[IC] Hope's Revenge

[Mai Azuka]

Unexpected Ally ​

"Watch your six Commander." I call out to the Eagle pilot as I dove after his pursuer.

The Sons of Icarus were working over the Python quite badly by the time we were in range up engage the three ships. Taking as much of damage as it has, the Python stows it's hardpoints and barrels passed us to jump. I quickly cut in between the Viper and Imperial Eagle, drawing the Viper's fire as my shields return. The quick burst of it's lasers stop my shield from recharging beyond the first ring. I flip the Vulture around regardless and start to eat away at his shields as the Eagle charges after one of the two Cobra MK IV.

The two Cobras target the bounty hunter and he boost through the ring avoiding their fire. Cammy re-balances power to weapons as I throw the ship around the Viper, attacking it from underneath as passes by. A bright flash of blue signal the collapse of the pirate's shields, allowing me to eat away at its shell as it tries to flee. I max the throttle to give chase, spinning to avoid the rocks the Viper twist its way through. Before it could clear the mass lock of the rings my lasers end its escape in a fireball.

"Commander, We're inbound to assist."

"Ha. Yeah, these guys proving to be more trouble than I thought." the young man says in a calmer tone than the one he used before.

U turning around as fast as the assist free thrusters would allow. I close the gap between us and the remaining Cobras. Had it been a MK III, I would consider it a far more dangerous threat due to both speed and maneuverability. But all the MK IV has is an extra class 1 and better shields. Things Hope's Revenge could easily overcome. To my surprise however, the Eagle not only was still in the fight, but it has yet to lose it's shields.

We attack the two vessels from opposite sides. The burst lasers from my Vulture indeed make quick work of its shields and the much slower Cobra instantly charges its FSD to escape. Given I had no interest in the bounty on any of their heads, my focus shifts to the last ship still in battle with the Eagle. Perhaps a touch of space madness takes him or the pilot thinks far too highly of his skills but instead of trying to escape, he throws his ship around to fire on us as we close in. I bank hard to avoid his fire and let my burst lasers rain down on his shields. The Cobra is bombarded by the incoming fire from the two birds and its shields disappear just as my Vulture screams by. I loop around and aid in chipping away at the MK IV before breaking off my attack, allowing the Eagle to gain the bounty on the target as he finishes it off.

"Wo Ha! That's how you make a payday!" The kid shouts as he swings his ship around to face mine. "Thanks for the assist Commander. I was afraid I wasn't gonna be able to help that Python out there."

"Don't mention it. If you want to thank me, I could use your help." I reply.

As we exchange words, laser fire appear in the far distance.

"Hehe. Sure. Tell you what. Help me with these thugs for a bit and then we can talk afterwords." He says and turns for the action.

"No problem." I respond, briefly killing the comms as Cammy starts to giggle. "What's so funny?" I turn asking her.

"Oh nothing. I just remember being like him. Never wanting to dock once you get the rush of the hunt." She responds.

I slightly smile for a moment and throttle up to follow the Eagle as he boost for the battle ahead. My smile however was brief as remember my real goal with this kid.

 

[Mai Azuka]

A Promising Lead​

We return to the bar on Krylov Ring and order a few drinks. The kid, Baal Adamis, jokes about his encounters in the rings of He Bo 3 as he takes a couple shots of tequila. For awhile we listen the young pilot brag about the kills he's managed to rank up. After his sixth shot he takes notice to the fact I had yet to touch my drink.

"Sorry. I guess I kinda got wrapped up in my own stories. But I guess you know how it. Flying a Vulture and all. You must have had hundreds of targets like those right." The young man says.

"Actually, you probably been in more fights than I have." I respond.

He raises his eye brown and leans in on his forearm.

"Ha. Could've fooled me. You seemed like you're a real pro at hunting."

"My partner's been trained by one of the best pilots to ever own a ship." Cammy cuts in and takes a shot herself. "But she's not as quick to violence as I am. That's more my style than hers."

"I see."

"My Vulture is just a means to an end. Which is why I need your help Commander." I state and sit up straight. I reach into the pocket of my jacket and take out a holopad, booting up the video of the Vultures attack on the Second Sun then slide the device across the table. "We're actually here because you might be able to lead us to the people who fly these ships."

