The Bretonian Museum, New London
New London System
Dr. Aela D'Avo was, for lack of a better term, puzzled.
These Humans were simply an enigma. From what King Alexander had revealed, Aela was honestly shocked that such a species hasn't already destroyed itself in one of its many wars with Humans seemed to have brought factionalism up to an artform. Not even the Krogan were so eager to fight each other.
Yet somehow, these humans had managed to not only survive past the construction of nuclear devices and their infighting, they had in fact managed to create highly advanced technology that she doubted anyone in the Citadel could easily comprehend. They were also quite adept at making art that Aela imagined would garner quite a few fans back on Thessia. Right now though, King Alexander had invited her to tour the Bretonian Musuem, said to house the largest collection of cultural artifacts in the Sirius sector. It was something that Aela simply could not say no to. Her curiosity as a scientist and xenoarchaeologist simply demanded that she take a brief look at the history of these humans. So now, she and Perkins were making their way towards the museum. Aela was simply bursting with excitement.
"His Majesty has managed to get us a private tour of the Museum." Perkins said with a little bit of reverence in his voice. "The entire museum, closed off. Only us and the curator will be in that museum. Almost 100 square kilometers for us to explore. I mean, I've been to the museum before, everyone on New London has at some point, but well… The entire building to ourselves."
Aela couldn't help but be even more excited. To have so much space, dedicated to simple learning. Not necessarily to something like a university or school, but a place where everyone could go and for a moment, learn a little about just about any topic under the sun, for free! Even the museums back on Thessia charged a small amount to access their comparatively smaller exhibits. This seemed to heavily indicate a culture that valued learning, and Aela for one couldn't help but feel a little relieved. Surely with this kind of emphasis on learning and the preservation of culture, these humans would at the very least be the type to be reasonable. The future talks on Curacao would likely go in a direction beneficial to the Citadel, or at the very least the Asari.
As they approached the Museum, with the rain of New London really making itself felt, Aela started to get the feeling of just how… big it was. At around five or six floors tall, with high arching windows and a dark brown metallic exterior, Aela couldn't help but feel as if the museum was designed to make any visitor remember that they were ignorant, and thus needed to be educated. She honestly didn't know what to feel about that.
Still, she decided to not let what the building thought of her bring her down. She was a respected Xenoarchaeologist of Thessia, and while her grasp of technology may be deficient compared to these humans, she could at the very least give a decent guess at how the history of these Humans affected them. Given a basic understanding of course, which is what she hoped the curator would be able to provide.
When they finally got to the museum itself, Aela got a glimpse of the museum's curator. Hair speckled with both white and black, creating a sort of blending effect, plenty of wrinkles on his face and a sort of look in his eyes that seemed… old even though she knew that she was very likely several centuries older than this man.
"Greetings," the man said jovially, "I am Sir Reginald Archibald Thornton II, at your service madam. It is my pleasure to personally tour you today through the largest collection of human culture in the Sirius sector, and very likely, in the galaxy."
"But I thought you fled your Homeworld?" Aela asked, a little bit in disbelief. After all, just how much could their colony ship have taken aboard before fleeing whatever war they were fighting?
"We did indeed, and sadly, we only managed to save a few select items, such as the Crown Jewels, before fleeing. So our ancestors did the very next best thing; scan the artifacts they could get to and save them on a database. Many of the artifacts in the collection here are very faithful replicas to the original. Thousands of years of human history and culture, all condensed and saved here in this very building. We are very proud of what we have managed to find and collect, even managing to add now and then to new collections, mostly off of the ancient ruins we find here in the Sirius sector,, though occasionally we get a donation from a family that managed to save something from Earth."
That last bit raised Aela's hopes up quite a bit. If these Humans had merely found say… an experimental Prothean lab that was well preserved, or maybe even a fully functioning beacon, then that could possibly explain their mastery over so many of the sciences. Though that still left the question of how they did all this without eezo.
