The transport vessel arrived as predicted and everything went as always except that everyone was a little on edge. They were all working hard and didn't want their efforts to go to waste.
Two days before the departure all loading indicators have reached the 100% marks.
They spent another full day making sure that everything was in order and the vessel was ready for launch.
The decision was made that they would launch in the middle of the night station time to avoid anyone from the red section noticing the opened dock doors and a ship slipping out.
Anne loaded up the programs that would bring the station self repair drones online and also designate the noble ships as enemies and automatically target and attack them.
She had set it on a timer which would finish the count down 1 hour after their departure and she set another timer set for three weeks after they departed and that program was set to disable the bypasses that allowed them to control the station,in other words it was a bait.
Tommy and Simon also left some presents for the nobles but theirs were the explosive types.
They decided to set up some explosives in every sub control center to make sure that this station was useless even if soldiers managed to get onboard,they planted the explosives
in such a way that they would go off if someone entered the room or tried to use the consoles.
Chances were that this station would be destroyed before any boarding took place but better safe than sorry.
It was decided that the last people to leave the station would be Tommy and Paul as someone needed to open the door and use the tractor beams to launch the ship.
Everyone was in their power armors that doubled as space suits,boarding and getting sure that everyone was aboard took almost an hour.
Tommy was stationed in the control center because to move the ship they needed more power and he intended to power up all of the reactors to 99% of their capacity with the fuel reserve left on the station they could work at full capacity for well over three months without refilling.
At this point he didn't care if someone discovered it one way or the other this station was going to be useless in the future,of that he was sure.
-Tommy,I'm opening the doors.
He heard Paul's voice inside his helmet.
-I'll be with you shortly.
He replied , imputing the command to the generator's control panel.
Once he saw that the gauges went up he ran to the docks and thanks to the power armor it only took him around 5 minutes.
Waiting for him.Paul set up a device with a timer which was responsible for closing the door after they left.
When Tommy arrived he took his position at the controls of the tractor beams.
It took some time for the tractor beam array to charge up but after 10 minutes it read fully charged.
They turned the beam at the ship and slowly it moved.
An hour later the ship was outside and drifting alongside the wrecks, moving slowly towards the outer system.
Tommy and Paul deactivated the tractor beams ,on their way out Paul activated the device he set up earlier and using their small jet engines they were on their way.
The device worked as planned and 5 minutes later the door started to close.
It took them almost 5 hours of dodging the debris outside the station to get to the ship and the moment they entered the airlock there was a loud cheer all around the ship.
Everybody was happy and excited,they made it,after more than half a year they finally left that hell hole.
They had some of the booze left and everybody toasted for the success of their escape.
After that little party most of the people went to their cabins to get some rest.
The only people left were the bridge crew consisting of Agness,Jakob,Sonya,David,Anne,Simon and Tommy.
Agnes was sitting in the pilot's chair but there was little for her to do since they were drifting right now.
Jakob was sitting behind the navigation console looking at their trajectory and doing some calculations.
Sonya was looking at the engineering console and running diagnostics on every system.
David took over the communications and was listening in on the surroundings.
Anne was looking at the sensor data in the intelligence station.
Simon was making sure that all weapons were loaded and ready to fire at least the cinetic ones.
Tommy took the captain's seat.
-You know, we never actually named this ship.
Agnes spoke and everyone looked at her.
-Now that you mention it, we really didn't give her a name.
Simon agreed with her.
-Actually i have a name for this ship, it's just that with all the work and other problems we had to deal with it slipped my mind.
Said Tommy.
-This ship was built by us to escape death and later it will be used to avenge those we lost and ourselves,it will deliver Vengeance to those who wanted us dead.
I'm sure that in each and everyone of us there is a rage that burns like a star for what we lost for what was taken from us by the nobles.
This ship's name is the Star of Vengeance.
Everyone on the bridge was in deep thought right now and one by one they discovered that what Tommy just said was the truth.
The best reminder of what they lost was the Wall of the Fallen situated in the back of the bridge; it had two names written on the titanium plates.
Matthew Worth and Yuri Miedviediev beside each of the plates hung a pair of dog tags.
They never received them like the others because they were taken by the soldiers before they were distributed.
So now they were placed there as proof of their involvement in the construction of this ship and as a reminder of their fate.
To this day Tommy remembered their last request and he was planning to fulfill it.
After a few minutes everyone came back to their senses and agreed on the name.
David even stated that it will sound cool when he uses it to introduce themselves.
Everyone laughed at this remark and the mood was uplifted.
-Ok people back to work .
Said Tommy and everyone went back to their tasks.
-How far away are we from the station?
Tommy asked Anne.
-We are currently around 3150 kilometers away from the station and moving away at a steady pace of 150 m/s.
She answered after looking at the sencore log.
It was a snail's pace in space terms but the ship currently operated at minimal power, everything was off line except for the critical systems and the bridge
It took them 7 hours to get so far and no one seems to know that they left yet and by now stations self repair drones should be hard at work repairing the defensive shields and cannons,they shure left them one hell of a materials stash and the ships in the docks to get more.
Tommy wished luck to anyone in a noble ship approaching this station a week from now.