In the era before the empire, Tony looked at his newly acquired slave and that time was one of the few times in the entire time I've known this Earth born super-soldier to see him regret getting paid. It was a very unfamiliar situation for Tony at just thirty-three years old. Protectorate law allows its citizens to pay their debts in this way, but even I was surprised to hear a tragic back-story that plagiarized the prophecy of the Chosen One.
"It's against my religion to keep a slave. But you were the most valuable asset of my last client, and if a client fails to pay a Protectorate citizen, then a claim is filed against them. A spy cannot afford to be revealed...So if this prophecy turns out to be true it means I was just paid with the destiny of the Rylkonians.”, Tony said.
Ylisaya looked back at her new master with fear and confusion over what he had just said. I could sense her thoughts echoed the same questions over and over again, "How did this happen? How do I escape? Will I ever be the same again?"
In terms of Earth years her age was around eighteen, and her Rylkonian appearance would only grow stronger as she ages from a child into an adult. Her eyes were silver and hair was gold. I could sense in Tony's mind that Ylisaya reminded him of someone, but I never saw him around any Earth born woman that looked like Ylisaya. Ylisaya glanced at me and then back at Tony, then she asked him a question.
"So why is the Chosen One of any interest to you?" Ylisaya asked.
I thought it was strange that Ylisaya didn't refer to herself as the Chosen One. I suspected that she didn't quite accept the role.
"Me? I'm not actually interested...but the Rylkonians are also the majority of Protectorate citizens...I assume that once you're free, you will seek Protectorate citizenship. I'm currently a second-class citizen under consideration for promotion to first-class citizen. I intend to report your safety and freedom as one of my contributions...but that also means those things need to happen. Now that I hear myself say it, that sounds like a trade...you may trust that I intend to sell you to the Protectorate, not as a slave, but as a Chosen One... but only when you are ready.”, Tony said.
I wondered, "What is a true chosen one?" Ylisaya looked at the shackles around her wrists and ankles, and bent forward so her hand could reach the large shackle around her neck. Tony de-activated the shackles with his cybernetic commands and they fell from Ylisaya onto the ground. Ylisaya rubbed her wrists and ankles and seemed relieved to be able to move her hands freely and take full steps. She looked up at Tony.
”What do I have to do?”, Ylisaya asked.
"I actually haven't thought that far. I'm a mercenary and a bounty-hunter, I've never owned a slave before...You're not a warrior, you can't fight my enemies...the safest place for you is back on the ship.”, Tony said.
I gestured for Ylisaya to follow me, and she seemed to agree.
"Where is he going?”, Ylisaya asked.
I saw that she noticed Tony went in a different direction. I knew he was going to meet the next client, and we hoped the new client had working Pay-Codes.
"The Captain is going to see our new client... On the ship, you're allowed to explore, but do not talk to the prisoner, he's dangerous.”, I said.
Ylisaya followed me through corridors and elevators of the Martian launch facility. A magnificent and complex structure of industrial purpose. Without use of the Quantum-Hyper-Jump-Gates most ships rely the assistance of a mechanical launcher to achieve escape-velocity to escape the planet's gravity and the Planet Mars has a network of launchers aligned with the independent orbits of each moon, Phobos and Deimos. The ships that are launched into orbit aim for the gravitational pull of either of the moons, to further assist in achieving escape-velocity.
"Are we leaving Mars?" Ylisaya asked.
"Eventually...and hopefully, but for now we need to get a blimp to get around the planet Mars. There's a protectorate fleet of gunships, blockading the planet.”, I said.
I pointed out the the rows of departing ships as soon as the docking bay was in view.
“Those are other gunships like ours. This will be your new home, the Something Clever, Ambush Class Gunship, features a coaxial-quantum-flux-hyper-gate-drive-core, ablative armor, top and bottom dual-function-fusion-pulse-cannons, a central gunner's turret, so she can fire in any direction, four munition bays because we need a lot of ammo, six crew quarters, but with only three crew we each get out own room, and a three-layer-cloak for invisible operation...Let's hope the prisoner hasn't escaped.”, I said
Ylisaya followed me into the Something Clever and she gracefully spun as she stepped into each room as she examined her new reality. I guided her to each room and the area of the ship that most intrigued her was the drive-core.
