“Kinfellow Commander, we have a mission update from the Directorate.”

Xuzal Mafol’s audible sigh couldn’t have been ignored by anyone in the cramped confines of the KS People’s Will command deck. But no one challenged them on the obvious exasperation at the Directorate of the Kinship once more feeling the need to micromanage the crew from so far away. Mafol and their crew had been in space for a year now and the Directorate still insisted on commanding them as if they were in the same building as Director Xuhn.

“No doubt it’s another proposed trajectory change,” Mafol muttered. “But unless they can find us a magical gravity well that doesn’t exist to sling around, we are on the most direct and efficient course already.”

The Kinship Vessel People’s Will was the lead ship in the race by the great nations of Qal to reach the largest of their star system’s gas giants – Xemis. A magnificent storm-wrecked ball of hydrogen and helium, the planet was surrounded by a plentitude of moons and in recent decades spacecraft from the Kinship, the Gavlor Compact and even the Southern Conglomerate, though calling them a great nation was a stretch of the phrase. It was considered by all the be the next greatest challenge before Qalians would be venturing into the stars themselves, that whoever set the pace, whoever claimed the lead in the race to be the first to Xemis, would be the nation or ideology that would lead their world.

Mafol themselves didn’t buy that for a moment. The Gavloronians would never fall in behind the Kinship. The Conglomerate was a fractious bunch who would debate the colour of the sky before they’d see the Kinship’s wisdom. But the great leaders bought into the idea. If the Kinship pulled this off, if they reached Xemis first, people around Qal would see the rightness of their ideology and demand changes within their nations.

Or the propaganda department would at least have one more cudgel to use.

“You will want to see this,” the operations officer, Vomua Muhn, replied, before producing a datapad and handing it over.

Like everyone aboard the People’s Will, Muhn was petite in all ways. The consideration of finding smaller members of the military to staff the ship had a multitude of reasons. Smaller stature meant the ship’s habitable spaces could be made smaller, thus reducing mass. Smaller people ate less, meaning the supplies and agriculture systems wouldn’t need to produce as much. And smaller people tended to biologically be drones, meaning less need to accommodate for any biological imperatives on the journey.

Or worries about unfortunate genetic legacies afterwards.

Mafol’s second sigh finally drew the attention of the People’s Will’s true commander – Erjel Gunes, the Kinship’s political representative aboard ship, sent to ensure the political orthodoxy was maintained on such a lengthy trip as theirs was planned to be. “I am sure Kinfellow Commander that the Directorate’s edicts are well thought out and considered before being transmitted to us out here.”

“Of course,” Mafol responded as they read over the trajectory change that the Directorate back on Qal had sent them. “Muhn, please ask the Kinfellow Engineer to ascend the ship,” they said after a moment of reading the data. “I want their opinion on this right now.”

It only took a few agonisingly long minutes for Nix Cohn to clamber up the length of the People’s Will from engineering to the command deck, only a few decks higher than the same trip they did every day to reach their accommodation. “Morning Kinfellows,” they answered in their exceedingly cheerful manner around a few deep breaths. “News from home?”

“Take a look,” Mafol answered, handing the datapad over. “The Directorate want us to increase our engine burn by twenty per cent.”

“That’s,” Cohn paused, reread the data, then set it down, “a lot.”

People’s Will was essentially a building in space, with its decks assigned to specific purposes and stacked atop one another with the ship’s engines located at the bottom. A steady burn of its fusion engines provided the barest semblance of gravity, but it was more of a convenience than anything. They had launched as soon as they could, with the second generation of fusion engines. They’d all read the reports of the new engines being built that could likely have their follow-up ships making the journey to Xemis in a quarter the time of People’s Will.

“We’re already running the engines at their design maximums,” Cohn continued. “I honestly don’t know what would happen if we pushed harder.”

“We would reach Xemis in three weeks instead of the five we’re already projected for at our current rate,” Gunes answered. “We would arrive with a considerable lead over the Gavloronian ship and establish the Kinship as the preeminent space power of Qal.”

“We were already expecting to beat them to Xemis by a week, so why the need to put a bigger lead on them?” Cohn asked, their genuine nature having over the last year kept Gunes at bay. It was hard to chastise someone genuine in their design to understand the thoughts and dictates of the Kinship’s leadership.

Silence fell over the four of them as each thought about the situation. Then Cohn broke it. “Has there been a change in the Gavloronian ship?”

