The Mariner was currently on its way to the observation post orbiting Corinne 1, the planet closest to the system star.
The information given to them by Celis station was minimal, just the identity number they would need and its location.
Lyra had joined the siblings after completing her checks in the cargo hold and sat in the navigator's seat.
"Wait, we're not going to Celis?" Lyra asked as she looked at their location.
"No, they contacted us at the last minute and wanted us to deliver them to the observation outpost near Corinne 1." Aria explained to Lyra.
"That's strange, the amount of supplies here is enough to last an observation post for years." Lyra spoke, confused as she had been studying stations and supply management.
Aria had already realised something was not right but kept quiet when she saw Jake was not worried in the slightest.
"They're paying us double so let's not worry too much." Jake spoke to Lyra who quickly agreed.
"True, as long as we get paid and not doing anything wrong is fine with me." Lyra spoke, Jake knew the anger she had against Nexus Corp but quelled it as they had neither money nor power to do anything against them.
"Oh, I see it!" Aria spoke as she pointed to the medium-sized station orbiting Corinne 1.
Jake deployed the sensors to take a closer look at their destination.
The observation post was much larger than a regular one, but apart from that it looked completely normal, with a few landing pads and no visible defences.
(They definitely have defences, they're most likely hidden.)
'Still, how much firepower do you think is in there?' Jake asked the Atlas.
(Quite a lot, SRB outposts are essentially space bunkers, it's filled with data servers and weapons as well as a few ships hidden in those storage units below the station.) The Atlas added.
'Oof, if anyone tried to raid this post would be in for a nasty surprise.' Jake commented.
"We should be there soon, let me try to establish a link." Aria spoke as she called out to the station.
"This is the Celestial Mariner, Celis Tag GH08Z1, inbound for delivery, over." Aria spoke into the Comms and received a message a few seconds later.
"Celestial Mariner, this is Observation Post 2AJ, Celis Tag GH08Z1 confirmed for delivery, please make your way to landing pad 3 Over." A man's voice was heard over the Comms as the ship received permission to land.
"Copy that Observation Post 2-" Aria was about to respond before another voice shouted over her.
"DOES ANYONE READ, THIS IS THE CHANIS PRATE, WE ARE IN NEED OF IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE, WE'VE LOST BOTH OF OUR ENGINES AND HAVE A MASSIVE HULL BREACH, CANNOT STABILISE, 60 SOULS ONBOARD, REQUESTING AID OVER." A panicked voice spoke.
"I REPEAT, LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS ARE CRITICAL, WE HAVE DEAD AND INJURED, DOES ANYONE RESPOND OVER." The voice spoke again, more desperate than before.
'Shit, why does something always have to happen.' Jake spoke as he realised what was going to happen.
"Jake, we need to help them, Aria turn the ship around." Lyra spoke to Jake and Aria with a worried look.
"What? Are you crazy Lyra, it's too risky, we're a cargo ship, not an emergency rescue vessel, we're neither equipped nor trained to help them." Aria spoke to Lyra as Jake remained silent.
"Still! We can't just ignore this, we have to do something." Lyra spoke trying to convince her.
"It's not our responsibility, the observation outpost and Celis should be able to send a few vessels to help, am I right Jake?" Aria turned to her brother waiting for his response.
'She's right, but she's not aware of the SRB outpost.' Jake spoke to the Atlas.
(Yes, unless given direct orders from Headquarters, SRB stations maintain their distance from any instances to avoid them being revealed. They won't send a ship, and when Celis does, they might be too late.)
'Yeah, it will take a bit of time for them to reach and if what that man said is correct about their life support systems, they do not have much time at all.'
Jake turned to Lyra before speaking "Aria is right Lyra, it's very risky for us to try and help especially when there are others that are in the system." Jake spoke to Lyra who had a sad expression and lowered her head.
Aria felt bad for Lyra but was happy her brother had taken her side.
"However, the observation post won't send any help and any from Celis will be too late, which is why we have to go." Jake's words confused Aria and Lyra smiled as she lifted her head.
"Wait what? Jake, it's dangerous and stupid for us to risk our lives." Aria angrily spoke to Jake.
"I know Aria, listen to me." Jake spoke calmly to his sister who quietened down.
"I'm not taking our lives lightly, and I'm not saying we should help everyone all the time, my priority will always be us, but if we're able to help a little, we should. Also if we help them won't our reputation increase?" Jake spoke to his sister who understood his words.
After a minute Aria conceded "Fine, fine, we'll help them out but, don't die trying to be a hero." Aria warned her brother with a deadpan expression. It was the first time she was completely serious with her brother and Jake felt a little nervous seeing this side of his sister.
(She really cares about you.)
'Of course she does, just a little surprised with how serious she got.'
"Yes, I know, I promise not to put other people's lives above my own." Jake spoke to Aria who watched him with the same expression.
"Good." She spoke before sitting down and entering the coordinates to the ship's distress beacon.
"Yes!" Lyra spoke out, happy they were going to help people.
Jake smiled as he noticed the contrast between the two. Lyra, although deeply affected by her father's death and depressed for a while, had emerged with a different mindset than Aria.
Although she also puts her family first, she still cares for others, most likely the values which Clarence had taught her, him being the chief of Security on Naru.
Aria on the other hand, like Jake after losing both homes as well as their father, cares for no one but their family. Even though Victor was a governor on Earth, the military's expulsion of the Avalon family had ingrained a piece of distrust and neglect for others.
'I will have to sit in the middle if I want things to remain peaceful.' Jake thought to himself.
The ship quickly reached the distress beacon and Jake realised the situation was far worse than he imagined.
A massive field of debris littered the area as Jake spotted the large ship, missing both its aft and bow, with many holes in the middle.
"What the hell happened here?" Jake spoke out loud.
Both Aria and Lyra also stared at the debris before a message came through.
"Hello? Are you here to rescue us, thank god? Please there's not a lot of time left before our reserves finish." The voice spoke.
'Hah, at least we made it in time.'
(We've got bigger problems than that.) The Atlas spoke.
'What! Why?' Jake asked.
(Look there.) The Atlas spoke Jake turned to where it said.
One of the engines was completely destroyed while one was partially intact, the blue glow from the partially running engine.
(That one is still running Jake, it seems the reactor core is still functioning forcing the engine to stay alive while it's being dampened.)
'But it shouldn't explode right?'
(The engine dampeners will only work for so long before they deactivate, once they do, the engine will be pushed to its limits, forcing it to activate and forcing it to jump. Once it does that it will have an 87% chance of catastrophic failure and explode.)
'Shit.'
(Yeah, they're also quite old, almost 100 years old, these engines are massive and were mainly used for Ultra Heavy Cargo Vessels and larger military vessels. The government got rid of them because they were deemed too unreliable.)
'Then what should we do?'
(Go as fast as possible, rescue as many as we can, then get as far away from the field as we can. The ship will not be able to handle the explosion, although the stations will be fine.)
The Atlas's words made Jake feel tense, the engine was a massive time bomb waiting to go off.
'Let me warm them at least.'
Jake walked over to Aria's seat before speaking into the Comms "All ships and stations, please activate shields and get as much distance from my location as you can.
There is a runaway engine located at the debris site and I cannot stop it. To ships who are close but can't get away in time, please use a nearby planet or asteroid as cover to brace yourself for shock."
"Roger that Celestial Mariner, cancelling rescue ops and preparing for bunker down, stay safe, Celis station Over and Out." The other stations and ships in the area heeded Jake's words.
Jake turned the ship towards the heavily damaged vessel and flew towards it.
"Aria, Lyra, we're on the clock, I don't know how much time we have left but we have to be fast."