Name: Carrie.Dababi Age: 21 Length: 5'5" Day of birth: 12.03.0798 AS Origin: Planet Manhattan, New York Occupation: n/a
Parents: Catherin Dababi Sinclair (48), Andrew Dababi (51)
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My parents
Her dad worked at Ageira as a transport captain, her mother worked at a local grocery store in her spare time. Carrie herself was also a pilot and worked on a Shuttle line between Pittsburgh and Manhattan. It was a normal family just living their daily life by just doing their work.
Then the day when the mess started.
I was working on our dinner, a special dinner since dad was coming back again after 2 months of flying. So it had to be tip top. I really couldn't wait to see my dad again, it has been such a while now. Then someone knocked on my door, me and mom was hoping it was dad, although it would be pretty early but you never know. Mom opened the door, and it wasn't dad, it appeared to be two police officers. I was looked around the corner of the kitchen to the front door. I saw my mom and the two police officer talk about something, although I couldn't hear what they were talking about. Then my mom held her hands in front of her mouth, she looked at me and I noticed her eyes getting wet from tears. Mom!' I ran towards the front door, mom sat down still with the hands on her face and I could hear her cry. I threw my arm around her while sitting down next to her 'mom?'. I looked at the officer in a way of confusion. What is going on I wondered. Then the LPI officer told me too while my mom with the tears in her eyes looked at me. They told us dad deceased after getting wounded in a pirate raid on his convoy. I became completely speechless, I just couldn't believe it, dad gone? Just like that?
From that point onward it mom started to lose it, not just a bit but the loss of dad she just couldn't handle it. I tried everything to make her get over it, even though I could barely get over it myself. I became unfocused while doing my work and mom quit her job at the grocery store, she just sat at home in her seat watching the sky through the windows. She could do this for hours after hours without saying a word, just sitting there, watching.
At my work it didn't really go to well either, I kept making mistakes, just because I couldn't focus. I was already expecting it after I screwed up my landing at Pittsburgh, and yes I got fired. I completely flipped out hen my boss told he didn't need me anymore, at least not in the state I was, he said. When my mother heard the news she became even less 'on this world'. I started drinking to try and drink all my troubles away.
When I returned home after a night of too much drinking I saw an ambulance at my house, I ran home as fast as I could. Then my fear became reality, mom tried to commit suicide. She didn't succeed but still. The people from the hospital told me she messed herself so much up that she won't be able to live a so called 'normal' life again. I sat at my mother bed in the hospitals for days. I just couldn't let go I was about to lose her too. After 2 weeks in the hospital I got news that they would take my mom to a 'special' institute. They told me I should let go of her, 'she wouldn't recognize you anymore anyway' they said. I went home, I felt distraught inside.
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The wrong people
On yet another drinking day of drinking I apparently met the wrong people. I woke up at a strange place, in room I've never seen before. The door opened and I saw a black figure stepping in. When he entered the light of the room I didn't recognize him. He was wearing a gun on his belt and he told me to get up because I had to see someone. I got up while asking myself where I got myself into now. I was led to a room where a few guys were sitting around a table, they told me if I wanted a drink and that I should sit down, because they had something important to say.
When I sat down I looked back at the guy at the door, he was standing there like a really 'though' guy, like I would try to run? I didn't know what was going on so wanted to hear what these people wanted to say, what they call 'important'. They all looked very serious. The middle man started to talk, he asked: 'Your name is Carrie correct?' I answered with a short yes. Then he asked: ''and your surname in Dababi, correct?'. Again I answered with a short yes. The guy on the left started smiling a bit and said he found it a pretty funny name combination. The middle guy told him to shut up then he turned to me and asked if I knew anyone with the name Andrew Dababi. I started to get a bit confused and I answered: 'Yes that is my dad his name, do you know him?'. The middle guy frowned while the right one got some sort of evil smile on his face. The middle guy lend a bit forward and said: 'You think your dad is dead right? Due to some so called pirate raid on his convoy, well I'm here to tell you that never happened, in fact the whole raid on that convoy never took place, let alone your father being onboard! Yes your father is actually still alive'' I interrupted him and I said: 'Are you serious?! Where is he, I want to see him!' Then the guy banged on the table telling me to shut up and listen then he resumed: 'Yes he is alive, but we had some issues with him, he owes us a lot of money, and don't you even ask why, you do not need to know that!'
I was surprised yet happy and also scared to what has happened to my dad. These folks here don't look like they have any good intentions. I felt really strange. The guy resumed: 'Now since he has it's dept and he told us he couldn't pay us on the terms we had given him we picked you up. You are going to work for us' I was a bit shocked when he said that, what kind of work could he possibly mean, I wished it wasn't anything too bad. He resumed: 'You may wonder what kind of work, however don't worry it's not too bad, we want you to deliver a few things for us. We will give you your own ship and the goods are already loaded up. We actually want you out in space in half an hour! There will be someone at your ship and he will tell you the what, where and when things. But I'm warning you, if you try to get away with that ship well that would be a big mistake. We know we can find you!'
So I was to deliver some goods, this shouldn't be too bad I guess. Although the 'we know where to find you' part kind of scared me. Tracing a ship should be easy yes, but would they really be in such a organisation with eyes and ears everywhere? And what did my dad have to do with these people anyway? The guy resumed: 'Here' He shoved a box to me and said 'You'll find you pilot suite in there, go pull it on and get to the shipbay as fast as you can alright?' I looked at the box, so they are really giving me a ship?" I said: 'Any place I can pull this on?' The 2 guys started to grins while the middle guy kept a serious face, the left guy said 'You can do it right here in front of us' were they serious, I mean what? I said: 'Isn't there a more private place' The middle guy answered: 'No, now we do not have all day, pull it on and get to the ship! Jack will bring you there.' He made a little wave with his arm in the direction of the guy who was still standing at the door. I guess that was Jack, the only name I heard so far, these people are such a mystery, I sighted and then pulled out my shirt, I felt them looking at me. I just wanted to get this over with so I quickly pulled out my jeans and opened the box with the suite. There was a still new red looking suit. I tried it on, it still felt new and it wasn't really easy to get into. While I was trying to get it on I heard the left guy say: 'Boss, doesn't that just look to good to let it just slip by?' Their boss, the guy in the middle told him to shut up and that we were in a hurry already.
Finely I got it on. It was a pretty tight suit. It barely fits. The guy in the middle waved at Jack and Jack opened the door while saying 'after you miss'. I walked to the door and Jack showed me the way to the ship. There was the guy already waiting for me. The vessel wasn't that big and pretty basic. He told me it was called a 'Ki' since it's small and agile it would be perfect for the job he said. Whatever you do though do not open the packages in the cargo hold. They is no need for you to know what is in them. This made me think it was some illegal stuff for sure. It just can't be anything good. But I wanted to get out of this mess and see my father, if what that guy told me was true. If he is alive then I will find him! I got into the cockpit felt my way around with the controls, which weren't that hard actually. It was even more basic than those Ferry shuttles I flew.
