Spoiler
This story is dedicated to the new sensors system. I had way too much fun (and lost nights) with this once it clicked. I hope this story helps people understand how the new sensor system works.
An automated hailing message from the incoming fleet rang through the
Anouke's comm systems. “Running with the transponder off in Hegemony space is against the law. You're hereby ordered to turn your transponder on, identify yourself immediately, and submit to a cargo scan for contraband.”
Ciara Voral rolled her eyes and turned to the ship's helm officer. “Do I have to turn it on?”
“Unless you want this ship vaporized, yes,” the helm officer said.
“But what if I don't have time for a scan?”
“They have ways to force people to make time,” the officer said.
“But isn't that what simulations are for?” Ciara asked.
“To them, it's not the same as the real thing, captain.” A quick pause later, he added, “We didn't even pick up the goods yet, so it's okay to submit to a scan.”
“That doesn't mean they won't 'mysteriously' find contraband somehow,” Ciara said,“But you do have a point. Gora, turn the transponder on.”
Gora, the helm officer, reached over at a compartment and flicked a lever. Ciara leaned over to the comm transmitter and said, “This is the
Anouke and we will submit to a cargo scan.”
The Hegemony patrol fleet came closer until they were in scanning range. A minute later, another comm link was established by the fleet. “This is Patrol Commander Shrial Harrell of the
USS Steadfast. The scans came back negative, but this ship won't get away easy next time I see it without its transponder on. Who am I speaking with?”
Ciara cut the comm link and said, “Let's get back to Brad B and get assigned on another job.”
***
“Why the hell does it always have to be Jangala?” Ciara complained as she looked at the work order on screen.
Gora huffed. “Demand captain. At least the scanners indicates the lack of patrol around here. Should be a quick land in and launch out.”
“I hope you're right,” Ciara said.
“WHY DIDN'T YOU READ THE SCANS CLOSER, GORA!” Ciara screamed.
“I swear I thought that was a merchant convoy!”
“How many convoys have *** fighters as their escorts!” Ciara took a quick moment to calm down and breathe in and out. “At least they are slow as nuts! Just a bit further out of their range and I can make a turn to go dark.”
“So much for that. Gora, activate the emergency burn!”
Anouke's engines roared and hummed as the ship begins to move at a breakneck speed. Ciara and Gora kept themselves tightened on their seats with a seat belt while Ciara carefully maneuver the ship. No matter how much she tried, she couldn't lose the patrol fleet completely. For a brief second, Ciara saw that window of opportunity when the
Anouke was out of the Hegemony patrol's scanner range. She seized it and sharply turned.
When she did, the ship's radar gave a bleep. A quick glance at it revealed another Hegemony patrol ship to the southeast heading their way. The star, Corvus, was to the northwest.
“They just keep appearing like flies,” Ciara said, making another sharp turn to the west. “Gora, are there any other ships to the west?”
“No captain.”
“What is the nearest thing to us?”
Gora pulled up the system's map and said, “There is that old gate to the east.”
Ciara made another sharp turn away from the star and another to the west after she was in a comfortable distance from the star.
The radar blinked twice, one for every Hegemony fleet that was near by.
One for every Hegemony fleet that was looking for her.
Ciara faced Gora and said, “How much is that job worth again?”
“If we can get the goods over within twenty days, we'll get a five grand bonus for a total of fifteen grand.”
“Fifteen grand for this wild goose chase. I know as hell they're not being paid enough for this,” she said.
“Some accept the position for the excitement,” Gora said, “And some accept it for the absolute power.”
“Power?”
“The patrol officer has the final authority of the fate of any ship that they pull over; however, they'll have to make a report of the encounter.” Gora paused and added, “As you have guessed, there are few who abuse this and falsify reports of contraband being found in ships. Officers from patrol are the trigger happiest motherfuckers that I've met.”
“Now that I do know. I've seen and heard that myself.” Ciara glanced over at the window where she could see the Corvus gate in its splendid yet lonesome view.
“One day I'll be out of this game,” Ciara said, “This *** is too dangerous with bloodthirsty officers like that.”
***
“Got the goods?” Ciara said.
