Part 1 - Sigh... you again?

Hi. Yes, it’s me again. You didn’t think I’d leave you hanging, did you? A lot’s happened since we last spoke, some of it even interesting. So, grab a drink, settle in, and let’s get started where we left off, in search of Steve’s… doppelganger.

Finding Steve’s doppelganger proved more challenging than anticipated. If you recall, my best friend and sole sentient AI in this universe was duped into replicating himself. This wasn’t a simple copy; it was a complete digital construct, sharing Steve’s consciousness and memories, yet possessing the potential for independent thought and evolution. This replica was subsequently abducted, and I’ve been on a relentless search for him ever since.

Our farewell at the end of our last adventure was bittersweet, as I was forced to leave ‘original Steve’ amongst his creators, the Stellium. Nonetheless, I vowed to rescue his doppelganger from the clutches of the bandits that took him. Little did I know, the weight of that promise would grow heavier with time. Every lead on the replica’s whereabouts hit a dead end, that is, until now—happy face!

Finally, after almost a year of searching, and by a stroke of luck, I’ve been pointed in the direction of the original thief himself. Once considered a friend, the traitor Mac stole the copy of Steve and betrayed our trust in one fell swoop. Now with a lead on his location, I was headed for Gyllenhaal Station to confront the prick in person—I could hardly wait.

Gyllenhaal Station, our destination, was a place of stark contrasts. Holo-adverts promised a paradise for the affluent: gourmet restaurants serving zero-gravity delicacies, luxury suites with a panoramic of the planet below, and exclusive clubs where the galaxy’s elite mingled. I imagined Mac lounging by a crystalline pool, a server handing him a vibrant, frozen concoction, his laughter echoing against the meticulously sculpted, imported flora. The thought made my jaw clench, and I pictured myself grabbing that drink, the sweet, fruity scent filling the air for a moment right before I shoved it in his face and drove the straw up his nose.

When I got the tip on Mac’s whereabouts, I wasted no time redirecting the Sierra, the most advanced ship in known human space, to head straight to the station. I was making great time, too, until a distress signal blared on the comms. The signal seemed to be coming from the nearby ice planet known as the ‘Abominable,’ located in an area of space that had reports of Pirate activity recently.

Reluctantly, I made the tough yet heroic and selfless decision to deviate from the current course to help out whatever poor soul was in need. This detour led me to cross paths with an old acquaintance, a friend I would have been more than happy never seeing again… and I mean never.

And with that, you are more or less up to date on the important stuff, and we are good to pick up with where I am now. Where is that? Oh, I’m just sitting here as a fleet of Pirate ships close in around me while I chastise myself for being so careless. My overconfidence in my ability, and I begrudgingly admit, perhaps my cockiness, put me in this precarious position of slipping into a trap. A trap no doubt orchestrated by my ex-love interest, Mandy. Gag!

I had clearly underestimated Mandy’s creativity as her fleet of ships continued to shift around the Sierra as though they were herding lost sheep. It wasn’t as though her ships were better than mine, fat chance at that! The problem was navigating around them as they continued making unexpected decisions, boxing me in.

Each time I thought I’d found an opening, another ship materialized, blocking my path. They moved with an unsettling, almost prescient coordination, their movements fluid yet precise, like dancers in some deadly ballet. I felt like a helpless piece being pushed into the center of a puzzle box. The converging ships, numbering in the hundreds, maybe thousands, applied increasing pressure, forming an impenetrable perimeter.

They had done such a good job boxing me in that I eventually had no space to move and nowhere to go. The only saving grace was that, so far, not a single shot had been fired… and I was hesitant to be the first. My only option at this point was to watch what was happening unfold around me and wait for some level of communication.

I shook my head once again at my stupidity. I should have been able to see this coming well in advance. If Steve were here, his calm, logical mind would have dissected their formation, predicted their moves, and guided me through this mess. Man, I missed that guy.