I asked the guy who was explaining things about the ship: 'Where should I deliver these things anyway and who do I contact?' He answered: 'Well I will first join you outside and we will talk about that, You are cleared to launch, but remember what has been said, do not try to run!' I shaked my head a little and closed the cockpit. I launched from the base, outside it was pretty bright, I thought it was a base, but it seemed to be a big ship. A Pelgrim Liner if I recall correctly.
While I was looking around me I saw a second ship undock. It was the guy who prepped my ship. He told me to get into formation, he would explain it along the way. When we were in cruise he started to explain me what to do. “This little delivery shouldn’t be too hard. We are now heading to Barrier Base where I will be landing, you however have to delivery what is in your cargo bay to Ames Research station. When you get there do not unload the goods yourself, head to the bar instead. There will be someone waiting. You will recognize him on a few things, he should be in the far left corner of the bar, tall, brown, long hair. Contact him and tell you his delivery arrived. If there is anything else we want you to ship for us he will know and tell you. You got it so far?” I replied that I understood, however I still had a bad feeling about the whole idea I’m working for some sort of smuggling party. In the distance I could see the Barrier base arising from the nebula. “Alright, we are nearly at Barrier, you have everything you needed to know, Good luck, and do not mess this up!” I replied with: “I think I got it, I won’t mess this up!” “Good” he said and docked straight away.
Now I was in my ship alone supposed to deliver some package at Ames. It’s strange how some things go. I check my navigation map to plot my path. I noticed it had a lot uploaded into it. I was glad to see it contained a lot of jump holes. If I stick to those I shouldn’t get to much issues with police about this ‘special package’. I set course for the Cortez system, From there to California and then to Kepler via Ontario and Colorado. I can do this! I thought. While I was cruising I was going over what all just actually happened. Then it appeared to me, I’m flying alone right? There is no one following me or looking over me. What if I could just get away? Although they might track this ship. What if I could just get rid of this ship? This sounds really too easy. There is the jump hole already. There we go Cortez, now to the California jump hole. After some flying and seeing barely anyone except for a few Lane Hackers and a few Liberty rogues freighter parties. They didn’t seem to care about me, perhaps it was my ship? Maybe they know it already or something. Well as long as they don’t care I think I should be fine. It is such a strange feeling, to see the other side of society.
The trip went really smooth and I was soon jumping to Kepler via a jump hole in Colorado. Now to Ames and then I need to find this guy in the bar. When I was in cruise heading towards Ames I suddenly heard “Hey! You there please stop your vessel” It made me freak out a bit, I looked to the rear and noticed 2 bounty hunter vessels. I immediately cut my cruise engines off. I didn’t want this to get messed up now that I’m this close to Ames. These are Bounty hunters anyway, nothing they could earn from me right? “Good now that you have stopped would you mind if we scanned you?” is what the hunter said. “uhm.. No no, I don’t mind” I replied, I was still a bit scared that I overlooked something, what if they are after this package? Oh, this is something I overlooked. I saw the bounty board some time ago in the time of my shuttle pilot days. While I was browsing at home after a day of work and a Liberty rogue encounter. There was a bounty on smugglers, and if these goods are really illegal which is something I wouldn’t be surprised by. “You are all clean miss, nothing important for us” the Hunter said. These word were such a relief. Perhaps they didn’t notice these goods or maybe they aren’t illegal at all? I better get Ames quick. I suppose this guy is waiting for me. I told the hunter goodbye and engaged my cruise engines.
Finely I arrived at Ames. When my ship was completely docked I open the cockpit. Two zoners asked if they could help me load and unload or if I needed any equipment. I told them I was all fine and just needed to know the way to the bar. The Zoners seemed to be a really nice bunch of people. Living their indecency and all that. They showed me the way to the bar. When I walked into the bar I looked around to see if anyone was looking like the guy that I was supposed to find. But no one here that came even close to the description. “That is odd” I told myself. Then someone bumped into my from the rear and I felt a big hand on my shoulder. I turned around and there you had him, the tall, long brown hairy guy.
“I guess you are the girl they send me to delivery my stuff?” he said with his dark voice. “Yes, that’s me. Your ehm.. stuff is still in my ship.” I replied “Good to hear, I’ll send some men to unload it, I want you to stay here on Ames for a while, we have a new job for you. But it isn’t ready yet.” “Okay, I’ll wait here in the bar or something, how long would it take before it’s ready?” “A couple of hours, shouldn’t take too long. Thanks for delivering it so soon.” “No problem.. uhm” “My name is Jacob.” “Oh, Jacob. I guess it’s nice to meet you, my name is Carrie.”
Even though he looked like a pretty scary guy, with his long dark hair a scar on his face and being so quite muscular . But I had this feeling he wasn’t a bad person though. “Well nice to meet you Carrie, I think we will see each other a lot more if you are really assigned as this new delivery woman” “I guess I am yes, I’ll wait here in the bar and I’ll hear from you when you are done reloading my ship with whatever you need to be shipped, do you already know where is has to go?” “This time you would be going to delivery something to the Liberty Rogues” “The liberty Rogues? Does my ship have the right docking permissions loaded into the software?” “No worries about that, your ship can actually come almost anymore without getting to noticed, which is why it is excellent for doing these ‘special’ deliveries for us” “I guess it’s alright then, who should I contact on the Rogue base and what Rogue base?” “Dawson base in the Hudson systems. It should be easy to reach when you know where it is. It’s location is also uploaded into you navigationsystems” “Alright sounds good but I have this question, Ca- can I fly passed police checks without problems with this kind of cargo?”
