There was a knock at the door.
"Come in, Linda," said Nathan.
The ship's engineer entered the relatively spacious Captain's Quarters and sat down in the chair Nathan indicated.
"Despite what my recruiter told me when I signed up with the Merchant Marine, this job isn't terribly exciting," said Nathan. "In fact, when it isn't boring or hard, it's usually terrifying and painful. Thus, my main rule of thumb is that any good news, no matter how minor, should be given a due celebration. With that in mind, I was hoping you'd join me for a celebratory toast."
"Sounds good to me," said Linda, "what are we celebrating?"
"I've just finished up the books for this trip," said Nathan, getting out a bottle and a couple of glasses. "We officially have enough money in reserve to keep the ship flying for a half-month. If our stuff got stolen or spaced, we'd have enough money to cover expenses. Thanks to that Zinc contract and some really lucrative goods we've moved on spec, we're about 33% ahead of my profit projections. I'd be shocked if our luck held out like this forever, but we're off to a fantastic start."
Nathan set full glasses down in front of them. "And our prospects here on Pandora look fantastic. There are tons and tons of cargo and dozens of people headed for Umemii. We'll have no trouble filling the ship and that puts us within striking distance of having a full month's reserve cash on hand."
"My retirement account thanks you," said Linda. "But we're probably going to need that reserve, it's going to be hard to fill our hold on every stop and we'll either need to take on more spec or just eat it for a leg."
"All the more reason to celebrate our speedily increasing reserves," replied Nathan.
He lifted his glass, "So here's to a half-month of insurance and the prospects of more coverage soon."
"Cheers," said Linda as their glasses clinked.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Monday, June 2, 2008
Wildeman Times
Lloyd and Nathan were sitting up in the cockpit. There wasn't anything to see or do here in the middle of hyperspace, but they'd come in for their routine checks and there was little enough else to do in the ship. So they'd wound up sitting and staring out the windows into nothingness.
"We should be able to get some real shore leave on Pandora, eh Captain?" asked Lloyd.
"Yeah, Pandora actually has an atmosphere," answered Nathan, "it's a lot more pleasant than Wildeman."
They'd spent their entire week in-system on board the Option with a few brief stays at an orbital space station. The station had been spartan in the extreme and the crew generally stayed on the Option when they could.
"With the miners up in arms about working conditions though, I doubt we'd have had much fun even if we'd gone down to the surface," continued Nathan.
"Nothing I like better than wearing a VacSuit when I'm dirtside," agreed Lloyd. "Still, it seems like Ed had a good time."
"Oh?"
"Well, he went onto the station and didn't come off again until the end. Looks like he found something to occupy his time."
"Or someone," suggested Nathan. He didn't know what Ed had been up to, but he assumed it was some sort of Imperial business and he wasn't too anxious to have the crew prying into it. He didn't really want to know all that badly himself. But Ed had arrived back with plenty of time to spare and not a word about where he'd been."
"Even the twins couldn't find any games going on."
"Well, it's probably for the best. Those two have a knack for getting into an awful lot of trouble -- as you well know."
"Yeah," said Lloyd wincing.
"Well, the last thing a fragile mining world with labor disputes needs is those two loose cannons stirring things up. Sometimes a little boredom is good. Luckily, Pandora is a much more hospitable planet and everyone can find some fun. Heck, if nothing else, SuSAG makes enough happy pills on that planet to make a Zhent smile."
"I don't think I want to be SuSAG's guinea pig."
"I'm sure you could if you wanted, but SuSAG is pretty lenient about recreational pharmaceuticals. You get a quick bioscan when you go dirtside. You wearables then help you select from a wide range of substances. Everything is dosed out properly for you and it's all cross-referenced to prevent bad reactions."
"You sound pretty up on this stuff."
"What can I say, I'm a law-abiding citizen, but if the law lets you legal get high as a kite...that's pretty nice. Now, I am very careful," Nathan added hastily, "your wearables can steer you to stuff that has a strong kick, but a finite duration and a minimal risk of addiction. Pandora also requires that you do your drugs in certain designated areas. It's basically a drug bar. You go in, get high, play with all the cool toys. If you get out of hand, the bouncers will isolate you, have a bad trip or reaction and there's a med-tech there to help out. It's pretty good stuff if you just follow the guidelines."
"So that's where you're headed when we touch down?"
"I wish. Sadly, wearing the Captain's hat means I really don't have the time to partake. I've got to offload this batch of crystals I picked up on spec in Wildeman. I got it dirt cheap and I'm expecting to turn a pretty good profit on it, but I've got to find buyers, look into our next load of cargo, get everyone paid up or bribed off and get us ready for the next mission. I really don't have the time. But maybe you can go and let me know how it is."
"Well, maybe I will."
"There's plenty of other stuff if you're not interested, but I do recommend it."
The radio crackled, "Captain, this is Lin. Can you come back here a minute, I need to talk with you about the latest diagnostics. I've got this weird anomaly I'm trying to track down, and I'd like your opinion."
"Sure thing, Lin, I'll be there in a moment," answered Nathan. "Well, guess breaktime is over. Let me know if anything changes."
"Sure thing," said Lloyd as the Captain heaved himself out of the chair and headed back towards engineering.
"We should be able to get some real shore leave on Pandora, eh Captain?" asked Lloyd.
"Yeah, Pandora actually has an atmosphere," answered Nathan, "it's a lot more pleasant than Wildeman."
They'd spent their entire week in-system on board the Option with a few brief stays at an orbital space station. The station had been spartan in the extreme and the crew generally stayed on the Option when they could.
"With the miners up in arms about working conditions though, I doubt we'd have had much fun even if we'd gone down to the surface," continued Nathan.
"Nothing I like better than wearing a VacSuit when I'm dirtside," agreed Lloyd. "Still, it seems like Ed had a good time."
"Oh?"
