Astra Ventura

[stardust47]

Chapter 1
Captain Athena McCall looked out from the bridge of the Astra Ventura, watching Planet Cambridge slowly grow larger in the main viewport. She was taller than average and slightly chubby, with broad hips and deceptively soft arms and legs. Her skin was tanned, and her black hair was a mess of curls that fell down to her shoulders. Over her plain grey flight suit she wore a black leather jacket covered in patches – a Texas Junker, or someone familiar with their culture, could have read her entire life story and resumé from them.
“What’s our ETA, Stan?” she asked.
Stan, the navigator, turned around from his console. “Assuming the trade lane holds, we’ll be there in half an hour.” Stan looked almost stereotypically Rheinlander – tall, fair-skinned, and blond, with a body he took good care of.
Athena nodded. “Good, keep me posted if anything happens.” She left Stan to his work and took the elevator down to the Engineering deck.
Astra Ventura was on her first real job, running a load of copper out to Freeport 11. Cambridge was their last stop before they left the trade lanes and plunged into the Border Worlds, where almost anything could happen. Athena needed her crew rested and Ventura’s stores full, so she was taking the opportunity for a day’s shore leave and a full resupply…

---

Down on Cambridge, a young woman hurried across the busy concourse at the Great Eastern Spaceport, pulling a grav sled with a roughly person-sized metal box mounted on it. She was tall and curvy, with dark brown hair, pale skin, and bright blue eyes, wearing a plain white shirt and black trousers with a duffel bag slung over her shoulder. She looked around nervously entering the passenger booking office.
“Good morning! How can I help?” asked the clerk behind the desk, startling her.
She took a moment to compose herself and approached him. “Right. Yes. I’m trying to get to…” She tapped and swiped on the tablet affixed to the desk, looking for the most remote destination she could. “…Freeport 11? Yes. Freeport 11.”
The clerk’s eyes widened. “Hoo… that is quite a trip. Let me see…” He tapped on his console and frowned before turning back to the woman. “There’s no direct flight for another week. I can get you to out to Freeport 1 or 5, but you’d need to make your own way from there…”
“What if… it didn’t have to be on a liner?” asked the woman. “Are there any cargo ships headed that way?”
“Well, if you want a ride on a transport, you’ll have to sort that out yourself. None of the big lines go out that far to my knowledge…” The clerk motioned her to come closer and spoke quietly to her. “It might be worth checking out the bar. There might be a freighter or two headed out that way – Zoners, mostly, maybe the Core, but you might get lucky with a freelancer.”
The woman smiled and nodded. “Thanks, I’ll… do that,” she said, and started to turn away. Before she left, she looked back to the clerk. “Oh, before I go – is there a place to keep my, uh, luggage safe?”
The clerk nodded and pointed outwards. “Storage is to the left, just past McDaniel’s.”
“Thanks!” she said, waving to the clerk and hurrying out.

---

Astra Ventura’s engineering deck was dominated by the power plant that ran most of the height of the ship. Coming from an era before the GMG and convenient access to deuterium and H-Fuel, the power plant was a big dirty dinosaur with a MOX reactor for a heart that belched spent coolant out the top into space. Part of the work Athena and her engineering team had done to get the ship working was retrofitting modern generator and cooling systems into the system for far greater efficiency than Ventura was capable of in her first life, extending her range far beyond the confines of House space.
Athena stepped out onto the deck and was greeted by Lola, her daughter and Ventura’s chief engineer. There was a strong resemblance between the two, though Lola was slightly taller and a fair bit thinner, her hair was shorter, straightened into an asymmetric bob, and dyed bright red, and over her eyes was a black glass visor with a red scanner light going back and forth.
“Hey, Mom!” said Lola, giving Athena a quick hug. “How are things up top?”
“We’ll be docking in about half an hour. Everything OK down here?”
“Yeah, everything’s fine. The power plant’s holding together and the engine… hasn’t exploded.”
Athena raised an eyebrow. “You don’t sound confident.”
Lola sighed. “Well, she’s never been run at full power for very long before. Tomorrow will be her first time really pushing it.”
“Sweetie, you did an amazing job putting this all together. Have some faith in yourself, ‘kay? Besides, we gave her a full shakedown before leaving Texas,” Athena put her hand on Lola’s shoulder.
“I know, Mom, but that was just, like, a couple of hours. In the Edge Worlds, we’ll be burning for days at a time between jump holes. It’s a completely different environment!”
“Space is space,” said Athena, “And there’s nobody else I trust to keep this ship flying. You know her like the back of your hand- hell, you did most of the work rebuilding her!”
“Ha, thanks, Mom,” said Lola, relaxing. “Besides, I think we’ve got everything we need-“ She turned her head and put a hand to her mouth. “Hey, Mack, how we doing for fuel?”
“MOX or H-Fuel?” came a scratchy voice from behind a shelf of spare parts.
“Both!”
“Uh… Could probably do with a bit of a top-up, but we should be good for the whole voyage.”
“Thanks!” Lola turned back to her mother. “So, yeah.”
Athena nodded. “Alright. Come up to the bridge once we’re docked, I’ll leave you to it.”
Lola smiled. “Thanks, Mom.”

