USD: A short time later

Location: Nu Crateris, Dedia Geostationary Orbit, Tears of Fire, CIC

The information of the Corporate Fleet’s arrival spread through the system which reacted much like a kicked anthill. System traffic was much more diverse and denser than in 92 Pegasi. Independent operators scuttled for cover as system relays began to blare the number and size of the ships that had arrived in the system.

Military fleets did not come to places like Nu Crateris with good intentions. Even if she had expecting something like this to arrive eventually, it had even surprised Alex.

“Attention all independent vessels of the Nu Crateris system. This is Commodore Brigit of the Corporate System’s police task group PF-131. As per investigation of violations of the Octanis Accords, we are enacting a lockdown of the system. All traffic transit through the jump point to 92 Pegasi will require approval by the Corporate System navy and be subject to search and seizure of illegal goods. Any attempt to avoid inspection will be construed as sedition and piracy.”

It had only taken a few moments for Alex to realize that her dispatch about the Octanis Accords couldn’t have reached anyone yet.

While she re-read the transmission’s transcript, she realized that almost for certain that they would be sending a private message to the government, behind the scenes.

“This doesn’t add up. They shouldn’t be here already.”

Elis looked at her. “Maybe they were just nearby?”

“Best speed for the packet boat would put it in 13 Centauri, or Gamma Virginis. If this was a Solarian task group, maybe if they reacted instantly… no. It doesn’t seem right that they are here already. Doesn’t sound like they are here on behalf of the IFRB, either.”

“Alex, you might not want to hear this, but we can’t challenge that fleet with the Tears like we did the IHMC. There are a lot more of them, they are part of a military, and if my guess is right, they aren’t going to be flying rust-buckets.”

“Everything so far has been a rust-bucket, and the Tears is in top shape after the repairs. Still, you’re probably right. I doubt they had one of those elite FedTech units here though.”

“I’m not a naval tactician, but assumptions get you killed.”

“Assume worst, hope for best?”

Elis nodded, “I’d like for us to not end up dead, yes. No playing this one fast and loose, ok kiddo?”

Alex nodded, “Still we have a lot of problems, starting with H32, he can’t just move. We can almost certainly avoid the Corporate fleet in the Tears, even go pick up Daniel or have him go back to the station. Then go back to 92 Pegasi and meet up with A31.”

Elis frowned, “We don’t know what happened in 92 Pegasi, they could have a bigger fleet there waiting for us.”

Alex let out a breath, “Urgh. What do space pirates do?”

“End up dead or skirting around on RCS with no emissions hiding in belts or rings. I think it is too late for that though, we had transponder on when they crossed over. Going dark now would definitely raise suspicion.”

“Unless we were on the other side of the planet?”

“They’d still note it, most likely. Relays repeat transponders as well. They’d have our course and trajectory until we shut it off. Not sure how well the local net will help them though.”

Alex frowned, “I don’t know what we should do.”

Elis looked at her with concern, “What did you plan for us to do when the ‘IFRB’ showed up? From what I understand it was always going to end up this way, just seems a bit early.”

Alex blinked, “I…”

She thought for a moment. She hadn’t considered what to do at all when they arrived. "I thought they would show up and everything would sort itself out."

Elis blinked, taking in the naïve answer.

[Notice: A communication request from IND Iron Horse is awaiting answer.]

Alex hit accept and Captain-Major Thraker appeared on the screen.

“Captain Myers. Master-Sergeant Myers.”

Alex was still surprised whenever someone picked up on her name change. She’d only updated the information not to long ago. Reading the nameplate on the screen for Thraker, she realized it probably showed up like that for everyone.

“Captain-Major, I am guessing this call is about the new friends that arrived?”

“The Colonials have asked me to escort a refugee convoy out of the system. There isn’t much capacity however, and I wanted to ask about your two freighters. What’s their passenger capacity?”

