Andre and I sang an edance-pop song as Nostromo flew through the non-reality of FTL. After a couple hours of travel, we emerged into real-space. I keyed the intercom and said "We're back in real-space and will be on Ganymede in two hours."

The glowing globe of Jupiter hung in the distance. "I like easy jobs." Andre said.

"You're not the only one." I answered. I was happy as I could be. Jade was mostly on my mind. I didn't have a clue what we really were, but we had made out and she hadn't killed me. Steps in the right directions! I resolved to figure it out with her slowly. She was...questioning? I think that's the term and I didn't want to scare her off. We could take as long as she needs to be ready and happy with herself.

My mind wandered to more..risque things and I fought to keep the blush off of my face. Okay in my defense it's been a long time since I had been with...anyone. Not because of any reason, Ryder and I hadn't ended well (he was a gank) and that had put me off from dating for a bit. A little after that we had found and rescued Jade and then with everything else that had happened I hadn't really paid any attention to my love life. Save for when someone felt the need to mention it. Which I didn't know why. Can't people mind their own business?!

"That's weird." Andre said, catching my attention. "What is?" I asked.

"Scanner picked up a couple police vics."

I frowned. "Authentic?" I asked.

"Yeah. Ganymede Police Department registry and everything."

"Probably going about their business. Nothing to worry about." I said, even as I flicked the warning lights for the engine room. I didn't want to alarm anyone, but I did want Cat awake and paying attention instead of doing...whatever it is she does when she isn't busy. The switch would flicker the lights in the engine room and the light above the switch went from red to green, basically saying that Cat had seen the warning and was ready.

"Didn't your dad say that the planetary police rarely leave the atmosphere?" Andre asked.

"He did." I answered while I turned off the safeties for the turrets. "How far are we from Ganymede?" I asked.

"Five-light minutes."

Okay something is definitely wrong. Planetary police live up to their name and stayed on their planets. Space was handled by the Interplanetary Security Bureau. They chased down pirates and investigated space crimes and the like. Like all different branches in the Justice Department, they guarded their turf with a rabid jealousy.

"Incoming wave." Andre said.

Taking a deep breath, I put on a smile and opened communications. "Captain of Nostromo, this is Captain Jordan Brooks of the GPD. Heave to and stand by to be boarded and searched."

"Captain Brooks is it? What's your code and warrant number?" I asked, politely of course. My parents had raised me right after all.

This "Captain Brooks" glared and then said "0109564-32 and the warrant number is 13379896."

"Thanks!" I said cheerfully and then hung up. I slammed Nostromo into full throttle and took off. "Woah what the hell?!" Andre yelled. "No planetary police captain would come out this far and their ID codes never start with anything but a 3." I snapped as I ignored the shrill beeping of the comm.

"On top of that warrants also start and end with a letter of the phonetic alphabet and are twelve numbers long."

"Wow. We really need to thank your dad for teaching you about his job." Andre said as he plotted a course to Ganymede. I keyed up the intercom and barked "Jade ready on the guns and everyone else strap yourselves in! Don't ask questions just do it!"

A flash of light erupted to the left of the view port. "Looks like they aren't going to pretend anymore." Andre said, his voice thick with worry. The computer system trilled and Andre yelled "More missiles on our ass!"

I threw Nostromo into different twists and turns as I tried to shake the missiles off. The beeping from the grader became more insistent as the missiles got closer and closer. "Here goes nothing." I said.

"Wha-" Andre didn't get to finish his sentence when I pushed the controls and Nostromo dove straight down. Funny how the holo-flicks and people in general seem to forget that space is 3D. Andre screeched and grabbed onto the system in front of him and scared and angry screams and curses came over the intercom.

"Sorry everyone! Trying to dodge missiles here!" I yelled as I tossed Nostromo into a curve and then dove down again. I rolled to the left and Andre cheered when the missiles either lost us or slammed into each other. Either way they weren't going to hit us anymore. "So glad that mercs are cheap." I said. The panel in front of Andre beeped. "Jade's shooting. Hasn't hit anything yet." He told me.

"Find out where we are and get me a path to Ganymede. I'll keep those guys from shooting us." I ordered and Andre got to work. "Try not to do any of that crap that you just did."

"No promises!" I said with a cheer and Andre groaned. "I can't hit them." Jade said, frustration in her voice. "Don't use just your eyes, the computer will help with judging distance and speed." Andre said as he flicked the panel and sent a map and location to me. I pulled Nostromo up and then gasped when the lights flickered for a split second.

"Yay the shield works!" Cat cheered.

Andre and I glanced at each other and then shrugged. "More missiles!" Andre announced. "Gonna try and hit them." Jade said.

I doubted that she would, but better than doing nothing.

"Jesus christ!" I yelled. The monitor had blinked and three ships appeared in front of us. "Jade front!" I yelled and jerked Nostromo to the right. Streams of fire flew over us and the ships in front of us scattered before they fired at us. Andre grunted. "Shields holding."

That's when the first missile hit. It was like being hit in the butt by a speeding bike. I grabbed my seat so I didn't get tossed out of it. Andre also managed to keep his seat but he hit his head. Blood fountained from a cut on his forehead.

"Andre?!" I shrieked.

"I'm fine. I'm okay." he said as he took off his shirt and tied it around his head. "Aw man. Shields down to fifty percent."

"Cat?"

"No good Tori." Cat said, worried. "What we have is what we have. If we get hit like that it's gonna break."

"We could use a better shield." Andre muttered as our home shuddered from several hits. "What's that supposed to mean?!" Cat screeched. "Looking at how old it is you're lucky that I got it to work at all!"

"Okay Cat we believe you." I said soothingly.

