“What do you mean that you cannot establish a subspace gradient?” Colonel Nethak snarled as he eyed the space before their bow. They had an invitation, but now their engines failed them? It was too much to be a coincidence.

“Telemetry reads clean, sir,” Lieutenant Saedek reported as he rechecked the data. “But it is as though subspace won’t accept the geometry of our field.”

“Oh, has Captain Knight finally tired of admiring this nebula?” Sub-Commander Satrin asked as she stepped onto the bridge. She knew, of course, this had nothing to do with Captain Knight, but she’d make them say it openly.

“What was this secondment ever meant to be, if not a bridge to our future?” Colonel Nethak posed, so close now to that future that he no longer feared saying it.

Sub-Commander Satrin let the words linger a moment, allowing each officer on the bridge to take in the first real admission of what this was. “So that is the shape of this, then?”

Colonel Nethak’s gaze narrowed. “Do you find the shape displeasing, Satrin?”

“As always, I live in service to our people,” Sub-Commander Satrin replied cryptically. “Banners change. The duty beneath them does not.” It was why she had seen to it that the Decius would be going nowhere anytime soon. This was not their reality, and to stay here would be to serve neither it, nor their own. Especially if the Juno‘s staff were correct about the Loom.

The non-answer was not lost on Nethak, but it was also not all that important. He turned back to the helmsman. “Lieutenant, get down to the core and figure out how to get us moving.”

“Yes, sir,” Lieutenant Saedek replied.

Colonel Nethak turned for his sanctum. “Dravik, with me.”

The chief of the guard followed, and as he crossed the bridge, he looked over his shoulder at Sub-Commander Satrin. His gaze said it all. While he couldn’t know explicitly what she had done, he certainly suspected she was involved.

The door hissed shut, sealing master and apprentice within.

“Shall I oversee the repairs personally?” Major Dravik asked. Saedek tr’Tral was a loyal officer, but loyalty was a word that required an object. The major had long ago learned to not assume which object a man had chosen.

Colonel Nethak smiled thinly as he took his seat behind the desk. “No. Let Saedek crawl through the guts of the ship on his own.”

“You heard Satrin,” Major Dravik hissed. “You must sense she is involved.”

“Satrin is often where trouble gathers,” Colonel Nethak acknowledged pensively.

“Or where she has placed it,” Major Dravik countered.

“Perhaps,” Colonel Nethak shrugged. But he was less than concerned. “Whether this was by her hand or not, the distinction is not worth the time.” They would deal with her later.

Major Dravik did not understand.

“If we cannot go to Rator, then Rator will come to us,” Colonel Nethak smiled darkly. “Send word in your quiet ways, the sort others may not hear. Rator asked us for the Juno. Tell them it is here, and they need only come collect.”

Major Dravik nodded. “It will be done.”