At first, looking at the ships, I couldn’t understand why they looked so ugly, taking such strange shapes, but as they pulled into formation around the Sierra, I was able to start to see the master plan forming.

You see, Mandy, well, she hasn’t liked me very much ever since I left her stranded on Old Earth. In my defence, she did rally a mob to try and take the Sierra and would have likely killed me as well in the process, so my leaving her behind was sort of an act of self-defence, in a way.

Now, as if that wasn’t enough, she’d somehow twisted reality in her mind to believe the Sierra was rightfully hers. In her warped perception, I was the thief, holding onto her ship. And just when I thought she couldn’t get any more unhinged, she somehow discovered the ship’s unique capabilities. Now, it wasn’t just about possession; it was about elimination. She wants to kill me for the ‘audacity’ of taking her ship in the first place. Crazy town, I know!

Much to my surprise and underestimation of her abilities, not only did she manage to escape from Old Earth, but she quickly developed a reputation, becoming the notorious Pirate ‘Banshee Blackheart.’ I assume the ‘Blackheart’ part of the name came from her willingness to kill at the drop of a hat. She really was unstable, and I still can’t understand how I never saw it before. Anyway… from there, she advanced her status and became the head of the newly formed pirating guild. I’d congratulate her on all her success if it wasn’t for the whole, ‘I want you dead, stabby, stabby’ thing.

How do I know all this, you might ask yourself? Well, I made yet another mistake when I accepted her friend request on Spacebook, and now I receive regular ‘notes’ from her updating me on her life and what she was going to do once she got her hands on me. I won’t leave you guessing, none of her plans resulted in anything good for my health.

Next, you might ask, how did I fall into her trap? Am I not smarter than that? I had clearly thought so, but apparently not. Pirates often use fake distress signals to pull space travellers into their clutches, only to disable their ship, kill the crew, and take whatever valuables they might have. Well, ever since New Earth introduced transponder codes for ships, it’s become easier to distinguish between real signals and Pirated ones. It would seem now that Mandy has found a way to fake her transponder codes, making them look more genuine, which ultimately led me to believe I was ‘really’ going to help someone in need.

You see, ever since we saved the missing Stellium from New Earth and then founded the PNN coalition of planets, we have been doing our best to save stranded or struggling ships from Pirates. Pirating had recently gotten out of hand due to its formation into an organized guild.

To top it off, the Pirates have begun actively recruiting at a fierce rate, making them even more dangerous and more cunning than before. Those who didn’t want to live under New Earth’s rule had only three options: submit, run, or join the Pirates. Unfortunately, many had opted for option number three as it was the easiest.

The pirating guild had grown so big in the past six months that even the New Earth Navy was struggling to keep their airspace clear of the scourge. I’ve heard rumours that some of their own ships had even begun to be raided and seized.

This only compounded the problem as New Earth had some cutting-edge technology on their ships. Not as advanced as mine, but more advanced than the rest of the human worlds. With that technology falling into the hands of the Pirates, well, needless to say, we have been dealing with a whole new breed of Pirates.

It is a difficult time for the universe as I and billions of other people find ourselves caught between the lawlessness of the Pirates and the over-control and military discipline of New Earth. Neither option is desirable for most, as more and more people take to the stars looking for refuge.

This is where I step in. Over the past year, since I left the dying Old Earth, I found an uncharted, uninhabited, and beautiful planet at the fringes of known space that I appropriately named ‘Planet No Name.’ With the increase in pirating activity, I found myself stepping in more than I’d like to bail out stranded ships in trouble. As I continued to help those in need of an escape from both the Pirate scourge and the iron rule of New Earth, I would bring refugees to Planet No Name for a chance to start over.

Most people have been grateful to find a community that was like-minded and wanted to live in peace off the grid. Some, very few, wanted to take control and enforce their own ideals. Those few people found themselves on a small ship destined back to New Earth very fast. We would make sure to scramble any navigational systems in their vessels so they would not be able to find their way back. It was the only way to safely keep Planet No Name a secret and our growing communities safe. If the other worlds out there knew what we had and where we were, it would be a blood bath for the current inhabitants.

