Off to War
28 Aug 2016Jellicoe
I now had to find somewhere to hide. At first I kept on the move laying a series of false trails and making sure I was seen in places chosen at random for no reason other than to confuse any pursuit. I also had the Resolution heavily modified, there are men and women in the galaxy who excel with machinery, to call them engineers seems an almost inadequate term for the usually reclusive genii who can take a piece of machinery and turn it into a work of art with a performance way beyond what even the designers thought possible. I had got to know several such people over the years, I had helped them, found things for them and fetched and carried for them, I had built up a bank of favours and now I called in every one of them. The Resolution was almost rebuilt, her jump drives reworked for extra range, her power plant retuned for additional output, her shields strengthened and her thrusters enhanced so I could throw the great corvette around almost as if she were a fighter, best of all though was the experimental ammunition her great multi-cannons now fired, incendiary rounds that chewed through shields or hulls with equal efficiency. When all was done we sat around the conference table to discuss our next move."Serabrov?" Vik suggested.
"Too many people know me there, word would leak."
"The Empire?" Harry Soames offered his voice dripping with distaste.
"What we need," Claude put in "is somewhere a long way away from Federal Intelligence, the Black Omega and anyone of over a dozen other very dangerous people and organisations that probably want you dead." I raised a quizzical eyebrow at him. "What about the Pleiades?"
"I'd rather take a nail gun to my testicles." I replied.
"I mean it." Claude continued. "There's war coming and the navy are appealing for pilots, intelligence won't be there in strength, we can help the Federation, make some money and help give the Imps a kicking. Right up your street." He grinned.
"And live in some back of beyond shit hole for the foreseeable."
"I'm sorry Mr Big shot but in case you've forgotten we are actually on the run, the days of five star luxury ended when you shot a major criminal face and an intelligence agent." I thought for a moment, what he said made sense, it was a long way from our probable pursuers and building kudos with the navy in a strategically important campaign would do us no harm at all.
"okay we'll do it. Signal the C.O. out there that we're signing up for the duration.