Blue Squadron (Battletech x KanColle(ish) crossover)
- Chapter 24 -[]
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Greeting Returning Comrades[]
Waystation 135
Jay Mayen System, Deep Periphery
Lessons were never easy.
"I don't get it."
But the red-haired young woman was on a good path.
"Want me to give you a hint?"
Glancing back at the reports floating in front of and around her, Jessica was the very picture of contemplative.
Trelleborg half expected smoke to start coming out of the other redhead's ears.
Grabbing hold of her noteputer Jessica hit the Back-key several times before she huffed. "Yeah."
"They sniffed it out via troop-movements their informants reported."
Brows furrowed, the young woman gathered the documents floating to her left into a stack and gave it a measuring look, then glanced back at Trelleborg. "Actually, I give up."

Alliance Class Space Station, Waystation 135
"Alright. Here's the answer." Trelleborg took another noteputer from her pocket and turned it so Jessica, on the station and behind glass which kept the vacuum of space out, could see. Being able to just show a copy of the fateful document in question made things easy. "It was due to someone listening to what this report predicted that the Lyrans were able to prepare for the Kuritan attack. The rest is history."
Frowning, the young woman scrutinized the noteputer's screen. "I wouldn't have guessed. All of this is more difficult than I thought."
"Once your other courses are more advanced you will have an easier time." Trelleborg encouraged the somewhat deflated other redhead.
"Everything is easy when you know how to do it."
"True, I guess."
Trelleborg then glanced over her shoulder, gaze drawn away from Jess. A familiar emergence-signature reached her sensors was tickling her senses.
"Trouble?"
"No." The large woman quickly assured. "Looks like one of them is back." Jessica's expression shifting into worry said it all. Yet a smile grew on the large woman's lips. "Make that all of them."
A sigh of relief from the human woman.
Trelleborg did a double-take. "Actually..."
"Hm?"
"There's six signatures."
"Does that mean they found whoever sent that mysterious message?"
"If not then at least who it was supposed to save, it looks like. A good sign for sure." Trelleborg tried to keep the young woman's expectations in check. She had decided to not keep anything about their operations from Jessica. The much younger redhead was effectively Flavio's chosen protegé, and receiving lessons from herself as well. She was already as deep into kanmusu-business, as Trelleborg liked to think of it, as one could get.
"Aha." Jessicca followed Trelleborg's gaze.
The Newgrange-class smiled fondly. She was not sure if the young woman behind the glass had that "aha" from Brest and/or Amber, or the other way around. She had heard all three use it. It was endearing to her.
"Where are they?" From the station orbiting the frozen planet below, Jessica cast her gaze at the star-dotted canvas of space. Though of course she couldn't see Blue Squadron's returning kanmusu. The human eye just wasn't able to see over distances many magnitudes farther than evolution had designed it for.
"At the Nadir Point."
Lacking the ability to see where that was as well, Jess returned her gaze to Trelleborg. "I better get prepared then."
"You've got plenty of time still. They won't be here until tomorrow."
"Oh."
It felt odd to refer to something which would happen in just a short while, namely Blue Squadron's arrival at Jan Mayen, as tomorrow, yet Trelleborg had long come to terms with the fact that humans and kanmusu sometimes perceived time differently. Which was a good thing, because Trelleborg wasn't sure she would've remained sane had she been able to feel the many decades tick by the same way a human would have.
"I won't keep you longer though. We're done for today anyway."
"Okay. Do i come back same time tomorrow?" Jess gathered the floating stack of papers next to her and stuffed it into a folder, then grabbed her noteputer as well.
"No." Glancing at the approaching kanmusu again, Trelleborg continued. "Lessons are suspended for the next few days, probably. I'll send you a message when we'll resume them."
"Got it. Have a nice rest of your day. Bye!"
"You too, bye."
One last wave and Jessica was gone.
On her own again, Trelleborg got lost in thought when the orbit she and the station were on took her into the frozen planet's shadow. She remembered when she had emerged into this new life. The early years were filled with confusion, uncertainty and frantic worry about her new state of being and its implications. But after that had worn off she had gotten used to her new form and life, as well as the flow of time as she was familiar with now.
