The Celestial Edicts:

Never traverse the Celestial Gates,

Never travel faster than Light using a Celestial Engine,

Those doing so are Cleansed on sight...

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The brilliant hues of interstellar gas wisped against the backdrop of the galaxy. In the foreground, the arched back of Tatyana with her voluptuous physique in her sleek chrome and black spacesuit, painted a picture of beauty and serenity.

"Uh, Tatyana, are you going to release that container coupling anytime soon?" Lucas, a young Xoloitzcuintli with bright orange eyes, asked, his tone casual as he fidgeted away at the control panel of the Titans Pillar’s Tug-01.

Tatyana, lifting her legs with some exertion, turned her attention to the oblivious pilot. "Hey Chair-Jockey! I'm, working on it!" She called out, as her extremely long, slender feet slammed against a massive wrench on the lug of an even more impressive coupling mechanism.

Raising an eyebrow, Bella, the newly appointed first mate, wore a sly smile, peering over her shoulder at Tatyana from her own workstation.

"I believe there's a more elegant solution to that, Ms. Carter," Bella remarked, her voice as smooth as the rich velvet fabric enveloping her tightly. She required no spacesuit; her powers and presence did not demand an artificial atmosphere.

"You're free to join me out here at any time rookie. I mean, ma'am." Tatyana bellowed, then backtracked. The coupling remained unmoving as she looked on at the massive cargo container still attached to the towing arm of the tug. "I mean, seriously. This thing is tighter than my... Anyway, it's on tight."

Tatyana finished lamely, her gloved fingers curling around the wrench as she strained again. "I just need another minute here."

Lucas shook his head, unable to resist a small grin at Tatyana's choice of words. Though he had only been with the crew for a few months, he'd taken a liking to both Tatyana and Bella—there was never a dull day when they were around.

"Is it the coupling, or the container? Are they too old?" Lucas queried, concern for the ship and its valuable cargo evident in his voice. For a moment, Tatyana paused in her efforts, considering the question. She was always vigilant about the maintenance of the large starship, but lately, something seemed daringly different on the Titans Pillar, a mysterious force guiding them into new adventures.

"It’s not age," Tatyana grumbled as she twisted the wrench with renewed fervor. "Something keeps welding the gears into place. It has to be energy coming from within the Celestial Gates."

"Um no, that's impossible," Lucas countered, scratching his head. "Celestial Gates don't emit consistent energy, nor is there enough residue left to affect the ship. In the time I've been here, I've only seen them release energy when entering or exiting them and we’re protected by the fold bubble during those."

"Then maybe it’s the fold bubble, Chair-Jockey," Tatyana smirked, finally getting the coupling to budge an inch. "But I bet I'm right."

Bella rose from her seat, the metal beneath her groaning in protest. "Leave her be for the moment, Pilot Grayson. She'll get it loose in time. We need to continue with the checklist as if everything's normal. I doubt this will slow us down—there's an imposing hostility emanating from that station we're heading toward, and I have a feeling they will be more interested in our arrival than a minor equipment malfunction."

"Yes ma'am. We're close enough to pick up the network, let's grab ourselves a little local news." Lucas manipulated the control console, the video hologram flickering to life. The distorted image of a grim-faced planetary news reporter filled the cabin.

"This is Andrea, reporting from the war-torn streets of Bourjos. Our forces attempted an offensive yet again yesterday. We suffered heavy losses, soldiers falling everywhere, engulfed by the flames of the enemy's explosives. The battleground remains an unforgiving reminder of the cost of our freedom from the Empire...”

“Well, nothing new there. The Imperial Navy seems active around here. Is that a problem for us?" Lucas asked cautiously, with one eye on the image of the planet in turmoil. He tried to hide the concern in his voice but couldn't. Bella glanced back at him, a faint hint of sadness in her eyes, but she quickly hid it.

"Only insofar as they would rather not see us survive, let alone prosper," she replied cryptically. "But they won't interfere with us directly—not now, at least. But aren't you more concerned about your family Grayson? I mean, aren't you from this system?" Bella inquired, turning her attention from the blinking hologram to Lucas.

