BSBxKc Chpt 10

==Blue Squadron (Battletech x KanColle(ish) crossover) - Chapter 10 -==
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===Recognition===
System 1339, Deep Periphery
Some time had passed, and Amber Lotus had departed the system a while ago. The trio of fleetmaidens had made gradual progress on their journey, yet time was starting to feel long for Brest. The girl was comfortable with stretches of quiet, yet the silence was starting to become oppressive, even to her.
 
It was exacerbated by her company. The dark-haired woman supporting her left shoulder was staring into the distance, expression melancholic. Brest couldn't fault her for it. For La Pata it had been just yesterday, when everything was as it should be. To then be thrown across space and time, only to find that her nation, and very home, were not there any more? The Fox could not imagine what had to be going on in the woman's head.
 
Swerving her gaze to the right, and slightly upwards as well, Brest took in her flagship's profile. Swift Justice's features were frozen in that "I am worrying about things" expression again. It probably came part and parcel with the burden of command, which she did not envy the cruiser for. Having to think of everything, from the strategic situation to their own unit's state of readiness... did not sound very fun.
 
She decided to liven up the atmosphere, and in that moment something occurred to her. She glanced left again, taking in the Dart-class' profile as well. Then back to the right, to be certain.
 
"I just noticed. You two look kind of similar. Are you related somehow?"
 
Both cruisers glanced at her surprisedly, in the case of La Pata with a slight delay. A moment later, their gazes connected over Brest's head.
 
"We were both built by Di Tron. So that makes us cousins, in some way?" Swift's tone was tentative.
 
"You could see it like that, I suppose." Shrugging with her free shoulder, La Pata agreed lightly. "Where were you built?"
 
"New Earth." Swift replied. "You?"
 
"Sirius. So not the same cradle."
 
Swift switched her gaze from the dark-haired woman to Brest. "Actually, my class, despite being intended for a different role, was the successor to the Darts." Swift smiled amusedly. "So related is the right word."
 
Her smile growing broader, the words were out of Brest's mouth before she could think better of it. "You mean there is now someone who is even older than you are?"
 
For a moment the brunette thought she had gone too far, her flagship's expression going from smiling to stern, complete with a raised eyebrow. To Brest's relief, a broad smile then reappeared on Swift's face.
 
"That is right and you should show respect to your elders." The woman, reaching over with her free hand, tussled the corvette's hair.
 
"Argh. Stop it!" Squirming, Brest tried to get away.
 
"You stop that, before you throw us off course." Amusement was plain to hear in La Plata's voice. "Is she always like this?"
 
"I would like to say it was the hit she took to the head." Having mercy on the girl, Swift ended her assault. "But she has been mouthy like that to me before."
 
Smiling unrepentantly, Brest was happy with what she had wrought.
 
"It's true though." La Pata unexpectedly spoke up. "I was commissioned for the Terran Alliance, before Admiral McKenna even founded the Hegemony. Although i have spent most of my time with the latter, i still see myself as a ship of the Terran Alliance." Her expression became thoughtful.
 
"I noticed. And i understand." Giving her fellow cruiser a meaningful look, the Aegis continued. "I have served with the Hegemony, the SLDF, and now Comstar. Yet i will forever think of myself as belonging to the Hegemony, first and foremost."
 
"The SLDF was de-facto Hegemony though?" Brest could not see a difference between the two.
 
"Yes. But i was not commissioned for the SLDF." Swift Justice gave the corvette such a patient look, it reminded the girl of just how much of a gap, in age and wisdom, there was between her and the Aegis.
 
"You said we've met before. What was your original name?" The Dart was scrutinizing Swift's features.
 
Surprisingly, the Aegis averted her gaze. "Does it matter?"
 
"Yes, it does." The other woman was resolute.
 
"Why?"
 
"Because the past makes you who you are?" The dark-haired woman's tone was firm. Demanding even. Here was someone who was a true equal to Swift, Brest realized.
 
Deflating in resignation, the grey-haired woman complied. "Omsk. My original name was Omsk."
 
"Are you serious?" La Pata seemed slightly offended. "Met a few times, she says. We were on campaign together, fought in the same battles." She gave Swift a disbelieving look. "Why didn't you say so from the start?"
 
Brest was following the exchange between the cruisers attentively, looking back and forth between them as they talked in turn.
 
"I did not want to assume anything. Or influence your decision on what to do." Swift justified herself, wearing an apologetic look. "Just because we were comrades in the past, does not mean we have to be close right away, now. Or at all."
 
The Dart blinked a few times. "What's wrong with you? Are you physically incapable of saying you're glad to see an old friend?"
 
"Maybe i have been altered by my time with the SLDF. There were so many of us, the relationships between us warships were more distant." Swift's justification made sense to Brest, who was still watching the exchange wordlessly.
 
La Pata pondered for a moment. "I don't remember you being so standoff-ish." She released her grasp on Brest, and extended her right arm over the girl's shoulder, her green eyes almost shining. "But I'm glad to see you again."
 
Grey met green, and a small smile grew on Swift's face. She grasped La Plata's hand and squeezed firmly. "I am glad to have you back as well."
 
"Now that's better." Nodding in approval, the Dart-class seemed much happier. "Though i have to say, you do look different." She tilted her head to the side, regarding Swift closely.
 
"We, the Aegis-class i mean." Swift clarified quickly. " We got an extensive refit, when they decided in our favour, to replace the Black Lions."
 
"So they reactivated you guys." La Pata paused, still taking in Swift's form. "But what they gave you looks less like a refit, and more like a rebuild."
 
"We did get a lot of new toys, yes. It was so we could fight in a horrible war." That particular conflict was a sore point for the grey-haired woman.
 
