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Campaign preparations
Virginia is standing in small enclosed elevator cabin as it went up. Unlike previous months, she was dressed up in her uniform with unbuttoned longcoat hanging on her shoulders. The only noticeable difference is that she is discreetly supporting herself against cabin's wall as she still felt weak after her lengthy recovery in medical facility on Planet Veracruz.
"Captain on deck!", junior officer said as Virginia Belle left elevator and looked around bridge aboard INS Roanoke. "At ease.", Virginia immediatelly replied and turned towards her Commander Ben Sheffield, "Commander, I'd like to talk with you in private in CO office.". "As you wish, ma'am.", he replied and followed her in small office just two doors away from main bridge.
"Insurgency is going to have its last stand, Commander.", Virginia said as she sat down and motioned Ben to do the same, "There will be little time for repairs and replenishment between skirmishes. What's the status of Roanoke, Dahlonega and North Carolina?". "Roanoke and Dahlonega are fully operational, North Carolina is still awaiting repairs and cruise engine replacement.", Ben replied. "North Carolina is waiting for major repairs for at least two years for now. She will have to serve as mobile base than proper warship.", Virginia smirked and nodded, "We will need to preserve our manpower as much as possible, Commander. Any ideas?". "Well, we can relocate our crewmen and officers into class A, B and C compartments and depressurize rest of the ship. We will have to reduce our comforts in order to preserve our resources as much as possible. It will be tough, but I think our crew can make it without many issues.". "Unusual circumstances require unusual solutions - or desperate circumstances and solutions?", she asked rhetorical question and immediately continued, "We will see, but depressurized compartments will do as additional protection against fire hazards, shockwaves and sudden decompressions... good plan, Commander. Make it so." "Right away.", Ben stood up from his chair and made his way towards exit door before he turned around and looked at her and clearly noticed her exhaustion and weakness, "Are you alright, Captain?". "Yes, I am, Commander. My recovery won't be interfering with any of my duties.", Virginia answered his question and smiled, "Blueshirts will have to get me at my battle post, not in hospital bed.". "What if they will offer us an amnesty if we lay down our arms?". "They certainly won't forgive our 'crimes' and I am not going to lay down my arms anyway.". "Why not?". "Liberty is the same sh*thole as it ever was, Ben. We can't go back to Houston just like nothing happened.", she replied slowly with traces of suppressed anger in her voice and her XO remained silent - not wanting to argue with her or pondering about her words. After a moment of awkward silence she looked datapad laying on the desk and said with a deep sigh, "But, we must prepare ourselves. Brief crew and officers and abandon non-vital parts of our vessel. Dismissed, Commander.".
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First battle
Insurgent battlecruiser INS Roanoke was slowly flying towards Arkansas Ice Asteroid Field in Kansas. There were numerous holes and dents in its hulls and several lights and windows were blinking or were unpowered. A trail of faint cloud of condensed ice was also trailing behind damaged vessel as it was leaking from one of its fuel tanks.
It was returning from one of its less successful skirmishes against Liberty forces in Kansas System. Wounded and beaten, but far from defeated.
