Grey Library
Inactive Member
"Pilot Bannings, you seem unusually proficient at operating the refurbished Hornet." Help suddenly uttered, the electronic crackling of its synthesized voice grating in the silence of the sealed cockpit. Blinking in surprise, the ashen-haired girl looked away from the Hornet's HUD to find the AI's holographic avatar staring at her with keen curiousity. "You have mantained a stable course with little over- or under-banking despite having no prior flight experience with the new frame modifications," the AI continued, voicebox chittering as the virtual eye's pupil dilated in an expression of interest. "a feat manageable only by pilots trained in operating larger vessels, of which you have no records of. How is that so?"
"Oh, you want to know how I'm flying so well right now?" Miranda, grey eyes still blinking in mild confusion behind her helmet's visor, lapsed into silence for a bit as she processed the odd request. Help had been strangely quiet ever since they launched from the NSS Thanatos, electric gaze inscrutable as it watched her wrangle the bulky craft silently. Maybe he was thinking about this all the while, she mused as she checked the Hornet's radar screen for any changes. Other than her flightmates switching to a rough diamond shape there weren't any noticeable course changes, the sleeker black Scythes to her front shone lazily with reflected starlight as they settled into a healthy cruise. Shrugging, the bombardier left the autopilot system to its work and took her hands off the controls, a pneumatic hiss filling the still air as she pulled off her Raider's helmet for a proper face-to-face conversation.
"Well," Miranda murmured, not really sure where to begin. "I've lived on an orbital station for most of my life, I tended to be around ships quite a bit because of that. The station crew sometimes let me sit in with them on the bridge for short in-system ever since I was small, I learned quite a fair share of piloting from badgering the poor crewmen." Chuckling softly to herself, the young lady smiled to herself as she recalled her little escapades back in her childhood. The near misses, the races, the time Hank picked her up and bodily threw her through open space, right into Harmony Station's open loading bay from a ship nearly a full kilometer away...
Miranda's eyebrow twitched. I still haven't gotten back at him for that stunt, have I?
Snapping back into focus, the memory of one particular ship drifted into her mind. "Ah, as I was saying," she continued, squinting a bit as she met the AI's gaze. Bright neon wasn't the best thing to be looking at in a dark place. "I learned to fly the bigger vessels quite early, ever since I turned around 14, I guess? The folks back at Harmony even let me be the captain the resident freighter after a while! Speaking of which," Trailing off all off a sudden, Miranda (after some rummaging) pulled out a small flash drive with a flourish, looking rather pleased with herself. Clicking it into the Datajockey stowed onboard, a picture of a bulbous, somewhat arrow-shaped vessel appeared on-screen. "here it is!"
The virtual eye swiveled to stare at the screen, holographic motes of light buzzing around within the glowing orb as the AI focused. "...vessel silhouette indicates that this is a C3C-class Liquid Transport Frieghter." Help intoned after a short pause, still staring at the civilian ship with visible interest. "Lack of added maneuvering fins and improved radiator design denote this to be an early commercial model, lacking the updated features of current versions."
"That's right, the Fairwinds Kestrel's a pretty old girl by now." Eyes glazing over in reminiscence and a warm smile on her face, Miranda caressed the image tenderly as she zoomed in onto the name emblazoned on the Kestrel's prow. "Reliable though, she's served us for a very long time, all without stopping. I've probably spent most of my life on that ship." she admitted.
"In fact, let me tell you about that one time near Silana, in the Avante System..."
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"Oh? That's odd..." Miranda muttered as she stared at the odd trail of light tracing across the inky black of space.
The young lass was seated at the helm of the Kestrel again, on the way back to Deleris after dropping off a full cargo of refined reactor-grade helium at TradeStar's orbital depot. The Jeffersons were in-planet as well to pick up some extra supplies for repairing Refinery 3 after the freak explosion, Carla had arranged to come back in the Mule with them after shopping for a bit and had sent her ahead on her own, she now manned the hulking vessel on her lonesome. It wasn't a problem for the experienced skipper though, she'd done this many times before.
