Francisco de Orellana

[Francisco_de_Orellana]

The Reappearance of Francisco de Orellana
Moving away from the Alpha jumphole, Orellana employed the tricks of his old trade, running the huge ship silent, hiding it from those who might take an interest at a distance. The ship shuddered as the deflector moved a small asteroid away from the hull. "This is no fighter!" he muttered to the empty bridge.

Ruiz Base lay on the path to Sigma 19. Flying the long way around would be suspicious. He'd have to keep his distance, without looking like he was keeping his distance. Orellana laughed at the situation. "Fly casual! Ha!"
Ruiz passed by on the port. No-one questioned the Zoner ship. Just a regular trader.

The Sigma 19 jumphole was in detection range and plotted into the nav computer. As he confirmed the command another wave of blinding pain seared through Francisco's head, his vision narrowed to points and for a second he could have sworn the gravity plates switched polarity. Coming to seconds later, he found himself on the floor, again drenched in sweat, head throbbing, face bleeding from hitting the deckplates.

Weakened, he pulled himself back onto the chair at the helm and punched in the course for the Sigma 13 Jumphole.
Struggling to stay focused, he locked in the course and turned on autopilot. He just needed a minute to steady himself. Gas cloud, gas miner, right course. No changes. Ogashawa, lanes, jumphole. Made it.

Orellana's conciousness gave out a final time. He slumped over the console as the ship entered the Sigma 13 jumphole, thin blood dripping from the wound on his head.
The ZBT emerged from the jumphole and for powered up its cruise engines, firing itself towards the Sigma 17 jumphole. Five seconds later the engines cut out and silence momentarily filled the ship. A small screen on the console flashed "NAV FAULT" as a warning klaxon sounded across the bridge.
Below decks the THETIS' two engineers nursed blackened plasma wounds. The sickening smell of cauterised flesh and seared hair filled the ventilation system. They had attempted to gain remote control of the ship but had succeeded only in shorting out the entire navigational computer and god knows how many systems with it.

The ship drifted, tumbling end over end at cruise speed. No computers, an unconscious pilot, an imprisoned captain and an injured crew.


The silence was interrupted by voice that echoed through the cold ship
"OSI-THETIS: This is Senor Ronaldo Benitez, cut your engines and hold your position, we intend to scan you"