The stars of home
01 Oct 2020Eagle 5
It had been years since I visited Lave. The more things change the more they stay the same and that was for sure the case with this little old world frontier system.
"Delacy Echo Alpha Golf you are cleared for approach, watch your speed on final sequence"
>Copy Lave Station approach vector locked in.
Lave's Coriolis station was a bonafide piece of human history. It was one of the first ones built centuries ago and showed no sign of ever changing. The gentle spin of the multi faceted giant had been going for centuries outlasting entire generations with an almost indomitable will to persevere through time. The Pilot's Federation, Galcop, and the Dark Wheel all had their roots in this corner of space and their presence still permeated everything in this seemingly insignificant slice of the universe.
The PF's frontier spaceflight museum located on South City could rival the Human Spaceflight Experience outside Apollonius City on Earth's Moon. As a kid I visited it on a couple of occasions during "field" trips up to the space station which was typically a treat reserved for those who could manage straight A's for 3 straight grading periods... an impossible task given the strictness of the school system which had its roots in the dictatorship's eugenic inspired restructuring. My favorite exhibit was by far the entire pavilion dedicated to Cowell & McGrath Spaceworks who along with the PF and Dark Wheel put Lave on the map. It was they who designed some of the finest starship designs that later became highly coveted IP's acquired by the likes of Faulcon DeLacy and Lakon.
It was here that the Cobra series first took flight and became the enduring symbol of freedom and human ingenuity that it did.
I'd give anything for an original model... before Faulcon took over and modernized virtually every system and in doing so sucked out much of the soul of the original which demanded a real pilot at the controls not just a lever puller.... someone the likes of Peter Jameson
The shift commodity trader looked downright bored... "let me guess... a hold full of our finest aged Brandy correct?"
> Popular stuff these days...
"Yeah we can all thank the Empire's troubles for our fortunes out here... I'd just like to get my last two hours in and go home. I only have 15 units left will that be sufficient?"
> That's going to have to do.
And with a quick swipe of the transaction screen I was now the owner of half a cargo hold of the finest booze in the galaxy...
> Too bad I won't be able to partake in any of it...
...maybe I'll just fleece a bottle for later and call it spillage.
A drink would have been not only appropriate but righteous given the circumstances but alas the clock was ticking and Slone was far from being a patient man.
With everything that happened in the last two weeks and who knows what lies ahead it wouldn't be too far fetched that this could be the last time I'd ever see the stars of home.
I better make that two bottles... at least.