[V]Chapter 90: Highway Chase I

"Alright, now ease up just a little.."

Varyna obediently relaxed her hold on the drive stick, and the hum of the engines grew softer. The ship cruised smoothly with the endless whir of space flying past. 

"Ha. This is actually easier than I thought," Varyna grinned, moving her hand from the drive stick to the control system. She'd never piloted anything bigger than a pod before. 

"Well, yeah. Highway piloting is so easy a child could do it," Opun snorted from his seat behind Hxlt. "I don't think I'll ever recover from your open space piloting. It almost cost me my lunch!"

Varyna rolled her eyes, grasping the drive stick once again. "I can certainly remove your lunch from your stomach if that's what you wa-"

"Enough!" Hxlt swatted Varyna's hand back to the control system. "Keep focused on the screen. You never know when some crazy person is gonna blast through here."

"Yes, Sir," she mumbled under her breath, tossing Opun one last glare.

The trio had been assigned to investigate some crime reports on the far side of Helios, so they had to take a bigger shuttle that could withstand traveling along the Astral Highway. It was nice to have a vessel with more room than their usual pod, but they still typically found themselves all sat together at the controls. 

The ship was equipped with a holding cell, way more storage than Varyna thought was necessary, a maintenance closet, and the control room. There were seats that folded down from the wall, and a couple tiny cots, but the comfiest places to sit were the four chairs in the front. Though, boredom threatened to drive them crazy, hence the reason Hxlt decided to give Varyna a piloting lesson.

Their last report had been on a tiny icy planet where most of the population was grouped into one of two large settlements. The report was only petty theft, but on such a barren planet, people needed every resource they had just to survive. Even hardy species like Kremels-which made up the majority of the people there.

The thief turned out to be a middle-aged male Kremel who had decided he was sick of living ration to ration, and wanted a taste of abundance. He had been quite successful with his thieving until Officer Hxlt and his team arrived. They set up a trap and had him in custody within two days.

Thank goodness.

A climate that's tough for Kremels is unbearable for Humans. And Varyna and Opun were more than happy to wave goodbye to the tiny ice block after handing the thief over to the local government for punishment. His sentencing was.. well.. unpleasant to say the least. On the bright side, however, the Kremels had a little more meat to divide amongst themselves for dinner that day.

"Urgh." Varyna shuddered as she remembered Hxlt explaining the Kremel thief's fate to her and Opun. Honestly, that was probably more the reason for Opun's churning stomach than her novice piloting.

Just when she was starting to get comfortable with the smooth pace of the ship moving through the Highway, a red blip appeared on the control screen. It was big and flashing, and moving fast. Too fast.

"Uh, hey. Hx-"

"WOAH!" Hxlt leapt to his feet and grabbed the controls. He'd hardly managed to yank the drive stick toward him when the entire ship started shuddering. Opun threw his hands over his ears to block the noise of metal screeching against metal while Varyna pressed herself back in the pilot chair, trying to make room for Hxlt. The storm lasted for less than thirty seconds, and then the blip disappeared from the screen and everything went back to normal.

"What was that?" Varyna exclaimed. A gagging sound from behind informed her that Opun had indeed finally lost his lunch.

"Move." Hxlt ordered her, practically crushing her as he moved to take control of the ship. She shimmied out of his way and into the copilot chair as the Kremel began earnestly smashing buttons.

"Was it another ship?" Varyna ventured. "How did they almost hit us though, when we were in the Helio-Nearbound leg first?"

"Blasted Runners," Hxlt muttered in response. "There must be an unreported breach somewhere around here. Suns, what were they thinking not even scanning the Highway before jumping inside?! They could have killed us both!"

"Oh, the Runners." Varyna knew about Runners and Highway breaches. She'd taken multiple classes on it at the COPS Academy. But hearing a professor talk about how dangerous breaches have the potential to be and actually experiencing a near-death collision were very different.

"What are we going to do now?" Opun had regained his composure and peered over Hxlt's shoulder as the Kremel worked.

"First we have to report the breach. We can go through our system data to figure out exactly where that ship entered our radar." It sounded like Hxlt was talking more to himself than his squadmates. "Then we need to…" He trailed off, glancing at the screen and then back at the controls. "Hold on tight, you two."

Luckily, Varyna was already seated and had time to grip the arms of her seat, but Opun went flying as Hxlt increased the ship's speed. After the initial acceleration, the ship steadied enough for Opun to stumble back to his seat and Varyna to fasten her seatbelt. 

"We need more speed to catch them," Hxtl said. Varyna, go ahead and pull the override lever over there until it clicks. 

"Sir? I really don't think we should be changing the ship's transmission settings mid-wormhole," Varyna started to argue back, and the Kremel shot her a look. "..but I guess whatever you say."

She obediently tugged on the lever. It didn't move as easily as it did when the ship was stationary or traveling through open space. In fact, it took all her strength to click it into the next position. 

As soon as it finally clicked, another acceleration boost jumbled the gravity in the ship, pressing Varyna against her seat. This time, the uncomfortable sensation didn't settle down. Hxlt had complete control of the ship's speed.

And he was going fast.

