X Squared: Birth of a Merchant Prince (4) UPDATED

[FourFingers]

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Updated below the ----------------------------------------------

Part 4

Lan edged his ship close to the outer fringe of the asteroid field, pulling in behind a large asteroid. He decided to take stock of his situation and allow his shields to recharge to full strength.

Lanowar Holden or Lan as he preferred to be known had started the day with high sprits and glowing visions of the future. He had decided to become an independent trader, carve out a fortune between the stars, to experience the thrills and spills of commerce, to face a little danger and make lots of credits.

Instead he had been fighting to survive, evading homicidal pirates, dodging missiles, hiding behind giant rocks and generally having a bad day. He hadn't even seen anything that remotely resembled credits.

He was sat in an M5 or Scout class ship of Argon design known as a Discoverer. At this moment he was with in the asteroid field located in the sector ‘Ore belt’ having just survived and destroyed a pirate clan ship.
The reason he was hiding at the fringe was due to the other Bayamon pirate ship waiting outside the asteroid field.

He fervently hoped the Orinoco he had also left out there had indeed left with the Bayamon now carrying the cargo he had dropped. He reasoned that if the cargo was valuable enough to send 4 ships to secure it then the Orinoco would escort the Bayamon back where ever they were going.
That still left one more Bayamon to deal with and with no weapons fitted to his ship this would not be an easy task.

He did have an ace in his hand thou, well actually three aces in the form of three wasp missiles he had salvaged from the destroyed Bayamon.

“Well can’t stay in here forever” Lan said to himself checking all systems and increasing speed angling out of the asteroid field. “Might as well see what’s out there.”

Lan’s Discoverer crept out of the asteroid field further down from where he had entered, unfortunately the awaiting Bayamon had picked him up on its radar and was already coming into firing range.

Lan pulled out and into evasive manoeuvres avoiding the quadruple PAC fire flashing across his right side. He dropped below the Bayamons sights and cut his speed watching the ship shoot over him.

A good idea now would be to aim for the north gate and hit full speed, the discoverer would out run the Bayamon quite easily, but Lan felt all the frustration and anger at being duped along with the fear of being hunted rise to the surface.
He wanted to hit back, to smash his fist into someone, to give vent to the burning anger.

The Discoverer rose up behind the Bayamon and accelerated to within 2km of its rear.

The pilot of the Bayamon knew the Discoverer had no offensive capabilities so when he saw it rise up behind him he wasn’t worried.

When he noticed the Discoverer accelerate towards him he thought the crazy fool was going to ram him, but he wasn’t worried as he had 10MW of shielding while the Disco had only 1MW, it would be suicide.
Instead of pulling out of the way he did a tight turn slowing speed to face the disco head on.

What he then saw catapulted him past worried and into the lap of terror. Two wasp class missiles launched from the Discoverer and rocketed towards his ship, at near point blank range it was too late to pull away or evade.

As the first two wasp missiles smashed into the Bayamon ripping its shields to near nothing Lan launched the third one. The Bayamon had managed to turn to the left and was now trying to gain speed and allow its shields to recharge but the discoverer was right behind it and the third wasp missile exploded across its right side striping its remaining shields and eating into its hull.

Lan followed the Bayamon and moved into position to launch another missile when he realised he had none left.
"Damn!" he said and for a moment contemplated ramming the Bayamon.

Just then the comms activated and a static laden voice called out, “Stop! Don’t fire. Here’s my ship, you just put me out of business.”

Lan laughed out loud, “Guess he didn’t know I had no more missiles.”

Lan pulled the Discoverer in close to the Bayamon now floating dead and patched into its onboard computer. The laws of salvage were pretty much the same in every sector; any unoccupied ships belonged to the first person to lay claim to it.
Many pirates made a living by ‘persuading’ other pilots to leave there ships.
He'd even heard of 'organisations' whose members were rated on the number of captures they managed, friendly or otherwise. Those who owned M3 heavy fighters had to watch their backs, Nova owners especially.

