Black box run for Thoth Free
24 Apr 2019Darkwind28
ONEThoth – England Port
24 APR 3305
I woke up. I was aboard the Serenity. I slowly slid off my bed and moved towards the bridge through the grey corridor. I slid my palm across the reader on the wall and opened the door, walked inside. The door closed behind me and my entoptics displayed the HUD of the ship – cold blue against the orange surfaces. I sat down in the captain's chair, looked to my left – the comms menu opened up. The Serenity was docked aboard England Port – the Orbis starport orbiting Thoth 4.
I looked to the front and opened up the starport services menu. From there, I looked towards the mission board. I flicked my fingers across the HOTS. What was Thoth Free up to now?
A mission to retrieve a black box displayed itself on the hud. Rho Cancri system, not far.
I accepted the mission and, with a flick of the wrist, I released the docking clamps launching the Krait Mk II off the platform. I gently pushed the throttle forward and maneuvered the ship outside of the Orbis Starport. I located the star I was shooting for – Rho Cancri, and issued a voice command to the ship:
'Frameshift'.
I was still mass-locked by the station, so I boosted away from England Port and tried again.
The Frameshift drive purred to life as the jump has been plotted. We jumped towards LFT 655, a yellow-red star. The galaxy's many stars whizzed around the canopy as we shifted towards the target. The ship exited hyperspace and I closed my eyes instinctively, blinded by the corona of the star before me, as the gentle force of the exit pushed me out of my seat.
I quickly got my bearings and tilted the ship towards Rho Cancri, esentially repeating the process.
I scanned the Nav Beacon and was fed the location of degraded emissions. I moved the ship's hull in the target's direction. There was some piano music playing in my head, but I thought it away. As I approached the target location I kept a watchful eye on the ETA displayed by the HUD.
Once the time displayed reached 10 seconds, I throttled down to 70% thrust. The Alcubierre drive carried me towards the area, until I was but 3 Ms away.
'Safe disengage ready' – displayed the heads up. With a flick of my finger, we exited supercruise – again, the force of the exit pulling me slightly out of the chair. I quickly picked up three black box signatures around me.
'Cargo hold' – I told the ship, and the apparatus opened, automatically slowing the machine down to a hundred plus meters per second. The display glew bright orange, with the first black box in the middle. I gently pushed the throttle forward and scooped the object into the ship's grasp – signified by a chirp coming from the comms. I've looked around and repeated the steps for the two following chunks of data. Once all three were aboard, I locked the cargo scoop and set course back to Thoth.
Re-aligning myself in the seat, I issued a voice command to the ship to start charging the Frameshift drive. We jumped, again, and slid silently aback the ripple in space-time, exiting hyperspace in mere seconds to follow.
'Comms.' - I said. The HUD displaying England Port's location, on which I have locked my gaze. That's where the black boxes are to be stowed away for Thoth Free's sake. Serenity has once again engaged into supercruise towards the Orbis Starport. We've dropped some 1Ms away, and the looming circle of the station welcomed me with its many advertisement displays.
'Request docking'- I said, and the computer did the rest. We've slid our way into the station's mailslot and located the landing pad – 26 its number.
'Landing gear'- I voiced into the bridge, and the ship responded by deploying the tethers. I gently eased our way down onto the platform below, and the docking clamps engaged.
Serenity shuddered, and we were home, about 1.5 mil credits richer if the display was to be trusted. The servitors made their way to the Krait's hull and collected the data banks. Another mission, more reputation gained – we were now allies with Thoth Free. Exactly where I needed them.