Out of the frying pan into the fire - Resolution
16 Sep 2020Eagle 5
it was definitely over 24 hours...Death, destruction, chaos.. did I mention the bodies? and the heat.... THAT F#@&ING HEAT...
*** CONDITION RED *** WARNING TEMPERATURE CRITICAL ***
> YES GODDAMNIT I'VE BEEN DOING THIS FOR A WHOLE F#@&ING DAY I KNOW!!!
(a single heatsink hisses gently in the roar of the fires as it detaches from its launcher)
The Testarossa's controls felt heavy, tired, dare I say softer? Was the old ship starting to melt? ...was I?
One could only take so much stress and punishment... for over 24 hours now I have been flying back and forth from the PF's medical frigate several thousands of klicks away back into the fire where I would begin anew looking for refugees to fill all my available passenger slots.
At the start of each run I'd silently go through the script in my mind...
docking controls...
frameshift...
docking request...
... will there be traffic? will there be system patrol craft?..... pirates? gankers? what would await me there? I already took the brunt of an exploding LOX line once would it happen again? would it prove to be fatal this time? The docking area was littered with ship debris and cargo canisters announcing the final fiery death of the ill prepared or the tragically unskilled. Will this one final run mark my last?
Even the most skilled are known to run out of luck sometime.
What was I doing all this for anyway? the Empire was my lifelong adversary why would I care now? Sure the money was great and I am coming away with a hold full of special materials that Felicity could use to tweak my small fleet further but why was I doing this anyway? Was it for humanity's sake? .... was it for her? She might be dead at this point and you'd never know and that would probably be for the best so she could be with her child in the stars but why care now?
It all sounded so good at first. As those 24 hours ticked along I found myself fully engulfed in what might have been the spacer's version of a runner's high. The same sort of euphoric feeling you get playing yet another game of Scopa or Poker with a good table. The kind that starts with just one more round at 11 and winds up exhausting at 3AM.. this was no different but I can't help but feeling something else drew to me here and I would have never figured it out if it wasn't for one CRITICAL detail...
THARGOID TECH?
It would seem in the exhaustion of repetition I failed to notice that Mackenzie relay was slowly being consumed not just by fires, but by the caustic properties of a foreign contaminant which I had now come to experience first hand with my last campaign in the Pleiades....
What the hell is going on here?
Just exactly how does a pacifist fringe political movement become so militant, organized AND armed with alien tech? None of this makes any sense there's gotta be a lot more to it than this.
That's it for me here.
Once I drop these imps off I better head back to Shinrarta and think about what's going on. I have a feeling something bad is about to happen.
24 hours... and counting
It was late night when I got to the medical ship... I was the last transport there and it was an almost surreal sight to see the Testarossa with its dulled red paint docked alone on the carrier's shining blue deck.. a striking visual contrast not unlike the sight of the burned refugees on the sterile medical bays.
I left the ship to the ground crew who began the typical refel/repair/rearm duties.
A medical officer approached me on my way to the passenger area: " Will you be rejoining the evacuation efforts this evening commander? "
> I've been at this for 24 hours... It's time to hang it up for me
"Very well, the Pilot's Federation thanks you for your service here... you saved a lot of lives today, and I'm sure that even if they aren't keen on showing it... that they appreciate it.
> Yeah..
"We will dispatch a medical decon unit to clean and sterilize your cabins for reuse it should take no more than an hour or two"
> Is the bar open?
"Absolutely Deck 17"
> Thanks.