He chuckled a bit when I asked it. I wasn’t really sure if I should have asked it, maybe they didn’t like me to know too much. “Since the vessel isn’t too big and quantities of the goods isn’t really that much either, so you should be able to slip passed patrols and scan since the Police mostly only checks on the bigger vessels, however if you get scanned they can indeed stop you for owning illegal goods, because they are illegal according to the authorities. So it is risky to use the normal lane routes but it is way much quicker.” “Alright, and what if I would be caught for some reason?” I said. “Run, do not let the goods get into the authorities their hands or better do not let these goods get into anyone their hands. When they do actually catch you. Then you are to destroy these goods and hope for the best for yourself. But keep in mind we won’t send anyone to come and help you. You will be on your own. Pretty much always actually.” “So when caught I have to run and when I’m really caught that I can’t see a way out then I have to destroy these goods. Okay I wi-“ He interrupted me to say… “You do know you should not talk about this to anyone right?” “uhm, Ye- Yes I know, I won’t talk to anyone about this sort of work or what I do” “Good! But I have to be going to prepare your goods I will talk to you in around 2 hours” “Okay, I will wait here in the bar” “I almost forgot, here is a bit of money if you want to buy yourself a drink” “Ow, wow, thanks Jacob.” I actually then noticed I had nothing anymore. No money, no home no nothing. I never actually stood still with the thought I lost about everything now. It seems I’m stuck with my ship now “Don’t tell people I gave you some money though, they do not need to know that. But I really have to be going now!” “Alright see you in a bit”
I walked to the bar to get me a drink. Although when I wanted to ask for a beer I thought, ‘what am I doing?’ Since this beer actually seems to have gotten me into this situation. If I didn’t drink that much that night I would likely have known how they actually found me and got me with them. I think I’ll just order a glass of water. When I sat at a table I was going over what has happened and I couldn’t stop thinking of my dad. That he could still be alive, it’s just so unreal.
I yawned while I looked up at the ceiling. I wondered, How long am I doing this job now, 4 months? Perhaps it’s been longer already. Well it has been quite a while but it doesn’t look like I’ve made any progress in earning anything except the few things I manage to sell by myself to people I meet. All my questions about my dad and how long or how much this dept is I need to repay they seem to evade. I can’t stand this. It feels like they are using me forever. And I can believe they actually are managing that. If I could just see my father, even it was for a few seconds. Just to check if he was okay. Just to be sure he is alive! This is making me mad, all the things I don’t know, working with things I barely know anything about. I turned myself around to try and get rid of all the thoughts. I really need to get some sleep. They asked me to be fresh for a new delivery. It would be a very long trip they said.
The next morning I was up early and already doing some checkups on my ship, although I wasn’t just doing the conventional checks. I was looking for something, yes I was looking for something that looked like a tracking device of some sort. Yesterday while I was trying to get some sleep I decided I wanted to escape from this madness. And if I could get it done I would go and search my father on my own. Perhaps I could even go the Liberty navy, maybe they can help me out. I wasn’t yet sure about that step. My trust in the Liberty authorities is pretty damaged after the LPI lied. If they even lied. I don’t know what to believe anymore. One thing I know for sure and that is that I’m going to get out of here! While searching my ship I finely found something unusual. Behind one of the ground doors I found something odd. Some sort of strange device. I picked it up and I noticed it had a little touchpad. When I tapped the screen went online and it didn’t take me to long to find out it was the device I was looking for. Although getting rid of the it manually via the system it used was just too difficult for me. So I thought I’ll do it the simple way. Smash it! Although not now, if it for some reason sends out a emergency signal then they would catch me right here. So I’ll have to do it while I’m back in space. I placed the device back on its original location and I closed the hatch.
Well here we go, the trip of my life perhaps. It will be all or nothing now. Everything is loaded up and ready to go. Destination is set on Planet Cambridge. From Ames once again, Ames was actually starting to feel like home. I’ve been here so many times in the last few months. I guess I’ll have to say it goodbye for quite a while. All systems look good, time to head for the Colorado jump hole. The whole trip will be jump holes and more jump holes again. Since they told me these goods were way to valuable to be even seen by the authorities. Although I will make a ‘unplanned’ stop at Mactan base in Magellan. I contacted a Lane Hacker who was willing to help me clean my ship systems up, perhaps some bugs in the system that were implanted by those guys for tracking purposes, even though I doubt they did that you can never be too sure about it. When I’m done at Mactan I will head to Leeds, then the moment of truth. I’ll heading to the Cambridge Jump hole and when I’m there I will sma- wait a second I could simply eject it too? I’ll do that, I will eject it there. Then I have to get my arse to the Dublin Jump hole and then to Omega 47, where I have my hiding address planned.
After some time of flying and without too much problems along the way I reached Mactan base. Now I need to get my ship checked really quick. Let’s hope the Lane Hacker is already waiting. Jake Logan is his name. He’s is a pretty nice guy. He seems to not care much about anything and puts his time in his hacking work and stuff like that. He seems to be very committed to it. Alright, time to dock, here we go. Once docked I saw him already waiting. I rushed a bit and I climbed out of my, “You know what to Jake”. “Yes yes, I know. Let’s take a look this shouldn’t take that long.”
Jake plugged in some wires in my ships consol and into his computer he was holding. I looked at his screen and I saw only tons and tons of numbers and codes and things passing, Computers are really not my thing, just by looking at it makes me dizzy. 15 minutes later I started to feel a bit uncomfortable. “Jake, how much longer is this going to take?” “I’m doing my last few checks and then it should be done give me 2 more minutes, Carrie.” “Okay, Okay, I really want to be going again.” “Yes I understand I’m doing my best!” Jake kept tabbing on his little computer. “Here I’m done, I didn’t find anything though. But to make sure I didn’t miss anything I have installed a little something which should be able to trace anything that is trying to transmitted unwanted signals” “Oh, Thank you Jake!”
I hugged and kissed him on his lips. I did it out a reaction and had no idea why I actually did it like that. Jake looked really surprised at me. I blushed when I noticed what I just did. “Uhm, sorry about th- that Jake, I didn’t meant to- too” “It, It is okay.” He replied a bit confused. “You should be ready to go now, you have to hurry now. I might see you somewhere in the future and you can tell me how it all went.” “I will do that Jake. And Thanks!! Thanks a lot Jake!” I hopped back into my cockpit. I wanted to close my cockpit then Jake said, “I almost forgot to tell you. I managed to hack into that little device you found under the ground hatch. I played with it a little. When you eject it type: Byebye as the login code. It will stay active for 24hrs and then it will be shut down. I suppose it will give the guys searching some funny thoughts” He grinned a little while saying that. “Oh, Jake how can I ever thank you?!” “By making it out of here and this mess without getting yourself harmed, I’ll try to find some info about your father as I mentioned before” “We’ll be in touch Jake, thanks again. Bye Bye” “Bye Carrie!”
I closed my cockpit door and launched into space. That Jake has really done a awesome job. Now I just have to get to Leeds eject the damned tracking device and then get out! Although it’s going pretty smooth so far. I don’t it is a good idea to say that up loud. Ah well, here we go towards the Leeds jump hole.
