Brother Miners

[Jake.Watson]

Brother Miners


Some slight RP Backround for secondary character Frank.Schultz, IMG alligned Miner, [so far mostly regarding his ownership of two GMG turrets]

The unexpected aqquisition of a load of silver ore led Shultz to plotting an ill advised course through the Sigmas and up towards Kusari space on the grounds that "he ain't never seen 'em before"........this was to prove an expensive detour as well as a very bad [and almost his last] mistake.


The Mafic lurched sickeningly as its Freighter Shield finally failed and the WIld vessels weapons ripped into the the naked hull causing horrific damage. Smoke and the stench of frying insulation began to fill the cockpit as Schultz wrestled the controls, firing almost blind as the much faster Wild ship circled and came back for another pass, hammering the mining ship with withering fire.Ignoring several minor alarms, flashing diodes and a siren, all indicating massive damage to the hull, mounted equipment and internal systems....Swearing [fluently and at great lenght and filthyness]in two languages he kept firing and mashing at the controls to engage Nano repair and shield batteries.....but with no avail, as fast as the Nanites repaired the hull the unremitting fire chopped into it.....with a sick sense of dread he saw that the shield was still down, possibly damaged beyond repair and that both large banks of batteries and bots were almost exhausted.

"Turret Lost" intoned the maddeningly calm voice of the on-board computer....and then almost immediately "Hull breach imminent"......It was only then that Schultz stopped swearing and glanced briefly at the Holopic taped above his console, of a smiling fair haired woman holding a small boy in her arms.....

"Sorry Babe..." he said, quite calmly. He closed his eyes.......he mashed at the controls expending the last nanos.

"Volatile Gases encountered"

Schultz laughed bitterly as the juddering of fire into bare metal recommenced. There was a massive explosion somewhere to rear and port.The Mafic lurched uncontrollably and.......insanely somehow righted itself.

Through ringing ears he heard a machine voice say calmly, once again "Turret lost"........."What the f....?" HIS onboard AI? Still half convinced he was dead he opened his eyes.

Through his damaged viewscreen, through flames and burnt out sections he saw, impossibly, tumbling metal parts and wreckage....
Good God, the damaged Wild ship had, in mad pursuit, hit the gas pocket full on and exploded. Desperately he tractored in everything in range........More desperately, ignoring the assorted junk he checked for Botts and batts..... 13 and 5......

"Shield activated"

His eyes very bright and glinting, Shultz patted the control console...."Good Girl" he said....his voice sounded too calm, dangerously near breaking....

"Excellent, excellent girl...."


Alternating loud prayer with a foul mouthed stream of blasphemy that suprised even himself Schultz searched blindly through fried sensors and a cracked viewscreen for a lane or some sort of marker...finally he docked with a lane that lead to Gas Miner Naha....

Still distant he fake-calmly requested to dock but as he neared the station the bored voices of the Docking control crew took on a strangled hysterical quality...

"Brother...wait up uh..abort!....You..You're on fire man! What? Nah, nah hes ALREADY been cleared to dock......No! I told ya its AlREADY open AND hes locked in automatic? ...ah hell!...." In the backround an emergency Klaxon started sounding....



The emergency crews had left and most of the workmen had quit staring and making joking yet impressed comments and gone off duty.The decking was puddled with foam and dirty water.Schultz was still signing off a thick wad of waivers and documents on a clipboard for an apprentice Mechanic who was staring open-mouthed at the damaged Mafic. He wore a tie-dyed coverall and huge work boots with designs painted on them, where his hair wasn't shaved off it hung down in unlikely coloured dreadlocks.

"Gawd-Dammit Mister, yuh can see right through the hull into the cargo compartment and the engines......Damn, I sure ain't seen nothin' like that before....."

Schultz grinned and passed him the clipboard.

"Son, I own Jackets and boots that are considerable older than you......like as not theres a lotta things you ain't seen before......but for now, tell me Kid wheres the bar at around here?"



The Weapons technician was a stocky guy with a balding head and a grey goatee. After three solid hours of Schultz's hospitality, appeals to his better nature "afterall ain't we all Miners" and endless shots of rotgut in the Bar he didn't seem remotely drunk nor had he smiled much, finally only a thick envelope absently left on the table and the assurance that "money was no object" produced a dour businesslike nod and the beginnings of an arrangement.

"Ok we can fix most of the hull and system damage out of our stock of parts since we see Mafics quite regular here but heres the thing pal, as you know you outright lost the top starboard and the port rear turrets and all the rest are all shot to hell....fixable but thats gonna cost yer bigtime. We cant replace the Vampires. What I suggest we do is this, If [and its a big IF], I can pursuede the boss to let yer have 'em....we can move the remaining top Vampire3 to the rear mounting and replace the top'uns with a pair of Sunblast B's. The good thing is with the ranges and speeds bein'indentical and all you shouldn't have any problems with tracking and aiming and such. Don't quote me on this or nuthin' but between you and me, as regards sheer bang for yer credits yer Vamps throw out a tad more damage than our sort....still this way you get a mix of Tachyon and Photon firing both forward and backwards ['cos yer top mountings are 360 degree 'uns] and thats a good mix."


48 hours later and a great deal lighter in the wallet, Frank Schultz emerged from Naha determined to head once more for Kusari space and possibly make good his losses, he was, among other things, rather a stubborn fellow.