The Martian

[missmartian]

Origins of Miss Martian & Happy ever after 2.0

Origins of Miss Martian


I had perfectly normal childhood with my parents and younger brother, we lived on Mars and led a happy life. When I was older I met a man who I fell in love with, my parents were far from happy as he much older than me and he was a wanted imperial bounty hunter who was hiding in the system. He gave me a choice, to go with him or stay. So what did I do? I ran away with him and lived the dream.


He taught me how to love, fight and fly; everything that a 20-year-old needs to know in life. Psycho Penguin and Miss Martian blasting a trail across the Galaxy, it was everything I ever wanted. Unfortunately dreams come to an end... and five years later it did.


I was sat in the dock alone watching him fly off in his Vulture, I tried hailing him but all I got was “I’m sorry this isn’t working”; my entire future, my happy ever after gone in an instant.




I promised myself that if it took forever I would wait, for a thousand summers I would wait for him… And so I waited: hours turned into days, days into weeks, weeks into months. Every time a Vulture entered the system I hoped, I wanted it to be him. I tried to figure out what had I done wrong? I never said no to him, anything he wanted I gave him no matter how crazy his request. I was a Federation girl abandoned in Empire space, the other pilots figured I was fair game as I was no longer protected; so I did the only thing I could do which was to fight. They chased me in their Vultures, at first I fought to protect myself and I felt racked with guilt with every ship I destroyed but then I started enjoying it. Killing things, killing Vultures, made the pain go away. I actively hunted down their pilots, clean or wanted it didn’t matter to me; after all it’s only treacherous scumbags that fly those vile things. I was eventually forced out of Gende; I went from the innocent Federation girl to a monster. I hated what I had become and I hated the cold and emptiness of space.


My ship and I went from system to system finding work wherever we could, after a few weeks I figured I'd look through Galnet and see if I could find a permanent home. One caught my eye "security services needed in Yembo", the pay wasn't great and it was hundreds of lightyears from my location but at least I could start anew.


After a long and arduous journey, I was welcomed with open arms. I was shocked by how nice everyone was; they didn’t hurl abuse if I accidentally dinged their ship, they didn’t mock me relentlessly when I did something wrong, they actually looked after me. During my time in Yembo I did everything I could do to repay their kindness: I ran headfirst in their civil war assisting to take out Capital Ships, providing escorts to the miners/traders and ensuring the safety of the inhabitants. In return I was given my own place within Naddoddur Terminal, taught how to land without a docking computer, taught how to mine and I even did Buggy Racing! I had made friends who understood my heartache; when bounty hunting they highlighted the Vultures and let me go on my rampage whilst making sure I stay alive. For the first time in what felt like an eternity I was truly happy.


My loyalty isn't to the Alliance, Federation, or even the Empire; but to the friends who fight alongside me. To hell and back will I stay with those who gave me a home when I needed it most.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Happy ever after 2.0


*20 minutes of life support remaining*


"Thank you so damn much", I yelled back at the ship’s computer.


No, there's no use in yelling at her, it's my damn fault we're in this mess not my ship.


Bingo fuel and floating in the nothingness that surrounded my ship. Ice was starting to build up in the bridge and my breath was now steam.


Who knows I might freeze to death before suffocating


... It's felt like only yesterday that I arrived in Yembo broken and empty, I couldn’t believe how well the Elysium Corps glued me back together, I might have a few jagged edges but I was closer at being normal, closer to being like everyone else. I’ve always had a habit of ruining everything I touch so it was only a matter of time before the faction started to fall apart. Prior to its total collapse I managed to secure another job with the Teamsters Logistics Corporation as manager of the Security and Bounty Hunting divisions. I wasn’t the best pilot due to my tendencies to crash often but I they didn’t have much choice as the faction was still quite small. The pilots there were fantastic; they encouraged my “issue with vultures” and looked after me to the best of their ability. I’ve got a Scotsman who can handle me and gives as good as he gets, hopefully I won't break him like everything else I touch...


*15 minutes of life support remaining*...


How did I get in this mess? Oh yeah I got cocky and thought I could do anything. Elite in combat means all, just means I need to find a new hobby, maybe mining? Urgh, the dust gets everywhere and besides I don't think I could pull off a jump suit. Or how about exploration? I don't like flying and don't know the first thing about it; maybe if I did then I wouldn't be in this mess. Could try trading but again I hate flying and I'd be twiddling my thumbs bored out of my brain. I enjoy shooting at things, watching their ship go boom....


*10 minutes of life support remaining*


I needed to stop panicking, I needed to think of happy thought to calm myself down. Too many to think of... Killing Vultures, bumper ships, exploring with my friends and living on the Python.


Wait did I feed the duck today? Maybe, possibly, no. Oops.


The excursion trip with my friends, that was fun and that’s a happy thought. Eskimo Nebula, combining the black hole with the outlying nebula it made a lovely spot to take some photos. The next stop Hip 38064 planet 2 was where things went wrong. All we wanted was to see the largest crater found so far, 100 Km deep. The gravity was high almost 2g, Demetrios crashed his ship within the crater and Nelson crashed his in front of me.


Wait, no bad thoughts, just relax.


Demetrios decided to come back out and join us at the next checkpoint whereas Nelson decided to stay at home and wait for me there. VY Canis Majoris is something else, words can't really describe how big it is, and you need to see it to understand. Coming back to those multi-cannons... A mission target Fer-De-Lance appeared in system, I didn't seem so crazy for bringing weapons when I blew him to smithereens...


*5 minutes of life support remaining*...


Could I have done things differently? Yes, no, maybe. Since I joined the Teamsters everything has gone right for me, you could say I was reborn, urgh that sounds cliché. I have everything I could ever have wanted, a family. An awesome family that grows each day and supports each other, you could say I found my happy every ever 2.0... Probably too early to say but so far so good...


*3 minutes of life support remaining*...


A blue flash and then a white ship came into view. It looked at me head on and gently nudged my ship, I waved the ice cold champagne bottle and muttered to myself.


"A gentleman never keeps his lady waiting"...

 

[missmartian]

The Invitation.

The Invitation.


Sat in the Aries with a white Clipper staring head on to me, he had just interdicted me and I was panicking, but only slightly. My heart was racing, so loud I was sure that it could be heard over the comms, the blood was rushing and my adrenaline was pulsing through my veins. My hands became clammy from holding tight on the controls.


What is he waiting for?


Neither of us deployed our hardpoints, he started acting weird, he danced around me as if he was almost testing my reaction. He kept scanning my ship, he was looking for something but I was unsure what. He finally settled in front of me again, I don’t usually get this close to Clippers but right now I had no choice.


“Hello, I am CMDR Miss Martian of the Teamsters, interdicting me was a sign of aggression. I am neither wanted or carrying cargo of any kind, please state your business.” I called out to him on the comms but I received no reply, after waiting a few minutes I prepped for SC, I wasn’t interested in playing any games.


“Quack”, Bob turned up from the back and settled himself on my lap as I plotted a course.


“Seriously? This isn’t a good time,” I picked him up and placed him on the co-pilots chair, as I headed back to my chair I could see blue flashes of light out of the corner of my eye. My scanner picked up 4 ships in total, all Clippers.


“Hmmm, this doesn’t look good.” I put 4 pips to engines and 2 to shields, the ships started circling around me like wolves dancing around their lamb. I boosted into the ship in front and turned away whilst they followed me firing away.


“Ship under attack”, I had the FSD charging but it felt like forever.


“Shields down”, they were going for my FSD and Bob was quacking loudly next to me panicking.


Please baby, please hold.


“Align with target.” I turned off flight assist to do a quick 180 and boosted away, finally the countdown began.


“4…3…2…1…” We were finally in the next system and I sighed with relief, my hull was down to 60% and my FSD at 30%. 4 contacts turned up on my sensors and within seconds they began interdicting me, I tried to evade but to no avail.


“FSD failure,” it felt like an age before my ship stopped spinning wildly, I eventually came to a standstill and found the 4 Clippers surrounding me. I deployed my hard points and target the one in front of me, before I could start firing I heard a cold harsh voice on the comms.


“You’re out gunned, out manned and out classed so I suggest you put your toys away before you get hurt.”


“If I refuse?” I replied.


"I’ll blow up your ship and sell your escape to at some backwater planet, no one will ever find you."


Damn that is just mean.


They deployed their hard points and waited to see what I would do next.


“My friends will find me,” I wanted to sound confident but I even I didn’t believe me.


"There are 400 billion systems out there sweetheart, even if they spent their entire lives searching they will never find you. Last chance Martian, put your toys away." I stowed my hard points and they did the same.


"What is it you want? Why so talkative now and not earlier?"


"I wanted to make sure I had the right person."


Okay let's keep him talking and send a distress signal home.


“Transmission blocked.” The computer called out to me.


"Don't do anything stupid Martian or I promise that you'll live just long enough to regret it," I redeployed my hard points and targeted his ship.


"No I don't think so, if you wanted me dead then I already would be. You need me alive so start talking.”


"Baliunas Hub in Gende, go to the Shire Horse tavern and ask for Gary, you have 48 hours. Tell anyone about this and I will blow Simmons sky high with everyone you love and care about on board. If you’re late, I’ll come looking for you.”


The 4 ships turned away and high waked out, Bob settled himself on my shoulder and nuzzled up against me.
“That was pretty close buddy; you were almost crispy fried duck.” He quacked loudly and nipped my ear before flapping off.


