Episode 129, Faded Trails
26 Nov 2024Ryuko Ntsikana
Estrellas de la Mirage (M3Q-W9Z)
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It took an hour to get everyone back onboard and the course plotted, and another hour to jump halfway to the source of the distress call. At this range, the signal should have been detectable without relying on rare scientific anomalies. Yet, it wasn’t. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something about this bothered me.
Tara, attuned to my thoughts in the way only biomorphics could be, sensed my unease without me saying a word. Captain Akio grew equally suspicious after our third jump, just one jump away from the destination.
“Comms… anything?” he asked.
“No artificial signals detected,” came the reply.
Akio glanced at me as I pulled up a star chart of the region. “Tara, plot us a course that keeps us one system removed from the source’s origin. Let’s investigate from a safe distance.”
I turned in my chair, activating the comm link to the ship’s AI. “Locate and wake Commander Nyx. I have a mission for him.”
“Acknowledged,” the AI responded crisply.
“What are you suspecting?” Akio asked, his eyes narrowing as he studied the charts Tara was refining.
The thought was murky, a fuzzy memory from years ago when I was still a young pirate pleb. Back then, the Asp Explorer was the crown jewel of exploration before the Diamondback and Anaconda dethroned it.
“I’m not sure,” I admitted. “Something about this feels off. It reminds me of stories I heard when I was green—before capital ships were offered to individual commanders. There were rumors about wings of opportunists, hunting along the exploration lanes.”
Tara paused her calculations, her gaze lifting to meet ours. “There are records of explorers and rescue ships responding to fake distress signals, only to be ambushed. Do you think that’s what’s happening here?”
I nodded slowly, my gut tightening. “It’s possible. If this is a trap, we’re not walking into it blindly.”
Akio leaned forward, his jaw tightening as he considered the possibility. “A trap like that only works if they’re ready for you. What’s the play?”
I smirked, my fingers brushing over the nav console. “Simple. We don’t let them see us coming.”
But I couldn’t have been more right while simultaneously being wrong. Nyx’s Diamondback Scout glided through the system like a ghost, silent and untraceable. The scanners picked up nothing—no man-made objects, no active signals, nothing that suggested recent human activity. The system seemed untouched.
The only anomaly Nyx detected was a faint, degraded tachyon emission. It wasn’t definitive proof of a capital ship’s presence, merely an indication that one had passed through at some point. And even that was tenuous—judging by the signal’s degraded state, the ship could have passed hours ago, or as far back as a full relative day. It was certainly not recent enough to align with the distress call’s apparent timing.
No one knew we were near because no one was here to know. Still, something about all of this stirred something deep inside me that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. There were plenty of drunken tales told by boasting pirates, most dripping with hubris and bravado to make themselves seem larger than life. Yet, every now and then, those tales brushed against the edge of truth.
I lifted my forearm computer and keyed in a quick-connect code for Chief Tompson, the ship’s engineer, and Farouk, our armorer and security chief. “Gentlemen, meet me in the Cobra Mark III hangar. Bring your thinking caps.”
Tara tilted her head in that familiar way, a mix of curiosity and calculation. “You know what this is?”
I shook my head. “Not yet, but it reminds me of something I heard a long time ago. I’m just having trouble remembering.”
From the railing, I looked down toward the communications station, where Captain Akio stood over the officer on duty. “Captain Akio, have Nyx return to the carrier. Prepare for a jump. I’ll send you a destination shortly.”
Without waiting for a reply, I turned toward the bridge elevator. Tara fell into step beside me, her boots clicking softly on the deck.
“Why the Cobra Mark III hangar?” she asked, a faint smile playing on her lips.
“It’s the fastest ship I have, with the range and internal slots I need.”
That smile lingered. “I’ve seen that look in your eyes before. What are you thinking?”
I shrugged as the elevator doors opened on the hangar level, leading to a waiting tram. “Not sure yet. But it wouldn’t hurt to have a ship ready, just in case.”
