Urrrrgh. Waking up to the medical staff watching over me wasn’t fun…
At first i couldn’t remember what happened to put me in there. Last i do remember was Outcasts. And Order. Fighting. Ship wasn’t at Freeport either… so something happened. But what? Requested vessel to be delivered to Freeport, took them some time to respond. I did however, find that the black box had been recovered and installed onto a vessel that was assigned to me. Must be my Militia duty ship.
Got aboard. Bomber, pre-armed and already combat tested. Impressive. Launched and read the manual on the fly. May as well learn on the job. To my surprise, Daros was there. Frustrated that he could no longer find me in medical. Maybe he knows what happened? No. He didn’t. Not fully. Just what could be distinguished as ship destruction within combat against the outcasts. Freeport was notified, and aware of the infraction.
Sensor contacts began to spring up, of course. My current ship recognised none of them. Their voices though… iconic. One of them… being Crowley. Waited for my ships delivery, docked, then transferred. Gave a test flight around, seemed stable. Attempted secure line connection with Crowley, he accepted the line. Intriguing that he seemed, more interested to talk. A sort of, meeting was planned. Somewhere, sometime in the future when our paths next cross. Cryptic, but we both understand the importance of secrecy and security. Tiredness had begun to set in again, seems medical sleep isn’t a cure for tiredness.
Just before i took my leave, a Corsair. One my sensors recognised as the one i met in Gamma. She didn’t seem, overly hostile. But she hadn’t forgotten me. I didn’t think she would have. In any case, i made my apology, in front of the Freeport, and she made her request for Whiskey. That and she would forget about my mis-spoken words. Sounded simple enough. I needed sleep now, but tomorrow, i had something to focus on. Whiskey.
Daros… sometimes you’re more confusing than the voices in my head….
Woke up to a cryptic message log on my vessel. From Daros. Wanting me to tell him when i’m up. Maybe he discovered something worth telling me, maybe about the Order? “Hey, im up, whats up?” Couldn’t find out, as his ship was not responding to my comms line. Great. Flicked through my notepad, only to see the word WHISKEY. in bold lettering. Ah, Nina’s request. Spose i need to start looking for that stuff.
Got all the way to Freeport 5 before i got a return from Daros. He wanted to meet. He had a gift. Wouldn’t tell em what. I asked if it was important. He insisted it was. But refused to elaborate. A sigh, and a meet-up behind Pygar. He told me he had a gift. Then proceeded to give me whiskey and share the story of him and Nina. Chasing an Outcast with a 100 credit bounty. A strange tale. What was stranger is he retrieved the alcohol for her forgiveness of my words and proceeded to give me a riddle.
His riddle, was by far the most roundabout way of saying Gamma i’ve ever heard. Not sure if he coulda spelt it out any longer, or added some fancy accent to mask the phrasing. But he really needs to work on his confusion factor. After a little more conversation, we headed into Gamma. Theta entry point, of course. Though it didn’t help with how it reminded me of what happened. It also didn’t help where Daros’ mind was at the time.
Some exploration later, we reached the site he described. Scans dictated that someone had already acquired what remained of the stock, so it clearly was a wasted trip. We headed back to the theta jump, but also decided on a detour to the anomaly id detected on the way in. Closer scans, and the exclamation of Daros indicated it to be Kappa. Somewhere i hadn’t previously found but my star-map was aware of.
It didn’t take much to want to go through and see what was there. I mean, why would it? Some place that i hadn’t seen? This is what i was out here for. To explore. Turned out to be harshly irradiated. Systems were sparking pretty quickly. We had a nosey around, just to see what was close. A planet, Gammu. Some wrecked vessels. Theta jump hole. Not much else visible. Didn’t fancy docking at the planet, not after scanning the planet and learning of its history.
Asked Daros if he knew of anywhere in the system to dock that wasn’t Gammu. He told me the co-ordinates of the Zoner installation. A1, in the nebula. Where he ordered his Concord Militia ship from. Had a look myself. A couple did take my fancy. Maybe later id put my own order in. Returned to his position and continued to explore a little, before returning to Theta. He had some things to sort out, and i dipped to Delta. Nothing overly exciting. Made a change. Freeport has had too much heat from the local battling. The people need a break.
Outcasts, Corsairs. Theres no end of reasons to hate them…
Woke up, having been made aware that tensions would be more brittle today. Got into my Militia vessel, checked armament, set myself up to go on duty. Fellow Militia members were already waiting for me. Accord, and Embassador. A relief. More likely to be able to direct hostilities elsewhere. Or clean up after. Some relaxed chatter, then a corsair. Battlecruiser. Glad theres three of us.
