The so-called Freedom Coalition has become more militant and extreme under the guidance of the human called Flame. Under previous leadership they were less organized, engaging in more peaceful forms of protestation. But now they’re actively attacking Alliance assets. I don’t even know where they got the ships they have, or how half of them stay flying.

  -Norvil Gavrinik, Chief of the Allied Security Forces

  Maggie woke up to Robin and Theodrakis’s voices talking nearby, an undercurrent of tension in both of them. She blinked sleep from her eyes, sitting up in bed to peer at them blurrily. “Everything okay?”

  Both men looked at her, and in a blink Robin was at her side, his face uncharacteristically serious. “Not exactly, we’re leaving. Gather what you need, Theodrakis is going to get the others and meet at the ships.”

  “Leaving? We just got here.” But Maggie swung her feet off the side of the bed anyways, stepping into her slippers. For a moment she felt a pang of loss for her bright green slippers, but pushed it away to focus on the two men. “What happened?”

  “We’ll explain on the way. Get your things.” Theodrakis nodded at Robin, and hurried out the door without waiting for a response. Maggie stared after him for a moment, her forehead wrinkling.

  “Wait, does this have anything to do with what happened to that Silvarian? Reshka’i?” Her face paled at the thought. They must have discovered that she really had killed her somehow! Or maybe they wanted to hook her up to that awful machine again.

  “Kind of. Like your dad said though, we’ll explain on the way.” Robin took her hand and hauled her to her feet. “What do you need? Gather it up now but don’t forget the tablet.”

  “R-right.” Maggie picked the tablet up from the bedside table, and looked around the room. What did she need? She had no idea where they were even going! But she knew they needed to hurry. She could feel the urgency in Robin, the way he kept watching the door as if expecting someone else to come at any moment. So she decided to pack light, just a couple changes of clothes and the tablet. She didn’t even bother with real shoes. “Let’s go.”

  “Good, come on I remember the way. But we need to be careful.” Robin shrank down, smaller than he usually did to avoid the soft glow of his form from attracting attention. “If I say stop, you need to stop, alright?” He floated up to perch in her curls next to her ear, whispering into it.

  With a nod, Maggie peeked out the door, glancing both ways before heading down the hallway, following Robin’s directions. They had to stop a few times as people passed by. Guards that hadn’t been there before, Silvarians and humans with small, oddly shaped pistols at their sides.

  There had barely been anyone in the main house when they arrived, but now there was all this security! A chill ran down Maggie’s back, and she flexed her fingers, considering materializing a crystal dagger. But she wasn’t quite sure how, and she didn’t want more blood on her hands anyways.

  “Go now, we’re almost there.” Robin whispered in her ear.

  Maggie glanced at the Silvarian that had just passed by, their back towards them, then hurried across the hall and out into the open air. Now they just had to make it through the small garden to where the ships were sitting. Why hadn’t they landed here in the first place, if ships could just land here? She knew the shuttle they had landed in was bigger than Theseus’s ship, but there were two ships in the small courtyard type area! It would have saved her having to listen to Robin and Theodrakis arguing all the way here.

  “Maggie stop! Get down!” Robin’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts, and she ducked down in a nearby bush. She clutched the tablet close as a human strolled by in the darkness, whistling an unfamiliar tune. They paused by the bush, looking up at the sky as Maggie tried to hold her breath.

  They took a moment to adjust their belt, turning the the bush and pausing mid-whistle. It felt like eternity when their eyes met, both the guard and Maggie frozen still, waiting for the other to do something.

  But then the man winked, and started whistling again as he continued on is way. Maggie stayed frozen in the bush, her heart pounding as the man rounded a corner, disappearing behind another bush.

  “Move, quickly!” Robin whispered, his own voice tense. Why hadn’t the man said anything? It was better to just continue on their way, and try to figure out the answers later. With luck they would be long gone before he raised the alarm.

  Maggie pushed herself back to her feet, running down the path away from the man, towards the large shadows that were the ships. The door to Theseus’s ship opened, light spilling out as Maggie approached it. The other one was smaller, more like an old station wagon or retro-styled SUV than an RV, and she could already see her aunt and mother in it through the wide windows.

  “Maggie, in here!” Theseus called from the big bulk of his ship, and Maggie climbed the short ramp into his ship. Theodrakis was already there, holding a gun as he watched outside.

  Stolen story; please report.

  “We should have about ten minutes to lift off and get out of here before they can mobilize against us.” Theodrakis said, stepping aside as Theseus pulled the door shut, the ramp sliding back into it’s slot with an awkward grinding of metal on metal. “My ship is set to run interference, they’ll pretend to give chase, under my orders.”

  “That should give us enough time to get into hyperspace. Can Nora and Electra’s ship handle the transition that fast though?” He hauled on the large wheel set into the door until with a sucking sound the door sealed. “Robin can you hop in?”

  “Sure, Maggie there’s a cord to the right on the copilots seat, it’s blue, do you see it?”

  “Yes.” She held her questions, even though they wanted to come bursting out, and made a beeline for the copilots seat. The cord was one of many hanging out of the computer systems, and looked like it led to an old gaming system. With a shake of her head, she plugged it into the tablet, which immediately flickered rapidly. After seeing Theodrakis’s ship and the shuttle, Theseus’s ship seemed more and more like a hazardous pile of old electronics held together with duct tape and a wish.

