Episode 0: Home Behind

          The glass separating the interior of Bakewell Point from the cold vacuum of space seemed thinner than it had when Osmond had first arrived. That was before the pirate attacks; before the Expedition launched; before those pilots had died out in that same dark vacuum in unknown space far from home.  Oz put his hand against the glass, imagining that the cold he could feel was anywhere close to the actual temperature out there. Asphyxiation or hypothermia, which would have killed them first? Or did they die in the explosion? Boarded and shot? 

         Staring out into the black, Oz felt like he could almost make out the launch point of the expedition, the last place everything in Pallaeni had been normal. Sure there had been some attacks here and there, but nothing hugely abnormal for a system where something big was happening. And who knows what they might be finding out there beyond civilized space? Thargoids, pirates, rogue CMDRs, betrayal from within...

         Being in charge was no fun. Adam left Oz in command of the crew left at the station, but it wasn't like Oz was qualified. Of anyone, he would have chosen Ilona. But she was too busy trying to settle things with Bakewell higher-ups, smooth over relations after that argument, and go about getting help with the pirate investigation. They had managed to add someone to the team since the Expedition launch: Andrew Pynes, a human man not much older than Oz himself, some sort of ex-intelligence-operative from the Federation. With Laurence serving as a medic and Carmela helping Ilona with the task of jumping through all the political and legal hoops, they made a pretty good team. Not that there had been much chance to test that theory. 

         They had been loaned a ship, as sort of payment for helping out Bakewell Point with a few things, called the Dauntless, but hadn't had much chance to test her out for more than supply and data transport. She had been sold as a combat ship, but a Sidewinder can only do so much. And she could barely hold two people. They would have to get something bigger eventually. 

         Hearing footsteps, Oz turned away from the window. Coming down the corridor towards him was Ilona, flawless Imperial features contrasted by the somewhat battered dress uniform she was wearing. And she did not look happy. 

         "Bad news?" Oz asked, leaning against the window. Ilona always made him sort of uncomfortable.
         "Oh, of course, it's bad news, Oz," he had been right, she wasn't happy. "'The leadership of Bakewell Point and representatives of Pallaeni General Co. are too preoccupied with internal affairs at the moment to receive visitors, please try again later.' I would have torn that thing out of the wall if I could have gotten away with it..." So she hadn't even gotten to talk to anyone. Great.
         "Well, we can always try again tomorrow?" Oz said, hoping to calm her down. 
          "Oh suuure, don't mind us, just trying to save your asses! Don't you think you can use all the help you can get? It's not like this system is practically under siege or anything!"
         Oz shrugged "I guess they don't think outside help is necessary. Which, yes--" He added, after a cutting look from Ilona "-- is a dumb idea, and they should definitely try to get what help they can in case there are more attacks..." he trailed off, looking back out into the black expanse surrounding the station. Her gaze followed his. 
          "They'll be fine, Oz. He'll be fine..." 
          "Right, yeah, I know..." Oz shook himself slightly and turned away from the window. "But you never know, I mean pirates are acting up like crazy recently, some actually followed the expedition, and then apparently some Commanders have gone rogue, I mean...what is happening out there?"
         Ilona was about to answer, when an alarm above them suddenly whirred to live, accompanied by flashing red lights, and a voice over the PA system telling everyone to 'remain calm' and 'return to their quarters'. Ilona shot Oz a meaningful we'll-finish-this-later look and ran off in the opposite direction of their quarters. Oz shook his head and started off towards the crew's quarters. 

         "Hey, Oz? Think we've got a situation," Laurence was standing at the window in the common room, his eyes darting back and forth between several small fighters circling the station. "I'm pretty sure those aren't good news..." A small wing of Eagles was circling the station, hardpoints deployed, clearly looking for a fight. Oz screeched to a halt beside the medic, placing a hand heavily on his shoulder to support himself. 
         "Where...where's Andrew?" he panted, taking several deep breaths in an attempt to stand on his own after running across the station. 
         "He's already in the fighter bay, starting up the Dauntless. I told him not to go, but--" Oz was gone. If Andrew launched that ship he, and the crew, were going to be in deep trouble. After their trouble with the General Co. earlier, they had effectively been grounded on-station, any ship leaving the port under their callsigns would be either shot down or impounded. Not to mention severe legal action would be taken...

