Meanwhile...
As Nero walked the halls of the Oracle, he felt bad for leaving his team with obvious busy work, but he had to do this. He strolled into the bridge to find Captian Xander.
"Excuse me Captian." He said stepping up to him and smacking him on the back.
Xander was lost in the moment, with one of those thousand yard stares going as he sipped at his "coffee", if it could be called that. It was more like sludge, as if the pot had been brewed 5 times over, and had a very distinctly bitter aroma to it. When Nero "snuck" up behind him and smacked him on the back, some of his precious liquid gold spilt down the front of his uniform.
"Gah... what in the fucking hell?! Oh, Nero..." Xander cleared his throat and set his coffee down, looking for a rag or something to clean up the mess.
"What can I help you with Captain?"
Nero, smirked when the coffee spilled.
"You cluts." He said just low enough for Xander to hear. Nero pulled a hankerchief from his pocket and gave it to Xander.
"Sorry Captian." He looked to see who was listening then turned back, satisfied that no one seemed to be paying any attention.
"I need to fly. Could you please clear a flight path for me, and let me borrow a Quatro?" He asked as he helped to clean up the mess.
Xander raised an eyebrow to the question from Aquila Flight's Commanding Officer.
"We're running under stealth and pushing the Plasma Drives as hard as we can to try to make up for lost time. And you want to borrow a fighter to take a leisure cruise?" Winters tried to stifle a laugh which failed miserably, turning into near hysterics, drawing attention from practically the entire bridge.
"Well, when you say it like that, anything would sound stupid. Though running silent dosen't work when you are screaming on the bridge about split coffee. I think the Nekos could here from Yamatai." He said shooting back with a glare.
Winters wiped a tear from both eyes and shook his head.
"Them cats couldn't hear a bird in front of their faces even though they have those huge furry ears. Let alone some loonie in deep space bitching about hot coffee on their uniform. Take your ship and have a go, you've got 30 minutes or so that I can allow. And pull those bunched up panties out your ass." Xander turned from Nero, half laughing still and half bitching under his breath about his ruined uniform.
Nero turned, and moved to leave.
"Thanks buddy!" He said dropping his act. He knew that softy would give him what he wanted, and he played him like a fiddle.
He walked to the hanger and suited up in his hostile. His was a custom job, painted entirely black, and a Skull was painted on the helmet. He climbed into the Quatro and plugged in Cipher.
"You ready buddy?" He asked, flipping through pre flight protocol.
Cipher's chip didn't take long to fire up and before long the ACE AI responded to Nero.
"Ready as always, however you hardly seem fit for this excursion."
"Why do you always have to be a party pooper." He said with a smirk. He gave the thumbs up and took off, feeling the g force with the acceleration. A solo flight is quite the experience. During Nero's black ops days, it was all he flew. The stars flying by his cockpit calmed him. He turned to look at the Oracle. It did not come out of the battle unscathed. Several black pits in the hull, and a few tears, which were being repaired by damage control crews.
"Cipher, do you remember my dad?" he asked.
"Yes sir. Your father was Master Sergeant Thaddeus Vega of the NSMC. He was a highly decorated Marine pilot with a pension for getting results regardless of the cost. Most notably in his service records were his days as a dropship pilot as well as his days as drill instructor."
Nero banked away from the Oracle and started to fly towards a comms buoy.
"That is correct. My step father is quite the hero." He said as he banked around the small buoy.
"Cipher, please call my father please. Relay it through this buoy."
"Initiating communications uplink. We do not have a secure channel for this, do you wish to proceed?"
"Yes Cipher, I need to talk to dad." He replied he pulled the ship around and started to fly around the buoy.
"As you wish sir." Cipher finished establishing the connection, then patched it through the ship's console while disengaging the thrusters.
Nero, took a breath and slowly exhaled as he began the connection. He waited several tense moments until Nero's dad appeared on the screen.
"Hey Master Sergeant." He said as he saw his aging father's eyes widen.
Thaddeus took a moment, looking upon his son and the shape he was in, then greeted the younger pilot.
"It's been a while, hasn't it Nero?"
Nero nodded.
"It has. I am sorry I didn't keep in touch Dad."
"Is there a reason you're contacting me via a fightership and not through a more secure channel son?"
"Dad. He is back." Is all Nero could say.
"Who is 'He'? Spit it out son, I don't have all day."
"You remember Diomides..." He said a little tersely.
"So that day you claimed to have killed an enemy Ace... he survived? I can't say I'm all that surprised honestly. Nobody seems to stay dead anymore. Regardless, what about it?" Thaddeus didn't seem all that affected by Nero's ghost.
Nero sighed.
"That bastard already took away someone I care about. I was calling you to warn you. Stay on your toes."
"Ah... don't worry about me. I've had a good run and it'll take more than some hotshot to take me down. You however, should be worried for yourself. Listen to how even just talking about him puts you on edge. For someone that's supposed to be dead, you seem to let this ghost of yours have way too much power over you. You're my son, a Vega through and through. I think it's time you started to act like one."
"Yeah, your right dad. But, he is better this time. He defeated me, and I nearly died. I went into cardiac arrest..." He said somberly
"Then you don't need to be in the cockpit of a starfighter anymore. If you can't think clearly and know when to pick your battles, its time to hang up your wings. Diomides owns you. What did I tell you all those years ago when I first took you up with me? I told you 'We pilots leave it all in the skies. It is an honor to live and die in absolute freedom, than to struggle for nothing.' An enemy that can get into your head as well as this one, will always win because they hurt you where it hurts the most."
Nero smiled, thinking back to that day.
"Your right dad. I have been acting like a pussy. He is a ghost, and it is about time I put his ass back in the ground. I will make you proud of me. I will repay you for what you did." He said with a new emotion building in his chest.
"I think it's time you make yourself proud. Its not about me and what I think, I've had my time and I did with it the best I could. If I wasn't proud of you, I wouldn't have taken you under my wing." Thaddeus took a deep breath and looked to his watch.
"You should get going. Take care of yourself Nero."
"Thanks Dad. For everything." Nero finished closing the link.
"Cipher, I need to practice. Load the previous battle and create five Phantoms." He said as he kicked on the thrusters. "I am a little rusty."
"Perhaps just one or two for now sir. I've been informed by the Oracle we have a limit on how long we can be out here. Simulation loaded, shall we commence?"
"Execute!" Nero cried as he moved to engage the 'Phantoms.'
