Adrift
Kjēl watched the colony from the observation deck as their ship drifted away. She sat there, alone, staring into space while she fiddled with her room's access key.
"Hey kid, what you up to?" Damien asked as he walked in the observation deck.
"Nothing, just stargazing." Kjēl replied before hiding her access key.
"Some messages came for you. I assume they're from that old man before." Damien stated.
"Shigo sent messages? How?" Kjēl asked Damien in response.
"I'm guessing he spoke to my higher ups and convinced them to send us encrypted transmissions." Damien replied.
"Where can I see them?" Kjēl asked once more.
"I've already asked Carla to send any messages for you to the console in your room. You can access them from there, there should be an icon that pops out." Damien explained.
Kjēl stood up and thanked Damien before running out to the hall. The ship's artificial gravity system was on so Kjēl quickly made it back to her room. She swiped the access key and ran inside, closing the door and opening the console on the wall. She spots the little icon that Damien mentioned and tapped on it. A series of messages appeared, with dates on them stretching as far as a month back. Kjēl checked the logs and there was not a day that Shigo did not send a message for her. She carefully read through each one and despite always looking cold and serious, she couldn't help but have tears stream down her face. She didn't want to admit it but she missed Shigo. She's been living with him for as long as she could remember and Shigo has always been there for her through everything. Shigo became a parent for her, someone she could rely on. Emotions began flooding her, the feeling of separation mostly. She was homesick at most and home is now just a speck from the window of her room.
"Hey, it's kinda strange but the kid seems a lot warmer now." Damien told Veronica.
"Well good for you. I have the short end of the stick, she's a pain in my ass." Veronica complained.
"Not quite getting along?" Damien asked.
"Ya think?" Veronica sarcastically replied.
"Charles said that they're getting along well." Brook added.
"It's not so bad I guess." Damien stated before chuckling.
Veronica groaned before stuffing her face with food followed by Brook and Damien's laughter. They were the only ones in the dining room but suddenly Kjēl entered. Brook immediately noticed how red and sore Kjēl's eyes were and pointed it out to Damien. Veronica on the other hand was fully immersed in eating her stew as Kjēl grabbed her portion of dinner.
"Kjēl, come sit with us." Brook offered an invitation.
"Thanks." Kjēl replied coldly before sitting down by their table.
"You should eat up before it gets any colder than it already is." Damien stated.
"Eh? What happened to you? Did you cry your eyes out because I beat you in the simulator again?" Veronica asked.
"The only crybaby here is you. Didn't your mommy teach you not to talk when your mouth is full of crap?" Kjēl replied, stabbing her spork on the table.
"Hey, let's calm down and just finish dinner. No need to fight." Brook suggested with a worried look.
Veronica then raised her hand, preparing for a slap but instead, Damien smacked her on the back of her head. He told Veronica to quit picking on the kid while Brook held Kjēl back from also trying to hit Veronica. After the two settled down, the room went quiet.
"How many months do you think it'll take before we reach the inspection line?" Brook asked.
"I'd say around three more months of being adrift in space. We might make a few pitstops here and there but that's it at most." Damien replied.
"Three months? What the hell do we do with three months?" Veronica grumpily asked.
"Well for starters, you could do better with training me." Kjēl added.
"Kjēl's right. Besides that, we'll be stripping the weapons off the fighter ships and hiding them in the hidden ship compartment." Damien replied.
"So does that mean they'll be boarding our ship for the inspection instead of just asking for a written report?" Brook asked once more.
"The XenoMarsian Inspection bureau is very strict, bribes don't work on them." Damien added.
"Too bad. I even brought extra credits with me in case we end up a little short." Brook said before shaking his head.
"You what?" Veronica stopped eating and looked at Brook.
Meanwhile, back on the colony in the docking area. Bernard's fleet is preparing to leave for Mars. He's completed the routine patrols and have already sent a report back to his father about the reported sightings of the enemy flagship.
"Captain, we're ready to exit the colony." Viktor stated.
"I'll be heading to the bridge in a bit. I'll meet you there, Viktor." Damien replied before turning off the monitor on his desk.
Bernard wore his coat and walked out his quarters. He ran into the crew and he smiled as he passed by each of them. The crew would smile back at him, they have grown used to how kind Bernard was to everyone around him, especially those he closely worked with. There didn't seem to be a person he couldn't make friends with, not even the maintenance man on his Stern-S.
"The captain is on deck. Prepare departure procedures." Viktor announced.
"I'm assuming command. Retract the anchors and put the throttle to ten percent reverse thrust." Bernard ordered.
"Anchors have been retracted and reverse thrust are being brought up to ten percent power." Viktor replied.
"Let's have a safe trip, shall we? This is Captain Hilt of the Catalyst , onwards to Mars." Bernard said over the P.A. system.
The colony gave them the all clear and the Catalyst, the flagship of Bernard's fleet began their journey back to Mars. Maybe what Bernard told Viktor about fate was true. No matter what way way you throw your path to, fate has already decided where each path will cross one another. So it is the fate of the crew on the White Whale and the Catalyst.