He wanted booze. We wanted him to leave. If things had escalated we would probably have been able to take him, but. Luckily, it didn’t. This time. Things quietened down again, until the appearance of an outcast vessel. Who wanted to wait out a battle near Theta jump-in. Barely a few minutes later… guess what? Corsairs. Plenty of them. And… as predictably as ever, they dissolved into battle. Paperwork…. Ugh.
Nomads showed up too… bigger than the usual kind. Primary targets to attack… before even considering the others. Battle followed… some of the Freeport residents assisted the cleanup of the alien vessels, and they were effectively beaten. Monitored the other conflict, and logged all present vessels in breach of the NFZ. Several Corsairs and one outcast. Waited out the storm and returned to station at Freeport. Accord i presume had left to inform the Zoners of the goings on here, and was gone most of the evening. Embassador stayed for a bit, but also not long. Freeport Eleven returned to a sense of calm.
Some time later, yet more drama. This time a corsair capital presence. And outcasts seemed to know exactly where they were. Freeport. More documenting of all vessels present at Freeport and waiting for the known inevitable. Freeport became a war-zone for the second time this night. More paperwork. If there were more than just me and a couple of innocents at the freeport, i would have been ready to step in. But being the only militia present… i didn’t feel i had the authority to risk a battle against the odds. Especially being there to protect, not endanger.
What we weren’t prepared for is the outcasts turning on us right after. None of us had posed any threat to them. But they chose to engage us anyway. Yeah. Anything to interfere with violence, eh? Why was i not surprised by the turn onto us. Well at least i was given the chance to send my gathered info to my superiors. Maybe after ill be able to get some rest…
After the threats and battles, i took some time off-duty. A much needed break from paperwork, corsairs and outcasts. Some of that time was spent trying to sleep. Didn’t work. Ah well… pour a coffee and see how Delta is for a while. Some conversation between Revenant and someone i didn’t know was already underway. I didn’t pry, just listened. Then mention of names… Vincent, Caliban… i’ve heard that before… made a note of both with a question mark. Not exactly as strange as the alien but probably linked. Revenant did claim to have more knowledge than most anyone else. It’d be good to keep tabs.
They left in time, and Cat was then next to launch from Freeport. A welcome sight, someone who i could really talk to. Someone whom i could trust. I told her of the altercations, and of the recent conversations, then asked about the information id left on Pygar. In confidence, she told me she had it. And warned me to be careful. Concern noted, and information shared. We returned to freeport. Just in time… for Delta to stir up. Nomads. Fast ones. Not a good sign. I was indeed grateful for the comfort of this ship though. More manoeuvrability, flexibility.
Well, if that really made that much difference, i suppose id be dead right about now. Missile-type projectile attacker aliens… difficult to hit, extremely fast and lethal. Couldn’t shake em, felt like they constantly had me in their sights. Maybe they knew of my times in their worlds… maybe its some sort of vengeance for the spying. Ship systems began failing, i had a coolant leak by the time it came to finishing them off. Too much repairs needed for a quick fix, too, so i had to deploy back on duty again.
It wasn’t a bad thing. More leg room, the ability to move around a bit freely. Shame about the coffee machine though. Scanned the area for anything out of the ordinary. Nothing overly strange. Except… for the approach and weird formation of four core bombers. Core bombers? At freeport? I spoke my concerns, and noted their course. Heading directly towards Empress. Cat noted them too. It seemed this was the tipping point, and active engagement took place. These vessels were not responding to hails, began liberally spraying torpedos. Glad i was on duty. Cause if i had remained in the battered hull, wouldn’t have had any chance of dealing with them. As it was, we dispatched them quickly, and one by one, headed to get some rest. Not ideal to sleep after combat so i gave delta some more time. Quiet. Almost as still as the night on New London. And as good a time as any to rest up.
Well, sometimes one doesn’t realise how lucky they are…
Had an exceptionally slow start to the day. Coffee wasn’t kicking in and there hasn’t any way to boost the effects. Woke up late into the afternoon too. Guess the combat yesterday had taken a bit more than i thought outta me. No matter. Time to see what Delta had planned for today. Turns out, not much. Cat, Daros and the Enclave vessel Omnisciens appeared soon after. The usual conflict had begun once again in the farther reaches of the sector, but they kept it away from the enforceable area, which was a relief.