"What's the situation, Commander?", Virginia asked when she entered cramped battlebridge and immediately lit aromatic cigarette between her lips, drawing from it to calm her thoughts. Ship was still in full alert, so most of its internal lightning was dimmed down in order to make all screens around much more visible. "We have breaches on multiple decks and several power relays were hit or burned out. Luckily for us, most of those decks have been abandoned previously and we suffered only minor causalities with no fatalities.", Commander Ben Sheffield replied to her. The moment Captain lit her cigarette he sighed quietly for himself, does she really need to smoke even in here?. "And our power relays? What have we lost?", Virginia sat herself in her captain's chair and exhaled small cloud of aromatic smoke. She's been buying more expensive vanilla flavored cigarettes in order to make her addiction more tolerable for others, but cramped interior of armored battle bridge was not helping in this endeavor at all. "P2 and S1 power grids are out, so we lost power to half of our crew amenities and medical bay is running on emergency power. Our weapons systems and shields are operable, but at reduced capacity. R4 fuel tank has suffered damage and two thirds of fuel was lost.", Ben replied and handed her datapad with damage report. "We need to repair it fast. Can we do it ourselves?", Virginia asked and grabbed datapad from his hands. She was surprised that it wasn't that bad as she expected, their encounter with LSF cruiser was rough and INS Roanoke took some nasty hits. Damage control teams color coded most of the damage suffered as 'red' or 'orange', which meant significant damage, but still repairable. "Yes, power relays should be online within several hours, same goes with hull breaches.", XO replied and continued, "Cleaning the mess will take more time, but crew will do it later.". "Very well. And I see that there are no reasons to unload our wounded - medical bay reports that they will take care of them onboard.", Virginia finished reading damage report and placed datapad on small folding table in front of her, "Helm - keep us hidden behind Wichita, Ops - make sure our EM signature is as low as possible and keep an eye on sensors. We will remain in Kansas while fixing our ship. Number One - take a kip, now it's perfect time.".
With these orders, INS Roanoke moved behind Planet Wichita and its surrounding ice field to hide itself from most of the Kansas System. When it was in correct position, vessel shut down its engine, shields and entered low energy mode in order to remain undetected while it was licking its wounds.
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Realizations 1
Insurgent battlecruiser INS Roanoke was waiting in Texas' numerous debris fields and waiting for its fighter squadrons to return from their recon sorties. Its battered hull was covered with now patched holes and dents and power systems were fully operational. Now, it wasn't returning from any battle, at least not from a battle fought with guns and missiles, but something similarly important was happening aboard.
Virginia lit her cigarette and took a long draw from it, letting vanilla flavored smoke fill her office. While she usually smoked because of her addiction, now she needed something more. There was something calming about this whole ritual - finding a moment and sitting down, lightning the cigarette and enjoying it with every draw. Universe might be full of constant chaos and conflicts, but this was her own time and space, clearly separated from that mess all around. A time just for her and her cigarette, nothing else. For her perception, at least.
Another long draw and smoke slowly rose to rooms's ceiling. It was a long day to say at least, but there were still some things to be done. She took another long draw from her cigarette and emptied her mind as she waited for her XO.
Door opened and her executive officer, Commander Ben Sheffield, saluted as he entered. Virginia greeted him with small nod. Both of them looked worried, but both of them for different reasons. Ben Sheffield was always taking his position as Executive Officer seriously and kept worries out of his expressions and body language, but this time - something was really odd. "Crash, I know that I ask this question a lot, but what is happening?", he finally broke the silence and looked at large datapad in his hand, "Why do we need to transfer one hundred and eighty five people from North Carolina?". "I need them here. I served with them for years, Ben. I was their XO when I served under Commodore White.", she replied and took datapad from his hand and checked its screen, "They deserve something more than just waiting and waiting on that flying wreck.". "But those one hundred and eighty five crewmen from here deserve to be on North Carolina?". "They are green, Ben. Second line duty is much more suitable for them than on Roanoke.", she lied, or at least decided to not tell whole truth at this moment. Yes, she needed her most trusty men and women around here, but not just because of their experience.
