Heartbeat

"So your guy went out and got jumped, and you need me to help you get him?" I ask, looking callsign "Jorunn" in his face with a blank expression.

"Yup, I just got an Asgard from Anvil so I wanted to give it a proper spin instead of just sending the famous Spacemom out!" He says sounding super chipper.

"The hell is an Asgard? Never heard of it." I say as I pull up my mobi to check spectrum for info.

"It's kinda like the Valkyrie's big brother, carries a Nova tank and-"

My eyes lock on to the image with him saying the name of my favorite ship. It's like a Valk with a bigger dumpy and...room for four Nursas?!

"And you're taking this thing out for a fly?! Am I riding with you?!" The words leaving my mouth sounding beyond excited and he takes a step back with a smile.

"W-well I would like an escort, but if you think it's safe enough to fly with me..."Jorunn says as he turns to the elevator.

With zero hesitation I whip up the Spacemoms spectrum chat and fire a ping out: Need an escort for a rescue! Meet me at Babbage!

Less than ten seconds and I get a ping back from Luna-Rose: I need reason to justify buying the Guardian MX you talked me into, I'm in!

"Okay, boss." I start. "I got one heavy fighter for the escort, but that bottom turret is MINE!"

He smiles as we step into the elevator and he hits the button for his hangar before slipping his helmet with gold accents on it.

"Ah, Chairmen's club member, eh? Well-met, admiral." I say with a smile and he turns to face me.

"You know you've really brightened up the concierge section of spectrum, right? It was quiet before you joined but now it's lively once more. It's a pleasure to finally work with you." Jorunn says and my heart flutters. I always kinda just lurked in there but never participated, talking rarely but it was always unhinged.

"I'm outside Babbage, Callie! Let me know when you're taking off!" Luna says sounding like she's forcing happiness.

"You good, honey?" I ask and her response is IMMEDIATE.

"NO BECAUSE I WOULD BE CONTENT WITH LAYING DOWN AND WAIT BUT THIS FUCKING THING DOESN'T HAVE A BED!" She shouts like she's been holding it back.

"Yeah that's why I never got one, I like my comfy living space." Jorunn grumbles and I can feel the heat of Luna's rage from inside the hangar.

The big boat fires up and I swear it purrs. It ascends peacefully and gently while I'm strapping in to the bottom turret seat when we clear the hangar and all I see is snow, ice and clouds as far as the eye can see. When you're the pilot, always flying and focusing you tend to miss these things. And Luna brings me back to reality as she zips under me while Jorunn has us completely vertical.

"For what's it's worth, it's pretty!" I say but Luna says nothing, her rage can be felt across the system.

A few seconds later and we're fading from blue skies to stars on an infinite black blanket, twinkling as if they're happy to see us.

"We'll be there in a few minutes, my buddy Krunch is over at Aberdeen and incapped so hopefully we can set down safely." Jorunn says over comms.

"Aberdeen has low gravity, you should be able to fly low and slow and I can hop out then hit the ground safely." I say but I can already tell he doesn't like that.

"I promise you I can get you down on the ground safely, Mrs. Callie. No need to hurt yourself." He says and I hear his seat spin around overhead when he gets out of the pilot's seat.

"Trust me, Callie has been to hell and back." Luna says sweetly. "She's seen, done, and lived through it all. Woman is damn near unkillable with that arm of hers."

"What arm?"

I flip back up and exit the seat while Jorunn can be heard opening the Nursa so I walk in there to see what he's doing. Medical equipment is being stowed, stocked, moved around and he hands me a Paramed gun.

"Here, it looks like you forgot yours so you can take mine." He says, not knowing about one of my biggest accidents and I gently refuse. "Are you sure? looks like there's no pens either unless you have everything in your pack."

I am in full ADP gear, Morozov helmet because PAFs are a hell of crossfire and death with Ninetails, baby Valakkar and murder-hobo citizens. I unhook the arm plates from my right side and set them on the med bed, prostetic in full display.

"Where...did you get that?" Jorunn says and I proceed to tell him the full story, the custom rifle, bombs, losing my arm and cryptids making me into superwoman.

