The two BMM Transports waited patiently, as their escorts undocked from Freeport 1, pulling up beside them for final checks.
"Alright Gentlemen, are we good to move out?" asked Captain Nevis, leader of the convoy, his Eagle taking up point infront of the transports,
"All clear here sir" The Stafford confirmed, the first Transport, slightly larger in size to it's partner,
"Green across the board, ready to move out" Ashbourne spoke, the second Transport,
"Alpha wing?" Captain Nevis checked,
"Ready to move out, locked formation with the Ashbourne" Alpha wing confirmed, three Griffin Light Fighters,
"Beta wing?" Captain Nevis questioned,
"Formation locked, we're all good to go on the Stafford, sir" Beta wing confirmed, also a small squad of Griffins,
"Right, all on me, let's move out" Captain Nevis ordered, programming his Eagle to dock with the trade ring to the Cambridge Gate,
He was pulled into the field created by the ring, throwing him through space, the needle on his speedometer tapping gently against the rightside of the dial.
Soon enough he emerged from the ring, his ship slowing itself down before it was torn apart by the end of the ring.
The Ice Cloud around him was dense, making pirate attacks likely. Right now though, it was quiet, probably due to the incident with Hessians on the other side of the system earlier.
The Stafford and Ashbourne appeared from the lane behind him, each with their respective escort wings.
"Right, Alpha wing, you go first, then the payload" Captain Nevis ordered,
"On it" Alpha wing confirmed, docking with the jumpgate.
The Stafford and Ashbourne followed, along with Beta and eventually Nevis.
3:52PM, Cambridge
The other side was clear aswell, no problems so far.
"Right, form up and get into the lane after me, we're almost home gents" Captain Nevis ordered, docking with the lane,
He thought about how easy the trip had been, no attacks, no bad deals, no pirates. The Stafford has a full load of MOX, and the Ashbourne had some pricey Luxury Food, this was a successful return trip, even if he had skipped out on the paperwork.
The Stafford moved into position and docked behind Nevis, followed by the Ashbourne, and eventually the escort wings, the lane pulling them forward, deeper into the ice.
Captain Nevis' console lit up, new targets on scanners, a few K out. In a split second his mind considered the readings, his mind searching for sense in the matter.
He was in a tradelane, headed at more than twice the speed of cruise, those targets must be pirates, they were less than halfway along the lane.
Nevis slammed his fist on the 'Free Flight' button, his Eagle disconnecting from the lane and throwing itself to the right into the Ice Cloud.
He saw the next ring along, a few Starblazers and Hawks drifting around what looked to be a Corsair Freighter. His scanner showed their signals as red, probably pirates, the last object his scanner seemed to be warning him about was a large chunk of ice.
The space-glacier was right infront of the top part of the lane, if the lane was disrupted in time, whatever ship in the lane at the time, would drop out and collide with the rock at over 900m/s.
The confusion had delayed his reactions, it was then that he realised the Stafford and Ashbourne would most likely would be too slow to react, they would hit the rock before they had time to move.
Nevis cursed and slammed his fist on the comms button, watching with horror in slow motion as one of the pirate ships disrupted the lane, the Stafford and Ashbourne clearly seen passing Nevis, dropping out at full speed.
The Stafford didn't even see what they had hit, the entire front portion of the ship practically shattered against the rock, over twice it's size. Moments later, the cargopods of the ship, thrown forwards with great force crushed with full force into the front of the ship, the unstable cargo of MOX detonating in the dead center of the large space-glacier.
A faint scream was heard as the Ashbourne watched it's sister transport crushed, the explosion from the MOX filling the space infront of the train, blocking the pilot's sight as he attempted to swerve to avoid the ice.
Nevis sat frozen, seeing the Ashbourne disappear into the flames, clipping the edge of the glacier as it tried to avoid it, the impact collapsing the sheild and tearing open the whole port side of the ship.
The majority of Alpha wing was either killed in the blast, or seen colliding with the rock, which had begun to break itself up, the power behind the MOX breaking it up into smaller pieces, which then projected themselves with full momentum outwards.
At least half of the pirate ships had be torn apart by either the MOX cloud or the shards hurdling towards them, their attempts to move to safety failing.
