BSBxKc Chpt 13

==Blue Squadron (Battletech x KanColle(ish) crossover) - Chapter 13 -==
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===Trial of Possession===
System 2799, Deep Periphery
Amber Lotus' eyes fastened on a figure that had not been there before.
It was a warship girl. One of their kind, she realized. Slightly shorter than Amber and wearing a uniform that was familiar to the draconian, the stranger appeared younger than she did. Emerald-colored hair, worn in a ponytail that reached past her shoulders, invariably drew one's attention. Equally as unusual as her hair's color, the girl's eyes were a vibrant violet. They were also fastened onto Amber, and the rest of Blue Squadron, like a deer caught in headlights.
Half a moment later, surprise had worn off enough for Amber to recognize the markings on the stranger's hull. Most prominent of those was a bird carrying a sword in its talons. This would be a hassle, she realized.
 
Out of the corner of her eye the Inazuma could see Swift Justice lift her hand. The woman's movement broke the spell.
 
Whirling around quickly, the green-haired girl went to full burn.
 
"Hey! Where are you going?!" La Plata yelled after the new arrival.
 
Amber was about to run after the stranger when a hand came to rest on her shoulder, keeping her in place.
 
A glance upwards revealed it belonging to Swift Justice, the flagships's features pensive. "Stay. She would probably shoot at you if you tried to chase her. And i think she is faster than you are anyway." Gaze still on the escaping fleetmaiden, the flagship seemed to make a decision.
 
"This is Blue Squadron Actual, to unknown warship. Please respond." When the shorter girl did not do so, the Aegis continued, voice dripping with condescension. "Curious. I had not expected the first warrior of your clan I met to be a coward."
 
That got a reaction out of the greenette. She glanced back over her shoulder, eyes narrowed dangerously.
"I see you can understand me. Good." Sporting an arrogant expression, the grey-haired woman placed a hand on her chest. When she spoke again, her voice was raised, like that of an orator. "I am Swift Justice of Blue Squadron! Hear my batchall!"
Observing the scene unfold had visibly confused La Plata, Amber noticed. Opening her mouth, the Dart was about to ask what was going on.
 
A raised hand and pointed look from Amber made the light cruiser close her mouth again. Their flagship was in the process of using weapons other than her guns to achieve a beneficial outcome.
"I challenge you to a Trial of Possession, Jade Falcon. And you will be the objective of said trial." Swift paused meaningfully, before adding in a deliberately provoking tone. "Will you accept, or ignore my batchall like a dezgra?"
 
While the green-haired girl had looked annoyed before, the flagship's words made her actually livid. Baring her teeth in a snarl of fury, the warship flipped her hull around and decelerated to a halt relative to Blue Squadron girl whirled around, violet eyes attempting to burn holes through Swift.
 
La Plata was watching the proceedings with silent curiosity, while Amber was once more impressed by their commanding officer's craftiness. There was no way a clan-warrior could decline a challenge if it was worded like that.
 
Grudgingly, the Inazuma also admitted to herself that she had fallen for the same angle. Appealing to, or challenging, a warrior's prowess or honor was a sure-fire way to get them to act on instinct, instead of think. But then again Amber did not regret it, for she knew she was doing the right thing. Swift's voice drew her back into the moment.
 
"Well? I am waiting."
 
"Very well, chalcas. I will play along with this farce." Voice barely more than a growl initially, the greenette straightened to her full height before she carried on. "I am Silver Merlin of Clan Jade Falcon. I accept your challenge, and add a stipulation. When i win, you will grant me safe passage back to where i belong." For the first time the girl properly looked the other fleetmaidens over. "What is your bid?"
 
Amber was already floating forwards. She would have volunteered, even had she not been the most suitable opponent for Silver Merlin.
 
"I bid her." Predictably, Swift Justice pointed at the dark-haired girl. "She outweighs you, but her damage makes up for that advantage. She will also be limited to one dropship and ten aerospace fighters, to match your own."
 
