Nikolai was on board his gunboat, searching through his security logs. Someone managed to break in to his ship earlier in the day. It didn't seem as if anyone was taken, no files were accessed, hell, he didn't even think anything was moved out of place.
He sat back in his chair, wondering, what could of been taken. Until something caught his eye, a document with the title "Ivan Voronov". It was his execution papers and the report that happened. He read through it twice, making sure he would remember all the information on it, as High Command would ask about it later. He read it a third time, but something caught his eye. A picture of the man who was executed, the color of his eyes weren't the same.
He grabbed a file of Ivan Voronov comparing the pictures eye color, it wasn't the same. Nikolai ran over to his comm center and typed in commands to get what he wanted.
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Connection: Coalition Video Documents :Access Denied _ Login Required: Login: Commander Nikolai Varnava
Password: ******************* :Access Granted: Search: Ivan Voronov, Execution :Video Feed Found: Download :Download Complete: Run File
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He watched the video, over and over again... The appearance of the man being killed looked less like Ivan on each run. He began comparing it to other videos of Ivan that were on the database. He got what he wanted, that man wasn't Ivan, and he knew where he was going.
Nikolai sounded the alarm and enabled his comm device to connect to Cape Verde's sound systems. "This is Commander Nikolai Varnava, Ivan Voronov is alive! He is escaping on The Kerensky's Honor! Stop him before he gets off the base!"
He was the first one to make it to the docking bay, three guards were already there trying to stop the Corsair Gunboat from launching, Ivan in the pilots seat. "Close the doors! Do it now damn it!" The doors began to shut and were already half way closed when Ivan managed to make it there. He fired two of his Gunboat Battlerazors at the base gates blowing a hole big enough for his Gunboat to fly through.
Before any pilots could be sent out after him, Voronov was gone...
Juan departed from the Boozer's lounge, after observing the blaster damage to the roof. Quite a sight, 'Custo's blaster was obviously special. A clean cylindrical hole with the ceiling brick deformed as if one had put a lighter to plastic. Nothing a few bits of plaster and concrete here and there couldn't fix, and it served as yet another reminder that Corsair blood ran hot through everyone Corsair... or that restraint wasn't one of the Corsairs finest traits.
Completely bored, especially without sufficient use of his legs and the unbearable un-comfortability of the newly designed flight harness, Juan pondered what to do. What was there to do? No flying, limited mobility...
"Curses!" Montoya exclaimed as he remembered that his hospital appointment time was almost past him. As fast as his wheels could propel him, he raced to the hospital to gain some time. He had become pretty proficient at efficient handling of a wheelchair, but not at observing what was going on around him at the same time.
Because of this, he missed the Corsair Gunboat, tagged 'Kerensky's Honour' land nearby. Silently to him, quite loudly to everyone else who wasn't concentrating.
As Juan threw himself around the last corner before the hospital, he careered into a tall man, who possessed a medium build and black hair. The wheelchair overturned and left Juan on the floor, tapping his finger on the cobbled pavement as the piece of transportation equipment continued to roll and smash itself relentlessly onto the floor. The other man, oddly, swore in Russian as he was knocked off balance and fell.
As the man looked at Juan lying helplessly on the floor, the latter refusing to meet his gaze, he approached and greeted him.
A startled expression etched itself on Juan's face as he instantly recognized the voice.
"Ivan? That you?"
*Yeah, its me. Now what the hell are you doing driving like that, huh?!*
"More importantly, I thought you were dead? I actually heard about suicide... decided to try my way of things eh?"
*Shut up Juan, things are a lot more serious.*
"Alright, alright, just... can you get me to that hospital over there? I'm really late for an appointment you know. And you can tell me about your little adventure when we get there hermano!"
Ivan wheeled Juan south towards the hospital which was some 30 paces away from where they had collided. Once inside, Ivan examined the facility. The floor was quite shiny, and made of marble, as for hygiene, the hospital was completely up to standards. The last time Ivan brought Juan here he was too shaken up to notice much.
A nurse led Ivan, who was still pushing Juan into a room a bit spacey to be for a single patient, Ivan assumed this was because the man he was pushing around was a Corsair elder. Juan signaled for the nurse to leave the room, and she did so without hesitation. After a minute or so, Ivan looked out to make sure no one was listening, which there wasn't, then he turned to Juan.
"Juan, is there any microphones hidden in this room?"
"There's only one and it has to be activated from inside here, so you're free to explain as to how you're alive now."
Ivan tried to recollect what had happened within the last two days, it had happened so suddenly, he had barely had time to fully assess the situation. He started to explain where his unexpected guest had entered the room.
"Good evening Ivan." Came Gustov's voice from the door.
All the lights in Ivan's windowless room were off, so the light penetrating his coronas was painful.
"What the hell do you want, Kerensky?"
"Now isn't the time for this Ivan, they're coming, and we don't have long to talk, so I'll make this quick."
Gustov started to undress, but was interupted by Ivan.
"Whoa, wait a minute! I may be in a bad place, but I'll get through it with dignity!" Ivan was screaming.
Gustov hit him in the face to quiet him down.