He’s way too sensitive for his own good. What the hell just happened? Who were those men and what do they want with me? But why Gende, I haven’t been back in a long time, not since… him.


I plotted a course home back to Simmons, my ship needed to be repaired and I needed to think


*************************


"Zorgon Peterson Mike India Serria please request docking before entering the station." I sent the request and waited for the usual reply.


"Good to have you back commander, proceed to docking bay zero five." As I landed the ship Bob started quacking and ran to the hatch, I knew he missed Nelson and he wasn’t the only one. I know he misses Nelson and he wasn’t the only one. We headed to where the Python usually docked but it was empty except for a few whiskey bottle scattered on the floor. I decided to head over to the managers’ office in hope of finding someone, anyone. On the way to the elevator I caught Dan the head of mining dusting himself off in the corridor, he was looking sheepish and probably didn’t want to be caught red handed.


"Really Dan? Mrs Miggins isn't going to be happy with the amount of dust you leave here." I yelled as I made my way over to him.


"Ahh she'll be fine; besides she doesn't complain about the amount of feathers Bob leaves," he replied jestingly.


"Okay you got me there, anyway how are you? How is the mining coming along?"


"I'm well thanks, mining hasn't been too bad, tried some of the ice mining but it's not great, not enough diamonds for my liking. How was your mission?"


"It was fine." He could see by the look on my face that something was wrong but he knew better to ask, he knew that there’s only one person I’ll talk to.


"He's out trading and will be back next week but if you need to talk I’ll gladly listen” he replied warmly.


"Thank you Dan but I should be off I've got a few things to sort out, I'll be back in a few days."


"But you’ve just got back besides what good is the head of security if she's never here?" he asked with concern.


"I won't be gone long besides the guys can keep an eye on things here; you'll be fine I promise." I gave him a hug and ran off before he could protest further.


***********************************


As I stood in the shower there were so many questions and thoughts running through my head.


What am I doing? Am I insane? Of course, maybe, only a little. Why Gende of all places why? I should tell someone, wait no, remember what he said I won’t let him hurt my family and ruin everything we have worked for.


I banged my head against the tiles, I wanted to scream, cry, yell, everything. I slid down and sat in the corner, head in hands. I looked at the watch on my wrist, there were 32 hours left. I knew leaving was wrong but I felt that I had no choice; I had no idea who he worked for if we could survive an assault against an unknown enemy and unknown magnitude. I keep thinking back to the encounter.


If he wanted to kill me then he would have, he obviously needs me alive.


“Bob” I yelled as I exit the shower, “it’s all yours but be quick, we’ll be high waking shortly.”


Hair was still damp as I sat in the pilot’s chair and the odd drops splashed onto the console as I plotted a course to Gende, in the words of infamous Admiral Ackbar.


It’s a trap.

 

[Marra Morgan]

Ooh these are good! I hope there's more!

And best of all - you have a Ship's Duck!!!

 

[missmartian]

Mr Gary

The corridor was poorly lit and I could barely see more than a few feet in front of me, I touched the sides of the walls to help guide me but it felt welt and mossy.

Yuk.


I could hear shouting in the distance so I clutched Bob close to my chest unsure of what I would find up ahead. I had followed the instructions to the letter and I was here 6 hours before the deadline ended, the security office at the dock gave me a funny look when I asked for directions to the tavern but I ignored it.


“You really should have stayed on the ship; this is no place for a duck.” The shouting became louder as I got closer and closer to my destination, finally the corridor started to become wider and I could see the faint outline of a building in the distance. As I got closer it was more of a shack than anything else, the sign Shire Horse sat proudly on the door albeit slightly wonky. As I opened the door the sound was deafening but as I finally went through the door I was met with silence. As I looked around I was greeted with shift gazes and whispering; groups of people huddled around their tables were playing cards or having hushed conversations. No matter where I looked each of their gazes said the same thing.


Fresh meat.


As I headed to the bar most of them looked away going back to their games and what not, at the bar I went to order a drink.


“A diet coke please, hold the ice” I told the bar man.


“No diet coke” he replies stiffly.


“Diet lemonade then please”.


“No diet lemonade” he replied again.


“What do you have that is diet then?” I replied annoyed at him.


“Water,” his answers were short and full of contempt.


“A bottle of that then please.”


“No bottle, you can have a glass and for your companion?” He said with a gleam in his eye looking at Bob like he was something to eat.


“He’s fine thank you.”


The bar man turned around to fetch me my drink as I placed my credits on the sticky counter. The glass he gave me was filthy, blood stains on it and the water is brown, there wasn’t a chance in hell that I was going to drink it.


“May I have a moment of your time please?” I slipped him a 100 credit note and beckoned him closer to my face. His face was scarred and chunks were missing, he had definitely been in a fight or two; his breath was foul and he had several teeth missing.


“I’m looking for someone called Gary” I whispered gently in his ear, he instantly pulled away in shock.


“You look like a nice lass and you shouldn’t be asking for Gary. So here’s my advice, turn around and pretend you never came here and then run. Run to the other side of the galaxy and pray he never finds you.” His voice is alarmed and a few other patrons looked in our direction to see what the commotion was about.


“Thank you for your advice but please it is imperative that I speak to him” I asked pleadingly. His face contorted as if he was fighting with his conscious, after a few minutes he straightened himself, grabbed a bottle of whiskey from the counter and took a swig.


“Now are you sure lass? He isn’t one to mess around with and he’ll eat you for breakfast with your duck as dessert.”


“I’m sure”. I held Bob tightly worried at the thought of someone eating him, the barman handed me a card and hurriedly ran off into the back. I turned over to see what was on the back:


Imperial Cutter - Bay 5


*****************************************


I saw the white ship shining brightly in the dock, she looked as though she had been freshly waxed judging by how she shone in the light. As I walked towards it I could see two men dressed in black suits standing guard by the hatch, they gave me a funny look as I headed over. I saw them reach into their jackets, they both drew out guns and pointed them at me.


“Stay right there”, I froze standstill 10 feet away from them.


“I’m unarmed”.


“We’ll see about that,” the men came towards me weapons still in hand. Both men were nearly identical in how they looked and dressed, the only difference were the colour of their ties, one red and one brown. The one with the red one came quite close to me before asking me to place the duck onto the floor; I did so slowly whilst trying my best not to make any sudden movements. He then asked me to raise my hands and began to frisk me; he then started going through my pockets, taking out everything I had, my keys, my phone, my purse everything. He finally reached my back pocket on jeans where he found the card; he showed it to the other gentleman.


“Where did you get this from?” He barked.


“A bar man” I replied. Slap, a hard back hander from the man with the red tie, I was so shocked I fell back several paces. I could feel my face stinging and going red, I clutched it with my hand afraid of doing anything else wrong.


“I asked where not from whom, try again” he said jeeringly.


“Shire Horse Tavern” I replied in barely a whisper. The man in the red tie backed away slightly, took out a radio and put it to his ear, I couldn’t hear what was said but I felt that it wasn’t good for me. He then picked up Bob and thrust him into my arms, Bob flapped for a few seconds and came to rest on my shoulder. He grabbed my arm and dug his nails into my skin; he was drawing blood because he could. He dragged me up the stairs to the hatch and into the ship, as soon as we were in he pushed me onto the floor and exited behind me.


“Ass,” I uttered under my breath still crumpled on the floor. He froze halfway on the stairs, turned around and took out a switch blade. He smiled at me, winked and carried on down the stairs to the other man. Bob still unaware of what’s going on stayed perfectly still on my shoulder apart from the occasional nip of my ear. I stood up and straightened myself, the blood tricked down my arm from where he dug his nails in. I had a quick look around to get my bearings and could see a door open at the end with a faint sound of music coming from it, as I walked over the music stopped but the door stayed open, as I got closer I could see a man reading a book sat on a big leather sofa. I waited by the door taking in my surroundings, the room was filled with books; they were placed neatly on wooden bookcases. The book cases covered every wall from floor to ceiling; there must been hundreds if not thousands of books here. The man reading looked to be in is forties, he was dressed smartly in a 3-piece black pin stripe suit, his hair was jet black and slicked back like the others outside. He looked up at me and gave me a warm smile that would light up a darkened room.


“Come in my dear and take a seat.” I set Bob onto the floor outside and as I made my way closer the door slid shut behind, I heard the beep from the lock engaging. I sat as far away as I could on the sofa away from him unsure of what was going to happen. He stood up and turned to me so that he could get a good look of me, I could see the disappointment in his eyes.


“I see you made friends with Sean then?” He asked as he stroked my still red cheek, he took out a handkerchief and wrapped up my arms to stem the bleeding. I noded in agreement worried of what to say.


“Would you like anything to drink?”


“No thank you” I reply softly.


“You needn’t worry my dear; you’re perfectly safe aboard my vessel I promise you.” He took one last look at the mark on my face and sat next just inches away from me on the sofa. “You’re probably wondering why you’re here, everything will be explained in due course.” He clapped his hands loudly. “I have to say I’m rather excited, you see I hear you’re a pretty decent combat pilot and I have a work for a pilot like yourself.”


“I’m nothing special.”


“Ahh my dear but you are, you might not think so but you are. You see I have been watching you from afar for quite some time, I remember when you used to bounty hunt here, you made quite a reputation here in Gende.”


