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Prologue
Rumors are a currency all their own in the depths of space. Deceit and ingenuity play their part in establishing the baseline for all that occurs; but rumors help guide all that along. Space was too large to just take a stab in the dark without coordinates. You needed guidance- a way to find your way. Navigation pings only got you so far when the expanse before you was much larger than anything you’d ever faced before. So rumors, the information trade, they helped fill those gaps.
Until things went downhill and it stranded you among the stars. Every spacefarer knew sending an S.O.S. was a dangerous business. You never knew who’d pick up the distress call. The woman in the shuttle's pilot chair prearranged her rendezvous point to make sure this didn't happen.
They’re nearly here, Captain.
Kira tilted her head as the implant passed along the AI’s message. The innocuous speaker rested right behind her ear. A lima bean-shaped insert pushed under the skin, the procedure done minimally with a small dermal incision that healed over so no scar rested above it. The only sign of its presence the bump under the skin. A thin wire ran off towards the inner ear canal making it so all communication was heard only by the person meant to receive it. Any communication back had to be said aloud. But since she was by herself, there was no concern of anyone overhearing it.
“Thank you, Watson.”
Her voice was so different from Watson’s, smooth and easy to the ear. The voice that shot back to her was harsher, the tone almost banal other than a slight accent that matched her own. Normally AI’s had specifically clear voices, accents were hard to detect without it being forced through the programming.
Should I bring us about to the other side of the moon, Captain?
“No, I can handle that, Watson. Thank you.”
Leaning over the console, the glass reflected her back as clearly as any mirror. Dark hair almost black, purple in the right light, which the fluorescent sheen hinted at. Long fingers trailed along the console, the flat surface reacting to the heat of her touch. Flicking a reading upward of their current positioning, it expanded across the wide front view screen.
Numbers scrawled in a pale neon blue against the inky black sky behind it, every line perfectly straight. It reflected in her eyes, covering liquid amber with an unnatural light. The same light that made dusky skin off-colored.
A rapid proximity beeping came off the scanner. “Watson?”
It’s not the Callistar.
“Check its signature.”
Captain, it’s Praetorian.
Her mouth formed the beginning of a curse that did not drop from her full lips, the cupid's bow of the top forming a slight dent as she bit her lower one. Watson automatically shifted her initial readout to the other side, allowing her to see the projection of the radar.
Cruiser class, non-military, possibly a privateer.
“You couldn’t have mentioned that sooner?”
The statement sounded unconcerned, even if her heart hammered, every beat sending it banging against her ribs so hard she could feel her pulses extending into her wrists.
Do you want an apology, Captain?
She snorted as she realigned their trajectory. The shuttle moved into the moon’s gravity. With any luck, they’d be a bleep on their own monitor, so quick they didn’t bother looking into it further. A sharp veering of the other ship told her one thing- they’d seen her and they didn’t fancy an interaction either.
It appears they’re moving away.
“More power to them,” sarcasm mixed with relief painted her tones.
The console pinged for a message relay, causing her to purse her lips before Watson came across the com line.
You were right, Captain. We’re going to be recalled back for repairs.
“It feels like there’s more to it than that,” she sighed, leaning back in her seat piloting around to the light side of the Callian moon. “I suppose we’ll find out soon enough.”
I’m sure we will.
Chapter One
KIRA
Watson sounded off in her inner ear, Your heart rate is up.