The auburn-haired woman glanced upwards. Faster as she was on her tighter orbit around the planet, Trelleborg was "catching up" with the two jumpships she had safely returned to Jan Mayen with. She gave Willemstad and Acuity a long look.
Having wanted them to stay in her immediate reach, Trelleborg had chosen to return with them to Jan Mayen at a pirate-point in high orbit. Unable as they were to move on their own, they would be fine there until they had recharged and were ready to depart contested space with a little push from the Newgrange-class' Elephants.
She had recommended to SLDF Command the retreat of all JumpShips from the area. The frontlines were no place for them, especially not with an enemy which seemed to have little in terms of scruples and had, in fact, taken crews and most likely JumpShips wholesale before. Not to mention that the abyssals seemed to find them entirely too often for it to be coincidental.
Having gone past both JumpShips, Trelleborg rounded the planet's curvature and was again bathed in the primary's light. At this angle its red rays made her already reddish hair appear like liquid flame.
Shielding her eyes with her hand the auburn-haired woman glanced at her approaching squad-mates.
There was no doubt now. There were six dots of light approaching the planet, one ahead of the others. By the next orbit they would be there.
Her instincts as a caretaker kicked in. If one of them was going ahead of the others it might mean that someone needed urgent help. Trelleborg prepared her facilities, eyes glued to the slowly growing dots of light. She only stopped staring into the distance when the planet interrupted her line of sight. She was on the night-side again.
She liked to think of herself as having a robust mind, yet Trelleborg could not help but be anxious at the prospect of seeing one of her fellow kanmusu injured and in pain. It had been the case every time, though, so maybe that was just part of her being. She admitted to herself that said anxiousness had been at its greatest while she had first traveling from the inner sphere to Jan Mayen. Back then the feeling had been exacerbated by the uncertainty of how others of her kind would take her appearance.
Shaking those thoughts off when red light shone in her eyes again, the auburn-haired woman's gaze was glued to the planet's horizon. And sure enough, a minute later she could see one kanmusu.
Amber was blazing in her rough direction. The girl was way too fast, though, despite being turned the other way and in the process of a deceleration-burn.
Much faster than Trelleborg had estimated the dark-haired girl passed her. Her navigation-computers subconscious told her that Amber was going into a higher retrograde orbit.
Mystery of the Toyama's Wisdom[]
Narrowing her eyes against the star's glare at the Inazuma's back, Trelleborg could see that the girl was smiling and waving at her while she was passing by.
"Hey! Everything alright?"
"Aha. I'll just wait on the planet's other side, nanodesu."
"What? Why?" Before the girl could answer she had already disappeared below the planet's horizon.
With a shrug the large woman turned the other way again. She didn't need to wait long. The rest of the squadron came into view, decelerating as they were to rendezvous with the Waystation and her.
The rest of them and one addition.
Exerting an almost magnetic pull on Trelleborg's eyes, the Aquilla-class in their midst drew her attention. She had not seen one of those in a long time. The name the ship bore on her side confirmed guesses and suspicions she and others on the intelligence-side had had.
"Pretty neat, huh?" La Plata remarked by way of greeting, stern towards Trelleborg and decelerating as she pulled up next to the Newgrange.
"A nice catch." Wresting her gaze away from the JumpShip, the large woman gave the rest of the squadron a once-over. The corners of her mouth drew downwards. "I guess you found not just our mysterious damsel in distress."
"Nope. Our friends appeared as well, but we got rid of them." Brest came to a halt on Trelleborg's other side and gave her a wave in belayed greeting.
"What's the deal with Amber?"
"Cautionary measure. She caught a bit of radioactivity." Swift answered succinctly, giving Trelleborg a nod in greeting.
"How?"
"The abyssals had spicy luggage." Brests odd answer drew Trelleborg's gaze again, the auburn-haired woman wondering if the girl had gotten that term from the comics she liked to read.
"Nuclear scuttling-charges." La Plata's words made more sense.
"I'll be sure to scrub down Amber's hull properly." Trelleborg ran her brown eyes over the last present kanmusu. Silver had come to a halt next to Swift , quiet as usual, and was returning Trelleborg's gaze evenly.
