"Where have you taken us, Minerva?" Morgan asked their imaginary friend as they emerged from the tunnel of stars.
"Oh you're not going to like this, Morgan," came the reply.
The system allegiance indicator still showed Federation, that was no great surprise, they were in the heart of Federation territory. It all brought back memories of the time the AEDC operated this far south decades earlier. The great political battles they'd orchestrated, the manipulation behind the scenes, and the open bloody conflicts they'd brought about. All of it in the name of spreading Alliance values towards Sol - the birthplace of humanity.
That was long ago now of course, a different lifetime that Morgan had consigned to the depths of his memories. The girl had re-awakened them though. Unknowingly on her part of course, but running from Federal security, escaping from Federal star ports, and high wake jumps to evade marauding Vipers, all those things stirred mischief in Morgan's soul.
This far south and Minerva stating that he wouldn't like their current location. 'Well it won't be Ross 128,' Morgan smiled as the thought crossed his mind. No way would Minerva dare jump to that permit locked system, even with the required documentation that still sat stored away in the nav computer.
A suspicion jumped into his mind, surely he was wrong: "Not Flousop?"
There was silence.
He felt Tracy's eyes staring at him, as if prompting an explanation.
Still Minerva remained silent.
"Minerva, if you've brought us to Flousop with only 4% hull integrity you're insane."
"Where are we?" asked Tracy, she'd given up on concern.
"I think this is a star system where I fought a number of very bloody wars," Morgan replied. "If system authority spot this ship, we are toast."
Had Tracy heard him talk of fighting in wars just a few hours earlier, she wouldn't have believed him. Now? Well things had changed.
"Oh don't be so melodramatic, Morgan," Minerva rose from her silence. "That was decades ago, no one will remember that now."
"We can't repair here, attempting to dock will be suicide."
"Not true, the Combine has maintained a small listening post around the second star. It masquerades as a small mine, but really it exists to keep an eye on Federation movements. They keep a low profile, they don't even announce themselves as Alliance, but it's part of Ms Stone's forward observation network."
The memories were flooding back now.