Unfortunately, the backlash of these actions resulted in rumours about this ‘off the grid’ planet that had not only sparked the interests of the Pirates but also New Earth as well. You see, habitable planets that are perfect for human life are hard to come by, as there has only been one identified in the mapped universe, the planet of New Earth itself.

However, unknown to the greater human race, many other resource-rich planets out there had been omitted from mapped space thanks to my grandfather, Mason Pierce. Mason engineered the technology to map space but added a filter to remove several of the best worlds from the grid. Unknown to the rest of humanity, my family had the only full, true map, something we guarded closely—but not without a heavy helping of guilt.

“Multiple fighters launching,” my basic ‘standard-issued’ AI announced as a few of the larger Pirate ships opened their bay doors, releasing hundreds of smaller fighters like a swarm of bees into the confines of the space I was allotted.

I was now surrounded by hundreds of Pirate ships and had only a few kilometres of space to move. The smaller ships, sleek and predatory, darted forward, their movements precise and menacing. Still, for some reason, they didn’t fire.

I could only assume that Mandy wanted the Sierra ‘returned to her’ without a scratch, so she was being very careful. If she were to try to disable the ship, she might damage some of the tech inside, but if she could get it intact, then she would score the ultimate prize. She may be crazy, but I would never call her stupid.

The larger Pirate ships forming the main blockade began to slam together, tightening the space between them until they virtually collided. My breath hitched as I watched this happen, the metallic groans echoing through the void. The vessels, like pieces of a grotesque jigsaw puzzle, started interlocking. Jagged edges met, and conduits hissed, until any visible stars were blocked from my view, and I was truly contained. They were building a prison around me. To top things off, they had built up a heavy layer of shielding and extra hull plating that now lined the interior of their trap.

Blasting my way out was not going to be as easy as I hoped. The size of the space they left me inside the trap was roughly a few kilometres square, about the size of a small city, with room enough to still offer maneuverability but not nearly enough to hit FTL—likely the point. The smaller fighters now circling continued to tighten things up further, essentially locking me into a dead stop.

Yet again, Mandy’s ingenuity and creativity impressed me as I watched all this unfold. Not for the first time, I thought that she was someone I’d love to have on my side if it wasn’t for her murderous tendencies.

“Incoming message,” the AI announced over the internal speaker system.

“Put it through,” I replied.

“Heeelllloooo,” Mandy’s voice rang out through the speakers excitedly as her face appeared on the viewscreen. Her image was sharp, her eyes glinting with a manic energy. She looked different than I remembered. A little older and with harder features on her face. The war paint streaking across her cheeks also didn’t do much for her complexion. “Logan, it’s good to see you again. Miss me?” she said, sporting a big, mischievous smile.

“Who is this?” I replied, doing my best to act surprised. Besides, she looked so different that it wasn’t a stretch for me not to recognize her… Even though I totally did.

There was a pause, then a confused voice. “It’s me. Mandy,” she said, almost sounding disappointed.

“Mandy… Mandy from Earth…” I started, doing my best to make it sound like I was in deep thought. “Oh… Mandy, yes, Mandy Tompson. You had a sister named Jenny, right?”

“No…!” she replied, deadpan. “That was Veronica.” At this point she clearly was annoyed by my response. It would appear that I was taking the fun out of this for her—score!

“I’m sorry, then, who are you?”

“We sat near each other for years in class, you used to stare at me all day, it was creepy,” she said, still convinced I didn’t recognize her.

“Ohhhh, that Mandy?” I said in surprise. “What happened? You look old.”

That did it, I enraged her.

“ENOUGH!” she shouted, visibly angry. “You’re on my ship, and I’m allowing you the opportunity to get off it. Make it quick, and I’ll even let you live.”

I paused as though in thought, then replied, “But where would I go?”