The auburn-haired woman was tempted to make a playful comment about the clan-warrior's absent scowl, but decided against it. "Does anyone need my immediate aid? Any system-damage?"
"Nah. Nothing but scratches for us. Amber took most of it with how she arrived and what came afterwards. She was so cool." Brest, blessedly unaware of her words' repercussions, responded excitedly.
It made no difference when she would have the inevitable conversation she knew was coming, Trelleborg thought. And sure enough, when she looked into Swift's pale eyes she saw the woman was about to begin it.
"You know what i am about to say."
"Yes and I'll take responsibility for it." Trelleborg wouldn't try to make excuses for effectively ignoring orders.
Surprise crossed Swift's face. It seemed the grey-haired woman had not expected her to be so forthcoming.
"But first." Making a come hither motion, Trelleborg beckoned Brest. "I see that missile-hit to your propulsion your knee."
Drawing breath the brunette girl seemed about to argue, then thought better of it. With a shrug and a smile she came to Trelleborg's side for repairs.

Newgrange Class Yardship, SLS Trelleborg
While she was using her tugs to steer the Fox-class into her huge repair-bay wrapping her cloak around Brest and placing the girl on her lap, Trelleborg wondered if the next time a certain green-haired corvette needed repairs it would take threats of force again to make the Peregrine-class come to her. Glancing at Silver out of the corner of her eye, Trelleborg hoped not.
As soon as Brest was secured in Trelleborg's repair-bay had leaned her head against the much larger woman's shoulder the girl's eyes slid shut and she was asleep.
Trelleborg appreciated the cruisers' patience. Both of them were watching Brest, features relaxed in sleep, fondly before La Plata eventually spoke up.
"So. On the last sortie, before we jumped to 3196..."
"Let's skip the part in which you make me confess my wrongdoings. I already admitted to them." Trelleborg, despite the serious situation couldn't keep a slight smile from appearing on her face while she readied her repair-crews sewing kit. Despite being very different in some ways, in others La Plata and Swift were similar to each other.
"Alright. Same argument as you used for the JumpShips then, i guess?" La Plata hazarded.
Trelleborg glanced over at her. "Yes, I'm pretty sure none of us want to see loss of life happen, be it civilian, military or kanmusu. Chances were you'd see combat in system 3196, and i wanted Amber to be there as quickly as possible." Threading her needle and beginning the process of mending Brest's uniform, the Newgrange continued. "To reduce the risk of you being outnumbered and destroyed."
Dark-haired and light-haired cruiser exchanged a glance while Silver gave Trelleborg a look the large woman couldn't quite place.
"Your reasoning sounds a lot like Amber's. Did you decide on this together?" Swift's inquiry was careful.
"No. Amber is entirely innocent. This is all on me."
"You'd think that."
Her confusion must have shown. La Plata explained for Trelleborg's benefit.
"She pulled her own stunt. Quickcharged to reach us faster."
Her mouth making a silent "oh", the auburn-haired woman fell silent, attention on her work.
"Out of concern for others is at least one of the less bad reasons for insubordination." Swift remarked absent-mindedly. "It still left this installation undefended for a time." The Aegis' distraction was caused by the grey-haired woman taking a noteputer out of her uniform's pocket.
Trelleborg still felt the need to justify herself. "I trusted our early-warning setup. It was showing clear, so I ordered Amber to advance before i got back here myself."
"I do not need to tell you how dangerous that was." Swift reprimanded.
A short pause on Trelleborg's side. "I was reasonably certain no abyssals were headed for Jan Mayen."
"I thought that before too. That we had depleted the enemy's reserves, and as a consequence further attacks would be unlikely." Swift stepped up next to Trelleborg and rolled her shoulder with what the Newgrange-class recognized as remembered pain. Handing over the noteputer in her hand, Swift continued. "It almost got me killed." Out of the corner of her eye the large woman noticed Silver following the exchange intently.
"It seemed like the best option." Placing down her sewing-utensils and accepting the noteputer from the Aegis' hand, Trelleborg sighed. She cast caution to the wind and spoke her mind. "You realise I worry about you? I've spent more than a century... well not alone, but as the only one of my kind. And I just got to meet you guys. I don't want to see any of you lost. Not if I can help it at all."
