With a light tap on the door, it slowly slides open and a young girl appears in the doorway. She's one of the newest faces on Ainu, one of the most beautiful, but one of the shyest as well. She's only sixteen, young enough to make some argue whether or not should she even fly a ship. She's passing her days as the personal servant of the honorable Atotori of Chrysanthemums, and that is enough to keep her proud, to keep her happy.
Hesitatingly, she enters the room and after a bow she says "Ito-sama, forgive me for distracting you, but I have a message for you." and in front of the curios eyes of the Atotori, she takes a two-folded piece of paper out of her pocket and holds it in front of the woman. As strange as the situation was, the woman takes the paper without a word and nods silently, and the girl hurries out of the room, closing the door behind her.
It was not the form around there, not anymore. It was more of a tradition long lost, as no one sent someone else a message written on paper anymore. Still, Rika unfolds the piece of paper curiously, and all she sees is is two lines of text, signed by a familiar name...
We need to talk, preferably in space.
Today, 6 PM, Kyushu - if you can.
She smiled, while reading the message. She smiled about the wonderful idea the man that came from far away had. A message written on paper was something special.
She checked the time and then called the girl back into her room. "Please prepare my ship and get everything else done my dear. I would like you to have a look at the supply lists after this."
The girl nodded and ran out of the room straight towards the docking bay.
"Must have a reason that he wants the meeting to happen in space, thats going to be interesting." Once the daily reading of reports was finished, she took the flight suit out of her locker and slipped into it. There was still some time left, but Rika thought that it wold have been better to arrive in Kyushu earlier.
The Blossom was ready, full of fuel, a few food rations, some water and the most important things, such as shields and weapon systems were fully functional as well. It had been some time since she flew out the last time, there was just too much important work to be done.
Doors slit open and the ship left the docking bay, all internal systems were working and the Atotori set course for the Kyushu jumphole.
Rika heard the calm, yet cold voice as soon as she was out of the jumphole. Her ship's scanner still hadn't registered the surrounding, and there was nothing in front of her in the endless blue of the cloud. As soon as the scanners came back to life, she noticed a ship behind hers, so going on full reverse, she did a full turn and faced the Katana sitting right next to the jumphole.
"It's not like every girl has the habit of keeping to their word..."
And the first thing Rika noticed on her comm monitor, was that the stranger was not wearing his usual leather flight suit anymore.
Even though she was a bit scared about the voice that she didnt expect to hear right after the jump, she remained calm. She had to stay calm all the time, even if she would have been scared. A Chysanthemum Elder could not afford to let others know about their fears.
"Konnichiwa Saerieve, you are early. I am surprised as well. And I see, you are using your new ship, this is great."
Once her scanners gave clear readings, she continued.
"You even got a new flight suit, a new model? I never saw something like this before."
"Yes, something that a 'friend' arranged for me... But that's a story for another time."
He then turned his ship around, away from the populated sectors of the system, and activated cruise engines.
"Form up."
watching his console as the blossom silently entered formation and cruise engines charged up, he switched from local comm to private but still remained silent.
After a few minutes flying silently, he finally activated autopilot set to fly on a straight line and spoke up.
"Tell me... Do you remember the first transmission I sent you? Asking permission to stay on Ainu?"
The transmission he mentioned had arrived more then a half year ago, but she still remembered most things in it. It wasnt an every day thing that someone from that far away asked for docking rights.
"Hai, I do. You have been a very useful addition to our cause since then."
She always watched the scanners, to be able to react in case of danger. The cloud they were flying through was dangerous, scanner functionality was reduced to a minimum if someone would want to set a trap, this would be the perfect place.
"Where are we going? And why did you want to speak with me?"
Ignoring Rika's question, Saerieve decided to stick with the conversation he already had in mind.
"Do remind me, what was my reason for asking docking rights on Ainu in the first place?"
And threw a quick glance at the scanner as they reached the edge of the cloud and finally got into the open space, but nothing was in front of them, as they were moving away from the core sectors of the system.
"You met a Chrysanthemum, fell in love with her and you wanted to be closer to her, hai?"
She had no idea of their destination, but out in open space the scanners were working better again. So it would have been impossible for him to lure Rika in a trap.
A man asking for the permission to stay at Ainu, to be closer to the one he loved and he only saw her one time. This didnt make too much sense, Saerieve had been at Ainu for a longer time, so he should have been able to see her all the time.
Rika remembered that he never told her the girls name, so the Elder would not have been able to tell him where she was.
"I cant help you if I dont know her name Saerieve. If you tell me who it is I may be able to tell you about her location."
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