"Well, he went onto the station and didn't come off again until the end. Looks like he found something to occupy his time."
"Or someone," suggested Nathan. He didn't know what Ed had been up to, but he assumed it was some sort of Imperial business and he wasn't too anxious to have the crew prying into it. He didn't really want to know all that badly himself. But Ed had arrived back with plenty of time to spare and not a word about where he'd been."
"Even the twins couldn't find any games going on."
"Well, it's probably for the best. Those two have a knack for getting into an awful lot of trouble -- as you well know."
"Yeah," said Lloyd wincing.
"Well, the last thing a fragile mining world with labor disputes needs is those two loose cannons stirring things up. Sometimes a little boredom is good. Luckily, Pandora is a much more hospitable planet and everyone can find some fun. Heck, if nothing else, SuSAG makes enough happy pills on that planet to make a Zhent smile."
"I don't think I want to be SuSAG's guinea pig."
"I'm sure you could if you wanted, but SuSAG is pretty lenient about recreational pharmaceuticals. You get a quick bioscan when you go dirtside. You wearables then help you select from a wide range of substances. Everything is dosed out properly for you and it's all cross-referenced to prevent bad reactions."
"You sound pretty up on this stuff."
"What can I say, I'm a law-abiding citizen, but if the law lets you legal get high as a kite...that's pretty nice. Now, I am very careful," Nathan added hastily, "your wearables can steer you to stuff that has a strong kick, but a finite duration and a minimal risk of addiction. Pandora also requires that you do your drugs in certain designated areas. It's basically a drug bar. You go in, get high, play with all the cool toys. If you get out of hand, the bouncers will isolate you, have a bad trip or reaction and there's a med-tech there to help out. It's pretty good stuff if you just follow the guidelines."
"So that's where you're headed when we touch down?"
"I wish. Sadly, wearing the Captain's hat means I really don't have the time to partake. I've got to offload this batch of crystals I picked up on spec in Wildeman. I got it dirt cheap and I'm expecting to turn a pretty good profit on it, but I've got to find buyers, look into our next load of cargo, get everyone paid up or bribed off and get us ready for the next mission. I really don't have the time. But maybe you can go and let me know how it is."
"Well, maybe I will."
"There's plenty of other stuff if you're not interested, but I do recommend it."
The radio crackled, "Captain, this is Lin. Can you come back here a minute, I need to talk with you about the latest diagnostics. I've got this weird anomaly I'm trying to track down, and I'd like your opinion."
"Sure thing, Lin, I'll be there in a moment," answered Nathan. "Well, guess breaktime is over. Let me know if anything changes."
"Sure thing," said Lloyd as the Captain heaved himself out of the chair and headed back towards engineering.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Beggar's Can't Be Choosers
Nathan looked over the shipping notices with a sigh. There were plenty of passengers ready to go but even if he took on all the waiting cargo, he'd barely fill half of his hold. Since Wildeman was only a Jump-1 trip away, the collapsible tanks had been stored away and he had even more cargo space to fill.
Listings for things he could trade on spec were even more dismal. There were tons of grain, but the asking price was a bit too high for Nathan's tastes. There was also a lot of armored vehicles, but even if he thought there was a market for the stuff, he'd never be able to afford one of them.
Still, Canary Gold had offered him a lead and he now sat in the offices of the Ministry of Natural Resources hoping that there might be something for him here. The waiting room was stark and drab, even for a low-tech world like Iilgan. The civil service that ran the place operated with an eye for efficiency, not aesthetics.
Nathan had just tried to find a new, least uncomfortable position, when a woman came into the waiting area.
"Mr. Fletcher?" the woman said, "I'm Erika Fee."
"Pleasure to meet you, ma'am," said Nate, rising to his feet and shaking her hand.
"Likewise," said Ms. Fee, "I hear you've got an interest in moving some cargo for us. Let's go into my office and see what we've got for you."
He followed her down a grey-green hallway and into a small office. He took a seat in front of a battered steel desk and nearly goggled at the crude terminal she had sitting on it. Iilgan was a pretty nice place to visit, but the lack of technology never made you feel like staying.
"Iilgan has a fairly small mining presence and so we generally consume everything we produce. Not a whole lot to spare for export. But sometimes we get some excesses that we can profitably trade away to our neighbors. How big is your ship, Captain Fletcher?"
"Depends on how far you want the cargo to go," replied Nathan. Our next stop is Wildeman and for a Jump-1 we've got 190 tons of cargo space. We could make a Jump-2 if the cargo was right, but that reduces our cargo room to 150 tons."
"Excellent. We don't have any on-going trades with anyone at Jump-2, but your cargo capacity is perfect for Wildeman. We recently uncovered a huge deposit of Zinc. It was more than adequate to bring our stocks up to full and we had enough to offer it out on the open market. Wildeman jumped at the chance to get it. They've got a number of industrial uses for it. The only problem is that they've got a primary facility where they want it shipped and they really want the whole thing in bulk. Locally, we just don't have the shipping capacity to move all that ore over there in one go. If we broke it up, it'd take several trips and we'd wind up losing money on it."
"But by having it sit here, you're also losing money on it."
"And it's taking up valuable warehouse space. Yes, you can see our problem. Your ship is well-suited to solving that problem for us. You can haul the zinc over in one shipment and we'll turn a nice profit on it."
"Then there should be a bit of bonus for helping you realize that profit."
"Absolutely, Captain. We're prepared to pay you a 50% premium on the standard shipping rates for you to take this to Wildeman."
Nathan did some fast calculations. Fifteen hundred credits a ton for...
"How many tons?" asked Nathan.
"One hundred fifty on the nose," said Ms. Fee.
Nathan's wearables finished the calculations and the profit margin was very good indeed.
"I think that's more than fair," said Nathan. "I believe we have a deal Ms. Fee. We'll be departing in a couple of days. If you can get your ore down to the spaceport in 24-48 hours, we'll see that it's loaded up."
