New Winds (#2)
02 Jun 2021Neon_nylon
He is falling. The darkness flows around him. He looks up. A light shines. White and glowing. Close but not close enough. He starts to hear. Beeping and murmuring. Writing and scribbling. A memory flashes. Screens and white coats. As fast as it arrived, it left. Replaced by pain. Immeasurable pain. He screams. Nobody hears.[Federal Holding Cell, Avicenna Station, Ao System]
The cell door slides open. A guard enters and sees Neon asleep on the floor. "Wake up, commander. Commander? Wake up!" The guard grabs Neon on the shoulder and shakes him lightly. Neon recoils into a corner. "LEAVE ME ALONE! Oh wait, it's a guard. Hello, mate. You gonna kill me now?" "No, sir." Sir? What's this change in tone? "What's goin on?", asks Neon. "You are free to leave, sir." "Free to go, you say? You're not gonna shoot me in the back as soon as i step out?" "No, sir." This is weird. But I'm not complainin! Time to scarper! "Well then, bye!" Neon rushes out the cell door and runs towards the exit. Not gonna waste any time here! Now, where's my ship?
[The dockyard, Avicenna Station, Ao System]
Neon wanders around the docks, hands in pockets, whistling an old lullaby. Pilots, mechanics and other personnel fill the dockyard, making it quite crowded. Neon still has no idea of the location of his ship and is just wandering about hoping to come across it eventually. Seems like the Nexus just disappeared. Also, I still don't get how I got out? One minute it's "Stun him!", the next minute it's "Yes, sir." Very weird.
Something buzzes in his pocket. It's his comm-link. Neon picks it up and presses the button to accept the call. "Hello?" "Greetings, Commander Neon.", a distorted voice answers. "Umm... How do you know my name? And who are you?" "Who I am is not important. And how I know you? Well, you've built quite the reputation in...let's say...certain circles." "That's all well and good. But what do you actually want?" "Well... You may have noticed how short your 'federal vacation' was." "Yes, I did indeed.", Neon answers, "I presume you might have had something to do with it?" "You presume correctly, commander. You see, i require someone with your set of skills and your discretion." "A job then." "Yes, a job. I don't want to spoil the fun now, but I'll give you more instructions when you are in your ship." "My ship? You know where it is?" "Yes, I asked for it to be retrieved. It's at Hanger 23. You might notice it looking a bit better than before. I let a few of my men clean it up. Consider the repairs a kind of down-payment." Guess i have no choice. Let's get this over with. "And the rest of the payment?" "You will be rewarded handsomely, commander. Is five million credits sufficient?" Sufficient? That's more than sufficient. I ain't sayin no to this! "All right. Let's get this done." "Very good, commander." The mysterious voice hangs up.
Neon heads in the direction of hanger 23. 19,20,21,22... 23! There it is! Hanger 23. Now, where the fuck is my ship? Neon enters the hanger and lo and behold! The Nexus. But she looks different. No scorch marks, no dents. And a new dazzling crimson red paintjob. "She- She's gorgeous!", Neon sputters in disbelief, "My oh my! They did take good care of ya, eh?" Neon delicately touches the hull. "I should treat ya better.. You've been with my through thick and thin, eh old girl? Been a better mother to me too. Not that I had any mum to start out with..."
Neon enters the ship and heads to the cockpit. He sits down in the pilot's seat and grips the controls. "Well, old girl. Time to get paid.", he says as he starts up the engines and prepares the launch sequence. The Nexus feels alive. Engines spooling up, screens lighting up and the HUD interface activating.