*see edit at the bottom, once you've finished reading. And if it's boring, then I apologise for that too... Go easy on me, I've never done this before!
Best Served Cold
There was nothing I could do. I exited the jump-gate, the star-swirl clearing before my eyes and the familiar lurch of deceleration on re-entry to normal space. I brought up the sector map and located the TL that contained everything that mattered to me- and it was surrounded by ships, all of them hostile. I didn’t count them, didn’t even look to see what they were, I just pointed the nose in that direction and once more asked the engines for everything they had. It wasn’t enough. The missiles I launched distracted a couple, but the rest just kept pouring fire into the Mammoth.
I saw flashes in the distance then the canopy of my Discoverer darkened automatically as a series of large explosions seared the darkness of Brennan’s Triumph. When they finished, the Mammoth was gone, along with everything I owned except the Discoverer with its now unnecessary jumpdrive, and the 10,000 or so credits I had left.
We’d had far more of course, but that was gone after buying the station that would have supported us all, been our home and our income. But far more important than that, my family were on the Mammoth too, excited about seeing the power plant being built up from the masses of crates in the hold and looking forward to starting our new life on it. Cora and our children would never get the chance to watch the drones build our new home, or to decorate the kids’ rooms. Bethany would never get that first space-walk over the surface, trying to count the solar panels. Steven would never squeeze into the Discoverer’s seat with me again, figuring out the controls. Alice never got the chance to greet with a bouquet the first trader to visit us as she’d planned. And Cora never got the chance to actually spend some time with her husband as she thought she would, when he finally finished flitting about the systems making the money to buy the station. The weeks and months apart, missing my family growing up and being away from the woman I loved – all wasted. My future, our future, ended in a fireball of escaping gases and detonating fuel. My family died either in an explosion or in the cold vacuum of space, after an hour or more of fear and terror, because of one man’s impatience and my route choice...
It had taken pretty much every last credit we had to buy the station, hire the Mammoth, and get enough crystals together to start production. My old Mercury was on standby in Three Worlds, ready to start ferrying the e-cells from our new home out to local stations. We were all set for a new life together, but the TL pilot told us there was a problem – the jump drive had failed and there was a long way to go before we reached the safety of the Argon core systems. Worse than that was the slew of lawless pirate havens between us and Three Worlds, not something I wanted my family to see... So I told the Captain I’d sell the Merc then go and personally obtain a new jumpdrive – he could keep it, all I asked in return was that he wait for me to get back and let me dock the Disco for a lift to Three Worlds. I set off South from Light of Heart in a Discoverer Raider, and ordered the Mercury to the shipyard in Kingdom End.
Jumped-up son of a crooked Senator decided sitting around waiting wasn’t good enough for him, and started the trip anyway. I suppose he figured he was saving the e-cells for a bigger profit on the trip, or that sitting and waiting wasn’t earning him any money. I was taking the safe route from Light of Heart, through the Boron spur and Paranid core systems. I’d not quite reached Lucky Planets when Cora waved me that they had undocked.
The screen sparkled into life, the familiar gold cascade of hair surrounding her blue-grey eyes – a little narrower than usual they were, too.
“Um... Where are you? How long will it take? I think Captain Joyi’s decided not to wait, because we’re moving. Looks like we’re headed straight for the North gate rather than the Equipment dock, and we both know what route is the fastest to Three Worlds when your jumpdrive’s as cooperative as a Split in a Boron party-pool. I’ll keep you posted on where we are, don’t worry. But - don’t be any longer than you have to be. Love you.”
I never have understood why we can’t maintain a connection – we get instant real-time communications through gates, all information travels in packets- but if you want to talk to someone, it’s a series of holovid messages rather than a two-way link. I cut off the various curses I wanted to hurl at the Argon Mammoth’s captain and waved back.
“I’ve got the fastest ship that can hold a jumpdrive, the engines are as heavily tuned as the engineers dared. There’s no way I can get one faster. I’d have sent the Merc, but we need to sell it to buy the drive in the first place. I’m not too far from the west gate in Lucky Planets now, and everything’s humming along just fine. Maybe he’ll turn at Hatikvah’s Faith and head up through Teladi space? That should be fairly safe, and the Mammoth is a big investment so he won’t want it scratched. I’ll be back soon, hun.”
