Chapter 5: Home Port
4th June UC 0351,
Mutual Colony Defence
Alliance battleship Victory,
Frontier I
The battered MCDA warships Victory and Brazen slowly cruised the length of the Frontier I space colony. The sun was to their rear and they were headed for the lumpy asteroid that had been grafted to the colony centuries ago. Originally the asteroid had been used as a mine during the construction of the Frontier Side. However when construction stopped after just four colonies were completed the asteroid was simply abandoned. Although a lot of the interior had been excavated it still contained a substantial amount of resources.
To Captain William Rawlings it was a very welcome sight. Frontier I was the home base of the Victory and the main headquarters of the MCDA. Hidden within the asteroid mine was a secret shipyard where the Victory class battleships were being built. Thanks to this it was also the best possible place for the Victory to be repaired. He was half dreading and half looking forward to getting back to base. The dread came from the fact that The Council would probably lecture him about the problems causes by his allowing a civilian to pilot and Raystrike Gundam; and by being found by the Imperial Fleet so easily. He suspected that The Admiralty would want to take away all the data records from the recent battle so that they could be analysed. This didn't bother William so much since he was good friends with Commodore Richard Lyle, the head of The Admiralty.
The hatch at the rear of the bridge slid open and moments later Jason Wright stepped through. The young scrap merchant come pilot kicked off the metal deck plates and floated over to Rawlings' raised command chair; where he steadied himself by grabbing the headrest.
"You wanted to see me Captain?" he asked in a rather sombre tone of voice. Everyone was still hurting from the loss of Harold Westings and it was affecting Jason deeply.
"Yes I wanted you to see this," said the captain as he pointed to Frontier I and its asteroid appendage.
"I've seen Frontier I before," said Jason offhandedly, "I was born there and I still live there you know."
"Of course but you haven't seen our Frontier I," replied Captain Rawlings.
"Surely you've heard of Liberty Harbour?" asked Commander Barther, who was seated in the second command chair going over some reports.
"I'm a scrap merchant," replied Jason tersely. "My attention is pretty much always focused on where I'll find a debris field. I don't have time to listen to every little rumour. Heck I'd never even heard of you lot before you came barging in on us. I had a good thing going on back at that asteroid before you came along and started a war there."
"Don't you care about what the Empire is doing to the Earth Sphere?" asked Rawlings. "They are oppressing people here in space and on the Earth; don't you want to help them?"
"The Empire doesn't bother me and I don't bother them. I understand their banks have a much better interest rate than the banks in the Frontier Side, so they can't be all that bad." replied Jason. "As long as the Frontier Side is safe and neutral territory I don't care what happens to anywhere else. All I care about is making sure Romana and Abby are safe and that we have enough money to put food on our plates."
"You have a very selfish outlook on our times Mr Wright," declared Commander Barther.
"Look I can't afford to be running around playing soldiers on some fancy battleship," replied Jason with considerable vigour. "I have a family to support, I have responsibilities."
Barther was about to reply but Rawlings interjected. "That's enough you two, we're about to enter port and I don't want any arguments right now."
Jason pushed off from Rawlings chair and moved closer to the large windows at the front of the bridge. He came to a stop near the helmsman's station, which was occupied by David Hayes. The helmsman, Hayes, was carefully lining up the Victory so that she'd be able to enter Liberty Harbour without incident.
Jason could see a narrow passageway cut into the rock of the asteroid. It looked like dozens of other furrows that had been dug into the asteroid over the centuries. However as they got closer a series of guide lights flickered into life. The passageway was so incredible tight that Jason thought they were going to plough right into the rock face on more than one occasion. He couldn't help but marvel at the level of skill Hayes was displaying.
"Captain the Brazen has entered the passageway behind us," reported a crewman from the back of the bridge.
"Very good, thank you," replied Rawlings. "I bet this is easier for them."
"Of course it is," said Jason. "That ship is tiny compared to this behemoth."
As the Victory rounded one last rock formation the passageway opened up into a huge cavern. Instantly Jason could see three large docks recessed into the far wall along with a few smaller ones off to the sides; two of the three large docks were occupied. To Jason they looked very similar to the Victory they had the same central isle bracketed with launch catapults. There was also the same sloped superstructure with the two massive tri-barrelled main guns leading up to the command tower.