Ms. Fee's fingers flew over the keyboard. "I'm authorizing the transfer now, Captain Fletcher. You should see the cargo arriving by noon tomorrow. It will come with an invoice you can take to the Iilgan embassy in Wildeman. They will be happy to make payment for your delivery there."
"Very good. Is there anything else?"
There was a grinding and groaning noise and Ms. Fee tore off a sheet of paper from the printer sitting on a small file cabinet. "Just sign at the bottom and take the bottom copy for yourself."
Nathan did so and Ms. Fee escorted him to the door. "Thanks so much, Captain Fletcher, it's a pleasure doing business with you."
"The pleasure is all mine, Ms. Fee", said Nathan. As we wandered out of the ministry, he marveled at the efficiency of the process and the nice paycheck this run was going to earn him.
Listings for things he could trade on spec were even more dismal. There were tons of grain, but the asking price was a bit too high for Nathan's tastes. There was also a lot of armored vehicles, but even if he thought there was a market for the stuff, he'd never be able to afford one of them.
Still, Canary Gold had offered him a lead and he now sat in the offices of the Ministry of Natural Resources hoping that there might be something for him here. The waiting room was stark and drab, even for a low-tech world like Iilgan. The civil service that ran the place operated with an eye for efficiency, not aesthetics.
Nathan had just tried to find a new, least uncomfortable position, when a woman came into the waiting area.
"Mr. Fletcher?" the woman said, "I'm Erika Fee."
"Pleasure to meet you, ma'am," said Nate, rising to his feet and shaking her hand.
"Likewise," said Ms. Fee, "I hear you've got an interest in moving some cargo for us. Let's go into my office and see what we've got for you."
He followed her down a grey-green hallway and into a small office. He took a seat in front of a battered steel desk and nearly goggled at the crude terminal she had sitting on it. Iilgan was a pretty nice place to visit, but the lack of technology never made you feel like staying.
"Iilgan has a fairly small mining presence and so we generally consume everything we produce. Not a whole lot to spare for export. But sometimes we get some excesses that we can profitably trade away to our neighbors. How big is your ship, Captain Fletcher?"
"Depends on how far you want the cargo to go," replied Nathan. Our next stop is Wildeman and for a Jump-1 we've got 190 tons of cargo space. We could make a Jump-2 if the cargo was right, but that reduces our cargo room to 150 tons."
"Excellent. We don't have any on-going trades with anyone at Jump-2, but your cargo capacity is perfect for Wildeman. We recently uncovered a huge deposit of Zinc. It was more than adequate to bring our stocks up to full and we had enough to offer it out on the open market. Wildeman jumped at the chance to get it. They've got a number of industrial uses for it. The only problem is that they've got a primary facility where they want it shipped and they really want the whole thing in bulk. Locally, we just don't have the shipping capacity to move all that ore over there in one go. If we broke it up, it'd take several trips and we'd wind up losing money on it."
"But by having it sit here, you're also losing money on it."
"And it's taking up valuable warehouse space. Yes, you can see our problem. Your ship is well-suited to solving that problem for us. You can haul the zinc over in one shipment and we'll turn a nice profit on it."
"Then there should be a bit of bonus for helping you realize that profit."
"Absolutely, Captain. We're prepared to pay you a 50% premium on the standard shipping rates for you to take this to Wildeman."
Nathan did some fast calculations. Fifteen hundred credits a ton for...
"How many tons?" asked Nathan.
"One hundred fifty on the nose," said Ms. Fee.
Nathan's wearables finished the calculations and the profit margin was very good indeed.
"I think that's more than fair," said Nathan. "I believe we have a deal Ms. Fee. We'll be departing in a couple of days. If you can get your ore down to the spaceport in 24-48 hours, we'll see that it's loaded up."
Ms. Fee's fingers flew over the keyboard. "I'm authorizing the transfer now, Captain Fletcher. You should see the cargo arriving by noon tomorrow. It will come with an invoice you can take to the Iilgan embassy in Wildeman. They will be happy to make payment for your delivery there."
"Very good. Is there anything else?"
There was a grinding and groaning noise and Ms. Fee tore off a sheet of paper from the printer sitting on a small file cabinet. "Just sign at the bottom and take the bottom copy for yourself."
Nathan did so and Ms. Fee escorted him to the door. "Thanks so much, Captain Fletcher, it's a pleasure doing business with you."
"The pleasure is all mine, Ms. Fee", said Nathan. As we wandered out of the ministry, he marveled at the efficiency of the process and the nice paycheck this run was going to earn him.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Welcome to Iilgan
The Option flashed into existence in the Iilgan system. After confirming jump success, the ship made a few thrust corrections and began it's long journey in-system towards the planet.
"Got a contact, Captain", said Ed.
"I'm on it," said Jake.
"It isn't heading in our direction though. Long way off, too."
The radio crackled to life. "Hail, My Other Option," came a voice, "this is Canary Gold. Doing a spot of prospecting out here. Good to see another face once in awhile."
"Hello, Canary, this is Captain Fletcher of the Option. Happy to chat with you a bit. Hope you can fill me in on some local news."
"Not much to tell. Locals pretty much lost interest in space exploration. The starport is maintained by a coalition of off-world companies to support their ships, but that's about it. It's not much, but you shouldn't have trouble getting a berth. You guys really in from Fist?"
"That's right. There was a backlog of stuff coming out of the Imperium for Iilgan so it was a pretty profitable trip."
"Better than I've been doing. Well, you might find it a bit tricky to fill up around here. We mostly get small free traders to do break bulk work every so often. Actually, now that I think about it, if you've got the cargo room, you may want to go direct to the Ministry of Natural Resources. Every so often, they come up with a big load of raw materials, minerals and the like, which they can't use, but can't bear to throw out. Most of the packet traders won't touch it because there's just too much and the Ministry wants it to go out in 100 ton lots. If you were to take it off their hands, they might pay well for it."
