Twice over the next few hours, a navy fighter came just within scanning range. Katashi was able to guess direction correctly both times and alter course to avoid them, but that didn't make the experience any less nerve-wracking. Almost reminds me of those old stories about ghost ships, drifting in the fog at sea...this blue nebula could almost pass for one, with rocks for islands. Yeah...we're nothin' but a ghost ship. The thought didn't calm him quite as much as he'd hoped, and he turned his attention back to his console.
"My name is Ren. What's yours?" The girl's voice cut the silence like a club to the head.
She'd spoken quietly, of course, but after hours of tense near-silence, her voice and brusque tone felt a bit jarring. That's one way to break the ice, after having flown together for a few days of "Hey you!" "That's your name?"
"Yeah. It's a perfectly good Kusari name. Means 'lotus', or 'love'. Don't get any ideas now. And don't tell me 'Mark' is your real name, either. We both know better."
"But-"
"No 'but's. I told you my name, now you tell me yours...you're obviously Kusari-born."
Guess if we're gonna be fugitives together, might as well. "...Katashi."
"Another perfectly good Kusari name. 'Firm.' Why not use it?"
"Oh, c'mon. Can't you see? Besides the fact that it shortens to 'Kat', there's the obvious puns..."
Her eyes widened in sudden comprehension, and for the first time since boarding his ship, she burst out in genuine laughter. Once she got a hold of herself, she continued down the obvious line of questioning. "Where you from, anyway?"
"Eh...all over. Parents are mid-level Samura execs, so they got around. Our home was a little bungalow on the coast of New Tokyo, though we weren't there half the time."
Ren leaned forward, confusion apparent in her expression. "So, what're you doing here, doing this? You must've had the red carpet all laid out for you."
"Heh. Not quite - I said mid-level, remember? But I would've done okay. It's what they wanted, you know. But all I remember are all the boardroom politics, cocktail party backstabbing, petty hatred...didn't wanna be a part of that scene."
She quirked an eyebrow up in a way Katashi found rather adorable. "So, for the betterment of humanity, you now kill people for money?"
"Well, er, not quite as simple as that," the flustered pilot stuttered. "I mostly just chase 'em down and turn 'em in." Mostly. "So I took the Starflyer they gave me and left. I slowly worked my way up from that to a Manta heavy fighter, then I found a sponsor of sorts that helped pay for this bird. I got it from an ex-Bowex pilot-" Ren's eyes suddenly widened, then narrowed in a way that would've been almost comical, had it not been for the stormy expression her face finally settled on. "Something wrong?"
"I'd rather not talk about it. Just reminded me of something," she insisted. Katashi left it at that, and so did she. They finally escaped Alaska a few more hours later, with little else said.
