Legacy
28 Dec 2020Teafox
What a day. I know I'm going to regret the decision in the short term, but with lives lasting so long these days? You've got to go with what's right, rather than what's comfortable.It didn't start so badly. Supratech is all set up, we're freshly imprinted and as secure as you can be these days. The Artemis flight suit fits a little differently to the Remlok. It's oddly comfortable, more flexible in areas you wouldn't have thought you'd notice until you wore both suits. It's a little heavier, for sure, but that's because it's designed to work with the rest of the Artemis exploration system. They have prototypes on board, but they're clearly still safety testing parts.
The full Artemis system doesn't fit on the kid's suit, or at very least it looks ridiculous. The techs say it's useful to get data from testing with someone with a smaller frame and lighter body weight, but honestly, I think they're starting to think of him as a mascot. If he was just spending his time there, then what came next would have come as more of a surprise, but he's been getting all the flight practice he can. His forte is absolutely fighter craft, I barely fly either of my Eagles, the viper or the vulture. I just don't have the reflexes or situational awareness to make the most of them, kid makes it look like he could do surgery if you were to glue a scalpel onto the nose of one of them. Interestingly, he shies away whenever one of the other pilots suggests some friendly dog fighting practice.
I'd been waiting for the other shoe to drop, and he finally worked up the courage. He asked me if we could go mining again. Not laser or core mining, he wants to take out the hand drills. He remembers what I told him about that old belter tradition. Once you've saved enough from what you've dug up with your hands, then you can buy a ship of your own. I figure it's only responsible to ask what kind of ship he's looking for. He wants something he can go exploring in. Honestly, it's more of a relief to hear that he's not looking to join a fighter wing.
I suggest that I do have a diamondback explorer on the carrier. As one-man exploration ships go, it's an excellent choice. He laughs and points out that it's too good for what he needs. The DBX can jump incredible distances, but as the kid points out, if you're wanting to stop off and see the sights along the way, you don't need an awful lot of jump range. There's an obvious other candidate on the carrier.
"You're looking at something like a Cobra, aren't you?" it would be hard not to smile, if I wasn't so attached to the Vagrant's tale. He nodded, looking guiltily back at me. "Are they expensive?" he asked. He puts the box that he put his half of the void opals we mined together on the table and opens it. There was a time, not so long ago, that this probably would have covered it. "I like the Vagrant." he says weakly. "I wanna get one just like it."
There's no ship quite like the Vagrant, at least, not to me. Insurance replacements aside, it's the ship I grew up with. It's not the ship I learned to fly in, but it's the ship I learned to be alive in. And I can see that perhaps the same is true for the kid as well.
"Are you sure you want to hold a drill again?" Clearly from his expression, the answer is no, but he slowly nods his head. I nod back and we say no more of it. Two hand drills, some armored overalls and we're out into the nearest belt. I ask him what he wants to mine. He admits that musgravite would probably be the smart answer, but void opals and diamonds are prettier, besides, he's already got some opals, and we'll need full containers to sell on the open market. Kid's a hard worker, but he's got patience when he needs it. Again, mining by hand is not fast, and it's tiring work, but if you've nothing else to fall back on, it'll pay the bills. I take it slow, filling a single container myself over a few hours, the Kid works harder and longer, filling three and change on his own.
I can see he's tired and aching, but he wants to do more. If we get a good price for them, there's more than enough here for a cobra and some good parts too. The kid's been paying attention to how to find a good buyer. It's a little way away, but there's an expansive shipyard nearby. The kid will need a credit account of his own, but now that he's got an official ID, that's just a form and a few minutes wait. He's nervous about what I think, so we talk about it whilst we wait for the all-clear on him being allowed to officially hold credits.
The kid's been thinking since we went to see Jameson's crash site. If he's going to spend time in the bubble, eventually the federation might take notice. They're bound to check up on me at some point, and seeing me flying around with someone that looks like him is going to set alarm bells off. The same is going to happen if he's flying a ship owned by me. The kid doesn't want to start getting into fights about it. Sirrius atmospherics seems interested in paying for planetary scans and for general stellar cartography, and Jameson spoke of aliens out there that sounded fascinating. So, why not take a trip out into the black and see for himself?
I think he was expecting a fight, but he does make a compelling argument. Was it safe out there? No... But then again, the bubble isn't any safer. Did I think the kid was capable of managing out there solo? Absolutely. He was probably more capable than I am, and if the black is calling to him? It wouldn't be right for me to try to stop him. Would I go with him? If he asked me to, absolutely yes. Only, he was right, it wouldn't make sense. If and when the feds next check up on me, they would absolutely start looking up where I was last seen within the bubble and who I was traveling with, and so I told him, that would only leave one question.
At some point, every bird flies the nest. I was just unlucky in that I'd only really gotten a few days as a father figure, and my fledgling had come pre-loaded with all of the skills of an expert pilot. He had kept aside a keepsake for me. The biggest opal that we had found on our first trip out mining together. Just when I was starting to feel too old to get that feeling of 'treasure' again, the kid just up and hands me something like that... It actually makes me wish I hadn't lost my own first mining haul.
We talked through the equipment he would need to outfit a Cobra with in order to turn it into an exploration ship. Fuel scoop, SRV bay, a good FSD unit. I explained that it'd be harder to get equipment that was as good as the custom modded stuff on the Vagrant's Tale. Zach would probably help him out, but I hadn't had the chance to introduce him to most of the other engineers out there.
He gave me an awkward smile. "It's going to take me so long to get a ship like this one."
No... No it won't. All it takes is a few seconds with the shipyard registry and the very first ship I owned. The Cobra Mk.3 I grew up with, lovingly restored and worn in over decades. That ship is now an heirloom. It's his to look after now, just as I know she'll look after him. He tries to insist he should give me the cargo of opals we brought in as payment. But he's already paid me, my share of the opals is just his change.
It's hard not to get melancholic that I didn't follow him out for a few jumps at least, but he's got the FSD that Felicity's tinkered with. Even the A-rated drive I put in my new Cobra can't keep up. Besides, we know when and where we're due to meet up. But it's going to feel much longer than it'll be. But I have the star of his collection to hold if I need help to remember him, and he's got a ship full of memories to keep him company.
And sometime when he's feeling a little bit alone, and the sun hits the glass on the canopy just right, he'll see the near invisible smiley face he left on the glass, and the one I drew beside it.
So yeah, that leaves that one question.
Am I going to miss him?
Absolutely.