How I Got Here: "Tortuga"
19 Jul 2022Columbuss
Commander Justin Estok. Stardate 19-JUL-3308."Here there be monsters..."
There are few places in the galaxy as dangerous as a backwater station in an independent system. They lack the infrastructure of any system under the yoke of either of the three super powers, including security, and the security they do have usually has a price to look the other way. One could say, what these stations lack in support, they more than make up for in corruption, greed and discretion. So when Ardento, who left here with just himself and his crew mate, came back with me, all hooked up to stims and barely being able to walk through the docking bay, all it took was a nod to make me invisible.
Three days. It took three days of stims combined with blood oxidizers until I was able to walk again. If you've never been marooned, or left for dead in space, your tanks go before your consciousness. It's some failsafe they installed in the new Artemis suits. It senses your vitals and will automatically activate a temporary hibernation where it provides just enough life support to keep you alive for a short while. In my case, fortunately, it was enough time to be rescued. Unfortunately, emergency suit hibernation is no easy obstacle to overcome.
Thanks to an off the clock doctor, before long I was well enough to move on. For some reason Ardento was wrestling with these feelings of responsibility for me and couldn't let me go without helping me one last time. He gave me the flight registration to an old Adder he had in drydock.
"She's a real piece of work," he said. "A fixer upper to be sure, but she'll fly and she'll get you to where you wanna go."
With nothing I could do or say to thank him for his selfless generosity toward me, I left him with the pretense that he forget he knew me. If the priests ever found out I survived that attack, that might bring them here and I couldn't live with that on my conscience.
He wasn't lying about the Adder. While it was definitely in far worse shape than any ship I'd flown before, it definitely flew... atleast for awhile. I spun my FSD to jump out of system but the ship sputtered out of hyperspace before I could jump and I was dumped on the edge of the system. While still in Acamar, the nearest colony was Moonlight Keep, so I limped in on this rusty old boat for repairs. To be honest, I was surprised the landing gear deployed.
While on approach, the surface station wasn't transmitting any kind of welcome message which was odd. Most stations will transmit atleast some kind of signal letting you know it's safe to land or with some kind of landing protocol. None was received.
"Would ya look at what we've got 'ere boys" said a grim looking man while four menacing looking associates followed closely behind.
Walking down the off ramp, I eyed the approaching men with the kind of suspicion their appearance warranted.
"Hey fellas," I muttered warily in my best blue collar sort of tone. "Anyone around here wok on FSD's? I think mine just took a shit. One of the fusion regulators I think."
"If it's repairs you'll be needin' you've come to right place... but it'll cost ye" said the man through a wry smile, as his associates circled in around me.
"Thank fuck" I said. "Where's can I find the maintenance officer?"
"You won't find that sort round 'ere I'm afraid," he said, drawing a pistol from a holster I hadn't seen. "Here, there be monsters".