"What are those?" asked Jason, he had inkling but wanted to know for sure.
"Our sisters," replied Rawlings as he got out of his command chair and floated over to Jason. "That's the Vanguard on the left and Agamemnon on the right. They aren't finished yet but it shouldn't be much more than a few weeks before they are ready."
"Victory, Vanguard and Agamemnon where did you get names like those from?" asked Jason, "They don't seem to fit together."
"They are named after the warships used by one of the greatest naval commanders my nation has ever produced," said Rawlings. He patted Jason on the back. "They will bring us luck." He kicked off the deck and floated back to his command chair. "Begin docking procedure."
"Yes sir," called out Hayes. The helmsman then started the difficult task of turning the Victory around by one hundred and eighty degrees so that the battleship could reverse into her docking back. Dozens of little manoeuvring thrusters fired on the port side of the bow and at the same time a similar set of thrusters fired on the starboard side of the engine block.
"Well I'll be getting off soon so I might as well go pack," said Jason. He turned away from the window and started to head towards the hatch at the rear of the bridge.
"I'm sorry Mr Wright but I can't let you off straight away," said Captain Rawlings. "Crewman Marsh will escort you back to your cabin." He gestured to the pasty-faced young crewman who'd been standing at the back of the bridge. "You've seen our secrets Mr Wright; I will have to consult with my superiors about what to do with you."
Jason starred daggers at Rawlings. "So this is how you're going to treat me? Even though I've saved your lives already? Don't you trust me?"
"I trust you Jason." replied Rawlings, "My superiors however do not. Please tolerate this it won't take long to sort out."
"Okay Rawlings, I'll play it your way for now."
"How long do you plan on keeping us here?" asked Romana Tyler. She was sat in the Victory's recreation room and was thoroughly displeased with the situation. In front of her were sat Kieron Hall and Max Clifford, who were engaged in a game of chess.
"How many times do I have to tell you?" asked Kieron, "We don't know, they never tell us anything."
Max dragged himself away from carefully planning his next move to add, "Just be grateful you're not confined to quarters, you get to spend more time with us."
"Yeah great I just love watching chess matches," she replied dryly, "It's my number two hobby, right after watching paint dry."
Kieron failed to contain a snort of laughter as she said that. "It's for your own safety. You know some of the MCDAs secrets and we know there are Empire spies in the Frontier Side. If they manage to get a hold of either your name or Jason's then you won't be safe at all."
"The Frontier Side is neutral territory, the Empire would never try anything," retorted Romana.
"Romana you're sitting in the flagship of an organisation sworn to tear down the Empire no matter what; which is parked in its base of operations in Frontier I," replied Kieron calmly, "The neutrality of the Frontier Side has been violated ever since the MCDA took up residency here."
"That doesn't matter," Romana rebuffed with a slight jerk of her head. "Their Emperor Leonas decreed the Frontier Side neutral territory. They aren't going to disobey orders from their Emperor."
"That may well be true," said Max after finally making his move on the chess board. To his horror Kieron instantly made his own move, taking one of Max's Bishops in the process. "However we never know when the Emperor will retract that decree, it could happen at any moment and then the Imperial Fleet will be on our doorstep in no time at all."
Romana stood up and stretched her arms while walking over to one of the drinks dispensers. She worked the controls to the dispenser with a few graceful hand movements and promptly her drink appeared in the opening. "Is it possible to make a call out to the colony?"
"Depends on what the call is about," replied Kieron automatically.
"I want to find out how Abby is doing," said Romana. "Jason and I normally send messages back every now and then but we missed the last one."
"I'm sure I can convince the Captain to let you," said Kieron. "I'll look into it."
---
Empire of Lambda Colonies Space
Forces patrol ship Pious,
On route to rendezvous point near
L1
Lieutenant Icarus Miarcaril breezed onto the bridge of the Pious with his usual foul temper in tow. He did not like being ordered about by the Special Operations Command. He didn't believe that they had the Emperor's best interests at heart. They were well known for pushing the limits of their authority to breaking point. The only man that could keep them in check was the Emperor himself but he was now a frail old man.
