Stranded
05 Oct 2020Voetsak
This is an A-side / B-side tale. You can find the other side of the story on CMDR maehara_uk's Logbook.The Wolf-Rayet star at the centre of the system filled the Python's cockpit with its purple glow. Getting down here - middle of the Norma Expanse, and well over 1,000 light-years below the plane - had been a little on the stressful side, with Voetsak getting ever more nervous as the star density grew thinner and thinner. But the flight computer had assured him the route was possible, and it hadn't lied. And for the journey, he was getting a view very few people had ever seen before. He'd flitted around the system several times now, heading out to where the star's glow faded and the surrounding planetary nebula became dominant; and then back in again, to enjoy the star's unusually-coloured glow from close up.
But he'd been down here for a few days now, wasting time, and he remembered his promise to 'be home soon'. This wasn't helping on that front. So, after taking the time to enjoy a shower, Voetsak got back into the pilots' chair, fired up the route plotter, and set course for his next planned destination: the Hawking's Gap abandoned settlements.
Or at least, he tried to. Route plotting failed, blinked the emotionless message on his terminal. He tried again. Selected a few other targets. Found stars closer to his current position and tried to route to them. Every time, the plotter got a few jumps into the route, and then.... Route plotting failed.
Shit.
Fuck.
His blood beginning to run cold, Voetsak called up his backup route plotters, the ones guaranteed to find a route when the ship's own plotter couldn't. Same result. Then it hit him: he'd neutron-boosted his way in to this little pocket of stars, but now there were no neutron stars down here for him to boost out with. He was stranded.
Aged hands started massaging his temples. Think. Think. There had to be a way out of here. It took only a few minutes for the solution to work its way through the mild panic - and he didn't like the thought when it got here. But needs must. He thumbed through the flight computer's systems to the comms panel, and fired off a message to his daughter.
--==**==--
The screen flickered as the transmission ended and Captain O'Donnell disppeared from the screen. He had to admit, the only response he'd expected from his daughter had been hearty laughter and an agreement to be there when his escape pod was opened, so that she could laugh some more. But while her refusal to speak directly to him hadn't gone unnoticed, his daughter had come through with a rescue plan, and for that he had to be grateful. O'Donnell even seemed to be enjoying the idea, and her planned flight time of less than 5 hours was... impressive.
Which left Voetsak with not much to do in the meantime. He headed back into the Python's crew area, found himself a lounger, and put his feet up. The ship's sound system kicked in, playing a relaxing orchestral piece - loudly. The Tweedledum was a brand new ship, only a few months old - what could possibly go wrong..?
--==**==--
"Capital ship signature detected", alerted the COVAS. Voetsak peered through the canopy, watching for the lightshow - he was always awestruck by capital ship jump arrivals. In this case the awe was balanced out by the jealousy of knowing this monster was owned by his daughter, and the shame of knowing it was only here to save his arse. And he knew it hadn't been a cheap flight.
When the jump distortion cleared, he requested clearance to land from the ship's ATC, and touched down. He took a few minutes to compose himself before heading out to meet his reception, wondering what maehara would have in store by way of punishment. Only one man was waiting for him at the bottom of the Python's crew ramp - holding a sturdy-looking shovel.
"CMDR Voetsak? I'm Fabian Baird, pleased to meet you - we've heard a lot from your daughter about you. Captain O'Donnell sends her regards, but can't get away from the bridge right now."
Okay, that didn't make Voetsak feel better. "Wish I'd arrived under better circumstances. But thanks to you and the rest of the crew for coming out all this way."
"It made for an interesting day. Speaking of which, it wasn't a trouble-free flight - we had some issues with the Tritium fuel feed, and a few of us have spent an... unpleasant few hours keeping things flowing while we got down here. Your daughter wanted you to know that, and to make sure that you got to share in the experience on the return flight." He handed Voetsak the shovel. "Bring that with you, and follow me down to the Depot. You've got some work to do, as part-payment for your passage home."
Voetsak stared at the shovel, and at Fabian's retreating back, before giving in to the inevitable and following behind.
--==**==--
Two Weeks Later
It had been a good few weeks for Voetsak since he'd been back in the Bubble. He started cashing in his exploration data - 8bn credits and counting, it still wasn't all gone - and he had a new fleet of ships to play with, thanks to the Gutamaya discounts in 'memoriam' for poor Prince Harold's death. Every cloud has a silver lining.
But his pride and joy was the Tweedledee - his own Carrier, named as counterpart to the ship that rescued him (and his data cache). Not that his daughter would admit to appreciating the symmetry.
Now, he was on his way to haul some franchise materials for SiriusGov, to stay in their good books and keep the bonus on his exploration data flowing. One jump to his destination, he lined up on the target star, triggered the jump sequence, and.....
Cannot comply.
Confused, he looked at the gauges on the Courier's HUD, trying to find out what the problem was. As he did that, the COVAS again chirped up. Main tank depleted.
"Ah." He was out of fuel. Voetsak stopped for a moment, took a deep breath, and thumbed the comms system open. "Zahara?" The face of Zahara Wise, Tweedledee's captain, appear on the screen. "Small problem you can help me with..."