imperial Navy, I hereby find each of you guilty of piracy and sentence you to death.”

  The pirates started to panic in a combination of fear and outrage, but I forced myself to keep calm as I shot each of them dead. Due to their movement, I wasn’t able to guarantee a headshot on each of them, unfortunately, so some experienced a bit of unnecessary suffering despite my best efforts.

  Once the deed was done, I just stood there, staring at the mass of dead bodies. Jara stepped up and placed a hand on my shoulder in solidarity as I finally let myself weep.