Mulling the proposal over for a mere moment, the green-haired girl responded in a hard voice. "Well bargained and done."
 
"Well bargained and done." Echoing the words, Swift Justice floated towards Amber.
 
"What in the world is going on?" La Plata questioned the flagship with raised eyebrows, while the woman was passing by.
 
"I will explain in a minute." Swift placated, while sidling up to Amber Lotus.
 
In the process of directing away her Nagumo, the draconian made eye-contact with the approaching Aegis. She naturally picked her Achilles, an assault dropship, for this battle, damaged as it may have been.
 
"You are two fighters short of your opponent's complement, and she has OmniFighters. Do you want me to lend you a pair?"
 
Amber was surprised the cruiser radioed unencrypted spoke loudly and clearly. Realizing what her flagship was doing, she responded in kind. "Thank you, but no. I'll take the handicap, nanodesu."
 
Considering the opinion clan-warriors had on subterfuge, exchanging a lot of coded radio-traffic before a trial might look like an attempt to gain an unfair advantage over her opponent. And Amber intended to win not only the trial, but also her opponent's respect. Between warriors, that was worth more than anything else. Besides, if the pattern with newly arrived fleetmaidens remained, Amber thought she might already have enough of an advantage.
 
Not wanting to make her opponent wait any longer, Amber floated forwards, past Swift Justice.
 
"Remember that Quixote?" Her flagship's voice made Amber look back over her shoulder. The woman held her gaze, eyes intense.
 
After a moment realization struck the draconian, and her eyes widened for a moment. She nodded and turned her gaze onto her opponent again. Swift Justice had given her a good idea.
 
Silver Merlin was watching her like a hawk. She had been feeling the girl's eyes on her, even before turning to face her properly. Heading a good distance towards her opponent, Amber eventually came to a halt.
 
With both combatants in position, their gazes locked. Amber saw tension and determination in the other girl's eyes, which was probably a reflection of her own expression.
After several moments of the staring-contest, the clan warship queried. "Ready, quiaff?"
 
Nodding mutely, Amber went into a combat-stance.
 
"Begin!" Swift Justice's voice was the starting gun which commenced the trial.
 
Both combatants accelerated towards each other. Soon, though, they changed course, almost at the same time.
 
What had begun as a charge turned into a slower dance, the two warships remaining out of weapons-range and circling each other.
 
Amber was searching for an opportunity. She attempted to get her opponent to commit to an attack by swerving towards the green-haired girl.
 
The shorter fleetmaiden did not take the bait, instead remaining at standoff-distance and posturing her aerospace assets as though about to commence an attack.
 
Both combatants tried to bait the other into committing first with repeated feints.
 
Eventually the clan-warship's patience seemed to have run out, the greenette turning towards Amber instead of away from her during one of the latter's turns. Accelerating at a very impressive 4.5g, she came straight for the draconian.
 
Knowing she had only one good opportunity for what she had in mind, Amber pretended to present her broadside. As the distance shrunk, and weapons-range was reached, the Inazuma subtly turned towards her opponent even more.
 
Silver Merlin, for her part, fired as soon as she reached her own maximum engagement-range. Half a dozen beams of red light lanced across the blackness of space, towards the dark-haired corvette.
 
It seemed that the pattern was holding true, and whatever had affected the members of Blue Squadron after their return also afflicted Silver Merlin. Five out of six beams missed Amber. Just one hit her in the front. It still left a noticeable black patch, just below chest-level, on her already threadbare uniform.
 
Firing her own NLs, followed by her NPPCs, the Inazuma frowned. While she had deliberately missed Silver Merlin with everything, she had also missed her opponent's single dropship, which was a complicating factor for what she intended to do. Her aerospace units would have to take care of it.
 
Points of light briefly appeared on the green-haired girl's front, while she was coming towards Amber at breakneck speed.
 
