Mel's letter to the Homestead

Greetings to all my kin!

Your little Mel has had herself an adventure and a half, really. We went after our prey, this kuh wu killer and dealer who had much worse coming. He had himself holed up in this compound with guards and towers and the whole deal. Lucky for us, he was a menace to the local folks and their peaceable lifestyle. They helped us with a diversion while we sent a team in to the compound to snatch this awful fellow from his own compound. Zi Zi Thea, Jasmine, and Junmao (yeah, I think he's a friend. Nothing formal like "The Major") headed in to snatch the fellow. While me and my captain waited to zip in with the shuttle.

I don't like to think ill, but I thought that Jasmine going in with them had me a little worried. She's not a bad gal. Just a bit unpredictable. So, from the shuttle, we dusted off. A few five minutes to the target, and a small prayer that they didn't have any missiles to bring us down with. Be a bit of a short trip, and then Splat! into a mountain. Lucky for us, they had none.

So, there's a bunch of shooting going on as we arrived. Always, How W'rin Bu Lai, Whai W'rin Bu Jwo... Ya know? We land in the middle of what appears to have been a gunfight. Junmao is walking slowly when I saw him, looked like he was just passing out. Everyone else in the gang looks at least hurt, and there were bodies lying all over the landing zone. I suspect Thea and Junmao blasted most of them, but a few of them looked at if they had been through a thresher. Jasmine was down there, blood soaked to her armpits. It was very creepifying to think of what she had done to them.

But then, here's the crazy part. Everyone gets aboard, and I see that we got a landlock. That's a kind of electronic way to make the shuttle's 'puter Wu Toh Wu Now.

Can't just fly offa that. Bu Kuh Nuhn. Ya know?

I hear a deafening boom, and while I'm gathering my brain back together, I notice that Jasmine wasn't there. I'm crying even now as I type this. We lost Jasmine. She did something unexpected and crazy, like always, but this time, she went back into that bunker and blew up the computers that was keeping us down. I'm still shouting that we gotta get her, and the team is shoutin' back that she's already gone. Already gone. I'm always going to hear that phrase shouted in through the open hatchway up to the control deck.

I'm going numb, when I catch Junmao saying "doh-luh-mah... doh-luh-mah..." at me. Don't gotta tell me twice to get out of a killzone. Well, maybe you do!

I don't want to scare you guys, but this here job is pretty damn dangerous. It paid well though. Even after we paid off the Feds. This guy had some sort of high-and-mighty job on the planet that had the Alliance in a twist, but we let Junmao put on his old uniform and give them a talkin' to, if you know what I mean.

Got a bit of a bonus, too, so we headed off to get our cargo and Jasmine's body back to her folks to bury, or whatever.

Thanks again for the box of crumbly cake. It survived the trip, and I offered it to everyone here on the ship. Most of them turned it down, but not Junmao. He had seconds. I guess the Captain was on a diet or something. Anyhow, we broke atmo safely and bugged on out of there.

We're on a long course around the Cluster, and we're make it there in just a coupla days. I'll drop you a line from the other side.

Best of wishes from your little Mel,