Lan checked the status of his new acquired asset, its hull was at 60%, it contained a 5MW shield and 2 Beta PACs also some software and was carrying 2 units of spaceweed.
Lan was very pleased, the fact that it still contained shields and weapons was a rarity. When a pilot ejects from his ship it sets an auto destruct sequence which destroys as much of the equipment and software onboard as possible, supposedly to make ship stealing less profitable.

He accessed the ships registration and copied his details across, now legally he owned the Bayamon. He activated the autopilot and told it to follow his ship.
He then checked his HUD radar and didn’t like what he saw, the north gate leading into ‘Home of light’ where he was headed lay over 20km away a short distance for his discoverer.

What he didn’t like was the fire fight taking place maybe 3-4km from the gate. It looked like pirates attacking other pirates. He didn’t want to attract anymore attention especially with a pirate Bayamon in tow.

As Lan was thinking of his alternatives and whether he could wait out the mini battle taking place his eyes were drawn to the fight. His interest was piqued when he saw the erratic movements of the lone Bayamon being hounded by the two Mandalay's.

Lan was somewhat incredulous when he saw the Bayamon carryout the weaving pattern and almost laughed out loud.
"Must be an amazing cocky pilot or a complete beginner" Lan said to himself.

As he watched the fight progress he found himself rooting for the Bayamon pilot and actually shouted out loud when the two Manadalay's were destroyed.
It was obvious that the Bayamon pilot was using the 'fight command software' and surviving on what Lan would call sheer luck spoke volumes about the pilot. Obviously not a pirate or a mercenary or even a trader pilot, so must be a civilian.

"Why would pirates be chasing a civilian? Obviously the pilot's not a threat, unless you count to other pilots of the trade lanes.

He decided it would shortly be academic as an Orinoco and another Bayamon were approaching and he didn’t think the civilian's luck would hold out.

Lan was torn between going to the aid of the Bayamon under attack and protecting his own skin.
The pirate Bayamon had caught up with the civilian's now and opened fire tearing through its shields taking chunks out of its hull. The civilian Bayamon managed to launch a missile just before being wracked with particle fire which caused the pirate Bayamon to veer off and head away.

Lan was surprised to find that his Discoverer was at full throttle and heading towards the now listless civilian's Bayamon. He had acted with out realising and thus made up his own mind. He didn’t know what he could do or even if he would make it there in time to do anything but he had to try.

He knew that he wasn’t going to make it and could only watch as the Orinoco and its partnering Bayamon closed in on the helpless civilian. The Orinoco launched a missile which from its speed was probably a dragonfly class.

What surprised Lan was that the missile turned around and smashed the Bayamon following the Orinoco into nothing but chunks of metal.
“What just happened there?” Lan asked himself

What he saw next stunned him completely, the Orinoco coming in for the kill just spontaneously exploded in a massive ball of bright light leaving nothing but an afterimage burnt into the back of Lans eyes.
“What the F**k just happened?” Lan breathed, double checking his HUD.

He scanned the damaged Bayamon and opened communication channels; there was no picture and a lot of static.
“Hello Bayamon, I’m reading ship wide hull breaches and shield failure is imminent. You have probably a few minutes erm… mizura's before your ship becomes space debris.” He always had problems using the universal time references which were based on the Teladi unit of time.

Pi checked her ships damage readings and saw the pilot of the Discoverer was correct. The Bayamon had taken a pounding and was barely keeping structural integrity; it could fall apart at any moment. The shields were failing and life support systems were offline, she was breathing through her space suit.

“I’ll lower my shields and open the outer airlock so you can space walk it to my ship, I can’t get any closer for fear of causing your ship to break up” came the Argon voice which sounded male to Pi over the comms.

Pi was wracked by indecision on what to do, it was true that she could not stay aboard this vessel as it was near disintegration but she had learnt the hard way that trust was a rare thing in space. Besides the Discoverer was shadowed by a Bayamon even thou it wasn’t displaying a pirate signature.
‘Hmmm... I wonder why that is?’ Pi thought to herself ‘maybe he’s a bounty hunter who captures pirates for money.’

