21:10, 11th November, an unknown lake on Planet Cambridge.
Watching the sunset on a quiet night, Melissa is sat on a beach chair, watching a small bonfire. The last of her old Velvet, LSF and Zoner flight suits burning away as she sighs. No one was around, she was completely alone. A modest and breezy 9 degrees celsius evening. The sun was slowly sinking behind the soft waves of the cold lake that she was in front of. A cold wind quickly chills her spine as she moves the beach chair closer to the fire. The last of the clothes gently sizzling away, a few small logs and twigs that were used to start the fire are nearing the end of their ability to give off effective heat. Before the fire dies down, Melissa pulls one last item from her bag. Looking at it, a look of regret on her face as she flicks through the pages before tossing it on the fire. Sticking her middle finger up at it as the thing starts to catch fire, almost reigniting the fire again. She chuckles as she feels the echoes of the past slowly wash away from her. "It's funny, I returned last time and my issues got the better of me... Now, it's time to really forge my own path. No politics, no restrictions. Get away from it all. Leave the past behind, start a new... No goddamn politics. No one to try and tell me what I can and can't do, so long as it's within the laws... Just me and my team. A new life... A fresh start." This time, it will be different. But isn't that what Melissa said to herself last time, in that same diary that is now burning away in the bonfire. Well... Maybe this time, instead of trying to please her people... She'll fix herself. Several years in the LSF, her times in the Omicrons. Even before that, her parent's deaths, the witnessing the slaughtering and partaking in the slaughtering of many. Watching the worst that humanity had to offer... While still trying to be a beacon of hope. Maybe it was time for an early retirement. Leaving any and all careers in the dust. Really go for the own colours. No more houses, no Zoner politics. Just her Aquilon, the crew, those she'd grown close to. She'd already tried to be a groundbreaker on a self funded upstart, which would be enough for her to know that what's left in the past should remain. She watched the flames until the beautiful fire became nothing more than cindered ash.
22:30, 11th November. Melissa's old apartment.
The old apartment that used to be a bombsite was tidied up efficiently. The old battered and destroyed furniture had been replaced with new items. Velour sofa, red oak floor boards, a walnut bookshelf and an oak computer desk with a laptop sat on it. A relatively collection of books ranging in genre from leadership, history, business and law all littered the book shelf. Several movies and documentaries in data discs in the storage compartments of the computer desk on clear show with the same style of genres. The apartment had been repainted to a light pink/grey with LED lights being on the walls instead of on the ceiling. It gave the room a unique feel. Melissa made her way to the computer. As she waited for it to start, she boiled an old style kettle on a log burning stove. As it started, she immediately went into the locational settings, spoofing her location to Pygar, setting up a green screen to show that she was in the cargo hold of her Eagle, she sent a message to her old friends in Velvet. Simply requesting for her Aquilon. After sending the message, she checked the time. 22:53. About the right time for her to do her nightly routing. Camomile tea, a few messages to her old crew members of the Cryolite and taking her new sleeping pills, which she needed to get through the nights before PTSD would come up and bite her.
09:45, 12th November, Melissa's old apartment.
It had been over two weeks since Melissa had left the Omicrons, not the first time, and not the last time. Since returning home, she hadn't worked, and was living that "free life" that she wanted. No more paperwork to burn, no more having to play nice with insatiable bastards. Just living the way the 26 year old has been wanting to be for a while. There was still that insatiable nagging in the back of her mind about returning to Velvet, but knew that this was never going to happen as anything more than a contractor. Go in, help with a specific job, move on. But it was slowly dying down. She knew what it was that she wanted... To sit in the captain chair of her beloved Aquilon again, with her crew. Maybe see who else has left the organisation since her departure, bring them along for a new adventure.
