w seconds that took him,
Navigation Officer Mueller had reported to his Captain.

"Not too far off our course," Willis commented. "What about it,
Ranger? Should we make the pickup?"

"Why not?" Tarlac agreed. "A few hours' delay won't matter, and as I
recall, we're the closest ship."

"Right, sir." Willis turned her attention to her officers.
"Lieutenant Matthews, inform the Palace and Fleet HQ about the change
in flight plan. Ask Fleet to have a morgue detail waiting when we get
back to Luna Base. Ensign Olorun, bring us out of hyperspace for the
course change."

Communications and Helm officers answered as one: "Yes, sir."
Transitioning out of hyperspace was simple, even in the middle of a
programmed course; Ensign Olorun flipped a switch on his Helm console,
puncturing the hyperfield and bringing them to rest relative to what
little matter was present in interstellar normspace.

The Navigator didn't need orders; he began plotting a course to the
signal source as soon as the Lindner made her out-transition. With the
ship-comp's aid, the calculations took less than a minute.
"Coordinates ready, Captain," he reported.

Ensign Olorun was as efficient as his crewmate; as soon as Mueller gave
him the final coordinates, he entered them into his own console and
programmed the course. "All green, sir," he said.

Willis smiled. She, like the others aboard, had had to earn the
privilege of serving on a Sovereign-class cruiser, and having a Ranger
aboard brought the crew to its maximum efficiency. "Execute
transition."

"Aye, sir."

At Olorun's words, everyone aboard felt the oddly pleasant twisting
sensation as the hyperfield built up. The stars flared, then the
screens went blank as the ship transitioned into hyperspace.

Tarlac still found it moderately amusing that hyperspace transition,
once generally imagined to be at least uncomfortable and very possibly
disabling, had proven to be anything but--to be the exact opposite, in
fact. As a boy, he'd enjoyed daydreaming that he himself might make a
discovery as unsettling as that particular one of Nannstein's, but so
far he hadn't, and it didn't seem at all likely he would. On the other
hand, it was just the unlikeliness of such a discovery--one that
completely reversed a commonly-held idea--that made it so unsettling.

He grinned fleetingly to himself at the thought of how unlikely
hyperflight, or even the Empire itself, must have seemed to an ordinary