"Lieutenant Miarcaril we've picked up a transport vessel on radar sir," reported the junior officer who had been on watch.
"I wasn't expecting to reach the rendezvous point so quickly," Icarus was mildly surprised, his estimates put them at least an hour away.
"No sir we are not. It appears to be civilian transport vessel," said the junior officer. "I was just about the hail them."
"So you should. There are no civilian transports authorised to use this spacelane," replied Icarus as he took up his position on his central command chair. "Have you identified the transport yet?"
"Yes sir, it appears to be the Lindum Star sir," reported Mr Koff from his position at the radar station.
"The Lindum Star? We've come across them operating out of their designated spacelanes before," said Icarus with a trace of anger in his voice. "The Special Operations Command will have to wait. We have our duty to attend to."
"Yes sir, I'll see to the boarding party right away sir," said the junior officer. The young officer started to leave the bridge but Icarus practically leapt out of his command chair and stopped the junior officer.
"I think I'll deal with this one in person," he said as he straightened his uniform. "You have command here Mr Mudde."
"Yes Sir," replied Mudde.
---
Civilian cargo transport ship Lindum
Star,
Circular Frontier Side SpaceLane
The Lindum Star positively dwarfed the Pious. The transport ship had a very blocky construction and was at least three times as long and nearly twice as wide. The Empire built its transport ships large to fit in as much cargo as possible. The Lindum Star was an older model which had been sold by the Imperial Fleet's supply corps to a civilian company. The Pious matched the ponderous speed of the massive transport ship and, as the two ships got nearer to each other, extended a docking manifold. The clamps on the manifold locked onto the outer hatch of one of the Lindum Star's many airlocks. It took only a few short minutes to make the passage safe and Icarus was the first into it when the Pious' airlock opened. He was joined by a squad of fully equipped Naval Marines sporting the latest army issue assault rifles. All ships within the Imperial fleet carried detachments of Marines to counter or lead any possible boarding actions. Normally they didn't have to do any fighting, especially since their weaponry was more likely to penetrate a ship's hull than anything else. Icarus liked using them for their psychological value. Having a full squad of Marines marching around a ship was enough to scare anyone into never breaking Imperial Law again.
Everyone of the Marines was taller than Icarus and when the Lindum Star's airlock opened they towered over the pasty faced crewman who greeted them. Icarus and the Marines escorted the crewman to the Lindum Star's bridge. Once they had arrived Icarus let the Marines charge onto the bridge first. They enjoyed doing it and it added to the psychological shock factor they caused. He waited a few moments before strolling onto the bridge. It was just as he remember it from his last run in with the Lindum Star six months ago. Standing in the middle of the bridge was the scruffily dressed and bearded man Icarus knew to be 'Captain' David Afrit. The rest of the crew were cowering at the front of the bridge near the main viewing window.
"Captain Afrit, we meet again," said Icarus smoothly. "I though we agreed after are last talk that you wouldn't break spacelanes again."
"It's not my fault this time Lieutenant," protested Afrit. "There was a fire and the navigation computer was destroyed."
"I'll be the judge of that captain," Icarus' eyes narrowed. "Your data card, now."
Slowly Afrit handed over the small grey data card to Icarus. The data card system was introduced early in the Empire's conquest of space and was used as a form of control over the various merchant fleets. The data cards stored all information a ship needed to travel around the Earth Sphere. It carried the authorisation codes for ships to access certain spacelanes freely. It also recorded any time when a ship strayed from its allotted spacelane.
The Marine nearest Icarus handed him a card reader and promptly began studying the card's record. He did not like what he saw. "Captain this informs me that you've broken spacelanes two times since out last little chat. Please don't insult my intelligence by claims fire on both those times."
"I paid the fines for the times," snapped Afrit. "They've got nothing to do with now."
"Oh but they do Captain," replied Icarus coolly. "They matter a great deal. You may have paid those fines, and that is commendable of you, but that doesn't change the fact you are a repeat offender. Four violations in six months, you are setting a poor example and have failed in your duty to the Emperor." With an almost pained expression on his face Icarus took a pistol from the Marine next to him and aimed it at Captain Afrit.
