“Lieutenant Raydn, how much longer until we know where the hell that ship went?”

“I’m on it, General. Not much longer.”

I sit back in my chair and survey the screens in front of me. My ship, the Star Fury, was hot on the trail of the Atronox scum when they completely disappeared from our radars. No doubt they’re up to no good, and I’ll be damned if they get away with smuggling on my watch.

“They didn’t just disappear. Did they log new coordinates?” I ask my second in command, my frustration evident with every word.

“No, General. No record of new coordinates.” Raydn’s fingers fly over the screen in front of him, searching through the logs of all of the ships in the galaxy with us right now. “Not that the Atronox ever play by the rules,” he adds under his breath.

“Then they must be here somewhere. Even the Atronox can’t jump to new coordinates without registering it with Lunis Station. Unless they want an entire fleet of the force up their asses — and that’s attention they want to avoid at all costs. Scan the perimeters of the star fleet in this vicinity. Let’s see if they’re hiding, waiting for us to pass them by.”

The deep-seeded hatred inside of me for the Atronox won’t accept failure when it comes to them. We’ve lost too much because of them, and it burns me to think that they could get away with anything under my watch. They make their money smuggling illegal goods in the galaxy and selling it on the black market. Every shipment we intercept and confiscate is a win against them. If only we could shut their operations down completely, it would help us regulate their income so we can guarantee that they’re not able to rebuild their army or acquire weapons to use against us. A treaty was formed long ago preventing another war between us, but I don’t trust them to honor it. Anyway, just because there is a treaty preventing war doesn’t mean we can’t stop their illegal activities and imprison them if we catch them red-handed. And I intend to do just that.

I sit up straighter as soon as I hear the tell-tale beep on the screen. “Got you,” I say under my breath.

“There they are, sir,” Raydn says.

“I see them.” A smile plays over my face. The chase is on now and they’re not going to get away a second time. “Let’s see what they picked up this time, Raydn. Cloak us so they don’t know we’re coming. I don’t want to give them a chance to dump their stolen goods.”

“With pleasure, General.”

The engines roar and I know we’ve got them this time. Our cloaking system has been engaged so we can follow them without showing up on their radar. On any radar, that is. Just one of the perks of being a member of the galactic Force. I’m intently focused on the screens in front of me when the door behind me slides open and Major Kayne strides on deck.

“General,” he says, tucking the unubaco behind his back as he bows to me.

“Major Kayne, how nice of you to join us.”

“Sorry, General. I was hungry.” He sits down in the chair next to me, popping the rest of the bread into his mouth. “I felt the engines, I figured I was just in time for the action.” He winks at me while chewing the last of his bread. The lines of authority blur when it comes to Kayne. Luckily, both Kayne and Raydn are as close to me as brothers. For us, the title is a simple formality.

“Indeed we are, Kayne. The Atronox are back on our radar. We’re going to take a peek and see what they’re transporting.”

“Better make it fast, General. We’re approaching the cut-off,” Kayne says as he clicks his restraints into place and logs on to his station.

In response to Kayne, red lights begin flashing on the consoles. “Shit,” I say.

“We’re approaching the Draconis sector, General,” Raydn says.

“I see that,” I say with frustration. Technically we’re not allowed to pursue ships into the Draconis sector. It’s a forbidden section of the galaxy that isn’t under Lunis Station command. We have no authority there. “Don’t lose them, Raydn. How close can you get us to them? Close enough to scan their ship?”

“Yes, but we’ll have to work fast.” In classic Raydn fashion, he doesn’t hesitate, just engages our engines until we’re quickly gaining on the Atronox vessel.

“Then do it,” I say. “I want to know what they have on board before they’re out of our reach.”

“They weren’t off radar that long,” Kayne says. “It isn’t likely that they even had time to grab anything. The idiots probably got lost.”

“They have something. And it feels different this time.”

The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them. Raydn and Kayne are quiet, no doubt wondering what the hell I’m talking about. But it’s the truth, even if I can’t explain it. The closer we get to their ship, the stronger the feeling inside of me grows. Whatever they have confiscated makes my instincts kick in and I need to know what is on board.

“Kayne, as soon as we’re in range, scan their ship. Let’s see what they’re trying to slip past us.”

“With pleasure, General.” Kayne’s busy at his console while I impatiently wait for our ship to move into range for our scanners to work. This strange feeling inside of me grows as we inch closer to gaining on the Atronox. It’s unlike any feeling I’ve had before. There’s something aboard that ship, and I won’t be able to abandon this mission until I know what it is.

The alarms are sounding louder now. We’re getting too close to the boundary, it’s time to turn back. “Scan, Kayne.” My hands are gripping the arms of my chair so tightly I feel the metal start to give.

“There’s not enough time, General. We have to turn back,” Raydn says.

“We can’t,” I say, more to myself than anyone else. Failure isn’t an option and I’m not thinking about consequences right now. “Raydn, can you attach us to their ship without them knowing we’re there?”

“Not that size ship, General. It isn’t large enough,” he says.

“We could send you over, General,” Kayne says.

“Yes.”

“No,” Raydn says, simultaneously. “We can’t risk it.”

“No one will even know I’m there, Raydn. I’ll sneak on, check out what they have on board, and sneak back. Then we’ll be on our way back to Lunis Station before anyone knows we were out of bounds.”

He curses but I’m already moving. My mind is made up. Typically I make responsible, reasonable decisions and right now, I’m not. But there’s something inside of me that won’t let me walk away without knowing what’s aboard that ship.

“You won’t have a lot of time,” Kayne says, coming up behind me. “Once you attach to their ship, you’ll need to move quickly. They won’t detect you while you’re aboard the escape pod, but once you’re actually aboard, it’ll be up to you.”

“They won’t catch me. I’ll be in and out, no time to cause any problems.”

I climb into the escape pod and click the restraints in place. My fingers fly over the controls, flicking switches as the pod comes to life. There’s an urgency inside of me, propelling me forward. I need to get to that ship and I need to get there now.

“Try to keep Raydn calm while I’m gone,” I say.

“That’s a fucking impossible task,” he says, inputting the code into the panel so the door to the ship and escape pod close simultaneously. He presses his hand against the glass, and then he’s gone. The display starts counting down to launch. When it reaches zero I’m instantly jettisoned toward the Atronox ship. I can move faster in my small vessel, so within minutes I’m chasing the exhaust of the ship in front of me. A few quick moves and I dip down and attach my pod underneath their ship, onto the small panel they use to dispose of garbage, and dump their illegal cargo if they’re ever boarded by the Force. Legally boarded, that is.

I attach the code breaker and it gets to work, numbers flying across the screen as it deciphers the entry code. A few moments pass and all of the lights in front of me turn a satisfying green.

“Alright, time to see what secrets you’re hiding on board.” The doors slide open and I slip into the dark corridor of the ship.