The tension was high. The room was filled with ghost looking at each other, the stares in the room was too cold. Everyone was on edge, the council’s security had their finger locked firmly on the trigger and so is M’Khari’s team. One false move and it would mean death for the slow of hands.

“Is this what you wish to happen” The councilwoman asked him. “Does the idea of ruling the entire galaxy give satisfaction?” She continued to taunt her.

“No, it does not. But the manipulation of power does.” He replied.

He turned around and looked at the person he is pointing Celestine at gunpoint. He wagged his finger. He faced the council, he signaled his militia. They shoot everyone who is not with them except the council and Celestine. The guns echoed throughout the room, it was deafening and horrifying.

“You see councilwoman, before I executed your security detail, everything was… tense. It’s so… nerve wrecking. But afterward, it was peaceful.”

“So this is what you meant when you told me that it could change your world. Recruit an alternate version of your planet so that you can enforce peace?” Celestine asked him.

“Yes. It might seem radical or barbaric, but my people will not allow this kind of progress so I think it’s better to ask those who might share it with me?”

“Then why did you have to go through all this trouble if you can just ask other species?”

“Simple. Control, you control something you don’t understand but it takes time. If I want to usher in swift change… I might need a little science-magic” He chuckled as if he truly did win.

“You’re a monster.”

“Am I really? I gave you a job, kept you employed even after your services were no longer required… I could’ve just killed you like Rover, but I won’t because I like you.”

“Why would you kill him? He has no part in this”

“Well he has the key which means he might have some moral dilemma that will force him to come after us, and I don’t want that kind of trouble. So I’ll just find him and kill him before he becomes a bigger problem”

“He’s out of range and if you want to find him you won’t. He’s a very difficult man to track”

“Why did you think I easily allowed you to use his ship and even asked the engineering for help? To track him of course” M’Khari chuckled as he imagined where he ordered the engineers to place the tracker.

It was placed on the new holotable, the one that was just placed on top of the old one. The wires of the old table were not cut out but rather just spliced so that in M’Khari’s generosity I have two table computer that is connected to the entire ship system.

We were still on jump, I was looking at the new ones and was feeling kinda thankful.

“C.H.R.I.S. could you open up the forum and find me an easy job?” I asked my AI.

“I thought you have enough money for ten years?” He replied sarcastically.

"It’s not the money it’s the work that keeps me going”

“Shall I replay the recorded audio between you and Celestine before you took the job?”

“Forget it. Just blast some tunes. Thanks”

He played the music on cue to when we exited the jump. I walked to the captain’s chair and caress the arm rest, I felt proud knowing I am the captain, again.

I looked at our left side and saw that the black void of space begins to warp. It opened a warp point and about five ships exited. C.H.R.I.S.’ collision avoidance worked as he lowered the ship in time. I looked to my right and saw that they turned back again.

My instincts jumped in and I took the controls from C.H.R.I.S. as the ships opened fire at us. I moved in and out avoiding every fire.

“Activate weapons system.” I ordered him.

C.H.R.I.S. took control of the weapons shooting at the ships. They noticed that we were fighting back so they turned into another tactic. Outnumbering, as every ship deployed two unmanned attack drone and fired as well.

We moved like birds moving in beautiful pattern. It was very dangerous but I have to admit there is a certain grace in space dogfights. I saw an opening on one of the manned ships, I locked onto it and fired a missile. It was a hit as it exploded, there wasn’t any sound in space but you can tell by just looking at it that it was a loud one.

The drones that was controlled by the ship that exploded went out of power and simply stopped its pursuit. The drones that were behind it dived down to move forward, C.H.R.I.S. did not hesitate as he shot them down. With five shooters off my back the rest became pissed and started shooting more aggressively.

“Where’s the nearest warp point?” I asked C.H.R.I.S.

“It’s about 3 hours with the safest route.”

“I said nearest!” I shouted.

“20 minutes through the asteroid belt.” He said while zooming the display on the asteroid field.

I directed the ship to go there. I went inside and it was a wild and dangerous ride, the ships did not follow me, the drones however did. They chased and shot at me,weaving like a boxer avoiding hits I was mostly successful but as we got in the center of it all the asteroids became more violent. A drone fired a missile but missed us and not the rock above, it became a shower of stones that managed to hit our thrusters making us spin uncontrollably.

I tried to steer the Swift away from further damage as it hits some unavoidable asteroids. The Swift spun more wildly than before and it made aiming for C.H.R.I.S. harder, I ordered him to co-pilot the ship from the asteroids. We weaved and bank as best we could, the drones did not dare to chase us further and every shot they take are either complete miss or taken by asteroids that traveled in the targeted trajectory.

We got out of the asteroid belt but our ship was still unresponsive, we tried to make it stable but we were too late as we accidentally entered a warp point. And let me tell you, going into a warp jump with an uncontrollable ship and possibly damaged ship is very dangerous.

“Where does this warp lead?” I asked in a panic. But before he could answer the jump ended and it was directly above a planet’s stratosphere. The gravity gave no regard for our situation and dragged us like a dirt in a vacuum cleaner.

We landed with a safely, relatively speaking. I moved to the back and took some few tools to repair the ship.

“Activate the repair drones and give me a damage report” I said while picking up some tools.

“Activating drones. Systems damage 5% below optimal condition. Repairs adviced, replacements not necessary.” I stood up and wanted to thank him but before I could utter the word. “Opening warp point detected. Possible hostile.”

“Weapons system? Defensive? And Engines?”

“Severely damaged. Shields at 44% integrity. Engine, 25% operating capacity.”

“Prioritize the weapons system. Blast the shield. I’ll provide cover.” I ordered as I strapped the tool box behind my back and took out a rifle and a pistol.

I went outside and saw that our crash created a crater, I have one huge covering in the form of a broken rock and the enemy has the higher ground and multiple covers. The odds isn’t with me at the moment.