The next day, I explained the situation with the ship and the risks associated with it to the others. Ontari, being the only one of us not in the military, had no problem with keeping the ship a secret, and Ani seemed to focus more on the novelty of the weapons than caring about deserting. Jara, however, seemed reluctant.

  “Hey,” I said once I got her alone. “Talk to me—what are you feeling?”

  “We took oaths, you know? I know the empire has its problems, but we’re supposed to defend and support it.”

  “As I recall, the oaths require us to ‘defend the Empire from all threats domestic and foreign.’ Giving this ship to the navy will almost certainly result in an unnecessary war. That sounds like a threat to the empire and its citizens to me. I know it’s challenging, but we have to do what’s right. It’s not like we have to stop protecting the empire, either—with the capabilities of this ship, I’m sure we can find a way to contribute to the prosperity of our empire.”

  Jara sighed. “I know you’re right, but I don’t like it. It still feels like a betrayal.”

  “I think there are no good answers here, so we take the option that helps us sleep at night.”

  She nodded, getting lost in contemplation. I squeezed her shoulder briefly before heading out to continue work on the ship.

  A few more days passed, and our symbiotes finished building the [Ship Link] augments as well as preparing new identifications for us. Meanwhile, we were hard at work reconfiguring the ship to be more comfortable for our different species, though there were some limitations based on time and knowledge—some things we just didn’t know how they worked. Between the ship nanites and the assemblers, though, we could build a lot, especially once we figured out how to use the shuttle’s systems as a template.

  As captain, the others decided I definitely got the captain’s quarters, leaving the others to figure out which two would be sharing a room. They decided to have me pick a number and the two who guessed closest got their own rooms. In the end, Jara and Ontari would be sharing a room.

  Eventually, though, the ship was as ready as it could be.

  “Everyone, this has been an adventure, and I suspect it is only just beginning. Each of you has chosen to follow me into this new life with open eyes, understanding the risks and responsibilities, and for that, I thank you. Together, we will thrive! In the spirit of the imperial navy, scout ships are traditionally named after birds. As such, and knowing that this ship has given us hope of survival, I christen it Hope’s Raven. May the Raven carry us through the skies and void back home.”

  Everyone was excited, waiting on the bridge, as I turned to Ontari.

  “Ontari, take us up.”

  A few seconds passed before Ontari responded. “Um, captain? How are we getting out of the bunker?”

  I blinked a few times before realizing none of us had thought about that. “Um. Yeah. That.”

  Thankfully, Isa was somewhat on top of things. “Oh, right! I remember reading that. Now, how did it work again?” She zoned out in her own world.

  “Aha!” she finally exclaimed. “I need to go outside and open the bay doors from a console nearby, then we can fly out.”

  I gave her a nod. “Go ahead.”

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  She hurried out, and a couple minutes later, the displays showed the wall in front of us swinging open as giant doors leading to a moderately long tunnel. Off in the distance, I could see what looked to be dirt and plant matter falling as sunlight peeked in through an opening gap.

  Once Isa bounced her way back to the bridge, I turned back to Ontari.

  “Now, Ontari, take us out of here.”

  “Aye, ma’am.”

  The ship floated forward slowly until we reached the opening in the ceiling, then we lifted into the air then flew forward and up, away from the planet at high speeds. Soon enough, we were safely outside the atmosphere.

  ?How are things looking?? I asked Isa via comms since she had returned to engineering to watch over everything.

  ?Excellent, Dax. For an ancient ship, this thing is working astonishingly well.?

  I let out a breath of relief before focusing back on the systems. It was amazing how much easier it was to manage a ship with the augment. I worked on plotting a course to empty space while simultaneously explaining what I was doing to Lumira and Velia. My hope was that, given time, those two could take over that duty while Ontari and I switched off on piloting.

  It took half a day to reach a major aether current, but that was only the start. It was time to test the sidestep drive.

  There were two operational modes for the sidestep drive. The first and simpler was to get close to a major current and use that as a reference. You could then charge the drive and jump straight to the other end in an instant. Besides the speed increase, the secondary benefit of using it that way was that you could travel against the current. The second method was both more dangerous and more powerful. With it, you could jump to any nearby star system, regardless of if there was an aether current between them or not. The problem was that the calculations were much more difficult, and if you messed up, you could get lost in between systems.

  For the moment, we were testing the first method. We had copies of the aliens’ star charts, but there was a problem with that—it had been a long time since they were updated, so we had to extrapolate current data and compare it with the star charts on the shuttle. If we were correct, we could get close to imperial space in a few current-based jumps, then make a single blind jump to make it home, but that was a big risk. Fortunately, we should have plenty of food to figure out something else if we screwed up.

  At the edge of the current we wanted, I instructed Isa to start charging the drive, then the other four of us relaxed for the next five hours while Isa watched over things to make sure everything looked okay.

  Once the drive was nearly charged, we took back up our stations and waited for the last few minutes.

  ?It’s ready, captain!?

  ?Ontari, engage the drive.?

  A few seconds later, it seemed like nothing had happened.

  ?Did it work?? Jara asked.

  I scanned the sensor data, impressed by the details that revealed we were indeed in a different system.

  ?My friends, we just teleported!?

  Sensations of excitement and joy bounced around the comms network, both from the five of us and from our symbiotes. As everyone calmed down, I looked through the sensor data and compared it to the star charts we had.

  ?From what I can see, we’re in the correct system. Ontari, I’m plotting a course to the next major current.?

  ?Aye, ma’am.?

  The comms network was convenient when we were spread across the ship because our augments were more than capable of reaching anywhere in the ship, meaning we could all talk as if we were in the same room. The only reason we didn’t use the comms exclusively was that there was just something nice about using your actual voice.

  Over the next two days, thanks to the sidestep drive, we were able to cover a distance that would take weeks conventionally. Finally, we were as close as we’d get to imperial space without a blind jump.

  A curious quirk of the region was that there were no direct connecting currents between our location and imperial space, at least if we were interpreting and extrapolating the star charts correctly, which explained why we had never discovered any sign of what was clearly an ancient advanced society. Unfortunately, though, that meant we would have to make a blind jump if we wanted to return to the empire without crossing through unknown, foreign space, something that wasn’t really an option. It didn’t matter what tech we had—crossing through Kaksholi space would get us killed or worse.

  I triple checked my calculations before having each of the symbiotes, as well as Isa, check them as well. As best we could tell, the jump would work and get us safely into imperial space in one of the unnamed systems, our best option for arriving surreptitiously.

  As the sidestep drive charged, I made sure our cloaking features were engaged—I didn’t want to risk someone scanning the ship’s true details.

  Once the drive was engaged, I gave the order, and we jumped.