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Second Chances - An Earth & Beyond Emulator Novel, Ch.IV


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Second Chances - An Earth & Beyond Emulator Novel, Ch. IV
by Pakkrat

IV. Pushing one's engines to streak again through the galaxy's politically neutral solar systems and their sectors over a dead girl seemed notoriously boyish now that Pakkrateus thought about it. Nevertheless, it was that small and short smile her deathwatch log entry gave him before it winked out. It made up for the scowl she had given him in the bar at Fenris Observatory. It more than made up. It was a smile that was worth being framed for murder and transporting the most dangerous gene-map in the galaxy.

The Privateer and the Defender had back-tracked through Sirius, Beta Hydri, up through neutral Saturn sector of Sol, and returned to Aragoth system. It was quite a journey as the pair detoured from Odin's Belt in Aragoth and into one of the most curious sectors in Progen space. With its gravity wells, the collapsed and irradiated Appian Gate, and the tragic wreck of the ECS Sierpe, Lagarto sector was still a hotbed of activity on the edge of Progen territory. Gallina solar system was widely used by all races at the pleasure of Sabine Order leader Vinda, but not without its own security checkpoints.

"How will you bypass the Centuriata, Progen?" asked Reacher. He was familiar with just about every Jenquai, Terran, and neutral system, but the Progen systems were too unwelcome to the Defender. Thus he yielded to ask the Privateer.

"Would that we had taken a wormhole directly to Endriago sector," complained Pakkrateus. The journey felt like it had taken too long. He feared that the girl's gene-map might already sinking in lava on the planet's surface.

"No, Progen," answered Reacher. "The Sha'ha'dem have lines of communication other than technology. They will without a doubt be watching the known Wefts for anyone matching your description. They will fall upon you swiftly and cripple your ship's shields and slowly tear it apart."

"The Centuriata," added Pakkrateus, "will not let anyone through these sectors without a search thanks to Vinda's recent security measures concerning Endriago sector."

The two vessels rounded a nav from the Aragoth star gate as Pakkrateus considered each route and found them too risky. He was about to give up and think of something outlandishly stupid, when the moons of Lagarto planet came into view. He was touched by a memory then and snapped his fingers.

"Eureka, Jenquai!" exclaimed the Privateer.

"There is no Eureka sector, Progen," puzzled Reacher.

"No no," answered Pakkrateus. "There. See that moon? Risco Moon of Lagarto was a site of a failed colony. The dead moon of Risco is our ticket to Endriago planet, bypassing the patrols of the sector.

"I do not understand, Progen, but I sense your confidence."

"Trust me, this going to be exotic."

In his career as a Collegia Privateer, Pakkrateus had found many a strange route in running goods for the Forgemasters of the Republic. Sometimes his cargo was sensitive, or worse hazardous and needed clandestine delivery. As the pair of vessels dove down to Risco Moon's entry orbit, Pakkrateus had a plan in mind. Perhaps it was in the genes, the aging mused.

Risco Moon was a dead moon of deep canyons and deeper impact craters. It had once been the chosen site for a colony that had failed around the same time of the mysterious assault on the ECS Sierpe. Ruined towers and abandoned structures were all that was left of anything man-made there. Only a couple of space fauna species could be found in the vacuum of the Lagarto satellite and they were no threat.

The duo had descended to the canyons in hopes of avoiding being seen by the nearby observatory half a sector away. The canyon walls were solid and blocked all transmissions. All seemed quiet until the proximity alarms detected a small formation of ships turning to spot them.

"Sentinel ships," called Reacher. "I count six and their scanners have spotted your bulky trader, Progen."

"They must have been told to look out for us," said Pakkrateus. "I'll handle them. You get us to the coordinates I had plotted on Risco."

The two ships changed places in the formation with Reacher's Defender guiding them. The Sentinels gave chase as their signals called for them to heave-to and be searched. At the hard burn of the Defender and the answering Privateer, the red, sailed Sabine vessels pursued.

The formation shot through and weaved around canyon walls. Risco Moon may have been solid but it was also treacherous. At full impulse burn, the engines' wakes threatened to call down rockslides and natural formation collapses. Rocketing though gulches, crevices, and defiles the formation and their followers traversed over deep craters.

