X Squared: Birth of a merchant prince (6) UPDATED

[FourFingers]

Part 1 Part 2
Part 3 Part 4
Part 5

partly updated below ..................................................
Fully Updated now.. #######

Part 6

Lan was halfway across the sector Home of Light, he would be able to move a lot faster if it were not for the damaged Bayamon he'd captured. His own Discoverer was flying protectively around the Bayamon as both ships made for the jump gate to Argon prime at the opposite end of the sector.

His Boron passenger was at the back, probably sleeping. He didn't know what to make of her, a good idea or a big mistake?

She was obviously being hunted by pirates for something; he still couldn't believe she had survived against 4 ships with no piloting experience. And what had happened to that Orinoco? So many questions and too many surprises, this trading career was not quite what he had expected.

From the little he had spoken to her she seemed like nearly all Boron, very polite and considerate, and well... Nice.

He had considered docking and moving into the Bayamon ship as it had weapons but decided he would rather run then fight; besides he couldn't leave the Boron in the Discoverer and doubted he could wake her up anyhow.

Lan wondered what repercussions today's events would have and how they would affect his future. Hopefully the Pirate clan, 'Werewolf' he though it was would just put down the loss of two Bayamons as a minor scratch on their finances.
'Of course with the Boron tally, in total they lost 3 Bayamons, two Mandalay's and an Orinoco... expensive day for them' Lan thought worriedly.

He hadn't heard from Ryhan yet and had tried contacting his ship when he entered 'Home of Light' sector but no answer. He had left a message asking him to get in contact and to find out how much of a fine they had slapped on him this time.

Lan grinned to himself "either he's in the nearest bar laying it on thick with the local ladies or in the dingiest gambling den wining credits from dangerous people."
'What ever he's doing he's no doubt having fun. Precious little of that going round here' he thought.

If all goes well they should be in Argon Prime by tomorrow, in space the terms today and tomorrow were more a measure of hours rather then daylight and nightfall but it was a convenient reference point.
He couldn't wait to put this all behind him and make a start with actually becoming a trader. The cash from the Bayamon should help him get started.

Lan thought about the steps he would need to take and how to invest his credits if he wanted to become a successful trader. Outside his ship the star studded void slid by as he slowly moved towards the jumpgate leading to Argon Prime.


Ryhan had been making deliveries for most of the day now and had one more assignment to do before he would be allowed any 'free time'. Lieutenant Rollem had informed him that the Navy owned two thirds of his time and in no particular order so a call could come at anytime.

His next task should be more interesting as he was to pick up a passenger from a BioGas factory in sector 'Farnhams Legend.' This sector is controlled by Pirates so if nothing else it should be exciting.

Ryhan pulled up the sector map and targeted the east gate.
"Gate. Presidents End," the computer notified as he pushed to max speed and headed out of Home of Light.

He exited the jump gate into Presidents End and slowly increased his speed away from the jump gate and towards the opposite end of the sector.
There are 11 space stations dotted around the sector, each one buzzing with activity from freighters docking and departing.

There was a lot of tension and unrest in this sector as its east gate led directly into the old Xenon sectors which were cleared not that long ago but are now controlled by the pirate clans.
As a result this sector receives a lot of pirate activity from smuggling of illegal goods to hijacking of freighters and cargo.

Ryhan targeted the east gate.

"Gate. Elena's Fortune" the computer voice droned out as the ship picked up speed and oriented on the gate.

Ryhan's Discoverer emerged from the jump gate into a melee of weapons fire and drone activity. The multicoloured laser fire lighting up the void like Boron fireworks during victory day on Argon Prime.

A quick scan of his HUD showed that two Mandalays and a Bayamon were pounding away at a Boron Dolphin freighter with an Orinoco closing in. There were six defensive drones which must have been released by the freighter zipping in between the ships firing their weak lasers in a bid to distract the Pirates.

The Dolphin freighter was trying to reach the gate he just emerged from but from its speed and the pounding it was getting Ryhan doubted it would make it.

Maneuvering his Discoverer to the left he tried to edge away from the conflict taking place not 5km from his position. He didn't want to get involved with something that was none of his business; he had annoyed enough people in his time already.

His comm channel crackled to life displaying a broken up picture of a Boron in a smoky cockpit.

"Please, Boron needs Help. Pirates attacking Hisulam Po, request urgent assistance please," appealed the distress call.

"Sorry bro, not my fight," muttered Ryhan to himself as he tried to get past the now twisting freighter. There were only 4 drones left as the Mandalays took out one each while the Bayamon pounded at the freighter shields.

His ship suddenly jarred from impacts as his shield indicator dropped below %100, Ryhan swore and pulled evasive. One of the Mandalays had decided to attack the Discoverer as he tried to sneak past firing on it with its alpha PACs.