Both cruisers seemed taken aback by Trelleborg's genuine concern.
La Plata recovered first. "I appreciate it. Really I do. Amber was helpful, very effective actually. But..."
Trelleborg couldn't resist. While it wasn't the time for jokes she still cracked it, slight smile on her face. "See, then i made the right decision."
"I am having a deja vu." Swift muttered and glanced at Silver, the green-haired girl conspicuously silent.
"It was this time." La Plata retorted. "Doesn't change the fact that you ignored the chain of ommand."
There was a stretch of silence before Swift spoke up.
"There is a problem here, of fleetmaidens not following orders." Another pause. "Yet I acknowledge that some situations may make certain orders obsolete. Not to mention that I am far from infallible, as the most recent sortie has shown."
That made Trelleborg's eyebrows rise. When Swift didn't explain Trelleborg turned her questioning eyes at La Plata, who didn't seem inclined to either and merely returned her look.
"I had my own slip-up during this sortie. It is in the action-report." Swift gestured at the noteputer in Trelleborg's hand and continued. "I am not asking for anyone to suspend critical thinking. But a working chain of command is the most basic requirement for winning a conflict." She connected her pale eyes to Trelleborg's own for a long moment, then glanced at Silver next to her.
Brows furrowing, the Falcon grumbled. "Why that look. I never ignored orders, quiaff?"
Trelleborg chose not to comment on Silver at first outright refusing to undergo repairs, or advocating for insubordination. It seemed the cruisers didn't either.
"I know and agree. Though, as you said, sometimes orders need to be adapted." With a playful smirk the auburn-haired woman added. "And it's not like you can really force me to do what you want. What are you going to do otherwise? Shoot me?"
The silly smile Trelleborg was wearing faltered when Swift wordlessly stared at her, then directed a brief scowl at Silver again while mumbling something under her breath the large woman couldn't understand.
La Plata cleared her throat. "Anyway. The short of that report on our sortie is that Amber destroyed three abyssal JumpShips and chased off a fourth, which let us take out a chunk of enemy aerospace-power. No warships though."
Analytical part of her mind kicking in, Trelleborg's eyes narrowed slightly. "A raiding-force?" She started reading from the noteputer in her hand.
"I think so. They were not the best abyssal-units we have faced, so i would count them as second-line." Swift rejoined the conversation.
"Wonder how that works. We've taken out three warships and a whole lot of aerospace power. That's grievous losses for any military, regardless of size. Yet they always seem to have more." La Plata gave voice to one of the main questions about their mysterious adversaries.
"Yet the swarm of aerospace-units we faced in system 3196 tried to retreat, the first time we have witnessed that." Swift added her own thoughts. "There might be many abyssals. Or might have been, because they have gone from suicide-attacks to attempting to flee."
"Our efforts paying off you mean?"
The grey-haired woman nodded.
La Plata hummed before she brought up the one question they, as kanmusu, were most keen to know the answer to. "Where do they come from, though?"
"That's the question I've been working on. I, we..." Trelleborg corrected herself and glanced over her shoulder at the spot on the Waystation Jess had occupied. "We don't have a firm lead yet, but with the surveillance-satellites set up we should notice a pattern with more abyssal-sightings."
"I'd rather not wait for the abyssals to show themselves. We should go and place more surveillance-satellites."
"We will, La Plata. Once all of us are in good shape again." Swift agreed, her expression softening when her eyes landed on the sleeping form of Brest, on Trelleborg's lap. The auburn-haired woman's personnel were hard at work replacing weakened or broken armor-tiles, and hammering out proverbial dents in her hull. was making progress quickly.
Trelleborg was surprised when Silver didn't argue in favor of sortieing sooner. Maybe the green-haired girl was starting to see the benefits of treading carefully.
Just then her intelligence-crew made a discovery something occurred to her from what she was reading. "Speaking of satellites." Trelleborg handed the noteputer Swift had given her back, finished with the action-report. "That one JumpShip which got away from Amber in system 3196. It jumped into system 2799. The satellites there saw an arrival which matched with the abyssal-JumpShip's departure time-wise. It recharged and left again."