"So it's my fate to fight space pirates?" Ylisayah asked.
"If by ‘Fight’ you mean hunt down and kill...then sort of. Space pirates always run from battleships...and merchant freighters are the usual clients. They hire us as security escorts...so it's less fate and a bit more of a paid job.”, I explained.
"But I could see the Something Clever was recently in battle the blast marks are all over the hull." Ylisaya protested.
"Well I am embarrassed to admit we don't always avoid danger, but we've taken hits from super weapons and survived...obviously...and we needed repairs, but...how does Tony say it?...You should see what happened to the other ship.”, I argued.
"So do space pirates run away or fight, when they see a battleship?”, Ylisaya asked.
I thought about what she was asking for a moment and I replied.
"In the context of your question...neither...they try to escape and always shoot back while trying to do so.”, I said.
Ylisaya seemed surprised to hear my perspective on space pirates and she paused for a moment,
"Is it worth it?”, Ylisaya asked.
"Well that depends on the client...or how much they're paying...sometimes how much we salvage from any space pirates we encounter.”, I said.
"But, does it make a difference? For every space pirate you stop, how many more are there to replace them?”, Ylisaya asked and seemed frustrated.
I realized her perspective was more existential than economical,
"Hold that question for now and ask again when the captain returns.”, I said.
I gestured in the direction of the brig, and Ylisaya saw another Rylkonian sitting behind a force field. This Rylkonian had his arms and legs shackled and a cloth bag over his head. Stacks of glowing orange-red hexagons formed the semi-transparent force field that divided the prisoner's cell from the rest of the brig. Outside the brig, Tony and I kept a carton of bio-gel medicine and stuck it to the wall. Ylisaya observed the box of bio-gel, as I took a bottle from the carton, and then turned her focus towards the entrance of the brig. I could see in her eyes, that she was reminded of her own situation when she saw we had shackled the prisoner's neck, wrists, and ankles, although she didn't wear a blindfold, and was never held in a cell, like the cell where we placed on our prisoner. Ylisaya wrapped one hand around her other wrist at the sight of the prisoner.
"What's the bio-gel for?" Ylisaya asked.
"We're waiting for a cryonic-freeze reservation, until then...we have no other way to feed the prisoner...this prisoner is being delivered to the Protectorate." I replied.
"What did he do?"Ylisaya asked.
I realized Ylisaya didn't know his identity because his face was obscured by the blind-fold.
"He's the Dread Pirate Ryfez.”, I said.
I entered the brig and closed the door behind me before Ylisaya could follow me. Ryfez seemed to notice my entrance into the brigg and he somehow managed to focus on me as I approached the cell, since the door does make a feint sound. I opened the pass through slot on the side of the cell and dropped the bottle into the cell. Ryfez heard the bottle land at the bottom of the pass through slot and he slowly moved to focus on what I was doing.
“Feeding time, I’m guessing”, Ryfez said.
Ryfez reached into the drop plate of the pass through slot and held the bottle of bio-gel, but he didn't open the bottle. The shackles stopped Ryfez from removing the bag and blindfold.
"You know this is medicine, not food...it's actually more expensive...Well, let's see who is my waiter?”, Ryfez said, as he started to smell the bottle.
"Jhessyreen, how kind of you to visit…”, Ryfez said and turned his focus.
Ylisaya opened the door and approached. I gestured for Ylisaya to stop, but Ryfez already heard her footsteps. Ryfez spoke, "Is that you Phantom? You lose weight?...hmmm no...this one is different...this new presence is...alive...I'm surprised, Jhessyreen...bringing kids while bounty-hunting…why?”, Ryfez argued.
