Farces A short story of the Zoner Defense Fleet and it's resurrection The aging man sighed looking through the various screens on his desk. He rubbed his eyes followed by running his hand through his long greying hair before collapsing backwards into his chair.
"What a shit show." he mumbled to no one in particular. "The amount of maintenance that this Zane didn't do on some of these ships is staggering. He didn't bother documenting any changes, or annotating any places the ships went on patrols...nothing. I'm still not able to find half of the fleet inventory."
He checked his messages and saw that none had come in. He'd sent a message to Zane's known second in command, Kasumi Ito, but hadn't heard back in days. Intelligence he'd obtained placed her still out in Omicron Delta where her and Zane had gone after the collapse of the initial ZDF. It wasn't surprising, considering the lack of inventory, paperwork, and general upkeep that a fledgling faction or group required. He sighed again pinching the bridge of his nose before standing up and exiting his office.
The sun was just starting to come up over the horizon on Planet Eris in the distance and the people onboard Shasta were just waking up for their morning rituals.
"Did you stay up all night again, Commander Wilder?" a small voice said. A young girl of around 14 said as she approached with her family.
"Only a little bit. How are you doing this morning Sarah?" he said smiling and dropping to one knee.
He conversed briefly with the girl and her family before they departed. He smiled remembering his youth aboard the various Freeports with his parents. They were both gone now, passed in their sleep thank the goddess. They'd lived on Gran Canaria during the occupation along with Elias. He'd fought the Bretonians during that bloody time and fought their "annexation", which was just another word for conquering. He could still smell the burning buildings and see the charred and dead remains of entire families murdered by their savagery.
His hands began to shake again. He looked down at them briefly before closing his eyes and taking deep breaths in and out. The Doctor's he'd spoken to told him that he suffered from something called PTSD. Post Traumatic Stress or something like that. At first he'd hand waived them away, but when the panic attacks kept coming and he found it difficult to function in daily life, he'd listened more intently to their words. He had been in therapy for months now but was making little progress with his current therapist and had debated on reaching out to Med Force Enterprises to see if they had any better therapists on their staff.
Before long, his panic attack subsided and he continued the route to his rack. He'd been working overtime trying to bring back the Zoner Defense Fleet back up to a half-operational status. Presently, he had no one but himself on the force which he hoped would change before long. He knew that Zoners wanted to defend their interests, he just hoped that they would start joining soon. Baffin had been left undefended since TAZ had disbanded years ago...though he heard rumors of them making a comeback. Time would have to tell. Then there was the other issue he was having.
Kasumi Ito. Zane McAllister's #2 in Delta. He'd reached out to her via normal communications but was met with a "connection refused" error. He guessed that she'd disconnected her long range communications system after Zane's (or Zylar's, that fact still confused him) disappearance. No doubt she'd gone to ground after that strange situation and wasn't accepting any long distance communications. He needed her help to figure out what the hell Zane was doing with the ZDF. Her illuminating alot of his decisions would help him nail down what next steps he would need to take far more easily than fumbling around in the dark.
"Well, you asked for this responsibility, old man." he said opening the door to his rack. "No one to blame here but yourself."
He entered his rack onboard Shasta. It was small, quaint, and very spartan. He'd never had any uses for luxury or anything fancy. A bed, table, restroom, and maybe a small kitchen was all he ever needed in life. He never married either, so he never had a woman's touch in his living quarters...not that he'd let that happen anyway.
He did his normal ritual before bed. He flossed his teeth, brushed, took a quick shower and laid down for bed. He set his alarm to go off in three hours to ensure he was back up to continue his work.
"No rest for the weary." he said turning off the light closed his eyes. Within a few moments, his communicator buzzed and he opened his eyes. Without looking at the screen, he answered.
"I just got to sleep. This better be important."
"You're the one that called me. I'm just returning a call. This is Kasumi Ito. Who are you and what do you want?"
Their conversation had been terse and brief, but successful Elias believed. Kasumi was distrustful of him but because he was a Zoner, like her, she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. He stood on the landing deck of the station waiting for her to arrive, his arms behind his back in a military parade rest stance.
Several hours after their communication, a large Zoner Carrier jumped into the system, it's sensor suite scanning the vicinity around the vessel looking for an ambush. When none was detected, it's weapons systems were placed on hold as it approached the station. It's IFF read the name Eventide, a well known vessel from the Omicrons that was known to work with the Order in hunting Nomads and their allies.
"This is Eventide actual." came a communication from the large vessel. "Requesting clearance to moor."
"Copy that, Eventide actual. You are cleared to moor at mooring point 7. Welcome to Baffin."
Elias noted that the dockmaster made a point to not say "Welcome home." but rather "Welcome to Baffin." While these were Zoners, they were not originally from Baffin. Even it's captain, this Kasumi Ito, was not a native Zoner, but rather someone who preferred to be left alone by the Houses to roam the edge worlds. Elias inherently didn't trust those people who he considered "transplants" to the Zoner way of life, but he always gave them the benefit of the doubt.
The large carrier moored with the station, it's arrival punctuated by the deck shaking ever so slightly from the mass of the large vessel connecting with the platform in open space. It was a few more minutes while checks were being conducted to ensure everything was green before the first few individuals arrived from the carrier. Leading them was a small Kusari woman that Elias could only assume was Ms. Ito herself.
"Ms. Ito-san," Elias said with a slight bow. "I am Commander Elias Wilder, Zoner Defense Fleet Commander."
"As much as I appreciate the honorific, Commander, you can drop the San. I left Kusari long ago."