Gritting her teeth against the expected impacts, the dark-haired girl relaxed somewhat when the heavy shells went wide. She answered with her own, lighter NACs, this time scoring a hit on the dropship which accompanied Silver Merlin.
 
Both combatants going as fast as they were, neither had time to reload before they would pass each other.
 
It was just before closest approach that Amber made her move. Turning, she burnt onto an intercept vector lunged at the passing Silver Merlin. Utter surprise was written on the latter's face, and Amber could almost hear the collision-alarms going off in the other girl's head.
 
On reflex, the green-haired warship flipped herself around and spun on her axis to avoid contact with the Inazuma.
 
Despite the damage to her propulsion, Amber managed to get a grip of her opponent. Sending her Achilles and all of her fighters at Silver Merlin's dropship, she grasped the other girl's legs. Inertia from both of their considerable speeds made the now connected warships spin around their shared center of mass fast. Amber Lotus being a lot heavier than her opponent meant that she was doing so a lot slower than Silver Merlin, who was experiencing significant g-forces.
 
"Savashri! Let me go!" All but screeching, the green-haired girl kicked her legs to get out of her assailant's grasp. She redirected all her fighters from defending her single dropship to shooting Amber. Silver Merlin also tried to get her guns to bear, yet Amber was too close. She tried bending her middle, like one would do a sit-up, to get her weapons to bear. The clan-warrior's entire frame experiencing a lot of centrifugal force did not allow her to do so far enough.
 
Amber grit her teeth. While her opponent's Dropship was luckily out of the fight, neutralized by her own fighters, those belonging to Silver Merlin hit her often and in quick succession. Being as large as she was, and at point blank range to boot, even Silver Merlin's impaired fighters could not miss. They had to go.
 
She had hoped to get by without the measure, but a plan rarely survived contact with the enemy. Giving the weapons free to her gunners, as well as her aerospace assets, fireworks started going off around her. The Clan OmnifFghters were tough, and their pilots good at what they did. Yet, unable to truly hit anything aside from Amber, they were picked off in short order.
 
Realizing the situation was turning decidedly to her disadvantage, Silver Merlin increased her struggles. Desperation gave her strength, and she kicked strong enough to almost shake off the grip her opponent had on her legs.
 
In response, Amber pulled her opponent closer and squeezed the other girl's ankles under her armpits. "Do you yield, nanodesu!?"
 
"Never!" Never before had Amber heard such venom in anyone's voice.
 
Grasping the greenette's legs with all her strength, and no longer taking fire, the draconian put all her might into accelerating their rotation.
 
Yelling in desperation, and probably fear, the trapped Clan Warrior flailed her arms around wildly. It did not take long for the ever increasing centrifugal forces to stretch out her frame entirely, arms over her head.
 
Surprised that Silver Merlin had not given up yet, Amber grit her teeth and redoubled her efforts to use the pirouette-effect to her advantage. Crunching the numbers in her head, she could tell when the g-forces Silver Merlin's upper half experienced exceeded 7g. Yet the girl remained stubborn.
 
8g. 9g. Doubts were starting to creep into Amber's mind. Was what she was attempting not going to work? Yet before she could question her methods further, she felt all tension drain out of the other girl's frame. At a sustained 10g her opponent's crew had finally passed out.
 
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===Bondsman===
Checking through the view of her fighters, the draconian confirmed that Silver Merlin's eyes had rolled into the back of her head. Gradually slowing their shared rotation, Amber breathed a sigh of relief.
 
"Congratulations. I think you just set a record." Swift Justice lauded, while on a vector of approach.
 
Finally coming to a halt after spinning for a while, Amber was a little dizzy herself. Inadvertently leaning into the direction she had been revolving, the draconian blinked owlishly. "What record?"
 
For her part, Blue Squadron's flagship seemed as happy as never before, smile broad and bright. "I have never heard of anyone taking a warship, during a space-battle, undamaged." She shook her head and chuckled. "That was some good thinking there."
 
