The feeling of falling into the vortex was odd. Tingly in a way that was similar, and yet fundamentally different from hyperspace. For one thing, I was aware the entire trip. Despite the twenty four hours that passed in the journey, I was still thinking the whole time, just unable to move. My thoughts were not pleasant ones either, as outside, the universe had been replaced by swirling energy and storms, lightning playing along the hull that didn't even seem to feel. Finally, mercifully, the wormhole spit us out on the other side, the sense of gravity collapsing back in on itself as I came to a halt, and then looked around.
"STAR! Where the blazes we?" I demanded as I pulled back on the throttle, slowing us as we nearly were shot out of the system by the force of our expulsion from the vortex.
"Calculating now...we are in the Waypoint system, a star that is, as far as my charts are concerned, completely disconnected from known hyperspace routes," as he spoke, STAR showed off the map of the galaxy, allowing me to see the route we'd taken in relation to known stars, and I whistled in appreciation. We were way, way outside the range of a typical hyperspace jump, and without lanes, we could rest a moment. Sighing, I took stock, seeing my fuel gauge was already at almost enough for a jump thanks to our wormhole, and STAR was already calculating a way out...WHIRWHIRWHIR!
The alarm sounded, and my thoughts scattered. Behind us, the vortex was spinning in an odd way, seemingly twisting on itself, before out of it came shapes. At first they were stretched beyond recognition, like pictures that had been grabbed at both ends, but then they slowly resolved, and before my eyes, all five of the Falcons appeared, their hulls gleaming, and their weapons glowing.
"They followed us?!" I said incredulously. There was no other word for what I was feeling. This was madness. What I'd done should have been suicidal, and yet, they must have followed within hours, if not minutes, even their reserve pursuing me now, and our arrivals at similar times due to the time lapse involved in wormhole travel.
"Affirmative sir, they appear to be charging weapons and closing at speed. I'm afraid I cannot see a path to avoid them," said my AI companion, showing all the scenarios he could come up with, not one of them resulting in our getting away from this.
"We aren't dead yet! Are there any lanes out of here?" I asked, and STAR found one in almost that same instance. I didn't wait for any word on his part, instead just punching in the coordinates, and jumping. I expected this action to buy us a few minutes, at most, but I'd made one miraculous escape, maybe another was in my future. With that feeling of weightlessness that comes from a jump, I went into the stars, the negative of an image in my eyes telling me that we had jumped just as beams of green light swept our position.
When I came back to myself, the world resolved into another new system, a pair of stars at its center, and a name on the map calling it Heia Due. Knowing they would be right behind, I began to plan, trying everything I could to think of a way out of this, only to have my thoughts interrupted when a beacon popped up on my scanners, a landing beacon in a system that should have been uninhabited. That brought me up short just long enough for a signal to come in, that STAR put up on a display in front of me.
"This is Allhome control. Your ID and engine signature are not on file. Please confirm, you are human?" said an oddly accented voice, which chittered a little on the c's as it spoke.
"This is STAR's Flivver, a human ship, yes. We're currently running from a group of pirates that…," as I spoke the five Falcon's entered the system, their weapons heating up the moment they stopped, and I gunned my engine, heading straight to the beacon I'd been talking to. I would choose the unknown devil over the one I knew any day of the week, and I was entering orbit of the planet just as the five Falcons found me.
"Those are the pirates?" asked the weird voice.
"Indeed, they want to capture me, alive," I said, and got a set of chittering noises from the comm, followed by another set, this one deeper, as the two aliens spoke.
"We are launching a Beetle flight, please hold position," said the first, and I complied instantly, hitting the retro boosters to maintain position, even as the Falcons came towards me.
"Mr. Sage, I believe our chase is over now, please sur-," began Bernard's voice again, but before he could say much, a huge ship came towards us from the planet's surface, joined a few seconds later by several dozen smaller ships, each one of an unknown design to my computers, but with engine outputs and shield levels that dwarfed the Falcons by an order of magnitude or more.
"This is Hai Commander Joe to incoming Falcons. STAR's Flivver has claimed you are pirates, and thus are under the protection of the Hai. We do not wish conflict with human vessels, but we will do so if it becomes necessary. If you will land, however, we might come to an arrangement," said a voice I recognized as the deep chittering one from before. It was odd though, this one didn't have the same accent, speaking gal-standard fluently, with a tone that spoke of peace.
"This is none of your concern, Commander. This criminal has escaped justice for many days now, and will be captured. If you interfere in our operation, we will fire upon you," said Bernard over the open comms, and I stayed stock still.
"STAR's Flivver, are you a criminal as well?" asked the Hai, and I considered my answer carefully before I responded.
"I am not, and would happily submit myself to you, Commander Joe, if you wish it," I offered, figuring if they were interested in justice, I would at least have a chance to make my case. Before anything else could happen though, one of the Falcons fired, rays of green light shooting out towards me, and forcing my small vessel to blow open an airlock to avoid. Bernard's voice came over the comms, admonishing the idiot who fired, but it was already too late to do anything about it, and he ordered the other ships to join in.
Almost instantly the battle became a chaotic stream of light and missiles, with my tiny ship tossed around in the maelstrom. The Flivver was known to be fast, but as missile, lasers, and even a few shuttles flew at me, I got to see how fast, flipping, juking, and even spinning in place once, to avoid incoming fire. The other ships proved less agile, but were far more powerful, with the Falcons firing wildly into the alien armada, taking down several of the smaller ships, but their blasts seemingly useless against the largest vessel, its wedged shape moving ominously towards them as it fired strange missiles and other weapons.
The battle took almost an hour, as Falcons were known for being strong, but five command ships against a battle fleet was not an easy battle to win, and by the end, the pirates were defeated, three of them flying off, while two were blown to rubble, with Bernard telling me about how I would not escape him next time. The Hai Commander then offered me a landing on his planet, and asked to enjoy his world, saying that he would like to meet with me at my earliest convenience, as his slightly damaged command ship descended back into the atmosphere, and I followed shortly after, to repair my ship, and to learn of those who'd saved me.