Nevis slammed on his afterburners, thrusting forward to the scene, rolling his ship to avoid a large shard that had been blown in his direction.
"Engage hostile forces!" Nevis screamed, opening fire on a couple of the hostile Hawks,
Beta wing appeared, having moved away from the disaster in time,
"Gaians sir, moving in to support you" Beta confirmed, firing on the surviving hostile vessels.
Zoey checked the clock on the dashboard, they were early, so there was no rush. She had moved away from the Leeds Jumphole, her Correo Freighter hummed with the gentle rhythm of the engine, awaiting her instructions.
Soon enough, a small group of Gaian Hawks emerged, organising themselves into formation, the leader of the pack moved forward silently, beckoning Zoey to follow.
She kicked the engine into cruise, strafing to avoid the large pieces of ice before her ship finally made it to full speed.
The squad of Hawks guided her through the ice, sweving to avoid particuarly large chunks. The scanners were clear, not even a Molly stalking the cloud for prey, they didn't encounter a single soul.
Zoey's console piped up, they had arrived at their set waypoint.
A bunch of Gaian Starblazers were waiting for them, all floating around a rather large space-glacier.
"Alright Zoey, this is the one, we'll help you get hitched up, then Smith will guide you into position" Jerry, the leader of the pack of Hawks, explained,
"Got it, moving into position" Zoey responded, positioning the Correo ready for Smith to hook it up.
Zoey carefully positioned the rock, trying to get it as central as possible, for maximum effectiveness.
The patrols of Hawks and Starblazers around her moving about to guide her into the spot.
"Alright, just about in position" Zoey confirmed, getting ready to detach her Correo from the Ice,
"Understood Zoey, I'll let Jerry know" Smith moved his ship off, getting into position by the lane,
"No wait... that's not right" Zoey said, "It needs nudging to the left"
"No time Zoey, they're early!" Smith explained,
"What? No! Stall them!" Zoey panicked, trying to get the Correo to move quicker, the picks were still in place, her ship was still attached to the glacier,
"Here they come!" Smith exclaimed, dropping the lane,
"Oh sh-" Zoey cursed, smashing her hand on the console,
The lights flickered and the picks gave way, detatching,
"Crap, someone help Zoey out, she'll be killed if she doesn't move!" Jerry buzzed over her comms, a Jerry's group of Hawks rose to assist, encouraging her to move.
She pushed the ship into impulse, starting her cruise engines,
"Zoey watch-" she heard from her comms before they cut out, there was a large orange glow, she couldn't see a thing through the bright flares of light outside.
There was a shaking and she felt the ship being pushed against her control. The internal alarm was screaming at her, almost all the emergency lights had come on, some of them blinking for attention.
She slammed her hand on the button for Sheild Batteries, grabbing the control stick.
Looking up, she saw the Ice Glacier, or at least a part of it, flames and wreckage behind it. It was gaining speed, all she saw in the split-second was it growing in size, it was getting closer, at an incredible speed.
She felt the impact, and braced for it, shifting forward. Zoey felt a sharp pain around her waist, then more pain in her head.
Her eyes felt heavy, the cockpit span around her, the alarms were gone, perhaps she was deaf to them... Then darkness as she slipped out of consciousness.
I love Bretonia, really, but I have to put up with a lot. See, people don't like me much in Bretonia. No one does, really. I'm part Kusarian, you see. I look it, to. I even have a Kusarian name, Suzume.
Actually, I'm a Junker, really. No, no, not like the shady types, those people who pretend to be good but really move the most horrific things. From stolen goods to actual slaves and even that terrible Cardamine, they can be pretty bad. But no, I'm not like that. I just take out the trash. Other Junkers treat me even worse than most other Bretonians.
You'd think that'd be the worst it gets, wouldn't you?
It's not.
People who support Kusari - actually support Kusari, can you imagine? - are even worse. Soon as they find out I don't like Kusari, they'll treat me even worse than they would any normal Bretonian. Take that Zoey Sakura, for instance. She's a Gaian... kinda. She doesn't really seem to care about anything Gaian-y. Anyways, when I met her, she actually tried to kill me! She did eventually give up and run off when some BAF officer showed up, but still!
