“Sail off the voidside bow, level!”
Sunrider Halmeera turned her head to the right side of the floatship at the called warning, and instinctively reached for the spyglass that she kept on her at all times.
Up on the quarterdeck, Sunmaster Bala of the Llathese aether floatship Tenacious stood rigid, both hands clasped behind her back. She shifted her gaze in an almost indifferent fashion towards where Halmeera was on the main deck. “Sunrider?”
Halmeera grasped the rigging of the floatship and clambered partway up. She hooked her arm in the netting, then lifted the spyglass to her eye with one hand. A swirl of blue Aether dotted with innumerable shining stars flickered before her eye as she panned the spyglass. She kept both eyes open as she searched.
There was a flash of gold just above the voidside railing, a reflection of the distant rays of the sun.
Halmeera trained her glass on it.
A floatship came into focus, its sails blazing with light against the blue background of the Aether.
“Floatship, butterfly pattern,” she called back as she glimpsed the four glowing sails that extended from the vessel. “Can’t make out her colors yet, Sunmaster. Looks to be a cargo ship, heading rimwards.” She climbed down off the rigging, and folded up her spyglass. “I’d say about twenty-five staads distant, more or less.”
“Butterfly?” Bala said. Her own telescope hung unused at her belt. “That would suggest Sageeran-make, I would think.”
Halmeera nodded in agreement as she came up the stairs to the quarterdeck. “Aye, Sunmaster.”
Bala turned to the helmswoman at the floatship’s wheel. “Bring us on an intercept course. Right one point, south by southeast. Keep them in our sun shadow.”
The helmswoman nodded. “Right one point, aye, aye, Sunmaster.”
Bala looked back at Halmeera. “I want a precise course bearing and speed on that contact, Sunrider.”
Halmeera started to say something, but thought better of it. “Aye, aye, Sunmaster,” she responded tersely, then headed for the stairs leading back to the main deck.
Tenacious swung gently to the right, the solar wind rippling the three circular sails that were suspended above the deck.
Above the railing the blazing speck of the distant floatship drifted until she was just voidside of Tenacious’ front bow.
Halmeera moved quickly across the deck, shouting out a few orders to the crew. She threw herself into her duty, trying her best to ignore the shining green spot of her distant home planet of Llathe as the Tenacious turned slowly away from it.
“Contact bearing, Sunrider!” The excited aetherwoman pointed off towards the Starwind’s aft.
Falreen scowled. He swept his eyes back behind him, and caught sight of the approaching sail in a heartbeat. “Contact bearing aft, level,” he growled.
The aetherman, a green-skinned Llathese man, gaped from where he hung on the upper mast. “Aye, aye, Sunrider. Sorry, I—”
“Still it,” Falreen snapped. He already had his spyglass to his eye.
During Falreen’s days in the Nevagan Aether Fleet a aetherman would have been flogged for such a lack of discipline, perhaps even shot during time of war. But the Starwind was a civilian ship, a Free Trader, with a mixed crew and no pretence at military hierarchy. Sunmaster Soren ran a loose ship, and the crew had a high turnover rate. It infuriated Falreen to no end, but there was not much he could do about it.
He fastened his glass on the distant floatship. He had to squint to see it with the blazing sun just to windwards.
“Problem, Falreen?” A Kolan with pale gray skin and short-cropped black hair stepped up onto the quarterdeck. A golden ring dangled in his left earlobe, reflecting the glittering light of the stars that sparkled in the Aether all around them.
The Sunrider didn’t turn. His hands clenched on the spyglass, his muscles rippling under his dark red skin. “Ship on an intercept course,” he said. “Llathese by the cut of her sail. A frigate, I would guess. She’s signaling us to heave to for boarding.” His voice held all the contempt a Nevagan fighting man could feel for a ship filled with Llathese women.
“Ah.” The Kolan coldly glanced in the direction of the approaching frigate and stroked his trim goatee. “Is it a problem?”
This time Falreen did turn. He was a full head taller than his gray-skinned companion, and his huge body was covered with the scars of battles he had fought over the past two hundred cycles. In contrast the Kolan’s skin was unblemished, as pale as the day he had been born.
It was just one of the many things Falreen detested about the man.
“The frigate has got the weather gauge on us, Ulru.” Falreen explained slowly. “She’s shadowing us, too, staying between us and the sun.”