"Good to know, Canary, we'll be sure to check it out. Hope you find something worthwhile out here."
"Me too, Canary out."
Nathan turned to Ed. "Well," he said, "that sounds promising. And from the library info we have, it looks like we don't have to worry about the twins packing an arsenal into town."
"Yeah," said Ed, "they're pretty strict about that kind of thing. I'm probably going to be gone for a couple of days during leave, but I'll be in touch with you regularly."
"As long as you're back before we leave."
"Yeah, it's nothing big. I understand that Iilgan is really a pretty nice place. Probably a bit too quiet for the twins' tastes, but pleasant enough for everyone else."
"I hope so. I also hope this Ministry lead pans out. If we're going to Pandora next, we're going to have to have a full ship or something really valuable to ship over there. Whatever it is, it's almost certainly going to be bulk raw materials. It's not like these guys are be making some high-tech gizmo Pandora needs."
"There might be enough break-bulk stuff to fill us up. But at least we're turning a profit on this run."
"So far, so good." answered Nate.
"Got a contact, Captain", said Ed.
"I'm on it," said Jake.
"It isn't heading in our direction though. Long way off, too."
The radio crackled to life. "Hail, My Other Option," came a voice, "this is Canary Gold. Doing a spot of prospecting out here. Good to see another face once in awhile."
"Hello, Canary, this is Captain Fletcher of the Option. Happy to chat with you a bit. Hope you can fill me in on some local news."
"Not much to tell. Locals pretty much lost interest in space exploration. The starport is maintained by a coalition of off-world companies to support their ships, but that's about it. It's not much, but you shouldn't have trouble getting a berth. You guys really in from Fist?"
"That's right. There was a backlog of stuff coming out of the Imperium for Iilgan so it was a pretty profitable trip."
"Better than I've been doing. Well, you might find it a bit tricky to fill up around here. We mostly get small free traders to do break bulk work every so often. Actually, now that I think about it, if you've got the cargo room, you may want to go direct to the Ministry of Natural Resources. Every so often, they come up with a big load of raw materials, minerals and the like, which they can't use, but can't bear to throw out. Most of the packet traders won't touch it because there's just too much and the Ministry wants it to go out in 100 ton lots. If you were to take it off their hands, they might pay well for it."
"Good to know, Canary, we'll be sure to check it out. Hope you find something worthwhile out here."
"Me too, Canary out."
Nathan turned to Ed. "Well," he said, "that sounds promising. And from the library info we have, it looks like we don't have to worry about the twins packing an arsenal into town."
"Yeah," said Ed, "they're pretty strict about that kind of thing. I'm probably going to be gone for a couple of days during leave, but I'll be in touch with you regularly."
"As long as you're back before we leave."
"Yeah, it's nothing big. I understand that Iilgan is really a pretty nice place. Probably a bit too quiet for the twins' tastes, but pleasant enough for everyone else."
"I hope so. I also hope this Ministry lead pans out. If we're going to Pandora next, we're going to have to have a full ship or something really valuable to ship over there. Whatever it is, it's almost certainly going to be bulk raw materials. It's not like these guys are be making some high-tech gizmo Pandora needs."
"There might be enough break-bulk stuff to fill us up. But at least we're turning a profit on this run."
"So far, so good." answered Nate.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
The Rest of the Crew
Classic Traveller Stats for the other crew members of My Other Option:
Edward Collins -- Ship's Pilot and Imperial Spy
Scout 6A9AA8 Age 46 7 Terms Cr 110000
Computer-1, Gun Combat-1, Jack-o-T-1, Mechanical-2,
Medical-2, Navigation-1, Pilot-3, Scout-0, Vacc Suit-1, Vehicle-1
Blade, Gun
Lloyd Edgerson -- Navigator
Merchant 4th Officer 4A8366 Age 34 4 Terms Cr 65000
Bribery-1, Electronic-1, Gun Combat-1, Merchant-0, Navigation-1,
Streetwise-1
Blade
"Helpful" (Aslan nickname) -- Steward
Merchant 3rd Officer 7777D7 Age 46 7 Terms Cr 61000
Administration-1, Bribery-1, Computer-2, Medical-1, Merchant-0, Tolerance-1
Steward-2, Streetwise-2
Jake Hudson -- Gunner
Merchant 2nd Officer A6486A Age 46 7 Terms Cr 35000
Gun Combat-1, Gunnery-2, Merchant-0, Navigation-2, Streetwise-3,
Vacc Suit-1, Vehicle-1
Gun x3, Low Passage x2
Samantha (Sam) Hudson -- Gunner
Merchant 3rd Officer C8646A Age 46 7 Terms Cr 51000
Blade Combat-1, Electronic-1, Gun Combat-1, Gunnery-1,
Jack-o-T-1, Merchant-0, Streetwise-1, Vacc Suit-1
Blade, Low Passage x2
Edward Collins -- Ship's Pilot and Imperial Spy
Scout 6A9AA8 Age 46 7 Terms Cr 110000
Computer-1, Gun Combat-1, Jack-o-T-1, Mechanical-2,
Medical-2, Navigation-1, Pilot-3, Scout-0, Vacc Suit-1, Vehicle-1
Blade, Gun
Lloyd Edgerson -- Navigator
Merchant 4th Officer 4A8366 Age 34 4 Terms Cr 65000
Bribery-1, Electronic-1, Gun Combat-1, Merchant-0, Navigation-1,
Streetwise-1
Blade
"Helpful" (Aslan nickname) -- Steward
Merchant 3rd Officer 7777D7 Age 46 7 Terms Cr 61000
Administration-1, Bribery-1, Computer-2, Medical-1, Merchant-0, Tolerance-1
Steward-2, Streetwise-2
Jake Hudson -- Gunner
Merchant 2nd Officer A6486A Age 46 7 Terms Cr 35000
Gun Combat-1, Gunnery-2, Merchant-0, Navigation-2, Streetwise-3,
Vacc Suit-1, Vehicle-1
Gun x3, Low Passage x2
Samantha (Sam) Hudson -- Gunner
Merchant 3rd Officer C8646A Age 46 7 Terms Cr 51000
Blade Combat-1, Electronic-1, Gun Combat-1, Gunnery-1,
Jack-o-T-1, Merchant-0, Streetwise-1, Vacc Suit-1
Blade, Low Passage x2
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Now leaving Fist
"Mr. Edgerson," said Nathan, "perhaps I was remiss in not warning you about the Hudson twin's penchant for touring local correctional facilities."
