Kezika Turiel Wylair hit a button her joystick as a notice popped up on the HUD. With a loud bang she, and her Type-10 Defender, Derecho, popped out of Supercruise. In front of them was a small flotilla of ships, an Anaconda, a couple Eagles, one of the Imperial variety, and a Python.

She pressed another button and began speaking, "Leave this system or face destruction, pirates," after which she pressed another series of button causing the ship's hardpoints to deploy.

"And who do you think you are, there's 10 of us and one of you! How about you give us your ship instead, and we'll be nice enough to drop your escape pod near a station," replied a voice, which the HUD identified as coming from the Anaconda.

"Who I am doesn't concern you, your death and subsequent inflation of Keltim Empire League's ego however does to me," Kezika replied as she pressed down on both her triggers, unleashing a flurry of bullets towards the Anaconda.

A heated battle ensued, only the Anaconda and Python took more than a few seconds before exploding, but even they took less than a minute each.

Kezika surveyed the various outputs, ammunition was reduced, slightly, and shields were still at 90%.

"Eurybia Cerulean 9, do you have a lock on the next flotilla?" Kezika asked into her comms microphone.

"Negative, that appears to be the last flotilla according to our scans, we will continue to intercept system security reports to Keltim Empire League and modify them to state that their own security forces made the kills," replied the voice.

"Thank you, your services were well worth the price," Kezika replied.

A holographic screen displayed over the windows of a conference room on a fleet carrier, backdropped by Eurybia 2; a tan ringed gas giant with many darker oval spots caused by atmospheric storms. Ships on occasion would fly past the window on their way to dock.

Six faces filled the screen of a videoconference, and otherwise alone in the conference room sat two people. One of them a red-haired woman, sitting opposite the screen, Patron Kezika Turiel Wylair. The other was a blonde woman, Amaleigh Wessex, sitting away at the far end of the table.

“I vote retreat,” stated Patron Ayres on the videoconference, a dark-haired man,

“That makes 2 for retreat, 2 for continue, next is your vote Patron Wylair?” asked a green-haired lady, Patron Slater.

“I abstain as undecided,” stated Kezika.

“That is 2 retreat, 2 continue, 1 abstain, next is Patron Zhu?”

“We must retreat, the opposition is too strong,” responded Patron Zhu.

“3 retreat, 2 continue, 1 abstain, finally Patron Conner?”

“I agree with Zhu, retreat, there is no point in staying longer,” replied Patron Conner.

“Then it is decided, 4 for retreat, 2 to continue, and 1 abstaining, the Keltim Empire League shall officially retreat from this war,” stated Patron Slater, “Any forces under your respective commands should move back to Keltim as soon as possible, this meeting is adjourned.”

“Affirmative, farewell and be safe,” said Kezika.

Kezika then pressed a button on the table which disconnected the video conference and returned the holoscreen to its default mode cycling between cameras of the fleet carrier’s various hangars.

Amaleigh stood from her seat at the end of the conference table and made her way over to where Kezika was sitting.

The holoscreen cycled to that of hanger 8. In it was an Imperial Cutter, painted black and gold and emblazoned with the logo of Denton Patreus. Mechanics swarmed around it as it received repair service. Text on the lower right stated the name as INV Diamond Rain and affiliated with the Keltim Empire League.

“Make the appropriate calls to any of our mercenaries, the other Patrons voted for ceasefire and retreat,” Kezika said to Amaleigh.

The holoscreen next cycled to that of hangar 9. Displayed was a Fer-de-Lance, painted blue and adorned with non-standard fitting of rusted metal spikes. Mechanics also swarmed around this ship also receiving repairs. The text on the lower right stated the name as Blood Glaive and affiliated with the Eurybia Blue Mafia.

“In any case it was good business while it lasted,” she continued, ending with a sigh, and then standing up herself and walking out of the room.

April 5, 3306 – Wylair Verdure Center - Fireopal – planet A 5 – Keltim system

“Attention! Vacate the shoreline with haste!” blared a voice from a loudspeaker as lights over a fenced in beach strobed white and red. “A bay landing has been scheduled for 10 minutes, we repeat, vacate the shoreline with haste as a safety precaution!”

The beach however was empty except for one solitary woman, Majordomo Amaleigh Wessex. In response to the alarms sounds she calmly flipped open an antique pocket watch for a moment, before putting it away and briskly walking back towards the building the fenced in area attached to, her robes sparkling crimson as platinum filigree detailing reflected the warm hues of a sunset as she walked.

A few moments later she was heading into a conference room bedecked with glass artwork designed to utilize the natural outdoor light as accent lighting in the conference room. Artificial lighting only illuminated the table in the center of the conference room, the rest illuminated in hues or red and orange by the sunset.

Ameleigh flipped out her pocket watch once again, “Madame, our honored guests shall be making landing in 7 minutes and 23 seconds!”

“Thank you, please ensure they can alight with minimal wait for our meeting.” Replied Imperial Patron Kezika T. Wylair, the other lone occupant of the conference room.

