⚡️THUNDERFANG S2 #18

The alarms blared that oh-so-familiar-fucking sound as we exited the jump. A quick scan of the warnings indicated that it was a—mostly—minor issue with the life support systems. Yet another instance where even basic knowledge of mechanical repair would have come in handy. How the hell was I going to fix this?

I left the cockpit to tend to the issue, going through basic safety techniques I remembered seeing or hearing about. Something about positives and negatives—luckily, getting shocked wasn't a true concern for me.

Yelena rushed over, and before I could greet her she began talking nonstop about something that completely escaped me. A few words caught my attention, which made me stop and give her my full attention. "I'm sorry, did you just say you realized the life support systems are malfunctioning?" She'd come to that conclusion without the scans?

She nodded and repeated the jargon that sounded like some precursor language decoded. After a moment, I stopped her and pulled her along with me. "Perfect. So glad there's an actual mechanic on board."

I had only seen some of her handiwork with Watt, but because we were missing parts I had failed to witness the true scope of Yelena's mechanical prowess. She was a genius. It took us a while but she eventually got everything in working order once again.

Shit. Was I going to have to pay her eventually? How much did I normally charge for a case, again? Would there be money left over from a case to actually pay a crew?

Shit. When was my last actual case? The Usagis?

"She'll be fine now," she said wiping sweat from her brow. She seemed happy, lighter—like she wasn't worried about the world collapsing around her.

I was glad there was someone on the ship who didn't feel like everything was falling apart.

We walked back to the main area together and I thanked her profusely for her work. I was truly in her debt. She rejoined Fletcher and Kaisa while I stopped to glance out of a viewport, finally noticing the seemingly abandoned ship floating not too far away.

We needed supplies, badly. And if that ship had even an ounce of useful material, I wanted to have it.

I realized John was finally lying down in one of the back rooms as I made my way back to the cockpit. A jabbed a few buttons and did a quick scan of the ship with the Scarlet Adler's sensors.

No life or dangers showed up on the scan. Good sign.

"Anyone want to come explore the ship with me?" They all shook their heads. Understandable.

I suited up and headed out.

The ship was a complete waste of time.

I spent over ten minutes flying to it, another ten getting inside, and a complete hour looking around for anything salvageable. It was stripped of anything even remotely useful. It was smaller than the Scarlet Adler, and seemed to be in pretty good shape. I couldn't tell why it was abandoned. I cursed my luck and got back in the pod to return.

"Locke!" It was John, his voice coming in through the comms on my suit. Before I could ask him about his nap, he blurted out, "Something's coming."

I checked the information John sent to the suit and cursed. A large number of ships, headed directly towards us. Fuck. I had wasted time and given them ample opportunity to catch up.

I flipped switches and turned off safety settings. The pod accelerated faster than typically allowed for safety reasons. At this speed, the pod was liable to overheat or short-circuit. This was an emergency, though. We needed to be gone immediately, so I'd take the risk.

Within moments, I docked and flew through the interior to the cockpit with speed, and without a moment's hesitation, we were off into another jump.

Safe and sound once more, I pulled John aside. He was tense, but at least he was moving and talking. Small victory.

"Thanks for the warning. I wasn't expecting you up just yet. How are you feeling, John?"

"As good as I can, I guess." He absentmindedly rubbed an elbow, avoiding eye contact. This wasn't John or Ripley—perhaps NEVERMORE? Was this the boy who was betrayed by his family and other Branded just like him? He seemed shy and timid, almost scared even.

"If...if you need to leave, I'd understand." It sounded like the right thing to say, and I truly did care for this kid. I didn't like seeing him like this, despite not actually wanting him to leave. John was chipper, bubbly, annoying—I stifled a laugh remembering him bursting into Ira's and my bedroom. Conversely, Ripley was professional, stoic, and annoying in a different way. If I hadn't known who he truly was, I would have probably let him go a long time ago. He was so well put together it made me nervous.

Together, they were the perfect combination, able to flow in and out of one persona to the next, blending in to whatever situation he came across. A born leader one moment and a goofy teenager the next.

This? This was neither. We were entering into unknown territory here.

"No," he said softly. "I'll be fine. I just feel...exposed. I've worked so hard to hide who I am in public. The first time I felt like I could be myself was with you and Ira. I...I want to be myself in public, ya know? I just haven't had the chance to. Maybe this is my chance."

He nodded, perhaps to convince himself of his words, and he stepped off into the ship.

"Locke, wake up."

John jostled me awake and dragged me to the cockpit. I was clearing the sleep from my eyes as he explained whatever was wrong.

"So, we stopped here. There's a dense nebula cloud, so a bunch of our sensors are fucked until we get out—that's not the issue, in fact, we chose to stay here because we hope that if we can't see out, no one else can see in. Going to recharge here and hope for the best.

"The problem comes from what information we did get." John pointed to the screen.

The coordinates didn't make sense.

"Are those scrambled or something?"

"Nope. We've been following the directions Ira sent us ever since we lost the fleet of ships. We should be on course, but...this feels off."

I stepped forward, getting a closer look at the data. It didn't make it any more clear.

"We're not in the Salvi Pass anymore?" I said. As much as I'd wanted to, I'd never left the Salvi Pass. I had no idea what to expect. At the very least, we wouldn't have to run anymore.

"Data says the proper name of this sector is...Wolfe Hollow? It's small, just a few uninhabited planets and stellar objects. There's one primary settlement—wait, in the entire sector? That's so weird. It's called—"

His voice caught. I shot a look to him. His eyes were wide. The expression wasn't fear, more...shocked? He zoomed in on a screen I couldn't see, then flipped back and forth between different sets of data. "No fucking way."

"What's wrong?" I said, approaching slowly. I wasn't sure if I could take anymore surprises.

"Did you know Ira was sending us here?!"

John...smiled?

"No...Where is 'here'"?

John rapidly pressed a few buttons and a window appeared on a large screen before me. I skimmed it quickly, looking for the pertinent information.

My jaw dropped.

"He's...He's taking us to the Ironlands?"