It was here, right before the regular slingshot around the local gas giant Silana's orbit that Miranda had spotted the oddity. Hmm, this doesn't look so good, she mused as she commanded the Kestrel's camera to focus in on the glowing object. Whatever cheer she had immediately dissipated as the wavering lights rapidly resolved into venting plasma. Oh dear.
Immediately, she snatched up the Kestrel's transceiver. "Unknown vessel, this is the civilian freighter Fairwinds Kestrel. I'm seeing plasma blooms off your ship, do you require assistance?" Miranda announced on open comms, an unspoken spacefarer's creed brushing off any hesitation she had. "Unknown vessel, this is the Fairwinds Kestrel-"
"OH THANK FUCK!" the Kestrel's radio sreeched in protest as a harried middle-aged man's voice hollered, suprising its pilot and nearly causing her to drop the transceiver altogether. "-I mean, this is the Champion, we've suffered a major reactor meltdown and lost most of our engines and thrusters!" As the Fairwinds Kestrel closed in on the stricken vessel, it revealed itself to be a heavily-damaged Ge-L4-1a Sessou-class Medium Freighter. A horrific explosion had burned a gaping rift in the side of the block-shaped craft, tearing off all of its port engines and slagging the rest. From the looks of it, the ensuing discharges had fried most of the ship's systems and blown out its thrusters, the ailing Champion now sailed helplessly through space on an unguided trajectory. "We're running off the backup reactors so we're alright, but we don't have any steering! We need all the help we can get here!"
Not good. Not good at all. "Champion, I've got room for 41 more in here, get your crew into escape pods and abandon ship. I'll pick you up and drop you off at the nearest station, I'll tell the station garrison to pick up your ship later." Shaking her head, Miranda's heart went out to the poor sailors. They had to have either a horribly under-maintained vessel or the devil's luck for the ship's renowned Geshrinari Aether Generators to explode like that. And given that the ship had come all the way here in one piece, signs pointed to the latter. Those poor sods...
A sudden beeping filled the Kestrel's bridge and Miranda's face fell further. Oh dear gods, really...? Gritting her teeth in irritation as she read the text appearing on the Kestrel's screen, she groaned and prepared to deliver the bad news to the unlucky fellows. "Champion, my sensors are telling me that you're on a collision course with Silana's debris field, T-minus six minutes or so! Your ship's a goner, get out of there quick!"
"Oh, just great." The voice of the Champion's captain sounded resigned now, seemingly fed up with the hopeless situation. "Copy that, Fairwinds Kestrel, we're heading to the pods now. Thanks for the help." A weary sigh blew through the speakers as assorted voices and footfalls could be heard from the crippled ship's bridge. A moment of silence passed, then the radio crackled as it picked up something by accident. "...damn it," the Sessou-class's captain muttered to himself, forgetting that the channel was still open. "it's the end of the road for us if we lose the Champion. Just when things were picking up, too. Abso-fucking-lutely perfect."
"....."
"...hang on a moment, Champion. I've got an idea that I want to try out." Miranda suddenly uttered, flicking a series of switches and buttons on the Kestrel's dashboard. All across the C3C's hull, pumps hissed and bulkheads slammed shut as its storage tanks sealed themselves. Sensing that she had her fellow skipper's attention, she continued. "I need a volunteer to stay on the bridge and update me on your speed and bearing, the rest of you bail out and call for help."
"If this works out," she added as an afterthought. "I just might be able to save your ship."
The reply came almost immediately. "Screw that! We've all got way too much to lose here, just tell us what'cha need!" A different voice hollered on the radio, rapid chattering going on in the background."Right. We're moving at fifty-six-point-five M-meters per hour, bearing oh-two-three.."
