(Til Death Do Us Part) 14: No Time to Mourn
28 Apr 2023Silvia Sharpe
(For information leading up to this point please read through the Galactic bar Time as a barkeep)Silvia and Jules drop into the Amenta system. They were in Silvia's krait phantom. The name Longshot shone brilliantly on the hull.
As Silvia and Jules made their way towards Amenta A6 Silvia grew tense. Flashbacks of the ambush rushed through her mind. Jules places a hand on her shoulder to calm her down.
'I doubt he'd be stupid enough to pull a stunt like that here. Security seems to be on high alert.'
A message comes through from system security.
"XXD please submit for a manifest scan."
Silvia throttles down as the interdiction begins. She and Jules hold their breath as they drop from supercruise. Both are on high alert. Jules watches the scanner for anything out of the ordinary and Silvia hovers her thumb over the boost engage button.
*Scan Complete*
"Thank you and fly safe. Long live the Empire."
Silvia throttles up the instant she is given the all clear and engages the boost thrusters. She wasn't about to stick around in the event this was a trap. The fsd engages and they proceed to Amenta A6.
On the surface Silvia and Jules depart the ship. In front of them is Venus' family home. A regal mansion with the Duval family crest placed beautifully against the landscape. Silvia walks past the mansion to the ship hangar on the west side.
'I really do hate this place.. but I need the ship inside that hangar.'
Silvia's discontent rang through her words. She loved Venus with all of her heart but had always despised this home. It felt like a museum everything perfectly cleaned, nothing out of place. It felt as if it only existed to gloat about the families achievements and nothing more.
'I don't know Silvia I think it's magnificent. A home perfectly suited for a wealthy Imperial. It shows the level of wealth they held and the status of their family. I wish my family had a home this majestic.'
Jules on the otherhand was jealous of the luxurious appearance of the home. As a native Imperial she enjoyed imperial architecture and understood the importance of the home.
As they walk into the hangar 4 ships can be seen. A krait mk2, Venus' Imperial Cutter, a python, and a ship covered by a large black sheet. Silvia walks past the visible ships and stops directly in front of the covered ship. She turns to Jules and smiles.
'This ship..... this is the one I will be piloting.'
Silvia motions for Jules to help her uncover the ship. They drag the cover away exposing a dust covered battered Anaconda. The name Dauntless II is seen on the hull.
Jules stares at the ship, dents and scrapes can be seen all over her hull. Panels are missing and several of the directional thrusters are missing. Scorch marks can be seen on the left side of the ship. The markings however are not from rounds striking the ship but are instead blast marks from deep core charges cracking open core asteroids.
'Really? An anaconda? You realize that ship is dead in the water against a ship as nimble as a Fer De Lance right?'
Jules' look is that of concern. She had watched countless battles in which an anaconda was out maneuvered by smaller more agile ships. Silvia smirks at the comment and turns to her favorite asteroid cracker.
'Sure, but I won't be going in alone. Besides with the prismatics I have in storage and her heavy duty hull she will be a tough snake to kill. She needs some repairs and I don't know if the thrusters will even fire after sitting idle for so many years but she is the one I trust with my life. I got so used to her controls boosting from core to core in icy rings.'
Silvia walks up the boarding ramp and runs her hand along the railing. Memories flooding her mind of piloting the ship through asteroid fields of ice. Narrowly avoiding asteroid after asteroid occasionally mis-timing a roll or maneuver and clipping one of the asteroids breaking off chucks of ice, her shields taking the brunt of the impact and dents forming on her hull.
As she makes her way through the corridors, she frowns. The once pristine well kept interior now had a thick layer of dust. Crates and boxes were strewn about. The ship had become its own storage warehouse. She made her way to the cockpit, the doors grinding open from lack of proper maintenance. The controls to the ship had been removed and parts were scavenged for other vessels. She takes a seat in her chair after wiping away most of the dust. She turns to Jules who had been following behind.
'Right. Looks like I will need to hire a crew to get her fixed up and refit for combat.'
Jules makes a call to a friend of hers and arranges a crew of approximately 30 people to begin the arduous task of refurbishing the poorly maintained Anaconda.
2 days later
Silvia watches as the last remaining box is carried off of her ship. A smile grows on her face as she sees the once majestic Anaconda restored to its former glory. The crew Jules had hired worked around the clock to get the ship flight ready. She looks over the outfitting sheet and nods.
