The cockpit of the ship was quite small, made for one person, these military vessels were never designed to hold passengers. For Elisa, this ship was a technological marvel compared to all the old mining ships and transports she went on during her life. The navigational equipment was of a much higher quality, same for the combat systems. Of all her miserable life, she never thought she would have the chance to see such marvel from so close.
Nearly all her life she was treated poorly, starting as a slave after being kidnapped during some kind of festival, these happier days were so hard to remember after such life. She was first sold from Texan slavers to a private mining corporation operating outside houses' legislations. She spent most of these years in inhuman conditions; in the mines, the air was unbeatable and security measures were close to being a myth. However, it wasn't ending there, those who weren't slave forced her more than once to share the bed. Thinking about such episodes of her life was always giving her shivers, so much pain for no gain. Hopefully, after years of devotion, her mining barge was raided by local criminals, Unioners if she is not wrong. She was then left on her on at a local Freeport, she was now free, but starvation was the price paid in exchange.
Weeks after her arrival on the Freeport, she met Joseph, who proposed her to live and work on a station outside house space. Once on the station, she started to work in the kitchen. Her life was comfortable until the last weeks, key members of the staff started to act strangely after a survey within the system. When they tied her on the chair, she realized what has changed in those persons, they were now infected by the Nomads. She didn't know much about them except the tales she heard since she was always isolated from the rest of the world. She didn't know how to thank her savior.
He was a total mystery for her, acting with cold blood, he was taking out all the enemies he was meeting in a systematic way. He was obviously trained mentally to deal with the death of his opponents. She knows herself unable to achieve such mental conditioning; not her type to hurt persons with bad feelings. Although, there was something familiar with him, as if they would have met a long time ago. Yet, David Copperfield was not a name she remembered.
Her troublesome life was obviously never improving... Slavery, and now nomads. At least, she was safe for now, but now David.
Looking through the cockpit, she saw flashes inside the control room. For the last 5 minutes, she kept hearing gun shot. At least, that was meaning that the Director was still alive and...well. Suddenly, A man fell through the window and broke some bones upon collision with the hanger bay floor. Totally scared a moment about Dave, she realized that he was still fighting up there since the man who was lying on the floor wasn't him.
Moments after, red lights began to flash in the Hanger and the siren started to sign. The doors were slowly opening, pushing all the air... and the man... out of the room who screamed in an inhuman way. She was finally getting out of this hell, but she still needed the director to operate the ship to a safe location.
After a few moments, she saw a silhouette walking quickly toward the ship with a spacesuit. There were no way to identify the person unless she was standing in front of him. Cautious, she pulled out her pistol and aimed it toward to the door. In the pressurization chamber, she could hear the valves opening and the air whistling to fill the small room in which the man was, it was a questions of seconds before the man would enter the room. She held her gun even more firmly when the door opened, as the man entered he looked at Elisa and removed his helmet.
You forgot to remove the safety; be lucky it was me with a sincere smile on his face.
For once, she saw emotions passing through his eyes, he seemed happy to see her in one piece. Even if he seemed having a good quality of life, he looked like someone who has been through a lot during his existence, who has suffered as much as her. Yet again, she knew that it wasn't the first time she met him, yet she was still unable to find the missing piece of the puzzle.
Milady, please fasten your seatbelt and enjoy the ride He added with a touch of humor. We are ready for departure
Do you know how to get out of this system first? Without a stellar map, we have no idea of where we are going
David simply looked at her again with a smile and inserted a datadisk into the inboard computer, and then started to program the navigational equipment. He then sat in the pilot seat and did the proper preparations for a take off. Behind her, the engines were starting their lullaby, and at the front, the whole console was illuminating the small room. Abruptly, the ship took of the ground, turned itself toward the outer space and quickly accelerated toward its destination.
The trip to the jumpgate happened without any hassle or disturbances from the surrounding spacial phenomenon or the nomads hiding into the system. Once at the gate, David swore a good five minutes realizing that when he woke up in his ship after the psychic attack, he was very close to Nomad structure. After this short emotional moment, the ship aligned itself with the gate and docked to leave for the Kansas system.
On the other side, the ship was submerged in a thick nebula. That would have explained why the gate was never found by Liberty Forces. Only Browning and his group found and crossed it. The group kept the its existence secret maybe to keep their Utopia intact from the civilization, or worse, they could have been driven there by a nomad host pilot. It was clear that the specie has planned all this months ago, like a conspiracy.
