Well this has certainly been an interesting day today. It started at about 1:30AM, I was finishing up the repairs to the ship after my little bout of bravery yesterday afternoon with me physically blocking a torpedo. When I happened to look over thruster of the ship to see the daughter of the noble sneaking down the loading ramp of her fathers ship. I figured security would be on her any second and they would escort her back onto the ship and to her room, but then there was nobody. She had timed it just right when the guards were changing. She had made a clean break and none were the wiser other than me. I of course followed, after all it was my job to protect the lord and his daughter back to Honshu safley. Keeping my distance i followed her all the way to one of the observation points of the platform we were on. For a minute I thought she was about to jump, after shaking my head at the idiotic idea, I started walking toward her not loud enough to make her think i was coming after her but not to quiet as to startle her. About 15 to 20 feet away she looked back at me only to reply "Oh its you, come to take me back have you?" I responded with not really, and I joined her on the observation deck. It was at this time I noticed she was not all that younger then me 17, 18, maybe 19. I asked her what she was doing out here sneaking out in the middle of the night. She moaned saying that I sounded like my fathers guards, to which I smerked and apologized. "I don't get to really visit the planets go to, its all mostly businesses. I just wanted to see want he ocean looked like up close not from within a spaceship." I noded "a good enough reason i believe. There are far to many beautiful planets to only view them from within a spaceship." It was at this time she got a bit of a supprised look in her face and stated "Oh where are my manners I forgot to introduce myself" she bows her head and says " my name is Ayame Nitta." I scratched my head knowing next to nothing about Kusari customs, I bowed my head and responded " I am Jonas Jansen a pleasure to meet you." She grined at me, slightly chuckling. I asked her "whats so funny", she apologized saying that I looked out of place when I did that. With a bit of an embarrassed look on my face I nodded in agreement. "Thats the first time I've ever done that." It was at this time I really noticed how good her english was so I told her, "This whole time we've been talking your english has been perfect, no accent at even." She sadly looked away at me and down into the water below, "Yes I've been trained in many different languages, English, German, and of course Japanese. My mother thought it would be a good idea, better way to attract a husband if I could prove I was intelligent enough to learn many languages." "In fact thats what we were doing on Manhattan. Of courses they say it was a trade negotiation, but don't believe it." "What about your father" I asked her. She seemed to smile a bit "He agrees that learning differnt languages would be helpfull, but not just for finding husbands. Bussness, trade, negotiations," she smiles a bit more, "simple conversation." We just stood at that lookout talking for hours even though it didn't feel like it. next thing I know the sun is starting to come up. We both looked at each other, both of us realising how long we had been their and how long she had been missing. The both of us made our way back to the nobles' ship as quickly as we could but it far far to late guards were all over the place. As me and Ayeme made our way to her father I realised it would be next to impossable to get us both off the hook, heck I would be lucky if I didn't get charged with attenpted kidnapping. As we stood before the noble guards all around me I kneeled down on my knees and put my head down, like I hd seen in those old Kusari samurai movies, I apologized for my actions and I told him that I noticed the young lady standing by the ship and I asked her if I could escort her on a tour of the facility since some of the views were quite remarkable, I didn't noticed how long we were gone. I had apologized for not notifing the guards of our departing, I ask him to place all the blame at my feet and I awaited any punishment he saw fit to hand out. I think I heard Ayame try to interject but was cut off by someone, I couldn't tell who with my head bowed down. Awaiting a sharp stabling pain or some other form of excution, but to my surprise the noble placed his hand firmly on my shoulder and stated, "It takes courage to admit when one has wronged someone and even greater courage to openly await punisment without hesitation." Then he stated "Your punishment is you will not be reciving payment for compleatment of the journey home. Now that bussness is taken care of ready yourselfs we will take off within the hour."As I stood up I swear I saw the noble smirk at his daughter.
Jonas Jansen: Freelancer trying to find what happened to his wife by any meens necessary Marl Lambert: Captian of the Ridgefield mining ship. Ted Jason:Captian of The Gentleman Caller, Ladies man, and Junker all rolled into one.
Now that I look back on this I think he knew what was going on the hold time between me and Ayame.