"Now if you would kindly follow me please," said Sir Reginald as he opened the door into what Aela thought was the most beautiful place yet, "We can start with our tour."
Once again, like the exterior, this hall was made of the same brown metal that seemed so common throughout Bretonia. Unlike the exterior though, here she felt welcomed into the building. A great stairway was at the very center of the room, and great statues of beautiful humans made of the purest white marble flanked the hall towards the staircase. The roof was arched and made entirely of glass, likely to let in what sunlight was around when it wasn't raining. It truly felt as if she was in a temple of learning, and she ,should as such, learn by the Goddess.
"On our left and right are some beautiful replicas of some Ancient Greek statues. The entire major pantheon flanks our sides, with Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom, and Zeus the chief of the Olympians being at the very end, near the staircase."
"But who were these Greeks? Why are they so important?" asked Aela. Were they some faction that civilization that died off in the war?
"The Greeks were perhaps one of the most influential civilizations in the history of mankind." Sir Reginald said, in a manner that Aela thought very much reminded of her old professor on Thessia. "Even today, their influence is felt, from the words we speak to the very buildings we design. Those columns on our sides and the ones at the very forefront of the building? All originally Greek. They came up with Philosophies that influenced thinking even until today, and most definitely helped develop our earliest Mathematics systems. The only civilization that I can think of that left such a mark would be the Romans, who we will be looking at in a few moments." he finished as he climbed the staircase and turned left down a hallway.
Aela followed and very quickly saw a man dressed in what looked like plate armor, a large shield and a spear of sorts. She let out a very little meep at that, before realizing it was simply a very good hologram.
"I see you've met Lucius here," said Sir Reginald after he and Perkins chuckled a bit. "Lucius here is a Centurion. The mainstay of the Roman legions, and the foundation of the Roman Empire. Follow me further into the exhibit, where I will show you a map of the old Roman empire."
Aela followed Sir Reginald to what looked like a projector. Soon enough, as she approached it, she heard a slight whirring soun as the projector hummed to life. She was then presented with a huge map, showing what looked like two continents nearly encircling a small sea, and a few rather large islands off the coast of the northern continent.
"This is part of a map of Earth, our Homeworld." said Sir Reginald. "We are looking at one particular part of the world that would affect the rest for… as long as there will be humans I would imagine. This is a map of Europe, with parts of Africa, the bits south of that large inland sea, and Asia, with the bits to the east of the inland sea."
"It is here that some scholars argue, where modern civilization was born, namely here in this area." he said, pointing to a particularly mountainous region near the sea. "A hilly region, with very little in actual arable land,is where the Greeks made their home. From here, little independent City-states were formed, normally near the sea. From there, they conducted trade across the Mediterranean Sea, and even established colonies as far as the Black Sea, France. and Iberia" he pointed to both another inland sea to the north and a location far to the west. "These people managed to to come up with Philosophies, Arts and Sciences whose impact can be felt even today. The very word Politics itself, comes from the word Polis, which means city in Ancient Greek. Even our very basic idea of democracy started here in Greece, more than several thousand years ago."
"Despite them being such great influences upon human civilization today, the Greeks never really did unite, much to their detriment. The few times they did was to face an even greater threat, the Persians, who lived not too far away, to the east, in Asia. Still, they were considered even then to be the very pinnacle of human culture. Their neighbors aspired to be them, and this would be how much of Greek culture spread throughout the world. Alexander the Great, a Macedonian, was so enamoured with Greek culture, in no small part thanks to his teacher the great philosopher Aristotle, that he Hellenized, or turned most of his empire Greek. Even though said empire fell apart, the Greek influence could be felt for centuries to come. Then of course, came the people who conquered the Greeks, the Romans."
Personally, Aela couldn't help but draw some analogies of these Greeks to her own people. City-states, a tendency to prefer the arts and philosophies, influencing their neighbors to such an extent. The disunity seemed to be a particularly Human trait though, as if they valued their independence a tad too much. Still, if these Greeks were around, she imagined her fellow Asari would have gotten along splendidly with them.