Gora glanced over at his tri-pad for a final cargo scan and comparison to the ship's cargo manifest. “Yep, that's all.”
Ciara patted on the
Anouke's door panel and the door sung itself open. “We got those at a real steal. One-hundred and forty four per pop!”
“We're getting a bit popular around these parts. We're apparently one of the few people who can get past the patrol,” Gora said while shutting the cargo bay.
Ciara weakly laughed. “By the maker's hand, we have been passing through them.” Both entered through the ship's door and headed straight to its mini-bridge, a comm link relay area and the pilot controls with two old seats of questionable material. “I swear by the end of this cycle I'm selling this ship, one thousand grand or without. What will you do with your share, Gora?” Ciara sat down on the pilot's seat
Gora slightly frowned. “I'll probably buy my way into a cushion job, but I'll miss flying with you.”
“I'll miss flying too, but I won't miss the dangers,” Ciara said, “Buckle up, we're heading to Atzlan to sell this load.”
The
Anouke went through its launch sequence. As it break through Jangala's atmosphere, the Cerberus' radar gave an urgent ping.
“The fuckers were waiting on us,” Ciara said, “Gora, emerg-”
“Got it cap!” Gora pressed a series of buttons as Ciara made a turn to the west. She made a series of sharp turns to get out of the patrol's scanner range before making the
Anouke go dark.
“How far we have til we make it through the jump point?” Ciara said.
“We're around two thousand units away from it.”
“How long will the burn last?”
“I say ten to fifteen seconds at most.”
Ciara turned the ship and head toward the jump point.
Around nine hundred units, the radar gave a beep. Ciara didn't have to look at the radar as she felt her sweat turn cold. She and Gora saw the system map; nobody was near the gate.
Nobody til now.
Ciara sharply turned away from the Hegemony fleet, and the fleet followed pursuit. She felt the ship recoiling as the engines returned back to their normal burn levels. Gora looked up at the radar to watch the fleet get closer.
Anouke's comm systems became alive with an angry rasp voice. “Unknown ship, identify yourself!”
Ciara remained silent before the voice continued.
“Running with the transponder off in Hegemony space is against the law. You're hereby ordered to turn your transponder on and submit to a cargo scan.”
Ciara turned to Gora and shook his head. “You heard how angry he was at first. He's not going to let us off easy if he finds the stuff.”
Ciara took a quick moment to read the transmitted data from the patrol's transponder. She felt little relief that he's not the same patrol commander who pulled her over. Ciara silently cut the comm link and made a run for it.
Again the comm systems bleeped as another comm link was established. “Know that this fleet will be picking up any escaping personnel from escape pods to detain and question,” the rasp voice said.
Gora didn't waste any time activating the ship's burn drive while Ciara desperately flew further way from the pursuing fleet. In the end, the ship escaped with some damage to the engine. As
Anouke approached closer to the jump point, it violently rocked. “Caution, engine damage severe. Weapon system damaged.”
***
A quick look at the damage report showed everything they needed to know. Ciara and Gora looked at each other before Gora looked back at the report on screen. “There's trigger-happy and then there's this commander,” Gora said, “He wanted to capture us.”
“By the maker, he didn't completely damage the engine,” Ciara said, “and that we made it out with the cargo intact and everybody alive.”
“Speaking of intact, both engineers were able to repair that damaged assault gun but it wasn't easy without much supplies left.”
Ciara's face turned pale. “Why the hell did they prioritized repairing that when the engine is nearly on its last legs?”
“They didn't have enough supplies to even make a modest repair on it.”
“Not enough? Didn't you get more while I was getting the goods?”
“I underestimated the amount needed.”
Ciara heavily sighed, pressing her lips together. She held back on screaming as much as she can, but she did bang her hands on the wall instead. “Damn it, we can't go back to Corvus for a while til the heat dies down. At least tell me you refilled the ship.”
“Oh that I did. This ship needs all the fuel it can get from all that emergency burn usage.”
“The market there better make this worth it,” Ciara said.
***
“No, no no! Hell *** no!” Ciara screamed.
“At least there's somewhat of a demand back in Brad B or Jangala, and this ship got through the storms despite the lack of supplies thanks to the engine not being completely damaged.”
