The tree was still there.
It had taken her scanning crew three hours to verify their position, because they were so far from populated space that even CONCORD’s local communication system was strained. And for every second of those three hours, one of Aethra Sunder’s inner eyes was trained on the eerie nebula which spread out, light-years away but immediate in her memory.
The tree was still there.
When the message indicator in her pilot’s overview began to flash, she was not immediately satisfied. The name of this place was as obscure as its location, simply a navigation designation instead of an actual name: E-1XVP. Great. Quickly flipping her attention to the galactic map, she narrowed their location down to the Detorid region, deep in mostly unclaimed null-sec space. Curious, she checked the autopilot’s route back to Aldrat, her temporary home base. She laughed bitterly at its immediate response – 35-40 jumps, depending on her route. Might as well be on the other side of the EVE Gate.
The tree was still there.
Her next option was to check the wormhole she had arrived through. It was possible that the system she had left contained more than one exit route, and perhaps another would be less remote. Unfortunately, just as she was turning her sensors toward it, it collapsed with one last belching wave of radiation. She wasn’t surprised; ever since she had seen the tree, she knew this was not a simple coincidence. There was a reason she had ended up here.
If only she had the faintest idea of what that reason was…
The tree was still there.
She decided to take precise astrometric readings of their current location so that she could return again in the future, and then she told her autopilot to find the nearest station that allowed public docking. Most of the systems out here were privately owned, so she expected it to take a while.
She was surprised when a result was returned almost immediately. Apparently there was a freehold only 12 stargates away which offered access to anyone who could pay the docking fee; intrigued, she looked up its ownership records.
The Angel Cartel. Figures this would be their space; she had always known her run-ins with their footsoldiers early in her capsuleering career were the prelude to a larger chain. Apparently she was close to their home region of Curse. Maybe even close enough to make a run for the station before whoever passed for the locals out here noticed her.
The tree was still there.
As she aligned the Hungering Cold to the first stargate on her route and activated her warp drive, one of her physiological monitors beeped at her. Apparently her subconscious had managed to override the pod implants’ cortical suppression again. She smiled wryly to herself as she noticed that her fingers had crossed themselves. It was going to be that kind of a trip. One last though drifted through her mind as she jumped out of the system…
The tree was still there.
And she would be coming back.