Ester sat upright in her bed. Now or never, she thought to herself. She pulled a pair of black overalls and her flight jacket over the shirt and shorts she was wearing to sleep, grabbed a bag she had hidden under the bed, and climbed out of her window into the Texas night.
The mech bay wasn't far, and before about three years ago, she could've just waltzed right in and taken her mech, Hwarang, out for some "routine drills" and gotten away that way. Now, though, ever since her parents had effectively disowned her and stripped her of her rank and mech for daring to step out of line and do something for herself (for once), she would have to be a lot sneakier about it. She still remembered the guard rotations and patrols, and these people were all so confident in the strength of their system that getting into the mech shouldn't be difficult. Tonight would have a skeleton crew, so even though escaping might be a little hard, she wouldn't have to face too much resistance on the way out. Once a Yang, always a Yang, no matter how hard some of them might wish it weren't true, she joked to herself silently as she walked to the shipyard. She looked up at the sky, making sure she would remember what it looked like from the ground here. After all, she wasn't sure when she’d see it again, if ever.
She allowed herself to soak in the moment, to remember the smell of the bluebells, to hear the cows her family still kept to honor her grandpa's life before the war, and to think about Clem. She’d written Clem a letter, and she kept turning the last line over and over in her head. God, Clementine. I'm so sorry. I wish I could take you with me. But we're both going to be better off for this, I swear. Maybe one day I'll get to see you again. I love you. Clem was her best friend and only confidante, and nothing she could say would make Clem forgive her for leaving like this, but if her father, Yujun, had caught any wind of her plan, the entire complex would've been locked down with armed guards posted at every door. She couldn't afford Clem acting differently if she knew what was going to happen. And she definitely couldn't tell Clem where she was going; the poor girl would never be able to stand up to Yujun's interrogation techniques. If Clem didn't know anything, then he would have no reason to subject her to that.
Not that Clem’s parents would let him — the Baudelaires were the only people more powerful than the Yangs on Earth. The Yangs might have been the military strength of humanity's homeworld, but the Baudelaires were what funded it all. Their vast conglomerate had spread so far across the planet that some people suspected their ancestors were the reason space colonization was even a worthy pursuit in the first place. When the two girls had come out at the same time, the Baudelaires had welcomed their new daughter with open arms, unlike the more traditional Yang family. No expense was spared to make sure Clementine's old name was completely forgotten by the world. They had practically rewritten history to erase any semblance of their lovely daughter's past self, and everything had been taken care of for her since the day she told them. She'll be fine. Maybe she won't even think about me once I'm gone, Ester justified to herself as she pulled a hat over her head and a scarf over her chin.
She was finally at the fences to the bustling shipyard. All she had to do here was not stick out, not let anyone recognize her. As much progress as she had made in the last few years in her transition, there was still the odd one out who recognized her for who she used to be. Most were sympathetic, but some were dangerous — it was better for her to avoid the situation altogether. She blended into the ever-present crowd, with merchants selling wares from across the galaxy at all times of the day and night. The mech bay would be just up the road, and her ship would be docked close by. She'd squirreled away all the money she could to buy a ship big enough to fit an eighteen-foot-tall mech and get away before her family could respond. It wasn't easy, but she had finally closed the deal on the ship and had it delivered to a prepaid pad under a fake name at the shipyard.
She pulled a loose bit of the mech bay fence to the side and shuffled through. Ester laughed to herself as she noted that the famed "Protectors of Earth" couldn't even be bothered to make sure their family mech bay was secure. She and Clem had always used this bit of the fence to sneak out while Ester was on duty; she tried her best to tuck that memory away. As much as she didn't want to think about the last time she used this exit, she was glad it was still there.
Ester ducked behind some shipping containers full of spare parts and climbed up the fire exit ladder that led to the pilot's catwalk. She used the keycard she had swiped from her father the last time she tried and failed at bridging the gap between her and her family to open the door. The keypad beeped angrily and flashed a red light at her. "Shit," she gasped as she realized what was happening. Of course the old one wouldn't work — he had simply gone and gotten a new one. She looked around for a new entry point, and remembered the skylights on the roof. She reached into her bag and pulled out the clawed climbing gloves made for climbing sheer rock faces. This'll work on brick, right? she hoped as she grabbed hold of the wall. The claws engaged. Thank god. She climbed up, opened the skylight, and lowered a rope from her bag down to the catwalk, anchoring it against a pipe on the roof. She stuck her head through the window to check for guards, even though the shift rotation should've started about three minutes ago. She had seven more minutes to get into the mech and get it out of the complex without hurting anyone. She took a minute or so to gaze up at the nineteen meter tall mech, a blocky, menacing, olive green beast clearly made for nothing but military superiority. Weapon slots and hardpoints dotted its exterior — mostly empty, but that hopefully wouldn't be an issue.
Ester hurriedly climbed down and hopped into Hwarang's cockpit. She placed her hand on its console and her biometrics allowed the mech to hum to life. "Hey, buddy. Long time no see. At least they haven't just let you rot in here — that makes one of us," she said, as the mech seemed to remember her and adjusted itself to her settings. She sat in the pilot seat and smiled. "Alright. Let's get the hell outta Dodge."
Just as the mech's external visuals booted up, about a hundred armed guards poured into the mech bay. "Exit the mech immediately and we'll act like this never happened, Jin." Ester's father's voice filled her helmet at maximum volume. Ester spat back, "My name isn't Jin, and you won't take anything from me anymore. I'm taking Hwarang and you can't stop me." Hwarang shot backwards, breaking through the wall and into the open space outside. Ester heard the gunfire and bullets ricocheting off the mech's armor, but those were only a distraction. She needed to get to her ship, fast. How did he know? Ester started to think to herself, just as she realized that he would've gotten pinged the second someone tried using his old keycard and mentally kicked herself.
The mech was running at full speed, practically flying towards the pad where Ester's ship would be waiting. Ester, a bit rusty after two years out of the cockpit, settled into her natural rhythm while she piloted her mech away from her old home. She got to the landing pad's wall and hopped over it with ease, only to find no ship waiting for her. "What the fuck? Where is it?" Ester panicked, as she scanned her surroundings for the ship's signature. Maybe she had the wrong pad. Maybe this wasn't the right pad? She pulled up the delivery information on Hwarang's screen, and she was at the right spot. Number 8, by the water.
"Where the hell is it?" Ester shouted as she kept looking for the missing ship. "Hwarang, find the Rosid." Scans for the ship continued to show nothing, and she could hear sirens getting closer. She didn't have time to think, and she didn't want to have to fight. She punched her armrest several times as she realized; her dad knew, somehow. She had been sloppy, careless. There's no way he wouldn't have heard about her trying to buy a ship, even with the fake name she had put it under. You can't make credits disappear that easily. She took a breath, and looked around. The sirens were still far enough away that she could get off-planet before they’d be able to block all outgoing space traffic. But she needed a way to get off-planet. "Hwarang. Find any ships nearby with as few people around as possible. You need to fit inside, and it needs a fusion drive." The scans came back with one ship in a hangar about a mile away, the Gwiseon. "You've gotta be kidding," Ester laughed as she realized what she had to do. "Alright, let's go steal Dad's ship."
