New Elysium: Breakout

Is this death or rebirth?**

"Is this death or rebirth?" - "Back To Earth" - Starset

"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." - Ezekiel 36:26



"I always wondered about the drive in humans, Sir, to be better than you are currently."

"Not all humans strive to be better, Lars."

"Many, maybe I should ask, what drives you, Sir?"

He didn't have an answer. His jaw worked as he pulled his practice uniform off over his head, his thoughts running a million miles a second. He was the youngest Captain ever and he'd accomplished a lot of what he'd set out to do when he first joined the Neo-Tokyan Fleet. But no one had ever questioned his drive until now.

I have a position to maintain? What was he doing this for?

"What do you mean? What is it all for?" He gave voice to his thoughts as he tossed the uniform into a hamper. Sweat dripped off of his skin.

"Yes, Captain? Why do we patrol when we've never encountered anything out there?"

"This is as close as we'll get to it... I'm ok with it..."

"And the "it,"Captain?"

The "it?"

Red shook his head pushing the memory away. He stared out at the ship in front of them. It was everything they didn't need and yet he knew without a doubt this was the Vesper ship that they'd mentioned. Even the shaking ground didn't prompt Red to move any closer to it. The *eyes* were still visible on the outside, small cameras located on the outside of the ship. No other ship had those, they were literally a Vesper's vision when they flew. A small ball like attachment on the front gave them enough control to turn their "head" when they flew.

"I was kind of hoping for one of their warships." Dag's voice broke the silence. "Are you sure there isn't one here?"

"I'm sure there is one on back order," Red whispered staring. There was no reason whisper, there was clearly bombing happening back at the prison, and the ground shook beneath their feet.

The vessel in front of them was huge, but not the sleek Vesper warships that Red vaguely remembered seeing patrolling the perimeter. He would have dismissed it entirely if not for the hull, covered in millions of tiny nodes, each one a sensor just as sensitive as the nerves in the human body. Each one reacted just as quickly to the command of the Vesper pilot in charge.

"What do you mean?" T's small voice piped up from behind them. Red jumped at the voice forgetting they were there.

"Well, it's a commercial ship." Dag went on adjusting Ember on his shoulder as he cast the boy a glance. "I remember they had discussed the possibility of Vesper's going into commercial use when they retire. They can't be away from their ships for an extended period of time. It's a death sentence. Retiring them would have been considered inhumane at the time." He stopped and glanced at Red who had turned and was staring at Ember. "She's still breathing."

"This has to be it," Red replied. He moved and put a hand on Ember's face lifting it and placing his finger on her neck checking for her pulse. He found it, not as strong a he would have liked. Stay with us, Ember, we're close. She was trapped but alive.

He'd take that for now.

He turned to look at the ship as he straightened. A commercial vessel might move with less suspicion. But also with far less weaponry than he'd feel comfortable with.

You commanded a flagship once, remember? A Leviathan? This will be a piece of cake. He shook his head. His old life reared its head again and he pushed it away. He was ready to make Helion 7 part of his old life.

By an unspoken agreement, they all moved forward, glancing backward as if a scandroid was going to appear out of nowhere. He wouldn't be surprised if they were deployed here to search out survivors and he was in no hurry to go against one again.