What wasn’t a relief is what Daros told me after Cat had gone. Aparrently he set me up on a date. With.. Nina. Daros. Why would you do such a thing!? You know how close i came to getting spaced by her?? Damnit… now i got more to think about than the events of yesterday. In the meantime though… there was a strange freelancer. Seemed more interested in the Enclave vessel than anything else.
It got a little frustrating. They were probing and pushing as to why we tolerated the artificial presence.. and didn’t seem to give a damn about how helpful in protecting Freeport they’ve been. After making a small recording, they went towards the Cores main base of operations… Great. More possible problems. Stepped away from the console to contact Cat and the Concord Militia. Nothing. Attempted a reach out to Zoners too, nothing. Like my calls weren’t reaching anywhere.
By the time i turned my receiver back on, an all-too-familiar voice was counting up. I assume this was a warning for being absent. Sometimes, its not even enough to be doing something for good reasons… Aside from the countdown, the rest of the… chat, went smoothly. She took her whiskey, and like was agreed, she would forget my mis-spoken words. Some relief washed over me. No mention of any kind of date, nor any seeming interest of such. I was just glad to have fixed one of my careless mistakes. Singularis noticed such too.
We spent a little bit talking, but not on much. Except for somewhere called earhart. Never heard of it before. No hints, not even logs of them in any place. But they spoke of it like it was a place. So… why isn’t it on any chart i’ve seen? Naturally, i asked to tag along for the excursion. They agreed to let me come with. They plotted the route, and we flew together. Through Omegas, into Rheinland, to Liberty. Then, into Zone 21. Doesn’t fail to amaze me how a cruiser and a fighter manage to explore a heavily restricted area. But, we did.
The main buoyed path was easy to follow, and we maintained easy separation for cloak effectiveness. Then there was a split in the path. One route i had been before, the other not. Singularis was certain that the secret was here… so we took the path i hadn’t travelled before. sure enough…. A jump gate. One id never seen. Not registering an end location either. A familiar itch to explore was creeping up my spine. I wanted to go through. So too, did Singularis. So, with our mutual want, we headed through the mysterious gate.
Neither of us could be prepared for what was on the other side… and what a sight it was! A debris field, with a small, dark nebula, and some strange alien-looking structure. Singularis pointed out that we weren’t on any Sirian map, and that our star charts were basically useless. I wondered if we were even able to return home… because it seemed there wasn’t any return point at first glance. I was more curious about the structure. A curiosity that was even more dangerous it seemed, when these strange beams of energy were fired, moving rapidly towards me. Curiosity died down a little, so i retreated to a safe distance and began exploring the local area.
Singularis reported an anomalous reading, while i was scanning many of the wrecks littered around. There seemed to be ships of every known human group scattered around… amazing. Each one had been missing at a different time in history, outdated technologies… some no longer compatible. We skirted the edge of the central structure to see if there was any more anomalous jumps. There were four in total. Two led to Sirius, and two… led to somewhere i hadn’t known existed.
Singularis’ vessel was too large to make the jump to the unexplored places… but my vessel would be able to cope. Truly unexplored territory… something i knew i couldn’t leave alone. Singularis seemed to sense this too. Even had a hint of… jealousy in their artificial voice. But they did state they would remain for my return. First through one, with a strange alien structure at the centre, similar yet different to the one where Singularis was. Some light scans through the mild radiation, but nothing conclusive, except “alien”. Then the second. A system that… looked like it had two eyes. Several planets and nebulae, some strange points, like an in-system jump hole of some kind? Seemed that way when i locked onto it, and attempted jump sequence. It brought me out behind one of the planets id been to before.
I left the undiscovered space, returning over to Singularis who was waiting outside the entry to Omega 11. At the time i wasn’t sure if we would make it through… but we seemed to prevail. And quite close to the Omega 41 jump. The nearest base that Singularis could repair and re-stock their cloaking batteries. After that… we went our separate ways. I wanted to capture what i saw in the system beyond the Alaskan Super Jump gate. As i saw it that first time…
It took me little time to return, taking the shortcut through Minor to Alaska. Now i knew where it was, and what it was… it was a swift return with little issue. I made it through and sat there, choosing to capture the image through my art. True beauty, something so far from home, something unexplainable or really truly explored.
After my return from yesterdays Excursion into Earhart as it was called, i returned to Delta. Slept most of the day to catch up with much-needed rest. By the time i woke up… it was late. By the lack of explosions, i presumed the battle of Delta was staying very much away from freeport. Good. We needed a break from it all.