“That was a long time ago.” I could feel my eyes welling up thinking about my past here, the past that I tried so hard to forget. He looked at me piercingly; he knew exactly what he had done but I just didn’t know why. He put his arm around my shoulder and used his free hand to take something out of his pocket; he placed two tickets into my hand and turned to look at me. His sapphire blue eyes gazed into mine, piercing my soul finding ever secret I had buried.


“Do you like the opera?”

 

[missmartian]

The Opera House

BOOM.

My ear rang and I sat up disoriented, I could hear screaming, shouting and gunfire in the distance. I closed my eyes hoping that that what I saw before me was just a bad dream, as I reopened them the same scene lay in front of me, Sean lay still beside me, his eyes wide open and debris covering most of his body. I gave him a shake but he didn’t respond, I checked his pulse and found nothing, he wasn’t breathing either. I closed his eyes and stood up, I brushed off the dust from my dress and felt something warm dripping on my cheek; I must have hit the ground pretty hard, I didn’t have anything to wipe away the blood so I just used the bottom of my dress. As I looked around this area of the docks was a mess, several ships were destroyed including the Cutter that we were heading to. I searched around the floor to try and locate my bag, I found it several meters away with a few sapphires missing, I put my hand inside to check if the package was inside, I sighed with relief when my fingers located the cold metal box. I took out the box and opened it, inside was a chip I examined it briefly to check that it was fully intact. The shouting was almost audible and I could see shadows out of the corner of my eye, I tucked the chip into my bra and tossed the box aside. I hitched up my dress and headed over to where Aries was parked up, I was careful to avoid the debris scattered around me. As I rounded the corner to my docking bay there were two armed men by my ship, I took cover behind some cargo racks and peeked out slightly. The men were dressed in black military apparel and had rifles slung over their shoulders, they were talking softly to each other but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. I slipped off my heels and threw them as far as I could into the distance, distracted by the noise they left their post and readied their weapons. Once they were a safe distance I ran towards my ship as fast I could, I tripped on my dress and hit my head on the bottom of the access ramp with an almighty thud.

“There she, shoot her!” Thankfully they were too far to get a direct hit on my but the shots were incredibly close and hit my ship causing the blue shields to glow, I scrambled up the ramp and shut the door behind me. The pain in my head was unbelievable, I felt I might pass out then and there but I had to get out of the station. I dragged myself up to the bridge and made it to the pilot’s chair, outside my ship was surrounded by more men hammering at my shields with their guns.

“Thrusters online.” I lifted her up slightly and dropped my nose so I could hit a few of them with the tip of my ship, the rest moved out of my way knowing that they’d get squashed otherwise. I retracted my landing gear and headed for the slot, once I lined up I hit boost and hurtled outside. Outside the station there was carnage, hundreds upon hundreds of ships were shooting at each other.

“Ship under attack.” Three contacts right behind me were shooting at my ship, I headed straight for the blood bath ahead hoping to lose them in the chaos, I targeted Nysa ready whilst leading them on a wild goose chase.

“Flight assist off.” I slipped in between the bigger ships, nothing more than a gold flash, I kept hitting boost and increased the distance between the contacts and once on the other side of the bloodbath I spooled up my FSD ready to jump.

“4…3…1…1” I was thrown into Nysa by the star, I was worried that they would follow me so I dropped out of SC and made a jump to Bragur, from there I made on last jump to Amirite. I jumped out of SC several thousand ls from the stars and waited to see if I was followed. After several minutes knowing I was safe I relaxed a little, my head was pounding and as I looked down at my dress; it was covered in blood and dust. Now that the adrenaline had stopped everything ached and the pain was excruciating, I must have broken several bones at least in the blast.

I headed to my bathroom and looked at my reflection in the mirror; blood matted my hair and my glasses were covered in dust, I was amazed I was even able to see anything. I opened up the cabinet and grabbed the first aid kit, I sat down in the corner and rummaged around for some pain pills. The pills kicked on pretty quickly, I knew I had to get to a doctor but I wanted to clean up, the dress I was wearing was impossible to undo so I grabbed the knife from the first aid kit and cut myself out of it.

The hot water on my skin felt relaxing and once the water started to run clear I figured I should probably check how bad I was hurt, I looked down my ribs were black and blue, there were numerous cuts and scrapes on my arms. I started to feel dizzy so I sat in the corner and let the hot water cascade down and warm me up, I was so tired. I knew I shouldn’t go to sleep but I was so very comfortable sat here in the warmth.

I’ll just close my eyes and rest for a few minutes…


**************************************************

Several hours earlier…

“Please tell me why on earth am I wearing this?” I asked the tailor infuriated.

“Because Mr Gary has requested it,” she replied with a smirk on her face knowing how uncomfortable I was. I was stood in the middle of a boutique wearing a sapphire blue ball gown, there were pins protruding me everywhere and the corset style was so tight I could barely breathe.

“I can barely breathe and how on earth am I going to walk?”

“Stop fidgeting, all you’ll be doing is sitting down most of the time, you hardly need to run anywhere.” She walked to the side of the shop and returned with a pair of shoes to match the dress I was being suffocated in.

“And what am I supposed to do with those?” she roughly put them onto my feet knowing that I could barely move to stop her.

“Why can I not wear my boots? No one will see them under the dress and at least I can fly in them.”

“Stop whining or I’ll call in Sean.” She had seen the marks on my arms that hadn’t quite healed from my previous encounter; I stood there still as I was not keen on seeing him again.

“Your items are in this clutch; your clothes have been returned to your ship.” She thrust a beautiful sapphire covered clutch into my hand and hurried me out of the shop before I could examine it further. Mr Gary was waiting for me outside, he was dressed in a black tuxedo and had his hair slicked back like on our previous encounter.

“Good evening Miss.” He smiled to me sweetly and put his arm out for me, I took it gladly knowing my balance would be off for while in these shoes. We walked slowly towards the center of the hub.

“Good evening Mr Gary, how far till the opera house?”

“Not far at all my dear.”

“Where are the others?” I asked whilst looking around to find none of his usual companions, he knew exactly who I would rather avoid this evening.

“Sean will be meeting us there to ensure everything goes smoothly, all you need to do is sit next to me looking pretty.”

“Wait is that it? You said you wanted my so called piloting skills and all I’m supposed to be eye candy?” I tried to pull away but I couldn’t as he gripped my arm tightly, he pushed me from the footpath and up against the building we were walking past. The sweet smile was replaced by a look of anger, his face was inches from mine, aggressively he punched the wall mere millimeters from my head.

“I am purchasing something that is very important that it may end up costing me my life. I brought you here just in case because no one knows you, you’re a nobody in this galaxy so if something goes wrong I know it’ll be safe with you. Now be quiet and do not speak till spoken to.” The hand he punched the wall with gently pushed my hair behind my ear and then he smiled softly at me. He pulled back and grabbed my hand so we could continue to the opera house.

*****************************

I sat at the bar drink in hand, Mr Gary was sat beside and in the corner of the room stood Sean waiting for me to put a foot wrong. The bar itself was rather pleasant, big comfy chairs littered the room, walnut paneled walls and crystal chandeliers give it a grandeur style. Two men approached us looking flustered.

“There you are, wait who’s the girl?” Asked one.

“She is my companion, nothing for either of you to worry about, have you got it?” Gary asked eagerly rubbing his hand excitedly.

“Here, but be careful I think we were followed. Your safety is not guaranteed, I suggest you take this at once and leave the system.” He handed Gary the package and they both left quickly, Mr Gary doesn’t seem to take the news well and hands me the box.

“Put this in your bag, we’re leaving.”

“I need to freshen up first, I won’t be long I promise.”

“Fine but be quick, meet me at the ship asap. Sean will stay with you.” He kissed my hand and left.

********************************

As I left the ladies restroom Sean gave me a disapproving look as he checked his watch.

“Have you seen what I am wearing, it is a nightmare to walk in let alone take off.”

“Hurry up or we’ll be late and if we’re late you can be sure I’ll take it out on you.” He grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the opera house. Outside there was a small commotion, unsure of what was going on Sean gripped me tight around the waist and guided me through the crowds. I heard snippets of several conversations as we made our way through.

“Can you believe it federation soldiers here?”

“Federation? I thought it was Alliance?”

As we made our way to the docks the crowds thinned but I noticed huddled groups of armed men looking at us suspiciously, I finally saw the bright white cutter and knew we were safe.

But who is that exiting the Cutter?

 

[Don Alvarez]

But who is that exiting the Cutter?

Zach Hudson!

 

[Becks]

Zach Hudson!

Zach Hudson needs two Farraguts to carry his gargantuan balls xD
No way they'd fit into a Cutter

 

[missmartian]

The Chip Pt 1

The Chip Pt 1.

My head was hurting, the pain was bearable, not as bad as before but still quite nasty. I could hear voices nearby but I couldn’t make them out just yet, unsure of what they were saying I opened my eyes and all I could see were blurry lights above me.

Darn where are my glasses?

I sat up fully and as I started to squint I could make them out on a table next to me, I sighed with relief as I put them on as I could finally make out my surroundings. I was in a hospital room, the door was slightly ajar and still voices were in the distance. I lifted my top to check the bruising on my ribs, it was there but very faint, I could feel a bandage on my head, the scrapes and cuts on my arms were just very thin scars.

I must have been out a week or two at most.

The voices where getting louder, my heart skipped a beat when I heard one familiar voice, the Scottish accent gave him away.

