Andress walked into the Renegade's cargo bay with Bunker, and found Nolun, Dante, Edvard and Elicia all standing there. "You took your time." Elicia remarked. "Sorry, Koil and Kovak wanted to talk to me personally about Nolun's little outburst. Now, what's this all about?" Nolun looked at everyone in the small bay, and smiled as he took in a breath. "We're going to steal the Piece." The ship was silent, as everyone stared at Nolun in awe. Edvard spoke up first. "Are-are you being serious?" Dante replied back. "He's being completely serious." Edvard sighed and stepped forwards. "Ok, ignoring for a fact that you're completely insane, let's look over the facts. The Piece is guarded by squadrons upon squadrons of GDF soldiers, not to mention is in the middle of one of the most well-guarded ships in their fleet, and we have only one dropship that has puny firepower at best compared to them. No offence Andress. And, on top of all those other things, we don't even have a plan." Nolun gave his trademark smirk, which Andress knew meant that he more than likely had at least part of a plan. And the fact that Dante was actually agreeing with Nolun and humouring him meant it must be pretty good. Nolun stepped forwards. "The Renegade is small, yes, but we can get past the scanners with our cloaking device." Edvard looked unimpressed. "So? How will that allow us to get in?" Nolun looked over at Elicia. "Elicia, do you still have that disguise case?" She nodded. "What does that have to do with-" Her mouth dropped open. "No. You can't be serious." Nolun nodded. Edvard looked at the both of them. "Fill in the blanks, please?" Nolun looked out at the group. "We can hook up the disguise case to the Renegade's mainframe, and disguise it to look like a GDF dropship. We dress up as GDF soldiers escorting some Resistance prisoners, and we sneak our way inside, grab the Piece, and fly out. Simple!"
The cargo bay was in dead silence for a while, and then finally Andress spoke up, a sigh in her tone. "Nolun...I can understand wanting this treasure...but you can't risk the lives of all of us and by extension everyone on the Dreadnought for it." Nolun looked over at her, a slightly sad smile on his face. "It's not just about the treasure anymore...when I was a kid, I always wanted to be an adventurer, someone who visits strange new worlds and finds hidden treasure. Hell, we all did at one point, right?" He looked around at them, spreading his arms. "You know what I see? A bunch of people who grew out of that dream. And although this is the greatest treasure in human history, it's not just about that. Whoever finds this treasure could become the richest or most powerful people in the universe. Would you really want someone like the GDF or the Resistance getting their hands on it? Sure, the Resistance fight against the GDF, but that doesn't necessarily make them the good guys. They want to give space back to space, and who know's how far they'll go to do that? The only way we can make sure that the galaxy is safe is if someone who's actually lived in it and seen it for what it is decides it's fate, not a bunch of guys in uniforms. And yeah, I may have never outgrown that dream I had as a kid...but you need to have a dream to chase after if you ever want to accomplish anything. So, if you won't do it for me...do it for the galaxy." Nolun stood there in silence as everyone looked at him. Andress looked into his eyes, her blue eyes meeting his brown ones. She walked forward and put her right hand on top of his. "For the galaxy." She smiled at him, and he smiled back. Dante walked forward and placed his black-gloved hand on top of both of theirs. "For the galaxy." He nodded. Bunker walked forward and placed his hand. "For the galaxy." Elicia walked forward, then pulled Edvard along. They both placed their hands together. "For the galaxy." They said in unison. The six of them stood there in a circle, their hands together. A crew, united as one.
They worked around the ship, welding as much armour as they could onto certain places, and made it much more sturdy and strong. The weapons and Phantom Drive were charged to their maximum potential. Elicia and Dewey began the hookup of the disguise case to the mainframe, and loaded up the design and base look of one of the GDF's dropships. Andress was doing some maintenance on her arm when Nolun knocked on the door of her private cabin. "You got a sec?" Andress looked at him then motioned for him to sit down. He sat down next to her on the bed, and looked down. He looked over at her mechanical arm, and she instinctively covered it up. Nolun didn't look away. "Hey...can I see?" Andress looked wary, then uncovered the arm, and extended it towards Nolun. Nolun took the arm in his hands, and examined it. "It's totally prosthetic...all the way up to your elbow." He gently touched it and let it go after a few moments. Andress looked away and closed the maintenance hatch. "Where'd you..." Andress looked at Nolun, who looked slightly awkward. "Old wound." She muttered. "Ran into some nasty Runners on the Outskirts. Bunker fixed me up." Nolun looked down. "Well...I think it's kinda cool..." Andress looked at him, and they both smiled slightly. "Ok then...you asked a question, so I'll ask one." Nolun looked at her with fear in his eyes. "If it's to do with me and Elicia, I'm telling you, nothing happened!" Andress laughed a little. Nolun noticed how pretty it was when her nose crinkled as she laughed. "No, Wonder Boy, it's not about that..." Her face turned serious. "Why'd you save me? From that masked man on Nimentia?" Nolun looked surprised and unsure of what to say, then looked at her with a serious look. "I couldn't let you die. I didn't care if I knew you or not, or no matter who you are. If you're my friend, I don't just stand by and watch you get yourself killed." Andress found herself blushing slightly as she thought about that. Before she could say anything to answer, Koil walked onto the ship. "Well...this is interesting." Andress looked down at Koil. "Koil, listen, you have to understand." "No Andress, I have my orders. Kovak has told me to keep an eye on you no matter what." His face turned into a smile. "So, I guess I'll have to come with you." Andress looked at her old friend with a look of happiness. "Welcome to the Renegade."
YOU ARE READING
Slingers (The Slingers Trilogy, Book 1)
Science Fiction(Highest Ranking: 37 in Science Fiction) In the 24th century, mankind has moved away from Earth, and spread to new planets. But, after uncovering a map to an ancient treasure, promising power and riches, humanity is now on the hunt. Now, an archeolo...
