As the Shadowstrike drifted through the wreckage of the oncoming debris field, its engines hummed softly as Petty Officer Souza delicately navigated the ship through the remnants of shattered ships and heaps of scrap metal.
The Shadowstrike and its crew had been tracking their target incessantly for the last three days, and Elias was beginning to feel the weight of every passing hour.
The Specter turned out to be just as crafty as they had feared. Not even an hour ago, the enemy ship had managed to slip through their grasp like smoke in the wind. All while using the local debris field to expertly cover its hasty escape. Even with the tracking device that the Marine's undercover agents managed to place on the ship a few days ago, the Specter's advanced stealth technology made it damn near impossible to pin down.
It was infuriating.
'We're so damn close....' At this point, everyone was on edge. But it was Elias who felt the constant strain the most out of everyone on board their ship. Even now, the suffocating silence in the Shadowstrike's command center was beginning to drive him crazy.
The lieutenant leaned over the command console as his eyes fixated on the display monitor showing the Specter's last known position. He felt like he had been staring at this thing for days. And it was obvious to everyone that his frustrations were beginning to bubble over. Every failed attempt to capture their target felt like a personal defeat. And although Elias didn't want to admit it, his pride was starting to take a hit as well.
This was probably his most important mission to date. One that was way too important not to succeed. If they didn't catch the Specter soon, the drug trade it was fueling would continue to wreak havoc on countless lives within the colonies. And that was the last thing that Elias wanted to happen.
There was a reason why almost every recreational drug known to man was outlawed in space. Unlike Earth, the artificial ecosystems of space were extremely fragile. One wrong move could spell disaster for hundreds, if not thousands, of people. All it took was for one drugged-out technician to mess up while doing his job to cause chaos for everyone else around him. It's the reason why there was such an emphasis on keeping that stuff out of the colonies. And why it was so important for the Navy to snuff out any drug smugglers they could find.
"We're running out of time." Commander Brix's voice was barely above a gravelly whisper as he reviewed the data from their most recent encounter. "We need to end this before they slip away again."
"Yeah...." Elias nodded while clenching his fists at his sides.
His commander knew that he understood the urgency. But what the older officer didn't know was that it wasn't just the mission weighing on him. It was the burden of failure.
Every time the Specter got away, it felt like a personal insult. And the more it happened, the more it gnawed at Elias's psyche. He couldn't afford to fail, not when there was so much on the line. Not when the colonies depended on them to stop the drug trade from threatening their already fragile way of life.
"We need to hit them hard the next time they show up on our radar." Elias then said before voicing his next thought. "Sir, I think we'll need to use the ion torpedoes on them."
Brix raised an eyebrow. "You do remember that we have to try and take the ship in one piece, right?"
'Fuck!' The lieutenant mentally shouted.
That was another annoying aspect of this mission. Part of the reason why they had so much trouble dealing with these smugglers was because Naval Headquarters wanted to dissect the enemy ship once they finally got hold of it. Trying to take down a slippery enemy like the Specter while actively pulling your punches was a horrible way to do your job. Especially when operating in such a wide area as outer space.
"I'm aware." Elias replied, his voice cool but sharp. "But, we've been chasing them for too long. I'm not letting them get away again."
"I'll think about it."
Elias assumed that was the best that he could hope for. To be honest, the green-eyed man was more than happy with just destroying the rogue vessel and calling it a day. That alone would've made the last 72 hours worth it in his opinion. However, he had a job to do. And even if it did irritate him, he was going to do his best to give his superiors what they wanted.
With nothing more left to say for now, Elias went back to his seat on the bridge and began reading through some of the files on his terminal. However, he was only able to make it through a few pages before the exhaustion finally started to hit him. It was at that moment that he started to wonder how often his aunt had to go through something like this. Working a long, drawn-out mission with little to no sleep while trying to hunt down criminals who were determined to make your life hell at every corner.
The mission was seriously beginning to take a toll on him, both mentally and physically. He had become short with his crewmates, a sign that his patience was wearing thin as the days stretched on. And he even managed to forget to eat a couple of times already. Elias truly hated this feeling, this sense that he was being toyed with by some lowly criminals. But the stakes were too high to give in to such weakness, especially this late into the game.
A soft chime then broke the man out of his thoughts. It was the voice of Ensign Karis, the Shadowstrike's current weapons officer, who replaced him when Elias got promoted to second-in-command.
"Commander Brix, Lieutenant Thorton, we've detected an anomaly! It's consistent with the Specter's tracking device, albeit a bit distorted. They're not far."
Elias's mind immediately cleared up, a surge of adrenaline suddenly coursing through him. "Where?"
Ensign Karis seemed unsure for a moment before continuing. "The signal is coming from beyond our current operational jurisdiction. It's outside the colonial trade lanes and is on the way to the far side of the moon."
Elias and Commander Brix both looked at each other, and it was clear that they shared the exact same thought. To follow the enemy ship now would be a total breach of naval protocol. Moving beyond the Colonial Navy's approved operational zones and heading into unprotected space carried significant risks. The most important of which would be that there were no communication relay satellites this far away from Earth. Meaning that if they needed help, it was unlikely that they would be able to quickly call for it.
Even so, the Specter was slipping away again. If they didn't act now, they could lose their chance.
"Sir?" Petty Officer Souza looked back at the Commander.
Commander Brix hesitated for a moment as he weighed his options. But sure enough, it didn't take him long to come to a decision.
"We're going." The man then said. Not a single person was surprised at this announcement. In fact, it seemed as though everyone was firmly in agreement with the decision.
Elias, ever the proper sialor, felt the need to at least pretend to be a responsible officer. "You're sure about this? If we go too far off the grid, we risk completely losing our comms."
Brix nodded sharply. "We're not letting them slip away again. I'm not backing down."
With that, the crew began working swiftly. The tension in the air was palpable, but Elias could feel the resolve settling in. He couldn't afford to think about the consequences. Right now, he needed to focus on the task at hand.
The Shadowstrike's engines then roared to life. And the ship shot forward with such speed that it almost made the stars blur into faint lines of light across the darkened backdrop.
-(o)-
The journey lasted longer than Elias had anticipated. By the time they were where they needed to be, the Shadowstrike was deep in a part of space that no Colonial Navy ship had ventured into for quite some time.
'We're on our own...' The man told himself as he examined the area on his monitor.
"The Specter's signal is coming from that star station up ahead." Karis said as an image of the facility came up on the screen. "It's an old cargo relay station that was shut down about a decade ago, according to the registration data. I guess this is where they've been hiding."
Brix's gaze hardened. "Souza, get us in close. We need to make sure we don't alert them too soon."
But even as the Shadowstrike cautiously approached the star station, Elias felt the weight of what they were about to do begin to settle in. This wasn't just a simple tracking mission anymore. It was a confrontation, one that would certainly lead to a fight.
'This is it.' Elias thought with a furrowed brow, staring out at the abandoned facility up ahead. 'No turning back now.'
The crew tightened their grips on their stations, ready for whatever came next. But Elias couldn't shake the feeling that this was going to be their hardest fight yet. The kind that would push him, and the crew, to the brink.