Out in space, Daros, a corsair and an Order pilot were around. Not much really in the way of talking, so i spent some time reviewing the image i drew. Breathtaking, even now. I put it in safe storage with my other two, to keep safe. One day ill have one drawing for every part of Sirian space, and beyond. The corsair left shortly after a brief few words shared, and the Order pilot seemed clueless as to the conflict of recent times. Either he is new to the Order regime, or they’ve been living under a rock. Possibly both.
It came as little surprise that they were on their first assignment. A private line to Daros about being careful, as it could be some attempt of the Order, trying to work out what me and him were up to. It didn’t feel too suspect. But they were sure paranoid about the things we were talking about. They weren’t even that bad. Drinking and the past. In all honesty… i didn’t exactly feel up to the talk. But it was nice for it to be peaceful instead of the usual torments.
I couldn’t maintain my alertness though, and i hadn’t any coffee left. I don’t think Freeport gets their stock for another week either… I will need to resupply elsewhere. I dropped my ship in the landing bay, and turned in early for the night. Daros will update me on if anything happens, i’m sure.
A little more… exciting than yesterday. But also a worry. Cat hasn’t been in touch.
Tried to contact her to see if the Paperwork i filed a few days back came through, and to follow up on the possible threat to Singularis. Still no response or reported ship landings at Freeport. Not helping with my concern, but there was some other matter to focus on after takeoff. There was a Nomad approaching, from the purple nebula. It.. also looked quite big. Not the usual smaller craft I’m used to seeing. S’pose it wouldn’t be long before the larger forms revealed themselves.
I watched it, with Daros. We both sat there, in some kinda semi awe. I had a little nervousness. The larger forms.. they were known to be lethal. But… i felt… less threatened by it than the damn corsairs and outcasts that spent their time here. How, ironic. That one thing perceived so deadly, was so calming to be around, albeit in a slightly fearful manner. I turned my weapons systems off, and approached. As i closed the distance by half… a Corsair showed. Typical… right when i openly admitted that id trust them more than i do some people.
Ah well. Corsair battlecruiser was here to clean up. Dont wanna stay to find out, or watch them destroy the alien. Docked with Freeport and started to make plans for tomorrow. Though i was still short on coffee. I decided to wait awhile before heading out into Theta, then Omega 41. None of them seemed to have coffee either. The lack of boost, and the growing concern for Cat made me need to go and find some quiet spot to sit and think.
Upon the return to Delta.. i found myself seeing an alien contact on sensors, watching. It looked small, but small just means more manoeuvrable and deadly. I didn’t really wanna tangle with it, nor try to draw too much attention from them. I notified those near Freeport that i had a Nomad contact on sensors, then proceeded to restock my cloak power cells. Though i have no idea why. If they’re like other nomads, they’d see right through my cloak…
It was worth a shot. Headed out to the planet, got close to it and cloaked, watching the sun. I think i’ve been here an hour, and nothings shown up. Im going to assume that i’m safe, and that the Nomad wasn’t coming. I heard an explosion, maybe it was them. Maybe someone stupid enough to try attacking. I didn’t know. I suppose it didn’t matter. What did matter was how sleepy i’m getting.. need to head to Freeport…
Taking a couple of days away from Delta. I need to look for Cat… and visit my mum..
Cat has been missing for a couple days now, i haven’t been able to reach her on any of the agreed private lines that would be left in case of emergencies. So i thought about what i had overheard about her past early days. There was two words that stuck in my head… Pennsylvania and Erie.
A quick star chart check revealed it was a system id been to long ago. Off New York. A good a place as any to have a look, i suppose. utilised my cloak and the Alaska shortcut. Because why not prove the security flaws of both the Order and Liberty? New York was a short flying visit, straight into Pennsylvania.
I hadn’t remembered much of here, but the system readings showed Erie to be around still. Set course and landed, asked around. Nobody had seen her here for a long time. Checked Harrisburg, the flight school, and even the battleship. Nobody had seen her. I guess it was a bit of a stretch to assume she would have returned to somewhere from her past. Doesn’t help my worry though.
Dropped Daros a private comms line, telling him i had headed to Pennsylvania and decided to stop there for the night, just in case. The place isn’t comfy though… even New London feels more relaxing than here. Good job i’m only stopping the night…
New London doesn’t feel the same as it did long ago…
My rest on Erie was fitful and awkward. Not to mention my worry for Cat was still there. Maybe more than it should be… but still. Nothing from Daros either. But to be fair, i did expect such. Don’t even know if it got through to him. Thanked the Hotel owner for letting me stop the night, and paid them for the service. Always clear your debts. Never know if they’ll come back later, even more problematic.
