Hot Jupiter -- Indeed it Was
12 Mar 2017R3dW1zard99
12 Mar 3303I was turning a sonic wrench, tightening down a mount on the thrusters when the call came in. It was Luna, she had a job for me. A rich lady wanted to see a couple of sites and would pay handsomely for it. Now, before I answered I considered that I was talking with Luna, or more precisely Relocation Organizer Luna Callahan. She was young, ambitious, and attractive; the type of go-getter who would be moving up the corporate ranks quickly. And that corporation was the biggest game in town: Starship Enterprises. Yep, THAT Starship Enterprises, the company that runs not only the orbital from which I was breathing air and docking my Asp, but the same corporation that basically runs the entire solar system of LP 339-7. When Luna calls, I answer.
Anyway, Luna had a rich lady who wanted to see a couple places. I wasn't thrilled to jump into any white dwarves so I asked "what two places?" Luna listed two places, but I only heard the second of the two: Hot Jupiter. I had never been to Hot Jupiter but I had heard of it. I had heard that it was a gas giant circling so close to a star that you could boil metals on the hull of your ship. I told Luna that I would do it if Starship Enterprises added a million more credits. Well, there was sort of this awkward pause and then Luna shot back, "Seriously? We come to you because you are the best, and perhaps more importantly, because we consider you an ally. Do I need to say more?"
I considered her words...and the veiled threat behind them, do the job at the pay offered or watch my reputation drop. I decided to take the job. Within a few hours a Miss Magdalena Hayes was in my First Class cabin, my ship was fueled, and we were ready to depart Whitson.
Well, the first destination was only 38.9ly away, a single jump in the souped up Adorable Lily. Thank you very much Elvira for your sweet work on my Asp's FSD. Miss Hayes saw what she wanted and then I pointed Lily at COL 285 SECTOR RF-C B14-7 B 1.
The system had 4 suns, two pairs circling each other. Two TTS were at the jump destination and the other two suns were roughly 2,000ls away. No big deal as I jumped in. And then I saw it, the massive gas giant circling the smaller of the two central stars. It was REAL CLOSE to the star, orbiting at about 1ls away from it. And of course, the beacon was on the hot side of the planet. I guess that's why it was called Hot Jupiter.
I plotted a course and started my approach.
This was going to be a tight fit...and a hot one! My hull temperature was already climbing. I was beginning to doubt if the credits were going to be worth all this heat. I increased the power to my shields and moved in closer.
I squeezed the Adorable Lily in between the TTS and the massive gas giant. I dropped us out of supercruise and slowed to a crawl. Miss Hayes gushed at the sight of a burning ball on one side and a spinning orb of gas on the other. Me? I kept one eye on the heat readings and the other on my distance from the two beasts with their enormous gravitational wells. Once the lady had seen enough I pointed the front of the Asp away and slowly moved to a safe distance before engaging the FSD.
A few jumps later we were back at Whitson Orbital. Luna was waiting in the lounge...with my payment.
"How was your hot date?" she joked.
"Not as hot as the date you and I are going to have some day," I playfully replied.
"Maybe some day," she teased as she turned and walked away.
Somehow I knew that she had her pulse cannons fixed on a bigger target than a space jockey like me. But I guess I could still dream.