Any input is appreciated. I know there might be a couple typos in there somewhere...just not sure where though. Its not a spelling error I can assure you otherwise Spell checker would have found it.
Enjoy
The (/\)archild Chronicals
Wreck of the Scorpion
Chapter 1
Ghosts from the past
“Sometimes you have to
Grab hold of your dreams
and hold tight…otherwise
…they’ll never become a
Reality.”
- (/\)archild
(Pronounced Warchild)
Jorion Davidson wheeled the Boron fighter hard starboard heading to the outer fringe of the sector as it started to shudder violently. Not now… that’s all I need…just a little longer, he thought as the shuddering slowly ceased. The old Piranha he was flying had seen better days, but no other ship could handle the modifications he’d made, and he definitely couldn’t afford one of the newer Barracudas. The ship was in dire need of an overhaul that he just couldn’t afford.
Jorion watched the blips on the scanner as he made his way to the edge of the sector. The only way not to be caught with a hold full of Space weed was to keep out of scanner range and have a ship faster than the one chasing you, but with the split, if you showed up on the scanners, you were fair game. There had been reports of a Split Corvette with a cloaking devise roaming the galaxy patrolling Split sectors. With no way to know where it was, it was dangerous transporting anything illegal through Split sectors. The Boron had something called Stealth Skin on all of their ships, but it was a chemical reaction that made the ships appear to be cloaked. It was extremely expensive to have the complete skin added to a ship, but it was something Jorion was going to do some tazura.
Proximity alarms started to sound as Jorion studied the gravidar display and looked out of the blister of the cockpit, but nothing was there. “Proximity alert”. The computer stated flatly, as Jorion quickly chose a direction and brought the fighter into a sharp dive. As the shuddering fighter started to dive, there was a metallic scraping sound as the fighter started to shake violently. “Collision…collision…collision” The computer repeated calmly as Jorion looked up and saw the rippling concentric waves of an energy field that has been impacted. THE CLOAKED CORVETTE, he screamed in his mind. As the fighter started to level out and the alarms began to shut down, the Corvette began to De-cloak. Jorion looked at the scanner and could see the blip on the gravidar.
Quickly he targeted the larger ship as the information started to display on the screen. The Cloaked Dragon He thought as the information started to compile on the object. Jorion hazarded a glance back through the Canopy of the fighter almost lifting himself out of the seat, but the large vessel was already obstructed by the rest of the fighter. Quickly he stabbed the button for the targeting computer and displayed the ship on the camera. The Dragon was an awesome sight, but it wasn’t something that any pilot wanted to face alone. Jorion knew that he was definitely out gunned and there was no way that the Piranha was ever going to out run the larger ship. In the distance, he saw a nebula and banked the fighter towards the space cloud.
Jorion had barely gotten three kilometers from the corvette when the plasma bolts started to rocket past the fighter and explode. This was a good sign however, since they were exploding so close to the fighter, it meant that he was just starting to get out of range of the corvettes canons. Once more, he glanced over at the external camera and saw the Dragon still making the turn towards him. I might just be able to make it he thought as he engaged the emergency boosters to put a little more distance between him and the corvette.
Generally, the emergency boosters would cut down on the rate of fire for the weapons, but there was no way that Jorion was going to be foolish enough to take on a Corvette in a medium class fighter…an outdated medium class fighter at that. Piranha’s were mainly a civilian spacecraft these tazuras, but Jorion had modified the fighter to the extent of recklessness. Supercharged engines, accelerated shield output, emergency booster thrusters, and a mild Stealth skin upgrade…but there was a price to pay for all of it. The emergency thrusters had to be recharged over time, and the accelerated shield output put a heavy drain on the plasma core cutting engine performance by 30%. The engine supercharger could completely drain the plasma ion-drive engine, not to mention burn it out at the same time…and if it was a bad day, it could just blow up.
Jorion cut power to the weapons, shut down the booster, engaged the supercharger, and increased the fighters speed gradually. He kept a close eye on the heat output as he did this and watched it slowly rise. Quickly he closed on the nebula allowing him to get a good scan of it.
