A bouquet of disdain; A box of risky bets

[Mr.Fabulous]

The Gforce descends into the estate hangar that late-afternoon. David, after having finished deactivating his Virage, gets out and does his usual stretching; as continued, he notices that Jaden's Tiger Shark, the Terminal Velocity, isn't around.

All of a sudden, his PDA starts beeping under the guise that it intercepted an NN-active-transmission; he soon takes the thing out of its pocket and inspects the caller...

... it was Jaden...

"Hey David... Could you, uh... pick me up? I'm currently in a Luxury Liner called the JhC-Pacificator, in-orbit above Planet New Berlin." The transmission comes almost crystal-clear on his PDA-screen.

"Yea... Alright... Take a holiday did ya?" He smirks at her.

She smirks back, "... I wish...

"No, I'm here in a luxury liner cause my ship got downed around Rheinland, and the client I was escorting, which was THIS luxury liner, picked up my hulk...

"I sure hope that copy of the Tiger Shark you pre-ordered's ready by now... if not, then I guess staying at the estate for a while longer while I wouldn't be so bad...

"... though a longer stay here would... nah... I don't have the budget for it yet, huhuhuh..." Jaden chuckles to herself.

"Well alright, I'll come pick you up... out." He turns off the transmission, then shakes his head to himself...

... 30 minutes later...

The Gforce slows down from the trade lane jump, Planet New Berlin now looming over the cockpit window. Looking around a bit as the ship swooshes to a stop, David finds this massive Luxury Liner the size of a city orbiting just above the mooring fixture. A quick scan of it, and he sees it as the JhC-Pacificator. He contacts the Luxury Liner traffic control, and eventually he lands on Docking Bay 3.

Jaden was already waiting inside the docking bay when the Virage descends onto the bay's platform; she steps to the side of the ship and, climbing up the side-ladder, gets on the rear-cockpit seat and quickly straps herself on.

David chuckles at her, "A turn-and-burn eh? I can't even stop for a drink?"

Jaden smiles at his remark, "Well, I'm not stopping you if you'd like... Just wanted to stay here in the ship for the time being, if that's okay with you.

"... but if you'll be going out, AND be staying for a while, I guess I'll go and come along."

"Meh... No point wasting time here, lets move." And he reactivates the engines.

"Mmm... si... let's go." Jaden then puts her flight-helmet on.

As the Virage lifts off and exits the bay, Jaden looks over to the right of the cockpit window, and sighs heavily before going silent...

Whilst they were travelling along a trade lane on the way back, David looks towards Jaden and asks, "... So what'd you get yourself into?"

Jaden responds slowly at first, "... huh? ... oh, uh... Just that the TV's scrapped cause of me 'forgetting' I had a bounty on my head on Rheinland..."

She then gives a wry smiles, "... And the next thing I knew, green fire engulfed my ship as soon as I exited the Gate... and poof..." Her hand blooms open in expression of an explosion.

He nodded his head in agreement, "Yea, gotta remember those bounties. I almost got caught once in Dublin, a group of hunters were after me after I helped some Mollies take out a key target. I was sitting by Essex when they came."

"... mmm... si..." She sighs and goes silent again.

Thinking Jaden was most likely upset about loosing her ship, David doesn't try to get her to talk again for the rest of the trip...

... another boring 30 minutes later...

... Planet New Tokyo comes up on the cockpit window as they make their approach; they enter through the docking ring, and make their way towards the estate... It's almost night-time when they finally arrive on the hangar bay.

Jaden smiles as the Virage begins its descent, "... Mmmm... Swimming pool, here I come, heheheh..." And her smile turns into a grin.

"Hehe..." As he sets the Virage down he further replied, "You head off and get changed, I have a couple things to do first."

"Don't have to tell me twice..." But her smile slowly fades to a still face as she looks at David.

At last, the Gforce sets down, and Jaden somewhat-hesitantly slides down the ladder; as she heads off, she shakes her head from side-to-side as if trying to disbelieve something, then gets back on her usual self.

When Jaden was out of the hanger, David begins to beam a wide grin, "Hehe..." He had put his Virage down in bay 1, but nearby, in bay 4 and 5, were 2 new ships: a Tiger Shark identical to Jaden's first, and another ship that was concealed by this large blue-black sheet.

He pulls the covers off and opens the cockpits of both, then sets the ship to standby. He then turns the lights off, pitching the hangar back into darkness, "Now to get Jaden... She's going to love this!"

Going into the house he calls out, "Hey Jaden? I got something you might want to see!"

"What is it?" As David enters the living room he finds Jaden standing on the stairs towards the roof-pool; she's wearing a pink bikini and flip-flops, a pink towel hanging around her shoulders.

