“Your job is simple in concept. Head over to New Earth. Reach out to one of its orbital stations. Request a call from a man named Wemer. Tell him that I sent you, and he should know what is going to be needed. He may ask questions. Answer earnestly.”
Kalomoira and I, both in our respective badgers, were going at full speed. This wasn’t something I did in general due to a risk of colliding with random rocks. We were evading here and there to get out of Rocksea as fast as possible.
“This is something I’d only do in games!” I exclaimed as I evaded an asteroid after another. It wasn’t completely manual. I set passive sensors to full power and was automating some of the moves. I would have been already dead otherwise.
‘You said you wanted to get there ASAP. This is the only way,’ said Kalomoira’s voice in my head.
“Not at the expense of my own goddamn life!”
‘You wanna slow down?’
“Yeah, I mean, yes, please!”
As we both slowed down, I finally let out a relieved breath. There were several beads of sweat floating in front of my forehead.
“Fuck, that was unnerving…”
‘It’s easy for me, though…’
I retorted strongly, “That’s because you are an esper!”
Espers could actually understand the machine language without any assistance, which made them great hackers. Naturally, it made them link really well with any computing software.
‘My class is just C. I so wish I were at least class B…’ She sounded really disappointed.
“Is there a big difference?”
‘There is! Teleportation for example. I can still do it but only a very short distance. I am barely an esper to be honest.’
I never saw an esper doing their real magic, so I didn’t have any clue. But it was no wonder that she opted being an esper over curing her muteness. If I had such supernatural powers, I’d hold onto it also.
“What do espers do in reality? Like when they fight. Do they, like, summon lightning and fire like in games?”
‘What higher class espers do is essentially defy the laws of physics.’
“... Like?”
‘Like clicking one’s index and thumb to destroy a planet. In order to destroy a planet, even if it’s a small one, it would require an equal, if not, greater amount of force, meaning you need planetary bombs to nuke a planet. That would be a good example of defying the laws of physics because clicking fingers should not be equal to hundreds of bombs.’
I laughed and said, “Come on. That’s a sick joke.” Then I did recall about somebody doing exactly that vaguely from the back of my mind. “Right…, the Asperger…”
‘Yep! All espers look up to him! Besides, he is so handsome!’
I frowned. “Isn’t he like… nearly a thousand years old?” The age difference would be …, I don’t even want to count. Not that it really bothered me, though. It did make me wonder how old she was. She couldn’t have been older than fifty, though.
‘So what?! He looks young enough to me!’
The girl was totally a fangirl. Case in point, this was the first time I heard her voice excited. Understandable, perhaps. Never been a fan of anything or anyone, though, in my whole life. Speaking of which…, what am I aiming for in my life?
“............”
That was a sudden question to myself, which I had no answer for. Well, I was still young and had plenty of years to think about that. For the time being, my short-term goal was to get back at Kamen and maybe get the Old Lady back? That’d be sweet. Getting her back wasn’t an impossible goal to have. If the conflict between Ehka and Kamen evolved into war of some sort, there was a possibility that we might raid the Hole. There was a decent change that the Old Lady might be in combat and even get destroyed before, but there was a chance regardless.
“Well, you do you,” I told her. I had nothing more to say really. She was an adult and had every right to like whatever and whoever she liked. It was time to relax for me anyway. That was probably the longest four hours of my life, and it was just insane. After setting up a proximity alert, I closed my eyes for a bit of shuteye. The rest of the journey was eventually, which was expected. Nobody was going to come after a pair of badgers. We wouldn’t be worthy of pirates.
“Here we are,” I said. We were at New Earth. Once out of Rocksea, it was just a matter of selecting a direction and just sailing. With high security and the lack of any obstacles, I could even sleep all the way and not encounter any troubles.
‘I don’t miss the planet,’ she replied.
“Isn’t it your home planet?”
‘Yes.’
I shrugged. Each to their own, I figured. I knew her backstory. I wasn’t going to dig further and dig my own grave. There was no need for that.
“Let’s see… An orbital station… I can initiate an active scan here, can’t I?”
Scanning was somewhat a dangerous action, especially in Rocksea. It was akin to announcing my own presence to everyone in the close vicinity.
‘Don’t. It will be seen as an act of aggression.’