Alex thought for a moment. The Freighters had lots of cargo space, but they weren’t designed to carry passengers. That said, they did have the two large, pressurized cargo bays, and adding extra life-support into one of the radial modules wouldn’t be too difficult.

“Fifty, right now. Four hundred by the end of the day. Maybe a thousand in another day. Five thousand would be the max, but we don’t have the resources for that.”

Alex smiled when Nameless didn’t correct her. She was getting better at math and doing calculations, and she’d show him she could keep up. At least a little.

“Two thousand then, I doubt we have more than two days.”

Alex frowned, “I haven’t accepted letting the colonists use them. I doubt they’d even let them near the elevator to take on people.”

Thraker didn’t agree, “I doubt the Governor would restrict them, the colonists might not have the best relationship with you, but I doubt they would block evacuation efforts.”

Alex shook her head, “I’ll consider it, but I’m not sure I want to offer use of the ships right now.”

“I understand, Captain. I plan to take on as many passengers as possible and escort a convoy out of the system to Meltisar under its flag.. It’s likely that the Corpos will not have a problem with that. My advice to you is to join us. Even without gouging the ticket prices will likely pay for operations, even if you only took them as far as 92 Pegasi.”

Alex frowned; a list of ticket prices that were being listed scrolled down her console thanks to a quick search by Nameless. A million credits for passage was not gouging? She felt a sick feeling of disgust at the profiteering. On display. Even if Thraker wasn’t selling the tickets directly and being paid to fly as an escort, it…

Well, she was starting to think that she made a bad mercenary.

“Thank you of thinking of us, Captain-Major. I’ll think on it. We still haven’t made plans on what we will be doing, but I will let you know as a courtesy when we do.”

Thraker nodded, “Don’t wait too long. And don’t think you can tangle with that fleet, girl. Those ships will not be ones that have been sitting at the bottom of a maintenance schedule for decades.”

Alex swallowed as the communication cut off.

Elis spoke up, “I’m going to call Daniel and let him know what is going on.”

Alex nodded, “Ok. I am going to confer with H32 and Nameless.”

USD: The Next Day

Location: 92 Pegasi, Ackman Orbit, SRS A3123-Y

Amy, Logan, and Abbey all sat behind consoles in the command center. The room’s main lights had been dimmed and blue hues from the dozens of monitors and information feeds cast everchanging hues and shadows throughout the room.

They had been monitoring the progress of the Corporate ships and measuring it against the speed of their drones and worker robots when a transmission arrived.

The Corporate detachment of cruisers and frigates had stopped at Ackman station, but after a few hours a frigate had set course for interception of A31 accompanied by a transmission.

“Starlight Revolution Orbital Administrator, Corporate Systems records show that you are operating a clandestine and illegal mining operation in the asteroid belt of Ackman. You are to surrender your command codes to Corporate authority immediately. A military detachment has been sent to apprehend your management personnel and bring the orbital under Corporate control.”

Amy was surprised that it had taken them as long as it had to notice A31. A lot of traffic had fled to the station to take on supplies and fuel before they dispersed into the rocky belt to hide from authorities. There were a lot of people in the system who would prefer that they weren’t noticed.

Even if she had expected it, the message felt like a hammer blow. She wondered for not the first time if they were really going to do this. A movement from her brother caught her attention and he gave her a thumbs up.

Abbey was also on the edge of her seat for a different reason. The young girl was looking like she was going to throw a temper tantrum.

Deciding to take control of the situation as the only adult present, Amy took a breath and prepared herself as she opened the comm channel. A31 had helped her find the relevant legal documents and phrase what she wanted to say. Pulling out her notecard she read it in her best diplomatic voice.

“Corporate Authority… uhh, whoever you are. This is A-3123-Y, a Starlight Revolution Mobile Facility. We are a legally registered vessel according to interstellar law and incorporated according to interstellar treaty signed and acknowledged by the Corporate Systems. Confiscation and seizure of a lawfully flagged vessel in independent and unclaimed space is a violation of the Four Powers Spacefaring act. Therefore, we respectfully decline your request and ask that you maintain a VFR warship standard separation distance. Thank you.”

