The Pristine Bridge

The Ship currently in front of Kita was truly something to covet. Kita now understood why so many people had tried to purchase the ship. By itself, It was a really formidable ship capable of defending itself. It had good offense and defense. All while being elegant.

This was a rare combination. Not only was the ship pleasing to the eye, it was also fully functional.

Kita liked the ship quite much.

"Mr. Thiels, lets head inside." Gregor said before leading him towards a hatch.

As they stood under the hatch, Gregor inputted a few commands on his comm and a floating elevator detached from the ship. It floated down to pick them up. Both of them quickly got on and it floated back up to the ship.

As Kita entered the ship, he could the interior. The interior of the ship featured plain gun metal decks, with broad hallways and blue accent going all around. It was pretty standard.

As they walked through the hall way, Kita could see different compartments. Some of them were labeled, some not.

The ship was actually pretty huge. So with just the two of them around, it all felt pretty empty. Kita would need to hire a lot of staff to run this ship properly. There was no way he could operate it alone by himself.

That was a pain. He didn't want to go through all the hassle to hire all the staff. He would probably dump the job on Osritch and pay him a fee. That should take care of the problem.

After walking though a few hall ways, they reached the bridge of the ship. Gregor entered a few codes on the lock outside and the blast doors to the bridge opened up.

Kita could see an expansive room beyond the blast doors.

The bridge of the Jeager was quite expansive to say the least. it was decked out with all sorts of terminals and latest projection systems that were actually quite rare to see on civilian ships. Everything about the Bridge was quite modern. That was to be expected, but it was still a surprise to Kita seeing just how modern everything was.

"The bridge of the ship was actually overhauled quite recently. It's practically brand new. It hasn't been used once after it was overhauled.", Gregor said in a flat tone.

That explained it. Everything about the Bridge seemed a bit more newer than the rest of the ship, And now Kita knew why.

"May I ask why the bridge was overhauled? I doubt it degraded to the point where it needed to be changed. The ship itself isn't that old yet.", Kita asked in a curious voice.

There was no point in spending a huge amount of money overhauling the bridge of a ship that could be considered practically new. It was basically throwing money down the black hole. So Kita didn't understand why Gregor had the bridge overhauled recently.

Hearing his question, Gregor let out a long sigh as he looked around. He touched the gunmetal counter top near his right hand. The smooth surface felt cold to the touch. He took a few more minutes before he answered.

"Actually, The Jeager had recently been under attack. While traveling around the border systems, an alien fleet that was more powerful than it had surrounded it. Understanding the might of the opposing fleet was too much for them to handle, the crew and the leader surrendered. The aliens agreed and they boarded the ship without any fight. When they came to the bridge, the aliens suddenly open fired while the negotiations were still going on. The guards tried to defend but their firepower proved to be inadequate. They killed everyone on the bridge and destroyed it. Including my Daughter.", The man said in a hoarse voice as he looked at Kita.

"Your daughter...…"

"Yes. My Daughter. I commissioned this ship on behalf of my daughter, Tieli. She was always a curious one. Always day-dreaming about the wonders of the cosmos. She wanted to travel the stars and become an explorer. At first I only believed it to be her childish thoughts. But as she grew, her yearning for traveling through the stars only grew. Finally on her 19th birthday, I commissioned this ship for her."

"This ship belonged to your daughter?"

"Yes, As a father, I don't lack the means to full-fill the dreams of my children. All I expect of them is to enjoy life to their fullest. I personally know what the competition for the family throne can do to one person. So I never expect anything from any of my children. I just wanted them to grow up healthy and live their lives to the fullest."

"I.. See..."

"She loved when she saw her for the first time. Oh the sparkle on her eyes.", Gregor said as a small smile broke onto his face.

"She traveled all around the empire in it. She used to come home bringing tales of what she had seen, the alien environments, the huge alien constructs that couldn't be explained. Every time she came back, she had a story to share. And every time, the smile on her face was truly one of fulfillment.", Gregor said with a small smile.

"I.. am sorry for your loss.", Kita said in a low voice.. He knew the pain of losing your loved one.

"It's not your fault Mr. Thiels.. It's my failure as a father for not being able to protect my daughter. I should've provided her with more resources, Maybe I had provided her with a bigger more powerful ship, she would still be with me.", Gregor said as his voice gradually got lower. His eyes were already tearing up remembering his daughter.

Kita let the man have his moments. He knew the uncontrollable urge. So he left the guy alone for a couple of minutes to get his thoughts in order.

As he looked around the bridge, It was in pristine condition. He would've never guessed that there had been an shootout in here. If Gregor had never told him, he would've never formulate this string of thought. He kept looking around.

From the corner of his eyes, he could see that Gregor was had managed to get his thoughts in order. After that he approached him.

"Mr. Gergor. If I may ask. Why would you want to sell this ship? Isn't this a precious memory of your daughter?", Kita asked. He understood just how precious this ship was to him. Selling it was like breaking away a piece of himself. But he still couldn't understand why he wanted to sell it.

"That's the problem. This is a really precious memory of my daughter. Every time I look at it, it reminds me of my failure as a father. It reminds me of my inability to save my daughter when she needed me the most. I'm fine with that. But My wife wants me to sell it off. She can't stand looking at the ship. She blames it for her death, And she blames me for enabling it in the first place."

"I... see..."

"Her condition hasn't been the best since we lost our daughter. She wants this ship gone. I already lost my daughter, I don't want to lose my wife too." Gregor said

"I couldn't just sell to anyone. This ship is too precious for me to sell it to just any random person with money. I want someone who would honor her. Who would use it for exploration as it was meant for. I wanted it to travel the cosmos, see all the things my daughter was unable to. She used to say: This Galaxy is too huge to stay at home. Out there is where the true wonders lie. There's so much to see that picking a single one would be disrespectful to everything else.", Gregor said with a smile as he looked at Kita.

This shook Kita a bit. Helen used to say the same thing. It seems that all the curious people thought alike.

"She and your wife was quite similar Mr. Thiels. They both had an insatiable hunger to see the greater unknown. To embrace the unseen, unearth the unfound, and venture into the unfathomable depths of the unknown. That's why Mr. Kita I want you to use this ship to fulfill your late wife's wishes. I'm sure my daughter would've loved the idea.", Gregor said with a calm smile. It seemed that he had finally managed to lift of an enormous burden from his shoulders.