Matt Smith & Angelina Dimitrova

[mtjsmith]

[font=Courier New]Manhattan Orbit.

[color=#FFFFFF]After putting the Eagle on auto-pilot. David turns around out of the pilot's seat and see's his son on a datapad of some description.

"Who ya speakin' to?"
"Nae-body, just sent a comm tae the boys on tha' maintenance deck. My new Guardian's been assigned tae me."
"Hopefully you won't blow it up this time?"
"H'ppns sometimes. We've got good ejection systems."
"But what if you don't get a chance to eject? Say you get blown out of the sky and you're caught off guard..."
"We train fer tha'..."
"I'm sure you do but you don't get my point. Son, have you heard of Project Valhalla?"
"No, whit's tha' got tae do...
"It preceded the Texas incident. 300 years ago, we were on the cusp of a great scientific achievement. Hyper-gates. The opportunity for humanity to spread it's will across the galaxies! It was a disaster. Even today, Texas is a wasteland."
"Thanks for the history leason but wit's tha..."
"We have restarted Project Valhalla."

Matt gazed at his father, shocked and bewildered.

"Interspace have parts of the old research and we've done a lot of new research as well. We're sure that this..."
"Dad. It won't work, a'ight. There was a reason it was shelved."
"Because the government let one setback derail the entire project."
"SETBACK!? Texas blew up!"
"That was 300 years ago. As you know, we face challenges from all sides. Rheinland grows more determined, Bretonia is being overrun by Kusari and Gallia has announced it's plans to make Liberty pay for the Alliance's mistakes. We need something that will turn the tide. Hypergates will do that."
"Whit?! HOW?!
"Simple, We would no longer be bound by the constrains of this sector. We could branch out further - far away from Sirius. Even if we lost Manhattan, Denver, Houston.. The rest of the galaxy could be ours!"
"At what cost this time? Dad, how many more systems would be devastated trying to get it to work?!"

David saw he wasn't going anywhere with this conversation. Especially as he now saw the Missouri come into the viewscreen.

"Matt, it's quite simple. The project is in danger of being shut down. We need a lot of experimental equipment shipped from research institutes from all over Sirius. Cambridge in particular. We lost another one the other day. We simply cannot lose any more. As your father, I need you to put a more concerted effort into containing the situation, otherwise the project will be shut down and we will lose everything."
"Good! Get shut down! It's ridiculous and you're the one who will lose everything! You and mum! Have you even considered what you're doing to her?!"

David smirked, if only Julie knew how much of a help she was actually being. Enough of that now though.

"This is for the benefit of the family. I can only trust you. I tried speaking to John about this last year and even though he promised to help, he didn't do a damn thing. You're our last chance son."
"No. And that's the end of it."

David sighed. Like father like son, Matt was stubborn. He needed persuading, he needed to be removed from that stupid uniform of his. There was only way that could happen. Matt would need to be dishonourably discharged.

"I'm sorry son, but you will thank me in the future.

Matt disembarked from the Eagle and headed up to Deck C. He needed to get changed so he could finally step back into a fighter. It had been a long two weeks. David saw his son disappear down the corridor and sighed. Only one thing left to do at this point. He activated his comm and typed in a few commands, securing the channel. A hooded figure appeared.

"Broken Heart."
"It will be done."

The signal terminated as soon as the reply came. David rested back in the pilot's seat. He was nervous now, but convinced he was doing the right thing.

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