Quote: The rest of the trip to Honshu was uneventfull. When we finally got their I was supprised by the natural beauty of the planet another water world but the oceans and beaches were breathtaking. Once we had arived we were greeted by the nobles wife. She was frendly to everyone but me it seemed, I guess they may have sent word about the incedent on Junyo, or maybe she didn't like foreigners, Iv'e heared that foreigners are treated poorly in Kusari, as bad as women in some areas. I didn't like the sound of eather one. We were all invited to dinner by the noble and his family to celabrate their safe arrival, was nice to see I would at least get a free meal out of it all. It was a meal I wouldn't soon forget, the amout of food was awe inspiring Kusari food as far the eye could see. I got myself some fish, and on a bit of am impulse some sushi and some saki, never had eather of the later two. I had the hardest time with the chopsticks I coulds get the one held buy my thumb to work ok but the other one wouldn't cooperate Katsu just sat next to me chuckling.........I think I even saw Ayame laughing at me. I was about to give up when one of the servents kindly came up to me and placed the chopsticks into the right spot and demostrated how to use them. The sushi I wasn't to fond of but the sake I could get use to. After the dinner was over and we all expressed out gratitude me and Katsu started to make our way out to the flight deck. Katsu had already suited up and was climbing into his fighter, me I was draging behind enjoying the senery, when one of the royal guards approched us and bowed saying the noble had an offer for us if we wished to hear it. I looked up at Katsu and he just shrugged. "What the heck I said." As we made our way to the nobles' office we passed threw the dinning hall the servents were cleaning up but I was able to grab a bit of the leftover fish that I had tried out earlier. Katsu butted in, "so you enjoy koi do you." "Koi?" "Yes what you are eating is known as koi." I just shrugged, "didn't know what fish it was but it sure is good." As we made our way into the office I noticed the noble was not alone, his wife, and Ayame were their as well he motioned us to sit and we did. "I have a proposition for you both. Your actions these last few days have been most impressive."As he said this he pulled ouy two sheets of paper and slid one to me and one to Katsu. I read it over and realized that these were employment contracts. I looked up at him and asked him if he was serious about this. He slightly closed his eyes nodded, "you will be paid at a start of 5,000 credits a week, with a bonus of 45,000 per mission you complete for me and my family, with pay increase as you prove yourselfs." I looded at Katsu, and he looked at me, and then I looked at the noble and his family and asked him, "where do I sign." He looked pleased and stated that it was late and the finalization would have to wait untill tomorrow unfortunally only the family or the guards are allowed residents here, so we would have to rest somewhere offworld. It was at this time Katsu spoke up, "I know where we can stay for a day or two." As we left to the flight deck I asked Katsu where we were going, he said only one word, "home."
Now that I look at this I think this is the spot where doomed so many people. I should have never signed that piece of paper. If I hadn't it would have spared so much heartbreak...........For me and Ayame
Jonas Jansen: Freelancer trying to find what happened to his wife by any meens necessary Marl Lambert: Captian of the Ridgefield mining ship. Ted Jason:Captian of The Gentleman Caller, Ladies man, and Junker all rolled into one.
Last night when we left Honshu Katsu was quiet more than usual. Turns out "home" was Aomori Station so it was only one quick trade lane ride there. When we got there Katsu requested docking clearance but, something seemed off a bit he sounded hesitant, like he wasn't sure what to say. Even more odd was the person on the other line sounded shocked. Kinda made me worried about coming here, but a few seconds later we were cleared to dock. I had heard that this place was big from passing traders and the like but I never thought this big. The docking bays were big enough to park a good sized gunboat in it. As I landed there was a group around Katsu's ship, I thought to myself, "under what conditions did he leave all those years ago." He still hadn't told me and I never felt like pressing the topic, but now? As I walked my way over the people sounded of a mix of happiness and concern, and as I got to the main group I could see an older looking lady enbracing Katsu, tears rolling off her cheeks as she smiled and said "welcome home my son." He was visibly shaken as well, with a look of happiness and shock. I just stood along the inside edge of the group that had surronded the, with my arms folded, smiling. Katsu evenually noticed me and gentally pushing the woman off of him he told her, "mother I would like you to me a good friend of mine," as he pointed to me, "he has been a good friend as well as a partner in bussness. This is Jonas Jansen, Jonas this is my mother Koto Saito." She waked up to me bowed and told me "it is a pleasure to meet you, if you are a friend of my son you are more than welcome here." Katsu then states "we will only be here a day or two, but if things go well in the next few days, we may be able to stay Kusari for quite some time," obviously making his mother more happy. "Well if you will be staying here I insist you both stay with me I have plenty of room and it would save you some credits from renting a room. "I dont want to intrude on you two" I stated , she cut me off right then and their. "You are a freind of my son which makes you a freind of the family." I couldn't really turn that down after she said that, so I agreed, she seems very happy to hear this. After me and Katsu got done finishing post flight checks on each of our ships, he lead me to his familys residence. It was a larger area seeing that it was made to house a family instead of just one or two people, it had a large living/kitchen area and I could see entryways to a few bedrooms. The livingroom was decorated to look like a traditonal japanese home, with straw mats on the floor, doors that slid sideways and, the walls had that paper wall design. On one of the walls were pictures and photos, one of then was a family photo taken sometime ago. Remembering that katsu had told me they were a family of three brothers I asked "so when do I meet the whole family." It got very quiet very fast, and both Katsu and Koto had a forlorn look in their eyes. "Did I say something wrong," I asked. After a uncomfortably long moment of silence Katsu spoke up, "My father and brothers were killed just over a year ago." Realizing what I had just done I immediately apologised, to which Koto raised her hand and said "don't, you did not know." Unfortunately curiosity got the better of me and I asked how it happened. Koto spoke up, "It was Corsairs. My husband and sons were working in the Sigma 13 system. They were heading home from work from Gas Miner Naha on a Garanchou freighter when it came under attack. The corsairs never contacted them, they just killed them, then and there, no reason, no purpose." I spoke up "Im so sorry I brought it up. you've been nothing but a gracious host, and here I am bringing up such a difficult moment in your family. Pleace forgive me." "It's ok I'm learning to get over the pain but it still hurt sometimes. It must have been difficult for you as well Katsu, you never came home for the funeral my son." Katsu just nodded keeping the same sad look in his eyes. "I wouldn't know what to have done anyway, I still don't." It was at this time I had realized that why he had been so quiet on the trip here this was the first time he had returned since he had left. It had been his homecoming, but it was a bittersweet homecomming.
