Decisions

I was taken to see the cargo hold of a Freighter from the inside. It boggled my mind to see the sheer space compared to my tiny body as I stood in the massive room. The cargo capacity was only a figure to me before. A number on an info sheet about the ship. The crew was very nice and accommodating to me. I even forgot I was wearing a side arm after only a few minutes of being there. I saw more than a few crew members tweaking various things and I thought of the things I could do with a mere thought while these people did it manually.

I thought it would be best to return to my Captain's Quarters the same way I came in, stripping my clothes once more to get in the pod, only to dock at the catwalk a moment later to disembark again. I decided that it would be a good idea to not tell anyone what I was doing and it was made sure the rest of the crew knew not to speak of it. Their existence was kept secret for a reason and I'd rather not be caught knowing it by the wrong people. This is something that will rest in the back of my mind and plague me.

Sitting on my couch I hung my head in my hands and sighed. I saw it when I came in, and it threw me into depression once more. I raised my head and stared at the screen in front of me. War. Again. What the Hell? It was the same people as before. A corp for hire to wardec others I suppose. Another two weeks of no mining, loss in profits, and probably wont make another PLEX again to rescue Amalea. Maya still wasn't talking to me.

Then a new comms channel started blinking...

"Hey, Sain! Long time!" It was Chadrick. His Amarrian face filled the screen on the wall.

"Yeah. What's up?"

"Look, about that help I offered. You know, to mine with your friend." he began.

"Out with it, Chad."

"I priced them there barges and the're real pricey, see?" he said, wringing his hands. The expected day had arrived.

"You want one of mine?" I asked, "I don't have a spare. You do know why I asked you to help right?"

"Your friend went missin' when her licence ran out, right?" he asked, "Yeah, so?"

"She was flying my spare at the time." I said, "And I need the money to save for a PLEX to find her."

"Can't you mine now?" he asked, "Isn't that war over?"

"Another just started." I huffed, "I'm stuck in Hek in my freighter."

"Ah that's shitty, man." he said, "Look, I'm not that good at minin' anyhow. I can only fly the starter barge too."

Then it clicked. It made sense. I wanted to stay in my corp because of the community and resources it brought, but could not use them here. I was no combat pilot, which is what was needed now. And knowing what I know now, I couldn't fight knowing all my ships were crewed.

"Chad. I have an idea."

"Shoot."

"We switch places." I said, "You agree to join my corporation and help in the war, I go back to my private corp and then I can help them by hauling with my Charon. What do you think?"

"I get to shoot people instead of staring at rocks?! I'm in!" he said with relief.

He cut off and I made some calls. My CEO was fine with the swap if I can still help. He marked my private corp as friendly, then called up my sister Osiph to get me back in my own corp. She wanted to hand me the CEO role again, but I refused, since she was doing a great job of it anyway.

When I warped into the belt Maya was working on and pulled my Hulk up beside her Mackinaw, there was a sizeable pause as I assume she was trying to figure out if I was daft before she read my corp ticker again.

"What did you do?!" she asked over comms.

"I fixed it. Let's mine. We need to save your sister."

"Right." She responded after a pause. I expected the silent treatment was over.