"The Romans meanwhile, were at least for a period, a Republic that would go on to form what I am convinced is the other most influential culture in the history of mankind. Essentially, the entire culture of Rome was centered on its capital city and namesake, Rome. They would, over several centuries, create one of the largest empires in the history of Earth. Using the innovative concept of a paid army and a well trained one at that, the Romans eventually formed an empire and expanded it to incredible levels. Said empire was around to serve Rome. Oil and wine could be imported from one end of the empire, and marble and gold from another, all of which lead directly back to Rome in order to satisfy its never ending thirst for goods. A citizen's duty was ultimately to Rome first, and Romans weren't picky about who could become a Roman citizen. Even the barbarians could, over time, be properly Romanized, and that sort of Romanization lead to them indirectly influencing the kingdoms and peoples after the fall of Rome. When Rome ultimately fell to the barbarians, the barbarians themselves started emulating parts of Rome. Laws, language, trade, religion, all of it fundamentally shaped human society as we know it today."
Aela couldn't help but bring up some parallels between this Roman Empire and the Turians, a greater duty to society, a rather militaristic one at that, and what looked like a great emphasis on unification, though once again, human factionalism comes in, and breaks apart the empire.
As Sir Reginald continued with the tour, showing some of the everyday life aspects of both the Romans and Greeks through their holoprojector,Aela got the feeling that in the end, Humans could get along with Citadel races just fine. She suspected it was getting along with themselves that they would find a lot more troublesome.
While Aela most certainly found the earlier exhibits interesting, they did after all help paint a picture of human culture and philosophies, which as essential to her mission, she was far more excited about this final exhibit Sir Reginald was leading them towards.
"Now I hear that you yourself are an xenoarchaeologist, Dr. T'Loni," Sir Reginald said, equally excited. "So I am most interested in hearing your thoughts on the alien ruins we discovered. We call them," he gestured with a flourish and dramatic pause. "The Dom'Kavash."
Aela was slightly disappointed to see what looked like your typical pre-spaceflight civilization ruins. Scrolls of paper with some hieroglyphs of sorts and some stone ruins, though there were crystals that were particularly interesting, but otherwise one of your typical pre-industrial age civilization that died out for reason or crystals though, from the amount recovered, suggested a culture that was centered on them..
"What we have here is our admittedly small collection, at least compared to the Hammer Institute of Liberty, and most of our collection isn't really up for public study, instead being studied by our own xenoarchaeologists on Cambridge. Carbon dating shows that these ruins are ,amazingly enough, millions of years old. A pre-Cretaceous period civilization, over 65 million years old. At least."
"I'm afraid I don't see what's so amazing about that, Sir Reginald," Aela said apologetically. "While yes, the Dom'Kavash are indeed older than anything I've ever encountered before, I don't quite see the big deal. These artifacts seem to indicate a… bronze or iron age level society that is incredibly well preserved."
"I understand your doubt Dr. T'Loni, and to be frank, when we first encountered these ruins we thought nothing special of them either. Then we found more ruins on other planets, several systems away from each other. We wondered how did this happen? Alien uplift? Transplanted cultures? Then we started reading what we could about them. Translating what writings they left for us to understand, and we were shocked. Essentially, we are looking at the dead bones of the Dom'Kavash. They were capable of incredible feats of engineering. Some of their writings even spoke of something we suspect is a Dyson Sphere, though if it exists, we don't even know where to find it. It spoke of an empire spanning the galaxy, yet reliably being able to get from one end to another in mere hours."
Well that changed things. To have such structures, scrolls and crystals survive for that period of time meant that these Dom'Kavash were older than even the Protheans! And from the way Sir Reginald described them, their technology almost seemed magical. Even with the Mass Relays, it still took days to get from one end of the galaxy to the other, and some areas took even longer to get to due to their distance from a Mass Relay. Could the Protheans have learned from them at some point through some ruins?
