Following the discovery and the second meet with Daros… action was needed. But first he had news of his own: “Miss White. They say she left Freeport before i got there”. So much for her reaching out to us. Spose i did cut my comms off, so i wouldn’t even have known if she tried. Lesson learnt. Nobody knew where she was either, so we couldn’t go and find her. The longer we delayed though… the riskier our mission was.
Plan was ironed out. I would nav us there via jumpholes, maximum secrecy. Id also take a detour through Alpha. That was to ensure secrecy. Couldn’t risk taking the same route twice in a row. I navigated us one stop at a time. Theta, to Alpha, to Tau 37. Tau 23. Kyushu. Hokkaido. Tohoku. Knowing the jumphole route saved us being detected, but it gave us plenty of time to talk. So we talked about our pasts.
Ex Smuggler, and ex Corsair cruiser Captain, sharing stories over cold coffee through masses of space. Quite the chat. He talked about how he usually was ordered stealth mission targets, exterminations and the like. I talked about my one past love, and some of my trade. Recounting the past… was quite relaxing. Like sharing a fond memory. Even if they were less than fond experiences. In any case, it eased the burden of travel.
Upon arrival in Tohoku… our story sharing was interrupted, by several hispanic slurs. Daros hadnt seen the Heavens Gate either before. Neither had we truly thought of everything. Closing on the unstable anomaly…. The most important problem arose. Daros couldn't go through on his vessel. His warship was too large to pass safely. An improvisation was hastily made. Daros would board my ship, bring his cargo and plot a delayed autopilot of his ship into the nearby star. Then, we would go through aboard my ship and see what was the other side.
With a fond farewell, we stood to attention and saluted as the brave gunboat burnt up in the ferocity of Tohoku’s star, then pressed on. Time was very much against us now.. another vessel had been seen piloted by a freelancer, sneaking out of Orders backdoor. Not a good omen, and too long to fly all the way back. So i plot an aggressive burn around the main star and erratic minefield navigation to see us out of Mu faster than when we went in. Risky, yes. But also gave us valuable sensor information. The trip from there back to Delta… was mildly uneventful. Not even aliens seemed to care.
Daros was dropped at freeport, with his cargo, and i set myself outside. No sooner than a nice hot mug of coffee was in my hands, did the strangeness start. A contact, unrecognised. He spoke first in greeting, shared his name and purpose. Spoke of a time years ago where his friends used to spend time together. A Nomad structure, he said. My curiosity arose once more. Offered him my company. We left for the nebula. As we got halfway… unknown contact. Alien in origin. And Core. Looked to be facing off. We dipped towards the iridium field.
Moments later…. Large quantities of alien contacts seemed to swarm us. They sent the ships sensors into overdrive. Not wise to stay. He left Delta shortly after. Crowley. The man i met when things were getting outta hand. Little aliens were being more aggressive, maybe to do with the core cruiser fighting the alien. I was no use to the core… the alien woulda swatted me away… it gave chase to me. I ran until it lost interest. Delta felt like a hornet’s nest had been kicked… the voices were everywhere. Something i hope will calm overnight….
