“C’mon, Zerk, you once told me that you can find anything provided the price is right.” Sidian was growing impatient, and he could tell that Zerk was getting fed up with telling him, ‘no’ so many times.
Sidian [Rein] then reached into his vest pocket and retrieved three 5K dockets. Each is a self-contained blockchain of Zuridian bitcoin worth 5,000 dollars; Zuridian bitcoin being the current intrastellar reserve currency. He then set them on the worktable next to the ergbot on which Zerk was working. “I’m telling you. The price is right this time.”
Zerk continued to use the oil can fitted with a zerk, oiling several microservos in his ergbot, but he did shoot a glance at the dockets, noting the unique sound of the tungsten-encased blockchains as they rested on the table. His oculus allowed him to see the hidden hologram of the Zuridian coat-of-arms and the amount held within them. He let out a sigh that hissed a little through his mole-like mouth. He finished oiling the final microservo before putting the oilcan down and straightening up, putting his tiny hands to his lower back. “All the money in Starbrood isn’t going to change the fact that you’re flying a scuzbucket that should’ve been decommissioned with its cousins twenty years ago. Like I said before, scrapyards are your best bet.”
[Scuz — a term that refers to the patina caused by prolonged proximity to stellar objects. A blackening caused by direct exposure to solar radiation that sometimes shows a hint of blue, red, or purple depending on the alloy.]
Sidian then put his hands on the edge of the table and straightened his arms to rest that way. “I checked Rimmy’s, and it said that if they don’t have it, then most likely no one will. There has to be someone with a showcase model.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t know who that is. With the regime change in the Greddeck System, my access to their databases has been limited to Civ Level 0, and that would be the most likely place to find one. At the moment, I can’t even access my refinery’s database on Bravvin Secundus until I put in the paperwork, and that means actually flying over there, which I don’t have the time to do right now. With the Traeonic Eclipse occurring next month, I am swamped with work.” Zerk held out his thin arms as to show off all of the bots and appliances lying around waiting to be fixed.
“Look, I’ll throw in a free ride since I’m headed that way, and I’ll help you get whatever you need done to access those databases. I really need that part so I can fly in subspace. My ionic engine only goes so fast.” he added with a smirk.
“Yeah, well, not with the Kelvaran Patrol out on the prowl. I’ve heard rumors of them being sighted in this system.” Zerk then began to close up the panel that gave him access to the internal mechanics.
Sidian let out a silent sigh through his nose as he stroked his long chin and mindlessly looked around the workshop. “Skrit, Zerk, I don’t think you’ve ever let me down before. What gives?” He had a look of severe consternation as he turned his gaze back upon Zerk.
Zerk sighed heavily as he looked at Sidian’s face. “Look, Sidian, I wish there was something I could do to help, but there’s not even any tenders headed out that way due to all the security threats along the route. If you only have ionic drive, then I wouldn’t fly that route if I were you. You’ll most likely get searched, and knowing you, you probably have some kind of contraband hiding somewhere in that scuzbucket.” Zerk then turned his focus back onto the ergbot, opening a smaller panel that revealed several analogue controls.
In a mild state of shock, Sidian watched as Zerk first pushed a primer button before yanking on a ripcord. A tiny engine could be heard puttering each time he yanked it. It wasn’t until the fifth pull that the little engine quietly rumbled before going near silent as it idled. He then watched him flip a switch and saw the eye open, but there was no other movement. “How come you haven’t upgraded to digital robots yet?”
Zerk gave him a look that said, ‘Are you serious?’ “Why do you fly a floating mothball?”
Sidian smirked and chuckled once. “Fair enough. Well, I guess I have no time to waste then. Til next time, Zerk.” he stated as he grabbed the dockets and turned to leave.
“I know there will be,” Zerk mostly mumbled while still concentrating on the ergbot.
“Right you are,” Sidian laughed as he was almost out the door. His tall terran frame awarded him with a quick pace.
Once he exited, he again took on a look of consternation. A face he makes quite often. Not that he is slow, but often finds himself in these sticky situations. This is really a testament to his skill at conquering these situations, considering that he is still alive and kicking. Although, Sidian would tell you that it’s mostly luck.
