Chapter 1

[Five years later]
Near the second moon of Artema three
Timestamp: 7 / 4 / 2296 16:00 hours Sol standard time

Jack piloted a large winged, grey spacecraft through the void, approaching a pink and orange moon. He let out a yawn as he sat back and relaxed, listening to Artema Regional Broadcasting Channel, playing a slew of recent hit songs while the autopilot guided his craft towards its intended rendezvous. A sudden ping on his commpad brought his attention to the screen.

“Are you here yet?” A text came through with the nickname ‘Sprocket’.

“Not yet sweetie.” Jack sent back.

“Jaaackkkk!!! Noooooooo!!! You are late. Please get here soon.”

“Almost there, Kaz.” Jack smiled.

“Ok. Please hurry. Missed you soooo much!!!”

“Missed you most.” Jack sent back.

A slew of silly emotes came back and he chuckled, hearing his laughter echo through his helmet.

“Oh no...” He sent back.

“What? :0.” Kaz questioned.

“I forgot some things. :(.”

“WHAT!!!!!!!” Kaz replied.

“Uh oh. Have to go back. :/.” Jack messaged back.

“NOOOOOOO!!!”

“Sorry. :p.”

“Jack...”

“Only kidding, kiddo.”

“... <(;-;)>”

He saw the sad expression Kaz used and felt regret.

“Sorry Kazzie. Got something for you. Please forgive.”

“Ok, I forgive you. You got something for me?”

“Yeah.”

“Makika ver um fer sala!!!”

“¯(ツ)/¯” Jack sent back.

“Um, sorry. Pad changed to Vandean.”

“Oh, well, that’s unforgiveable. But I will forgive you. Cause you’re you.” Jack smiled.

“I am me?”

“Yeah.”

“Then who are you?” Kaz asked.

“Who is anybody?” Jack sent back, grinning.

“I do not know, but you have a present for me? ^(‘u’)^.”

“Yeah, but not everybody, so keep it a secret.”

“Okie. I have a present for you too.”

“Oh?” Jack was surprised.

“Yes.”

“^(‘u’) ^.” He sent her happy face back to her.

“Haha.” She sent him back a gif of someone about to open a present, then another person suddenly emerging from the present in a jump scare.

“Ok sweetie, almost there. Let me get through docking and orientation from the Cap. I’ll text you when I’m done.”

“Yayyyy!!!” Kaz replied.

Jack saw the outline of the ship he was meant to dock with, growing against the backdrop of the frozen moon. It was a Terran warship, decommissioned and repurposed by his employer for far more mundane security tasks. It was not a particularly pretty or elegant ship compared to modern Terran spacefaring vessels, but it held a rugged beauty that a few would likely appreciate. Off the prow of the ship, jutting out like several lances of differing lengths, sat the sensor array, Ewar and comms antennae as well as the radar and lidar spools. The ship grew taller behind the prow section where the bridge, operations center, living quarters and forward storage were located. Two square modular pods sat along the spine of the ship, containing missile cells that could house a variety of munitions for the task of hunting criminally operated drones engaged in piracy. Traditionally the ship was a 2-0-1, however modifications to the keel, replaced the pod location to accommodate a small hangar to which Jack was now on approach.

Captain Lucinia Scaro leaned against the edge of a large viewing port, staring in deep observation through a two-foot-thick slab of glass at the moon, just barely visible below her ship. Weary jade eyes watched patiently as a flash of light from deep within the atmosphere caught her attention. She pushed away from the wall when she noticed the starfighter on approach and smiled. As the fighter began its docking procedures, she ran her fingers through her hair a couple of times in anticipation.

She headed down to the hangar deck and waited in the crew entrance, watching on a large viewscreen as the starfighter came to rest on its landing gear and rolled forward of the dual doors comprising the hangar airlock. The large, armored outer door slid back into place, then the inner door slid into place, making an airtight seal as the hangar re-pressurized. After a few minutes of waiting, a green light illuminated over the crew entrance to the hangar, allowing Lucinia access. As she entered, the canopy of the starfighter opened to reveal Jack in his void suit, waiting to exit the craft. She watched as he took his helmet off and brushed his short dark brown hair. His eyes met hers fondly as he set his helmet on the seat before stepping down the rungs on the Scapa’s fuselage. Thick grey boots clunked on the deck as he dropped down, casting her a generous smile.

“Lucy.” Jack greeted her warmly.

“Jack,” she said. “By the stars, I missed you.”

He quickly closed the gap between them, and they embraced. “I missed you every moment I was away.”

For a few moments they held their embrace in silence, allowing their physical connection to rekindle the flames of their long dormant passion.

“I was worried about you every day.” Lucinia whispered. “I know you needed time to take care of what was on your agenda. It’s why I kept the calls to a minimum.”

They held onto each other for a minute longer in silence before Lucinia spoke again.

“Are you ok? Did you get through what you needed to?”