"Very well Ms. Ito-"
"You can drop the other honorific as well, it's just Kasumi. Kas to my friends."
"Very well." Elias commented. He wanted to smirk at her attitude. She seemed like a no nonsense kind of person.
"Are we going to stand around here on the deck of the station all day or are we going to go some where to get this show on the road?"
"Ah, right you are Kasumi. Right this way. I've reserved a place for us to have this get together."
"Very well, allow me to confir with my people and I'll be right behind you." she said turning to those who had followed her off her ship.
She spoke curtly and without fluff to her people. Giving them tasks to pass on to her people during her time onboard. Resupply, investigations, and other items that Elias made a mental note to ask her of later. Before long she turned back to Elias.
"Apologies. We are not often able to moor at any place other than Freeport 11. Their stocks are usually low or out due to it's distance from the usual resupply lines. Docking in Baffin gives us and opportunity to resupply properly for the first time in a while."
"Not a problem." he said beginning his walk to the room he had set aside. Kasumi fell into step beside him, easily keeping his pace. Another thing to make a mental note of. "I can task some ships to ensure that resupply lines are tended to for Freeport 11."
"We appreciate that, however we are aware that the ZDF is first and foremost a defensive fleet, not a logistics agency. We can take care of that on our return flight. We have some Whales making an arrival to Baffin shortly based upon your invitation."
"I see. Planning and forethought."
The small woman looked towards Elias with an inquisitive look. Elias smiled only briefly as they arrived at the room. He motioned for her to enter before him as he opened the door.
"Here we are, Kasumi."
She nodded her thanks and entered the room, taking a seat opposite Elias as she placed her hands on the table.
"I'll get right to the point, Commander. As you know, I served under Zane McAlliaster, also known as Zylar Vespertine, for around a year during his tenure as Commander of the ZDF. During that time, we met resistance to our philosophy. A defensive fleet such as ours has failed time and time again due to others continually seeing Zoners as doormats rather than a force to be worried about angering."
Elias nodded his agreeance. His brow furrowing from her words. He remained silent, allowing for her to continue.
"While I am interested in defending Zoner interests, as they have taken me in and given me a home after my departure from Kusari, I have to remain adamant about the true threat to Humanity originating in the edge worlds."
"The Nomads. I've heard of them."
The woman nodded, her brow furrowing in kind.
"Indeed. Count yourself lucky to have never experienced an attacking fleet of the monstrosities. We've spent six months in the edge worlds since the original ZDF's collapse fighting them and trying to cull their numbers but have met with stiff resistance as well as not succeeding in our goals anyway. There are simply too many of them. It's as if we kill a dozen and another three dozen appear to fill their ranks."
"I see. However, I fail to see what this has to do with me inviting you here."
She looked up to Elias, her eyes hard and emotionless.
"I'm getting to that." she paused and her eyes softened a measure. "Sorry, being in combat near constantly in the Omicrons leads to forgetting how to act around others...the reason I mention these items to you, is because we feel like we're not accomplishing anything staying in the edge worlds. With the Core making a comeback in recent months, we're worried that Freeport 11 may be threatened again. We're but one ship, and discussions have been had onboard about whether or not someone would rise up to ensure that doesn't happen again."
"Don't worry about the irritation, I've felt it much since assuming the role of Commander of the fleet. I will say that while Zane, or Zylar, had a great idea in forming the ZDF, he lacked the experience necessary to fully command it." he held out his hands placating the woman as her eyes became hard again. "I don't mean to be insulting to his memory. I know that he's missing and presumed dead. As well, I know he was a friend of yours, but I am only being honest. Much of the fleet is damaged, destroyed, or outright missing. Paperwork detailing these ships is absent and I'm starting with a mess. The reason I invited you here was to see if you had any information related to those ships."
"I don't." she sighed placing her elbow on the table and leaning her head into her hand. "We were too busy trying to survive. What I will say is that the Eventide was formerly apart of the fleet. As was the Defiance..." she said trailing off. From Elias's intelligence, that was the ship that Zane had vanished on. She resumed her normal posture and shook her head as if shaking off the depression. "Regardless, I don't have any information that can help you, sorry."
"I see. That is...unfortunate." he sighed. "I guess I'll start from scratch then. Probably better that way. Thank you anyway, Kasumi." he said rising and offering his hand to shake hers. She stood slowly and slowly reached her hand out in confusion. "Something the matter?"
"I was under the assumption you were going to offer me a place within the ZDF..." she said pulling her hand back.
"Is that something you would be interested in? I thought you said that the Nomad threat took a priority for you and your crew."
"Well...the fight against the Nomads seems to be...a waste of time. We kill entire legions of the damn things yet we can't even put a dent in their numbers...we kill a hundred and then we face another hundred hours later. We just can't stop them with pure brawn alone. So, we've tasked another vessel of ours, the Katakiuchi, to monitor the situation out in Delta, sort've as a first responder and alarm. If they notify us of anything fishy going on out there, we can respond from anywhere utilizing our jump drive."
Elias considered her words. Having a Carrier and it's crew onboard the ZDF was very promising. It would make sense for him to allow her entry into the ZDF as a Captain considering her previous rank within the ZDF previously. Her crew would need to be vetted, however, before being allowed to function as a part of the new fleet.
"Very well." he said making a decision. "Tentatively, you are a returning member of the Zoner Defense Fleet. However, we must vet your entire crew before being allowed complete access to our systems. This will take some time. Please be patient. If you feel like you need to return to Freeport 11 to monitor things, feel free to do so, I will contact you with our results."
She nodded curtly and reached out to shake his hand once again.
"Thank you...sir." she said with a hint of a smile.
