Lonely and homeless

[B4HEK]

____________________________________ Lonely and homeless

_____________________________________ Road to Freeport 11.

____ Jason was looking from the cockpit of Sunburst at some sort of planet with orbital colony near it, thinking about his past... It was nearly 2 months after he left Bretonia space, in a year of 821 After Settlement. Righ now he was flying in a group with a zoner merchant to a station in the border world. Perfect place to take a break from the idiotic laws of Sirius' houses.

- "Well, boy, what do you think about Palmyra? It`s our future home..." - Pilot of transporter was proud to present future habitat of many zoners.
- "For me it is just another flying rock in space." - Jason`s voice was calm, because he really thought about nearest planet as another "flying rock".
- "Like you lived in some kind of paradise... Where will you be from?"
- "Leeds."
- "Oh... Sorry..." - Zoner just realised that the last two sentences was out of place.

____ Bretonian didn`t answered anything... Even at this point he was still shocked by what he has to go through. Before his eyes was picture of a burnt planet, strewn with debris of buildings lying on the corpses of people. You won't wish that to your enemy, and yet... Someone very clever decided not to wish it, but to do it.
____ When both ships entered Omicron Mu, they immediately take route to the next waypoint, radar was clean all the way to the jumphole. But, in front of the hole, they saw the battle of two groups of fighters. It was the Order and the Core.

- "Why are the mercenaries fighting these guys? I thought the Order saved humanity..." - Jason didn`t liked the Order much, but he knew what kind of effort this organisation made in one of the main conflicts in humanity history.
- "Ahh... Don't pay attention to them, they probably share the money from sales." - Zoner absolutely did not care about the showdowns that took place nearby.
- "Of course... It is always about money. How stupid..." - After that, pilot of freighter began to fall into his thoughts again.

____ There are many wars in the history of mankind which happened because of various reasons, most often because of money, any was brutal, but none of them was able to surpass the brutality of what happened in Bretonia. At the end of the war between Gallia and Bretonia, orbital bombardment of Leeds took place, the complete inciniration of the entire planet`s surface, and those few who survived were forever crippled and mentally traumatized. Even Jason, although he was not there at that moment, managed to see the consequences with his own eyes... It would be better if he was blind from birth... He didn`t know the real reason of such brutality, but he could guess. There were two options: first of them - an order from high command of Gallic Royal Navy, but bretonian refused to believe it, since almost all people are capable of compassion at least to some extent. It was much easier for him to believe in the second reason - something much more sinister and unknown ...
____ The passage to the next sector was successfully completed and the ships headed for the next waypoint. For most of the way, everything was quiet, but before the next jumphole, radar showed signals again.

- "Contact! Freakin nomads... Don`t mind them, we`re almost at place."

____ Nomads. A race of alien organisms that humanity encountered some twenty years ago. Many thought it was such a stupid joke from the government of all houses. However, when irrefutable evidence was presented in the form of a living nomad, locked in a containment cell at a meeting of representatives of all houses, doubts disappeared.
____ For centuries, many people thought they were the only intelligent beings in the universe. Others predicted contact with unknown species and the possible start of cooperation on a mutually beneficial basis ... All people were simultaneously right and wrong. Biological weapons created by another alien race Dom'Kavash to protect the territories they once inhabited. Nomads themselves are taller than humans, bluish in coloration and feature a snake-like mouth that is used to possess others by entering through the mouths of their victims. And the only goal of these creatures that people could learn is the complete destruction of humanity, by any means. However, the most common way of nomads is possesion of human bodies, used to infiltrate the highest ranks to spread unrest and terror among the common people.
____ Jason himself was born year later after this finding, 23 August of 802 AS on planet Leeds, belonging to the house of Bretonia. His father Ion Thomas Garn was successful weaponry merchant, and mother Elizabeth Diana was a history teacher at newly built Sir Richard Winston Tobias School on New London. Thanks to this, Jason did not know poverty and often visited the capital, and during the Kusari invasion of Leeds, he lived and studied in New London constantly. In February of 817 AS, Jason watched news broadcast from Bretonian parliament. Five minutes after the beginning of the meeting, Lord George Mountbatten the Duke of Westminster took the stage, he was the main culprit in last year's uprising, which, according to his own account, happened by mistake. Mountbatten, in the presence of the Queen, publicly declared his distrust of the majority of the current government and began to demand drastic changes. When the government was already finally suppressed by the arguments of the duke , Jason recalled the story of a man named Edison Trent - main hero of the Nomad War which took place in 800-801 AS. Unexpectedly for himself, young Jason realized that politics never changes: anyone can claim that he is capable of doing something incredible, sitting in one place, however, real history was created by the hands of completely different people - those ones who fought for their home - such ones as veterans of the Nomad War. It was then that Jason decided to become a pilot. He wanted to protect people, not to kill them. However, he still have to kill someone other than people. The nomads were a real plague. All countless attempts of humanity to start negotiations have failed, and the only defense against aliens was violence.
____ Ship`s systems signaled the start of fire from nomads.

- "Jump, I will catch up with you later." - Garn`s voice was full of hate at that moment.
- "Don`t get yourself killed." - Zoner sounded nervously.

____ Transporter successfully made hyper jump and started to charge engines. It was 90% of the charge, when Jason`s freighter appeared from jumphole.

- "Ah, there you are... How`s it goin`?" - The pilot was curious about the events on the other side of the jumphole.
- "Fine and dandy. My ship`s hold is occupied by the remains of blue goo." - Freelancer started charge of engines righ after answer.
- "I see... You know, if you are free... You could be useful in the ranks of the TAZ or even Velvet." - Unexpectedly, the zoner's voice became serious.
- "And what you guys are doing?"
- "A little bit of everything. But basically, we kick ass on these alien slugs."
- "Huh... Sounds like fun to me. Think, i`ll give it a try." - Jason suddenly came to life.

____ Ships reached their destination. Freeport 11, a slice of freedom in edge worlds. FCC immediately issued docking clearances to both pilots. But before completing procedure, zoner send private message on freighter.

- "Safe skies, Jason. If you are interested in joining us, i`ll put in a word for you."

____ Transport`s signal disappeared, and Jason began to think over a further plan of his actions. Live life as a simple refugee or try to join zoners to get at least some support? It doesn't matter... After what he found out, life without worries obviously didn't shine for him... He had only 3 days before he had to fly to another shelter again. Nomads agents does not sleep.