Unholy Star, Beyond Faith

Ambushed by the Star Templar

[the Ascent, dropping out of phase into the Skyean system]

The crew of the Ascent prepared to exit dimensional phase shift. The coordinate had been provided to them by the Geolan's processor before the shift and guaranteed entry to the Skyean system with +-1.33 AU of the star, Cian. Once the ship exited shift, they would calculate local coordinates and be free to jump to the planet, Skye. The probability that someone from another system would be able to calculate or guess the exit coordinate would be close to impossible. To seed its phase calculations, every ship with a star system relies on its position in relation to the always shifting Galaxy Tree. The resulting coordinates are time-sensitive down to the microsecond and space sensitive to the nearest micrometer. Even if a remote third party had the exact seed, then the time between the original calculation and any subsequent calculation would provide different results, a few minutes difference could lead to the position being out by thousands of astro units. All of this is why Sam wasn't expecting two Crystal Class Assault ships to appear on their first short-range scan after entering Skyean Space.

"How is this possible?!" Honi shouted back to the Captain, he had taken the position of the auger Harris who had been sent to his quarters until Sam could adequately evaluate how much information he had leaked to his auger buddies.

Sam ignored Honi's question, she didn't know the answer, "Status?"

"The Star Templars have begun closing. Its the Abaddon and Dekar, they'll be within battle range in approximately ten minutes. Aye, Captain." Honi replied and began furiously sending commands through his interface.

As competent and experienced as Honi was on the ship's systems, they were outnumbered and, without the specialised warfare enhancements that Harris possessed, they wouldn't stand a chance. "All crew, prepare to engage the enemy. Harris report to the bridge."

Two minutes later, Harris entered the bridge. Sam was all over him, "What the hell is going on here? Is this a magical coincidence that the Church was waiting for us? Is this anything to do with you?"

"No! I don't know what to say, Sam. I'm with you and the crew."

"Then how the fuck do the Templar know that we are here?" But realisation hit her when just as she asked the question. "Is there any way Wu Zeiten would have known our exit coordinates?" She could tell by the alarm in his eyes, that the answer was affirmative.

"If I had known it was so dangerous carrying an auger on board this ship, I would have ejected you long ago. Tell me, truthfully, did you provide her with the coordinates while we were in phase shift?"

"I did not. The chances that she was able to determine our vector in phase is highly unlikely, but it is possible, given specialised augmentations and her direct access to a powerful processor. It could have happened while we were in contact with during shift. But it would have to be a class one processor, and there aren't that many in the Galaxy."

"It doesn't matter now. The bitch has ratted us out to the Church. Fuck it, she could have demanded any price.

"Honi! I want you and Lucas to armor up in case we're boarded. Harris, take your station and prepare jump coordinates, we might have time to hop out of their view before they can reach us."

Harris ran to his station and settled into his chair; his hair came alive, indicating that he'd merged with the ship.

"How soon before we can get the hell out of here?"

"Five minutes."

"And how long before they can open on us?"

"Five minutes."