"Suzume eh? Pretty name.. you're part-Kusari I assume, heck, you look more Kusari than I do, and I'm the one fighting for the Kusari side... did you grow up in Kusari?" Zoey asked, trying to relate to the Junker girl,
Suzume shivered, looking rather displeased with the thought,
"Thank goodn- ness no. I p- probably wouldn't h- have surv- vived it" she explained,
Zoey felt a little more distanced from Suzume, sure they were both part-Kusari, but Zoey was strong and independant, Suzume was only small, and shared little in common with her.
"You might have done, you'd have just turned out filled with hate like I am... ", Zoey's voice trailed off, and for a second it looked like she was about to cry, her eyes a little teary, she coughed to break the moment and tried to change the subject, "Father Kusari, or mother, or is it more complicated than that?"
"A-... are you alr- right?" Suzume ignored the question, curious at Zoey's emotional state,
"Fine" Zoey lied, looking away to avoid eye contact,
Suzume hesitated for a moment, then persisted, "N-... no you aren't... s- something's wr- wrong" she correctly observed,
"I said I'm fine," Zoey lied again, looking rather uncomfortable, "thanks and all for the help.. but I think I wanna get off now" she changed the subject once more.
It was all I could do to keep from staring. "Um... l- like... now?", I asked. I mean, surely Zoey realized we'd have to still be in Bretonia!
"Yes, right now. When is our stop?", Zoey replied.
... Guess not.
"Um... well... would you... um... ok- kay. You y- you rather stop on the Pol- lice Border Station, or the Junker mining depot?"
Actually, I was pretty surprised at how well Zoey responded to that. "Neither.", she said. "I don't like the idea of being arrested or a whole base of Junkers..."
Did she still not get it? I decided I'd just have to spell it out. "Um... w- well, I g- guess you'll have to wait, then. We're right in the m- middle of New London right n- now."
I didn't blame Zoey for groaning a bit before she spoke. "Can you set me down in Leeds at all, somewhere on the Kusarian side of space?"
"Mmhmm...", I replied. "It'll just t- take a while." Then I thought of something else, though, and voiced my concerns. "... Actually... h- how're you going t- to get back to your oth- ther ships?"
Zoey thought she had the answer. "My Black Dragon is on Stokes. I'll be fine."
Wait. Didn't she know anything about Junkers?
"I c- can't land on Stokes... I c- can't even g- go past Leeds.", I said.
"Then we'll find someone going to Stokes," Zoey persisted. "Someone who can give me a ride."
I was shocked. "G- going to Stokes from L- Leeds? No o- one does th- that, though... n- not except block- kade runners. And b- both sides sh- shoot at them."
"Only if they're carrying cargo. A few ships travel up to Kusari, just find us a ship headed there."
Wow. She must not have ever even run a blockade before!
Then again, neither had I.
Rather than voice my concern, though, I kept talking. "N- not many, though... I m- mean, it's really, r- really rare. M- mostly just frelanc- cers and all, and n- not even a lot of them!"
"Well you can't set me down here, unless I try to hitch a ride from Trafalgar" Zoey recoiled at the thought, "A whole station of Junkers isn't a place I'd like to stay for very long..."
"N- no... no, that w- wouldn't work at all. Um... there're p- probably a l- lot of Junkers that'd t- try to kill you." Suzume explained, pausing to think, "... A- actually, there's a l- lot of Junkers who'd try to k- kill me if they th- thought they could g- get away with it..."
Zoey cursed, agreeding with Suzume on that, "Well what do you suggest then?"
Suzume shrugged and thought again,
"I g- guess I'll h- have to take you to a Freep- port or someth- thing... but there aren't an-..." she stopped, "... W- wait. You know, I j- just realized..." she began, abandoning her original sentence,
"... I-... I mean... I c- could... techn- nically... I could put you d- down... well... The G- Gaians have to h- have some k- kind of base or s- something... I m- mean, they only st- stop at Trafalg- gar for supplies anyw- ways." she struggled for the right words,
"I m- mean... if there is o- one... and they d- don't mind Junk- kers... and y- you can t- tell me where it is..." she stopped and thought hard again, "W- wow. Lot of "if"s, I g- guess."
I was about to give up and just take Zoey to a Freeport or something when she finally spoke up.
"I'll lead you to Islay," Zoey suggested. "Far better agreement than a police border station."
At least she had a sense of humor.
