Chapter 5

Kara spent the rest of the time giving Ramon a proper burial and addressing her plan internally. If she was to make it to Altherian territory, she needed to be discrete, and trust no one. She had checked the smuggler's cargo manifest, which he had forged to ensure they could make it past the orbital defense stations set up in a ring around earth to prevent invasion. This was a result of the war, no one on earth wanted to be attacked by a hostile military force, so they made it as hard as possible to get in for hostile forces. But with the right papers, they can get past without difficulty.

They did so last evening, and she was on her way out of Sol. While they passed Pluto to a jump point to get to Alpha Centauri, Kara quietly mused to herself internally about possibilities.

The Federation had a certain sway on Earth, but Alpha Centauri was the center of the Systems Commonwealth, the second faction of humanity. The Commonwealth has friendly relations with the Altherians, who trade with the Systems Commonwealth and have a working relationship with many mercenaries from the faction. The Federated Terran Alliance is less willing to work with factions outside of humanity's spheres of influence, making it easier for her to disappear into Altherian space.

Currently, she was on a rusty old shuttle with a grizzled, old pilot and a sketchy flight engineer. The former was at least 190 centimeters tall with a husky build and had a small stubble on his face with weathered facial features and chestnut brown eyes. His partner was clean-shaven and looked 10 years younger, with a head of blonde hair and blue eyes with a height around the same but a more stocky build. She decided to ask the pilot over the intercom "so when are we getting to the 'Wealthies?"

"Very soon, is a long jump to Centauri missy! You let Viktor fly and we will make it, Da?" the man's thick Russian accent shone through him as he gave the answer, and Kara mentally prepared for a long sleep in cryostasis. Considering how old this bucket of bolts they were entrusting their life to, it is reasonable it is slow, likely a pre-war shuttle with a lot of jury-rigged fixes in the absence of spare parts due to being around for a century and new models likely having came out.

"How long until we make the jump?"

The man cackles, and replies "Very soon, very soon! Vasily! Spool the Grav-Drive!"

"Da, Kapitan!" his flight engineer, assumingly named Vasily, but Kara was not sure about that, since these two were smugglers from the outer fringes of Humanity's sphere. Using Pseudonymns and Aliases was common in those parts, and she would not be surprised at all if they also went by many other names.

The low, dull thrum of the Grav-Drive spooling up reverberated in the shuttle's hull, and Kara looked to the pilot, who seemed to know what she was thinking instantly "do not worry, Grav-Drive is fine! Jump in 5 minutes!"

Kara pursed her lips and walks to the back of the shuttle to the cargo hold, where three cryogenic pods were positioned under a floor panel, which was off to expose the cryo pods. Clearly, these were seasoned smugglers who also dealt in intelligent, living goods as well. Some of these may have been questionable or outright illicit dealings. But Kara paid them off well and Ramon trusted them, so she resigned herself to climbing into the middle pod and using one of the touchscreens on the interior wall to start the cryogenic sequence of the pod. The air got colder and colder over the next few minutes, and her vision faded gradually. Kara drew her last breath in Sol just as her lips frosted over and she lost consciousness.

I looked at Vasily with a squint to get a clearer view of his darkened display. The shuttle was set to a low-power state as our lovely guest went back to the cargo bay, likely to go into cryo. As Vasily entered flight data based on the most up-to-date star charts, I watched from the back of his chair; the autopilot was engaged, so there was no need to be in the pilot's seat for now as we floated around the crew compartment of the shuttle in Zero-G. As we were shutting down non-essential systems to have enough power to jump to FTL with our recently-added Grav-Drive, the graviton generators had to be shut off to allow the Grav-Drive to work with adequate power.. We were currently adrift with only maneuvering thrusters, flight computers, low-level communications array, and the life support active. This shuttle has served us faithfully over the last thirty years smuggling from Paradise End to the Metropolises of Alpha Centauri, and then some. Sure she had some jury-rigged repairs and additions she was never designed to accept, but that was never a problem for us.

Vasily clapped his hands together and exclaimed "Khoroshiy! The flight computer is programmed. We should get to Cryo, Da?" Vasily glances back at me, as I nod slowly in agreement "you go first Vasily, I should run one final chart retrieval before we hit an asteroid on our way out."

Vasily laughed a moment before heading back to the cargo hold "Always Cautious!"

I chuckle and set about the work, which only took a few minutes, before I go back to the cargo bay, and take the left side cryopod. I glance to the right side pod, and Vasily was already in stasis inside. After laying down in the pod, I start the cryogenic sequence, and in a minute or two, I enter stasis as I gradually feel my senses dull and eventually I lose consciousness.

Shortly after Vasily entered cryo, the shuttle's flight computer suffers a critical error, and the retrieved flight data he gathered from a final burst transmission and data request was delivered corrupted. The flight computer makes a very small, but significant adjustment that will throw them about a whole 5 light-years off of course from Alpha Centauri, from Sol to Alpha Centauri is about an 8-month journey at the shuttle's nominal faster-than-light speed which was, in effect, translating to a 13-month journey to their location. The 2-man crew of the shuttle expire as their cryo pods were defective, their main cryo loops fail as a micrometeorite hits the exterior heat-exchanger panels and causes a large leak of liquid helium which is ejected into space, causing the shuttle to be cast adrift for a few months.