"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."

  – Oscar Wilde

  The bridge of the Triumph was cold as hell at 2:17 AM.

  Luca pulled his red hoodie tighter around his shoulders as he paced between the half-assembled workstations, weaving around Genesis Platform techs in their gray coveralls who swarmed over the ship like ants. The bridge was still a construction site, with loose cables snaking across the deck and crates of equipment stacked against every bulkhead.

  "Watch the conduits there," he called to a tech wrestling with a bundle of fiber optics. The guy shot him an annoyed look. Luca was probably the fifth person to tell him that tonight.

  He couldn't sleep. Again.

  Every time he closed his eyes, his mind went tactical: running contingencies and mapping failure points. Captain. Five hundred million credits riding on his shoulders. A crew counting on him to lead them to Alpha Centauri and back. His mom's voice echoing in his head: "This day will come, Luca. When it does, you'll know what to do."

  Four years of combat experience had taught him to trust his training. Space operations were different variables, same principles. Assess and adapt. He just needed more time with these systems.

  The tactical display flickered as he pulled up the ship's schematics for the hundredth time tonight. Reactor specs and power distribution, thruster configurations... he was trying to burn every system into his memory. If something went wrong out there, his crew would look to him for answers.

  "Captain Rossi?" A tech looked up from the navigation console. "We need to run another calibration on the stellar cartography array. Should take about thirty minutes."

  "Go ahead," Luca said, stepping around two more techs hauling equipment. Jesus, I'm getting in their way.

  His personal comm buzzed. Emily's face appeared, her blonde hair messy. "Can't sleep either?" she asked.

  "Someone's got to know how this floating deathtrap works," Luca replied, gesturing at the chaos.

  "You're going to drive yourself crazy," she said, smiling. "Try to get some rest."

  "Will do." The screen went dark. He needed coffee. Something to focus his mind instead of pacing and getting in the techs' way.

  The Genesis Platform's mess hall was nearly empty at this hour. Just a few night-shift workers grabbing late meals and one very tired-looking ship captain. Luca nursed his third cup of coffee, pulled off the hoodie, and draped it over his chair. The hot liquid burned away some of the chill from the ship, and for a moment, Luca let himself relax.

  A few more days before we launch. Officially. With ceremony and everything going according to plan.

  His personal comm exploded to life.

  "Luca!" Dad was shouting. "They're coming. Get back to the ship. Launch. Now!"

  Coffee splashed across the table as Luca shot to his feet. "What? Who's—"

  "UER soldiers. They're moving to seize the Triumph. You have maybe five minutes before they reach the docking bay. Move!"

  The line went dead.

  Luca's training snapped into focus. They'd planned for exactly this scenario. The UER had been circling like vultures ever since they'd won the Alpha Centauri charter. Dad had warned him this might happen.

  Luca was already running as he activated his comm to broadcast on the crew channel.

  "Code Red, Triumph crew! All hands to the docking bay, now! This is not a drill! Go, go, go!"

  His feet pounded against the metal decking as he sprinted through the platform's corridors. Behind him, he could hear shouts and heavy footsteps. They were already here.

  The crew channel erupted with voices as his team jolted awake across the platform.

  "What the hell—" Ryan sounded half-awake.

  "Luca, what's happening?" Joey asked.

  "Move! Now! Questions later!" Luca shouted as he dove into the service tunnels. "Get to the ship before they cut us off!"

  Danny burst out of his quarters, nearly colliding with Joey. "Is this really happening?" he yelled over the alarms.

  "Looks like," Joey said grimly, medical kit already in hand.

  From another door, Chris appeared at a sprint, grinning. "Now this is what I signed up for!"

  Zoe laughed breathlessly as she caught up, her dreadlocks bouncing. "You're insane!"

  Ryan brought up the rear, his red crocs squeaking on the metal decking. "So much for launching on schedule."

  Joey shot a look at Ryan's ridiculous footwear. "Try not to break an ankle in those things. I'm not carrying you."

  They converged in the maintenance tunnels as Emily arrived.