Jonas Jansen: Freelancer trying to find what happened to his wife by any meens necessary Marl Lambert: Captian of the Ridgefield mining ship. Ted Jason:Captian of The Gentleman Caller, Ladies man, and Junker all rolled into one.
Well I finally got word from about our employment. Seems we both checked out, and both me, and Katsu are now members of the familys' guards. The assistant said we sould both return to Honshu for briefings and orientation. I told them that i'll notify Katsu of the situation and, we would arrive as soon as possable. As I told Katsu of the message, his mother told katsu "If you are going to be doing more dangerious work I suggest you use your fathers old fighter. It has remained in the flight deck of the station since his passing, and I have no use for such a thing." Katsu looked at his mother somewhat supprised "Mother I couldn't use that, it was one of fathers most prised possessions, what would you think of me if it were damaged, or worse." "Nonsense" she protested "you are as fine a pilot as your father, and I am sure it would make him happy to see one of his own sons take command of it than someone else, besides it tradional for a father to pass down his weapons to his sons when they come of age." Katsu attempted to protest again, his mother just cut him off, "enough I insist." Katsu was very quite for a minute, and then just nodded, "very well." "Good" she said gruffly. As she placed both hands on her sons shoulders and begain to hug him, "Now be carefull my son, make me proud, and visit more often," then she looked at me, " you visit to." I just smiled and said, "yes mam," not wanting to draw her wrath. We got down to the hanger, and after about half an hour of searching Katsu found the fighter. It was a Wyrm, a more heavy armored, and powered version of the old Drake. It was fairly old itself, and had been resting in the back of the stations hanger area, there was dust caked on the windows, probally all over it but the color it was painted blended in to well with the dust. I looked at him and asked, "You think it's safe to fly?" "My father always kept it in top shape, I have no doubt it will fly well," he responded. "alright" I said "but Im going to follow you to Honshu just in case." The thing had been sitting in there for over a year," I thought to myself, "probally wont even start up." My thought was shot down moments later when Katsu started the engines, and the roar echoed off the walls of the massive room carrying the ruckus to the far ends of the hanger. "Showoff was all I could think." I climbed into my fighter and opened the comms to Katsu, "Ok lets see what that thing can do." He went out the docking hatch first followed by me, as we went thru the trade lane I thought to myself, "what am I getting myself into. I don't know the first thing on Kusari culture, I've just been winging it for the most part." As me and Katsu got into position to go thru the docking ring I continued to think to myself, "heres hoping I can do my job, and not cause an international incident." A few minutes after arriving we were greeted by the captian of the guard, a middle aged man that goes by the name of Baku Nakamura, the look on his face showed the signs of someone who had seen battle numerous times, and live to tell the tales. He greeted us, and told us to follow him. We followed him to what must have been his office, there were pictures of old battleships, and fighters, in a glass picture frame hanging on the wall there look like some old medals displayed. He told us to have a seat, and began to tell us about what we should expect working for the nobel. "First off let me tell you boys, this job is going to be hard, mentally and physically. You'll be givin some advanced combat training, both hand to hand, and space combat wise, if you don't already have any. We work with the Gas Miner Guild, Interspace Commerce, and a few others, but you'll learn about the others later on if you prove yourselfs to be competent and trust worthy. You'll both be quarters planetside so you wont have to worry about finding appropriate accommodations. We'll fund all basic weapons for your ship anything more advanced or fancy you'll have to fund yourselfs out of pocket." I looked at him, "Wait a minute this sounds almost like a millitary opperation you have going here." He chuckled at me, "Not quite but almost we get some of our funding from the government, but the majority of it comes from independent and corporate companys. Basically were a protection for hire organization, but like I said earlier we do other stuff as well. Any other questions?" Me and Katsu looked at each other, and shook our heads. The captain pressed a button on his desk, and a voice could be heard, "Yes sir," the voice said, "Hidaka, I want you to show these two new members to the housing complex for the guards, and get them affiliated with the others, and the area." "Yes sir, right away." A few moments later another man appered in the office and told us to follow him. Just as we were about to leave the room the captian spoke up, "This is a dangious job but the people are all good folks, just don't let them down,and you'll do just fine." We got to the apartment complex, nothing too fancy just your typical grouping of residential buildings. The place was fairly busy, pilots coming and going, some in flight suits some not. My apartment room was largly unfurnished, only a bed and a dresser. Hidaka spoke up "most pilots here usually decorate their room with trophys from the battles they fought, like pieces of ships and such. I just nodded and said i'll figure something out.
