A New Life

He was now a citizen.

His time in the UEE Navy had ended. The years on military  ships were now put behind him, the roll calls, the mission briefings, the rations and the discipline. He had completed his tour of duty, his service to the UEE and he now was a fully recognized citizen. None of the aforementioned he would miss, in fact the only thing he couldn’t survive without would be his ship, and his flight time.

Now with his savings, his poker winnings and the sale of some of his unnecessary gear he managed to wrangle a used Aurora and a rented spot in a hangar. He put in countless hours doing “ship to ship” ferrying supplies in an Argo, and short hops from the space stations to the ships carrying personnel, enduring a few chirps from rookie pilots on their way to fly a “real” ship, not a ferry bucket.

Cains signed a contract with a manufacturing corporation for in system deliveries, from Hurston,and ArcCorp to Microtech and Crusader where he moved product as efficiently as he could, and though at times it was monotonous, he was making money and doing what he loved.

In the UEE Navy, the patrols provided a lot of solitude during missions, a chance to travel amongst the stars, where he felt at peace and a part of, however minute,  the vast universe.

In his Aurora, he felt a little safer flying away from some of the pirate hotspots, it added some time, but it paid to be cautious,and there was no sense in tempting the fates. He would pick up a load, sign the shipping documents, do his run with his coffee in hand, none of the runs were overly long, and release the product at the other end. His ship was insured as part of the agreement, but if he failed to deliver the goods, he would have to pay out of pocket, and refusal to pay meant they would consider him a pirate, and put a bounty on his head, Tough guidelines but expected.

He had landed today at Microtech, picking up a load of sensor suites (so the manifest said),and the shipper/receiver joked with him about how cold it was outside. He’d never met the man before, and something wasn’t quite right but he couldn’t put a finger on it.It was just a feeling…but the week was almost done, he wanted to get back to ArcCorp and hit the GLoc. There was a freelance pilot there he wanted to get to know a bit better, she had sent him a drink in the bar and they had danced a bit, talked a bit, but she begged off an early night. She had a security shift in the morning she said, but she ordered him to report, he laughed and said “Wouldn’t miss it, I’m looking forward to it.”

He smiled and started the engines, load secure, lifting off from the pad, raising up and talking to the control tower, as they gave him his escape trajectory. Once aligned, he pushed his ship forward, there was heavy cloud here, and the Aurora bucked a bit in the turbulence, but after about 5 minutes at the slower speed, he broke free of the mists.

Cains set his position, waiting for a bit more clearance from the atmosphere, before he could make his turn and spool up the quantum drive. He picked up a glint amongst the stars, too bright, too man made, too quick to be natural in the horizon above the planet. Nothing showed on his sensors, but once again he felt a sixth sense nagging him. He continued his turn, one eye on his controls, one on the glint, it was moving fast, quicker than he could get the Aurora positioned.

He felt a jolt, then his displays lit up, it was a Tana, and it had fired on him, probably just a warning shot, for they were after the cargo no doubt, and wouldn’t waste the chase.

He had only a couple of Behring lasers on his old Clipper, and there was no way he could outgun or outrun it, it was almost  upon him.So standing and fighting or fleeing was out of the question. He made his decision in a split second, swinging the ship into the tightest arc he could and headed back into Microtech’s atmosphere.

Perhaps he could lose the ship in the cloud cover, but it involved flying blind,and the Aurora was not exactly the most streamlined ship for cutting through turbulence. He took a sharp inward breath and pushed the throttle downward.

He felt another jolt, then the whole ship shuddered, and he knew it just wasn’t air pockets, the Reliant had blasted something loose. He fought the controls, clenching his teeth and trying to keep the ship on a straight course and tried to gradually level off on his descent. His arms began to ache, and the ground was coming up fast, he decelerated as much as he could, but still bounced and skidded to a stop on the planet’s surface minutes later. The engines sputtered then died away.

He was thrown against the restraints and breathlessly hit the release catches to tumble out of his seat. He knelt on the glass of the cabin, disoriented and struggling to remain calm, it would not be long before they were on him. He would have to think fast if he wanted to make it back to GLoc.

The wind howled as the hatch way rolled open, and grabbing his old standby, his P4AR marine issue rifle, he jumped out into the snow. It was blowing hard enough that his footsteps would be obliterated, and the suit gave him the oxygen and protection he needed from the bitter cold, but the visibility was near zero and he could only hope he didn’t get lost.

He could see the ship now, slowly descending, the big wing of the Reliant , more stable in the conditions  than his crippled Clipper, the damage to the wing evident even from a distance.The other ship settled,canted slightly on a slight rise, and shut down its engines, and he settled in behind an outcrop of rock or ice, he wasn’t sure which..

There will be at least two in that ship, not much room for anything else other than cargo, so he had to figure out how best to deal with it. He was a good shot, but the snow was driving so hard he wasn’t sure if he could hit them from a distance. His ship would not lift off without extensive repairs and he was too far from Newbabbage to make it back alive on foot, so he had to take their ship.

The back door of the Tana lowered, and a lone figure, hunkered down, crept down the ramp, cautiously surveying his surroundings. Cains held his fire, still hidden, the figure like he himself half obscured in the snow, but moving towards his Aurora now and he sprinted as fast as he could through the snow, moving in a wide arc both so he wouldn’t be seen and  he could come up on the topside of the reliant. He wasn’t worried about the sensors picking him up, there was no way to scan through all this white interference.

He eased along the metal skin of the ship’s hull, closer to the still open ramp, crawling into an awkward angle so he might be able to get off one shot, but the scout returned. The scout’s shot hit the edge of door frame, scant inches from his head, and cains fired, the ramp between him and his adversary, striking the other in the chest with a short burst. The enemy was jerked backward, a plume of blood steaming in the frigid air, softly landing in a drift of snow,still.

He felt cold, air leakage from his helmet,the ricochet must have damaged the helmet and the ramp began to rise quickly, so he vaulted himself inside, the gun dropped outside the rampas it slipped from his grip.

Cursing, the ramp closed as the second pirate came forward fast, a straight length of solid metal pry bar swung at his head, and he ducked, felt the glancing blow absorbed by the left shoulder pad in his suit. He kicked out with his left foot , catching his foe’s ribs full force. The bar was dropped, and he grabbed it before it skittered out of reach, and swung it upwards in an powerful arc as the other tried to recover. Unhelmeted by the force, the pirate reeled back, and cains swung back through again, and the man toppled, the life gone from him.

Cains leaned against the hull, realizing that his left shoulder was badly hurt, and shaking as he did so, slowly slid down the wall, to a seated position,swearing now at the pain. He thought to himself as consciousness ebbed,”I’m gonna be late for GLoc…”

Two days later, bandaged and wrapped, he dropped his consignment of Mobiglas off at ArcCorp, a small penalty for the late shipment and out of pocket for some extra labour he had to hire, but he had come out ahead on the deal. The Aurora was sold for scrap, the Reliant Tana he claimed for salvage, and the bounty on the pirates gave him enough for full payment and insurance on his 315p.

He smiled as he put the payment card into his breast pocket…..time to make an appearance.