It was only an hour or so later when Eta heard Alex returning to the ship. She was indeed sitting on one of Alex's kitchen stools as instructed with her diary open before her. As she heard the Commander call out a greeting she quickly rose to her feet, at the last second remembering Alex had instructed her not to stand at attention.
"Make sure everything loose is stored away, we're taking off eh-sap," instructed Alex as she strode past into the cockpit.
"Yes Miss!" replied Eta in surprise before darting across the hall to hastily stash her book back in the locker Alex had emptied for her. She entered the cockpit, and after a moment's hesitation sat and strapped herself into the second seat.
"May I ask what you found, Miss Alex?" she asked, slightly apprehensive. "I didn't hear any cargo being loaded."
"That's because we're not doing a cargo run," Alex replied with a wink. "I found something a bit more interesting, and a bit more time sensitive." she added, having already begun preparing the ship. Eta swallowed before nodding.
"May I.... ask what it is?"
"I was just getting to that," Alex said, her attention focused on bringing the ship to life beneath their feet. Eta felt the floor jolt, as their landing pad began to carry the Peregrine sideways and up towards the hanger.
"So that ringed planet in the system..." Alex began. "Well apparently someone's running a mining operation within the ring. And a few hours ago, the company lost contact with one of its mining ships. They're trying to organize a proper search, but as we know S&R is still tied up with... whatever. So the company said they'd be willing to pay if I went out there and started scanning right away," she added as the landing pad came to a halt.
The thrusters underneath them ignited. The Peregrine shuddering as she lifted slowly into the air. Verity announced as the landing gear retracted, and Alex turned the ship gracefully towards the mail slot. Gliding through the traffic of ships with ease.
"Is the mining vessel in danger?" asked Eta apprehensively as she felt the Peregrine straightened its path and her body lose all weight. There was a gentle shudder as the shields of the mail slot passed over them, and suddenly the tight walls, the traffic, the noise, all faded away to nothing. They were in outer space.
"They don't know," Alex replied. "It might just be a communication failure. In which case I get paid for not doing much. If it's more serious... well I'll have to see what I can do once I get there. But to begin with my job is just to go search for them and try to find out what's going on," she said as she dropped the Peregrine's nose out of the flood of ships lining up for the mail slot and pointed her out into the black. She opened the throttle and Eta felt herself being pressed back into her seat from the acceleration. Her harness kept her in place as Alex had them on a long slow turn, both putting distance between themselves and the station, and bringing them to their new heading.
"Frame Shift Drive charging," announced Verity, and Eta felt a growing tremble within the ship. A deep sound, not unlike wind started to swell around her. It was a sound she had heard many times before, but from the cockpit of the little ship it all felt so much closer.
"Four," Verity counted down.
"Three"
"Two"
"One"
"Engage"
With every step of the countdown the noise grew in power, until all at once the sound seemed to break and the Peregrine leapt forwards, pushing Eta firmly back into her seat as space whipping by all around her. But eventually they stopped accelerating, and she felt herself become weightless again as the ship settled gently into Supercruise.
"Is this... a common activity for you, Miss?" Eta asked, glancing over. "Yesterday you rescued me. Today you're intending to rescue mining staff in distress."
"Luckily not," replied Alex. "I always watch out for people in trouble, but it doesn't come up too often, which is probably a good thing. Two in two days is weird. But I'm intrigued, and they're paying. So win win."
"I am sure they will be very grateful to have you come to their aid just as I am," Eta replied, smiling as she marveled at Alex's willingness to jump off towards people in need.
"Well first we need to find out if they actually need aid at all," Alex reminded her. Eta nodded, thinking for a while as space hurtled past them.
"Pardon me, I'm sure you've already considered this. But on the scale of an entire planetary ring system, how do you intend to locate a single ship?" she asked after a moment.
"That is an excellent question," Alex observed. "The guy I talked to wasn't at the station. We talked over comms. He said the operation was run out of a Megaship that's hanging out at the edge of the rings, and that's where he's based. I have the location of that, and he said he'd give me the most up to date info once I get there, including a last known location," she added. Eta watched the Commander for a moment, before reaching down and released her harness. She floated up out of her seat and maneuvered herself around kneel quietly next to Alex's pilot's seat as she gazed out the canopy with a contented smile on display. Alex glanced down at her with an eyebrow raised, a quick flash of colour passing across her cheeks.
