It took only 12 hours for their tail to disappear from the scope. An eventuality that had not been entirely unexpected. The relative angle of departure meant that sooner or later, unless the (presumed) enemy ship could match or exceed their velocity, it would disappear into their wake -- their baffles.

And, right on schedule, despite Ekhart's proclamations about how fast his ships were, their would be hunter vanished into the fog of that which they were leaving behind. So, after 48 hours of traveling due south -- perpendicular to the axial spin of the galaxy, they dropped warp and Willa brought them about. Their quarry gone, and with nothing else on the passive densitometer's display other than the expected stars, planets, and the occasional passing ship in warp, she set their course to their true destination. and for the first time, brought Audacity up to her full presumed capability: Warp 10, five hundred times the speed of light. A warp factor usually only mentioned in hushed whispers as a dream just out of reach. Warp 9.4, even 9.7 was the gold standard. But warp 10... Those were ships rumored to exist. Nobody knew anybody who'd ever seen one -- though all spacers knew someone who knew someone who had seen "this ship" that could "do it."

Audacity on the other hand, after 48 hours under Teagan's insistent administration, blasted into warp 10 as though it was the most natural thing in the world. The sound of the build up and release was deafening. And for a brief instant it felt almost as though the ship were in many different places in space and time all at the same time. For anybody eating the experience was extremely nauseating. Then came the release and everything smoothed out to a dull, smooth hum, as though she was quite made to rocket through space at that impossible speed.

There was a certain comfort in their final jump to warp 10. For the next twenty odd days not only could nothing attack them, neither could anything that they were aware of catch them even if it wanted to. Ekhart's ships were fast; he obviously knew their ships history. But he didn't know it quite well enough. Between Teagan and Juice and the hard work of her new crew, old Sagitto, now Audacity, had become almost everything her creator had envisioned her to be: The fastest ship in known space.

Willa’s heart raced, as the ship hit warp 10. She had full confidence in Teagan’s capabilities, if she said the Audacity could do warp 10 without flying apart, she believed her. No, Willa was not afraid, she was ecstatic. I am piloting a ship doing warp 10! If they could see me now. The grin on her face was probably a little scary to those who could see it.

An exquisitely inebriated Lawrence was perched on his tip-toes in his cabin. The novelty of the trip had worn off in the first hour. Now he was just bored, bored, bored. But there were ways to pass the time in space.

Carefully, with dextrous, cautious movements, he placed the empty vodka bottle upside down on the tower of other empty bottles, storage boxes, and empty food containers.

There...there...almost...got...it...

The jump to warp ten was without warning, of course. The ship lurched and he with it, causing a tumble into his precariously arranged pile that sent human, glass, metal, and plastic flying about the confines of his room.

"Doh!"

"Ouch!"

*crash*

"Ouch!"

*tinkle*

"Ouchie!"

*smash*

His stomach threatened to leave his body via his right ear and the queasiness built and built until the back of the ship caught up with the front of the ship and it all released into wherever such things released. It took a brief moment of self-collecting and then Lawrence summoned the last of his dignity, enough to stand at least.

He ran a frustrated hand down over his face and then shouted angrily, "A little warning next time would be nice! Maybe!" at the bulkhead between himself and the bridge.

"Our perpetually inebriated crew member seems to be having trouble coping with the realities of space travel on a small ship," Paladin observed mildy.

Snickering Willa acknowledged Paladin, still too caught up in the moment to do much else.

Teagan didn't comment, her eyes were closed and the only thing that could be heard from her was an occasional hum. Over the last 48 hours she had been a slave of sorts to the bridge, only unhooking and leaving her station to take care of her vital needs. The rest of the time she had been drifting between sleep and wakefulness, the deep concentration needed to monitor the ship would lure her into a dreamless state of rest, only interrupted when Audacity's harmony would lose it's key.

It was when the Audacity would lose her music that Teagan would begin coaxing her back, using her humming voice to fine tune the ship's systems and settle her back to the tasks at hand. Now, the lovely ship seemed to be conducting the entire symphony all by herself, and the mechanic became aware of some of her own internal malfunctions.

Morgan had set up a loop in the cargo bay. It was short, but he was used to running on short tracks. He felt the ship drop into it's final wrap. The engines roared into a steady flow of power. It was like a rumble that could felt rather than heard. Once he was finished with his run, he would walk up to the bridge and find out just how fast they were going.

Qamala felt the telltale shudder just before Audacity made its jump into warp space and just had time to close her eyes against the nauseating disorientation the sensations produced. It was like being in too many places at once -- not an unlikely event for an elder Magellen but totally impossible for the young adult Qamala was. Fragile sacks of protoplasm are not meant to travel faster than the speed of light aboard these mechanical rattletraps, she sighed to herself, reaching out a hand again to touch the bulkhead, thanking the ship nonetheless for not flying apart on them.

Once she was more or less certain the contents of her stomach wouldn't come up if she opened her mouth, she reached out and touched the button for the comm unit, keying in the bridge. "Bridge, Qamala," she began, taking a deep breath. "We're on our way at warp 10, I gather?"

The beep of the com link brought Willa out of her ecstatic state. “Warp 10 aye.” she replied back with a sigh.

"Congratulations to all of you then," Qamala said, and they could hear the smile in her voice. "You did it. A feat for the history files, isn't it?"

“I suppose it is.” Willa smiled. “You are part of it, Qamala, we are all making history here.”

"Indeed we are," the Magellen chuckled. "To quote Saint Fezzik the Giant: `I hope we live'."

Feeling she had been left out on the joke, Willa looked quizzically at Paladin and shrugged.

"Earth joke whose origins are lost in the planet's celluloid history, most assume." He gave her a side long look. "We have a ship. I suppose we could go find out the truth. Earth is that way somewhere," he pointed vaguely in a northerly direction.

“Ah, I’ve always wanted to go to Earth. We can do that after we get the missing message. We could be there and back in no time in this wonderful darling.” Willa leaned down and patted the deck.

The comm was still open, and Qamala's light laughter came over the speakers. "I don't know what celluloid is, but I read about the cult of St. Fezzik the Giant during the trip from Durakaan to Rigellius station. Remind me to tell you about it sometime. Qamala out." She tapped the button, then wondered what to do with herself next.

Jacob grumbled to himself as he bent his bulk under the desk. He managed to pick up the last tool that had, with fiendish accuracy, rolled just to the hardest spot to reach beneath his feet. Picking it up, he turned back to the circuit board he had been working on before the ship had lurched and shaken everything off his desk. Now things seemed to be running smoothly enough, so he turned back to his work. He wanted to finish this test box so he could track out the security on the ship. Chewing gently on his stylus, he carefully examined the box, looking for damage from the fall.

After the ship had settled into it's new speed, Teagan made her way back into the depths of the ship. She looked tired and the hollows under her eyes were well defined. She made her way into the lounge and procured herself some food, eager to silence the rumblings in her stomach. Then she would see if any of the beds had gone unclaimed.

Morgan walked onto the bridge. He was wearing only a pair of shorts and running shoes. He was carrying a pair of grav-boots that he had been using to run, while he wiped himself off with his t-shirt. He nodded 'hello' to the bridge crew. "So, how fast are we going? 9.7 ... 9.8?" He asked.

OOC: cleaning out old font tags.