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whispered as two Cres stepped onto the bridge behind her. “Have a seat.”
    The pair with her dropped into two of four empty bridge chairs as Jalia activated the shields in an alternate mode. Several holes were retained to allow the mooring beams to function, and one leapt out from the bow of the stubby, yet long cargo transport. It connected to a sphere jutting out on a short support pillar half again the length of the Resolute in front of the ship. The invisible beam acted as a physical grip point for the ship to maneuver on, and Jalia gently began easing the ship forward and away from the docking bay wall.
    Another mooring sphere became visible to port as a large passenger transport was cleared. The Resolute latched onto it with a second beam and started a hard turn toward the central clear zone that led to the bay doors. That zone, however, had two large ships parked in the center, so Jalia was going to have to maneuver around the edges of the clear zone.
    Normally all ships were docked around the edges of the bay, but these two super-­cargo haulers were too large and would have eaten up too many ports on the bay ring, so they were docked on secondary ports in the ceiling and floor of the bay. This left adequate maneuvering room, but a starship wasn’t exactly a nimble craft.
    So far so good. Keep it nice and slow, you’re in no rush.
    She activated a third beam and drifted her ship towards the floor of the bay, lining up the bow with the axis of the super-­hauler that was running perpendicular to the bay doors. Now clear of the bay ring, she released the first mooring sphere and latched onto two more in range, one ahead and one to starboard on the floor.
    At such slow speeds it took quite a while to get past the massive ship, but a few minutes of creeping later Jalia readjusted the mooring beams and turned the corner, spinning the ship about 90 degrees while halting its forward momentum. Using the beams only, Jalia started the ship moving past the bow of the super-­hauler and closer to the open doors.
    Still no sign of trouble with security.
    A minute later and the Resolute was past the hauler, readjusting its course to port for a straight-­line exit trajectory. Jalia was tempted to goose their speed with a spurt from the plasma engines, but such maneuvers were strictly banned. With the exhaust traveling at a significant fraction of lightspeed, it could do damage to the other ships, or even the bay itself. It would also be a telltale sign that something was amiss. She had to be patient, even though the stars were now visible through the semi-­distant bay doors.
    She kept the ship moving at a creep, adjusting speed and direction with a nudge from the mooring beams as needed as the Resolute drifted toward the rectangular opening on the port side of the jumpship. She knew that simultaneously the starboard bay was disgorging its own ships, with several insystem starships being advised of the jumpship’s arrival that would subsequently be headed to this location.
    For the next two weeks the Vernera would act as a floating island within the Hellis System, a temporary outpost for the Gorovan corporation and a commerce hub, with its onboard population nearly doubling as locals migrated to the city for all manner of reasons.
    Jalia knew that the jumpship was about to become a beehive of activity and if they were able to get free of the bay then there was a good chance they’d be lost in the turmoil. The Cres altercation would be downplayed, filed away for future reference, and business as normal would resume.
    She hoped.
    That meant if they were going to be stopped it would have to be now. Jalia gave her ship a gentle twist as it approached the bay doors, then latched onto all the mooring spheres within range and accelerated her ship to four times its current speed.
    A moment later the Resolute passed through the doors with the mooring beams deactivating as their line-­of-­sight