ENROUTE TO KU5R-W

The Onslaught swam effortlessly through warp. General Mako stood stiffly on the deck of his bridge, surveying his command crew with keen interest. His crew had always followed orders without question, earning them the name they wore proudly, Mako’s Faithful, and as the dreadnoughts continued forward in flawless synchronization, he realized once again he had planned out every single detail to perfection. There would be no escape for his prey; there never was.

FADE REGION – I-UU15
VANGUARD FRONTIERS

Tessa was not happy, but she was always one to have a plan. PyjamaSam had explained the situation to her, Lady Grey attesting to the truth of it all, reinforcing PyjamaSam’s strong convictions, leaving no doubt in Tessa’s mind as to the severity of their situation. The evacuation she had ordered was already underway, but their were still far too many personnel here in I-UU15, along with billions of isk  in ships and goods.

She nudged her battleship forward into warp, heading to VAF’s new home far away, most of the evacuation fleet slaved to her navigation computer, entering warp alongside her.

—

Lady Grey had stayed with PyjamaSam despite the executive order to evacuate the station immediately. PyjamaSam had rushed them back to his workshop, cursing intermittently as he knocked equipment to the side, searching for things beyond her grasp. “Nothing’s in place, how the hell am I supposed to find anything? Who moved my stuff?!?!” She felt her heart sink at his outbursts. He had no idea how hard she had worked at this, and he didn’t even appreciate her efforts. She shook her head at that, forcing back the tears threatening to overwhelm her.

“What’s wrong with you?” PyjamaSam asked neutrally, and she hated him suddenly for his insensitivity. The reality of the man was nothing like what she had worked up her in head as she had nursed him during his coma. Then again, men usually weren’t what she dreamed they would be. She shook her head again. She should’ve known by now that her dream man didn’t exist, and that trying to force one into that perfect mold of her mind’s eye was childish and foolish.

“Nothing. What are you looking for? I’ll help.” she replied. Together, they rummaged through various components spread out across various tables, taking what PyjamaSam said they needed, quickly ignoring the rest. He kept mumbling about no time, and otherwise seemed to have nothing to say at all; at least not to Lady Grey.

Within fifteen minutes, they had assembled, well, she didn’t know what it was. It was a mishmash of what they had collected, and to her untrained eye, looked like nothing that should physically exist nor actually function. PyjamaSam was busy installing the final component, that ominous black box that sent shivers of dread up and down her spine. She hadn’t asked him about it; he hadn’t offered. That was good enough for her.

“Ok, get the cart. We have to get to the clone vats.” PyjamaSam said, startling her from her quiet reflections, and she nodded, quickly moving to fulfill his request. She didn’t know why they were going to the clone vats, or what he hoped to accomplish there, but she had pledged herself to his cause, and even though he had proven himself not worthy of her, she wasn’t one to go back on her word. That wasn’t the way of nobility.

They quickly loaded the equipment onto the dolly cart, and exited PyjamaSam’s workshop, heading for the clone vats.

SOMEWHERE IN PURE BLIND REGION

Roc Wieler pushed the limits of his Firetail, narrowly avoiding this latest surprise assault against him from the Caldari. He was traversing through their space, a known Minmatar Colonel, and that marked him instantly as an enemy to the State. Every jump he made towards Fade Region, towards VAF HQ, towards Sam, was an increasingly difficult risk. He would not be deterred. He would not turn aside. Sam had gotten into this mess because of him, and he would be damned if he let anything happen to his friend because of it; even if he had to cross all of New Eden to make things right.

“Hold on, Sam,” he mumbled to himself, “I’m coming.”

MEDICAL CLONE VATS, VAF HQ
I-UU15 FADE REGION

“No, not there, THERE.” PyjamaSam said, perhaps with more hostility than needed. There was no time, no time. He had to rescue Elly, and he had to do it now. His mental chronometer had already calculated the time it would take for a Minmatar fleet to arrive from its nearest possible location; they had less than two hours remaining to accomplish this task. He had already disabled the tracking device that had escaped his earlier notice, but having been unconscious for two days, it was a most assured fact that whomever was receiving the device’s signal already had their plans well under way.

“Ok, got it!” Lady Grey’s voice said with a small sense of victory. “Try it again.”

Sam checked all the connections, all the output readings. They had jury rigged a clone tube for this experiment with the DNAC, and Sam’s mind was still processing all the information he had discovered regarding the device from his Null Aura construct.

The DNAC, or DNA computer, was a terran relic, and not a being in all of New Eden today knew exactly when they were created, but there did exist obscure records to their origins and how to operate similar devices, though almost nobody had ever acquired one in the universe’s history, or at least never recorded it.

There was one record, however, a series of journal entries belonging to a noble family, whom could trace their ancestry back to the original exodus into New Eden. This journal was their most guarded legacy, their most prized possession, but Nora had stripped away that secrecy quickly. The journals chronicled the life of one of their ancestors, Ellen, or Elly as she was lovingly known, whom was an accomplished geneticist of the age, a clone technology research specialist without peer. Sam had found all of her research fascinating, and had quickly scanned these journals virtually, completing finding himself immersed into not just the scholarly notes, but also into the personal intimacy she conveyed about herself.

She had invented the DNAC, the original prototype, and the fact it was still intact and functional was a further testament to the brilliance of this woman from a time forgotten. The DNAC was attached to a host via electrodes to certain positions on the cranium, and literally recorded the entire medulla oblongata onto a single strand of living DNA contained within the device. The machine could then be hooked up to a new living host, and the contents of the DNA imprinted over the existing memories of the host, supressing their consciousness. Elly had documented that after only a few months, the existing consciousness of the host would resurface, essentially killing the current personality. It was an endless cycle of death for whomever’s essence was contained within the machine, though of course, unless they updated its content with each successive life, they would never be the wiser. There were even recorded instances where the resurfacing of the original host was so physically traumatic to the body, that it perished, killing both.

Sam wouldn’t make that mistake. He would bring Elly back; he would give her eternal life as only a capsuleer could experience, and her brilliant mind could continue its work in this day and age, to the benefit of all New Eden both scientifically, and historically.

“You ready?” Lady Grey asked.

“Yeah, I’m ready.” PyjamaSam replied.

I-UU15 FADE REGION
150 KM OUTSIDE VAF HQ

A lone Rapier decloaked, having exited warp to its specified coordinates twenty kilometers outside an insystem cyno jammer. The pilot spun up his black ops jump drive, and within moments the first strike assault fleet of Mako’s Faithful was bridging the jump from their end in a system far from here.

He allowed himself to smile at the thought; five hundred Minmatar Hounds were now enroute to his location.