Chapter 55: Voyage to Carter

A female AI's voice was heard as the suit powered on. An integrated startup and configuration screen appeared with Jake quickly going through it before finally being able to use the suit.

Jake essentially had a full 360° view of his surroundings in the form of an extremely wide field of view and multiple screens showing his rear and blindsides.

A sleek and highly advanced GUI was present with important information kept hidden until needed to not distract the user in firefights.

'This suit is cool Atlas' Jake spoke, with some excitement.

(Try standing.)

Jake sat up in the suit, there was zero delay and Jake felt like he was in his own body. He turned and looked at Lyra who was sitting on top of a crate, curiously and attentively watching Jake pilot the suit.

Jake walked out of the suit's containment pod and took a few steps forward.

Jake did not notice it instantly but the moment he walked up to Lyra, he noticed he was towering over her.

'Atlas, why did I not feel the difference when I woke up?' Jake questioned the Atlas.

(One of the biggest selling points of the suit is it does not require tall operators. The suit stands at over 7 feet tall however the size of the operator does not matter as the inner gel adjusts to the shape of the user, it's also the same reason why you did not feel wobbly or awkward. You said it yourself, it was like you are in control of your own body.) The Atlas answered Jake's questions.

'Nice.' Jake excitedly responded, before walking around the ship. Unlike what both Jake and Lyra expected, the suit made almost no sound as he walked around the ship, even when he jumped a few times, the only thing to be heard was the low whirring of the loader bots working in the cargo bay.

"Those are the dampeners right?" Lyra spoke to Jake, smiling as she learned more and more about the suit.

"Yeah, you can't hear a thing, want to try it out?" Jake spoke back to Lyra.

"Mmhmm." Lyra excitedly nodded.

Jake chuckled at Lyra's antics and exited the suit while standing.

The moment the suit opened, the gel immediately liquefied and became steps for Jake to easily get out.

Jake called Lyra over to hop into the suit and told her what she should know. Lyra was a quick learner and after a few minutes, was also running up and down the cargo bay.

"That was so cool!" Lyra shouted in excitement as she ran out of the MACE suit towards Jake.

'She really wanted to try the suit didn't she.' Jake spoke to the Atlas.

Jake was caught by surprise as Lyra did not stop running and instead leapt and hugged him excitedly.

(Looks like we have another Iris on our hands.) The Atlas jokingly spoke.

Jake simply hugged Lyra back as she got comfortable.

'I don't mind.'

2 hours later:

Aria had returned with Sarah after all the pods had been transferred aboard the Celestial Mariner.

Aria had registered and signed a business agreement with Hoffman Heavy Industries as a private buyer. This allowed Jake to be able to purchase a limited supply of products from HHI legally.

Aria had come up with the idea and proposed it to Jake who liked the idea. Initially, Jake was the one who was supposed to handle the agreement however, Aria wanted to be useful and asked Jake if she could handle it herself.

Jake had absolute confidence in his elder sister and did not mind her handling it. After all, she had more of an interest in these matters and she was the one who brought it up in the first place.

Aria quickly entered the ship, excited to tell her brother that she had succeeded.

Aria headed to the main deck and found it to be empty. A few seconds later she heard Jake calling her from the Captain's quarters.

"Aria, we're in here!" Jake shouted out loud so his sister could know where they were.

Aria entered the room and spotted Jake and Lyra sitting on the couch watching TV.

Aria always had sharp senses and quickly picked up the change in the atmosphere around the two.

These last few months, Lyra kept close to Jake, but it wasn't like this. Lyra although sat next to Jake, seemed closer than ever in Aria's eyes.

'Something happened while I was gone.' Aria thought as she stared at the two with suspicion.

She noticed that Lyra's demeanour and expression had changed around Jake. She looked...confident.

Jake could feel his sister stare daggers into him after only a few seconds of entering the room.

'She knows Atlas, she 100 per cent knows.' Jake spoke, his tone tense.

(Of course, she does, you think you can beat a woman's intuition. Just follow the plan.)