"Copy that, Champion. I'm going in!" The P3102 Fusion Engine on the Fairwinds Kestrel flared to life and belched a thick stream of superdense plasma into the void, hurling the ship after its wounded brethren like a cruise missile of old. Along the hull's surface, thick beams of green light lanced out into the void as the P3101 Laser Emitters jostled to keep the ship on course as it accelerated, illuminating the C3C's sleek hull with a spectacular lightshow of diffused light. "Jettisoning all storage tanks!" Miranda announced as she flipped a switch on the controls, the action quickly followed by numerous concussive "whumps" as the tanks' decouplers fired and sent the bulbous white pods peeling off the Kestrel, revealing the reinforced "cage" of the tanks' mounting frame. Bereft of its burden and firing its engine on full, the gap between the Fairwinds Kestrel and the Champion slowly narrowed.
"I'll need your help for this, gentlemen," Miranda called over the radio as she put the Kestrel in full reverse, slowing it down to match speeds with the Champion as the two ponderous vessels settled into a parallel course. "I can't see you from this angle, I need someone to EVA with a pair of binoculars and guide me as I make my approach. I'll use my Junker Drones to secure our ships together after I make contact!"
"Aye-aye, Fairwinds Kestrel. We'll do what we can from here, good luck!" Barely moments after her request, she could already spot tiny figures clambering out of the Champion's airlocks and onto vantage points along the battered hull. "You're doing a good job out there, come in nice and steady now."
"Copy. Closing in now." Switching off the main engines, the harried girl quickly brought up the fine-tune controls for the Kestrel's maneuvering thrusters and started the slow and steady process of guiding her craft in. The whole ship was lit up like a Christmas Tree as the C3C's full arsenal of Laser Emitters was brought to bear, sweeping strokes of illumination lancing out into the abyss as its captain struggled to align the two vessels. One moment became two, then seemingly eternity in the tense silence, only broken by the rapid reports of the spotters.
A heartbeat passed.
Another. "Come on, come on..."
Yet another-
CLUNK
"FUCK YES! WE HAVE CONTACT!" Cheering immediately broke out among the crew as the hulls of the Fairwinds Kestrel and the Champion impacted one another, the men whooping in sheer joy even as the Kestrel's Junker Drone contingent began swarming over to the stricken vessel, fusing the C3C and the Sessou-class together with a web of cannibalized metal beams.
Finally letting out the breath she was holding ever since the start of the maneuver, Miranda giggled in relief and gave her sweat-soaked face a quick wipe with her clammy hands. "Finally. Do get back inside though, the hardest part's now." Giving the navigation screen a quick look, she could feel her heart stop as she read the readout. "OH GOD GET IN GET IN GET IN-"
"AAAAAAAAAA-" A high-pitched scream burst out from Miranda's throat as she desperately grabbed for the controls, barely waiting for the crew to rush into the Kestrel before slamming the power to full. With a blinding storm of overcharged emitters, the Fairwinds Kestrel pitched violently to port and slammed into the Champion, shouldering the shorter ship through pure force. Bit by bit, the freighter skewed ever so slightly to the left.
Almost immediately, screams of tortured metal sounded out as the mounting frame buckled and collapsed, followed immediately by glaring warnings on the bridge's screen. The Fairwinds Kestrel couldn't withstand such abuse, the computer warned, the C3C with its slender frame would snap itself in half very soon under so much strain. Growling in frustration, she swallowed the emerging curse back down and silenced the warning, keeping the throttle practically jammed into full.
The debris field was dangerously close now, the Kestrel's HUD innocently pointing out the scores of larger asteroids that would undoubtedly paste them both. Ashen locks floating freely in Silana's gravitational deadzone, Miranda gulped and stayed silent.
We're dead, Miranda decided as she saw the DREADNOUGHT-SIZED ROCK filling the bridge's viewscreen. I'm going to die like this, splattered all over a rock in the middle of nowhere.
She still refused to let up on the throttle.