"Now look here you can't do this," Afrit started speaking but Icarus' bullet ringed out like a permanent full stop to the sentence.
"Let that be a lesson to the rest of you," he bellowed at the cowering bridge crew. "If you break Imperial Law you deserve no mercy and are liable to be executed like a traitor. If I ever find this ship out of its allotted spacelane ever again I will not hesitate to destroy it without warning."
---
MCDA battleship Victory,
Docked
at Liberty Harbour
Romana sat at the, for want of a better expression, dressing table in the pokey cabin she and Jason had been assigned. She was busy combing her long black hair while she waited for the outside communications line to be made available. Kieron had promised it would not take much more than an hour or so. It had already been more than an hour and a half. She had not expected to be taken virtually hostage by the MCDA. She agreed with their cause but this was just going too far. The cabin door slipped open and Jason entered the room. Without speaking he slouched across the room and slumped onto the small couch in the corner of the room.
"Jason?" Romana ventured. They hadn't properly spoken since he had come back from the last battle. She got no reply from the sullen scrap merchant come pilot. Peeved at this stubbornness she decided to just keep speaking at him. "I had a word with Kieron today. He has agreed to get us a communication link out to the colony so we can send word to Abby."
This at least managed to get a response from him with him murmuring "That's good to hear."
The wall mounted computer terminal bleeped shrilly, indicating there was an incoming message. Romana walked over to the terminal and pressed the receive button. "Ms Tyler we now have a secure line to the colony for you." reported Patrick Ashdown, the Victory's chief communications officer.
"Thank you sir," replied Romana woodenly, she wasn't totally sure how to talk to the Victory's crew.
"Hey no need for that sir stuff," said Ashdown with a smile. "Just call me Paddy okay?"
"Right, thanks Paddy," Romana was relieved and flashed the bridge officer a dazzling smile. As soon as Paddy's image had disappeared Romana punched in the number of Adam Reed. Adam and his partner Jane Wood were old friends and the people who Abby spent the most time with when Jason and Romana were not at Frontier I.
The call rang for about thirty seconds before it was answered by Jane. "Hello Jane Wood residence."
"Hi Jane its Romana," said Romana in a light and cheery tone.
"Roe! Where have you been, we've been trying to get in touch with you for ages." said Jane with concern in her voice. "I didn't know the Vixen had come into port."
"I'm not on the Vixen. It was destroyed but don't worry we're both safe. Jason is with me." Romana tried to play down the seriousness of this statement but it wasn't easy.
"I knew we shouldn't have let you go off to that old asteroid. I just knew it wasn't safe." a frown appeared on Jane's round face. She brushed aside a loose strand of blond hair as she started to speak again. "Who rescued you? I didn't think anyone else went out that far."
Romana hesitated. She trusted Jane but the MCDA would probably come down hard on her if she started blabbering. "It was just a passing cargo ship," she lied. "We were really lucky." She hated lying to a friend but she had no other option. "So why were you trying to contact us?"
"Abby was sent home with a letter from the headmistress two days ago," said Jane. "Apparently she was involved in a fight with one of the other girls in her class. The principle wants you to come in and talk with her."
"Thanks Jane, we'll take it from here." replied Romana. "I'll talk to you soon okay?"
"Bye Roe and good luck!" Jane's face was replaced with the Victory's insignia on the monitor as the line closed.
"How are we going to deal with this? The principle wants to see us and we're trapped on this ship!" Romana was starting to get frustrated. She hated being frustrated because it meant she was not in total control of the situation.
"Don't worry about it," Jason stood up and stretched a bit before turning to face her. "We'll just have to pop out and have a word with her."
"And how exactly are we meant to just pop out of this heavily armed and well protected battleship?" she asked accusingly.
"We'll find a way," was his simple reply.
She looked at him quizzically and then noticed his impish smile. Suddenly she didn't feel frustrated anymore because she knew he was there to help her as always. "I love you when you are being mischievous."
