Nickels and Nails

[Zapp]

They had stashed their ships on a nearby pad, hidden behind a small building on a hill; close enough that they could run if need be, yet far enough that a potentially hostile employer wouldn't know where they were parked. 'Keep your cards close to your chest' their father had always said, and it was sage advice.

They led the mother/daughter pair to their ships and situated them in the aft section of Nails' Avenger, the larger of the two ships. The woman was of obvious Libertonian descent - probably from Los Angeles, by the accent - and was far from ugly, though short of beautiful. The daughter was an apparent mix of Rheinland and Liberty blood, and not quite four years old. Given the info on the father, Nickels and Nails assumed the same thing: Unioner, which would make moving through Bering a pain. With a look and a nod, they plotted a course through Hudson.

After the passengers were settled, Nickels took Nails aside, whispering: "Listen bro, burn the shirt. I don't know what we saw, and I don't care." He left it at that, and left to prep his ship.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Space, Planet Hamburg orbit

Their ships came through the docking ring on top of eachother, Liberator first. They could tell something wasn't right immediately. Two Rheinland Cruisers blocked the trade lanes to Alster and the Bering gate. A few wings of Wraths flew formation, and a pair of gunboats was directly in front of them. Civilian traffic was nonexistent. The comms crackled to life:

"Freelancer ships, you are under military arrest for the murder of a Rheinland Military Admiral. Surrender or be destroyed."

On private comms, Nails told Nickels: Don't go for the third lane, Jes... The Westfallen is at the end of it.

Then what? Surrender? No way.

Of course not. I heard talk of a Bering jump hole in that asteroid field, which explains Unioner attacks. Just pretend to surrender, and slam cruise.

The comms clicked as they switched back to 'Broadcast': "OK, we'll go quietly," Nails said, feigning a move to dock with the first gunboat. At the last second, he hit cruise and burned the gunboat's docking arm. Nickels pulled some fancy flying, out-turning the Wraths that were now scrambling to intercept. He was in cruise a moment later, and together they ran from a dozen Wraths to a rumored jump hole.

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