Recruitment Part III
26 May 2020NeLs0n RaD
CMDR Note: Logs are posted as “Late Entry” for OPSEC of current assignments.10.05.3306 / Aboard: Krait MkII 'Antares' 3TG2-7 / Ops Region: Apadecavi / Ops System: Prom Du / Current Contract: NA - Docked
I switched off the Mission Board holo-view and turned to look over to Boyle at her flight station. We both just sat in silence for a moment, considering the conversation we had just had with Sirius Special Forces VP Joshua Vang.
“So I think its appropriate to ask this question again”, I began, “What the hell just happened?!”
'Lys Boyle let out a long, low whistle, then, “I gotta tell ya, Cap, if there were a rating for BS, that Vang would be ELITE!”
“Ya think?!” I replied, then, “I need a drink...”
“You're buyin'!”, 'Lys exclaimed with her sideways smile, hopping out of her seat, and heading for the ship's entry lift.
A few minutes later we had found a quiet bar far enough out of the dock that they could serve drinks in an open glass. We grabbed a booth out of the way from the main floor and I ordered a round of whiskey of a local make. I took a good sip, savoring the heat on the way down. 'Lys belted hers back and waved to the server for another. I regarded her for a long moment as I took another sip of my drink. I had been flying with 'Lys for about 3 months, but until earlier today could count the times I had a conversation longer than about 3 sentences with her on one hand. The longest had been when I interviewed her for the position she filled with me now – SLF pilot. Her verified credentials were that she was a qualified pilot, ineligible for Pilots' Federation License because of a felony physical assault charge and thereby time served in an Imperial prison. When I asked, she shrugged a bit and explained,
“He was a superior officer in my wing, I kicked his ass, I paid the price... and I would do it again.”
I had looked her over in detail then, about 170cm in height, ash blond neck-length hair with square cut bangs framing a fine featured face with just a bit of eye make-up accenting storm grey eyes. When she smiled, it always started from one corner of her mouth, and depending on what she was smiling about, might spread across her face, very little girl-like. Looking to be in her late 20's to early 30's she favored a full black flight suit and, once In awhile, a flight jacket, also black. That day I noticed she filled that flight suit out really well, but not in an overtly sexy way... more like a feline huntress, like back on old Earth, a jaguar... and in a fighter, this woman was an apex predator.
I had taken her to down to the hangar deck to let her have a look at the Antares. Taking a slow walk around, she commented,
“Krait MkII... nice! Brand new?”
I nodded, “Just bought her last week, Victoria Rahsheed helped out getting me set up, and referencing you to me.”
'Lys smiled at the mention of Victoria, as she kept moving around the ship, finally coming up under the SLF bay. Taking her cue, I took my data-pad from my flight jacket and keyed in the code to open the bay. She hopped up on the ramp and strode in to look at the assembled fighter there.
“Taipans?” she had asked, frowning just a bit, then, “what're you running for armament?”
“Gimballed beam lasers and heat sinks”, I replied, “There a problem with running Taipans?”
“Nope! They're perfect for the kind of action we'll be seeing.”
“Oh? And what kind of action do ya reckon that'll be?” I had asked.
“The kind where I'll need these heavy duty babies to keep us from getting our asses kicked”, she replied with that little side smile of hers. She hopped down from the SLF ramp and straightened to look me in the eye, then, “When do we launch?”
Now, while 'Lys hadn't been up for a lot of personal conversation between us, it was a totally different thing when she was in a dogfight. She would taunt and insult, nick and cut, and sometimes seemingly play with our foes to the point I'd have to tell her to quit screwing around. At which point she would go quiet and quite literally eviscerate them. The only difference, I noticed, was when we engaged Imperial hostile faction ships. Then she would launch and without a word... slaughter them. It had been the same when we had engaged John Norris, without a word she went in with deadly purpose, crippling his ship in an instant, knowing I would come in to finish the job. So now, sitting in a bar, having a drink and about to have a real conversation with Odalys Boyle was going to be a first. Not sure how I was feeling about that. Time to man-up Marine...
“So how 'bout it, 'Lys, you up for a visit to this... Commander?” I asked.
She raised a brow in surprise over her drink, setting it down quickly and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, “Am I up for it?! Cap, in case you hadn't noticed, I NEVER miss a launch with you.”
“Well I know that 'Lys, but its looking like my business might be getting into something bigger than we are... and seein' as both our asses are on the line, I just thought you'd like some input”, I explained.
At that she gave me that little sideways smile, “That's real nice, Cap... OK, input...”, she finished her drink, and setting down the glass she looked at it a moment, then began,
“After I got out, I wanted to get back into the cockpit so bad I could taste it, but with my record... well, you know... so I started crewing as an SLF pilot. I had exactly three gigs, before I signed on with you, and not a one of them lasted more than a month...”
“Really? As good as you are, I feel fortunate that you've answered every time I've called”, I said, “What's been the problem?”
She smiled that sideways smile again, but her eyes went hard, “The problem has been that they all tried to f*ck me!” She thumbed her glass away in frustration, and turned her head a bit to hide the tears of anger coming up in her eyes. Then composing herself, she turned to look at me and continued, “The guys I can understand, most think with their dicks first... present company excepted”, she qualified, as I gave a nod and slight smile, “but what really pissed me off was the last one, a woman... and when I wouldn't, she canceled my contract without notice, BEFORE we got paid... so she f*cked me anyway!”
I continued listening, casually waving to the server to bring us another round.
“Here's the thing”, she continued, “I f*ck who I want, when I want, and where I want, but NEVER because I have to!”