---
MCDA
facility Liberty Harbour,
Frontier I space colony
Captain William Rawlings marched into Commodore Richard Lyle's office. He was followed by Commander Barther and Flight Lieutenant Hall. Richard Lyle was the head of the Admiralty, the body that controls the day to day running of MCDA's military. He was a former admiral in the Empire of Lambda Colonies Space Forces who defected from the Empire following the slaughter of millions of civilians during a rebellion in Side 3 early in UC 0350. At that time the MCDA didn't even exist and it was his force of will that eventually brought all the disparate anti-Empire factions together in a single group. His ship the Redemption, an Inquisitor class cruiser, which he defected with was a symbol of rebellion and fought several key battles that allowed many rebel groups to escape to the Frontier Side.
It was a well know fact within the MCDA that Lyle wanted to command the Victory however The Council had decreed he was too valuable to risk. When he was serving with the Empire of Lambda Colonies Space Forces Lyle had been chief of the naval research department. He was the only who convinced the MCDA leadership to approve construction of the three Victory battleships and had been the principle designer.
"It's good to see you again gentlemen," said Lyle. He stood and walked around his desk to shake the hands of all three of the Victory's officers. "How did she perform? Please sit."
"The only thing that let her down was the inexperience of her crew," replied Rawlings as he sat in the offered chair. "I included. I shouldn't think it will take use long to master her. How are the repairs to the Vanguard and Agamemnon progressing?"
"I'm told they will be back on schedule by the end of the month," replied Lyle rather sceptically. "Your Brazen will be a great help. I'll have to start lobbying Anaheim Electronics. I might be able to convince them to start building new ships based off it. We just don't have the facilities here. For awhile I feared we might have to retrofit an Empire design, I was never very good at designing affordable warships."
"Is there any word yet on more pilots' sir?" asked Hall. "It's just that there are only two of us on the Victory now, not counting Mr Wright."
"Three more have completed their training," replied Lyle as he shuffled some papers around his desk. "They should be arriving within the next 24 hours." He handed one of the papers to Hall. "I should like to have a word with this Mr Wright. I want to get to him for The Council does, we need to try and convince him to join us. I fear that bunch of politicians might just put him off. Your report stated his partner was insisting we buy them a new ship?"
"Yes Sir. She was quite emphatic about it," replied Rawlings smoothly.
"Well there are old cargo haulers all over the Frontier Side," Lyle half said to himself. "I'm sure we could snag one and do it up for them. Another thing before I forget. The Council has finally decided on the colour scheme for our uniforms. Anaheim was insistent on having it as their own light blue while the Frontier Side representatives wanted this awful off grey. The representatives from the other Luna cartels proposed a sort of dark blue-purple as a compromise. After a five and a half hour debate they finally chose that one. The first batch is finished I'll have them shipped over to you right away. It's only right that our flagship has them first."
Romana crawled, as quietly as she possibly could, along the dusty air ventilation duct. Jason's master plan to get off the Victory and back onto Frontier I involved them sneaking through the ventilation ducts that made up the docking gantry. So far so good they had reached the dockside facilities without detection but now they were having trouble finding a way out of the duct.
"This has to be one of your most stupid ideas!" she hissed while trying to keep her voice down.
"It got us out of there didn't it?" Jason hissed back while he edged forward trying to find a nice deserted room, by looking through the ceiling grates, for them to drop into.
After an indeterminate amount of time scrabbling about in the ducts they finally found a deserted room. Jason popped the grate and dropped down first. A few moments later he helped Romana out of the duct.
"Now what we are filthy from the vent and stuck in the middle of a military base," said Romana without a great deal of enthusiasm in her voice.
Jason looked around the room for a few moments. Judging from the stacks of boxes and containers it looked like a store room. With cautious curiosity he opened a few of the boxes to see if there as anything of use inside.
"Hey look at these," he said as he rummaged through one of the fairly new looking boxes. "These look like uniforms. I bet we can sneak out using these."
"Using uniforms as a disguise? That's so cliché," said Romana as she started to look through the box with Jason. "However we don't have another option right now."
