David Chambers cracked a glow stick and hastily shoved it into a mesh bag afixed to the side of his seat, the resultant blue light emanating from the chemicals brought into relief a control panel lying devoid of life. Keeping an eye on the debris field through which he was traversing in no small panic he fumbled in the dim light for the dynamo crank jutting from the side of the small shortwave radio mounted to his fighters dash.
Some days were rougher than others when you were flying a hundred credit ship on a ten credit budget, so to speak.
David quickly glanced up to ensure that the path ahead was clear of anything large enough to send him off course before glancing down to scan the notepad strapped to the leg of his flight suit, which he scanned for the decryption codes for the Xeno nav buoys in the area. Giving the dynamo crank one final spin he cautiously flipped the radios power on, praying for a show of light rather than a final shower of sparks. A dull tapping noise filled the cockpit, beating out a short rhythm of long and slow thuds. Glancing down at the notepad he noted his new reported position and changed course appropriately. It was time to get on home.
Moments earlier fate had reared its ugly head as his recon flight through the Jersey field had caused him to stumble upon the Collector of none other than Vladimir Tinkerbell, the head speaker of the Junker Congress. Apparently hed been in a fighting mood and the two of them had gone at it for what felt like hours. The daggon ship had been sporting a pack of pulse weapons and after ripping his shield from this mortal coil, theyd gone to work on what electronic systems his ship had running. The power plant had held though, long enough anyways to put a shot right through the Junkers fuel tank, lighting her up faster than a kid on Christmas morn. But now he was on the run with a Harvester gunship on his six and a hold full of cargo that Tinkerbell had been loath to give All in a vessel that was running sans electronics on manual controls score another point for Xeno rough and tumble engineering. With that the Colorado Jumphole came into sight and swallowed him up, with the Harvey at least 5k out there wasnt a thing to worry about.
Quicker than you could spit his ship was magnetically locked with the docking elevator, now pulling him downwards to one of the lower flight decks for repairs and cargo offload. Pulling off his gloves he went through his postflight checklist, chuckling with relief on making it back to the barn one more time.
At this rate my lucks going to be plum gone afor I hit fourty. Gonna need to let myself get caught and do another term at the Wall afor long for a vacation!
CAP 394 youre clear to disembark, please report to the deck manager for cargo inspection
David clicked his mic twice to signal his confirmation before powering down that final piece of equipment before exiting the craft, time to see what hed pulled in.
David put his hands on his hips and watched with no small dismay as the acid burned a dirty hole through the plating of his ship.
Welp he said, looking around at the gathering crowd Someone get the old man on the horn.
6/10/817
David stood at ease in the back of a small conference hall situated within Refugio. The air had a cleanliness to it that wasnt to be found on any of the Xenos firebases, mined as it was from the icefields across the system. Within the crisp environment the tang of nervous sweat issuing from his flightsuit was all the more apparent. As he gazed across the hall towards the gathered elders he cursed his luck, one thing about running about on the front lines was that there was a strong measure of freedom awarded so long as you stayed in one piece. Playing military wasnt something he was particularly good at; quick glances towards his compatriats, Leo Mathews and Nathan Williamson revealed that the two looked far more comfortable in their roles than he. Heck, Nathan looked like hed just stepped from a recruiting poster, how did he press- his flightsu David!
He quickly broke from his reverie to notice one of the gathered men gesturing at him, quickly abandoning all memory of the hasty training in the etiquette this manner of situation demanded he broke position and strolled towards the men, whom cleared a path through which he proceeded until he was face to face with Mathew Gibbs, the man who was as much the heart of the Xeno movement as anything could be claimed to be. Even when David had found himself assigned a second wing under his command hed not received so much as a communiqu? from the man. Pictures could be found for anyone who cared to spend a moment glancing at a bounty board. The price on the Mans head could fund the entirety of the Xenos for a month.
Gibbs was seated on the far side of a simple desk, adorned with little save numerous datapads streaming out the reports supplied by countless wings such as Davids own. From the news outlet to the various data ports it looked the same as any middle level bureaucrats desk to be found on Liberty. The man didnt glance up when he extended a hand towards the chair sitting across the table, David looked down at it before setting in awkwardly. The awkwardness compounded over the following few minutes as he wondered what he should do with himself as he was seemingly ignored by the man across the table.
So The man began without pausing in his word. Youre the pilot whos managed to secure not one, but two of these extraordinarily rare objects which are so hungered after by the Order.
David swallowed once, replying sans the hackneyed accent that hed adopted in Huntsville and carried on amongst he gutter level Xenos. Yes sir, thats correct.
Furthermore, youve had other encounters with this group in the past it would appear
Ahh, yessir. I chanced upon some departing the icefields of California Not long back while on patrol, ah, and a few other random encounters before that. Ah, cant recall all of the de David was here interrupted Yes. Ive read your reports on the encounters. I just found it curious that youve managed to become so intertwined in this so easily, very easily indeed. You were a school teacher, I believe, before you found yourself fighting on behalf of the people? with that the man finally glanced up from his datapad, fixing David with a glance.
Ahh, yessir. Thats correct. Lower primaries on Manhattan He replied, wishing for a glass of water.
Quiet. Yes. Well, it turns out that the Order has returned a communiqu? to Nome this very morning issuing a request for further communications, right on the eve of your capture of yet a second, ah, item. At any rate, Ive selected you to be the pilot who will escort myself and the item in question to the rendezvous. That will be all, youre dismissed
As flabbergasted as when he entered, David quickly stood to his feet and performed a hasty salute which caused a silence wince from his observing cohorts before turning on his heels to make his way from the room. As he passed the two men he issued a hasty holy ****.
