It was Frank Gambits second run of the day into Leeds to the forward operating base for the Leeds Resistance. He was back at Shouthampton shipyard, waiting to get the all clear to proceed from the BAF. What he saw not 5oo meters off to his left, bothered him more than any potential Gaylickers he might run into getting into Leeds. "Can you believe this shiiiate, freakin John "hardass" Armada, this dude is everywhere." he mused to himself. He knew that Liberty was actively helping out the Brits.
But to find one of New York liberty yoyos way out here near the front lines surprised him. He remembered the last twotimes he had run into this particular navy officer. Both times he had managed to get himself off of any real trouble, but he had taken to giving him the nickname "Hardass" for how much of a stickler for the rules he was. But they were in Brit territory, and there was not much the Navy man could do to him out here in this sector.
The problem was, that he needed someone to fly cover for him while landed, offload the ammo and pick up casualties and refugees. And John Armada was the only one around. "Just my freakin luck, I bet he is already scanning me all the way down to my jimmy johnsons." he said to his copilot, a new kid that did not talk much, but knew how to handle the right side controls of a Voyager. "Man, we need to get back into Leeds as quick as we can." said with a worried tone in his voice.
On the last trip out, there were more injured laying about, than he could fit on his small freighter. If they did not get help soon, they would not see another day. Getting into Leeds was never as hard as getting out. You could always see what you were up against flying in. But flying out, you never knew what was out there waiting for you till you broke through the atmosphere. Frank hit the mic on his comms unit.
[23.03.2017 18:58:50] {AFC}-The.Wilkinson[B]: Damn it....I can not believe I am about to do this, but. Navy, Im about to get clearance from the BAF to make an ammo run to
[23.03.2017 18:59:00] {AFC}-The.Wilkinson[B]: Leeds...are you available to fly cover?
Frank waited for him to respond, not really believing he was asking member of the 5th to fly cover for him. But it was a real shooting war, and he believed that if the Gaylickers were not stopped in Leeds, they would have them out in Cali next, bombing the hell out of Los Angeles.
[23.03.2017 18:59:27] 5th|John.Armada: Wait... give a moment.
[23.03.2017 18:59:41] 5th|John.Armada: Which ammo-run are we talking about?
"Can you believe this guy?" Frank sighed, and hung his head for a second or two before clicked his mic. He made an effort to not get aggravated. There was only one ammo run being done out of Southampton these day, and he should already know that.
[23.03.2017 19:00:28] {AFC}-The.Wilkinson[B]: Dropping off ammo to the Leeds resistance base...picking up casualties and refugees.
[23.03.2017 19:00:48] {AFC}-The.Wilkinson[B]: Been doing this run for a few months now, helping out the Brits.
[23.03.2017 19:00:55] {AFC}-The.Wilkinson[B]: Seems we all hate frogs..
He hoped that he was making sense to officer from the 5th. He let that hang in the air and waited for Armada to respond.
[23.03.2017 19:01:28] 5th|John.Armada: Can you tell me where you got this license? Visual proof on the network?
Frank almost blew a blood vessel in his forehead at the answer he got from the navy man. Was this guy really going to give him crap about what he was hauling? He made another effort to keep his cool, but the urgency of getting back to Leeds was seeping into his tone.
[23.03.2017 19:02:13] {AFC}-The.Wilkinson[B]: Look man....simple, are you in for flying cover for me or not...if not..This aint Liberty man, and BAF is aware of this ship
[23.03.2017 19:02:36] 5th|John.Armada: Very well.
[23.03.2017 19:02:37] {AFC}-The.Wilkinson[B]: and what it is doing...Further more...dont play cop around here man...
Frank stopped himself, Armada had agreed. He took two deep breaths.
[23.03.2017 19:02:53] {AFC}-The.Wilkinson[B]: Let me tell BAF im going in.
While Armadas voice came up on the speakers, he motioned for his Copilot to get a hold of the BAF and get final clearance to move out.