“Is she awake? Damn it I need to see her, stop fobbing me off again, either let me in or I’m making my own way.” I heard crashing and suddenly the door burst open, Nelson lunged towards my bed whilst an orderly feebly attempted to stop by clinging on desperately.

“Are you okay? What happened? Where did you go? Why didn’t you tell me? Who did this to you? I’ll kill them I swear; I’ll kill them all.” He was shaking me by my shoulders unsure of what else he should do, the orderly finally managed to get him off me.

“Nelson please?” My voice weak and harsh, barely a whisper, he just looked at me and backed away to the far side of the room. The last time I had seen him like this was a few weeks back, I had only been home a few days after meeting Mr Gary and I had to leave again for Gende…


********************************************

“You’re leaving again?” The bag missed my head by a few inches.

“You were gone for a week and came back injured and now you’re off again?” Another bag hurled in my direction, I knew he was missing on purpose but that wasn’t the point.

“What are the others going to say? What about us? What about Dan? Hell what about the Wild card events, it starts in 3 weeks, the guys need to be briefed and we need to figure out who we’re supporting!” We were fighting on the bridge of the Python, Bob had retreated to the manager’s office and the dock was empty, no one liked being around when we fought in case they had to pick sides.

“It’s complicated,” I replied, as I ducked another incoming bag.

“Complicated? Complicated woman,      complicated.” I stood up arms outstretched hoping to make peace, my keys were on the dash and thankfully he didn’t see me glance at them.

“Please stop this nonsense, and let me explain.” He dropped the bag to the floor and sat down.

“I want a proper explanation this time.”

“I can’t tell you where I am going or why but I need you to trust me, everything I do is for you and everyone here.” I cautiously took a few paces forward.

“When I get back I promise that I’ll tell you everything but right now I need you to be okay with this.” The look on his face was devastating, I wanted to cry, I knew I couldn’t tell him anymore so I grabbed my keys off the dashboard and made a run for it. I could hear him shouting my name and swearing in the distance, I didn’t want to leave like this but I felt that I had no choice…


***********************************************

He stood there in silence, back against the wall just staring at me.

Was he mad at me? Was he disappointed?

His face was just blank and I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, without saying a word he came over to kiss me on my forehead and left. As he walked out I could see the look of pity on the orderly’s face, he smiled sympathetically at me.

“Well on the bright side your vitals are great so you can leave once you’re ready, just take it easy for a few days.” With a nod he too left, the room felt huge now I was alone, I curled up and pondered. I felt ashamed of what I had done but I knew it was the right thing to do, I needed a drink, a strong one.

********************************************

The Interdictors Alibi, the local tavern run here by my friend Neulen, he’s not the type to judge and I was sure that he could help. The tavern is where anyone who is anyone goes to have a few drinks after a long day working, most days it’s filled with the Teamsters roaring with laughter around the central table but not today. Today it was awfully quiet.

They must be all be preoccupied with something far more important than drinking.

Neulen was cleaning the counter when he saw me approaching.

“Hey Martian, can I get you the usual?” He said glass ready in his hands.

“Yes please” I replied, as I put my card on the counter he returned with my usual: blue raspberry vodka slushy with a cherry and umbrella on top.

“Thank you,” I said gratefully, it had been some time before I had a proper drink, as I savoured the taste I noticed that behind the bar it looked rather empty. I was sure that were more bottles up there.

“Yes I’m still struggling to replenish the stocks,” he said as he saw me looking inquisitively at it.

“Must have been one hell of a party, a few hundred at least.”

“Well actually it was only one person,” he looked at me warily knowing I’d figure it out. The cogs turned in my brain, I slammed my drink on the counter when it clicked.

“What the hell happened?”

“Well the short version, he drunk half the bar the dry and had the rest sent to the Python. And then he kind of trashed the manager’s office, well more of burnt it down and went on a drunken rampage in Hunburra. Luckily that system is anarchy otherwise we’d have an inter-system situation to sort out but on the bright side the staff I had that night who sold him the lot have been replaced.” He looked at me waiting for my reply, I just stood there staring at my drink processing what he had told me.

“Give him a bit of space Martian and let him get rid of the chip on his shoulder.”

The chip, god damn it, that’s what this was for.

I headed out but stopped at the door.

“Neulen thank you, you’ve been more help than you can imagine but I have to go, I’ll be back soon.” Bemused, he smiled and carried on tending the bar. As I walked back to the docks I kept thinking about the chip, was it really worth it? So many people died for that thing and many more got hurt.

I turned the corner to my bay on the docks to find Bob sat on my ship knocking on the canopy with his beak, every now and again he squawked loudly presuming I was inside. As I got closer I whistled to him, he turned his head and flew straight towards me, in his excitement he smacked me right in the chest causing me to fall back slightly.

“At least someone missed me,” I whispered as I held him tightly, he took his rightful place upon my shoulder and sat happily as we went to the ship. She smelt strongly of bleach, Miss Miggins must have come in here to clean up the mess whilst I was out, I headed to the bathroom hoping that it was left untouched. Before I had the chance to enter I noticed the blue dress was on my bed, I picked it up and found that it was fixed. Under the dress was the clutch, I could hear something rattling around inside as I flopped on the bed. I put the dress to one side and opened up the clutch, low and behold the chip, she must have found it and put it in here. As I held it up to the light I noticed engraved were letters in a language I didn’t recognise, I turned it over and over in my hand examining every part of it. Bob fluttered down to my lap figured it was food and tried to take it from me.

“Bob no it’s not for you,” I pulled my hand back before he could grab it and stood up causing him to drop on floor, I popped it in my pocket and headed back out.

***************************************************

“Where did you say you got this?” Jacko asked whilst he examined it in his hands.

“Somewhere.” I looked at the floor guilty, he knew I had been up to no good but knew better than to press me for more information; I was sat crossed legged on the board room table with Bob sat in my lap. “I just need to know what it says and what is on it, also how come I’m now allowed in the board room? I’m never allowed in here.” Jacko looked up and cast me a dirty look.

“Because your Scotsman burnt down the manager’s office and we’re still remodeling, we’ve decided on individual rooms just in case he goes bananas and attempts it again. At least that way he’ll only burn his own office, Dan isn’t happy you know, he lost his rock sample collection in that fire.” He finished his rant and carried on examining the chip, finally he put it down on the table and stood up. “I’m sorry but I have no idea what it says and the computers can’t decode the data inside, I’m going to give Polly a call and see if he can shed some light on this. I suggest you get off the table before he arrives, he’s not happy sharing this room with the managers especially as it’s full of rock dust and seeing you on the table might be the last straw.” I hopped off the table whilst Jacko left the room, within a few minutes Jacko returned with Polly in tow; I stood up as Polly bid me a good evening, I replied in kind and waited till he took his seat before sitting down. I could see him look at his once glorious mahogany table and see it in its current state, it was imported from Sol and a rarity to find so far away from the bubble. He wiped his finger on the top and shuddered as he found it to be covered in dust.

“Jacko has told me you have something interesting to show me,” he had his hand out ready for the chip.

“Give it to him then Jacko.”

“I don’t have it, I left in here.” We both stood up and scanned the desk only to come up empty, I had a look on the floor but no such luck, in the corner of the room I heard a quack. All three of us looked at Bob realising what he had done, Jacko licked his lips and eagerly looked at Bob.

“I guess we’re having duck pancakes tonight.”

 

[Marra Morgan]

Noooo!

If that Jacko hurts Bob, I swear I'll bring the wrath of the entire Pegasi Sector down on his backside!

I love these, looking forward to the next one Miss M

 

[Howard o Pato]

Sometimes I have the impression that she has memory lapses.:S

Worried about what we have for dinner ...

 

[missmartian]

The CG

The CG

The Teamsters were involved in the Wildcard CG, we were supporting the Adles Armada and every ship save two were being packed to the brim full of gold. Astro and I provided cover for our miners as the CG were attracting pirates looking for an easy kill, we were giving the pirates something to fight. The event was tiring on all of us and for a while we thought we were safe; how wrong I was…

**************************************

…It felt like hours before my ship had stopped spinning, I had just been interdicted by three ships and they were already opening fire.

"Martian is everything okay? One second you were there and the next you weren't," Astro was still safe in supercruise and I started boosting away from the three ships trying to escape their fire.

"Astro head back to the station and warn the others, I have to high wake otherwise I'll be torn to shreds," my heart was racing as I looked for the nearest system, Maopi, it was just a few light years away and I had enough fuel to get me there.

"Shields down," my heart was now in my mouth and poor Bob cowered under my seat, we both prayed that my FSD would spool up before we were destroyed. My comms lit up and saw two messages from one of my attackers called Comrade.

"Come back - I need this".

I thought back to the chip sat inside Bob and wondered if it had something to do with that, my ship was taking heavy damage and I wasn't sure if we would make it. The three assailants rained shots at my hull; Comrade was in his Clipper, Sergeant Jammy in an unmistakable yellow Anaconda and You’ve Got No Fans was in an FDL, three very big ships that are not designed to give you a hug but to rip you to shreds.