Freed from navigating, Pakkrateus spun his chair around to target the chasers. He armed his weapons and kicked off their safeties again. The Defender, locked in formation synchronization looked less the center and lead and more of a satellite or side car of the Maze Runner.

As they rounded a bend in the canyon, their speed was threatened with the far rocky gray wall. "Your ship turns like a pregnant Nagifar, Progen!" said Reacher through his teeth as the ships leaned into the turn.

"Shut up and drive," said Pakkrateus as he let fly an entire volley of his ship's missiles. He did not have a line of sight on the Sentinels yet to appear from the bend, yet he knew where they would be. The missiles took a track for the Sentinels, guided by the Privateer's targeting skills.

"Why have they not put up their Repulsor Fields?" asked Reacher.

"Because they know Jenquai can't fire behind them," answered Pakkrateus, "and feel the same is true about most Progen with projectiles. I however am not most Progen!"

Just as the Sentinels rounded the bend, they were instantly caught by the missiles that had flown to meet them. With no time to dodge the illegal Blacksun Ogun plasma-charged missiles and the very-criminal "Fist" torpedo, the Sabine ships caught the missiles on the nose. Explosions erupted and highly-charged plasma sprayed everywhere across cockpits and forward guns. The concussions loosened huge towers of rock from the canyon sides.

One Sentinel panicked and pulled up only to be slammed back down by the falling gray stone. Another red-sailed vessel was blinded by the splattered plasma eating into the cockpit and veered widly catching a third vessel and tangling sail plates locking both in plummeting death roll. Their crash into a crater lit up the darkened landscape seconds later. The fourth had strayed behind a way and fired its four projectile launchers towards the Privateer. The fifth had to dodge the first by climbing back from a dive under the falling first.

By the time the first volley of missiles had done their havoc upon the Sentinels, Pakkrateus' second volley was already underway and half way down-range. The second volley caught the fifth, dodging Sentinel trying to power up its Repulsor Field as its weapons worked upon the weaving Privateer's shields. At last the sixth and final Sentinel rounded the bend and caught the "Fist" Torpedo as it too tried to power up its Repulsor Field. In two volleys, six Sentinels were sorely pressed by one Privateer being guided by a shadowed Defender.

With one ship flattened by falling rock, two incapacitated at the bottom of a crater, and the last three dodging wildly, (something Sentinels do not do very well), the pursuit was cut off in favor of rushing to render aid to the casualties. The Sabine Order were not warriors and knew when to cut their losses. They left the pair alone to continue down ravines and dodge angular rock outcroppings. Through precision piloting, and innovative weapon choice the two, Pakkrateus and Reacher shook off their pursuit.

Swinging his cockpit chair back around to face front, Pakkrateus saw his goal. It was the swirling natural wormhole of Ricso Moon. Rather than the greenspace, artificial and temporal wormholes created by the Sha'ha'dem to instantly traverse the galaxy, this one was black with violet to ultraviolet whorls. It sat in the middle of the final canyon, bending the space-time continuum.

"Where does it lead, Progen?" asked Reacher who had never before beheld such a phenomenon not man-made.

Pakkrateus explained as the formation flew to the wormhole. It had been discovered by the Sabine Explorers just before their abandonment by those who left the Order to become the Collegia, the Forgemasters. They took with them the knowledge of many Sabine secrets. This was one of them. The wormhole was still being studied and analyzed to this day. It reached through Gallina system and opened on the surface of Endriago planet's fiery lava canyons. It was an enigma and Specialists of the Order continued to observe the phenomenon. The Collegia went on with their business, but a few like Pakkrateus still made use of its 'tunnel' like a back door into Endriago, eschewing the gates and Brendan's Weft in Endriago sector.

"With this back door we can bypass all the checkpoints and avoid tangling with the Centuriata," explained Pakkrateus.

Reacher had listened and stared at the wormhole's beauty with wonder. The universe never failed to show the old warrior something new.

As the two approached the wormhole, Reacher noted that unlike the artificial Sha'ha'dem wormholes, this one stayed open perpetually. Normally, a pilot would request a wormhole service to one of several Wefts discovered over the galaxy. The Sha'ha'dem, either altruistically or for a fee, would then activate their systems and psionically reach out to the destination Weft. There would be a cloudy, fade to green that came over the vessel and then when it cleared, the pilot would find themselves at the destination across the galaxy. It was the Jenquai Explorer's claim to fame and won them much acclaim across all humanity.