“Erm… Bayamon pilot I’m reading power fluctuations across your engine core. If your going to leave you better do it now otherwise I’m off. I’d rather not be here when your ship explodes.”
The Argon pilots voice broke Pi’s thoughts, looking at her console Pi could see he was right. She stood dizzily and gathered her meagre belongings into a space container.

“I’ am departing vessel now, I thank you gratefully for your assistance.” Pi replied as she entered the Bayamon airlock and depressurised.

Lan watched with a worried frown as the Bayamon pilot who had sounded Boron made their way to his ships airlock. He kept an eye on the power readings of the Bayamon which were now beginning to build up.
“Come on, faster. Swimming in space should be second nature to you Borons.” Lan muttered out loud still watching the readings.

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When he heard the outer airlock seal shut signifying his new passenger was onboard, Lan hit the throttle and turned away from the wrecked Bayamon quickly putting distance between it and his discoverer.

A large flash of light and rumbling sound signified the demise of the Bayamon as Lan watched it disintegrate on his HUD display.

“I better go let out my new passenger” Lan said to himself, ‘and see what new trouble I’ve landed myself into’ he thought.

Lan un-strapped himself from the pilot seat and then pressurised the outer airlock. Once it was done he opened the inner airlock cautiously and allowed the Boron to enter inside his ship.

He couldn’t tell that much except that the person was Boron from the type of space suit they wore, the tentacles were also a dead giveaway. He wasn’t that familiar with the other four known species which inhabited the X universe apart from the basics learnt of the galactic news and various soaps.

“Hi, my name’s Lanowar Holden” Lan said resealing the inner airlock. “Are you ok?” he asked as he noticed the Boron was staggering a little.

“Pisula Ma is my name, thank you for your help” Pi replied a little hesitantly looking around the cramped interior of the small ship.

Lan noticed the hesitant reply “in case you were wondering I’m a trader not a pirate” he said reassuringly.
“Thou I’ll admit I haven’t actually done any trading as such, while I have captured a Bayamon” he said wirily
“May be I am more suited to being a pirate.” Lan joked

Pi looked up fearfully and took an involuntary step back, nearly falling over as a wave of dizziness hit her.

“Whoa, that was a joke!” Lan said hurriedly, helping her to sit down on the floor. “Sorry, it probably wasn’t a good one.”

Pi sat down on the floor and let the dizziness pass. She still wasn’t sure what to make of this Argon but didn’t want to appear rude.
“Please could you take me to a station with medical facilities, I must apologise but I don’t have any credits, I will be able to pay for the passage once I’m on a station.”

"I'm headed for Argon Prime, they have the best medical facilities this quadrant but if you need I can drop you off at the trading centre in home of light." Lan offered

"I do not wish to upset your schedule, Argon Prime is good for me" replied Pi thinking that she would be safer in the Argon home sector and further away from the Werewolf clan.

"Well you rest yourself at the back there" Lan said pointing to the small pallet at the back used for catching naps when on long haul trips. "Its going to take us about a day, that is a tazura to get to Argon Prime. I have to travel at the Bayamons speed and it’s quite damaged" Lan explained apologetically.

He returned to the pilot’s seat and set course for the jump gate leading to Home of light. From there it was just one more jump to Argon Prime, thou the jump gate would be at the opposite end of the sector.

He looked at the approaching jump gate, a gigantic circular opening constructed with some incredibly resilient unknown alloy, placed by beings far advanced then any of the five known species inhabitating the X universe, referred to as the Ancients thou there have been no recorded contact.
As his ship neared the activation zone, the swirl of the wormhole opened up displaying myriad colours all spinning chaotically as the fabric of space was folded around him and time became infinitely stretched.
He entered the tunnel and headed back home.