But unfortunately, Ben knew her well and decided to press on his questions. It was his duty after all - not just carry on her orders, but serve as captain's advisor, "You have changed, Crash. Others might have not noticed it, but I did.". "Yes, something changed.", she drew from her cigarette and exhalled puff of aromatic smoke away from him, "I have realized something. It was happening for a long time, but I just ignored it.". "And what's that 'something'?", he sighed and studied her facial expression. She was rarely telling him everything, even something relatively trivival like her Cardamine addiction took a lot of questions and few incidents before he got the truth from her. "I have lost my cause, Ben.", Virginia said bluntly, "I fought for ideas that aren't true even on our single world.". Her answer took several moments for him to process. "What do you mean that you lost your cause, Crash? Wait - is it because of your long talk with those snakes?", Ben raised his voice. For the first time, he was speaking louder than her, "Why are you so gullible all the sudden? They are our enemies, they betrayed us and killed our men. Do not trust them, do not listen to them! They will shoot you the moment you lay down your arms!". "I haven't said that I trust them.", she replied calmly. She understood his position, she'd act the same, if not worse, "But this has little to do with them, Ben.". "What do you mean it has little to do with them? You talked to them and now you sound like someone who wants to give up or join the enemy - ah yes, that's why you need those men in here.", Ben Sheffield was almost bursting with anger and frustration. If she wasn't his old friend and commander under who he fought for so long, he'd have her arrested right away. "Ben... listen to me. I give you my word not as your captain, but as your friend, that we are going to continue our operations as ordered. I know well that you have a family on Veracruz which you do not want to lose, and you are not the only one on this ship, alright? Calm down.", she was directly looking into his eyes and speaking slowly and quietly, "You wanted to know what is troubling my mind and I just gave you my answer.". "I thank you, but I hope you understand my position, duties and concerns, Crash.", he calmed down a little and she nodded at him, "I do.".
The were silently looking at each other for a few minutes before Virginia grabbed electronic pen into her left hand and signed transfer command on the datapad. Her executive officer nodded his head, took the datapad with and quickly left her office without him or her saying anything else. They both said too much already.
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Realizations 2
Insurgent battlecruiser INS Roanoke was moored at Fort Leniex and swarm of utility ships was buzzing around it - from larger tugs using their precise stractor beams to pull out heavy turrets with their assemblies to smaller craft replacing the most damaged hull pannels and patching the worst holes.
Refit was not even half through when the first reports of injuries and accidents were coming to medical bay and damage control center.
Virginia was sitting in her office at small conference table and playing a game of chess with her executive officer Ben Sheffield and casually looked at her small datapad to check damage control teams reports. She was expecting such complications - chief engineer estimated refit to take six hours, they have been given two. "Nine injuries and two serious injuries. No fatalities on our side.", she informed her XO and looked back on the game. Ben gave her just a small nod and moved his piece on the board. He was not attacking yet, he was just preparing his trap - moving his important pieces into positions. Virginia expected and was trying prepare her defenses for the inevitable moment when Ben will take the initiative.
Virginia hated and loved this game at the same time - strict movement rules and small 'battlefield' always put her off, but she admired elegance of how experienced chess players like her opponent made their strategies work.
When she thought that her defenses were good enough and most of her pieces were covering each other, Ben made his turn and offered her his pawn. She made a quick check across the chessboard and have not found any other piece covering him - but no, she is not going to break her defenses for this obvious bait.
But then he start offering another pawn, and another, and another - not moving his more important pieces yet, just keeping them in position. Virginia was trying to plan ahead and tried to predict from where he will strike, but even after all games they had - she barely can think two or three turns ahead. But she as adamant on not taking the bait this time.
And so he began his offensive and they both began trading their pieces and carefully prepared battleline she had prepared was falling apart while his supposedly misplaced knights, bishops and rooks moved quickly through the gaps. "Checkmate.", Ben said eventually after he cornered her King. Virginia sighed and looked on the situation - their forces were almost equal, but hers were out of position and unable to fend off moves to defend her King fast enough. "As always.", she replied with a sour tone. "You will win, eventually.", he tried to cheer her up and waved his hand towards chessboard, "Look at my King - you were so adamant about defending your King and not losing that you forgot how vulnerable my King was.". Virginia looked at position of her pieces, his King and sighed deeply, "Damn it.". She hated this game, but she will play it again with him later. Something in its gameplay just fascinates her.
"So, about what we talked about earlier...", Ben changed his expression from cheerful one to serious. Virginia pulled out cigarette from a box lying on the table, lit it and immediately drew from it. She was clearly nervous, she always smokes when nervous. "Go on.", she replied and exhalled large puff of vanilla flavoured tobacco smoke. "Did you really give up?", Ben asked and was studying her face and reactions. Virginia was looking directly into his eyes and then slowly nodded, "Sort of, yes.". "Do you want to step down?". "No, I don't.", drew from her cigarette again, "I lost my cause, not my life.". "What's the difference?".