Ryhan pulled his ship into a twisting dive trying to put distance between him and the Mandalay, hoping it would just leave him and return to the fight.

The Mandalay dogged his tail all the while firing.

"Shields at 70 percent," the computer called out as Ryhan twisted to the right.

"Fine, have it your way," Ryhan said out loud as he cut his speed and pulled a full circle to face the oncoming Mandalay. He opened fire with his Gamma IRE's while pushing his speed up.

The Mandalay not expecting such a move flew full into the blue impulse rays while trying to dodge the oncoming Discoverer. Its shields fell to 10 percent.

Ryhan fell in behind the Mandalay as it tried to pull to his left.

"Bye bye ass hole," he said as he opened fire with a sustained burst of his weapons, exploding the Mandalay into bits of unrecognisable melted alloys.
He flew close to the pilot who had ejected knocking him spinning with his shields as he passed through the debris of the Mandalay.

The second Mandalay was coming in to engage him as Ryhan took his ship towards the freighter. He was angry now and wanted to fight.
"I would of left ya be, but no ya all had to get greedy," he said to himself as he engaged the Mandalay.

He dodged the incoming fire easily snapping back some of his own while barrel rolling to the right. He fell in behind the Mandalay before the pilot could react and let loose with a long burst of fire tearing the shields away and puncturing the hull.

The hull dropped to 20 percent and the pilot ejected but Ryhan kept firing and destroyed the Mandalay in a ball of fire and plasma.
The Bayamon had finished the defensive drones and left the freighter to the oncoming Orinoco and began to engage the Discoverer as it finished off the second Mandalay.

As Ryhan flew through the debris of the second Mandalay instinct kicked in causing him to swerve his ship up and to the right without his conscious thought as his left side was lit up by quadruple PAC fire cutting through his last position.

"Sneaky bastard," Ryhan breathed as he dodged fire from the Bayamon while trying to maneuver onto its tail.

He spun to the left avoiding the Bayamon PAC fire then immediately hit a hard right, cut his speed and twisted on the spot to fall in behind the Bayamon.

The Bayamon pilot anticipated the move to the left and while firing also pulled a hard left. The pilot was not expecting the sudden move to the right and was caught unprepared as his mind was unable to process quickly enough what it had just registered and kept moving to the left for a few seconds before righting himself.

By then the Discoverer was already firing into its tail pushing the Bayamons shields down. The Bayamon pilot tried to shake off the pursuing Discoverer making sharp turns and slowing speed, even trying to imitate what Ryhan had carried out in the first place.

All this availed him little as Ryhan stuck to him like a Larsian leech on a Teladian warthog, inexorably eating away at the shields before they had time to regenerate and beginning to bite into the hull.

Suddenly his ship dropped below the Bayamon, barrel rolling to the right just as streams of deadly green superheated plasma tore through where his ship had been mere seconds ago.

"Arghaaaaaaaa!" came the dying pain-filled scream of the Bayamon pilot as the plasma ripped through his ship vaporising metals and flesh leaving only particles of matter and an afterimage of light.

It's only then that Ryhan realized that he had pulled his Discoverer to the right and below the Bayamon without consciously thinking it. His eyes and ears must have registered the incoming plasma fire either by the faint sound or slight increase in light and through his subconscious acted directly while bypassing his conscious decision-making process.

Those few seconds had saved his life and sent the Bayamon into oblivion.

"I must say I'm very surprised you're still alive. I was absolutely sure you were going to be space dust," drawled a voice over the comms, there was no picture.

Ryhan was still recovering from surprise when he pulled away from the Orinoco and scanned his HUD radar to get a situation update
The Freighter was now entering the jump gate trailing one defensive drone and registering minor hull damage. There were a couple of cargo containers floating around and the Orinoco shadowing his movement.

He clocked the Orinoco to be doing around 230m/s which more then surprised him as that ship should only be able to do a max of 175m/s. It was this which had allowed the Orinoco to get so close before Ryhan had consciously registered its presence.

"My baby is a bit nippier then standard ones, I'm sure you noticed," drawled the voice of the Orinoco pilot "If you would come closer I will be happy to show you more."

"Na, ya had your chance bro. but ya kinda blew it. Too slow ya know, maybe ya should practice a bit more," Ryhan replied targeting the Orinoco and trying to scan it but he could not penetrate the shields.

"I do so like my privacy, too many pirates around I've heard," replied the pilot, "how about we try it again, I can guarantee that it will turn out more satisfactory, at least for me."

Ryhan was tempted just to shake that cool confident attitude the pilot had but he didn't know what other surprises this Orinoco held. He still had a mission to do and didn't want to prolong his Navy career by messing with this pirate.

