Enjoy.
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For nearly three stazuras Val walked through the main halls of the Goner Temple. She had not exactly been brought up as a religious person. However, the architecture of the place was simply captivating her mind. High ceilings with beautiful paintings and ornaments, historic items on small pedestals, some of them appeared to be musical instruments. This place was just fascinating. There were people everywhere and Val was not sure which of them actually resided in the temple and who was just visiting. The initial impression of entering a religious place, which was solely inhabited by monks had soon been corrected. This complex was as much a temple as the Trading Station in Argon Prime! There were children everywhere and over those hours she had not been approached a single time by somebody trying to convert her to whatever religion. In fact, the only difference to the Trading Station was the lack of goods to trade and subsequently also the lack of shouting merchants. People did not come to this place to haggle or argue. The only people that left their ships came here to either enjoy peace and quiet for a while or simply view the impressive architecture.
It was obvious that the Goners did not intend to provide a touch down location for thirsty pilots. Val had only seen a couple of restaurants and none of them appeared to sell alcoholic drinks. There surely had to be bars around but these were not easily accessible to visitors.
At the far end of a huge hall she discovered the one thing that these people kept as their utmost treasure, an old notebook. There was no nice cover, no ornaments, it was just a notebook in rather bad conditions. And this was the Holy Book of the Goners? Whatever!
*
“So do you think we accidentally discovered something that the message drone was pointing towards? How would one find that ‘asteroid’ if not by luck?”
“We have been very lucky discovering it but assuming that we had guessed the meaning of the numbers, simple tri-angulations could have led us to its location. The difficulty was the lack of clues, not the geometrical side of it.”
“Right, now that we know that, lay course and take us back to this mysterious piece of rock.”
“Acknowledged. We have an incoming transmission requesting transport to the Argon Wharf in Cloudbase South East.”
“Not interested.”
“You may want to reconsider this. The station is located along our route and we will need more credits if we are to get a bigger ship any time soon.”
“Ok, get him onboard and then lets leave.”
“The request is not for a person but freight, confidential material.”
“All the better, something to read on the way.”
“The meaning of confidential is that you are …”
“Alright, cut it out. Can we leave now?”
“Departure clearance received. The cargo is expected in twelve stazuras. That means there is room for stops on the way.”
“I did not intend to visit any stations along our route, did you?”
Arox decided to ignore the challenge and engaged the thrusters. Approximately ten mizuras after their departure a number of contacts appeared on the gravidar.
“Several ships on intercept course, five ahead from the Ore Belt gate, three from the North gate and five from South.”
“I beg your pardon? Why would all these ships be interested in us? Nobody knows us around here?”
“I could give you various reasons but in the light of our current situation I will assume they are here for our cargo.”
“Great, thank you so much! Did I not tell you to decline! Can we out-run them?”
“The majority of ships are M4 class, three Bayamons and five Split Scorpions, there are also two Mandalays that should not pose much of a problem. The threat are three Paranid Pegasi, they are closing fast.”
“Their lasers are not much of a threat but they could slow us down just enough for the others to catch up. Get us as close to the nebula as possible, then cloak.”
While the Jaguar moved at full speed towards the dense clouds that gave this sector its name Val tried to think of a strategy to escape this trap. First of all she had to rid herself and the universe of those fast scout ships. On entry into the nebula Arox reduced speed and switch to cloak. Val then turned around and headed towards the incoming Pegasi. The last thing the pilot of the first ship saw were pink energy bolts tipping through his weak shields. His ship quickly turned into a cloud of superheated plasma. Val managed to take two fighters out before they could react. The third and slightly slower ship turned around and headed back. But as smart as this decision was, it came too late. It too disintegrated under the fire of the Jaguar’s guns.
Val let the flight stick go. She was shaking. During her time with the Dragon clan she did practice frequently but up to this day she had never been in a one on one fight, let alone fighting three enemies on her own. It took a short while for her to regain her composure.
“What now? I don’t think we can take on the M4 class ships. We have to get out of here!” Having made up her mind Val turned the ship and headed again towards the gate. Despite the discomforting feeling of no shields protecting the ship she decided it’d be better to stay cloaked. A quick look at the gravidar made it clear that she did not have much time before the fast Split Scorpions would arrive. At her current speed the Jaguar was significantly slower.
Since Val was not sure if she had seen all enemy ships in the sector yet she chose to approach the gate from the back. It took a long time to get there, taking a wide trajectory. What she then saw had her hold her breath. Two corvettes had positioned themselves to destroy her ship on approach.
In order to go through the gate she had get herself into the line of fire. Her enemies had not left a blind spot; it would be impossible to sneak through unnoticed. Her best chance was to approach the gate from the side. It’d bring her into the field of vision slightly earlier but at least she’d stay out of sight of the turrets. Val determined the side with the highest nebula density and slowly approached the gate. To her surprise she managed to get alongside the gate without being noticed. It appeared everybody focussed solely on the gravidar. She had slipped through the gate before they could react.
On the other side she hit the boosters and angled away from the gate. Not a single moment too early. The fire of six Bayamons converged on her exit point. She had caught them by surprise. There was no way she’d have survived it had they been aware of her escape.
At full speed she headed across the sector. Val calmed down slowly. Then two flashes on the rear camera monitor announced the arrival of the two Split corvettes. Shortly after they arrived they vanished through two wormholes only to appear again at the gate Val was heading for. One of them took up a position near the gate. The other one headed at full speed towards her. To add to her distress four Split Scorpions materialised at the gate to Cloudbase South East. Her way was cut off.
