Threats from within.

[Exile]

9 hours later

After ripping the datapad out of my hand and yelling at me not to open things like that again, Julie told me to hit the sack once more. She sure likes her peace and quiet...I wonder if she ever sleeps herself...Anyway, we're supposed to do something in the Freeport in Magellan. Something about our Behemoth and some sort of cell? I don't know for sure.

'Lily, with me.' Julie practicly stormed out of the Cargo bay and onto the landing pad of the Freeport. 'We're meeting our contact again. You know, the one who supplied us with this heap of scrap'. She looked at the Behemoth and banged it on its hull. 'Don't tell me we have to...' 'Give this up?' Julie interupted me before I could finish. 'Most probaply for now yes. Or just leave it here, I don't know. We'll find out. Follow me'.

We walked into a small bar located in the upper tower somewhere. It was dark and damp, filled with smoke and drunk men and women. 'You guessed it, drunkmanland', Julie said to me. 'There he is, c'mon.' She signaled to a four chair table with just one man occupying it. He wore a hat, the kind you see in poor detective films and had a cigarette bungling out of his right mouth corner. He seemed to be reading the Sirius Neural Net News. Godda do something, no? We sat down ourselves down and he slid his datapad close. 'Is it here?', He asked. Julie responded with a simple 'Yes, it is'. He grabbed two keysticks out of his pocket and gave them to Julie. 'Then these are yours. I'll be taking the Behemoth back with me. Once you're done you fly straight to Riviera. I'll meet you again there.' He put out his cigarette and gave his hat a tap. 'Good day, Ladies.' In a quick fling I said something. 'Be carefull...I sort of like that ship...'. I don't know why I said it, but I started to blush heavily. I could feel Julie looking at me. Thank god the man smiled and awnsered me. 'Naturaly. Not a scratch.' He left the bar, knocking two drunks off him as he left the room of smoke and stink. We waited a few minutes then followed together. 'Launch pad...2.'

We entered the pad and the lights flickered on one by one. As expected, there were two ships. A zoner Gunboat and an Eagle. We could have easily fit aboard the gunboat together, so why the Eagle I had no clue. 'Take the 'boat Lily, it should have some provisions and a room or two should things go wrong. Easier to live in and get to Riviera in.' 'Incase things go wrong?'. I replied. 'Get in, launch, and I'll explain it while we're on our way.'

Five minutes into space. Julie started to speak over the communications channel. 'Right. We're meeting a bloke called Robert Crompton. Apperantly, he has a Nomad powercell on offer and we've just won the bidding. We're supposed to meet him in Kansas in the middle of the Asteroid field behind that blue planet. I've got one of my...Old friends waiting closeby. A-912. Alexander Brandon. Shouldn't be a problem'. 'What, wait, you're going to kill him?' 'Kill him? Not if he just gives the thing up. If he tries to run, however...Well, you know. You just keep flying that thing and play along.'

Half an hour later

'Right. Wait here Lily. He should arrive any moment now.' I looked through my rather large windows into the beauty of the Kansas system. It was weird...Something made this system look so...Beautyful. Like an itch in the back of your head telling you how to think. The sun's rays were reflected off the blue planet infront of us and Illuminated the entire asteroid field. Quite a catching sight. And then, infront of me, far, far away was another sight to behold...A redish blue nebula (How that works, I have no idea.) Mirrored by a black matter cloud to the top right of me. Gorgeous, truly.

'Wakey wakey beautiful, here's our man.' Julie woke me up out of my dream and dragged me back into reality. 'Brandon, you know where we are, get your ass in gear.' A man's voice spoke through the communications channel. Probaply her contact. 'On my way.'

Two ships approached, first a Liberty Defender and then a civillian eagle. 'Right, get ready people' Julie said firmly over the communications channel. The Eagle stopped and quickly our three ships formed a small circle around him. Julie started to talk. 'Right Mr.Crompton, I think you have something that belongs to us...'.

