Chapter 2 – Credits and Credibility
Derrik could not believe his eyes as he entered the bar. Crowds surrounding him, cheerfully drinking and carrying on, Ian Luckshot was dancing on the bar table with a pint of Fuel. There was roaring of laughter and high-pitched screaming as drunk men and equally drunk woman were dancing and singing. Ian was obviously the centre of attention as everyone stood round him and watched as he danced like a chicken and sang even worse. Without a moment’s hesitation Derrik walked up to where Luckshot was and pulled him down from the table by the scruff of his collar. His look would have been fierce and intimidating to anyone else but Luckshot.
‘What the hell are you doing?’ he demanded, pulling him off to one side, away from the merry crowds.
‘Just havin’ some laughs.’ The smile on Luckshot’s face nearly drove Derrik insane.
‘We are supposed to be keeping a
low profile. Why in the name of Sol are you dancing around like a fruitcake, making scene?’
‘Hey, no one said nothin’ about havin’ a little fun,’ argued Luckshot.
The grip on Luckshot’s collar became tighter and Derrik spoke in a more commanding tone. ‘I swear to goodness, Ian Luckshot Aldrin,’ he said, ‘That if you blow our cover I will waste you. How many drinks did you have?’
‘Lost count,’ he replied back earnestly.
‘Damn it, Aldrin! Don’t you know better? And don’t think I didn’t see what you were drinking. You know damn well space fuel is illegal here.’
‘Then why do they serve it at the bar?’ he asked innocently, not knowing the whiskey was illegal outside of the Terran sectors he had come from.
‘Listen to me, Aldrin. If the cops find out that you’ve been drinking that stuff the whole place will be flooded with officers. These “Fuel parties” never last long, I can tell you that much.’
Suddenly, and ironically, there was a sudden silence in the bar as five officers walked in, cuffs in hand. One of them walked straight up to Derrik and Luckshot. Derrik felt himself becoming increasingly enraged with Ian.
‘Well, well,’ the police officer said with a cunning smile. ‘Been drinking have we boys?’
Ian was about to reply but Derrik nudged him. ‘Not at all,’ Derrik replied. ‘We just came in when we saw this – this carrying on.’
‘Yeah. Well, this oughta tell us the answer.’ The officer produced a small breathalyzer from his pocket, the accurate kind.
Without warning Derrik struck the man firmly on the head, causing the man to slide unconsciously to the floor. ‘Get out of here, now,’ he told Ian. ‘Before the other cops see what happened.’
The two of them ran as fast as they could out of the bar. When they were just out of sight they could hear several angry shouts from the policemen come from inside the bar. They got into one of the many lifts that ran up and down the station and closed the door. There was a simultaneous sigh of relief between Derrik and Ian as the door closed. Ian look questioningly at Derrik.
‘What now?’ he asked.
‘You’re staying here,’ Derrik told him. ‘I’m going with Alex to Split Fire.’
‘Stay here? With the cops chasing my back?’
‘Just stay out of sight in the docking bay area. If the cops find you, you better not squeal.’
‘Wasn’t even thinking it,’ Luckshot responded smilingly. ‘So, uh, why Split Fire?’
The lift stopped and the doors slid open. Derrik gave no reply but simply stepped out. He turned around as the lift doors were closing again with Ian still in it.
‘You’re a true Terran, Luckshot. A hundred percent.’
Derrik made his way back to the Fujin where he found Alex dozing off in a sitting position by the entrance. He got in and sighed as he lowered himself into the worn-down leather seats of the cockpit.
‘Did you do what I asked, Alex?’ Derrik asked. Alex nodded silently. ‘Good.’
He safely undocked from the station and pushed the throttle to full towards the south gate. Ah, much better, he thought proudly. More than twice the speed of what it was before, they would get there in no time.
He got to Split Fire after a short journey with SETA turned on. Immediately, he commed the stations for missions, but much to his disappointment; nothing even combat related. Station protect and patrol missions, he knew, would be off limit. No one, but only Pirates and Yaki had the spare time to attack measly stations in the middle of nowhere, and he had no intention of facing the ones from his own side, not the Pirates so much but the Yaki. There was a chance it could be Xenon, but it would not be worth the risk, the bother, or the payment. No, right now only two types of missions were going to catch his appeal, and he knew exactly what they were: Assassination and Destroy Convoy, his personal favourites. So he would have to look elsewhere, but preferably in the Pirate region where he would feel safe.
Split fire and Brennan’s Triumph had nothing to offer other than “lightbulb” and money missions, no combat. Olmancketslat’s Treaty, however, was a different story. It had
three combat missions on offer – surely one of them must be an assassination or destroy convoy… wrong. Well, at least there was one juicy proposal, well, two.
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Two for the price of one!
He accepted it after some hesitation already having a gut feeling it would be pirates. And, yes, he was right. A friendly Pirate Galleon was gliding past as Derrik took flight before the “hostiles” arrived. Well, he hoped Pirates attacking Pirate property would take out their own kind. He left the mission running and hoped he would receive a reward for “nothing” as he did before in Argon territory.
Farnham’s Legend had nothing special to offer, so Derrik made a U-turn and headed for deeper Pirate space. Back through Brennan’s Triumph he went through to Danna’s Chance and Nopileos’ Memorial, where there was an… unpleasant surprise.
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Well he wouldn’t let a couple purple Toblerone’s scare him off finding a juicy mission. He swerved around the cluster of purple devils and found a Ore Mine offering a sweet deal, finally.
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Making spacetracks, he zipped across to Hatikvah’s Faith and found the tiny target he was looking for. A measly M5 going at a whopping 108m/s. Oh well, now he was definitely proud of his engine tunings which let him go 190+. He caught up with the ship, and before the pilot could go “Split say 'AAAAAARGH'” he had turned him into a spacefly buffet…
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…With free gift!
Well, couldn’t get much better. He headed back for Nopileos’ Memorial to wind down for the day and find a comfortable sleeping quarters in the Ore Mine he had found the first mission from. He was sure that in Pirate space he would receive a hospitable welcome…
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… Or not. Damn those Kha’ak. Well, they
were offering another assassination mission, this time for a much more attractive price, but this time it was in Company Pride in 12 min. He accepted it and headed for his destination. Time ticked by and by the time he was in Thuruk’s beard, one sector from Company Pride, he had already lost 6 minutes. At the same time, two messages came through from his previous Station Protect mission givers…
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Oh well, you snooze, you lose. Six minutes left, and he was sure he would make it in time… after all what could go wrong?
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The Kha’ak found their dinner. Hope they like rock chunks.
Assets:
1 x Raijin – Derrik “the Dragon” Dream & Alexander Costorphine
1 x Fujin “Fudge” – Ian “Luckshot” Oldrin
Credits: 16,364cr
Game Time: 16:29:31
gimmie a Scream, i should be able to hear u 
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