"That I care for safety and future of my men, officers, myself and maybe even this rustbucket.", she waved her hand to point at the ship around them, "But not my movement. That died some while ago". "What did those scumbags do with you, Crash? Do they hold your family for hostage or anything like that? Do not negotiate with terrorists.". "No, nothing like that.", Virginia chuckled a little for few seconds and looked at him seriously again, "Should I tell you like a cultist or do you want more grounded facts?". "I'd like to hear both.", he said with bit of amusement in his voice. "Well, the cultist version then - The Truth.", she said a little dramatically and gave out somewhat crazed facial expression, but then continued in more serious way, "But more like pointing our valid facts about our movement now, Ben.". "I said that you shouldn't trust them.". "And I won't until I will see proof of their words, but... truths about our movement lie all around here in Vespucci. We fight to make Liberty more democratic, more equal, less corrupt, et cetera - but can you see it here?", she asked him as anottaher puff of smoke left her mouth. "You can't expect paradise in middle of war, Crash.". "Paradise? No, of course not. But do you remember when we were in the Legion? Protecting fledging world with civilians, ruling for themselves? That meant something for me, for us. We fought, we bled, we died, but we were protectors. We had their hearts... but when I walk on Veracruz now, I feel like a jailor, like oppressor, they fear me because just my word and uniform can send them into trouble. I dunno what happened between our higher ups precisely, but we lost our future in the process.". "We haven't lost our future Crash if we will give them a good beating.". "But we can't win hearts of their people on our side to support us more with our military dictatorship. There is no better future, no more democratic or uncorrupted government to act as an example, Ben.". "Hmm... but what are you going to do, Crash?". "Well, in chess - I might give you an answer, but here?", she paused for a moment to think about her words, "I have no idea, Ben. All my choices are either bad or wrong for us.". "Tell me, when have you became such thinker? No offense, but you were following orders blindly before.", Ben Sheffield stood up and was preparing to leave her office. "In hospital.", she replied almost instantly, "Nothing to do there aside from reading and thinking.", she smirked and nodded at him as he left.
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All Good Things... 1
Insurgent battlecruiser INS Roanoke was making its way from California to Texas. Increased navy activity as they started moving some of their assets to Magellan forced them to sneak through the system, hide behind asteroid fields, planets and moons, and to rely on their cloaking device when moving in the open.
Virginia sat in her office and was smoking one of her vanilla cigarettes again as she was sitting behind her desk and waited for XO to arrive.
Heavy naval footsteps finally came to her door and her executive officer Ben Sheffield ventured in. Virginia almost immediately gestured him to sit down, "Great, I wan-", she said, but he interrupted her, "I know. And I want to resign.".
Virginia looked at him with surprised and blinked several times as she processed his statement, "Resign? Why?". "My wife wants to take opportunity and fly with kids to Gallia, be as far away from Liberty as possible and start a new life.", he replied and handled her pad with his resignation request, "I know what are you going to do, Crash, but I can't be labeled as traitor... for the sake of my family.".
She sighed deeply and took a long draw from her cigarette as she looked at him with disbelief. Ben was her right hand, they became good friends and she needed him on her side for her change of flag. She looked directly into his eyes, "How do you know?". "If we are going to evacuate our refugees to Crayter and Gallia - that also means that our personnel will be following them eventually and I can't imagine seeing you in Crayterian or Gallic colors, Crash.", Ben replied to her question and chuckled. "At least I'll save you from humiliation when I'd finally beat you in our games of chess.", she tried to joke, but sadness got into her voice. She sighed again and looked away from him to recollect her composure and looked back at him, "Do I even have a chance of changing your and Beth's minds?". "Yes, you have. The same one as we have when we try to change your mind, Crash.", he replied sadly, but also sternly as he was never fond of her stubborness. "Fair point.", she replied quietly and looked on his resignation form. She always took him for granted, two legionaires who were to fight together, at least from her perspective. But in reality, Beth and their kids, they were his 'comrades for life'. She wasn't even angry at him or them, just sad and abandoned.
