Pegasus Run 3305 - Day 55
22 Nov 2019Flemish Jack
16:02:53 11-22-05We jogged our way back to civilization, met Huber, hired her on, and hit the gift shop at Fort Mug. Hutton Orbital mugs for everyone!
So there we were….
Plotted the straightest course possible to Pilkington Orbital, sold a small amount of nav data to the locals, refitted/repaired the ship and went looking for Aanya Huber. After asking around a bit we were told she was front seating a Type 9 for Enheriar Agri-Works, Ltd. A few credits exchanged hands with traffic control and we discovered that she was overnighting at Fort Mug scheduled to return to station the following day. Off to Fort Mug. Sweet.
We found her boat on approach to the station, still sitting on pad 27, not in a hangar. Explains why it can be hard to get clearance for a large pad in this region as apparently folks park on them. Must be a regional thing. Anyway, we hit the pilots’ lounge nearest pad 27. The bartender pointed towards Huber and we made our introductions. At first she was a bit put off until we offered to buy her dinner. Over synthetic chicken and actual real vegetables we synopsized our story so far and asked her if she could confirm, add to, or first-hand deny the convoluted threads we’d stitched together so far. She refused.
Well she refused with a major caveat. She wouldn’t answer any of our questions unless we hired her on as crew and only once we’d made the jump to witch space heading out of the region would she tell us anything. It was all I could do to keep my composure. As it was I am already up one more crew member than I had ever planned to have for this expedition. The last thing I needed was another one eating into my profit margin. I showed her the crux and started to get up from the table.
She grabbed my wrist, firmly (she had one hell of a grip) and explained in aggressive hushed tones that she needed out of Colonia and couldn’t afford her own ship nor the ticket costs to fly commercial. She offered to take shifts in the cockpit and serve as ship’s engineer. She had a way with machinery she said.
Chief agreed to add her to the manifest before I could respond, which pissed me off, but I didn’t really see any other course of action so I didn’t counter. We clearly had stepped in something and the only way we were going to get to the bottom of it, it seemed, was to bring Huber along for the ride. I figured we’d set up 8 hour shifts once we got out deep to keep the boat moving 24/7 to get to waypoint #6 so that’s something…I guess. We loaded up extra potable water, food cartridges for the Magic Chef to feed the extra mouth, grabbed a few mugs for the road and adjusted course for waypoint #6 23,385.47ly distant.
Once we cleared the gravity well and entered witch space, Huber was true to her word. She was a mining rig operator working for a second tier sub-contractor assigned to the Sirius Expedition. The purpose of the expedition, at least the one that made it down to her shipmates, was aligned with Ms. Todd’s understanding i.e., major rare mineral deposit at the edge of the galaxy. Roughly two days out from the bubble the flotilla got jumped by an organized pirate fleet. It was madness. Her skipper diverted away from the center of mass and hit the FSD and jumped them a system over, which is how she survived. The news feeds said that, with very few exceptions like hers, all hands perished. No concrete motive was ever provided for why the fleet was destroyed. The news cycle shifted.
She left for the frontier shortly thereafter. A few months into her self-imposed exile rumors began making the rounds about survivors from that ill-fated expedition originally among the casualties list. Ghosts to some extent as the ships they were aboard were reported as lost with all hands. She is pretty sure, but can’t be certain that she’s seen one or two with her own eyes, but not being one to poke the lion never looked any closer. In each case these “survivors” were Sirius Corporation employees. None of the subcontractor crews reported as casualties were ever seen. If these rumors and sightings are to be believed she thinks these folks are far distant from Colonia. She’s not sure if they are out towards the rim as a group or onesy-twosies. Regardless, if they exist they are spending their remaining days running from the largest megacorporation in the galaxy and if you aren’t safe in Colonia farther towards the rim is the only other set of options. Makes sense to me.
We’ve spent the last few days mostly jonking with few exceptions where an ELW is present in system. So far no signs of life, at least not human life. We’re estimating arrival at the waypoint tomorrow or Sunday.
Fly safe commanders, in your own ship.
Flemish Jack - OUT
Welcome back old friend.