Ember closed her eyes and spread her senses wide. She was no longer just Ember the augment. She was the entire vessel. Everyone else was within her, space was now her playground.

Usually, she loved this part, but the stakes were high today.

Exhilarated she flipped the Ember around to face the newcomer. The Vesper ship in front of her was a standard military model, the same one that Ember herself had flown back in the day. 

But it also had weapons, which Ember was sorely lacking. 

...and yet it waited.

Red, I hope you are buckled in, she sent him. She shivered as she thought of Red. If there was one life inside she wanted to save it would be his. At least to prove one point, she'd left behind her old life entirely and would never go back. He'd never asked once they'd left Helion 7.

A signal from the other ship pushed its way into her thoughts. She patched it through making sure Red would be able to see it on his screen. She shared it with the Blackstar as well, not listening for a reply from them.

"Hello, Hannah."

Her blood ran cold. 

Pietr. 

Cold, unyielding in ideals, furiously committed to Neo-Tokyan authority. 

She remembered him from training. He'd been in her group, dead last in everything until New Caledonia.

"Pietr," She replied. She felt rather than heard Red ask a question. She ignored him, everyone but the Vesper in front of her.

"Your father says hello."

"That's nice," she snapped. "Why aren't you dead?"

"Always to the point," he laughed into the channel. "I always liked that about you."

"That doesn't answer the question."

"I agreed to help."

"You mean kill the rest."

"Whichever way you look at it. The houses must be preserved and they have been."

"So why are you here?"

"You're a loose end, Hannah." His voice had taken on a menacing tone. "You know your father doesn't like loose ends. The way I see it you can come quietly and let him strip every augment from your body like he wants, or you can die."

"You know I'm not going to come willingly."

"I know. I was counting on it in fact."

"You could never beat me in training, Pietr."

"I have weapons, you don't. I don't know what kind of ship you're flying, Hannah, but it doesn't have weapons."

Ember smiled to herself. "I don't need weapons for someone like you Pietr."

"Hannah, I'm supposed to take you back alive."

"And everyone else?"

"I can't answer for them."

"Not happening, Pietr."

"I was hoping you'd say that."

"I know," Ember trembled for a moment, taking a deep breath to calm herself. 

Ember, Red's voice was in her head. How good is he?

Good? Ember sat watching the other Vesper, he didn't move his ship, like an old western waiting for the other gun to be drawn first. He's the bottom dregs of our class...until New Caledonia at least.

Ember, I think if we run him through the belt, we can lose him--

He'll just dodge like I do. He's smaller...

If you let me finish, the BlackStar has weapons even if we don't.

"Cap--Red, what is it you have in mind?" Lars's voice cut in.  

"A lay and wait," Red said audibly. "You guys flee. We'll do the rest."

Lars chuckled over the channel. "I remember." He cut off.

A lay and wait? Ember racked her brain but before she could ask, the other Vesper opened fire. The small guns were reminiscent of the "rail" guns that Red wanted so badly to mount on The Ember itself. As they trailed towards her she veered right, away from them.

I hope you know what you're doing, Red. 

Trust me.

She didn't answer. His plan, whatever it was, depended on her being able to fly the ship without hitting an asteroid and she was already exhausted. She flew into the belt, twisting right and left barely avoiding some asteroids, and at the same time delivered an adrenaline boost to her system. 

She felt more than heard Red open the channel again to the BlackStar, but she concentrated on keeping them intact. 

"Hannah, this is a waste of time." Pietr's voice came back to her. 

"I agree, you should stop chasing me," she replied.

"You know they just want to get rid of the low-level augments, the Houses will be fine."

"Shove it, Pietr." She closed the connection for good this time. Pietr had earned his high marks at New Caledonia and every force measure they'd taken since. He never questioned orders no matter how heinous they'd appeared. Ember had taken time off after New Caledonia but not Pietr. He'd taken on extra enforcement on the outer settlements. 

Enforcement was a simple reminder that they were still under the control of Neo-Tokyo and their elite houses. The families up there still ran things even from this distance. Ember felt sick as she remembered. She'd been so naive then about what it meant to bring "honor" to her house as her father had put it.

She sensed another barrage of bullets coming their way and put a few chunks of rock between them. 