Melissa had already done her morning routine. A walk in town, breakfast and a coffee out in the main metropolis of the planet. She had hit the gym and was already ahead of her schedule with what she wanted to get done. It was now back to watching the clock. Two weeks had already passed. Were had the time gone. Not a single issue to worry about. Money was good, time was free. Maybe it was time to get back to space and see were the next adventures would be. Or maybe, it was time to call it quits... A large decision. One that can always be put on hold. "Time... You never know how much of it you have, till you're actually watching seconds tick by. Something that I've never done before. What to do..." After spending a couple of hours on the computer, Melissa looks up at the clock, now showing the time 11:52. After a shower, she got changed into a suitable attire for heading out again, but this time wearing something more for travelling than for sitting at a desk all day. White trainers, black tights, denim shorts and a white hoodie with the logo of a black Sabre on it. She threw her laptop, it's charger, 3 days worth of clothing as well as
13:15, 12th November, Landing bay D-3, Planet Cambridge.
Getting to her Eagle, Melissa opened the cargo bay ramp. As she walked up, the converted bay which was a mobile living and work area. Almost mimicking the apartment almost perfectly. Just minus the window looking out at a metropolis. It was cosey but not designed to be long term. Before she switched the power on, she checked the bathroom. A sink, a shower and a toilet. It really was the home away from home for a single person. Making her way to the pilot seat, she switches the power on, engines and then radios through to the docking officer. "This is Melissa Jones, docking permit 23-IM-7C, requesting clearance to leave the planet. Destination Omega-3." As the light shows green to leave, she closes the door to the cargo bay and sets off. Looking round as she leaves the planet, she looks around for her apartment and smiles. It's like leaving home all over again. But it was worth it. Tia would be responding to her soon about either returning her ship or denying her access. Both responses she was already prepared for. After leaving Cambridge for the second time in the past 7 days, she set a course straight to the Omega 3 system. Keeping herself on the map as long as needed before disappearing again.
Sat at the bar, Melissa is nursing a small headache, not from drinking but a lack of proper sleep since leaving Cambridge, it may have only been one night, but she'd got used to her bed in the apartment.What hadn't helped as well, is that she hadn't done her usual morning routine, instead just sitting at the empty bar for about 20 minutes before ordering anything. After a flick through the menu, she thought for a bit and sighed, wondering when her life would pick up again. It felt odd, being out again, but it wouldn't be long until she'd be building her new home, again. But this time, truly away from prying eyes. Again, making her own road, but under no banner... Maybe Bulldog would respond to her by the time she'd get to Omicron Gamma. Maybe she'd spend some time with her old friends in the Corsairs, see how they're getting on. Maybe so, maybe not. It was odd. Not having that direction, that sense of urgency that she'd had for the past few months. It was almost too good to be true, but also it was directionless and unfulfilling. There was no aims and no satisfaction from achievement, other than the gym and keeping up with her training. After a couple of minutes looking at the menu and deciding what she wants, Melissa makes a small gesture to the barkeep to come over, smiling warmly as she does. "Coffee and a full Bretonian breakfast, please. Just a regular size. Can I also get a regular coffee to go as well when I finish?" The barkeep makes notes of what she orders, nods his head and disappears out the back to pass the message to the chef. As this happened, Melissa phased out of keeping an eye on what was going on around her, instead, slipping into her thoughts again. The memories of what she had done in the past coming back to haunt her. Her thoughts playing out like a movie, watching as the thousands of people she had been responsible for in some way of dying. Watching as she took her first kill in a prison station for the LSF to take out a wanted criminal, the gut wrenching feeling of taking that first life. In her mind, she watched as she ordered teams of people to sweep through houses... 'Kill anyone that moves'... Those orders... Why were they ever given counsel. As she allowed the thoughts to play out, she eventually came to and was back in the real world. Looking around the bar, she took note on the clock of how much time had passed. Ten minutes. Breakfast was on it's way... About time, because she was feeling the fatigue of not having eaten slowly kick in.
11:45, 13th November, in the cargo hold of her Eagle, getting ready to take off.
