Coronation Crashers 2 of 3 - A Royal Hunt
15 Jan 2016Monolith Preacher
Of course. Springheel Jack wanted to take the Imperial Hammers I was going to steal for him and the ones the Archon had already commissioned me to deliver. And I'd been too busy slaving away to realise the obvious. Unfortunately, I noticed as I looked at the modules in the ship we had two problems. The first was that neither ship had fuel scoops. The second was that both ships had three Imperial Hammers loaded, with no access to their systems functions. Even our transmissions were unencrypted. This didn't stop me from cursing my luck to all near to the station in supercruise."What the hell! This ship's going to explode if I even touch the trigger. What kind of ludicrous ship design is this?"
Orpheus' voice returned on the comms in a perfunctory tone.
"It's a showpiece. Meant to exhibit the strength of the Empress. It's not meant to be used, per se. Quite a shame, really. As a "Prince of Pyrats", you now have letters of marque, and this would've been a fine chance to first stamp them."
"You mean I'm not the same kind of Prince that you are, assuming we're skipping the formalities and giving me the title?"
"Why no, my good sirrah! You're a pyrat, and I am a citizen of the Empress. We work on differing grades. But don't worry about that. Your kin has fired upon what the paperwork will say is royalty all the same. If we kill him, you'll get that kingship you've been after faster that you thought."
I rolled my eyes and tried to think. Killing Hammer wasn't my intention. I'd rather just escape. We'd need to re-fit these, but Hammer was going to have the benefit on jump range wherever we went. We had to play this smarter than a mouse would lead a cat into a trap. As I looked at my galaxy map for a moment trying to figure out a workable route of escape, I noticed a contact come up on my radar. It was my Asp, and that meant I was out of thinking time. I told Orpheus to make route to San Wu however he could. If we split up Hammer would follow me, of that I was certain. And Sheng was the only mechanic in the whole galaxy that could sort this wiring out.
I stopped to re-fuel within a handful of jumps, as these Couriers, despite their name, go nowhere. I got them to fit a fuel scoop whilst I was there, and hoped I'd made enough time. But I hadn't. As I left the dock, Hammer was there in my Asp, bristling to the rim with plasma accelerators. He hailed me on the comms as he saw my ship surface in the hangar. He began shooting, within the no fire zone, as soon as he began speaking.
"Sorry I'm late, but I had to re-fit this thing. I always told you you needed more guns, but you seem to have more than you can fit in your hand! Too bad for you!"
I was too busy evading his shots to reply. I looped around the back of the Coriolis, ducking in and out through the superstructure. The Asp's bulk stopped Hammer from following me in, but it didn't stop him from shooting at me. As the ship rotated and I struggled to use my lateral thrusters fast enough to dodge the oncoming beams, I finally found my event horizon and made one mad dash.
2 pips to shields.
4 pips to engines.
Boost.
And all my prayers to the glorious Monolith.
I somehow managed to make the jump. And the next. By the third jump, he'd tracked me down and interdicted me. Another new addition. By the time I got to San Wu, I not only had 5% hull, but I'd had to endure a drunken rant like you wouldn't believe. Luckily, he spilled everything into the open comms in my craft. I'd rather he didn't go into the details of that one weekender at Kremainn, but at least he left Jack's plan on file. I couldn't help but feel bad I'd left him to begin with, but by the time I'd realised I was doing the GIMPP I was at the Red Spider nebula, and by then he was already drinking.
Orpheus never met me at San Wu. I could only assume that he went straight back to Achenar in fear, and I can't say I blame him. Orpheus once boasted that I'd never beat him in a fencing duel. In rebuke, I challenged him wielding only a knife. I won. Apparently he's something of a big deal in such circles, but no-one's ever beaten me with a knife. Why do I mention this? because Hammer's as dead a shot with his ship as I am with my blades. Our flying abilities each vary with how much alcohol we've drunk. At the moment Hammer's intake was far above mine, so he probably had the advantage.
It must have felt weird for Sheng fitting two ships knowing one was the prey of another. He didn't say a word to me as he fit my ship, and I didn't comment on his hairstyle, despite it being above the calibre of what I had already seen. He nodded to me once, solemnly, as I re-docked. He knew I had a slim chance of survival, and I was under no illusions either. Luckily, I at least had a plan.
I set route to Vishkyamu. An old smuggling contract of mine was there. Her name was Marra, and we'd met by chance at Gabriel Dock close to when I'd first signed up. Talked shop for a bit and kept in touch, nothing untoward. I'm a preacher, not a player. Anyway, she'd been spending a while helping some pyrats overthrow the custodians of their prison colony system. A noble pursuit, and one after my own heart. This meant there was a civil war going on. If I knew Hammer, I knew him well enough to know he'd never miss a chance to rack up the kind of carnage, money, and....shall we say benefits such things can give the open-minded and heavy-handed?
Not to bore you with the details of my fuel scooping or dodging of patrols sent to save me that got confused as to who stole whose ship, but I managed to make it there, and my theory held out. I even managed to dump him in the same conflict zone Marra was in, which was lucky. It was luckier I remembered to tell her to stay away, as I'd rather neither of them got killed on my account. I'm sure each of them can handle a war zone, but I'm not sure how they'd handle each other.
As I returned to Achenar, I received word that Orpheus had indeed been through, and had taken the ship to San Wu as I had asked after hearing I was returning. Apparently, Hammer had made so much money that Li Yong-Rui had been paid off to harbour him. If I could infiltrate their infrastructure and kill him, I would get my kingship.
It's a hard thing to think about, killing your brother. The Empire says it's necessary, and he certainly seems to want me dead even if it is on Springheel Jack's behalf, but luckily the Macmillan Terminal Charity Concern had pre-empted my acceptance of the deal and outsourced production of a golden Fer-de-Lance to Ix as a coronation gift. Considering the last gift I was given by the Empire had almost got me killed, I would've been dubious if it was any other. But I couldn't turn down such a beauty of a ship. So I took the contract, and joined LYR's service. I should be in and out within a month.