Ember I'm going to need you to drop low and swoop up around this large one.

She did as Red asked, hoping the plan would work. She was exhausted and barely missed the underside. Pietr opened fire again as she came up along the underside. She glanced upward, she was flying right at the BlackStar.

"Hello gorgeous," Null's voice popped into her channel. The more time she spent in Commander Larsson's company the easier it became to tell who was speaking.  Null was full of fire and sarcasm, Lars was concern and care.  

Fly straight at them, Ember.

What?

Keep going, swerve down when I tell you to...

She saw it, saw how it would work in his mind, as she flew at them.  The Ember was a larger vessel. Much larger than the BlackStar. With any luck, Pietr would be too focused on them to see the BlackStar just beyond.

Pietr was under the lip of the asteroid and the bullets started flying past. There was no way for her to turn out of the path of the hailstorm Pietr had unleashed without revealing the BlackStar so she dove straight for it. 

The shields held but she wasn't sure for how long. This was a commercial vehicle, not a fighter like the ship behind her. She'd remedy that when they got to New Elysium, she promised herself. 

Hold course! Red broke into her thoughts again. 

What do you think I'm doing Red? She snapped back. Taking a relaxing cruise?

Not today, he replied. We could get to that later.

Oh for the love of...

She was flying at the BlackStar and she could see its black sleek design with the pointed spires that gave it its name. Closer and she'd be able to see the occupants.

Down! Red shouted as Ember swerved low dipping forward, the ship following her turn instantly. She swerved to the right out of the way just as the BlackStar darted forward and for a moment was awed by how the BlackStar moved.

Pietr never stood a chance. 

Deep down she knew Lars's finger was on the trigger. The missile launched out of the BlackStar and hit the Vesper straight in the face. It happened in seconds, and Pietr so sure of his quarry hadn't counted on the "inferior" vessel taking him down. 

Ember looked at the destroyed remains slowly losing their fires as the oxygen leeched into space. Within seconds, the destroyed ship was cold and dark again. The pieces breaking up even further amongst the asteroids. She steered their ship out of the asteroid belt, exhausted.

"You guys ok?" Lars's voice came back through the channel. 

"Yeah, but one of my solar collectors is damaged," Ember looked at the alarms going off. It wouldn't be an issue now but as long as they made it to New Elysium within the next week they'd be fine. 

"I can send one of my crew over."

"We'll get there, we need to move," Red's voice came over the channel. "It won't take them that long to blast through that, especially with the Leviathan class ships they have."

"We'll lead them straight there," Null's voice, full of suspicion now.

"They'll find it from here either way," Red replied. "We need to warn them they are coming, and be ready."

The coordinates appeared in front of her and she knew Red could see them on the console. "You have one more jump from here," Null said. "Let's go."

Ember took one last look at the wreckage and then turned away. One last jump away from her old life forever. One last jump till she could truly fight back against Neo-Tokyo, the place of her birth. 

She made the jump and allowed herself to slide to the floor. Red, get up here.

"Dag, you good?" She made a sweep of the ship, there were no casualties, she played the pre-recorded all clear message.

"I'm good," he answered. "What happened?"

"Took out an old friend."

"You what?!?" Dag was on his feet. "Are you telling me that was another Vesper?"

"It was..." She trailed off. "I'm sorry Dag, could you check the systems, I've been up for over 24 hours. I'm putting the ship into auto, we'll come out in a few hours." 

Red crawled up next to her, his face full of concern as she held out a hand to him. She took it, not breaking her conversation with Dag.

"I'll run a check. You sure?"

"I need a few hours of downtime"

"Red?"

"He's with me."

"In that case," Dag chuckled. "I don't want to know."

"Dag!" But the man smiled and moved away from the camera she was using.

"Hey," Red squeezed her hand. "You ok?"

"I'm fine." Ember stared at the bed and then turned to look at Red. "He was an asshole."

"Maybe, but you're not a killer." He pulled her close and she allowed the connections in her back to snap out so she could be fully in his arms. 

"I'm not going to lose sleep over it." She put her hands around Red's neck, her fingers drifting around his head as she felt his staples. Still good. She lowered till she was face to face with him. "But I plan on losing some sleep over something else entirely."