Thieves and Treaties

[Pakkrat [N7LA]]

Thieves and Treaties

Pakkratius sat in the cockpit of his Sentinel ship "Culler", his eyes on the target acquisition display. His left hand was on the sensor interface. It was his right hand that clenched the helm that itched just now. The index finger ached to squeeze the trigger and let fly plasma ammunition from all four of his vessel's weapons. As he watched the target with anger and disbelief, his mind re-wound the day's events.
At license 132, the Pakkratius was nearing the deadline for completion of Agrippa Technologies' Stage III entry examination. After completion of the secretive Collegia corporation's grunt work tasks and mind-numbing maze running, the Sabine Sentinel was ready to be done with the entire line of Agrippa Tech's madness. He had sweated out both Stage I and Stage II. At the persistent urging from a Terran Trader with an addiction to Pez candies, Pakkratius had even given out both of his Invitations. If that money-grubbing, yet trusted, Terran only knew what he was getting into, he'd space the invites. Pakkratius had even gone so far as to give all who actively sought out entrance testing for Agrippa Technologies the moniker "Agrippa masochists".
Pakkratius himself merely needed one or two more licenses, "dings" as they were called, to qualify for the examinations. Thus he had decided to go mining asteroids. It was a relatively safe and peaceful job, almost a past-time. He had already gathered many of the ores and biological bits that a Magister Magnate had listed to clue Pakkratius ahead of time for learning to Call Forward. The Call Forward was the Sabine Order's main claim to fame in the Republic's eyes. Soon it would be Pakkratius's turn to take those examinations as well. Even his social buddies were pressuring the Sentinel to hurry up and become their "Doctor". It had been a desire of his own as well, so he believed.
Between Agrippa and the Call Forward examinations was his Magister Magnate promotion and the costly hull upgrade to his vessel "Culler". Clearly the ship had seen better days. Through hardships, battles, long hours of mediocre travel speeds, the Culler had seen most of the galaxy, minus a few sectors of space. Pakkratius had been just about everywhere in that bulky, sailed, science vessel. Now she was due for an upgrade to further expand her device modules and thus open up more capabilities the Sabine Order would need soon. Pakkratius wanted the monetary credits to be on-hand when he pulled up to Tiberius Shipyards in Primus, Vega.
That is why he had decided, against peer advice, to go mining. Earlier today he had taken three job tasks from the station terminal. The jobs sponsors were immaterial by this time in his career. Friendship 7 station in Glenn, Beta Hydri was a centrally located base he'd found to approach that license 135 and be done with all those projects. Afterwords, the Sabine could almost retire as he studied Gate War anomalies, black hole interactions in pirate space, and the so-called "space fish" near the Tada-O corporate gate in Cooper, Beta Hydri. It could have been different.
But Pakkratius was extolled by Andronicus Kerr for his ambition. The Sabine Sentinel had wanted to pick up certain milestones in his career. Early on, he had been accepted into the NET-7 SOL's Newsteam and was now a roving correspondent for the newscorp and developing, sovereign, galactic entity. The decision to enter the Collegia's challenge of Agrippa Technologies came over too many shots of Yum-O-Beer at a Collegia party at Arx Emporos. Finally, the notion of being addressed as Doctor Pakkratius, Magister Magna Sabine Order Sentinel, had its own appeal. Thus, the young Progen had slowed his progress far below the usual gun-toting Progen Centuriata Warrior or the newly-funded Collegia Privateers.
Thus, today Pakkratius sat in his cockpit, on the cusp of three milestones, watching his targeting display read the Information Friend or Foe, the "IFF". In his sights was a Jenquai vessel. Sensors just then spat out that its hull and wing configuration confirmed the Jenquai as one of those religious devotees of the Sha'ha'dem. Pakkratius' weapons were trained on a Jenquai Explorer.
It wasn't enough that the usually tolerated Jenquai was in proximity to Pakkratius. He was a beneficiary twice to their "taxi" services utilizing their mastery of mapped galactic wormholes on two occasions. It was enough that this particular Jenquai Explorer was in his asteroid field.
