My punisher floated in the black. A stroke of lighting thousands of miles long arced across the surface of the planet below, catching my attention for a moment. Nature was furious, and fury is almost always beautiful. So long as you are well out of range.
I refocused my attention on the directional scanner. One ship, another punisher.
“Aura, decrease the scan sweep to 180,” this was pointless, I knew where he was. “Scratch that Aura, scan sweep at 5 degrees, center on the Heydelies gate. My instincts had been correct. I stared at the scanner, my ship aligning to the gate at my subconscious command.
“Shall we initiate a warp?” Aura’s voice broke my trance. “Uh, no. No, Aura let’s get away from this gravity well.” My ship realigned and moments later the planet faded away into a point, and then further, into nothing. When she came to rest nothing was visible save the ever-present sea of stars.
“Give me a 360,” the results leaping onto my scanner before I had finished the command. Speaking to Aura was a complete waste of time, as her AI was integrated into my own brain, but old habits die hard. My decision had been a good one, a Helios was now visible in system. A hunch revealed that it was sitting in orbit of the planet I had just left. They knew I was here.