  “Their ship should be able to handle the transition fast enough.” Theodrakis said and sat down in the copilots seat. “It handled it fast the last time at least. We’ll just have to keep faith that they’ve kept it in decent repair these last few years.”

  He glanced at the tablet, at the loose wires and the duct tape holding various items in place, a look of doubt crossing his face. “Can your ship handle the transition fast enough?”

  “Faster than your ship could.” Robin’s voice came from the speakers of the ship now, and his form flickered into being, full-sized, next to Maggie. “Strap in, I’m powering up systems now. Maggie, the bunk has some straps you can use.” He reached over to lightly touch her shoulder, a smile of relief forming when he his hand stopped on her skin. Still cool, still tingly, but there nonetheless. It wasn’t just a weird quirk of the tablet that allowed him to touch her, but something else. Probably the damn Key.

  “Alright, but I want answers, soon.” She reached up to give his hand a light squeeze before heading to the second bottom bunk. It took only a moment of shoving aside laundry and digging around to find the straps that Robin had mentioned. Repurposed seatbelts again, she supposed that whoever actually put the ship together stuck with what worked.

  “Make sure you can reach the wall, just in case they need help with the jump.” Maggie spotted Te’chik out of the corner of her eyes, looking doubtfully at the ship. “I’ve seen trash haulers that looked better than this.”

  “It’ll be fine.” Maggie said, but she made sure she could reach the wall anyways, lightly touching the cool metal of it before pulling her straps just a bit tighter.

  “I sure hope you’re right.” Theseus said, strapping himself into the pilots seat. His hand flew over the variety of keyboards, buttons and dials that made up the control panel of the ship, powering it up fully. He eyed the dials that monitored fuel, life support, power and other systems, and gave the board a sharp whack. The needles of the dials waivered, before settling into the green.

  “We’ve been spotted, people moving in. Electra’s ship is taking off.” Robin reported. He sat on the edge of Maggie’s cot, his presence a comforting blue glow as the ship shuddered and began to move.

  “Well, it was bound to happen.” Theseus said, scowling at the monitors.

  “Don’t fire on them.” Theodrakis warned, looking at the mixture of people that were headed for the ship. Most were Silvarian, although there were a few humans mingled in with them. From her position on the bed, Maggie could just barely see them raising their peculiar little guns to fire at the ship.

  “Tell them that!” Theseus let out a curse, the ship rising into the air. “Robin, do we have energy shields?”

  “Uhm, give me a second.” Robin grimaced, staring off into space. “What have you been doing to the ship while I was gone?”

  “Repairs! As much as I could with Flame holding the rest of our money at least.” The ship bucked to the side, nearly running into Electra’s as one of the energy shots fired from below hit it. Theseus grit his teeth, correcting the course quickly. “Too damn slow...”

  “There, you have your shields and a boost to engines. Just- no one use the bathroom for a while.” The lights dimmed as Robin spoke, and the ship lurched upwards, speeding off into the sky next to Electra’s ship.

  “Lovely.” Theseus muttered. “Well, let’s use it while we got it. I sure hope those old broads know what they’re doing.”

  “Old broads?” Theodrakis raised an eyebrow at Theseus. “They aren’t old, kid.”

  “Not the time!” Robin snapped. A light red glow filled the large window at the front of the ship as they sped up through the atmosphere, the temperature in the ship rising until it was hard to breath. Then the lights dimmed further, and with a rattle the temperature control system turned on, the air immediately cooling down.

  Already there were ships moving to intercept them, a shot grazing across their hull in a flash of blue light. Theseus clenched his jaw, letting out a growl as the communications computer started to shout demands at him to land or prepare to be boarded. “So much for ten minutes. Hold on everyone.”

  Theodrakis stared anxiously out the large window, Electra’s ship just slightly ahead of them, it’s rubber tires looking ridiculous space. A glowing silver bubble appeared around the little ship, swirling with pale colors like a soap bubble before the whole thing disappeared with a pop that was almost audible. Theseus gave a nod of approval, and slammed a button on the control panel.

  Nothing happened.

  He stared at the button, hitting it again. “Robin, we’ve got problems!”

  “I’m working on it!” Robin reached over, taking Maggie’s hand in his. But she knew his attention was elsewhere, his form flickering slightly as he worked with the ships computers to try and get them out of Silvarian space. Another shot brushed against the hull, the ship giving a shudder.

  “They won’t aim to kill at least. They want Maggie.” Theodrakis said grimly.

  “Oh goody. That doesn’t mean they won’t kill the rest of us when they board the ship.” Theseus slammed his hand on the button again, sweat beading on his forehead as he stared at the unresponsive thing. “Robin, not to put you under any pressure but we really need to get out of here!”

  “Now! Try it now!” Robin gripped Maggie’s hand tighter, and Theseus slammed his hand on the button one last time.

  This time it lit up, and a shudder ran through the ship as a swirl of pale colors filled the window. “Entering hyperspace in three-”

  “Watch out!” Robin shouted, lunging to his feet as one of the shots hit the ship, sending it into a spin.

  “Two! One!” Theseus finished as his hands flew to the controls, trying to bring them back under control as they blinked out of normal space.