“I did,” Jack nodded and gently broke their embrace by stepping back a pace. As he rested a hand on her shoulder, he gave her a reassuring smile. “It’s gonna be a rocky road at times, but I handled some of the worst of it.”

“Talk to me. Tell me about it.”

“It’s not really that easy, Lucy,” He shook his head. “Some of it, it’s the kinda thing you have a hard time talking about in general. Some of it, well, it was war and things were done. It, ah, it’s just, not easy to up and talk about. I would rather you and I look to our future.”

“Will you be ok?” She put her hands on his face to stop him when he tried to look away.

“I will.” He did not seem to be committed to that answer.

“You do not seem so.” She felt his hands cover her own, holding on gently.

“There’s some aftermath rolling around in the headspace.” He said quietly “Nothing I can’t handle though.”

“When people care about each other, that means sharing what’s in the headspace too.” Lucinia said. “You always hold that stuff in. I feel it’s because you think you need to, for the crew’s sake. For Kaz and Pri and all the others that look to you.”

“I understand, Lucy, I just...” He spoke softly. “Just give me some time ok. I don’t want to be thinking of that while trying to get reacquainted with everyone onboard. I’m beyond happy to be back, to the point I even feel that leaving may have been a mistake. It was needed though, badly needed.”

“Tell me true then, are you ok for duty aboard the ship?”

“I am.” He nodded. “I’m back now with my better half, speaking of, where is she?” He joked.

“Ugh, I see your humor has not suffered any.” Lucinia smiled. “Kazlaena’s been asking non-stop for days about when you are going to be back.”

“Heh,” Jack grinned. “Was it, uh...”

“Running up and down the halls, asking every morning and evening. She is already super active. Imagine all the stored energy. I half expected her tail to propel her into the air.”

“Beautiful...” Jack grinned. “I can put all that energy to good use, I reckon. First candidate for Vandean airborne regimental training, hoo-rah.” He humored.

“You plan to train one of the sweetest persons of one of the sweetest races to become one of the top soldiers of planetside armed forces?” Lucinia looked at him intently.

“Well,” Jack shrugged. “The tail would give her an edge, as you have said. Maybe it’d be tailborne forces?”

“Good grief. Back for less than five minutes and already at it.”

“Would you have it any other way?”

“All the stars could go out at the end of time, balanced on the edge of the universe, and I would still choose you as you are.”

“Holy stars and bright fucking moons, that’s kinda poetic,” Jack smiled.

Lucinia pulled him in and kissed him again. “My Coralane is worth a bit of poetry,”

“Oh? Just a bit?” He embraced her and rubbed her back.

“Eh,” Lucinia held her thumb and index finger about an inch apart.

“That much huh?” Jack slipped in and tickled her as best he could with his void suit mitts.

“Ach, you stink of fuel...”

“Yeah, spilled some on my legs, see, even kinda looks like a pee stain.”

“Is that legit or did you actually wee yourself?”

Jack bit his lips together.

“No comment huh?” Lucinia tried to stifle a grin.

“Long flight, forgot to wear a big boy diaper, you know, nowhere to pull over.”

“You are messing with me, right?”

“Am I?” Jack grinned a bit mischievously.

“Well, you are not sleeping with me until you straighten that out,” Lucinia raised a brow.

“It’s just fuel,” Jack assured her. “I’ll need to use the chemwasher on this.”

“Chemwasher is in maintenance. You will have to bear your wee stain for a bit. Just make sure you lock up your suit in one of the metal bins until you can clean it.”

“Will do,” Jack nodded “How’s everyone been?”

“I could tell you, but I know you’re going to meet them all shortly anyway,” Lucinia said. “So I will just let them answer for themselves.”

“Yeah, fair enough,” Jack said as he caught Lucinia looking over his ship.

“I noticed you came in on a different craft. Why the change from your Vitgar fighter?”

Jack gave his head a bit of a shake and let out a disappointed sigh. “Vitgar needs a lot of parts that are in some fuckin truck because of some backlog mess on some shithole in the middle of fuck knows where. Talked to the tech who usually services it, and he says like three months just to get the parts. I put it in lockup until I decide what to do with it.”

“Can you still fly security with...” She paused for a few moments and pointed at his starfighter “ ... whatever that ... is that a Scapa?”

“Yeah,” He laughed as he walked over to pat the ship. “Not the most ideal fighter for drone hunting. Like hitting a walnut with a sledgehammer, where the Vitgar is like a fine-tuned scalpel that could cut out a target with its advanced suite.’

“Scapa’s are old combat craft, correct?”

“Fairly old,” Jack looked the ship over briefly “Reliable, tough as nails, better powerplant and compressor capacity, atmospheric capable, and modular design for weapon ports, surveillance pods, scanners, probes, target designators and trackers...” He turned his head to face her “ ... it’s very capable, just not popular because of the much larger size and none of the dazzle of the newer generation craft. Also, not the most comfortable to fly, given the age.”