Having the usually serious woman's uncharacteristic levity directed at her, genuine smile and all, caused the same expression to appear on Amber's face. It did feel good to be acknowledged for something well done.
 
"Unconventional thinking." La Plata joined the conversation while she was linking up with them. "When i think too hard about what i just saw...two warships engaging in unarmed close-combat...i get a headache."
 
"Better not do that, then." Swift Justice had reached Amber, and placed her hands on the girl's shoulders. Cruiser and corvette both winced slightly, since the movement and contact aggravated damaged areas on both. "I am proud of you. That was a great idea."
Raising her eyebrows, the dark-haired girl gave her flagship a questioning look. "I thought that was what you meant with Remember the Quixote."
 
Nodding, the Aegis elaborated. "In a way. I did mean melee, so you two would not need to shoot each other to scrap. Taking her like this though, undamaged, was a leap of logic. I had not thought that far." She floated closer to the motionless figure next to Amber, running her eyes over the girl's hull shape. "And will be worth a lot. Our damage has been accumulating." After a few more moments of taking in the unconscious form, the flagship murmured. "Definitely a corvette."
 
That reminder of their deteriorating condition put a dampener on the mood, Amber thought. Looking down at herself revealed her to be in better shape than Swift Justice was. That did not say all that much though, considering the woman sported a lot of black and blue bruises where her uniform did not cover her any more.
 
"Now that the entire song and dance is over, would someone please tell me what i just witnessed?" La Plata's tone was more weary than demanding to Amber's ears. The poor woman had to be tired of having to frequently ask things that were apparent to everyone else.
 
"A custom of the clans. A way to conclusively settle disputes in a highly martial society, nanodesu." Keeping herself short, the Inazuma-class left it at that. La Plata was smart, and would soon be caught up on history. She would not need to ask any more, then.
 
"I'd gathered that much. What is the result, though?" Pointing at the unconscious girl, the Dart added. "What happens with her now?"
 
"She is mine, by right." Swift Justice responded to her peer with an even look.
 
"Excuse me?" Incredulity heavily colored La Plata's words.
 
"By their customs, at least." While inspecting the unconscious clan-warship, Swift's eyes had been drawn to a peculiar antenna on Silver Merlin's hull. The woman leaned in close, expression curious, then hummed and connected her gaze with La Plata's. "We are not the clans though. I will make her a proper member of our unit." Swift Justice smiled reassuringly, to put the other cruiser's mind at ease.
 
Several expression crossed the tanned woman's face in quick succession, before it settled on skepticism. "You intend to make a hostile warship part of our formation? Would she not either shoot us in the back or escape at the first opportunity she got?"
 
"No." Amber felt the immediate need to clarify. "You can say many things about the clans, but they are true to their word." Turning her eyes on the unconscious form, the Inazuma continued. "She is honor-bound to serve to the best of her ability, nanodesu."
 
"You trust an enemy's honor not to do horrible things to you?" La Plata's voice was going high-pitched again, eyebrows crawling high onto the woman's forehead.
 
"Yes i do, nanodesu." In a way Amber felt insulted by the woman's unwillingness, or inability, to recognize a warrior's code of honor.
 
"She will not be an enemy much longer." Swift Justice joined the conversation to mediate between the two conflicting opinions.
 
La Plata's gaze had switched to Swift Justice, and she had already opened her mouth to say something, when a groan drew her attention to Silver Merlin.
 
The corvette was stirring and coming back around.
 
Going to a distance from the green-haired girl, the flagship obviously erred on the side of caution, so as to not startle the new arrival into shooting on reflex.
 
Groaning again, the girl's eyes fluttered open, and she lifted a hand to her temple. A moment later recollection seemed to set in, because she lifted her head and looked around herself. Her violet eyes fastened onto Amber for a moment, then came to rest on Swift Justice.
 
