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The glittering depths of space stretched out before her as she sat alone in the darkened observation deck.
All of the places, all of the planets, all of the civilizations in which she had lived, and yet, she still kept track of the old earth calendar, even now, so many centuries since she had first turned the Viper around and looked down on her homeworld.
A world which she hadn't seen in almost a lifetime.
Space around Earth was too contested for her to safely approach. Last time she had barely gotten away. There were simply too many ships, too many predators, moving around the inner planets of the Sol System.
Being caught wasn't an option. Not by any of the monsters which currently vied for Earth and it's human inhabitants.
Not for her.
The price on her head was too great.
A price that was almost triple if she was brought in alive.
Her fingers drifted to the blue crystal which was resting over the black fabric of her flight suit, finding a calming solace in the warmth of the stone.
Almost three centuries of constant wariness. Three centuries of never staying in one place for too long. Several times, she'd simply warmed up her stasis unit and napped for a decade, leaving only her sensors and communications systems online, hoping for a call from the past, searching for her as she was searching for them.
But, when the Long Night fell once more, it seemed as if all the light had gone with it.
Yet, she still hoped. Year after year, she made sure to follow the tradition she'd started so many years before.
"Open Comm Channels. Knighthood frequencies." As the computer chimed its acknowledgment, she took a breath. "Knighthood. I say again Knighthood. This is Crusader Queen. It's been another year of silence, searching the stars for you. Another year gone by folks... If anybody is out there, I'm calling out into the dark, so you can hear my voice and know at least one of us is still out here." She paused, her eyes starting to glisten. "Merry Christmas, my friends. Wherever you are, I miss all of you..."
Then, shutting off the transmission, she turned in the cockpit, reaching for the bottle so she could raise up a glass to her absent companions.
Her eyes slowly opened as the insistent chime sounded again.
She blinked, unable at first to comprehend what she was hearing.
"...hood. We say again, Knighthood. Come in, Crusader Queen. You're a sight for sore eyes..."
And then, the darkness before her lit up, as running lights were powered up, revealing the sleek lines of a ship design long since passed into the mists of legend, and emblazoned on its side, the battered, yet still visible emblem of the Knighthood.
"Prepare for docking. And Merry Christmas to you too..."
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