  She was wearing his red hoodie. The one he'd left draped over his chair in the cafeteria not five minutes ago. It hung past her thighs, sleeves rolled up, as if she'd grabbed the first thing she could find.

  "You left it behind," she said breathlessly, catching his stare.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  It looks better on her anyway, he thought.

  Heavy footsteps echoed from the corridors behind them. Getting closer.

  "Move!" Luca shouted, taking point as they raced through the cramped tunnels. Exposed pipes and dim lighting. He knew these passages. Dad had made sure of that.

  They burst onto the terminal and there she was. The Triumph of Darron. Their pride and joy and five-hundred-million-credit gamble. She sat in her docking cradle, still connected to auxiliary power.

  Where are all the techs? The ship should have been crawling with Genesis Platform workers. Instead, the gangway was empty except for a few scattered crates.

  Soldiers poured into the far end of the terminal.

  "Go, go, go!" Luca grabbed Emily's hand and led the desperate final sprint down the jetway. Their feet rang against metal as shouts erupted behind them.

  They made it through the airlock with seconds to spare. Luca slammed the inner door as the first soldiers reached the outer hatch.

  He was breathing hard, his crew gathered around him in the dim corridor of their unfinished ship. Emily's green eyes met his, and he saw his own determination reflected there.

  "Bridge!" he commanded. "All hands to stations. We're launching this thing."

  As they moved through the half-completed corridors, stepping over loose cables and around stacked equipment, Luca noticed something else wrong. The ship was too quiet. Where were all the Genesis Platform techs who'd been swarming over her just an hour ago?

  His interface pinged.

  

  [Asset Transferred Successfully]

  Triumph of Darron:

  Exploration Vessel, Helios Class Mk-I

  Ownership Transfer:

  Genesis Platform → Triumph Initiative

  Status:

  Active

  Note:

  All System privileges and responsibilities have transferred to the new owner.

  A second notification followed.

  

  [Charter Activated: Alpha Centauri Survey Expedition]

  Pre-Requisites:

  FTL-Capable Vessel [Complete]

  Mission Checkpoints:

  Depart Sol System with a qualified crew - [Pending]

  Arrive in Alpha Centauri - [Pending]

  Map all planetary bodies and major asteroid fields - [0/? Mapped]

  Conduct surface surveys on habitable zone planet - [0/? Mapped]

  Return with verifiable data - [Pending]

  Reward: See Mission Compensation Table.

  The contract was active. Which meant those soldiers had no legal right to take his ship.

  Then who the hell are they working for?

  The bridge was chaos. Disconnected panels and warning lights flashing amber across every surface. The main reactor was stone cold, running on station power like they were tourists instead of a starship crew.

  "Stations!" Luca shouted over the chaos. "Ryan, I need main power. Zoe, get navigation online. Emily, coordinate the startup sequence. Joey, get the medical station online. Let me know if anyone's vitals start to crash."

  Behind them, something heavy slammed against the airlock as the soldiers pressed their assault.

  "The reactor's cold," Ryan called from the power station. His usual manic energy focused on the problem. "This is gonna be ugly."

  "How ugly?" Luca demanded.

  "Like, 'might blow us all to hell' ugly. We're supposed to have a twelve-hour warmup sequence."

  "We don't have twelve minutes. Make it work."

  Ryan grinned, the crazy bastard. "You got it, Captain."

  He grabbed the main startup lever with both hands and yanked it down. The ship gave off a deafening screech as the fusion reactor woke from its cold state. Warning lights exploded across every panel.

  "Coolant pumps are redlining!" Chris shouted from his engineering station.

  "Hold together," Luca muttered, watching the indicators climb into dangerous territory. "Just hold together."

  The lights brightened as the reactor's hum steadied. Screens flickered to life across the bridge.

  "Got it!" Ryan yelled triumphantly.

  "Good," Luca commanded. "Chris, get us free of the station. Automated release sequence."

  Chris tapped a command into his console. A green light blinked, then immediately turned red. An error message flashed on the screen.