Kezika was dressed up even more than usual, albeit subtly enough for a business occasion. Jewelry and other accentuation were a bit more toned down than her usual wear, but of the few pieces she wore, they were of absolute top quality and materials. Rhodium jewelry in place of Platinum jewelry, painite and poudretteite over rubies and diamonds today.

“Dock team is ready, I shall make haste back down for landing,” replied Amaleigh as she quickly left the room, shutting the door behind her. Kezika remained watching the bay from the conference room window, admiring the eternal sunset that Fire Opal was known and named for, having been built in the sunset zone of a tidally-locked planet.

Down in the dock control room a controller’s comms crackled into life. “WVC-01 set for atmospheric drop-in, confirm clearance.”

“Clearance confirmed WVC-01, please proceed,” replied the comms operator.

The ship’s pilot responded, “Triggering in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… Drop”

That last word barely could be heard over the loud boom echoing through the city as what looked to be a huge fireball appeared above the city, roughly 10 kilometers above ground and of equal distance away from the bay.

The comms operator quickly keyed their microphone once more, “Visual confirmed, proceed to bay, area confirmed clear.”

Shortly thereafter the distinctive bullet-shape nose of a black and gold painted Beluga peeked out from the cloud of vaporized gas it created upon drop and proceeded towards the bay. One unusual difference on this Beluga was the addition of two more large wings on each side of the ship as well as additional sets of adjustment thrusters firing more aggressive bursts than those of a standard Beluga.

The ship glided downwards towards the bay at what would appear an alarming rate to an untrained eye. Comms remained calm in tone however, reading off altitudes. Once flight level 300 was read aloud forward-facing thrusters on the additional wings fired at full force along with the stock Beluga reverse thrusters, bringing the Beluga’s forward momentum down dramatically.

For the last few seconds of glide, thrusters along the bottom of the ship were now firing straight into the water of the bay as the ship glided above, creating a massive trail of steam behind the ship, until just a second before the ship made contact with the water’s surface they shut off.

Large waves billowed out from the ship in every direction as the roughly 1,600 tons of ship settled onto the water and came to a stop. Steam billowed out of the bay all around the ship as well as off many surfaces of the ship that water had splashed over. Water rushed up the beach towards the building, flooding three quarters of the beach area in steaming water.

The main thrusters of the ship flared up slightly along with some side thrusters as the ship moved into position, creating even more clouds of steam until the ship could barely be seen through it all.

From the building a retractable corridor began extending out towards the ship. Three men outfit in protective jumpsuits ran out alongside the corridor through the steam to the dock where the ship had lined up an external door. They hurriedly attached the corridor to the airlock and verified that it was secure.

“WVC-01, thermal corridor in-place, safe to alight passengers,” spoke the comms controller into his microphone.

Roughly a minute later the external door of the Orca opened into the corridor, and first stepped out a man and woman. The former wearing a bright white suit with platinum linework throughout, which contrasted with his dark, wrinkled skin. Underneath a suit, a golden color shirt which matched his dyed yellow hair. The woman, wearing similar attire, but her hair instead dyed pink, complementing a light but rosy skin tone.

The former was Vice President of C.E.A Psychiatric Institutions Ltd., Rodolfo Moss, the latter, the Chief Compliance Officer Sariah Vincent. They were followed out of the ship by a small entourage of 10 others, bedecked in various Imperial style business clothing.

As the group made their way towards the building, Amaleigh stepped out of the comms room and into the rear lobby of the hospital and opened the sliding doors on her side of the hospital for the guests.

As the hospital’s rear lobby is was fairly small but furnished with marble floors and gold accenting throughout.

“Welcome to the Wylair Verdure Center!” greeted Amaleigh as the guests entered the lobby.

“Well met Miss Wessex, I presume Patron Wylair is ready?” inquired Rodolfo.

“She is, if you would kindly follow,” she replied.

Rodolfo turned towards the guests, “It has been a pleasure meeting you all, I must attend to matters in my office, however Majordomo Wessex here shall lead on to your meeting with Patron Kezika Wylair.”

Rodlofo bowed towards the guests and then after a nod and quick motion towards Amaleigh he proceeded down one of the hallways.

“Right this way,” stated Amaleigh as she began walking towards an elevator along the back wall, which automatically opened at their approach. Everyone stepped inside and Amaleigh pressed the button for the top floor.

The elevator rose for a moment before the doors slid open once again, this time opening into a room, with double doors on each of the walls, the ones directly in front of the elevator though the most ornate and largest. Amaleigh grabbed the handle of those and opened them, both sides opening in perfect sync by design. She remained holding the door, allowing the guests and Sariah to walk in to the conference room.

Kezika turned to face the group, “Salutations inspectors! Shall I presume you enjoyed Rodolfo’s tour of the mobile ward then?”

“It is a unique idea so far, however it is sound for your intended use as far as we see,” chimed in one of the inspectors, Korine.

