Dromore minor

About fifteen years ago, there had been an interplanetary war between planet Theis and Dromore minor- a small asteroid planet that was not recognised as part of the Twelve Planet Galaxy. Only bona-fide planets were recognized as part of the Twelve Planet Galaxy which excluded dwarf and asteroid planets like Dromore minor. This meant smaller habitats like them were open to hostile forces and were very often annexed by other stronger alien planets. 

Dromore minor refused to be taken over and so Theis had struck. They had sent a most shattering missile to the planet and it had sliced up the planet in two. Only a few survivors made it, leading to the lost race of the Crueskins. There were only a few known Crueskins. Elara was one of them. 

Atlas had no idea what a Crueskin  was. He had not been particularly interested in the histories and stories that shaped the empire he now ruled. Some histories had been long buried and forgotten. The empire had left those dark times of annexation and conquering to become a confederation of supporting forces. So it was easy to know why these histories weren't so popular. 

"Dromore minor," Atlas said thoughtfully. "Did such a planet ever exist?"

"It was an asteroid planet," Elara said.

"I've never heard of it," Atlas said.

"The empire can hide its complicity in ignorance, can't it?" Elara asked. And the figurehead of that confederation, the most clueless of them all."

Atlas turned to her annoyed. "Are you good at anything but sarcastic statements that might earn you jail time? I think keeping you in jail might yet be the best way to keep an eye on you."

Elara grew quiet instantly. 

Thyron, who had not spoken earlier, spoke then. "Given your...experience...with ships. You should be a good pilot, shouldn't you, child?" 

Elara turned to him. "I'm an excellent pilot.  How do you think I evaded my numerous assailants from planetary security?"

"Not the point, criminal," Atlas snapped. He turned to Thyron. "We don't need a pilot. We have expert systems on all our ships. We need minimal assistance for our ships."

"For every part of our galaxy but the Hyperion divide," Thyron said. "A ship whose controls aren't properly steered would lose itself there. Seeing as we often have to make trips there, she could as well put her skills to good use."

Atlas considered this. 

The Hyperion divide was an imaginary line of divide between the six outer planets and the six inner planets of the Twelve Planet Galaxy.

The inner planets were very easily reachable through hyperspace, but the outer planets region had a lot of turbulence- asteroid belts and dark, swirling, masses of rolling energy commonly known as blackholes whose energy threatened to pull and tear apart ships, for instance. 

Those who made their way across the Hyperion divide manually dealt with the controls, else the starship might succumb to one or more of the turbulences. 

The planets over the Hyperion divide were: Theis, Nidia, Thronos, Grenala, and Planets Ee and Yu.

Travel to some of these planets was quite inevitable by the empire.

Grenala was the empire's energy source. The second producer was Satyx and they didn't produce up to half of what Grenala produced.  

Theis was indispensable for it was the home for dealing with criminals who were given life or long sentences. This gave the planet the name: "the prison planet." All the criminals who had committed very serious crimes to the empire and the planets, depending on their magnitude were taken there. 

And planet Ee was blessed with good agricultural land and they produced the largest individual planet's  percentage of food.

"She might run away with my ship," Atlas said thoughtfully. 

"You can have someone monitor her," Thyron said. 

"You will go with her for her first trip," Atlas said. 

"Me?" 

"Yes," Atlas said. "You have a high vote of confidence for her, don't you? You trust in her capacity. You brought the idea. You will watch her."

"Yes, Primera," Thyron said quietly.

"When is the next trip to Planet Ee for food supplies?"

"This afternoon," Thyron replied.

"You had best gone to prepare. You're dismissed." Atlas said.

Thyron headed for the door.

Atlas turned to Elara. "Hopefully, you'll come back in one piece if you are a pilot as good as you think."

Elara stared at him. 

"You're dismissed," Atlas said, turning away from her.

A few seconds later, the soft clasp of the metallic doors opening and closing sounded.