Miranda cringed and shut her eyes as the Kestrel's bridge darkened, biting her lip and trying veeery hard not to wet herself. Only a wordless whimper managed to escape her parched throat.
She physically couldn't let up on the damn throttle anymore, her arm locked up too tightly to even twitch.
[T-MINUS: 5 SECONDS]
"Dad, Mum, I'm sorry..."
What was she even holding, anyway?
...
[T-PLUS: 1 SECOND]
"...huh?" Confused, Miranda opened her eyes and beheld that she was, in fact, not splattered all over a dreadnought-sized rock.
Through nothing short of a miracle, the Fairwinds Kestrel had managed to bludgeon the Champion away from its collision course, the two ships now drifted leisurely in a high orbit around the gas giant. At that, Miranda practically melted into the pilot's seat, still with a dumbfounded expression plastered on her face. "...huh."
"THERE SHE IS!" All of a sudden, twelve unfamiliar men of various ages burst into the bridge. With a loud cheer, they picked up the still-stupefied girl and lifted her over their heads, laughing and thanking all the while. She was dimly aware of being hugged, headpatted, having her hand shaken multiple times and a voice stragely similar to the Champion's captain thanking her repeatedly."Thank you so much, missy. You've saved both our lives and our livelihood, how can we ever repay you?" the voice asked, distant and soft as if speaking from a thousand miles away.
"I-I need to use the restroom..." the unfortunate girl whimpered.
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"...and that was that." Lieutenant Miranda Bannings finished with a bashful smile, rubbing her head in embarrassment. "What an impressive way to end it off, wasn't it?" Turning to the AI listening with rapt attention, she gave help a happy grin. "Last I've heard, the Champion's still plying the trade routes. Good for them."
"Interesting..." Help intoned, finally breaking out of its silence. Pupil dilating, the AI looked happy somehow, despite being a floating holographic eyeball. "Thank you for sharing this with me, Pilot Bannings."
"You're welcome, Help."
"Oh, you want to know how I'm flying so well right now?" Miranda, grey eyes still blinking in mild confusion behind her helmet's visor, lapsed into silence for a bit as she processed the odd request. Help had been strangely quiet ever since they launched from the NSS Thanatos, electric gaze inscrutable as it watched her wrangle the bulky craft silently. Maybe he was thinking about this all the while, she mused as she checked the Hornet's radar screen for any changes. Other than her flightmates switching to a rough diamond shape there weren't any noticeable course changes, the sleeker black Scythes to her front shone lazily with reflected starlight as they settled into a healthy cruise. Shrugging, the bombardier left the autopilot system to its work and took her hands off the controls, a pneumatic hiss filling the still air as she pulled off her Raider's helmet for a proper face-to-face conversation.
"Well," Miranda murmured, not really sure where to begin. "I've lived on an orbital station for most of my life, I tended to be around ships quite a bit because of that. The station crew sometimes let me sit in with them on the bridge for short in-system ever since I was small, I learned quite a fair share of piloting from badgering the poor crewmen." Chuckling softly to herself, the young lady smiled to herself as she recalled her little escapades back in her childhood. The near misses, the races, the time Hank picked her up and bodily threw her through open space, right into Harmony Station's open loading bay from a ship nearly a full kilometer away...
Miranda's eyebrow twitched. I still haven't gotten back at him for that stunt, have I?
Snapping back into focus, the memory of one particular ship drifted into her mind. "Ah, as I was saying," she continued, squinting a bit as she met the AI's gaze. Bright neon wasn't the best thing to be looking at in a dark place. "I learned to fly the bigger vessels quite early, ever since I turned around 14, I guess? The folks back at Harmony even let me be the captain the resident freighter after a while! Speaking of which," Trailing off all off a sudden, Miranda (after some rummaging) pulled out a small flash drive with a flourish, looking rather pleased with herself. Clicking it into the Datajockey stowed onboard, a picture of a bulbous, somewhat arrow-shaped vessel appeared on-screen. "here it is!"
