Ashe's Odyssey

[Rell]

His father had told him to take the route through Kusari, and to not even think of moving through the Tau systems. He told his son of the war going on, and the rampaging invaders from Gallia. Of course, Ashe would've done it anyway. If there was one thing he lacked, it was patience. Besides, he knew the limits of the Spatial. He'd grown up on the blasted thing. The ship didn't have much in the way of weapons, just a mining laser, and a few Flashpoints to ward off pirates. It was big though, and it had a lot of armor on its hull. It was a vessel he could rely on. To be honest, he really just wanted to run it through the paces. See how it actually fared in the dangers of lawless space.

Heading out from Freeport 10, he made his way towards the Tau-23 jumphole, hidden in a white, cloudlike outcropping of the Barrier Nebula. As far as he was aware, the ship was perfectly capable of withstanding the stresses of the singularity, but he closed the shutters of the cockpit, and sealed off all sections of the ship, just to be sure. He dropped out of cruise about a kilometer away, as he was still unfamiliar with how exactly he was to enter it. He'd heard of how people could do the entire process almost instantaneously, but him? He was a rookie.

The gravity well of the singularity was stronger than he had originally anticipated, and he felt himself being thrown back into his chair as the ship was pulled in. He couldn't tell what was going on outside, as the shutters were closed, but the rattling of the hull told him plenty. Just as it seemed the beams of the walls were going to crack, he was thrown forward, almost pounding his head against the front display. The shaking had stopped. He opened the shutters and found himself staring out at an asteroid field, with a glaring emerald sun on the horizon. The skies were no longer white like snow, but a black void. He could see distant galaxies with his own naked eye. For a moment, he was simply amazed.

Then he saw something on the left side of his peripheral vision, three signatures marked in red. He could hear the hydraulic noise of the defensive guns powering up from within the hull, stimulated by the threat. Outside, he could see three small slivers of steel, like daggers against the black. It occurred that those ships were familiar to him, then he realized. Outcasts.

Would the shields be able to take them? Would he be blown from the sky just like that? The questions raged through his mind as his guns aligned with the new targets. His palms were sweaty as his fingers went to the triggers. Then, out of nowhere, a "Ding!" noise popped up, and the golden symbol of a megaphone hovered over the comms display. He was being hailed.

Right as he hit the button, he heard an old, raspy voice. A man in his sixties, with a heavy accent he hadn't heard before. "Now, now. Uno Momento. I'd know that ship anywhere. What brings you here, Rendell?"

Ashe spoke with a small, nervous stutter. "N-no, sir. I'm-"

The man broke into a bellowing laugh, one of seeming surprise. "Ashe, my boy! Is that you in there?"