The conversation lasted for quite some time, and occasionaly Brandon and I would jump in. Julie seemed determined to get information out of him. How he obtained the cell, where he got it and from who, who he works for and any other potential bidders that tried to obtain the cell. Crompton seemed reluctant to give her any awnsers, and wanted to complete the...Transaction as soon as possible. After a while, Julie decided that she had heard enough and came to action. 'Right Mr.Crompton, I'm going to give you...Two options. Either drop the cell and walk away alive, or we take it from you.' He tried to talk his way out of it, but failed at doing so. Julie got somewhat more...Agressive. 'Last chance. Drop the cell, or die for the cell. Your call...'
'Alright, alright alright! Crazy bitch...Might just actually do it huh...' He replied. Julie laughed as the man ejected a container out of the bottom of his ship. I was told to tractor it. 'Right then. Thank you for your cooporation in this matter. The Liberty Navy assures you that the parcel will be handled appropriatly. Now keep it quiet, or we know where to find you.' Brandon said. And with that, we were off. 'Back to the freeport people. Lily, check on the cell. I'll keep an eye open.'

I walked into the cargo hold of the gunboat and saw a square box sitting in the tractorbeam compartment. I pulled it out of the compartment and placed it on the floor. What I saw when I opened is is something I'll never forget...



It was a round object, a Sphere with circling around it some form of light or lightning. The entire inside of the box was covered in black. How this works, I have no clue. But it also seemed to have a strange effect on me. I felt...Relaxed but strong. Powerfull and mighty. As if some one has just rebooted all your organs and added synthetic muscles. For a second I thought about picking it up. My hands were almost around them when I heard Julie's voice over the comm. It shook me awake. Again. 'Well? How does it look? Did we get it right?' 'I...I think we have'. I described the sphere to her, closed the box and took it back with me to the small bridge.

'Right, now look to your top left. We've seemed to pickup a guest from the nearby system.' Julie said and I did as she said. To the top left was...Something that startled me for a brief moment, but then made me go quiet in awe. It was...One of the masters. A 'Nomad', If you will. 'Looks like that package you got there's pretty important. Lets take it to where it needs to be.' 'And where is that?' I asked. 'Follow it. It knows where we need to take it.' Brandon said. I simply nodded, placed the box on the chair besides me and sat down.
'Lead the way...'

Omicron Alpha. 12 hours later.

We had traveled through Tau. Sigma and Omicron. Liberty and Kusari and had atlast arrived at a place I once called home. Omicron Alpha. More specificly, we had arrived at the burial site of the Outcasts. Where the Spirits we serve watch over our dead. 'Right then...Wait a few moments...' Brandon said. And so we did. What might be simple moments seem like ages in this place. Always has, and always will. 'Luckily', the silence was broken when a ship, a large ship decloacked right infront of us. It was the same prison liner as I had seen before in the Hudson system. 'Right,' Brandon began. 'Here's what you do. Latch the gunboat on to the ship then open the cargo bay doors. There should be some one waiting for you there to take the cell off you. Once they have the cell, get back to us out here.' 'That's 'it' ?' I replied. 'That's it.'

I latched the ship on and with a shaking hand grabbed the box which contained the 'cell'. The 'bay doors opened, and there was indeed some one waiting. Five guards, and a woman. She wore a black robe with red decorations. Her hood made her face nearly invisible. For some reason, it sent a shiver down my spine. Half stumbling and trembling, I approached the woman and placed the box besides her. She picked it up and walked away. Just like that and without a word. Something in the back of my head told me that that...Woman...Wasn't entirely normal, or even Human. The steel doors of the cargo bay slid close and as I sat down in the main chair. The ships let go of eachother, and the prison liner cloacked almost immediatly afterwards. I started to breathe normaly again and relaxed myself. Brandon had seemingly disappeared back to where he came from. Flying a Defender in a place like this...Yeah, bad idea. Julie hailed me over the comm channel. 'Lets head for Freeport nine. A drink couldn't hurt'.

Indeed it couldn't.

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