"Where to?"
"No idea."
After a moment the significance of Trelleborg's words registered with Swift .
"We have satellites in all systems within one jump from 2799. They should have seen that abyssal."
"Exactly."
Tilting her head to the side, which made her grey braid sway in weightlessness as a result, Swift declared. "That is concerning."
"A possible path the abyssals have to creep closer than is comfortable, unseen. I'll let the astronomers know." Gaze on the modified Overlord on the station's other side, Trelleborg muttered. "That should help them, hopefully."
"I wouldn't hold my breath." La Plata cautioned. "A sphere with a radius of thirty lightyears is an awful lot of space to survey when you don't even know what you're searching for." She paused. "Not to mention that we don't know if their K-F drives have the same range and limitations ours do."
Trelleborg connected her gaze to the Dart's brilliant green one. "I know. But it's all we have for this."
"Unfortunately."
"They will succeed eventually."
By the looks the "adults" were wearing nobody had expected Silver to express confidence in civilians. It took them a moment to shake off the surprise.
"I sincerely hope so. The abyssals apparently have a route towards us which we have no eyes on. We want to put an end to that."
"Let's cross our fingers."
Nodding in wordless agreement, Trelleborg returned her attention to her task.
A brief silence fell during which Swift stared at the returned noteputer in her hand, apparently conflicted. Eventually she spoke up.
"Ladies, I have noticed that none of your action-reports included my own misdemeanor." After glancing at a sleeping Brest, the grey-haired woman gave La Plata and Silver a long look in turn.
"We talked it over. Nothing happened. It's done, as far as i'm concerned." La Plata's light tone, or what she had said, didn't meet Swift's approval, judging by the woman's frown.
"I agree. Since nothing noteworthy has transpired there is nothing to report on." Silver's tone was entirely blasé.
Realising she was at a loss Trelleborg quickly read up on Swift's report she had copied, and found herself agreeing with La Plata and Silver. "They're right, you know."
Head snapping around, the Aegis directed an intense look at Trelleborg. "I do not see things that way."
"You're being hard on yourself. Again. Or still." La Plata correctly remarked.
"As I should be, considering." The grey-haired woman could be remarkably stubborn.
Trelleborg exchanged a brief glance with La Plata, and a wordless understanding passed between them. "That's good, in measure. I think it means your moral compass works."
"She's right. No use scourging yourself over what isn't even a problem. The people at the SLDF and SLIC will think the same." La Plata agreed with the auburn-haired woman.
The sigh Swift exhaled gave away that their words were reaching the stubborn woman. "Maybe..."
"I do not want my words to be taken as something they are not, again, so i will clearly state that i am asking merely out of curiosity." Silver tilted her head similar to the way Swift had, a contemplative expression on her face. "Why send reports of our conduct to some organizations far away? I understand the military aspect but fail to see the sense in the former. These people, sitting behind their desks with pen in hand, are not fit to judge us. And neither can they enforce anything on us."
The question was better thought out than Trelleborg had expected. Swift seemed to have anticipated it, since it only took her a moment to respond in a measured voice."We are an international force under Star League mandate."
At the mention of the Star League, Silver seemingly started rolling her eyes, then barely stopped herself.
"As such we are subject to a chain of command. That is how it works. Unusual as we may be, fleetmaidens are not above rules and regulations. Understood?" Raising an eyebrow, the flagship gave Silver a challenging look.
"Aff." Judging by her expression she did not really, but the green-haired corvette seemed to drop the subject.
The following lull in conversation drew Trelleborg's attention first back to Brest, asleep on her lap as the girl was, then the Aquilla-class her fellow kanmusu had rescued. The emblem on its side stood out to her. "Think the crew of Toyama's Wisdom will make any trouble? They're effectively being interred by who they consider heretics."
"I do not expect any complications." Swift sounded slightly distracted, gaze on the JumpShip as well. Just then a dropshuttle launched from Toyama's Wisdom's hangar-bay and headed for Waystation 135. "On the way here I debriefed her captain on the most important matters, and also asked him to cooperate with us and Comstar." She swerved her pale gaze onto Trelleborg. "He agreed to everything I asked."
