Dauntless II

One day before schedule, the XianKun sisters – most likely aided by Loken and Morbick – had surprised everyone by deploying the new tower and declaring a start to Operation Dauntless, stage two.

It meant the jin-mei – technically supposed to be overseeing logistics – had been no where near when things had needed moving. Not that she would have been able to aid spectacularly. Maybe with the probing, but certainly not with the moving. Big, clumsy ships were not really her specialty.

Truth be told, she was glad to be going back to living in a wormhole. The break back in empire had been good for her wallet, for getting reacquainted with Kalahari and spending some quality time with her friend, but Alenia felt incredibly lonely without Nakatre. Despite all the modern day technologies, it was hard to get a real-time link to her for a conversation.

So here she was, all packed and ready to go, looking forward to a season away from familiar sights. The XianKun sisters would have already carried over some of her ships. The rest she would gradually ferry back and forth. But the most important one, her little shield against the Sleepers she was going to take tonight. The Second Breath was fuelled, loaded to the brim with ammunition and sitting in her hangar in Hakeri, waiting for her capsule before it could come to life.

Thank you for the good times, Kalahari. And for the ammo. And for the chocolate cookies, she thought to herself, her lips unconsciously curling into a warm smile. Her capsule was in. It was time to go.