Answering the Call
06 Mar 2019Per-Ja Ferra
The war in Glinja is over and tonight I repositioned the Solar Flare to the Den. After I landed I glanced over the job lists and was disgusted. It was the same thing. It's always the same thing. "Haul this load of "non-important junk" to a station in some system and we'll pay you this. The combat offerings were more of the same self-serving crap. Why don't these people just go to flight school? My system pannel beeped to let me know the fule I ordered was aboard. I swiped up the holo-screen and was just about to grab a combat mission when something stopped me. Turning to my Second Officer I smiled. "Time for a break." I'll pay you a cut of the profits for you to sit here and keep an eye on things. Let me know if anything interesting happens."She looked up a smile on her face. "You're going to pay me to sit around and twiddle my thumbs. You're the boss." The grin told me she was more than ready to take a break. In the last month, we had been on the front lines of thargoid incursions and helped with a turf war over in Glinja. It was time for us both to get a break.
"Take a side gig if you want. I'm going to take the Phantom and see what I can find." she gave me a look, she had never like exploration, "Maybe I'll go see some space pumpkins."
"Yeah right." she barked a laugh. "You'll be back in a day or two bored out of your mind. I'll hitch a ride over to Pribylov for a spa and spin." She said and started gathering her things.
I signaled for The Den to put the Solar Flare into storage and to have the Vagabond Horizon brought up and made ready for departure. As they were carrying out my instructions I pulled up the Codex and spun the map until I was looking toward the closer portion of the galactic rim. I had never been too far that way. Picking the next sector over I brought up the stuff people had reported there and found a listing for a system that supposedly contained space pumpkins. "ASTRA, plot a course to the system in this entry." Dutifully the AI started calculating routes according to my preferences.
A thought occurred to me. The Vagabond had not been on a proper shakedown yet. "ASTRA, route us to Olivas City first then out to the system I indicated." On the screen, the plotting stopped and a quick three jump route was plugged into LHS3505 and then outward toward the rim.
"Any destinations past this one Commander" queried the AI. It wasn't one of the fancy ones that chatted with you all day but ASTRA got the job done and helped with some of the mundane things I would be doing while I was out there. Probably one of the most useful was that she would automatically scan a system upon arrival. OF course, I had to do the detailed stuff but it was one fewer thing to do and that was what I needed right now.
"No, ASTRA. I will find something after we get there. How many jumps after Olivas City?"
"The current route shows a total of 157 jumps. Shall I request departure clearance from The Den?"
"Yes, ASTRA. Let's make tracks."
Three jumps later I was touching down at Olivas City. ASTRA handled having the ship refueled and restocked. I had worked out the supply list while we flew over. The Vagabond still needs a few tweaks but she was ready for a run, yeah she ran hotter than Iiked and the hull could be lightened more but for now, she would do. 50ly jump range was nothing to sneeze at, definitely better than the first time I took an ASPX out into the black. It had decent legs but it was slow. Of course, by the time I was done with it the thing could make over 40ly. This was still better. I found the place I was looking for, it was on a lower level and in a seeder part of the station that most tourists would venture into but that was fine by me.
The smell, when you walked into the cafe, was heavenly and brought back many many memories. I had spent the first year or so after graduation at this station. I had carved a name out as a bounty hunter and a small fortune. I bought that ASPX right here. I later moved to The Den when I became involved with the Wolves. Sitting in my old booth I ordered up a large steak and waited on the meal. I was not disappointed, the staff didn't know me but when I thumbed to pay the tab a small vid message popped up instead of the check. The older lady on the vid had kind eyes. "I still owe you for dealing with that pirate gang. I hope you enjoyed the steak Per."
I couldn't help but laugh. I had helped the owner when I lived here. She was having shipment troubles. A local pirate gang was picking off her suppliers ships. I applied a bit of my skills as a hunter and tracked them down the next time they had harassed one of her shipments. I explained to them in a no-nonsense manner that these ships were off limits. They disagreed but in the end, my point was made. I still don't know if they made it back to the station or not. Their frame drive was pretty beat up.
From Olivas I started jumping. That was ten jumps back. Found an interesting system and might spend a few days tooling around on one of the worlds.