Merc Ops 5 - An Impromptu Rescue
28 Jan 2018Leon Falkner
HIP 24016 D 4 A0454
Leon was out for a quick jaunt in his Asp Explorer. Circling the inhabited bubble in what was passed from Commander to Commander as the "Road to Riches".
He yawned and stretched as he neared the latest water world. Gathering further data one after the other, the Pilot's Federation paid well for science data about the livable systems on this route, and Leon needed the cash. Plus it was a welcome change from combat piloting. He decided to set down on the planet's moon for the night. It'd give a nice view, and the gravity wasn't so high to be uncomfortable after the hours of spaceflight.
Feeling the need to stretch his legs, well, so to speak, Leon hopped into the Asp's SRV. He only managed to get the wheels caught a few times on some rocks. He collected a few samples, then the scanner started pinging him. He remembered back to his training. The high band was, refined metal. Man made metal. Another ship? The scanner had been dark as anything on the way down.
He turned the buggy towards the signal. After about 2 kilometers, the shortband radio crackled.
"...Hello?"
Leon nearly jumped out of the chair, and would've if he hadn't been secured.
"...Please tell me someone... me on that ship." the voice was tired, deep and riddled with distortion.
"This is Commander Falkner, is someone out there?" Leon said into the shortband.
"Thank everything. Please, we were shot down and made a crash landing. We're in our pods but our transponder died a few hours ago."
"I'm on my way, keep the line open."
The wreckage was cold as he crested the hill, headlights shining into the distance. A quick scan of the area showed four occupied pods and a handful of cargo pods among the wreckage.
As the SRV approached, several autonomous drones shot into the sky. Leon sighed, flipping up the weapons safety latch. The turret swung into position and he took the drones one by one, plasma shots illuminating the dark side of this forsaken moon.
"Your drones aren't too friendly." He said when the last spun out in the low gravity and exploded.
"Not our drones. Cargo company installed them to prevent theft of the canisters."
"Charming. I'm calling down my ship now. It'll take a couple trips to ferry you all up but I'll drop you off at the nearest station. Until then, I can start up a pot of 'coffee' " Leon said. The Low G meant that you couldn't brew real coffee, even out here. But he had coffee packs, which he could heat up.
"Please, anything to get out of here. We'll pay whatever we can."
"Don't mention it. Hold tight, it's gonna get bumpy."
As he rode the last two pods back, he noticed the ID tag on one of the cannisters. The tag came up in his computer at "WEAPONS - SMALL CALIBER - PERSONAL WEAPONRY". Another cannister. "ILLEGAL NARCOTICS DETECTED"
Cargo company his ass. Leon thought. He'd drop them off at a station alright. They probably weren't going to like it very much.