The First of the Few
29 Dec 2016Jellicoe
"Commander Jellicoe?" A quiet but forceful voice asked from behind me and I turnd, one hand moving subconsciously to rest on my burst pistol."Yes." I replied to a petite woman wearing a cream coloured leather jacket over a well worn flight suit.
"Heard you're looking for a fighter pilot. Names Mira, Mira Hyde." She was blonde but deeply tanned, her blue eyes regarded me coolly and an almost imperceptible hint of a smile played at the corners of her mouth.
"I'm looking for a good one yes, do you know any?"
Her gaze remained level though one corner of her mouth rose slightly and an eyebrow lifted. "You won't find a better one here Commander." She replied evenly.
"We'll see." I found her quiet self assuredness rather appealing. "What experience have you got?"
"CQC champion, then hunting pirates in Polahukuna."
"So you've experience of remote piloting?"
"Of course."
"What's your Pilots Fed ranking?"
"Expert. It would be higher but the CQC kills don't count." She was confident without being boastful.
"Why are you signing on for fighter duty? You could get your own ship."
"Scratching a living in a Sidewinder isn't really my style."
"Joining up with me won't be safe, I spend most of my life looking for trouble. got some powerful enemies too."
"If I wanted safe I'd be looking for some limp dick Beluga pilot who needs his ass wiping. I'm a fighter jock, I want to be on a fighting ship." When you work in space, if you stay alive for long enough you learn to tell who is all mouth and who can back up their words with action, I can't explain what it is, something about the look in their eyes, the way they carry themselves and the way they speak and this woman impressed me. She was confident, a touch arrogant even (I'm yet to meet a fighter pilot who isn't), but not boastful. It was a snap decision but one I had confidence in.
"One hundred grand up front plus ten percent and we'll see how it goes." A test, if she was as good as she claimed she would know her own worth.
"A hundred and fifty plus fifteen percent. She replied coolly her eyes never leaving mine.
I smiled. "Done. Docking bay 32, get your stuff on board we leave in sixteen hours." When she had left I returned to my room and opened a link to an old contact and the hologram of an Imperial Intelligence officer appeared.
"Juliet Echo Echo." He greeted me using my code name. "A pleasure as always. What can I do for you?
"I'd like someone looking into if you would. A fighter pilot name of Mira Hyde, anything to suggest she's trouble or a plant for someone? I fed an image of her to him via my implant. The spook worked his terminal for a few minutes before speaking again.
"Mira Hyde, born on New California, 25 years old, bit of a rebel at school, few minor brushes with the police mainly for driving offences before going for Pilots Fed training. Made a bit of a name for herself in CQC before helping clear out a pirate gang from Polahukuna." He briefly summed up her bio. "One can never be completely certain but she doesn't look like a plant, they tend to be grey men, and her CQC and combat record both look legit which doesn't leave much time for her to have been recruited or trained by anyone. Looking at this she's either on the level or someone's gone to a great deal of trouble to fake this, and with the best will in the world I doubt that anyone thinks you're important enough for that amount of effort."
"So I can trust her?"
"Only you can decide that but nothing I can see gives me reason to mistrust her."
Thanks November Uniform Sierra I owe you one."
"You owe me several. Take care out there, out."
The following day the Resolution slipped out of port and into Super-Cruise.
"So what do you make of our new shipmate?" I asked Claude and Vik.
"Talks a good fight." Vik replied. "We'll see how she handles herself in action."
"Sooner than she thinks." I said pointing the ship towards the nearest mining zone. "Commander to all hands. Action Stations repeat Action Stations. Miss Hyde to the bridge please.