Echo Watch Post [Galactic Defense Corps Space Station]
Garnik Port [rest station on the Cold Sea Beltway]
08 December; 06:13:08 Hours
Thousands of cruisers were flying in and out of Garnik Port, one of over a half million rest spots and trading posts along the vast space lane highway that intertwined the universe. Though the notable difference in comparison to the average port along the highway, Garnik is controlled by the Galactic Defense Corps, whose massive space station sits at the core. Every pilot that dared enter Garnik knew that there was more than likely a chance their crew, cargo, and vessel would be searched, interrogated and recorded into the GDC database.
A holoscreen was on in the background of a quarters in Echo, a UNN anchor was covering a story with the audio being translated to English, “<Late last night and into the early hours of this morning, it appears a suicide bomb was detonated in a residential area of Oshoobu. Local authorities are not confident enough to say for certainty, but it is being reported that they believe the Shaomhov Quarter is responsible for th—”
“The hell they are,” Amelia snapped at the holoscreen before swiping it away. “Gabe would never allow such a thing to happen.”
“You have to stop.” Her husband, Wade, who was a First Lieutenant of the GDC said, “Please stop protecting them.”
Amelia turned to find him standing just in the doorway of the living room, holding their two-year-old daughter in his arms. She ran her fingers through her hair, saying, “It’s not that easy, Wade.”
“It should be.”
She looked at him with a straight face and nostrils that started to flare, but he walked up to her as their daughter, Eona, opened her arms for Amelia to take her. “Momma!”
“Momma is happy to be home,” he whispered to Eona.
She forced a smile out at him, taking their daughter from him. “Yes, yes she is.”
“No leave,” Eona said while grabbing either side of Ameila’s face.
“Momma’s gonna try.”
“Momma’s not gonna leave us again,” Wade said before kissing Eona on the forehead.
Amelia whipped her head in his direction, hissing through a smile, “Excuse me?”
“Come on, Amelia, KOG is shattered and the Union has you on a Top 10 list - Why would you risk it right now?”
“I’m not gonna leave them out to dry.”
“They did to you,” he chuckled and threw his arms up. “Where are they? Huh? Gabe is blowing up residential areas; Klaus is completely off-grid; Drake and Sarah are MIA after leading that Union tail into the no-go-sector; Helena was the only one who stood her ground when Theo slaughtered your title to protect some Shim-Princess… Now tell me why you’re still trying to protect them?”
Amelia set Eona down before patting her on the buttocks in the direction of the bedroom quarters. She watched her daughter waddle off before turning back to her husband, folding her arms and subtly shaking her head. He let out another chuckle, though this one was short and shallow.
“Because Wade,” she sighed, “they’re family.”
His eyes grew large and he pointed to the bedroom quarters where their four children were. “NO - They’re family, Amelia! Our children, you and I are family!”
“Wade! I bled with them! I killed beside them!”
“That’s not what makes you family with people!”
“And how would you know?” she yelled, but then quickly placed her hand over her mouth as she saw Wade’s head clock back and his eyes sink. “I’m sorry, Wade. I didn’t me—”
“I’m,” he struggled to say as he turned to their quarters' door, “I’m, I’m not fighting with you over this… I’m just not.”
“Wait, where are you going?”
“I’ve been assigned orders,” he told her before grabbing his go-bag that was hanging beside the door.
“Orders?”
“Yeah, Captain Madrud wants me heading up a unit to locate and retrieve a high-valued asset.”
“Wait, so you’re leaving us?” Amelia now chuckled as she watched the door slide to the right.
“Don’t do that, Amelia, you know it’s not like that.”
“Then what’s it like? Did you even tell the kids?”
“I told them last night - Jojo is gonna be the man of the house while I’m away, and Vik, Lucca, and Eona know I love ‘em.”
Amelia just looked at Wade as he stood in the doorway, waiting for her to say something. Though when she didn’t, he smiled and assured her, “I love you,” and then headed out with the door closing behind him.
Amelia pulled her Tether from her sweatpant pocket, pulled up contacts, and tapped one with it dialing through a secure commline. She watched it attempt to connect several times before it cut out but then quickly tapped it again, and then again before dropping her head and sighing, “Goddammit.”