I grabbed Ylisaya's arm, dragged her with me out of the brigg, and shut the door behind me. I pulled Ylisaya away from the brigg and I yelled, "This isn't some game, he's a liar, he's a criminal, he's a killer...stay away from him.”, I warned Ylisaya.
"Why are you keeping him? Just to hand him over to the Protectorate.”, Ylisaya asked.
"We're the bounty-hunters who have the privilege of being the only crew with a chance of out-fighting him...but right now he's nothing but a headache, so we're going to put him in cryo-sleep to safely and quietly deliver him to our Protectorate contact.”, I replied.
"How much is he worth?" Ylisaya asked.
I wondered if Ylisaya was asking about the bounty or if she was comparing herself as a slave to a prisoner with a reward on him.
"The Protectorate has reason to be afraid of him...he's the worst pirate threat... he's not some thug robbing merchant freighters, he's a traitor, used his status as a pirate to evade the Protectorate, and he is connected to the gang-war.”, I said.
"But why?" Ylisaya asked.
"Don't know....don't really care. It wasn't part of the contract...Either way, we can't let him escape.”, I replied.
"What now?" Ylisaya asked.
"Now, we get ready for our next client.”, I replied.
I led Ylisaya to the bridge of the Something Clever, and I gestured for her to take the flight engineer's seat. The seats were arranged to be visible and reachable from the captain's chair, in the center. The seats beside the captain's chair are the flight engineer's and the gunner's seat. My chair is the pilot's chair and it's in the front of the bridge and the space around it was also optimized like the cockpit of a single crew spacecraft.
"But I don't know how to be a flight engineer.”, Ylisaya protested.
She seemed amazed at how easily she could reach both the flight engineer seat and captain's chair.
"All you're going to do is sit there.”, I said as I took the pilot's seat.
I removed my jacket and set it on the captain's chair. As I leaned back into the pilot's seat the connectors built into the chair aligned with the connections running down the sides of my spine and allowed the ship to connect to my nervous system. The ship's flight systems will now respond to my thoughts and obey my commands. I accessed the ship's sensors and I can see what the ship sees. Around the ship there are several cargo freighters and fellow gunships to escort the freighters. Some ships were preparing to go to orbital launch, but I was following the group of gunships requested to follow the Confederate forces preparing to attack the Martian city of Rhetonis. I looked in the wide angle mirror at the corner of my battle station that allows me to see the faces of any crew in the three battle stations behind me, and I saw Ylisaya was staring at me.
"What is it?..." I asked her
"Ummm...the ship is asking me to connect to it.”, Ylisaya replied.
I accessed the ship's diagnostic system and the wireless controls detected the captain's ownership code on his newly acquired property.
"Well connect to the ship already...If you're going to be of any use on this ship, you're going to have to learn a few things…Even non engineer cyborg crew can use the flight engineer’s seat. Only the Captain’s chair and the Pilot’s chair have problems with the wrong crew trying to use them.”, I instructed Ylisaya.
"The last ship I was on only allowed connection in Battle Stations...Why can I connect without touching any part of the ship but you have physical connection?”, Ylisaya asked.
I moved the ship along the track behind the row of other gunships and I switched my connection to wireless control. I stood up out of my seat, moved three steps, and stood over and behind the flight engineer's seat. Ylisaya turned to look between the captain's seat and where I stood.
"I can fly this ship from the ground if I had to, but there's a difference if I want to move or if I want the ship to move for me. Wireless control is good for long patrols, but if the ship is under attack the crew need's their battle stations. Battle stations help the rest of the crew know what we're supposed to do, in battle.”, I said.
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Ylisaya looked at the captain's chair and seemed to think about the few roles of the bridge crew for an ambush-class gunship.
"Won't the captain need his chair?”, Ylisaya asked
"That's his chair.”, I said, as I pointed at the gunner’s seat.
Ylisaya looked at the other battle stations on the bridge, and I realized I needed to explain more.
"They're technically both his chairs, but you're the newest crew we've added, for a while.”, I continued.
