After the brief talk with Halpert over long range comms, Mille finished some remaining jobs for the Junkers in Pennsylvania, having taken that time to properly get their Claymore flight ready once more. The young tinkerer would eventually arrive in Kepler, but not before curiously passing by one of the anomalies, always intrigued by how beautiful yet disturbing it felt to the pilot that had only been in space for less than a month. Once near starflier base, the young pilot would request docking permissions, the callsign clear and visible to all, Myrtle.
"Starflier Base, requesting docking permissions! I'm here to speak with Mr. Kennedy, as we've talked about a possible joint effort."
Feet up on the console, sipping a cup of coffee. All is well inside the main docking bay of Starflier Base. Not a single ship coming in or out since Misaki's visit, aside from Halpert's excursion into the Omicrons. A ping on the comms channel lights up the screen and startles the docking master. Coffee spilling over his shirt, he shouts and groans on pain as the liquid scorches him. After cooling off for a few seconds, he returns to see a ship has initiated communication with the station.
"Kennedy? Callsign Myrtle, you're way too late. He joined Liberty Police weeks ago. He's probably on Albany or something. Otherwise, feel free to land."
The channel is closed, feet return to their upright position and a newly made cup of coffee begins to be sipped on.
Mille would raise an eyebrow, pausing for a few before checking some of the Claymore's communication logs and onboard computers. Perhaps a different Kennedy, he thought, while proceeding into the docks anyway. Still he would try and open the communications channel once more to ask the dockmaster a question, but not before ripping open a pack of marshmallows that he had acquired in Manhattan and dunking one of those straight into his mouth.
"Myrtle here, that's odd, out of curiosity are we talking about the same Kennedy? Halpert Kennedy, that is... My apologies, I may've been a bit too formal."
"Ah, I see. They did tell me they were on a trip scanning some far away systems, I'll wait inside. Don't think people will mind if I have a look around, right? Hah... Thanks dockmaster, Myrtle out."
Landing in the docks the slightly battered Claymore's canopy would eventually open up properly, with the young pilot quickly dropping down and patting his shoulders to have a look inside the base. He'd most likely look for the nearest canteen or cafeteria to sit down.
"Hmm... Interesting place, althought ought to be expensive to maintain it in the middle of Kepler... "
A couple days go by with no sign of Halpert or his ship. The dockmaster notices Myrtle's ship still suspended in the docking clamp, and checks the security cameras to see that the pilot hasn't moved from the cafeteria since his arrival. On a secondary screen, a map of Sirius shows a handful of blinking lights, each one being a Starflier ship. The one that was tagged Pulsar suddenly disappears from the Kyushu System. Thinking it's a glitch with the Lane Hacker equipment, the dockmaster slaps the side of the computer and Pulsar's signature returns, this time within Shikoku. The signal appears to have been lost when jumping through rifts.
A couple hours later, the docking bay opens up. A single battered ship resembling a Kali-Class light fighter comes flying in and hastily makes contact with the docking clamp. The cockpit cover slides out and Halpert jumps out, shouting a quick and relieved "whooo". He places his helmet back inside his seat and proceeds to get down and make his way to the doors leading deeper into the station. The dockmaster quickens his pace to intercept Halpert.
"Yo, Halpert, stop for a sec. One, welcome back. Two, what happened to your ship? And three, you got a visitor. Their ship's callsign is Myrtle, you know them? They're in the cafeteria."
"Yes, I know them. Let me finish my meeting with them first and then I'll let you know what happened to my ship."
"If you say so, better not go anywhere."
"Uh-huh."
The Starflier makes his way through en elevator or two, couple hallways until he's met with the door to his room. Swiping his keycard opens the door to reveal a somewhat messy but organised living space. Halpert quickly puts a couple items on his nightstand before closing up and making their way to the cafeteria. After yet another long walk, Halpert's stomach growls and the doors open up with smells of every kind. An unknown character is seen sitting on a bench and after grabbing some food, Halpert makes their way over.
As two days passed, Mille familiarized himself with both Ames and the Headquarters a little bit more, going around between both bases and occasionally taking a simple supply haul between the two, apparently having sneaked out of the dockmaster's sights, something a quick camera log check would reveal. A trip to Ontario would've been an exception, albeit a short one before they were back. The cafeteria seemingly turned into the place Mille hanged around the most, sitting on a bench not too far from the closest soda or junk candy vending machine, if any. Rather out-of-date tablets seemed to be his choice for staying in contact with his acquaintances, something likely unusual for a young pilot.
Scattered on that same table were some hand-drawn partial schematics which he also seemed to be working on, pausing every now and then from looking at one of the tablets to add something else to them.
As for his ship however, it would be safely clamped to the docks. The Claymore-Class design incredibly similar to that of the Kali, if not for the massive 'belly' that it had which seemed to be slightly damaged at the moment, with charred marks gracing its sides.
Distracted by the old fashioned tablet, Mille jumped a little bit upon hearing Halpert's voice before quickly bringing a hand to the back of his head.
"Oh! Uh, yeah, I'm Mille. Sorry about that."
Pulling the diagrams into a neat little pile, he would give Kennedy a little more space before shaking the man's hand firmly.
"Pleasure to meet you Halpert, I hope your business went well out in the Omicrons... If I'm not mistaken you said you were mapping the most distant sectors, right? Must've been kind of dangerous."
"It wasn't as much for business as it was personal interest. We've had no clients asking for system reports recently, so I decided to take a scenic route to Tau-23. Then came back here."
Tapping the table as his sentence ends, his gaze shifts to the stack of papers and Mille's tablet.
"Noticed you brought some stuff with you. What can you tell me about these?"
![[Image: PVArGCT.png]](https://i.imgur.com/PVArGCT.png)