I just can't figure out why people act like that.
Oh well.
Anyways, so there I was, flying through Cambridge. It's a pretty system, and people around here usually don't bother me as much as they do in Leeds and New London. I'd met some Neo-Terrans in Omega-3 a week earlier, and I was going to see if they were still around. They tend to be pretty nice to me.
I passed Cambridge - wow, that's a pretty planet. I actually don't like it much there, though. Too many bad memories. I was going the long way around the system, though. I'd really rather avoid the IMG if I can help it, honestly; they've always irritated me.
Then there's the Norfolk. It's a Dunkirk. I love Dunkirks; so big and safe, and they look good while they're at it. I wish the military would let civilians land on Dunkirks. Not now, though. Not in time of war like this, especially. And especially not Junkers.
Wow, those other Junkers are annoying.
There, though. I was almost to the Omega-3 gate. I never got there, though.
As I was flying along through the trade lanes, I noticed something. It... looked like something on fire, or something.
How odd.
I decided to drop out of the trade lane and fly up and take a look at it. As I got closer, it looked like... some kind of wreck.
Parts of it were pretty much crushed, like the "neck" to the cockpit. That neck was venting a lot of oxygen, too. It looked like it'd been hit hard by something. Not like any weapons or anything. Weird.
I decided to look it up. It was called the Boryoku, by the name on the side. It was a Correo - I'd never heard of that before, though - registered to someone named...
I stepped out of the connecting tunnel from my freighter into the tunnel to the bridge of the Boryoku, all covered up in that ridiculous hazard suit. I'd cut a big hole in the side to get in. After all, I really didn't plan on using this for anything other than scrap. It was too ugly for anything else, anyways. I figured I may as well see if I could find anything inside first, though.
The hallway was pretty much collapsed. I had planned on going to the cargo hold, but it was immediately clear that I wouldn't be able to get there from where I was. Bridge first, then.
I got to the bridge and started looking around. There wasn't much there, really. It was pretty much empty, except for that body I'd just tripped over.
... Wait.
Body?
I carefully leaned over and took a closer look at it. It took me a moment because all the lights had failed whenever the ship had crashed, but I eventually recognized it as Zoey herself.
And she was breathing.
The things I get myself into.
I mean... I guess I probably should've left her there. She'd tried to kill me, and had killed a lot of other people.
But... I mean, I couldn't just let her die like that. She might horrible, but she's still a person.
... Although she is a really bad person.
Still! I really couldn't... well, I couldn't leave her there unconscious. I just couldn't! Not even Zoey. Maybe I'm just dumb or something.
So I took her back to the Sparrow. Actually, that was probably the hardest part of all; she was pretty heavy. Well, I guess everyone's pretty heavy, but she was heavier than me.
... Well, I guess most people're heavier than me, too.
Anyways, with that big heavy suit on, it took me ages to get her back to the Sparrow. Once we were there, of course, I had to relax for a bit, close up the tunnel, and go change out of that ridiculous suit. I was just glad I keep that old cot in the hold for when I run out of fuel or something; trying to find somewhere else to put her would've been a nightmare.
I cleaned her up and got out the first aid kit, then patched her up. She wasn't really that badly hurt, actually; just a few cuts, and a big bump on her head where I guess she must have hit it. By the time I was done, I was getting tired, so I decided not to bother scrounging around in the rest of her ship and just left it there. I told the autopilot to head for Trafalgar, then made sure I had the pistol in case she tried to kill me or something when she woke up and headed down to the hold.
Zoey groaned, a stinging sensation in her head, a throbbing pain. She raised her hand to her head, squeezing her eyes tight as she felt a bandage tightly gripping the wound on her head.
She remembered the plan, the convoy and the danger she was in, she jolted upright, a sense of panic coming over her,
"Oh, fu-" she began, her head smashing rather violently into a metal bar, "Ow..."
She was in a rather small, rather uncomfortable bunk. The metal bar she had just hit her already wounded head on, was a support bar for the whole thing.
This was the interior of a ship, she thought, as she opened her eyes and studied her surroundings. The room was small, designed for one person, a couple of small ones at best.
There was barely any space to move, the bunk took up a large portion of the area, there were boxes of supplies and a small table/sink combo.