Jake turned his head and looked at his sister, who now was focusing her attention on Lyra who was leaning her head on his shoulders.

"Aria, you're back!" Jake spoke happily and slowly got up.

Jake's voice dimmed Aria's thoughts as she turned her attention to her brother who gave her a warm smile and was approaching her.

'I can think about this later, Jake's still himself.' Aria thought, a hint of relief in her voice.

Aria gave an innocent and excited smile as she walked towards her brother, arms spread apart.

"Jake! I did it! I got the agreement signed." Aria spoke to Jake as they hugged.

"Nice Aria. I knew you could do it!" Jake praised her.

As much as she tried to play the role of the eldest, Aria loved being praised by Jake and wouldn't miss this opportunity even though a few other things had occurred.

As they separated from their hug Aria spoke "So what were you guys doing?" She asked with a curious tone.

Jake saw the suspicion in her eyes and got a little tense.

'She's scary when she does that.'

"We just finished chatting with Mom and Aunt Elizabeth. Iris wanted to see you but it's late over there." Lyra spoke up.

"Oh. Sarah is here too, waiting downstairs to confirm the shipment." Aria spoke in a neutral tone as she called the two to come with her.

The trio headed down the stairs before greeting Sarah, who was finalising the details on her holopad.

"Mr Avalon, I've just confirmed the details and you guys are ready to go." Sarah spoke in a lighter tone.

"Thank you for your help, Ms Parker. So we're cleared to leave?" Jake asked.

"Yes, your clearance levels have been authenticated so you should not have any issues. I would also like to thank you for becoming a Private buyer. If you have any needs or purchases to be made, please contact me personally." Sarah spoke and lowered her head before sending her details through.

"I will, thanks."

20 minutes later, The Celestial Mariner took off from the Ice world of Schenken 1. Their next stop was the government station in the Carter system.

"Nice work you too. It will take a little while to get to Carter, but it's smooth sailing from here." Jake spoke and praised his companions.

"Thanks, Jake." Aria said as she smiled proudly.

"Thank you captain!" Lyra spoke with an ecstatic smile and gave a salute, albeit a little clumsily which earned a few chuckles from the Avalon Siblings over her antics.

A month later:

The Celestial Mariner made it safely to the Outer Chain, the first line of defence of the GOE.

Although they were still a few jumps away from the Carter System, the surrounding systems were heavily fortified with multiple cruiser fleets patrolling and stationed nearby.

Even the Hyperlanes were much larger and busier than Jake had encountered before. Multiple screens of security and massive stations secured the Hyperlanes heading into the Chain.

'Those are huge fleets.' Jake thought as he looked at the massive ships that stood like vanguard's surrounding the Hyperlane. The amount of security here could not be compared to the outskirts, making their fleets look miniscule in front of them.

"WOW! JAKE, JAKE CHECK THAT ONE OUT!" Lyra shouted as she brought Jake's attention to a large Battleship overlooking the entire station.

(That's the GNS BreakThrough, an older Battleship yet highly deadly. They're the BCS Astrium Class Battleships which were made for bombardment as a focus. While newer battleships are able to multitask and can engage from a distance, these were designed to lunge into the Frey to wipe out anything in front of it.

Even though they were succeeded by newer classes, the armour and guns of the ship were too valuable for the GOE to just scrap them. They have instead been placed on the border of the third Chain as the primary Capital ship and rarely move from their position.) The Atlas spoke, giving a backstory of the vessel.

"The last time I saw a ship of this size was at the War Memorial on Luna." Aria spoke, reminiscing about the time her parents took her for the yearly celebration of victory over the Thraxian invaders.

Jake could see the sadness in his sister's eyes as she thought of their home.

'It still affects her.'

(You helped her a lot these past few years but it's not easy to forget.)

Jake placed his hand over Aria's which sat on the armrest causing her to turn towards him.

"We'll go back, I promise." Jake spoke in a determined and confident tone.

Aria could only smile before nodding.

"Yes, Jake, together." She spoke as the Celestial Mariner made its way through the Hyperlane.