Soon enough the ship’s resident scientist, by dint of having more doctorates to their name than anyone else on the ship, had been summoned. Mesh Thahn was the smallest of their crew and could be easy to mistake for a child back home thanks to their youthful appearance and stature, all due to an exceedingly generous lifestyle as never having passed through the First or Second Ordeal as non-drones did.

Sometimes it did pay to be the child of a well-connected family within the Directorate.

“I was just about to come up and ask if there had been any communications,” Thahn answered when the question was restated. “I can’t be certain, but I think the Pride of Gavlor has either managed to increase their sail, or something else has changed as they do seem to have increased their acceleration relative to us.”

“You can’t tell?” Gunes asked.

“As you know Kinfellow Gunes, the Gavloronians opted for a sail design for their ship. It allowed them a higher delta-V budget compared to us, allowing them to catch up with us. But we had such a substantial head-start that there was no way they could overhaul us. That is until about six hours ago.” Thahn had settled into a seat and locked eyes on the political officer. “And no, I don’t know what because the sail is all I can see with our telescope since it is pulling their ship along after all.”

Gunes drew in a breath, preparing to say something, but was cut off by Thahn whose attention had shifted immediately to Muhn. “Kinfellow, was there anything in the latest data from the Directorate about errant deepspace x-ray bursts by any chance?”

“Uh, no,” Vomua answered. “Just the request to increase our burn.”

“Could you send a message for me then and ask for any reports from telescopes around Qal detecting a large x-ray burst in the last two days? I’ll send you the coordinates for the patch of sky I’m really interested in.”

“What’s going on Thahn?” Mafol asked, skipping the honorifics that were required, especially with Gunes present. They had all learned that when a situation was developing, Mafol expected efficiency, not political correctness, from his crew. And Thahn’s questions and directions were hinting at something that Mafol didn’t like.

“Our telescope was a concession, let us be honest,” Thahn started, a wave in Gunes’ direction. It was the attitude of someone who knew family could protect them from re-education. Thahn’s mind was just too valuable to the Kinship. And important enough to have snagged a seat on the People’s Will as a bone thrown to the scientific community. “It’s not great, but it is allowing me to do some interesting work, especially as we get closer to Xemis. But last night I detected a large X-ray burst in the sky. It didn’t conform to any known x-ray emission sources and it wasn’t a point source.”

“What?” Muhn blurted out, obviously grasping what Thahn was getting us, unlike everyone else.”

“Elaborate,” Mafol grumbled.

“I mean to say it wasn’t a point, but an elongated emission source. Now either it’s a structure out in the galaxy that’s lightyears long capable of emitting x-rays all at once along its length –“

“Or it’s something smaller, but close enough for you to tell it wasn’t a single point,” Muhn blurted out, finishing Thahn’s statement. Thahn conceded Muhn’s interruption with a wave in their direction, indicating they were on the right track.

“Any ideas as to what it could be?” Mafol asked.

“None whatsoever,” Thahn answered with a smile. “A brand-new scientific discovery. Isn’t this exciting?”

“Exciting, sure,” Mafol answered, then turned to Gunes once more. “We could ask the Gavloronians if they saw this phenomenon as well. In the spirit of scientific cooperation.”

“And we can use shifts in their radio response to better judge the change in their acceleration curve as well. Better understand just how close the race has become,” Cohn added.

“This is highly irregular,” Gunes answered after a few moments of thought. “But an innocent scientific question that could also help us judge just what pressure we might be facing in our race can’t go amiss.” Thahn nodded their head in acceptance of Gunes’ position and Cohn smiled. “But I think we should implement the Directorate’s increase in our engine burn immediately as well. Better minds than ours did come up with it after all.”

“Better minds than yours perhaps, Kinfellow,” Thahn answered as they stood and headed for the ladder to head back down the ship. “Muhn, I’ll send you the coordinates in a moment. Forward any responses from the Directorate or the Pride of Gavlor directly to my station please.”

“Of course Kinfellow Doctor,” Muhn answered.

Once the command deck was back down to just Mafol, Muhn and Gunes, the political officer found themselves to Mafol’s side. Where they’d tried to all but surgically attach themselves over the last year. “I will however record the idea of reaching out to the Gavloronian ship was your idea, should the Directorate take issue in the future.”

“Of course Kinfellow Gunes, I wouldn’t expect anything less from you.”

“I’m glad we continue to understand each other Kinfellow Commander,” Gunes answered, then returned to their seat and whatever reading they had been doing.