Slim Pickings
30 Dec 2017Glasgow Evans
Slim Pickings A blue flash streaked against the starry backdrop. Nehalennia dropped out of supercruise and oriented itself toward a derelict vessel.
“These are the coordinates from the tip-off captain,” Dylan said, moving his finger to his sensor display. “And that must be the wreck they told us about.”
A Type-7 tumbled a slow spin, surrounded by small chunks of debris and barely illuminated by the red dwarf star some 700 light-seconds away.
Glasgow and Ivy stood behind Wesley. Glasgow stroked his chin with his elbow in his other hand. “Alright. Get us up nice and close Wes. C’mon Ivy. Let’s go suit up.” He turned toward Perez. “Keep those sensors passive.”
Dylan shrugged. “There’s no one out this part of the system anyway Captain.”
Glasgow raised his finger, pointing it at him. “You can’t be too careful out here. Last thing we need is pirates shakin’ us down.”
Elijah was leaning next to the cargo bay airlock, talking to Helena Felix, the ship’s engineer. She nudged Elijah in the shoulder as Glasgow and Ivy approached.
“Hey Captain,” she said. “Looks like we made Galnet.”
She held up a dataslate toward Glasgow. He grabbed the slate from her hands and frowned.
Valuables Stolen on Cruise Ship in Ross 720
System Sec chief Hamish Willis explained that valuables were taken from a vault on board the Europa Princess last week.
Witnesses aboard the Princess report spotting a large vessel jumping out of the area shortly after alarms sounded. Silverstar Tours, the owner of the ship refused to comment, saying only that they are taking measures to prevent further heists occuring again.
The thieves have not been identified but Willis believes that they are not affiliated with known criminal factions in the immediate area.
“Rest assured that this incident is being investigated thoroughly,” he said. “This is the work of rag-tag thugs, not organized crime syndicates.”
Glasgow handed the slate back to Helena. “Rag-tag thugs? Who’s this guy think he is?”
Helena chuckled as she secured her EVA suit, holding her helmet under her arm. “I kinda like the title myself. Disorganised, scraping what we can get our hands on to keep the ship flying. Sums us up pretty well don’t you think?”
Elijah shook his head. “It was a close call. I’m surprised we’re not sitting in the slammer, hoping our cellmate is in a good mood.”
“I can always rely on you to keep the mood positive,” Glasgow said, smirking as he lifted his helmet over his head. It let off a short hiss as it sealed and a flashlight illuminated. “Ain’t no one on this wreck to catch us taking their stuff. It should be a nice and easy run this time.”
The crew finished securing their helmets and they stepped into the airlock. Helena slung a duffle bag of tools over her shoulder and the cargo ramp lowered slowly after it finished depressurizing. Their magboots disengaged from the ramp and small thrusters propelled them toward the dead ship ahead and their helmet flash-lights illuminated.
Bullet holes and scorch marks from laser fire blemished the hull and its port engine pod was missing, nowhere to be seen in the dim light. Ivy drifted toward the cylindrical bubble shape canopy at the front. The glass was absent and the frame was bent and twisted inward. The rear door caved inwards exposing the main passageway to the rest of the ship.
“Hey guys, looks like we can enter this way,” Ivy said, grabbing onto a piece of twisted metal and pulling herself in. Her mag boots connected with the floor next to where the pilot’s seat would have been. Her nose scrunched at the sight. “At least the pilot would’ve gone quickly. Looks like they took the full blow from whatever hit the deck.”
The rest of the crew touched down next to Ivy, glancing around at the mess. Glasgow lifted his finger toward the door. “Hey, at least whoever blasted this thing was kind enough to open the door for us. It’s like they knew we were comin’”
Helena strode through the door. “Don’t be too optimistic yet captain. It looks like power’s completely out and the consoles in here are shagged.”
“Do you reckon you could get it back online?”
She shrugged. “Maybe, if I can get to the power plant.”
“Alright, find the power plant and work your magic. If we can get this boat at least partially goin’ then this job will become a lot easier.” Glasgow said.
Helena unzipped her duffle bag and pulled out a modified hand-held mining laser, normally designed to chip away at rock in underground mines. Its beam was not very effective against metal, but good enough to get the job done with a bit of patience. She stroked the long metal barrel. “I’m sure I’ll be up to the task.”
She waded down the pitch black corridor, her helmet flashlight revealing floating fragments of projectile and bulkhead alike drifting and recoiling off the walls. This kind of scene was not unfamiliar to her, she spent most of her working life salvaging shipwrecks for working parts and cargo.
A door labelled ‘Engineering’ was at the far end of the corridor, the room that stored the power plant and its shielding as well as operations consoles. Helena pointed the laser at the door and pulled the trigger. It emitted a bright blue beam and sparks flew where it hit the door as it heated up and sheared off tiny fragments of metal.
“Could ya hurry up down there,” Elijah said. “I don’t think we packed enough oxygen to be sittin’ around.”
Helena paused and tilted her head, glancing back down the corridor. “You wanna come down here and install a go fast button on this damn thing?”
Elijah said nothing, opening his mouth but then stopping.
“That’s what I thought.”
Several more minutes passed, and Helena’s laser cut through the door. She placed her hands against the metal and then charged her shoulder into it, causing the chunk to separate from the rest of the door and float into the room.
She squeezed through the new hole in the door and looked around the pitch-black room. A thick window separated the power core from the engineering room and in front of the window was a small console. She tapped a button by the console and it flickered into life, revealing diagnostic information.
“Captain, most of the ship’s fried, but I should at least be able to override the door locks and open her up. You’ll have to open the cargo hatch from the bay though.”