In front of that was a chair, and on that chair was a young girl, younger than Zoey at least.
She was small and, with large brown eyes and long black hair, she looked a mixture of Kusari and something else. The girl sat almost painfully straight, wearing an ancient, worn pilot's survival suit that's probably at least three sizes too large and looked like it was probably made for a man.
She looked uncomfortable, and boasted a small handgun, holstered on her belt.
At first glance, the hundgun appeared to be pretty well-made, odd considering the beaten up area she was in, and the appearence of her host.
Looking closer, she could see it was high-quality, Detroit made.
Zoey could see much else, but it seemed very out of place.
"I hope you don't plan on using that on me" Zoey smiled weakly.
I did respond, though: "Oh... N- I h- hope not." I do stutter, by the way. It's really annoying.
"S- so... you're aw- wake. H- how's your head?", I ventured warily. I really didn't want to talk at all, actually, but maybe it'd distract her or something. I don't know.
She seemed pretty responsive for someone who'd gotten her head bashed like that, though. She immediately started questioning me. "It's fine... what happened? Where's my ship?" Wow. She sounded pretty panicked.
I guess it's bad that I almost enjoyed it a little. I'm pretty disappointed with myself, really... but I just couldn't resist rubbing it in. Just a little.
"Well... I m- mean, I h- have seen worse wrecks, b- but... a- actually, I was p- pretty surp- prised to f- find anyone al- live in th- there."
Oddly, that didn't seem to worry her at all. I guess that's good, though.
"Me and death don't get on very well", she said, looking around at my little ship. It's pretty cluttered, too. It was actually pretty embarrassing. "Where are we? Your ship? I can hear engines... either that, or I have a concussion."I honestly wished she'd said that when we hadn't been in the ship. But it wouldn't just been mean to pretend we weren't.
I already had my mind back on her trying to kill me, though, so I sorta responded absentmindedly before going on to that. "Mmh- hmm... s- so you're n- not going to t- try to kill me, th- then?"
She raised her one eyebrow as she asked, "Why exactly would I do that?"
I almost gaped at her. "D- don't ask m- me. That's j- just what you d- did last time, s- so..."
I actually was so surprised that I kinda forgot where I was going with that, so I just shrugged.
"Last time?", she questioned. "I think you have me confused with someone else."Zoey then sat up. She ducked under the bar this time.
Too bad.
She continued, though, before I had a chance to reply. "Thanks for the help and all, you can drop me off at a Freeport or something, payment is no problem, I do owe you."
I was so surprised, though, that I just looked at her for a minute. "Um... y- you are Zoey Sak- kura... r- right? N- not... like... s- some h- half alien m- mutant cat th- thing or whatever crazy thing is f- floating around n- now in disg- guise or something?" I guess that last part was a bit rude, but I really didn't care.
"No, I am Zoey.", she confirmed. "But how did you kno- Ah, the ship registery. It was in my name. Still doesn't explain why my name and face seem to make you so mightily uncomfortable..."
I almost stared at her again. Even if she didn't remember me, hadn't she been listening?
Oh well.
"Um... w- well... I m- mean, you d- did... try to k- kill me... and c- called me... t- terrible th- things."And that was true. But at that point it was looking like she might actually not try to kill me, so I might as well be a little nice.
"A- actually, you're q- quite a b- bit nicer when you're n- not trying to k- kill r- random people you've never m- met before..."
Zoey couldn't remember for the life of her what the girl was talking about, something about them meeting on bad terms,
"...My mind is still drawing a blank, if I was trying to kill you, I most likely had a good reason" She uttered, a little confused,
She sized up the girl, trying to classify her, and figure out her original motives, though she couldn't exactly remember what those were...
"You don't look like you're on Cardi, and I can't smell it on you, so that rules out Chrysanthemum and Outcast, you don't have that mean look of a Blood Dragon, you look too Kusari to be a Bretonian target, and no offense, by the state of your ship I'm going to go with Junker" she guessed, smiling, "Am I right?"
