Chapter Five (Revised 1.3)

Chapter Five

Sedna Station

Dwarf planet 90377 Sedna

Sol System

When he arrived at his assigned dock, he was surprised to see Alec already there with a massive amount of crates being loaded into his small cargo hold.  It looked like he was arguing with that Nelson guy at the base of his boarding ramp.  Jeremiah frowned and began marching toward them.

“What seems to be the problem here, Inspector?”  Jeremiah said as formally as possible.

“Mr. Massey!  Thank the Universe you’re here.  This is simply unacceptable.  I have been trying to reason with… with your… Compatriot here.” He went on but Jeremiah tuned him out as he turned to Alec and whispered,

“Alec, what is all of this?”

“It’s everything you asked for!” Alec said joyfully.

Jeremiah scanned the area and noticed a monstrous mech at the top of the ramp.

“And what the hell is that?  I didn’t ask for a mech.”

The inspector interrupted furiously at this point.

“Mr. Massey! Are you aware that this man has loaded a cold box on to your ship?” Jeremiah’s attention was split between Alec continuing to load on mass amounts of inventory and the inspector continuing his incessant whining.

“A what?” He asked, but didn’t wait for a reply. “Look I don’t have time for this.”

Nelson ignored the slight in his tone. “As the head of this station’s Customs Office I simply cannot allow this to go unreported!  This will come down on my head! Do you know what those are used for?  Human tr….”

“Look! Mr. Nelson. I am sure whatever it is we can come to some kind of agreement.”  Jeremiah said quickly losing his patience with the greedy weasel.  He pulled up his accounts to see how much money he had left to toss at the inspector to get this over with.  To his surprise, he found a very hefty transaction awaiting confirmation, attached to it a message, For customs.  Jeremiah looked back to the Inspector and tapped his credit pen to the inspectors own.  The inspector’s reaction was like shoving a teat in to a baby’s mouth.  

“I think that should cover it.” Jeremiah said with authority.

“Uh… well, ye… yes.  I believe,” Nelson cleared his throat.  “I see here it must have been a clerical error on my end.  Apologies Mr. Massey.”  The inspector turned around dumbfounded and walked away.

Jeremiah looked back to Alec and pointed back to the Mech and everything else in a sweeping motion.

“Yeah, like I was saying.  This guy at a junk yard owed me a favor.  I was walking through it the other day and spotted that guy.” He pointed to the Mech. “Awesome, right?”

“Does it even work?” Jeremiah asked

“Well, no.  Not right now.  Apparently the last guy who used it got snapped in half when it went haywire and spun a 360.” Jeremiah grimaced. “But I’ll fix it.  It’s an old military scout mech.  Energized nano plating armor. You know.  Like those attack frigates.  Fast and strong.  You’ll see.  It’ll come in handy.”

They spent the next two hours loading in all the crates.  Once everything was on board and secured, Jeremiah surveyed the cargo hold.  He noticed a strange looking crate in the back corner and wondered if that was what the Inspector was going on about.  But now wasn’t the time, he had to get his ship ready for launch.  Simon was probably keeping tabs on his movements and would be wondering why he was preparing to leave so soon.

“Right, let’s see where we’re going.” He said as he turned and made his way towards the cockpit.  As always, he began uploading the flight path to the nav system when he suddenly realized, he had no idea where he was going.  That was part of the job, he would get the destination once leaving Sol System.  All he could do right now is set a course for the jump gate and queue up.  He called down to Alec in the cargo hold.

“Alec, we’re going to have some time on our hands once we leave station.  Gotta do a slow burn to the gate.  Why don’t you use some of that time to assess the ship, see about prioritizing some things.”

“You got it J.  Or should I call you Captain now?” He asked facetiously.

“J is fine.  Once we get moving, I’ll come help unpack some of the crates.”

Jeremiah swiped through some menus and began the engine warm up process. The ship began to shake and rumble from the back to the front, like a cold chill moving up the spine of the ship.  The tremble was all too familiar to him, but Alec quickly called up.

“J, is that the engines causing the tremors?” He squawked.

“Yeah.  Something wrong?” Jeremiah asked.

“Uh… nope!  Just…  I think I’ll start with the engines.” Alec said and closed the connection.

Jeremiah sighed and patted the console in front of him, We’re gonna get you fixed up, finally. He thought to himself.

Once the ship was off station and on course to the jump gate, Jeremiah set the autopilot and headed down to the cargo bay to talk with Alec.

“Alright, we’re on the way.  How’s it going down here?” Jeremiah asked.

“Good, good.  I’m just finishing up the inventory, then I’ll start checking all of the on board systems.  Starting with the engines.”

“Sounds good.  At current orbit and speed, Sedna is about fourteen hours from the gate, so we’ve got some time to kill.”  He looked around and remembered the strange crate in the corner. “So which one of these crates gave the Inspector his panic attack?”  He asked already knowing and walking towards it.

Alec seemed confused at first, then he recalled the incident as if it happened ages ago.

“Oh, right.  I think he was referring to that thing.” He pointed. “But that’s not mine.  It was already loaded when I showed up this morning.”