"I'm sorry about all this, Captain," said Lloyd.
"As far as I can tell, this wasn't really your fault. Just please try and avoid mysterious young women throwing themselves at you in the future?"
"Yes sir."
"And as for you two," said Nathan to the twins, "I should just hire two new gunners right here and now! I don't need this kind of trouble. Pull any stunts like this out there and they might decide to hold me responsible. I won't stand for it!"
"There was a fellow crew member in trouble and we rescued him," said Jake.
"He didn't need rescuing!" yelled Nathan, "They asked him a few questions and were letting him go when you two clowns decided to play commando!"
"We also rescued the victim of an undeclared trade war kidnapping," said Sam.
"And now I have to worry that Korashi LTD will decide to undeclare a war against me."
"They won't do that, Captain," said Jake. "Korashi has SuSAG breathing down their neck and, quite frankly, one freelance trader is the least of their worries now."
"You should've contacted me."
"Shore leave is shore leave," said Sam. "We're off-duty and responsible to no one but ourselves. You don't want us manning the guns, it's your right to hire someone else. We'll manage."
"Who else is going to be dumb enough to hire two loose cannons like you? You've been bouncing around from one UFTA ship to another, always causing trouble. You'd been cooling your heels for months when I looked you up. No one would deal with you. The only reason I hired you on was because I still owe you one and because when you two are doing your jobs, you're both damn good at it. But this isn't the UFTA, where you can get easily transferred because your old captain was anxious to foist you off on someone else. This time, there's only the Option and if you screw it up, you're out. Is that clear?"
The twins nodded.
"Good. While you lot were being hosted by the local government, we got the ship fully loaded. Lot of cargo headed to Iilgan that was just sitting around waiting to be picked up. Got a full slate of passengers too. So get back on the ship and get ready for liftoff, we're leaving as soon as Lloyd gets our route planned."
***
Later, Nathan threw himself down in the co-pilot's chair muttering to himself.
"I see we got our little jailbirds back," said Ed.
"I don't really want to talk about it," growled Nathan, "Did our jump drives get their timers reset?"
"Yes. We're good for another three months or until we hit Pandora, whichever comes first."
"All right, let's get out of here."
"I'm sorry about all this, Captain," said Lloyd.
"As far as I can tell, this wasn't really your fault. Just please try and avoid mysterious young women throwing themselves at you in the future?"
"Yes sir."
"And as for you two," said Nathan to the twins, "I should just hire two new gunners right here and now! I don't need this kind of trouble. Pull any stunts like this out there and they might decide to hold me responsible. I won't stand for it!"
"There was a fellow crew member in trouble and we rescued him," said Jake.
"He didn't need rescuing!" yelled Nathan, "They asked him a few questions and were letting him go when you two clowns decided to play commando!"
"We also rescued the victim of an undeclared trade war kidnapping," said Sam.
"And now I have to worry that Korashi LTD will decide to undeclare a war against me."
"They won't do that, Captain," said Jake. "Korashi has SuSAG breathing down their neck and, quite frankly, one freelance trader is the least of their worries now."
"You should've contacted me."
"Shore leave is shore leave," said Sam. "We're off-duty and responsible to no one but ourselves. You don't want us manning the guns, it's your right to hire someone else. We'll manage."
"Who else is going to be dumb enough to hire two loose cannons like you? You've been bouncing around from one UFTA ship to another, always causing trouble. You'd been cooling your heels for months when I looked you up. No one would deal with you. The only reason I hired you on was because I still owe you one and because when you two are doing your jobs, you're both damn good at it. But this isn't the UFTA, where you can get easily transferred because your old captain was anxious to foist you off on someone else. This time, there's only the Option and if you screw it up, you're out. Is that clear?"
The twins nodded.
"Good. While you lot were being hosted by the local government, we got the ship fully loaded. Lot of cargo headed to Iilgan that was just sitting around waiting to be picked up. Got a full slate of passengers too. So get back on the ship and get ready for liftoff, we're leaving as soon as Lloyd gets our route planned."
***
Later, Nathan threw himself down in the co-pilot's chair muttering to himself.
"I see we got our little jailbirds back," said Ed.
"I don't really want to talk about it," growled Nathan, "Did our jump drives get their timers reset?"
"Yes. We're good for another three months or until we hit Pandora, whichever comes first."
"All right, let's get out of here."
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Shore Leave (pt. 2)
Lloyd was shoved down into a chair. The suits had split the two of them up, although he did see that she got taken to the room next to him. One of the guards stood over him.
"OK, wise guy," said the guard, "who are you?"
"I'm Lloyd Edgerson," answered Lloyd, "I'm the navigator off the trader My Other Option. I just got here earlier today."
"What were you doing with the girl?"
"Kissing her."
"You know her then?"
"Never seen her before in my life. I went down to the beach, took a nap and when I woke up, she was on top of me. Thought it might have been part of theresort's hospitality."
"Did she tell you anything?"
"She said her name was Leonia and that she was in trouble and begged me to save her."
"That's all?"
"That's it. If you've got any questions, you can send a reqeust to the ship. It'll confirm my identity."
"We'll see about that."
