To The Stars

Chapter 3: The Blade of Marmora

The Quintants had begun to blur together, each one no different than the last. They would wake up, eat some of the rations, do some stretches, then she would place Keith in the toy room with his new toys while she went to man the helm in the cockpit. With the pod on autopilot over night they wouldn't cover much distance and she would need to be in the pilot's seat to make up for it. The autopilot moved at a substantially slower speed given its reaction time being much slower than a live pilot. But it was still better than stopping for the night.

Keith had started to get restless, asking to go outside and wanting to run around. He had so much energy that he would just run the perimeter of the toy room for vargas at a time. It wasn't enough though, he really did need to get out of their pod and run his little heart out.

It was their last day though, any dobash now they would be coming into range of their escort and she was anxious to be done with flying. Pushing their transport pod as hard as she could, they rocketed across space faster than was necessary. Faster than what would be considered safe. But Krolia trusted her instincts and her own ability as a pilot, she knew what she could handle, and she knew she was more than capable of controlling this speed. So she pressed on.

"Transport Pod 7859 - Identify yourself." The 'official sounding' voice came over the coms.

"Transport Pod 7859 – This is Warrant Officer Krolia, of Commander Ranveig's fleet." Incase of any listening ears she would stick to her official Empire identifications, the Blade escort would know who she is. Better safe than sorry.

There was a long pause before the voice came back. "Identity approved. Welcome Krolia. You are cleared for landing." With that the voice cut out.

She guided the pod to the surface of the way station, landing with ease in a too large hangar. These stations were designed for refueling fleets, exchanging supplies, transporting prisoners, and any other use the Empire required of them. The larger ones had druid's on them, no one knew what they did there; it was all very hush hush. But this was a small, backwater station; one that they had managed to plant a Blade on. Said agent was now running the command of the station's docking, which allowed the Blade of Marmora to use this station safely. Being able to give false credentials and have them be accepted without question was infinitely beneficial to their cause. It allowed the Blade's to make longer trips into this region, allowed them to infiltrate Empire ships more easily, and allowed them access to the Empire's quintessence supplies.

Krolia's ship docked safely and two sentries came to shepherd her to the other ship. These sentries were being controlled by their operative on this station, meaning she was able to entrust them with the task of packing up and transporting Keith's belongings. Leaving anything she had not purchased at the SpaceMall behind, she took her kit in her arms and carried him to the Blade ship.

"Krolia." Their escort climbed out of the ship and came to greet her, both of them dressed in full Empire armour. "Your journey was without complications I presu - " He paused mid sentence, glancing down at the tiny bundle in her arms that was currently attempting to bury himself as close to her as possible. "- uh, what's that?"

"THAT is my son." She may have said it a little more aggressively than intended, but she wasn't taking it back now. She would double down if pressed.

For his part the Blade merely blinked at her, stunned, before mentally regrouping. "Kolivan did not inform me that we would transporting a kit or else I would have prepared the ship."

"Yes, well, I have not been able to contact Kolivan since my departure from Earth. This will certainly come as a surprise to him as well."

"And we all know how he just loves surprises." The Blade scoffed then straightened his back at her low warning growl. "Right, ok – uh – I'm Tebbit, I'll be escorting you back to the main base. The sentries have finished inspecting all of your belongings for bugs or trackers, but we should probably grab a bite to eat before we head out."