The crate was sealed with a series of magnetic locks down the seams, and a digital control panel on the front.  It appeared to be very well built, and extremely secure.

“What in the hell…” Jeremiah muttered as he looked it over.  “This must be the pay load.”

“What is it?” Alec asked.

“I don’t know.” Jeremiah said, each word its own question.  He placed a hand on the front.  It’s cold.  He thought.  He couldn’t place it, but he was pretty sure he had seen a container like this before.  Suddenly the cold rushed through his body and quickly pulled away.  No questions, Jeremiah.  Just deliver it.

“It’s not important.  Our job is to deliver it.  Once we make the jump gate we’ll be delivered the coordinates.”

“Wait, you don’t even know where we’re going?  Is that why you asked for all of this stuff?” Alec asked, concern weighing down his voice.

“It should be a quiet run.  All I know is that we’re heading towards Pictoris.”

“Pictoris?  Where the is that?” Alec asked.

“Let’s go have a drink, I’ll show you.”  Jeremiah said, starting towards the galley.

The galley was fairly small as far as galley’s went, but it served its purpose.  Jeremiahs ship was never really meant to have a large crew, nor intended for long hauls, but over time he had modified it enough to suit his needs.  A small table stuck out from a small crevasse in the bulkhead.  It was surrounded by two stools stuck to the floor and a cabinet above.  Opposite the table was a larger set of cabinets.  Jeremiah walked to the larger set and pulled out a bottle of dark brown liquid, then to the other ones above the table and pulled out a couple of cups.

“Have a seat.” He said, as he poured out the drinks. “Cheers.  To your first adventure.”

They both raised their glasses.

“Cheers.   Thanks for taking me J.  I can’t tell you how much this means to me.” Alec said then took a sip of his drink. “Good god.  What is this?” He said, nearly spitting it out.

Jeremiah gave a confused look.  “You don’t like it?”

“You do?” Alec replied.  Jeremiah just chuckled and took another sip of his own.

He stood up and disappeared in the cockpit for a brief moment.  When he returned he set a metal tablet down on the table between them.  He swiped a few buttons and a digital star map appeared between them.

“So this is us, Sedna, at the outter edge of Sol.” He said, manipulating the map with his fingers in the air.  He made a fast and long swipe and the display spun past him, the stars and solar systems moving too quickly to read.  “And this, is the Pictoris Region.  A.K.A., the Fringe.”

Alec watched with fascination.  Up until this very moment, his entire life had been confinded to Sedna station and his fathers repair shop.  All he knew about was ships and fixing things.

“And that’s where we’re going?” Alec asked.

“Sort of.  The issue, is that the jump gate network doesn’t extend that far.  A few centuries ago the CSA had sent expeditions out that way to asses future use and plan for jump network extensions.  But they kept disappearing.  So they lost interest and never finished their routes.  That means, once we hit the last gate… we’re flying blind.  Unless we get coordinates.  Coordinates which will be delivered once we jump out of Sol.”

“I see, so it’s a secret mission?” Alec asked excited.

“It would seem that way.  But usually it’s nothing special.  People like to keep their cargo a secret these days.  Keeps the CSA from adding unnecessary taxes and regulations.  Thomas tells me there are some private research stations still functioning out in Pictoris, so I’d bet we’re just pushing some relief supplies.”  He paused for a moment as Alec examined the star map.

“It will most likely be a quiet run.” He started again.  “No one is out there.  No shipping lanes, no miner colonies. No reason for anyone to bother us.  Just a waste land we never managed to conquer.”  He was trying to reassure himself just as much as Alec. “Besides, that is why you’re here,  with all of this stuff.  We’ll be prepared for whatever comes up.  And I’ve heard there are still a few research stations out there.  This is probably just a relief run.  Important supplies to be kept on ice.”

“Well, that’s boring.  I was hoping for a bit of action.”  Alec said enthusiastically.  

“Trust me, Alec.  You don’t want the kind of action that comes with the Fringe.”

“Well, the inventory is done.  I’m transferring the manifest to your terminal now.” Alec said with slight disappointment in his voice.

“Great.  I’ll have a look at it in my cabin.” Jeremiah said.

As he began going over the manifest his terminal chirped with a message from Simon.

S**t  he thought.  He opened the message.

Jeremiah.  I see that you have left station.  A bit early don’t you think?  We had a deal.

He knew it wouldn’t be long before Simon noticed.  He sent a reply assuring him the deliveries would continue as agreed, even if he wasn’t really sure that would be possible.  But if this job panned out as intended, it wouldn’t matter.  Jeremiah would be able to pay off his debts and settle the score with Simon.   He went back to the manifest and began looking over the items Alec had brought.

Jeeze, why not just buy me a whole new ship? He asked himself as he scrolled through a very lengthy list.  Most of the items Jeremiah had not asked for, but Alec had brought them aboard anyways.  CPU modules, enhanced interface relays, and… an ion cannon?

“Holy hell.” Jeremiah said aloud. “Where did he get ion cannons?”