It was always amusing to see why a simple active scan caused so much fuss, but it did in congested zones. New Earth was a busy place. I could see shuttles coming in and out of its atmosphere nonstop. They were making trips to its orbital stations where they would travel further via more space worthy ships, probably. I could also see small groups of patrol fleets hanging about. An active scan here would grab their attention for sure, so I wasn’t going to do that. The reason I wanted an active scan was it would reveal a lot of details about objects. It was simple curiosity which wasn’t worth dying for.
“I am going to make contact.”
‘Good luck.’
Opening a channel to one of the two orbital stations, I asked nicely.
“Hello, I would like to -”
Someone interjected me sharply. “Who are you?”
“My name is Vazken, and I -”
I was interjected once again.
“Hang on.” Then whoever it was put me on hold. He put me on hold for more than ten minutes, at which point I was getting a little pissed. When he finally put me back on the line, I lashed back.
“Hey! Treat me like a human being!”
Ignoring my complaint, he spoke as if he didn’t hear me, “It took a while, but I found your name in the database. Dude, where have you been? You have only a birth certificate to your name and absolutely nothing else.”
That threw me off guard. I did recall Ehka telling me that I was indeed a citizen of the republic.
“You never paid any tax, you never attended any educational institute. You don’t have any records of travels except for the one time you left New Earth after being born. Absolutely nothing on you. Who are you?”
“I told you. My name is Vazken!”
Fucker! And I could hear him clicking his tongue.
“Fine, I wish I could arrest you, but there is no warrant on you whatsoever. What do you want? If you are asking to dock, denied. I cannot let someone as shady as you dock. You could be a brainwashed terrorist for all I know.”
I could actually understand his point of view. To him, I was someone who came out of absolutely nowhere all of a sudden. He had every right to be suspicious of me. At this point, I had to grin because I was going to ask him something that might blow his mind out of orbit.
“I’d like to speak to a man named Wemer.”
As expected, there was a long silence.
“There are more than one person who goes by that name. Give me the full name.”
“Wemer-9401331.”
Again, there was a long silence.
“Do you know who you are trying to contact?”
Gleefully, I replied, “I surely do. The leader of the Knights.”
Unexpectedly, there was no sign of him. Instead, I was given a text message with an attachment.
“Go to this coordinates, it says… Kinda suspicious.”
But it wasn’t far. It was just a little away from the planet.
“Kalomoira, we are heading to some coordinates.”
‘Suspicious.’
“I know, but we don’t have many choices here, do we?”
‘Well, true. Let’s be on guard.’
Where we were going wasn’t really far. I was asked to go around the planet into the shadowy side where there would be no light. This wasn’t a dangerous situation because one never relied on visual information in space. Sensor readings were all I needed to navigate around.
image [https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/8486/2xQwVV.png]
“It’s dark.”
We sailed a bit further away and went around New Earth to be in its dark side. I was very much used to this. Anyone worth their weight in space would have used this as well. I turned my attention toward New Earth where I could see the occasional light of cities. The planet had a population of a hundred million. This was the most populated planet after the original Earth. Creg, the second most populated planet, had only a population of just five hundred thousand, half a million. After waiting aimlessly for a good hour, it was Kalomoira who snapped me out.
‘Something is approaching. A cruiser.’
“A fucking cruiser… It’s not coming to kill us, is it?”
Cruisers were the workhorse of any fleet. They were the largest warships. There was only one kind in existence. It was USN Courage used by the United Solar System Federation. This cruiser had been in service for over a thousand years, and even the republic used them. Or at least that was what I thought.
“Ehm, that is not an USN Courage, is it?”
‘No, the signature is completely different. We are looking at a new kind of cruiser.’
“Is this why they are asking us to meet in the shadows? To hide its appearance?” I wondered aloud. It wouldn’t have done much to hide anything in my mind.
“Follow us,” said a voice through a public channel. We didn’t have a choice and followed the cruiser’s main iron engine which was the only thing we could see in the darkness.
image [https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/5237/S0Su47.png]
“Man, I feel so small right now…”
We were tiny compared to the cruiser in front of us.
“Nice to meet you, Vazken. My name is Wemer. I would like you to dock so that we can initiate a video communication. Only you will dock. Your companion will stay put.”
We were right in front of a brand new cruiser. They must have developed a new cruiser to replace USN Courage, which was understandable. Using the enemy's ship design after declaring independence from them must have irked. Anyway, this was my first time seeing a cruiser this close. The sheer size difference…
Letting out a hopeless laugh, I mumbled, “A single cruiser might even be able to defeat everyone in Rocksea…”
‘Well, not one. A few might do it.’