Suddenly something caught Aela's eye. It was one of the crystals, but something about it seemed… familiar. Like she'd seen it in a scientific journal before.
"I'm afraid that you will learn nothing from these artifacts about their technology Dr T'Loni. At least nothing telling you how to do what they were capable of. Believe me we've tried, and what they were capable of is almost impossible through our purely mundane means."
While that was in itself was slightly disturbing if these Humans, as advanced as they were, found these Dom'Kavash incredibly advanced… she'd rather not imagine what they were capable of. Still as she approached one almost spherical crystal, she felt even more confident that a colleague of hers had seen this before.
"Sir Reginald, may I scan this particular crystal?" she said. "I think my colleagues have seen this before. I personally haven't but there are others who may have."
"Of course!" Sir Reginald excitedly replied. "I do hope you do so, it would confirm some of our theories that the Dom'Kavash had spread out beyond the Sirius sector. "
Aela brought up her Omnitool and began a scan on the crystal, doing a image comparison to some of the work her colleague, Dr. T'Vedri, recently did in the Terminus Systems. It was quite a sensation within the xenoarchaeoligcal community, seeing as it was the oldest known civilization yet found. Bringing up a copy of said journal and looking at them side by side, they did have many similarities. From the rocky bases on the top and bottom, to the slight purplish tinge. it looked like that the Dom'Kavash had indeed gone beyond the Sirius sector..
But where were they now?
"Sir Reginald, I think we can confirm that the Dom'Kavash weren't limited to this sector of space. A colleague of mine has encountered similar ruins in a sector of space that isn't… too far away from here."
"This is great news, Dr T'Loni!" he said joyfully "There was great debate within our community as to the size of the Dom'Kavash's empire. To have some evidence that brings an end to this is very reassuring."
"I do have some questions though, Sir Reginald," Aela said. "For one thing, where are they now? From what you describe, the Dom'Kavash were an incredibly advanced race. If they were so advanced, what happened to them?"
Sir Reginald was quiet for a moment, figuring our how to best answer her question,"The most popular theory around is that the Dom'Kavash were centered here, in the Sirius sector. All the other theoretical places the Dom'Kavash had outposts throughout the galaxy, were in theory, comparatively small. Though there is a star nearby, or rather the remnants of one. The Omega 41 system went supernova around the very latest Dom Kvash ruins we encountered. It is… possible that the radiation of the supernova drove the Dom Kvash away from the sector, possibly even towards another galaxy. A few theories state that they moved to another sector of the galaxy. A few more say they died out completely, through various means too. All we know for sure is that they are gone, and have been for a very long time."
So much like the Protheans, these Dom Kvash were a mystery with no clear answer to. And given their age, the questions they raised were even less likely to be answered. It was almost enough to switch her focus in studying. Almost. Still, while she was here, she may as well take a closer look at some of their findings…
"Sir Reginald," she said hesitatingly. "If possible, I'd like to take a copy of whatever findings you have on the Dom Kvash. I'd like to browse them, see if I could find out more about the Dom Kvash, or if they have any similarities to some of my own work."
"Of course Dr. T'Loni," he said reassuringly. "I'll send you a copy of some of our findings before you leave New London. You must understand that as much as I'd love to just hand you over everything, my liege requires that I be… discrete when it comes to the Dom Kvash. "
"Of course, Sir Reginald," Aela said. Shame, that could've helped the Citadel understand more about the technologies the Humans have. This however, just made Dr. T'Vedri's work all the more important. "It has been an utmost pleasure visiting this museum. I must say, this particular exhibit has been my favourite one so far." she said.
Sir Reginald chuckled good naturedly. "I agree. This is one of my favourites too. Imagine, if all they could leave behind after over 66 million years, they left behind such… splendour? I can only dream of what they were capable of."
She had to agree on that. Not only because it was always good to see another new ancient alien civilization, especially one as old as this, but she'd never really encountered something this old before. Though for something this ancient, she imagined it was only natural that there be so little information. Over 66 million years old and they are still finding structures and artifacts? Not to mention actual written material? Their preservation techniques must be extraordinarily good. Who knows what they were like in their prime?