"Do you know that in times of war...?", she wanted to remind him about current war status, but couldn't even finish the sentence. "I know, but I also know that you don't care about regulations as others do, so if you want to do it - you will do it.", Ben replied. "I'll do it.", she nodded and looked at him with pleading eyes, "But... will you help me, please?". Ben looked surprised by this request - she was not ordering him, she was genuinely asking for help.
Ben shook his head, "I'm not joining them, Crash.". "I'm not asking you to do that.", she said quietly and continued, "All I want is to have you by my side when it happens... officially already off duty, so you won't be blamed, but I'll need you to help me to retain control over the ship, Ben. Then... you can take one of those remaining ships in hangar and fly to Gallia, I promise.".
Ben stood up and straightened his back, walking around her office as he was weighting his decision. All of this was against his beliefs and his code of honor, and he was not fond of her possible Xenos friends at all. "Yes.", Ben sighed and nodded at her, "I'll help you". If this will be their last battle together, so be it.
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All Good Things... 2
Insurgent battlecruiser INS Roanoke was moored at Galvestone Outpost in Texas, it's current base, although this base could not do much in supporting such large vessel with exception of providing some additional manpower for repairs and providing supplies.
Loud accoustic guitar tunes filled the room as Virginia was sitting behind her chair and was singing songs she's heard and learned through her lifetime. Her play was not perfect, mostly because she misplaced her or slipped fingers on guitar's neck once a while, so any careful listener could hear false tones here and there.
Her voice was in much better shape, trained by years of shouting orders when things went south, and was confident with ranges she was singing in.
Virginia was so absorbed within her music that she have not noticed her former XO entering her office, usual metal sound of sliding doors could not be heard over her guitar.
"... I try not to hold on to what is gone,
I try to do right what is wrong,
I try to keep-on-keeping on,
yeah I just keep-on-keeping on..."
Ben walked towards the chair in front of her quietly and sat down, waiting patiently until she notices him
"... I hear a voice calling... calling out for me,
these shackles I've broken in an attempt to be free,
be it for reason, be it for cause,
I won't take the eas-"
Virginia finally noticed him and stopped playing, putting her guitar quickly aside and turning her attention to him, "You could've have knocked.". "I did for five minutes.", he replied with slight smirk on his face. "I guess it's time to talk about your replacement.", she sighed and looked at him, "Well, your recommendations?". "I think that the best candidate will be Fiona Hayes, she has very good record and-", he started giving her his choice, but she stopped him and shook her head, "No, we'll be in crime underworld - I need some man next to me, someone who can look threatening if needed.". "Isn't it sexist, Crash? She's clearly a good officer", Ben asked with raised eyebrow. "No... no, of course... maybe a little, yes.", she sighed and paused for a while, "But, Liberty Underworld is like gentleman's club, more than Insurgency or any other army. Two chicks won't be taken too seriously. What about Will Holmes, the chief security guy? He looks serious enough and knows how to plan and fight when things go south.". "He is worse starship commander than Hayes.", Ben reminded her. "What about... if we changed order a little - Hayes'd be my second-in command when starship command is concerned and Holmes my XO?", she was pondering about her option. "Too much of chaos wouldn't be good for morale - I suggest Hayes as your XO and second-in command, and Holmes as your third-in command who wouldn't go on dealings with you if needed? Your right and left hand.". "Left and right hand in my case.", she chuckled a little, commenting on her left handeness, "But I get it... two XOs.". She wasn't thrilled about this development at all, but what she could do differently? Her former XO was complementing her exceptionally well - logical, imposing and collected, while she brought intuition, fire and conviction to the table. They were a great team now, despite some hiccups in the past.
