Into the Black

With us out of danger, for the moment, I walked into the rec area, to find the girl still clutching the armrests of her chair, looking like she was about to be sick. Sure, I pulled a couple maneuvers during the escape, but nothing so bad as that. She looked up at me when I walked in, her eyes wide, “What did you DO?”

“Oh, that? Just a bit of fancy piloting, and then a microjump to hyperspace. Just enough to get us near Jupiter. Now we’re coasting along on a ballistic course for the Choson Ring, so we’ve got…” I looked at my bracer to confirm the ETA, “two hours and forty-five minutes until I need to be back in the cockpit and talking with the local flight control. So you’ve got that long to tell me what the hell I stepped in by taking you on board.”