"I'm not sure what your colloquialism would be, but my system is in “the deep” of this sector. I was a simple faster than light runner. Every authority looked the other way, especially after you bribed them," Lucas turned with a smile to meet Bella's gaze. "None cared where I came from, only that I could haul their goods while they laid low."

His hands danced across the console, fingers plucking coordinates from the air, while Lucas spoke of an eventful past. Tatyana, still suspended in mid-piloting maneuvers, ceased her efforts to listen to Lucas.

"It's odd," Bella murmured, mulling over his words before responding. "Most space travelers brought up on a planet seek and aspire to come clean, to be part of the truth and not shrouded by unknowns. There must be something more to this FTL-Runner tale, Grayson. I've noticed most are hiding something. It's the only way they'd take on a journey as dangerous as this one."

Lucas chuckled, focusing back on piloting. "I suppose there is, but I didn't think it would be a tale of such little intrigue. I mean our system didn't even have our own gate, or at least we didn't, until I fell in one. Then I found myself propelled in a whole different direction, one that landed me here." Lucas shrugged and quickly returned his attention to the console.

Bella looked contemplative as she ran a search for news involving freighters and their tugs. "Even still, I'd grab any mail from home that you can get, Grayson. I would myself, but I don't have a home to get mail from." She advised.

"Noted ma'am." Lucas confirmed, as he finished his mail retrieval, something he had be working on in the corner of his vision while navigating their path towards the hostile station.

"Uh oh," Bella gasped, as she noted a search result for a freighter’s tug in the news. "A tug made the news, not 48 standard hours ago."

Bella said, bracing herself against the wall as she read the headline aloud for them to hear. "A tug from the Therio... missing."

There was a tense silence in the Tug-01, the three of them exchanging worried glances. "Looks like it ran into some trouble with the station," Bella continued, "There's audio of the incident."

She clicked the play button, and amongst the crackling distortion of space-encoded radio waves, a terrified voice penetrated the silence.

"Mayday! Mayday! Tug-04 from the Therio, inbound to Quadrant 4, Station 7. We came out of the Celestial Gate too close. Requesting you do not fire. Let us cloak."

Tatyana looked pale, her grip tightening on the wrench as she tried to shake it off. "Did that fool just admit they came out of a gate, on an open channel?" Tatyana mused with a grave voice.

Lucas looked over with confusion clear on his features. "It's unheard of, surely. They've just confessed that to whoever is charge of Station 7. They wouldn’t let that go easily." The tremble in the pilot's voice made Tatyana's concern deepen.

A distorted voice in the background screamed that the Station was firing torpedoes, the pilot of Tug-04 raised his voice in panic, "Please, abort your torpedoes, abort..." then a burst of static.

Bella, despite her eyes remaining glued to the holographic display, reached over to pat the hand of Lucas. Her voice rang out soothingly. "Don't worry about that so much. If they did announce themselves, that's their problem. There's no reason we shouldn't cloak as soon as we're close enough."

"Um, hey, what station are we headed for again?" Tatyana, visibly rattled by the news about Tug-04, asked Lucas.

Lucas furrowed his brow, trying to process the news while keeping his focus on piloting. "We're enroute to Quadrant 4, Station 7. So was Tug-04 from the Therio, not too long ago."

"And uh, can we cloak with this massive cargo container attached?" Tatyana asked, a touch of hesitation in her voice.

Her concerns barely registered as Lucas' heart raced, considering the dangers his new home was about to face.

"I'll take your silence as a no." Tatyana sighed, looking down at the sturdy coupling that still held their container hostage. "Well, time to put the girls behind it." She said as she wedged the wrench between her two sets of bosoms and began twisting and tugging furiously. Her muscles strained and rippled beneath her metal-plated spacesuit as she put every ounce of her strength into it. Sweat trickled down her temples, and she closed her eyes, focusing every ounce of her willpower on this obstinate coupling.

"Please don't crack a rib."