Jacob Lawson

[Caedes]

"Jake?"

...

"Jake!"

Jacob grabbed his pillow and put it over his head, trying not to hear the intercom.

"Captain Lawson, wake the hell up!"

Jacob immediately shot up, rushed over to the terminal on his desk and pressed a button. When one of the crew called him 'Captain' it was always something important.

"Sorry about that, Mike. What's up?"

"There are two hostile contacts on the scanner, they're squawking Lane Hacker."

"Do you know what type of ships they are?

"By the size, I'd say fighters, but the power output on the second is far greater, so I reckon it's a bomber."

The Fabricae may be able to survive an encounter with two light fighters and be able to escape, but one or two hits from a bomber would be able to eat through the shields and a few more to cripple the ship.

"How long until they reach us?"

"About two minutes. We might be able to tu-- Damn. They're already telling us to cut our engines."

"Do it. I'll grab some clothes and get up there. If they arrive before I do, give them whatever amount they ask for. We'll still make a good profit from this cargo and I'm not risking the crew or the ship just to try and get out of paying some pirates to leave us alone."

"Understood. Mike out."

Jacob grabbed any pair of trousers from his locker and a shirt that was on his chair and briskly walked out of his room and headed in the direction of the bridge, realizing how damn cold the floor was when bare foot.

It wasn't a long walk, but by the time Jacob got to the bridge, he could visually see the two lane hackers entering cruise mode and heading off toward a debris field.

Jacob looked across the room for Michael, the navigator who woke him up.

Mike saw the captain and walked over to him.

"Morning, Jake. They only asked for one and a half million credits. They must not have scanned our cargo or they would have asked for much more. They were also a lot more polite than most pirates."

"Well, we probably ran into thte only two Lane Hackers in all of Liberty who weren't drunk or high. Did you get any details on their ships?"

"Yep, we got callsigns, IDs, weapon load out, frame numbers, the lot."

"Ok, good. Tell whoever is on comms to pass those details to the next police or military installation we pass and to give a heads up to any traders."

"Will do. Do you want to take the watch or go back to sleep? I don't mind staying on shift for a little longer."

"No thanks, Mike. I'll take over."

"Ok, there isn't much to report since you went off shift; a few routine scans from the Liberty Police, passed a few traders, received a couple of warnings on pirate activity, we managed to avoid an encounter but it added about thirty minutes onto our flying time. The mess staff have also made a few requests for our next stop and Chief Technician Owens wanted to talk to you about reinforcing the hull with some anti-radiation plating or something. He just said to call him when you have a moment."

"Ok, cheers. Go to the mess and get some food, I think they're serving real meat today. Before you disappear though, could you go to my room and grab me some socks and shoes?"

"Will do, Jake."


Jake looked around the bridge, it wasn't a big bridge and only needed two people in at any on time, but he preferred to have each station manned, especially on long journeys or when carrying valuable cargo. At the moment there were about eight people in the bridge, there were several people getting trained by the current shift, new crewmen on their first ship, they looked young and eager to to fly through space and see the stars.

Those were the days.
When you would look up at the stars and hope to see them all one day.
As a young child on New London, Jake would always look out of the window to watch the constant flow of ships, from the fighters patrolling the civilian traffic in the air, to the trade ships coming and going from the starport.

Jacob always expressed his desire to go into space, from the age of six all the way up to his rebellious teenage years, when he would threaten to leave home and live a life of adventure in the Tau systems, rather than stay on New London and study biology and chemistry, which his parents had always urged.

"A lot of money in pharmaceuticals, son." They'd always tell him.

Unlike most rebellious teenagers, Jacob actually did run away and follow his dream, his friend Michael Reynolds had a similar dream.

Michael was entirely working class, his parents worked at the starport, his father repaired ships and his mother would collect the parking, refuelling and repair fees from all the captains and pilots. As soon as he hit the required age, Mike joined the Bretonian Armed Forces and became a navigator onboard a cruiser. He was quite good at his job, but quickly became fed up. He had wanted action and adventure, rather than patrolling trade routes in the New London system. When he received a message from Jacob asking him to join him, he requested a discharge from the Armed Forces and was lucky enough to have it granted.

With the decent amount of money Mike had earned, pooled with the small amount that Jacob saved up, they purchased a Clydesdale freighter and hired a small crew, most of whom they knew from school.

While they were reasonably successful in the business of independant trading and the morale of the crew was always good, they realised they hadn't even left Bretonian space, partly due to the fact that they were in a Bretonian ship and while independant, would always be judged by the ship they flew, especially by Kusarians.

After managing to find someone willing enough to loan them a large amount of money, Jacob and Mike purchased a Borderworlds Transport, a ship that suited their needs, large cargo hold, good crew quarters and primarily designed for travelling through the outer systems on long journeys.

They decided to call the ship Fabricae, from a mostly forgotten language they learnt at school, roughly translating to "Trade". A very simple name, but Fabricae was a lot less stupid than calling the ship "Trade".

After deciding they needed a larger crew, they flew to Freeport 10 in Tau-37 to pick up an experienced crew.

Michael, having gone through a bit of leadership training in the Armed Forces, personally interviewed and hired a decent crew, mostly made up of Zoners, these men and women were experienced and knowledgeable in their respective jobs.

At first, Jacob and Mike had a few civil arguments about who would be the captain of the vessel. Both of them were close friends and neither of them minded being captain, it was just the title of 'Captain' that they both coveted. Michael eventually allowing Jake the title, especially after remembering from his time in the Armed Forces, the higher your rank, the more stress.

After flying constantly and working around the clock, Jacob managed to pay back the loan, interest included.
He was now free.

Free. A free man, free to go where he wants, free to choose what to do, free to see the all the sights and wonders of Sirius. Free to check his messages.

"You have one hundred and thirty eight new messages."

"Damnit."

So aside from his responsibilities as captain of a fully manned vessel...

Jacob was a free man.