         Oz rounded the corner to the fighter bay, almost careening into a group of other CMDRs in his hurry to get to the Dauntless. Stopping for a second, he spotted the beaten Sidewinder and ran over to the control station next to it, ripping the comms out of the hands of some unfortunate dock-worker.
         "Andrew? Hey, Andrew, dammit, come in!"
         Andrew's voice could be heard loud and clear over the comms. He was already in the cockpit, probably about to perform his preflight checks. "I don't take orders from you kid. I'm goin' out there to stop those bastards from putting holes in our house, you can thank me later. Preparing for launch." 
         The countdown began blinking on the monitor to Oz's right, and the launch pad began to rise to the surface. Oz took a step back, grasping at straws "Andrew, as your acting commander, I forbid you to--"
         "Sorry, what was that, Commander? You're cutting out." Andrew switched off his comms, and Oz could hear landing gear retract above him and the Dauntless's signature on the monitor blinked off the edge of the screen and into the space around Bakewell. Oz collapsed into a chair, breathless, furious, and near panic. "Does he have any idea...." He muttered angrily to himself. "Fine. No, it's fine, I'll just tell him that it was his fault, he defied orders..." he stormed out of the control station, almost shoving the poor dock-worker off his feet as he went. "Just wait until the Captain hears about this, then you'll have to follow orders, you space-headed, half-witted..."

         It continued like this almost the entire way back to the quarters, just up until he slammed the door to the common room and sat heavily down in a chair. He didn't notice the rest of the crew in the room until Laurence spoke. 
         "So, uh... I take it he launched?" 
         "Oh, yeah, he launched. And if he doesn't die out there by some miracle, I'm going to kill him when he comes back. That is if the Corporate police don't get to him first." He looked up and around the room. "Where's Ilona by the way?" 
         "Still banging on doors trying to get people to listen to her, I expect." Laurence pushed himself up off the chair, walking over to the window before pacing back again. "Look, all we can do is deny any support of his actions at this point. It's not as if we-"
         Ilona burst into the room. "He did WHAT?!" the team sat still, stunned. Oz opened his mouth to answer but was cut off. "WHO gave him clearance to do this? Oz, I swear to god if it was you..."
         "No, I tried to stop him!"
         "Well I was actually making progress in getting us clearance to fly again, but I guess that's not happening now, huh? He better not die out there, I am so killing him when he gets back."
         "Get in line," Carmela quipped from behind her datapad where she was watching the battles unfold from a security feed. 

         Ilona took a moment to calm herself. "I did manage to get us in with the Station Coordinators, so while station authorities will still take issue with us, we'll still be fine here. How much we can do stuck in this rustbucket I don't know, but-" there was a muffled explosion from outside, and Laurence dove away from the window. "Get down!"
         The window managed to hold, but the fuselage from one of the pirate ships slammed into the reinforced glass hard enough to crack. A slight hissing sound filled the room, and the crew stood stunned for a moment before scrambling to the door. They barely managed to close the blast door before the window gave out and the room depressurized, sending most of the furniture hurtling into the abyss. The crew took a moment to breathe, and Laurence looked through the blast door viewer to assess the damage. 
         "Uh..guys..." rushing to the viewer, the crew could see a figure in a full space suit, helmet reflecting what little light was left in the room, floating towards the hole in the station. As it got closer they could see whoever it was had a personal propulsion system in their suit, as it began to actually control its descent rather than float like debris as it had first appeared. Landing in the room, they could hear the loud thunk of mag-boots activating, as the figure started to survey the room, looking for an exit before pulling out some sort of cutter.
         "We need to go. Split up: Ilona, go yell at your police friends, tell them we're being boarded. Laurence, Carmela, with me, we're going to comb this floor and make sure everyone's alright. And if anyone hears from Andrew, tell him....just tell him to turn himself in or something, we don't need any more trouble." Oz ran off down the hall, Laurence and Carmela following. Ilona sighed "I'm really going to kill him..." and took off for security. 
         The figure looked around the room for a moment, before taking a step towards the door, slowly making his way across the room. Finally a score that mattered. No more looting random ships for material and credits that didn't matter. A chance to actually make a difference...
         He started cutting through the door. No need to rush, he had all the time in the world...