"4...3...2...1"

As I heard the countdown I knew were safe and in a few seconds were on the other side safe from harm, the nearest station wasn't far so I made my way there thanking my lucky stars. Before I knew it the comms went wild, the miners were up in arms wondering what the hell happened and asking countless questions. I explained to them that we’re going to carry on the CG regardless of pirates and that Astro and I would do our best to protect them no matter what. Whilst I was in supercruise headed to the station I picked up Bob and placed him in the escape pod, just as a precaution so if the worst happened I can run to the pod without worrying about where he is. As soon as I was granted docking clearing I sighed with relief and knew I could relax a little, I took a breather and tried to think of a game plan.

What was the best way to keep the miners safe?

An Anaconda came within range of the station and I looked out the canopy to see who it was.

Surely it could not be, surely they wouldn't have followed me here?

"Hello friends.”

The message popped up on my display, my heart sank when I saw the same yellow Anaconda, Sergeant Jammy had found me, and this had to be about the chip. We hadn’t even got it out of Bob let alone unlock its secrets, I figured I should message him and find out what he knew. As I undocked the yellow Anaconda tried to squash me as I lifted off the pad, he definitely meant business and I was unsure if he wanted to chat. I parked my ship just under the slot safely within the no fire zone, knowing that no one is crazy enough to try anything this close the station unless they want they want to meet a fiery end.

"What is it you want?" I typed with bated breath not sure if I wanted to know the answer.

"The hull of your ship."

Hmmm but for what purpose I wonder?

"I think you would explode nicely, killing is fun." His reply made my skin crawl, I had heard about these types of pilots but always thought that they weren’t real, like the monster under your bed. I heard so many rumours of these so called Pilot Hunters that I didn’t know what was true and what wasn’t. Some say that they were bred to hunt people down that it’s all they know, that they’re almost part of their ship. Others say that they were ordinary pilots who went to edge of our galaxy and went mad at seeing the nothingness out there, regardless of which is true I now knew that these pilots exist in our galaxy and that they are a real threat. I had no more questions for him but at least he wasn’t after the chip and had nothing to do with what happened at Gende.

“Martian, Adam is already his way here, his beacon is on and he’ll be jumping into Naunin momentarily.” I hadn’t thought of a good plan so I just jumped into Naunin and hoped for the best, Adam was already being interdicted by the time I had orientated myself towards the Station.

"Adam just submit and I'll jump onto you wing signal one they're attacking me high wake out to Maopi and let me know as soon as you're safe." On my HUD I could see his shields were diminishing fast I didn’t know how many were attacking him but it didn’t matter, I just prayed that Sergeant Jammy hadn’t got here before me. As I jumped in Adam was surrounded, he was going to be a lamb to the slaughter if I didn't act fast, I saw the yellow anaconda and I knew he had beaten me here. I deployed my hard points took aim and threw a volley of lasers at him, the angry face of his ship turned towards me, I had defiantly upset him.

"Adam switch off flight assist and just keep boosting, I'll keep them busy for as long as I can, get to Maopi as fast as you can." I kept shooting at Jammy with my pulse and beam lasers, they barely made a dent in his shields but it had the effect that I wanted, I turned away and all three ships followed me shooting constantly. I saw Comrade and Fans right up behind me and I knew they would easily be able to keep up, so I had my FSD spooled up ready, all I needed was Adam's signal and I'd line up with my destination and be out of there. I checked my contacts and all three of them were still behind me, once I had the all clear from Adam I high waked back to Maopi in one piece. Adam, Astro, Shlong Star and I regrouped in Maopi we discussed tactics and decided that should Adam get interdicted again we’ll jump in and distract them whilst he gets the station. Adam was our priority and he had to reach the station, Shlong had refitted his Python so he could be bait.


**************************************

"4...3...2...1"

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more.

They were waiting for us at the star ready to pounce on their prey, we flew straight for the station with Adam in front and the rest of us ready to drop onto him if needed. One of the attackers went for Shlong and before long he was being interdicted, thankfully he avoided it and his attacker was thrown out of supercruise; as the attackers were nav locked to each other they also dropped out. Those few precious seconds allowed us to get to the station safely, on the docks we rejoiced and had a victory drink. We returned to our ships ready for the arrival for the next miner, as I reached the bridge I could hear shouting and yelling coming from the comms, the miners from Visto were making a ruckus. I couldn’t make out what anyone was saying due to the multiple voices and then there was silence, the familiar voice of Dan called out from the comms. His voice was solemn and barely a whisper,

"Billy is down, I repeat Billy is down." I switched off the comms and slumped on the floor in shock, I had lost one, I had let him down, I had failed in my duties.


Footnotes: Billy is one of our freelance pilots and thankfully his escape pod was picked up 20 minutes later and returned home, thanks to his insurance policy his ship was replaced. The miners and I decided to forgo partaking in anymore CG events, we like a quiet life and all headed home that evening. All commanders mentioned in this post gave their permission to be mentioned and approved the post prior to being made public.

 

[missmartian]

Freedom

For Dan.

Freedom…

It means so many things to so many people. For some it gives them the right to an education, to learn how to read and write, to give themselves a good start in life. For another it could be the right to marry the person they love regardless of gender, religion and race. For me? Freedom is where I can live a quiet life with my friends and family around me, where I can feel safe and continue doing what I love. Freedom can unfortunately be taken away in a single blow; a dictatorship could take over or laws could change to infringe on the rights that we hold dear. Anyone with any sense would protect what they love most and for me it’s the Teamsters, the commanders I live with are my family and have given me everything I could ever have dreamed of. I may not be the best combat pilot but I will always try my hardest to protect everything I have.


**************************

I ran as hard as fast as I could with Bob trailing behind me, my throat hoarse and dry as I yelled at people to move out of my way. I hit the board room door with an almighty thud, I wasn’t able to stop in time and I fell onto the floor backwards, I scrambled onto my feet and started to hammer on the door with my fists.

“Polly, Jacko! It’s me, let me in.” The door stood firmly shut, I pressed my ear to the door but I couldn’t hear any voices. I headed over the manager’s floor and scoured the offices, no one else was in; Demetrios was thousands of light years away in the great unknown, Dan was probably off mining somewhere and Nelson was off gathering data about someone somewhere. I went to my office and went to see the daily rota to see where everyone was, as I scrolled through the names and locations my heart sank; everyone but Astro and I were not in system. I sank to the floor and put my head in my hands in despair, Bob forced his way onto my lap to try and comfort me, he knew I was upset but this was something else. Only hours ago I was running a security sweep through system when I found something peculiar, a conflict zone, out of curiosity I popped in to see what was going on. To my horror I found that the two parties involved were a Federation faction and one of our minor factions, neither the Empire or Federation have had any foothold here and we’ve preferred it that way. I had flown back to the station as fast as I could to rally the troops, the minor faction that they were with war with ran a land base and I knew we couldn’t afford the Federation to have a permanent base here, they needed to be forced out. My great idea of grabbing everyone and heading out to a conflict zone to push out the Federation shattered in an instant, with only two of us here we’d be lambs to slaughter, I’d go in alone but I knew Astro would accompany me regardless of my protests. Astro had only been with us a short while but he was already one of my best friends, he’s an accomplished pilot and constantly succeeds at every task handed to him, when it comes to security he’s my right hand man and I trust him explicitly.

“Astro I’m about to do something very stupid and I’d rather not drag you into this.” I thought I’d call him over the comms as I readied my ship.

“If this is about the conflict zone then don’t try and talk me out of it, I read it on the Galnet this morning, besides it’s not fair if you take all the glory.” He chuckled as he knew what I was planning.

“Already on the Galnet? That’s quick but nonetheless this is something I have to do, plus I need someone here to keep collecting my escape pod.”

“Firstly I keep on top of my insurance payments and secondly we have the rescue teams to return pods anyway. You’re not getting out of this Martian so give me 20 and I’ll meet you outside the station.” He had put his foot down and I knew it was pointless to discuss it further, I put Bob in his new EVA suit and attached a piece of string from his ankle to mine.

*******************************

The conflict zone was just by the station, less than 1ls away, a quick jaunt for repairs if need be. I met Astro outside and we headed into the abyss, as we popped into the zone we flew out to the edges as it would be far safer till we were ready. The minor faction weren’t doing too bad but they could do with a hand as they were facing countless corvettes, we picked a side and yelled a battle cry as we headed into the thick of it. The two ships danced around the enemy and shot everything in sight, the corvettes proved to be fun but they were no match for us. Our huge beam lasers shredded the enemies’ shields and our multi-cannons tore up the hulls, our ships were incredibly agile in comparison to what the Federation were using so were doing well. Every now again we retreated to the edges to recharge our shields but were doing better than expected, our ammo was running low so we both flew back to the station to rearm and refuel. As we jumped in the second time we faced a surprise, a Farragut Battlecruiser started down at us, the FNS Medusa, we barely had time to think before she rained upon us. We headed out to the fringes of the battle followed by several F63 Condors, despite their size they are a real danger in large numbers, we tried to swat them but before long they had removed our shields and caused damage to our hulls. We flew backwards to shoot them and for a while this worked, the last one proved to be the most difficult, the tiny ship was incredibly fast and ran rings around us, eventually it was down. We took a breather to compose ourselves, in the corner of my eye I could see more ships heading in our directions.

“I’ll race you to the med bay!”

“You’re on Martian,” at least Astro had a sense of humor, we charged towards the enemy guns blazing. Several blue flashes appeared out of nowhere and Anacondas were in front us, the voice I needed to hear was yelling over the comms.

“Miners attack!”