Lying down on the single bed, Melissa took a few moments to allow her medication to kick in. Depression, a major side of her PTSD, was definitely something that she couldn't fight alone, and knowing this, it was something that she knew she had to face. Why was the young 26 year old still carrying the weight of a universe on her shoulders, when she had left the past behind. But still dragging it along with her, as if it was a part of her. The weight was bearable, but only with the medication she had been taking over the past week or so. As she waited for the clearance to launch, she got a message through that she would be clear to leave in 45 minutes. Long enough for a shower and to enable the automated systems to get her to Omicron Gamma automatically. A long flight, but one that would be impossible to pass up.
As she stepped out of the shower, she heard a buzz on the intercom that she had clearance to leave when she was ready. Had she really been in the shower for about 40 minutes, or was it just that the clearance had been accelerated? Either way, she didn't fuss. The launch window was 30 minutes from being told to actually leaving, or else she would have to fill out the godforsaken paperwork again. She allowed herself to dry off relatively naturally, enjoying the seclusion she was in, she laid on the bed naked for a few moments, allowing her to naturally dry off. Not bothering with makeup or anything else as she'd be in space for a day or two, she made her way to the wardrobe, quickly slipping into a black flightsuit, her old deep undercover one that was without any insignia or detailing. Completely blacked out. Wearing it almost felt like a shroud. She finally got her flight shoes on and initiated the launch. She checked her watch, fourteen minutes to spare... She could have laid in bed a bit longer, but that wouldn't have achieved anything. Instead, she just got off the planet as quick as she could. Setting the automated systems to take her to Skiros Station in Omicron Gamma. Secluded enough to not make too much of a fuss before reaching Omicron Theta.
04:23, 14th November, cargo bay of Melissa's Eagle.
Melissa woke up in a cold sweat, the nightmares feeling more vivid as she laid in bed, shivering. She was sick, stomach cramped and despite the warm temperature of the ship, was freezing cold. She made her way to the small bathroom, turning the lights on, leaning against the sink she looks in the mirror. She seemed to phase in and out of consciousness as she stood there. It seemed like she was there for only a couple of minutes before the feeling in her stomach started to slowly make it's way up her throat. As she stood there and spilled her evening meal into the sink, she stood there, still shaking, not sure if she was done or if there was more. She felt a shiver through her spine as she stood standing there, looking in the mirror. 'Wake up, Mel... Stop living in the past.' She kept telling herself over and over. A few minutes passed before her stomach started settling down. She made her way to the kitchenette, pouring herself a glass of water to get the taste out of her mouth. She sat there as she let the nightmares in her head subside and leave her mind. After a few minutes, she goes to brush her teeth, get the last of the foul taste out of her mouth. She showers quickly to get rid of the sweats, enough to just let the warm water wash away the sweat and makes her way back to bed. Everything would have to go into the wash again when she wakes up. A problem for in a few hours when she wakes up.
After showering properly, throwing her clothes and bedding in the wash and cooking up a small breakfast of eggs and bacon, making a quick sandwich before setting off to Freeport 11. Making sure she could get in and out before anyone would notice she would be there. It would be a quick swap out of ships. She knew her old Sabre was there, a ship which she'd rather use. She would give the Eagle to one the old bridge crew of The Cryolite, Matthew Keyes. The old XO who was more than overdue his leave and a retirement package for everything he'd done for her in the past. Whether or not he stayed with Velvet, or pursued his own life agenda, that would be his call to make. She waited for the refueling process to be done. As she did, she sent out a few messages to the old crew to get ready for her to return to Livadia in a few days to pick the ship up, and begins to leave. She tries to make sure that no one recognises her, even on the remote Skiros station, she wants to remain as anonymous and out the way as possible. She sets her ship to autopilot to Freeport 9, the final destination before giving the Eagle to Keyes. She'd need to remove the furnishings and dump them in a secure location on Freeport 9, bring the ship back, then outfit the Sabre to be a home away from home, at least for the shorter journeys. Melissa smiled, as she launched the eagle from Skiros, making her way into the Maldava cloud to keep as out of the way and as off the scanners as possible.
