[Moon]

Celeste limped onto the bridge, clenching her jaw and casting Moon an icy glare. He turned back to watch her while reclining in the captain's chair, his feet resting on a display panel and his fingers linked behind his head. She drew her eyebrows together, gritted her teeth, and lashed out with her voice. "What is this on my leg?" Lifting her left foot, she shook the thick black ring that encircled the ankle. Two small green lights blinked from it.

Lifting an eyebrow, he said, "Oh, hey. Have a good nap? You are looking better now."

Folding her arms, she intensified her glare, with eyes blazing.

Moon swiveled his chair and sat upright. "Oh, yeah, the ankle bracelet. Besides being a fashionable accessory for stowaways, it allows my ship AI to monitor you. And if you should threaten me or the ship, to give you a very uncomfortable shock. I would stay away from critical equipment and controls if I were you."

She seethed, clenching her fists. "I am your passenger, not your prisoner!"

"Of course. This is just a reasonable precaution, given that you are an alleged terrorist and that pointing a gun at me thing. Don't you think?"

"Arggh!" She stomped out.

Moon sighed and spoke while looking up at the ceiling. "Sai, have your robot minions moved the junk out of the spare cabin for her?"

"Work is still in progress." The AI paused. "Sir, if I may ask, is our guest unhappy?"

He nodded. "Yup. Definitely grumpy."

"Is it something about the condition of the ship?"

Moon smiled as he shook his head. "It's not you at all, Sai. It's me. I seem to have that effect on women sometimes." He blew out a breath. "Maybe I should be a little nicer."

*****

Celeste sat cross-legged on the floor of the galley with her eyes closed and palms turned up while Moon perched on a high stool set before a long table. The stools, like the table, were secured to the floor. A plas-steel composite with gray satin sheen made up most surfaces in the galley. As he watched her draw slow measured breaths in and out, she opened her warm cinnamon eyes and lifted her gaze to his. 

She is pretty when not so intense.

He broke out of the enchantment. "Umm, what are you doing?"

"Meditation. It helps me relax and focus. You should try it."

"I prefer ale, although it is usually counter-productive on the focus part." He tipped his head toward her. "Want some?"

Rising from the floor, she said, "Yes, I would."

His eyes widened. "You would?"

She sat on a stool across the table from him. "You think Sol Priestesses don't drink? We do, just not to excess."

"Sometimes that is the point." He bent down to extract two unlabeled brown bottles from a chiller cabinet at the back of the galley and placed one before her.

Celeste popped the lid open and took a sip. Her lips formed a circle. "Is this Ceti ale? I thought export was prohibited. How did you acquire this?"

"I am impressed that you know ales. As to your second question, let's just say that I sometimes engage in, well, unregistered trading."

"Why am I not surprised at that?" She rolled her eyes.

"Look, we are going to be cooped up on this ship together for over a hundred earth-days. Let's agree to be civil with each other."

"I would agree." Celeste lifted the leg with the ankle monitoring bracelet and narrowed her eyes. "But you are not off to a good start."

"So, you are a Sol Priestess. With all your resources, why are you on the run? Does your Empress Zahra know of this?"

A scowl appeared on her face. "Ali Zahara is a pretender. I serve the true Line of the Empress."

He tilted his head. Her words confused him. "Didn't Empress Iona and all her heirs die in the terrorist nuke attack a year ago?"

Dipping her head, she sighed. "Yes. I was at her side when her life ended."

"A tragedy. I liked Iona and how she stood up to the elites."

Moon recalled the sad day when she died. He had always been skeptical of those in power, especially politicians and high-ranking bureaucrats, but the office of the Sol Empress held his respect. Guided by the high principles of the Writings, the long line of Empresses seemed immune to the corruption of power that snared so many others. Wielding constitutional authority and leveraging popular support, the Empress reined in the abuses and stabilized the Commonwealth.

"But didn't the genetic line end?" he asked, then lifted his eyebrows. Or did it? "So what is in that stasis tube?"

She tipped the bottle to her lips. Returning it to the table, she narrowed her eyes. "If you would recall from our agreement, there was a no questions asked provision. I am invoking it now."

"Okay, then let me ask you this — to what honor do I owe your presence here on my ship?"

Celeste took a deep breath and turned her eyes away. "I was desperate and didn't have much time to choose. I picked your ship because it was an independent hauler, but mostly, I will admit, because of its name, the Phoenix Star. That seemed prophetic." Celeste took another swig of ale. "Mmm, this is exceptional."

"So how did you get aboard?"

"I just snuck in during the cargo loading. Is that important?"

A chill gripped Moon, and he leaned forward. "Maybe. You probably were recorded on the dock monitors. Would the people chasing you be the type who would review the video footage?"

She cast her eyes down. "Likely."

Oh, crap. "Then they know you are on my ship..."

She completed the thought. "... and they would know where it is going."

Moon grinned. "Actually, they don't know that. The flight plans I filed were, shall we say, misleading?"

She blew out a breath and shook her head. "Never before have I been so relieved by dishonesty."

He looked up. "Sai, what is our relative velocity?"

