Toledo Lounge

[teschy]

Freeport 11, Omicron Delta.

Cooper slowly walks towards the bar, and waves at the bartender.

"Good to see you alive and well, Major", said the bartender.

"No need for formalities, Cross", Cooper said.

"Well then Cooper, it's bloody good to see you again. I heard it got nasty out there, in the past few days"

"Yeah... we had a lot of casualties, but the doctors are doing a hell of a job. One of the rescue teams managed to save a 42nd fighter pilot, from a wrecked Nephthys that was stranded for days..."

"What about you Cooper, how're you holding up?"

"The damned jelly beans almost got me yesterday. I was brawling one of their assassin specimens, but the bastard induced some visions in my head. I thought I'd lost it, but then my control stick started shaking frenetically, as I was having hostile vessels around me, and the ship was almost inert. Fortunately, with these new safety systems, I managed to smash the emergency glass, and got an adrenaline boost into my body, waking me up in a violent twitch, as the jelly was almost on top of my cockpit. I almost didn't make it."

"And then? "

"Then, surprise for the damned bugger, I blasted my guns at him like there was no tomorrow. It got scared or something, because it went right were it came from. And that was it. However, I did managed to tag him with a tracking beacon. With luck, we'll be able to anticipate further attacks now..."

"Well that's good news inde..."

Cross doesn't even finish his sentence, and the proximity alarm engulfs the station. Nomads are crawling around the station.

"So much for my drink, was good to see you, Cross", Cooper said, before he rallied to the briefing room.

"Never gets old...", Cross said to himself.