“Presents a unique opportunity for longer term patients to reduce confinement induced irritability,” added in Niamh, the inspector standing next to Korine.

“Any question before we proceed on our tour then?” asked Kezika of the group.

“Just one,” replied a man named Vincent, “Your brief said your facility takes patients from other star systems as well, how are they received to this location for assessment?”

“There are multiple options. Most interstellar patients will be assessed in their own system and referred to here. However, there is also the option of assessment at our single-ward facility in Alfven Orbital which has already been inspected and approved, which will act as a waiting unit for patients awaiting transfer to here. The Beluga you just toured will perform transfers, as well as an atmospheric flight equipped Orca we have as well.” replied Kezika.

“This all sounds terribly expensive to health insurance payors; how can you be certain that such costs will be covered for your patients and they won’t be saddled with the bill?” Vincent followed up with.

“Glad you asked that, we do not charge patients for any transportation or other incidental costs to a patient’s treatment. My Imperial Office of Patronage already has an established charity fund for those under my representation that pays for any extraneous healthcare costs. I have authorized for it to also extend to transportation and other incidental fees of all patients of any of our facilities; that is regardless of any political affiliations or needs based judgements, all patients get that benefit,” Kezika explained.

Vincent nodded and typed something into a notepad quickly, “Well I believe we are ready to proceed to see the wards here then.”

“Right this way then,” Kezika motioned as she headed through a door concealed into the rear wall of the conference room that opened as she approached.

“These here are our administrative corridors. Any ward can be accessed through them, for quick security response if the need arises,” she explained quickly as she pressed a button on the wall next to a pair of elevator doors, “This one will lead to Alpha ward, one of our general-purpose wards.”

The doors immediately slid open and everyone stepped inside and pressed another button inside.

“Each elevator here is for a specific ward. All are secured with identity chips, right now it works because I am in here, as well as Sariah. If we were not here however, the elevator would not operate, their entrances on the wards themselves are also concealed for additional security through obscurity.”

The elevator gracefully came to a stop and the doors slid open, but only to a wall with a big letter A painted on it, as well as a small scanner device and a display showing a camera feed of a hallway

“Here, staff or security using this elevator would be able to verify that there are not any patients waiting to try and sneak in. Normally, patients would not even know of the existence of this elevator, but it is an extra precaution with flight risk patients,” Kezika said just before waving her wrist in front of the scanner which responded with a cheery beep.

The panel slid away and then to the side to reveal the hallway displayed previously on the camera feed. At a large window on one end of the hall sat a few leather upholstered recliners set to look out the large window. In the other direction the hall stretched towards a lobby, lined with doors on each side. A muted minty shade of green adorned the walls, with a gradient down to a more vibrant green carpet. Light from the sunset out the window splayed along them in complement to the green.

Each door of the hallway made of a light stained cherry wood, with a reflective silver-plated handle. Kezika walked over to the first one and opened it wide, allowing her entourage to enter. The walls of the room were painted in a very light gray tone. For the first three meters the floor was a matching wood to the door along a thinner corridor before the room widened. In the main section was black carpet with a swirly artwork made of a slightly reflective silver color throughout.

Kezika reached out to a screen panel next to the door which turned on and displayed a square color spectrum on it. She moved her fingers along, and the lighting in the room responded in turn, brightening into a pure white light, and then shifting over to a slight pink tone. She then pressed the screen once again, and after another finger swipe, accent lighting came on from underneath a desk situated in the far corner of the room, and cycled through some colors before Kezika settled it on a complementary green to the pink lighting.

“Each patient room is equipped with full spectrum programmable lighting so that they can always have the lighting they desire most. There are also some presets, including one which will copy the current exterior lighting of our sunset into their room,” explained Wylair as she switched the lighting over to the sunset mode.

Kezika then stepped over to the bed that sat along the left wall of the room in the main section, opposite of a large bookshelf built into the wall, “Each bed we have ordered from the same manufacturer that supplies the Senatorial Hotel on Capitol. For most of our patients they will be even more comfortable and plush than their own bed at home.”

“Each room also has their own private restroom built into it as well,” Kezika stated while motioning towards the door along the right side of the room’s entry corridor.

The restroom floor changed over from wood to a glass tile with a silver foil underlay. The door entered at one corner of the bathroom, a large walk-in bathtub and shower unit of at least a meter in both width and length dominated the opposite corner. One the right hand from the door, next to the bathtub sat a subtle grey marble counter with an inlaid sink, with the toilet in the remaining corner.

After detailing some features of the bathtub as well as the heated floor of the bathroom Kezika led the entourage back to the hallway and proceeded towards the main commons space of the ward. After the last door on the left side of the hall, a large glass window revealed a verdant garden of plants with sitting benches. Kezika made a quick stop here.

“Each ward has a small garden accessible to the patients for their leisure and relaxation. Plants have been selected to be as hypoallergenic as possible. In the event of patient with an allergy to one of the plants, there is at least two ward gardens that will not have that particular species of plant. In this way all patients will have the ability to use a garden without irritation,” Kezika explained.