It was unlike Sidian to just up and leave a place without at least one last hurrah. He knew, though, that time was of the essence as this trip would take nearly six months using only the ionic drive, pushing the envelope for when his courier pass would expire. He didn’t even turn to look to see if Minxie was dancing in the window at Club Super as he passed by. When focused, Sidian can resist any temptation, but Minxie is one of the hardest for him to resist.
Not only is she an exotic dancer, she is a ferren, or cat-like humanoid species of a rare white panther type. He has never felt for her more than a fling, though, it is obvious that she is a lot more smitten with him. She often talks about finding a way out of her lifestyle. He would love to find a way to help her, but after the Millennial War that ended only ten years prior, terrans and ferrens have had a difficult time honoring the peace treaty. It is even taboo in some places for them to mingle.
Upon walking through the portage bay of his ship, he thought about closing the large hangar-like door, but then remembered that he would need more provisions for such a long trip. He sighed as he took his hand away from the panel by the inside door and made his way to the cockpit. He sighed because he will have to order more cryon, which is a highly volatile gas that only stays in gaseous form at well-below freezing temperatures, and is used in most ionic drives.
Sidian’s father died from an explosion caused by it during the Millennial War, and ever since, he has had an undiagnosed phobia of it. He was not looking forward to bringing more on board, but he pulled up the launch zone’s provisioner anyways and began to order food, fuel, and water.
An androgynous voice said, “That will be 9,958 Z-Bs.” Z-Bs being a slang term for Zuridian Bitcoin.
Sidian watched as several arrows flew across the screen and eventually pointed toward the bottom right of the screen where the docket port is located. He sighed with a long breath as he pulled out the dockets. He took one and kissed it before putting it back into his vest pocket. He left a $42 tip to wipe the second docket clean before beginning his pre-launch sequence.
His outdated ship is a large narrow-winged delta flyer. A refurbished tender that was refurbished from an old bomber type during the war. As with most terran military vessels, the core systems are analogue, which have since had digital systems put in place to control them.
As the engine began to whir, Sidian looked to the picture of his mother that was pinned to the side window. “I will get to you as soon as I can, Mom.” He was well aware of the regime change in the Greddeck System. It had caused his mother to become trapped upon the moon that she has been surveying for several years now. It was now his mission to rescue her.
He looked to the monitor and could see the drones dropping off the crates, and he closed the portage bay door before calling into Launch Control for permission to launch. He did not hesitate to take off once it was given. He set in an autopilot sequence to get to just out of orbital range before pulling up the map of Starbrood.
Three super-massive suns being orbited by eleven solar systems with more normal-sized stars; ten of which have one or more habitable planets and moons. He pressed, ‘Location’, and the map quickly zoomed in on the Uldran System as a small, red triangular indicator showed up in the center just outside of the orbit of Uldra, the home planet of the talpans, which are a mole-like humanoid species; Zerk being one of them. This system is one of the three central systems.
“Plan a trip to Greddeck IX,” he told the computer. The map then zoomed out and plotted a course to that particular planet. A long, wavy blue line connected the red triangle with a small, green square marking the planet. His experience allowed him to see a more efficient path if he were to add two slingshots. With the systems almost lined up for the eclipse, and his adjustments to the path, it showed his trip taking just shy of five months.
Sidian let out another sigh just as his ship was exiting the atmosphere and into the placid quiet of space. “I hope that will be soon enough.”
* * * * *
Three months later, Sidian was now in the heart of Kelvaran Patrol territory. Surprisingly, he had not seen any patrols. In fact, he hadn’t seen anyone outside of haulers that carry sensitive materials that can’t be flown through subspace. Even they seemed less frequent than usual. It was unsettling enough to be in their space, let alone with how quiet it had been.
After buckling himself in, Sidian switched to manual control as he was approaching the lone gas giant — known as Kor’s Eye — of the Kelvaran System. The target of his final slingshot. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves as he pulled back on the throttle to reduce his speed to half drive. There’s no reason for him to do it manually except that he really enjoys the challenge. Not only is it a tricky maneuver, but the real challenge comes from flying while the gravity compensators get maxed out and you can experience upwards of ten or more Gs.
