Poul Anderson's "Marque and Reprisal" climaxes with two different kinds of drama: a Parliamentary debate and an escape from the Solar System. It also links the two dramas. The debate must be delayed because the French representative in the World Parliament will announce that his country has issued letters of marque and reprisal and meanwhile the privateer ship is hastening to leave the System before the Federation realizes what is happening and tries to stop it.
Mach faster than light travel is not hyperspatial but nevertheless has the usual hyperspace requirement that the ship be far enough out of a gravity well before the drive is activated. As in some other such works, our heroes have an exceptionally well tuned drive, enabling them to escape while the pursuing Federation vessel dare not follow. The ship begins its voyage while the legalities are still being argued back in Parliament.
En route to the orbiting ship, Heim flies up through storm clouds into a blue sky. I once had a meditation session that felt exactly like that: from unhappiness to instant, unforced and genuine elation. I knew then that there was a place above the clouds, that I was in it, that I would soon be back down beneath the clouds and that that did not matter.
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