The girl reacted to the word 'Junker, perking up her ears,
"... M- mostly" she stuttered, "And th-that's n- not a good reason at a- all"
Zoey frowned, annoyed a little,
"Now you've put me in a very difficult position..." she began, "I don't like Junkers... never have. And now one comes along and saves my life? You've made everything so much more compliated..." Zoey sighed, contemplating the events that had passed,
"I kn- know you d- don't. I m- mean... you t- tried to k- kill me j- just for b- being one" the girl replied, "I m- mean... why? Th- that's doesn't even m- make sense..."
Zoey buried her head in her hands, staring through the gaps in her fingers at the beaten floor panels, conflicting emotions and feelings at war in her head,
"I always killed Junkers because it's what I was taught to do, that would be the ex-Alliance in me speaking. I hated you for your robbery, cold-blooded murder and filthy smuggling, particuarly the slaves..." she groaned, looking up, "But you-" she began, her voice elevated, feelings of anger and annoyance coming over her.
She calmed herself, looking into the eyes of her host, "-you saved my life, which makes me feel really bad..."
Her voice trailed off a little, her stomach was heavy, she felt guilty. She'd never faced a target, or former target in this case, in person, ignorance made killing people much easier...
"R- Robbery? Murder!? S-... slaves!?" I couldn't suppress a shiver. She must have always heard about all the wrong Junkers. I mean, not many Junkers are really much good, but only the fewest really awful ones are that downright horrid! I mean, I really shouldn't react like that to these things, but... it's just awful. I really had to struggle to recover and continued."You... wh-... I m- mean, wh- why would you..."
I couldn't even string a sentence together properly. Ug.
I gave up and just shook my head slowly for a moment, thinking. I finally managed to get my thoughts together, and began again.
"Th- that's not most Junk- kers, you know...", I began. "I m- mean... most of them d- do break the l- law, I guess. B- but the d- decent ones d- don't just... g- go ar- round announc- cing it or anyth- thing... or... r- robbery... and s- slaves... n- no, no..."
Ug. There I went again. I rallied for a moment, then continued, emboldened.
"A- and the r- really g- good ones... I m- mean, not e- everyone d- does break the l- law, you know. S- some of us d- do c- care ab- bout other peop- ple." That did it. This time she actually responded.
"So I see... I guess I've been pretty black-and-white about the people I choose to shoot. I shouldn't have thrown instant judgment at every Junker in general just because I've had a few bad experiences in the past..."
I blinked.
I hadn't been expecting that.
But Zoey wasn't done yet, either.
"I'm sorry - I didn't catch your name. I'm Zoey, though you already know that."
I smiled a bit, still recovering a bit from Zoey's unexpected reply.
"I'm Suz- zume. N- nice to m- meet you... ag- gain. On b- better terms this t- time, though..." This was still very odd.
"... Th- this is still really w- werid... just talking t- to you without y- you calling me h- horrible th- things ot t- trying to k- kill me or anyth- thing."
I guess it was pretty rude, but I still wasn't quite over her trying to blow me up.
"Suppose so," she replied, apparently realizing that I was still upset about being shot at. It seemed to make her uncomfortable."I've never really talked to a Junker without every single person in the room having their guns drawn... look, I'm sorry about the shooting, and the words. I didn't hurt you at all, did I?
Way to make me feel bad about making her feel uncomfortable like that.
"Oh... n- no. Onl- ly thing you d- did you me was m- make me h- hit the wrong b- button and accid- dently jettis- son the sheet on th- that.", I said, pointing towards the cot she was on." I g- got new ones, th- though... obv- viously.
"Uh... I can pay for that, no big deal... sorry again.", Zoey said rather sheepishly, glancing around the room as she did so.
I almost blushed. I'm getting better about that. But wow, I'm not that poor.
Rather than express my annoyance, though, I just told her not to worry about it. "Oh, n- no... that's alr- right." A random thought popped into my head, though... worth a shot. "You d- did almost b- blow up Aoy- yagi when he t- tried to stop you, th- though... p- poor weird little k- kid.", I said, shaking my head.
"I'll still shoot him if I see him again.. no room in space for weak little teenage boys.. I hear he wants to flee to Bretonia or...", she began angrily, but trailed off and started muttering something I couldn't understand. I'd finally decided that she was done and I could start expressing my outrage when Zoey began speaking again.