"Well, until next time Sir Reginald." she said, as she and Perkins were about to exit the museum and prepare for their trip to Rhineland.
"Till next time Dr. T'Loni. Till next time." Sir Reginald said, as he waved them off.
Orbit of New London
New London system
While her visit to Bretonnia was most fascinating, Aela couldn't help but look forward to her visits to the other Houses. From the way the museum showed their history, she expected that these other nations would be incredibly different from the stoic Bretonnians.
Still, it helped to have someone who would know something, so she decided that while they were in relatively safe space, Aela thought it would be a good idea to get a little lesson from Perkins on Rhinelanders.
"Perkins," Aela tentatively asked. "I was wondering what Rhineland and its people are like. Getting an opinion from you would most certainly help me in... maybe getting to understand them, at last from an outsider's perspective."
Perkins was silent as he steadily directed the ship towards a Trade Lane, this time towards what Aela's helmet HUD was telling her was the Cambridge Jump Gate.
"I've met a few Rhinelanders, Libertonians, and Kusari in my time in the Armed Forces. And I guess that like most people, no two people are exactly alike, in the same way that I imagine that, at least from what you have said, not every Asari is a diplomat and such. Still, I can give you rough approximations of how these people will act, I guess." he said, as they entered a Trade Lane.
"Rhinelanders in my experience tend to be a dour lot. Very professional, like to keep things organized. Cold, rather enjoy being efficient, like a good solid hierarchy from what I can tell, clear lines of command and all. Still, never doubt a Rhineland product. It's likely to outlast you. My uncle bought a Rhineland aircar when I was born and never replaced it. Bloody brilliant engineers the lot of them. Oh, and the country isn't what I'd call the most… prosperous around. Especially since they lost the war against the GMG."
"The who?" Aela asked.
"Right, The Gas Mining Guild. 80 years of combat in the Crow Nebula, all for control of the precious H-fuel deposits there. Rhineland back then was an Empire, and they certainly had the men and resources to win that war. Thing was, they were fighting in territory the Miners knew like the back of their hand. The Imperial Rhineland Navy was practically destroyed when the miners lured the fleet into a massive pocket of untapped hydrogen. When it ignited, it took out nearly the whole fleet, making it easy for the GMG to finish them off."
"Before that war, Rhineland was the one house that could truly rival Liberty both economically and militarily. Since then though, Rhineland has gone into a serious recession, having had trillions in debt to Liberty. Millions lost their jobs, and with the increasing unrest, there really was only one logical conclusion, revolution. "
"The Popular Revolution, as it so became known as, swept through Rhineland, and within three years, overthrew the Emperor and established a Federal Republic, with their Chancellor being a democratically elected leader. That revolution of theirs only further brought the country into financial crisis if you ask me, and well… it actually got so bad, that they had to sell a large portion of planet Stuttgart to a Liberty company called SynthPaste, to help with the debt. Things really have only deteriorated since the revolution almost 50 years ago, and as such, I'm confident in saying that Rhineland is the most crime infested of the Houses. There are the LWB, farmers displaced by SynthPaste, Red Hessians, ex miners turned to piracy, Unioners, former shipyard workers that tried to form unions to get better pay and working conditions until the companies started to rattle things up, and finally, the Bundschu, a revolutionary group dedicated to bringing in a true Republic, where the power is back in the hands of the people."
That… was shocking to say the least. This nation still functioned, despite all this… turmoil? "How… how could a nation continue to function despite all that? I'm honestly surprised it has lasted this long without anarchy descending on their people." Aela said in utter disbelief said as they exited the Trade Lane.
Perkins was quiet at first, clearly directing his attention towards making sure the ship was heading towards the Jump Gate and getting access to use it. He then turned towards Aela, and said, "I honestly expect the other Houses thought so too, but what can I say," he said as they were about to enter the Jump Gate to Cambridge, "They really know how to take a beating and stand tall through it."