"Ya was useless the first time bro, got better things to do then mess about with a two bit 'cant hit a ship from point blank' pirate . It has been a disappointment but I'm sure we'll meet again," Ryhan taunted as he full throttled his ship towards the north gate.

"Oh we will indeed, I promise you that my Disco pilot," came the cold voice over the comms as Ryhan left the Orinoco behind and headed for sector Farnhams legend.

'Guess I just made another enemy' he thought as he orientated his ship for the north gate and watched it loom nearer.

"Gate. Farnham's Legend." the computer informed when it locked onto the gate.

................................................................................................................................................

Tchak'ta had hired a room adjacent to the one used by the two Teladi he was tracking. It had taken more time then usual to convince the hotel manager to let him have access to the hotel guest list even with the large transfer of credits.

Things had not been as straight forward as he assumed they would be. There were five hotels with in close proximity of the bar his contact worked in; all of them fit the criteria of being the hotel the two Teladi used.

All five of the hotels had a large number of Teladi staying there and all of these Teladi used Argon names, for ease of trade.

It also seemed that many of the Teladi had used the names Harold and Henry booking themselves in during the time the two he was tracking also booked in. Tchak'ta didn't trust coincidence and this one was too large to swallow.

It made finding out which hotel they had used let alone which room very difficult to track down.

It had taken him awhile to narrow down the hotels to the one he was in now called 'The Lavisca.' He had visited the equipment shops, the trading stores, the food halls and also the casino's gently probing and asking questions. Triangulating the times and location of each transaction to take place by a Teladi at these stores with the distance from each hotel.

He had then correlated these with appearances in the bars where new pilots hang out and also the offices where piloting jobs are displayed.
He had taken all the data and processed it through a probability algorithm which had given this hotel an 87% probability of being the one he was after.

The algorithm used was originally designed by Teladi for the trading index system, a very powerful high throughput logic system used to predict the share prices by taking into account as many variables as possible.

He had modified it a little and added some Boron code taken from their security systems to give a very powerful probability program.

There were four pairs of Teladi staying here using the names Harold and Henry. Using the power of credits he had gained access to the security systems inside the hotel and viewed the video footage for the last few tazura's. He then correlated this with when certain transactions took place and the times when Teladi were seen talking to new pilots.

All this had taken time, nearly half a tazura and had led him finally to the room next door.

His instincts and experience had warned him against just walking inside so he had hired the room adjacent and was in the process of setting up short range scanners.

The thermal imaging scan had revealed no heat sources while the motion detection showed no movement. He had scanned for electrical signatures or any radiation readings but none were detected.

The security records showed that the rooms had been vacated late this morning as Tchak’ta had arrived on the station. It was now late evening and he had under a stazura to check the room before the cleaning shift came online and set it up for new customers.

Tchak’ta placed his standard issue lock opener against the keypad of the door and activated it. There was an audible hiss as the door slid open and Tchak’ta moved to the side to avoid being framed in the doorway.

There was no activity so he entered inside sniffing the air as the door closed behind him.

Something was not right.

Tchak'ta stood with out moving examining the room for any signs of danger. The room was adorned for use by Teladi. There were two large pedestals at the far end for sleeping on as Teladi perched when sleeping thou many Teladi nowadays had become accustomed to using modified beds.

Another door at the far back no doubt led to the toilet facilities and cleansing area.

He was picking up a very faint aroma, tantalizingly familiar but he couldn't place it. He pushed it to his subconcious level while he concentrated on the room.

There were squat cupboards on either side of the room and a small glass table to the right. In front of him was something which looked like a storage container, tall and rectangular with a black oblong box at its base. The container had two holes one about chest height and one about head height.

'Hmmm.. something strange about that container, it seems a little out of place. It has a shiny new look like its only just been placed, no scuff marks or signs that its been moved. The soft carpet it's placed on doesn't yet show indentation so it could not of been sitting here for long,' Tchak'ta thought to himself.

Over to the far left were the consoles for trading and communications, these were what he was after. If he could access the log files he may be able to determine who they were in contact with and what they were trading in.

Tchak’ta edged towards the left trying to stay away from the storage container and heading for the computer consoles.

As he took another step forward there was a slight give in the floor, a loud click like sound followed by the exploding rush of pressurized air.
#######
Tchak’ta threw himself to the right when he heard the click as jazura’s of training and his natural survival instinct kicked in.

He felt a searing pain tare through his right shoulder followed by a jarring thud as he hit the floor hard and rolled back hissing with pain.

Tchak'ta managed to prop himself into a sitting position against the wall cradling his right arm which had gone limp. There was what looked like a dark metal bolt embedded in his shoulder which was now bleeding copiously.