Moving past the windows of the garden and the last patient room on the right-hand side of the hallway, the ward widened into a commons space. Most of the walls in this area were painted in a subtle mint tone. Various skylights brought in natural lighting. Along the main path the floor was a continuation of the darker green carpeting. Within some nooks offset on the sides the carpeting gave way to dark stained cherrywood.

On the right-hand side was a sitting area in a large nook, bedecked with multiple leather sofas, as well as a pair of hammocks against opposite walls. The far wall was made in two layers, the first a transparent wall with a small airgap between it and the rear wall. Inside the airgap a large television was mounted.

On the left-hand side was a window cut out in the wall with a room on the other side. The wall the window was cut from was paneled in a dark stained wood. Mounted on the panels was a giant linework flower made of rose gold. This was the nurse’s station for the ward. Just past the window cut out was a small indentation with a few tap dispensers for tea and coffee on a counter as well. Underneath both counters shone accent lighting brought in via fiber optics from the natural outdoor lighting.

Further along the left wall past the nurse’s station was another smaller nook with a couple cherrywood tables set in as a dining area. Past both nooks on opposing walls were a pair of conference rooms. A quick peek inside would reveal they were decorated in a similar manner to the patient bedrooms.

Eventually the entourage reached the far end of the corridor, which widened again into a glass enclosed sitting area, a garden sat outside the glass on the left-hand side, and a view of the bay was seen on the right-hand side.

“Well that is our Alpha Ward, all the wards are outfitted identically, with the exception of the crisis intervention unit, which you already saw before your tour of the mobile ward,” Kezika stated.

Niamh stepped forward from the group of inspectors, “Your brief mentions a Cosmopsychosis Specialty Ward, what differs there exactly?”

“Outfitting is also identical, the main difference is that it is not a locked unit, and is staffed by psychiatrists specializing in cosmopsychosis,” Kezika responded, “It operates in a middle ground between a regular inpatient and a partial ward. Patients attend therapy throughout the afternoon. The rest of the hours of the day they are free to come and go, and local patients can even elect to spend their nights at home. This is of course as long as they are not displaying symptoms or other disorders requiring a more acute level of care,” Kezika explained.

“Well, unless any of my other inspectors have any questions or concerns, I feel this facility complies with all the regulations and standards,’ Niamh said, pausing to give the others a chance to speak.

After a moment of silence from the group of inspectors she spoke again, “In that case we shall authorize this hospital to open for business.”

Niamh pulled out a small plaque and inserted a small key into it before handing it over to Kezika, “That will serve as your proof of authorization in the meantime until officially on file at the head office in Achenar.”

“Most thanks inspector,” replied Kezika while taking the plaque, “If you need anything more Sariah here can continue to tour or back to the ship, I must make the final preparations for grand opening.”

“May luck be with you on this endeavor!” chirped Niamh.

After a quick handshake between the two Kezika began walking back down the corridor of the ward towards the elevator, Amaleigh followed closely behind.

“Please inform Prisma Rehabilitation that we are prepared to proceed with the patient transfers now,” instructed Kezika to Amaleigh.

Client Kezika Wylair walked quickly across the landing pad towards a ship, dressed in a long black gown featuring bright platinum filigree touches throughout. From her right shoulder to left hip she wore a sash of interleaved platinum, and gold inverted chevrons in a black border, denoting her as an Imperial Client of the Keltim system. On the sash was a particularly Thargoid-shaped platinum, diamond, and painite jeweled brooch with a single void opal in the center.  Her butler Amaleigh following shortly behind, carrying a pair of suitcases and dressed in a more subtle tuxedo style outfit of black with platinum buttons and chains.

It wasn't her own ship this time around, but the Spasmatasm, a Krait Mk II of one of her Simbad Regime associates, one CMDR Scrabbles. It was engineered for anti-xeno combat. While Kezika has her own anti-xeno fighter, the Ripley, it was currently docked at a station in the Witch Head Nebula, and this contract from Hodack's administrators required a quicker turnaround.

The missions was to fly out to Penal Colony BV-2259 on HIP 16217 AB 1 A and exterminate a Thargoid Interceptor that was sticking around the site. This was Hodack's prison facility serving the Pleiades systems. That was until it came under attack by a Thargoid shortly after their appearances became more commonplace. Now that the Thargoids have been mostly beaten back after the campaign in the Witch Head Nebula, it seemed a fit time to reclaim it. So for that, they turned to CMDR Kezika, one of their frequent contractors that also had some anti-xeno experience.

The two waited at the bottom of the stairlift as CMDR Scrabbles came down the lift.

"Hey Kez, found a pilot to bring along as well I see?" inquired Scrabbles.

Kezika was confused for a moment, then realized what he meant, "No, this is my butler Amaleigh."

Scrabbles cocked his head slightly, "Why would you bring a butler on a mission to kill a literal alien warship?"

