(Page 1 of 5) Stellar Dust 7 - Orbital Maneuvers by Isaac OrrSUMMARY: Stryler makes his escape from the Anomaly.Stryler carried the heavy grey cylinder carefully in both arms as he walked quickly along the hallway, then placed it securely under one arm as he descended first one and then another ladderway. He hadn't been keeping a close track of time, but he guessed there was about five minutes before the Anomaly began its premature deceleration. After that he'd have just a few moments of confusion in which to make his escape, assuming he made it to the hangar safely.
The AI had told him there was only one crew member moving around the hallways so it sounded simple enough. Given his luck over the past few weeks though, Stryler was prepared for the worst. He passed the third deck as quickly as possible, knowing that was the last known place where the one mobile crewman had been. Then he had to go the entire length of the sixth deck to get to the next ladderway. He finally found himself at the hangar and the door opened at his request without any problems. The AI must have tweaked the security access lists.
Stryler made his way across the hangar to the fighter which sat in the middle with a clear path to the massive doors on the far side. He lay the AI core in the small cargo bay behind the pilot's seat and shut it before lowering himself into the seat. As soon as he had the spacecraft powered up he received a full feed from the Anomaly's navigation systems. Obviously this had also been arranged by the AI. The readout told him that they were now just over thirty seconds from actual deceleration but that the expected (and reported) deceleration was just over twenty five minutes off. He figured that he would have between five and ten minutes head start once the crew worked out what was going on, maybe a little longer if it took them time to decide what to do about the fighter leaving.
He watched the countdown nervously with a finger resting on the activator for the gravgens. He expected someone to discover the empty brig at any moment and come looking for him but the countdown did make it to zero without incident. The navigation displays showed the Anomaly rapidly slowing and coming to a halt, the physics field disruption beginning to dissipate. The hangar doors were pre-programmed and they began to open without Stryler's intervention. Beyond them Stryler could see the darkness of space and his freedom. He punched at the button under his thumb and the fighter rose into the air. As soon as he was passed the still opening doors he engaged teleconnect and urged the ship to full speed, accelerating straight away from the Anomaly as fast and as hard as he could before bothering to get his bearings.
As the fighter passed half the speed of light, he did a quick navigation scan. He was about two light-hours from Delta 2, above the ecliptic plane of the Roberts V system. The Anomaly would have plenty of time to give chase before he covered that distance. His best defense would be a good lead, so he sped as quickly as he could towards Delta 2.
As he went he tried to formulate some sort of plan in his head.
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