When I was cruising in Leeds towards the Cambridge jump hole I prepared the device in the ejection bay. I typed ‘Byebye’ in the login screen and it said ‘accepted’. I guess that’s it, in 24hrs this thing is going to blackout. Here we are, at the Cambridge Jump Hole. I got back into my seat and pushed at the jettison button. I saw the device drifting away through the Nebula. I kept watching at it for a while. While I looked at it I thought, ‘there goes my so called ‘delivery job’. Now that nobody can trace me anymore I might as well check out what I am actually shipping here. I set the autopilot on the Dublin Jump hole. From there I would go to Omega 47 and then land on Planet Gran Canaria. While my ship went in the direction of the Dublin jump hole I got out my seat and grabbed a crowbar to see if I could open these boxes. The lock was actually really easy to open. I opened the box and I saw a lot of weapons and ammunition. And not just a few. These looked pretty high-tech too. I grabbed one of the pistols out of the box and I noticed it was one of the Liberty Navies regular sidearms. ‘No wonder they didn’t want me to use the trade lanes with these things’ I said to myself. I guess I should actually open all boxes in case of any tracking bugs in them, which I only think of right now actually. I opened all the boxes and emptied them all on the ground. ‘Phew, nothing that looks like some sort of tracer or whatever.’ ‘oh here we are already at the Dublin Jump hole.’ I got back into my seat and steered my ship into the Jump Hole. “So far so Good”. Once arrived in Dublin is was around the Hood, and passed the Sun, then around the annoying minefield and asteroid fields where the Mollies live in and then I should be at the Jump Hole to Omega 49.
Here we are Omega 49, a little bit of heaven in space. At least so I’ve been told. And it sounds and looks true, very true actually. It’s bright and silent with an very, very beautiful planet between all the Nebula’s that come from the ‘big Barrier’ nebula’s. I inserted the coordinates that should be the location of Gran Canaria. While in cruise speed, I tried to relax a bit. I leaned back a little and thought that I had actually managed it. Well not all by myself, but still I’m ‘free’ again. When I reach Gran Canaria I’ll be heading to my Hotel and have a good sleep, I’m so tired. I might as well try to get rid of all this equipment that is all over the place in my cargobay.
There we are. Gran Canaria, my new home for now. I touched down near my Hotel on a landing pad. I left my equipment and stuff in my ship, locked it and went straight to the Hotel. I should have enough money to stay here for at least a month or so. Money earned from trading some goods between pilots and business people, while I had the time that is. When I had time to relax between some trips this is what I did to take a bit better care for myself. Right, checked-in at the Hotel called ‘blue heaven’. I guess the name fits, a day like today and the sky is very bright and light blue. Time to get to my room and get some sleep! I’ll pick up the rest of my stuff tomorrow. Once in bed I fall asleep straight away.
I yawned and stretched myself, half sleep drunk I walked to the bathroom shaking from side to side. ‘Life is good!’ I said to myself. Tomorrow I’ll be moving into my own new home. Finely out of this Hotel, even though the service here is great but having something for yourself always feels different and perhaps also better than hiring something right?
It has been 1 week now since I arrived on Gran Canaria, I got me a job in jewellery in the meantime, tomorrow my first day. They said they really needed a pair of extra hands as soon as possible. Hmm I can’t wait, finely a proper job again.
I cleaned myself up and went for my daily jogging around the park, I plugged in my music and locked my room before leaving. Another beautiful day here, except for that 1 rainy day the weather here has been really good. Perfect for jogging. I made my own route through the park. After jogging back to the Hotel I took a shower and then some tinkering with my little ship. In the days I flew my ‘Ki’ I really started to like it more and more, even though it’s so basic. But the ‘basic’ part will be changed if I get these new engines I bought fixed and installed into it. The dealers here seemed to be asking nice prices for what they sell. Way much cheaper than all the stuff I saw at planet Manhattan.
“phew” I arrived at my ship after the jogging, oh I have to catch my breath. I sat down on a chair with a bottle of water. Then somebody knocked on the door,“That has to be my new engines being delivered. Oh I can’t wait” I said to myself. I was right here were my new engine parts, now just having to place my signature. There we go. “Have fun with them madam” the delivery boy said. “Oh I will do that for sure!” I answered him and I closed the door a bit harsh, woops I thought to myself. Ah well time to get this installed.
I arrived back at my hotel. “My last night here. I can’t wait to get into my new house. Well time for a shower and then to bad. I’m exhausted.” Those engines were putting up a fight against me to get it all fixed into the right position. But I got it done. I threw my cloths in a corner and got under the shower, I couldn’t get tomorrow out of my head. One step closer to my, in some way, new life.
While I was having a shower I thought I heard someone knock on the door, but at this time and who could it be? I closed the shower to listen a bit better if there was really someone at the door. There was the knocking again. “Hmm, strange” I got out of the shower threw a towel around me and I walked to the door. I looked through the little glass in in the door. I saw 4 men standing, one knocked again and then said something unbearable to one of the guys behind him. “We know you are in there Carrie!” One of the guys suddenly said. When I heard that I shocked and moved back speechless.
“The- They found me?! How can this be?” My heart started pounding like mad. What should I do now. I’m not going to open that door! I grabbed a chair and pushed it against the door in a way the door would be harder to open. I ran back to the bathroom and got dressed as fast as I could. The knocking started to get a bit more aggressive and louder. “Carrie! Open the frigging door!” I tried to ignore it. I was packing as much things as I could fine, clothes, food and some of my personal stuff like a picture of my mom and dad. “Carrie! Just open the door!” I heard them banging really hard on the door now. I finely got the ‘most’ important stuff packed into my backpack. I ran the balcony of my room. It was already dark outside. I heard the door cracking when they started ramming it. “Carrie!” One was yelling. I looked around the gardens behind the Hotel under my balcony, my heart kept pounding faster and faster. I looked behind me at the door then it collapsed and 2 guys were tumbling into my room. One grabbed a pistol from his jacket and tried to point it at me. I have to jump now or I’ll be too late! I turned around to the edge of the balcony which was located 4 high. I swung my body over the edge while holding my hands on the railing. That is a bit higher then I thought it would be! Two guys ran towards the balcony while another pair of guys guarded the door. I looked up and I saw one of the trying to grab my hands, then I let go.
I fall down while I tried to land on the 3rd floor balcony. My right slipped over the railing on the balcony under mine, I managed to grab the railing with both arms too. While I was balancing on the side of the balcony I looked down to the ground. “to- to- too high!” I heard the guys shouting at each other to get down stairs, the guy who barely missed my hands hung with half of his body over the railing. “Carrie, don’t run! You won’t get away!” I rolled my body over the railing into the balcony and I ended up laying on the floor. I saw him pointing a gun at me. I looked him into his eyes for a short moment while catching my breath. “Don’t make me shoot you now Carrie it’s not worth it” he said to me. I looked to my left and I saw two people who were just some hotel guests. They both stared at me with a frightened look on their faces. I looked back towards the guy who has the gun aimed at me. I got up from the floor slowly while he kept his gun aimed at me. “I… I… am not going anywhere now” I told him. I looked into the room again and I noticed the door to the hallway standing a little open. I went for, I ran towards the door as fast as I could. The guy didn’t fire, “Carrie don’t! oh come on!” he seemed to also run back to the hallway on the 4th floor.