"Got one!" Jade shouted. Sure enough, the scanner showed one of the dots breaking off and going away. Another missile detonated a little behind us. Again we were smacked around though this time not as badly. "Shields at forty-three percent." Andre announced.

"Can't we do that divert power thing?" Jade asked and then swore. "Fucking missed."

We dove again and I thought about what Jade said. "Cat?" I asked.

"Tech doesn't work that way and this shield monitor is so old doing anything else will probably cause it to blow up. Actually surprised that it hasn't."

Andre and I glanced at each other and then decided to just ignore it. We could deal with that later. "Wait I saw this on an old show I watched with Beck."

Nostromo shuddered under more hits. "Open to ideas." I said as another missile detonated under us. "A micro-jump."

"Jade I can't tell if you're a genius or you're insane." Andre said.

"Funny. My dad said the same thing."

"Think it's possible?" I asked Andre. "Maybe. Haven't heard anyone being insane enough to try."

Three more explosions knocked us around. "First time for everything. Start plotting."

More impacts hit the ship and we shuddered. The only warning we had that the shields were gone was when two direct impacts on the spine smashed into us. Alarms blared and I smashed my head into the panel. My vision blurred as I held my head and groaned. Nostromo heaved and twisted as I fought to regain control with one hand. "Andre?!" I shrieked in concern.

"Two hits. No shields. Top turret gone. Body damage. Leaking air." He groaned and held his head. More blood was flowing. Bullets hit us and clangs and shrieks echoed through the ship. "Cat get us ready to jump."

"I haven't finished the plotting!" Andre yelled.

"I'll finish them for you."

The stars stretched into lines and formed over us and we disappeared. A few seconds later we arrived over Ganymede. Smoke trailed from behind us the panel beeped. I keyed it and looked at a terrified grey-haired woman. "Jesus fuck kill your engines help is on the way!" She shouted.

I dialed back the speed and we decelerated sharply. All around us ships scattered and moved out of the way. I guided Nostromo towards a hanger and was thrilled that it was a zero-g hanger. Zero-g hangers being exactly what they sound like, no gravity for ships to dock and hang. Makes it easy to repair. The panel beeped again and I turned it and acknowledged that the tugboats were taking control.

"Praise be to Allah. We made it." A deep voice behind us said.

We both turned to look at Imam, who stood at the entrance to the bridge. "Here, let me help." He said as he rushed over to Andre. Gently unwrapping his makeshift bandage, he frowned and said "Lucky for you I was a medic for the Alliance Navy in another life. Come with me to the medbay." He glanced at me and gave a wane smile. "A nasty bruise but I think you have more important work to do."

"Yea." I agreed and then a thought hit me. "Jade!" I started to get up when Imam put a hand on my shoulder. "She's fine. A few scratches and a mild concussion. She's asleep in the medbay. You're the captain. You can see her soon. Take charge." He said gently.

"Yea. Yeah. Okay." I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Exhaling, I opened them and said "Andre, go with Imam and get looked over. Cat? Damage check. Everything."

Together, Imam and I helped carry Andre to the medbay. Gregory was there, putting a blanket over Jade's sleeping self. If it wasn't for the bandages on her arms and the one on her forehead, I would have assumed that she was just sleeping the day off. "I sent Kyle to assist the young Cat. He has a better head for technical matters than I do. Here. Pain relievers. You'll need it."

I looked it over and was grateful enough for the pain relievers that I wasn't going to complain about him going through our supplies. I pressed it against the back of my neck and pushed the cap. A slight hissing sound issued and a few seconds later my headache went away. "I need to go back to the bridge. I'm trusting you two with my friends."

Imam didn't say anything and continued to work on Andre. Gregory gave a slight bow as he moved to assist Imam. I jogged back up to the bridge just in time to answer a call. "Ship this is ISB Special Agent Galen Twist. I'm requesting to speak to the captain."

Galen Twist was an elderly bald man with dark skin and no hair on his head. Crow's feet and wrinkles lined his face. "Special Agent, this is Tori Vega, I'm captain of Nostromo."

"Captain Vega, I'll be coming aboard to assist you and ask you a few questions. But I'd like to start with wondering what the hell happened to make you risk jumping right over a planet."

"We were attacked by a group. They had stolen some GPD registers and had tried to attack us."

"I see. All right. I'll meet you in person in a couple minutes."

I cut the call and leaned back in the chair. I watched as the tugboats slowly guided us into the hanger. I made my way to the airlock and waited a couple minutes. A hissing sound filled the airlock and I waited from behind the inner door as air filled the room. Once it did, I opened the door and waited until Special Agent Galen Twist strood in with a couple people behind him. "Special Agent Twist?" I asked.

"Captain Vega?" He returned.

"I'm sorry to meet you like this. These two androids are for investigations and are here to assist me. Please tell me everything that happened."

"I'm going back to the medbay to check on my people. I'll tell you on the way." As we walked to the medbay, I filled him in with everything that had happened and what I knew. I brightened when I saw that Jade was awake and lying on her back. Andre was joking with Imam and Gregory as he cleaned the blood of his face. I gave Andre a hug and then checked on Jade. Standing on the other side of her and took her hand in mine.

Jade quirked her lips but otherwise gave no reaction that we were holding hands. "How's Cat?" I asked Andre. "She's fine. A little bruised but she and Kyle are otherwise fine and working on fixing the ship."

"Captain Vega, why would pirates attack you? They usually don't operate in Sol." Galen asked.

"I think I can answer that."

We all turned to look at Gregory. "They weren't targeting this ship or our Captain here. They were most likely hoping to kill me."

I hope you all enjoyed.

-C.H.