Badgers would be absolutely useless against it. Robin may have a chance to inflict some damage, but a fighter craft was nevertheless the weakest space vessel. Maybe a group of frigates might, just might, be able to put up some fight…
“Roger that,” I complied without a fuss. There was no point in trying to act tough. The ship had a docking bay on its side, and we were given a docking bay code for automatic landing. Interestingly, the docking bay doors did not shut down. They deliberately left it open for some reason, meaning the docking bay was vacuum. As soon as my badger made a landing, a holographic window appeared half a meter in front of me. There was a man on the screen. He had hazel eyes and short light brown hair swept sideways. He had a rather characteristic dimple on his chin.
“A badger cannot use video communication. Instead, we will project a hologram right in front of you. For that, we needed you to be inside of the ship.”
I nodded and replied, “I see. Ehka sent me.”
“I figured as much. Now, is it time?”
“Yes.”
“She sent you, meaning you are someone who she trusts completely. Pray tell, what is going on in the Cassandra belt right now?”
The Cassandra belt belt…, the real name of Rocksea…
“A man named Kamen from the Hole has pretty much declared a war on Ehka. It’s not completely clear to me why, but I am pretty sure that I was the trigger.”
She instructed me to answer him truthfully.
“You are? What did you do then?”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
I shrugged. “I don’t know?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“I simply wanted a second job…” And then I went on to explain what exactly went down and why I sought out Kamen in the first place. The man had a good laugh.
“How organic! What an interesting opportunity.”
What? I had no clue what he was babbling about.
“Very good indeed… Very good. This is a rare opportunity indeed. On behalf of the Podlezl council, I thank you, Mr Vazken.”
“Um…, sure.”
“She is going to need reinforcements, it would appear.”
Well, that was obvious. We had only badgers, and they had a lot more badgers and possibly Robins. We could hold on if we defended only, but the nature of her business didn’t allow that.
“We have only badgers and don’t have that many, either. I believe that they are collaborating with pirates and I saw Robins.”
“Robins, huh. Badgers could well be useless if there are enough of them.”
I nodded.
“What is the strength of Ehka’s force?”
“If I am correct in my assessment, about fifteen badgers.”
“That’s it?”
“That is it.”
I worked under her for many years now and had a decent grasp of how many ships she had under her control. She could hire some mercenaries, but I was fairly certain that she had fifteen badgers directly under her control at the most. This figure included me and the Copper wing, which also meant that not every badger was present around the Duchess’ boobs at any given time. She did keep around five badgers around the station all the time, however. With the station turrets, they were enough to be able to repel most pirate attacks.
“Then do you have any idea on the enemy’s force?”
I didn’t have much idea on that front. I never really worked around the Hole and didn’t know my ways around the part of Rocksea.
“Since they are working with pirates, they should outnumber us greatly. I am thinking five to one?”
Wemer had a deep look on his face, and I added, “Not to mention the Robins.” It took him a good moment to reply.
“There are only the two of you right here, yes?”
“Yes.”
“With just the two of you, there is a limit on how much I can help you. For this trip, I will give you a frigate.”
A frigate…! That would help immensely. Even a lone combat frigate was powerful enough to tip the scale probably.
“The frigate will be loaded with four Robins. In my opinion, this should be enough to tip the scale. You may not be able to emerge victorious but you shouldn’t lose, either.”
“Nice!”
“Leave your ship, and wait for the frigate to arrive. We will close the docking door to let air in.”
What?
“Can’t I just wait outside? It’s a combat frigate, no? I could enter it via its docking bay.”
“Well, that would work if it had any spare space in its docking bay. It will be filled with the four Robins. I am asking you to abandon your badger.”
I felt numb momentarily. This was my baby.
“This is my ship.”
“Your ship? As in you paid for it?”
“Yes.”
“I thought it was provided by Ehka?”
“Well, no, all of us who are working under her own their ships.”
“Interesting…, a badger costs how much?”
“Mine is fully kitted. It costs about 3 mil total.”
“I see… That’s some predicament then.” Folding his arms, he fell into thoughts for a moment. “Well, no matter. I guess it will be you then.”
What is he talking about?
“Allow me to explain. The frigate I am about to give you, its model is USN Stiletto, which is the latest design. It’s a brand new ship even. Civilians cannot own it legally, which also means you cannot be caught in inspection sailing it. I was originally going to do this to Ehka, but it seems you are invested much in this ordeal and she trusts you, so I guess you will work just as well.”