Understanding what Swift was saying, Trelleborg returned her look. Their kanmusu-influence made what would have otherwise been close to impossible almost trivially easy. "What's their story?"
"Apparently there's a settlement of them out there somewhere." La Plata was also following the dropshuttle with her eyes.
"Where?" Professional as well as personal curiosity piqued, Trelleborg queried.
"We do not know yet. I decided not to have him say anything which might reveal the star-system in which that settlement is situated over radio." Swift sighed. "All we know is that they were trying to escape."
"The abyssals?"
"Probably. They haven't seen them, unsurprisingly, but lost contact with a JumpShip and a dropship. Doesn't take a genius to realize someone is onto you when that happens while you are trying to be invisible." The way La Plata described the facts was sobering.
"I have been meaning to ask. Why did they have spaceships flying around the deep periphery in the first place?" Silver's voice was genuinely curious.
"I would think that settlement to be small. As such it is likely not self-sufficient, and needs all kinds of things from the outside."
"Hmm."
Mission Debriefing[]
Briefly tempted to ask the Peregrine if that wasn't the case with the clans, Trelleborg decided against it. A brief silence follower Swift's patient answer again, the Newgrange returning her attention to repairing Brest mending the brunette's uniform.
Toyama's Wisdom's dropshuttle had disappeared into 135's own hangar-bay when La Plata averted her eyes. "Good thing we found her."
"Mhm." Trelleborg didn't look up from her work. "Beginning the sortie with one JumpShip and ending it with three? I'd call that a success."
"Well, true, but i wasn't talking about Toyama's Wisdom specifically." It was actually possible to hear the smirk in the tanned woman's voice.
"Huh?"
"Check the addendum to my action-report."
Intrigued, Trelleborg did as she was told, a far-away look in her eyes for several moments. Abruptly she snapped back to the present. "That's nothing short of amazing!"
"Yeah. Rats we can't introduce you to Ines now." The Newgrange's questioning look made the tanned woman elaborate. "Just as i thought, the radios my infantrists left on the Toyama's Wisdom disappeared after the first hyperjump."
"Another theory proven. Things of ours which hyperjump with another ship go poof." Trelleborg muttered distractedly, her mind on the repercussions of the blakist-jumpship's discovery.
"More like a hunch all of us had. But yes."
"Ines is probably asleep now anyway." Swift reasoned, glancing at Trelleborg with a smile. "You will have enough time to talk with her. She has quite an interest in us, so chances are she will find you before you can do the same."
"An interest?" An auburn eyebrow rose.
"Yes. You will see." 'Swift 's response was vague, merriment dancing in the woman's pale eyes.
"I guess. Until she leaves with Toyama's Wisdom." Returning her attention back to her task, Trelleborg noted with satisfaction that she was almost done.
Both cruisers exchanged a glance.
Trelleborg picked up on it. Silver as well, head of green hair tilted slightly.
"You want to keep the kid here?"
Swift thought a moment before she answered. "Much as i do not relish the thought of a child near a conflict-zone, we might need to. If only to discover what makes her special, resistant to the abyssals. And to us."
La Plata nodded in agreement. "If we could find out what makes her immune to the abyssal-fear we could maybe search for other people with that trait. Would be very useful to have such personell. Comms technicians, navigators, maybe even weapons-officers. Could save a lot of people."
The fact that both cruisers spoke about a child like a military asset didn't sit right with Trelleborg. "That sounds a bit like experimentation."
"In a way it would be." Realizing what she had confirmed without thinking about it, La Plata hastened to clarify. "I mean we could sit her onto a DropShip and approach abyssal-wreckage." She jabbed a thumb at the "L2" point where Swift , Brest and Amber had deposited the mangled abyssal-debries which had caused blind panic on Waystation 135 a while ago.
"What do her parents say about that?" With a dubious look Trelleborg prompted.
"Legal guardian." Swift corrected.
Expression falling, the auburn-haired woman paused her sewing mid-motion.
