Special Pickup - Chapter 6: Into the Twilight
11 Jun 2016LordPsymon
Previous chapterSpecial Pickup - Chapter 6: Into the Twilight
---Garoju - Verrier Orbital---
I rung the doorbell on Fiona’s apartment and waited a couple of minutes. The door slid open and Fiona stood there, looking like she had just woken up.
“I’m sorry, did I wake you?” I said.
She smiled a tired smile. “You did actually. It’s okay. I was having a pretty bad dream anyway.”
She lead me inside and sat down on the sofa. “Could you make us a coffee, Mr?”
“Sure thing.”
“How did it go with Caius?” she asked me, in a half asleep tone.
Shit, actually.
“It umm… Could have gone better. He threatened to sell me off to Pegasi if I didn’t bring you to him and…”
She shot a worried look at my bandaged arm, blood slowly trickling down and interrupted me.
“What happened to your arm??”
“...and shot me.” I finished.
“You need to get that looked at!” she said as she approached me.
“I’m sure it’s fine… The bullet only grazed me.”
“It’s still bleeding quite heavily you idiot. We’re going to the doctor and you’re going to have that looked at.”
I stood back, throwing up my arms in surrender. “Okay, okay, I’ll do it, but let me finish making coffee.”
She frowned at me. “No! Now! Coffee can wait. Don’t want you dripping blood all over the floor.” She thrusted a towel at me. “Keep that over your wound and let’s get moving.”
---Verrier Orbital - Medical Facility---
The doctor was finishing up the last few stitches on the bullet wound while Fiona waited in the waiting room, reading a several week old magazine.
“That should do it, Mr. Datura. Take it easy on that arm for a week or so. Try to avoid being shot if you can. You’re lucky that bullet didn’t hit any deeper.” He said sarcastically.
“Thanks, doc.” I said as I stood up and walked out into the waiting room. Fiona put down the magazine and we both walked out of the entrance.
We made our way to a small plaza, where small little food stalls dotted the area. The place was fairly busy, with many people around grabbing breakfast or coffee, ready to start their day. I grabbed us a coffee and we found a little table to sit at.
“How’ve you been holding up, Fiona?” I gently asked her.
She looked down at the table, lightly fidgeting with her coffee cup. “I’m okay… Just… Frustrated. I’m so close to going home, yet so far away.” she said in a low, pensive voice. “I’ve mainly been keeping to myself.”
“I hear you. I had to deal with a bunch of legal crap after I busted out. I was confined to a small area, just like you.”
She looked at me curiously. “Oh?”
“Yeah. I was pretty much assumed dead. Took weeks to process all the paperwork to reverse my deceased status.”
“So, what’s the plan now Simon?” Fiona asked me.
“Well… No doubt that asshole Bisley has put a price on my head, so I don’t think I’ll be going anywhere for a while.”
She looked up at me. “So you’ll be sticking around here for a while huh?”
“Well, I’ve had my ship outfit for mining, and there’s a gas giant not too far out with plenty of stuff to mine in its inner ring… I have to do something to keep the credits coming.”
Fiona looked back down at the table and sighed.
I leaned forward slightly. “I could maybe do with some company out there.” I smiled.
She looked back up and smiled wryly. “Is that an invite?”
“I warn you now - it gets pretty damn dull, mining.”
Fiona smiled, her eyes warm. “That’s fine. After the last two or so years, I think I could use a little dullness. I’m sure it’ll be better than being cooped up in that apartment.”
I smiled back. “Okay, well we shall depart when we’re done with coffee.”
We returned to Rattlesnake ready to head off to the rings of the nearby gas giant.
“I hope you have a spare one of those flight suits,” Fiona said as we walked up the entry ramp. I opened up a locker and pulled out a yellow and black Remlok suit and handed it to her.
“As a matter of fact I do.”
I headed up to the cockpit and fired up the ship’s systems. Fiona walked in a short while afterward, wearing the flight suit I gave her.
“How do I look?” She asked, grinning.
I turned around to see Fiona standing by the doorway to the cockpit, striking a pose.
Very, very attractive is how you look.
I hesitated slightly. “Like... ship life agrees with you.”
She sat down in the copilot’s seat and smiled. “I think I could get used to this.”
So I could I. Very used to it.
I sunk into the pilot’s seat as I guided the ship out of the cavernous docking bay of Verrier Orbital.
It sure is nice having some good company once in awhile. I let off a sigh.
“What’s wrong?” Fiona asked.
I felt my face warming up as I turned to look at her. “Huh? Oh… Uhh. Nothing… Just… I’m glad you agreed to come along.”
She smiled and chucked lightly. “Well I’m glad you asked me along.”
---Garoju - Gas Giant Ring System---
The ring was dark, the light of the star obscured by the giant silhouette of the planet. The headlights illuminated the thin fog around us as I slowly approached a small asteroid, tumbling among the many thousands of rocks in the immediate area. I brought the ship to a stop, just a small distance from the rock and deployed the mining laser. The cockpit lit up a purple hue as the laser chipped away fragments of the asteroid.
I booted up the collector drone controller, and a small drone zoomed away from Rattlesnake scooping up fragments and returning them to the ship. I stopped the laser and allowed the drone to continue collecting fragments.
“You know, as dull as mining is, it’s the only way I can think of where you can get some peace and quiet and still make some credits.”
Fiona was staring outside, toward the silhouette of the gas giant. “It’s so peaceful out there,” she said calmly.
“Yeah, it is. You know what the best part is?”
She turned to me, “yeah?”
“There ain’t a single ship within at least 10,000 kilometers of us. It’s just us out here. No one will bother us.”