Kezika blinked twice and replied, "You don't?"

"Uh.…well, step aboard," diffused Scrabbles as he stepped back onto the lift platform and motioned for Kezika to join him.

Upon ascension into the ship's antechamber, Scrabbles went through the door into the bridge, while Kezika and Amaleigh ducked into the door designated the crew quarters.

"Well he's certainly not the biggest on ornamentation it seems," Kezika stated looking around the sterile environs of the quarters, to which Amaleigh simply nodded in response.

Amaleigh quickly secured the luggage in provided compartments and began buckling into the seat next to the one Kezika was already strapping herself into.

Kezika activated a commlink and spoke into it, "Secure for takeoff Scrabs!"

Shortly thereafter the sensation of the landing pad lowering and rotating to launch position could be felt, and then the low rumble of the engines through the spaceframe as the ship made its way out of the station and to the first frame shift.

Once in frame shift travel, Kezika and Amaleigh activated their mag-boots and got up from the chairs to attend to other business and tasks. Kezika heading over to a mirror to apply makeup, and Amaleigh working on a computer with financial files for the Wylair Estate. Many witchspace jumps passed and only minor inertial fluctuations during ship rotations and refuelings, rarely more than a quarter G worth of force due to the nature of supercruise.

Finally the commlink to the crew quarters crackled on, "Making final approach to AB 1, prepare for glide."

Kezika and Amaleigh quickly made their way over to the secure chairs and strapped in, shortly thereafter the gravity increasing and more pitching motions inducing as the Spasmatasm moved out from supercruise and into superglide, and then finally returning to regular flight profile a few kilometers above the pinkish beige surface of planet AB 1.

"On my way to bridge," Kezika stated over the comms as the ship began to nose down, the ever so slight 0.05Gs of gravity shifting towards the forward walls. For all intents and purposes, it might as well still be 0G. Kezika pushed herself slightly towards the door as she deactivated her mag-boots, allowing her to float down to it and then through it and over to the bridge door in the antechamber.

Quickly scanning her palm on a panel, the bridge door opened and Kezika made her way through the cabin down over next to where Scrabbles was already seated in the CMDR's seat. Her appearance however had changed since Scrabbles last saw her on the loading dock in Bamford. She had taken the time on the trip over to apply green lipstick and green tinted eyeshadow. She was also no longer in the outfit she boarded with, but just a green Remlok suit and a green vest on top.

Scrabbles turned to acknowledge Kezika's presence, but made pause at the surprise appearance change.

"Green makeup…?" sputtered Scrabbles

"One must always dress for the occasion!" Kezika cheerily replied.

"Whatever you say Kez… Ah, there it is! Straight ahead, looks like a lone Cyclops interceptor to deal with." Scrabbles stated.

"I'll hop onto fighter control then!" chirped Kezika

Scrabbles made sure to ask, "Are you familiar with the Guardian ones?"

"With a Lance," Kezika added in.

"Good, there is also a Javelin bay as well." noted Scrabbles quickly.

Kezika maneuvered herself back and then over a console into the starboard crew area. She worked her way into the seat and strapped herself in. Once strapped in, she pressed a button on the armrest, prompting the standard Pilot's Federation HOTAS controls to extend.

Upon a second press of the button, the throttle on the left armrest slide over to be replaced by a joystick. Kezika firmly grasped the joysticks and made a few flicks on the hat of the right-hand stick followed by a trigger pull.

"Fighter deployment sequence initiated," blurted the COVAS, as the helmet portion of Kezika's Remlok suit slid over her head and became opaque.

Mechanical sounds echoed through the hull, and shortly after an XG-9 Lance shot forward from the ship at a frightening speed. Kezika's hands moved the sticks around and the fighter would respond in turn. Her helmet and controls linked with the fighter to allow for safe remote control as if she was aboard it herself.

Trails of Guardian shards shot past the fighter, barely missing it and striking against the Thargoid Interceptor below. The battle was now underway.

Kezika in turn fired the gauss cannons of the fighter at the Thargoid, which was not turning to face the pair of human vessels. The telltale red of the Thargoid's weaponry flying back towards the Krait. The purple hued electricity of the Krait's shielding crackling around the projectile in an attempt to destroy it and render it harmless.

After a few more shots from Scrabbles and Kezika, some lights flared up on the Cyclops and one of the petals began heating up until it was glowing red. The next few shots of the pair struck specifically at that petal. Four shots to the petal and a crackle of energy from inside ripped it apart from the base of the Interceptor as it spiraled away in the low gravity.

"Okay! One heart down, now into the canyon while the shield fades!" commanded Scrabbles as he banked the Krait towards a nearby canyon.

Kezika's fighter currently higher above dove down to follow after the Krai. She observed from above as the Krait entered the canyon, with the Thargoid chasing, but staying just above the rim of the canyon.

After a few moments of rock walls screaming past, the Krait reached the far end of the canyon and began banking around a mesa formation to another canyon.