I returned to the pilot's seat, where I saw a message waiting for me. Apparently the supply crew of the launch facility ran out of the atmosphere navigation blimps made for Ambush-Class-Gunships.
"What's wrong?”, Ylisaya asked.
"They ran out of blimps.”, I replied.
Ylisaya seemed puzzled as she accessed the navigation sensor and placed a highlight marker on a long blimp that a technical crew was attaching to the top of another ship. I realized she was smart enough to use a computer system connected to her brain, but she still lacked the experience of how a space crew gets the supplies they need. I pointed at other ships hovering above us.
“Yes…Those are blimps, but that doesn't mean they're included with our subscription. When we leave a planet, we actually don't bring the blimp with us. Each supply crew specifically mixes the atmosphere in the envelope for the planet or moon they're meant for use on, so a blimp from one planet is potentially worthless on another planet or moon. The system we pay a subscription for also adds cloaking device compatibility.”, I said.
Ylisaya resumed accessing the navigation sensor and placed a marker on an envelope with cloaking technology. I accessed the customer catalog to figure out possible financing options, because we’re already paying a subscription fee. I saw the "contact a sales agent" feature was available in the catalog. I scanned the sales agent connection, my cybernetics linked to the Martian network, and I sensed the thoughts of another Rylkonian. The thoughts slowly became clear,
"Hello valued customer...how can I help you today?”, she made her thoughts were clear to me.
I quickly organized my thoughts and refined my problem to a single question,
"Are there any available cloak compatible atmosphere envelopes?”, was the question I focused on.
"Well the Confederacy recently reserved all the appropriate envelopes in your area, it also looks like they reserved three times more than they actually need. If you don't mind waiting for their military to mobilize, they can provide you with one of their spares, and it won't count against your subscription.”, she sent her thoughts to me.
"But it's a subscription fee, we already paid for a reservation.”, was the thought echoing in my mind.
I realized the Confederacy didn't need to reserve all the envelopes just to have spares, instead they simply didn't want the gangs to have an opportunity to use them against the Confederacy. I refined my thoughts so the sales agent could hear my question.
”What's the going rate for a passenger's orbital launch out of schedule?”, I sent my question through the cyber-link.
The sales agent quickly realized what I was checking for when a gunship is asking about passenger ticket rates, only meant I was comparing prices.
"Yes, the Confederacy is allowing ships to escape, for cheap too. The blockade fleet in orbit is only preventing ships from arriving, they are permitting ship to leave Mars.”, she sent her thought to me.
This was the Martian Confederacy's opening move, to make resistance difficult and expensive, but make escape both attractive and encouraged. They always estimated that some of their enemy lacks either courage or loyalty, but they would have to realize that some of the enemy can also choose to resist. That was the Confederacy's great strategy, some of their enemies will always resist but they will always have fewer enemies and those enemies will have fewer resources as any cowards depart the planet and take resources with them. I disconnected from the sales agent.
"What's going on?”, Ylisaya asked.
"The Confederacy is preparing to send in their forces against the gangs, so they reserved all the resources that could be used to fight back, but opened up all the resources needed to escape.”, I replied
"That explains the deployment of the Protectorate's blockade fleet instead of using their own fleet for defending Mars, it leaves the Confederacy free to focus on the surface of Mars, and efficiently fight the gangs." Ylisaya realized.
"You learn quickly chosen one...I need to tell the captain." I replied.
I redirected my cybernetics to reach Tony. I sensed his mind and determined he was talking to the new client.
"This better be important, I'm talking to the client right now.”, was the first clear thought I sensed from Tony's mind.
"We won't be able to follow the Confederate Cavalry, the Confederacy has already made their first move. Only option is to leave the planet.”, I sent my thoughts to Tony
"If you can't get into the fight, then get into orbit and join the blockade fleet...I'll just have to do all the fighting...from the ground.”, Tony sent his reply and disconnected.
“We're leaving for orbit…”, I said to Ylisaya.
