Sleeping Faggot !OqlZsK5bXU 2008/07/13 (Sun) 21:52 No. 7259 ▼ File 121598596651.jpg - (83.54KB, 639x435 , spacewalk_not_quite_as_good_as_moonwalk.jpg)
You walk briskly back out to the station. Outside, Saku motions for her marines to follow her. You catch up with her quickly.
“I've got what I needed.”, you breathe.
“Then let's get you out of here, Subcommander; the Inspector's almost here. She's busy with another ship on this deck, so we've got to take the long way around...”
She looks behind the marines for a second.
“Nobody saw you, did they?”, Saku asks uncertainly.
“Nobody important.”
“Good. I'll put you on the main elevator this time.”
As you walk down the ring, you try to contact Eirin, searching the station for her position. On the other end of the station, the docks opposite. A very, very big ship. You can feel her inside there; you send off a connection request, 'asking' her to speak with you. A affirmative tone rings back - connection accepted.
“Finally, something interesting. You have completed your task, Reisen?”, the Adjutant asks, bored.
“Yes, my lady.” You transmit the logs, highlighted. “I have... substantial evidence. Some of which has been hidden.”
She looks at it for a second, sees the gulf of jumbled sound, and starts to reassemble it. Within seconds, the logs are completely decoded.
“Not anymore. Give me a second to check it.”
You can sort of feel her begin to pore over the journals, listening to the fine distortions of the audio, the speech patterns... pretty soon, she's already finished with the majority of the logs.
“Yoakeya really has betrayed us... perfect. I have new orders for you. Come to the main airlock one deck above, and wait on the station surface. I'll explain there.”
“Right away, my lady.”, you reply, unconsciously nodding. Your attention shifts back to Saku.
“So, Saku...”
“Nn?”
“You wouldn't mind if I asked why you were down here, would you? Do I have the Adjutant to thank for this?”
She shakes her head. “Just the scheduling system. The marine patrols on each deck rotate every day; today, we watch the lower docks, along with a SpecOps team. If you arrived a day earlier, you would've met with the 07th instead.”
“And probably killed. How reassuring...”
“Isn't it, ma'am?”, she cheerily replies.
You chuckle. On the job, she's amazingly disarming...
“You're a riot, Saku, you know that?”
She giggles, before walking up to a elevator pad, placing her palm against it.
“I don't know what you're talking about, Subcommander!”
The door slides away in a flash, and you enter the elevator, her marines blocking off the entrance. According to it, you're on deck 3.
“Ah, I've still got until noon before my shift ends, so I can't come with you.”, Saku explains. “...I'll see you later, then.”
“It's fine. We've got jobs to do, after all.”
She nods. “That we do. Good luck, miss Reisen.”
You nod back, pressing the button for Deck 4. The door seals up, and a second later, you arrive, a large airtight door ahead.
~
Autosaving...
~
“So,” you ask as you step into the airlock, “what are your orders, Adjutant?”
“You'll see soon enough, Reisen.”
The room seals completely, klaxon blaring as the air drains out; your suit follows, sealing helmet filters, redirecting airflow to recycle exhalation, while the electromagnets in your boots charge up, grounding you to the floor. Lights turn off, one by one; first the enchants, then the panels, and finally the klaxon light.
The outer door begins to slide open, a slit of illumination expanding until you can see the stars outside, the chamber lit against the gentle glow... The little air remaining blows out into the inky void, the rush of air nudging you just a bit forward.
You take your first steps out, one-two, one-two, before jumping off the edge. The jets on your back push you forward, until, level once more, you land back on the station wall, feeling light as a feather.
The sight is beautiful.
Ahead – or just below – are dozens of ships, big and small, locked into the station. Little, angelic red-orange forms, sleek sky blue giants, and the black dots ferrying between them, patching up the various wounds they picked up on the way. Tiny sparks flicker among their surfaces... and ahead of that, the glowing moon, halfway shrouded in darkness. Faint lights crisscross her surface on the dark side, and formless shadows orbit the sphere closely, collecting around a tiny metallic gash in the surface: the Defense Fleet, watching over the entry way into the underground palace.
It's been a while since you've seen such things, you think. At least five or six years, probably, right before Eirin inducted you into the Guard...
Better times. But you can't dwell on them now. You return to the matter at hand.
“I'm here.”, you report.
“Good. Wait right there.”
A small skiff hovers up to your left, loaded with a bulky, antenna-laced orb. It waits there, practically asking you to hop on.
“That transport – it's carrying a transmitter. Take it down to the first docking ring. You're going to plant the device on the Dawn.”
~
Part 2 in 10^8492 minutes.
