As I am coming back to Elite: Dangerous and to writing the story of commander James Barrett I thought I'd share it here as well (the original ones, including the previous entries, can be found on INARA). For those who will have patience to read through it - enjoy! And please do not hesitate to PM me if you're up for some RP in game!
Asher Gateway
CE Bootis System
“Good evening, commander” - the voice belonged to a woman. She had a nice, and warm register, soothing and calming. James was pretty sure she didn’t know her. And that was the only thing he was certain of. The rest was... blurry at best. Where was he? How did he even get here? When? All these questions raced through his mind, but there was no answer. Only more confusion. The voice came back. A voice of an angel:
“We have reduced the dose of neothiopental and have began the process of waking you up, commander. It will take a few days at least before you regain full consciousness, but we need to take it slow to make sure that the implants are not rejected. Do not worry, so far everything seems to be just fine. But we’d rather take a few more precautions that loose you. You did cost us a lot of effort and money, would be a pity to waste it. And also to loose such a cute patient as yourself” - the angel giggled at the end of that sentence. It didn’t sound right.
James tried to open his eyes but couldn’t do it. He did not feel his body. Or pain. The voice sounded as if the person talking to him was behind a wall or a thick veil. It came back:
“We will see how you feel tomorrow. For now rest. Oh, and Merry Christmas, commander. I am pretty sure your family would celebrate it back home, right?”
James woke up. He still felt too weak to open his eyes. But at least the veil barring his senses from the outside world was gone. He heard silent humming of machinery in his room, monotonous and regular pinging noise of what had to be a medical equipment. “Hospital.. grand” - he thought - “if only I knew how I got here...”.
And then the memories returned. Suddenly he remembered...
Hawkings Station
Aruba System
26/06/3303
“Take off request denied. Remain on the landing pad and shut down your engine”.
That he didn’t expect. He sat motionless for a few moments, looking in disbelief at the comms window.
“Denied?! Betty, did you hear that?! Already?!” - James considered his options. The view of station defence turrets turning towards his ship helped him make up his mind much quicker. He set the throttle to idle and locked the landing gear.
“Betty, delete the latest transmission to Commander Mirutu. And I mean hard delete, I don’t want any trace of that. Lock the hatch, too” - he added as the platform with his ship began to move back below the landing bay and into the designated hangar - “Looks like we’ll be having a call with those Arbuda s in a few minutes”
“Yes commander. Last message deleted. Hatch is locked”.
“Grand. While you’re at it, wipe out all my logs, will ya?”
“Yes, commander. Commander log deleted”.
“Good lass! Now, time to say hello to our guests”.
The platform has finally stopped. As soon as it did, the hangar doors opened. A group of 10 armed men ran inside, weapons ready. Two kneeled at the entrance pointing their laser rifles at the Viper, while the rest ran towards the hatch. They looked more as mercenaries than police force - something to be expected in a system like Arbuda - but James thought that it didn’t matter. Police or thugs, in the long run they still were going to get him. Although in a more civilised place he probably could just surrender and then figure something out. Here... he didn’t have too many options.
Barrett got out of the pit and ran to the livinb quarters to grab his CryoLab Predator II, heavy blaster bought a few months back in case of trouble. He never really used it and was a rather lousy shot, but decided he will not go down without a fight. He then positioned himself behind the door connecting front part of the Viper with the cargo bay. Main hatch was at the end of the ship, in a clear view. James aimed his gun and waited.
The panel next to the hatch lit up. Of course - nobody sane would use explosives to blast open the doors to the spacecraft, the risk of collateral damage to the hangar bay was too high. Arbuda Gold Brother thugs had all the time in the world. They decided to simply hack the lock. James watched helplessly as letters and numbers quickly changed on the small LCD display.
Around 10 minutes later it turned from red to green. The door slid open. Less then one second after that two small, cylindric shapes fell with a clang into the cargo bay. James hid behind his cover and closed his eyes. Flashbang grenades went off with a loud noise, multiplied in the small, confined space of Viper’s hold. Assailants ran inside. Barrett sticked out his arm, aimed and shot at one of the silhouettes. He missed. A hail of laser bolts came in return, forcing him to hide again. Another flashbang landed under his feet. He instinctively kicked it back, but it hit the side wall, bounced and exploded behind him. The explosion was deafening.
A figure appeared in the doorway. Barrett shot at point blank range. There was a scream and the enemy fell down. More laser bursts came through the door, marking the wall behind James and hitting the consoles in the cockpit, rising fountains of sparks.
Another figure emerged from the doorway. James raised his arm but was too slow, a laser burst cut straight to his left shoulder and threw him back against the wall. The man followed and hit the pilot in the stomach with the rifle butt. Barrett fell to his knees. Heavy boot landed on his jaw, knocking the Irishman over. As he looked up, he saw a grinning, bald man rising his lasgun. The rifle butt struck once again. Then there was darknes....
His arms were high above his head, twisted and strained. His wrists were tied together with a chain that ran up to the metal ring attached to the ceiling, and then down to a another one on the floor. His feet were helplessly dangling few centimetres above it.
“So, commander” - a fat, bearded man stood just in front of James. He spoke with a funny accent, the last word sounded more like ‘commandeer’ - “Filina Mirtu. Where is that ?”
