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A Rescue


Vitaes

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     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.



 

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