[23.03.2017 19:03:31] 5th|John.Armada: I'm not playing cop here, not my duty, nor my right. Still you must understand you AFC's are known to be
Frank heard his copilot talking into his mic.
[23.03.2017 19:03:35] {AFC}-The.Wilkinson[B]: (Static) BAF, The Wilkinson here again. We are making a second run into leeds. Copy.
Frank listened to the Navy man as he saw his copilot spooling up the engines waiting for the Ok from BAF.
[23.03.2017 19:03:59] 5th|John.Armada: constricted in shady networks, doing shady things, that is why escorting someone who hauls contraband, is actually
[23.03.2017 19:04:02] 5th|John.Armada: a risk.
Frank understood were Armada was coming from, but all that should be secondary to the need to stop the Gaylickers advance. He tapped his mic again.
[23.03.2017 19:04:03] {AFC}-The.Wilkinson[B]: Yea yea yea...whatever Bro, trumped up charges..
He heard one short word on the BAF channel.
[23.03.2017 19:04:22] BAF|LtCdr,V,Steiner: Aye
And nodded to his copilot to make the final adjustments to get going. He kept on making his case and let Armada know they were good to go.
[23.03.2017 19:04:34] {AFC}-The.Wilkinson[B]: You ask the resistance if it is contraband, and they will tell you, if it hurts the Frogs they want to throw it at them. [23.03.2017 19:04:45] {AFC}-The.Wilkinson[B]: I got the oK from BAF. Ready?
[23.03.2017 19:04:53] 5th|John.Armada: Aha. Aye, let's move
They moved off Southhampton and headed to the Leeds jump hole. His copilot made him aware of a GMG titanic, also hauling ammo. He decided to check out his intentions. The club and the GMG had had their issues. He brought the ship out of cruise.
[23.03.2017 19:05:27] {AFC}-The.Wilkinson[B]: Hold up....Hey Dream...were ya headed with that amo man?
The GMG ship had not heard them, or was avoiding talking to them, but there was no way he was gonna land that big ass ship on Leeds. He tapped his mic.
[23.03.2017 19:06:26] {AFC}-The.Wilkinson[B]: Gonna be hard for him to land that thing.
[23.03.2017 19:06:31] 5th|John.Armada: Indeed.
[23.03.2017 19:06:45] 2017-03-23 19:06:45 SMT Traffic control alert: TheDream has requested to dock
They got readings the ship was docking at the Junker base near the Jump hole. He half did not like what he was seeing, but he remembered that people needing medical help were waiting for evac on Leeds. Something did not sit right with Frank about what it, but nothing he could do. He opened up the channel to Armada once again, and got ready to make and made Jump to Leeds.
[23.03.2017 19:06:49] {AFC}-The.Wilkinson[B]: Damn Fart miners...
[23.03.2017 19:06:58] 5th|John.Armada: Junkers are to be found everywhere, huh?
[23.03.2017 19:06:59] {AFC}-The.Wilkinson[B]: Could have followed us in if he had any balls.
[23.03.2017 19:07:36] {AFC}-The.Wilkinson[B]: yea..yall bitchin about us...but them junkers are far worse than we will ever be man... We just like to race and raise a little
[23.03.2017 19:07:42] {AFC}-The.Wilkinson[B]: hell every now and then
[23.03.2017 19:07:50] {AFC}-The.Wilkinson[B]: Kill a few cast
[23.03.2017 19:08:30] {AFC}-The.Wilkinson[B]: You know AFC hates the Cardi smugglers more that you guys do...
[23.03.2017 19:08:47] 5th|John.Armada: I hardly can believe that.
[23.03.2017 19:09:17] 5th|John.Armada: Then again you guys haul Artifacts. Which is as bad as hauling cardamine.
They were now coming up within range of Leeds, and he was about to keep jabbering with Armada, but his copilot let him know they had clearance and coordinates for reentry. It was time to get down to business.
