The Juggernaut (Juggernaut #1)

Twenty Four

The relatively short journey meant the risk of pirate attacks was minimal, and for once the limited value of their ship also counted in their favour. It was strange how something so prized inside the city was worth so little in open space.

The rest of the flight to the beacon was uneventful, even if Ellie considered sitting still the worst possible way to spend two hours of her life.

It was a pause for breath between the thrill of the escape and the anticipation of the unknown still to come.

Thirty minutes out from their destination they intercepted other ships travelling from the Kinebar beacon. Together they formed a rag-tag caravan that stretched through space.

Far behind them the Juggernaut had become only a dark spot transiting the large red orb of the sun.

Identity codes and flight vectors of nearby craft popped up and vanished again on the navigational display before Malachi as ships entered and left the boundary of the Rhino's short range sensors.

The display became steadily more crowded as they approached the Jenova beacon.

As it came into range a tight cluster of blips appeared on their scanner and began to dissipate at once. A jump group had just arrived. The cluster split into two smaller groups of ships like a cell dividing. Each small fleet began the slow transit across the solar system to one of the other beacons where they would continue to Selah or Kinebar, and then to who knew where.

None of the arriving ships headed for the Juggernaut.

Their own passage had already been arranged. Before they had left the city, Malachi had checked for traffic scheduled for Jenova and paid the required fees. The common-law of space travel was that no ship should refuse to provide support to any needy traveller. So, while the fees were expensive they were not crippling. The laws of supply and demand were in effect in deep space just as they were anywhere else.

Fortunately, the Juggernaut was a well-travelled, if not well-loved, system, so there was rarely any problem in finding a jump-capable ship willing to assist. Everyone understood the desire to leave.

For now, he busied himself in the final preparations as Ellie gawped at the surrounding traffic. Tila sat alone in the rear cabin, anticipation gnawing at her insides.

This is it, she thought as the jump beacon announced itself to their ship's systems; this is when it becomes real.

The last few days had been anything but. In that time, her worldview had been turned upside down. Things of which she had once been sure had been brought into question, and now, in the moments before they left the system, this whole adventure felt real for the first time.

She wondered again if it might have been better to take this journey alone. Malachi was risking a great deal by coming. She knew his help was going to come with a price, not only in terms of his father's disappointment and anger, but also in real money – money he needed to keep the business alive and the family fed.

The impact on his father's political reputation within New Haven would also be significant. Malachi was going to have a lot to answer for when he got back.

And so am I. Theo, and everyone else, will know I'm the cause of this. But Malachi needs to go back. I don't. I'm not family. I can leave New Haven any time I like if – no, when – it becomes too difficult for me to stay.

It wouldn't be the first time.

Am I being too selfish? Am I jeopardising his family, and Ellie's safety on nothing but a crazy plan?