It didn't take them very long at all to change into the dark blue-purple uniforms. Romana's had an unfeasibly short skirt which she could only assume was designed by a man. The jacket however was snug but comfortable with innumerable pockets of all sizes. Jason thought the uniform looked dashing and felt surprisingly proud to be wearing it. Although he did think the pelisse thrown over one shoulder was going a bit far. They paused for a moment to check each other over before stepping out into a corridor.
After about five minuets of wandering through the corridors they were stopped by the unpleased shout of "Hey you there stop!"
Both Jason and Romana slowly turned around to see a guard with a submachine gun half raised and looking at them quizzically. After a few seconds of surveying the pair the guard jumped to attention and saluted.
"I apologise Sirs. I didn't recognise the new uniforms. I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble Flight Lieutenant," stammered the guard.
"That's quite alright, your thoroughness is commendable" Jason rallied quickest and replied, trying to sound as confident as possible. His mind was racing furiously trying to use this situation to their advantage. "This is terribly embarrassing but I'm afraid my companion and I are somewhat lost. We only just arrived here and haven't quite got the layout down yet."
"Did you come in from Von Braun Sir? We've had quite a few pilots arriving recently," said the guard, who had relaxed considerably now that the officer had admitted a weakness. "I'll show you the way to the main reception Sir, you'll be able to make your away from their."
---
ELCSF
transport Emperor's Steed,
Near the Frontier Side Border
Icarus Miarcaril stood waiting in the antechamber to Captain Otto von Engelram's office. Icarus didn't like getting involved with the Special Operations Command they were mixed up in some very dirty business. However gaining the patronage of an admiral in the Special Operations Command was a sure-fire way of receiving a promotion. A junior officer ushered him into the Captain's office. The office had an opulence that far outstripped the ship in which it was located.
"Lieutenant Miarcaril you are late. You were given strict instructions and you failed to complete them," said von Engelram from behind his large desk.
"With respect Sir. My primary duty is the patrolling of the Empire's spacelanes," replied Icarus. "I fulfilled my duty. It would have been negligent of me to have ignored the Lindum Star, sir,"
"If you keep up that attitude you'll never get off that rust bucket of a patrol ship, Miarcaril," snapped von Engelram. "Your ship has been transferred to Special Operations Command for the duration of Operation Union. You will do exactly as I say. In a few short hours the Emperor's Steed will employ a miniature mass driver to disable a number of the listening posts that are part of the Frontier Chain. Once that part of the operation is completed the Pious will enter the Frontier Side and rendezvous with a transport waiting inside the border. You will deliver to them two mobile droids."
"May I ask why sir?" asked Icarus.
"We have agents in the Frontier Side. They report that the general populace is displeased with the current administration. Our agents have been fermenting revolution and an outright rebellion requires only a spark." declared von Engelram. "Our agents will use the droids to create that spark and when the revolution is complete the Frontier Side will gladly join the Empire."
---
Moorsand
School,
Frontier I
Jason brought the green electric car to a halt outside the palatial main entrance to the prestigious Moorsand School. He and Romana had stopped off at their apartment to get a change of clothes before heading to the school. Romana had thought it was give the wrong impression if they had turned up in MCDA uniforms. Getting out of the car they walked up to the main entrance doors which were opened by a butler. Moorsand catered for the children of the Frontier Side's wealthy elites. Jason had only managed to get Abby a place there by bribing the previous headmistress with a custom made space racer.
The butler led them to the headmistress' office and informed them to wait until called for. Taking advantage of the seats provided the two scrap merchants sat down. Romana rested her head on Jason's left shoulders while he sat ridged. He didn't like teachers, or any authority figure for that matter. After his parents were killed the government had tried to bundling him off in an orphanage. Jason didn't take kindly to the dictatorship style orphanage and, even though being only seven years old, ran away. Jason had to educate himself while living on the streets. Luckily he didn't live on the streets for long as he was taken in by the old transport ship captain Bernard Grimes. "If only old Grimes could see me now," thought Jason, "I'm practically respectable."
"The headmistress will see you now," said the young secretary.
Jason and Romana walked into the headmistress' office and were met by the matriarchal persona of Elizabeth Forsythe, the former governor turned headmistress. She was a formidable woman who kept her greying hair in a tight bun held in place by two pins.
