Chapter 4 - Balter

“Balter, that fucker, Donnst is asking to make a cold jump after Skylark and Bastion. What do we do?”

“This shit is going to blow up big time now, cold jump after a Jaeger and a Battlecruiser, who the hell does that.”

This was not the way an officer and War Slaves talk, but I didn’t care. These boys and girls place their lives in my hands with a belief that I will make sure they survive. I am not going to be an asshole, which I should be according to The Alliance Protocols. I shook my head and turned to comms.

“Celcia, tell him to fuck off, we are not making a cold jump. Jaegers are built to kick metal asses and an elite Jaeger, like Skylark, forget it. I would rather be thrown on a wild prison planet, than going against that beast. And yeah, don't forget that Imperial battlecruiser. I am done with this shit, we are going rogue.”

An uncomfortable silence filled the ship, my marines were staring at me. Their eyes filled with anger, confusion, and hope. Lumina slammed her foot on the locker below her seat and let out a frustrated groan. Alpaca spoke up before I could.

“Love, don’t increase the chances of plasma grenades in the locker exploding, please. We are going rogue, we will need that; don’t you think so?”

“Damn you.” She started chuckling. Soon, we were smiling or laughing, earlier stress fading. All of a sudden, Celcia slammed her hand on the comms console and started yelling into the mic.

“FUCK YOU, DONNST. We are not jumping, I don’t FUCKING CARE about you and your BLOODY ALLIANCE.” She cut the connection and closed her eyes. Most of us were dumbstruck, no one ever saw her that angry. I was wondering what happened when she turned to me.

“Where are we going, boss?”

“You okay, Cel?”

“Yeah, I am now. Donnst was being an asshole, as usual. He was expecting my chip to make me follow his commands. It was good that, Pacca removed those conditioning programs or I would be a puppet sabotaging my own ship. Where are we going now? We can’t go anywhere near Alliance territory, Imperial Warmongers won’t accept us. They are more likely to put us in prison. We can’t go to the Federation considering their tendency to stay alone. Also, they are trade partners of Imperial Warmongers. I don’t think it would be a good idea to go there. So, Freemen or Wilds, which one?”

“Don’t worry about Donnst. The next time we see him, one of us will place a bullet in his shit-filled head. And yeah, we are going to the Wilds, I have a contact there.”

“Captain, Donnst dies by my hands.” The venom in her voice sent a shiver down my spine.

“As long as it's in my control, Donnst dies by your hands. I promise.”

She nodded and shifted her focus back to the console. The bridge lapsed into silence, no one spoke for a while. The hum of machinery and life support system was the only noise. After some time, Lumina spoke up.

“What kind of contact are we talking about? Also, wherein the Wilds, I need to plot a course.”

“One sec, Lumi. Cel, what did Donnst leave behind?”

“A sensor buoy, nothing serious. Damn bastard is still cocky as hell.”

“Okay, that’s good. The sensor buoy can’t do shit. So, my contact is a smuggler. He was the one who got us the tech, Pacca uses for his shenanigans. We are going to--”

“Hey, hey, I don’t cause trouble. I help you all with my genius, don’t I?”

“Sure, Pacca sure. Now as I was saying before getting rudely interrupted.” He shrunk back a bit. “We are going to the broken systems. The place where Imperial Warmongers hammered great friends of The Alliance; Strisa- cough cough I mean big brain squids.”

Everyone got a laugh at that. One of the twins spoke up. Jase or Welt, you never know unless the faceplate is retracted and you can see if Welt’s scarred cheek is visible.

“So, we are actually going rogue. That’s good I thought Balter was joking for a sec.”

“Yeah, yeah. Rons, as soon as you get a go from Cel, take us out of here.”

“Yes Sir.”

“Jase, Welt get down to engineering and ask Trenis to make sure our ship is clean.”

“Yes Sir.”

“Pacca, my dear XO, get the ship ready.”

They shuffled out of the bridge, and the crew got to work. I am glad to have them all with me. They are good people. It will take some time for them to get this rust bucket ready to go. I will go get some snacks.

“Bois and gals, I am coming in a few minutes after grabbing a few ration packs from the chow hall. Pacca, relay the order to the crew to get something in their stomachs. An army marches on its stomach after all.”

I felt a little proud that I remembered a quote so old by someone called Napoleon or something as far as I remember.

“Yes Sir; But, that quote is for the infantry.” Pacca answered with a grin.

“Pacca it seems like you want to survive on protein bars. They are the best for your muscles aren’t they?”

“N- No Sir. That quote is perfect, Sir.”

“You guys will behave, okay?”

A chorus of yes sir rang out. I chuckled and walked out. After passing through a few bulkheads; I was in front of storage, picking up rations and throwing them in the microwave to heat them up. I took out rations after heating them and turned to go back to the bridge when my comm buzzed. It was Trenis.

“Balter, there was a supporter of that shithead on our ship. I found him before he could turn us into a cloud of shrapnel and fire. The fucker was messing with the reactor. Fortunately, I was checking for bugs when I saw the fluctuating readings and came to check. He saw me and tried to shoot some lead in the controls, but I shot him first. He is missing his right wrist now. What should I do with him?”

“FUCK, throw him in the brig, and tell Jace about him. He will handle it and I'm glad you saved us, Trenis. I will see him after we are in slipspace. Keep up the good work.”

“Sure, I still have half a ship to check.”

I ended the call. Damn, and here I believed for a second it would be easy. Time to get away from this stuff. I picked up abandoned rations and got back to the bridge. We were finishing our rations when we got a go from Trenis.

“Balter, the ship is clean and ready. Let's go.”

“Rons, take us to the Wilds.”

“Yes sir.”

When the galaxy turned to violet-black colors of slipspace, I got out of my chair and started making my way to the brig. Time to deal with Donnst’s agent.