Pakkratius had not been there long, calmly mining asteroids at a gentle and relaxing pace. The Sentinel had been perusing his resume, skill set, and his current credit account. Then that "Jenny" had uncloaked and pulled up in the same asteroid field ring. Pakkratius watched with surprise as the Explorer ship slowed to a stop before one of his job's holographic-marked asteroids and its mining beam activated. The Jenny was mining his 'roids!
He sat up fast, forgetting all else and put his hands to his ships controls. Bringing his weapons online and checking his ammunition stores, the Sentinel saw he had more than enough plasma rounds to decimate this thieving Jenny. The sensor rating listed the target as a Grandmaster, a worthy challenge to a Magister Sabine Sentinel. And still the Explorer continued to flit from one marked asteroid to the next like an ancient Earth humming bird and demolish his job's asteroids.
Pakkratius swung his vessel around and maneuvered into the path of the Explorer's hunger. To add significance to his presence, he continued his own mining beam to the nearest hydrocarbon deposit. It demolished immediately with the tractor beam hauling in the captured ore. The unfazed Explorer kept its pace by jumping to the far side of the asteroid field and ate another hydrocarbon deposit. Pakkratius had had enough.
He thumbed the safety of his weapons off, confirming active status. Power moved in different routes in the Culler. Projectile weapons lit up with charge, ready to unleash deadly plasma rounds. The target may be a 'Grandmaster' but it would be a delicious challenge for a Magister of Pakkratius' caliber to crush and loot the derelict afterwards. His target acquisition ringed, his weapons locking onto the Explorer vessel. He would not miss and he was assuredly going for the kill. All he had to do now was to squeeze that trigger. The critical hits would destroy the Jenny in seconds, especially if caught off-guard. Did that Jenny not know that he was committing a miners' faux pas?
Rage built up in Pakkratius as he read again the signifier 'Grandmaster'. He had to be aware that miners did not, by professional courtesy, mine each other's marked fields. Only newbie miners made this kind of insult. All other fields that were not marked by the blue, swirly holographic marks, put upon by the job sponsor, were fair game. First come, first served. Pakkratius's had double-checked the validity of this field of asteroids to be cleared. All of the advanced difficulty asteroids had featured the holographic markings, awaiting clearance. A Grandmaster had to know better!
With his palm sweating with the urge to squeeze the weapon trigger, Pakkratius suddenly remembered the SolSec Treaty. The three races, Jenquai, Progen, and Terrans had entered an armistice and later a peace treaty to end the last Gate War. Was a single asteroid field, a shattered politic, and a bruised and impatient ego worth firing upon a weak Jenny? It would only suffer a few hits before fanning his tail wings at the Sentinel before warping off or using his wormhole ability to teleport from harm. Pakkratius' scanners would still detect a cloaked Jenquai, so advanced were they. If the religious nut had faith in his cloakings, he was doomed. Then the incident would be reported, escalated, and diplomats would be burning the midnight oil to return all factions and races to a peaceful treaty state. In the meantime, Pakkratius would most likely be visited by a Reclaimer for lack of patience and foresight. Would a Sabine Sentinel scientist, not a warrior, fire the first shot to end peace and bring horrors of war, death and worse back to the galaxy?
In his quandary, Pakkratius watched as the Jenquai Explorer finished mining all but three of the remaining hydrocarbon deposits and the 'roids he had emptied to warp off and towards the ancient sector gate to Capella, to Jenquai space. His hand was still on the controls as the Explorer became a warping and glittering dot in the distance. With a sighing exhale, the Sentinel went to finish of the field with only fraction of the satisfaction he could have if he had fired upon that religious freak Sha'ha'dem. Then he left Swooping Eagle, Sirius in favor of the bar in Friendship 7. There he could drown his fury in a bottle of imported Pro-Vod vodka.


*Respect another miner's clearance job field.*

Pakkrat