Jonas Jansen: Freelancer trying to find what happened to his wife by any meens necessary Marl Lambert: Captian of the Ridgefield mining ship. Ted Jason:Captian of The Gentleman Caller, Ladies man, and Junker all rolled into one.
I decided to take a walk, and familiarise myself with the estate, and surrounding area today. The estate is designed like the old estates you would see in those old samurai movies, wooden walkways around the outside of the buildings, and small rock gardens every so often. At least I thought it was every so often. The estate is so large that I quickly found myself lost. As I randomly wandering around I heard the sounds of I thought were hand to hand fighting. I decided to proceed toward the sound thinking maybe someone may have needed help, or at the very least I could get directions. When i arrived at the sceen, I noticed a group of people sitting around two others that appear to be sparring. As I made my way closer to the contest I noticed the two fighting, it was the captian of the guard Baku Nakamura, and to my surprise, Ayame. Even more surprising, at least to me at this time, was Ayame was mopping the floor with her opponent. The entire thing was over in just a few seconds later as Ayame delivered a swift blow to the chest, and sent the captian tumbling. The captain got up brushed himself off, and the two warriors both bowed respectfully. I made my way up to the dojo, and both the captain and Ayame noticed my presence, the captain simply nodding, and Ayame approching me and asking me if I had witnessed the fight. I told her I had only caught the last few moments of it but, was still impressed. I then said, a bit jokingly, that I thought the captain of the guards would have done a bit better. Slightly embarrassed at what I had said he spoke up, "I would like to see you do better. After all Lady Nitta has benn trained in Wing Chun since she was a child." I grinned, and said "Alright I'll see if I can." A look of shock took over the captians face, and he grumbled, "Your funeral." Ayame just confidently smiled at me as she turned, walked back to the sparring area, and waited for me. All I could think of at that time was, what was I thinking, way to go mouth getting ahead of your brain again. I walked up the sparring area, noticing a small group of people gathering around nearby, about to witness quite possiblly my most embarrassing moment. As I stood across from my opponent, I nerviously bowed, and Ayame did the same, and then she proceeded to take a fighting stance, I managed to take a stance of some sort. I awaited her first attack, which was a strait punch to the chest, I tried to block it but, it had more force to then I thought, and knocked me back a step, I attempted to retaliate with a punch of my own but, she seemed to dodge or parry it to the side, maybe both, and she responded a swift strike with the plam of her hand to my lower jaw, sending me staggering backwards, and before I knew it I was struck again to the chest, knocking me on my back with a large thump. "Well that was quick" I said as I picked myself off the ground and dusted myself off, then respectfully bowed to the victor, as she did the same. She was smiling for ear to ear, and I could hear Captain Nakamura laughing in the background. As we stepped down and another group took over with training matches Ayame looked at me and asked why I did such a thing. I told her I really don't know, she giggled, and then she asked why I came here if I didn't know. "Well," I responded, "I actually got lost trying to familiarise myself with the area and got, kinda, sorta, lost." She laughed again attempting to hide it. "Well then allow me to give you a tour of the estate and the surrounding area" she said still smiling. "I hope this goes better then the last one," I said as I scrathed the top of my head. The tour took the better part of the day, turns out that the island this place is on is pretty big, so getting lost isnt to hard to do. Afterwards she took me back to the appartment complex for the bodyguards, "well normally, back in Liberty, this is generally done the other way around," i said. She looked up at me confused, "What is," she pondered. "Back in Liberty its generally the gentlemans duty to escort the lady home," I said slily. I think she started to blush, and blurted out, "Well your not in Liberty at the moment, and this is not a date." "Noted," I said as I smiled this time. I thanked her for the tour and asked her if she wanted me to walk her home. She just smiled and said she would be find and she didn't want me getting lost again on my way back. I told her goodnight as I made my way inside and she did the same. Now I plan to take a nice hot bath and get these aches and maybe the busing to go away.
Jonas Jansen: Freelancer trying to find what happened to his wife by any meens necessary Marl Lambert: Captian of the Ridgefield mining ship. Ted Jason:Captian of The Gentleman Caller, Ladies man, and Junker all rolled into one.
