Chapter 9 - Far from home
30 Apr 2021Rsimpson500
As we reached the final approach to Ishum’s Reach, Alicia was sat in the copilot’s seat behind me. “I assume you’d like to pilot this last stretch?” She sounded wryly amused. I think she knew all along that my plan to come out here wasn’t just about escaping our pursuers, but was also about having an adventure.And why not? I thought. I’ve travelled a long way - almost half a million light years - but I’ve never felt like a proper Elite explorer because I’d not been out here. If we’re fleeing for our lives, why not accomplish something along the way?
“Yes, I don’t mind”, I said, feigning disinterest.
Looking back, I saw her smile and roll her eyes. Clearly I wouldn’t make a very good spy.
We sped through the last few systems, I synthed some jumponium for the penultimate jump and then, at last, we were there. After a short cruise we landed down on Ishum’s reach - the furthest planetary body from Sol.
In one direction, the Milky Way - every human, every ship, every system. In the other, just utter blackness. The feeling of isolation and darkness was quite overwhelming. I would be glad to get back to the lighter parts of the galaxy. After we’d both driven around in the SRV, prospecting for Vanadium, we lifted off and started to head back. We now had 50 Premium FSD injections and planned to head off into an even sparser part of the Abyss before heading off roughly towards Colonia.
A few jumps in, however, the lights on the ship guttered out and died.
“What happened!?” said Alicia.
“Looks like the Power Core”, I said. “ We haven’t serviced it since that DSSA carrier 40,000 light years ago. It doesn’t seem very happy about it.”
“Has this ever happened to you before?” she said.
I looked at her and realised with surprise that she looked anxious - scared, even. For all that she was an accomplished pilot, I started to wonder how much exploration she’d done.
“Yes, we can just do a hard reset to jump it back into life for a while. But neither the repair limpets nor the AFMU can fix it. We need to get it serviced before long. There’s a DSSA Carrier at Beagle Point, we should be able to reach there.”
Alicia looked nervous. “I’d rather not visit a carrier, but we’re a very long way from anywhere. If you’re sure we don’t have any choice?”
“I’m afraid so”, I said.
I jump-started the core and we set off again. It didn’t take long to reach Beagle Point. As we headed off from the star towards the DSSA Distant Worlds, another ship started to follow us, unbeknownst to us.
We dropped out of supercruise and I throttled up towards the carrier.
But just as we started to gain speed, there was an almighty crash and the ship shook violently. My helmet flipped shut and I was yanked to the right by the air being sucked out of the ship. Only my seat harness prevented me from being thrown out of the ship.With difficulty I turned around and saw that Alicia was lying unconscious strapped into her seat, with blood pouring off her face and being sucked out of the smashed-open window into space. But that wasn’t even the most alarming thing I could see.
It was the Krait. Only this time it wasn’t shooting, it had rammed into us and part of the front of it was wedged into Alicia’s window, inches from her face, covered in her blood.
No. You’re not doing this to us. This time I’m in the pilot’s seat and we’re not running any more, whether my ship is armed or not.
I yanked the ship to the left, dislodging the Krait, flipped flight assist off and set throttle to 50%. Turning 180 degrees, I then turned FA back on and boosted towards them. I shot past, almost scraping the tailfin against their hull. My Phantom was faster and more manoeuvrable, but lacked the heavy armour and weapons of my assailant. My shields were recharging, yet even at full charge they were a fraction of the Krait’s shields. And I didn’t have any weapons. But I had an idea.
The Krait turned to try and get lined up with me, but I was out-turning them, keeping us out of their firing arcs. They started firing anyway, railgun rounds soaring dangerously close but not quite hitting us.
That’s it, keep firing...
I got closer and closer until my nose was pointing at the top of the ship.
Got you.
I put four pips to shields, throttled up and jammed the boost button. The Marcus Aurelius slammed into the tan-grey Krait, pushing it closer and closer to the DSSA Distant Worlds. Enraged, the assailant kept firing but never had a chance to hit us.
The Fleet Carrier’s robotic control tower blared out a warning over the comm: “This is a no-fire zone. Cease fire immediately. Our guns are a lot bigger than yours, Commander”.
Panicking, the Krait tried to escape, but I kept pivoting the Marcus Aurelius and pushing them nearer to the carrier.
As the carrier’s guns started whirring into life, pointing towards our mysterious assailant, I pulled the thrusters into reverse then executed a sharp 180 before boosting away. A railgun round slammed into the rear shields, but they held - barely. As I braced for the next impact, the pitch-black sky of the Abyss suddenly seared into blinding, bright red light.
The Distant Worlds had opened fire on the Krait, almost instantly searing through its shields and melting into the armour. As we left the no-fire zone I turned to see for myself, and was overjoyed to see the Krait detonate into a huge explosion as lasers ripped through its power core.
I hailed the Distant Worlds requesting docking permission. The robotic tower control, apparently oblivious to our role in destroying the Krait, tonelessly granted access and wished us a pleasant stay.
The Marcus Aurelius was a mess, but I was much more worried about Alicia. I slammed the ship onto the docking pad as quickly as I could, requested maintenance access and leapt out of my seat. Alicia was alive but unconscious. She’d taken the brunt of the shockwave when the Krait had rammed us, but her bleeding was less severe than I’d feared. It seemed to be broken glass that had cut her scalp and the bloodflow had almost stopped already. Still, I lacked more than basic medical training and wasn’t qualified to do more than stabilise her.
I quickly went back to my console, paid the Distant Worlds for a full ship repair and then unbuckled Alicia. I carried her back to the med-bay setting her down and activating the automated medical equipment. It removed the glass, healed her facial wounds and scanned her for internal injuries.
Her head injury was worrying, but not as serious as I’d feared. She had no internal hemorrhaging and the automated machinery dispensed the medication she needed to keep her stable. I made sure she was strapped in and being cared for by the med-machines and headed back to the pilot’s seat.
By this time the Marcus Aurelius was fully repaired. I wondered whether I ought to seek medical help on the carrier, but there might be more ships after us. There was only one way to lose them for sure.
As we pulled away from the docking bay, I set course for a hidden system I’d heard rumours of years ago. Hidden deep in the Abyss, where only the longest-range ships could reach, was one of the most remote systems in the galaxy. The Hidden Paradise, with several earth-likes, two water worlds and even some unique biological lifeforms.
After an hour’s rapid jumping, I was certain we were being followed again. Every time I jumped out of a system, another contact jumped in behind us, and it looked like another Krait.
At last the stars started to get very thin - almost none could be seen, and I started using premium jumponium to make headway. After I jumped a 125LY jump, I stopped seeing contacts behind me. We were safe.
Now, did we have enough Jumponium to make it through the starless desert and reach the Hidden Paradise, or would be be stuck here forever...