He rotates the pad around and glances at the footage.

"Ha. These guys... Oh yeah. I know em. Rotten dogs."

"Tell us."

He takes another shot and leans back in his chair.

"They call themselves The Reapers of Duval. They claimed to be a branch of the 9th Legion but no one can seem to confirm that. They operate mostly as hired guns. Flying into territories the Empire themselves keep out of for the sake of politics."

"Hired guns?"

"Most of them are mercs. But not these two." He says and points at the emblem on their hulls. "These two are specialized in assassination missions. My boss had me do a job with them back in the Lave Sector. That op went south fast and they basically threw me to the wolves."

I stare at the frozen screen and think for a moment about when I first learned of what had happened to Hope.

"What was your mission?"

"I thought it was a simple meet. My boss needed a cargo ship that wasn't tied to him to ship a shipment of personal weapons. The route was legal and all but he couldn't have it lead back to him. Thing is these guys, they were also looking for a cargo ship. We didn't know why until they started shooting at the pilot. They tried to take me out right along with her. I barely got out of there." He explains.

They shot at her? I cringe at the thought.

"What... What was the name of the cargo ship?"

"The T6? Something with sun in the le."

The Second Sun I thought. It was the same mission. I swallow hard glance over to Cammy.

"Can you give us a location where we could find them?" She says for me.

"These two? Hell if I know. But I do know where their main base is. Riddley Scott in Zaonce."

I take my and down the whole glass. The burning of the alcohol taking my mind of the the thoughts running through my head.

"Commander Adamis..."

"Please. Only my boss ever called me that. Call me Ace." He kid says.

"Ace... Thank you. This is just the lead we needed." I explain.

A smirk crosses his face and he takes yet another shot.

"Those clowns shot at me. You find em, give em a bullet for me would ya."

 

[Futuristic Kung Fu]

Hmm… THE Ace?

 

[Mai Azuka]

Hmm… THE Ace?

Maybe. Possibly. But maybe not. But Maybe.

 

[Mai Azuka]

This is My Fight ​

Ridley Scott
Zaonce System: Alliance Jurisdiction


My thoughts were on what I had learned from Adamis or Ace as he preferred to be called. Assassins were hired to come after Hope but I still didn't know why. There wasn't much I knew about any of this yet. But the more I learned, the more I knew this was all on me. There was no reason someone would play assassins to harm her, but every reason for them to come after me.
I thought long and hard about the choices I've made since taking back to the stars, trying to think of anything I might have done to end up back on the radar. I stuck to the shipping lanes, always used my alias, never did any trading in person and always dealt with automated services at the markets. Aside from the occasional pirate trying to take the Minerva's cargo from time to time nothing I could remember doing was really telling of my true identity. Still, something I did got the attention of someone who had a bone to pick with me or my family.

Part of me started to wonder was I even the main target. Could this have been a message being sent to Jin or Momoka. Those two were still very much still in the business of money in a less legitimate fashion, undoubtedly still making enemies in the process. But something about how this is unfolding says to me that isn't the case. This wasn't about the Ten Swords, or at least Jin's rebuilt version of the Swords.

If this was about my family, it was because of my father. This was about Shinn Azuka.

Isn't it?

Cammy and I had made our way to the commercial district of the station looking for one of her contacts that owned a store here. It would be a good idea to find out if these Reapers of Duval had a strong enough presence here that we needed to take extra caution. That is, if they have a presence at all. Everything we knew about them was more or less rumors at this point.

"So?" Cammy said as we make are way towards the location of her contact.

"What?"

"Are we still doing this without Jin?"

"Cammy..." I say and bite down on my lip.

"We might need him here honey. It's these guys are tied to the Legion..."

"We haven't confirmed that yet. We don't know if they're part of the same organization."

"All the more reason, if anything is tells me that they are connected."

"How would you know that?"

"Look at the Swords. We're not officially tied to the Empire but Denton Patreus uses us a private army. Everyone knows it but can anyone prove that?"
She had a point. Even back when my father ran things we've always had a strong loyalty to the Empire. But outstanding citizens we surely weren't. The same could very well be true of this group and the 9th Legion.