Then something caught Director' eyes, wrecks, all around the jumpgate were lying the wrecks of multiple civilian and military vessels, mostly LSF and some Bounty hunters. Witnessing this carnage gave shivers to him and Elisa. All these persons came to help him and died ambushed... Now, the Director and his passenger were alone in a ship, right where a dozen of persons died.
The nightmare, yes it was really one, was leaving Elisa speechless. The graveyard seen through the window was clearly showing how horrible was the death of these brave men. Debris were flying all around, hitting ship' shields. Corps were drifting in their eternal tomb. Some of them were dismembered while others' faces were unrecognizable. Most of their dead faces were showing some kind of stupefaction, they were not expecting any kind of ambush. There was a few exceptions though, some of them seemed like aware of the possible trap ahead of them. Elisa estimated that two research parties were sent, after hearing of them disappear without a single emergency signal authorities must have thought the parties to have fallen into a natural phenomenon.
Starring at the command console, she saw David activate the emergency signal to show his presence to any human vessels present in the sector. However, once on the Freeport, she heard from a Borderworld pilot that Nomads were also able to detect and locate such emissions. For her, it was like serving themselves on a plate to any potential enemies.
Afterwards, David activated the ship' engines and started to head out of the Nebula. There were still no Nomadic life in sight. Because of their escape from the station, the Nomads should have organized a welcome committee. Yet, they were alone and even the Director seemed troubled by that.
I knew some of these men, I laugh, fought and lived with them. Now, they are dead he said, trying to focus the attention on something else. Sorry, I forgot to ask, but what is your name?
Elisa
Suddenly, David turned pale. For moments, he looked like a dead man. His lips started to move up and down, trying to say something, but no noises were coming out. After these desperate attempts to speak, he waited a few seconds to get his calm. Herself, she was still incapable of remembering where she knew him, but it looked as if she was very important to the LSF pilot.
Elisa, It's me A...
<Incoming torpedo> interrupts the inboard computer.
Oh crap! He says while starting to do evasive maneuvers and activating the ship' weapons systems. Beams of lights quickly start flying all around the ships, combined with all the explosions and the engines trails from other ships, it was a very frightening experience for the woman.
What followed, was a fight between between one lone Libertonian craft and possibly 5 nomads if her estimation was right. They were certainly going to do, torn apart, drifting in the void, with their eyes wide open, looking at the stars.
The skirmish lasted for minutes, and it was not ending yet. The ship' shields were still running, as well as the weapons, but the energy core was slowly giving up. During the heat of the battle, David overcharged the core and supplied the shields with even more energy. However, doing such ask the source to provide more energy than it generates. In a few minutes, they will run out of power and the shields as well as the weapons and the engines would fail; leaving them drifting at the mercy of their enemies. On the good side, 2 of the nomads fighters have been taken out.
Elisa was still sitting behinds David' seat, powerless. In all this story, she was a victim and a spectator. Reduced to simply watch the fight, there was nothing she could do to help him, except praying for a miracle.
After a few more minutes, the pilot was forced to return the core to a normal mode before it turns dead. With the shields weakened, Nomads blasters were near starting to eat the only barrier protecting the ship and its passengers.
Instants later, merely seconds, one of the gun installed on the wings went off. A large beam of light from one of the nomad ship blasted it away, leaving a small hole surrounded by metal at fusion temperature. The same situation happened with the central turret, tore away with a part of the rudder from the rest of the vessel. God was not planning to help them she thought, even prayers would not spare them. They're fate was decided, death was awaiting the LSF director and her.
<Three unknown signatures detected on short range radar, 2000 meters>
Hold yourself tight Elisa, they're is still a slight chance for us to survive says David.
The situation was desperate, they were now fighting alone against 6 nomad ship. Not a single human ever survived such attack. The only possible solution to win, was to enter the ship in a self destruction mode. However, the core was too weak to cause a big fireball... it was simply enough to destroy the ship and its crew, leaving no trace or important information.
Seconds after the first warning, <Incoming Torpedo, frontal collision>. In front of them, one of the Nomad launched its warhead, the distance from the LSF ship was too small to evade it. In the split of a second, something swift passed between David and the torpedo, absorbing the hit. At the same time, the Nomad ship was hit by some kind of missile and exploded into calcined pieces. Same happened with the two other survivors
Director, it's official, you fight like an old lady. What would you do without us? (laughs) says a man. Thanks your ship' emergency signal
Christian, a turtle would have found me faster than you! responded David
And that is how you treat your saviors? pff... Alright, let's go back home. Let's see if the doctors can remove rust from your brain and muscles.(laughs)
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