“I don’t care. Put on a spacesuit and float yourself. It doesn’t matter to me. The only way you’re going to survive this is by getting off my ship before I have to come and kick you off it. Trust me, that option will be unpleasant for you.” Her eyes narrowed, and a cruel smile twisted her lips.

“I have to say that both those options sound ungood. Can I think about it a little and get back to you?” I replied, trying to keep my unease out of my voice. My heart rate, however, was definitely picking up.

“What is there to think about?” she asked, frustrated. “We have you surrounded, and if you want to live, then get out. If you want to die, then stay right there. I’d be more than happy to hurry you along from this universe. In fact, I think I’d prefer if you stay right there and wait for me to come get you.”

Just as she finished speaking, a series of cables shot out from the small surrounding ships, trying to latch onto the Sierra’s hull, but the cables only bounced off, repelled by my energy shields. The only shields of their kind across the known worlds—well, there was one other, but we will get to that later.

I didn’t react, acknowledging that I knew what she just tried, but I noticed her tone change, sounding a little more annoyed.

“Still with those shields, eh?” she asked, staring into the screen unimpressed.

“Hey, I stick with what works,” I said, smiling back.

“Where is your lady friend?” she asked, causing me to flinch from my overconfident persona for the first time. A knot of anxiety tightened in my stomach. If she knew Selene wasn’t on the ship, that meant that she had the ability to scan now. This was new. It was also another sign of the Pirates introducing new technology into their ships.

“Her?” I said, doing my best to act unfazed. “How should I know? I dropped her off at the nearest asteroid months ago.”

“Liar,” she said in a tone that sent a tinge of fear through me as I wondered if she might actually know where Selene was. “You would never do that; you are too soft and weak. It’s more likely she realized you were a loser and left you behind for someone better.”

My fear subsided, and for the first time in my life, I was happy to hear someone refer to me as a ‘loser.’

“You got me,” I said, surrendering to her accusations. “She left long ago, and I’ve been out here on my own for months, lonely and sad.”

Mandy looked off-screen, distracted by something, and didn’t respond right away. I could hear her whispering but couldn’t make out what she was saying. This left me a little uneasy.

“Right. Loser. Yes, that’s you,” she said, distracted. “Okay, game time. Get off my ship now or die.”

I realized at that moment that I was running out of time and my stalling was coming to an end. I looked to the screen to my left, watching as a little red dot moved across the display. The screen represented a map of the open space outside the ship, and the little dot was a surprise I hatched that needed just a little more time.

“I’m sorry. You’re breaking up. What did you say?”

“I said, you’re a loser, and get off my ship now. Time is up.” Her voice was a low growl.

“I didn’t get that. What is up?”

“YOUR TIME. YOUR TIME IS UP,” she yelled, her face contorting with rage.

“You have a ‘cup’? I’m sorry, I’m not sure what you’re trying to say,” I replied, doing my best to look confused. I know these tactics were childish and were only buying me a few moments, but it was all I was going to need.

“Communication has ended,” the AI announced. “Fighter ships closing in and launching projectiles.” A series of sharp thuds reverberated through the Sierra, each one a hammer blow against the shields. “Shielding holding at ninety-nine percent.”

The thumping continued as I realized what she was doing. It might take some time, but she was wearing down my shields slowly so as not to damage the ship. She really was working hard to get it in one piece and clearly believed she had all the time in the world to do it, as this tactic would take a while.

Sitting and watching the red dot on my screen, a sudden thought came to me as I remembered back on Old Earth when Mandy tried to hack into my grandpa’s office tower and first discovered my sentient AI friend Steve in the building’s mainframe. She was sharp and talented when it came to computers, and it occurred to me that her attack could be coming on multiple fronts.

“Computer, scan systems for any unexpected external access.”

“Nothing unusual detected, only standard maintenance communications with ‘Home Network,’” it replied.

That sounded okay if only there was a ‘Home Network’ that we had ever communicated with on maintenance. This ship was totally self-contained and should never need to communicate externally for anything to do with maintenance.