Zoey continued. "Set course for Edinburgh. If the Gaians ask, I'm on board, and if anyone else asks, I'm not."
"... Ok- kay, then.", I confirmed. "So Islay's a G- Gaian base, then?"
"Mmhmm. You'll be fine as long as you're with me... and you keep your mouth shut, of course."
Wait, what?
That was just outright rude!
I immediately stood up, gave her my best angry look (which still isn't very good...) began to protest the implications of her statement. "Keep my m- mouth shut? What's th- that supposed to m- mean?"
"It means", Zoey began, "If anyone finds out you know where Islay is, you'll have even more people trying to kill you, including me."
Woops.
Guess I shouldn't jump to conclusions like that. But wow, she really didn't know Junkers at all.
"Oh. That. Of course... I th- thought you meant wh- while we were o- on Islay." Give me a break. This whole "Zoey not shooting me" thing was still pretty shocking as it was.
"Anyw- ways, I'd b- be-", I began. I never finished, though. I kinda got a little distracted when the entire ship shook rather violently.
Immediately I began to panic. I knew exactly what that was. It's not like it'd happened to me a ton, but it had some. For instance, when I first met Zoey.
Had we been followed? Did someone think I had just kidnapped her? Maybe someone knew she was on the ship, and was trying to kill her. Or maybe it was someone just trying to kill me... had someone seen through my disguise already?
I rather impolitely fled the room. I heard Zoey yelling something about help or something from behind me, but I didn't have time to stop. I had to get to the cockpit, and quickly.
When I did make my way there, I say we were still in cruise - that was good. We'd made our way into the Leeds system, and were very close to the trade lane to the Edinburgh gate. If we could only just make it...
I sat down and took over manual control. A quick glance at the scanners told me my worst fears hadn't been realized. Three Kusarian ships were flying in close pursuit, trying their best to disrupt the Sparrow's engines. I quickly booted up the shields and did my best to avoid their disruptor missles.
My best wasn't really good enough, though. It wasn't too long before we were hit, and the engines reset.
That's bad.
I hit the thruster and did my best to just survive. I went kinda numb-ish, and I couldn't think straight. I tried to generally make my way towards the trade lanes, but the lanes that'd seems so close in cruise now seems ages away. Everything slowed way down, and it felt like I was just trying to survive for forever. It was pretty scary. I mean, dodging one bomber's one thing, 'cause they can't hit very easily, but three fighters? In this? Ug. I was absolutely terrified. I heard Zoey yell something at some point. I sorta yelled "what" back at her, since I hadn't heard her properly, but she didn't response, so I guess she didn't hear me.
I knew I really didn't stand much chance. I decided I had to open up a comm channel.
"Kus- sarian ships, I'm trying to g- get one of your own people to s- safety, so if y- you'd stop t- trying to k- kill us..."
They actually responded. Or rather, their leader did. In Kusarians, first, but then he switched languages. "You actually expect us to believe that? Who do you pretend you have?"
Zoey had asked me not to tell anyone but the Gaians, but this was life and death. "Z- Zoey Sakura, n- now i-...". The horrible men wouldn't even let me finish, though.
"Sakura? Sakura? In a Junker ship? Hah! Your not Sakura, you..." At that point, he went off into a bunch of really awful-sounding Kusari words. I think he was insulting me.
"I-... I d- didn't s- say I w- was Sakura, I s-..." I was interrupted again. Some people.
"The little gaijin thinks she's Zoey Sakura! Haha! That's a good one, you filthy little Junker. I'll be sure to tell that to all my buddies once you're dead!"
The ship shook violently, Suzume's skin turned white as a sheet as she rushed out of the room towards the cockpit,
"If you need help shooting whatever that is, lemmie know" Zoey called after her,
A few minutes later Zoey heard the distinct sound of cruise engines dying,
"What was that? Suzume? Is everything okay?"
Zoey heard a single syllable word from the other side of the ship, she was too far away for it to be clear. She stood up and peeked her head round the door.
There was a volumous, largely empty cargo bay with a pair of massive bay doors at one end and a small, person-sized doorway opening into a hallway at the other.
"Hmmm..." she pondered, stepping forward. Zoey was having trouble maintaining her balance, stumbling forward, "Woah.. Steady girl"
She leaned left as she was thrown to the right, "Careful now..." she stumbled again and grabbed onto the smaller doorway for support, feeling a little queasy.
