"A dashgate?" Urle echoed. "Well, the Hurricane is fit to travel through them, but I can't say I'm thrilled at the prospect."

"I'm not any happier," Brooks replied.

After returning to the shuttle, Brooks had sent out a return signal to everyone with them. He had no doubt that it would have been safe for them to stay out their fourteen-day visas here, but they were here with a purpose, and he did not want to push the patience of the colonists. One day, they might actually feel ready to engage with the Sapient Union.

In the cockpit of the shuttle he had gathered Urle, Logus, and Kell. Or the latter had, at least, decided to join them.

"What is the issue with dashgates?" Dr. Logus asked. "They're in standard use within planetary systems - they're all over the home system."

"Yes, but those are very well-constructed and maintained gates," Urle explained. "In frontier systems, things tend to be of lower quality and in poor repair. On top of that, the tech is just rougher around the edges than a zerodrive."

"I have not actually travelled in one," Kell noted. "I left Earth in a special ship that was allowed the use of a zerodrive further in the system."

Urle took a deep breath. "Likely because some people react poorly to dashgates and command did not want to risk you getting sick so early in our co-existence, Ambassador."

Kell frowned. "Shoggoths do not get sick."

"Of course," Urle noted dryly. "But for explanation's sake; for safety reasons dashgates don't open a proper hole into zerospace, but sort of slide a ship halfway between that and realspace. It works better for short distances like those within a system, but it's energy-wasteful and can be very bumpy."

"I am interested to try it," Kell said.

Brooks looked to his Executive Commander. "Urle, while everyone gets settled in, check the colony records for maintenance on the dashgate - get an idea of how safe it is. If you deem it acceptable, then in one hour we'll make lift-off and head for this second colony."

"Vitriol," Urle muttered. "Sounds like a fantastic place."

A small smile that was uncomfortable to look at crossed Kell's face. "I find this whole story quite amusing," he admitted.

*******

The dashgate was functional. Both the Hurricane's onboard computer and Urle's own calculations determined it to be well within safety margins.

But that didn't mean it was a pleasant trip. The gate was small - one of the advantages of a dashgate - and the ship rattled through nearly the entire duration of the four-hour trip.

Brooks knew it had to be hardest on Cenz, with each individual polyp of his body being jostled the entire way, and checked in on him. But the science officer was his typical cheerful self.

"It's an interesting sensation," he admitted. Yet the smile on his screen looked forced.

When they were ten minutes from re-entering normal space, Brooks went to the cockpit.

The door opened obligingly for him when he approached, and a child came tumbling out, literally doing a slow end-over-end in the zero-g, a high-pitched shriek on her tongue. Brooks knew Urle's daughters, of course, and helped catch Persis before she hit a wall. Her shriek had turned to giggles, and Hannah floated out, holding what appeared to be a sensor wand as a sword.

"NOW I AM VICTORIOUS- hello, Captain Brooks!" the girl said, switching tone and manners in an instant. She ducked the wand behind her back. With her free hand, she gave him a salute.

"Hello Captain Brooks," Persis said, still fighting her laughter.

"Hello, girls," the Captain replied, struggling to keep his own smile in check. "I need you to go on back to your cabin - we're going to be coming out soon and I'm going to have to talk to people I expect to be both unfriendly and boring."

"Can I watch if I'm quiet?" Hannah asked. "I'll raise my hand if I have a question," she added.

Urle sat up and spoke, before Brooks could answer.

"Captain!" he said, getting up from the chair. The fact that he hadn't spoken up yet made Brooks wonder if he'd actually fallen asleep while the two were playing. It might be the reason Hannah had been able to get the delicate sensor in the first place . . .

"Where did you find that?" Urle asked her, still holding the sensor wand. "Did it float off the equipment rack with all the rattling?"

"Yeah . . . yeah, it did!" Hannah said, daintily handing it to her father. Urle glanced to Brooks, looking quizzical. Hannah also looked at him, alarmed. He knew, of course, that she had been using it as a toy.

Brooks gave a shrug and a smile back to Urle. "She was picking it up when I came in. It seems she had quite a good sense of how valuable and breakable it is."

"Oh, good," Urle said. "Okay, girls, time to go back to your cabin."

"I wanted to stay, though. Captain can I stay?" Hannah asked.

Brooks smiled to her, but didn't dismiss the idea immediately. For a city-ship, having its younger populace take an interest in how things worked was something they both hoped for and cultivated.

This was not the most drastic of circumstances. On a smaller and younger colony like this, it was likely they would be able to talk to the Governor initially via signals rather than a face-to-face after landing.

It was a place outside the Sapient Union, too. Sometimes it was a mistake to only let the up-and-coming see how things worked internally. It would mean they were caught flat-footed when they had to deal with outside officials.

"I'm all right with it," he decided. "Executive Commander, how do you feel about it?"

"So long as you stay quiet, Hannah, you can stay."

"I want to stay too!" Persis interjected quickly.

Urle was calm but firm. "No, Persis. You can sit in another time, but this time Hannah gets to. No pouting - this is not a game. This is very serious. Now go back to the cabin."

"Next time?" she asked sadly.

"I can't promise next time. But eventually, yes," Urle added.

The girl left slowly, but did go. Urle confirmed via sensors that she had, in fact, returned to her room, while Brooks moved to sit in the co-pilot's chair.

Hannah sat down on a stool in the corner and strapped herself down, watching with eager eyes.

Urle flipped on the intercom. "Attention, we will be exiting the dash in approximately thirty seconds. There is likely to be turbulence, so everyone please strap in."

Checking that Hannah did so, and that the sensors confirmed everyone else had - save Kell - Urle watched the seconds tick down.