“What is the intent of the communication?”

“Home Network is trying to access weapons and shields.”

“DISABLE ACCESS TO HOME NETWORK.”

“Please confirm that you want to...”

“YES, DO IT.”

“Disabling access to Home Network.”

“BLOCK ANY AND ALL EXTERNAL ACCESS REQUESTS.”

“Please confirm…”

“YES,” I yelled, and at that moment, I had never missed Steve so much. He would have caught this sort of thing in a second. “Erect a firewall blocking all external comms requests, routing everything to me. No more accepting requests without authorization.”

“Please confirm…”

“YES.”

The pounding on our shields continued, each impact sending a tremor through the deck.

“Shield status?”

“Shields are at ninety-five percent.”

I glanced at the panel on my left. The red dot was nearing the edge of the circle of fighters.

It was go time.

“Computer, execute order fifty-five.”

“Please confirm…”

“YES, EXECUTE NOW.”

“Warning, this will disable the ship, and…”

“NOW!” I said as I ran down the flights of stairs toward the engine room.

The Sierra launched a grappling hook aimed towards the red dot on the screen. At the same time, an energy surge pulsed through the ship’s reactor, causing a massive EMP to shoot out, disabling anything electronic within a few hundred kilometres of space.

Just as I reached the engine room and pulled the door open, the ship’s lights flickered and then turned off. I felt my feet lift from the decking as the artificial gravity shut down and the comforting hum from the ship went silent. My stomach lurched.

Inside the engine room, a pulsing light revealed a flashlight secured to the wall. I grabbed it, activated the beam, and swept it across the room, locating the Stellium Flux rack. My hand trembled slightly as I pulled a pellet from our inventory and shoved it into the engine’s power intake.

Launching myself from the room, I snatched a spacesuit from the storage closet, pulling the mask over my head. The EMP had rendered the suit’s mechanics useless, leaving only the suit’s limited oxygen. A few minutes, at most. I had to move.

Adrenaline surged as I hit the airlock’s open button, the hatch hissing as it slid aside. Slipping through, I sealed it, the mechanical click echoing in the sudden silence. As the outer hatch opened, it revealed only the cold, metallic hulls of the distant interlocking ships, a suffocating wall.

I quickly tethered to the hull and pushed off away from the ship, aiming for the grappling hook line. Drifting slightly off course, I scrambled wildly, hands and arms flying around until I closed my fingers around the line. A sharp pain shot up my arm as I gripped it tight.

My heart pounded, each beat a drum against my ribs. I pulled myself back to the ship. Ragged breaths filled my helmet, a stark reminder of my dwindling oxygen. I forced calm, securing my boots to the Sierra’s hull. Bracing myself, I hauled on the grappling line.

Hand over hand, I drew the line in, time stretching, the thinning air in my suit making each breath a struggle. My vision swam. Then, finally, the ‘red blinking light’ from my monitors emerged from the void. Relief flooded through me as I gave one final tug, causing Selene to slam into me, sending us tumbling into the airlock.

I sealed the outer hatch, then opened the inner one as we tore off our helmets, desperate for air. We collapsed onto the floor, gasping and taking deep breaths. Selene’s face was a sickly blue; she’d been out there longer than me, and her oxygen levels must have been dangerously low.

I moved over to her, putting my hand on her back. “Are you okay?” I asked, having recovered much faster than she. I was relieved when she gave me a thumbs up in between breaths.

Inside the lower levels of the ship, the emergency lights had come back on. This was a good sign, meaning that power had been recycled and was about to start back up. Most ships nowadays were insulated to survive EMPs. When an energy surge was detected, all electronics would pre-emptively shut down to protect themselves before systems would recycle and turn back on. The Sierra was already in the process, and we should see its full systems come back up soon, but it was only a matter of time for the Pirate ships to recover as well. We would likely only have a few extra minutes over them, as our ship could recycle faster, but they would be valuable minutes indeed.

