Black Sky - Chapter 63

“Wake up…” a voice called out, while a hand gently shook my shoulder, causing consciousness to slowly return. Blinking open my eyes, I was looking into Airah’s smiling face, a smile that I reflexively returned, just before a pair of soft lips descended, kissing me awake. It was, at least for me, the best way to wake up and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

We had been away from Jake’s Place for a few days and our routine had changed quite a bit in those days. Before, we had spent our time reading, working out with the resistance-gear and generally trying to simply pass the time, but now, there was another activity we had indulged in, a new toy neither of us had grown even remotely tired off. Part of me wondered if it was possible to die from sexuell excess and if so, what were the warning-signs. 

Neither of us had been terribly experienced, with Airah coming into the relationship without any prior experience beyond some kissing. My own experience was only a little more expansive, mostly because I had started to work on my goal, to become a starship-pilot, before I had started to show interest in either sex or any gender and my goal had dominated my time. Sure, there had been some experimenting, purely in the interest of science of course, but anything further than that had been brushed aside by activities that furthered my goal. 

The lack of experience had resulted in us deciding a simple rule. We would try anything, at least once, and if it didn’t feel good for either of us, we would stop. With that simple rule, we had set out and started experimenting to see what felt good and what did not, only limited by our creativity, the available resources and, obviously, two people. 

Luckily, space was mostly empty, or we might have run into something, while we were busy for just one more round. All in all, it had been a very pleasant way to spend the time, even if there was a small, nagging voice, somewhere in the back of my head, that questioned if what we were doing was smart. 

“Mhm, what a way to wake up.” I said, once Airah pulled back. Part of me wanted to grab her and pull her down into bed with me but I remembered that shortly after the end of my sleep-cycle, so some time soon, we were supposed to drop out of hyperspace, something we both wanted to have someone active, awake and in the cockpit for. It was, quite frankly, the most dangerous moment of space-travel, partially because there might be enemy action, partially because the computer needed a moment or two to plot the various objects in the sky, moments one might not have. It was incredibly unlikely but if you had an incredibly unlikely event, coupled with a high amount of possible occurrences of said event, at some point, the incredibly unlikely became likely, or even certain, if you just tried often enough. And neither of us wanted to hit the cosmic lottery, winning a rock that smashed the Tyton to pieces. 

“Would you be so kind to prepare some breakfast while I take a shower?” I asked Airah, after a short glimpse on a nearby clock. I had enough time for both, shower and eating, but not if I had to prepare my food.

“Sure, I’ll whip something up and make your tea.” she answered, after taking a small payment in the form of another kiss before pulling back. It was a sign of our changed relationship that she waited in the room while I undressed and that I tried to make the undressing at least somewhat sexy, as far as that was possible with skin-tight garments that needed to be peeled off. I had no idea if I was successful, but the light, rosy tint on her face made me think that I had been. Or she was embarrassed, but if that was the case, I didn’t want to know.

A quick shower later, I sat with Airah, who was having a late lunch, and we were discussing the system we were jumping in. The Void Guard had chosen the space for their headquarter brilliantly, inside a late-stage shell-nebula. The outer layer of gas relatively cool, but still hot enough to make sensors virtually useless, with a few rocks that used to be the outer planets floating around in it, while the inner layer was a source of interesting particles, as the inner planets were engulfed by radiation and ejecta from the slowly dying star. A cloud of hot, ionized gas, charged with radiation from an old star in the middle, anything but visual sensors would be blind and visual sensors would only work at short range.

It wouldn’t last forever, only the blink of an eye on an astronomical scale, but for now, and the next few thousand years, it was a perfect hideout, especially if you wanted to hide something as massive as a dreadnought.

It wasn’t the only Void Guard base, but it was their headquarter, something Airah had only mentioned a day ago, making me wonder if she simply had forgotten or if she had waited until there was no way I could tell anyone, without pushing her out of an airlock and stealing the Tyton. Somehow, the revelation made my gut clench in apprehension, there was something about meeting a figure like Admiral Kezost that made it scary all by itself, without even mentioning that, with the new relationship between Airah and me, I would be meeting my Girlfriend’s parents, something I had never done before. From the tales I had heard, I wasn’t quite sure which part I was more afraid off, meeting the infamous warlord and mass-murderer or meeting the parents.

“Let’s go up front, we’ll drop out of hyperspace soon.” Airah said, as I was drinking  the last bit of tea.

“Sure. How does that work anyway? I mean, if the nebula is as charged as you say, I doubt that simply sending in messages will work, right? And just flying in seems to be… risky.” I asked, using the technical details to distract myself from the upcoming meetings. I had no idea how long our journey through the nebula would take but no matter what, worrying about the meeting wouldn’t help me in the slightest.

“There are a few satellites, waiting at particular spots in the outer layer. If you know where you can query them and they give you the current code. Unless you broadcast it, you will be treated as an enemy and most likely die.” she explained, causing me to nod in understanding.

Some five minutes later, we dropped out of hyperspace and the nebula became visible. It was rather impressive, the clouds of gas alight in every colour of the rainbow, creating a spectacular sight, even across the distance. Unlike the black skies I was used to, it was a completely different sight, boggling the mind in its vastness.

Airah tapped into the computer some more and a waypoint appeared on the screen, giving me coordinates to follow. We had to limit our speed, or the drag of the gasses against our shields would have caused them to fail, roasting us in the process. With the imposed speed-limit, we would need about an hour to get to the waypoint. Flying through the nebula was a little strange, the visibly radiating clouds a completely different experience than anything I had ever done. In addition, despite the fact that the amount of particles was a lot lower than it was in an atmosphere, it was enough to change the behaviour of the Tyton, making me a little nervous.

Finally, after following the waypoint for an hour, the sensors picked up an apparently artificial signal, causing me to raise an eyebrow. It was weak enough to be almost imperceptible with the background-radiation but Airah told me to get a little closer before holding position.

Afterwards, she put up the signal on the main-screen and showed me which parts were relevant, how to identify those that were and what the resulting code was. It was quite complex, just about impossible to figure out without the procedure I had received from Airah.

It took her some ten minutes to fully follow the procedure, while I kept looking at the scanner repeatedly, making sure nothing would hit us. Suddenly, I realised that a small anomaly wasn’t just that, a random sensor-echo, due to the nebula but it was actually a small ship, guarding the sensor.

When I pointed it out to Airah, she took a short glimpse, before nodding and returning to her task. As she worked, she explained that they wouldn’t do anything, as long as we followed procedures. I challenged myself by trying to get a better reading, without actively looking like I was trying to find them, but by the time Airah was finished, I had no better idea than when I had started.

“Okay, I’m done. Let me input it in the transmitter and we’ll be on our way.” she explained and moments later, a new waypoint appeared, while the object I had been trying to identify, sent out a signal, almost mirroring the one we had sent.

“Seems like we are welcome.” I muttered, putting in the new waypoint and plotting a course.