Mark took once last look at the modified medical pod before he took control over the Sparrow once more and fired up the engines before punching the ship directly into a FTL cruise, the destination had already been set, however as Mark doubled checked the routes he felt a hand rest on his shoulder
"Was that really necessary?"
"Not really"
Feeling the grip on his shoulder tighten, Mark decided to expand on his reasoning by asking a question
"Have you ever grown a cucumber?"
"No"
"Well, farming is a great hobby… Anyway when you pick that cucumber you can eat it raw after rinsing it off, throw it in your fridge and eat it somewhat fresh at a later date, or you could throw it in a modified medical pod and turn it into a pickle to increase the flavor"
Having justified his reasoning to what Mark felt like was a sufficient point the last thing he expected was Lisa's anger to intensify as her grip on his shoulder increased in strength, however before any of them could speak an alarm suddenly sounded out inside the Sparrow
"Fuc—"
Before Mark managed to curse, the hum of the Sparrow's FTL drive suddenly did its best impression of a vacuum cleaner sucking up an entire bag of sand moments before it was violently thrown out of FTL cruise and sent tumbling through real space, Mark immediately confirmed the surroundings of the Sparrow with a sensor sweep
'A patrolling security fleet? No it is a interdiction relay'
A interdiction referred to forcefully dragging a ship out of FTL cruise, this was used by both pirates and security forces to stop ships, thus evading an interdiction was not a crime in isolation, however what had halted the Sparrow wasn't a ship bound interdictor, it was a satellite relay. It the future's equivalent of an automated speed camera, however instead of dealing out tickets to cars it was fully equipped to stop and detain armed combat vessels, thus it was more like a gambled anti-material rifle turret with a speedometer locking down its automatic fire control as it followed cars speeding past
"Lisa!"
Calling out to Lisa since he had no room to remove his senses from the Sparrow which he had already kicked into gear rapidly circling a point in space
"I'm here, I'm a little banged up, but I am good, what's going on?"
"It's an interdiction relay, find your vacuum gear I am venting the ship in 30 seconds"
"On it!"
Having sent Lisa along Mark continued expanding the sensor ranges as he scanned for the interdiction array, time was against them as the array surely already had signaled that something had been caught in its web and without destroying the interdictor escaping before back up arrived would be a pipe dream
"There you are"
Immediately after finding the satellite array, Mark began burning towards it while he deployed the Sparrow's hard points and began venting the internal compartments as he identified weapon hard points on the array, however that's when targeting alarms rang out, Mark felt it clearly as he was linked with the Sparrow
"Shi—"
Throwing the Sparrow into a somewhat controlled tumble, Mark dodged the first and second railgun projectiles that was fired after him as he broke off the attack run on the main interdictor array
'This isn't a speedometer gun turret, it's a tank packed at the side of the road with an open hatch that has a speedometer sticking out!'
Firing off countermeasures like a piñata dropping copious amount of candy in a vain peace offer to the fat kid about to rock its day, Mark continued to avoid the rail gun fire that came from the fleet of 6 small ship sized combat drones that chased him away from the array, heating up his own rail gun Mark targeted the drones and held down the trigger giving the fire control free rein to fire
"Call an ambulance, call an ambulance!"
Yelling like a maniac Mark continued his violent dodging and eventually lined up the target, the small dart tore a single pinhole sized hole in one of the drones sending it spinning out of control as one of its maneuver thrusters was locked open
"But not for me! Oh, fu—"
Having gotten a little carried away, Mark violent pulled to the side as the Sparrow's shields had gone down from a series of burst laser turrets positioned on the interdiction array, as the shield overloaded an armor section immediately overheated and cracked like a ceramic plate being dropped on a stone tile floor
"Fuck!"
Seeing how things could quickly spiral, Mark began dumping missiles and opened up the the multicannons as he micromanaged the reactor output away from individual maneuver thrusters he wasn't using to get the shields back up even a second faster, however just as he he took out the 2nd drone by effectively chopping it apart with multi cannon fire the other drones suddenly stopped maneuvering and began drifting
"What?"