Reacher had a different experience as he felt Pakkrat's confidence via his own psionic empathic senses. The Privateer had used this 'natural' wormhole before. Smiling, the Shinwa noted that he was about to be the student for once. There was always time to experience some new wonder of the universe, he thought in enrapt reflection.

The violet-and-black swirl of the Risco Moon wormhole to Endriago planet welcomed the two tiny ships into its maw. Space bent and twisted and there was a small feeling of gravitational pull. Then, rather than some instantaneous green flash as was expected, the wormhole tunnelled through space and time at speeds onboard computers could not register other than 'infinity'. The two flew down a warping tunnel of violet and black, Risco Moon swiftly distant then gone entirely. The effect lasted only a minute as ahead a red-orange glow began to evidence. The pair of vessels emerged from the natural wormhole at the same speed they had entered, restoring Conservation of Momentum to normal space and Newtonian physics.

The Privateer and Defender were in the skies above the fiery planet of Endriago. Lakes and rivers of molten magma separated mountain ranges of volcanic rock. It was a planet that was still forming in its early infancy. Gaseous fumes clouded the skies as the landscape was punctuated with lava spouts ejecting pyroclastic stones into the air.

Pakkrateus fed the embedded message coordinates into his navigation console as Reacher broke formation, initiated his cloaking and stayed behind to watch for Sabine Sentinels they had left stranded on Risco Moon. The Privateer did not have far to travel across the planet's surface before encountering the Ancient ruins also discovered by the Sabine Explorers. It sat upon a permanent volcanic mountain and was lit and accented by a lava river. A parked black Sentinel ship with folded sails, floating adjacent to the ruins awaited Pakkrateus' arrival. Scanners revealed a single human on the grounds of the ruins.

The Privateer set down opposite the Ancient ruins. The Collegiate exited his ship to stand on the hot grounds. The air was hot and very oppressive. The man, a Progen and a Sabine by his dress stood calmly and welcoming in demeanor.

"Ah, Privateer, you came and I thank you," said the Reclaimer as Pakkrateus appraoched. He was armed with a slug-thrower pistol but it was kept holstered and seemingly forgotten.

"The girl's gene-map," said Pakkrateus who had just about enough of Sabine today. "Let's see it."

"Ah, well I thought to sweeten the deal for your timely arrival, Collegiate," said the Reclaimer. "She's already answered the Call Forward and is alive and healthy. We had to accept a few minor changes unfortunately as the facilities were quite beyond our normal parameters....."

"Where is she?" demanded Pakkrateus. She was alive! He tried not to show his enthusiasm before this Sabine Order. For all the Procurator knew, this was Siobhan's murderer.

"Ever to-the-point. By hook or by crook, eh?" asked the Reclaimer.

Pakkrateus produced the gene-map cryo-cartridge of Dahaka Khan in his hand and showed it to the Sabine before him. Its green diode light still blinked healthily. This brought a smile to the nameless man before him.

"She's just in the next canyon at Vinda's secret Sabura Compound. She will be waiting for you. My men will not interfere your retrieval of her."

Pakkrateus's vambrace spoke quietly to him. It was Reacher listening in again. "He is not lying, Progen. His voice speaks the truth." Was Reacher that proficient at Jenquai psionics even over a com-link?

"Who is that?" asked the Reclaimer. "You were to come alone, Privateer."

"Just as you sic-ed your Sabine Sentinels on us at Risco?"

"Ah, that was a misunderstanding of orders," back-tracked the man. "The gene-map please."

Pakkrateus' set down the cryo-cartridge and backed away. Retreating to his ship was in order now so he could board quickly.

The Reclaimer seemed unhappy that he was forced to advance and lift the gene-map but was satisfied once it was in his hands. By then, Pakkrateus was already boarding the Maze Runner. His vessel lifted from the Ancient ruins as the Reclaimer made for his own Sentinel vessel, the Apotheosis.