"You might come and have a look at this." He gestured her to come over.

Jaden initially raises her eyebrow in suspicion, until she begins to smile a bit excitedly, "Hmmm... alright... not like I have that much of a rush to the pool..." She goes down and begins to follow David back to the hangar, "... So what is it you'd like me to see?"

"Well, it's a little surprise for you." As Jaden walks into the hanger David stops to turn the lights at bay 4 and 5 on, showering the Tiger Shark and Roc in bright, white lights, "What do you think?"

She squints her eyes for a second at the sudden flooding of light, and when her eyes finally adjust, she raises an eyebrow at the Roc. When she eyes the bomber, her face goes still, and a tear drips down the side of her cheek; but before David could catch her expression she quickly wipes away the tear, and tries to put on a grateful grin, "... mmm... Is that the bomber?" She starts walking over to the brand-new ship.

"That's the one... kitted out to your specifications." He opens up a wide smile at her.

Jaden runs her palm over the side of the ship: the sleek wings, the 3 powerful engines, the golden-yellow plasteel-glass cockpit, the menacing-looking SNAC.

Then without warning she screams out a blood-curdling battlecry, doing a well-aimed sucker-punch with her cyborg arm at the bomber's hull, which afterwards she inspects the affected area: not even a blemish on the paintjob... She fashions an impressed smile, "VERY nice, si... not even a scratch on the surface."

Next, she opens up the cockpit and climbs aboard; without bothering to put on her flight-suit to proceed on still half-naked on her flight chair, soon the ship's engines begin to hum, then roar to life, and it starts to ascend up to hover; using the flight-interface she tries to do a few maneuvers in place; then she touches the comms of the ship and said, "The controls are a charm, David! I'm surprised they're much more fluid AND easier to get hang off than the Tiger!"

"Well that's because it's more of a Liberty ship! That Tiger is a Rheinland design." David points out.

Eventually satisfied with the testing, Jaden sets the ship down, then she gets off and climbs down the cockpit, "Mmmm... that should do nicely... t'was MUCH more sluggish than I first expected.

"... but I guess I should expect that since I have a light-fighter background, heheh..."

"Yea bombers are a bit slower. I still find it hard going from the Virage to the Havok sometimes."

"Yeah... I can relate..." She suddenly turns to a frown and quickly looks painfully to the right, as if recalling something painful; quickly shaking her head, she whispers a few words to herself which David couldn't hear; but as soon as she did so she quickly goes back to her usual self and looks back at him, "... Yeah... so anything I should know more about handling this bomber?"

"Nothing that you won’t soon learn, though it'd be a good idea to read up on how to use the SNAC."

"I suppose...

"... So I'll do my research sometime tonight... right after I get my aphrodisiac-fix on the swimming pool, heheheh..." She waves farewell to David and giggles to herself as she heads off.

David scratched his head in some confusion, "Huh... I would have thought she'd be a bit more excited...

"... oh well." He shrugs his shoulders, and leaves the hanger. He then heads off towards the holo room to play another mission...

... But unknown to David, as Jaden walked away she was actually doing her best from sobbing her heart out, her human eye flowing down lots of somber tears that dripped down the floor as she headed off to the roof-pool...

... meanwhile... 20 minutes later...

... The glowing gas giant in the night sky was masked by the foggy, winter clouds that cold, December night. Jaden was glad that the roof-pool came equipped with water heaters, the hot water steaming slowly around her, "... A bomber... it's been awhile... but..." And tears slowly creep down her eye once again.

Soon, intense emotions engulf her, and she cradles her face on both her hands, "... SOB... I... I... am I... ready for..."

Then she suddenly pauses... and she quickly stands up from the water, shaking a fist at the gas giant, "N-NO! I've been given another chance at this... I will NOT fail like before... I WILL not... I cannot... cannot..."

She covers her face again, more tears flowing right through the seams of her cupping, "... no... Jaden, you girl, just... no... don't beat yourself up... not again... not anymore...

"... you already have someone willing to teach you the works, si... You won't fail... He'll make sure... si...

"... David will make sure..." She looks up back at the sky, and a pained, yet contented smile wrings out of her face.

... But the smile fades again, and she slumps back down on the pool, "... Wouldn't he? ... But... could... could that man have been right...?

"... Do I really love David for himself, or... Is it only because I... ?" She submerges herself neck-deep into the hot water, then, reaching for her bikini, she unfastens the straps and takes the pieces off, letting the thin, pink clothing float freely on the water's surface.

"If David hadn't tried to sacrifice himself... would I have still loved him...?" She lifts her cyborg arm above the water and stares at it for a moment before whispering to herself, "Oh, Terry..."

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