They both remained silent for a while as this situation was difficult for both of them.
Virginia frowned and nodded at him, "Two XOs, then. And-", she reached for a datapad and slided it to him, "Start briefing them, we will be loading ship full of supplies soon.".
Ben nodded and picked up her datapad with loading schedules and manifests, "It'll be done, Captain.". With these words, he left her office.
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All Good Things... 3
Insurgent battlecruiser INS Roanoke was sitting hidden in Meadville Ice Asteroid Field and waiting for its two shuttles to come back with Grant and his men from nearby Xeno Milford base. Crew and their officers grew nervous as they have been in clearly hostile territory and not all of them were involved with Belle's plans so far.
Virginia was sitting in her office with legs on the desk and hands folded behind her head as she was waiting for any interesting news. Unlike others from her crew, she was relatively calm - this was part of her plan all along. Getting Morreti's men aboard as new reinforcements was sound idea - they would have time and opportunity to take a look on her ship closely and get themselves somewhat familiar until Roanoke's takeover happens.
Ben Sheffield knocked on her door and immediately entered in. He clearly had some questions and concerns in mind as he was still not particularly thrilled about this whole venture.
He closed the door behind him and asked her with some serious tone in his voice, "Crash, do you have time?". "Yeah, I do.", she nodded at him and pointed at chair in front of her desk. She put her legs down on the floor to make this meeting more civilized, "What's on your mind?". "It's getting too fast, Crash.", he replied and looked as she lit one of her damned cigarettes and took a draw from it. He tried to dissuade her from smoking so many times, but every time it fell on deaf ears. "What do you mean?", she asked back and exhalled cloud of aromatic smoke away from his direction, "I think we have almost everything covered.". "Yes... but.", he paused for a while and looked at her, "Evacuation to Gallia isn't finished yet, there's chaos and... I lost contact with my family. Now I get that we won't be there secure those convoys.".
Virginia just for several seconds looked down as she took another draw from her cigarette before looking back at him, "It's a chaos, yes. I bet they'll be fine, but we can't wait much longer, Ben. Things are set into motion as we speak and can't be stopped - when the opportunity arises, we must act without any hesitation.".
There was something dishonest about her answer or manners, she was hiding or running away from something, that he knew for sure. Maybe she felt guilty about her plan progressing faster than evacuation to Gallia and Crayter.
Virginia looked at Ben and he could read some apology or guilt in her eyes for sure, but nothing more. She tried to hold her composure, but this is was simply too personal. "I think they'll be alright, Ben.", she said after a while and offered him gentle lie in hope to comfort him a little, "Grant and his mean will be arriving soon, Ben - can you brief them about important bits?". "No... I can't...", he said with some hesitation in his voice. He agreed to help her, but this help had some limits, especially when fate of his family is in question, "I'll help you, but you'll have to brief those murderers yourself, Crash.".
Virginia nodded with her head and stood up from her chair, grabbing her coat and dressing herself up into her captain's attire and grooming up her hair to look presentable, "No problem, Ben, I'll do it myself then.". There was a hint of sadness in her voice, probably because their once valued friendship was falling apart because of their different views and she could not do anything about it, "I'll do it, so you can try to get into touch with your family, alright?".
He quietly nodded at her as there was nothing else to say and that was probably for the best. They both left her office - both of them taking different directions.
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All Good Things... 4
Battlecruiser Roanoke was moored at Fort Ramsey, Ontario. It was no longer a Liberty Insurgency ship - it had been until an hour or two ago, but now it belonged only to itself and its ideals.
The hull was lightly damaged and scratched from the ice break-offs, the end of the main heavy battery sitting forward on the bow was damaged, but all of that was incomparable to the effect the whole defection had had on the interior of the ship - more of the crew had resisted than originally anticipated, nearly one eighth, and so the interior of the ship had been damaged by the fighting. In many places, electrical lines, various pipes and internal equipment and furniture were damaged. Even the bridge was not left untouched by the fighting - most of the displays and consoles broken, lights shattered and the entrance door warped from the massive explosion.
