Vesper

[Leo]

Zylar had always hated Bretonian transports--even more so now. They were always so benign. Sparse. Boring.

"Prisoner." he heard the guard say behind him. "Sit in this seat and keep quiet. We will be lifting off in approximately three minutes. If you make any move I don't like, I shoot you. If you piss me off, I shoot you. If you-"

"Got it, sir." Zylar replied locking eyes with a bulkhead straight ahead. "I'm sure you have other things to be doing than threaten a prisoner so I'll keep my mouth shut from here on. I don't have much to talk about anyway."

The guard stared at Zylar for a good five seconds, grunted, locked Zylar into his harness in his seat, and turned to sit in a seat to his right. He pulled out his issued hand terminal and began going through what looked like paperwork. Zylar considered what he was going to be getting into in the coming days. Like Colonel Thyme said, he would be lucky if he just got a dishonourable discharge and be exiled from the house. At worse, he'd get a bullet in the head and be welcomed into his wifes warm embrace...if there even was an afterlife. He'd never really thought about that much. Belief in a higher power, when you see the horrors of war, tend to get shuffled to the background--if the belief even survives.

The ship jolted as it took off from the tarmac and ascended to the docking ring in orbit. It had been years since Zylar was outside of a gravity well. Mostly because being in space opened up a lot of opportunities to get captured.

Zylar snorted at that last thought, causing the guard to glance up at him from his terminal.

"What." he said more as a statement than a question.

"Just thinking that the reason I never left the gravity well was because I never wanted to get captured." he replied.

"How's that working out for you?" the guard said going back to his paperwork. Zylar snorted again.

He heard the docking ring open and the distant sound of a trade ring powering up as the ship maneuvered into it. He knew that the Navy would make a big deal about him being captured. There would probably be news articles about him being captured. They'd parade him around as their pig ripe for the slaughter before they did whatever they wanted with him. He'd be an example to the rest of the Military what happens when you abandon your post.

He didn't care to be honest. He'd lost everything within the last 12 hours. Reggie, a man that had taken him under his wing and cared about him was dead. The man who killed him was free to continue to harass and kill others that didn't deserve it. His small apartment that had long been a source of comfort and an oasis in the turmoil of life was probably going to be packed up by the Bretonian Navy and the items shipped back as evidence for his abandonment of his homeland. The people he knew would be questioned, his past laid bare for all of those who cared.

There was a brief disorientation before reality returned. Evidence that they had passed through a Jumpgate. Probably Omega-7 since that was the most direct path back to Bretonia. Zylar sighed and leaned back in his seat closing his eyes. The guard cleared his throat to the right and Zylar glanced his way.

"It might seem...bad now." he said, his terminal in his lap now. "But you'll get through it."

"Figured you'd hate me too for what I did." Zylar responded. The guard replied with a shrug.

"Nah, not really. Did some research on you with what clearance I had. You are--or were--a decorated war hero. You kicked ass in the Gallic wars. An ace pilot, a tough as shit operator and Special Forces Marine on the ground too."

Zylar smiled a humored smile. "I don't need my military service told to me, I was there." The guard shrugged again.

"All I'm saying is, I don't think they'll put a bullet in your head. Bad optics. If anything you'll just get pushed out of the military and told to never come back."

"If I'm lucky, right?" Zylar replied, arching one eyebrow.

"If you're lucky." the guard said with a mirthless smile.

Silence reigned between the two for a few moments. Suddenly, the ship lurched violently to the right. The telltale sign of a Trade Lane disruption. The guard snapped back to his previous business like attitude. He pointed at Zylar.

"You stay there. You move--"

"Yeah, yeah, I get shot." Zylar repeated waving his hand at the Guard who actually smiled a bit at the response. He unhooked his harness and pushed off towards the doors at the head of the hold, weightless now that the transport was no longer under thrust. He went through and disappeared.

A few moments later, he felt the transport shake under weapons fire. Someone was actually attacking a Bretonian Military transport? He felt the vessels turrets respond in kind, the hull vibrating under the strain of the turrets. Before long, the weapons fire stopped and the ship drifted under no thrust. Zylar's weightless body pressed against the straps holding him into his seat. If the cockpit had been hit, then it could be exposed to vacuum and the transport was dead in the water. He had no access to the ships systems to verify if the pilots of guards were okay. He couldn't even get out of his seat without the key to his harness.

The ship shook with a subtle impact. Zylar knew that sensation, it was a docking clamp of some kind. Someone was docking with the ship. Zylar began to fiddle with his harness. If the ship was being docked by pirates, then he had to get loose in order to defend himself. He strained against the harness holding him down before the door behind him opened with a hiss.

"Zylar Vespertine?" a small voice said.

"Who's asking?" he replied, still straining with his harness.

A small woman appeared in front of him, a pistol in a bandolier on her chest, two pistols on her side, and a vast array of knives on her person. She had auburn hair and shockingly green eyes...eyes that reminded him of Reggie.

"The name's Lana Hatcher. I believe you knew my grandfather."

"...s***." was all Zylar could say before she slowly pulled out a blade from her bandolier.

---

You fear oblivion. Yet you forget. The universe remembers every atom of your being. Even dust hums your name in the dark.

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Starlight Research Consortium | The Banished Legion | Astral
[OOC]Junker Gameplay Loop Suggestion | [OOC]Boneyard Mining Suggestion