I finally got my first mission from my new employer, about time was wondering if they were going to use me for what they said they would. The briefing was in Captian Nakamura's office, there were seven of us, including Katsu and me. After the briefing I understood why they picked me and Katsu. We were to fly the route that we took when the noble's ship came under attack, the one where I nearly killed myself protecting the noble and his daughter. Two of the other pilots would be flying the transport, me, Katsu, and the other three pilots would be running as escorts for the transport. Everything would be made to look like it one or more of the noble family would be aboard, after we arrived on Manhatten the two transport pilots would go and place a order for valuable items, and materials that the noble would usually have to personally oversee to. The others, myself and Katsu included, would stay by the transport and act as though they were on guard duty protecting the family. After the cargo would be loaded we would then proceed back on the same route back home. The noble and his family would be staying home and out of sight to all, the only people that knew this plan would be the noble's family the captian, and the pilots involved in the mission. The idea was to find out if the family was being observed and targeted, or if their was a spy in the family. Kinda thought I was getting way over my head honestly, all this secret behind the sceens cloke and dagger stuff for my first outing, was expecting more along the lines of simple escort job. Aside from me and Katsu in the escort wing their was two Kusarians and one other man that look to be Bretonian, though none of the older members seemed talk to much, as least to us rookies. After all of us left planetary orbit and got into formaion we were told to maintain radio silence unless absolutely necessary. The silence made the already stressfull mission that much worse. We all arrived on Manhatten without incident, we all preformed our assigned roles perfectly, and once again no problems. It wasn't until was got into Kepler, when we were in the second trade lane jump when the lanes went down and there was a familar voice on the comms "So we meet again rich man. This time your not getting away." The transport broke the radio silence "Check your scans again fools, the nobles not onbored, but don't worry you wont have to live with the embarrassment for very long for we intend to kill you all here and now." I broke silence next, "So did you find more idiots to follow you." The leader of the pirate group sounded like he was about to lose it when he yelled "Thats it kill them like pigs!" All of them went after the transport but the joke was on them again apparantly, the shields had been upgraded heavily since the last fight and was holding its own. I followed after the lead pirate ship laying in a few good shots here and there but this guy was good. Another one of escorts started to give me a hand and together we started waring his shields down. He must have been popping shield batteries left and right just to keep from toasting when I saw a very familiar heavy fighter make a apperiance, it was the same one that had fired the torpedo at the transport the other day that had nearly caused me to kill myself. I commed the escort pilot that was helping me and asked him he could handle the leader while I got a little payback. He chuckled, told me it wasn't a problem and to enjoy myself, I could tell by his accent it was the Bretonian I met earlier. I broke off pursuit of the lead, and in a reverse barrel roll slid right on my new targets rear. I don't even think he knew what hit him when I unloaded all my guns into his ship and it spiraled into a fireball. A split second before the ship exploded I could see the pilot ejected out of his doomed ship. I thought the others might like having a talk with him so I beamed him into my cargo hold before his friends could. A few seconds later I could hear the lead pirate ship explode in the background, followed by the Bretonian shout "I got him!" It only took us about five more minutes to mop up the others. The transport congratulated all of us on a job well done, and said it was time we headed home before we attracted more attention. I spoke up on the comms "I got one of them." the pilot of the transport ansered back "I know I saw him spiral and blow." I ansered back back "No you don't get it, I got one of them, he's passed out in my cargo hold right now." The comms sparked to life "What your kidding me!" "Nice job." from another, "Dang we might get a bonus for this." stated the Bretonian. "Cut the chatter." came from the transport pilot, "like I said we need to get out of here before we attract attention, but nice work Jonas." We made our way to the nearest trade lane and headed home, the rest of the trip was uneventful. After we had arrived there was a group of guards waiting at the landing zone ready to take my little victory prize off my hands. All of us pilots that were involved in the mission, reported in for debrifing, to say that the Captian and the Noble were pleased was an understatement. The captain seem excited to have someone to get some more info about our opponent. The noble seemed relived that we at least took out the group that had attacked him and Ayame. The Noble was so pleased with the outcome of the operation and the capture of one of their men that on top of the normal payment all those involved would recive a small bonus and the next few days off with pay. Even I admit I wasn't expecting to get that much. After we were dismissed the other guys invited me and Katsu to join them in celebrating our victory. It was during this time I learned a bit more about the other pilots, the Bretonian name was Allen Walters, his family came from multiple areas of Bretonia, The Junkers, BMM, even members of The Mollys one of the rumors stated. He had come to Kusari on a wim but stayed for the culture. He said it was quite possably the most unique areas of Sirus. After it was all said and done I think almost all the guys had bought me at least one or more drink and there was no way I would be able to walk home on my own two feet. From what I recall, I think Allen and Katsu helped me home. Man got to remember not to do so well in the furure, don't think my head or liver can take to many of these celebrations.
Jonas Jansen: Freelancer trying to find what happened to his wife by any meens necessary Marl Lambert: Captian of the Ridgefield mining ship. Ted Jason:Captian of The Gentleman Caller, Ladies man, and Junker all rolled into one.