The guards left the room and closed the door. Llyod got up and tried the handle. As he expected, it was locked, but he was never one to dismiss a simple solution. The room itself looked pretty standard. Hard cement walls, a couple of small ceiling vents, but even standing on the room's table, he couldn't get up at it. No obvious sensors, but he just assumed he was being watched. So he gave a friendly wave to all four walls. Again, no point in not being polite. At the moment, his limited suite of options was exhausted and there's nothing left to do but just wait. Lloyd slumped back into his chair and hoped Sam or Jake could help sort things out. He also wondered just what it was they wantedLeonia for.
* * *
Sam was packing the gear, when the knock on the door came. There were only two other people on the island that she wanted to see and neither of them were likely to be knocking at the door. She tossed the last few things into her bag and quickly headed out onto the balcony of her cabin. She hoped that the person doing the knocking came straight from the underground facilities and didn't have people posted around the outside of her bungalow. She dashed down a paved walkway towards the beach and headed off towards the casino entrance.
On the way down, her wearable bleeped. Jake was calling in.
"What's up, big brother?" she asked.
"I didn't see exactly where they went, but I've got a pretty good idea of where he's at. Meet me at the casino bar."
"I thought you sobered up."
"I'm buying a few drinks to get some more information on the Security stations, the bartender has been surprisingly forthcoming. Cute too."
"I know your rugged good looks are irresistible, but remember we've got a job to do here."
"Don't worry sis. I'll see you in five."
"On my way."
* * *
The door opened and the guard returned. "Your story checks out, Mr. Edgerson. We were hoping to confirm with your fellow crew members, but the data off of your ship makes it a mere formality."
"Happy to be of help, sir."
"On behalf of the Diamond Sands Resort, I'd like to extend our deepest apologies. We'd like to give you these vouchers and a few casino chips for the trouble we've put you to."
"That's awfully nice of you. So, I'm free to go?"
"Right this way, Mr. Edgerson." The guard steped out the door into the hallway. Lloyd was about to follow when the guard started. "Freeze! Who are--"
His query was cut off. There was a series of sharp clicks and bullets ripped through the guard. Lloyd threw himself against the wall next to the door. From the hallway there was silence for a few moments, then a door was kicked open. Some shouts, a woman's scream, and more loud clicks. Bodies hit the floor.
Then he heard Sam's voice, "Where's Lloyd you bitch?"
"Sam! In here!" Lloyd called out. "Don't shoot me!"
A figure in black synth-skin poked her head around the corner. Lloyd assumed it was Sam from her general size and build. In her hands was a silenced SMG.
"What the hell are you doing?" asked Lloyd.
"Busting you out of here," snapped Sam, "can't get very far without our Navigator."
"You don't have to bust me out! They talked to Option and realized I was just a tourist. They were letting me go, Sam!"
"Shit!" hissed Sam.
"Come on, let's get out of here!" shouted Jake from down the hall.
"You better take this," said Sam shoving a pistol into Lloyd's hand.
"This is insane," muttered Lloyd as he followed Sam down the hall. They stopped when they reached Jake who was standing in the room next door with Leonia and a couple of dead guards. Leonia was scared out of her wits. She'd also been hit a couple of times.
"Please, take me with you! Get me out of here!", said Leonia.
"You've been nothing but trouble, lady," said Lloyd. "Why do they want you so badly?"
"I'm a sub-sector VP for SuSAG," said Leonia. "This place is owned by Korashi LTD. I was here on Fist to make a buyout offer. Korashi appeared to be eager to have us buy them out, but shortly after I got here, my bodygaurds were attacked. I fled down to the beach and that's where I ran into you. If you can get me out of here, I'll see to it that you all get a big reward."
"I've heard that before," grumbled Jake, "how do we know she's not lying?"
"We don't," said Lloyd, "but seeing as how you two have shot up the security staff, I guess we've got to get the hell out of here and taking the lady along is hardly going to make our position any better or worse. In fact, unless she's telling the truth, we're probably going to be looking at some serious jail time. So come with us Leonia."
Sam and Jake peeled back their synth-skin coating and now merely looked eccentric rather than sinister. The four of them made their way out of the security area and mingled back into the general flow of tourists. They emerged back onto the beach and hurried back to the landing pads.
Their aircar had a couple of guards standing next to it. "Down a level," whispered Jake. The four backtracked down to the lower landing pads. Sam hopped into an open air car and hooked her wearable to the control console. A few seconds later, the engines switched on and the car floated up. "Scootch over, I'll drive", said Jake. They all piled in and Jake went gliding away from the pad. After putting a little distance between themselves and the resort, he opened the throttle.
"OK, Leonia," said Lloyd, "where to?"
"Just give me a comm unit, I can contact my ship and let them know what happened," she said.
"Here," said Sam, "use mine. But I'm listening in. Any funny business and you're cut off."
Leonia glared at Sam, but took the comm unit. A few minutes of frantic conversation later, she handed back the comm unit. "They're coming out to meet us."
"I hope they get here quick," said Jake, "it looks like we've got company."
A flight of grav cars came buzzing up behind them. Three open-topped vehicles, each mounting a large gun in the back. Jake pushed the throttle forward and the engines began to whine as ran flat out. Their pursuers fell back only slightly before realizing what was up and raising their speed to match. The lead vehicle let off a long burst of machine gun fire. Jake threw the aircar into a slew and slid out of the way of the tracers. Now the flight took on a spiraling weave as Jake attempted to make the shot harder. A line of smoke shot off from one of the other pursuit vehicles and a missile came roaring after them. Jake pulled it level for a moment and then veered away at the last second. The missile's tracking was thrown off and it went spiraling away. But the maneuver had caused them to lose ground. The enemy was closing in on them. Soon they'd get a solid lock and there'd be nothing left but a fireball.
