A Broken Republic

A Broken Rupublic <Prologue>

The sun burned my skin, I felt it prickle as I fell out of warp. I had almost forgotten the heat that Sol output. After six months of being on the edges Bad Lands, where the light of the Sun barely reached, it burned even more. You think it is hot now? I remember my uncle telling me the first time he took me up on a sub orbital hop. Wait till you leave the atmosphere kid. You'll never appreciate thin layers of gasses more than when you feel the unadulterated Solar Radiation hitting you. I smiled at the memory, my first taste of space and the universe beyond the small corner that humanity had dug out for itself. It lit a fire within me. Which was only ever fed by each passing night when the stars came out and the galaxy was spread across my view.

Turning my attention away from my memories I brought it back around to the task at hand. I was now another part of the big machine that was the space that surrounds Earth, the Home planet of the human race. My home planet. Three space stations orbited the planet, one over saw exports, ships leaving all cargo, passenger and private. The second, the same but this time controlling the opposite, imports, cargo, passenger and private ships. The Third, a military station, controlling all stationary emplacements set up in Earth orbit, any military ships coming or leaving the planet and the general defence of the system. This was my destination. Even after six months away in the far reaches of the Sol System I still could not go home. Not yet one last thing to take care of first.

Reaching up I flicked two switches that stood out from the centre console of the Jhan F-98 Hawk, standard issue Earth Defence Force (EDF) scrap pile that I had been piloting for the last six months. "EDS Aurora This is, Jhan F-98 Hawk, designation Mike Zulu 97429, requesting docking over." I spoke into the throat mic that was transmitting into the third space station, the EDS Aurora. EDS, Earth Defence Station. There was a pause as the station ran my designation through the system. The implant in my ear crackled. "Stephan! By Stanctos it is good to hear your voice again." It was Lucas, an old friend, an old friend who owed me a lot of credits. Even so it was good to hear his voice. "Guessing that means, yes?" I laughed. "Roger that, dropping gravity field," The radio transmission paused as the Gravity field that defended the station against any incoming projectiles was lower in my quadrant. "Ready for the bump" the question was more of a joke. As the bow of the Hawk pierced the lowered gravity field, my speed dropped by 10m/s and the whole ship lurched and jumped through. "Docking bay 5-1 is ready to receive you, I'll be waiting" Lucas added before the transmission was cut.

I pulled up docking bay 5-1 on my station registry and set the hawk to auto dock with the station. All as simple as pushing a button nowadays. That sort of tech hadn't reached out into the Bad Lands it was all manual docking out there. Hell if given the choice I would have docking manually. But there was something I had to do before we had docked. I pushed a small red button of the side of my seat. The whole thing rotated to show me the rest of the ship. The Hawk was designed to fully accommodate a one man crew. With bed, basic bathroom and kitchen facilities on board. The life support on board could keep a single soul alive for 15 days. More than enough to survive the one week it takes to travel in warp to the other end of the Sol system. Or at least more than enough to survive the journey if you only had one soul on board. I hadn't had one person since I arrived at Pluto. Typical EDF, sending me on a mission to pick up cargo, which of course they never deemed to inform me was a living human, in a single man ship.

Said passenger was currently asleep, resting her head on the brick that passed for a pillow on this vessel. Even if the EDF had informed me that I was carrying a human, I would have never expected her. She was what? Ten and short for her age. Her close cropped auburn hair in the traditional style of an outer world colony child. She had taken to the ship well, and within a couple days of being on board had figured out features of the kitchen that I didn't even know existed. Too be honest I had gotten used to her presence, even with my attempts to not get attached. She had filled the bleak gun metal greys of the interior slightly more colourful. She insisted on sticking her colourful scribbles that passed as drawings over the walls of the interior.