The AI responded over a speaker. "Approximately thirty-two-point-four C, sir. The quantum displacement drive is performing within tolerances."

"Increase speed to fifty C and scan for pursuit. Our passenger appears be hot." He motioned toward the ceiling. "Celeste, I would like to introduce you to Sai, the ship AI. Sai, this is Priestess Celeste. Please see to her needs."

Sai responded. "I am honored to have you on board, Priestess. I can reduce the ambient temperature if you are over-heated."

Moon clamped his eyes closed. "No, Sai. When I said she was hot, I meant that others want to capture her, and not about her thermal state."

"I see, sir. Am I also to assume she is not bat-shit crazy?"

Celeste smirked as Moon put a hand to his face. He said, "That referred to the previous woman who snuck in, not this one. At least I hope so."

Celeste grinned. "It is nice to meet you, Sai. You have a beautiful name."

The AI voice almost seemed gleeful. "Oh, yes! Captain Moon gave me my name. It is spelled S-A-I, which stands for ship AI. I think it is very clever."

Celeste put a hand to her mouth to suppress a chortle. "Very clever, indeed. Sai, I think I will enjoy interacting with you." She turned toward him. "So, your name is... Moon?"

"Actually, Elijah Lee, but most call me Moon."

She smirked. "I'm sure there is a story with that, but I think I would prefer Sai tell it."

Sai said, "I would be happy to do so, Priestess. It came from an incident twelve and a half years ago on the Mars Demos moon base--"

Moon lifted his head and interrupted. "Not now, Sai." He grumbled, "Besides, they never proved it was me."

Lifting the leg with the ankle bracelet, Celeste said, "Sai, if you would, warn me first if I am about to go out of bounds before you shock me with this thing. I am not fond of negative operant reinforcement."

"No need to worry, Priestess. It has no punishment function."

Celeste lowered her eyebrows and glared at Moon. "Oh, realllly..."

Moon threw his head back. "Sai, we talked about this! She was not to know that bit of information."

Sai replied, "Oh, I am sorry, sir. Priestess, please disregard my last statement."

Celeste intensified her narrow-eyed glare at Moon as she again lifted her leg. He sighed as he kneeled down before her. After placing his forefinger against a biometric reader, the bracelet popped off her ankle.

He looked up at her. "Better now?"

She smiled sweetly, but the tone of her voice carried a sharp edge. "Much better. And now, am I to presume in our initial meeting that you also lied about the safety on my gun?"

He stood up, shrugging. "Umm, yeah. A revolver has no firing safety. I just needed an opening to stun you." He motioned toward a set of cabinets, hoping to change the subject. "Would you like something to eat? I mostly carry ration packs, they're syn-food, but some of them aren't too bad."

"Yes, thank you. I am famished."

Sai interrupted the meal just as they sat down to eat. "Sir, we are being scanned."

Moon jerked his head up. "What? By whom?"

"Unknown. The scan is long range, originating from the direction of our departure."

"We are too far away from the port for them to scan us, it must be from another ship. Sai, increase velocity to sixty-five C and find that ship."

Celeste widened her eyes. "Is someone after us?"

"Too soon to say. But I am not going to wait around to find out."

Sai announced, "Sir, we are being hailed, audio only."

"I'll take it in the bridge." He jogged out of the galley and down the passageway. Celeste followed him, stopping only to scoop up her black duffle bag.

He sat down in the captain's chair, leaning forward. "Okay, Sai. Let's hear it."

A static laden voice spoke. "Phoenix Star, come to and prepare for boarding. If you do not comply, you will be fired upon. This is your one and only warning."

Moon opened his mouth to reply, but Sai spoke instead. "Transmission terminated."

He mumbled, "Well, that was unfriendly."

The holographic display appeared in front of the control panels, showing the local star systems. A green triangle represented the Phoenix Star, while a red triangle indicated an unknown object following behind. A text box beside each object relayed telemetry data.

Sai explained, "An unknown ship trails us, sir. It is not transmitting identification data. Approximate velocity is seventy C."

"Damn. Looks like a Corsair. Sai, get us going faster. Ignore the first drive caution limits."

Celeste turned to face Moon. "What does that mean?"

"A Corsair is an intercept fighter, and they carry an impressive array of weaponry. The Phoenix Star is fast, but it is faster. Their only limitation is a short range. I only hope we can get beyond that before they catch up."

Another triangle emerged from the Corsair on the display, racing forward. Moon's heart rate spiked. He yelled out, "Sai, redline it! Bypass second level limits and get us going faster." Turning toward Celeste, he narrowed his eyes. "What the hell is in that stasis tube!"

She shrunk down in the chair. "I told you, no questions asked. What is happening?"

He pointed at the display and glared at her, raising his voice. "Consider this, Priestess! An interceptor trails us with their identification beacon turned off. That means they are covert. And they just launched a quantum torpedo, probably nuclear tipped. Only the Commonwealth military have access to them, and they are as expensive as they are deadly, reserved only for very high value targets. The situation has changed, Priestess! Now, what are you carrying?"

She dropped her eyes from his glare and pulled a deep breath. "Seeds of the future. The last hope for the Line of the Sol Empress."