“Or I can just sell this to the nearest independent planet and be done with it. The hell with dealing with Hegemony patrol there again."
“There is a jump point that takes you to the fringe of the system. No patrols there.”
“Counterpoint. There's Commander Dalton.”
“It's been a month. I'm sure the patrols had forgotten about us by now,” Gora said, “And it's pretty rare for the Hegemony to station a fleet near a jump point. We just got unlucky that time.”
“Fine. We're going back to Corvus to sell this, but I'm *** done after this. I'm giving the remaining crew an extra bonus for being crazy enough to stay as long as they have. Gora do you want your bonus or the ship?”
Gora's eyes lit up. “I want the ship!”
“Okay, you got it when we make it there. Set the auto-pilot to Corvus.”
***
“There's no way in hell I'm taking any risks. Turn the transponder on Gora and open the system map.”
“Yes captain.”
“We didn't take the fringe jump point, didn't we?” Ciara's eyes narrowed.
“I thought I...”
“Never mind. As long as that transponder is on, there's no reason for the patrols to hawk at us, especially that large patrol fleet heading this way. I will darken the ship once we get closer to Brad B.” Ciara set the auto-pilot coordinates to Brad B when Ciara's tri-pad beeped.
The sender was unknown, and the transmission number was jarbled up with numbers, letters and symbols. There was only a single message from it:
'Ciara , I desperately need some of that load you be having. The Hegemony have been cracking down hard and crippling my suppliers. Please, you are my only hope. I will make it worth while with a bigger paycheck and a favor.
-M.'
“Well that favor will come in handy soon, but...” Ciara cursed herself as she changed the auto-pilot coordinates back to Jangala. “I shouldn't be doing this, but my last run might as well be a decent one.”
Gora gave a huge smile. “We'll past through the patrols captain!”
The
Anouke made its way near Jangala when it went dark. Gora glanced up at the radar to see a huge set of dots speeding by them along with three other ships near the planet, one just launching from the planet.
Ciara's mouth nearly dropped as the Hegemony fast picket fleet zoomed by them. “Did they just ignore us? By the maker-”
“Hurry and land before one of the other ships pick up our signature!”
Ciara wasted little time piloting the
Anouke closer to the planet. A few units later, the ship was in landing range of the planet. She ignored comm link requests from the Hegemony port authority as she land it near a particular landing pad who she knows who will and had requested do business with her.
“You do not know how grateful I am for that load C,” a short stubby man said with a huge toothy grin on his face. He extended his hand and said, “If you need anything, money, guns, new ship, or anything at all, come to me.”
Ciara shook the man's hand and said. “I'll think about it, but I have to ask. How did you send that message to my tri-pad when I was weeks away from there?”
“I have some buddies back in Tri to modify my tri-pad to send long range messages. It isn't without its caveats though. Drains a lot of battery power.”
Gora said, “I outta get one of those.”
The man sat back on his desk typing something into his terminal. Seconds later, he faced back at Ciara and said, “Are you interested in doing more runs? I know some clubs and dens who needs more of the stuff, and they're paying a lot extra for a speedy delivery.”
Ciara shook her head. “Wish I could Mario, but I need a break. I had too many close calls in one cycle.”
“Well don't take too long hear,” Mario said and waved as Ciara and Gora made their way out the door, “Don't spend that all at once now!”
Ciara took out her tri-pad and double checked her bank account. On screen, she could see the numbers 122,501. She weakly laughed and smiled. “I can't believe I actually got away with this,” she whispered.
Gora leaned over at Ciara's side and said, “You said that you were quitting for good, but back there you said that you were taking a break. What changed your mind, captain?”
“I'm not going to lie. It's the money,” she said, “and maybe the excitement from outrunning and outsmarting those patrol pigs. I'll think about it.”
“Glad to hear. If you're just going to take a break, I want to remain your officer still and take the extra bonus,” Gora said, patting on Ciara's shoulder.
"We'll see, but no promises," Ciara said.
ENDSpoiler
Thanks for reading! If I've used too little (or too much) pictures, let me know. Again this story is meant as a learning experience of the sensor system, so please tell me if it was or wasn't effective as a learning tool.
