The Sisters
14 Jun 2017Evgeniya Asimova
The Keep was a mess when Evgeniya went inside.At first she wandered if the place had been found by some pirates who had robbed some of her stuff, but she could see no sign of any forced entry. The only entrance was through a blast-door, which was still intact, and the alarms were all still set. Evgeniya checked the security computer, and the record showed that her sister had recently visited the Keep. It must have been she who had left all the mess. Evgeniya was annoyed, but she could forgive her little sister anything. There must be some reason why Lillianna had left it that way; she must have been in a desperate rush for something important; it wasn't her fault. She was worried that her sister was in some kind of trouble. No doubt due to that boyfriend of hers. Evgeniya's train-of-thought always ran along this familiar track when it came to her sister. She was not angry. Evgeniya had planned to get back home as quickly as possible so that she could continue working on her Frame-Shift Drive, but instead she had to spend a couple of hours cleaning up and putting things back in their proper places. Only then did she use the Servitor to find the Manipulators she needed. As expected, her father had some stashed. With the machine's help, she loaded them onto her buggy and made her way back toward her Imperial Courier.
She was just heading across the yellow sand, when she skidded to a stop, kicking up a cloud of dust behind her. In the low gravity of the planet, it rose up dramatically behind her. She narrowed her eyes and studied the radar on the dashboard in front of her. There was a ship approaching. She did not want to get caught with her panties down, so she immediately accelerated as fast as she could back to her Imperial Courier. As soon as she was in the cockpit and strapped in, she blasted off.
Her ship was faster than most, and when she hit the afterburners, the gap between her and the intruding ship rapidly decreased. She extended her hard-points. It was a Viper. She could take it on. Shoot first, ask questions later, she thought, as she began to scan the approaching ship. She did not want anyone coming near the Keep. She bore down on the intruder relentlessly.
“Commander Asimova, I am 967. We've been looking for you, Commander,” came a voice across the comm link.
“Have you, indeed?” Evgeniya replied acidly. But more ships began to show on her scanner – a large Anaconda escorted by two smaller fighters, Eagles both. Evgeniya immediately looped her ship around and surged away as quickly as she had approached. She was outgunned. There was no point in risking her life. “What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Do you know who we a-”
“Yes! Sisters of Pleiades-”
“Indeed Commander. We have a message for you from The Venerable Whitebeam. He wishes to talk to you. In person. Please follow us, Com-”
“No!” Evgeniya continued to hit the afterburner at regular intervals. She was several kilometres away from the other ships now. She locked on to the nearest system. “Fucking wailers! You want to do the same to me that you did to my mother and my sister? Better luck next time.”
“Don't go, Commander Asimova... You will always be welcome with us...”
The Frame-Shift Drive was almost charged. Asimova jumped into Witchspace and onto the next system.
She had the Manipulators but she was shaken. She did not scoop for fuel, but jumped again quickly, hoping the Sisters would not try to follow her. How had they found her? She did not know. She only hoped that they would not discover the Keep. It was heavily defended, but not completely impermeable. It was a trove of treasures, and she did want not those sick nutters to get their hands on the fruits of her father's labour. He had worked hard for many years and used up all his good luck collecting that stuff. She thought about going back, but it was too dangerous. She would have to get hold of Lilianna. See if her sister knew anything. She worried about her sister's life more than she did about her own.
When Evgeniya was within three jumps of Can Qing, she began to relax. She made one last scoop for fuel. The past was laying heavily on her. The weight was crushing, like the gravity of the burning sun beneath her. The only way she could break free of it was by flying forward into the future. She thought first about her father, and then re-made the resolve that was always in her heart: she would make her father proud. Yes, she would be like him – she would be better than him. It was in this moment that she determined that - one way or another - she would become an Elite explorer, and write her name forever into the history of the galaxy.