These last two days off have be eventfull. Yesterday I decided to see if I could possably have Ayame teach me some of that martal art style she uses, never know it could come in handy someday. When I arrived I was in luck, as she was even teaching a group, which mostly consisted of the local guards. I tried to just blend in and start mimicking the others in the group, which resulted in a spectacular failure, as I was always about two to three seconds behind everyone else. Thankfully I had stayed at the back of the entire group, so at least I didn't make a complete idiot of myself. Ayame told the group to continue as she walked up to me with a bit of a harsh look and grabbed my hand nearly yanked my hand off as she took me outside of the dojo. "Are you tring to make a fool of yourself or are you attempting to insult me?" She half yelled, half whispered to me. I just kind of looked at her stunned at what had just transpired, " Ummm not really, I was kinda attempting to learn some of that fighting style you use, and well I didn't want to interrupt your class, so I just started to try and copy some of the moves you were doing," as I stutterd along, " I thought it would be a good stating point to at least to know the movements a bit." She put he head into her hand, "you should have just waited untill after I was done teaching to bring this up. You made yourself look like some fool who was making a bad joke." As she picked her head up she looked me in the eyes, "wait untill after class, and then i'll see what I can do. Untill then just take a seat inside, and try not to make a fool of yourself, as hard as that might be." She proceeded back inside. I just stood outside for a minute or two kicing myself. Her class was only another ten to fifteen minute later, and she came over to talk to shortly later. "So now why is it you want to learn my fighting style," as she looked at me with her arms folded. "Well as well as being good enough to send the captian of the guards landing on his rear, it also looks to be a fairly defensive style. Something that could be very handy in protecting somebody in a hand to hand fight," as I looked her in the eyes. She closed her eyes, "alright i'll teach you what I can, but my style is more than just Wing Chun. I blend it, mix it with other forms. My best advise is to never rely on any one style, always learn, improve your technique so that it suits you, make it unique." She spent pretty much the rest of the day teaching me the basics, stancing, arm placement, and basic movement. She tells me that I learn pretty fast for never having taken classes. By the time we were done for the day, the sun had set and it was dark out. I asked her if she wanted me to walk her home, to be safe. She looked at me and smiled, saying that after all I had seen her capable of, do you think I would be affraid of someone tring to mug me. I looked to the ground and smurked I guess not. This morning there was not much going on so I decided to see if Ayame would be willing to teach me another lesson. I made my way to the dojo easily enough, Im becoming fairly familiar with the surroundings now. When I arrived there were only a few people training. Ayame, nodding her head, acknowledging my presence. I began by going threw the movements that I had been taught yesterday. Ayame would come up and help correct a flaw in my stance, or show me another movement for time to time as she was assisting everybody. A little while later some of the others training would leave to attend other business, all the rest would leave not long after that as the weather turned bad and began to rain. Arond noon Ayame said for us to stop and break for lunch. To my chagrin I had forgot to bring anthing to eat. Noticing this Ayame that she would be willing to share some of her lunch with me. I thanked her for her kindness, and we sat down a little ways back for the door so that we could watch the storm and not get wet. Using the chopsticks, I pick my way through some of the foods she had brought, I still hadn't gotten accustomed to Kusari cuisine yet. Ayame spoke up, taking notice at me using chopsticks. She asked me if it was the first time I had used was the other night at the dinner. Silghtly embarrassed I said yes, she told me not to ashamed, that I had learned how to use tham as well as I had in such a sort amount of time was remarkable. I grined, saying that I've always had been able to learn things quickly by only being shown how, like with the martal arts she had been teaching me, or flying a ship when my dad taught me. "I've always wanted to see if I could learn a language like that as well." She smiled "I could teach you if you wish." I chuckled and said alright, and she began teaching me basic words and phrases. We compleatly forgot about the martal arts classes entirely. We decided to call it a day just before sunset, or at least as far as we could tell sunset, with the clouds still hanging around from the rain showers from earlier. Something has still been bothering me though, yestereday morning Katsu came to my appartment to talk. He told me that the mission that we had been sent on to draw out the assassins had been a test to see if we were working with the group that had attacked them. I told him it was somewhat understandable, after the attack on the nobles family they wanted to make sure there wasn't anyone that was going to stab at their backs. Then I asked if he thought they still belived we were a threat to them. He shook his head and said not as much since you captured one of the assassins, but still be carefull what you do.
Jonas Jansen: Freelancer trying to find what happened to his wife by any meens necessary Marl Lambert: Captian of the Ridgefield mining ship. Ted Jason:Captian of The Gentleman Caller, Ladies man, and Junker all rolled into one.
We have been given the task of escorting the lords daughter into Bretonia today. Preparations are still under way, but I though it might be a good idea to make some note of this here, as I may be a gone for a few days on this mission. We are going to be flying under medium escort, we don't want to attract to much attention but still be able to defend against most anything. We will be heading to New London via the Tau's. We've been told that we should have a easy time till we get to the Tau's, just a few Alliance if at all. Me and Allen will be flying the transport with a new guy working the turrents if needed. Katsu and Captian Nakamura and three other ships will be flying as escorts. Im a bit supprised to see the Captian getting involved in this one, guess this might be a little more then a simple trade mission. I was disscussing the mission with Allen, he told me the only thing he doesn't like is the fact that we got stuck with the new guy on our ship, he doesn't want to trust him to much, probally thought the same about me a Katsu when we first signed up. Im glad to be working around Ayame again, I seem to be spending more and more of my free time with her, I've been getting better with the martial arts as well as Japanese. Don't know what it is but, I seem to be more at ease when I am around her, like all my worrys are lifted when Im arround her. Whatever it is im gald her father hasn't found me to be a nuisance, yet. Well the transport is preped and ready to launch so I'll see if the others need a hand, with all luck I'll be enjoying the sights of New London and Bretonia in a few days.