Again, what is he talking about?
He looked right into my eyes with a firm expression. “By powers vested in me, I invoke the emergency protocol article 4. I recruit Vazken into the navy at this moment. Welcome to the navy, Cadet.”
WHAT?!
“What are you talking about?”
“Cadet, under emergency, I have powers to conscript civilians into the navy. I am doing exactly that. One of our republic’s assets is under threat of pirate resurgence. I grant you a warship. Go in my stead and deal with it.”
I had my jaw dropped with my eyes wide open. I couldn’t fathom whatever the fuck was going for a good minute. But I did piece together what was going on soon enough. He asked me to give up on my ship, thus he gave me the frigate. This was a very unfair deal, well for him. A navy combat frigate would cost how much? Easily over a hundred million probably.
“The frigate is a virgin, so you will name her as well.”
I smiled. “Very nice.”
“You may allow your companion to enter the dock so that we can close the docking bay.”
Once Kalomoira landed and the docking bay was filled with breathable air, we were asked to exit our badgers. A pair of navy personnel came to us to guide us inside.
“Wait a moment, please,” I told them and flew toward my badger. Placing my hand on its plating, I told her, “Thanks for everything so far. Farewell.”
‘You are sad.’
“Of course, I am sad. I’ve been with her for like a decade. She has kept me alive. I don’t want to leave her if possible.”
Unfortunately, she didn’t seem to share the same sentiment. The navy personnel guided us inside to a private guest room. I sort of expected Wemer to show up and he did. The guy was slightly taller than me. He, along with the pair of navy personnel, was wearing the navy uniform which was just a plain top and pants. The pants were dark red in color while the shirt was lighter red. The shoulder part of the shirt had some weird line patterns to make it a bit more stylish.
“Again, I welcome you to the navy, Cadet.”
“Am I a cadet temporarily or…?”
“If you want the rank to be permanent, I can certainly make that happen. I looked into your profile. Absolutely nothing on it. Am I right to assume that you are a local to the Cassandra belt?”
“Yes, I grew up there. I hadn’t ventured out of the belt until recently.”
“I see. I will be honest with you. To rule the belt, we are going to need someone local who knows how things work. You fit the bill. Therefore, if you are willing, your rank of cadet can be permanent.”
I pointed at myself, looking somewhat shocked. “Me? In the navy?”
“Why not?”
On second thought, why not indeed.
“What about Ehka?”
He glanced at Kalomoira.
“She can be trusted,” I said, knowing what his glance meant. “She’s a mute by the way but a class C esper.”
“Is she your woman?”
She and I looked at each other, flabbergasted.
“Um, no.”
“Then I ask her to leave this room for a moment.”
She complied without a fuss. ‘See you soon, Vazken.’ Then she flew out of the room. I could see a pair of navy personnel right outside who escorted her away.
“Her role ends when the republic conquerors the belt,” he declared, to which I answered by tilting my head in confusion.
“Huh? What does that mean?”
“Do you know her past?”
“I sort of do. I think I do at least. She is an ex-agent of the Knights, right?”
He nodded. “Correct. Her partner is an ex-murderer. With pasts like that, we cannot place them in any official capacity. She knows this already. Once their roles are over, they will be relocated.”
I frowned. She knew this?
“She worked hard to improve the living standard of the Cassandra …, fuck it, Rocksea.”
“Rocksea?”
“It’s what the locals call the belt. She has settled down in Rocksea. To see her removed…, I don’t feel that’s fair.”
“Nothing is fair in life, Cadet. The strong rule the weak. I am pretty certain that she is glad that their lives aren’t taken away. They will be able to resume their new lives under new identities.”
I didn’t say anything anymore. I didn’t feel like I could win an argument against this man anyway. Besides, I didn’t know Ehka's thoughts about this anyway. Without knowing that, I was just butting into a business that wasn’t really mine.
“I understand,” I lied and changed the subject. “What will happen to the badgers?”
“Once you leave with the frigate, we will throw them into space and destroy it.”
Bummer, she will be gone for sure then.
“The frigate will have the navy handbook in its database. I suggest you read up on it as soon as possible. You won’t be intercepted on your way back this time but you will probably be next time. I want you to act like a proper cadet and comply with inspections.”
“Understood.”
Me in the navy… What a shocking turn of events even if it was temporary. I needed some time to think about my future. I knew something for certain, though. It would be better than being a miner or an escort. I’d receive a wage, probably?