The virtual eye swiveled to stare at the screen, holographic motes of light buzzing around within the glowing orb as the AI focused. "...vessel silhouette indicates that this is a C3C-class Liquid Transport Frieghter." Help intoned after a short pause, still staring at the civilian ship with visible interest. "Lack of added maneuvering fins and improved radiator design denote this to be an early commercial model, lacking the updated features of current versions."
"That's right, the Fairwinds Kestrel's a pretty old girl by now." Eyes glazing over in reminiscence and a warm smile on her face, Miranda caressed the image tenderly as she zoomed in onto the name emblazoned on the Kestrel's prow. "Reliable though, she's served us for a very long time, all without stopping. I've probably spent most of my life on that ship." she admitted.
"In fact, let me tell you about that one time near Silana, in the Avante System..."
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==Approaching Silana, Avante System==
==Four years ago==
==Four years ago==
"Oh? That's odd..." Miranda muttered as she stared at the odd trail of light tracing across the inky black of space.
The young lass was seated at the helm of the Kestrel again, on the way back to Deleris after dropping off a full cargo of refined reactor-grade helium at TradeStar's orbital depot. The Jeffersons were in-planet as well to pick up some extra supplies for repairing Refinery 3 after the freak explosion, Carla had arranged to come back in the Mule with them after shopping for a bit and had sent her ahead on her own, she now manned the hulking vessel on her lonesome. It wasn't a problem for the experienced skipper though, she'd done this many times before.
It was here, right before the regular slingshot around the local gas giant Silana's orbit that Miranda had spotted the oddity. Hmm, this doesn't look so good, she mused as she commanded the Kestrel's camera to focus in on the glowing object. Whatever cheer she had immediately dissipated as the wavering lights rapidly resolved into venting plasma. Oh dear.
Immediately, she snatched up the Kestrel's transceiver. "Unknown vessel, this is the civilian freighter Fairwinds Kestrel. I'm seeing plasma blooms off your ship, do you require assistance?" Miranda announced on open comms, an unspoken spacefarer's creed brushing off any hesitation she had. "Unknown vessel, this is the Fairwinds Kestrel-"
"OH THANK FUCK!" the Kestrel's radio sreeched in protest as a harried middle-aged man's voice hollered, suprising its pilot and nearly causing her to drop the transceiver altogether. "-I mean, this is the Champion, we've suffered a major reactor meltdown and lost most of our engines and thrusters!" As the Fairwinds Kestrel closed in on the stricken vessel, it revealed itself to be a heavily-damaged Ge-L4-1a Sessou-class Medium Freighter. A horrific explosion had burned a gaping rift in the side of the block-shaped craft, tearing off all of its port engines and slagging the rest. From the looks of it, the ensuing discharges had fried most of the ship's systems and blown out its thrusters, the ailing Champion now sailed helplessly through space on an unguided trajectory. "We're running off the backup reactors so we're alright, but we don't have any steering! We need all the help we can get here!"
Not good. Not good at all. "Champion, I've got room for 41 more in here, get your crew into escape pods and abandon ship. I'll pick you up and drop you off at the nearest station, I'll tell the station garrison to pick up your ship later." Shaking her head, Miranda's heart went out to the poor sailors. They had to have either a horribly under-maintained vessel or the devil's luck for the ship's renowned Geshrinari Aether Generators to explode like that. And given that the ship had come all the way here in one piece, signs pointed to the latter. Those poor sods...
A sudden beeping filled the Kestrel's bridge and Miranda's face fell further. Oh dear gods, really...? Gritting her teeth in irritation as she read the text appearing on the Kestrel's screen, she groaned and prepared to deliver the bad news to the unlucky fellows. "Champion, my sensors are telling me that you're on a collision course with Silana's debris field, T-minus six minutes or so! Your ship's a goner, get out of there quick!"
