Timothy was laying back in the pilots seat of the tug boat, staring out at the stars he kept glancing over at the Frigate that was sitting in dock three, he had been watching it being repaired. He had gotten a little fascinated when it suddenly stopped and wasn't fully put back together again. However, when it started up again moments later, her lost interest, figuring some last minute changes had been made. He was about to turn everything back on now that he was starting to get cold. As the radio came back online, he started getting messages on his HUD from Devon, an Australian army soldier he had met recently. He moved his attention to the HUD and opened the message.

Timothy, be careful on the roads for a bit. George and his boys were being sketch, they were kinda flirting with Kenna, but not in an I want to be your boyfriend kind of way. It felt weird, and you know the worries I have about them recently, so I kinda kidnapped Kenna and left them behind as I drove away in Kenna's car. I used my military training to evade pursuit. Don't worry, Kenna doesn't think I have kidnapped her, because I did take her to where she wanted to go, I just didn't tell George or chief Biko. I am kinda worried about how much trouble I am going to get in, maybe I should ask Kenna if I can join her frigate as the head of her security or something? What do you think?

Timothy's mouth fell open when he finished reading it and quickly read it again just to make sure he had read it right the first time.

"Shit, Devon, what the hell, man?"

Timothy opened a message addressed to Devon and quickly wrote out a message to him, hoping it wasn't too late, and he hadn't done anything too foolish yet.

Devon, what the hell? Alright, what is done, is done, but you need to warn Chief Biko, he is on Kenna's side, I'm sure of it. I will avoid George and his lot when I make my way back to the tower. Or I might ask the council if they have any jobs that need doing out here to help me stay away from the roads a bit longer. Head of security sounds like a good fit for you with your military background, and you can use your medical expertise to save Kenna if shit goes sideways. I don't really have any advice other than contact chief Biko and at least give him a heads-up before George can make up his own story. Good luck.

After reading the message a few times to make sure he liked it, Timothy sent it to Devon, hoping it would arrive in time.

"Alright, that's done, now to go back in or ask if there's anything else out here that needs towing? Well, I know all the debris from all those ships have already been brought in, so I don't think there is much for a tugboat to do out here… ah whatever, I'll head in and hide out in the tower."

*******

Alison was sitting at a briefing table waiting for the squad to arrive. She had been promoted after saving her previous squad for the ambush, Sergeant Jefferson Sliure had put her up for a promotion, recommending she get it for the bravery and valour in the field that she had shown. She kept glancing at her status screen, not believing it was true.

Name: Alison Elise Rose

Clan: Mackenzie

Clan rank: Solar Tak

Military Rank: Sergeant

Military Position: Squad Leader: Lost Night Squad.

Galactic Credits: 5,485

Class: Void knight

She thought the name of her squad was kinda weird, but she hadn't been the one that had picked it. She was about to turn the holocoin on and familiarise herself with the briefing again when she overheard some voices, and the name Kenna had caught her attention.

"I don't know if I hate Kenna or not," a blond haired, blue-eyed youth whined to his friends, he kinda looked like a young Caucasian man from England if Alison had to pick a home place for him.

"What do you mean?" one of his friends that Alison couldn't see asked before continuing. "Clearly we should hate her, I mean she did steal an entire Solar System and place an orbital Station base in it with a Galactic Merchant Hub, forcing the combat zone into a natural protected zone. A lot of people had spent a ton of credits to be there, and they had to walk away empty-handed."

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"Oh, let that go will you, the Emperor's Clan covered that expense for everyone." a brown haired girl who had braided hair going so far down her back it hanged past the bench she was sitting on, yelled at the other boy. "If it wasn't for Kenna's actions, I would be stuck on that stupid planet for the next few months trying to get into a combat zone where I could earn some serious credits, instead, everyone got a free transfer to an active combat zone, and I made a huge ton of credits in a single month there, I mean I paid off my house, and put a down payment on a ship. The dream of becoming a merchant is alive!"

"Then why don't you go be a merchant! What are you doing here?" the boy yelled back at her before lowering his volume. "And for the record I didn't get the free transfer I was on the bloody carrier as an engineer, I had to stay and listen to everyone complain about not getting any downtime because they had to pack all the shit up that they had just finished unpacking and get the ship ready to fly to the next combat zone."

Alison heard a few chuckles from the group, but she didn't get to hear what else they had to say. Her own squad showed up and started sitting down at her table, introducing themselves and looking at her expectantly.