“Lighting nebula ahead,” the computer AI droned. “Great… that’s all I need right now…what else could go wrong?” He retorted back at the computer trying to make a decision. As he looked at the scanner, he noticed that there were several blips moving towards him at high speed. “Interceptors… great” he stated flatly as he started to push the throttle a few more notches accelerating as the engine started to heat up a little more.
Quickly he stabbed the sector map and scanned the interceptors at long range. “Six Split Mamba on intercept course”. The computer informed as he entered the nebula. “Shields Critical, lightning strikes on hull, hull breach in 15- minutes” The computer droned. “Thank you for informing me” Jorion said sarcastically. “Can you tell me something I don’t know?”
“Jump gate to…unknown sector in 45 sezuras.” The computer informed him as he raised an eyebrow. “Jump gate… Where? “He asked confused and happy all at the same time. The computer quickly brought the information onto a separate screen and targeted the gate. “Is there any information on the sector the gate leads to?” he asked the computer as he turned the fighter towards the gate. “No information found”
“Ok…is there any race that has information about this gate?” He asked hoping that his ships records were up to date, but he already knew the answer to the question. Normally when he docked at a station, if there was any added information about discovered sectors, there would be an update. “No data for sector connected to unknown west gate.” The computer answered as the gate came into view.
The gate looked very different from the other gates in the galaxy that Jorion had traveled through. It looked older somehow, although all the gates in the known universe were ancient, this one seemed much older. Jorion quickly looked at the gravidar…it was blank. “Shields at 88%” the computer reminded.
“Is there a problem with the scanners?” he asked.
“Scanners on-line…scanners…functioning normally…nebula interference disrupting scanner signals.” The computer droned. This was good. As long as the patrol couldn’t find him…but if they located the gate…there was a good chance that he’d be cornered with no way out of the sector. The thought wasn’t a pleasant one, but he had no choice now.
There were definitely drawbacks to smuggling. A pilot sometimes took too much freight and had no space left in the hold for anything else. The jump drive would have come in handy right about now, unfortunately, it needed energy cells to operate…, and a lot of them for where he was headed and he didn’t have enough do make a jump in sector let alone to another sector. No, the jump gate was the only choice, he thought as he brought his attention back to the gate in front of him.
The Piranha sped through the gate and made the jump to the unknown sector with no trouble as the pursuing Split corvette stopped a few kilometers from the Lightning nebula and the interceptors disengaged.
“Wait here 20 mizuras…if the ship doesn’t emerge, re-cloak the ship, set course for Sector Family Rhonkar, and engage the jump drive…I’ll waste no time on this one” The Split Captain ordered as he headed off the bridge to his briefing room to relax.
Luckily, for Jorion, the lightning nebula had only brought the hull integrity down to 75%. There was nothing in the sector, completely void of any life whatsoever. If the Split knew about this sector, there would be something here.
The Gravidar was completely empty with the exception of the asteroids. One in particular could be seen easily on the other side of a parasitic nebula. It was easy to spot with all the particles that seemed to race around inside the cloud. Jorion stabbed a button for the scanners as they scanned the asteroid. “Asteroid…composition….48% Nividium….50% Ore….2% Ice.” The computer stated. “Sounds like a good place to have a couple mines...” Jorion murmured to himself as he headed for the large asteroid.
As he closed in on the asteroid, he discovered it looked more like a planetoid than an asteroid; luckily, it was a few Kilometers away from the nebula as well. Jorion started to move around the body as the sensors picked up an object on the surface. As he targeted the object, he almost changed direction. After a moment the initial shock fled and he realized that the ship was a wreck and not operational. Quickly he changed heading towards the wreckage.
The corvette looked as though it had been broadsided by an armada, probably by the Xenon in one of the ancient wars. “Computer, identify ship wreckage.” He said to the computer as he brought the piranha close to the wreckage.
“Unknown Corvette.” The computer replied.
That can’t be right, Jorion thought as he used the fighters strafe drive to maneuver around the corvette.
There were no distinguishing markings on the vessel to associate it with any race except it was a known model currently in operation in the Argon sectors.
