“Says the ‘princess’ who fights ‘orcs’?”

Shreya is very cute.

    "We'll be fine, then. Nothing kinetic can touch us while Deskyl is on board."

“So... noncombat flash plate useage authorizesd?”

    "Yes Ma'am."

“Brace for acceleration.”

The are already accelerating at maximum thrust from the SLAYER’s long-range engines.

But then Shreya activates a flash plate and the biomech hurtles forward for a split second with vast orders of magnitude more force.

She waits five seconds and does it again. Then ten seconds and does it a third time.

The monstrous war machine’s underbelly creaks and rattles from the strain, but it holds together.

And then they are properly underway.

Deskyl braces them, of course. There will be no throwing around of passengers or crew on this trip. And then they're properly underway.

She seems to have worked through her need to sleep so constantly; instead, she meditates.

It’s an uneventful trip for the most part. They’re traveling very fast, but the empty stretch of space they’re passing through is pretty enormous.

Shreya and Devika trade off piloting duties at intervals: either one of them could make this trip on their own if they needed to, but there’s no good reason not to work in shifts when the opportunity presents itself.

Shreya takes the second-to-last shift prior to their arrival such that she can use her better synchronization with this particular biomech to ensure that deceleration via flash plate goes as smoothly as possible.

And Devika takes the last shift, such that she’ll be the one on screen when the colonial border outposts up ahead hail them.

“So what should I do here? Do I hide away in the airlock crawlspace, or..?”

Deskyl nods.

    "She'll try to keep it short. Ma'am."

(She hides.)

And Deskyl prepares to answer the hail.

A border outpost hails them.

"Please identify yourself."

A pair of middle-aged leons appear in Devika's cockpit via holo-relay.

(One of them is currently flickering pretty badly due to DZ being in the way of a couple of the projectors.)

Devika rattles off a brisk series of numbers. "--UCM pilot, Devika Kaur."

"What is your status?"

"Operational. Battle damage significant. Valuable Payload In Transit."

The two outpost operators go silent, confer amidst themselves for a moment, then restore audio.

"We have you flagged for referral."

"By Veda Kaur?"

"Yes, that's right. We'll need to put you on an approved course while we attempt to contact her."

"Upload a trajectory. I'll follow it."

"Good, good." They pause. Confer again. "Can you clarify the nature of your payload?"

"No."

"I'll make a full report to Veda when she's available."