Riza woke up gasping for air, and when her eyes adjusted to the cabin lights, she noticed the distant stars and Cath’s disc of a moon glistening in the distance. The ship was at rest, and all that Riza could remember was seeing the dial reach four G’s before she passed out.

  “What the hell happened?” Riza asked groggily, rubbing her pulsing skull.

  Izzy laughed, “G-lock. You’ll get better at it, don’t worry,”

  “Was that really necessary?”

  “Just having some fun,” Izzy smiled.

  “That was fun to you?” She couldn’t help but curl her lip.

  “I’m a pilot, silly.” She grinned overconfidently, “This thing’s got quite the kick.”

  “I had no idea the ship could move like that,”

  “Think about it,” Izzy turned her seat to face Riza, “A cargo ship carries massive loads, and crews have deadlines to get the cargo from place to place,”

  “So?”

  “So, hauliers need some pretty strong thrusters to get around with all that weight. A haulier with no cargo almost moves like a corvette,”

  “Huh,” Riza groaned, “I never thought of it like that,”

  “Spend a little more time with me, and you’ll see what this thing can do,”

  “Once I can handle four G’s,”

  “You’re going to need to handle way more than four G’s with me around,” Izzy laughed, “Wait till I treat re-entry like a drop.”

  The thought of that sent a chill down Riza’s spine. She’d heard about how these pilots would experience eight G’s on average, and she couldn’t imagine she’d come out of the other side alive.

  “How about we keep it at Four, for now.”

  “Got it, Cap,” Izzy chuckled.

  “Pilo, she didn’t blow the engines out, right?”

  There was no response.

  “Pilo?” She turned to look over her shoulder to see Pilo hunched over, with his eyes closed.

  “Hmm?” He muttered as he lazily lifted his head.

  Izzy and Riza snickered, “You alright, big guy?” Izzy asked.

  “Fuuuuck,” His eyes slowly opened, “What just happened?”

  “I got a little excited, my bad.”

  Pilo rubbed his temple, shaking his head before he got out of his seat.

  “Where you going?” Riza asked as she watched him stumble around the cabin.

  “I’m going to need a coffee after that,” He mumbled.

  “Make that two,” Riza said.

  “Make it three,” Izzy added.

  Pilo waved his hand in annoyance, but nodded as he left the cockpit. Riza looked over at Izzy, who was still getting accustomed to all the dials and going through the ship's computer to see what else she could learn. She didn’t seem at all bothered about the fact that she’d just left her entire life behind, and it seemed a little strange to Riza.

  “You sure about this?” Riza asked, wanting to get a better idea of what’s going on in Izzy’s head.

  “About what?” She asked with her attention still split.

  “About coming with us. About leaving,”

  “Oh,” Her enthusiastic energy seemed forced,. “Yeah,” She said with a shaky voice.

  The tone of her response told Riza everything she needed to know, and honestly, she was glad to see that Izzy was still processing the situation. She seemed… Uncertain, despite how hard she tried to sound certain.

  “You okay?” Riza followed up.

  Izzy paused and spun her seat to face Riza. “I don’t really know,” She replied, looking at the floor. “It’s like I knew I needed to leave, but feel like shit because I did…”

  It reminded Riza of when she first left for university and said goodbye to everyone she grew up with at the orphanage on Cintri. To this day, she hasn’t returned, and a subtle weight pressed her chest at the thought.

  “Why’d you leave?”

  Izzy looked into Riza’s eyes, the thoughts behind them were chained down, afraid of a stranger.

  “It’s complicated… I just got tired of it all, I guess.”

  “The racing?”

  “The racing was the best part. Everything else… Everyone else kind of drained me.”

  Riza recalled the swell of hundreds of people that surrounded her after her qualifier lap. She’d never considered how many people were involved in Izzy’s life, or how she’d carried the expectations of an entire galaxy on her shoulders. Being a superstar, as great as it seemed, would weigh someone down in ways that Riza couldn’t imagine.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “Y’know, I was always a fan of Team Veyn because I thought you were a cocky asshole,”

  “Oh, it’s fine to support who you want–” Izzy curled a hair between her fingers.

  “No, no. I mean, I was an ‘S-tier hater’ as Pilo would say,” She chuckled, “But, I might slowly be becoming team Izzy,”

  A cute and subtle smile lay across Izzy’s face as she blushed and broke eye contact, “Thanks, Cap,” She said softly.

  “I still think this is a terrible idea, though,” Riza shrugged, “But, I think I get what you mean. Sometimes leaving is what’s best for us,”

  Izzy’s smile faded, no longer faking an expression her pensive body paused in uncertainty.

  “Let’s go get that coffee, huh?” Riza stood up, “And make sure Pilo hasn’t passed out again.”

  They made their way down the halls of the cargo ship with grated panelling along the floors and walls that exposed the not-so-hidden wiring and mechanics of the ship. A long, LED light travelled down the centre of the arched ceiling, illuminating the interior in a soft white light.

  Down the hall from the cockpit was a T-junction– to the left was the crew quarters, where Riza let Izzy pick a room out of the four that were unoccupied. She chose the one beside Riza’s, mainly because it seemed a little creepy further down the hall, and the idea of having rooms to either side of her cabin sounded more comforting than having two walls with the vacuum of space beyond them.

  The room wasn’t so bad, not as luxurious as her apartments on the DRC or in Cath that were tiled in marble with bathroom sthe size of the entire crew quarters, but it felt good to have somewhere new to settle into. The first thing she realised was that she’d brought far too many items of clothing with her, which was surprising considering she’d only taken a fraction of what she had in only one of her walk-in closets.