I returned to my chair and activated my chair's safety restraints, so I could safely launch the ship into orbit without slamming into the floor of the bridge. I turned to Ylisaya and saw she hadn't used her seat's restraints.
"You should anchor yourself into your seat, escape velocity is abrupt.”, I said to Ylisaya.
"What about the prisoner?”, Ylisaya asked.
"You saw him in the brig...He's always anchored.”, I replied.
I wondered if Ylisaya was being reminded of the fact that she's still a slave, but that's less of a problem than a human body bouncing around the bridge, during combat maneuvers. The ship followed a track that provided access to the different functions of the launch facility. This track has gaps, which is allows the ships on the track to change directions and switch to different tracks. I waited and watched to see what happened when the ship hits a gap. The ship shook and the disturbance almost knocked over Ylisaya. She grabbed the sides of the flight engineer's seat and quickly understood the need for using safety restraints on a space craft, and she used her cybernetic connection to operate the functions of the chair.
"You learn quickly chosen one.”, I said.
The ship followed the track towards the orbital launch system. Earth born engineers are right about one thing, it takes a lot of energy to achieve escape velocity, and applying additional energy at the correct stage of acceleration is critical. But what they always seem to forget is a running start can start anywhere. The first stage of the launch is lowering of the ship into a long tube, much like loading a cannon. The next stage is charging the coils with energy, that will eventually pull the ship along the tube. The part we cannot see is the counter-weight that falls with the assistance of gravity that counters all the forces that the launcher exerts on the surface of the planet. The Earthborn once imagined that the counter-weight was dropped on a lever that lifted the space-craft. Ylisaya watched the launcher move the ship into the next phase. The lights closest to the bottom of the launch tube changed from blue to green. The lights illuminated six rails that followed the launch path inside the launch tube. The ship rocked backwards enough to make the sensitive and loose hanging systems and cargo straps swing side to side. Through the vibrations of the ship I could sense the launcher align itself to the ship. The ship settled into the launcher and the swaying immediately stabilized. I looked through the sensors down the six rails and as the coils charged, they continued to change from blue to green in sequence, that indicated the coils attained a sufficient level of power. The launch tube began to rumble.
"Are we launching already?”, Ylisaya asked.
"That's not us, our launcher is only half ready...There's a few other ships before us.”, I replied.
I looked down the rails and light continued to change from blue to green. The ship's systems asked if we wanted to restrain the passenger in the brig, except the ship also asked Ylisaya.
"Why is the ship asking if we want to restrain the prisoner? He's locked up, hands and feet are shackled, and he's blindfolded...Why does he need additional restraints?”, Ylisaya asked.
"Well we're going to accelerate to half the speed of light and moving at that speed for a fraction of a nano-cycle...these restraints prevent out brains from liquifying in our skulls, avoid our nervous systems from overloading when we are trying to realign with normal phase time, and prevent our ribcages from shattering when the ship loses momentum.”, I replied.
I activated the ship-wide broadcast system so the Dread Pirate could hear me.
"Dread Pirate...stay still, I'm activating the stasis field...we're going into orbit...just to be clear...The price on your head is dead or alive, so I have no regrets if the stasis field rips you apart.", I announced.
I accessed the ship's systems and reconfigured the force-field in front of the Dread Pirate's cell into a stasis-field, through the ship's internal sensor I could see that Ylisaya had magnetically anchored herself to the flight engineer's seat. I activated the magnetic anchors of my seat. My cybernetic connection to the ship reached maximum alignment, I was now one with the ship. When this happens I risk forgetting about my physical body, and I have to remind myself that I am not an ambush-class gunship. I focus on the navigation sensors and I see we are second in line to launch. The facility rumbled and the launcher fired a ship, although to my eyes it only appeared as a beam of light, but to the ship's sensors I could see it was a merchant freighter, probably also filled with passengers fleeing Mars which was at the brink of war. I sensed launch control was trying to call the ship, I responded with my cybernetic frequency. I sensed the mind of a Rylkonian cannoneer who was sitting in the fire-control of the launcher. His mind started asking me for my destination, but his thoughts were slightly unfocused.
