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1. A Sortie Before Dawn
"Sis, is this not... a bit early, even by your standards?"
Shutia Mace stifled a yawn with minimal conviction and rubbed at her eyes. It was the deepest part of early morning — the massive artificial sunrise systems of Subaru Station hadn't yet engaged, and the Silver Anchor had already left the dock behind, cruising in silence through a stretch of cold-starred black.
Their destination: the Gehenna Belt, an infamous rocky sector in the Station's outer vicinity. A region of irregular asteroids and sharp debris in high concentration, where recent months had seen a series of incidents involving a particularly aggressive native organism.
"It's a bit of a stretch to send a work ship on a monster-hunting job, isn't it."
"Don't say that, Shutia. This is an emergency special commission — and if incidents keep escalating, the safety of our home station is directly at risk." A slight pause, and Ledea glanced back from the controls with a quiet smile. "Besides — when it comes to the difficult part, I'm counting on you."
The last traces of Shutia's drowsiness evacuated her brain at speed and vanished somewhere past the outer belt. Her golden eyes lit up. Her heartbeat got well ahead of her.
"Of course, sis! Leave everything to me! Sis's safety and the Station's peace — I'll defend them both with everything I have!"
Ledea watched her sister clench a fist with the energy of someone preparing to storm a fortress, gave a small rueful laugh — I'm counting on it — and opened the tactical display.
"According to the Guild's data, the organism we're dealing with is a subspecies of Plasma Manta — a space fauna with a powerful bioelectric generation organ. It fires high-energy plasma charges from its mouth. A direct hit would fry the Silver Anchor's electronics in one shot."
"The antimatter field would block that, but it's in maintenance at the moment. So we're working with bare armor and creative solutions." Shutia was already moving toward the gunnery console. "Piloting is yours, sis."
"Naturally. Keep up with me."
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2. A Dance Among the Rocks
They hadn't gone far into the Gehenna Belt's dense debris thicket before it appeared.
From behind the shadow of a large asteroid, a massive flat body slid into view — blue-white and unsettlingly luminous, tens of meters across. Its split-wide maw was already gathering plasma into a bright, contracting sphere.
"Incoming!"
Both of them said it simultaneously.
The plasma bolt launched a half-instant later — a blinding streak cutting across the dark. Ledea had the counter-thrust jets firing in pulse bursts before it arrived. The Silver Anchor carved a sharp angle that shouldn't have been available to a ship this size, and slipped past the charge with a margin measurable in fractions.
"Perfect dodge, sis! Close in and take it out!"
"Closing! Gunnery — ready?"
Ledea pushed the ship through the asteroid gaps at full acceleration. Shutia pulled the trigger: the traction anchor launched from the bow, heavy cable trailing behind it. But the creature's instincts were faster than expected — it swept a reinforced lateral fin around like a shield and batted the anchor away. Sparks against membrane. The anchor tumbled through empty space.
"The hide is thicker than I'd like. — What about this?"
In one smooth motion, Shutia redirected the anchor. The claws caught on a dense chunk of debris floating nearby — good mass, several meters across — and she hauled the cable in hard. The debris swung on the line like a flail and struck the Manta squarely across its cranial section.
The impact shook the creature's entire bulk.
But the stagger came with anger. The Manta opened its mouth and fired three plasma charges in rapid succession, from close range.
"Watch out—!"
"This much — won't stop me—!"
Ledea was already sweating through the controls. The Silver Anchor rolled hard: right, left, back again, threading the narrow gaps between rock faces as three bolts of blue light pressed in close succession. Each one missed by a margin that would have been smaller with any other pilot in the seat.
And then the ship came around — wide arc, building speed, sweeping into the creature's flank with all that accumulated momentum behind it.
"Now, Shutia! Maximum inertia — go!"
"Got it!"
The traction anchor launched again, this time with the ship's full velocity behind it. Ledea had chosen the approach vector with care: the anchor struck the Manta's cranial armor — the hardest point on its body — and drove through.
The recoil shockwave traveled the cable and hit the Silver Anchor's frame.
The claws held.
"Locked on! Sis — that asteroid—!"
"Already on it. All thrusters — maximum output!"
The Silver Anchor's twin engines roared. The ship surged forward, hauling the captured creature on its line, and drove it straight into the face of the nearest asteroid at full speed.
The collision was substantial.
When it was over, the Manta was completely still. They confirmed no movement for long enough to be certain, filed the completed-extermination report with the Guild, and made arrangements for a recovery vessel to handle the collection of the creature's bioelectric organs and outer skin — high-value materials, worth the processing. Forms signed, handoff arranged, heading for home.
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3. An Impregnable Defense Line
Several hours later. The Silver Anchor was back in dock, and the first light of Subaru Station's artificial morning had begun to reach the living area of their quarters.
The job was done. Ledea had eaten, changed into her pajamas, and was making her way toward her bed.
Behind her, a golden retriever of twenty-four in matching pajamas was following her into the bedroom with the untroubled confidence of someone who saw nothing unusual about this arrangement.
"Wait. Shutia." Ledea stopped. She turned around. She planted her feet in the doorway. "Where exactly do you think you're going."
"...To your bed?"
The answer arrived as a question only because Shutia couldn't identify what required clarifying. Ledea squared her shoulders.
"Not tonight. These past several days, you have been coming into my room every single night, using me as a body pillow, and sleeping directly on top of me. I have been completely unable to move. I am running a sleep deficit. Tonight you are sleeping in your own bed. By yourself."
"That's so unfair! If I can't snuggle sis and breathe in that sis-smell, I can't recharge for tomorrow — I lose every bit of my energy for the next day! Sis, this is cruelty!"
"This is not cruelty. This is the lawful defense of my right to unimpeded sleep. Goodnight, Shutia."
Ledea stepped through the gap, pulled the door shut behind her, and engaged the electromagnetic lock without hesitation.
"Sis! Don't lock me out! We could whisper to each other through the door at least — love transcends solid matter, sis—!"
The corridor of the Silver Anchor was very quiet. Shutia's voice echoed through it with considerable feeling, and no effect.
And so another day in the life of the Mace sisters wound its way to a close — eventful as always, and approximately thirty percent louder than strictly necessary.