The Reverie was equipped with two long-range defense railguns, fairly common on freelance haulers. Typically they’d fire either tungsten or lead rods at high velocity and worked well at long distances.  Ion cannons on the other hand essentially shot balls of energy, which was limited only by the ships power grid.  The rounds could also be charged with plutonium or uranium to add a radiological threat.  In short, a compact machine gun filled with nukes.  These were the kind of guns that only the most elite military ships had.  How had me managed to get one?  

A few hours has gone by as he continued exploring the massive inventory he now had on board.  He was truly curious why Inspector Nelson had not concerned himself with any of it.  Then he recalled what Neslon had complained about and began flipping back through the manifest until he saw the entry he needed.  He opened the description.  Unidentified was all it said.

“What?  How can the scanners not identify something at all?”  Then he got it.  Scan blockers.   He had only ever seen cartels use actual scan blockers, and usually it was to hide things that not even the most corrupt customs agent would let slide.  He sat back in his chair.  Damn, what have I gotten myself in to?  A faint alarm echoing from the cockpit caught his attention.  Alec shouted to him.

“Uh, J!”

Then the familiar sound of the proximity alarm began to wail.  He ran to the cockpit.

“What’s going on?”

“A ship is targeting us.  I think they just fired at us.”

“Move!” He shouted.

Jeremiah strapped himself in to the seat and began frantically swiping through controls  The video display zoomed in on a Condor class frigate as it was quickly approaching.

“Is this guy out of his mind?” Jeremiah screamed.  He opened up a comm link between the two ships.

“Condor Pilot.  What are you doing?  We are in Alliance space, are you trying to get yourself killed?

A moment went by.

“You have something of mine  Return it or die.”

Suddenly the ship rocked as a charge exploded near the hull.

Jeremiah slammed his palm on a console.

“Energizing hull armor.” A woman’s voice calmly stated.

“What the hell was that?” Jeremiah asked.

“I.R.E.N.” Alec said gleefully.

“What?”

“Intelligent Relay Enhancement Network.  IREN.  It’s the AI I just installed to help upgrade your systems.”

“You put an AI on my ship?  Are you out of your mind?” Jeremiah said with more aggression than he intended.  But in all fairness he was a little stressed out right now.  

His attention went back to the rapidly approaching ship.  It was already too close for his railguns to do anything.  If only he had those ion cannons installed.   He was outgunned no question.  But if this guy wanted him dead, he could have done the job with the first volley.  No, Jeremiah was going to make a dangerous bet.  If he had been in a hauler there would have been no hope.  But his frigate gave him a few more option, like maneuverability.  

“Strap in, Alec.  The Gs are about to get rough.”

Jeremiah slammed on his approach burners and spun up the warp drive.  Timing was going to be crucial here.  

“Can’t we just warp out?” Alec asked.

“Negative.  Looks like he’s got a scrambler on us.”

Alec’s eyes went wide with excitement.  

“I can fix that!” He shouted and took off down through the ship.  Jeremiah tried to call after him but he was already gone.

The bullets were already flying so system security would be hot on them soon.  He had no choice but to go through his plan at this point.  He set his trajectory for an intercept. This was all too insane.  What was this condor pilot thinking?  Not even a pirate would openly attack a trade vessel in the middle of CSA territory.  

The Reverie hurled towards the rogue condor. As it reached 100meters he was going nearly 12 gs, not all that much for him, but Alec didn’t have the military training he had.  And unless he was stabbing himself with a med pen as he did what ever he was doing, he would probably be blacking out soon, if he hadn’t already.  

The ship shook again from another impact.

“Hull integrity at eighty-five percent.” Chimed IREN.

He took over manual controls and swung the frigate around the condor in a tight orbit.  Suddenly the ships comm chirped.  

“I’ve got it!  Hit the warp!” Alec shouted with a metallic voice.  

Jeremiah didn’t question.  He pushed his burners hard and as he entered his third orbit around the condor he swung wide and flipped on the warp drive.  The resulting sling shot launched the frigate around and back off to the direction it came.  A deep hum echoed through the ship and suddenly everything went still. Everything except the stars around them, they flew past like brilliant streaks in a laser light show.  

They had only gone a few AU’s from the scene of the fight when the Jeremiah pulled the ship out of warp.  He took a moment to assess where exactly he was and where the jump gate was in relation.  He typed in new coordinates, spun the ship around and hit the warp drives again.  When he pulled the ship out this time, he was with in a hundred kilometers of the gate.  He kept his sublight drives burning hot and headed straight for the gate.  Proximity alarms screamed as he flew past several dozen ships in queue for jump.  The Condor came back on ladar and he knew he couldn’t risk slowing down.   Jeremiah ran the ship straight in to the jump gate, ignoring the comm links from security.  The massive jump gate recognized the approaching ship and linked protocol and began forming a localized wormhole.  Jeremiah flew his ship in to it as fast as he could manage and blinked out of existence.

Reviews

[FloraCanton2015]

Hi, I liked this story. It is well written and there are few typos/misspellings. This has the making of a good first novel. You made me like science fiction and that's incredible. Very good story!