"I didn't want to ask Ines about that, you understand, and my radio disappeared when we jumped out of 3196. Guess we'll find out about that once a proper debriefing of that ship's crew is done." La Plata pointed her chin at the Aquilla-class Transport jumpship floating nearby.

Aquilla Class Transport Primitive JumpShip
"We will think about what to do with Ines once we know all facts." Following the tanned woman's gaze, Swift thought for a moment and then glanced at Trelleborg. "Do you think Mr. Zheng will need us to assist while he has a chat with the Word of Blake people?"
"No." That the large woman was almost certain of. "Flavio is good at what he does. If he actually needs us to "help things along" he'll give us a call."
"I hope it does not come to that." Swift's expression was conflicted. "We asked them nicely to cooperate, and that already felt somewhat wrong to use our influence like that. Directly coercing people to answer questions they ordinarily would not want to answer seems like a step too far."
Some things bothered the flagship despite repeated reassurances, it seemed. Trelleborg opened her mouth, but La Plata was faster.
"They have a settlement out there, maybe several. When it comes to rescuing a lot of people, civilians, from the abyssals i have little qualms about using our convincing ways."
Maybe if she heard it often enough Swift would start to believe so as well. Trelleborg was confident, then continued La Plata's thought. "So we'll go and get these people from their settlement?"
"Most definitely." "Once we know where it is." Swift and La Plata answered at the same time. Exchanging glances again, the flagship added. "And once we are good to go."
"In that case." Trelleborg set down her sewing-utensils and held up Brest's uniform against the primary's red rays, scrutinising it for several moments. Nodding in satisfaction she slipped her arms under her voluminous cloak, uniform in hand, and pulled it onto the brunette girl's frame.
Brushing the red fabric back to reveal Brest fully repaired in impeccable clothes again, Trelleborg tapped the corvette on the shoulder. "It's time to wake up, Brest."
Stirring, the Fox-class murmured something under her breath before her eyes slowly slid open. Blinking a few times she groggily looked around, her gaze sharpening. "Morning!" Brest greeted, blue eyes on Silver and tone enthusiastic.
Remaining silent, the other corvette returned the greeting with an incline of her head.
When Brest made no move to leave Trelleborg's lap, the latter prompted with a smile. "Would you mind?"
"I would. Too comfy to leave." Leaning her head back against Trelleborg's shoulder, Brest closed her eyes again.
"Up with you." Smile growing broader, Trelleborg placed her, in relation to Brest, comically large hand on the girl's back and pushed lightly to bring her point across.
Lifting her arms above her head and stretching with a mighty yawn, the brunette complied. "Alright, alright." Pushing herself off of the Newgrange, Brest floated a short distance away.
Trelleborg was about to say something to her when she could hear another redhead's voice on their net. "Sorry I'm late! I tried something and it didn't turn out so well."
Her student was floating into view on Waystation 135, a by now familiar crate dragged behind her.
"Jess! Hello!" Brest was drawn to the young woman immediately. "You won't believe what we found. There were abyssals, but also a girl!"
"A girl?"
"Yes! A girl! And she wasn't afraid of the abyssals!" With an amused smile Jessica listened to Brest's excited rambling while she made to put the crate of food through the airlock.
It seemed that the pent up energy of not being able to chat with Amber on the way here and the exuberance of being freshly repaired combined into an unbound enthusiasm for Brest.
Trelleborg smiled broadly in indulgent amusement. Catching their box of food which was floating towards her, she took out several containers. It would be enough.
"Alright. Bonne apetit everyone. I'll go and decontaminate Amber."
"Okay. Tell her I said hi." Jess called after her when Trelleborg had already turned and gotten underway.
"Will do."
How Trelleborg knew Flavio she expected the rest of them to be ready to sortie and waiting for Amber by the time she was done. She'd need to remember to pass a little invention to them before they could rush off.
Chapter Note[]
- Chapter Note from the Author
- Jess has a fun time at school.
Until now i had avoided mentioning measurements of time. I alluded to it in the last chapter, but anyone who knows battletech lore will have noticed that many things to do with warships may take days, but time seems to pass at a normal rate for fleetmaidens here. Not lore-accurate but necessary for the way i want to tell this story.