 

[missmartian]

The short goodbye

The short goodbye

I always said that everything I touch I destroy and if I needed more proof then here I am alone again floating in space with no home and no real direction. I left everything I loved behind hoping to start afresh, maybe it’s best I stay alone out here; less people to hurt, to disappoint and anger. I really thought I had found a home but I do what I do best, which is ruin everything and then run away like a small child. You would have thought that at 26 I would know better but evidently not…


***************************

It was in the middle of the night that I finally had the courage to pack up my bags, I had been mulling the decision over a few days but this night I had the guts to actually do it. Bag in hand I climbed aboard the Aries, Bob was sat on my chair expecting us to go on another adventure, I smiled at him knowing this would be the last time I saw him, I picked him up carefully and put him in Dan’s office where he’d be safe. As I walked by mine I left my ID badge on the table, I left a note nominating Astro to take over; by now he was the best candidate and I knew everyone would be safe with him here. I made one last walk through the offices glad that it was silent in here, I’m not one for long goodbyes and I couldn’t bear to see the disappointment on their faces.

So sneaking around like a thief is better?

I had most of my preparations whilst everyone was asleep but there was one goodbye I had to do, it would have been easier to do it face to face but there was a good chance it would have killed me.

I walked through the docks looking at each of my ships as I went past, I had considered selling them all but the it’d mean that I’d be leaving forever, whilst they were still here it meant I could come back, one day at least. I climbed aboard the Aries sick to my stomach wondering whether it’d be better to leave a note.

Stop being a coward and do this.

I dialed the comms and secretly hoped that he was asleep but he answered. I was the hardest conversation I ever had and I as I hung up it felt like hours had gone past but it was only minutes, I felt disgusted with myself for doing it like this, I wiped the tears from my eyes and undocked.

They’ll look after him; they’ll keep him safe.

As I circled around the station I kept wondering if it was the right thing to do, but after that goodbye I knew the final nail was in the coffin and that there was no going back. I didn’t want to leave my family but I had passed the point of no return, I set the route for Cashibo as I could refit before beginning my long journey to somewhere, I had made friends all over the galaxy but I couldn’t bear to be around anyone right now. I don’t know where my path will lead me, only time will tell if this was the right decision, already I was regretting it but I knew that one day I would return when I was ready.

 

[missmartian]

Guilt

Deep in space I was alone, dead and cast away, a million miles away from home and I continued on in the unknown in search of something that would make me feel alive once more. I soldiered on from system to system hoping to feel pain and the bitter taste of blood on my lips again, just so that I could forget his face. So far from home I felt as if I was frozen to the bone staring at unknown stars, waiting for the fight that will make me feel something…

******************

I hadn’t been gone long and already one of my contacts offered me a new experience to try, I reread the message countless times before I finally sent a reply asking for his location, after mapping the route I made the long trek to him. Once in system I was given a wing invite so I could jump onto his location, I hesitated momentarily to nav lock on him wondering if this was the right thing to do but I hit the button and before long I was thrown in front of his ship. There the bright yellow anaconda of Sergeant Jammy stared at me head on.

He looks so much bigger than last time.

His hard points were stowed which meant that this wasn’t a trap but I still felt uneasy. I knew my team wouldn’t approve of what I was doing but I no longer cared if I could feel something and fear was better than nothing. I was in the presence of one the hunters that took down our freelance pilot in the mining CG and I know informing them back home wouldn’t go down well but I had to do this. I kept telling myself that he could teach me how to be a better combat pilot but I knew full well it would come with a price and judging by the last encounter it would be a price that would cost me my conscience.

The first part of the training involved attacking him in my FDL whilst he was in his FDL, he very kindly gave me a few pointers prior and explained how to manage my module priorities. The rules were simple, hull down to 20% before stopping and we’d fly past each other once and then we could unleash the power of our weapons. It happened so quickly I could barely keep track of what was going on; before I knew it my ship was being roasted from the inside.

“Thermal attack, heat damage, systems malfunctioning, canopy critical, canopy blown, leaking atmosphere, thrusters offline, weapons offline, fsd offline”. The weapons he was using were incredible, I kept trying to hit him but I couldn’t get a lock because of the chaff, deselecting had little effect as I barely tickled his shields. The amount of heat damaged caused to my ship was phenomenal, I was sure that I could have cooked breakfast on my dashboard and it was surreal on how quickly he beat down on my ship. The last time I encountered him I didn’t suffer this badly because I knew how to run but running isn’t everything, I needed to know how to fight and how to defend myself. The second attempt went rather well, less of my internal systems were fried and I lasted a lot longer too, Jammy however, barely a dent in his shields. As we returned back to the station he suggested another way that I could improve my combat skills, my stomach sunk as I knew the price to pay was coming up sooner that I would have liked.

“We’ll go to the CG event and shoot anything that moves but we’ll use small ships as they’re expandable.” I wondered to myself how many times will my escape pod be fished out of the cold black this evening…

*****************************

… He pulled out an anaconda from supercruise and by the time I had jumped in he was already shooting at him, my fingers hovered over the trigger reluctant to pull, I closed my eyes and fired. I don’t know his name and I didn’t want to look, seeing his name would make this real and I couldn’t bear that. For the longest moment I felt guilty firing on the innocent commander but when he fired back at me I felt something, I felt alive! I could feel the adrenaline pumping through me and the rush was incredible, I knew what I was doing was wrong but it was better than the emptiness that had been consuming me.

My weapons were useless against the anaconda and I can’t even recall if we even removed his hull, before long security forces jumped in and began shooting at us. My shields fell as if they were paper thin and knowing that I’d be in an escape any pod second from now gave me goosebumps, I was tingling all over from excitement. I did my best and lasted as long as I could, the anaconda jumped out and the security forces were far behind us, I had managed to walk away with 1% hull which I was surprised at. I stowed my weapons ready to jump out for repairs, before I knew it I was in my escape pod with Sergeant Jammy looking down upon me; he had asserted his dominance and made it known to me that I will meet a fiery end should I put a toe out of line.

 

[missmartian]

Home

I couldn’t stay with Jammy and his friends for long, there was so much death and destruction that I was feeling less guilty with every kill we made. I knew it I stayed any longer I’d become like them and I don’t want that; I’m supposed to be the good girl, the one who people can depend on when they need assistance. I made contact with the Knights of Karma hoping to help out their pilots but when they found out I was with the Teamsters; I was cast aside like dirt under their boots.

So much for helping pilots in need…

I decided to help out with the bounty hunting CG in Graiil Redd, it was a nice feeling to do some good for a change, even ended up in the top 10% after hunting for a few days. However once the CG ended I felt alone again, the docks were no longer bustling with pilots and the taverns didn’t have people shouting about their exploits. I wandered the station figuring out my next move but kept coming up empty, no matter what idea I came up with it involved me going home to change ships.

I guess it’s fate.

Fate or not I still didn’t feel ready to go home plus there were still so many things that I needed to uncover, the chip at this point was hidden safely on a distant moon. Without realising where I going I ended up back on the docks facing the Aries, it was late so I figured I might as well get some sleep and make my decision in the morning, as I went to the bridge I noticed a message on my comms. All the messages from home I had been deleting as I couldn’t bear to read them but for some reason I looked at this one.

“Please come home – SS”.


****************************

“Silent running.” I had snuck aboard the station without being scanned so that I wouldn’t show up on the daily traffic, I didn’t want to alert anyone just yet. As I walked down the ramp I heard quacking and had Bob fly straight into me.

“Shhh”. I held him tightly and gave him and big hug, as I looked at him I noticed he looked plump,

I guess Dan has been overfeeding you.

I heard the familiar voice of Dan so I ducked behind some cargo racks,

What are you doing you silly girl?

I wasn’t yet sure he’d heard of my exploits with Sergeant Jammy and I didn’t fancy Dan doing his ‘dad voice’ to tell me off, that’s if he didn’t hear the worst of it. I ran up into my ship once he walked past and grabbed the biggest hat I could find to wear as a disguise, I knew I’d look like an idiot but maybe it’d work. With Bob following me very slowly I went the Interdictors Alibi to grab a drink, as I sat down in the bar I saw Shlong Star walk in and head straight for me.

“Hey Martian, it’s great to see you home.”

“Shhh, I’m not here.”

“Are you sure? I’m looking at you wearing that ridiculous hat,” he tried to grab the hat from me but I slapped his hand away from me.

“No one is to know I’m here.”

“You left in the middle of the night and now you sneak back in? No one is angry, you had your reasons and we respect that.” He lifted the brim of my hat and gave me a sweet smile, “if you want to stay hidden a little while longer then fine, but the miners need an escort in a few hours so don’t be late.”

He got up from his chair and waved me goodbye. It was like I never left, everyone has a job to do and mine is to protect the miners. I had to carry Bob back to the Aries as he arrived at the tavern long after I had finished my drink, I had no idea what that miner was feeding him but I don’t think it was anything good. As I got back to the docks I took off my hat and chucked it in the bin, I looked around the docks and felt a sense of relief.

I was home.

 

[missmartian]

Who am I ?

I’ve always been able to hide my emotions well, when I came to Yembo I was barely a person, more of ghost hiding in a shell of me. Month after month I was getting better, I could control my emotions better and actually started being normal but normal never lasts for long. Since the breakup with Nelson I had struggled to get a handle on things, I had always hidden everything behind a smile; on the outside I’ll be smiling but inside I’ll be screaming begging for everything to end. My actions as of late had been erratic to say the least, I had become friends with a killer, intentionally put myself in danger and put my family at risk. Mother used to tell me that things happen for a reason but you don’t always know why or even understand it at the time and that all you can do is deal with it and move on. The reflection in the mirror was me but not me at the same time; brown hair, hazel eyes and skin as white as a ghost. If I didn’t know who she was then how would anyone else?