She tapped a few commands and the ship’s doors all flew open.
“Nice work,” Glasgow said. “Alright. Ivy, Elijah, you two go on to the cargo bay. Tell me what you find and get that hatch open.”
Elijah nodded. “Aye capt’n. Should be a nice load on a ship like this.”
He and Ivy disappeared into the dark corridor as Helena returned to the bridge, and Glasgow turned to face Nehalennia.
“Perez, you copy?”
“Loud and clear captain,” Dylan responded.
“Have those limpets ready. Cargo should start pourin’ out from the hatch shortly.”
“Yes captain, booting up the controller now.”
Glasgow paced around the wrecked bridge, making slow circles near the front.
Ivy and Elijah entered the cargo bay, their flashlights illuminated the bulkheads of the huge bay. Ivy’s eyes widened.
“Shit Elijah,” she said.
Elijah stopped, shaking his head in disbelief. “Oh lordy, the capt’n’s not gonna like this.”
“Hey, cap?”
“What is it Ivy?” Glasgow’s voice crackled.
Elijah interrupted. “There’s nothin’ in here.”
“The hell are you talkin’ about?”
“I’m sayin’, capt’n that there’s no bloody cargo in here. I dunnae what else to tell ya.”
Glasgow breathed a long sigh. “Are you tellin’ me someone got here before us?”
Ivy examined the cargo bay, running her hand along one of the empty cargo racks. “Nope. There’s no sign of hatch breaker work. I think she’s been empty all along.”
Glasgow placed his palm on his helmet visor. “Son of a bitch.” His voice was uneasy. “It’s a goddamn-”
Wesley’s voice cut in before Glasgow could finish. “Cap, you need to get back to the ship. There’s a new contact on the sensors and he’s headin’ right for us.”
“How long have we got?” He asked.
“‘Bout fifteen minutes at his current velocity.”
“Double-time crew. We’ve got company,” Glasgow yelled.
The crew scrambled back to Nehalennia, and Glasgow sprinted to the bridge, still in his EVA suit. His helmet hissed as he cracked the seal and he stood over Wesley’s shoulder. Elijah joined shortly after, taking a seat on the starboard terminal.
“Wait, why are they turnin’ around?” He said as the Python faced away from them and its thrusters filled Nehallenia’s bridge with a blue hue.
Wes’s lip curved to a smirk. “Maybe they’re scared of lil’ old us.”
Glasgow glanced around the bridge. “Hang on, where’s Ivy?”
“I didn’t see her come up here, Captain,” Dylan replied.
Glasgow frowned, turning to Elijah. “Wasn’t she with you?”
Elijah shrugged. “I assumed she was still taking her EVA suit off.”
The captain turned to the comms. “Helena, is Ivy down with you?”
A few seconds passed and the bridge comms crackled. “Negative, she ain’t down here.”
Glasgow’s eyebrows raised, and his jaw dropped when he realized the situation.
“Wesley! Boost immediately! Chase down that ship.” He grabbed onto the back of the pilot’s seat. “Elijah! Weapons out, target those engines. They got our girl and we’re gettin’ her back.”
Wesley gripped his throttle. “Hold tight everyone,” he said and jammed the throttle forward.
Glasgow’s grip on the pilot seat tightened as the ship’s sudden acceleration pushed everyone back into their seats with the high G-forces. He had gotten used to standing up during desperate situations calling for tight maneuvers and sudden bursts of acceleration, preferring to have the best view outside the bridge as possible.
Elijah’s focus narrowed to his holoscreen as the weapons deployed and trained toward the escaping Python. He squeezed the trigger and short pulses of energy erupted from the forward laser turrets, rippling the opponent’s shield. The Python rolled and swerved, attempting to avoid Elijah’s continuous barrage of laser fire but eventually its shield buckled from the stress.
“Push harder Ejilah!” Glasgow yelled. “They’ve almost finished chargin’ their drives.”
Elijah gripped his joystick, training the lasers on the fleeing Python’s thrusters. Small fragments chipped off the hull as more beams of energy struck the hull. The smaller port thruster erupted into flame, sending smoke billowing out and dispersing into the void.
“One down, three to- shit!”
The Python disappeared in a bright blue flash, jumping out of the system.
Everyone remained silent as melancholy filled the bridge. Glasgow let go of Wesley’s chair and paced around the bridge.
“Perez, what’s the jump range on those things?” He said.
“They average around 18 light years captain.” He pulled up the galaxy map on their console. “But there’s dozens of systems within that radius. There’s no way we could catch them.”
Glasgow raised his hand to his chin, doing his best to mask his rage. “Did you get an ID of the ship?”
Dylan nodded, pulling up information on the escaped vessel. “Sure did. I have a ship name, but no owner.”
Glasgow sighed, shaking his head. “Then this ain’t over. It’s not much to go on, but it’s a start.”
He walked back up to Wesley. “Get us to Kremainn. I know someone there who may be able to help us find who owns this ship and where they’re headed.”
Elijah slumped in his chair, holding his face in his hands. Glasgow turned to him and put his hand on his shoulder.
“Don’t beat yourself up buddy,” he said.
“I almost had it!” Elijah yelled. “I just needed a few more seconds. Who knows what those fuckers’ll do to her.”
“You did good. They’re goin’ to have to stop somewhere for repairs so that buys us some time. Besides, Ivy’s a tough girl.”
Elijah lifted his head but said nothing.
“Go take a break,” Glasgow headed toward the exit of the bridge. “Bridge is yours, Dylan.”