Jonas Jansen: Freelancer trying to find what happened to his wife by any meens necessary Marl Lambert: Captian of the Ridgefield mining ship. Ted Jason:Captian of The Gentleman Caller, Ladies man, and Junker all rolled into one.
Simple trip to New London, HAH! Why didn't anything go as planed back then.
Quote:Journal Entry:
Date: 03/25/796 AS.
Im currently on the injury list laid up in my apartment with a fractured arm and three broken ribs. Don't know how the heck most of us made it through all that alive. Everything went smoothly as anyone could hope for till we got into the Leeds system. We were stoped by some mercenaries who seemed to be waiting for us in orbit of the planet. We obviously asked them if we could be of any assistance. They just responded with a yah you can die quickly, so i can get paid sooner. I couldn't belive it, first Lane Hackers, now mercs. Who wanted Ayame and her family dead and where did they keep getting the credits for all these people. Seeing how it was a little after midnight Sirus time the BPA and BAF patrol were non-existent and the mercs instantly started attacking the transport. They had some kind of weaponry that was just tearing up the shields and the hull, armor or no, must have been that top secret stuff I've heard about, codenames is what they have been calling them. Systems were going offline at a alarming rate, thrusters then computer navagation and finally with a loud explosion, weapons. We were starting to lose atmosphere, the old Pelican was starting to break up. I had to make a split second decision and I made preperations to attempt to manually land the crippled transport on Leeds without the use of a docking ring, we were too far away and would never make it to one in one piece. Allen looked at me told me I was insaine to even think about doing this. We really didn't have a choice in the matter, it was eather try this or hold our breaths as the ship got blasted to kingdom come. I got on the comms, amasingly it still worked, well somewhat, let the captain know the plan, i got the same reaction out of him as I got from Allen. Told him to alert the authoritys of what is happening, and to pray for us. Allen got on the intercoms and told Ayame to find somthing bolted to the floor and to hang onto it for her life and that it would be a bumpy landing. That was the understatement of the year. I remember Allen looking me right in the eyes and asking me if I thought we were going to make it out of this alive. I told him if the ship was in better shape, possibly. I didn't have the heart to tell him that even if the ship were in better shape chances surviving this would be a low possibly. As we started to enter Leeds atmosphere the mercenaries broke off their attack, their smaller fighters would have little to zero chance of surviving the planetdive we were about to attempt, codenames or not. The shields we were able to get back up fell apart moments after the ship entered the atmosphere. The hull, or what was left of it soon started to heat up and break apart. What thrusters that were operating were overheating from overuse and from the speed we were going through the atmosphere. I told Allen as soon as we broke though the cloud cover I was going to kill the engines and I wanted him to bring the nose up. He picked up on what I had planned immediately. I was going to land this thing like one of those ships you would see in those old history videos. As we broke through the clouds I realized that it was smog and pollution that we were going through, mostly because the ground was way to close for us to have gone through clouds. I yelled to Allen to bring the nose up as I was shutting off the engines. I still don't remember the landing, next thing I remember is Ayame sitting next to me, pleading with me to wake up. The room was fuzzy and my ribs hurt when I'd breathed. Allen made his way over to me and told me he was glad to see I was alive. I asked about the new guy, if he was ok. I could see in both of their eyes that he didn't make it. Allen laid him over in the corner of the room. Seeing him there, I've seen dead bodies before, but knowing that I was mostly responsible for his was not easy, I never even learned his name. As I tried to get up off the ground i felt a sharp pain in my left arm, but I didn't let on that I was in anymore pain then I was, I didn't want to worry the others anymore than I already had. The ship had gone down in what looked like a small town, in the high school football field from the looks of it. The fact that our landing hadn't attracted any attention and the smoke that seemed to be coming from some places in the ground, had me believe that the town was abandoned. Allen spoke up that there were places like this scattered around Leeds, places were some accident had occurred, from the look of this place possibly a mine fire. The pollution in the sky seemed to be filtering the sunlight, gaving everything a yellowish haze. The coloring, along with the abandoned town, made everything look eerie. The quietness of the entire area was broken up by three fighter planes. Two of them I recognized easy, they were the ones that shot us down, the third was one I didn't look familiar, the design looked Kusarian though. As low as they were flying they definitely saw us. I could hear them land just beyond some buildings. From our last meeting I could assume they would not be happy to see some of us had survived, so we all headed back inside the still hull smoking transport and began barricading the entry with what we could find. It was mostly what kind of wreckage we could find from the ship. It wouldn't take them long to break through it, so while me and Allen finnished up Ayame went and looked for what weapons she could find, it wasn't much a rifle and a handgun. As we were going over what kind of strategy we could use until help arrived, if it would arrive, a voice could be heard asking for Ayame. It was an average size Kusari man, about the same age as me, but had the face of someone who would sell you out if it helped him out. Ayame gazed through the gaps in the makeshift wall that had been made and spoke Unsho with shock and confusion. The man I knew now as Unsho thanked her for rembering