Ulru moved to the railing. His calculating eyes examined the distant frigate carefully. “You’ll forgive me, Fal, but you know how useless I am in Aetheric lore. We can outrun her, correct?”
Falreen shook his head. “We’ve a full hold, and the Llathese frigate has the advantage of the wind.” He brought the spyglass to his eye again. “The Starwind’s fast, but that frigate’s faster.”
Ulru stepped back. “We’re a bit far from Llathese Aether, aren’t we?”
Falreen extended the spyglass to Kolan. “Take a look. She’s flying the flag of the Xanate. She must be acting as part of the Xanate Aether Fleet. That gives her the authority to board us for inspection.”
Ulru crossed his arms. He ignored the proffered spyglass. “How long?”
Falreen turned back to the helm. “At this rate? A watch, probably less. Then she’ll be on us.”
The Kolan turned his head to the cabin door. “I think I should get Soren.”
Falreen glanced out at the blazing stars that stretched around the ship in every direction. “Yes, I think you should.”
“Contact is still bearing steady on last course,” Halmeera said as she stepped onto the quarterdeck. “We can’t make out her name yet. No colors flying that can be seen. Speed estimated at seventeen staads.” She stood at attention before her commanding officer. “Estimated intercept in seven and half hours, Sunmaster.”
Bala nodded. She gave a quick glance up at the glowing sails that fluttered above them, held into place by a complex series of rigging and flexible masts. “I’ll be in my cabin, Sunrider. You have the helm. If there is any change, alert me at once.”
Halmeera gave the Llathese salute, a clenched fist over her heart. She gave a quick glance off the stern of the floatship, out towards the twinkling green light of Llathe.
Bala stared hard at the Sunrider. “Is there something you wished to add, Sunrider?”
“I—” Halmeera opened and shut her mouth, still rigid at attention.
The Sunmaster continued to look at her, unfazed.
Halmeera swallowed. She was invested now. “I wanted—I believe it is my duty, Sunmaster, as your first officer, to remind you that supplies are past the tenth mark, and that pursuing this floatship puts us past our safe return vector for Llathe.” She stopped talking, knowing full well that the Sunmaster knew everything that she had just stated.
Bala glanced casually behind her at the gleaming speck of Llathe in the void of Aether that surrounded the Tenacious.
For a long moment there was silence.
Halmeera cursed herself silently. Whether invited or not, she had spoken out of turn to Sunmaster Bala. Still, the matter had been consuming Halmeera’s thoughts, and unspoken it would only continue to grow.
The Tenacious had been on long patrol near the Belt of Har’nu for more than a quarter of a cycle with no resupply. Her current stores were running dangerously low. Three encounters with raiders had depleted her ammunition, and for the last three rotations the crew had been on half rations. They couldn’t last much longer without heading for port to refit and resupply.
Every staad that the Tenacious plied to rimwards was one more staad away from Llathe. Every hour she spent pursuing this merchant ship meant a
n increased danger of missing the return vector to Llathe entirely.
Sunmaster Bala continued to look at the distant gleam of Llathe. “You disagree with my decision to pursue this floatship, Sunrider?”
Halmeera looked down at the deck. “I—am concerned about the prospect of resupply, Sunmaster.”
Bala turned back to her first officer. She inclined her head at the butterfly floatship off the Tenacious’ bow. “Tell me, Halmeera, how many slaves do you think a ship like that can hold?”
Halmeera held her breath. She knew what was coming next. “I’m…not certain, Sunmaster.”
Bala tapped her hand against the railing of the quarterdeck. “I’d say at least seventy-five or so. More if they pack them in tight.”
Halmeera started to respond, but choked back the words.
Raiders from the Belt of Har’nu were a constant plague to Llathe, a planet well-known for its beautiful people. It was common for slavers to descend from the Aether, grab captives from an outlying town in the jungle Lowlands, then fly back through the Aether for the safety of the Belt in order to sell their prisoners on the slave market.
“Now,” said Bala with a glance behind them, “I am well aware that ship’s supplies are running low. If we can’t make Llathe, we can always run for Nevaga.”
Halmeera remained silent. Nevaga would be a risky gamble. Tenacious would have to stay close-hauled against the solar wind and fight the prevailing Aetheric current the whole way. Not to mention the fact that Llathese ships, even ones flying the flag of the Xanate,