"Still, Jin's not exactly going to drop everything to help me here."

"What makes you so sure?"

I stop in my tracks and drop my head. I tilt my head to the side as I start to speak but swallow the words. I know Jin well enough to know when it came to us girls, he would do what was needed to protect us. But this wasn't his fight.

"I made a promise to Hope on this very station. I failed to keep that promise and we're in this mess. It's up to me to clean it up. I owe her that much." I take a step to Cammy. "I need to fix this on my own."

She looks off in the distance and shrugs her shoulders.

"Well. I can understand that. You need to fix this because you think this is your fault. Except it isn't."

"Of course you'd say that."

"Mai..." She starts to say but she stops herself. The look on her face berrying the fact she wanted to say something else but she didn't allow herself to do so. She simply turned and started to head for her contact. "We should find out what we can about these guys" she states and continues one with her back to me.



----



"You sure about this?" Hope said to me as we looked over the shiny new Hauler in the shipyard of Ridley Scott. Her eyes were full of worry when I turned to face her. "I mean, you've been off the radar for so long since escaping Cosi."

I tilted my head slightly with a slight smile.

"Relax. I know how to handle myself out there. Shinn taught me how to fly remember. Besides, repairing busted Sidewinders day in and day out isn't really doing much beyond paying the rent." I explained and headed up the ramp into the Zorgon Peterson ship.

"But a Hauler?" She said and followed closely behind me as we entered the cockpit.

The ship was small but the cockpit was larger than I thought it would be. I had never been on board one of these. Closest I ever got was to the ramp of one Momoka stole to meet a guy for a date when we were still in high school.

"Babe, check it. It's kinda a nice layout" I said as she crossed her arms in protest.

"Mai... It's a Hauler. There's nothing nice about it. Now if it had, I don't know, a second hardpoint?" She replied.

"Way to channel Jun there dear." I said in a sarcastic tone. She shot me a look of displeasure she reserved for times I compared her to her older brother. Threw my hands up to apologize. "Gomen Gomen. Seriously, last thing we need is me in a firefight."

"We don't need you in space either. Or on Galnet bringing attention to yourself." She said and let out a sigh.

I shake my head and sit at the helm, putting my hands on the controls.

"You're really that worried?"

"Yes I worried. It's got one hardpoint. What if I got a different job. I could look into working in the marketplace."

"But you love your job."

"I... yeah I do but, I rather keep you safe than work at a bar."

"Hope... What did I tell you? I'm not letting you throw away what makes you happy for me."

"But Mai..."

"I wouldn't have came back here if I thought I would've made things as difficult as they are for you now." I add cutting her off mid sentence. "Space is what I know. I can make money out there. I can take care of you for a change."

"Mai..."

"I'll be fine. I know how to cover my tracks, babe. I wouldn't even look into this if I thought I couldn't handle it."

"But..." she started to say and uncrossed her arms. She walked to my side and put her hand on my cheek. "I'm not gonna when this argument am I?"

I flash a cheeky smile at her.

"Who's arguing? Besides, we can work on getting that Asp you wanted."

"D... Dammit Mai..." She said biting her bottom lip as I take her hand, pulling her over to sit her in my lap. "Why you gotta play the Asp card?"

"Because it's your only kryptonite. I'll register the ship under my alias. The dealer has the le ready. All I gotta do is sign. If you're okay with it."
She looked down and twiddled her thumbs before looking around the cockpit.

"Can we get the Asp blue? With one of the those high end cabins like the FdL?"

"Is that a yes?"

"It is if you promise me two things."

"Name it."

She leans in closer.

"You stay safe, off the radar as best as you can. If you're getting robbed, give em the damn cargo. No proving you're a badass."

I chuckle at that last part.

"Easy enough. What's the other thing?"

"You get that T7 first before the Asp. I want you to have something you wanted for awhile before we leave civilization behind for good."

"Baka... We're just gonna leave it behind too."

"Think of it as payback for tricking me into marring you." She says and giggles.

"That's mean... But fair." I pulled her closer in and kissed her. "I promise."