"Mr Wright and Ms Tyler how good of you to see me," said Forsythe. Her aristocratic breeding was evident in her tone of voice. "Please do be seated." Jason and Romana took the offered chairs. "I wish to talk to you about Abby. Recently she has become disruptive in lessons and even fighting with other pupils during free time,"
"Was anyone injured?" asked Jason, trying to sound as sympathetic as possible.
"Miss Bridget Anne-Maria Bourbon had her nose broken by Abby," replied Forsythe sharply. "Lady Bourbon was not please I can tell you that much."
"A broken nose? I didn't realise Abby had that strong a punch," blurted out Jason without considering the consequences of his comment. Romana took the opportunity to hit him on the arm. Forsythe merely sneered at him.
"I believe the problem Abby has is the lack of real parents," Forsythe stated in blunt manner. "What she needs is guidance from adults with respectable jobs. I'm sure you do your best but you are just scrap merchants and teenagers at that. You are away from her far too long to be raising her properly. I would advise allowing her to be adopted by a respectable family."
"Hey don't speak to us like that. Not everyone is born with a silver spoon lodged up their backside," Romana let out a smirk as Jason got into full flow. "Some people in this world have to work hard everyday just to get by. I thought arrange for Abby to come here would guarantee her a good education that would set her up in life. Now I see you are just a bunch of stuck up snobs. Well if we aren't good enough for you I'll teach Abby myself."
Forsythe let slip a hallow laugh. "And what makes you think you are qualified to teach anyone Mr Scrap Merchant? I wouldn't let you educate a rodent. If you take Abby out of this school you will ruin her only chance of making something with her life."
"With respect Ms Forsythe you are wrong," said Romana. "We are perfectly capable of raising her properly. You just watch us."
"That was probably one of the most stupid things we've done," said Romana after they had left Forsythe's office. She was instantly beginning to regret pulling Abby from the school.
"I don't care. I'm not going to let my daughter be taught by some aristo bint like her," declared Jason resolutely. "Come on let's find Abby and get out of here. What class is she in?"
"She should be in 7A," said Romana as they started to roam the corridors of Moorsand. It took them about ten minutes to find the right room.
Jason peered in through the glass window in the door. All the little desks were in neat rows and the children were sat perfectly still reading from books. At the back of the room in a corner and isolated by a barrier of empty desks sat Abby. The little brown haired girl looked wholly bored with her book and was trying to flick wads of paper at her nearest classmate. Jason decided to wake up the sleepy little scene by flinging the classroom door open so that it clattered against the wall.
"Hey Abby get a move on we are heading out!" he yelled as he stepped into the room. Behind him Romana trying to shrink back and avoid the embarrassment.
"Papa!" the little girl half squealed as she quickly rammed the books from her desk into her bag. Then with surprising agility she leaped over her desk and dashed too the door. Making sure that her bag, which was slung over her shoulder, hit the heads of her classmates on the way out. Before the teacher even recovered from the initial shock they trio were gone.
The trio let themselves out of the main entrance; they didn't think it wise to disturb the school anymore. Just as they were leaving a man in a rather expensive suit accidentally barged into Jason.
"Hey you could at least apologise!" Jason called but the man had already rushed into the school and the doors had swung shut. Just as Jason started to walk off to their car he noticed that the man had dropped a folder. Inquisitive to his core he picked up the folder and opened it too take a look. He started to read it while walking back to the car. "What the hell?" he exclaimed as his eyes darted across the page. "Operation Union? How dare they! Romana we've got a problem here!"
---
ELCSF patrol ship Pious,
Frontier
Side Border
Lieutenant Icarus Miarcaril nervously checked his watch for what seemed like the millionth time. The hands were slowly creeping towards the start time for the operation. He did not like this plan one bit however they were orders he could no refuse.
He checked his watch one last time and then spoke, "Commence Operation Union!"
At that exact same moment the miniature mass driver mounted on the Emperor's Steed launched the first asteroid destined to disable the Frontier Chain. The Special Operations Command's plan to establish an Empire dominated Frontier Side had begun
