The tactical computer lights up as dozens of fighters lock targeting systems onto the Dragon.
“Commander!”
“I know we’re about to be the target in an all-out shooting gallery.”
The bridge doors open for Australia.
“Aus, plot me a navigational course back into the heart of Tri-Star Federation.”
“Are you smerth’n insane?” Amye screams.
“Clinically. It’s the last place they’ll expect us to run.”
“For good reason. They’ll mobilize most of their fleets along our projected course. Any place we drop out of hyperspace will be crawling with fish heads.”
Reynard says calmly, “Aus.”
Her thoughts return to the crisis before her. “Do you have a destination in mind...Commander?” She adds Commander as an afterthought of her adherence to procedure.
“Any place allowing us to drop out and slip right back into hyperspace. I want them chasing us deep into their territory.”
“Because we are.” Amye believes the Mokarran won’t quibble about firing on the Dragon even with the princess on board, once they escape the solar system.
“Release me. Transport me to the Mokarran battle cruiser, and I’ll order them not to pursue you.” The princess tugs at her belt, attempts to stand and clicks the buckle release to no avail.
“She has the distinct belief we are inexperienced enough at this to believe her.”
“Commander, this is your first kidnapping,” Australia points out.
“Maybe so, but we don’t plan to give her back.”
“Warning! Null field has prevented hyperspace insertion,” Athena reports.
“Shit.”
A Mokarran battle cruiser materializes before the Silver Dragon. Reynard pulls back on the joystick controller narrowly avoiding collision with the craft.
“How long to recalculate the jump?”
Australia explains, “Craft of extreme size exit hyperspace creating a disruption…”
“I read the textbook,” Reynard snaps at his first officer. “How long?”
“The null field must subside. The variables created by the anomaly cannot be calculated.”
“It’s launching fighters!” Amye screams.
“Surrender. I promise the Mokarran will only imprison you,” the princess pleads.
“I’m going to have to refuse your offer, my lady. The Mokarran don’t take prisoners.” Reynard echoes what Amye reminded him of in the palace.
Doug pipes up, “Incoming transmissions from the Mokarran. They demand immediate surrender and return of Princess Michelle Aroura. You want it on the view screen?”
“Another monster’s advising me to give up…No.”
Thrusters emerge from under the skin swimming over the Dragon’s hull as Reynard jerks the joystick controller to turn the craft away from the oncoming fighter.
“Aus, how long?”
“Null field dissipation…”
The Dragon’s violent rocking distracts Australia from her explanation.
“A hell of a warning shot. Only twenty-five percent power.” Amye slides her fingers over a touch pad on the control console. “The deflector shields absorbed most.”
“Mokarran still demanding we surrender the princess unharmed,” Doug reports.
“Procedure. They’ll fire a second blast at fifty percent,” Amye says.
“How dare they fire on this ship,” the princess snaps, forgetting for a moment she’s a prisoner.
“What happens when you aren’t returned to your wedding?” Amye asks.
“My mother retains her throne, until I am returned to wed.”
Reynard swivels the joystick controller so the Dragon barrel rolls from the fighters and the next plasma beam.
The artificial gravity on the ship adjusts slightly to compensate for the maneuver, but only the princess notices. “What just happened?”
“You’ll get used to those little grav shifts the longer you’re on the ship.”
The princess returns to her indignant manner, “I won’t be on your ship for much longer.”
“Tri-Wing fighters in targeting range,” Amye reports.
“They won’t fire yet. They’ve got to make their rescue attempt look smerth’n authentic,” Doug adds.
“I have calculated new jump coordinates into the hyperdrive computer. The null field has nearly dissipated.”
Reynard spins the Dragon on its current axis and charges the Tri-Wings. The crafts scatter from the main view screen. He dives under the battle cruiser. Moving for him would be down if they were on a planet.
He pushes the engines to full throttle.
“Clear of the null interference,” Australia reports.
The folding of space/time/reality sends bile into the back of Reynard’s throat. He seems to be the only one who even notices when they slip from perceived reality through a new one. He finds ignoring the sickness impossible, but if he loses control the Dragon will atomize.
Hyperspace—the subdimension just under what humanoids perceive as reality that allows a ship to circumvent normal space—permits for faster-than-light-travel, making spacefaring possible in a realistic timeframe. The concern emanates from entering the first, most dangerous phase of hyperspace when crossing the two realities. Once hyperspace engines engage, the entry course must be completed without deviation, or the exit will end in atomization.
Reynard memorized the textbook paragraph when he first learned to fly. He swallows the bile. His understanding of the two phases of hyperspace travel are like using an on-ramp to enter the interstate. That limited view was not quite the reality of the metaphor. To get off the on-ramp one must maintain constant speed while staying within concrete barriers and avoid course changes due to speed bumps and potholes.
Of all the dangers involved with space travel, hyperspace is the number one killer, yet the only way to travel. Under conventional thrusters it could still take months for a spacecraft to reach another planet within its own solar system. Months of travel through hyperspace, and a ship reaches a destination a quarter of the way across the galaxy.
“We have reached the point of null disruption dissipation,” Australia repeats.
“The Tri-Wings have activated all targeting computers,” Amye says.
Reynard pushes the thrusters to gain distance away from the fighters.
“Hyperspace coordinates locked in,” Australia reports.
He activates the hyperdrive.
The main engine shimmies. A reverberating wave emits from the hyperspace engines. The elongated cartoon distortion forms as she breaks with the physics of reality. An energy envelopes the Dragon from the hyperspace engines. She scrunches up radically distorted, then straightens into a tear in space.
The Silver Dragon slips into a pocket reality of the first phase of hyperspace travel. The ship speeds faster than light through a tunnel. Star specks stretch into lines. The Silver Dragon reaches the