“Going through Teladi space would take twice as long. More, even. He’ll run straight for Split Fire, and we both know it. This will be a rough trip. We’re all going to need a break when we get to Three Worlds.”
Another face obscured my wife’s – an unruly mop of dark hair and brown eyes, our grinning six jazura old, Alice.
“Daddy! We’re moving, Daddy – are we nearly there?”
“Come on, Alice – Mummy’s trying to talk.” Bethany’s voice was a bit muted, off-camera. Her hands appeared under Alice's arms and there was an excited squeal as Alice was tickled and lifted unceremoniously away by her big sister. Cora came back into view.
“Steve can’t tear himself away from the windows. I think if he thought he could get away with it he’d be up on the Bridge by now. But I’m going to try and find us a safe room in case things get chaotic later. Stay safe.”
I just kept streaking on through Boron and into Paranid space, selling the Mercury en-route with a hint of frustration at how it would set us back financially and a lot of worry about my family’s safety. Aladna Hill isn’t a big sector, and right now it was too small by at least half for my liking. It wouldn’t be long before they were at risk. I got a message just after I hit Trinity Sanctum.
“Well, we’re in Hatikvah’s Faith – and there’s no sign of a right turn just yet. Everything’s still quiet, but the crew are getting a bit jumpy. They know Joyi’s taking a risk and I don’t think they’re happy about it. I’ve got us a safe room midship, and at the first sign of trouble, that’s where we’ll go. On the way back I heard a couple of the hands talking – they were talking about warming up the guns, so at least they’re getting prepared. I don’t like this, Scott. I know you’re going as fast as she’ll take you, but where are you now?”
“Trinity Sanctum. I’m cutting corners wherever I can, but there aren’t many places where I can go West and North at the same time. For the first time ever, I wish I’d hired a slower transport ship. Does Joyi have fighters aboard? An escort wing? Anything?!”
“You know as much as I do – but I don’t think there’s anything beyond the ship’s own guns. Captain Joyi’s very proud of his crew and his ship’s shielding and firepower, he kept reeling figures off at me when I asked him about it.”
Not long after I got into Priest’s Pity, I heard something awful from Cora.
“We’re being tracked, Scott. I don’t know who by, but there are ships out there keeping pace with us. I’d love to say it’s an escort, but we got buzzed by one of them and the markings definitely didn’t look military. Steve tells me it was a Harrier, he was really excited at seeing one. And worse, we’ve lost our safe room. Joyi’s confined us to quarters, I guess he doesn’t want us getting in the way. So at least we’ll get a good view.”
She tried to smile, but she just looked sick. I could turn here – I could run North into Split Fire, then back East and South, I was only a few sectors away – but they were the Pirate sectors I wanted us all to avoid entirely. I was still only in a Discoverer, and also only a few sectors from the Jumpdrive. Speed was the biggest virtue of this ship, and the jumpdrive should be the priority, it would get us all away safely. I'd do no good running back to be a hero and getting killed on the way. I kept the nose pointing at the West gate and prayed, but by the time I was in Paranid Prime it was clear nobody was listening.
“They’re firing! Oh, gods – they’re firing. Joyi is shooting back, but his guns are too slow – big white balls, and these ships just dodge around them and between them. We’re taking a hell of a beating Scott, get us out of here!”
She was cut short by a burst of static, presumably plasma on the shields disrupting the transmission – at least, that’s what I hoped, and it made me sick – the best I could hope for was that someone was shooting at my family’s ship, because it was better than someone destroying it. I didn’t get much more than fragments from Cora for a while after that, but I was able to piece together some of it.
By the time I’d reached the Goner temple I was shaking with anger, frustration and a large amount of fear. By then they were entering Danna’s Chance with what sounded like “about half the shields missing” – the Mammoth was certainly armed, but it was no battleship. Set up mostly for long-range fire against the Khaak, the PPCs were no good against fast moving fighters unless the gunners got very lucky or the Pirates very careless. The main danger for the bandits was being run over by the ship, I think. The various lowlife scum who had swarmed around my family’s ship were apparently getting bolder and more numerous. They weren’t far from the rumoured base in Brennan’s Triumph. I could only hope that the Captain wouldn’t surrender the ship and leave everyone else at the mercy of the Pirates, because I didn’t think they would have any.