Unlike a proper zerogate, there was no exit to catch them. It was more like being thrown, and the ship itself would have to engage a tenkionic braking system that would cause them to shed the colossal amounts of energy they had accumulated. Simple physics rendered it impossible to be moving faster than light and exist in their own dimension.

No being could possibly have manually exited such a jump. The timing was so precise, the speeds so great, that the most sensitive computers possible still found it taxing.

Urle simply watched the numbers tick down, and they felt the ship begin rattling with extra fervor.

The exit was rougher even than the journey, and they were all thrown forward - such exits were hard enough to cause injuries, and the Hurricane's own dampeners strained to keep it under control.

Brooks felt himself thrown forward, held back only by his restraints. The whole ship lurched, then became still.

"Ow," Hannah said flatly. "Could that have been any bumpier, dad?" she asked.

"Shush, you're fine," Urle said, checking her readouts while Brooks suppressed his smile.

"Everyone seems fine," Brooks added, checking the rest of the crew.

"Did Kell fall?" Urle asked. He sounded a bit hopeful.

"No. Barely even twitched, according to this."

Urle sighed. "Someday, the Ambassador's going to be in a genuinely rough exit and regret not strapping in."

Ahead of them, a massive and glorious gas giant loomed. It was vaguely like Jupiter, but over twice the mass and far deeper in color. Around it, moons nearly as large as Earth orbited.

Of those they could see, most were varied and extremely volatile; the tidal forces of the massive planet pulled them to and fro with each orbit, keeping their insides molten and active.

But one of the smaller moons seemed relatively stable, internally. It was an iceball smaller than Earth's moon, with a rocky core - certainly rich in the materials needed for a growing colony.

Heat readings from the moon broadcasted the presence of the settlement - even embedded in ice there was no way to hide the infrared energy of colony-scale fusion reactors.

"We're in range," Urle noted. "Getting an automatic query. Making our request."

A few moments passed. "Getting reluctant permission to talk to the Governor. It's your show, Captain."

Brooks joined the channel. "Greetings, Governor, this is Captain-Mayor Ian Brooks. I have come trying to find a specific person who-"

"You came from Tede?" the male voice came back. There was a visual channel, but the man wasn't using it.

"Tede?" Brooks asked. "We just took the dashgate from New Begonia-"

"Tede!" the man said. "Those bastards lied to you, Captain. They're all liars and sneak-thieves."

"Lied to me about what?" he asked.

"Anything - everything. They're a blight, a stain on the memory of Corran Tede."

Urle gave him a confused glance, but Brooks kept his face a pleasant mask - he was broadcasting in the visual band even if the Governor wasn't.

"I see. That is unfortunate to hear, Governor. However, I still have my mission - perhaps you'd be able to assist me in that."

"Why?" the voice insisted. "You've already been poisoned by them, I know it. It's all part of their plan, to destroy Tede's legacy and set themselves up as no better than those decadent whoresons on the homeworld."

Brooks let his annoyance show. "Governor, if you have this much of a grievance with the other colony - whatever it may be called - I suggest you speak to them about it. I am not here on their behalf."

"No?" the voice challenged. "We know they've been in negotiation to join your Union of false prophets so you can do their dirty work for them."

"No, Governor, they have not. They did not even want us to stay any longer than necessary, as a matter of fact. We spent less than eight hours at the colony - far too little to work out any sort of accord."

There was a long silence. Brooks had a gut feeling that prompted him to continue on.

"However, if you wish to speak to one of our diplomats to be assured that we have not entered into any accord with the other colony - or to seek assistance in arbitrating your differences, then I will be happy to summon one who could arrive in a week or so."

Silence.

Finally, a reply came. "That won't be necessary."

"Very well, Governor. Now, there is a person I am seeking - they are an unusual individual with strange gifts-"

"I know who you mean," the Governor said. "We threw her out."

Brooks felt his heart beat faster.

"Do you mean to tell me that you spaced this individual?"

"No," the voice came back. It was reproachful, if anything. "They're with the other traitors. Not the ones at Tede, the ones at New Vitriol."

Brooks frowned. "Another colony?"

"The cowards fled out farther from the system," the Governor sneered. "All a buncha mutants and rejects who didn't want to keep with the true teachings of the Dawn."

"As unfortunate as that sounds, I need to find this individual. Where can I find New Vitriol?"

There was a pause again. "We can send you the data and you can have permission to use our dashgate - on one condition, Captain."

"What is it?"

"Tell them to go to hell."

The connection was severed and Brooks looked to Urle. The two men just stared at each other for a moment when Hannah spoke.

"He was so rude!" she said. "And what's a horse-on?"

"Nothing," Urle said immediately. "Forget it. Now . . . go back to your cabin, if you will. The Captain and I have work to do."

"All right," she said, pushing off her stool to float towards the door. "And if you don't know then I'll go look it up."

After she left, Urle groaned. "Shouldn't have let her stay."

"Well, who could have known they'd be this crazy out here?" Brooks replied. "I've heard of colonies getting insular and . . . unhealthy, but this is a severe case. At least they don't seem actively hostile."

"I'm keeping all the sensors and the defense grid ready just in case," Urle muttered. "They did send us information, though. It seems their jumpgate is on a nearby orbital path, lagging behind their colony a little. It'll be around to us in about six hours. The dash, though . . . that looks like it's going to be another eighteen. I hope it's a little better maintained."

Brooks grimaced. "All right. Then let's get some rest and hop it in a few hours. The faster we get out of this system the better."

"You go ahead and sleep through," Urle told him. "I'll take a watch then get Cenz to relieve me. You can take the shift after him."

Nodding, Brooks got up and stretched. "All right, then, see you later."