The Lance was rapidly catching up to the chase from above. Scrabbles rounded a corner in the Krait and flew up to get above the mesa formation. Meanwhile Kezika came up the canyon behind the Interceptor before it rounded that corner itself. She flipped off the flight assist and then yawed the fighter around, timing a gauss cannon shot to strike it just before firing the fighter's boost around the corner and following the Krait up to above the mesa.

The Thargoid joined a moment later to be greeted by yet more rounds from the Krait and Lance. Another petal began to glow red with heat again after these strikes. It immediately began a rapid vertical climb at this point, but a few additional salvos of shards and projectiles and this petal too explosively detached from the Interceptor's hull. In response it began firing at the Krait. Scrabbles pitched down and began flying back towards the surface where the prison colony sat. The Interceptor as hoped followed in pursuit.

Once back within a few kilometers of the surface, Kezika flipped the fighter into a reverse flying maneuver followed by a boost to get herself positioned behind and above the Interceptor in the pursuit. She followed, firing shots at the Interceptor as it barely cleared the top of a mesa formation and then began flying vertically again, disregarding the human ships.

Kezika and Scrabbles followed in pursuit as well, managing to trigger another heart into operation during the climb with a few salvos. They were able to destroy it as well, however by the time they had they were now about twelve kilometers above the surface.

In response to the destruction of this third petal, the Interceptor began spewing a cloud of green gas from its underside, followed by a pair of missiles intended for each of the human ships. Kezika attempted to turn the fighter to evade, but there wasn't enough time as the missile hit the fighter mid-pitch, instantly destroying it.

Back on the bridge of the Spasmatasm, Kezika's Remlok helmet retracted back into her suit. Kezika began navigating the menu to deploy the other fighter, however she was interrupted by the ship shutting down in response to the pulse released by the Cyclops.

"Fuck!' exclaimed Kezika, as she tossed her drink canister across the cabin, leaving it floating around randomly after hitting the opposing wall of the bridge.

Once the power was restored Kezika quickly deployed the other fighter on the ship a Javelin. Her Remlok helmet once again closing to act as a display for the telepresence link to the fighter.

The Interceptor continued climbing vertically at a relentless pace. The Krait and Javelin barely able to keep up with it as it climbed, The Pleiades and Barnard's Loop punctuating the sky they flew towards. Both kept firing shots at the Interceptor, at one point even getting one of the petals to glow red yet again. However, they were unable to land enough shots specifically on that petal to destroy it, and it stopped glowing once more.

Kezika then boosted the fighter enough to be able to get just above the Interceptor and fly her fighter in reverse, allowing her to fire salvo after salvo of shards into the back of the Interceptor. This once again caused the petal to begin glowing red again.

Scrabbles and Kezika fired as many salvos as they could at the Interceptor, however the petal remained firmly intact. Kezika once again boosted the Javelin to above the Interceptor to attempt to get closer and more accurate shots. The Interceptor though responded this time, releasing its Thargon Swarm, which immediately opened fire on the fighter, destroying it.

This time however, Kezika was able to immediately launch a fighter, again a Lance this time as the fighter bay had finished constructing one after the last one's destruction. Disoriented though upon launch Kezika was unable to visually acquire the Interceptor and was unsure to where it went, and it was for whatever reason it was not appearing on the Lance's sensors.

"Where's the Goid?" shouted Kezika as she flew the fighter to get in flying position directly behind the Spasmatasm.

"Still backpedaling!" responded Scrabbles.

Kezika continued to follow the Spasmatasm vertically, barely surviving flying through the cloud of Thargons that fired upon her immediately after Scrabbles flew the Krait through the swarm.

A few seconds later Kezika spotted a dark circle moving upon the azura clouds of the Pleiades and realized it was the Thargoid Interceptor about 8 kilometers above them. She hastened the ascent with more boost from the fighter.

At seven kilometers out the Interceptor reappeared on her sensors once again and she was able to target it. Once in range she was able to fire a few shots onto the Thargoid, causing the petal to detonate just before the Thargon swarm caught up and destroyed the fighter yet again.

Kezika launched the Javelin fighter for now a second time. Quickly she spun the fighter around and boosted towards the Interceptor, with the Thargon swarm firing at her from behind.

She made enough distance from the swarm that most of their shots were missing. Meanwhile she fired multiple salvos into the Interceptor along with Scrabbles until finally explosions of caustic gases spewed forth from the hull in various locations, indicating that the hull had finally been breached enough to cause explosive decompression.

Scrabbles banked the Krait away from the explosion and ensuing cloud of corrosive substances. Kezika followed suit in the fighter, issuing the docking command to the ship to have it lower the docking apparatus.

Once the fighter had successfully been docked back in the hold of the ship Kezika's Remlok helmet retracted once again. The ship holding in the sky above the planet at a right angle to the ground, which splayed out portside of the ship.

"Holy fuck, finally!" exclaimed Scrabbles.

"Whoo.…that was… different," replied Kezika, referring to the unusual tactics utilized by that Interceptor.