Pakkrateus' in under a minute was descending into the next canyon. Coming into view was the grounds of a scientific compound decorated with minimal Sabine symbols. A computer voice, recorded message played on his communications console.

"Attention pilot, you are entering Sabine Order controlled aerospace. Please divert now."

Pakkrateus ignored the warning and descended further into a docking maneuver before the compound. There, on the docking berth, stood a woman. Her ponytail was blown by the hot winds of Endriago planet. He landed and exited the Maze Runner.

She was dressed differently now as Pakkrateus approached the woman. A black mesh of tiny hexagon plates made up her jumper suit. Over this was a light warrior's armor though not in the style of the Centuriata. She was unarmed and stared at the Privateer as he approached. It was Siobhan, and yet it was not the Siobhan Pakkrateus remembered from the bar.

The courier's complexion was tanned as if she had lived a lifetime under a glaring sun tanning her skin a light brown. Her hair was lighter than he remembered, being a mix of dirty blonde and light brown. Pakkrateus had the impression that coloration had been balanced somehow between her hair and her skin. Her frame, face was the same. She even had a female warrior's stance and gait as she began walking toward him.

* * *

Siobhan had been dressed and armored under guard by Rex' Reclaimer subordinates in this new style of Sabura dress. She hated that she was not in her remembered Centuriata armor, but there was no alternative here a the compound. Yet, there seemed to be a comforting upgrade feel to the hex-mesh jumper and the armor. She could not place it, but it felt right on her even if she had never worn it before this iteration.

The heated wind whipped at her ponytail, helical hair as she saw the ship land. It was a bulky, armored, and flat black vessel that had sections for cargo between its huge engines. At least the wings gave away its Progen affiliation. Only a lewd painting of a female anthropomorphic rat-girl in a provocative pose decorated the hull. Men.

The man was a Collegia Privateer, though she could not remember meeting him. Perhaps it was the Iteration Haze still affecting her. Though he stood straight, muscular and youthful, his face and hair betrayed an aged quality conflicting with his gait. He seemed to know her in some way as his facial expression seemed to be giving off a sense of familiarity.

"Siobhan?" asked the Privateer.

She straightened and grew formal out of self-respect. Siobhan did not know this man who knew her name. "I am, and you are?" she asked.

"You don't remember me from the bar?" he asked. Of course. He was Collegia and was unaware of the Iteration Haze. "Name's Pakkrateus. Can we depart? There's an agenda and we're about out of time."

Rather than staying on the surface of Endriago planet, Siobhan reluctantly agreed to go with this stranger who knew her. As they walked to his ship, she saw the name on the hull. "Maze Runner". How fitting, given the traders of the Progen Republic. She missed her own ship, the Kitten.

"At least it's a Progen ship though it looks like a scrap heap," she said more to herself than to the pilot.

"She's not much on the outside but she can take a beating and give one out too," answered the Pakkrateus. She decided to call him that as if he were unique and singular, using "the Pakkrateus".

The two were soon seated in the cockpit bridge of the Privateer. Yes, it looked to Siobhan like a man flew this space jalopy. The ship's interior even smelled boyish. She sat down and looked out the forward view in silence as the Pakkrateus boosted the vessel up from the fiery surface. The ship was slow and not as maneuverable as the Centuriata Warrior. Siobhan was unimpressed with the ship and the pilot.

Much like other pilots in the Centuriata, a Progen's ship was an extension of the pilot. It spoke its and the pilot's personality, system choices, weaponry, and lifestyle. This Privateer was nigh a slob in comparison to the sterile Sabine and not very patriotic as the proud Centuriata. Seeing the rather illegal missile launchers, likely gutted from pirates, (the Pakkrateus was a Privateer after all), she began to piece his ship's logic together. The Maze Runner was a missile boat similar to the Terran merchant trader vessels. She wondered if he drove like Terrans.

"I have her," said the Pakkrateus as he spoke into his communication console. "Were on our way back to you."

A Jenquai-accented and male voice answered the Privateer, "You have been betrayed, Progen. While you were playing nice with the girl, the Sabine witch has called for reinforcements."

"I saw that coming a thousand clicks away," said Siobhan to the Pakkrateus.

"It was the only way," answered the Privateer.

