Outsider

[Laowai]

The technical maintenance supervisor of beta shift on Tripoli shipyard handed him a data pad with a long and extensive list of cost estimates on it.
Ben took it and said nothing, the list was long, the costs high. He glanced over it and stopped at one figure that was unusually large.

"Whats this?" he grunted.

"Salvage" the supervisor answered. "She was crippled in Brettonian space, Leeds to be exact, getting it all the way back here without getting stopped by the law was not easy."

He exhaled loudly and thumbed his authorization on the ID scanner at the bottom of the pad. "Very well."

The technician smiled awkwardly "Don't worry Sir he said I know my way around the Venganza pretty well, this will be done before you know it."

Laowai cocked and eyebrow at him and the technician realized the implications of what he had said, he stuttered; "I only meant that I know the ship design pretty well and er..."

"Never mind" Ben said, "I know what you meant, just get it done and contact me when shes space worthy again."

The Venganza hung once more in the dock that was now crawling with technicians and cabling. Once more she had been blasted to the point of abandoning ship and her crew were starting to show signs of strain - rumors were beginning to circulate among some of the more superstitious about her being a cursed ship, stricken by bad luck and dangerous for all who crewed her.

There were almost certainly similar rumours about her captain.

Twenty six of her crew had perished when her hull had ruptured after the skirmish with the Outcast battleship in Leeds. They had actually defeated the enemy vessel, but when one of its reactors exploded the Venganza was caught in the blast. Unable to avoid the brunt of it with her shields down her hull had collapsed in several areas and been exposed to hard vacuum. Her own engines had failed and the resulting explosion took out her remainder - once more, for at least the third time in 6 months, he would have to completely replace the ships engines.

And a portion of her crew.

They still signed up; he had no shortage of those willing to fly. Laowai was known for being generous with his money, many of his former crew had made their fortunes and others were willing to take on the risks to do the same. But morale among his regular crew was starting to fall; and throwing money at them was only a brief fix.

And so, lately he had taken to flying his smaller craft alone, his Titan and his recently purchased Praetorian. He enjoyed the ease and the solitude that these ships allowed him; but he was no great fighter ace, nor had he ever been and after many years out of the cockpit he knew how rusty his solo piloting skills were. At least here though he thought, I can only get myself killed.



He flew his Titan back to Crete, putting her down on the landing platform in front of his hangar. Entering it he could tell immediately that his sister had been here, for the place was showing signs of tidiness that it would otherwise not show. Since the successful conclusion of her mission to Omicron Alpha, Isabel had been showing up on Crete a lot more regularly, it was as if she was trying to make peace with the Corsair part of her heritage. He hadn't said anything about it, just provided her with the pass codes for his hangar and told her to make herself at home. While he had been away in his mountain hideaway, it appeared she had. Sure enough as he collapsed onto his cot in the mezzanine he could see the small flashing message light on his internal computer.

"Computer, play message" he said to the ceiling, kicking off his boots and groaning in relief as his feet finally felt free of their restraint.

His sisters image appeared on a monitor; "Ben, I know you're up in the hills but I didn't want to disturb you, I took you up on your offer and Ive been back to Crete since I left, obviously Ive stayed here"
He could see several of his uniforms pressed an hanging on a rack in the corner, he chuckled, obviously... the thought to himself, for he never hung anything he wore..

"Ill be back in a few weeks, well talk again then."

The monitor blinked off.

Lying back on his cot he thought of the crew that didn't come back from his last mission, the rumours that were now circulating. He needed some victories and soon, but more practically, he needed more money. He had planned to purchase another gunboat to captain himself but had scrapped the plan spending the money instead on compensation, rewards and pay for his crews, he would have to get busy now making some money the old fashioned Corsair way: by stealing it.

"Computer" he called out, a small beeping acknowledged him. "Get me a channel to the Outsider, encrypted, audio only."

The computer beeped again and then the comm. System kicked in, a soft crackling sound lingered for a moment before a voice took over, scratchy and distant but easily recognizable.

"This is Alberto, is that you Capitan?"

"Phillip" Laowai said, "When you get back to Tau 44 I need you to pack your things, I need you and the boat back home."

There was a pause and Phillip Alberto's voice kicked in again, slightly delayed it seemed by the vast distances this comm link was having to traverse "Si Si of course" he said "Is everything well? I have sent you the latest reports, our mission here is going well"

"Everything's well Phillip, and the mission has been going very well" Ben answered, "I need you all home right now though, were going to go take some peoples money."

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