She had only fought Thargoid Interceptors before further out in space away from planets. Indeed her only other experience with Thargoids near a planet's surface was in Maia, shortly after Professor Palin was forced to evacuate his base there, however those were of the Scout variety rather than an Interceptor.

The doors at the back of the bridge opened up and Amaleigh calmly walked in, attached to the flooring by her mag-boots. She walked over to Scrabble's left first and presented a crystal lowball glass.

"Gin sir, Anlian?" inquired Amaleigh, slightly startling Scrabbles who had henceforth been unaware of her presence.

"Oh! Uh… yes that should be fine," Scrabbles replied after a moment of mental calculation.

Amaleigh very delicately poured the dark purple gin into the glass which she had angled into the gravity. She made it look easy, but in 0.05G required a very gentle pour. She then slowly raised the glass up and handed it over to Scrabbles before proceeding over to Kezika and automatically poured her a glass as well and handed it over.

"Thank you Amaleigh," replied Kezika, to which Amaleigh bowed in response and made her way back to the crew quarters.

“Hmmm, well I suppose that’s a nice perk of an onboard butler.” noted Scrabbles.

Client Kezika Wylair reclined back in one of the plush recliners in the Perihelion Parlour overlooking the docking bay of Bamford City, a crystal flute of Anlian Gin in her right hand.

The panoramic ALON windows where she sat in the inner lounge offering a view of the docking bay from the edge of the "mailslot." She was watching with anticipation for her business contact to arrive, while ocassionally glancing over to her Lakon Type-10 on the far side of the bay.

She had hired the services of Jet Transport Ltd., a specialized bespoke coachbuilder from the HIP 19767 system. Well known through the area especially for their plush mattresses and sofas. However, Kezika desired those attributes for a different use.

Roughly an hour went by before she saw what she waited for, a Fer-de-Lance bearing the Jet Transport logo. She quickly made note of the assigned landing pad and made her way out of the lounge and to the nearby lift hub. From there she took a ring lift over to the correct side, and then from there grabbed one of the bay taxis out to the corresponding landing pad where her contact, was already waiting.

"Greetings, I'm Christopher Sutherland, would you care to see any of the model cabins on the Fer-de-Lance ma'am?" he inquired.

"Oh, no need, I have some specifics in mind, hop in if you will, I can explain better there," Kezika replied

Christopher joined her in the taxi, and Kezika entered the pad # assigned to Warden Amala, her Lakon Type-10. Being only two pads over it only took about a minute.

Kezika and Christopher stepped out onto the large landing pad and started making their way across and under the ship to the entry airlock, with some idle discussion of the project deadline, etcetera.

Once inside the ship, Kezika led Christopher down a level and into one of the installed prefabricated economy class passenger cabins. Not much more than some beds in cavities in the wall meant to be able to fit the most people in the space as possible.

Confusedly Christopher piped up, "This is an economy class ma'am, you want us to make this bespoke?"

"Oh, yes, I have heard your company has quite a reputation in plush accoutrements, and I have ideas to curb a problem of one of my clients if you will. We routinely have some g-force related injuries that costs them money upon delivery…" replied Kezika.

"Oh, you Imperials and your indentured servitude…" mumbled Christopher.

"Oh heavens no, even they don't get such base accommodations as these. The passengers here are more criminal in nature, my client is Hodack." explained Kezika, to which Christopher just stared blankly.

With a sigh, Kezika continued "Padded cells, I need padded cells, secure ones… Also a small guard office in each economy cabin, you may rip out two columns of the prefab beds for that."

"I see, how will that alleviate the injuries you mentioned though?" Christopher inquired.

"Rescues are often attempted on my passengers, the resulting combat can throw them around a bit, and the current shackle and belt system still will leave some bruising at times, and in severe enough circumstances minor internal injuries."

"However, with adequate soft padding on each surface of the chamber and a secure door, the passengers can be secured without the need of shackles and can float, secured using a restraint jacket of antique Earth design, and protected from impact by the cushioning itself." Kezika finished.

"A bit different from our normal builds, but should be feasible enough. If you bring the ship to Tarski Relay and give us a week we should be able to complete all of your cabins. 2 million credits should be sufficient for this.

"Would it be possible to get that completed in two days actually, multiple teams or such, with adequate compensation of course…" Kezika inquired.

"Yes, that can be done, we would just have to have one team per cabin however, which would make the price 1 million credits administration fee and then an additional 1 million credits per cabin." replied Chris after a moment of thought.

"You have a deal then, my steward Lupita here will follow you back to HIP 19767 with the ship and be your point of contact regarding any progress with it." Kezika said, "Allow me to take you back over to your ship then, is a pleasure doing business."

Just as I was saying! Working on stuff in Witch's Head was just going to provoke them further after they began to leave us alone! Thusly why I refused to participate in the construction efforts.

But here we are... attacking targets in the Pleiades, highly admired engineers being evacuated from their bases.