When the green-haired girl did not say anything for several moment, the Aegis took the initiative, expression carefully neutral. "Welcome back to the land of the living."
 
Spurred into motion by the grey-haired woman's voice, Silver Merlin sat up. She looked down at herself, then pointedly at her wrists, before she fastened her eyes onto the flagship's pale gaze again, look entirely blank.
 
Approaching the girl slowly and deliberately, Swift Justice extended a hand.
 
Gaze still locked onto the woman's eyes, Silver Merlin belatedly grasped the offered hand, and was hauled to her feet.
 
Amber could see the Aegis grit her teeth during the motion. The woman's damage was more serious than it appeared.
 
Releasing the girl's hand, Swift Justice eventually prompted. "Cat got your tongue?"
 
Lowering her head, the girl's gaze traveled down her form again, then returned to Swift's eyes. When she finally spoke, her voice was strained. "What is going on? Where am I? Did i imagine it all, quineg?"
 
"Afraid not, if being a person is what you mean." La Plata had come to a halt next to the other cruiser.
 
"The trial too. You fought well, nanodesu." Silver Merlin's gaze had followed the different speakers. When it landed on her, Amber looked into the girl's unusual violet eyes and gave a minute nod. Acknowledging a worthy opponent was the least she could do for the newest addition to their unit.
 
Quick as lightning, the greenette's expression turned into a deep scowl. "You cheated! I could not hit anything with my weapons!" Her hands balled into fists.
 
There were the angry accusations Amber had expected from a defeated warrior of Kerensky.
 
"She, we..." Swift Justice corrected herself, and gestured at herself and La Plata. "Did not do anything. Our new state of being has nothing to do with any known faction, and your lack of accuracy is something each of us experienced as well."
 
"That you claim. Yet you used it against me after drawing me into a battle I could not win." Arms crossed, the new girl would have suited the cliché of a petulant teenager, were it not for her dead-serious tone of voice and piercing, accusing and calculating violet eyes which were decidedly out of place on a face as young as hers.
 
"You would have done the same if presented with the opportunity to acquire a valuable asset." Retorting effortlessly, the flagship kept everything about herself neutral. "Besides, it was for your own good."
 
A snort came out of the corvette. It had nothing to do with humor.
Grinding her teeth for a moment, the new arrival nevertheless did as she was told, and came up next to the Aegis.
"Follow me." Swift Justice instructed.
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===An Agreement===
Leading the way back to the Willemstad, the woman started a brief explanation for Silver Merlin's benefit, while Dart and Inazuma fell into formation behind them. "We have not been in our new shapes for long either. And we do not have answers for the how or why yet. What matters though." Here she glanced pointedly at the clan-warrior. "What matters is that i do not intend to use you against your former Clan. Or any clan for that matter." Having covered the short way back to the jump point, Swift Justice gestured at the shattered remains of their defeated enemies floating there. "We have a more pressing concern. A new enemy who does not care about what faction a ship, or the people they attack, belong to."
 
The green-haired girl's eyes had been fastened to the floating wreckage even before they had reached the jump point. For long moments she merely stared, expression part conflicted, part disturbed.
 
"We battled an enemy warship here. You see the toll it took on us. They are very dangerous." The flagship carried on, voice not as hard as before.
 
When their new addition remained silent, eyes glued to the hulk of a destroyed dropship, La Plata prompted her. "Go ahead, take a closer look. Confirm for yourself that they are real."
 
Peering at the tanned woman briefly, the new corvette did just that. She hesitantly approached the hulk, which to Amber's new sight appeared like a large black ball with many large teeth jutting out of it. Yet it had no eyes.
 
"Amber."
 
Tearing her gaze away from Silver Merlin carefully reaching out a hand to touch the monstrous form in front of her, Amber turned when Swift Justice called her name.
 
"Keep that escape pod with you for now. I realized I cannot properly carry it."
 