*************************

I came down the access ramp at the new station that would be my home, temporarily or permeant still remains to be seen but it would be where I would stay for the moment. I only had a few boxes to take with me, the majority of my belongings had been sold down and stripped; I no longer had need of a fully A-rated spec Anaconda, I worked hard for the military hull but with no one to protect there was no longer any point in keeping her. All of my ships save me Aries and Hermes were gone and hopefully to buyers who would look after them. I’m a bounty hunter at heart who occasionally gets up to no good; maybe the people here would appreciate that or maybe not but there was only one to find out.


************************

As I interdicted the trader I felt the rush of endorphins flood my brain, my reflexes were heightened and I needed the edge. He submitted and started messaging me on the comms.

“Leave me alone, I’ll give you cargo, just let me go.” I felt guilty as I deployed my hard points and targeted his power plant, he fought bravely to the end but before long I saw the pop and the remains of the ship scattered around me. I took what I wanted and left, I was tempted to scoop up his pod and return it to the nearest station but as my FSD charged up the rescue ships appeared on my scanner. Why did I destroy the innocent type-9 trader? For once I had a purpose, far and wide there were rumors of these engineers that could upgrade certain aspects of our ship. Thousands upon thousands of pilots had already upgraded their ships and I figured in this dog eat dog galaxy that I should join in sooner rather than later. I knew that some things that I would be doing would test my morality but I think I had lost most of it during the past weeks. I had been given a tip-off from one of my new contacts a pilot called Coragon, he gave me a list of systems where I could target traders for the parts that I needed, so far he was my first friend here and hopefully not the last.

 

[missmartian]

The Chip Pt 2

There is no family in space, no friends nothing, just the vast vacuum where we do our best to survive another day. I learnt pretty recently that people are never who they say they are; you could know someone for months or even years but at the first opportunity not only will they stab you in the heart but they’ll twist the knife and smile sweetly as they do it. In this big galaxy you can’t rely on anyone, there are no friends only colleagues or people you work with; nothing more, nothing less. I had hoped to leave the Teamsters quietly and disappear like ghost, even thought that maybe someday I could even say hi but nothing ever goes according to plan. Unfortunately, there is always one who messes everything up; who not only strips you of your dignity, self-esteem and confidence but then also humiliates you to the point where you think the vacuum of space would be a great place to remove your EVA helmet…

************************

“Don’t move!” I was on the bridge pointing the flare gun towards the stowaway who had snuck aboard my ship; I’m not a gun person but I had heard stories of the slaves escaping their pods but all I had on my ship was this. The stowaway in question was a male in his mid-thirties; brown hair tousled around his face, he stood around 6ft2 and was dressed in a black flight suit with matching boots. I noticed his face had recent bruises on his jaw line.

Trying to take someone else’s ship perhaps?

“Put it down, I know you can’t shoot because I’ve seen you fly.” That voice was cold and harsh, I knew it from somewhere but I couldn’t pinpoint it just yet, he came nonchalantly towards me and sat himself in the pilot’s chair.

“What do you think you’re doing? Get out of my chair,” he was adjusting the height, “stop making yourself comfortable and leave!” By this time, I was furious, who was this imbecile who not only came aboard my ship but was making himself at home?

“I suggest you put your toy away before you get hurt, I can snap your neck before you even had time to think about pulling the trigger.” He gave me an evil grin and turned to the HUD of my ship to have a look at the galaxy map.

Wait it’s him, the man from the Clipper all those months ago.

He saw the look on my face and as my hands dropped he knew I had figured out he is.

“Took you long enough Martian but hey maybe there’s hope for you yet,” I put the flare gun back in the safe and stood behind him wondering what he was looking at.

“Hermes is my smuggling ship; he’s not designed for a firefight.” He turned to me and gave me a dirty look.
“I don’t plan on using your hunk of junk to shoot anything; we’re going to get my ship.” I was tempted to slap him for the insult but I thought better of it, as he searched through the map he hovered over the location of Gende and moved away quickly. “I’m sorry that I wasn’t there at the time, if I was then things might have ended differently. Speaking of which do you still have that chip?”

“Maybe,” still unsure of whose side he was really on I was cautious to giving away information.

“Is it safe, yes or no?” I heard the frustration in his voice and knew better than to antagonise him, I replied with a nod and sat in the co-pilot’s chair. “The trip is going to take a few hours at least so I suggest you head in the back and get some rest, I’ll call you on the speakers when we’re close.”

*********************

“Lakon Mike India Serria make your way to pad 5.” I was sat curled up on the co-pilot’s chair as we docked in the station, I couldn’t sleep so I ended up sitting on the bridge with him. We both sat in silence during the trip as I was too afraid to ask him any questions and he didn’t seem interested in asking me anything. As we docked and the ground crew came to tend to the ship he finally spoke, only this time his voice was much softer.

“It’s Paul.”

“Pardon?” There was so much silence that it didn’t compute when he spoke to me.

“My name, it’s Paul,” he said again.

“Ummm, hi Paul.”

“I heard what happened with you and your old group, are the rumours true?” He turned the chair to look at my direction.

“Probably - yes.” I replied stiffly and got off my chair to ready myself for disembarkment, as I straightened my clothes I could feel his eyes burning a hole in my back.

“Why say it like it? I thought you were all a family of sorts.”

“Not anymore. I joined up with the Ghost Legion.”

“I’ve head great things about them, more combat orientated and who knows they might be able to teach you a thing or two.”

“Since when are you nice?” I turned to him and as he stood up from his chair he flashed me a big grin.

“It’s possible to be two different people, one in pilot’s chair and one out of it.”

*****************************

The station we had landed on was located on the edge of the bubble towards the Pleiades Nebula, a dingy little port that smelt of decay. The corridors were dimly lit and there were leaking pipes overhead dripping water on the dirty floor, the shop windows were covered in so much grime that you could barely see inside. I could see the apartments in the distance, it felt that we weren’t getting any closer as he kept changing course to ensure that anyone who attempted to follow us would fail.

“This is an anarchy system so stay close to me and don’t speak to anyone.” We were heading to the apartment that he had here, he had stashed away a few things as a precaution should anything happen to Mr Gary. He told me briefly that the chip had something to do with the alien barnacles, probes and artifacts that had been found; I wish he could have explained further but he said it was too dangerous to do so here. As we had arrived at the apartments on board the station I noticed that it seemed even more dank and depraved here than the rest of the station, children were running in the corridors in tattered clothing. It seemed more of a slum than anything else and I pitied those that had to live here.

“It’s just up here,” he pointed to one of the doors and we entered. The apartment was empty except for a wooden box in the middle of the room, the floors were damp with moss and the curtains were drawn providing no light except the one coming from the corridor behind me. As he opened the box I could see a look of delight on his face; he took out a set of keys and some paperwork.

“Here keep hold of this and don’t lose it.” He handed me the paperwork and I held it closely to my chest. “Let’s go get that chip shall we…”

 

[MottiKhan]

Looking forward to reading more. That chip has me wondering.

 

[missmartian]

A picture paints a thousand words

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so try picturing this: me by the airlock with no EVA suit and my hand hovering over the big red button that would plunge the room into the abyss. When you enter the vacuum of space without a suit your blood doesn’t really boil nor do you explode like a firecracker. After 10 seconds my skin and the tissue underneath would start to swell, after 15 seconds I’d lose consciousness, after 2 minutes all my organs would be starved of oxygen and I’d die. If I wanted to be clever I’d hold my breath this would cause my lungs to rupture entirely. A picture paints a thousand words…


****************

“What are you doing?” I turned around and saw a little girl sat on the floor playing with a doll, she looked around 6 or 7 and she was wearing a red dress.

“How did you get in here? You need to leave, I’m about to purge this room.” I pleaded with her as she needed to leave the room.

“I know,” she had looked up to give me a smile and then carried on playing with her doll, “why are you not wearing an EVA suit?”

“It doesn’t matter now can you please leave?” I asked her again, defiantly she gave me sly grin and shook her head. Knowing that this was going to take me a while to get her out I sat down and leant back onto the door to the emptiness behind me. I watched her whilst she played with her doll, after a few minutes she finally stopped and put it aside to look directly into my eyes.

“Why were you going to purge this room?” I was annoyed with her presence and ignored her question, she stood up and came towards me.

“WHY WERE YOU GOING TO PURGE THIS ROOM?!” Everything went black…


*****************************

I opened my eyes, and found myself lying on the floor, I sat up to see the man before me.

“Dad?” The man opposite was defiantly him, the same eyes started back at me, he placed a half-eaten muffin beside him.

“I saved you half, it’s one your mother made, blueberry.”

“What are you doing here?” It didn’t make sense for him to be here, I hadn’t seen him in years yet I was looking straight at him.

“You tell me, I’m your subconscious; so are you going to tell me why you’re sat by an airlock?”

“If you’re my subconscious then you tell me,” I snapped back.

“Don’t talk back to me young lady or I’ll tell your mother,” he retorted back at me.

“Where is she?” I looked around the room wondering where she was.

