A drink with a friend
25 Dec 2020Teafox
The spot where John Jameson crashed is something of a pilgrimage for most of the pilots above a certain age. Many of the younger fliers come to pay their respects too, but a few of us remember the academy in it's glory days. The Jameson family were constantly in the limelight, or at least as far as pilots go. If you ever needed someone who could be used to set a good example, you could guarantee that someone would suggest the name Jameson.Peter had been one of the earliest pilots of the Independent pilots federation, and is on record as the first to ever score the coveted rating of 'elite', back when it was rather harder to do so whilst remaining alive. John had very much tried, and by many accounts succeed in following in his grandfather's footsteps. But, he was a trusting man: Naive, some would say. If ever someone approached with a job that they stated only he would be capable of fulfilling, well, then he would jump at the opportunity. It's still unclear as to whether he was chosen for the job because they genuinely needed to know someone would get it done... Or whether it was because he had stepped on the wrong toes somewhere.
What is known now, is that a coalition of both Empire and Federation militaries betrayed and killed the man. Some would say he was a legend. John would have just said that he was a father that wanted his child to be proud of him. When the crash site was first discovered, the pilot, thankfully, went to the news networks first rather than to the military. John's body was removed and given proper burial, but his ship, his last recordings and some of us like to think a little bit of his soul linger on there.
No one really knows who started the brandy tradition, but most folks that know of it take part. Jameson enjoyed a good drink when socializing. It seems that two pilots had a similar idea, the first pilot left a bottle of Lavian brandy, in a little hollow under the ship, just as a gift to Jameson's ghost. The second pilot brought a bottle, wanted to leave it, but felt it would litter the area if more people did the same, so left a note with his bottle.
"If you leave a bottle of Brandy, please open this one and enjoy a drink with me. ~ Your good friend, John."
The note is still there, tucked carefully in with a bottle. Although it has been re-written a few times, both it and the brandy have been taken more than once, but others make sure to replace it.
Some of us find a good deal of solace in coming here and talking to John. He's a good listener. Assuming he has a bottle to trade with you? You pour yourself a glass, you pour him a glass and put it in the airlock so that he can reach it when you cycle the pressure. You tell John your woes, and when you're done, you'll find an empty glass just where you left it.
If you find yourself troubled some day, pilot, try it. It's therapeutic.
The kid liked to hear the story, and was sad to listen to John's story in the last records he left on his ship. Sadly, there was just an empty bottle in the hollow. Maybe someone had thought it funny to leave an empty, maybe the pressure had blown the cork, which happens sometimes. Generally it's accepted that if it's gone or empty, it's not malice, just that John was thirsty or maybe a little bit lonely.
I showed the kid how the game goes. We landed as close as we could to Jameson's cobra, I went out to exchange the bottles. Sadly, the bottle I got back was empty, so, no drink for me... But I sat by the airlock and told my good friend about this boy I met out in the belt, who seems to have been in need of a family. Only problem was he didn't have one and he landed himself on a ship with someone with no idea how to really help out. I told him how I'm a bit lost with working out what's the best thing to do and whether it'd even be right to try and make him a part of my life and teach him about how I live. I told John everything I knew about the kid's problems with the Feds and how, I hope they're done trying to kill us. And eventually, I admitted that I was just not sure if I was doing the right thing.
Honestly, it felt good to get it all off my chest, let the kid know that yeah, I'm trying my best to be there for him and all.
I suggested that if the kid wanted to talk to John in private, I could stretch my legs outside. He thought about it whilst we switched his bottle with the one I had left there. We cracked it open and found a pair of shot glasses and I made do with a splash of Brandy in a tea cup. Kid's first taste of alcohol went about as well as you'd expect. With a bit of luck that'll help him avoid the bottle for a few years. I repeated the offer to leave if he needed to be alone with his thoughts and with Jameson. He asked if I'd stay, because he wanted me to know too.
And slowly, uncertainly, he explained that he killed someone yesterday. He didn't feel bad about doing it, but not feeling bad somehow felt worse. He told us the story, that the man we had brought on board was one of the two federal pilots we met in the cantina the other day. Not the loud one, he was just there to make this guy seem more friendly by comparison. He explained how he found out that the federal agent had killed me, and how the kid had killed him in return. His actions had horrified him just as much as the viscera and the shrieking had. He described how he had hidden the ship and had tried to pick a spot where maybe someone like me would find him and help him escape, but the more he was left to wait, the more he felt scared he might do to them what he had just done to the kidnapper. It had seemed so easy at the time, it felt just like playing CQC in a way. He had heard miners nearby pulse scanning asteroids, but had been to scared to send a distress call, or even pulse the ships scanner to try and get their attention. So he just waited. He didn't want to die, but he didn't want to kill anyone else.
He ended weakly speaking his last line "I don't like killing people."
All I could do is nod. It wasn't my place to speak, I was just listening in, but we did talk later about it.
For now, getting his woes out into the air helped. He laughed at my insistence that the glass in the airlock was empty because Jameson drank it. He has to drink quickly, before it evaporates, of course, but he did. Honest!
This isn't a safe system to spend a night in. We hopped a few jumps out into the black and found a nice dense belt that would hide us until morning. Interestingly, there's some stories about John's Grampa, Peter in this collection of tall tales. I'll have to take the kid to meet Lori some day, and see what she makes of them.
Kid's first Christmas. He actually laughed at the idea of Christmas stockings... Well, socks, in our case. It's a problem when you only own one pair between two people, and one sock has a hole in it... But that's okay, that'll be my one. I think I can think of something Santa might sneak in there. Question is, can I open the mess cupboard without waking the kid up?