Never Ending Story begins here

[Deleted User]

The ship's hull twanged as the outer door pulled itself flush with the hull plating, forming a continous surface. They watched as the pressure increased behind the sturdy inner door. Ybit looked at Grissom who was ready with the blaster. They was a final clank as the locks unsealed around the airlock, and a sudden hiss as the pressure finally equalised.

Ybit felt strange, the airlock door was opening, but he felt as if he was falling, he heard a blaster fire, and fell flat on his flat face.

[Mercenary]

The pirate had somehow confused the sensors. The pressure differential had not fully balanced sucking air into the airlock. The Pirates space pulse rifle had gone off with the incoming air rush. It also unbalanced the cumbersome suit.

Ybit rolled over and squeezed off a quick shot at the figure.

He called out to the ships computer. "Grissom, close the inner airlock."

The pirate dropped the limited field stun sphere by his own feet with the impact of the shot.

[carran]

The inner airlock clanged shut, I must have the ship serviced thoucht Ybit, an odd thought given his current predicament.

Pulling himself up he pushed the outer airlock close panel. Looking through the porthole into the airlock chamber he saw...

[Mercenary]

The Pirate slumped over, the magnetic clamps holding the suited figure in place preventing ejection into space. The pulse rifle strap cut by the outer airlock door. A hole in the chest panel of the suit where by chance Ybits' shot had struck.

He breathed a heavy sign of relief, the pirates ship still poised motionless outside. He needed an update.

"Grissom, status. Where are the pirate ships?"

[carran]

"Moving away from us, accelerating towards the West gate... intercepting traffic from pirate ships..."

"are you doing? do you need help?"

Startled by the radio communications Ybit pressurised the airlock and opened the door and began desperately searching the body..

[Mercenary]

He released the helmet clips and found the suit mic. Muffling his voice he responded, "No problem! Pilot was a bit frisky! Had to shoot him, don't be surprised if you see me dump the body!" Ybit held his breath hoping the response would be sufficient.

[carran]

"spoken like a true Split" came the reply "Catch us back at base"

Ybit collapsed in exhaustion. After a few monents he realised he wasn't out of trouble yet, he stripped the body looking for the Pilot code key. The smell of charred Split filled his nostrils causing him to gag then vomit into the helmet. His shot had hit the chest pcket of the suit, melting the code key beyond recognition.

[Mercenary]

Only one thing for it he would have to suit up himself and fly over to the pirates ship. Access the system directly. He would need something from the dead pirate to help gain access.

With the excitment he was almost forgetting the cargo locked away in the hold.

[carran]

The body had not yet gone cold and it would be a while before rigor mortis set in, however, dragging the body across to the other ship would be a problem in a damaged suit, it would freeze as soon as he opened the airlock door.

Getting into the outer airlock was easy, it was the inner airlock that was the problem. Moving as quickly as possible he fetched his spare suit, fortunately the pirate was of similar build and within a short while he had replaced the upper part of the suit and locked it into place. Setting the suit controls to medium he dragged the pirate to the outer airlock door. His cunning plan was to use the pirate's hand print for recognition.

[Mercenary]

Ybit clipped on the safety line that would drag the dead pirate along. The inner airlock door closed. He released the pressure valves that sucked the atmosphere back into the ship.

A final check that the suit was fully sealed, then the outer airlock door was released. A small burst form the maneuver jets in the pack and he floated away from the ship leaving the artificial gravity behind. The line tugged tight as the body took up the slack in the cable.

Turning to face the Mandalay he moved towards it, magnetic retaining clamps in each, outstretched hand.

[carran]

"Grissom, keep me posted if those pirates turn back or any other ship approaches"

"Affirmative, monitoring as ordered"

Ybit floated closer to the Mandalay whilst paying out line. Steering carefully he landed near the airlock and moved towards it, hooking his safety line onto the closest D ring. He grabbed at the pirates body to prevent it from crashing into the space ship and over compensated, spraining his arm in the process. Suppressing a cry of pain he pulled the door release tab which quickly opened.

[Deleted User]

The inner door access panel was located just inside.
Removing the dead pilots glove he pressed the lifeless hand onto the pad, a small light began to flash on the panel and unclipping the lifeline from the corpse he pushed it away from the ship.
The corpse pirouetted lazily as it drifted slowly into the darkness of space.
Retrieving the lifeline Ybit entered the ship and closed the outer airlock door behind him....

[carran]

Beyond the inner airlock door was a small galley, closet and cockpit area. Ybit wondered how anyone could get used to such cramped consitions, the Mule may be slow and unresponsive but at least it had space!

Moving to the pilot console Ybit paused as he looked at the familiar devices, everything was there that should be there except in different positions and with slightly different switch configurations.

He sat down, adjusted the seat and...

[Mercenary]

looked for the master control interface. As a lazy trick, shown to him by some dubious friend from the homeworld, he could pull the interface module and reset the factory defaults to accept him as the new owner.

He opened a channel back to the Mule, "Grissom, will need your help to patch into the main computer."

[carran]

"Relay instructions on how to patch into the main computer"

Grissom relayed the instructions which Ybit carried step by step out until he reached the password screen. "What now?" He sat and thought for a moment. "Grissom, how many tries before the system locks up?"

Grissom replied, "The default is 5 attempts, this can be overridden"

Ybit began to think that resetting the system to factory defaults was the best option.

[pixel]

The problem with a reset, though, was that the whole ship systems would have to reboot and that took time. Ybit did not think that hanging around in a pirate ship he was in the process of stealing would be a good idea, even if this sector was reasonably quiet right now. Then he remebered the pod in his Mule's cargo hold.

"Damn! Grissom, do you have any ideas on how to do this quick? I think we should get that pod somewhere soon".



[Hope its ok for me to contribute - don't know if it is by invite only, cheers Pixel]

[pixel]

"Lousy space pirates...can't even keep their cockpits clean!", Ybit slapped the panel shut and sat back again thinking what to do.

Slowly he smiled, opened his eyes and looked at the little panel he'd just shut. He reached out, pulled it open and gingerly put his hand in to feel around.

"Hah! Got it", he grinned, pulling a slip of paper from the panel interior "those pirates are stupid as well as dirty!!!!

Ybit quickly punched in the password he'd found "ACEKILLER" (yea, right he thought with a leer), the ship console immediately brightened and he heard the power system increase in pitch.

"Grissom, I got it, let's go!"

[Gandalf The White]

"Grissom how far are those pirates now?" "over the other side of the sector, heading. sector." "Grissom, how long before that person in that life pod dies? We need to get what's ever in it away from hear. what suggestions do you have?"

[carran]

"The air supply is good for another 4 hours" Grissom replied

Deciding he had time, Ybit reset the Mandalay computer name to "Ysilda" and configured her to defend the Mule and accept commands from Grissom.

He quickly returned to the Mule before commanding Grissom to take both ships south east, towards the centre of the system away from the rest of the Pirates should they decide to come back and investigate.

He sat back, face and arm aching from his recent exertions, and, even for a Split, he stank. "Oh well", he mused, "I can always clean up later, or maybe not".

His thoughts returned to the pod in the cargo bay, enough excitement for now or should he risk more?

[Mercenary]

Ybit punched up the Sector Map and targetted the trading station. First things first, get rid of the unknown passenger. See if he can get an android pilot for the Mule and try his hand at piloting the Mandalay.

He could start to make a real name for himself and get true recognition as a Split fighter. It would be a long time before he could afford and exulted Mamba. Then he may be able to muscle in on the Teladi attempt to corner the Crystal market.

One thought did cross his mind, 'which clan or cartel did the pirate belong too?'