There was a bright flash and one of the grav cars turned to flaming pieces. There was a loud roar as fighters went streaking overhead. The other two pursuers suddenly turned tail, but it was too late. They were no match for the fighters who sliced among them and picked them off one after the other.
"It looks like they got here just in time," yelled Leonia over the roar of the air car's engines. "Those are SuSAG fighters. We should be safe now."
Safe was a relative term. As soon as they landed at the spaceport, they were swarmed by security and taken off to jail while their escapades were sorted out. There was a lot of legal wrangling and it took the better part of a week before they could be let out. In the end, the court had found that Korashi had started an undeclared trade war and that Leonia and her companions were cleared of any wrongdoing.
"I could use some new bodyguards," Leonia said as they left the courthouse. "You three seem pretty capable."
"Considering what happened to your last bodyguards, I think I'll pass," said Jake.
"I'll admit that I got into this job because I wanted some excitement and adventure," said Lloyd, "But this has been just a bit too exciting for me. I'm looking forward to a nice boring trading run."
"We'll see how boring it is out in the Borderlands," said Sam, "You might wish you were back here."
"If you're going into the Borderlands are you stopping at Pandora?" asked Leonia.
"In about a month," said Lloyd.
"Then take these passes," said Leonia, handing them each a smartcard. "They're VIP passes. It should make your shore leave there much more pleasant than it's been here on Fist. It's the least I could do for the people who saved my life. These should also help your captain when it comes time to load his ship up for the next run. He might be very interested in some pharmaceuticals we make out there."
"Thanks," said Lloyd.
"And when you get back," said Leonia, "look me up. Maybe you'll change your mind." She gave Lloyd a quick kiss. "Have a good trip, Lloyd."
"Yeah. You too, Leonia," said Lloyd.
Leonia stepped into her waiting aircar and was gone. Lloyd and the twins flagged down a taxi to take them back to the star port.
"Look at that," said Jake. "We do all the rescuing work and he gets the girl."
"I didn't get the girl," said Lloyd, "for some reason I thought it'd be more fun to hang out with you guys."
"Some fun," snorted Jake, "I spent all of shore leave in jail."
"Not the first time," said Sam.
"We've still got one more night," said Lloyd. What say we have a BBQ on the ship tonight. We'll set up a grill by the ship, have some burgers and beer. Enjoy a little tropical sun before we have to load up the ship and get out of here. Besides, we'll have to do something to appease the Captain. He couldn't read us the riot act on this one, but he wanted to. Plus, we can let him know that we've got a bit of leverage in Pandora. That's sure to soften him up."
"The kid's got a point," said Sam.
"Guess we'd better stop off for some steaks then," said Jake. He tapped the glass and let the driver know about the change of plans.
"OK, wise guy," said the guard, "who are you?"
"I'm Lloyd Edgerson," answered Lloyd, "I'm the navigator off the trader My Other Option. I just got here earlier today."
"What were you doing with the girl?"
"Kissing her."
"You know her then?"
"Never seen her before in my life. I went down to the beach, took a nap and when I woke up, she was on top of me. Thought it might have been part of theresort's hospitality."
"Did she tell you anything?"
"She said her name was Leonia and that she was in trouble and begged me to save her."
"That's all?"
"That's it. If you've got any questions, you can send a reqeust to the ship. It'll confirm my identity."
"We'll see about that."
The guards left the room and closed the door. Llyod got up and tried the handle. As he expected, it was locked, but he was never one to dismiss a simple solution. The room itself looked pretty standard. Hard cement walls, a couple of small ceiling vents, but even standing on the room's table, he couldn't get up at it. No obvious sensors, but he just assumed he was being watched. So he gave a friendly wave to all four walls. Again, no point in not being polite. At the moment, his limited suite of options was exhausted and there's nothing left to do but just wait. Lloyd slumped back into his chair and hoped Sam or Jake could help sort things out. He also wondered just what it was they wantedLeonia for.
* * *
Sam was packing the gear, when the knock on the door came. There were only two other people on the island that she wanted to see and neither of them were likely to be knocking at the door. She tossed the last few things into her bag and quickly headed out onto the balcony of her cabin. She hoped that the person doing the knocking came straight from the underground facilities and didn't have people posted around the outside of her bungalow. She dashed down a paved walkway towards the beach and headed off towards the casino entrance.
On the way down, her wearable bleeped. Jake was calling in.
"What's up, big brother?" she asked.
"I didn't see exactly where they went, but I've got a pretty good idea of where he's at. Meet me at the casino bar."
"I thought you sobered up."
"I'm buying a few drinks to get some more information on the Security stations, the bartender has been surprisingly forthcoming. Cute too."
"I know your rugged good looks are irresistible, but remember we've got a job to do here."
"Don't worry sis. I'll see you in five."
"On my way."
* * *
The door opened and the guard returned. "Your story checks out, Mr. Edgerson. We were hoping to confirm with your fellow crew members, but the data off of your ship makes it a mere formality."
"Happy to be of help, sir."
"On behalf of the Diamond Sands Resort, I'd like to extend our deepest apologies. We'd like to give you these vouchers and a few casino chips for the trouble we've put you to."
"That's awfully nice of you. So, I'm free to go?"
"Right this way, Mr. Edgerson." The guard steped out the door into the hallway. Lloyd was about to follow when the guard started. "Freeze! Who are--"
His query was cut off. There was a series of sharp clicks and bullets ripped through the guard. Lloyd threw himself against the wall next to the door. From the hallway there was silence for a few moments, then a door was kicked open. Some shouts, a woman's scream, and more loud clicks. Bodies hit the floor.
Then he heard Sam's voice, "Where's Lloyd you bitch?"
"Sam! In here!" Lloyd called out. "Don't shoot me!"
A figure in black synth-skin poked her head around the corner. Lloyd assumed it was Sam from her general size and build. In her hands was a silenced SMG.
"What the hell are you doing?" asked Lloyd.