I don’t even know if Cora heard the message I sent while the drive was installed, thankfully it only took a few minutes to get it done – I’d been able to comm ahead so it was waiting for me and there was a docking clamp free. The drive is an external device on a ship this size, they’re easy to damage in a fight or collision – but for once I was glad of that. Bolt it in place, a couple of connections for power and data, and I was on my way.
I streaked away from the Temple, an old Goner’s words of peace and tranquillity ringing in my ears completely at odds with the panic and anger in my heart. The Disco was fast, but could it be fast enough? I didn’t have any energy cells and the nearest would be in Ore Belt so that’s where I went. I only needed a handful, but as I got close to the station I saw some Boron super-freighter undocking – I guess it wasn’t delivering crystals. The station was empty now, so I dashed North towards Terracorp HQ. Cora waved again, trying to keep the panic from her voice with Bethany sounding scared in the background. Steve was keeping Alice away from the windows, she said. They’d reached Brennan’s Triumph, so just a few sectors from safety – trying to put a brave face on it for Beth, but I could hear her shaking and it tore my soul. I should have diverted at Priest’s Pity, and been there with her. The Disco wasn’t much of a fighter and I wasn’t much of a pilot – but it was another target, a distraction, and one with teeth.
“There’s so many of them! The Captain’s keeping us moving, but we’re slowing down and I keep hearing alarms. People are running everywhere and a few minutes ago there was a huge bang under the keel. It shook the whole ship. I don’t know what it was, but the crew cheered – maybe they got one? It’s not enough, though. They’re everywhere, and we can’t hit them. Steve thinks it’s really exciting, he loves the lights and the fast ships but he doesn’t understand what they are. He’s 8 jazuras old, people are trying to kill us and he thinks he’s watching a holo or a fireworks display. The noise from the crew is scaring Alice, and Beth has gone very very quiet. Please Scott, just get here as soon as you can- bring help, a sector patrol, anything! We need you. I need you. Hurry...” I didn’t know it, but I would never hear that sweet voice again.
If I’d known I was going to be in a race like this, I’d have run those Pirate sectors myself and bought the jumpdrive from Terracorp... Thankfully they had plenty of energy available so I filled the hold. I barely cleared the docking clamps before I set the target for Brennan’s Triumph south gate, activated the jump sequence, willing the countdown to skip a couple and just GET ME THERE...
It didn’t, and I was too late.
By now there was nothing left. Just sparkling shards of metal and clouds of cooling gas mark the spot where my old life ended and a new one begins, right now. But I think it might be quite short, because I intend to kill every single Pirate I can find until one of them kills me. Not now, though. Now I have to run, and not just because there are about forty ships out there turning to look at who started throwing missiles into their murderous party. I have to run because revenge will have to wait until I can do it properly. I have a ship like a drinks can, shielded with gift-wrap and not much more than harsh words for weaponry. That must change, before I can begin. I want to hurt them, badly. I want to see those hulks they use for bases in smoking ruins, leave them as sparkling shards and cooling clouds. I’m going to need a bigger boat. Yes, it’s impossible to completely wipe out pirates – people take it up as a career every day. Yes, it’s a suicide mission – but my life means nothing to me now. Blinking through tears I set the navicomp to jump and fly to Argon Prime. If I can make the galaxy a little safer before some pirate picks me off, then I did something good- but if not, well, it won’t be important, not now. A furious vengeance is all that matters. Flashes in the distance, they’ve opened fire – but just like me, they’re too late. Activating jump-drive...
*edit--- I've now tried it, and the timing is indeed wrong at the beginning- but it's close at the end. Having the Mammoth leave when I hit Lucky Planets, it was still (just) in Light of Heart when I got to Trinity Sanctum... I arrived at the Temple while the Mammoth was in Noplileos' Memorial but the 10-minute delay at the temple brings it almost back to the right time-frame. In fact, my unarmed test Mammoth was destroyed in Danna's Chance as I was heading for Terracorp. Had it been armed, the PPCs would have given it a better survival chance OOS but as soon as I arrived in-sector they'd be as useless as described