When I was in the hallway I ran to one of the emergency exit stairways. I ran down as fast as I could. I heard the guys behind me shouting at each other to hurry up. I rammed the door on the ground floor open. I nearly fall when I came crashing into the lobby. I noticed everybody was looking really surprised at me, pretty obvious actually. I kept running to the exit doors, already getting out of my bearth. I heard the guys behind me coming down the main stairs. “Carrie stop!” one yelled at me. They waved their guns around towards all the people in the lobby to keep them at bay.
When I barged through the exit I saw two guys who seemed to have been waiting outside coming towards me. One grabbed a gun and aimed it towards me. I knew there was no way out now. I heard the guys behind me coming through the exit, still yelling “stop her!” Now I had 4 guys behind me and 2 in front of me. Several had their guns drawn at me. One of the two guys who was waiting outside I recognized. It was the guy they called boss when they were explaining me the first job onboard of that Pilgrim liner.
“Okay, you got me I’m not going anywhere!” I told them “Boss, we got her” One of the guys behind me said. “Do you really think I’m blind, Harry?” “No, no of course not boss, my bad” “Just shut up already. Carrie, did you really think you could away this easy?” their so called boss said. “Uhm… uhm” I was completely speechless. “Okay people lets clean this up, we have already drawn enough attention” He moved his head in the direction of the Lobby where several people could be seen watching. Then the ‘Boss’ grabbed a sort of stick out of his jacket. It appeared to be some sort of taser-stick. “This might be going to hurt a little Carrie” “What… no wa-“ before I knew it he struck me with the stick. I felt the shock coming from the stick, but shortly after I blacked out.
When I woke up. I was in a dark room with a faint light on. I felt an intense pain all over my body. I noticed I had quite some bruises spread all over my body, and I'm I was... I was naked?! I pulled the bed sheets together around me in a hasty reaction. I looked around the room, I noticed a few of my cloths laying around. Then I heard some noise coming from a corner of the room. I was a bit frightened of what it was. Then suddenly Jacob, the guy who helped me out on my first trip popped up from behind some sheets where he was laying under, he looked tired. He stared at me for a bit while I looked at him very surprised.
'Ja- Ja- Jacob?!' 'Carrie, you were so awesome, even when though I think you can't remember too much.'
He chuckled. I looked at him and then turned my attention to my own body. 'You... You mean'' 'Yep'
he said while staring at me with his sleepyhead. 'What?!'
I grabbed the closest object I could find and I threw it in to his direction. 'Oh you missed, Carrie. Don't become mad now' 'You want me to stay calm?'
I got up and ran into his direction and I sold him a clap in his face 'Auch, you know that, that actually hurts?'
He said while staring at my body, then he looked back at my face and he grinned. In my anger I forgot about me being naked. I turned red and I grabbed the blanket where Jacob was laying under. I then noticed he wasn't wearing anything either. I stared at him for a few seconds in shock. 'Now look what you did!'
He said while he looked down. 'Out, OUT!'
I yelled at him. 'huh, this isn't even your room, why don't you leave?'
I couldn't stand this. This idiot! I pulled him up and pushed him in the direction of the door. He wasn't resisting in any way. He lend with one arm against the door and then smiled at me. 'Okay, you win. I'll leave'
He opened the door and walked out while greeting someone in the hallway. I was confused, stunned, speechless. The guy on the hallway looked at a bit funny at Jacob while he was walking through the hallway. 'I see you had some fun'
He chuckled a bit 'Ah ye, I've had a lot of fun!'
Jacob chuckled while saying it 'I'm going back to my cabin, will you take lock the door for me?'
Jacob asked to the guy in the hallway. The guy in the hallway then looked in the room with me still standing there holding a blanket around me. He smiled and the closed the door and he locked it. 'Did he lock it?'
I wondered and walked up to the door and tried to push it open. Not much success it was clearly locked. I turned around and checked the room again. What a mess I looked around the ceiling and then I noticed a camera and then a second camera. The room seemed to be having 3 cameras as far as I could see. 'They'¦ used me and there were cameras watching?! I can't believe this! '
I grabbed all my clothes I could find and pulled them on. I was missing a sock and my shirt. I noticed the guy left his clothes too. So I decided to pull on his shirt it was way too big though. I laid down on the bed while staring at the ceiling. I just couldn't believe this mess. While I laid at the bed, I felt the pain returning. I forgot about it when I got mad at that guy. I noticed several bruises all over my body, I felt the pain in nearly every muscle. Those people were sick! I felt mentally and physically broken. I tried to get me some sleep, but all the thoughts about what has happened kept running around in my mind. I had no idea where I was too. Just locked up in some room.
That night I hardly got any sleep. When I finely did get my eyes closed I woke up shortly after because of a nightmare. So the whole night went passed. Fall asleep then getting woken up by those annoying dreams. While the night passed I kept trying to sleep, I just want to forgot all this.
That morning I woke up. A tiny bundle of light was falling through the room from the tiny window. I figured I couldn't be in space, but the guy did say cabin. I got up and again the pain struck me. I struggled to get to the water tap that was on the wall. I filled a little can next to the tap with water and drank it up as fast as I could. I looked up in the mirror that hung above the tap. I waved my hair backwards. I noted that my left eye and forehead had a couple of bruises. I threw some water in my face to wake up a bit better. I sighed,'What a mess.'
I tried cleaning myself up as best as I could. When I washed myself a bit I sat on the edge of the bed. I blamed myself for being so stupid to even try and getting away. How stupid was I to think they wouldn't catch me? And then to go and find my dad? Now that I think about it, there people seem to be the only ones I know that know something about my father. I wonder if Jake already knows that they caught me again. But he said he checked everything on my ship for tracing bugs or whatever there could be to trace my ship. And I also dropped the device I already found that was a possible tracking device. What could I have forgotten. I also went all the to Gran, Could they have people there too? I sighed, the more I think about the more questions I get and answers? No, no answers, this is ridicules.