James raised his head. He wondered for how long he was hanging here. He didn’t feel his left hand anymore, the one hit by the blaster the day before. Was it just one day? Felt like a whole eternity... His right wrist hurt like hell. So did his face, back and stomach. He swallowed with difficulty then looked at the interrogator.
“Go yourself’
Another hit, this time in the back. He could not see two henchmen of the fat guy, lurking somewhere behind in the shadows. Barrett screamed with pain. Not that anyone could hear him - the interrogation chamber must have been somewhere in the bowels of the station next to the main machine room. The sound of the engines and generators was deafening.
“We have all the time in the galaxy, commander. You don’t. How much more can you endure? Just tell us and it will all be over. Hm? What do you say?’
“I... already told you... “
“Wait. Wait. You are right. I lied. Once you tell us where Ms Mirtu is, you will have to answer for at least 8 our ships which you destroyed. Guess we will spend more time here than I thought..” - he nodded to somebody behind James’ back.
Barrett insinctively tried to tighten all his muscles - which was impossible in his current situation. He felt a burning sensation on his back and saw a tip of a whip wrapping around his chest. He screamed again.
„As I told you, commandeer. We have all the time in the galaxy. All the time”...
NEW YEAR, NEW BEGINNINGS (01/01/3304)
Bracewell Ring
Ipiliyaga System
James sat at the small table next to a small window overlooking the long row of solar panels and an approach to landing pad #3. It seems that whatever he was being given in order to keep him in a drug-induced coma has been withdrawn and it was his second day on the outpost that he was fully conscious and aware.
He tried to leave the room, but the entrance was locked. Nobody visited him for the past two days either. The food was coming via a small lift built into the wall. While lots of memories came back to him - mostly long days of questioning by Arbuda Gold Brothers and almost unbearable pain he endured during that time - he had no clue where he was or how did he get there. He needed some answers, he needed his ship. And he longed for revenge...
***
The door opened with a quiet hiss. James quickly got up, alarmed. A tall woman in simple grey uniform entered the room. She was in her mid fifties, copper hair were tightly tied at the back of her head. Grey eyes perfectly matched her outfit. James didnt spot any weapons.
“Commander Barrett. I am glad to see you back on your feet. Please, take a seat”
“Thank you, but I’d rather...”
“Do sit down, Commander, I insist” - there was something regal in the way she spoke and behaved and he cought a glimpse of a weird accent. A brief thought “An Imperial?” crossed his mind as he sat back down.
“That’s better” - she took a seat at the other side of the small table, placed a datapad on the grey surface and pushed it towarfds him “I am sure you have a lot of questions. You will find answers here. For now let me give you some basic information that you no doubt would like to hear”.
“Aye, I’m all ears. You could start by telling me what is this place”.
“We are on Bracewell Ring, a scientific and medical outpost in Ipiliyaga System, Imperial space”.
James looked at her dumbfounded. He blinked.
“Imperial space? That’s impossible. Arbuda must be...”
“Around 210 light years away. You are in a safe place”.
“Lay off, lady.. why would you haul me that far? And how? I don’t remember anything”
“You were onboard a slaver ship bound for a mining colony controlled by scum much worse than Arbuda Gold Brothers. You were liberated by one of our pilots. We have been tracking your actions in Arbuda for quite some time and were considering to contact you and offer a possibility to cooperate. However, your foolish actions got you in trouble before we could do that.”
“Hey, you’re saying.. Nah, yer winding me up, I had some contacts but with the Feds, not the Imps.”
“You did. They needed a bait and you would have been perfect in that role. Long story which I have neither time or desire to tell. You were in a pretty rough shape when we got you here. If it wasn’t for this excellent medical facility you would have lost your left arm. Took us a couple of months to reconstruct the tissue and deal with other wounds, including internal bleeding and a hematoma on your brain. I doubt that anyone that bought you would be happy once you arrived at the destination... But again, that is a different story."
James sat silent for about a minute, lost in thoughts. The woman did not speak, studying him. Finally he said:
"Alright. What happens now?"
"It is entirely up to you, commander. You are a free man once you pay your debt for 6-month hospitalisation in luxurious conditions, several complex surgeries, organ cloning and transplantation, bringing your ship from across the galaxy, fee for rescue operation and other costs".
Barrett swallowed.
"And the total bill for that would be..."
"More than the worth of your ship and then some".
"Grand. But I gather there is another way?"
"There is. Your actions taken against the slavers did not go unnoticed. We are hoping that we could count on your gratitude and services".
"Ah, thought so. And who are these 'we' you are referring to?"
"Her royal princess Aisling Duval"
"C'mon lady, you're taking the !"
"Excuse me?!"
"Er... I mean... pardon my language. I just didn't quite expect that".
"I see. I'll let you think about it, commander. I expect your answer by Friday. Till then you are free to walk around the station, you can also visit your ship, but you will not take off until a decision is taken".
"I understand" - Barrett nodded his head, then added: "and thank you for saving my life. Fair play to you".
His guest just raised her brows, then said: "Until Friday, commander. See you then". She turned to him once more just before exiting the room "Oh. And happy New Year".
