Biographies: Morrigan/Wolfe/Ryoichi/Ratchet

[alance]

Jace Wolfe - Callsign "NFS-Loki"
Interspace Commerce Freight Pilot

(This is actually not his short biography. This text will be moved to a story thread and the biography will take its place.)

Short Biography
High energy particle beams bracketed Loki; the Rheinland gunboat had finally located him and found the range in short order; time to move. Wolfe slapped the oversized jury-rigged cruise engine toggle, safety interlock long removed, and felt the big engines wind up with a low growl. "Stayed too long", he murmured to the empty copilot seat; he'd gotten greedy and was now paying the price in adrenaline and H-fuel.

"Cruise engines at nineteen percent power-up", announced a dispassionate audio update from Loki's address and warning system. The canned voice carried an odd harmonic from a time when Wolfe had tried to alter its pitch and rhythm, hoping for a warmer more friendly companion during those long days and weeks spent on Loki, lying dark and deep off the trade lanes and jump gates. Spotter work is about as boring as it comes, can drive the social types crazy in less time than you'd think, but some adapt and maybe enjoy the solitude. Wolfe was one of those; found people to be mostly irritants and complications to a comfortably predictable existence.

"Cruise engines at thirty seven percent power-up"
A big rock slowly spun across to block optic LOS for the incoming gunboat. Fortunate break, but he'd picked this particular nesting spot for that very reason. Few of the big rocks remotely near Bering's trade lanes were transponder tagged, but Loki's custom mining soft could plot a nice tight nook in which he could sit quietly and observe. Peering out of random cover to a busy trade lane is a helluva lot easier than finding a non-emitting ship within said cover.

"Cruise engines at fifty five percent... Incoming Missile."
The low warbling hornet-buzz accompanying the verbal warning told trained ears a cruise disruptor warhead was inbound and too close for comfort. Wolfe swore under his breath and dispensed a random stream of ECM squawkers with a staccato tapping of his left thumb on the control yoke's CM button. The CD missile was unexpectedly close; a glance at his target list revealed the source as a previously unseen fighter only 900 meters off Loki's port quarter and closing fast on full thrusters. A cold feeling passed through Wolfe's gut, wasn't like the Rheinlanders to randomly run fighters through rock fields this far off of a trade lane.

"Cruise engines at seventy two percent power-up"
A blue-white bloom on optics said the ECM flares and the rock field had conspired to detonate the incoming missile out of its EM pulse range. But the threat warning buzz continued undiminished along with a rapid string of curses as Wolfe filtered his contact list by range and severity of threat. "You sneaky bastards...", hairs stood up on his arms and neck as the severity of his situation took root behind the problem-solving brainwork that might keep him alive. A second fighter had leapt to the top of his threat list, its signature and CD missile payload masked by the near planetoid-sized ball of ice and rock to starboard. "Definitely a setup", Wolfe said through gritted teeth as his thumb activated the flare dispenser again.

"Cruise engines at 88% power-up"
Loki'd been set dark and nearly dead, life support barely stirring the slowly fouling air, her tubular hull nestled deep enough into the rock field to make random detection an extremely unlikely event. Two fighters don't just by chance put the squeeze play on a silent lurker deep in the rocks, not unless the pilot was tranq'd or scrubbing through his vid collection rather than maintaining watch on his sensors.

"Cruise engines at full."
G's increased to painful levels as the cruise engines shoved Loki hard forward. The padding in his command couch wasn't much good anymore, mostly a lumpy mass only slightly softer than the steel frame. Muscles strained against the Gs as Wolfe kicked the sluggish freighter off auto, knowing from experience that the mining software wasn't up to steering through these rocks at cruise speeds.

"Incoming mis... Incoming missile."
Both fighters had launched nearly simultaneously and from less than 500 meters, trying to knock Loki off cruise before the range became too great. Hard jinking and another string of counter measures ended with a bone-jarring crash as the forward dorsal turret impacted a massive rock, slamming the ship down and to starboard a full 60 degrees; only Wolfe's helmet restraints prevented neck injury as black dots swam in his peripheral vision. The vibrations of Loki's cruise engines winding down reached his brain, the shock of the impact having blinded him to the apparently successful missile hits.

Green fire rippled along Loki's hull, shields offlined from that rock impact, maybe something else, hard to tell. Jace surveyed his instruments and displays quickly, trying to clear the double vision that constantly threatened. Streaming gasses and debris obscured most of his forward optics, and half of his indicators were flashing red or lit amber. "Well then, that is that" mumbled Jace as he reached for the capsule eject switch.

Again Wolfe's body was slammed by high Gs as the capsule clam-shelled around him and blasted free of the stricken freighter. Magnesium destruct charges would take care of the computer and avionics systems and any other non-standard equipment aboard Loki. Hopefully the Rheinlanders would pick him up rather than use his pod for target practice; not that he expected to survive Rheinland detention in any case.

Something struck his pod sharply, no idea what, and again another jarring impact. The black dots swam in his eyes again, grew larger and bled together, stealing his vision and his consciousness.

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"To gain a hundred victories in a hundred battles is not the highest excellence;
to subjugate the enemy's army without doing battle is the highest of excellence."