Ahead, a swarm of six Sentinels challenged the Pakkrateus. Their Repulsor Fields were active as greenish-yellow bubbles about their sailed vessels. Any attack upon them would bring swift and unavoidable retribution. The Collegiate did not seem to care. Siobhan watched the pilot work. Six against one was how a warrior liked it. Was this Pakkrateus up to a good brawl?

"Six more here, Progen," said the Jenquai voice.

"Deal with it, Defender," answered the Privateer.

An aerospace battle ensued as a chase through the superheated mountain ranges of Endriago. The Pakkrateus dodged only minimally as volley after volley flew from the pirated weapon mounts. Rather than making for the star gate to Endriago space from the planet surface, Siobhan noted that the ship was bound else where on the planet.

"Where are we going, Privateer?" she asked, watching the battle over his shoulder.

"A rat-hole, Warrior," answered the Pakkrateus. "Hand me that bottle on the console." He pointed to a nearly empty bottle of Pro-Vod vodka. She reached over to grasp the bottle. That was when she saw the Athanor heavy pistol sitting freely on the console. Handing him the bottle, she marked the weapon's location.

The Pakkrateus tilted the bottle back to slug down the last of the alcoholic liquid as he fought. Drinking and fighting? This Pakkrateus was surely a maverick to take such chances.

Outside, the Sentinels pounded their projectile ammunition upon the shields of the Maze Runner as it weaved through the mountains and over lakes of fire. Every time the computer warned the Pakkrateus of buckling shields, he would thumb a button on his helm.

*Re-vamp!* went his shields as they recharged from the shunting action of the Maze Runner's reactor. Siobhan studied this form of combat with interest though it would not be how she chose to do battle in a Centuriata Warrior vessel. With the Privateer's 360-degree missile firing arc, the ship could do battle while forcing the Sabine Order to chase through the region. Often their targeting line of sight was spoiled by the volcanoes and sulfuric clouds, allowing the Privateer time to renew his bulwark defenses. The fire-and-forget missiles were not forgotten by the pilot. He, true to all Progen, used superior critical targeting skills to guide the trajectories of the weapons to the Sabine Sentinel ships.

The one thing she found curiously familiar and similar between Siobhan and the Pakkrateus was that he talked to his targets rhetorically.

"Oh, you want some more?" he asked to a Sentinel trying to close the gap between them and into range. The Maze Runner was out ranging the Sentinels' guns in a Terran combat maneuver called *kiting*. Forcing the Sabine to chase him, they closed the range gap, but only so his missiles could concuss them repeatedly. The only true damage taken by the Pakkrateus was from the retribution of the Sabine Sentinel Repulsor Fields and that was almost trivial given the sizeable shields the huge Collegiate trader mounted. Siobhan found it humorous and familiar at the same time. In that, she found the Pakkrateus interesting in their shared parallel monologue. She decided to study him, given she had not much else to do besides watch his ship's shield matrix integrity rise and fall.

Siobhan watched as Sentinel after Sentinel fall to this kiting maneuver as their tenacious and stubborn pursuit was futile. Sabine were, after all not Warriors. She also grew to respect the Pakkrateus in that he was merciful. As a hostile ship fell to incapacitation in the skies over the planet, he did not try to finish it off. Instead he systematically progressed on to the next active threat. Like the Centuriata, (and whatever she was now...this Sabura-thing), the Pakkrateus was honorable in combat. This intrigued Siobhan to learn more about the Privateer at the helm.

Soon a large black-and-violet, swirling hole in the valley space of a canyon came into view. It was some sort of space-time phenomenon, Siobhan guessed. Slowly descending to the surface were burning Sentinel ships. She then assumed it was a Jenquai Defender, presumably cloaked and invisible, that had made short work of this squad. But it was the huge spatial vortex that captivated her attention. Shiobhan had never known in her travels that this phenomenon existed here on Endriago. And the Pakkrateus was flying straight for it.

"Um, what are you doing?" she asked the seemingly middle-aged Progen Privateer. "You're not actually going in there are you?" She had no idea what the vortex was and it did not initially look welcoming.

"Yes," was all the Pakkrateus said.

Siobhan was wide-eyed the entire minute-long ride through the natural wormhole from Endriago planet to Risco Moon. Edited by Pakkrat
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