Read Chapter 30: Escape Velocity

The shuttle’s rear ramp was already gaping open when Elena crested the last rise, her lungs burning inside the helmet. Iris stood framed in the hatch, waving them forward with one arm while the other gripped a restraint strap. Behind them, a low rumble rolled across the regolith—not thunder, but engines. Enforcement ships. Coming down fast.

“Go, go, go!” Elena shouted, hauling on the tether. Jack stumbled beside her, his leg dragging now, but he didn’t stop. He never stopped.

They hit the ramp together, momentum carrying them into the dim cargo bay as Iris slammed the hatch control. The ramp groaned upward, sealing with a hiss that cut off the lunar silence. Iris was already moving, shoving past them toward the cockpit.

“Strap in. Now.” Her voice crackled through their helmet speakers, but Elena didn’t need the instruction. She grabbed Jack’s arm and pulled him into the nearest jump seat, fumbling with the buckles as the deck began to thrum beneath them.

“I can fly her,” Jack said, already reaching for the harness release.

“You can barely stand,” Elena snapped. “Copilot. Now.”

For once, he didn’t argue.

The shuttle lurched as Iris fired the main engines, throwing Elena back into her seat. Through the forward viewport, the gray lunar surface fell away, replaced by a wall of black and the pale curve of Earth rising beyond. But the sky was no longer empty. Two sleek, dark hulls descended on their flank, running lights blinking in rapid sequence—an enforcement hailing pattern.

“They’re demanding we power down,” Iris said, tone clipped. “I’m ignoring it.”

Jack pulled up the comm display from the copilot seat, tapping furiously at the controls. “They’re closing. Ten klicks and gaining. Give me lateral thrust on my mark.”

Iris’s voice was flat. “You’re not flying this crate, Vasquez’s shadow.”

“Humor me.”

A beat. Then Iris laughed—a short, sharp sound. “Fine. Lateral thrust on your mark.”

Jack’s hand hovered over the console. Elena watched the enforcement ships grow in the viewport, their shapes sharpening into angular predators. Beside her, the encrypted data drive sat in its port, ready to transmit the moment they hit relay range.

“Mark,” Jack said.

Iris slammed the stick sideways. The shuttle yawed hard, and Elena’s stomach dropped as they slid into a high-G turn, skimming along the boundary of the danger zone. The enforcement ships overshot, their deceleration burn flaring brilliant white against the dark.

“They’ll loop around,” Jack said. “Keep us low and fast. Don’t give them a clean line.”

“I know how to fly my own ship,” Iris muttered, but she followed his instruction, diving toward the horizon line where the Moon’s curve met open space. The engines screamed. The hull shuddered.

Elena unclipped her harness and crawled toward the data console, bracing herself against the bulkhead. Her fingers moved across the controls, initiating the uplink. A progress bar crawled across the screen: 12 percent.

A warning klaxon blared. “Incoming fire,” Iris said, her voice eerily calm. “They’re shooting at us.”

“They’re shooting at civilians,” Jack corrected. “Log it.”

Another shudder ran through the ship as a warning shot clipped their port thruster array. Red lights bloomed across the console. Elena gripped the data drive, watching the bar crawl: 48 percent.

“Give me more speed,” Jack said.

“There’s no more speed,” Iris snapped. “We’re at max burn.”

“Then give me less profile.” He reached past her, adjusting trim controls with practiced ease. The shuttle tilted, presenting its narrowest edge to the pursuing ships. Another warning shot streaked past, missing by meters.

The progress bar hit 100 percent. Elena slammed the transmit command.

“Data sent,” she said, breath ragged. “Secure relay. Earth has it.”

The viewport flared white as they broke through the upper atmosphere boundary, gravity’s grip loosening. The ship rattled violently, every rivet singing, and Elena held her breath as the shaking peaked—then stopped. Silence. Weightlessness.

The enforcement ships fell away behind them, their vectors bending back toward the Moon. They wouldn’t follow into open space without authorization.

Jack let out a long, slow breath. Iris keyed the comm array, searching frequencies. A voice crackled through: “—repeat, TerraCore Holdings CEO Marcus Webb has been taken into custody. Repeat, Webb is in custody. Charges filed based on evidence transmitted from Lunar Alpha—”

Elena closed her eyes. She saw Marcus’s face, his recorded confession, the weight of it finally lifting.

When she opened them, Jack was looking at her. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to.

The Earth hung in the viewport, blue and patient. And for the first time in years, Elena felt like she was coming home.