Jorion looked at the display screen and saw the words ‘Unknown’ flashing on the screen. The scanners, however, showed there was a slight power signature coming from the corvette. Cautiously, Jorion maneuvered the fighter around the corvette looking for a docking extension. Sometimes larger vessels were made with extra external docking plates allowing fighters and courier ships to dock briefly. After a few mizuras, Jorion was rewarded with the docking extension. The only problem was that it was in an odd position as the corvette was leaning to one side. It was going to be a tricky dock, but it was possible. Computer assisted docking was out of the question with this type of dock, so Jorion slowly maneuvered the fighter into position for docking as he watched the surface of the asteroid move closer and closer to the fighter.
“It’s going to be next to impossible to get out of here in an emergency.” Jorion said aloud as he brought the fighter over the small docking plate and felt the fighter bounce once as it touched the surface of the corvette and the small clamps grabbed onto the docking plate.
Jorion donned the helmet to his space suit and crawled back to the lower access hatch. All fighters had a lower access hatch, but they were seldom used, and the lower access hatch on the piranha had never been used. He punched the button to slide the access hatch open. It took a couple tries, but eventually the hatchway opened up to gain access to the corvette. He slowly lowered himself down the narrow tube and felt his foot touch the first rung inside the corvette.
It dawned on him that anything could be awaiting him inside the ship when he lowered himself through the hatch. Instinctively, he drew his needle gun and proceeded through the hatchway. As he touched the floor plates, he spun low to the floor searching for a target, but nothing was there. He was in a corridor somewhere near the bridge according to the map on the wall. There was a communications station near the access hatch, possibly for message and courier drones.
The ship looked to be in excellent condition. He looked at his wrist scanner and noticed that there was fresh oxygen in the ship. Not wanting to take a chance, he kept his helmet on. With the damage to the outside of the ship, the hull might give way and that would be it.
The ship seemed to be running on emergency power. The corridors were completely spotless. Like someone had recently had a team constantly cleaning the ship. Besides the red emergency lighting, nothing else seemed to be wrong with the ship at all. Jorion expected to see dead bodies strewn throughout the ship, but there were no bodies as well. Must have been running the ship through a slave chip Jorion thought as he reached the bridge. He walked onto the bridge expecting to find a body there draped over the controls or something, but it was just as empty as the rest of the ship he’d seen. Something began to nag at him as he walked around the bridge. Nothing seemed to be out of place with the exception of the missing crew. The bridge was set up for multiple crewmen, but there was no evidence of them. For that matter, there was no evidence that the ship was utilizing a slave chip to run everything. Usually there was a console at every station that would be connected to the slave chip, but there was nothing like that on the bridge. All the consoles looked like the normal consoles that would be manned by a crew. So where did the crew get to, he wondered as he looked around the bridge.
Jorion made his way to the engineering console and stabbed at a button. The information sprayed the screen in seconds. “That was fast,” he said aloud.
He quickly punched up the information on the ship. The hull integrity was at 87% surprisingly. From the look of things on the outside, the damage seemed to be a lot worse. As he scanned through the information, he saw that the ship had clean oxygen flowing throughout the ship and gravity generator was still operating. This he knew to be true as he had weight. Didn’t need to be a scientist to figure that out. Now or never, he thought as he unclasped the helmet to his suit. The air was cooler in the ship, but it was definitely fresh air, sweet tasting like no one had ever been aboard and it had the smell of newness like the ship had just floated out of the shipyard. Fine, he thought, let’s turn this beastie on.
Jorion looked for a power console to turn the ships power on and see what was aboard that he could salvage. There was no way that he would be able to hire a salvage team. Most likely, the ship wouldn’t be worth very much anyway and he’d end up owing money instead of getting money. Everything seemed to work though. Finally, he found the right command console and stabbed the auxiliary power switch. Jorion stepped back from the console as the ship snapped to life. Scanners came online as the ship went through its self-diagnostic.
Somehow I don’t think that was a good idea, he thought as information started to flow onto all the screens at the various stations.
As Jorion scanned through the information on the various screens, he found a very interesting piece of information. The Corvette had a Stealth Skin that hadn’t been added to the ship yet. The information also indicated classified information about a few ship systems including the jump drive that was considered experimental.
Nope, not going to mess with that thing, he thought to himself.
After Jorion made his delivery and was paid, he’d be able to come back with his transport, but it wasn’t going to be easy without energy cells. With the Split sitting on the other side of the gate, he was effectively trapped in this unknown sector…unless he activated the Corvette and jumped through the gate with this Corvette…they wouldn’t expect it.