"I'm headed for the blockade fleet.”, I focused my mind and let the gunner hear my thoughts.
"You might be an ambush class, but I have the roster of the blockade fleet and the Something Clever isn't on it.”, the thoughts of the gunner were made clear to me.
"My captain is with a client in Rhetonis, that's where the Ugian and Lanthano gangs are fighting and the Confederate Cavalry is headed there to stop the gang war. My captain needs the ship to take our property and prisoner off the planet, and provide air-recon. Yes I know atmospheric stealth surveillance, is better. But the Confederacy is only allowing planet departure.”, I focused my thoughts and made them clear to the gunner.
"I can put you in orbit, but room to fly around the blockade fleet is up to Fleet command. The Confederacy has designated everything between Mars’ stratosphere and a gunship's fusion cannon range as a kill zone. The Blockade fleet is cleared to fire on any ship approaching Mars.”, the gunner's thoughts were clear to me, and the gunner's mind disconnected.
The launch facility rumbled the the ship before us launched into the sky. The facility slid our launcher into the main ramp. I looked around the bridge cabin with my eyes into my wide angle mirror and I saw Ylisaya was slightly more alert.
"Where were you? Internal sensors showed your mind was working as hard as the flight computer, but you looked like you were knocked out.”, Ylisaya asked.
"I had to get permission for a flight path up to the blockade fleet. Fire control has a canoneer who is following the rules.”, I replied.
"Fire control? Cannoneer? I thought this was a launch facility?" Ylisaya asked and seemed puzzled.
"The Confederacy has a law, they don't normally talk about. Every business, company, and corporation on Mars is allowed to be privately owned and financed, but has to be managed by a military reservist. And every resource and asset must have a defense application.”, I replied.
"So every private business has some kind of loyalty to the Confederacy, at a minimum they're all dependent on military policy.”, Ylisaya realized as she said her thoughts aloud.
"You learn quickly chosen one.”, I replied.
"But what's the military application of a facility that launches ships, when they already have a fleet of battleships blockading the planet?”, Ylisaya asked.
"They're not restricted to launching ships. They can shoot as far as their second moon. Launching commercial ships brings in a lot of money for the Confederacy, but when they want to hit something, they won't launch ships...instead they will launch explosives.”, I replied.
Ylisaya remained silent as she processed the realization of the true nature of the launch facility. I wondered how she felt being inside a gigantic gun. The launch tube slid into the the main ramp and we now had a clear view of the sky. I activated the final launch procedure and deactivated all the sensors, since they may overload not because of traveling near the speed of light, but when the ship slows down, the light approaching from in front of the ship causes the sensor to think it's pointed backwards for a fraction of a nano-cycle. The launcher rumbled and the lights were now completely green. The rumbling stopped as I activated the ship's stabilizers. The lights turned red and a bright light flooded the ship as the objects in the bridge seemed to freeze and slowly float away. I know this was just an illusion caused by moving at half the speed of light, but this could fry the sensors.
But in the next instant the ship was in the space above. Mars was far below us and the two moons were at the far edges of my view through the ship’s sensors. I activated the navigational sensor and instantly found the blockade fleet. Over two thousand ambush gunships patrolled the planet, and luckily Mars is a small planet. The gunships could dock on the moons and if they were focused on the surface of Mars, they would most likely use the first moon of Mars as their Patrol base. Phobos was easy to identify, even without the assistance of the navigation sensor. A distant beam of light was always pointed at Phobos, the origin was from the space stations orbiting around the Sun, which was just focused sunlight, which the Sun made in abundance. The beam of light powered most of the major systems and sub-systems needed on Phobos. Phobos then reflected the majority of that focused sunlight towards the Surface of Mars. Anything that needs constant power or sunlight such as farming towers, city lights, or even defense systems pays a subscription fee to import sunlight from Mercury. Each customer can be found by following their individual light beam from Phobos to Mars. The company is called Solar Equality, and they operate the prism facilities on Phobos, but they are owned by the Mercury Commonwealth. Judging by the amount of energy they import to Mars as focused sunlight, it's scary to think how could they would execute Martian Law if they were activated as military reservists.
