Deep Space
25 Feb 2020NeLs0n RaD
25.02.3306, Aboard Asp Explorer 'Ranger', Operations Region: Fan Yin - Last run on a fat commodity transport contract. This one is way above my usual contract rating, but the VP over at Fan Yin Blue Universal Corp was in a bind and I was the only pilot handy.So far I've been able to keep the cut-throats off the scent... I took a couple of standard contracts and made a couple of runs in different directions, then picked up my first load for this one. Jumped straight in-system and made a bee-line along the shipping lane for the destination station, around 1400Ls from arrival. Was reassured to see nothing but green markers on my scanner. Picked up an easy courier mission headed back to the pick-up point, quick jump and drop off, then into the station for the next load.
That's when things started getting a bit... off... the cargo super over at Blue Uni had a guy I recognized with him, a Prospect from the local cartel. I did not take this as a good omen, as I do, on occasion, take pirate eradication contracts and some of those contracts were on cartel pilots. Moreover, Mr. Blue Uni was in a real friendly state toward me, all smiles and going on about best routes to my destination, what did I think, blah, blah... all the while Mr. Prospect is hanging out a ways back, but just in earshot to catch the conversation. One thing was for sure, I wasn't taking any of the routes we talked about.
As I was figuring a manual plot for a circuitous route to my destination, I started thinking... how to pull off this last drop and keep me and my ship intact doing it?
Then it came to me... DEEP SPACE.
I flashed back to what my first 'mentor', a well worn spacer that went by "Ramsey", had taught me (more like knocked it into my head, but it shortened the learning curve). I had wrangled my way onto his ship, an old Asp Explorer he called 'Betty'... he said it was short for 'Bouncin' Betty', an old WWII airship from what I gathered. Anyway, I came on as flight tech and was working my way to earning my wings, so Ramsey let me sit as second pilot. We were on a run pretty much like the one I'm on now and it seemed routine. Ramsey turned the ship over to me and headed to the galley to grab a sandwich. I rigged the Betty for the jump and away we went. Jump completed, set a great time-fuel efficient course for our destination station, kicked back, and was just about to congratulate myself on a job well-done, when Ramsey reappeared from the galley...
"Crap planet! Whatta ya doin'?!" he barked out. Then, without ceremony, he nearly threw me from the pilot's seat as he growled, "Outta my way noob!"
As I was recovering myself from the bulkhead and considering throwing the old codger a beating (as a former Federal Marine, I generally don't take kindly to being unceremoniously tossed from anywhere, let alone a pilot's seat), I was again thrown to the port bulkhead and then found myself sailing to the aft of the cockpit as the Betty lurched and rolled hard starboard at full throttle. As the inertial dampners caught up with Ramsey's antics, I peeled myself off the aft bulkhead and decided to find out what was going on...
"What gives Ramsey?!" I called out.
"Haul yer ass below and man the crew seat", he snapped, adding, "Warm up the weapons array."
At that I snapped to and replied, "Aye, skipper!" as I hit the door switch and slid down the gangway to the lower deck and got myself strapped into the crew seat. As the seat sensed my presence the scanner, heads up display, and status panels snapped on, giving me the ship's status, including a destination marker that was way out of alignment to our port side. I began charging the lasers, and taking the safes off the missile battery and cannon. If or when we came out of supercruise the Betty would be showing her fangs and ready to bite hard. Once I had everything set, I hit the comm switch,
"Weapons charged, safes off, commander. Scanner clear."
"Acknowledged", came the terse reply.
I was dying to ask Ramsey what was up, but knew better. My Marine discipline had kicked in as soon as I heard "weapons", and I could tell by Ramsey's tone that this wasn't the time for school. I glanced at the destination panel, noting we were out of the shipping lane and in DEEP SPACE. Then I began to notice that while we seemed to be way off course, the destination marker was ticking off light seconds faster than I could count and it wasn't moving much in the cockpit's canopy. Every time it moved a little aft in the canopy, Ramsey would make a slight course correction. So we were spiraling toward the station, all the while staying in deep space, with the throttle wide open at better than 200c. As we approached within 100Ls I heard the Betty throttling down and saw Ramsey adjust our course to straight in. A couple of minutes later we dropped from supercruise at nearly a straight in approach to the station just at the edge of the no fire zone.
