A Hacker with a Secret

A C-98 Trip Gone Wrong

"Shit!" Val yelled and grabbed my arm before breaking into a full on sprint. We ran the short remaining distance to the ship. She ran into the cockpit flipping on switches while I stayed by the open ramp to watch for the boys. The two were soon sprinting towards us with guards chasing after them. By the time I saw the silver star crest on the guards dark blue armor, it was too late. They had seen me. My only hope was to get this ship in the air before they caught me.

The boys were slightly faster than the guards and the moment the boys' feet hit the ramp was the moment I yanked the lever to pull the ramp up. The metal had just barely risen enough when the guards reached it. It was too high for them to climb aboard but shouts of "get her" and "don't let this ship take off with her" reached the ears of the Blaze and Castor who seemed confused, but were too focused on helping Val take off. A few bullets ricocheted off the walls before the Ursa was launched into space. 

"Everyone buckle up! We're doing an FTL jump and I don't feel like scrubbing blood off these walls." Val called from the cockpit. "We need to shake off these knights now."

I buckled into the same seat as yesterday and tucked Bix into my lap under the seatbelt. There was a large banging noise followed by a tugging feeling and then everything turned black.

-----

I woke to warm blankets covering me and a scampering paws. I heard a gasp and realized someone else was in this room. I tried to sit up quickly, but a hand stopped me. I started to fight despite a headache pounding in my head, but when the lights flickered on, I let him push me back down. 

"Lay down, Nova, it's only me." Castor pulled the covers back over me slowly before holding out two pills. One was red and the other blue. "Take these they'll help with the headache." I swallowed them with a swig of water from a glass he held to me. When I handed the glass back, he set it on the table and sat back down in a chair that hadn't been in here before. "First FTL jump, huh?" 

"Yeah," I winced as the headache throbbed, "it's not always going to be like this, right?"

He shook his head. "Nope, it's just the first time. We should've asked... sorry." Castor looked down, guilt marring his handsome face.

"Nah, it's all good." I said to his relief. "Just let me sleep in and we'll call it even." 

He smiled for a second before responding. "You have a deal, but you need to tell me what those Celeste guards wanted with you."

"How'd you even run into them?" I asked, dodging the question.

"They were in the bar with our informant. When Blaze and I got up to leave they followed us."

"That doesn't explain the explosion." 

Castor sighed. "Blaze may have lit a barrel of what we thought was liquor, it was labeled that after all, but turns out the bar was running a behind the scenes ammo shop."

"Why light it?"

"We needed a distraction to escape since some Imperium soldiers had started to take interest in us too. I should've known they'd be there."

"Of course they'd be there!" The raised volume in my voice caused a stab of pain and I flinched before continuing. "The C's are all their kingdom."

He looked at me curiously. "Back to my question, why'd the guards want you?"

I swallowed and he looked concerned "I may have stolen something." Which wasn't a complete lie.

"Are you okay? You look ghastly." He handed me the glass and I drained remainder of the water. "You need to sleep so I'll leave you alone. Do not get out of this bed till I come check on you in the morning."

"I'll be sleeping when you come in." 

He smiled as he turned the lights back out. "I hope so. Sleep well."

I waved as he closed the door behind him.