Through the doorway was some short hallways, built of the same clean but unpainted metal as the rest of the interior of the ship, has a single closed door to Zoey's right as well as a door in front of her that's hanging a bit ajar
"Suzume? Is everything alright?", Zoey pushed the ajar door open, grabbing the doorway for support,
"Um... kinda... sor-..." Suzume let out a strangled little gasp,
Zoey squeezed into the surprisingly roomy cockpit, with just enough room not to stand on anything. She closed the door behind her, Suzume was busy flying the ship, rolling to the left,
"What? What is it?", Zoey questioned, a combination of neverous and frustrated,
There was a firefight outside, bursts of white plama were flying around, narrowly missing the Sparrow. The now-familiar rust-colored toxic nebulas were visable, showing the starscape of Leeds.
I just had to keep flying. I couldn't stop to talk, couldn't stop to think... it was awful. It's not like it's anything new... I mean, after the Luna, and after Lopez, I guess it shouldn't still bother me.
It does, though.
Anyways, I had to get to the trade lane. I knew I had to get to the trade lane. The trade lane meant safety. But... I couldn't. I was working on it, but... I mean... well, I didn't want to get hit and killed, either.
Zoey was yelling something. What was she saying? I shook my head and tried to pay attention to what she was saying while I flew.
"... -is shooting at us, Suzume? And why aren't y-... oh yeah..."
Guess she was as confused as me.
I quickly spun the Sparrow around, trying to show her the Kusarian ships. I only pointed at it for a moment, but that was too long. The shields went down as I yelled at her, "Th- them!"
She still didn't get it, though. "Kusari! Who -exactly- is shooting us?", she yelled. Ow. My ear.
I kinda wasn't paying much attention at that point, though. I guess it had to do with the part where they all started hitting the hull. Hard. And a lot, too. I sorta just started dodging as hard as I could. And maybe screamed just a little, too. But not much.
Who says I'm never going to get more used to this?
She started yelling again. "Jesus Suzume, do something! Uh, if you open a comms channel, hopefully one of them will know me."
I'd already done that, though. "I'm... I'm t-... trying, I t- tried, I... th- they just l- laugh at m- me, of c- course, and... a- and... and..."
I stopped talking as I tried to get the cruise engines going again. Zoey started swearing and yelling advice, but it's not like I had no idea at all what I was doing or anything... but it didn't matter anyways. They disrupted the cruise engines again.
Zoey swore again.
I started yelling about how I was trying."I a- am, I'm... I'm t- trying! I'm... I..." I trailed off as I looked up at the warning light panel.
The 'Engine Warning' light was blinking. Does anything ever go my way?
"Uh-oh."
Which didn't even begin to cover it.
But then again, I was a little preoccupied wondering why the engines had just shut off.
And then the plasma started slagging the Sparrow around us.
The Sparrow shook violently, the Plasma impacting on the sheilds,
"Well this is just great! I get to die to the very people I've served for the last six years..." Zoey cursed, shaking her head, attempting to find a comfortable part of the door to lean on,
Suzume let out a strangled yell and began hitting buttons at what appeared to be entirely random, until there was a beeping and the sound of a communication channel opening up, and along with that, one of the voices of their attackers,
"You wish to make more jokes before you die, you... you..." the Kusari Naval Pilot struggled for a moment, attempting to search his mind for the right word, "... Ug. This is the problem with you Bretonian speakers! I cannot even insult you in the right way because of your bad language!"
Zoey slammed her hand down on the reply button, "Gaijin the word you're looking for? I'm a Kusari Citizen! Zoey Sakura ring any bells sunshine?" Zoey hissed, "And this is Suzume, my co-pilot, she's half Kusari herself!"
The KNF Pilot simply laughed for a moment, "Hah! She brings in another traitor like herself to say it's Sakura now? In a Junker ship?" he paused to chuckle again, "Even more dumb than I at first thought!"
"Give me a ship and I'll knock some sense into you traitor! I've served Kusari since my first boat"
"That does not make me laugh any more. You dare lie like that, you filthy Junker turncoat?" the KNF pilot questioned rhetorically, "Zoey Sakura, indeed." he snorted in disgust,
"I've killed more Bretonians than you've had hot meals you backstabbing bastard, and I'm not a Junker!" Zoey swore, unnerving Suzume a little with each burst of aggression,
"Lying does not do you good, Junker. Your transponder betrays you just as well as your ship does."