'This should do nicely. Thank you Julia for calling in that favor. These weapons systems should sting a bit more now.'
Jules looks over the Anaconda before turning to face Silvia.
'Of course. I think it's time we try and fire her up.'
Silvia nods in agreement and boards the ship. The duo make their way up to the cockpit. Silvia takes a seat in her chair and begins a systems functionality check. All systems seem to be working properly and now it was time for the big test.
Silvia holds her breath as she activates the main drive. The engines whine as the spool up. A loud thunderous roar can be heard as the thruster drives fire up. Brilliant emerald green flames sputter and flare up as the thrusters try to flame up. Then with one loud boom and a deafening roar the main drives fire up.
Silvia releases her breath. She is shaky and noticeably nervous. Jules takes her seat and checks over the ships systems ensuring nothing seems out of the ordinary. The ship groans slightly as it lifts from its pad. Dust and debris are sent into the air as the lift thrusters fire and pulse. Black puffs of smoke are seen as the thrusters struggle to maintain thrust. The main drive roars as Silvia engages forward thrust. Smoke and soot fill the air.
'She will need a tune up for sure but she is up under her own power. Let's get her out of here and open her up. I need to see how she feels after all these years.'
Silvia's nervousness is replaced with pure excitement and joy. The Dauntless II had been her favorite ship for many years until the Longshot was given to her. As they leave the hangar Silvia take one long look at the white Krait Phantom. She says a mental goodbye as they depart.
The Anaconda shakes and groans as Silvia pushes the thruster drives to full power. The main drive sputters and flames out as a thruster malfunction alarm sounds. The ship begins to plummet to the ground. Silvia and Jules frantically attempt to get the thrusters back online. Jules shuts down the drives and reactivates them. The thrusters roar back into life moments before they crash into the planetary surface. Jules looks at the ship modules an sees the onboard diagnostics were reporting that the thrusters were at 35% integrity. Her rag tag crew was enough to get the ship flight bound but they had take short cuts. Main fuel lines were rerouted to provide fuel directly into the plasma chambers. Electrical cables were bypassed and integral safety channels were bypassed. The drives may have been engineered but even they would think this work was sketchy.
Silvia begins a test maneuver and rolls the ship to the right. As the ship rolls she engages the boosters. Green, yellow, red, orange, and amber sparks and flames rocket out of the main thrusters a trail of black sooty smoke is left behind. There is an ominous groan from one of the thruster assemblies. The ship lurches as the right side main thruster explodes. Alarms and warnings begin to blare. Jules acts fast and engages he emergency fire suppression system snuffing out the flames and closing off the thruster vents.
Silvia looks to Jules a look of concern growing on her face.
'We need a station with proper ship techs. These thrusters need tuning badly.'
'Agreed. The repair crew was only enough to get this beast off the docking pad. They weren't exactly certified.'
Silvia takes a look at the navigation panel and selects Ernst Point out of the list of available stations. She goes to engage the FSD but hesitates. She knows that if she doesn't engage it the trip would take months. She turns to Jules and sighs.
'What do you think? Will we go up in a ball of flames? Or will the FSD hold up to the task?'
Jules engages her emergency helmet and hovers her hand over the emergency eject button.
'Only one way to find out.'
Silvia engages her emergency helmet and activates the FSD drive.
*Frameshift Drive Charging*
The FSD module whirs and hums as it charges up. The faint smell of superheated metal wafts through the air. Jules stands by ready to hit the eject button. The message *Throttle Up to Engage* appears on the canopy display. Silvia slowly increases the throttle. As the ship hits maximum speed for a single thruster nothing happens. The message *Throttle Up to Engage* can still be seen on the screen. Silvia braces herself as she presses the booster button.
*5..4..3..2..1..Engage!*
The FSD fires off sending the ship into Supercruise. Silvia and Jules relax as the ship settles and the creaking and groaning cease. Silvia corrects the ships heading and line up with Ernst Point. Jules disengages her helmet and lets out a deep sigh of relief.
'PHEW! I was truly worried about that one. Right once we make it to Ernst Point I will request Pit Viper to be delivered. Once your repairs are completed we will meet up with Desdar and hopefully Eli. We will begin the hunt for Diaz then.'