Thoughts ran through his mind as he browsed through the information appearing on the screen. Suddenly, as if to answer his prayers, the cargo information appeared on the screen. In addition to having a full compliment of weapons, missiles and all the food he could possibly eat, the two things he needed most were right there in the hold. Energy cells and a few dozen small fighter repair kits. With these, he’d be able to make the jump to Great Reef, collect his payment, and have his transport meet him here in this sector. The only problem with that was that the jump drive on the transport that he had sitting in the trade station in Atreus Clouds didn’t have navigation software installed. The only way to pull this off was to either have someone fly the transport to the location of the corvette…or make two stops before coming back to the unknown sector. There was a third option however. He could pilot the corvette to a safe haven and pick it apart at his leisure as well…but that would mean using an experimental drive that as far as he’d known had never been tested.
Fine, he thought. I’ll take a look at the jump engines and see what they look like.
Jorion made his way thought the corvette past the crew quarters and mess area. Nothing seemed to have been touched. He looked in the galley and saw that everything was still shiny new and apparently untouched. It was an eerie walk to the engine room. It was almost as if the corvette had jumped into the sector and straight from the Shipyard.
The engine room was quiet as the engines weren’t on-line. Still, there should have been some sound as the power core was still working. As the hatch door closed behind him, he began to hear the sound of the power core humming in the background. Looking at the engines, he could see that they were very advanced. Some kind of fusion ion drive reactor. He’d never seen one before, but Jorion had heard of them from time to time. Usually the very rich had these on their luxury skiffs, the kinds that are only good for cruising through sectors and light hauling. This was a find though. The power core would fetch a very good price
Seeing as it was too large to put into a fighter. He walked over to look at the jump drive. As he looked at the jump drive system, he saw that there were all kinds of connections, half of which he’d never seen before, and a few that looked completely alien. Jorion was no jump drive expert, but even on his own fighter and the larger transport, he’d never seen anything like this kind of set-up before.
Jorion crawled around the jump system to get a better look at how the drive was set up. A lot of the connections he was familiar with, but still, a few didn’t make any sense at all.
“Well…” he said to himself. “It’s better to be safe than sorry.” He said as he looked for the tool kit he knew had to be close by.
After a complete tour of the large engine room, he was rewarded with not only one but two sets of tools. The first set was clearly meant for human use. The second set looked as if it was more suited for Boron use than anything else was.
Still a little nervous with the silence, he’d decided to see if he could get the computer online to play some music. He noted that there was a comms switch on the bulkhead near the hatchway and decided to try it out. Looking at it he could clearly see that not only was it an intercom system, but it could also patch him into anyone on-board the ship as well as access the computer AI. He looked around the engine room and looked at the engineering console. The console looked exactly like the one he’d seen on the bridge, except this one had a slave module attached to it as well. So….Someone WAS controlling this ship remotely. I wonder what went wrong with the slave system. He thought as he started to punch up information on the screen. As he was looking for information to activate the computer AI voice commands, he came across the computer engineering reports. The feeling that Jorion had about the jump drive system had been right.
The computer noted a fluctuation in the power output of the jump drive that had caused a malfunction in the system. The jump system vectored something else other than a gate when it was engaged. So what happened to the people that were on board this thing? That was the question that kept nagging at him the whole time he’d been on board the corvette. The diagnostics of the jump system called for him to remove connection to several other systems as he had thought when he first looked at the jump drive.
Before he left the console, he was determined to find some music to play. As he rummaged through the computer he found the commands for the computer AI activation. The logs that he’d found indicated that it had never been brought online before, but that was all. He couldn’t find any pertinent information in the computer on where the ship had been or even where it had been built.