“That's reasonable, neither do I”, I replied, to which she smiled again and took up her new drink, then continued,
“In the time I been flyin' for you, not once have you tried to f*ck me, neither for 'love' nor for money... hell, you've never even said a word when I've lost SLFs in engagements. Now, I may not have been privy to all your business, but I've been watching you work and this much I've figured out, Cap... you don't f*ck around, not for 'love' and damn sure not for money. I respect that... I can work with that... but most of all, I can trust that”, she tossed back the rest of her drink, again wiping her mouth backhanded, “You want my input, Cap?”
I nodded, noting that she was looking me in the eye.
“When do we launch?”
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11.05.3306 / Aboard: Krait MkII 'Antares' 3TG2-7 / Ops Region: Apadecavi / Ops System: Prom Du - Apadecavi / Current Contract: NA – Non-contract Cargo / Status: In-Transit
Things were already different between Boyle and I. Seems that after our little 'talk', 'Lys Boyle considered herself 'permanent' crew. This was not a bad thing, though it was taking a minute to get used to. First difference, when I got to the Antares, it was already on the station's flight deck, preflight checks done, and... the aroma of fresh brewed coffee as I stepped off the ship's entry lift! I stopped into the galley and poured a myself a cup, snapping on a cover (makes an awful mess if the gravity goes off or the inertial dampeners fail), then stepped onto the bridge, seeing 'Lys already strapped in at her station and monitoring engineering.
“Alright, who are you, and what did you do with my pilot?” I asked as I sipped the absolutely perfect coffee.
'Lys gave her little smile, “I told you I had been watching you work... figured you could use a hand.”
“Ohhh... ya 'figured' that did ya?” I asked in mock gruffness, “Well lets just check and make sure nothin's broke...”
“As if!!” she shot back, but watched intently as I checked over the preflight items, did my final 'personal' settings, and checked her tweeks to the power plant and thrusters... not bad.
“Well, it looks like we'll survive a launch”, I said with a facetious sigh of relief, “Ya did alright, Boyle... tell ya what, I'll keep ya on for another day...”
“Well, alllrriiight... I didn't have anything better to do today anyway”, she retorted with a grin.
“How convenient for both of us then”, I came back, “So how 'bout we get to work... take us out Pilot Boyle.”
“On it, Commander!” she said with a real smile this time, as she prepped the Antares for launch.
I settled back into my 'captain's' seat and took another drink of that damn fine coffee... A man could get used to this.
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11.05.3306 / Aboard: Krait MkII 'Antares' 3TG2-7 / Ops Region: Apadecavi / Ops System: Apadecavi / Current Contract: NA – Docked @ Fontenay City
Our run out of Prom Du was without incident. I did note both in Prom Du and Apadecavi a high presence of Sirius Special Forces ships, and in numbers, a flight of 2 here, a flight of 3 there. Not just transports either, many were beaming security service ID's as well. And not a trace of a wanted tag on any of them. I noticed Boyle scrolling through her scanner and checking ID's as well.
“Heh.. they must've heard we were comin' Cap!” she exclaimed with a grin.
“Mm.. I reckon so”, I replied quietly as I considered what might be coming next.
We docked clean and I sold our cargo for a tidy profit. 'Lys busied herself with postflight chores, second difference. Up until yesterday this would be where we parted company, but now she was all over the place on the Antares. Something else I had noticed when I went aft to check the cargo bays... 'Lys had set herself up in one of the crew cabins. I smiled to myself, at least I knew where to find her, and that she was safe.
I sat quietly with the ship's comm screen opened, the contact from the link Vang had sent waiting for me to activate. 'Lys stepped onto the bridge...
“What's the play, Cap?” she asked.
I let out a breath, “Reckon there's only one way to find out”, as I keyed the link active. There was a moment while the connection was made, then a familiar telephone ringing sound. Then a female voice with a distinctive old Earth British accent, “Commander Maehara here...”, there was no video.
“Commander Nelson Rad here”, I replied, “VP Joshua Vang asked me to contact this number?”
“Ah yes, Commander Rad! We've been looking forward to your call,” she said cordially, then, “are we to understand you are ready to meet... The Commander?”
“I reckon so”, I answered. There was a moment of silence on the other end, “That would be a yes, Commander Maehara”, I clarified.
“Very good”, came her reply, “One of our agents will be along shortly to fetch you. Wonderful to hear from you Commander, thank you for being in touch,” the call was ended.
I stood and slipped my flight jacket on, “I need you to stay here, 'Lys.”
'Lys started up as if to protest but I held up my hand and shook my head, “Look, I need you to cover my back from here and have the Antares ready to launch on my signal”, I reached into my flight jacket pocket and pulled out an old fashioned key, “I need you to go down to the Heavy Metal, you'll find a locking mechanism on the engineering panel on the command deck. You put this key in, turn it right one click, left two clicks, then right again three clicks, then pull the key and don't lose it! You'll see a digital clock just above the lock start a 2 hour 5 minute countdown.
“If I'm not back in two hours, you launch in the Antares, you don't wait for clearance, you don't wait for me. You clear the dock and boost out of mass lock then hit supercruise. Pick your next system and keep going until you're out of SSF space. Got it?”
“What happens in 2 hours and 5?” 'Lys asked soberly.
“HM's reactor goes critical”, I replied grimly.
Her eyes went wide, “Inside the dock?!”
I regarded her for a moment, then asked quietly, “You got this 'Lys?”
She held out her hand for the key, “Dayymmnn Cap, all I got to say is you really don't f*ck around.”
“No I don't.”