Scouting the Paradise

[TheSauron]

Observation deck 6, Gaian liner "Arboretum".

Observation decks were one of the very few recreational parts of the ship that still served their initial purpose. 6th was the lowest deck, placed right at the front of the ship. Wide windows reaching from the floor to the roof were providing an excellent, undisturbed view on the most precious gem of the Sirius sector. Gaia. The most beautiful planet in Sirius. Flora gazed at the world beneath her. For her, it was such an abstract and illogical concept to simply wipe out all the life down there to replace it with earth-like, all this while ripping off chuncks of planet's surface to mine out the natural resources, slowly turning the planet into another New London.

She slowly approached the glass on the left side of the ship, as it was the one currently facing the planet. The sun was about to set and Arboretum would shortly move above the night side of Gaia. And as soon as it'll come out on the other side, she'll be on her way down there. It will be her first time to ever set her foot on Gaia's surface. And she'll be on her own. It was making her both nervous and excited. Sure, she knew many species living on Gaia's surface, but learning from the neural net and actually standing down there were two different things.

Beautiful, isn't She? - Flora turned around, pulled back from her thoughts. - We should be proud of ourselves, my dear. The treasure of Sirius, the library of almost every possible life form... And we're the ones that actually stood up to protect Her, while everyone else pretended to be looking to the other direction or was too busy with fattening his own wallet. We are Her guardians, my dear, we're her only line of defence so far. I know that this will be odd to hear, but can you promise me something? - Flora nodded. - I know there are some voices consirdering Nomads as our... "allies". I've even had a chance to listen to one of the more... prominent ones. Do not listen to those madmen. The Nomads are a plague, they can become even bigger danger to Her than Planetform and BMM combined. Under any circumstances, don't trust them. Now... - he turned his eyes to her. - I'm pretty sure you came here to ask me few questions, correct?

Flora nodded again but remained silent. She still hesitated a bit after Andersen's encouraging nod.

Back in the command center, you said that if something would happen to me, you wouldn't be able to look into my mother's eyes... - she turned her eyes back to the window. - How do you know her?
I've became one of your father's colleagues few weeks after you arrived at Torshavn. Shortly after I realised who he was, I've messaged Sherman to treat you more... carefully. To not endanger you much. - he smirked when she turned back towards him and crossed her arms, slightly offended. - You've mentioned that something happend in New London. Can you tell me more about this, apparently unfortunate, event?

Her slight anger turned into stress as she recalled the events from New London. She still felt a slight shiver every time she was flying to Trafalgar. She'd preffer to forget them once and for all. Seems like it wasn't meant to happen anytime soon.

It was in Southampton field... We were moving some supplies from that junker base back to Holmfirth. - she stopped for a moment. - Shortly before jumping into Leeds, we've found ourselves surrounded by a Molly ambush. I've simply panicked, got separated from the convoy... They just toyed with me, disabling my ship piece by piece... When they got bored, they simply left me there. I was drifting in a disabled ship, without any hope... - she wiped a lone tear from her cheek and looked back at the planet. - One week. Seven days of lone drifting inside a disabled, falling apart ship, surrounded by millions of wrecks. Thank Mother Corsairs stumbled upon my ship back then...

Andersen frowned slightly after realising that Flora is clearly having some more... spiritual beliefs, additionally pretty much caused by that fool assigning her to Holmfirth. Not that a bit of spiritualism was a bad thing for a Gaian, but still, knowing her father's stance towards such, as he calls it, "illogical deviations", he felt guilty for harm he probably brought to her relations with her family by not overseeing her. It was too late anyway. The silence dragged on for a minute or two before he spoke again.

I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked. - another moment of silence. - I think that dragging this conversation is pointless. You need to get some rest before tomorrow's flight. If you'll need anything, I'll be on Islay for few days. But now, go get some sleep. And keep in mind the importance of this event, my dear. First time is always the best one.

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One MD Admiral