Left Pennsylvania and set course towards Bretonia. Towards… my old home. There was only one reason i kept coming back. And it was one of those reasons you couldn’t just leave behind. Especially when its why you became who you are today. The trip was uneventful… i spent my time wondering how i’d feel when i got there. And it wasn’t anything like that which i thought. Oddly.. relaxed and peaceful. Truly felt like she was there.
Of course i now had the family home. So i made food and stocked up some brew ingredients on my ship. The comms panel was ringing in another room, i ignored it. Probably some other entrepreneur looking to “acquire a share of my property and inheritance, at a reasonable rate, of course!” Not in the mood. Not today. Gathered my things and left. She wouldn’t want me to be down about her passing. She lived happy. Thats what matters. I should… do the same.
Took my time on the return. Did some sightseeing. Paid my respects to Leeds… one day the gallic bastards will get what they deserve for what they did there… one day. Went through to taus and hopped up through Alpha. Seems they’ve become less hostile towards me in recent days. Im glad. Gives me a little less to focus on when traversing the unknown. Came out of jump, to see none other than Revenant. Shes starting to crop up more and more like Crowley did. Crowley… Maybe our paths for now remain separate from one another.
I expressed my worry for Cat going missing to Revenant. She seemed to not really be that concerned. “Shes probably drowning in Paperwork.” Oh please. Do not remind me. Headed to Freeport Eleven in Delta, swapping to private line connection. We talked little, but i did leave a message for Cat at Freeport. In the hopes that she will get it when she emerges.
Tiredness was starting to take its toll. Revenant wondered on why, i was, vague. But she seemed to understand. I think. Never really know with her. In any case i bid her farewell, took my leave and breathed a sigh of relief. Home.
Not the usually interesting day… but one learns a lot when they least expect to….
As i didn’t have the energy to make it from the ship last night, i had slept in the pilot seat. My reward for doing such was a sore back and arm ache. No matter. It’ll wear off. Got my launch clearance and checked my coffee supply. Enough, for now. Outside Freeport, there was already conversation going on. An Outcast and Zoner. They insisted i wasn’t interrupting.
The conversation turned from something about “scum” to “our greatest enemy”, and thats supposedly the nomads. No. They really aren’t. Our greatest enemy is ourselves. While we remain as many mismatched, judgmental factions, we will always be more dangerous to our own kind. And, like the outcast mentioned. Take Gallia for example… and what they did to Leeds…
They asked me what i believe in. I told them in only my ship and my own ability to defend myself if the time arises. Truth is… i don’t think i could defend myself if truly needed. Something to think about later, i spose. Revenant turned up not long after, a fly-by of Freeport. Then returned with a report of alien activity. At least two destroyers. Just what we needed. I attempted to reach both Concord Militia and Daros… nothing. The Zoner called on their lines for support too.
Rusty showed up not long after. The threat didn’t seem to appear on radar, though that doesn’t mean anything. The nomads can cloak, and id assume their infested can too. Revenant and Rusty… don’t seem to get on well. I don’t know why. Not sure I’d like the answer, either. Revenant left, and the Outcast probed my life a little. Nothing too special to talk about really. Just about family either being dead or, deliberately hiding away. Most everyone else left after some time, except for Rusty. Who took interest in my ship. LWB origins.
He wanted to know how and why i had acquired my vessel. Of course. Well, no harm in sharing that story. Past life, smuggler, helped the Farmers alliance and LWB out, supplied them with special cargo runs, some of which they used to build the ships they needed.in turn, they were more than happy to accommodate me in any possible service in future. This ship, was one such service.
The talking continued towards nomads again. Topic of the week every week in Delta it seems. Thats… when things became interesting. They spoke names… “Dreamers and Advisors”… of listening to them, of some form of crude relationship, of choosing out of want and need to not hear nomads. We also talked on what the nomads… truly are. The more the conversation went on, the more… obvious it was that they’re biological. By the time we had gone through it all, i did kinda feel stupid. But even in this, they gave me descriptions of places to ask the nomads if they’d show me... And… truth be told, i think i’ve seen at least one of them.
Of course though, tiredness began to set in. I had the lovely image of Rusty trying to kill Revenant in my mind, after them expressing a want to do such. I don’t think he realises that’d be more difficult than he thinks. I suppose he can dream what he wants. As for me… i needed rest. The talking does take a toll sometimes… especially with thoughts weighing me down.
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