Into the Black Hole

Chapter 18: The Warrant

Felix's fingers leave goosebumps as they move from my wrist to my elbow and eventually wrap around my upper arm. He, Jual, Thomson, and I take the elevator up one hundred floors and enter the command center. Detective Nupan sits behind the IPS screen, tracking the movement of another Martian ship in relation to ours. She touches a button on the screen that turns off the loud siren, stands, and faces us.

"It's an MSF Vayay-class," she announces.

Felix groans and Thomson lets out a frustrated sigh. Jual asks, "Are you sure?" He scutters to the pilot seat, scrutinizing the holographic monitors.

"Positive. I scanned their hull number. Fully armed according to the latest update. They're no longer being discreet about following us and accelerating a—" she cuts off when her eyes land on me. "What is she doing here?"

"I didn't have time to take her back to the ICU," Felix swiftly answers.

"Well, she shouldn't have been anywhere else in the first place."

"If you recall, I needed her to fix the plasma railguns' deploy latency."

Detective Nupan lifts an eyebrow. "Was she successful?"

"We... were at dinner, and I was planning to—"

"So 'no.'"

Felix shrugs.

"Right." Nupan crosses her arms. "And we don't have time to babysit. So either chain her to a chair or—"

"Oh come on, Nupan," Thomson interjects from my left, waving a hand in my direction. "Look at her. She's handcuffed and harmless." Felix snorts, and Thomson frowns at him. "What? You don't agree?"

Felix speaks his next words so close to my ear my entire body vibrates, "Let's just say you haven't known her for very long. She's not exactly the most cooperative." He flashes a facetious smile and squeezes my arm. I internally sigh.

A taunting gleam appears in Thomson's eyes. "Ah, so what you mean is... earlier was just talk. You and she didn't really—"

"Guys, I'm sure the conversation you're having back there is superb, but I would love all of you to pay attention," Jual calls over his shoulder. "The Martians have a lock on us."

"We'll finish this later," Felix vows. "Ailee sticks with me, and I'm not accepting alternatives at the moment." He inclines his head at Nupan, and she narrows her eyes but doesn't argue. "I'll handle comms as usual. Thomson, munitions. Blaze—"

"Here, sir," Blaze addresses as he jogs in from behind. I cringe when he nears, yet he doesn't spare me a glance. Instead, he focuses solely on Felix. "Navigation?"

"What else? I need you to set an escape course suitable for high G maneuvers. You can boot Nupan out of your seat." Felix nods to her. "Figure out the best way to divert our energy towards propulsion and artillery. Run some simulations and see if you can find one where we're not all blown to smithereens."

"Yes, Captain," Nupan complies and strides to the opposite side of the room, immediately pulling up multiple mathematical models and initializing battle simulations. The way her eyes capture eight holographic monitors at once while she manipulates data inputs with only two hands impresses me.

"She's not just a detective, is she?" I whisper to Felix as we migrate to the comms station in the middle of the circular room.

"No," he replies, "she's an aerospace engineer as well. I believe her concentrations were in electrical and control engineering back when she worked for the MSF."

"She's from Mars."

He gives me a side-eye, annoyed that he's revealed information. Eventually, he realizes I already know too much anyway and sighs. "Yes."