"That's because this isn't my ship, this young Junker saved my life, -while- I was in the process of trying to assassinate some important BMM pilots and destroy a convoy, so I suggest you stop shooting and call the Farmers Alliance, they'll vouch for me!" Zoey explained, trying to get them to stand down,
"The Farmer's Alliance? Hah! You hear rumors about corruption in Kusari, and you think they are true? The Famer's Alliance is nothing but a group of terrorists!" The KNF Pilot snapped, "I will not let you delay our mission while we call a few irritating criminals to vouch for you, and I will not let you delay us long enough to call for some kind of ridiculous Bretonian support!"
Zoey leaned away from the reciever, whispering to Suzume, "Get ready to go to cruise, use countermeasures, all of them", Zoey ordered, recieving a little nod from Suzume, "Oh grow up, I'm more useful to you than that Chimaera"
"You think you are funny, but you are not. You are b-... huh?" the KNF pilot started, switching to his native tongue, of which only Zoey could understand, "... Yes, yes Sir. We're on our... yes Sir. We were merely delayed by a pair of Junkers, they... what? Oh, yes Sir. We'll do that now. Roger. Out." Suzume began the cruise engines as the pilot spoke, he spoke English again, "Enough! You have stolen too much of our time, and you will d-..." he cursed, noticing the cruise engines progress, he gave one last yell in his native tongue before closing the channel, "Stop it!"
The cruise engines finished charging, firing up at full power and accelerating the ship to 350m/s.
I tensed up as I fired up the cruise engines. If this didn't work, we were probably going to die.
I... I don't like to think about that. I don't want to die. I've come so close so often... it's just... I don't know. I really don't want to die. Especially not like that. Not... alone.
I knew I couldn't die. I just couldn't. Not then.
And that's what I was thinking about when I heard the cruise disruptor warning going off.
"Countermeasures, now!", Zoey yelled. I didn't have time to think about it. I shouldn't really have trusted her at all. But it was sorta an automatic reflex. Besides, she's had years of experience at not dying, and she was going to die if I got this wrong, too.
I kicked the countermeasure lever. Amazingly, it worked. All the missiles coming toward us spun off on some kind of crazy little looping course and missed completely.
As we cruised toward the lane, the Kusarians behind us, I started thinking again. They were probably going to chase us, even if we got there. But... thinking back to the Luna, I remembered something that had saved us back then. I quickly resolved to do the same thing here and hoped it'd work.
Right as we got close to the trade lane, I shut off the cruise and let autopilot take us in. The Kusarians kept coming in... getting closer... and closer. Zoey was actually muttering, "ComeonComeonComeon..." In a moment, they'd be on top of us and killing us.
That moment never came.
"Now!", I yelled as we got almost on top of the trade lane. I kicked another lever down under my feet, but my foot slid off of it and I skinned my shin on it. I didn't scream, at least.
"It's... it's..." I tried to start to say as I kept kicking the stuck lever. "No... no, no..."
I kicked it one last time as the trade lane started up, and it finally went. There was a loud sound at the back of the ship as the mine dropper opened and released a mine.
See, trade lanes tend to break when you hit them. And mines take a minute to home in on something after you drop them. So when we started flying through the trade lane, the ring we'd entered was up.
"Ohmygodthatwasclose..." Zoey sighed, relaxing her tense muscles,
"I... w- wow... Just..." Suzume shivered and steadied her breathing, a small explosion in the rear camera marked the fall of the tradelane, and the end of their pursuers, "Th- that... that was... was... r- really... really scary." the colour was just about returning to Suzume's face,
"That was... awesome! You were brilliant Suzume!" Zoey smiled and nudged Suzume in a friendly manner, "You did great"
Suzume smiled weakly, " I... I g- guess. Th- thanks, I g- guess... but... w- wow. I... if you h- hadn't got me t- to try the cruise eng- gines ag- gain... w- wow. Th- that... that w- would've..." Suzume shivered and curled up, making her already small body even smaller, "... Th- thanks." Suzume felt a small tinge of pride,
"We make a good team!" Zoey nudged Suzume again, "See if you can get us to Edinburgh alive then, the Gaians will be more welcoming, I promise" Zoey smiled and rested her hand on Suzume's shoulder, before turning away and rubbing her forehead, "I'll be in the back, my head is killing me..."
Zoey slipped out the cockpit into the corridor, closing the door behind her and wincing at the pain of her throbbing headache.