Edna gasped and coughed, hacking up the preservation fluids of the clone vat, breathing her first breath of fresh air in months.
She remained on her hands knees, trying to get a grip on her body. When she was certain her lungs were clear she stood up. She stumbled toward the bench in front of her, unable to keep balance at first. When she could finally stand, she moved to locker to her right. Opening it, she found her clothes, still fresh and folded the way she had left them 6 months ago.
She had been gone sometime.
Now dressed, moved out of the cloning chamber into her captain's quarters.
"Computer, what is my present location?"
"zzzk... You are in Cabin 457, Deck 47, True Power Logistical Support Station, L-A9FS star system, in the region of Stain ...zzzk"
"What is the current traffic in system?" She hoped that some of her old corporation mates were around at this hour.
"zzzk... system is empty ...zzzk."
Edna was perplexed. Where had everyone gone?
She left her quarters for the station's central data banks. She summoned up the noted activity in the star system for the last 6 months. It had appeared that her corporation had undergone a downsizing, and shed off many of its capsuleer agents, and returned to space in the Minmatar Republic.
"Well then" she thought, "it's a long way to empire."
Back in her quarters, she linked for the main channel of the Eve shipping company, Black Frog Freight.
A smiling blond man appeared on the interlink screen.
"Good day Edna Ironsides" he spoke warmly, "how may we help you today?"
"I need a jump freighter to pick up personal effects here in Stain, I'll send you the coordinates. Standard contract terms?"
"That will do nicely Miss. Expect the shipment to be completed in about a week."
"Thank you." said Edna, closing the link.
She walked out to the flight deck, and keyed engineering to bring up her Anathema-class covert ops frigate out of the storage hangars.
She looked at the shining golden hull of the ship. She smiled. Her second expedition into null-security space had ended, infinitely more pleasant than the first, but it was time, once again, to return back to the core worlds.
Some hours later, the Anathema slipped out of the docking ring of the unremarkable station in Stain. Edna set the navigation computer to Rens, the hub system of the Republic. She then activated the ship's cloak and vanished into the darkness.
She remained on her hands knees, trying to get a grip on her body. When she was certain her lungs were clear she stood up. She stumbled toward the bench in front of her, unable to keep balance at first. When she could finally stand, she moved to locker to her right. Opening it, she found her clothes, still fresh and folded the way she had left them 6 months ago.
She had been gone sometime.
Now dressed, moved out of the cloning chamber into her captain's quarters.
"Computer, what is my present location?"
"zzzk... You are in Cabin 457, Deck 47, True Power Logistical Support Station, L-A9FS star system, in the region of Stain ...zzzk"
"What is the current traffic in system?" She hoped that some of her old corporation mates were around at this hour.
"zzzk... system is empty ...zzzk."
Edna was perplexed. Where had everyone gone?
She left her quarters for the station's central data banks. She summoned up the noted activity in the star system for the last 6 months. It had appeared that her corporation had undergone a downsizing, and shed off many of its capsuleer agents, and returned to space in the Minmatar Republic.
"Well then" she thought, "it's a long way to empire."
Back in her quarters, she linked for the main channel of the Eve shipping company, Black Frog Freight.
A smiling blond man appeared on the interlink screen.
"Good day Edna Ironsides" he spoke warmly, "how may we help you today?"
"I need a jump freighter to pick up personal effects here in Stain, I'll send you the coordinates. Standard contract terms?"
"That will do nicely Miss. Expect the shipment to be completed in about a week."
"Thank you." said Edna, closing the link.
She walked out to the flight deck, and keyed engineering to bring up her Anathema-class covert ops frigate out of the storage hangars.
She looked at the shining golden hull of the ship. She smiled. Her second expedition into null-security space had ended, infinitely more pleasant than the first, but it was time, once again, to return back to the core worlds.
Some hours later, the Anathema slipped out of the docking ring of the unremarkable station in Stain. Edna set the navigation computer to Rens, the hub system of the Republic. She then activated the ship's cloak and vanished into the darkness.
Edna! good to see you back and flying about
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