Beep, beep, beep. Amelia’s attention immediately shot to her Tether, seeing the incoming call and picking it up, saying, “Thank God, I thought something happened to you guys!”
“No, we’re good, ‘Melia!” Kyra Kingsley smiled as her video feed played to Amelia.
“I got a bad feeling, Kyra.”
“Yeah, so does Klaus.”
“He does?”
“Yeah, he didn’t even want me picking up your call - Thought it might be a trap.”
Amelia closed her eyes tightly, trying to hold back tears. “How did it come to this?”
“You know.”
“Yeah, I do.”
“But come on, none of us thought it would be because of a Shim,” Kyra scoffed and rolled her eyes.
“Hey, she’s not bad.”
“Oh, not you too! They’re all bad, ‘Melia! I know because they tried exterminating my people!”
“I know, I know,” she sighed. “But, but Theo wouldn’t have done what he did for a murderer.”
“Theo couldn’t bring himself to kill a heretic,” Kyra growled. “So please, don’t insult me by saying he wouldn’t have spared a Shim because she got his blood pumping, okay?”
Amelia nodded.
“So, what’s up?”
“We need to get KOG back together,” she told Kyra.
“I don’t think that’s possible,” Kyra said as she glanced over her shoulder, looking through a thick crowd of Astronauts while trying to gauge where Klaus was.
“Why?”
“Um, well, Drake and Sarah are ghosts as far as Klaus and I can tell; Gabe is the undisputed head of Shaomhov; Helena is commanding a death squad looking for all of us; and well, Theo is shagging a Shim… So, yeah.”
Amelia rubbed her temple before she said, “Well, we have to do something.”
“Join up with Klaus and I - We, well, we came across something and now while it’s not what KOG’s mission was, it could be far more important.”
“Yous came across something more important than securing the Hae’Lektaes?”
“It’s a long story,” Kyra chuckled, “but, but do you want in?”
She glanced back to the sleeping quarters, knowing her children were there and that if she agreed, she wouldn’t see them for a long time. A tear rolled down her cheek as Krya said, “Hey, you don’t have to decide at this moment, okay? Look, I’m gonna send you a rolling-encrypt-coordinate link, only your bioprint will show our coordinates - If you want in, just find us.”
Amelia wiped the tear away as she nodded. “Oh-okay.”
“Now, I gotta go before Klaus sees I picked up the call - See ya’!”
“Be safe, Kyra,” Amelia smiled and blew her a kiss, just before the call ended.
But then Amelia jumped as she heard a voice call from behind her, “Mom?”
“Jojo,” she turned and said, “What are you doing up so early?”
“Go,” he told her.
“W-what?”
“Mom, go - The Uni needs you more than we do.”
“Baby,” she hurried over to him, hugging him tightly as she whispered, “Don’t say that.”
He looked up to her as she was trying not to cry, and said, “Please, we’ll be fine - I’ll make sure that Vik, Lucca, and Eona are okay. I promise.”
“I can’t leave yuh—” she tried saying but Jojo cut her off.
“Mom, there’s something out there. It's scaring the Rangers. I’ve never seen Dad so scared, but whatever it is, it's bad.”
“What are you talking about?”
Jojo looked away from her as he pointed to the holoscreen that was replaying footage of the event on Oshoobu. “They don’t think it was Uncle Gabe - They said it was…Aem’Shihaev.”
Amelia’s eyes squinted as she gently took her son by the shoulders. “Aem’Shihaev?”
“A girl in my class, she’s a Silver Elf - She said that her grandmother told her it’s Dark Elven, that, that it means: No light… Blackout.”
“Is that what your father is doing? Going after this, this Aem’Shihaev?”
“I, I don’t know,” he said while shrugging to her. “Dad doesn’t talk about work.”
She stood up from her knees, rubbing the bridge of her nose when she heard Jojo say, “Now please, please go Mom. The Uni does need you more than we do, I promise.”
Amelia started crying, as she looked from her son to her Tether which was now displaying the REC link Kyra just sent her. She wouldn’t be able to bring herself to use it, but Jojo grabbed her left hand that was holding her Tether and lifted it, encouraging his mother to do what he knew was right.