When Tommy received the news he was shocked.
Not only did he get what he wanted but also learned of the Bugs armada coming which was probably why the emperor agreed to pardon them and added the condition about not attacking the nobles.
-All crew please assemble in the hangar deck.
Tommy used the intercom.
-Agnes you have the con and read the message that i'm living on the console its the information i will be relying on everyone.
After that he and the rest left the bridge.
Everyone was already waiting for him on the hangar deck.It was the best place to gather all of the crew other than the cargo bay.
-Everyone I just received a message and its contents are important to all of us.
There was a pin drop silence immediately after they heard his words.
-There is some good news and some bad news.
I'll start with the good news and that is:
We can all be pardoned but under the condition that no one will seek revenge on the nobles.
There was a murmur,some were happy, others not so much.
-Please be quiet.
Tommy said and everyone turned silent once again.
-The bad news is that there is a Bug armada closing in on the empire's border.
-So does that mean that we can go home and no one will come after us?
Asked one of the crew.
-Yes but like I said we won't be able to attack the nobles, personally i would love to slaughter them but if forgoing my revenge gets you all freedom then i can live with that.
-So the nobles want to pardon us to save their own skins. Is that right?
Another person asked.
-No It's not the nobles it's the imperial pardon so the emperor himself is involved.
-Then what about nobles, what are we going to do if they come after us?
-That's a good question, and the answer is that we will ask for the same as the nobles have.
We won't be able to go after them but the same applies to them so they won't be able to go after us.
Let's make this short, do you all want to go home or do you want to still go into the coalition space?
Tommy decided to give them a choice.
Of Course all of them wanted to go home.
-Then it's decided on our next cooldown we will change course and go back in the meantime i will contact my friend and agree to the terms.
Also if some of you want to stay aboard as a crew you are more than welcome.
That is all for now.
After that Tommy and the rest of the bridge crew got back to their stations.
-Do you really think that we will all be pardoned?
Agnes asked when they were on the bridge.
-Actually yes and I have two reasons for that.
First is that my friend would never send the message if he didn't have assurance that this was indeed approved.
The second is the bug armada that is coming, i believe that it was the main reason for the pardon.
They don't want to constantly look behind in fear of us going after them and frankly it's the best solution for all of us.
We get to go home and be free and they don't have to worry about us taking them out.
Tommy explained.
-Then what about this ship?
Anne asked.
-I will be taking the ship as originally intended and all of the crew have every right to stay or leave and even if they leave they will be always welcome to come back.
This is our ship and it belongs to us all but when we get the pardon we won't be able to justify having a war ship that belongs to civilians so I'll be taking it to my mercenary team, that way we get to keep the ship if we ever need it and with the bugs coming im afraid that it will be needed sooner than we all think.
-That's good to know but do you think that the Dragon star team will accept us?
Simon asked.
-I don't know about entering the main team but i don't see why they wouldn't accept everyone as a ship crew.
-What's the difference?
-To get to the main team you need to prove that you're good enough and most of the team has some special abilities or are talented in some field.
The fleet doesn't have these kinds of requirements, all you have to do is to be good at your job and you will be accepted no problem.
There is a pay difference of course but it also reflects on the responsibilities.
The main team are all officers and their orders are above even the captains orders in the fleet and can only be overruled by our boss.
At the same time the team handles the most dangerous aspects of the missions so they get paid better.
-Do all of the team members go into the battlefield?
-No they dont, some of them are very talented in other fields,like my sister,she is a very talented analyst so she was already accepted into the team. We just waited for her to turn 16 years old so that she could register as a mercenary.
Tommy explained.
-Do you think that there is someone aboard that would qualify for the main team?
Paul asked.
-Actually yes there are some people here that would probably get accepted right away and some that would need to prove themselves but it's not my decision to make.
Now if you excuse me i need to write our response to my boss and navigation should start plotting a course for the core worlds the shorter the better.
After that everyone got busy. They had around 20 hours until the next cool down and Tommy decided that they would wait until they reached that point before they changed course and send the message as they couldn't do it while in FTL.
They could drop out at any time but that was dangerous because if you dropped in the wrong place then you were dead.
The time went by slowly and Tommy used it to talk with the crew.
Some of them wanted to stay aboard because even with the pardon they didn't have anywhere to return to.
Others wanted to get back to their families and were happy that they were pardoned.
There were some that were still uncertain of what they should do and it helped when he assured them that they had plenty of time to decide.
Everyone was appreciative of the option to return to the ship if they wanted or needed to for some reason.
When they finally arrived at the cool down point there was a surprise waiting for them.