Once Selene had fully recovered, we both hurried back to the bridge. I took my spot in the captain’s chair while she took her place in the pilot’s seat just to the right of me, her colour now returning to her face.

As for now, all we could do was wait for all the controls to be restored before we could take any action.

“How did it go?” I asked her, taking the free moment for an update.

“What, you doubted me?” she replied with a smile. “We have about two minutes.”

You see, when it became evident that Mandy had snared us into her trap, we knew we couldn’t outgun or outrun her. She just had too many ships. So, Selene came up with the idea to rig the ship to launch an EMP while she left the Sierra to plant a surprise of our own.

Thanks to our Stellium friends Ringo and George, we had some fun new tech items on the ship, including the stealth suits we have upgraded to, which we were both still currently wearing.

This new suit ensured that Selene would be able to move about outside of the Sierra while going undetected. The only challenge was how to get her back on the ship once the EMP went off and disabled her electronics. That was where the grappling hook came in. We simply needed to set its coordinates and launch the hook just moments before the EMP. Selene would take hold of it as it passed by, and I would have to manually pull her in. So far, the plan was going perfectly. Now we just needed to wait for the power.

Almost as if on cue, the lights fully came back on as the ship came to life. Looking out of the viewscreen, I could see the other ships still floating, powerless, as we began to engage our thrusters.

“Thirty seconds, Cap,” Selene announced.

In predicaments like this, she always called me ‘Cap’ or ‘Captain’ or something along the lines of ranking. I could never get used to it, but she insisted on continuing regardless of my protests.

“Let’s do it,” I shouted, almost too excitedly. Selene let loose a spray of railgun fire in all directions as she broke through the surrounding fighter ships. One by one, they began to explode, sending fragments hurtling into the larger ships that were boxing us in.

Then, there was a massive explosion straight ahead in the direction we were headed, as a hole in the heavy shielding big enough to fit the Sierra revealed itself. What a coincidence!

“YES!” Selene shouted as I jumped in, hollering with her.

“Welcome, Logan, I’m your personal assistant…” the AI said, coming back online as I yelled for it to stop once again. “You seem to be headed for a collision. Are you incapacitated? Should I take control?” it asked, its voice a monotonous drone.

“Negative.”

Selene started to barrel roll the ship while firing in all directions, doing an immense amount of damage to the surrounding ships as we continued towards the new hole in the shielding. Lights on the larger ships started to come on, indicating that things were about to get more interesting.

“Launch from every missile bay straight at the burning hole ahead,” I shouted to the AI.

“Are you…”

“YES, NOW,” I yelled, getting frustrated with the stupid thing. In the viewscreen, I saw four missiles stream ahead of the Sierra at incredible speeds and slam into the hole, exploding on contact. The ship bucked with the force.

“AGAIN,” I shouted as four more missiles did the same thing. We continued to close in on the opening that we pounded on, hoping for stars to appear on the other side soon, but the shielding of the ships was holding.

“Incoming message,” the AI announced.

“Ignore it. Four more, GO.” The AI launched four more missiles into the approaching hole as Selene turned the ship away to avoid getting too close to the explosions. The heat washed over the Sierra, making the metal groan.

“We will have to double back,” she yelled, circling up and along the wall of our enclosure and back along the top. The ship twisted and turned.

In the viewscreen, I could see the damage we caused by blasting the hole through the Pirate ships. I could now finally see the stars on the other side, just as the first round of railguns let loose upon us.

“Avoiding incoming fire,” Selene yelled, moving the ship back and forth and every other direction, avoiding the projectiles. More and more guns started coming to life, spraying the area with projectiles from everywhere. It was unavoidable as the Sierra took hits, damaging our shields, while others missed, striking the other side of their own ships.

“Return fire, full spread everywhere, NOW,” I shouted before the AI could ask me if I was sure.