The tram hummed to a stop at the forward end of the carrier’s expansive hangar module, where my small-pad ships were stored. Both chiefs were already waiting when Tara and I arrived. After the usual greetings, I led them to the front of the Cobra, stopping by the medium hard points.
“Mr. Tompson,” I began, gesturing to the ship’s weapon bays, “I need you to rig a Faraday cage to the backsides of the medium and small weapons bay doors and behind the second utility bay door. I don’t want anyone scanning to see what’s behind them.”
He scratched his chin thoughtfully. “It’ll take me and the boys about a standard day to fabricate and test if you can wait.”
I nodded and pulled my data tablet from the side pocket of my flight suit, bringing up the module storage list. Highlighting the gear I had in mind, I handed it to Farouk.
“Chief Farouk,” I said, “how long to install these modules? I’ll need all the highlighted weapons loaded with premium synthesis.”
Farouk let out a low whistle, his eyebrows rising slightly. Tara leaned in to glance at the list, her expression unreadable as her gaze shifted back to me.
Farouk grinned. “I can have everything mounted, loaded, and ready in a couple of hours. That’ll give me time to get out of Mr. Tompson’s way so he can shield them from scans.”
Chief Thompson looked at the data tablet in Chief Farouk’s hands. “Additional fuel tanks plus a fuel scoop. Dual vehicle bay with Scarab and Scorpion vehicles. Four tons of cargo plus heavy shielding. Long-range sensors and a grade-5 engineered detailed surface scanner. Not accounting for your nasty choice in weapons and utility module loadouts.”
He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, his gaze shifting to the ship looming overhead. “I can keep the weight light enough to maintain your 621 m/s boost speed, but if I were you, I’d throw in an electronic countermeasures module. Let’s be real—nobody’s going to buy that you’re an explorer once they get a good look. At least this way, you’ll be harder to lock onto.”
Farouk’s face split into a wide grin as he glanced at Thompson, his tone dripping with amusement. “Oh, they’ll figure him out soon enough—probably right around the time someone gets shredded by those remote-release flechettes or eats one of those engineered mines. That’ll leave an impression.”
I noticed Tara’s head tilting slightly, her eyes studying me in the way she often did when she sensed I was about to say something unpredictable. It was that biomorphic intuition of hers, picking up on something even before I had fully formed the thought.
I turned my attention back to Thompson and Farouk, letting the grin on my face widen just enough to make them lean in a little. “I’ve got a side project for you both. No rush, but Raven’s Scorpion redesign gave me an idea.”
That got their attention. Both men straightened, and I could almost see the gears turning in their heads.
“What if we strip a Scorpion down to its bare frame—use the chassis as a modular platform? Rebuild it from the ground up like every ship ever made: a basic frame with Core, Optional Internals, Hardpoints, and Utility Mounts.”
Farouk exchanged a quick glance with Thompson, and their expressions lit up like a pair of kids who’d just been handed the keys to the toy store.
Thompson leaned forward, a spark of enthusiasm breaking through his usual stoicism. “You’re talking full customization—configurable for combat, exploration, or even support roles?”
“Exactly,” I said, crossing my arms as I watched the idea take hold. “A single platform, modular and versatile, that can be adapted to any mission profile. Something the original designers should have done in the first place.”
Farouk let out a low whistle. “You know, with the right setup, this could change ground combat ops entirely. You wouldn’t just have a vehicle—you’d have a multi-role tool.”
“That’s the idea,” I replied, my voice steady but with just enough edge to show I meant business. “I’ll leave the specifics to you two. Just let me know what you need to get started.”
Tara’s expression softened as she glanced between me and the two chiefs, a faint smile tugging at the corners of her lips. “You just can’t resist tinkering with the status quo, can you?”
I shot her a look and shrugged. “If it’s not broken, make it better. If it is broken, rebuild it from scratch.”