As Lan entered the northern jump gate into ‘Home of Light,’ Tchak’ta entered the western jump gate out of the sector ‘The Wall.’
His M5 class Teladi Harrier emerged from the vortex of the jump gate into Argon Prime, bathed in the light of their sun ‘Sonra’ the Argon home sector filled his view screen.

It was a magnificent sight to his Teladi eyes; many high profit stations graced this sector including a shipyard (where factories can be purchased), equipment dock and a wharf (where spaceships can be bought or sold).

Tchak’ta piloted his Harrier towards the 1MW shield producing factory and asked for docking permission. He set the autopilot to dock the ship while he gathered together his equipment and a modified blaster of Split design. He also strapped a small blade under his tail where a scale had been hollowed and sensor bending alloys integrated.

In his line of work you could never be sure of safety and must be prepared for all outcomes. His time with the Split had taught him that along with many other things. He had actually managed to complete his investigations despite the situation, adapting quickly to the quagmire of politics which governed the prominent families of the Split dynasty.
His investigations and subsequent actions had gained him a grudging respect among the Split families and bequeathed him with some powerful allies. As with any form of politics it had also created powerful enemies.
The name he used now was given to him by the Split; rarely did he use his real name anymore.

Putting aside all thoughts of the past and of the strange honour obsessed Split he finished dressing and waited as his ship was scanned by station sensors and allowed to pass through the blast doors. Once inside the station the security systems take hold, dampening fields prevent the discharge of energy weapons and each passenger is scanned for dangerous artefacts once leaving their ship.

The modified blaster he carried was of split design, outlawed in all civilised space it was a weapon of torture rather then death. It fired a low powered electrical discharge which caused all the neuronal pathways of the victim to become hypersensitive while at the same time activating every pain fibre pathway.

In short it causes excruciating prolonged pain, causing a person to feel as thou they are on fire from the inside.
It doesn’t kill directly but if fired for long enough the victim ends up breaking their spine. His had been modified to run on chemical reactions activated by the heat of his palm, this meant that it lasted for a short time before it had to be replaced but its was for the moment undetectable by standard security scanning.

Tchak'ta exited his Harrier on to the docking bay of the shield factory. Since this was a high end factory he could see scores of mechanics, scientists and labourers going about their assigned tasks. There were a few other ships in the docking bay two of which were having new 1MW shields fitted.

"Excuse me sir, may I be of any help?" came a voice from his left. Tchak'ta turned to face the person addressing him. A young Argon female of average build for their species, wearing the uniform of a technician and holding a data pad greeted him.

"Would you like to have any of your shields replaced or repaired?" asked the technician.

"Check my shields for erratic power distributions and replace any faulty relays" replied Tchak'ta watching the technician as the universal translator plugged into her ear converted, almost instantaneously his soft harmonious speech into the ugly guttural noises that passed for speech amongst the Argons.

The universal translator was one of the biggest product releases to date, it was an item which could be sold everywhere in the known universe, it was small and fitted to the inner ear allowing nearly instantaneous translation of all know languages.

"Of course sir, had a few run in with pirates I assume?" she said while typing into the data pad and shouting out instructions to the ground crew.

Tchak'ta did not reply but just waited. The technician looked at Tchak'ta as if expecting a reply then became discomfited when she realised she was not going to get one.
"Right, erm… is there any thing else I can do sir?" she asked awkwardly

"I am looking for Fugalas Aldamox Quat the 9th" he said, "where can I find him?"

"Fugal? I think he's down in the assembly area. I'll see if I can find him. Who should I say is calling?" she asked as she headed to a wall control panel.

"Tchak'ta." came the short reply

"Tchak'ta? That’s not a Teladi name is it?" she enquired as she sent the message.

"No. It is not" stated Tchak'ta and just waited.

"Erm… right, well Fugal should be up in a mizura. I have other things to attend to so if there is nothing else...” she asked
"No." replied Tchak'ta "That will be all."
The technician turned away and walked off muttering something as she went.