“She’s at home, your home. You can come back, you still have your room there, we haven’t touched it since you left. Your bear is still sat on the headboard and your school pictures still hang on the fridge, you can come home no matter what.” His eyes filled with sadness, I still remember the clay mug with holes that I made for my mum at school, despite leaking she always used it.

“I know,” I replied solemnly.

“Then why didn’t you come home after things ended with the imperial guy?”

“I was ashamed.”

“You have no reason to but please tell me why you’re sat here?”

“I left a group, that’s it.”

“And the other stuff?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Explain something, you wanted to throw yourself out of an airlock because of the actions of one person actions, why did he do what he did?”

“I was worried that he was going to relay information back and I told him that, he did what he did out of spite just seconds later after I told him of my concern.”

“And don’t you think that says more about him than you? That not only can he not be trusted but he overreacts, verbally abuses you for hours on end because of something silly. He said mean things about you behind your back because he knew that you couldn’t defend yourself, he’s the type of person that doesn’t have anything better to do.” I started to cry, the feeling of humiliation that I had endured washed over me, my father came over and sat next to me, he gave me a big hug and whispered softly. “Come home, stop playing a game that is full of nasty people, I love you and I want my little girl back. The one who used to start up my motorcycle and warm her up by driving her around the front garden, the little girl who used to make daisy chains and made me wear them. We want you back.”

“Daddy I’m lost and I don’t know what to do anymore, I thought I had found something out here in the black but it turned out to be faux.”

“Go to sleep princess.” I closed my wet and teary eyes and laid onto the floor.

****************

When I woke up I noticed that I felt rather comfortable, as I rolled over I felt silk sheets under me, I scrambled for my glasses and found them nearby on the bed. I sat up and took in my surroundings, I was in a magnificent bedroom, wood paneled walls and a chandelier hanging from above. Beautiful paintings hung on the walls and I noticed Coragon sat on the edge of the bed holding a bottle of water, he handed it to me and gladly I took it. I was parched and drunk it in one go, finally I spoke.

“Where am I?”

“Aboard my corvette.”

“I’m not really here am I?”

“Nope.”

“This isn’t what your ship really looks like is it?”

“Of course not, can you really see me with a chandelier?”

“Okay, good point.”

“I know you’ve had a bad week,” I was ready to interrupt him but the look on his face indicated that he wasn’t finished. “Don’t lie to me, I can see into your head, I can feel your pain both physical and mental. I know what happened on the weekend.” I looked at him dead on and shook my head. “You saw that man slip something into your drink yet you accepted it anyway, you’re masking your emotional pain with physical pain and it doesn’t work.” I got off the bed infuriated with his accusations, I headed towards to the door to find that it didn’t open.

“Let me out of this nightmare, I want to go home.”

“Home where? Which one? The one with your parents, the Teamsters, Ghost Legion? Which is your home?”

“Just leave me alone”, I banged on the door as hard as I could out of frustration and slid down to curl up.

“Getting into dangerous places and hurting yourself has become your new hobby so I ask you, do you want to die?”

“I don’t know,” he was blunt with his question but I really didn’t know the answer. I just wanted something to numb me, anything will do, I closed my eyes wishing to be somewhere else.

****************************

As I opened my eyes I found myself in the shower of the Aries, I was sat on the floor letting the heat permeate throughout me, I felt myself feeling safe and most defiantly warm.

“Hurry up in there!” I heard a familiar voice call out to me.

Paul? What is he doing here, wait never mind I’m hallucinating again.
I hopped out of the shower and wrapped myself in a towel, Paul came in shortly after dressed in my hello kitty dressing gown.

“Why don’t you don’t you have a bath in here?” He said as he started admiring himself in my mirror.

“I’m scared of drowning.”

“That’s a shame, it’s essentially a swimming pool, 6ft deep.” He started flexing his muscles and striking poses, I gave him a funny look and shook my head. “You might want to wake up then,” my head started spinning, water started pouring out of my mouth, I grabbed his arm but he just looked at me blankly.


****************************

Darkness surrounded me, I could hear shouting in the distance but I couldn’t make it out, my lungs felt like they were on fire. I could see a faint light in the distance, I couldn’t move.

Am I still in the bar with that guy?

The shouting started getting louder and light brighter, I could feel something on my chest hitting me hard. The shouting and light both increased till I could finally make out a voice.

“Damn you Martian, get up, get up now!” I could feel the cold wet tiles beneath me and a hard slap across my face. I opened my eyes and started spluttering and coughing, I took giant gasps of air but they seared my lungs. I saw Paul staring at me from above, he grabbed me and held me close, his warmth felt nice on my cold wet skin. “You scared the hell out of me, I found you in the bath, you can’t swim why were you even in there?” I started shivering so he grabbed a towel from the side and wrapped me in it, he held me tightly in his arms trying to warm me up. “We’ll get you changed and then we’ll carry on to the station.”

 

[missmartian]

The Chip Pt 3

After my drowning incident Paul wouldn’t let me out of his sight, sweet of him to keep me safe but incredibly annoying when I’m trying to shower and he’s sat nearby singing loudly. I must be giving him nightmares as he’d been super cranky as of late…

****************

I was sat in the co-pilots chair watching the sensors like a hawk, I wasn’t sure if anyone from my old team was here but I wasn’t taking any chances, I was already on one person’s KOS list. Normally I wouldn’t care, I’d let him blow me up if he wanted but I’m here on business and with Paul aboard his Clipper. We dropped out of supercruise just outside the station ‘Naddoddur Terminal’ was written in gleaming white letter either side of the slot. It had been quite some time since I was last here, I had fond memories of the time I spent here; it was my first home after Gende. I smiled to myself thinking of my first day here, Marrik met me half way to provide me some company on the long journey and that very evening I saw my first Cutter. I was in my red FDL, Dan in his white Python, Nelson in his green Python and Polly’s Cutter, jet black and barely visible to the naked eye.

We docked into the station and disembarked, the station used to be incredibly busy, the miners used to unload thousands upon thousands of Painite, Palladium and Platinum. The bounty hunters used to drop of millions of bounty vouchers collected from the nearby rings; Elysium Corps - a force not to be reckoned with to say the least. The station was desolate, the hubbub gone and replaced with small groups of people travelling from shop to shop quickly as they can. Now a refuge to weary travelers but none stay long, I hope one day she will be born again because she deserves it. I had posted the chip to my old apartment that I had here, I put the apartment on rent and the tenants were a lovely elderly couple who sent out care packages to me every few weeks. The apartment was a cute two-bedroom place and well furnished, it sat high up in the area where Elysium Corp members lived now these high up floors were a shadow of its former self. The corridors were lined with Painite and we had our own security force now however the walls were stripped and the guard post long abandoned.

I knocked on the door hoping someone would be in, Mrs Price answered, a petite woman in her mid-60’s, with a squeal she gave me a huge hug and led me to the living room.

“Martian it is so wonderful to see you again, I sent you another package did it arrive in one piece?”

“Mrs Price it is great to see you again but my address changed but I’m sure the food didn’t go uneaten.” I was sure that Dan had smelt the cookies in the post office and hunted them down; I chuckled to myself imagining a dusty Dan wreaking havoc in the back of the office and covering everything in dust as he tracked them down. I wouldn’t blame him; the cookies never lasted long in my keep either. I’d eat too many and get sore tummy and swear to myself that it'd be the last time. Mrs Price popped into the kitchen and returned with my parcel in her hands.

“I presume you’re here for this?” I took it from eagerly and handed it to Paul.

Mrs Price updated me with was happening here in Yembo. As the system was now exploited crime had gone up and no one felt safe, Mr Price had to provide protection money for the local gangsters to ensure their safety. The news troubled me greatly, this isn’t what I had envisioned for an elderly couple who should be enjoying retirement.

“Mrs Price I have some bad news,” she looked at me worried at what it could be, “I’m selling the property but 50 million credits will appear in your account within the hour.” She looked at me with both shock and awe. “I want both you and Mr Price to go the Teamsters and live with them; I’ll send you the co-ordinates shortly after I leave. When you get there ask for Dan, he’ll take good care of you both provided you cook him your delicious creations, I’ll take my leave and I hope to see you again one day.” I stood up and she lunged towards me to give me another hug, she was speechless and her eyes filled with tears.

*************************

As we walked back to the ship with parcel in hand I noticed Paul staring at me and smiling.

“That was really nice of you.”

“It’s the least they deserve, they’ve worked incredibly hard all their lives and it’s my way of saying thanks.”

“Are you sure they’ll accept them?”

“Dan loves food and no one can cook like she does, if she feeds him regularly then there is no way in hell will he let them leave.”

“Shame you’re a crappy cook then.”

“Mind your language, anyway let’s get to the ship and we’ll talk properly.”

We sat opposite each other in the dining room of the Clipper, the chip sat on the table in between us.

“I don’t know exactly what it is,” he began, “Mr Gary knew but I wasn’t privy to that information. I don’t know exactly what it is except it’s something to do with the alien artefacts that we have found in the past year.” I looked at him to speak but he cut me off. “No it’s nothing to do with the Thargoids of old, well no one really knows. For all I know it could be something incredibly important or just a piece of tat. What I’m sure on is that a lot of people will kill, steal and lie for this. My last orders where to take it to my contact when he surfaces but I don’t know how long that will take.” He watched me carefully as I reached over to hold it, I ran it through my fingers allowing my fingertips to remember each symbol...