"Where are we going today?" Crystal asks as she finishes putting on her casual clothes. They had spent the last two days mostly in the room and she had thought they were spending the last couple of days there as well, but apparently not. She had honestly been taken aback when he told her they were going to go out.
"I heard from Big, there's a moving carnival in Boa, approximately 10 minutes or so from here. I figured if you loved the fair so much, you would enjoy that too." He answers simply as he puts a pill in the small pouch. His headaches were getting worse the more he tried steering things in her direction. He thought of upping the dosage, but the bottle specifically said to not exceed 1 pill a day.
"Alright, I'm ready." She says wrapping her scarf around her neck and walking up and taking his arm. At first, she was embarrassed and didn't know how to feel about their act but now she was relatively comfortable with it. The most they really did was hold hands, which wasn't really all that bad.
As they get into the elevator she watches as his left-hand touches something on the left side of his helmet. His visor was tinted so she couldn't see if he was talking to anyone or not. She decides not to worry about it, because if it was that important, he would tell her about it.
As they enter the elevator Asus sees the tiny radio emblem in the top left corner of his visor indicating he had a call. He reaches up and presses the button by his temple and answers the line.
"Hello?"
"Good Afternoon, this is Not the lead mechanic from Hangar ZF5. This is Derringer Asus correct?"
"That is correct. What can I do for you Mister Not?"
"There was some guys hanging around your ship earlier. Neither me nor my boys are too familiar with the Primordial military, but their armor looked a lot like yours and had the same emblem, but it had a more like rustic reddish-brown coloration to it."
"Did they do anything to it? The ship I mean?"
"Not from what we can tell. Unless they cloaked it everything is like how it was the day you checked it in. I sincerely apologize for not stopping them but me and my crew got families to support. We can't put more burden on them by getting ourselves killed." He apologies to him.
"That's alright. There was nothing you could have done. I paid you to maintain my ship, not defend it with your life. If you sincerely thought they were that dangerous, then by all means put yourself first. If they really were Primordial's then they wouldn't have harmed, you. No Primordial will harm someone who can't properly defend themselves from them." Asus tells him reassuringly.
While it did bother him that someone was snooping around the ship, there wasn't anything he could do about it right now anyway. He was a whole 30 minutes away. Even if he left right now the suspect would be long gone by the time he arrived. Plus there was the princess. He couldn't leave her in the room all alone for that long, nor could he risk endangering her by taking her along. The best he could do right now was to continue his day with her, rest tomorrow and cross that bridge when they got ready to depart.
Every ship had a startup sequence specially customized to the individual pilot. So if anything was added or altered, he would know immediately upon startup. For now he would focus on the princess and make sure she had a blast before they reentered slip-space for the next couple of months. That's why he decided to push the thought to the back of his mind for the time being and would worry about it later.
"Is there anything you would like me to do? I can confront them next time if you wish." Not says but he immediately dismisses the thought.
"No, do not that. I cannot have you or your crew getting hurt over something outside of your job field. Just please keep me updated on any and all persons or things that messes with my ship." He tells him and he got the feeling the man on the other end was nodding in understanding.
"Roger that. I will tell my boys to watch but don't interfere." Not says and this time its Asus who's nodding.
"Very well then. Thank you again for the update." He says as they enter Big's transport.
"You're very welcome, sir. I will update you again immediately should anything else similar happen." Not says and then he hangs up.
"Just as things started to seem to be going well too." He mutters to himself as he presses another button of his mask and unmutes it so he can converse with everyone.
The trip to the carnival didn't take very long since it was barely a 10 minute flight to get there. Big tells them to give him a ping when they are done, and he would once again return for them. They thank him and go about their way and head for the ticket stand.
Just as he had presumed, she was smitten with everything. It was significantly smaller than the fair due to it being a traveling carnival, but she was overly excited either way. As if it was déjà vu, they hit every ride and stall. At least that was what he thought until a tent with a very peculiar name "The Collapsing Star Fortune Teller" caught his attention. "Can't be." He thinks to himself before pointing it out to Crystal and telling her they missed one.
As expected, she was more than happy to go see it, so they made their way over to it. The outside of the tent was black and littered in what seemed to be stars and the inside was full of galaxes and systems.
"The only thing more beautiful than the violent event known as the birth of a neutron star..." He says as they pass a cloaked cross-legged figure sitting on the floor inside the tent by the opening flap and the response causes him to stop.
"... Is the collapse of a star to a stellar-mass black hole." The woman says finishing the code phrase and as she looks up at him and the familiar circular T shaped visor of the Primordial 330th through 375th Drop Troop Regiment meets his gaze. His eyes drift down to her body and sure enough the Rusted Red Armor that was the staple coloration pattern of the Drop Troopers with the Melting Wings Emblem stamped upon her left breast was the verifying factor she was a Primordial Soldier.
"Are we getting our fortunes told?" Crystal asks, looking over at him.
"Yeah. I'm interested in some fortune telling." He answers and the woman on the floor looks up at Crystal.
"My partner over at the table can your fortune. You see, same gender fortunes are normally less accurate, and we only strive for accuracy here." She says and Crystal nods.
"That makes sense." She agrees before asking if she'll be okay to go over there alone and he tells her it'll be alright. After getting the confirmation she wanted she happily walks over to the man at the table at the other side of the tent.