  But, she’d find a way to make do with what she had. The single bed, with a thin, hardly bouncy-at-all mattress and a relatively functional pillow, was positioned at the far wall, below a small port window that gave her a view of the stars. She couldn’t help but glare through it the moment she noticed it, and despite the fear of the vacuum beyond it, she was enthralled by the endless count of stars which, for the first time, felt reachable. More than just dots in the distance, but places she could go to. At either end of the hall in the crew quarters was a bathroom with a shower, sink and toilet. Functional, and nothing more to them.

  To the right of the T-junction was a staircase that led to the main deck of the ship, where they found Pilo sitting at the kitchen table with a steaming pot of coffee and three dented steel mugs.

  The open plan of the main deck made the lounge and holodeck fully accessible without the need to traverse any claustrophobic hallways beside the one that led to the meditation garden and two empty rooms.

  Izzy had her own collection of plants that she’d taken for granted since she acquired them when she was nineteen for the sole purpose of spending lots of money on something most people didn’t have– the thought of her motivation back then briefly ate away at her, but she found a new appreciation for plantlife amongst the brownish metals of the ship. A sudden burst of greens, yellows and reds was a nice sight, making her realise she’d never taken a good look at the plants in her apartments.

  “You doing okay?” Riza said as she took a seat beside Pilo and handed Izzy a cup of coffee.

  “Think I’ve somewhat recovered,” He said as he took a sip.

  “I couldn’t help myself. Again, that was my bad,” Izzy said as she entered the lounge and took a seat on the not-so-comfy couch.

  “No, no,” Pilo interjected, “It’s good you’re getting familiar with the ship.

  Izzy turned on the Holoscreen and started flipping through channels.

  “So we’re going to Silic?” Izzy asked.

  “Yup,” Riza responded.

  “For information, you said?”

  “We need to find the Kythera depot and get access to executive data. We think they have information about what actually happened on Prion-A.”

  Izzy Montoya’s whereabouts are unknown at this time, as reports about her going missing came in this morning when she didn’t attend the lineup for today’s drop race, to the surprise of her family and co-workers. The last place she was spotted was at the Montoya labs in Caths city center where there was a recent break-in that led to the theft of experimental technology.

  “Oh, shit,” Izzy mumbled under her breath as she watched the breaking news.

  “Looks like you couldn’t just sneak away,” Riza commented.

  “I should have seen this coming,” She responded, leaning forward as she felt a dizziness within. She didn’t expect to have made mainstream news so quickly, considering the race was only going to start in an hour or so.

  “When you move, so does the galaxy,” Pilo added.

  Izzy opened up her social media pages, where she saw over four million notifications, and her anxiety surged further. Her hand started shaking as she scrolled through the now-trending stream ‘#WheresIzzy’. Hundreds of thousands of mentions and messages about her whereabouts encumbered her inbox with people questioning if she was alright and demonising her kidnappers in the process. Conspiracies about her being killed or held at ransom flooded her feed, and she closed the pages in a panic. Sipping on her coffee, uncertain of what to do with her hands.

  The Atlas has confirmed that the assailants who broke into the Montoya Labs were Riza Beleke and Pilo Sama, the outlaws responsible for the Prion-A disaster. It is believed that they kidnapped Izzy Montoya for reasons that are currently unknown.

  “They just keep making shit up,” Riza groaned in frustration, “Kidnapped? Do you feel kidnapped?”

  Izzy turned to see Riza’s sarcastic snarl and Pilo’s nonchalant coffee sipping. “I-uhh,” She muttered as she noticed her anxiety begin to subside. Their calm demeanours naturally eased her own. She briefly giggled as Riza’s words just processed in her mind, “No, I don’t feel kidnapped,”

  “We might need that psychotic piloting of yours when the Atlas gets a lock on us,” Pilo said as he refilled his cup.

  “You guys aren’t worried about this?”

  Riza and Pilo briefly gazed at one another before looking back at Izzy.

  “We used to be,” Pilo responded.

  “I guess we’re getting used to them lying about us,” Riza added.

  “The internet is going crazy right now,” Izzy continued, ‘I’ve never had this many people messaging me at once.” She shared her screen with Riza and Pilo.

  “God damn,” Riza said.

  “Two billion followers?” Pilo stammered as they both began reading through the endless messages that kept appearing.

  “Wait, people really think you suddenly disappeared?” Riza asked.

  “Well, yeah.” Izzy said, “My camp put a lot of effort into curating my public persona… As far as they know, I’d never do something like this.”

  “Wild,” Riza pondered, “Well, maybe it's a good thing.”

  “How?”

  “I don’t know,” Riza shrugged, “What public image do you want to have now that you’re not a drop racer?”

  The question opened a stream in Izzy’s mind, endless possibilities of how she wanted to be seen passed through. She hadn’t considered changing her image, let alone what it should be.

  “No idea,”

  “Well, in the meantime, the world sees you as a victim… Maybe we could use that somehow.” Pilo pondered.

  “This might give us a chance to control the narrative for once,” Riza agreed.

  “What do you have in mind?” Izzy asked.

  “I’m not sure yet. But, for now. Play into it. Don’t respond to anything and let them formulate a story of their own… We’ll respond when the times right,”

  “You don’t have to tell me twice,” Izzy said, relieved that she could just ignore all of the messages.