“You seem quick enough to assess your situation. That’s good. I see that she didn’t choose you randomly.”
I wasn’t so sure about that. I was just a bit too shocked at the turn of events. One thing was certain, I could say. It was that I was indeed intrigued by the prospect of becoming a cadet permanently. Wemer soon left, and Kalomoira entered back in.
‘Hello, Cadet,’ she said in my head gleefully.
“Making fun of me, are you?” I replied with a grin. “Wait, did you eavesdrop?”
‘No, that guy is an esper, much more powerful than me. He blocked me from doing that. He told me briefly what went down.’
He was an esper, huh…
‘If it’s not clear, I am sucking up to you now since it looks like you will govern Rocksea?’
Speaking of which, I would probably need several people I could trust. Having some espers around me felt like a requirement.
“I accept your sucking.”
Well, that didn’t come out right… As if agreeing with me, she laughed.
‘Not gonna give you a blowjob if that’s what you are asking!’
“Ehm, well, I didn’t mean it like that…” I scratched the back of my head. “Let’s just wait until the frigate arrives.”
‘Okie, dokie.’
image [https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/541/s55bPs.png]
“Fuuuck!” I uttered in excitement. I was looking at the USN Stiletto, a navy combat class frigate. This thing was sheer beauty. I could tell right away that this was a highly sophisticated ship that was unlike a badger that was basically a chunk of steel.
‘I concur, fuuuuck!’
“She is all yours,” said Wemer over a screen near me. We were in the docking bay which was already vacuum with its doors already open. I had a helmet on to provide 10 minutes of air, and Kalomoira didn’t need any since she was an esper. “The ship needs at least four people to operate properly, but two will be enough for a short voyage. The docking bay is unlocked, and its main frame has been reset. You just need to initialize and assign yourself as its master.”
“Got it, thank you.”
“One last thing. You are now a cadet. You are no longer working for Ehka. You are now working with her. Additionally, I want a regular report.”
“Can I let her know that?”
“Yes, she won’t mind. She is already aware of her fate after this. A ship will be wandering around not far from the Cassandra belt. It will approach you once it detects the frigate. Use line comm only.”
“Understood.”
Line comm was a method of extremely secure communication where it was done via a cable between two ships. No way to eavesdrop on that from a distance.
“We will meet each other again, Cadet.”
The screen faded out, and we were done.
“Let’s go, Kalomoira.”
I jumped toward the frigate by using the momentum from a jump. My magnetic boots wouldn’t work on the ship’s surface which wasn’t made of ferromagnetic metals. Instead, I had sticky gloves on me. Meanwhile, she was casually following me around, using her ESP. Damn, I was jealous. I moved toward its docking bay door which was unlocked by default, allowing us to easily enter the ship. This was a masterless ship. Anyone could control it, for now. Thus, reaching its bridge was easy as a pie.
“Man.., the interior looks so clean and … advanced. The Old Lady was nothing compared to this.”
‘Register yourself.’
Nodding, I approached one of the two consoles on the bridge.
image [https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/1732/fBpcx4.png]
The bridge of the frigate was small, far smaller than I expected. The bridge of the Old Lady was at least two times larger in comparison. However, I could tell that the bridge was heavily reinforced. There were two consoles on the front and then there was a podium further back. The podium looked to be where the registration would be made. I could tell because it looked like it was a temporary element on the bridge. Standing in front of it, I placed my hand onto it. As soon as my palm touched its cold glass-like surface, it powered up with a faint whirring. And scanning light was on me from the top and bottom. Rectangular green light was moving up and down, scanning my body. Soon, an A.I. voice activated.
“Profile match. Cadet Vazken-9611112 detected. Welcome, Captain. Would you like to initialize the mainframe?”
“Yes, I do.”
“A scan detects only two people aboard. This is insufficient to operate this vessel. At least one engineer is required in the radiation engine.”
The radiation engine generated electricity from radiation waves. Since space was full of radiation waves, the invention of this engine enabled long space voyages since fuel for propulsion was no longer required. It being an “engine” might be a bit misleading but that was its name regardless. Every spaceship used this. Small versions didn’t require supervision, like the one I used in my badger. But larger ones needed eyes on it frequently due to a flaw in its design: It’d leak radiation into spaceships occasionally. The bigger the engine was, the higher its leak was. Thus, small engines were pretty much harmless.
“Override,” I commanded.
