Destroyer Imperial II, ESV262 "Destiny Blade", command bridge.

A console announced:

"Jamming activated on all frequencies!"

Then the post was pierced here and there by short sentences:

"Thermal tracks all the way across!"

"Radar echoes at three o'clock! In rapid precession!"

Crebs, still mute on the bridge, frowned. Thermal tracks were signalling the gases to eject a heavy ship. Radar detection was pointing in the same direction. We were approaching at high speed one or more enemy buildings.

The admiral then ordered:

"Bar 25 starboard! Pitch 15! Full forward thrust!"

The ship accelerated. Crebs felt the centrifugal force and his hands tightened on the bridge railing. The deep space, barred from the glistening trails of the ejection gases, flashed across the main bay.

Suddenly he saw and understood.

The stern of a destroyer had just appeared in the upper right-hand corner of the window. Despite the situation, he couldn't help but address the admiral:

"The Emancipator?"

"Yes" replied Louchké, smiling. "Served on a platter"

Biem Hoa Republican base, central hospital.

Jay was floating.

She didn't know where she was, if she was dead or alive, just this feeling of floating in limbo, not unpleasant by the way. She was expecting to hear the voice, so even though she was not surprised.

"Jay, good to have you back! We were disturbed last time..."
"What do you want from me?"
"Just to help you, Jay. Men are bad, they hurt you. But I'm not like them"
"Yes, you're right, men are beasts..."
"I know the strength and the means to use it. No one will be able to harm you again. You will be above of them, and you will swing the sword of righteousness..."
"What's the price of your help?"
"But there isn't any, Jay! You will become my student!"
"Um..."
"You're hesitating".

Jay suddenly felt another presence. His voice changed. It said:

"What are you doing here?"
"Listening to you talk and wasting your time. When are you bringing her back?"
"Soon, soon. Don't be in such a hurry..."
"I've had enough! It's taking too long!"
"That's enough! Get out of here! You don't belong here!"
"Ergon..."
"Don't ever say my name!" shouted the voice.

She woke up with a start, like the end of a fall.

She began to perceive a pale pink ceiling, and heard the electronic chirping of the monitors and medical droids. She thought: "It's like being in the underbrush". Consciousness was returning to her and with it the pain. A droid's impersonal phrases pierced her half-sleep:

"Medical female prisoner, do not agitate. You have three broken ribs and bruising in the liver and face. Estimated healing time: 15 days for haematomas plus one week for the ribs"

She moved slightly in her bed and felt that she had not been hindered, certainly in the precipitous alert.

Despite her fractures she smiles. The range of possibilities had just opened up again.

Republican flagship RSV115 "Emancipator", command bridge.

Everyone was focused on the sensors. The Admiral, Judd, and the others on the The bridge scanned the command post bay, which was desperately empty. Rousseau addressed the detection gateway:

"Always nothing? Have you explored in all modes?"
"Nothing, admiral. We're going to scan the sector again on all frequencies"
"Hurry up"

Judd left the bridge to get refreshments and a tray of sandwiches. He had been in the command room for two hours now. He took the main elevator and went down to the main aisle to the kitchens.

He sighed. It didn't make any sense. A game that's there, that's not there anymore... he began to thinking about his return to Kuat, about the cabarets and brothels he had heard about... It made him cheered him up, and with a smile he crossed the threshold of the officers' mess.

On the bridge, Admiral Rousseau made no secret of his impatience. The atmosphere charged like a stormy sky when an intercom buzzes. It was the post of the defence centre starboard.

The operator picked up the phone and took the call. He listened, jumped up and shouted into the station without even hang up:

"Enemy ship in rapid approach rear quadrant!"

A thermobomb exploding in the middle of the bridge wouldn't have had any more effect. Admiral shouted at the detection station:

"You bunch of losers! How could you not see it?"
"Every means of detection was deployed forward, Admiral"
"So how was he discovered then?"
"A turbolaser turret under repair. The pointer saw them through the scope"

The admiral shrugged his shoulders in excitement. Everything was going wrong. He raised his head to the screens whose cameras were immediately redirected to the threat. He swallowed his saliva. The enemy ship took up most of the screen. The navigational station announced:

"Collision estimated three minutes from now!"

