Empire Reforged
Chapter 8: Deviation Protocol
Location: IPV-120 Vigilance, En Route to Centares Substation
Date: BBY 8 – 0640 Hours
The Vigilance moved through hyperspace like a dagger through smoke.
Lucan stood at the forward viewport, watching the blue-tinted corridor of streaming starlight. Each jump pulse sent a subtle vibration through the hull — the aging hyperdrive motivator doing its best to maintain calibration within the corridor's gravitational parameters.
Behind him, the bridge crew worked in silence.
Navigation officer Ensign Tarris sat hunched over his station, eyes darting across calculations. The freighter Silverwake remained locked in the secondary berth below, its systems dormant and its hull partially stripped for inspection. Holtz's engineering teams had already begun isolating the cortosis container, now sealed within a magnetic containment field inside Cargo Bay 2.
Lucan activated the central display.
Centares Substation flashed on the map, a minor naval waypoint orbiting one of Centares' outer moons. It was used for detainee transfers and low-security processing. Not a true prison — but adequate for delivering Holven Kerr without raising immediate attention.
Darran entered the bridge, datapad in hand.
"Prisoner is stable. Interrogation logs secured. Holtz confirms the container's yield—raw cortosis weave, low refinement, but real."
Lucan nodded. "Tightly packed?"
"Too tightly. It was compressed in a way you don't see from random scavenging runs. This was processed for transport."
"Then someone's running a supply chain."
He tapped the nav console.
"We drop Kerr at Substation Delta and report nothing unusual. I'll handle the message to Depot Command — minor mechanical deviation, forced us to adjust patrol lane."
Darran narrowed her eyes. "And we just happen to deviate toward Lancer's Drift?"
Lucan nodded. "Exactly."
She crossed her arms. "You're going off-book with a patrol ship."
"I'm going off-book with reason. The Empire likes results. It doesn't always ask how you got them — as long as no one complains."
Darran said nothing for a moment.
Then: "I'll have Tarris load an alternate nav route under maintenance code. If anyone audits us, it looks like a resupply detour."
Lucan allowed himself the faintest smile. "That's why you're still here."
She didn't smile back. "Just don't get us noticed."
—
By 0730, the Vigilance dropped out of hyperspace and approached Centares Substation.
The facility was little more than a rotating ring dock — one habitation pod, a docking pylon, and a central tower bristling with outdated comms arrays. The station's lights flickered with erratic pulses, and its beacon lagged by almost two seconds from standard.
"This place is falling apart," Holtz muttered from his engineering console. "They haven't recalibrated their shield harmonics since the last solar cycle."
Lucan didn't answer.
He waited until the docking clamps latched onto the ship's hull and the station's override signal came through.
"Bridge to security," Darran said. "Transfer team to Detention Deck. One prisoner hand-off. Keep it quiet."
Corren's voice came through. "Understood."
Lucan turned toward her.
"After transfer, plot a straight jump to Lancer's Drift. I want us out of this sector before anyone sends a courier ship for follow-up."
"Already on it."
—
An hour later, the Vigilance had cleared the substation and reentered hyperspace. Lucan returned to his quarters briefly to review the last transmission logs.
The beacon coordinates Holven Kerr had mentioned—Lancer's Drift—were real. A mining system on the edge of mapped Imperial space, half-abandoned, with a history of failed industrial operations and occasional pirate activity. Not technically part of Lucan's patrol sector, but close enough to justify investigation if plausible cause could be manufactured.
He keyed a private log.
> Command Log – Entry 02
Deviation from standard patrol route initiated.
*Rationale: discovered restricted material with probable ties to black-market cortosis chain.
*Target System: Lancer's Drift — possible relay site.
*Risk: moderate. Imperial oversight in region is minimal. Likelihood of Rebel or syndicate activity: unconfirmed.
Objective: recon, data acquisition, mapping. Avoid escalation unless provoked.
He paused.
Then added:
> Note: Crew cohesion improving. Command hierarchy being followed. Discipline enforced. Lieutenant Darran proving competent in field autonomy.
He closed the log and returned to the bridge.
—
By 1030 hours, the Vigilance dropped out of hyperspace into Lancer's Drift.
The system appeared lifeless at first glance. A small yellow star orbited by six rocky planets, only two of which had moons. Dust clouds and ancient mining satellites drifted in wide arcs across the third and fourth orbital lanes.
Tarris leaned forward. "Faint energy signature — stationary, above the asteroid belt. Broadcasting a low-frequency loop. Encrypted."
Lucan nodded. "That's our relay."
"Want me to break it?"
"No," Lucan said. "We let it keep talking."
Darran glanced over. "You're hoping someone answers."
Lucan nodded.
"We're not just intercepting smuggled cortosis anymore. We're walking into someone's blind corridor."
"And what happens," Darran asked, "if they're watching from the other side?"
Lucan's voice was cold and steady.
"Then we test if the Vigilance can still fight."
Outside the viewport, the stars held their breath.