---

It was late in the evening, and the bar at Great Eastern Spaceport was starting to quiet down. A few of the patrons had already gone back to their ships to sober up for the morning, but Athena, Stan and Carlos – Astra Ventura’s gruff, ex-Marine security chief – were still hanging around. Stan had just finished his second beer while Carlos sipped at a glass of lemonade, and Athena was taking their empty glasses back to the bar.
“This your first time in the Border Worlds?” asked Stan.
“Yeah,” said Carlos, “Never been further than New London before this.”
Stan nodded. “I spent most of the war in Bering, but I did a few recon missions in the Omegas with the BDM.”
“BDM?” Carlos’s interest was piqued. “You even allowed to talk about that?”
Stan sighed. “Not in detail, but…”
“But what?”
“I can’t help but think back to them when we’re headed out to the Edge Worlds. You’ve heard the stories, right?”
Carlos paused for a moment. “I think so.” Assuming they were on the same page, he didn’t want to say which stories Stan was referring to – he’d had a few run-ins with the unexplained during his service, and had it drilled into him that there were some Things You Do Not Talk About in the dark, remote corners of Sirius. “What are you trying to say, Stan?”
“I’m saying the Edge Worlds might not be all they’re cracked up to be. If we’re not careful, there might be more than just our lives and money at stake…“
Carlos said nothing and finished his drink. As much as he liked Stan, and couldn’t argue with what he was saying, he was a man of the material world. His life and money were all he had, and the latter was in short supply indeed.
Just then, the two men were approached by a woman with dark brown hair. “Erm, excuse me,” she asked nervously, “I heard you were heading out to Freeport 11. Have you got room on your ship for a passenger?”
Stan looked up at her, scrunching his face. “A passenger? We’ll have to ask the Captain, but…”
“Ask the Captain what?” Athena returned to the table.
Stan gestured to the woman. “Got a passenger.”
“A passenger?” Athena looked the woman up and down. “Alright, take a seat.” She smiled and sat down, offering the seat next to Carlos.
The woman accepted and sat down. “Thank you. So, you’re the Captain?”
“Sure am. Captain Athena McCall, Astra Ventura.” She offered her hand.
The woman shook it. “Dr. Azelia D’Arcy, Cambridge Medical Institute.”
“A doctor, huh?” Athena smiled. She could probably get away with a fairly big markup – Ventura was no luxury liner, but she could tell that Azelia was new to space travel and would probably never realise how much she was being ripped off.
“Well, I need some time away from work…,” said Azelia.
“And you thought you’d try something different. I get it.” Athena didn’t really get it – holidays were pretty much an alien concept to her – but she could sympathise.
Stan and Carlos shot each other a knowing glance. Something about Azelia didn’t add up, but they were both military men who knew better than to ask questions.
Azelia nodded. “Yes, that’s it… so, how much?”
“Athena took a deep breath. “Well, we’ve got a couple of cabins spare, but that’s it. Ain’t got much else for passengers, so you’ll be eating with the crew…”
“That’s… fine,” said Azelia. “I just need to get away.”
“I see. Got much baggage, or is it just that?” She indicated the bag over Azelia’s shoulder.
“N-no, just one crate, it’s in storage. It does need to be plugged into the mains power, though.”
“Not a problem, there’ll be a couple of outlets in your cabin.”
“That works for me.”
“Right, so one cabin, for two weeks…” Athena took out her tablet and typed in some numbers. “Fifty thousand credits. Up front, of course.”
Azelia opened and closed her mouth. That was a third of what she’d saved for this trip, but this was the best way out of Bretonia. “Right. Yes, up front…” She took out her own tablet and wired the money to Athena’s neural net account. “When do we leave?”
“Tomorrow at noon,” said Athena. “Ventura’s moored in orbit, bay D-7.”
“D-7,” said Azelia, getting up, “Got it.”