"Busting you out of here," snapped Sam, "can't get very far without our Navigator."
"You don't have to bust me out! They talked to Option and realized I was just a tourist. They were letting me go, Sam!"
"Shit!" hissed Sam.
"Come on, let's get out of here!" shouted Jake from down the hall.
"You better take this," said Sam shoving a pistol into Lloyd's hand.
"This is insane," muttered Lloyd as he followed Sam down the hall. They stopped when they reached Jake who was standing in the room next door with Leonia and a couple of dead guards. Leonia was scared out of her wits. She'd also been hit a couple of times.
"Please, take me with you! Get me out of here!", said Leonia.
"You've been nothing but trouble, lady," said Lloyd. "Why do they want you so badly?"
"I'm a sub-sector VP for SuSAG," said Leonia. "This place is owned by Korashi LTD. I was here on Fist to make a buyout offer. Korashi appeared to be eager to have us buy them out, but shortly after I got here, my bodygaurds were attacked. I fled down to the beach and that's where I ran into you. If you can get me out of here, I'll see to it that you all get a big reward."
"I've heard that before," grumbled Jake, "how do we know she's not lying?"
"We don't," said Lloyd, "but seeing as how you two have shot up the security staff, I guess we've got to get the hell out of here and taking the lady along is hardly going to make our position any better or worse. In fact, unless she's telling the truth, we're probably going to be looking at some serious jail time. So come with us Leonia."
Sam and Jake peeled back their synth-skin coating and now merely looked eccentric rather than sinister. The four of them made their way out of the security area and mingled back into the general flow of tourists. They emerged back onto the beach and hurried back to the landing pads.
Their aircar had a couple of guards standing next to it. "Down a level," whispered Jake. The four backtracked down to the lower landing pads. Sam hopped into an open air car and hooked her wearable to the control console. A few seconds later, the engines switched on and the car floated up. "Scootch over, I'll drive", said Jake. They all piled in and Jake went gliding away from the pad. After putting a little distance between themselves and the resort, he opened the throttle.
"OK, Leonia," said Lloyd, "where to?"
"Just give me a comm unit, I can contact my ship and let them know what happened," she said.
"Here," said Sam, "use mine. But I'm listening in. Any funny business and you're cut off."
Leonia glared at Sam, but took the comm unit. A few minutes of frantic conversation later, she handed back the comm unit. "They're coming out to meet us."
"I hope they get here quick," said Jake, "it looks like we've got company."
A flight of grav cars came buzzing up behind them. Three open-topped vehicles, each mounting a large gun in the back. Jake pushed the throttle forward and the engines began to whine as ran flat out. Their pursuers fell back only slightly before realizing what was up and raising their speed to match. The lead vehicle let off a long burst of machine gun fire. Jake threw the aircar into a slew and slid out of the way of the tracers. Now the flight took on a spiraling weave as Jake attempted to make the shot harder. A line of smoke shot off from one of the other pursuit vehicles and a missile came roaring after them. Jake pulled it level for a moment and then veered away at the last second. The missile's tracking was thrown off and it went spiraling away. But the maneuver had caused them to lose ground. The enemy was closing in on them. Soon they'd get a solid lock and there'd be nothing left but a fireball.
There was a bright flash and one of the grav cars turned to flaming pieces. There was a loud roar as fighters went streaking overhead. The other two pursuers suddenly turned tail, but it was too late. They were no match for the fighters who sliced among them and picked them off one after the other.
"It looks like they got here just in time," yelled Leonia over the roar of the air car's engines. "Those are SuSAG fighters. We should be safe now."
Safe was a relative term. As soon as they landed at the spaceport, they were swarmed by security and taken off to jail while their escapades were sorted out. There was a lot of legal wrangling and it took the better part of a week before they could be let out. In the end, the court had found that Korashi had started an undeclared trade war and that Leonia and her companions were cleared of any wrongdoing.
"I could use some new bodyguards," Leonia said as they left the courthouse. "You three seem pretty capable."
"Considering what happened to your last bodyguards, I think I'll pass," said Jake.
"I'll admit that I got into this job because I wanted some excitement and adventure," said Lloyd, "But this has been just a bit too exciting for me. I'm looking forward to a nice boring trading run."
"We'll see how boring it is out in the Borderlands," said Sam, "You might wish you were back here."
"If you're going into the Borderlands are you stopping at Pandora?" asked Leonia.
"In about a month," said Lloyd.
"Then take these passes," said Leonia, handing them each a smartcard. "They're VIP passes. It should make your shore leave there much more pleasant than it's been here on Fist. It's the least I could do for the people who saved my life. These should also help your captain when it comes time to load his ship up for the next run. He might be very interested in some pharmaceuticals we make out there."
"Thanks," said Lloyd.
"And when you get back," said Leonia, "look me up. Maybe you'll change your mind." She gave Lloyd a quick kiss. "Have a good trip, Lloyd."
"Yeah. You too, Leonia," said Lloyd.
Leonia stepped into her waiting aircar and was gone. Lloyd and the twins flagged down a taxi to take them back to the star port.
"Look at that," said Jake. "We do all the rescuing work and he gets the girl."
"I didn't get the girl," said Lloyd, "for some reason I thought it'd be more fun to hang out with you guys."
"Some fun," snorted Jake, "I spent all of shore leave in jail."
"Not the first time," said Sam.
"We've still got one more night," said Lloyd. What say we have a BBQ on the ship tonight. We'll set up a grill by the ship, have some burgers and beer. Enjoy a little tropical sun before we have to load up the ship and get out of here. Besides, we'll have to do something to appease the Captain. He couldn't read us the riot act on this one, but he wanted to. Plus, we can let him know that we've got a bit of leverage in Pandora. That's sure to soften him up."
"The kid's got a point," said Sam.
"Guess we'd better stop off for some steaks then," said Jake. He tapped the glass and let the driver know about the change of plans.
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