[23.03.2017 19:09:24] {AFC}-The.Wilkinson[B]: Alright, I got comms on to the resistance. Off load should be quick, We got 18 causalties and 32 Refugees to haul out this run.
[23.03.2017 19:09:56] 5th|John.Armada: Very well.
[23.03.2017 19:10:14] {AFC}-The.Wilkinson[B]: You aint seem me haulin that stuff...thats for sure. Every member does his own thing Bro. But you guys judge us all by the
[23.03.2017 19:10:28] {AFC}-The.Wilkinson[B]: same prism no worries..all right ..here I go..keep watch.
[23.03.2017 19:10:35] 5th|John.Armada: Well because it seemingly is no problem to your authorities.
As the Voyager entered the atmosphere he lost radio contact, and it was just as well, as he could not really tell what it was the navy man was trying to say. The offload and reload went quick. People on the ground had gotten very good at being very quick on the landing pads. Within a few minutes, they were heading back out towards Leeds Orbit. He picked up Armadas radio signal again.
[23.03.2017 19:12:34] 5th|John.Armada: A GMS just arrived around Leeds, you might wanna move, before the Gallics arive.
[23.03.2017 19:12:53] {AFC}-The.Wilkinson[B]: Copy that...
After all was said and done, he was glad Armada had been there. He made motions for his copilot to do a direct transfer of credits to make up for Armadas spent fuel.
[23.03.2017 19:13:19] {AFC}-The.Wilkinson[B]: Looks like we got out just in time.
[23.03.2017 19:13:33] 5th|John.Armada: Right so. Damn Leeds looks completely scarred...
[23.03.2017 19:13:52] /givecash 5th|john.armada 2500000
[23.03.2017 19:13:52] You have sent 2.500.000 credits to 5th|john.armada
[23.03.2017 19:14:01] {AFC}-The.Wilkinson[B]: Some cash for the gas you spent.
[23.03.2017 19:14:15] {AFC}-The.Wilkinson[B]: I know yalls quartermasters are pretty stingy
[23.03.2017 19:14:22] 5th|John.Armada: Well, thanks.
[23.03.2017 19:14:40] 5th|John.Armada: Well if you only knew...*he laughs briefly*
Frank got an update from one of the field medics that came aboard with the injured. It was not good news. He would have to head to New London if they were going to have a chance at another sunrise.
[23.03.2017 19:15:10] {AFC}-The.Wilkinson[B]: Looks like two of these Refugees are pretty bad off. Might not make it all the way to Cambridge.
[23.03.2017 19:16:32] 5th|John.Armada: Then we better get them to New London
[23.03.2017 19:17:12] {AFC}-The.Wilkinson[B]: Yea...copy that...just what I was thinking...I can make it from here Navy. **coughs** Thanks for flying cover. [23.03.2017 19:17:50] 5th|John.Armada: You're alright?
[23.03.2017 19:18:07] {AFC}-The.Wilkinson[B]: Yea...engines a bit fried...
[23.03.2017 19:18:18] 5th|John.Armada: Good fortune out there.
[23.03.2017 19:18:27] {AFC}-The.Wilkinson[B]: to many trips now...yep...see ya around
If anything, Frank thought that one day, he might even be able to slam a few drinks with the navy officer. Maybe once they kicked the gaylickers off of Leeds they would. He sent out a final comms to BAF, letting them know they were standing down, [23.03.2017 19:20:10] {AFC}-The.Wilkinson[B]: (Static) BAF we are safely back in NL, 18 causalties 32 refugees this time, a member of Liberties 5th flew cover for me.
[23.03.2017 19:20:16] {AFC}-The.Wilkinson[B]: The Wilkinson out.
And made the final motions to approach and Land on New London for emergency medical triage for the worst of his passengers. There would be a good bit of blood to clean out of hold this evening. He was not looking forward to it. He reached and grabbed a bottle of Whiskey from under his seat and took two long pulls on it. One for him and one for Armada, just in case they never got the chance.