Omega 7 system
Near the Omega 3 - Omega 7 gate.
So far, flying to Rhineland was an incredibly scenic experience. The more they got away from Leeds, the more wonders of space they encountered, from the Ross Planetoid, an actual Planet in the making, to the Graham Ice Cloud that they emerged in the Omega-3 system. But now, the current system they were in, Omega-7, last one before Rhineland proper, elicited a different sort of feeling.
Like they were being watched. Perkins himself seemed to be a lot more alert now, and Aela couldn't help but feel that his nervousness was contagious. The fact that his normally relaxed nature while they were in Bretonnian space was gone was a great indicator that this was area was wild space.
"I don't like this," said Aela as she stared out into the golden nebula. "This nebula, while most certainly beautiful, just gives me a sense of foreboding"
"And it should," said Perkins, his eyes glued to his displays. "We're in one of the most dangerous systems around. The Omega 7 Nebula cloud is where a lot of pirate attacks happen, thanks to the ever encompassing nebula cloud here which allows them to easily hide and retreat when things get too hot. Both the Red Hessians and the Corsairs do patrols here, and the Rhineland military only patrols as far as the Stuttgart gate. Daumann and Kruger patrols only ever stop to help Rhineland shipping. The IMG here meanwhile does what it can to help, but they can't be relied upon to fight, so if we meet either of the pirate groups, hope to whatever God you pray to that we encounter their opposites."
"Why would we do that?" asked Aela incredulously. "Wouldn't that simply compound our problems?"
"Normally yes, it would, at least with most pirate groups." Perkins said as he slowly steered the fighter towards the trade lane. "Thing is, these guys are in the middle of a huge turf war, at least thats what I hear. We're too much of a small fry for them to really give us too much attention, they'd likely only kill us on principle. Hessians and Corsairs, they'll likely go nuts on seeing each other. They'd briefly work together to take down a convoy and then fight for the scraps, but us? We're not worth their time. So keep your eyes on the windows, I've got sensors. If you see a ship that doesn't even remotely look like a transport you let me know and we'll run."
Aela simply voiced her agreement and took a look out at the window. Though she didn't know anything about these Hessians, if the stories about the Corsairs were true, then Aela would need to be at her most alert now, even if they were in the middle of the Trade Lane. Soon enough, the two of them exited the Trade Lane and arrived at Freistadt.
"Freistadt, this is Freelancer Hotel 4-0, how are things in the system?" Perkins asked.
"Hotel 4-0, we're picking up reports of a large fight between the Hessians and the Corsairs within the system again. Stay alert. No telling where those two will strike next." replied Freistadt.
"Roger that Freistadt. Thanks for the tip. Hotel 4-0 out." Perkins said into the comms. "Keep alert Aela. We're only one trade lane away from the gate, but that is where they will most likely strike," he said to her, as he carefully directed the ship towards the next trade lane.
Aela simply nodded and kept her eyes firmly glued to the window, keeping an eye out for any sign of attack, even as they traveled through the Trade Lane.
Suddenly, the ship violently dropped out of the Trade Lane, and Aela couldn't help but panic as the ship jerked around. The energy tunnel simply broke apart as if it was never there! What exactly happened? All she knew was that the computer was now in it's calm feminine voice saying "Trade Lane disrupted." What was going on?
Then she looked out the cockpit, and was treated to a dazzlingly deadly dance.
A small transport sat in the middle of the Trade Lane, between two trade lane rings. A few of the smaller ships, shaped like a graceful bird of sorts, were flying around the transport, like some great beast surrounded by flies. Meanwhile, two other groups of ships made swooping attacks on the transport, or occasionally, on one of it's protectors. Aela could definitely make out two distinct groups of ships amongst the attackers, most likely the Hessians and Corsairs Perkins had mentioned. One group was much more numerous, they used ships shaped like an arrowhead, with a little tail pointing downwards. The other group's ships meanwhile, while not as numerous, were doing quite well with ships shaped like a bird, but more predatory, reminding her much of Turian design really. While both groups were clearly fighting the transport and its escorts, they weren't afraid to take pot shots at each other too. The ships were all… simply dancing around each other, spewing out lethal beams of light at each other, all likely some HUD induced visual display to help visualize the situation. It was all strangely beautiful in it's terrifying way, somewhat like what her mother's Commando days...