The surviving crew were recovering from their injuries, burying their fallen and generally recovering from what had happened on board. For most of them, today was a big win, but no one was in the mood to celebrate. Just not today, maybe in a week or two, when the intensity of the experience of killing their former comrades wore off. So now they were packing up their things and preparing to leave the ship, which would be in need of thorough repairs and revisions.
Virginia was sitting in her office, so she packed her belongings into a navy suitcase. After all, she did not have that much for herself - army clothes, army underwear, army boots - well, everything except her guitar and a few souvenirs was from equipment depots.
There was a knock on her door and Ben Sheffield entered, still bearing the signs of battle just like her. Their wounds had been tended to, but their clothes were still bloody and damaged from the fight. "Did you want something from me, Crash?", he asked her at the door and walked in. "Yes... I have a present for you... and a way home.", Virginia smiled sadly at him and nodded her head towards her desk where an envelope and an access card for one of their freighters.
Ben raised his eyebrows and first looked at the contents of the envelope - inside was an Orbital Spa and Cruise voucher for a two month family trip for two adults and up to four children. Ben looked at Virginia in surprise, "Where did you get the money for that?" "You know how we saved that one freelancer's hide from a hacker? So he sent us his generous thanks - it's paid for with your share and part of mine.", Virginia replied.
Ben smiled gratefully at her and was about to hug her, but Virginia quickly stopped him with her left hand, "No, don't do that.". It did not sound threatening, more like somewhat sad and resigned. Ben obeyed her, but was curious about the rest of what she had to say. "Don't do it because...", Virginia averted her gaze towards the floor and lit one of her aromatic cigarettes. She took a quick long drag from it and blew out a puff of vanilla-scented smoke. She stared at him silently for a moment as if gathering the courage to tell him something, "...because you couldn't contact your family due to the fact that they were on an evacuation convoy, but...", Virginia let out another long sigh and looked briefly into his eyes. "What's wrong, Crash?", Ben asked her, frightened, not knowing her like this and at the same time beginning to worry about his wife and children. What had happened to them, he wondered, they cannot be dead, she would not give him the family voucher if they were. "They're here, on the ship.", Virginia replied quietly, nodding her head towards the shuttle access card, "There.".
Ben shook off his fear for his family, but he did not like the fact that his family was on the ship in the middle of all this bloody chaos. "Why did you drag them into this, Crash?", he asked her slowly and quietly. He was usually calm, but now Virginia had crossed all boundaries and his blood was boiling in his veins. "The convoys to Gallia weren't safe...", Virginia replied quietly, taking a drag from her cigarette, "... and since things were moving faster and we couldn't protect them...". "Because we couldn't protect them - so what?!", Ben raised his voice at Virginia. His hands began to shake with anger, but he had no intention of hitting her - no, that was not his style, he was a professional and she was still the captain of the ship. "... Because we couldn't protect them, so... I had them brought aboard, in stasis pods. They don't know or seen anything.", Virginia replied quietly, looking guiltily at the floor. "Are you telling me you had my family kidnapped?", Ben asked her again, slowly and clearly. "Yes. I ordered your family to get kidnapped.", Virginia replied quietly, looking briefly into his eyes, "I completely understand that you're going hate me, Ben.".
Ben Sheffield was speechless - their sincere friendship was gone. It would have been easier if they would never been friends - he might not have been far away from punching her in the face like he would anyone who dared to touch his family, scolding her with every curse word he knew, but he still could not do it. In some twisted sense he could understand her reasons, but the way it was done was just too much. He wanted out of here immediately - out of this ship, away from Xenos, he wanted to see his wife and children, and most of all he wanted away from the creature he had once called his friend. "Have a nice life, Ben.", Virginia said as Ben grabbed the card from the freighter, walked briskly out of her office and slammed the door behind him angrily. "I'm so sorry.", Virginia said quietly, taking a drag from her cigarette as Ben's angry footsteps moved away.