"Look!" Varyna gasped as she saw the red blip peek onto the control screen once more. "It worked, we're actually gaining on them!"

"But what are we going to do once we catch them?" Opun chimed in. "This isn't a Highway Patrol vessel or anything."

"I'm surprised you don't already know, Opun, but all COPS ships in outer sectors are equipped with engine jammers and tethers."

"And you know how to use that?!" Opun said dumbfounded.

Hxlt chuckled. "You learn a thing or two when you've been serving in the outer sectors as long as I have."

Varyna caught her breath. Between the sensation of the ever-accelerating ship and excitement of the blip getting closer and closer, she wondered if maybe there was more appeal to the Highway Division than she'd ever realized. If Demon Division didn't work out (again), maybe she ought to become an Astral Highway Patroller. 

"Ah look at that! We're practically on top of them now!" Opun cried, pointing between Varyna and Hxlt's chairs at the screen. "Do we cut their engines now? Tether them to us?"

"First we have to identify ourselves and our authority," Hxlt told him. "Varyna can you get the comm set to broadcast?" 

"Ah, sure. Hold on." Varyna searched the controls in front of her, searching for the comm settings. Opun's pale hand soon cut into her vision.

"It's right here. Click. There you go, Hxlt."

Varyna kept her sour expression turned away from her squadmate while Hxlt cleared his throat in preparation. Then he pressed a button near the screen that turned it completely blue.

"Illegal Vessel, this is Officer Hxlt of Lower Section Squad 3. You are in direct violation of the Highway laws. Surrender now or we will jam your engines."

The screen flashed twice and then turned back to green. The Runner ship hadn't responded back to Hxlt's warning, but the red blip started to move farther up the screen. The Kremel clicked his tongue. "Looks like they want a chase."

"That's too far out of range now to use the jammers," Opun noted. "Should I get the long-distance comm unit set up so we can page the nearest Highway Patrol Squad?"

"Yeah, do that. But in the meantime-" Hxlt pushed the ship even faster, "-let's see if we can keep these guys in our sights."

Varyna was starting to get used to the powerful G Force that accompanied manual piloting at such high speeds, but Opun made a coughing sound. Hxlt looked completely relaxed-no there was a hint of exhilaration in his eyes. He must be remembering a more exciting time in his career as he continued pushing the ship faster and faster.

"What will we do if another Runner ship sneaks in through a breach while we're going this speed?" Varyna queried, feeling a little nervous as she remembered the horrible shuddering and cracking of the ship from earlier.

"Die." Hxlt answered flatly.

"More than that," Opun croaked. He was currently holding a massive comm box, adjusting various settings on it. "We'd be vaporized instantly."

"But Runner ships have systems that automatically alert them to other Runners near a breach, so I'm sure we'll be safe." Hxlt added.

As soon as he spoke, another tiny blip-this time vibrant purple-appeared on the screen for a split second before the whole ship started quaking just like before. This time, along with the violent shaking, a screen popped up in front of Varyna.

[Demonic Energy Detected]

She squinted at it, trying to make sure she was reading correctly as her body was tousled around. But why would there be Demonic Energy all of the sudden?

"Blast!!!" Hxlt shouted as the shaking stopped, punching buttons on the control system. "We have to seal the holding cell. The shield was damaged in that area," he mumbled to himself, and then louder over his shoulder, "Hey Opun! You got that thing working yet? We need to get this leg of the Highway evacuated!"

"Yes Sir, I was about to contact the Highway Patrol," Opun responded. He hesitated before continuing with his task. "But what was that?"

"They've opened fire," Hxlt answered brusquely. "Now go on and get that message out stat!" 

"Firing in a wormhole?? How? Why? That's.. impossible," Varyna racked her brain, trying to remember all her Highway training. The danger in the Highway was different from open space. Laser blasters and other ship weapons couldn't be used there because the physics wasn't compatible. It was a collision you really had to worry about. Or so she thought.

"Some Runners vessels are equipped with what we call Highway attack riggings," Hxlt explained to his squadmates. "It's different from lasers, made with some kind of biological power source, but insanely dangerous to let loose into the Highway. Any ship behind us is likely to catch the rest of that shot, and they might not be as lucky as us to only get a scratch."

So the Demonic Energy her [Demonic Intuition] picked up must have been from the weapon. They were indeed lucky it didn't hit them head on, but only skimmed the right side of the ship. Even then, if it had actually broken the shield and not just damaged it near the holding cell, the entire ship would have been sucked inside out. Suddenly, Varyna felt very sorry for any Highway travelers on the Helios-Nearbound leg of the Highway.

Distance between themselves and the red blip began to close as Hxlt pushed the ship's accelerators nearly to their limit. The engines roared in protest but obeyed. Behind her, Varyna could hear Opun speaking to a mechanical murmur.

".. yes. That's right. Nearbound. It was Highway attack rigging. Our coordinates are.."

Thank the Holy Core, the Highway Patrol will be here to help soon. For a moment, it felt like things were settling down in their chase. They'd be in range to jam the Runners' engines soon, and help was on the way. But just when Varyna had allowed her jaw to relax, another purple blip on the screen and another system notification popped up nearly at the same time.

[Demonic Energy Detected]

BOOM!!