After giving Eshter a small shopping list of things to get on the station for the rest of their trip to Kusari, Melissa decided to spend a couple of hours spending some time on the station. Noticing the new GRG scientists and security, she kept her head down, trying not to bring any attention to herself. Last thing she wanted was to speak to them, especially seeing as she was not interested in a catch up with Lawrence and his people. She instead, made her way down to the commercial areas. A bit ironic that she had sent her PA to do the runs, and instead was going down to see the hustle and bustle of the station herself. A bit of retail therapy, some time alone and maybe. GLoss over the thoughts on what the actual plan with the Aquilon would be. She owned it... But unless it had some form of direction, it would be stripping Velvet of one of their most potent combat vessels. Maybe the idea of a casino, strip club or whatever else can still be done on it... But it won't be any form of large scale. Just a little project. Losing the ships combat prowess would definitely be a major bust. Instead, maybe Melissa spending time at the bar with Eshter could be better spent talking about the plans with the carrier.
15:45, 27th November, in the cargo hold of her Eagle, getting ready to take off.
Lying on her bed, Melissa waited for a message from Eshter to say that she was done. While she was waiting, Melissa had put some food in the oven, so that they could have a bite to eat before heading off to Kusari. The past week they had been together had been a bit mental, and things were definitely settling down. Seems every time there was a step forward with getting the ship prepared, there was another few steps back. It felt odd... That ship had never had problems back when Melissa was using it in Velvet, but since leaving and receiving no real word from anyone other than Tia saying that she was giving her back her own ship and Bulldog doing the refits... It felt weird. Maybe it had been the new power system... Some nuclear thing, Bulldog had said about. Either way, that wasn't a concern for Melissa at the moment. The plan of how to sustain the ship as well as the future directions not just of herself but also of what she was going to do with her time would be a lot more pressing. It had been over a month since she was actually earning money, and slowly despite leaving with plenty of funds, they would eventually dry up.
Melissa knew of a few ways of earning money, information was always something the right people would pay money for. It would almost be a return to her roots as a LSF agent, but those days were long behind her. Maybe one of the many things to dabble in. Maybe she would start going back to mercenary work... But that would definitely mess up her reputation, especially seeing as her interests were on both sides of the law now. Annoying one side over another would definitely not be sustainable.
Maybe it would be worth investing into another ship. An Oasis passenger liner, use that as the casino, the strip club and whatever other money making opportunities out there, and keep Cryo as her personal treasure piece. Maybe going down the information broker side would be good, but that had already been well saturated by Ezreal Vertiga. Maybe it would be worth getting in contact with him some time in the future, see how he does it. Last thing Melissa ever wanted was to be the shadow of someone else, but it would definitely be worth a shot. Definitely something for Eshter to poke her about later... Speaking of which, why was she taking so long to get back.
09:30, 28th November. A small hotel on Planet Junyo.
After getting back from the gym, Melissa makes her way to the hotel room which she and Eshter had been sharing while they were in Shikoku. She nudged the young woman to wake her up, which wasn't uncommon. Melissa sometimes forgot that despite the young woman being her PA, she was still a teenager, so the fact that she'd wake up at this time is a miracle in itself. As she did so, she smiled at Eshter as she woke up. Melissa spoke to Eshter in her usual soft tone."Wakey wakey, sleepy head! Time to grab breakfast, we've got that meeting with Hogosha later, and want to be sure we're in a good mind set for it."Eshter looks up at Melissa, rubbing her eyes a few times. She starts raising herself out of bed and flops down, almost dragging Mel with her. She pauses for a moment and giggles softly, as she does so, Mel shakes her head and sighs."If you still need your beauty sleep, you can sleep in the ship enroute to New Tokyo... It won't be long before we get there anyway."