Rousseau continued staring at the screen, fascinated. Youlia then told him:

"Admiral, what are your orders?"

No answer.

"Admiral, we have to redirect the batteries to the rear and put the ship in alarm!"

Still no response.

"Admiral, pull yourself together! You must give the orders to save the ship!"
"Maybe... Do your best, Officer..."

She gave the order in a loud voice: "Sound the alarm! Deploy the battalion on board!"

The intercoms crackled. The detection operator again:

"Contact in one minute!"

All saw on the screen that the hostile vessel had taken on a pronounced starboard list.

"This is a collision! Hang on!"

Everyone stiffened, anticipating the shock.

Assault frigate "Hoth's Revenge II", command bridge.

"It's still jamming, Commander!" Announced transmission console.

The entire bridge saw the radar images, projected on the main screen, confirmed by the optical sensors despite the distortions caused by the many black holes.

They had to face the facts: The destroyer they were vainly trying to hunt in a pack had completed a complete loop and became the pursuer of the flagship. They were observing the spots get closer, the distances get smaller and the simulated trajectory curves get closer.

"What's the closest frigate to us?" asked the navigation officer.
"The "Space Queen IV". She's twenty minutes away"
"We have to send a courier there right away! The jamming will continue!"
"It's the only thing to do" admitted the commander.

He turned to the operations console:

"Get the pilot back!"

The station got busy. Meanwhile, the LRSS liaison officer who had overheard the conversation addressed the commander:

"There's another LRSS agent on this ship. Will you allow me to join him? The lieutenant we had scattered, but now that we know where the blow came from..."

"Yes, it's a good initiative. Although it's a little late for miracles..."

The pilot arrived in the meantime. The captain gave him his instructions, the navigation was done. trajectories, and he came out with the liaison officer.

"Full astern!" Announced the commander. "Navigation, you will validate the coordinates!"

We'll be here at least an hour, thought the navigation officer. What state will the flagship be in when we join him?

He still kept that thought to himself.

Republican flagship RSV115 "Emancipator", guest quarters.

Jed was lying on his bed when the alarm went off. He leapt to his feet and looked at the screen of the the intercom.

He had a heartache when reading the messages, then went directly to the small wardrobe which contained his personal effects, opened it and grabbed the belt which carried his blaster. He hurriedly closed it and then tried to call homeland security. No one answered. He thought:

"The lines must be jammed"

He opened his cabin door, only to find that there was a lot of confusion. He stopped a squad of four soldiers from the embarked battalion who had suddenly appeared at the corner of the hallway.

"Where are you going soldiers? What are your orders?"
"We're going to the main hangar Lieutenant!" said the master corporal leading the group.
"Is there a contact there?"
"We don't know anything. We received the deployment order at the start of the alarm and this is the combat post that has been assigned to us"

Jed replied: "Well, go ahead"

This brief interview left him with a strange impression. Why deploy if you don't know where you are. the enemy?

He decided to go to Homeland Security two floors up.

He couldn't help but think: "I'm going to visit my good friend Yulia"

Judd was garnishing a tray of treats in the mess hall when the siren caught him with a group of bomber crew were eating.

He thought: "So we'd have found him eventually?"

He activated the padding on the tray. He thought: "I would no longer miss the final". At that moment, one of the pilots at the table got up and approached him.

"What's going on, Lieutenant? Why are we going on alarm and not a general alert?"

Judd was about to answer that he didn't know when he felt a tingling through his soles. He fell silent, all senses alert. The vibration remained constant for about 20 seconds and then stopped.

He turned towards the pilot and saw that he had felt the same thing.

The pilot turned to the group at the table and said:

"All to the cabins! Go get your weapons!"

He saluted and left the mess after his group, leaving Judd a little confused. He made when even complete his tray and head back to the command post.