He tapped at the keys and activated the AI speech commands relatively easily. Now he could talk to the computer instead of trying to rummage through the computer himself. The AI diagnostic ran and the program stated that it was now active. “Hull integrity at 87%... life support fully operational….Engine systems…shut down…. operational….Deck one… damaged… deck two… damaged… deck three… damaged. Life forms on board…One.” The AI said in a distinctly feminine voice. Jorion had heard somewhere that a female’s voice carried farther over background noise better than a man’s voice, but he’d never really had the chance to hear a voice other than the computer AI voice in his fighter. The computers voice in his Piranha was female…but compared to the voice of this AI, it might as well have been talking through a tube from the end of a very long tunnel. Now was Jorion’s chance to find out more information on the ship. “Computer, where was this ship built?” He questioned as he made his way back to the jump system. “Sir” The computer started “This ship was constructed in a shipyard.” It stated truthfully. Jorion shook his head. Perhaps a better line of questions was in order. “Computer, what shipyard was this vessel constructed at?” He rephrased as he knelt down next to the jump system preparing to disconnect the faulty connections indicated from the schematic displayed on the console. “No information about the shipyard the vessel was built in exists on file.” The computer replied. “Computer” Jorion started as he stood up from the engine. “What do you mean there is no file on the whereabouts of the manufacturer of this vessel?” In truth, every ship had to have a manufacturer’s inspection and there was usually something in the software that stated where the ship was built. The Piranha had a manufactures ID in the software for the computer and structural schematics as well. Jorion worked his way around the jump system as he carefully disconnected the faulty connections.
“Sir…” The computer called “For what reason are you disconnecting key systems for the jump drive system?” It asked. Jorion was stunned for a moment. He’d never seen a computer that was this intelligent before. “I’ve noticed by looking at the computer diagnostic that these systems are faulty.” He answered, “Not to mention that when I actually engage the jump drive, I want to make it to the destination in one piece and alive.” He added.
“Yes, you are correct. I apologize for interrupting.” The computer replied in an almost apologetic tone. Jorion stopped what he was doing as he realized that the computer just apologized for asking a question. “Computer… do you have a designation…a name?” He asked.
“Yes, my designation is M6YC12204.” The computer answered quickly.
“No… I mean what would you have me call you?” HE asked as he stood holding one of the cables he’d just disconnected.
“I do not understand the question.” The computer replied.
“In other words” He smiled “Can I call you Leelu?”
Jorion made his way around the jump system and bent down to make his way to the other side of the system to disconnect the rest of the connections the jump system no longer needed.
The computer was silent for a bit, as Jorion worked on the connections.
“Yes, I believe I understand that designation as a name, I believe it would be proper for you to call me Leelu.” The computer answered finally
“What took you so long to answer?” he asked bending down as he grunted.
“I needed to scan the data base for a definition of this designation. It was found to be called a name. I also searched the records of the connected vessel as well. This yielded much information on the surrounding systems. I updated the information based on the vessels databanks, and in turn updated the smaller fighter’s records with this data bases information.” Leelu replied.
Jorion froze for a moment. Did the computer now know that he was a smuggler? Would it let him leave? He’d never encountered a computer like this before.
“Leelu… what would you have done had I just been dismantling your systems to take the ship apart?” He asked, wondering what the reply would be.
“This vessel along with everything in it belongs to the owner of vessel ID Piranha M4YM1023 Jorion Davidson… you sir.” Leelu replied with the tone of a computer that was attempting to make a joke.
“How am I the owner of this ship…? Does it say so in the registry?” He asked, now a little more concerned.
“You are the owner through salvage rights. This vessel has been derelict for 10 jazuras in this sector designated as unknown sector. You are free to do what you wish with your own property.” Leelu finished.
The information was a little strange to Jorion. How can the ship sit derelict for ten years and not show any signs of age. There was no dust on any of the computer consoles and everything looked brand new.
“I don’t understand, how can this vessel have been abandoned for ten years? Everything in here looks to be right off the assembly line and in perfect condition.” He shot back moving once again to continue working on the jump system.
“Searching for previous owners’ records and computer history, this may take some time… please stand by.” Leelu said as the computer began sifting through the records the ship had compiled over the years.
Jorion had continued to disconnect the remaining cable connections and checked the schematic display to make sure that he’d disconnected the right connections to make the jump system operational again without the enhancements. Happy with his work he ran a diagnostic from the console he was at rather than interrupt Leelu from compiling her files and finding the information.
“I could have done that as well Jorion; I am capable of multitasking functions and can handle 42 different tasks at once.” Leelu stated as Jorion started to say something but stopped.
“I just figured I wouldn’t bother you while you were finding the information. “He replied a little stunned at the amount of work the computer could handle all at once.