I activated my transponder and I called out to Phobos with my Cybernetic signal. I sensed the mind of another Rylkonian pilot, and I could clearly understand the other pilot's thoughts.
"We see you Ambush Class Gunship Something Clever. You're not scheduled to be part of the Blockade. You can land on Phobos or Deimos, or leave. But you cannot return to Mars.”, the other pilot made their thoughts clear.
"I need the fleet's permission to orbit above the blockade. Our captain and a client have business in Rhetonis.”, I focused my thoughts to the other pilot.
I sensed the pilot reach into the fleet's nexus and then the presence of thousands of other Rylkonian minds. They analyzed my request from all the thousands of perspectives. They instantly considered the cost versus benefits of hiring the Something Clever and the cost of our salaries. I introduced the factor that we had a separate client and the situation of being deprived an opportunity to fly with the Confederate Cavalry. The fleet slowly reached consensus.
"While you're flying around us, one of your bridge crew must stay cyber-linked to the fleet and your navigational sensor.”, the other pilot's thoughts were clear to me.
I understood the fleet's reluctance to simply give us an unearned and unrelated privilege that doesn't benefit the fleet, as well as taking precautions to not push into our privacy, but still watch our movements.
"If that let's us fly. We'll do it.”, I focused my thoughts so the other pilot could understand them clearly.
"You're going to cyberlink to the fleet and our navigation sensor.”, I said to Ylisaya.
"What? Why me?" Ylisaya protested
"Because I don't want to do it, and you won't actually do anything, except sit there and watch and listen to the fleet's thoughts. They just want a way to watch us.”, I replied
"Okay, how do I do that?”, Ylisaya asked.
"You're sitting in a flight engineer’s seat, use it.”, I instructed Ylisaya.
A few moment's passed, and through my wide angle mirror I could see Ylisaya was processing a connection to the entire fleet. Her eyes moved rapidly in all directions as she could picture in her mind the entirety of the fleet's multiple perspectives.
"What do you see?" I asked Ylisaya.
"The fleet isn't just watching the space around Mars. They're also watching Rehtonis. Two-hundred gunships have weapons aimed at the city. They're targeting scans are so detailed it's as if I can see what's going on in the city.”, Ylisaya replied.
"Taking aim at one of Mars’ cities, even if it's currently a war-zone, is an odd way ensuring the customer can pay…", I said as I learned this unusual action taken by a Rylkonian fleet.
"No...The fleet didn't decide that. It's the Confederacy...the Confederacy wanted the gunships to keep weapons locked on the city.”, Ylisaya replied.
"What's going on in Rhetonis?”, I asked Ylisaya
"The rest of the planet is allowed to flee, but Rhetonis is under lockdown. There's over five thousand enforcer mechs surrounding the city, under command of Confederate Officers. There are another ten Rylkonian Sniper teams also watching the city, but they have invisibility cloaking tech. The fleet only knows they are there because they are also crew from the fleet. The Enforcer mechs are the parts of the surrounding forces meant to be seen, and keep people in. The sniper teams are cleared to fire on anyone who tries to leave the city through any way other than being arrested by enforcer mechs. In Rhetonis over one thousand Ugian and Lanthano gang members are still fighting eachother.”, Ylisaya said.
"How far away is the Confederate Cavalry?”, I asked.
"The cavalry is already there, over two thousand cavaliers under the command of twenty confederate officers and six cloaked ambush class gunships are holding their location just outside perimeter of enforcer mechs. They're going to continue to let the gangs fight each other.”, Ylisaya said.
"Do you see Tony? Is he with the client?”, I asked Ylisaya.
"They entered the city just five micro-cycles ago. There's more, the confederate officers believe the client is Ugian, based on their weapons and armor. They also suspect the client is a woman.”, Ylisaya replied.