“Is there any way we can make it to CBSE? We can outrun them but will be vulnerable on entrance of the gate. With that Dragon sitting right in front of it chances are slim.”
“I am afraid this gate is our only chance. As they are fitted with jumpdrives we will have to face them at some point. Currently our chances are best because only one corvette guards the gate. If we lure the other one far enough away we may be able to get through with minimal damage.”
“Did you say minimal damage?”
“The probability of taking damage is at 67%.”
Encouraging! Deprived of choice, Val had decided on a scenario, which appeared to have the greatest chance of success.
She turned the ship towards the North gate and reduced speed just under that of the Dragon. The corvette closed in fast while cutting across her trajectory. At three km they opened fire. Val only just in time noticed the plasma bolts that came her way. In a reflex she hit the boost and got the small ship out of the line of fire.
At full speed she now headed straight for the corvette. Avoiding the fire of the front laser was easy. It would be more of a challenge once she came into sight of the turrets. Val rolled the small scout ship, frantically trying to avoid the fire. One decent hit would be sufficient to destroy her ship. But it was the only way. It’d take the corvette too long to turn around and, if she made it, Val would be at the gate before they could jump there. The green plasma bolts streaked past her on both sides of the ship, Val cursed her daring plan. Sweat made her hands slip off position on the flight stick more than once. She tried to grasp it tighter, her knuckles white and fingers hurting. There was no time to rest after she had come out of reach of the first Dragon. The second corvette brought its front gun in position and sprayed space around her with blue plasma. The Jaguar twisted and rolled avoiding the bolts in a desperate attempt to reach the saving gate. At one and a half km the lower turret set in and it became increasingly difficult not getting hit. Val was strained, her arms hurting, her face glowing red. She twitched the yoke desperately in all different directions. She had to make it.
To her despair the Scorpions swung around in close formation and opened fire. Val was running out of ideas. She would not be able to keep the fight up for much longer. Several hits of the Scorpions hat brought her shields down to 15%. One or two more and she’d be no more.
“I am open to suggestions! And I need them now!”
“Gate activating. Argon carrier inbound. Head for the gate! Now!”
Val could not believe her luck. She screamed in relief and headed straight for the incoming carrier, completely stopping her evasive manoeuvres. When she passed it the two ships almost touched. As lethal as the manoeuvre was, the Split stopped firing at her and she passed through the gate before they came around the massive body of the Colossus.
“I assume they did not come to support us but their timing was exceptional.” Val cried in relief. She had already seen herself dead. The ship was great but simply not fast enough to make it too fast to be hit. Death had spared her once again.
At maximum speed she shot towards the Wharf. It would take her three stazuras and she could only hope her enemies would not dare jumping in again to cut her off.
This hope did not last very long. Soon she registered the signatures of two Dragons and four Scorpions on the gravidar. They came towards her at full speed. Val could see why such a raiding commando was so dangerous. High speed combined with jump capability made them a deadly spearhead for every clan. Governments struggled fighting these groups for the simple fact that they could jump out before sector defence ships reached them. It was unknown as to why the Argon government and the Goners had decided to legalise jumpdrives. This had created huge profits but put many sectors into anarchy. The control of purchases had failed. Corruption had lead to a disaster.
Rumours are that the Goners are now working on a technology to counteract this problem; certain devices that prevented the creation of outgoing wormholes.
Val would have been grateful for one that had disabled the drives of those ships in the first place.
The distance between the two parties decreased rapidly. But now a third group of fighters was entering the scene. From the Argon Trading Station Val saw six Novas launch. Another four heavy fighters had departed from the Wharf and came her way. The slow ships would not make it in time unless Val changed her course.
“Arox, take us closer to the Trading Station, we need all the help we can get.”
With help on its way Val had renewed her hopes of surviving this mission. A simple transport had mutated into an absolute nightmare.
Ten mizuras later the three groups entered range of fire. Arox swung the Jaguar around to get behind the Novas and took a passive position avoiding incoming fire. The battle raged and two Scorpions soon disintegrated under the fire of the Argon heavy fighters. One of the Novas took heavy damage and had to abort and make its way back to the station. The combined firepower of the turrets of both Dragons had taken its toll. Soon a second Nova left the battlefield only to be finished off by the remaining three Scorpions. It did not look too good and Val was just about to leave the field when suddenly the Scorpions changed their signature. They turned green on the gravidar without anything happening to them. Their pilots had ejected for no obvious reasons. Val looked around and realised that the Novas from the Wharf had entered the battle. Soon the shields of the first Dragon failed and the ship turned into a cloud of superheated plasma.
The remaining corvette turned around and after putting some distance between itself and the Argon defences it too turned green. Val looked at the scenario in amazement. The crew of six had ejected and was now being picked up by two Novas.
The three Scorpions and the Dragon had laid course to the Argon Wharf.
“Arox, please take us to the Wharf.”
“Acknowledged.”
“Can you tell me what just happened? These ships had not even taken serious damage, there was no reason for any of the pilots to bail out.”
“I would call it a systems malfunction. They appeared to eject upon initiation of their jumpdrives.”
“You mean the Goners succeeded in developing that technology already?”
“It appears so.”
“Great, at least for now we are safe. How can you tell they ejected when trying to jump out?”
“The radiation of the jumpdrives leaves a signature that my sensors picked up.”
Glad to be alive yet puzzled, Val sat back and tried to relax. Twenty mizuras later they touched down. Time to deliver the package.