The woman then offer the palm of her hand to Asus who reaches down and with his middle finger draws a small circle in the center and then taps it. A solid green line appears horizontally across his HUD and as she speaks it shifts from high peaks to small peaks depending on the tone of her voice.
"I am Fire Master Savyac Code of the 347th DTR. My Commanding Fleet was the P.R.S CHALLENGER. I say was because I am unsure if the CHALLENGER is still with us." She says after introducing herself. "We were assigned to the 730th Demolition Command under orders to squash a rising rebellion within the Jeppa system. However, we were ambushed at Nitrate 9. Our Commanders had all the escape ships and Drop Pods loaded with random destinations in order to prevent us all from being killed."
"I see. I am Major Asus Derringer, pilot of the P.R.H.A.S THANATOS, under of P.R.S REAPER, which I believe to no longer be with us as well. We were ambushed in the Chameleon galaxy within the Benzoate system. Our Commander did the same as well after we came under an ambush also." He says slowly sitting down cross-legged across from her and only giving her half the truth.
"Ah, so it seems we wouldn't have linked up with you after all. That explains why Admiral Staght suddenly told us that the location and protection of Major Trick-Shot was the highest priority before the ambush. Our next assignment if we had completed the Rebellion Snuffing, we were to link up and provide support to the REAPER to ensure the delivery of a high value target back to Primia. Are you the high value target?"
"Negative. The woman is. I was hoping to run into some fellow Primordial's after being told some suspicious individuals were sniffing around. I was given a priority one mission to get her back to Primia. However, her body cannot survive off of our diet and she became deathly sick. This planet was the closet one that had a diet most suited to her. So I made the decision to stop her and make a supply run for her. The order will be completed in two days. Will you be escorting us back then?"
"I see. As much as I would love to be a part of the success of a priority one mission, I do not have a ship capable of providing said support. Besides our opponent is one that not only I do not wish to fight, but also one all of the Primordial fears." She says and his mechanical eyes widen as he seems to have an idea.
"No." He breathes as she says the name that caused his heart to stop.
"The Obake. They are on the hunt. We aren't the only ones. The Marshai's, Rainali's, Dispaches, and lots of other fleets. I would recommend staying planet side until the hunt ends."
"I can't do that, mi..."
"Mission first, right? And how is that mission treating you left eye?" She asks, catching him off guard. Her visor untints and he can only stare in silence at her left eye. The was three liquidity circles in it. "Every time you, try to ignore the mission you get a headache yeah?" She asks and he slowly nods. "That is all part of the Emperors to create fearless soldiers who will always complete the mission. Have you been introduced to the pills yet?"
She took the silence as a yes. She understood his pain and silence. He was being given a ton to take in, in the minimum time to process. "The quickest way to get off of them is to completely go rogue from the Empires beliefs. It will probably be the most painful thing, but if you do not want any liabilities and genuinely want to arrive back on Primia with the package, you will need to get rid of it. Or not only will you die, but also her. And even without the obedience chip, I full heartedly believe in not taking innocence lives." She says.
"Understood." He says dryly. "How many of us are on the planet?" He asks as he continues to try and process everything.
"There are currently 23 of us, however the majority of them are from Center 72, CRV 1, or FL12. I'm the only one from my fleet." She says and reaches over to her left side and pulls out a soda can sized object. "This is a ME-VT-HI5 Inter-System beacon. It is synchronized with the 23 other soldiers and if stays on the continuous course to Primia after three months and if we can find enough of our sisters and brothers, then we will high tail it to you and provide support."
"Thank you." He says taking the device and just as he put it away, Crystal returns to his side.
"Hey, hey. Check this out. Supposedly sometime in a few months from now, I'm going to find my one true love." She says happily looking down at him.
"Oh, is that so?" He asks, switching from private to public chat and pretending to be surprised and then she immediately switches her interest to his fortune.
"So, what was yours?" She asks expectedly and he sighs before giving her the answer to her question.
"The outcome of the fleet. Supposedly we will meet some of them soon." He lies and her eyes light up. There was no doubt that she didn't make any friends the measly couple of months she was aboard the REAPER, so it made sense that she was slightly excited.
"That is all I can see for now." Savyac says as she "ends" the fortune telling. "We will be here for two more days if you wish to have your fortunes read again about something else. Your own love life perhaps this time." She suggests as he stands up.
"I just might. If your able to make it to my hanger in two days, I would like to give you a Primordial souvenir that supposedly help with fortune telling. Although it is mostly superstition." He tells her in return.
"Fortunes are also based off of superstitions as well. It may in best interest to take you up on that offer." She says, giving him a soft bow.
"Oh my, is that true? About the souvenir." Crystal asks as they walk away from the tent.
"Yes. But as I said, it only works with fortune tellers. Any else that tries to use it might as well pretend that their making wishes." He tells her and she pretends to laugh.
"Ah, hahaha. Of course, even a princess like me knows that much." She semi-proudly says, despite not having the slightest doubt or thought that he was lying about the souvenir.
He pings Big again for a pickup, who had actually just dropped off a passenger not even a minute after receiving his call. He gives him the location to where he had parked and he and Crystal begin to make their way there, Crystal as per usual grabbing random snack to go, so she would have something to snack on in the room.