Homestar Saga

Chapter 32: Code Galactica

Aldara. Yvian was sure she'd heard that name before, but she couldn't remember where. Not from Mims, she was sure. The human had never spoken of his life before he left Terran space.

"Aldara's the current Military headquarters for the Terran Federation. It's a restricted sector, but we should be able to convince them not to blow us out of the sky." The human was typing rapidly into his console. A notification appeared on Yvian's ship status screen. He was depressurizing the Ancillary, routing all atmosphere to its storage tanks. It didn't affect Yvian or the crew, as they were controlling the ship remotely from the Random Encounter inside its hangar bay, but Yvian still thought it an odd thing for Mims to do.

"Then why do you look so worried about it?" asked Lissa.

"Because I'm not welcome in Terran space." Mims typed another command, and the Ancillary's bay door opened. Yvian expected the Encounter to fly out of the ship, but the Captain left flight control untouched.

"And by unwelcome you mean..."

"I mean people will try to kill us if I'm recognized." Mims gave his voidarmor a once over. "A lot of people, the military and law enforcement included. Make sure your suits are sealed. I'm going to depressurize the Encounter next."

Yvian put her helmet on and ran a systems check. Her Voidarmor was sealed and all systems green. After a quick comm check to make sure their suits were synced, the human depressurized the ship.

"Why do they hate you so much?" Lissa asked. Yvian wondered that as well. Exodus had called him the Filicide. One who kills their own children. Could the Captain have done such a thing? To a pixen there was nothing more shameful. The motherless were outcasts, but child killers were hunted down. Did the humans do things the same way?"

"It's a long story," said the human. "And we don't have time to get me drunk enough to tell it. You can ask around when we get there."

"Why are we removing the air?" Yvian asked.

"Your remember what happened when I shot the BFSR4 on the Paradigm?" Mims asked in turn.

"Yeah," Yvian was still conflicted about that. "The shockwave turned everyone to mush." Seeing that had been awesome. Walking through the aftermath had made her question her mental state. Thrilling in the death of dozens of people was not something a sane person does. They'd been trying to eat her, so she supposed she didn't have to feel too bad, but still...

Maybe she'd been spending too much time around the human.

"Exactly," said Mims, snapping her out of that line of thought. "The MACdriver shoots a bigger round at higher speeds. Most Federation ships have one. If one hits while we've got air the pressure wave will do a lot of damage." He entered coordinates into the nav console. "Or turn us into pudding, if they hit the bridge."

"Sounds fun," Lissa quipped. "Is there another way we could do this? Something less, you know..."

"Fucking Dangerous?" Mims sighed. "Not anymore. That outpost was my only contact with a direct line to Federation leadership. If we want to talk to them now, we'll have to do it directly." He reached for the nav console, then paused. "One more thing. I'm not technically a fugitive, but there's a strong chance I'll be detained. You might be, as well. Or they might kill you, since you're citizens of a foreign power with information they don't want known. If you don't want to risk it, I'll understand. You can take the Ancillary and we'll meet up again if I make it back."

Lissa and Yvian shared a look. Yvian shrugged. "If you're going, we're going. We're a crew."

Mims nodded. "Alright, then. Initiating Jumpdrive." He pressed the button. He started to speak again, fell silent, then awkwardly said, "Thank you."