“Jorion, the previous owner was Warchild of Scorpion cartel. During a battle against an unidentified pirate faction, the Scorpion was damaged and there was a problem with the jump drive, which caused it to malfunction. The Scorpion has been in jump space for 11 jazuras, 8 mazura’s, seven wazura’s, five tazura’s, 45 mizura’s, and 30 sezura’s. “Leelu stated as she continued to search her data banks for more information. Jorion was stunned by the amount of time the corvette was in jump space. He’d never heard of a ship being in jump space for that long, but it would account for the ship appearing brand new. Surely, the pirates didn’t build this ship. The fact that the ship had belonged to the leader of the most notorious pirate faction in the galaxy was a bit unnerving. It had been nearly ten jazuras. No one was looking for this ship…but there were stories of a lost corvette that the Argon had made, but most of that had never been confirmed.
“Leelu, where was this ship first activated? Do you have that information?” he asked intently.
“This ship was first activated in… Argon Prime…date unknown…crew…unknown.” She replied.
“Then what happened to the last crew that was onboard… They couldn’t have vanished into thin air?” Jorion questioned as he looked at the readout on the display for the jump systems diagnostics assessment.
“According to my databanks, the crew was onboard when the ship activated the jump system, when the ship exited jump space; there was no one on board. My AI system had never been activated until you yourself had activated it.” Leelu informed him. “According to the information in the databanks prior to the last jump the Scorpion made, it was involved in 1193 battles and 44 major attacks involving capital ships under command of Warchild and Dalhart Von. Dalhart Von was the last captain to command this vessel.”
“So you mean to tell me that the Scorpion is the lost corvette the Argon built almost 20 jazuras ago? Jorion questioned.
“No, this corvette was designated as a companion to the cruiser code named Scorpion that was built in the Argon System. This vessel was slaved to the Cruiser Scorpion also known as AP Scorpion363. No further information is available. The records were kept aboard this Corvette for safe keeping.”
Leelu replied.
So, there were two vessels built that day, a Cruiser AND a corvette. It was beginning to make sense now. Jorion was able to piece together the information the computer was giving him with all the stories that he’d ever heard. Everyone that knew the tales thought that the Scorpion was a Corvette that was taken by the Pirates and then lost during battle, when in actuality; the Scorpion was really a cruiser. Jorion was still trying to absorb all the implications, but he had one piece of the puzzle that no one else knew… the Scorpion was still out there.
“Were there any other crewmen besides the pirate crew listed aboard this vessel prior to the last jump?” He asked.
“No, this vessel was slaved to the AP Scorpion, there was no need of a crew for this vessel.” Leelu replied.
“So when the Cruiser made the jump to jump space, this Corvette made the jump as well due to the slave commands?” Jorion questioned the computer.
“Yes, the only commands this vessel had were to follow the Cruiser Designated to this vessel as Scorpion.”
“What do you mean, designated to this vessel? This was the only ship in the galaxy that knew the AP Scorpion actually existed?” He asked in disbelief.
“That is correct. In order to maintain secrecy and to prevent individuals from finding out about the experimental project codenamed Scorpion, All knowledge was kept aboard this vessel.” Leelu answered.
“Leelu… can you change your transponder designation manually or does it need to be done from the console by a technician?” Jorion asked as he thought about the possibilities of owning a one of a kind corvette with advances that no other race had developed yet… including the Argon.
“Yes, I can change the designation… what designation would you like to have as a registration Jorion?” Leelu asked.
“Fire Spray.” Jorion smiled. “is the hanger bay still in operation?”
“Yes… there is room for 16 more fighters in the hanger.”
“16 more fighters? There are fighters already in the hanger?”
“Yes, there are currently four Discoverers, 4 Busters, and 4 Novas currently docked.” Leelu replied.
In case you were wondering, I ended the chapter like this for a reason...
I need to keep people in suspense.
Let me know if you like it and if there is any inconsistancies in the story so far. The next two chapters i had to trash...too inconsistant, so it might be a bit before I get the next chapter done...but it'll be worth it.
As a matter of fact....I've deviated from the rest of the chapters that were written...so...I kind of have to re-write everything...its for a better good
Cheers
but difficult to read with the layout 
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