Chapter 129: Subspace

The ship lurched into whatever form of hyperspace this universe used for its faster than light travel. 

One moment we were stationary, and the next we were moving at blinding speeds that defied all description, with the rest of the universe seemingly melting away into nothingness. 

Yet despite the obvious change in velocity I had barely felt a thing. I had always expected a spaceship to rumble with the force of the engines that were shunting it through space, but on this craft, I had barely felt a wobble. 

<That'll be the Manna Drive. It's basically a smaller version of the core that powered the gravity repulsors back on Prespian City,> BB said, <It essentially allows passage through a subspace that allows the ship to break the normal rules of physics, try not to think about it too much. I'm not sure if human brains are calibrated to understand such complicated subjects.>

I rolled my eyes at BB's insults and stood from my captain's chair. 

"Good work getting us away from the spatial disturbance so quickly… oh… sorry I don't know your name," I finished lamely. "In fact, I don't know any of your names, this was all a bit sudden."

The alien piloting the ship swivelled on their beanbag seat to look back at me, she was one of Lara's species, with piercing glowing green eyes and pointed ears. Fortunately, that was where the resemblance ended, while Lara had been short and almost pixie-like this girl was lanky and wiry with longer hair. 

"I'm Ensign Kriff, sir, the ships day watch navigator," she replied. 

"A pleasure to meet you, Ensign Kriff," I replied with a smile. "I'm sure I'll learn the rest of your name in due time, as it stands we have a group of freshly boarded refugees down in the cargo hold. While I have some of my best on the situation, it would probably be a good mood for me to go down there myself to assuage any worries and see if there is anything we can do for our passengers.

"Ensign Kriff, how long until we reach the planet Actaeon?" I asked, gazing out at the inky blackness of the subspace. 

"The computer has modelled our arrival to take approximately twelve hours, Sir," Ensign Kriff replied. 

"Excellent, in that case, whoever would usually uh… take the con… may do so," I said, before walking toward the only other door that was on the bridge, which I imagined led to some kind of onboard teleportation matrix or lift system. 

I wasn't sure if the use of Star Trek-inspired naval language was the correct route to take, but as someone rose from one of the stations and took their seat in the captain's chair, which morphed into a standard bean-bag configuration as they got close, I knew that my point had been made. 

I left the room, entering a smaller area that certainly looked reminiscent of a lift, but as the doors swished closed behind me I noticed there weren't actually any panels- holographic or otherwise- for me to input my destination. 

There must have been some kind of shipboard AI or computer that was activated through voice commands. 

"Uh, computer, can you get me to the cargo bay?" I asked, uncertain if what I was doing was the right thing. 

As I stopped speaking a low whirring hum started up, combined with a steadily growing white light beneath me. I had been right, then, on both counts. It was a teleportation lift, and it was indeed activated through verbal commands. 

In a flash of light… actually, it seemed like I hadn't changed location at all. 

<Teleporting freely while in subspace would be incredibly dangerous, your manna signature would get all kinds of messed up and the ship wouldn't know what to lock onto,> BB explained. <So, for situations when people need to get around while they're still in subspace, there's a grid that teleportation follows. Allowing you to get from location to location without ending up like a scrambled egg.>

Well, that was certainly a comforting thought. Space travel in this universe seemed riskier and riskier with every passing moment. Then, how travelling through a vacuum that would kill you the moment you stepped out of your little tin can vessel could ever be construed as totally safe I didn't know. 

I stepped out of the teleportation lift and into the Cargo Bay. 

What would usually be a place for hauling any number of items, transported across the sectors that the Guard protected, had been converted into an impromptu living space for approximately three million people of various different species, bringing our capacity up to 97% filled. Or so said the command watch that I had been given back on the Observation deck. 

Much like back on the Moon Base, the prevalent sound was sobbing. Sobbing for the lost, sobbing for those that were left behind, sobbing for those that never even made it off the surface in the first place. 

I sighed, all of this because one girl couldn't stand the fact that her Dad wanted to keep her safe. If it weren't so sad it would have been pathetic. 

I spotted Fal, standing at the railing overlooking the bulk of the cargo bay, which was currently filled with makeshift tents to give people some modicum of privacy. 

"Hey, Fal," I said, "How're you holding up?"

The Lyrin girl turned to see me, the ghost of a smile on her face. 

"Hey there Squadron Leader Lyre," She teased before her face became more serious. "About as well as can be expected, we're in a pretty messed up situation here." 

"Yeah, messed up is a good way to put it," I replied, moving to lean on the railing with her. "No hard feelings? I know things haven't exactly turned out the way that you wanted them to." 

She glanced at me again and shook her head. "This is as good as leaving the Guard, to be honest. If not even better. I know that under your command instead of someone like Belana we stand a chance to actually get some stuff done." 

I snorted at that, before feeling a strange warmth blossom in my chest. 

It was nice to have someone say they were confident in my abilities. 

Now I just had to live up to those expectations.