This is a fan translation of Emperors of Illusions (Императоры иллюзий) by the Russian science fiction and fantasy author Sergei Lukyanenko. The novel is a sequel to Lukyanenko's Line of Dreams (Линия грёз) novel and can be considered a fan fiction of the original Master of Orion game.

Chapter 8

Vyacheslav Shegal burst into the auxiliary control post just in time to hear Curtis Jr.'s last words.

"Admiral! What are you agreeing to!?"

Lemak turned to the Clinch Commander wearily, "The kid is threatening to drop out of hyper at relativistic speeds."

"Can we take over thrust control? Directly, from the drive sections?"

"We can, but not quickly enough."

"We can't let them go!"

"Are you prepared to fly around at relativistic speeds, Shegal?"

The Clinch Commander did not reply. The ancient pilots' wish "May you never exit a jump at full thrust!" had now become real. The destroyer would survive, there was no doubt of that. The shields would deflect the impact of hydrogen atoms.

But the time dilation at near-light speeds would do their job. For them, minutes, or even hours, would pass, while they restored direct control over the drives and decelerate, but years were going to pass for the rest of the galaxy. Hundreds, thousands of years…

They would be greeted by a world as distant from their time as the twentieth century was from the days of the cavemen. The collective suicide of the crew of the Impetuous, a Vague War-era torpedo boat, which had jumped two hundred years into their future, was a good example of the stability of the human psyche. And the world of the twenty-third century hadn't been that different from this one.

"No…" Shegal whispered. "No."

"That's what I think too," Lemak informed him. "It's easier to hand the detainees over to him. They can't go far."

"We shouldn't underestimate Arthur."

"It's a little too late for that…" Lemak bent over the controls, his eyes boring into the screen. "Let them try getting out of a locked-down bridge."

"Arthur can leave through aTan."

"But Kay doesn't have aTan, does he? And he's the one the kid is trying to rescue."

Shegal felt his fists clench.

"That little bastard… he's tricked all of us. Lemak, I'll lead the assault team personally."

"Go ahead. But first we're going to give him Kay and Tommy. We just need him to slow down the ship… then we'll see."

There was a brief spat between the guards and the officer who had just burst into the brig. The guards contacted Lemak, and then opened the cell only after receiving confirmation of the order.

Kay Dutch was sitting on his bunk and staring grimly at them.

"Move!" the officer grabbed his shoulder. Tommy leaned down from the top bunk. "You too!"

Personally freeing the most important criminals in the Empire was not a particularly pleasant tank.

"What's going on?" Kay inquired, standing up. He didn't get a reply. They were led through the hallway almost at a run and then stuffed into a lift.

Tommy grabbed Kay by the hand.

"This isn't an interrogation, kid," Dutch said. "Otherwise there'd be more roughness and less panic."

The lift stopped at the central transport terminal. Kay's curious gaze swept the room. There were direct lifts onto the bridge and to the Captain's quarters, to the combat decks and to the engine sections. There was a pair of Seraphs on the floor. Their sizes indicated that they were meant for a tall adult man and a young man.

Kay laughed.

"That scum has figured it out," Lemak commented Kay's behavior. "If we lose them, Vyacheslav, then our heads are going to roll."

"We won't…" Shegal stepped to the lift. "I'm going to tell him a few words before they go, Admiral."

Lemak didn't object. He also had a desire to speak with Kay before he left his hands… even if only for a short time. But he couldn't be certain that the conversation wouldn't end with him using a gun.

At the transport terminal of the auxiliary control post, Shegal saw Mohammadi; she was making a futile attempt at convincing the guards to let her through onto the bridge. The mechanist wouldn't seem herself if she were a normal human. Shegal decided that the woman had just barely come to her senses after some heavy drinking.

Strangely enough, he was almost right.

"Clinch Commander!" Marjan seemed to be happy to see him. "Clinch Commander, I have to convince—"

"Your charge has captured the main bridge," Shegal said, walking past her. "We have to hand Kay and Tommy over to him. And there it is."

"Mr. Shegal!" the mechanist repeated hysterically.

"Well?"

"Give me an order… give me an order, and I'll kill them all…"

"Arthur is threatening to drop out of the jump at full thrust," Shegal felt it necessary to inform Marjan about what was happening in those brief moments, while the lift was moving up to the terminal. "Don't stick around here, or you might get hurt. Your role in what has happened isn't yet clear."

He entered the lift, instantly forgetting about the conversation. The mechanist wasn't helping Arthur, of course. She was a good fighter, but she was clearly not at her best at the moment. He ought to simply forget about her, a failed bodyguard of a new criminal.

Marjan Mohammadi closed her eyes, switching to working with her electronic memory. She had managed to get ahold of the secret layout of the Imperial flag destroyer… and now they would come useful. Selecting the transportation network sub-catalog, she spent several seconds absorbing the information.