  [DOCKING CLAMP RELEASE FAILED: CORRUPTED HANDSHAKE PROTOCOL]

  "What the hell?" Chris tried again. Same result. "The release command isn't being recognized by the station's computer. It's like our ship and the platform aren't speaking the same language anymore."

  "Try the manual override," Luca ordered. A high-pitched whine started from the direction of the airlock. The soldiers were cutting their way through.

  "Already on it," Chris said, his fingers flying. "Manual override... also rejected. That's weird."

  "Try a direct system query," Ryan suggested, leaning over.

  Chris' expression shifted. "The release protocols... they're corrupted. It looks like someone rewrote the handshake codes."

  "We're trapped," Zoe said quietly.

  The crew looked at each other, then at him. They were out of standard options. Luca's mind raced, his eyes darting from the "Access Denied" message to the soldiers on the security monitor. They can't hack the clamps. They can't override them. But what if we don't have to? What if we just break them?

  It was a desperate idea. But it was the only one he had.

  "Zoe." Luca's command cut through the chaos. "Fire the starboard attitude thrusters. A short, low-power burn."

  "What?" Zoe spun around. "Captain, we're still clamped down! The torque will tear the hull apart!"

  "I know!" Luca cut her off, his gaze locked on Chris. "Chris, the second you feel that ship start to pull, blow the emergency explosive bolts. All of them. At once. We're going to rip ourselves free."

  A beat of stunned silence. This wasn't in any manual. The explosive bolts were a last-ditch system designed to sever the ship in case of a catastrophic dock explosion, not to launch it.

  "You heard him!" Chris yelled, a manic grin spreading across his face as he dove for the override. "Get ready!"

  "Hold on!" Luca grabbed his console as Zoe fired the thrusters.

  The Triumph screamed as metal groaned under the strain. The starboard side tried to wrench free while the port side was held fast.

  "Now, Chris!"

  Chris yanked the lever.

  The ship jerked with the force of a battering ram as the bolts exploded open. The release sent them lurching sideways. Danny went down hard, crashing into a pile of equipment.

  "We're clear!" Chris let out a wild, triumphant scream.

  Before anyone else could move, Joey was already at Danny's side, helping him up. "You okay? Any signs of concussion?"

  "I'm good," Danny grunted, shaking his head clear. "Just... dizzy."

  "Main thrusters!" Luca commanded. "Full power!"

  The Triumph shuddered violently as Zoe yanked the lever for the primary drive engines. The attitude jets were nothing compared to the roar of the main thrusters fighting to push them clear of the Genesis Platform. They were moving, finally.

  Luca took a shaky breath, trying to regain control.

  ...Then the alarms changed pitch.

  "We're losing power!" Danny called from his science station. "Reactor's going unstable!"

  The generator indicators were flashing angry red, heat warnings climbing toward critical.

  "Ryan! Chris!" Luca barked. "Get that generator stable!"

  Ryan dove for the controls, his face going pale as he scanned the readouts. "What the hell? These coolant lines were fine yesterday! I tested them myself!"

  Chris looked up from the engineering panel, color draining from his face. "The primary heat exchangers... someone pulled the safety interlocks. These systems don't fail like this."

  "Wait, what?" Danny's voice cracked. "You're saying someone—"

  "Sabotage," Chris said. "Those techs... they weren't finishing the install. They were breaking it."

  "Working on it!" Chris slammed switches as Ryan fought with the turbine controls.

  "Stabilized!" Ryan shouted.

  But their victory was short-lived. A new set of alarms began wailing.

  "Main thrusters are offline!" Zoe reported, her voice flat. "The power surge from the generator fried the ignition relay! We're on momentum only!"

  For a beat of silence, there was silence as Luca stared out the large viewport, the Genesis Shipyard spinning slowly away. They were adrift and crippled.

  Options. What are my options?

  As if in answer, a muffled thump echoed from somewhere deep within the ship's infrastructure. It was followed by the unmistakable, acrid smell of burning plastic.

  https://discord.gg/JkDC3CJupC

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacecraft_attitude_determination_and_control

  https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19670026228/downloads/19670026228.pdf