The Ice Mines of Chana, Part 3
06 Oct 2016TheDarkLord
The Ice Mines of Chana, Part 3.Chana. Faulcon deLacey Anaconda “TDL Agamemnon”.
June 3302.
Part 1 - Part 2
The woman showering in my Anaconda’s Master bedroom en-suite was Claudia Elliott, the only child of Brian and Sheryl Elliott. Brian was senior management in the local Chana Jet Life Incorporated faction, while Sheryl was a middle school teacher. Claudia had had a troublemaker’s childhood with several misdemeanour citations. Widowed five years ago, she had drifted in and out of work for two galactic years before being ingested by the Jet Life organisation, probably at the behest of her parents. Although now in steady employment, she had yet to find a niche by the looks of it. Plenty of changes in job title. She’d been free of recorded trouble for a while now. Nothing particularly interesting on any of the publicly-searchable social sites, and a cursory skim through the systems accessible to The 9th Legion failed to show up any cause for concern.
She was now assigned as a logistics analyst to a divisional vice president by the name of David Archer, who himself had a list of petty offences to his name, along with a number of incomplete or withdrawn allegations of sexual misconduct. From his public record, he clearly liked a drink and a fight, not necessarily in that order.
The Jet Life industry had a history of commissioning miners to supply Methanol Monohydrate. There were several ice rings in the system, but overall, Methanol Monohydrate mining had a reputation for the earnings-to-danger ratio being on the wrong side. My overall misgivings about this assignment remained, but the personal risk posed by this woman seemed to be reasonably low. Certainly low enough not to trouble the hormones raging through my body. Nevertheless, I implemented multi-layer security across Agamemnon’s systems. Anything even remotely dangerous would be locked to me only.
“Fuck it,” I thought. “Let’s bring her along for the ride. Even if this is the lust talking more than the intellect.”
Claudia reappeared, hair wet, and dressed in last night’s clothes. Still looking sensational.
“What’s the verdict?” She asked
“You’re welcome to come along. I have a hard time trusting people generally, so most of the ship’s systems are in lockdown and will only respond to me. Don’t take it personally. It probably won’t be as exciting as you hope, but then again hopefully you’ll enjoy the break from your normal work.”
“Thank you thank you thank you!” She exclaimed, giving me a huge hug.
“Hmm… Anyway, we need to launch for Macarthur. It’s an in-system jump, probably only 10 minutes’ flying time. I suggest that while the ship is being outfitted, you grab some clothes and whatever else you need.”
I put the breakfast crockery in the dishwasher, and beckoned Claudia to follow me to the bridge.
When we arrived on the bridge, I gestured to the co-pilot’s seat to my right. “Take a seat, strap yourself in. Please try not to break anything.” Claudia stared wide-eyed around her as she fumbled with the belts. I plonked myself into the Captain’s chair, and commenced activating the slumbering beast.
“TDL Agamemnon, permission to launch granted. Please exit the docking area promptly and safely.”
“Systems online. Thrusters engaged. Docking clamps released,” reported the ship. I flexed my fingers and took hold of the HOTAS controls. At my command, the Anaconda’s thrusters whined, and it lifted from the pad. I fed in a series of control inputs to align with the dock exit, reducing my forward speed so as not to crash into the back of a mark 3 Cobra that was also making its way out. I flicked on the artificial gravity, then selected Macarthur Terminal as my destination. Clear of the toast rack, I pushed the throttles all the way forward, surging past the banking Cobra, and as soon as I was clear of mass lock, I spooled up the Frame Shift Drive for the short supercruise around the star.
Supercruise traffic was busy, but cursory scans of the travelling ships did not give me cause for worry. I steered around the star and commenced braking for Macarthur. Claudia was silent, and in truth I’d pretty much forgotten she was there as I concentrated on flying my ship. The only sound she made on the whole flight was a sharp intake of breath as we dropped into normal space right by the habitation ring of the Orbis-type station.
“deLacey Tango Delta Lima, you are cleared for approach. Please set down on landing pad 24,” intoned docking control. I formed up on the entrance, matched rotation, and entered the slot.
“Please reduce speed to one hundred metres per second,” Control nagged. I deployed landing gear, and the wind resistance brought me to within tolerance. I guided Agamemnon to the pad and set down gently.
“Docking successful, engines disengaged.”
“Welcome Commander. Our facilities are at your disposal. I trust your visit here will be profitable.”
I fired through menu and security options, putting the ship into a refit lockdown.
“That… was… amazing.” Claudia said. “I sat here, just amazed by everything. Incredible. Fantastic. Amazing.”
She looked at me, and I couldn’t help but smile at her enthusiasm. A ten-minute flight within-system didn’t exactly float my boat any more, but seeing it through her eyes as she recounted the journey that I had literally just piloted, was a breath of fresh air. Plus, of course, I could listen to and watch her speak almost indefinitely.
“Come on beautiful, we’ve got work to do.” Claudia practically sprang from her seat, and we headed through the hallways to the officer’s entryway, and then across to the terminal.
“Three hours to install,” the Outfitting rep said after reviewing my list and downgrading a bunch of my components based on stock levels.
“’k’s sake,” I hissed. “It’d better be done in three.”
“Don’t be grumpy,” Claudia said. “I’m sure we can fill the time.” She tried hard to keep a straight face, but there was certainly an impish smile.