Vitaes Posted March 13, 2013 Report Share Posted March 13, 2013 Vitaes viewed the scanner with a rather anticipatory look. He often felt that way when cruising through dangerous sectors, searching for chunks of debris that may indicate a forlorn hulk just waiting to be salvaged. Yesterday’s haul included a Coma device in fairly good condition. He knew a few builders at F7 or OMP who could do a smash-up job repairing it to full functional capability. He also made a mental note to himself to look up Lannister and trade him a few more ores for components needed for future build needs. But he didn’t let himself stay off task for long. Cooper was no place to be lost in thought, as there were many critters out there that could turn the thin hull of a Jenquai Explorer’s ship into its own hulk. Vitaes’s ship, the Rocinante, was quick, sleek, maneuverable, and capable of surviving almost anywhere. Not the strongest in combat, the combination of two Getco Lions and one Mastiff, combined with his custom Sundari plasma inverter that allowed him to leech the shield of opponents, gave him enough punch to tackle anything his level in a one to one confrontation. His energy inverter, also manufactured by Sundari, allowed his to teleport opponents across space a short distance, a valuable skill for controlling multiple opponents in combat. Of course, nothing like that on even terms exists in Cooper—and he never let himself forget that. At least he was on good terms with the Red Dragons, so that was one worry that, well, wasn’t a worry. His search was suddenly interrupted with the crackle of a distress call. Quickly using his navigation computer to pinpoint the location of the source, he entered the coordinates into his computer and turned to investigate “Ugh,” he groaned. “Near the Tada-O gate,” he said softly to himself. Warping to the point where the signal emitted from, he saw various large, biological life forms appear on his integrated sensor array. Dropping out of warp as he approached the point, Vitaes cloaked his ship, engaged impulse power, and slowly approached the stricken vessel. “Hmm, a lone trader, wonder what he is doing out here alone,” Vitaes said to himself. He quickly looked over the trader, sparks and flame coming from its frame and exposed afterdeck. The powerful Nova reactor was shut down, unable to start up the powerful Eagle engines this trader had installed on his ship. The missile launchers were cracked and twisted, no longer able to spout the long distance death that has kept many a trader alive. No name was visible on the ship’s damaged hull. A crackle came over the radio. “Rocinante, can you assist? TV 4454 Alcanara requests immediate assistance or evacuation.” By now, Vitaes had pulled alongside the Alcanara. The voice was excited, on the edge of panic. Vitaes didn’t need his sensor arrays to tell him the danger. Cloaked, he passed two huge Ten-gu, with a third closing up from the underneath z-axis of the two ship’s position. Soon, the stricken ship would be digested, its unfortunate pilot just being one small source of nourishment for the huge creatures. “Stand by,” replied Vitaes. “Are you able to target a nav point” “Aye, it’s about the only thing I can do,”came the reply. My reactor is offline, but it you can get it started, I can engage warp, as my engines are still functional.” Vitaes studied his options. He knew he stood no chance in a straight up fight. His only chance would be to separate the huge creatures from the ship, then somehow jumpstart the ship before the Ten-gu returned for dinner. Whether his shield could hold up against a sustained assault once decloaked, of course, was another matter entirely. His ship’s new shield, a Veiled Oyoroi, was not yet battle-tested. That would soon change. “Lock and be ready for warp,” broadcasted Vitaes. “All hell will break loose in a few seconds.” Vitaes eased his ship in front of the Alcanara. He locked his teleporter on the nearest Ten-gu, then decloaked and engaged. The Ten-gu was instantly transported 6K away from the vessels. As Vitaes locked on the second Ten-gu, a tremendous blast hit the ship. Vitaes engaged, and a second Ten-gu was thrown 6K away. Taking more shield damage, Vitaes locked onto the last Ten-gu and engaged. Thrown 6K like the others, it managed a last blast of energy, sending shield sensor warnings off all over the Rocinante. He then locked and engaged his jumpstart equipment and linked directly to the stricken ship’s reactor. It suddenly flared to life. Seconds seemed like hours. Instinctively, Vitaes unlocked the safety locks on his ship’s weapons, despite the fact that in this situation they would be useless. The Ten-gu were coming back fast. “Hurry up!” He thought to himself, waiting for the newly revived ship next to his to engage warp. Suddenly the lights on the Alcanara flared to life, just as a blast from a Ten-gu rocked the ship again. Quickly, Vitaes reengaged his teleportation beam and folded the Ten-gu out of range again. The other two were rapidly closing the gap again. The targeting computer calculated the time/distance variables, and once again folded away the nearest Ten-gu. Out of the corner of his eye, Vitaes saw the Alcanara warp away to safety, then, once the ship was safely away, simply cloaked his own ship. The Ten-gu closed in, but seemed confused at the sudden disappearance of their prey. Calmly, under impulse power, the Rocinante slipped away to safety. About a week later the station manager at Jove’s Fury walked up to Vitaes. “Hey Vit,” he said, “a pilot dropped off a package for you.” “Do you know who he is?” ask Vitaes? “No,” came the reply, “but he’s the captain of a ship named the Alcanara.” Vitaes opened the package. In it was a note wrapped around a bottle. “One day we’ll go fishing together under better conditions. My wife and child thank you. Please enjoy the contents of these very old bottles.” –Capt. Roger Macallan. Looking at the bottles, they contained a single malt scotch from the Macallan distillery, an old maker from the Speyside region of ancient Scotland. “Well,” he thought to himself, “perhaps Zinman, Damuras, Muurdaa, Holmes, and Lee will join me in the lounge.” After all, it’s always better to share a drink with those who have shared your dangers—even if that danger was just a routine rescue mission in the middle of space. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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