Part 5

[Moss]

Nice capture, if I was Lan tho, i'd have soon been transfering myself over to the Bayamon, it at least armed.

Seeing Pi's battle for survival from Lans ship was interesting, now all they have to do is reach a safe haven, I doubt the pirates here will soon forget these two, it has been an expensive day for them, and against two novices at that

[KiwiNZ]

Very good read! Nice way of resolving Lan's misery and also sorting out Pi's problems. Mind you, they aren't out of the danger zone yet.

Well, with that Bayamon in tow he has improved his financial situation significantly. While he won't have the cash to repair it, 60% is not worth it anyway, the equipment should make a nice profit. Maybe Pi's software is even capable to do auto-repairs to the hull

Looking forward to the next installment.

[BigRich]

A fine way to end the day, catching up on the latest installment of this story! Great work FourFingers - I'm loving it.

I'm intrigued about the ARINOX software.... is this an acronym or did it just sound cool? Personally I suspect that dear innocent Pi has had some shady dealings with the Xenon In any case a rogue AI or at least pre-sentient algorithm should provide some very interesting plot twists!

Can't wait,


Rich

[Mercenary]

Good story and looking forward to the next installment.

[FourFingers]

Good story and looking forward to the next installment.

What!! How can you have time to be reading this!!
I wanna know what Tor's next move is gonna be, And i Definately want something very bad to happen to that asassian!


thanks for the thumbs up, appreciated!

[FourFingers]

A fine way to end the day, catching up on the latest installment of this story! Great work FourFingers - I'm loving it.
Rich

thanks BigRich! appreciated, and Welcome to the board!!
Shhh..but i got big plans for ARINOX..

[raliel]

really coming along nicely...........
hope you get published in the next book!

[FourFingers]

Added the next bit,

i wanted to give Tchak'ta a shot at the lime light. He must of be feeling a little put out with the others getting all the glory.

[Moss]

A nasty weapon Tchak’ta is carrying there. Nice to get a bit more background info on him too.

I have noticed in quite a few stories, this one too, that a lot of Taladi characters are male, but in the background info on the X games it states that all Taladi pilots or maybe thats Taladis in space are suposedly female. I do have to say tho that most of those i've heard do sound distinctly male, and of course theres allways room for artistic license.

[FourFingers]

A nasty weapon Tchak’ta is carrying there. Nice to get a bit more background info on him too.

I have noticed in quite a few stories, this one too, that a lot of Taladi characters are male, but in the background info on the X games it states that all Taladi pilots or maybe thats Taladis in space are suposedly female. I do have to say tho that most of those i've heard do sound distinctly male, and of course theres allways room for artistic license.

Hey Moss,
I hear ya.. It is supposed to be that the majority of spacefaring teladi are female 'cos of the separation and stuff, and in my world nearly all the high ranking teladi are female. The reason i didnt use a female teladi as a main character is 'cos they are described as embittered greedy and selfserving where as the males are not. need Tchak'ta to be open minded
That wasn't my biggest problem.. after reading argonopedia it states the teladi are like 3ft tall!! I'm not even gonna try and explain how Tchak'ta is argon height..

I mean how do i explain other races being able to fly teladi ships?? if the teladi are all midgets who use their feet for everything??
Like you capture a falcon then realise you cant fit in the cockpit..

[raliel]

Also.... Teladi females may not appear particarly feminine from a human point of view........ Do you know how difficault it is to tell the gender of reptiles? what humans may consider masculine qualities may be feminine qualities to a Teladi!

[pixel]

nice, I like the tie in of the three threads.

one thing only ' the honour led Split' would read better as 'the honour-led Split', or maybe honour-bound? don't know myself?!? but apart from that reads very well. Some good humour too.



keep em coming!

[FourFingers]

Thanx Pixel,

edited it to 'honour obsessed Split'

Ive gotta tie in a few more threads and work out a plausable story to get the new characters to argon prime.
Hopefully then i can concentrate on the actual story!