Karadin

[Stoat]

A couple of hours in Omega 3, buzzing the passing transports and their escorts, gave Karadin more confidence in the Viper. It seemed a really tight, aggressive ship, now that he understood how responsive it was to the thrusters. He headed back into Omega 7, thinking to get to Briesen Base. As he sped along the trade lane to Freistadt, his sensors registered some unusual signatures in the nebula. He kicked out of the trade lane, and headed towards them, intrigued. As he got closer, the sensors identified the ships as what appeared to be three disabled Corsair fighters sat in the middle of a gas field.

Salvage. He thought, and headed in. The Viper was exceptionally agile, allowing him to avoid the pockets of explosive gas. As he approached the fighters he could see the damage inflicted. There was not a lot left, but as he nudged one of the wrecks, several bits floated loose. He quickly tractored the stuff in, then headed for the other wrecks, repeating the process. Each one released a few bits, but then the gas pockets started to destabilise and explode, quickly eating away at his shields. He thrusted out of the gas field and plotted a direct course through Omega 7 to Briesen, engaged the autopilot, and scanned through what was now in his hold. A few guns was all hed found, but at least he knew he could trade them for some credits when he got to Briesen.

As he neared the Briesen coordinates, his sensors picked up something new. Some sort of energy signature he immediately recognised as a jump hole. Making a snap decision he altered course for the jump hole and punched through

.right into the middle of a large Red Hessian patrol. He spotted a small planet through the asteroid field just as the Hessian ships started to engage. Completely outnumbered, and heavily outgunned, Karadin fled, using the asteroids as cover and dropping what few countermeasures he had as his cruise engines engaged. Luck was with him, he realised, when the patrol failed to pursue. He was soon picking up a station on his scanners. Solarius. Maybe this could be a safe haven for him, at least for a while. He opened a comms link to the station.

Solarius station, this is Karadin requesting permission to dock. Sending data file now. There was a brief pause.

Received Karadin and permission granted. Welcome to Solarius. Please proceed to dock 1.

---

My Stories