"Ivan this isn't the time for silly jokes! They are coming to kill you! I- I broke into the Krivak, I was curious, about who the director of intelligence is. He wasn't there, but when I arrived, I heard talking. I....heard some of the higher ups, they are going to execute you. The guards probably went to get orders to escort you down, you're going to dress as me and leave this place, Sonja already knows that you'll be out of here, I told her earlier. Just hurry up and give me your clothes, we don't have much..."
"Wait! You mean to tell me you're taking my place!? Why? You don't even like me."
"Ivan you've never been smart, and I've never been brave. This isn't about you, it's about Sonja. We're the only two people she has left. You know I don't get along with Sonja, but I do care. She depends on you for happiness, me, not so much. Because of my cowardice, I've been a spy for the Coalition, I'm decent with disguises."
Gustov said as he put in some green contact lenses.
These contacts are almost the same color as your eyes, ever so slightly darker, but I doubt anyone would notice. I already shaved my mustache, and we're identical heights, so even if we are found out, you should be long gone."
"And you expect me to just go along with this? Not a chance, I'll accept my punishment, it's my burden not yous."
"Ivan, you aren't using your brain, as I said it's about Sonja not you. If you don't do this, I'll kill myself, and you'll die as well, then she'll have nothing. Is that what you want?"
Ivan Grudgingly snatched the clothes from Gustov and put them on.
"Ivan I'm giving you the keys to the gunboat it's not really the Kerensky's Honor, as command would just use the self destruct module. I've had your ships repurchased from their original creators, they bear no Coalition affiliation, prior, or current. All the ships were delivered to Crete, good luck, Brother."
Gustov hugged Ivan, and handed him important papers, as well as the instructions for starting up the gunboat, which Ivan had never flown before.
"Ivan, those papers contain information I copied from the files on the intelligence ship, it'll be useful to you and the Corsiars. Now get out of here." Gustov whispered into Ivan's ear.
By the time Ivan was seated in the gunboat, he was not only sure Gustov had been killed by now, but he was found out. The alarms had been sounded, he saw Nikolai, and a few guards come. Ivan knew it was over, Nikolai was one of, if not the best bomber pilot the coalition had to offer, if second to anyone it was Sonja. Ivan dropped a nuke mine, if anyone shot him, half the people in Verde would be killed, luckily Sonja's room was on the other half of the station. He could care less for anyone else.
He launched, to his surprise without any resistance, and he had escaped.
As Ivan finished the recollection for the astonished Juan Montoya, he couldn't hold back the tears, and he wasn't ashamed.
Sonja was standing in a large room, lonely and afraid. Biting her lip, she stared at the double bed, or rather, what lay on it. It was her Star Of Terra medal. The one she had given to Ivan on the day they married.
She was just staring at the bed, an unending flow of tears falling down her cheeks. Her eyes were open, no sound escaped her throat.
Her head dipped down, Sonja pulling the locket that Ivan had given her in exchange. The picture on the first side, showed Ivan's family. The second, showed him as a toddler, being held by his family. It was all Ivan had had to remember his family, and he had given it to her.
Sonja had no idea what to do. She had no idea where he had gone, what had happened. As far as she could remember, Ivan had been detained for psychological reasons. She knew in her mind, this simply wasn't true. Ivan wasn't crazy or unstable... There had to be something more...
Four days ago...
"Suicide!? But.. but how! Why...?" Screamed Sonja as she read the letter addressed to her. A death note.
Married a scant four weeks earlier, how could this have happened? Nothing was going wrong, everything was fine. Or at least, it should have been fine.
As tears had started to fall on the letter in front of her, the Verde alarms sounded, and a rumble shook the station. To distraught to care, Sonja completely missed the battle razor shots streaming from the hangar deck of the installation, thereby missing a Corsair gunboat with the markings The Kerensky's Honour hastily engaging cruise engines.
With all the bustle around her, she stood out like a sore thumb.
The shock was unbearable.
Three days ago
All the messages she had received, from command, from her peers, since the day before had been deleted. She didn't even listen to them, too busy wallowing in her loss. She had been trying to supervise the repairs to Verde, but she honestly couldn't care less. Her mind kept wondering, and she displayed great weakness to those around her. Whispers were passed quickly among the residents of Verde, and soon most of the population knew what had happened.
This was too much.
When she was returning to her room, head hung low, her comm device bleeped again. She picked it off her belt subconsciously. About to delete the message, she accidentally touched the "display message" button. As she had realized her mistake, she decided to read it. After all, it couldn't hurt just to read one small message, could it?
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The message had been read, and Sonja again stood like a statue, in shock at the words on her communication unit.
What she had grown up with, what she had believed, what she had fought for and risked her life for, all a lie.
Without further adieu, Sonja immediately made for her fighter, picking up the locket and Star of Terra from her room as she went. As she entered the still heavily damaged hangar bay, she saw her Raven's Talon again. The guns on it, which Ivan had bought her on the day they became engaged. As even more tears welled up in Sonja's eyes, she wiped them away and entered her fighter. Without a word, she started up the engines and flew out of the hole in the station. The dockworkers just gazed at her wake, confused expressions on their faces.
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