"You really like being down there huh?" Alex observed. Eta simply nodded. The Commander pursed her lips for a long moment before she took a slow breath.
"Like it's very kinky, but look Eta.... I am really not your Master. You don't owe me anything," Alex replied, yet again ignoring the twinges in her lower body.
"Even if you are not my Master, you are still a woman in a position of authority and admiration relative to me," Eta said matter of factly.
"Wait, admiration?" Alex asked, one of her eyebrows shooting up.
"Yes," Eta confirmed, showing no embarrassment at the statement. "I am presently witnessing you travel between planets and put yourself in potential danger, just because you feel someone is in need of your assistance. You are a marvelous woman, and I am honoured to be in your company," she said happily.
It was Alex's turn to blush red and be at a loss for words. She stared down at her passenger who just smiled back up at her.
"Uhhhh, thank you?" was all she was able to say at first.
"But umm... let's not forget that I'm being paid for this. And also, we don't even know if anyone's in trouble out there," she added, trying to deflect.
"But you departed the station in such short order because you thought there might be," Eta pointed out. Alex just glared at her.
"If you're so enamored by my boundless compassion, why is your reflex still to get weird when some of it heads your direction?"
"I'm sorry Miss Alex. But I am a slave. I am beneath such generous treatment," Eta answered apologetically.
"But you chose to keep being.....ah nevermind," Alex said with a tired sigh.
"I did choose it..." the kneeling woman began slowly. "...and yes...slavery did come with certain... compromises. However taken as a whole, being obedient and submissive suits me," Eta added, as if it was the most normal thing is the galaxy to say. Alex let out a series of startled coughs as her eyes flashed. She quickly composed herself as her passenger looked up at her, wearing an expression of surprise and concern.
"Miss Alex? I apologize, are you alright?" asked the wide-eyed slave.
"Jesus Christ. Yeah I'm... fine," the Commander replied, internally kicking her libido back down as she took a deep breath. "You just.... sound so formal most of the time but then you occasionally say stuff like that. And I was noooot ready for it," she added as she focused her attention back to the space before them and her passenger stared at the floor self-consciously.
At Supercruise speeds, it wasn't long before the distant prick of light that was their target was growing faster and faster before them. Alex sent them skimming over the ring as she watched her instruments. And a moment later she pulled the release. Eta, now safely back in the second seat, felt the familiar tug of deceleration and abruptly the ring of floating rocks, dust, and ice crystals hung still and stretching out to one side all the way towards the enormous mottled blue and purple gas giant in the distance. But directly in front of them sat another Megaship, its surface covered in extra mining equipment and facilities hastily welded on. Docked to it were a number of ships many times larger than the Peregrine, their hulls gouged and pockmarked from working between the rocks. Eta recognized the angular, utilitarian silhouette of Lakon transports. Alex pushed their nose down and sent them into a gentle turn, circling around the Megaship as she hit a few buttons on her comms panel. A gruff man's voice came over her speakers a moment later.
"Oi! This ain't the place for sightseers friend. We've got industrial craft moving around," he said, his voice sounding tired and frazzled.
"But apparently one less than there should be," Alex replied. "Good to talk to you again Tom. It's Alex Turner. We spoke earlier."
Her voice walking the line between serious and banter.
"Oh it's you!" Tom exclaimed in surprise. "Ah Jesus, I wasn't expecting you for another half hour at least, but I appreciate you getting a rush on."
"I had nothing else pressing this morning, and you said your people could be in trouble. I saw no reason to stop for caffeine on the way," Alex joked with a shrug.
"Well maybe you should have... I could fucking do with some," Tom lamented. Alex laughed before getting onto business.
"When we spoke before you were still confirming details. You manage to lock down that last known location?"
"I did, but I'd bet it's not super accurate. A sheet of moving rocks a kilometer thick and a quarter million kilometers wide doesn't play nice with long range sensors," he replied with a tired sigh.
"It's a start, send 'em over. But why do you fancy my chances of having better luck scanning for them?"
"Because you're not going to be scanning from here," Tom shot back simply.
"Point taken," Alex chuckled. "Learn any more about what might have happened?"
"Nothing. The useless Captain doesn't send updates very often, so all I know is earlier today they reported finding a few promising asteroids, and then half an hour later all signals from them stopped," Tom replied. Despite his insult towards the Captain his tone was worried.