Well, suppose the damage is already done, time to requisition an interstellar transfer of my anti-xeno ship Ripley. I'd normally say 'They want a fight? We'll give them one!' but not the most apropos is it? Seeing as we were the ones asking for a fight, encroaching yet more of their resources.

Either way, humanity shall defend itself!

The timing of Aegis' call for exploration data could not have been better. As fate would have it my To Do list had me needing to perform a test flight of the early legs of my expedition coming up in January 3306. In addition to that I also was to set out and participate in the Apollo 11 anniversary expedition. These combined would give plenty of exploration data for Aegis to sift through.

Upon my return however I jumped into the Delphi system to a message from a pirate organization calling themselves "The Code" that they were blockading the system and access to The Oracle spaceport. Their reasoning unclear, but they were well equipped and were interdicting and destroying any vessels attempting to leave orbit of the system's primary star.

Only a slight delay for me however with Ruby of Eventide at my disposal, which I'd been meaning to test for just such a situation like this. I sent comms to my estate manager in Keltim and requested him get it transferred for me to Ceres Tarn in HR 1185.I waited there in one of the high end lounges for the carrier to arrive a few hours later. It appeared I was not the only one with similar idea, as shortly after I received the notification that the carrier was in orbit and beginning ship dockings not only did I see my Imperial Eagle being flown down, but it was accompanied by a small handful of other vessels as well.

I made my way down to docking bay 8 and boarded Ruby Of Eventide, instructing my ship steward slave to wait for me at Ceres due to Ruby of Eventide only being equipped with one escape pod in the event of my plan failing. I then departed and made the jump to Delphi, with the assistance of some FSD Injection since Ruby of Eventide isn't really meant for jumping between systems on its own normally.

As I jumped in I yet again received the warning that the system was under blockade, but this time I ignored it and moved on. As expected one of the blockading ships broke their formation in pursuit of me. I made it look like I didn't want interdicted and gave him a little challenge by flying in differing angles towards The Oracle. Once close enough to The Oracle that I would need to begin slowing down I began flying straight so that they could interdict me.

My COVAS blared out a warning about the interdiction as expected, and I zeroed my throttle to submit to the interdiction. The cyan glow of the supercruise bubble faded away and my thrusters flared up in the return to the normal reference frame, and I immediately punched the boost button and prepared for the pain that followed from the sheer g-forces.

600.…700.…750 m/s, distributor ready again and another loud roar as I hit the booster 750… 800… 900… 920… I see the pirate's blip on radar zooming away behind me. A few seconds later the radar indicated they fired a missile in my direction. Contacts identified it as an FSD Disruptor missile. It too though was getting further away. Those fly at 750 m/s which is fast, but… not fast enough for Ruby of Eventide.

Charged my FSD and jumped back into supercruise and shortly thereafter was docked with The Oracle and turned in my accumulated exploration data.

While I was lounging in the VIP area of Zende's megaship The Conduit awaiting it's jump, a curious GalNet article came across the news feed. It was a statement from Aegis Research that the Thargoid Barnacles in The Pleiades have slowed production dramatically, and request exploration data to find new sites.

Perhaps after sourcing the Guardian commodities I require for my upgrade to Asura Gate I shall head over that way and lend my services to the cause, for a price of course...

I have officially announced my Celebration of Early Astronomy expedition at the following location! : https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/celebration-of-early-astronomy-expedition.515062/

Celebration of Early Astronomy -- Departing January 3, 2020 through march 20, 2020

"The early 2000s, they were often the speculative setting of early science fiction works. Early imaginings of interstellar travel, first contact with aliens, apocalypses, you name it, there was probably a movie or book set in the early 21st century of it. While humanity may not have invented interstellar travel by 2020 as many novels and films purported, they still discovered plenty of gems of our galaxy by then.

Lucky for us in 3305 we do have interstellar travel and can visit these gems that humans on Earth in the early 21st century could only dream of visiting. So that is just what we will be setting out to do. This expedition will visit many of the noteworthy celestial objects discovered by the early 21st century, some of which even still are considered noteworthy even today in 3305.

We will be setting off from the Simbad's Refuge station in Nu Tauri. Named after the SIMBAD star catalogue used in the late 20th and early 21st century, located in the Nu Tauri system of the Taurus constellation."

• CMDR Kezika​

Well, Skye Mueller provided enough work for me to pay off her debts. She learned combat piloting experience through her services to me as a Ship's Steward.

She had stayed on with me for a few weeks after her Imperial Slave contract was completed and returned to her status as an Imperial Citizen, earning a couple million from me in wages. She bought herself a nice Gutamaya Courier with those wages and has set out on her own career as an independent pilot. o7 Skye, you will be missed, stay safe out there!

So after we said our goodbyes I revisited Keltim and browsed through the dossiers of available Imperial Slave contracts, and found a Lupita Hendrix. She used to pilot luxury cruise Clippers in Achenar, but got in a little over her head in credit with a Client and in need to repay that.