BoTH Chpt 17

==Blood on the Horizon - Chapter 17 -==
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===Buttoning Up Thing Before He Goes===
"Last check," I muttered as I stowed my backpack with all of the gear from home into the captain's quarters on the Messenger. "I've got all of my kit from home here and hidden," I checked off a list with a clipboard I had found. "Accounts and passwords from the previous owners, check. The rest of it needs to be done on the King Henry V."
 
As I made my way through the connecting systems onto the Jumpship, I checked off the things that I had already done, from making sure the Manassas' reactor was shut down properly, to doing the same with all of the systems that were active on the base barring the doors and the hydroponics. 
 
"Sending door code," I said to myself as I sat at the communications station of the Jumpship. "Doors are opening, now I get to settle down for the long haul." 
 
Jumpships have station-keeping thrusters, and that's about it. It can take weeks, or even months for a Jumpship to travel from a shipyard to the jump point. And, given the relative rarity of modern jumpships, it made sense that you wouldn't want to bring one any closer to an enemy than necessary.
 
This meant that a trip that had only taken a day or so while on the Manassas was now going to take me a couple of weeks. 
 
"Need to figure out where I'm going before I reach the zenith," I muttered as I set up the station-keeping thrusters to head for the general area of the jump point. I would have plenty of time to change course if I were off.
 
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"I'm about a jump away from the Concordat or the FedSuns," I looked at the map. "FedSuns probably have access to the accounts considering the Messenger and her company were fronting as a company out of there."
 
"Pierce looks like my best bet," I noted. "Decently industrialized, quite a few other jumps that are close enough if I need to move on. And a Star League-era recharge station. Or at least there's supposed to be one there."
 
I shrugged and put the system at the top of my list. "It's at least a good starting point." 
 
Nodding to myself, I set up everything and then strapped myself into a sleeping bag I had anchored onto the bridge. Some sleep seemed like a really good idea right now.
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===Trying to Get Underway===
"Alright," I triple-checked the coordinates and other calculations. "Let's try to jump."
 
I hit the button and was greeted by a warning notice. 
 
"I'm an idiot," I facepalmed and let myself float further back. "I forgot that this isn't the Manassas, the K-F drive needs to recharge."
 
Hitting a few switches, the solar sails deployed, the material unfolding before the ship. 
 
"I wish my dad were here to see all of this," I said after a minute. "This is the sort of thing he would have loved to be a part of." 
 
I sniffled for a minute before drying my eyes and turning to leave the bridge. There was nothing I could do there for now. 
 
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"Put the pain somewhere else," I pushed the bar up, my arms and chest aching from the workout. "Anywhere else."
 
Sitting up, I toweled off some of the sweat, before standing and moving to the squat rack, my knee twinging as I hefted the weights onto my shoulder. 
 
I grunted as I began the leg exercise, the pain in my knee easing out as I settled into the routine of the workout. 
 
"Four more," I grunted as I worked toward the end of my first set, inhaling deep as I dipped while maintaining my balance before standing back up. 
 
After finishing the leg workouts, I moved to a treadmill. "Rule number one:" I chuckled. "Cardio."
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===End of a lonely Journey===
One week later…
"Fuckin' finally," I grinned as the display showed the K-F Drive active and ready to go. "Next stop, civilization." 
 
The King Henry V winked out of existence.
 
A nod and a salute from someone in an SLDF uniform as I buried the dead. The ticking of an old clock as time moved on. 
 
An ornate throne with two sisters prostrate before it as a man glared angrily. 
The image of a Wolf, and its grinning teeth as an Archer filled the air with missiles. 
 
A strange-looking dropship with a blond woman and her husband on board, the crew mourning as they leave.
 
And above it all, was the image of a red hourglass and a redhead glaring into my soul.
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<<"Unknown Jumpship, please respond,">> a female voice repeated over the comms systems. <<"This is the Janus recharge station, respond or we will consider you hostile and send out an ASF squadron to ensure you're not a threat.">>
 
"This is the King Henry V," I finally leaned over and spoke into the mic. "We suffered a misjump and I only just now managed to get back into known space. Can you tell me what's going on?"
"King Henry, if that's you, then you've been missing for nearly three hundred years," a shocked voice responded. "You've got permission to dock with Janus, but we'll be asking some questions."
 
"Copy that, Janus," I replied. "I'll start steering in your direction."
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"What do we have today, ensign?" Lieutenant Erica Lamb asked as she sipped at her coffee. 
 
"We're not expecting any Jumpships for a couple of weeks, ma'am. Our regulars are out for a bit," Ensign Hall shrugged. "Everything's pretty quiet out there."
 
"It's been decades since anything other than pirates or small traders visited," Hall continued. "I doubt we'll have any excitement today."
 
"We'll see," Erica replied as she settled into her seat. "Never know what Saint Murphy has waiting for us."
 
"Got that right, LT." Hall chuckled as he spun his chair around to face the Officer on Duty. 
 
The two officers continued to chitchat as they scanned the system and Jump Point periodically, the four lightweight ASF in their bays on standby as always. 
 
"Lieutenant!" Hall barked. "You might want to see this."
 
"Invader, three dropships," his hands flew across the controls. "Can't make out the relative mass."
 
"I'll start hailing them," Erika sat down in her chair. "Have our fighters on Standby. I'll wake the Captain."
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Chapter 17