"Goddamn it, we've got to get out of here." Perkins said as he tried to activate the Cruise Drive. The pirates though seemed to take offense though, and the computer beeped a warning about incoming missiles. Perkins deployed the countermeasures on-board but to no avail. In no time, Aela was rocked back in her seat as the ship shook from the impacts.
Of all the bleeding times to be attacked, it had to be now.
Though of course it would happen now, it was the middle of the Omega 7 system. Either the Hessians or the Corsairs would've hit, and at least both of them decided to hit at the same time.
Still, Perkins was in his element. The asteroid fields and the Nebula could only play into his favour. He just needed to survive long enough for the Trade Lane to come back online.
"Are you alright there, Aela?" Perkins said worriedly.
"I'm fine." she replied. Good help would be appreciated here.
"Right then," Perkins said, keeping his best commander voice up. "Remember what I told you your duties would be? Well now's the time."
Seeing Aela's little look of panic, like that of so many unblooded recruits, Perkins continued in his Commander's voice, "Stay calm. We should be fine. They would be after the transport, not us. A few of them are making their way towards us, but it's nothing I can't handle. Just keep your eye on our shield and hull levels and apply the bots and batteries when needed. Do you understand?"
She simply nodded, and Perkins went about to do his job: Keeping her safe on her tour round the colonies. Then he could take his great big paycheck and maybe retire from the life of a freelancer, maybe even go out and buy the bar back aboard the Stirling to be with the mates again.
Perkins snapped himself out of his daydreaming though. Now was not the time. He could see a couple of the Hessians break away to attack him. Good. If they were former miners, then chances are that they would fight like the Mollies. So Perkins made his way deeper into the asteroid fields of the nebula, careful to not stray too far away from the Trade Lane.
The two Hessians quickly followed, just as Perkins anticipated. Here he could quite possibly take out one or both of them, or failing that, hold them off long enough for the Trade Lane to recharge. What was worrying was that these Hessians would be using Positron shields and Laser Weaponry, ideal to taking on his current armament. Still, he was confident enough that he could at least give them a good show.
Perkins knew they would soon be in range, as he saw the asteroids come ever closer, so he quickly put his ship into a roll, making it as difficult as possible for them to get a good hit. Still, with lasers, it was easy enough to get a few hits in with their ludicrous refire rate, and he could see his shields dip a bit.
The tricky part would be coming up soon, as he deliberately started to roll towards one of the larger asteroids. He just needed to kill his ship's forward acceleration at just the right moment…
Now! He killed the ships engines that were directing him forward, and quickly activated his thrusters, facing the ship back towards the Hessians, and unleashed a volley. He landed a couple of good clean shots on one of them in his Stiletto heavy fighter, enough to get a few flames on him, and enough to get the other Hessian to swerve away wildly into an asteroid. Shame for the new guy, no vet Hessian would ever have made that mistake, Perkins could've nabbed a kill if he targeted that guy. As it was, he was saved only by his shields, as the asteroid moved deeper into the nebula.
Now was Perkins' chance to make for the Trade Lane and run, so putting his engines on full power once more, he gunned for the Trade Lane, and reading them as active once more, quickly headed off the Transport. He quickly initiated docking procedures with the Trade Lane, and the oh so comforting energy tunnel it made soon surrounded them. Perkins then allowed himself a small little sigh of relief after that.
God, he could really use a drink. Fighting always made him want a drink. Maybe when they land on New Berlin, they could do a quick visit to a bar. That's culture after all… right?