Once we were on the deck Ramsey came on the comm,
"Git 'er unloaded and put to bed, Rad. Then meet me at the bar... I need a drink!"
"You ain't the only one", I said under my breath...
Later I caught up with Ramsey at the Blue Moon, the pub he liked hanging out at when we visited. Quiet, cute servers, good tunes. He was at his favorite corner booth, and definitely in a better mood as he raised his glass with a grin as I approached the table.
"Cheated death again!" he chuckled.
"Did we?" I asked, still somewhat put off by the less than cordial treatment I had received earlier, and still at a loss as to why I had received it.
He chuckled again, waved toward the bar for a server to bring a round.
"Oh, now, don't go bein' all butt hurt, Rad. It really wasn't your fault, but at the time I didn't have the luxury of giving you a session on 'tricks of the trade'... you see, I was trying to keep us alive..."
"I'm listening", I said, sipping my beer.
Ramsey leaned in close, smile going dead-pan and gazing straight into my eyes, "That's real good, noob, now let's see if ya got any sense and if ya've learned anything in my employ."
"In our travels, where in star systems have we run into pirates and wanna-be assassins?" he asked.
I considered for a moment, the light bulb in my head coming on as I answered slowly, "The shipping lanes..."
"Exactly right. And where had you rigged us to run?"
"The shipping lane..." I answered, then quickly started to add, "but you taught me..."
Ramsey held up his hand and shut me down, "I know, and it was my fault this time for not finishing the lesson before we took this run. Now see, on most runs, the standards that we take, the shipping lanes are just fine. Most of your high dollar pirates and assorted other cut-throats can't be bothered with those, and you know what happens to low-budget scum that do try to take the Betty on those sorts of runs."
I nodded, I'd seen Ramsey at work on those pilots, it never ended well for them, and we were always a few thousand credits ahead when it was over.
Ramsey continued, "But this run was different, a high priority, high value corporate run, just the sort that those a**-holes with an engineered Python or Krait might be interested in, and as far away as this station is from the arrival point I couldn't count on local security forces showing up in time to help us out, and that's assuming they wouldn't be jamming our reporting signal in the first place..."
The light bulb in my head went to full bright!
"So we head to DEEP SPACE, where our supercruise can put on more speed, and we're quickly out of scan range of the shipping lane!" I exclaimed.
Ramsey nodded, chuckling again as he downed his drink, "You're not as dumb as you look, noob."
"And when we get within 100Ls of destination, even if we do run into problems, local security can usually be on it in a minute or so", I continued, thinking the whole scenario through.
"You might even survive to make pilot someday, Rad", Ramsey said as he called for another round. As the cute server set down our drinks with a smile, Ramsey turned back to me with a grin, "Time to pay your tuition, noob..."
I've made the last jump into my destination system, and rigged for DEEP SPACE immediately, firewalling the throttle as I note the supercruise speed spinning up. My HUD has lit up with an "Incoming Mission Critical Message". A quick check and sure enough, an "Incoming Enemy Alert", 3 of 'em looking for me, but my scanner is clear and my destination panel shows me already in DEEP SPACE.
"Catch me if you can, a**-holes..."
In a few more minutes I drop from supercruise, with a great lineup for a straight in approach to the starport. A warm welcome from my allied faction controller and I'm landed and docked.
After I've put the Ranger down for the evening, I head to the local pub, 3 Mil + richer. Raising a glass to the corner booth, I give a toast to Ramsey, wherever he may be, "Here's to you Ramsey, and running in DEEP SPACE!"