I looked at the floor and I noticed a little ball. Then the ball suddenly rolled a little bit to the left and now it rolled off a bit to the right. That's funny, could I be onboard of some sort of a sea ship? I looked up at the tiny window in top of the room. I walked towards it to see if I could look through it. The window appeared to be a bit too high for me to look through. I looked around to see if I could find a chair or anything. 'ah, there is a chair' I picked it up and sat it down under the window. I could barely watch through the window. I was standing on my toes, there I could see an ocean, water just water with a bright sunrise above the horizon. It looked so pretty, I looked at the waves of the ocean passing by the ship I was on. "A ship which was floating on a big ocean. But where exactly?" I watched the sun climbing the sky. I just stood there watching it for a while admiring it. Then suddenly I heard someone opening the door, before I got of the seat there were already two men in the room. One of them was Jacob.
'Carrie, admiring the open ocean I see?'
Jacob said with a grins on his face. 'Ehm'¦ y- yes.'
I replied while wondering what actually happened to Jacob. He used to be so friendly when we first met. 'Babe, would you please turn around with your face to the wall?'
The second guy said. 'Ehh, what?'
I didn't really get what he meant. 'Just do it! And keep your hands behind your back alright?'
He sighed while he grabbed a pair of handcuffs out of his jacket. 'Okay, okay!'
I turned around to the wall. I was a bit frightened by thinking what they might be planning to do now. 'Good'
The guy said and walked to me closed the handcuffs around my wrists. 'Ey, auch not so tight!'
It looked like he closed them as far as he could. 'Quit the whining Carrie, now time to have a walk"
He grabbed my arm a bit roughly and pushed me to the door. 'Follow me Carrie'
Jacob said and he lead the way out of the room through the hallway. The other guy grabbing me by the arm and pushing me after Jacob. Us 3 walked to the stairs. While we walked up I looked up between all the stairs to the top of the ship. This ship is huge, I thought while looking up. 'Keep walking Carrie'
The guy said again while giving me another push in the back. 'I'm going, I'm going! Jezzz'
He was starting to get really annoying now. 'Calm down Andrew, we got time'
Jacob said while looking at his watch. We were going up at least 10 floors before reaching the deck where they were taking me. I lost my breath from all the stairs. 'You got no stamina, Carrie?'
Andrew chuckled. I looked at him with angry face 'Ha-ha! Don't get mad at me Carrie, this was your own fault anyway' 'What, My fault?!'
I got really pissed off, I kicked him right in his nuts. 'And that was your fault!'
I yelled at him. He went down straight away. 'You bi- auch -itch'
He yelled back while he struggled to get back on his feet again. Then Jacob turned around and walked to me in a pretty fast phase. 'Carrie!'
He pushed me against the wall. 'Don't go act even more foolish now!'
Jacob said on a angry tone, while he kept me again the wall with his right arm. 'Are you alright Andrew?'
Jacob asked. 'Ye, yeh I'm fine, damn it'
Andrew replied while looking at me very angered. 'Alright, now let's move and don't go then'
Jacob said while releasing from the wall. He led the way to the end of the hallway where there were again, stairs. I followed him with Andrew behind me, but at least he wasn't pushing me around anymore. We entered the stairway and I looked up. This ship is really, really huge! I thought to myself. 'Alright not to many decks to go, don't worry'
Jacob said while looking at me and Andrew who was still walking a bit odd due to his pain. We went up another 5 floors. There were no stairs left. We entered a short corridor. On the end I saw some the sunlight falling into the corridor from the room behind it. We walked towards the room. When we got closer I noticed it had to be the bridge of the ship. Jacob stood still at the entrance of the bridge.
'After you, Carrie'
He said with a smile on his face and then looking at Andrew who still wasn't able to stand up straight. I stepped into the room where I saw some people who looked like the crew members, one was looking through the binoculars towards the horizon and a couple of other people were sitting behind computers. In the middle of the bridge there was a pretty big seat. 'Ehm, Boss, here is Carrie'
Jacob said. The middle seat turned around. 'He-he, Carrie, girl. I hope they didn't hurt you too much eh.'
The boss said. I looked away when he said that. Andrew came struggling into the room again and he tried to stand up straight again, while trying to keep a serious face. 'Are you alright there Andrew? You look a bit, strange?' 'I'm alright boss!'
Jacob chuckled when Andrew said that. 'Right, Carrie I got a few questions for you. First off, what the hell were you thinking that you could leave like that?!'
The tone he said it sounded very serious and with a bit of anger in his voice too. 'I'm... I... I don't know what to say'
I really didn't know what to tell him. 'if you don't know why did you try to run off at all then?' 'I just wanted to get away from this, uncertainty that your 'jobs' give me. I don't know what I'm doing every day, I don't know how much jobs I have to do, to actually repay my dad's debts. Hell I don't even know how much debts he has with you anyway. Neither do I know where my dad is and how he is doing!' 'hehe, quite a list there Carrie. Too bad for you I can't answer most of that. You are really doing us a big favour with these deliveries. So the debts should be repaid before you know it. About your dad, well he's alright.' 'Don't tell me he's alright, tell me where he is!' 'Hey, don't you put such tone again me! We don't want you to get hurt again now do we?'
I heard Jacob laughing behind me when he said that. 'I.. I'm sorry'
I looked to the ground in shame. 'Jacob why don't you just stop laughing eh?'
The boss said. 'Sorry boss'
He said while trying to hold his laugh. 'Anyway Carrie. So you ran because you wanted to never see your dad again?' 'No, no I really want to see him.' 'Well if you run you won't get to see him. Also when you try such joke again it will turn out worse than it did now. And then it also won't be just you who gets it ugly, then we will also pay your dadie a visit. I bet you don't want to get harmed, right?' 'Don't Don't hurt my dad! And... ehm I'm very sorry, I won't run again!' 'Very good Carrie, very good. So I was wondering did you figure out how we found you?' 'uhm, no I got no clue'
He grinned when I said it. 'Well I have to say the effort you actually put into your escape was a bit stunning. Really well done. But clearly not good enough. You see I liked the part where we found a device floating in space, you know the one of your ship. But only the device, not your ship. I really had a good laugh there.' 'You liked it?'
I felt like I had a lump in my throat 'Of course, of course. Because your effort to deceive us was in vain anyway.'
He laughed and Jacob and Andrew started to laugh with him. I didn't want to hear this. They are making me go insane! 'Anyway Carrie, really I had a good time to relocate you. The funny thing was that we could have caught you earlier but I told my boys to give you a little 'holiday'. You've done so much for us already. You really deserved it.' 'jezz, well thanks'
I rolled my eyes, what a jerk. 'So are you ready to do you work again?' 'Do I have a choice then?' 'Of course you ha- don't! What are you thinking, that we would all go and hug you when you just tried to fool us?' 'I..I'm sorry' 'You better be. We are done talking now. You will leave again tomorrow 0600. Andrew will tell you the details.' I turned myself around to Andrew. He finely managed to stand up straight again. He looked very surprised when his boss told him he had to explain me the job details. 'Uhm... boss, could Jacob to that? I eh... need to do something else.'