"Oh, just great." The voice of the Champion's captain sounded resigned now, seemingly fed up with the hopeless situation. "Copy that, Fairwinds Kestrel, we're heading to the pods now. Thanks for the help." A weary sigh blew through the speakers as assorted voices and footfalls could be heard from the crippled ship's bridge. A moment of silence passed, then the radio crackled as it picked up something by accident. "...damn it," the Sessou-class's captain muttered to himself, forgetting that the channel was still open. "it's the end of the road for us if we lose the Champion. Just when things were picking up, too. Abso-fucking-lutely perfect."
"....."
[T-MINUS: 5 MINUTES]
"...hang on a moment, Champion. I've got an idea that I want to try out." Miranda suddenly uttered, flicking a series of switches and buttons on the Kestrel's dashboard. All across the C3C's hull, pumps hissed and bulkheads slammed shut as its storage tanks sealed themselves. Sensing that she had her fellow skipper's attention, she continued. "I need a volunteer to stay on the bridge and update me on your speed and bearing, the rest of you bail out and call for help."
"If this works out," she added as an afterthought. "I just might be able to save your ship."
The reply came almost immediately. "Screw that! We've all got way too much to lose here, just tell us what'cha need!" A different voice hollered on the radio, rapid chattering going on in the background."Right. We're moving at fifty-six-point-five M-meters per hour, bearing oh-two-three.."
"Copy that, Champion. I'm going in!" The P3102 Fusion Engine on the Fairwinds Kestrel flared to life and belched a thick stream of superdense plasma into the void, hurling the ship after its wounded brethren like a cruise missile of old. Along the hull's surface, thick beams of green light lanced out into the void as the P3101 Laser Emitters jostled to keep the ship on course as it accelerated, illuminating the C3C's sleek hull with a spectacular lightshow of diffused light. "Jettisoning all storage tanks!" Miranda announced as she flipped a switch on the controls, the action quickly followed by numerous concussive "whumps" as the tanks' decouplers fired and sent the bulbous white pods peeling off the Kestrel, revealing the reinforced "cage" of the tanks' mounting frame. Bereft of its burden and firing its engine on full, the gap between the Fairwinds Kestrel and the Champion slowly narrowed.
[T-MINUS: 3 MINUTES 30 SECONDS]
"I'll need your help for this, gentlemen," Miranda called over the radio as she put the Kestrel in full reverse, slowing it down to match speeds with the Champion as the two ponderous vessels settled into a parallel course. "I can't see you from this angle, I need someone to EVA with a pair of binoculars and guide me as I make my approach. I'll use my Junker Drones to secure our ships together after I make contact!"
"Aye-aye, Fairwinds Kestrel. We'll do what we can from here, good luck!" Barely moments after her request, she could already spot tiny figures clambering out of the Champion's airlocks and onto vantage points along the battered hull. "You're doing a good job out there, come in nice and steady now."
"Copy. Closing in now." Switching off the main engines, the harried girl quickly brought up the fine-tune controls for the Kestrel's maneuvering thrusters and started the slow and steady process of guiding her craft in. The whole ship was lit up like a Christmas Tree as the C3C's full arsenal of Laser Emitters was brought to bear, sweeping strokes of illumination lancing out into the abyss as its captain struggled to align the two vessels. One moment became two, then seemingly eternity in the tense silence, only broken by the rapid reports of the spotters.
A heartbeat passed.
Another. "Come on, come on..."
Yet another-
CLUNK
"FUCK YES! WE HAVE CONTACT!" Cheering immediately broke out among the crew as the hulls of the Fairwinds Kestrel and the Champion impacted one another, the men whooping in sheer joy even as the Kestrel's Junker Drone contingent began swarming over to the stricken vessel, fusing the C3C and the Sessou-class together with a web of cannibalized metal beams.
