Skip to main content

Isolated Void - Part of the Bag of Beginnings

Chapter 1 - A Bounty Fit For A King
It all started back in the Drakoon system, I was posted there as part of the high king's new “security initiative”. I was with the 44th squadron holding position in orbit around the systems 3rd and most remote planet, on paper it was called Drakoon 3, but we called it “Red-Light-Roody” due to its Prominent Red-light district. My old Tiger-class Skirmisher, called the Dubber Rucky, was parked on the dark side of a large asteroid within the planet's rings, My crew was on edge, there was a rumor running around about a large drug train which makes its way through this sector once every 168 hours. We were staying dark, so that meant no heat, no lights, only enough power running to stop us from suffocating. And so we just sat there, no leaving our stations, ready to go at a moment's notice. I checked the low scanner, its infrequent pings showing no differences, the timer clicked on, showing that we still had 3 hours to go before the drug train is said to arrive. I put my feet on the console, and tipped my hat over my eyes, enjoying the relative calm of the situation. I don't know whether I fell asleep or it was just bad timing, but before I knew it the sensors were screaming at me as a space train flew right past us. I slid my feet off the console and into the yaw controls, punched a few buttons, and the ship roared back into life. Gripping the controls I pulled the ship away from the asteroid and after the train. We had all been briefed on what to do so my communications officer attempted to hail the train, but to no avail. And so by galaxy law, anyone who refuses a hail from a security member, will be subjected to instant capital punishment. After pulling into a tailing formation, I set off the scanner on the ship, which read out who was on board, what cargo they had and the conditions of their systems. For this ship, it displayed that they had five crew, 24 tonnes of shielded containers, and all systems operational, which meant that they chose to not respond. I said to my crew
“All right, it’s action time!”
they all responded with the traditional “Hooyah!”

I powered up the boosters and deployed the weapons, the twin 500mm cannons slid out from either side of the cockpit. The targeting system lit up showing a clear shot on the target, so I squeezed the trigger and sent two, one tonne shells into the back of the train, effectively disabling the main thrusters, and a bit more beyond that. The cannons sent vibrations all over my ship and slowed us slightly with the opposing force of firing the cannons. After me firing, my crew knew that was the signal to open fire and the train became riddled with the fire from our four turrets, which each had two 40mm machine guns, only because anything bigger would start to sacrifice speed. The cocktail of armour piercing, explosive and magnetic rounds made mincemeat with the outer plating of the ship, quickly finding ways to open up the ship. The escaping oxygen mixed with leaking fuel and the drug train ignited, causing it to split in two, the rear end spiralling into an asteroid, while the front half just kept on going, its momentum keeping it on its course. Now the main cannons were ready, the force of the shells knocked what was left of the drug train sideways, followed by a glorious explosion as the shells detonated. The bounty calculations started appearing on the monitor. It was much more than I had expected. The total bounty was 781,950 credits, half of which went straight to the force, but the remaining 390,975 was divided amongst the crew, which ended up in being 55,853 each. Not bad for a day's work! Since we were in the area, we decided to go and cash in our bounty voucher at Red Light Roody. Boy, were we in for a good time, or so we thought.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Soldier, Sunny Side Up - Part of the Bag of Beginnings

This is the story of Corporal Jash Masterson, and how he survived world war 3. A Smoothie of Comrades- I was tucked into my bunk when the first bombs fell. The ground trembling around me, I heard loud noises from within the compound as some of the ceiling caved in. I flung myself from my bunk, and legged it down the corridors. The corridors I knew so well, rushing past me as I charged forwards, the piercing wails of the alarms cutting through the chaos. I was one of the first to make it to the kit room, a few others made it in before the ceiling collapsed outside the door. The hardened walls and roof of the kit room, made us all feel better. In the room with me were; Captain David Hams, Lieutenant Laura Barnsley, Corporal Gregory Smithers and Madam Cornblower, one of the Compounds cooks. We all stayed silent for the first five minutes, except for the still screaming alarms, recovering from the sudden start, breathing heavily. I stood up and made my way to one of the cases and ...
1 comment
Read more

Artificial Ignorance - Part of the Casual Collection of Catastrophes Volume 2

It was my 143rd birthday, the holo cake still managed to fit all of the candles. I stood in the lounge with my friends and family, my parents came all the way across the ocean to my habitat just to celebrate my birthday. They had to hire a special drone to fly them across, they did live 50 years before the singularity after all. My sister made the joke that they are nearly more nanomachines than person at this point. The act of giving gifts at birthdays phased out a long time ago, since everyone lives so long now, even my grandmother, who lived most of her life before it happened, made it to 203rd birthday! I mean, they cured cancer within the first five years after the singularity. The year is now 127 PS, PS standing for Post Singularity. The oceans have risen and most of the 12 billion people of the earth live on habitats which float on the surface of the ocean. The lunar bases are restricted to qualified professionals ever since the “Grey Lung” epidemic of 120 PS and the few space...
Post a Comment
Read more

OLD - Week 1 Day 1 Evening

After finding a suitable spot in the forest, Seth parked the cart and turned the engine off, pressed a button on the panel next to the steering wheel, and a layer of canvas sprung up creating a roof and walls for him to sleep in, he untied his hammock and climbed in. He replaced his filter and with a quick look around, he pulled his hat down low over his eyes. As the evening drew to a close and Valther got drunker and less coherent Ellyn’s job ended as Valther was handed over to the night maids. Ellyn went down to the basement where the servant quarters are, and the familiar journey to her room never seemed more comforting. As she entered her room she smelled that familiar scent and saw the familiar scene, of her posters that adorn the walls, her random artefacts that litter the shelves and her bed, still unmade from when she rushed out of it that morning. Ellyn pulled off her uniform and changed into her nightdress. She took down her hair so it hung about her shoulders. Ellyn...
Post a Comment
Read more