Chapter 6

I caught a glimpse of Mirage peering at me when I opened my eyes, before she quickly looked away. She had probably been awake for a while already. She always used to wake up early when we were kids and then make fun of me because I slept too long, even though she could have woken me up.

“We are on our way," Ecrou announced from the pillow.

I sat up.

“What?”

“Athena was ready,” Mirage explained.

“You should have woken me up."

She shook her head.

“I wanted you to rest. I don’t think she needs us."

She was probably right. I couldn’t imagine we would be any help, but still…

“Where are we going?”

“She said we would refuel," chirped Ecrou, leaping up on my shoulder.

I pulled the blanket aside and got up.

“Shall we go?”

Mirage nodded, her tail wagging from side to side. She had probably wanted to go for quite a while, but she’d waited for me…

“You don’t look ugly, you know?" Mirage suddenly said out of nowhere.

I turned and hissed at her because what else should I do when she acted this stupid? I pulled on my clothes and then ran from the room.

Athena’s space was empty as I arrived.

“How are you?” I asked into the room.

I sat in my seat, and Athena took shape beside me, smiling.

“I’ve planned our route and completed the repairs to the truster, restoring 60% of its original capacity."

“So then… You are okay?”

“I am fully operational, but to conduct further repairs we would need to land."

I heard footsteps, and Mirage quietly walked in and squeezed herself next to me, not looking at me.

“So, where are we going?” she asked loudly.

Why was she acting so weird all of a sudden? The window flickered with strange sigils, revealing a pinkish ball.

“What is that?”

Mirage perked her ears.

“It looks like candy!” Ecrou chirped.

“This is the world where we are going to refuel. It is sparsely populated and doesn’t offer much value to anyone, so there is a chance it has been left untouched by the war. But we still need to be careful."

The window flickered once more, and the ball disappeared, and only the night sky could be seen. Mirage stretched, forcing me into the armrest of the seat.

“Can we go outside?” she asked.

“Yes, when we land. The planet will support lifeforms like you."

“And when is that?”

“In two hours of universal time”

Mirage groaned. She’d never liked being stuck inside for too long. It made her even worse than she normally was, so I was happy we could get out soon.

I wondered what this new world would look like. Would it look like home? I’d always wanted to see something other than our town, but ever since the demons had arrived, travel was dangerous, and Grandpa always left us behind when he set out on one of his journeys.

“So, what now?"

Mirage poked me with her tail, but I brushed it aside and turned to Athena.

“Can we help you?”

“You are not trained in space operations.”

“But we can learn. Right, Mirage?”

“Yeah.”

“I could show you how to operate the turrets. Even inaccurate fire can be to some advantage."

“Yeah!”

After some convincing, Mirage moved to the other seat so we could start. I was excited. I loved to learn new things, so not being able to learn magic always made me really sad.

The air shimmered before me, and a translucent blue window full of strange sigils appeared. Athena explained that my task was to navigate the red X I could see onto any shape that showed up, and when the X turned green, I should press a button. It was fun, even if it wasn’t as easy as it looked at first. I heard Mirage hiss and growl next to me, but I was too focused on my task to check how it was going for her.

Suddenly the window flickered and disappeared, and the red lights flashed on the walls.

“Ugh, I almost got it”, Mirage hissed from her seat.

“What happened?”

I turned to Athena, disappointed, since I had almost got one too.

“We are not alone," she announced.

The normal window in front of us flickered, and the pinkish ball appeared again. The image grew bigger until we could see a black shape flying above it.

“Sentry satellite, but I don’t detect any other Alliance presence in this system."

“What shall we do?” I asked.

Mirage turned to Athena.

“Let’s fight it!”

“It would only raise the alarm. There are only a few of them. I will try to calculate their orbits and find a gap we can slip through."

“Maybe we should go somewhere else. I don't want to get in trouble again," Ecrou chirped from Mirage’s shoulder.

“I don’t have enough fuel for another jump. We could try other planets, but the resources we need are not as accessible there, and refuelling would take much longer.”

Mirage’s ears drooped.

“Let's continue here. We…we don’t have time," she whispered.

I nodded. The room went dark, and Athena’s form faded until only her voice echoed in the room.

“Strap yourself into your seats. I will shut down most of my systems to a minimal EM signature. It will be a rough flight."

I shivered. I didn’t know what that meant, but it sounded dangerous. Ecrou leapt up on my shoulder and hid himself in my hair.

“Are you ready?” Athena asked.

I glanced at Mirage, and she nodded. The ship jolted forward. At first, my arms rose into the air on their own, and my body tried to follow, stopped only by the seat's harness. Just when I thought I would burst out of it, my arms suddenly dropped, and I was pushed down into the seat. I tried to scream, but no voice left my mouth. I couldn’t breathe… I tried to gasp for air, but there was none. Mirage… Grandpa… I tried to… And everything went black.