*******

George was fuming as he stomped into the police station headquarters, he had spent the better part of the day driving around the city trying to find that blasted car and its stupid owner. He had even checked the docks, there was a suspicious car that was the same model, but it was banged up and the wrong colour, so he had dismissed it and headed back to the station. He worked his way up the stairs until he reached his office's floor and stomped his way over to his office chair before throwing himself into it.

"This is bullshit! I'm an NYPD Sergeant god-damn it, how the hell can a criminal be so slippery and elusive, I didn't even do anything to spook her!"

The other guys in his squad walked into the office, sinking into their own chairs as they watch him.

"We will catch her next time she sticks her head out sarge, this isn't a big deal, we know she is on this station somewhere, the only way she would take to get off this station now is in that frigate of hers. We can just ask chief Biko to have it impounded on some charge like we think the previous owner ran illegal contraband in it or something, and we need time to search it properly to make sure none was left behind in it, and then drag our feet about it until we catch her."

"She probably stole that too"

"Yea, I would believe that."

"Haa, no doubt"

"Alright enough, that suggestion seems dishonest, and we are all hand-picked out of police stations around America, we have the best records and most catches, even though we have to hide from local law up here we should still do this by the book."

"Sarge is right, this shit has to be squeaky clean when we bring it home, don't want her getting off on a technicality or something."

"Oh, please Harris, there is no way she is getting away with this, the second we get her down there the feds are taking her, and then they are going to lock her up in some black site until she hands over control of this Station to the Washington clan, its rightful owner. Then knowing the letter soup they will either leave her in a hole in case she becomes useful somehow or… Well, I don't really want to think about what that or option could be."

"Yea, I don't want to think about it either, I have been talking with the people on this station, trying to gather more evidence and find out what other crimes Kenna has commited, and I'm starting to think Clan Master's full of shit, did you know Kenna was in America when she was attacked by one of our Common clans, she was initiated by a triple event. I'm pretty sure those are so rare that they come with like a medium perk or something, right?"

"What's your point, Craig?"

"I don't really have a point, I'm just saying I'm looking around, and I'm coming up empty, I mean a noble was attacked in our territory, and we did nothing, worse I think we just simply accused her of stealing from us… I'm just saying I can't find any evidence that this Orbital Station Base was even ours to begin with."

*******

Eloana Twiddles was sitting in the captain's seat of her new frigate as she smiled happily, she had just gotten a letter from her father, informing her that upstart little shit Kenna was no longer in the military service.

"This is great. Now I can finally turn my attention to stripping her stupid little Solar System of its rights and laying claim to everything that bitch holds dear. I think I will start with ordering a Carrier for my family from her docks, with a very short deadline that will be impossible. Ooh, better yet, I could call up that Washington idiot and offer to send him a bunch of ships and a construction ship in exchange for the mining rights to a majority of the Solar System. He can then build his own base off that pathetic planet, creating a competitor for that upstart little shit!"

She let out a giggle as she looked over to the navigator, hoping they had figured out how to get to the Carrier waiting for them. They needed to get through subspace and then dock with it before heading into a combat zone.

"Hurry up, I want to meet up with this carrier before it leaves." she called out to the navigator before turning away, not really caring about what excuse they had.

She turned to her HUD to write a letter to her father, seeing if he had any more ideas she could use against Kenna. However, she was halfway through the letter when her mind wandered to the men that had busted her out of the mental prison. Her father had kicked them out of the clan before allowing them to take on the mission to keep them from implicating the clan. Once they had gotten back, he told them they had to go into hiding for a while, and given them credits and a ticket to safe places outside the Twiddles territory. Eloana had suggested sending them to MWOA254 or MWOA256 to implicate the Mackenzie clan. He had considered it, but Eloana had no idea where they had gone. Her father had also told them that when they returned in a centuries time after everyone had forgotten about the prison break, they could rejoin the clan. But Eloana knew that would never happen, and they would be systematically killed off over that time. She quickly finished up her letter and sent it to her father. She was just looking up at the main window when navigation finally got their shit together and declared they had a course and had sent it to the pilot. Moments later, the frigate began its submersion into subspace.

"Oh, I got it!" she suddenly declared to the bridge. "I'll send a ship to harass some shipping lanes and have it fly the Mackenzie flag. That should get them in some more hot water."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.