Andrew said 'What's wrong with you Andrew?'
his boss said. I looked back at the boss while giggling a bit. I saw the boss tilt his head a little when he saw me giggle. 'Ow I get it' The boss said it while laughing. 'I'm sure Jacob would be able to do it too, Andrew. Just so that you can have a bit you quality time for yourself.' 'Thanks boss!'
Andrew said. 'Andrew mail me the details then so that I can look into them before I tell Carrie.'
Jacob said. 'Sure, I'll do that, thanks man!'
Andrew replied. 'Okay bring her back to her cabin guys, she needs to get a rest before she goes back flying again.' 'Sure boss.'
Jacob grabbed my to turn me around and bring me back to the stairs. 'Don't treat her to bad guys! She's already been through enough.'
The boss yelled while we walked through the corridor. I was surprised he actually said that. Does he actually care? I sighted and walked down the stairs after Jacob with Andrew behind. I found it pretty funny that he was now not being so harsh anymore.
'Jacob, I'm going to my cabin to send you the details, alright? Can you handle Carrie alone?'
Andrew said. 'Of course I can handle her alone, I already did anyway. But sure go send me the details.'
Jacob said. 'Wow it's really hard to handle a unconscious girl'
Andrew said on a teasing tone. 'Ow would you shut up! Just send me the details so that I got time to read through them.'
These frigging idiots I was thinking. I still can't believe they actually used me. 'Alright be seeing you Jacob'
Andrew took a left into a different corridor. This place looked like one big maze. 'Come on Carrie keep walking we don't have all day'
Jacob gave me a push in the direction of the next stairs. 'Quit doing that already!'
I yelled at him, he was really pissing me off! 'owow, what are you going to do? Kick me in the balls too! Now keep walking!'
I sighed and continued walking down the stairs. 'Carrie, just saying I wasn't the only one who had the privilege to spend some time with you'
He chuckled. 'Say what?!'
I was shocked. 'Just like I said. I wasn't the only one'
he smiled. I didn't say anything back. What is this place, only perverts who abuse people when they are unconscious? And then the thought that the one abused was me. Bah just by thinking about it makes me fill ill. 'It's alright Carrie we all enjoyed it'
Jacob said while we walked down the last couple of stairs. 'Would you ever shut up?!'
I said with an angry tone. 'he-he sure girl why not.' 'here we are back at your beautiful cabin'
he said on a bit of a sarcastic tone. 'but oh no, Andrew still has your handcuff's keys. Well I'm too go and get them right now, Sorry Carrie'
He pushed me in the room with me still handcuffed and he shut the door and locked it straight away. 'You can't do this!'
I yelled to him behind the door. 'Sorry Carrie, Can't hear you!'
I heard him yell back while he walked down the corridor away. While whistling a melody. 'Great just great'
I said to myself.
I sat down on the side of the bed looking around the room. Stuck here again only now even handcuffed. I laid down on my side on the bed. It didn't take Jacob to return though. I nearly caught some sleep but then Jacob was already knocking on the door. 'Carrie, are you ready to head out again?'
I hopped off the bed and waited for him to open the door. He opened the door and I noticed Andrew standing behind him again. Jacob waved with some keys. 'I'll release you when we are back at your ship. Come Carrie no time to waste.'
I walked past Jacob while staring a bid angered towards Andrew. Andrew stepped a little step back, while he shrugged towards Jacob. 'Okay follow me Carrie'
Jacob led the way towards the other end of the hallway which ended up in a great hall. With several floors. We walked on one of the balconies of the main hall. And we stopped at one of the few elevators. Jacob pushed a button on the elevator to wait for it he whistled a little melody again. Andrew was standing on the edge of the balcony. Seems like he was a bit fascinated by the hall. Although it looked very big and shiny there weren't a lot of people at all. There a bleep from the elevator indicated it arrived the doors opened. I looked at the amount of floors it would stop. So many buttons. Jacob pushed one of them, even though they didn't have any number or names. 'Andrew are you coming?'
He waved at Andrew while holding his feet between the door to keep the door from closing. 'Ow, yes'
Andrew turned around and quickly got into the elevator. The doors closed and the lift shot up with quite an impressive speed. Jacob looked to the roof at the Elevator while we moved up. 'Carrie, when we un-cuff you, then don't go and try anything foolish, okay?' 'I don't see any reason to.. ehm... do anything stupid anyway'
I shrugged while saying it. 'Good' the elevator reached one of the most upper floors. 'This way'
Jacob said.
We seemed to have ended up in the main hangers of the ship. Quite a few ships around here. I saw some people welding, people moving equipment around a pretty busy place by the looks of it. I followed Jacob with Andrew close behind me. Then there I saw my baby again. My little 'Ki' still looked really good.
'Right, here we are Carrie. Andrew?'
Jacob waved at Andrew to release my handcuffs. Andrew released them. I grabbed my wrists. They had turned a bit blue due to those cuffs being fastened a bit too tight. 'Well thanks for that.'
looked at Andrew still being a bit angry at him. 'Don't mention it'
Andrew said on a bit of a laughing tone but he quickly stopped smiling when I looked a bit angry at him again. 'Right. Now let me explain your little job for today.'
Jacob said. 'I'm listening'
I replied. 'Okay here is what you have to do. We've already loaded up your cargo. 25 crates of weapons, weapons the authorities do not really want to see, if you get what I mean?" 'I think I know what I mean'
I sighed, always the same story. 'This time is different, you're not just going to bring them somewhere. You're going to try and sell them. We will give you a little list of 'advised' prices. Of course when people want to ask more then you sell it for more. You will even get your own little share of the profit actually. You should thank me for that because actually the boss didn't want that but I talked him over.' 'ow, wow Jacob... jezz really thanks then, I guess.' 'hmhm, anyway we don't really care who you sell it to as long as you can show us proof you sold them. People we do not want them to have won't buy them from you anyway. We will give you 24hrs to get rid of the weapons in return of money. If you want a tip, well I'd go to some Freeport. A lot of so called 'underground' people visit it and not to many annoying laws.' 'I'll do my best to ehm... get the job done' 'Great! Your shipped is prepped and ready to go, we even cleaned it up a little. Also there was a little leakage in the engine. We also solved that for you.' 'There was? Hm... I was working on it when you guys suddenly came to pick me up. Well thanks I guess.' 'Well our mechanics were so kind to fix it for you. I even heard they tweaked some things a little, but you'll have to ask them what exactly. Also you might wonder where we actually are right now right? Since we never told you.' 'ehem, I was wondering that yeh.'