“Command accepted. You are now fully registered. Name the ship please.”
Name her, huh… I’ve never named a ship. What kind of name would I use? I couldn’t think of any right away.
“Cleo.”
That was my mum’s name.
“Please type the name to avoid any spelling mistakes.”
I did just that.
“Registered.”
Then the podium lowered itself into the floor, and a console rose from where it sank. Swiping the glass-like surface, it was giving me a simplified version of the ship controls.
“Kalomoira, care to man one of the consoles on the front?”
‘Okay.’
She flew toward one of the consoles.
“By the way, I am sorry about your badger.”
She, too, lost her ship like I did.
‘That’s fine. You are giving me one of the Robins, right?’
I felt it was only right.
“Yeah, it’s yours.”
That left three Robins. It was probably better for the rest of the Copper wing to receive them, which would leave me with no ship. But that didn’t matter because I decided to just stick with the frigate. I was never a good shot anyway.
‘Oh, wow, this thing is sophisticated. You might actually need a trained crew for this.’
“Hang in there for now.”
After inputting coordinates for the Duchess’ boobs, the ship turned around and moved away from the cruiser. After making a safe distance, it started to accelerate. I could hear faint humming from the rear.
‘This thing is fast. Its maximum speed is two thirds of light speed.’
Having dealt with outdated and rudimentary systems most of time, it took me a while to get used to the latest technologies Cleo had to offer. She was really state of the art, relatively speaking. The initial ship blueprint was released only two hundred years ago with production starting about 70 years ago. The ship itself was only 60 days old. Like Wemer said, this was a brand new ship. And there was something more.
“Oh, wow, this looks like a luxury suite to me!”
Kalomoira and I were looking at the captain’s lounge which was located right next to the bridge conventionally. It was a fairly spacious room with a steam shower attached. I repeat, a steam shower was integrated into the room.
‘I assume this is the best room on the ship.’
This was the captain’s lounge, so I assumed so.
‘I am jealous.’
“Let’s check out other rooms.”
There were about ten rooms which were clearly smaller than the captain’s lounge but -
‘Oh, my God. Oh, my God, Oh, mi Godddd!’
Grabbing my collar, she was shaking me up and down. Thanks to zero gravity, she was literally manhandling me.
‘THEY’VE ALL GOT SHOWERS!’
When there was no job, I stayed in my badger in the docking bay. It had a place to pee but, for showers, I would need to rent a motel room from Duke. Although it wasn’t much, it did cost money. As far as I knew, she always rented rooms and refused to live out of her ship. Cleo having rooms with showers probably meant that she could finally save money and just stay on the ship, permanently. And there was one more thing to be surprised about.
‘CAFETERIAAAAAAAA!!!’
Her voice was ringing really, really, loudly in my head. It was small but had a functioning cafeteria with a kitchen.
‘NO MORE INSTANT COFFEE!!!!’
I really wanted her to quiet down. It was amusing and weird to hear in my head so loudly.
‘I am gonna live on this ship, and you can’t stop me,’ she declared.
Well, I was going to need a crew and I wanted an esper around me, so she was going to stay. That was for sure. Wemer said I would need at least four people; this ship was too large for that. I was going to need about ten people with four of them being Robin pilots. The obvious choice was the Copper wing members. That would make a total of five members, including me. None of them was an engineer however. Additionally, they’d be pilots instead of actual crew members.
“Hey, Kalomoira, I am going to be in the captain’s lounge. Make yourself home, yeah?”
‘Of course! See you later!’
I wanted to be near the bridge just in case and I wanted to have some quiet moments for some thoughts. Her high-pitched voice constantly ringing in my head didn’t help at all.
“Those I can trust…,” I said to myself after making myself comfortable in the captain’s lounge. Only four names came to my mind: Rabinovich, Santino, Juno, and Yating. It looked like Santino had left Rocksea, so he was out. And I wasn’t sure about Rabinovich due to his addiction issues. Juno never wanted to partake in violence. As for Yating…, she was related to Kamen.
“No one,” I said to myself. “There is no one.”
Perhaps Rabinovich could be recruited. He was the one with the least baggage in my mind. All miners had some expertise with engineering, and I needed an engineer to look after the Rad engine.
“Who else is there?”
I sighed deeply. If I lowered the bar, perhaps Yating could be recruited as well. I could ask Ehka to provide me with some people but I really wanted those who I knew. Folding my arms and taking a deep breath, I fell into thoughts.