There was little time to think as the consoles to the far left exploded in a shower of sparks and flying shrapnel pouring acrid smoke into the room while a pungent gas began to seep out of the holes in the storage container.

He knew he had to get out now but felt immensely weak and he could feel his whole right side beginning to go numb. He gritted his teeth against the pain and edged his way towards the door breathing heavily and fighting the waves of nausea that swept over him.

The door swished open as he crawled near it but could not move further, his strength giving way to fatigue and pain. His mind wanting the sweet release the insidious embrace of unconsciousness promised.
‘Just a moment to get my breath back’ he thought as he closed his eyes.

A thought battered its way through his pain soaked mind to reach awareness, his subconscious had identified the gas now pouring out of the container and presented it to his conscious mind.
Alarm bells rang as he realized what the gas was and that he would die if he remained here any longer. With that thought a burst of adrenalin coursed through his body dredging up reserves of energy and providing the bit of strength he needed.

Tchak'ta rolled towards the door crying out in pain as his right shoulder hit the floor, the sharp pain providing a moment of clarity to his foggy mind and he rolled out and down the corridor away from the room.

The now familiar smell of swamp gas emanated from the room as Tchak’ta crawled further away. It was a smell associated with home for a Teladi as their homeworld consisted mostly of swampy marshlands.
Before the discovery and efficient use of solar power to provide all energy needs the plentiful supply of swamp gas was used to power their civilization, it is a very highly combustible gas.

There was a sudden concussive blow that knocked the breath from his body and an ear shattering roar as the sparks from the consoles ignited the heavy swamp gas. There was a moment of intense heat; his breath was sucked from his lungs as the surrounding air was consumed creating a vacuum.

This was instantly filled with an explosion which tore apart not only the room it was in but also the rooms adjacent and opposite it. The whole hotel shook from the level of violence as debris was thrown in every direction and masonry fell all around.

Tchak’ta was lifted and flung further down the corridor with the initial explosion slumping into the far wall as the lights went down and he slowly sunk into the welcoming void of unconsciousness.



Part 7

[pixel]

brill!! keep em coming FF

[KiwiNZ]

Excellent read. Nice fight, too.It does indeed look like the thing Ryhan does best is making enemies, closely followed by his exceptional piloting skills Yeah, tackling an Orinoco in a Disco is kinda useless, I never got the shields below 60% w/o missiles.

Lan must be really desperate for money that he is still shadowing the Bayamon at low speed. I'd gone and scanned soome BBS's for jobs


Looking forward to the next chapter!

[ched]

best story i've read in a long time!!!! if it were a book in a shop i'd buy it..
keep it coming

[FourFingers]

Thanks Guys!



appreciated!

Its gonna be a bit slow in updating for a bit as my damn home net has gone down! I never realised how limited the computer becomes when it doesn't have internet access..

i find myself using my SPV(mobile phone) to browse the net so i dont get withdrawl symtoms..

[FourFingers]

hi ya,

Ive added a bit more its only half the update as i'm writting directly onto the board from a mates computer. Should have my computers soul (internet) back tonight, i'll finish the update then.

[FourFingers]

Finished the Update.

[KiwiNZ]

Ouch, not a good run for Tchak'ta, albeit being quiet lucky to get out of there alive. I guess he is rather 'unhappy' now

Looking forward to the next chapter.

[Mercenary]

Good read and well described.

[pixel]

Like it, looks like a few twists are on the way

"Things were not as straight forward as he thought they would be" seems to be in the wrong tense, perhaps "Things had not been as straightforward as..."?

"With out" should be "without" (though maybe that is US English?)

Also, try using 'he' less and use his name or title to give a bit of variation (I was guilty of the opposite of this in my, slightly forgotten , story).

Good read and a fresh perspective

[KiwiNZ]

my, slightly forgotten , story

now whos fault is this?

[FourFingers]

Also, try using 'he' less and use his name or title to give a bit of variation

I just read it again and your definitely right way to many 'He' used
cant belive i missed it.
have edited it. thanks.

"With out" should be "without" (though maybe that is US English?)

Your right on that one too Some how my M$ Word changed to US English and i cant seem to change it back! It's so annoying when i use words like colour and it keeps flagging it as being spelt wrong..
I find my self shouting "Its not wrong damn it! Thats how it's ment to be spelt!!"

I was guilty of the opposite of this in my, slightly forgotten , story

what happened? do ya have a link to it??

[pixel]

if you go to page 3 of this forum you'll see some chapters of a story called "Prime Numbers" by me.

I honestly do mean to finish it off I just seem to be too busy at the moment.

first chapter:

http://www.egosoft.com/x2/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12546