Eshter took a few minutes to wake up, and she groaned lightly before getting out of bed. She made her way to the bathroom and got in the shower. Without thinking, she doesn't close the door and instead shouts out to Melissa while showering."So, this is about turning your carrier which I still have yet to see into a mobile casino, isn't it?"Eshter seemed to take forever in the shower, again, this wasn't unusual but it was annoying, seeing as Mel had just got back from the gym. Either way, Eshter shouted out to her again before getting out the shower. "Maybe we can look at using it for something else? I don't know, it's your choice. Just seems weird turning a warship into a mobile casino when there could be a million other things we could use that would be more suited." Melissa sighed and instead waited for Eshter to get out the bathroom so they could talk properly before she went in.
Eventually, when Eshter emerged from the shower, Mel sighed. It felt like she had been in there forever, but at least she had the decency to get dressed and get herself presentable before, so... Guess the ex-slave was slowly getting the hang of being more of a functioning human being and not a robot who submits to Melissa's every demand."Only reason I'm thinking of using the Aquilon, is because it's the ship I already own, and have a perfectly functioning crew for. Don't worry, we'll be heading to Omicron Theta together to see it. Want to see how everything is going on there. But yes... I guess the casino idea of a battleship isn't the most well thought out. I just need it to make some form of money while we have it. Otherwise, it's going to be a high powered war machine that I own, paying out excessive money for a crew and having no direction for it... Maybe this is something we should sit down for a few days and actually plan out. And yes... I really don't know anymore. I just want my goddamn ship back."Melissa sighs, obviously seeming quite stressed out about her not being at her ship and not having direct access to it at the moment. The ship would have to be left in the Omicrons until further notice, in a low power state. It's just as well that there was still the opportunity to work with Core, Order, Velvet and the Corsairs in the local systems who all had shipyards and were still good allies of Melissa."For now, we'll just have to see what we can do with the future of it... The current crew can keep it operational, and if needed help my old organisation out while they can. But, we will be having it back."It was obvious that the ship would need new crew members. Stella had previously contacted a group, Future Tech Innovations or something... They build androids. Maybe that would be the way of ensuring that the crew would be back to full capacity, maybe even at better capacity than ever before. Robots don't need sleep, they don't need payment. Maybe this thought would be something Melissa would revisit later. And when she eventually goes to the Omicrons again, will be able to speak to Stella and see about how her order is performing. Maybe this could be an end to the crew issue.
18:35, 29th November. Planet New Tokyo, New Tokyo system.
Finally making it to New Tokyo, Melissa landed her Eagle at the landing pads not too far from the Kabukichō District. Being a complete outsider, she had to almost second guess, and Eshter despite her best efforts, was as clueless as Melissa at this stage. They instead used their PDAs to act as translators so they could find their way to the meeting point with the Hogosha representatives. The meeting wouldn't be for a few days, but that would just mean a few days of planning the future, getting actual plans sorted and above all, getting to grips with the lay of the land. They had access to the landing pad for 4 days, which would make it 3 days of being on holiday, then the fourth one being the meeting with Hogosha and departing to the Omicrons to arrange a surprise meeting with Tia and Max in Velvet.
During the 3 days of waiting, Melissa spent her time with Eshter, figuring out how to move forward with ensuring the ship would be fully operational. Tia may have said on behalf of Velvet that she can have the vessel back, but that doesn't mean that the crew will follow her, it doesn't mean that she will be able to fund it, and it definitely doesn't mean that she won't have issues later on with other groups because of it. There were some solutions. The androids from FuTech could easily serve as new crew. Velvet, Core, Order, Corsairs... Sure one of the old allies would help with being a benefactor. Maybe even Dixon in the Rogues, or even the Hogosha. Finding deals to work with them to ensure the ship would work... A lot to think about for sure. But there were three days before the meeting with Hogosha before anything goes forward.