He began to line up his ship with a close orbit of Kor’s Eye, and just as he was lined up and about to throttle up again, he heard a ping on the sensors, and a small, yellow arrow showed up on the screen, pointing toward just left of the ‘0’ mark.
Kor’s Eye has several large rings, and as he zoomed in, he could see two small ships. A Kelvaran Patrol ship had another ship under its attractor beam as evidenced by the soft, green glow emanating from the Kelvaran ship and enveloping the other; a scout-like ship of a design with which he’s not familiar. Sidian thought about aborting, but instead, he figured that they were busy enough. He pushed the throttle all the way forward and grabbed the two yokes and prepared himself for the slingshot maneuver.
Just as the two ships began to show up on the screen being marked by two blue triangles, Sidian saw the communications alert light up. He glanced at it nervously, but kept his eyes on his instruments. He knew that the Kelvaran ship was trying to hail him, but he figured that he would be going fast enough by the time he’s passing them that they wouldn’t be able to catch up. It’s well known that the Kelvaran ships cannot fly through subspace. Something about the alloys that they use that causes an often fatal radioactive feedback.
He desperately wanted to turn off communications to remove the distraction, but on these old military vessels, communications and sensors are part of the same hardware unit. There’s no way to perform the slingshot maneuver without sensors. He huffed a little as he was preparing to enter into the close orbit needed to slingshot. Once inside that orbit, he should be safe from the Kelvaran Patrol. Sidian truly hates orkks. Not only from their role in the Millennial War, but also because he doesn’t like their ugly, brutish faces. Their bumpy, ochre skin reminds him of vomit and makes him want to do that just from seeing it.
The yokes began to vibrate as the gravitational forces of the gas giant was overcoming the ship’s compensators. Sidian took another deep breath, but then sighed as he let it out as, just then, everything powered down and his ship quickly slowed to an almost jarring stop. A soft, green glow slightly obstructed his view out of the cockpit. “Skrit!” he yelled as he threw his hands off of the yokes and pounded his fists on the armrests.
Completely powered down, he could feel the slight pull of inertia as the attractor beam pulled him closer to their ship. It had also turned his ship to face away from theirs as a security precaution, but also to line up the portage bay as they will soon be sending over a shuttle with a small troop of orkks and a surveyor to search the ship.
Sidian huffed again before impetuously unbuckling himself and standing. He took a deep breath to calm himself and relaxed his furrowed brow which had caused his eyebrows to be seen in his periphery. Despite furrowing his brow often, he gets annoyed when he sees his eyebrows like that and it forces him to relax his expression. It also forced him to take another deep breath which did nothing to calm his nerves. Although he knows how to fight, Sidian has always been a run-first-ask-questions-later type. There’s no running from this situation, however.
He began to pace around trying to figure out what to say when they would eventually interrogate him. He then became distracted by the thought of taking a look at the other ship. Sidian climbed the side of the front console and looked through the furthest back window. He was just getting a full view of it as he was still being pulled in by the attractor beam. It had a sleek, almost trapezoidal shape. Definitely a scout ship of some sort, but it must be a design of a private or civilian company. He didn’t even recognize its coat-of-arms; a gryphon encircled upon a shield.
He took a long look at it to burn it into memory before stepping back down. He turned the pilot seat around and sat in it for a moment, but then stood and took a step away from it. He then stood akimbo for a moment before crossing his arms and letting out a sigh of frustration. He truly hated these types of moments where there’s nothing to do but wait for inevitabilities. Just as he was noticing his eyebrows in his upper view again, everything got really bright for a fraction of a second. His brow furrowed more heavily as he whipped around to look out of the cockpit.
There was nothing to be seen except for the red gases of Kor’s Eye. Just then, an incredibly loud sound, like a galactic foghorn, rumbled every cell in his body. It lasted for almost an entire second as his view went incredibly blurry and everything felt fuzzy like when your arm goes numb. Everything also seemed to slow down as everything went black before he could cover his ears.