We sat in silence for a little bit, relaxing and watching the drone collect asteroid fragments as I occasionally fired the mining laser to chip away more fragments. Fiona turned to me.
“Simon… If you had known that your ‘special pickup’ were a slave...” she paused. “Would you have still accepted the contract?”
I turned to her and opened my mouth ready to say something, but stopped. I looked back out the window, thinking about what she asked me.
“You know… I’m not sure. Part of me wants to say no, but…” I paused again. “But if I didn’t accept the contract…”
“Those bandits would have got me instead.”
“Yeah... I’d never have found you.” My face started warming up again, and I smiled a little.
And I think that is my favourite part of this whole shindig.
Fiona returned the smile. “Well, I am glad it was you who found me. I guess some of you freelancers have a moral compass after all.”
I chuckled. “Yeah well, it’s not always all about the money.”
Fiona looked down at the dashboard, fidgeting a little with her own hands.
“Before you got… Well…” She stumbled.
I raised my eyebrow at Fiona. “Kidnapped?”
“Well, yeah… I was trying to find a nicer way to put it.”
“You don’t have to sugarcoat it, Fiona.” I retorted.
She grunted. “Thanks. Anyway, before you were… kidnapped… What were your plans?”
“Go to Nortes, get really drunk, make an ass out of myself, return home then write code for a living. Boring stuff really.”
Fiona leaned in a little, “become a pilot later?”
“No. I always wanted to roam around space, see new things, meet interesting people, but I never saw myself as pilot material.”
“Well look how that turned out.”
I chuckled again. “Yeah, funny how things worked out isn’t it?” I pointed toward a faint, red object in the distance.
“You see that red cloud over there?”
Fiona leaned in closer, letting her head follow where my finger was pointing. “I see it.”
“That’s Barnard’s Loop.” I lowered my hand. “I always imagined how cool it would be to go out there and see it up close. Can you just imagine what it would be like inside a nebula? To be surrounded by a red glow like that?”
“Well, you own a ship. Maybe you should go out there one day.” Fiona said, pointing to the floor of the cockpit.
“Perhaps I will one day.” I said, staring out toward Barnard’s Loop.
“And perhaps you should take me along with you.” She smiled cheekily.
I looked at her and smirked, raising an eyebrow. “It’s a long trip you know. Do you think you could put up with me for that long?”
“Well I’ve put up with you so far haven’t I?”
“I suppose you have.”
The drone returned to Rattlesnake after scooping up the last fragment. I poked Fiona in the shoulder.
“You wanna steer the ship to another rock?” I asked her.
She flinched a little. “You want me to fly the ship?”
I grinned. “Sure, why not? Can’t have me doing all the work.”
Fiona shot me a sarcastic look.
“You haven’t even done any work. We just sat here and watched the drone do everything!”
I laughed, “Yeah, I also flew the ship here.”
I clicked a button on my console which unfolded flight controls from Fiona’s seat. Fiona looked forward and put her hands on the controls.
“Alright, but if we slam into a rock, I am blaming you.”
I nodded, “Fair enough.” I pointed toward a large rock about two kilometers away. “turn toward that rock there and ease up the throttle.”
Fiona nervously steered the ship to face the rock and throttled up slowly.
“That’s it, you’re doing good so far.”
“How do I stop??” She asked anxiously.
“Just throw the throttle back to zero and the ship will handle it.”
The rock grew bigger in front of us as we approached.
“God damn it! I’m a law girl, not a pilot!”
“You’re doing fine! Throw the throttle to zero now!”
She pulled the throttle down and the ship slowed. The nose of the ship lightly tapped the rock in front of us and we jerked forward in our seats slightly. I let out a short laugh.
“Ha ha… Very funny flyboy!” Fiona exclaimed as I continued to laugh.
I gently reversed us back a bit putting a decent gap between us and the asteroid.
“You did fine Fiona, better than a lot of new pilots I’d imagine. But hey, this is why they invented shields right?” I laughed again.
Fiona turned around and poked me firmly in the ribs. “You’re a dick, you know that?”
I looked back at her, smiling wryly. “Yup. Shall we call it a day?”
She stood up from her seat and stretched. “Yeah, I am getting kinda tired actually.”
We headed down to the living quarters and I grabbed my datapad off the table in the room, while Fiona went off to the sleeping quarters to change out of the flight suit. A red notification light was flashing. I tapped the screen and opened the messages window.
<New Message: Magistrate of Garoju>
<Subject: Scheduled Hearing>
I turned toward the sleeping quarters and yelled out.
“Hey Fiona! Come here, you might wanna see this!”
Fiona shortly entered the room in a grey t-shirt and pants. “What is it?”
I showed her the datapad. “Take a look!”
Dear Simon and Fiona,
I am writing to inform you that evidence for Fiona’s release has been reviewed, as well as the evidence against Caius Bisley. A hearing has been scheduled for two weeks from now at 1400 hours local time. I am not allowed to say more on the matter until that time. I would recommend being at the Magistrate’s office half an hour before the scheduled hearing.
Kind Regards,
Adrianus Denter
Imperial Magistrate of Garoju
Fiona hugged me in her excitement. “This is great news!”
My face went warm again as I returned her hug. “It sure is. You’ll be home in no time.”
I changed out of my flight suit and we hopped into separate bunks. Her blankets ruffled as she turned toward me.
“I enjoyed spending time out here with you, Simon,” she said, her voice warm.
“Me too, Fiona. You think you can handle coming out here a few more times over the next couple of weeks?”
“As long as you don’t make me fly again.”
We both laughed.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Fiona yawned and rolled over again. “Goodnight, flyboy.”