Into the Black

Our first real test was in slipping past the Imperial border after we left Meridian. Fortunately, the stealth tech we had on all our ships (the Raven had been updated to a full stealth suite long ago), along with the null paint, made even the Raven stealthy enough to slip past the Imperial sensors unless we got too close. The corvettes were even quieter.

Because of the physics of how things worked, once in the warp, you were difficult to detect by anyone unless your course intersected or was parallel to their own. That’s why no one tried to attack people in interstellar space unless a tarpit was involved. Just finding your prey was a pain in the ass, to say nothing of getting within weapons range. And even beam weapons did funky things when you were going at FTL speeds.

So our first real test was when we slipped back into Sol space. We came in low, far below the ecliptic where any passive arrays were less likely to catch the energy of our entrance into ‘normal’ space. We all went into stealth mode, and I sent two messages. One used a special encryption key that I had been given by Paxisys to contact the Ambassador. The other was made using the game interface, to reach our wayward Nomad.

M.Mollen: You still interested in a ride out of Sol?

Bennie: YES! But they’ve been getting better with their scanners. Once I move out of the maintenance areas, which are shielded, I will be discovered within minutes.

M.Mollen: Having done some research, I’ve learned that the tracker will deactivate as soon as someone registered by the Guild captures you, and either turns you in, or pays the fee to transfer you to them. I happen to be one such individual.

Bennie: Well, fuck.

M.Mollen: It does allow you to get out of Sol, without experiencing whatever joys this new cult might have waiting for you.

Bennie: Fine. I’m on Choson Ring.

M.Mollen: Excellent. I will contact you again before I arrive.

For this next part, the squadron broke into three sections. The Shadowdancer followed the Starlight Raven to Choson Ring, where we would pick up the nomad who had information about this mysterious cult, while Artemis and Vicious Return would silently ‘waylay’ the Ambassador’s shuttle as it traveled from Earth to Mars, where the Ambassador was going to be attending some function or another. The Ambassador’s shuttle was supposed to be clean of trackers and bugs, but no one really believed that. The Simo Hayha and Wisteria would set up distractions, just in case.

Group Two’s part of the plan went off without a snag. While cloaked, fighters from the Return attacked and disabled the shuttle while it was in the middle of a jamming field. The Ambassador’s shuttle was quickly boarded, and the Ambassador, his family, and staff were escorted off the shuttle and onto the Artemis. We had told him that there was going to be a fake attack to give them some additional time before anyone thought they were missing, but according to Captain Stormdelver, they were still shaken up. Thankfully, the Ambassador was one of those old enough to remember the last war, and understood the necessity, so he kept the rest calm.

For my part, we were headed back to Choson Ring. As the Curse of Trigon (nee Starlight Raven) approached the Ring, I launched in the shuttle with Cali and Jaynie. We hadn’t had the shuttle when we were last here, so that ought to buy us at least a little cover. Of course, I changed into the form of a buxom, raven haired, athletic-looking woman. My hair was twisted into a long braid down my back, tossed on some black clothes, and armed up. This was a ship and a face that hadn’t been seen before on Choson Ring, and my companions were wearing helmets that concealed their faces. That would be enough to keep the bounty hunters at bay, for a while.