---

The next morning, Stan was getting coffee from a vending machine off the main concourse when he was startled by a familiar voice.
“Schnitzel?” It was a woman’s voice, with a strong Rheinland accent – and there was only one woman who ever called Stan by his old callsign. He turned around and saw Freya. She was a dark-skinned woman, a bit taller than Stan, wearing a plain grey business suit.
“Freya? What are you doing here?” he asked. He greeted her with a smile, but alarm bells were ringing in his head.
“I’m here on business. What about you? The last time we spoke you were heading for… Liberty, was it?”
“And I’m still wandering,” replied Stan. “Got a whole sector to see.”
Freya laughed. “Then I won’t keep you for much longer…” She was just about to turn about and leave, but she stopped. “Actually, there is one thing…” She took a tablet out of her pocket. "I was supposed to meet someone around here, but she didn’t show – have you seen her?”
She showed the tablet to Stan. He didn’t outwardly react, but the alarm bells turned into air-raid sirens when he realised what he was looking at – it was a photo of Azelia. He shook his head and said “Sorry, I’ve not seen her before.”
Freya put the tablet back in her pocket and sighed. “Well, it was worth a try. Anyway, I need to be going – see you soon, Schnitzel!” They shared a quick hug and she kissed Stan on the cheek before going on her way.
When she was safely out of earshot, Stan got out his comm and dialled for the Captain.
“Morning, Stan,” groaned Athena. “Whatsamatter?”
“We have a complication.”

---

Astra Ventura’s crew were gathered at the landing pad and debating their next course of action.
Athena glared at Stan. “So, what does your ex-wife want with our passenger?”
“I don’t know,” said Stan, “But if there’s a connection, I want nothing to do with this.”
“I thought you still liked Freya?” said Lola. “I mean, you always sounded like you did…”
“That was… not the whole truth. We split because… well, I thought my days as a soldier were far behind me.” Stan sighed deeply. “Freya… never saw it that way.”
“And that’s why you split?”
“Yes, exactly. Looking back, I should have known years before, but the Civil War made it impossible to ignore.”
“That still doesn’t answer my question,” put in Athena. “Why is she after Dr. D’Arcy?”
“I don’t know, and I don’t want to know!” snapped Stan. “Whatever it is, we’re better off not knowing.”
“She’s already paid us,” said Carlos. “And there were, what, fifty people in the bar last night who could identify us? We’re already in too deep to pull out now, Stan.”
“I hear what you say,” sighed Stan.
“We’re due out soon, anyway!” said Lola, with a smile. “It shouldn’t be our problem for too long, right?”
Athena smiled dryly at Lola. “I hope you’re right.”
Azelia came through the gate out onto the landing ground, grav-sled in tow, and waved at the crew. She was surprisingly calm and chipper for someone in her circumstances, but it occurred to Stan that she might not realise just how much danger she was in.

---

“Apologies, Ms. Eisen, but Dr. D’Arcy is taking a leave of absence from her post.” The secretary robot at Cambridge Medical institute intoned coldly.
Freya sighed. “Did she leave any contact information, or say where she was going?”
“I am not authorised to divulge that information.”
“I see. Thank you, anyway.” She was about to turn and leave when the robot interrupted her.
“I can take a message, but I cannot guarantee a timely response.”
“No, it’s quite alright. I have other business to attend to.” Freya left the lobby and walked out into the courtyard. It was a warm, sunny day, but the yard was shaded by a cluster of trees.
Freya’s comm rang. “Hello?”
An obviously artificial voice came from the other end. “I’ve pulled the security footage and traced the target’s movements. Looks like your ex wasn’t exactly telling the truth.”
“Quelle surprise,” said Freya, deadpan. “So, they have met.”
“More than that. She’s booked passage on the ship he’s currently working on, the Astra Ventura. They’re bound for Freeport 11.”
“Can we intercept them?”
“We have assets in the areas along their route, but there’s no guarantee-“
“Do it.”
“As you wish, Ma’am.”

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