Returning to Liberty

[Strobel]

Chapter One - Out in the unknown

Weeks had passed, weeks she had to spend out there, weeks without even to see a ship with people aboard. Slightly shaking her head the young woman looked on the signs and patches on her flight suit. 'Sonya Mosby' was written on the One, 'Secretary of Internal Affairs' said another. Although the emblems were not as shiny and clean as they have been when she started her flight, but out here it was the only thing to remember where she came from.
"How does it look today," she said to the computer. "Have you finally found star by which you can navigate?" Knowing that she would not receive a response to the question she began to enter it manually, expecting the usual 'negative' as output to the monitor. But instead of getting an answer the screen changed to radar with a pulsing 'Collision Alert' in huge bold letters at the top.
'€žWhere the hell did that came from?'€œ Within seconds Sonya flipped a couple of switches and pulled the flight stick to get change her course. During evasive maneuver a large object appeared right in her path, something that large it blacked out the sun for a moment.

The repetitive and tinny "Collision is imminent'€œ by the computers voice echoed through the life pod as it started to change his course. 'Wait, that shape looks really familiar,' was hammering in Sonyas thoughts as that object reduced its distance to her.
Weeks before two of those things brought here in this situation, the first one hit the Artemis '€“ a gunboat she was in charge of for a mission '€“ that second one pulled her life pod in some unknown space phenomenon that brought her in this distant and unknown part of Sirius, the galaxy or maybe even some parallel universe.

'If those things brought me here maybe they can bring me back to known space?'

After all her options where minimized to plain two choices. Either she would stay in this unknown part of whatever and probably that would be her end as soon as the pod malfunctioned or her supplies went down or the died by trying to get back to known space.
The decision was made within seconds, she wanted to get back to Sirius even if that phenomenon would spit her life pod right in the chancellors private mansion in Rheinland, she had to take the chance.

"Computer, based on database entries try to recur the situation that brought us out here and lay in a course to follow this object as soon as it has passed us.'€œ

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