"But...why you?" He says quietly as I load a spare paramed refil into my forearm.

"Callie has been a MASSIVE thorn in the UEE's side ever since the Citizens for Prosperity pretended to be Slicers. They always have an eye on her so they can avoid her." Luna says lovingly in her own way.

Jorunn looks at me and even through the helmet I can tell he's flabberghasted.

"Wait the Idris Incursion? That big explosion? That was YOU?!" He says, voice trembling.

I nod gently as I put my armor back on and he's as still as the dead.

"You're why so many people became citizens, why so many joined up with the navy..." He sounds like he's meeting his choice in god. "You're kind of a legend in Stanton and so many other systems. Even people in Pyro turned life around because of you...You're one of the most feared women in existence."

I click the last straps in place with a smile he can't see.

"I'm a well-known nobody. Just any other woman in space trying to make the most of this one life she has, Jorunn. Just like you and the rest of the Yacht Club are seen as a beacon of positivity for so many in dark times." I rest a hand on his shoulder.

"Let's go get your guy."

Boom, the drive didn't even whine at the end of the jump. I step off the Nursa while Luna catches up from her jump and pops in directly to our port side. Aberdeen is a smaller moon with a breathable atmosphere, or at least it would be if it didn't hit 170c during the day and burn the air. Even then night time can hit 70c which is still pretty toasty.

I hop back into the seat and as I move into place the ship smoothly moves forwards while I see Luna jet ahead of us at full-burn.

"Scouting ahead, I'll give you an update when I get down there." Luna says as she's most of the way through her spline jump.

The more I sit in this ship the more I love every bit of it. Comfy, cozy, plenty of vehicle storage, life in this boat and an MTC would be amazing. I think my love for the Valkyrie is now a thing of the past and that saddens me.

"It's hot! We got a murder-hobo in an F7C lurking around here and the ground is an endless ocean of neon pink douchebaggery!" Luna radioes back and my mind shuts off, turning into pure-combat mode.

Fuck.

"See if you can get the hobo. Jorunn, think you can clear a drop-zone for me with a missile or two?!" I ask and he flips me the green light.

"We're getting close and it looks like Luna is barely going to survive this fight! She's taking heavy fire!"

FUCK. I hop up from the turret and run back to the hold while dropping the door.

"Not yet! We're too high!" Jorunn says as he tries to remotely shut the door but I hold it open.

"We're fifty-meters up, with the low gravity I can make this easily!" I bark and I see the first ever red light on my hud.

Luna's ship pops in a burst of orange fire after the hobo explodes in blue. I see her eject and as usual, her parachute doesn't pop out to stop the fall, incapacitating her on the spot.

"Jorunn it's not up for debate, make a pass over the wreckage so I can get her!"

Orange light, trust me. I got this.

He whips the boat around and I hold on to a cargo net to keep from being flung out violently. forty meters, thirty-five...he's dropping FAST.

"Slow us to around 50 meters a second, and I can jump! When I say go just punch it and I'll take over from there!"

Another orange light, and there's fuzz in the back of my brain mixed in with white noise and warmth.

I jump out head first and pull my FS-9 to front, mowing down who I can while staying parallel to the ground when I see the crash-site of Luna's MX, main ship smoldering in fire but she's unconscious in her seat with jackasses closing in.

With a couple of small puffs from EVA thrusters in my boots my feet are swinging around in front slowly while I swap the LMG for the P6 with nightvision magnification.

I fire a round through a heavy's head, and another another, two mediums, and one more heavy. Each shot kicked into my shoulder to slow my forward momentum enough that my feet barely dig into sand as I slide along the ground on my ass, more FS-9 rounds being vomitted at a high rate to clear my path.

I manage to catch my feet in deep enough to stop the slide and grab Luna with the multitool in one hand while still mowing assholes down.

"You have their attention! Get her to safety!" Jorunn barks and I hear a massive boom. Look to the skies and see the monster, the behemoth, impending doom and death.

This whole rescue just got REALLY ugly...