The truth is not far
14 Jan 2021Sheronimo
We board Morgans Folly, and take off. I have not done a shakedown cruise in a while, so, I was looking forward to this flight. Purposely banking hard, over-thrusting, switching systems on and off, working out any bugs, purposely making everything on the ship work hard. Makes me feel like some kind of test pilot, important, and fun. I check my logs, then set a course for where I found John and Hero. I am hoping that the ship is still there, between asteroids and their unpredictable nature, as well as scavengers, pirates, and whatever else might come along, there is no knowing where it might be. Luckily, as soon as we drop out of Super Cruise, I see the ship a few 1000 meters in front of us, looks a bit worse, probably from asteroids and bandits. The green cloud that is normal with a Thargoid attack has mostly dissipated. I fly up as close as I dare, and begin to work my way around the ship using lateral thrusters, taking pics as I go. John is using a magnifier, looking out the window at her. Nothing on radar, nothing new on the scanner, Manifest scanner won't lock, and then John says, "Look at this, Sher." I stop the ship, unbuckle the harness and walk over to his station. He is zoomed in on the cargo hatch of the Cutter. Its covered in green caustic stains, and there is more, inside the cargo hold. "I would have to say, John, you could be correct." It really did look like a caustic item was in the hold, and either burned through the hatch, or, was extracted by something. I could not tell for sure, but, I do not think this ship had an Anti-Corrosive cargo rack. This means, either they picked up the device out here, or, it was placed on the ship just before take off. Anyone who has carried one of these devices knows all about this. The ships systems will almost immediately start going off due to corrosive damage in the hold. With in a few minutes, systems would start to fail. They couldn't have had it long, before all hell broke loose. I continue to scan the vessel visually, but I really don't see anything else of interest. I am about to suggest we head back when...."Under Attack!" That's what I hear as the energy bolts strike the shields. I scramble back to my seat and try to buckle in. By the time I am secured, the shields have failed and John is furiously trying to reroute power. "ALL POWER TO ENGINES!" I bolt out as I push the throttle forward and the boosters jump to life. Within seconds, we are at full speed and banking hard to avoid the closest asteroid. My console still shows hits to the hull coming from behind, the radar shows 3 ships tailing us. I continue to wildly bank and boost between the rocks, trying to increase our distance. I manage to get outside their weapons range, but, they are not stopping. These aren't your normal bandits. They are keeping up with my maneuvers, and, I am no amateur. John yells out, "Who are they, what do they want?" I reply, "Why don't you ask them, I am a little busy at the moment." To my surprise, the next thing I hear is John hailing the pursuers, "Why are you shooting at us?" They respond with, "STAND DOWN, this is the Imperial Navy. Surrender and prepare to be boarded." Ok, I didn't expect that. I have no issues in the Empire, why do they want to kill us? I look down at my console, shields are trying to recover, I move more power to them and they pop on. At least, that will give me a few seconds should this go badly. "We are surrendering, hold your fire!" I slow the ship and loop 180 degrees about, the ships come into firing range, but, do not open fire. John looks terrified. "It's going to be ok, son, they are just doing their duty. If they are truly military, they won't attack again unless we give them a reason," I say, hopefully. Suddenly, I am surprised by the comms again coming on, only this time, I hear a female voice say.... "John, is that you?"
I look over at John, he looks as shocked as I am to hear someone over the comms call him by name. John looks at me, then opens the channel, "Zara?" The reply is enthusiastic, "YES!" , followed by, "All ships, stand down. They are friendly, I repeat, stand down!" I see out the window that the ship in front of us is lowering it's hardpoints. I can see other ships coming this way, joining up in formation. "Zara, this is Commander Sheronimo, I am Johns employer. Would you do us the honor of following us to my carrier where we can dock and talk." "Agreed, lead the way!" I take the controls, check the Nav panel, and then bring us about for the Glaurung. Only a few mega-meters distant, we will be there in minutes. I look over at John after the ship jumps into super-cruise, he smiles like he has just won the lottery. I say, "Is she cute?" I get an even bigger smile, and he looks away as if he is embarrassed. I laugh and begin the docking procedure, 3 ships behind us come in and dock as well.