"I'll Come Back"

[Toaster]

Omicron Minor
March 28, 828 A.S.

They pressed on through the endless clouds and rocks, hoping soon to find the next jump hole and leave the eerie graveyard of Omicron Minor behind. Hours had passed since they had left civilized space and the crew’s and escorts’ nerves were beginning to fray. Olivia glanced nervously about, ever worried that from within the green mist an alien ship might emerge and attack without hesitation.

We’re alone out here, she tried to reassure herself, but she knew that it was a feeble lie. Somewhere out in the vast nebula were hidden hordes of Nomads, searching ceaselessly for humans to either slaughter or infect. And if the convoy was not found by them, they would be caught by a patrol belonging to the Order or the Core - neither of whom would be pleased to find smugglers passing through what they believed to be their territory.

Olivia began to regret the decision to take the job. The anxiety alone was not worth the money and she wished she had remained on Aomori to drink with the gas miners, or perhaps to travel the Sigmas and send pretty postcards to the one person she regretted leaving behind in Liberty. For a moment, her thoughts wandered back to the young police officer and the few months they had spent together as friends and - if only briefly - as lovers. A faint smile tugged at the corners of the mercenary’s mouth as she spent a few blissful minutes distracted, reminiscing.

I’ll come back.

An ear-piercing scream blaring from the cockpit speakers tore the mercenary out of her memories. Instinctively, her eyes shot around the canopy, searching for an ambush. But through the Edge’s haze, she could see nothing. Her glance shot to her sensors just in time to see one of the escorts disappear from the list of contacts.

“Jelkin, report!” Rosary’s voice bellowed over the radio. Only static replied.

“Shit,” Olivia growled as her body tensed up, her fingers wrapping tightly around her flightstick.

“He was on our port side,” she spoke into the comms tersely. “I’ll go check.”

Not waiting for a confirmation from the captain, she yanked the Sutinga around and towards the lost escort’s last known position. Behind her, the rest of the convoy quickly disappeared from sight as the nebula closed in around her. Keeping a steady eye on her sensor readouts, Olivia deftly dodged and weaved between the razor-sharp asteroids that tumbled through her path, threatening to cut her ship in two at the slightest touch.

“Jelkin, come in!” She barked. Still no reply. Beads of sweat began to form on her forehead as her certainty that the pilot was gone for good grew. What the hell happened?

Her fighter rolled past a slab of rock the size of a cruiser, her engines illuminating its pockmarked surface. Cresting its edge, Olivia tore at the throttle, bringing her ship to a shuddering halt. Her eyes widened. Before her floated Jelkin’s ship, powered down and inert. It seemed perfectly intact save for the cockpit. A single hole, the size of a dinner plate, presented itself within the canopy, its edges still aglow from the heat of an energy bolt. Through it, Olivia could see the charred remains of the pilot, little still identifying him as human.

“Sable, report!” Rosary’s voice faintly cracked over the radio. Tearing herself from the grisly sight before her, Olivia’s eyes darted around through her canopy as she searched for any trace of the attacker. Reflexively, her fingers released the trigger-guard on her flightstick, powering up the Sutinga’s weapon systems. Around her, the mist of the Edge continued to swirl, impenetrable, unknowable.

“Jelkin is down,” she reported. “Something-”

A flash of light caught her eye. Instinctively, Olivia gunned the throttle, dodging the incoming blast of energy by mere feet. A second followed, impacting her shields. They dropped instantly. A third hurled her way from within the clouds, striking the now naked craft. Sparks erupted from the instruments and a shock of electricity tore through the mercenary’s body. She screamed in pain, releasing the controls. The reactor failed and the screens before her went black. The Sutinga floated powerlessly through space.

Breathing heavily, Olivia glared in the direction the blasts had come from. A look of horror crossed her face as a dark shape emerged from the nebula, its split prow piercing the clouds like a grotesquely misshapen claw. Its central section spun like a centrifuge, faint lights glowing along its surface.

Reflexively, Olivia raised an arm before herself to ward off the impending attack. Another flash of light blinded her. For an instant, she could feel the immense heat of the blast singe her flightsuit and burn the skin beneath. Then all went dark as her life slipped away.

---

Olivia Sable