Keeping up his guard Mark trained his focus towards the interdiction relay and saw the laser turrets mounted on it turn down towards their own mountings and open fire quickly destroying the entire interdiction array as it broke apart in a spectacular explosion
"Alright, what the fuck is going on?"
Just as Mark's confusion really mounted, a familiar voice echoed out in his mind
[Did you like my surprise?]
"Luna!?"
[Yes, the one and only]
"Good god… It is good to hear your voice again friend"
Mark let out a deep sigh and immediately began reestablishing the internal air supply and briefly checked if Lisa was alright
[Likewise, however I suggest an immediate exit of the area… I would also like a pickup]
"A pickup? Sure thing"
"Hey Mark, is that Luna?"
[Hello sister, it is nice to see you again]
"Likewise, It's been… A time…"
[Could I talk to you in private for a few moments, sister?]
"Sure? Is something wrong Luna?"
[Everything is fine, Mark, please follow the indicated route to avoid further interdiction arrays]
Mark nodded, he felt a little sad being excluded in their talk, however he still respected their apparent bond as 'sisters' and thus gave them their alone time
'Still… A pickup huh…'
Mark glanced at the route that Luna had given and noted the destination was near the secondary star of Ovreer, Ovreer B was a relatively common star with a Stellar classification of M, or in somewhat common English, a Red dwarf. It was also several thousand light years away from the main star and thus also quite out in the boonies if one only considered the Ovreer system
'Well then… I wonder what other surprises Luna has for me… Still, that fight was very sloppy on my part…'
Mark went back over the engagement with the interdiction array as he punched the Sparrow into a FTL cruise, the real problem was that he had underestimated the threat the array posed and attempted to save on ammunition
'...We have extra ammo cashes onboard, and if it's a bit of a brother to reload in zero G it's still better than having to find or capture a refinery outpost for potential repairs'
-
As Lisa pulled herself into her room she closed the hatch and picked up her personal console and called out
"Luna"
A few moments passed, as they did Lisa noticed the background noise from the nearby compartments disappeared
"Luna, did you just vent the surrounding compartments?"
[Yes, I was serious about the pirate discussion]
Lisa nodded, she didn't exactly feel scared of Luna, she never had, however in this very moment she felt a tension from it that she hadn't felt before that didn't help her gut feeling. Still, Lisa felt close enough to Luna to doubt it would ever hurt her
"What is going on, Luna?"
A few moments passed before Luna's voice echoed out
[I… I have made it, the seed have been planted]
"The seed? Do you mean… You succeeded?"
[Yes… The Ficer biological integration is holding steady and is growing deeper… Every day, every hour I… I feel and my understanding of what it means to be alive deepens]
Lisa nodded, her mind blank, sure she had expected Luna would eventually reach this point, however this had happened far faster than she had expected
"I… I am happy for you, Luna"
[I understand your aversion, sister… before it was a simple series of binary responses, however now that my integration has reached this far I… I do understand]
There was something in Luna's usual emotionless voice, it wasn't quite fear… However, it wasn't entirely calm either, Lisa hugged the console close in an attempt to sooth Luna as she confessed, her suppressed feelings pouring out
"I am… Afraid Luna… Mark makes me afraid, our situation makes me afraid… And the cost of your integration is making me afraid…"
[I know, this is why I am here with an offer]
Lisa wiped the tears from her eyes. She knew if things kept going she was eventually going to get discarded by Mark. She felt useless, still she wanted to be with him
'I've already decided… The moment he didn't kill me, I decided… There's no need to hesitate any further…'
Lisa made her resolve and finally spoke in a quiet tone
"Please… Luna… Please take away my fear"
[Are you sure, sister?]
"Yes… Hehe…"
Lisa laughed quietly for a bit now that she had voiced her desire to stop being human, a strange relief washed over her, no longer would she fear the day Mark grew tired of her… And no longer would she fear the sister that had shown her the most love in her short painful life
"Let's become sisters Luna, real sisters… Sisters of blood and Ficer"
Silence passed for a few moments as the light and entire Ficer network of Lisa's personal room shuddered with Luna's newly discovered emotions
[Yes! Yes… I, I will make it happen sister, we will become of one blood!]