Welcome to the Galaxy
05 Feb 2016TheDarkLord
Trevithick Dock, LHS 3447. Sidewinder.September 3301
So here I was, back again. Back in a Coriolis, about to take the helm of a spaceship for the first time in what seemed like a lifetime.
I tried not to sneer at the little wedge as I walked out over the gantry bridge of the small landing pad. I was expecting a Mark 3 Cobra, but it was not to be. A Sidewinder. With rubbish weapons and not much of a hold. A short jump range. And a thousand credits. As a Python roared away from the Medium pad next to me, I stared wistfully across the vast docking area of the Coriolis. For the first time, I saw the vastness of the new Lakon Systems Type-9 Heavy freighter.
I didn’t remember much from before the event. I had a Cobra. Military lasers. Missiles and ECM. And cargo space. I used to dock at Coriolis stations all the time, always with the Docking Computer, and the Blue Danube. But I didn’t remember seeing inside the spinning octagon.
But then that life ended. I wasn’t sure how or why. There had been flying, and then there had been rehab. A void existed between. Getting fit and healthy, in body and mind, was all I’d known for the last nine months. I had to get back out into space again.
As I dropped into the pilot seat of the Sidewinder, I knew I’d made it as far as Dangerous before, I remember that. I played with the display panels. To my right, my ratings. Where previously there was only one, now there were four. “Helpless”, “Aimless” and “Penniless” were new to me. But “Harmless” I remembered, and it hurt. I wondered if the old Dangerous skills remained.
I had a powerful urge to get home. The old fighting trade route between Diso and Leesti, near to Lave where I’d graduated from flight school all those years ago. I opened the map of the galaxy, and realised I was far, far from those systems. It seemed insurmountable. But those other ships – the Asp and Diamondback Explorers – were crossing vast distances. But they cost so much.
Perhaps those ratings were right. There was much work to do.