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Binski · 05-21-2015, 01:17 AM,

Thrill of the Chase

The Argo was humming along just a few kilometers from the Kepler Jumphole in Colorado. The crew was having coffee on the bridge, standing by idle, staring out the viewport at a dogfight outside. Nothing but rookie pilots of course, a case of 2 routine patrols crossing paths. Xenos, Bounty Hunters...they duke it out until there's nothing but escape pods left. A while later, freighters from each side come out and rake 'em back in to base to start all over again. Nothing new in the Liberty backwater areas by the jumpholes. Routes used most often by unlawfuls, smugglers and other social degenerates. It was no surprise that Captain Antares was flying the area.

They had strayed from the jumphole for just a few minutes to keep up with the battle, when another contact appeared on the scanner. A familiar one. Xenos, yes, but it was no small craft.

Antares took a gulp of his coffee and quickly ran over to his chair to hit the cruise engines. The coffee slipped out of his hand as he jumped down and the joystick controls lowered down from the ceiling above. Rister and Jonas also scrambled to their stations. They didn't even have to ask what their orders were. The ship fired up and made a sharp turn back towards the wormhole.

The ship on scanner was that of some old beat up civilian Train that had been converted for use by the Xenos. Last time they had a run in, they lost their whole load of premium scrap on the way out of Texas. This time...it might be better just to scrap them and cash in on the bounty.

"Range?" Antares barked.

"A little over 4k and holding, looks like they got to cruise just before we did." Rister shot out.

"Scans?" Antares ordered.

"Uh, they're empty it looks. I guess we missed em on the way through cap." Jonas replied.

"Keep on them, try to close the gap, I'll bet I know where they might head, patch me through" Antares said, "And prepare a cruise disruptor"

"We'll never land a hit at this range sir - " Rister replied, but the captain just threw him a look.

After some banter over the comms, it became clear the ship was headed for Ourey Base, a well known Xenos installation not far from from the Ontario jumphole. Lucky for it, it had managed to keep its 4k lead on the Argo all the way in. Antares laughed it off, and sat back in his chair, his left hand reaching for his pipe in a pouch hanging over the arm. The Xenos ship managed to dock, and it wasn't worth a full on assault that close to a hostile base. For now, they'd gotten away. No bother, that ship will need luck in its sails to keep flying much further, and luck always runs out.

* * * *

Antares stood at the front of the bridge as they pulled into Alcatraz for a pit stop. Bounty or no, they had been keeping busy the last while. Antares new they'd better set down to inspect the ship, which was still in bad shape as always, and process the ship's logs.

"Stay on the ship gentlemen, you know how rough this place can be. I'm only going over to make some long range transmissions and getting out." Antares stated firmly, climbing down the main hatch to the catwalk, "And I think there's still some coffee that needs scrubbing off the deck plating". Antares smirked. Jonas and Rister signaled their acknowledgment and each let out a hefty sigh as the Captain disappeared from earshot.

The main bar was the safest place on the station, if you could call it that. You didn't want to be in the wrong place at the wrong time on a Rogue base. They get drunk. They pick a fight with a passer by. If the victim fights back, they typically wind up a slave, or worse....

Antares knew how to handle himself for the most part, and the best defense was to avoid being seen altogether. He slithered in behind a crowd of boasting intoxicated pilots, almost blocking the doorway, and took up a seat in an empty booth with a computer terminal.

He logged into his comms channels and reviewed his messages. Nothing much, but a line did catch his eye from a contact on Freeport 10. Word came through of an attack by a Blood Dragon armada on Samura's operations there. It got Antares thinking of all the times he'd harassed Samura way out there. Might be a good time to repay them a visit, cash on on some activity. It was a long way from Liberty though.

He quickly went to work sending out transmissions to a few trusted agents and associates of his, to meet him in the area as soon as possible. They didn't want to miss out on any action.

After signing off, he sat back and pulled out his data pad. The drink he'd signaled to the bartend for when he sat down finally arrived, and he sipped as he reviewed his logs. He had let them slip, after being out there so long.

"Begin file compression..."

Spoiler

* * * *

As Antares made his way down to the main hangar where the ship was docked, a notification sounded off on his data pad. He pulled it out to review it as he walked up the ramp into the belly of the cargo bay. Jonas and Rister were there to greet him, ready to report their inspection findings. Antares cut them off and brushed by them.

"Sir don't you want to hear our report?" Jonas asked as he passed.

"Jonas if it was anything that concerned me I'm sure you'd already have a look on your face, right?" Antares coughed back, "Besides, looks like we'll be late for the party up north, so we best get moving"

"Well, you don't have to be so non-chalant about it cap. Orders?" Jonas replied.

"Yeah get us out of here, we're headed to Nagano. If what I heard is true, we may at least have some Samura wreckage to sift through by the time we arrive. Don't worry, help will be joining us up there" he elaborated, as he climbed up the hatch thinking *at least, as long as we don't join the debris*

...To Be Continued...

The Further Exploits of Captain Antares (August 2015) │ (alt) JonasHudson
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