The comm channel remained silent for several minutes. Amy hadn’t really expected a response as she watched the frigate continue its course. Her stomach sank as the two cruisers and another frigate joined the first leaving Ackman Station behind.

The main screen buzzed and came to life with a black and gold uniformed man standing in front of a captain’s chair on a bridge.

“This is Corporate Captain Grachett of the CSS Full Indemnity; your station and crew are suspected of crimes against the Corporate Systems. As such, by the powers of the FPS Act I have authority to seize your assets and personnel. I do not have a Corporate Lawyer on board, therefore if you refuse to comply, we will destroy your ship and any survivors will be subject to summary trial and possible execution via spacing. End Transmission.”

Logan stood up and shook a fist at the screen, “You bastard you’re just saying that because you want to take our stuff!”

Amy didn’t think he was wrong. If they hadn’t been on A31, she wouldn’t have ever have thought about resisting and would have surrendered immediately.

“Abbey, transmit to the others, we are going with plan A.”

Abbey’s high voice almost squeaked. “Affirmative! Sending tight beam messages now!”

Amy had to swallow back a wave of… well, the young girl.. NAI.. Avatar.. Abbey, was illegally cute.

“After that, perform final securing and begin transit.”

Abbey stood up. “Hehe! Those baddies aren’t going to know what hit them!”

Amy watched Abbey close her eyes and focus. It had been hard for Amy to wrap her head around the fact that Abbey and the A31 AI voice she was used to working with were two sides of the same coin.

They had spent the last day preparing the orbital to move. The massive construction was over four kilometers wide and long on its largest axis, a circular ring bridging between its eight mooring arms that connected to the central main module.

The station’s RCS thrusters were as large as some ship’s main thrusters. So far they had only been used to maintain and control attitude in relation to the orbital’s position, but now Abbey was focusing on igniting the orbital’s main drive for the first time.

Thousands of drones and bots of all types had worked tirelessly to secure their surroundings. The normal production lines had to be halted as they were accustomed to working in micro-gravity. The fish tanks had to be safely secured as well. Abbey had been worried if they lost all the fishies, that Alex would be sad when she returned.

Amy had planned their course to drag them across the asteroid belt. The rocks were spaced quite far apart thanks to just how big space was, but the Ackman belt was quite dense as far as asteroid belts went.

A3123-Y’s main dive lit off in a massive torch as the station left the manufactory and other unfinished projects behind. Those had been dragged behind the asteroid they had been aligned with, to hopefully keep the Corpos from inspecting them.

They would be quite defenseless if the warships did attack them, sadly. There wasn’t much they could do about that, other than the few traps and presents they left behind if someone did go snooping. Amy figured they’d have time to return as long as things went well.

Abbey looked at her, “Should we send a reply to Captain Grachett?”

Amy shook her head, “I think they will figure it out now that we are moving. Are all our systems working right?”

Abbey’s eyes rolled up into her head for a second. Amy wasn’t sure she would ever get completely used to the strange mannerisms that came with the Avatar’s sudden bouts of unconsciousness when she manipulated ship things or conferred with A31.

“Everything’s A-OK! Weapons systems are armed and capacitors charged! Damage control drones are ready! Laser Defense net is good!”

The distance between Ackman Station and the A31 Orbital was short. Amy doubted they could quite outrun them, but she planned to drag them as far across the belt she could before springing the trap.

“I guess, uhh, we should set alert status?”

“Oh. I didn’t turn it on because it was just us. Are you sure you want me to sound the klaxon? It hurts my ears…” Abbey frowned and wiggled unhappily.

“Well, maybe not the klaxon, but how about the lighting?”

Logan clapped, “Flashing red lights, goo!”

Amy shook her head, “Idiot.”