his name. I could see the look in Ayame's face change from shock to anger quickly, a look I had never seen in her, she began shouting at him saying that this was his doing. The man I was already ready to knock out told her not to loose her temper said he had a proposition for her. He wanted her to come out and accept her fate, if she did he would spare her friends lifes, if not he would have his friends go inside and kill us all. Ayame just stood there stuned. Knowing the kind of person I knew Ayame as she would do it. I took it upon myself and grabed Ayame by the arm and looked directly in her eyes and told her we didn't want that. She seemed to relax a bit and I handed her off to Allen as he motioned her behind him. It was my turn to talk to this slime. I glared at him and told him to take his offer somewhere else because we wont have any of it. He hung his head down sighed and asked if he could talk to Norio. I looked back at Allen, he nodded his head toward the bridge, I picked up on what he was inplying. I looked back at him told him he was dead and asked how he knew him. I got a sickening feeling in my stomach when he started to chuckle and stated how good it was that he wouldn't have to pay him for all the useful information he had given him. I struck my fist against the side of the shamble, making a loud rattle and shaking the whole thing, seemed to shut him up, if not startling him. It must have embarrassed him cause the next thing I heard was him yelling to the two goons to kill us now. I took cover around the corner doorway that lead to the bridge, Allen a few feet down the main corridor around another doorway, and Ayame in the room that Allen was holding. It didn't take them long to break through the barricade, just as I had thought, when they did me and Allen opened fire. The first guy went down pretty quick, the second got smart fast after seeing his buddy go down and took cover along the outside of the ship next to the entrance to the ship. I saw him toss something around the corner and when I saw a grenade roll past me I instinctively shouted get down as I dove away from the doorway into the bridge. The explosion kicked up more dirt, debris, and smoke. I had no idea how Allen and Ayame fared or even if they had got out of the way in time. As I got up I could hear a pair of heavy footsteps walking down the hallway. I turned and faced the doorway to see a mountain of a man pointing what seemed to be a small cannon at me. He told me to thow my weapon down, I knew as soon as I did I would have little to no chance of making it out of this in one piece. The rifle I had been using ran off old power cell tech. Not many people still used them due to the fact that the cells had a tendency to overload and explode if they became dislodged or misaligned while still powered. I tried to stall for time, asking him why he would work for a worthless piece of slime like Unsho, telling him that we could probably pay better. I was lying threw my teeth of course, but it was keeping his eyes focussed on my face and not what my hands were doing behind me. He eventually got tired of hearing me talk and told me to slide my weapon to him. As I did i could already begin to hear the power cell begin to whine up. The merc stopped the sliding rifle with his foot, as he did I could hear a low chuckle come from him as he rased his gun and aimed at me. I looked down at the now glowing and smoking rifle as the other guy did, just before the rifle blew he looked at me and I could see in his eyes he knew he was done for.The rifle exploded in a bright ball of light and sparks as the shockwave sent me flying backwards and slamming me against one of the consoles. I fell to the ground in a heap. My arm hurt, my ribs hurt, and my head was starting to hurt. I heard a whiny little chuckle come from beside me, as I looked up I saw the guy that had was the cause of all this pointing a handgun at me. He thanked me for all the money I had saved him, that he had only paid half to the men i had just killed and hadn't paid anything to Norio yet. He said he was so happy that he would let me live if I told him where he could find Ayame on the ship. I just hung my head down waiting for him to finish it. A womans voice then spoke she right behind you. I jerked my head up in time to see Ayame catch Unsho's wrist with her left hand as he turned around to get a shot off at Ayame, she quickly followed after catching his arm by striking the elbow of the caught arm with her right hand. His arm made a sickening pop as it bent into an unnatural direction and he dropped his gun as he began to scream in pain and hold his arm. Ayame then followed with a swift kick between his legs and he went down. Ayame then supprised me by picking up the gun and pointing it at the now crying man. Unsho started to beg Ayame not to kill him asking for mercy. She shouted at him, almost with tears in her eyes, you attempt to kill me and my family, you gloat and mock the dead, and then with a softer tone, and you threaten the man I love, and then stated that she had no mercy for him. What she did next I never thought I'd see her do, as she squeezed the trigger three times putting two rounds into his cheast and one in the head. She stood there with the gun pointed at the body waiting for it to move for almost a minute afterwards until the gun just slipped from her fingers and fell to the floor, at which point she fell to her knees sobbing. I was able to pull myself over to her and wrap my arms around her and let her cry into my shoulder, telling her it was ok and that this was over now. Allen limped into the room a few minutes later, looked like it had been bleeding but someone had tended to it. After an hour or so later the BPA found our location and we were rescued. The docters tell me it will be about two maybe three weeks before they ok me to fly any combat missions, so im probally stuck here for awhile.
If only I had known that what Ayame had done didn't end it, only escalated it.
Jonas Jansen: Freelancer trying to find what happened to his wife by any meens necessary Marl Lambert: Captian of the Ridgefield mining ship. Ted Jason:Captian of The Gentleman Caller, Ladies man, and Junker all rolled into one.