"It's our purpose, and our fate." Catching the Aegis' eyes again, La Pata added. "Or at least it was. It looks like we choose our own paths nowadays."
 
"And we're on the right one." Brest spoke up, voice firm.
 
"No question." There was no argument from anyone.
 
"May i ask you something, La Plata?" Swift's tone was hesitant.
 
"Spit it out."
 
"Do you remember details of how your first life ended?" When the light cruiser merely returned her look, startled, Swift backpedalled "You need not answer if you do not like thinking of it."
 
"Don't worry. Just surprised." The woman pondered for a moment, then took a deep breath. "Nothing i have not mentioned before. I was scrapped. Returned to the shipyard, went to sleep." A crooked smile appeared on her face. "And a minute later I'm here."
 
"Hmmmh." Brest and Swift hummed in synch.
 
"There goes my hypothesis."
 
When a raised eyebrow did not get the Aegis to talk, La Pata prompted. "Care to elaborate?"
 
"We've been trying to find a condition when it comes to our appearances." Brest brought herself into the conversation.
 
"The three of us." Swift gestured. "Brest, Amber and I. We had violent ends. So i thought, maybe, that was what caused us to reappear, soon afterwards."
 
"Soon?"
 
"Yes. None of us were dead for more than a year." Swift gave her fellow cruiser an amused look. "You do not suit that criterium at all, with being gone for half a millennium."
 
"Sorry, i guess?" Chuckling, the Dart did not sound sorry at all.
 
"Figures. I think i see a pattern, then you come along and ruin it." Swift's good-natured complaining made Brest happy. If La Pata could make the Aegis loosen up a bit, then the dark-haired woman's appearance was more fortunate than the girl had initially thought.
 
Smiles all around, a short silence fell. Eventually La Pata broke it again.
 
"Do you also have a theory for why i could not hit anything back there?" She tilted her head back, towards the frozen moon behind them.
 
"None. It happened to us as well, though, so it might be something every returnee experiences?" Brest half-queried.
 
"If the sample-size grows, we might know more." Swift delayed.
 
La Pata got an understanding look. "So that's why you didn't want Amber to take one of my dropships, despite their better condition." 
 
"Exactly."
 
"If you suffered from that as well, can we agree to keep secret how bad our shooting was?" La Pata sounded hopeful.
 
"Sorry to disappoint. The chain of command already knows." Brest was apologetic.
 
"Oh well. Was worth a try." La Pata smirked, unrepentant.
 
"I just hope that everything is fine over there." Brest did not want to bring down the mood, though she could not help be concerned for the people, and Amber Lotus, at their destination.
 
"I would not worry. The fact that the enemy advanced, and we intercepted them, makes it likely we thwarted an attack. And we were promised reinforcements, after all." Swift was confident, and the woman's certainty put Brest at ease.
 
"Your little friend knows how to fight. She can handle herself." Surprisingly, La Pata responded in a tone that was eerily similar to Swift Justice's. Brest could not help herself though. She believed what the cruisers were telling her. It was true, after all.
 
"That's right. She is good to have on your side, in a fight." Subconsciously, a gentle smile appeared on the brunette's lips. Hearing someone praise Amber made her happy. Her friend deserved it.
 
"Besides." Swift continued. "I think we may also have exhausted the enemy's local reserves. That second wave that came in? Must have been a quick-response force.
 
"Which means a generally lower risk of attack in the theater." La Pata hummed in agreement. 
 
"I wish i knew where they are coming from, though." 
 
"It's up to us to find out." La Pata was resolute. 
 
Brest could not really share her enthusiasm, seeing as she was not likely to play any role in it, considering her destroyed drives. It made the girl a little sad to think about, but she would not give in to self-pity. Not with an audience.
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===A new Ally, Parting Company===
A while later, they were almost to the jump point, when Brest's stomach growled. It was loud enough to her, she thought the cruisers may, impossibly, have heard. When neither of them looked her way, she exhaled. She was drawn back to the present when Swift addressed her.
 
"Alright, we have made it this far. Now for the difficult part."
 
Brest nodded, and gave orders to her own dropship, as well as Amber's. Both vessels cut their propulsion and dispatched EVA crews. The figures, small on the dropships' hulls, and positively tiny next to Brest, scurried forwards. They were heading to the front of their vessels, tools in hand. Their purpose soon became clear, as they disappeared into Brest's ruined thrusters. Shortly after, sparks could be seen in them. They were the result of cutting-tools in action.
 
Carefully, the EVA-crews cut their dropships free from the mangled remains of Brest's drives. They had a limited time-window to achieve the difficult procedure, yet they succeeded. Their tasks done, they retreated into their vessels again. The time had come to separate the two dropships from Brest again. For the time being.
 
"It's working." Brest commented, as she personally, with great care, steered her Fortress out of her own thruster. Blessedly, the captain of Amber's Union was skilled at his trade, and freed his own vessel as well, without complication.
 
"Good. Prepare for hyperjump."
 
Protocol was followed, procedures carried out. Dropships docked and fighters returned to their hangars. The moment of truth was there.
 
"Are you sure you can make the jump successfully?" Worry weighed heavily on the Aegis, evidenced by the repeated question.
 
"Positive." Brest reassured. "I have had a lot of time to check everything a dozen times over. And i would not attempt it if i thought it would destroy me." Brest enjoyed using dark humor from time to time.
 
Exhaling, Blue Squadron's flagship nodded. "Whenever you are ready then."
 
Brest flashed a thumbs-up at the woman, and turned all of her attention on the preparations. She was almost there.
 
As soon as she crossed the border of a proper safety-margin, she supplied power to her K-F drive. As always happened, time seemed to freeze for a moment, and the next she was gone.
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*; Chapter Note from the Author : Part Two of the original chapter 9 done. More Silliness
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