Finally letting out the breath she was holding ever since the start of the maneuver, Miranda giggled in relief and gave her sweat-soaked face a quick wipe with her clammy hands. "Finally. Do get back inside though, the hardest part's now." Giving the navigation screen a quick look, she could feel her heart stop as she read the readout. "OH GOD GET IN GET IN GET IN-"
[T-MINUS: 1 MINUTE 30 SECONDS]
"AAAAAAAAAA-" A high-pitched scream burst out from Miranda's throat as she desperately grabbed for the controls, barely waiting for the crew to rush into the Kestrel before slamming the power to full. With a blinding storm of overcharged emitters, the Fairwinds Kestrel pitched violently to port and slammed into the Champion, shouldering the shorter ship through pure force. Bit by bit, the freighter skewed ever so slightly to the left.
Almost immediately, screams of tortured metal sounded out as the mounting frame buckled and collapsed, followed immediately by glaring warnings on the bridge's screen. The Fairwinds Kestrel couldn't withstand such abuse, the computer warned, the C3C with its slender frame would snap itself in half very soon under so much strain. Growling in frustration, she swallowed the emerging curse back down and silenced the warning, keeping the throttle practically jammed into full.
[T-MINUS: 1 MINUTE]
The debris field was dangerously close now, the Kestrel's HUD innocently pointing out the scores of larger asteroids that would undoubtedly paste them both. Ashen locks floating freely in Silana's gravitational deadzone, Miranda gulped and stayed silent.
[T-MINUS: 30 SECONDS]
We're dead, Miranda decided as she saw the DREADNOUGHT-SIZED ROCK filling the bridge's viewscreen. I'm going to die like this, splattered all over a rock in the middle of nowhere.
She still refused to let up on the throttle.
[T-MINUS: 15 SECONDS]
Miranda cringed and shut her eyes as the Kestrel's bridge darkened, biting her lip and trying veeery hard not to wet herself. Only a wordless whimper managed to escape her parched throat.
She physically couldn't let up on the damn throttle anymore, her arm locked up too tightly to even twitch.
[T-MINUS: 5 SECONDS]
"Dad, Mum, I'm sorry..."
What was she even holding, anyway?
[T-MINUS: 4 SECONDS]
[T-MINUS: 3 SECONDS]
[T-MINUS: 2 SECONDS]
[T-MINUS: 1 SECOND]
[T-MINUS: 3 SECONDS]
[T-MINUS: 2 SECONDS]
[T-MINUS: 1 SECOND]
...
[T-PLUS: 1 SECOND]
"...huh?" Confused, Miranda opened her eyes and beheld that she was, in fact, not splattered all over a dreadnought-sized rock.
Through nothing short of a miracle, the Fairwinds Kestrel had managed to bludgeon the Champion away from its collision course, the two ships now drifted leisurely in a high orbit around the gas giant. At that, Miranda practically melted into the pilot's seat, still with a dumbfounded expression plastered on her face. "...huh."
"THERE SHE IS!" All of a sudden, twelve unfamiliar men of various ages burst into the bridge. With a loud cheer, they picked up the still-stupefied girl and lifted her over their heads, laughing and thanking all the while. She was dimly aware of being hugged, headpatted, having her hand shaken multiple times and a voice stragely similar to the Champion's captain thanking her repeatedly."Thank you so much, missy. You've saved both our lives and our livelihood, how can we ever repay you?" the voice asked, distant and soft as if speaking from a thousand miles away.
"I-I need to use the restroom..." the unfortunate girl whimpered.
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==Present==
"...and that was that." Lieutenant Miranda Bannings finished with a bashful smile, rubbing her head in embarrassment. "What an impressive way to end it off, wasn't it?" Turning to the AI listening with rapt attention, she gave help a happy grin. "Last I've heard, the Champion's still plying the trade routes. Good for them."
"Interesting..." Help intoned, finally breaking out of its silence. Pupil dilating, the AI looked happy somehow, despite being a floating holographic eyeball. "Thank you for sharing this with me, Pilot Bannings."
"You're welcome, Help."
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