She acknowledged wordlessly with an incline of her head. Seeing her flagship as damaged as the woman was, Amber was struck by unease when she thought of the future.
 
"What should we do with the jumpship? It seems our friends have a habit of capturing those." La Plata was grasping her chin in thought, subconsciously mirroring a pondering Swift Justice. "Should we scuttle it?"
 
"I want to avoid that. Jumpships are very valuable, and there are the mortal remains of some crewmembers on it."
 
Amber found herself agreeing with the grey-haired woman. "What if we just sabotage it? Damage it so it is relatively easy but time consuming to make it capable of jumping, nanodesu?"
 
"And check in here every once in a while, to make sure they don't steal it from right under our noses." La Plata added with an approving smile.
 
"Agreed. Get boarders back onto Willemstad and remove the nav-computer." Almost as an afterthought, the flagship added. "And disable the jump sail as well."
 
Speaking of which, Swift Justice raised her own, to prepare for the return-trip to Jan Mayen. Amber and La Plata followed her example, while carrying out their respective tasks.
 
Silence fell for a while. Eventually the quiet was disturbed by Silver Merlin returning to Swift Justice's side. The girl was apparently done with her inspection of the unknown enemy's remains. Her expression was hard.
 
"Do you now understand what we face, and why i did what i did?" There was no judgement in the Aegis' voice when she addressed Silver Merlin.
 
"Aff. While i am not too happy about it, I agree. There is something very wrong with these things. If they truly attack without rhyme or reason, they are dezgra and need to be stopped."
 
"I am glad we are on the same page." For the first time since Silver Merlin had come back around, Swift Justice showed her a small smile and added. "Also, as i said before, the trial was in equal measure to get you as an asset and to protect you. We are in enemy territory. Had i let you scamper off, chances are you would have run into enemies and gotten destroyed."
 
Briefly looking down at her forearm again, the green-haired girl voiced her thoughts, expression uncertain. "When i woke up I expected to find a bondcord on my wrist."
 
While her boarders were busy on the jumpship, Amber followed the exchange with great interest.
 
"I do not need a servant. What i need is a capable warrior who can fight the supernatural horrors we face." Swift Justice made her statement sound more like a question. Or actually, a challenge. "You have fought well, and your conduct is honorable. That is why i grant you the status of abthaka." After a pause, the flagship added. "You can keep your livery too. We are an international unit, after all."
 
Surprise briefly colored Silver Merlin's expression, then it morphed into something Amber would call satisfaction. The green-haired girl nodded in apparent approval.
 
"I have never seen a warship like you. What class do you belong to?" Smoothly switching to officer mode, as Amber thought of it, Swift Justice carried on.
 
Silver Merlin straightened and puffed out her chest when she responded. "I am a member of the Peregrine class, an embodiment and tool of my clan's warrior-spirit."
 
Swift nodded. "Do you have an HPG?"
 
"Aff. Of course i do." It almost seemed like the question had offended Silver Merlin.
 
Satisfied with that answer, their flagship went to the next point. "Is your K-F drive charged?"
 
"Aff. I am ready." The answer was clear and concise.
 
"You might want to pick up your dropship before we leave." La Plata helpfully supplied. The woman was in the process of ferrying her boarders back from Willemstad.
 
Wordlessly, the green-haired corvette got her single dropship moving. It was slow, damaged as it was, but there was ample time to cover the distance before either of them reached full charge.
 
Amber, for her own part, was done with sabotaging the jumpship. Now that she had nothing left to do to occupy herself with, her mind invariably returned to the escape pod she had picked up. She felt terrible for that man, and whatever had happened to him. All she had wanted to do was help, and instead seemed to have sealed his fate. Her mind kept running through the sequence of events over and over, questioning her every decision if she could have somehow done things differently. That man's disappearance weighed heavily on her conscience.
 
When Silver Merlin spoke up again, Amber welcomed the distraction.
 
