Resurgence - No more holding back.

[Immortality23]

Chapter 3 – The Slow Journey Home

After finally ditching the house and the old battered Eagle, Melissa made her way to one of the main space ports on Planet Cambridge. The hustle and bustle of the city made for a journey that was pleasant. Melissa knew deep down, that with the vow she made, this would probably be the last time walking in a city like this. Although it had only been a few hours since she made the last recording she had a much more brisk step as the walked down the crowded streets. Members of the BAF, civilians and many other walks of life in between would be going about their days, heading to and from work. As she made her way past the vast crowds, she eventually got to the door of the spaceport, one of the smaller ones which at most serviced vessels no larger than the Pelicans that had been retrofitted as small passenger liners. Melissa made her way through the glass doors and into the main auditorium, she made her way to where the information kiosk sat so that she could peruse the flight information. On the screen there were departures to many destinations, but there was only one she was interested in. Despite the hundreds of inbound and outbound flights, she saw “Freeport 11, departing in 12 hours and 26 minutes from Wing B-3. Cost of travel is 2,000,000SC.” She smiled and looked at the board with hope. The only money she had left was that of a specific funding that was tucked deep away. Stored on a couple of very personal chits. She looked at them and nodded to herself.

“Which flight are you looking to attend, ma'am?” A young male clerk, in his mid teens asked in a shaky voice. He looked at her as she stood there looking down at the credit chits and she smiled up to him.

“Flight B-267 to the Delta System, Freeport 11.” Her voice still relatively weak, but she maintained her composure and smiled with what little energy she had. “I don't care how I get there, just need to be there as soon as possible. Two million, isn't it?” As she asked this, she got a second wind of energy. As if her adrenaline was keeping her going.

“Yeah, the flight will only take 2 days. It's one of the quickest ways to get there, unless you have your own method of transport...” The clerk sighed as he saw that Melissa wasn't overly interested. “So, that's one ticket... Yeah, that will be two million..” Before the clerk can finish what he was saying, Melissa just hands him the money and makes her way to Wing B-3, stuffing the ticket into her pocket.

As she finally gets there, she sets a timer on her watch for when the ship will arrive and grabs a bottle of water and a chicken salad. During the long wait time, she doesn't move from the landing pad, just waiting for the ship to come in.

10 hours pass as Melissa carries on waiting, a bold and determined look in her face. A fire in her heart, aching to return to earn her way back to her old positions. After a while, she met a person who one would not have expected in a place like this. A familiar face. Melissa looked at the person who seemed to flicker in and out of existence. She shook her head. It must have been an optical illusion. The figure resembled that of Onyx. As she looked away and looked back, the figure had changed to Joshua Graham, and then as she looked back again, this time to C... She knew she was either day dreaming or was just seeing things, but it was obvious to her what was going on. She was reminiscing the memories of the people who had helped get her to the positions she once had. She sighed as her vision faded to darkness.

She awoke on the seat of the cafe next to Wing B-3 which was slowly taking passengers. She took in a deep breath and slowly got out of the chair, making her way to the back of the queue. The loading process took a few moments, but she eventually got to the check in. Despite there not being any dialogue between either Melissa or the lady at the checkout, she stamped Melissa's ticket and smiled at her. Melissa who returned the smile also gave a courteous nod.
The passenger bay of the Pelican vessel had 60 passenger seats as well as a few other areas of accommodation for the long journey. The décor was that of a low budget transporter but that was fine. It wasn't the important thing. It only mattered where it was heading.

Melissa sighs and mutters to herself, “I would have travelled in the cargo pod of a Whale if it means getting there...” She goes to her seat, leans it back slightly and falls asleep.