Kaelen leaned forward, his mind racing through the options his crew's talents provided. "Jara, can you spoof our signature? Vahn, give me everything the engines have left. We aren't surrendering. We have a delivery to make."
"Trapped between a xeno and a hard place," muttered Vahn, the ship’s master mechanic, as he scrambled to patch a leaking coolant line. Star.Traders.Frontiers.v3.3.13.rar
"Captain, the xeno signature is trailing off, but they aren't gone," reported Jara, the ship’s veteran spy. Her fingers danced across the console, tracking the ghost-like echoes of a Terrox Hunter that had been harrying them for three sectors. Kaelen leaned forward, his mind racing through the
The ship lurched, the stars outside the viewport stretching into long, shimmering needles of light. For a moment, the crew held their breath, feeling the familiar, nauseating pull of the Void. Then, with a violent shudder, they emerged into a new system. But they weren't alone. We aren't surrendering
A massive Steel Song blockade fleet hung over the primary orbital, their railguns already tracking the Void-Runner . A communication request flashed on the screen—a demand for immediate surrender and cargo inspection.
The bridge of the Void-Runner smelled of ozone and recycled air, a scent Captain Kaelen had known since he was a deckhand. He gripped the command chair as the ship groaned, the Hyperwarp drive spinning up for a jump that would take them across the fringe and into the heart of Steel Song territory.
"Initiate the jump," Kaelen ordered. "We can’t fight them in open space. Our hull is already at forty percent."