"Where, or better said, when am i?" Despite the question being worded oddly it made sense to the other fleetmaidens. The former Falcon went on to elaborate. "You know our customs, and also know what omnifighters are. So our realms must have been in contact, quiaff?"
 
Amber winced and La Plata's look was blank, while Swift Justice seemed a little uncomfortable.
 
"Technically some clans, yours among them, are at war with the inner sphere's realms. But there is a truce in effect at the moment.
 
The green-haired girl did not seem particularly surprised by the revelation, and prompted the flagship to carry on.
 
"As for when...what do you remember?" The grey-haired woman was trying to be delicate.
 
Gazing into the distance, the new arrival recounted. "My memories are hazy. The reconnaissance force had gone rogue years ago. Discussion in the Grand Council was heating up." She blinked to get back on track. "I remember being on my usual deep-space patrol, hunting bandits..." She trailed off for a few moments. "And then i was here. Changed, disoriented and at point blank range with several, presumably hostile, warships."
 
Amber was not certain, but something told her the other corvette had attempted a joke, a bit fatalistic as it may have been.
 
Speaking slowly and carefully, the flagship was delicate with her answer. "I would guess that at least a decade has passed. Do you maybe remember what happened to you? Before?"
 
The blank look Silver Merlin gave in response spoke volumes. "Neg. As i said, i only remember being on patrol."
 
Swift hummed, then queried. "When were you built?" She added a moment later. "I mean how experienced are you?"
 
Puffing out her chest again Silver Merlin looked the part of a warrior proud of her achievements. "I was built in the latter half of the thirtieth century, and have served my clan for decades."
 
"So much for the pattern, eh?" La Plata piped up, her amusement at Swift Justice's expense evident. "Now you can't blame me entirely for messing up your hypothesis."
 
Merely gracing her fellow cruiser with a look that was part exasperated and part amused, Swift Justice lowered her jumpsail. "Alright, everyone. We are leaving. Gather up your belongings."
 
Fighter-patrols were recalled and dropships docked. Jump-coordinates were sent and received. It was time to return to their nominal port.
 
Amber was busy with final preparations during the countdown, when she noticed Swift Justice stiffen slightly. She stopped her impending jump and turned a questioning look at her flagship. "What's wrong?"
 
Features scrunched up in apparent distaste, the woman was not happy. "Jump-computer aborted the sequence. Possible malfunction."
 
Hearing those words sent a jolt of dread through the dark-haired girl. It was something she knew might be in the cards. Yet the thought of the grey-haired woman being stranded in this system, to possibly be attacked and destroyed on her lonesome, caused feelings of sadness to well up within the corvette, similar to when she had thought Brest might have gotten killed.
 
"Can you fix the issue, nanodesu?"
 
"I think i know what the problem is. Give me a minute."
 
The ensuing silence felt oppressive to Amber. Luckily it did not last long.
 
"Alright. Second attempt."
 
This time the countdown went through, and Swift Justice gave a thumbs up moments before the K-F field established itself. The four warships successfully left the system.
----
After the fleetmaidens had departed, something moved above one of the system's many planetoids. On its inclined and excentric orbit, the block of ammonium- and water-ice was as inconspicuous as something could be. A good place to hide.
 
Pale eyes were fastened on the spot where the members of Blue Squadron had been before they jumped. A hypothetical observer might have heard a faint whisper. "This was too close. You need to be more careful." The small ship ignited its drives. A jump point was going to form behind the planetoid in a little while. Slingshotting around the snowball, the unknown ship reached it in time. There was a flash of light, and the ship was gone.
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==Chapter Note==
*; Chapter Note from the Author : Finally got chapter 14 done. No piece of writing has ever fought me like that one did.This one i had been looking forward to for a while. I enjoyed writing Amber's perspective a lot.I hope i did not overdo it with the silliness this time around.This one took me longer than i thought it would.
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