Finally seeing far
10 Jul 2020Kris Ghoststar
Two weeks had passed since Kris had arrived in the Deciat system. At the time she had her misgivings. 'Well i'm here now so she had better be worth it!' was her first thought as she climbed out of the seat and checked everything was shut down. The rundown mining facility didn't look like much, but who was she to talk. The sabre was pretty beaten up too when she arrived. Some strange and out of the way mining port that seemed to have very little of anything. Kris hadn't realised how far away this woman was when Paulie the bartender at one of her favourite places had told her about Felicity Farseer.
She looked around the cockpit fondly as she cycled the airlock. Her ship, Kris thought. She had earned enough for a new one, or at least new to her, but The Sabre held a special place in her heart. It was the ship that had taken her so far and brought her back again, in 'relative' safety. There had been few moments that had been close to the edge but the Sabre had kept her safe. It was also the first one she actually owned outright. By no means was it new when she got it and the crew cabin was little more than a couple of bunks and lockers, but that didn't matter to her.
The most important thing was The Sabre was all hers. Not on loan or working for someone and flying their ship.
The Adder was small compared to most but that was sometimes an advantage. But she loved it from the tail fins all the way down to the duct tape holding some of the panels together in the cockpit. Yeah, Who needs a flashy new Krait? Not me, she thought.
The Sabre was ready for work again and the upgrades had really given her an edge. Her Adder, The Sabre ran cool, real cool. Cool enough to get most of the way to the station before going silent, she reckoned. And the power she had now 600ms speed would easily outpace anything sent after her.
Most jobs went smoothly, all except that last one, she shuddered a little. The weeks since her dance with the federal authorities had passed slowly. She hadn't meant to get in the middle of a war but it happened. Those Federation pilots had really worked her girl over when they tangled. An Adder against two Vipers wasn't really a fair fight so she did what she did best and ran. The end result, damage to her ship and a galaxy wide wanted status. A quick transponder code change so she could dock anonymously and pay off the bounty, then the Sabre was safe to use again. The payout was good though and more than covered the expense. Now after a few more jobs to pay for her repairs, here she was, ready to go again.
Flying rich tourist around wasn't really why she had joined the pilots federation but it did pay the bills, and getting to fly those lush Saud Kruger rigs was a bonus. So what if a few less than legal items may have found their way into her hold on her travels, it happens, right? Pretty sure everyone does it anyways. A few extra credits to supplement the journey. Where is the harm? The tourist thing was a steady income and it was legal, mostly. some of them were questionable, but then so was half her business and the pay, well that made it hard to resist. Just gotta remember to check the distances. Been caught out before with crazy long journeys. That had given her a chance to reflect and the places she saw while flying gave her a yearning to see more, but at her pace. That required planning, credits and some more work on the Sabre to make her ready for the deep black.
The hanger was deserted apart from one woman. Slim with greying hair that looked as if it had once been golden blonde. She wore dirty overalls under a beaten leather jacket that was 2 sizes too large and big grease smear across one cheek. She leaned over a thruster assembly, well most of a thruster anyways. the housing had been stripped and lightweight alloys used wherever they could. the intake looked like it was from an engine twice the size of this one and the fuel feeder was oversize too. The woman quickly glanced up and back to the delicate surgery she was performing on the engine. "Uh, Yeah?"
Kris pulled her gaze away from the parts. "Felicity Farseer?" She paused and when no answer came she continued. "Paulie at the Firkin Tavern... Robert Dock?" another pause, unsure if to continue. "He told me to come see you." She paused again. "He said you could help me fix my ship up to explore."
Felicity looked up. Explore Eh? What you running?"
"An Adder."
Felicity's shoulders slumped as she shook her head. "Oh... Well it'll do it but you really need something a bit more substantial."
Kris gave a half hearted smile. "Can't really afford anything like that yet."
Felicity straightened up and weighted up the girl in front of her. "Okay, Let's take a look see." She climbed up into the ship giving the Sabre a thorough inspection. "looks like she was in a war." she popped open a ceiling panel. "Okay, I can fix it up for you, but you really need something better suited for the black." She pulled a small pad from her top pocket and stated scribbling notes. "Thrusters yep.. Frame shift.. gotta amp that up too... Lighten that... Bin them.. Yeah. we can get a few more light years from her and my work is better than when she was new."
Kris smile slipped a little. "How much?"
"What you got to trade?" Felicity asked.
"I have a few credits and a lot of data on the systems I visited recently, If thats worth anything to you?"
"Well, I can sort you out with some second hand stuff, but it's the labour..." She gave Kris another look. "You do most of the work and we can really cut the cost down, plus you'll be learning how to fix her up when you get into trouble again."
"Sounds like a plan." Kris agreed.
Felicity paused on her way down the ship. "Was looking at an Asp the other day, Low flight hours on her, real cheap too." She continued to walk towards. "Now you get that and we can get you really moving."
That was two weeks ago, so here I am on Felicitys' recommendation, in a starport looking through the window at my new ship wondering where this will take me.