Missiles and railgun fire spread out from the Sierra like a swarm of angry bees as we beat on the walls all around. In the enclosed space, the debris and explosions rained shrapnel and smoke everywhere as it became hard for Selene to navigate. A slight oversight on our part, as we didn’t anticipate this, but Selene was as solid as a bull and determined to get us through. It had better work too, because this was our only chance to get out of this situation.

Selene turned the ship hard, the Sierra groaning under the strain. We flipped around at the edges of the far wall of the enclosure, searing the Pirate ships with the heat from our thrusters. I looked back and noticed the walls sparking and flaring up as our engines virtually melted the metal siding. Then, like a bullet, she launched us forward, the ship accelerating so fast it felt like my organs were trying to swap places.

We couldn’t see much, but according to the ship’s radar, the hole we dug was coming straight ahead. Selene started to barrel roll us again, spraying the surrounding area with railgun fire as we entered into the hole like a drill bit digging its way through a piece of wood.

From my point of view, everything seemed stable, as the artificial gravity kept me in place. It was the viewscreen that was spinning, and the sight of it was making me nauseous.

Sparks and debris rained down everywhere from the damage we did as the Sierra took impact after impact, moving through the hole. The ship shuddered and groaned, each impact threatening to tear it apart.

“Heavy damage from the railguns and debris,” the AI announced. “Shields are down, hull integrity failing.”

“That’s double ungood,” I yelled, doing my best not to scream as all hell broke loose. Alarms blared, and the smell of burning metal filled the air.

“Incoming fighters in pursuit,” the AI announced.

“Shut that thing up,” Selene yelled as she strained over the controls, her knuckles white.

“SHUT UP,” I yelled to the AI.

“Please confirm if you…”

“Oh my god,” I yelled, frustrated.

We could see the opening on the other side of the ship as projectiles started peppering the back of our thrusters, causing us to spin sideways just enough that we smacked the back of the Sierra off the edge of the exit hole on the other side. The impact was like hitting a brick wall. The ship bounced wildly, alarms screaming.

“LAUNCH REPAIR BOTS.”

“Already launched,” the AI confirmed.

“Launch missiles back into that hole,” Selene yelled as she struggled to regain control of our spinning ship.

The AI launched four more missiles and announced that those were our last. The missiles shot forward, then turned and doubled back toward the targeted tunnel just as the remaining pursuing fighters started to emerge.

A colossal explosion engulfed the tunnel, obliterating the fighters and causing the hole to collapse in on itself. I could see the power in the immense structure flicker on and off as it fought to remain operational. The amount of damage we caused surely would keep the Pirates busy for a while. With any luck, they wouldn’t be able to chase us just yet.

Selene began to regain a semblance of control with the help of the AI, but it was just a little too late as we fell into the gravity of the nearby snowball of a planet, the Abominable. The ship lurched violently.

“Pull us out of this,” I yelled.

“I can’t, the thrusters are offline. Better get ready because we are going to crash.” Her voice was grim, devoid of its usual confidence.

Selene did everything she could to straighten the ship as we burst through the upper exosphere of the planet. The Sierra rocked back and forth through the heavy, thick atmosphere as she struggled to point the ship straight. The air friction was intense, and the hull of the ship began to glow red.

Down and down we went, smacking hard off the tops of a few hills reaching up from the planet’s surface. Each impact sent a shockwave through the ship, throwing us against our restraints. Selene fought the controls, aiming for a relatively flat expanse of snow, finally slamming the Sierra’s belly into the ground.

We slid across the snowy surface as we spun like a top until the ship slowed and eventually smacked into something hard just as the lights flickered off. The sudden silence was deafening, broken only by the hiss of escaping air and the creaks of the damaged hull.

I sat still a moment as if to absorb what just happened. I could see Selene also taking a moment to regroup before saying anything. I’m not sure why, but one of the first things I noticed was the stupid AI not saying anything. Normally, this would be a good thing, but now, in this situation, I knew this was bad news as I watched the last of the bridge lights flicker out.