Docking on the Hannibal, the rest of the squad escort Empress Boleyn to the briefing room while Amber takes Valeria to the med bay, after she checked to ensure that she is stable, she takes the elevator down to the armory, walks to her armor station and activates the removal sequence, after it’s done she goes back to the med bay still wearing the neural link suit, wanting to be there when she wakes up, she slumps in the chair, falling asleep herself after the exertion of the past few hours of fighting.

In the briefing room, Gunner and the rest of the squad are busy with the debriefing, speaking to Marshall Montgomery “Sadly General Arno Churchill did not survive, he will be missed, Shackleton has been secured but we unfortunately still have insurgents on New Bretonia, for now it is best if her Majesty does not return until we can ensure her safety on planet.”

With that the comm goes silent, Gunner then calls the bridge “Captain Reyes, when are we jumping?”

Captain Reyes responds “Momentarily Commander, we’ll be heading to Liberty, it’s a 2 week flight, we were just lucky we found expeditionary fleets a few hours from Shackleton.”

Gunner responds “Luck indeed, thanks Captain.”

With that he kills the comm.

Empress Boleyn then speaks “Thank you all for your assistance, what I am about to share with you as you know has been classified level red and is not to leave this ship, what you found on New Dawn is highly disturbing, Rhine have found highly advanced weapons designs in the Aetherium, they have now used these to declare war on all of us, using Arsenia Astralis was just a gambit to throw investigations off. To this point I have been engaging in talks with President Schlichter, Prime Minister du Preez, Colonel Reznov and the Shogun, we’ll need to remove our ban on new technological development, if we cannot innovate we’ll be stuck with the same weapons and eventually our enemy will overpower us.”

Gunner sits there contemplating the Empresses words and then responds “Your Majesty, if this is as you say, I can guarantee that Blood River will agree, I am however not so certain about the others.”

Empress Boleyn replies “I am certain of that too Commander, your people never could pass on a good fight. However I need to rest.”

Gunner replies “Of course, Lucia, please can you show the Empress to captains quarters?”

Lucia says “Please follow me your Majesty.”

Gunner then says to Anastasia “Anya, you can go aswell, Amber is in the infirmary.”

Anastasia replies “Going now, that fight took all she had”

Gunner then says to everyone else “Dismissed”

Gunner then heads to engineering to speak with Chief Engineer Rawlins, he arrives on the engineering deck and Chief Rawlins greets him “Commander, firstly thank you for being back in one piece, especially the armor, secondly that shield Amber brought back, sure is a beauty, anyways onto business we took some serious hits, we are going to need atleast a week in space dock to get it repaired, Rhine was not playing around.”

Gunner replies “Understood Chief, we’ll get you the time you need. We’re heading to Liberty now, Norfolk naval station.”

Chief Rawlins nods and smiles as Gunner turns and walks to the elevator.

In the infirmary Anastasia enters to find Amber asleep in the chair next to her sister’s bed taking the seat next to her she sits and waits.

Dreaming again, a different dream this time, dreaming of earlier today, the peace and happiness, meeting Valeria again after all these years, chatting, then anger when she got shot, sisterly love when treating her wounds, loss when she was hurt again, now nothing but sheer unbridled rage as she faces an enemy, waking up just as she is about to deliver the final blow.

Waking up from her dream Amber looks around, checking on Valeria, still there, still breathing, “not a dream, she’s still here, still alive” she thinks, then she is startled as Anastasia speaks “Good morning”

Amber replies “Morning already?”

Anastasia says with laugh “Yes, it is 05h00, you were out cold when I got here, go take a shower, I’ll wait here and watch her for you.”

Amber says “Thanks Anya”

Amber enters the shower, taking of her neural link suit, she takes a long hot shower, letting her stress melt away, after she is done, she gets dressed but leaves her hair hanging loose, she heads back to the infirmary.

She enters and sees that Valeria is awake who looks at her and smiles her eyes now glowing emerald green and her hair a vibrant purple.

Valeria then says “HI there stranger.”

Amber sits down next to her on the bed but with no words of her own, just hugs her sister and breaks down in tears, thankful that she did not lose her again.

2 weeks later…

Lucia is sitting in the ships mess with a mug of coffee thinking about what she left behind, these last few weeks have been hard on everyone, causing some of them to confront uncomfortable memories from the past.

Evelyn enters and asks her “Have you been back home recently?”

Lucia says “Like Amber, I have not been “home” in years, not looking forward to it.”

Evelyn then asks “Bad memories?”

Lucia responds “Bad choices.”

Evelyn says “Like?”

Lucia replies “Joined a gang, found I liked killing, became an enforcer, nearly died, became an aether and got a second chance, left that life behind. I am not proud of my past, if I could take it back I would, I did things I regret even now, I was 29 years old when before my rebirth. I then joined the military, served 5 years before I left, my tour finished, joined Gunner as he formed the War Gods.”

Evelyn looks at her and says “I was part of a swat team, nearly died just before the final push clear out the last gangs in the capital, just a question, ever kill any police?”

Lucia looks at her warily and replies “No, but badly wound? Yes. My main focus was purely on keeping the lower ranked gangers in place or fight rival gangs. Being an aether painted a much bigger target on your back, part of the reason I left.”

Evelyn replies “Your conscience caught up with you.”

Lucia just nods and offers her a cup.

The two sit and chat for the next few hours as the rest of the crew prepare the ship for docking.

On the bridge Gunner and Captain Reyes are talking with the captain saying “Close business down there Gunner, you nearly didn’t make it.

Gunner replies “Enrico, if you guys didn’t return when you did, well let’s not dwell on the past. Looking forward, 1 week space dock, repairs, rearm and probably get those refits done right.”

Captain Reyes laughs and says “Yeah, total overhaul of the railguns, phased particle cannon array and entirely new point defence guns, those 80mm cannons just cannot track or fire fast enough.”

With that Gunner leaves the bridge, on the way down to the mess hall he thinks “Rhine has started a fight that we will have to finish” joining Lucia and Evelyn with coffee.

Anastasia, Angel, Amber and Valeria joining them, Amber introducing Valeria to everyone.