I still didn't figure out on what ship or even on which planet we were. 'Well we are on the 'Blue Ocean' ah eh some sort of a ocean cruise liner, but different, this biggie has been totally changed and can now also be used as a landing platform. As you can see what happens here. It's a beauty I'd say' 'I eh... guess you guys must be really rich to effort all this?' 'ow, money well I have 'zero' watch on the finances around here, you would need to ask the boss that, although I think I can give you his answer, 'nothing you need to know, girl!' That would be his answer.'
I sighed. 'Hmm I guess I don't need to know, well ehm... I'm ready to go so can I get my stuff and launch?' 'You really want to get back in to space eh?'
Jacob chuckled. 'well all your personal belonging are in your ship. So you can just get in and take off when you're done. I'll wish you a safe flight, and of course good luck getting these things sold!" 'I think I'll manage.'
I hopped on the stairs to the cockpit and got in, I peaked in the cargo bay to see what kind of 'personal' belongings they left or if everything was still there. And it surprised me. It was all cleaned up, everything was put away nicely and not a mess. It really was a mess when I last saw my ship, hehe. I looked for my pilot suite and equipment, pulled it all on while being in the cargo bay. It's small you can barely even stand up straight. I managed to get all buckled up, pulled on my helmet and got in the pilot seat. Before closing the cockpit I looked over the edge of my cockpit. Andrew and Jacob were discussing something with a guy, didn't know him. "Ey, bye bye!' I waved at them.
Jacob shortly made a wave with his hand not even looking, Andrew didn't even look at all. I sighed and closed the cockpit window. Here we go then. I saw the roof opening up and the bright light from the sky and sun fall into the hangars. I lifted off as soon as I saw the green lights. Here we go again, I thought. I ran my ship a few rounds around the mega ocean liner to get a feeling of the controls again. It really felt like all controls were responding so much better then to what I was used too. It also seems to make better turn and the acceleration, wow it's pretty astounding. I looked out to the right I saw the ocean liner floating in the waves. It's looked so peacefully but if you start thinking of what kind of business is going on in there it's a bit deceiving.
I sighed and set course to space. I better get this one done as fast as I can. 24hrs isn't a lot to sell uhm... illegal weapons. How much do I have to sell anyway? I lend over the side of my seat looking in the back, there were several boxes with yellow stickers stacked on to each other. Then I noticed a list laying next to my council. It was the list with the prices and items. Well items? There was some serious stuff like rifles, tasers, taser sticks, pistols, less lethal and some lethal weapons. And all were... they all were from the navy? I look more closer to the goods description. Yes, it clearly says it's from West point. I wonder how they got their hands on this. I thought. I really need to look out if I pass through Liberty, if I get caught with this I'm doomed, that's for sure.
I reached the waypoint where I had to loiter until I got the word to be allowed to exit this planet and to get to space itself. I read over the papers for some details to make up some sales talk if I want to convince people they are 'proper' guns. Ah there we go permission to exit this ehmm... unknown planet. When I entered space I quickly found out where I was. The Cortez system on planet Curacao. No wonder they were on a Ocean liner. Could it also be owned by the Orbital Spa? I wondered. I think I'll go to Ames first, the people there used to be pretty nice. Now I just have to hope no one heard about my 'getaway attempt'. Let's hope for the best. I set course towards the California jump hole. From there to Ontario, Colorado then Kepler.
The flight went really smooth. I arrived at Ames way before I expected I would. I stayed around Ames vicinity in an effort to look for possible buyers. I asked several people if they could be interested in something defensive or perhaps offensive but most people just ignored me or just were in a rush and yelled something short back like “no, not interested, bye”. At some point it was really getting annoying. If it keeps going like this I won’t reach the deadline. Even some rogue completely ignored my polite question. I had it with Ames, I’m going somewhere else. Bering perhaps, a lot of so called scum are there between the Rheinland and Liberty war anyway. I bet I could try my chances there. I took the lane to Colorado, I don’t even know why I took the lane. I ended up behind some Freelancer with a vessel called the ‘Novalis’.
We started to talk a bit with each other. Not that much special though. I found her stuttering however a bit odd, she seemed to do it a lot. Her name was Yoko. She seemed to do escorting jobs around Liberty. Kusari however she seemed to dislike. I don’t really know why, to much traditions compared to Liberty I guess. We flew along while I was heading to Bering. She remained in New York. She seemed to be a nice person. A bit, shy perhaps. But maybe I’m that too.
Finely I arrived at Freeport 2 with some LSF wing a bit behind me though. I wasn’t sure if they were following me. I tried to attract close to zero attention. But when they also reached Freeport 2 some Zoners under tags, ‘The.happy.Zoner’ and the ‘The.Angry.Zoner’. They seemed to not like the LSF pilots anywhere near the Freeport. Something about staying neutral and trying to not getting involved in the Rheinland, Liberty conflict. I guess they had a point, having pilots from one side hanging around your station will make the other party frown upon you. The LSF wing left they did sound a bit annoyed though. But they left so I didn’t have to worry about them anymore. The Angry Zoner docked at Freeport 2 after she chased of the LSF with some angry words. I thought this might be an opportunity for me to actually sell some weapons. Maybe the Zoners themselves were interested. At least this couple seemed to be not just some Zoners.
Me and Serena (The Happy Zoner) started to get a bit talkative with each other. But soon the intended business talk got more personal. And we ended up talking about other things then just these weapons I wanted to sell.
Soon the conversation was about what I did and why. I explained I had some issues with my dad and his debts and I was working hard to help him repay those. It was funny though the whole conversation with Serena was quite serious. But this Valery she was a bit strange? I don’t know he acted a bit strange if you ask me. She even tried to talk me into sharing a night with her. I don’t know but really? I mean you meet two girls and they ask you to share a night with you. That’s just strange. I mean really strange. This Valery however had a lot of self-confidence. Something I would wish for.
I felt good for once. That Serena seems to be a really nice person, although I don’t know what to think of Valery. She seems to be a bit, not knowing what she does. Like not predicting what consequences her action might have. But I guess she manages to get out each time. I just wish I could just be getting rid of this stupid job. Not that the goal of it is stupid. But I still didn’t hear anything about my dad. Ow, what am I thinking, of course dad is alright!
I might still try to get in contact with one of those Navy officers Serena mentioned. But first I need to sell these weapons! Just when I was departing from the Freeport a transport passed by, I took my chance and asked if he was in need of weapons for his crew to defend themselves. The answer I got took a while but they were interested. And it’s ‘they’ because those people on the bridge kept talking through each other. I don’t know what was going on. Didn’t care to much either. I managed to get a great deal. All remaining 23 boxes were sold for 230.000cr! That sure is a lot of money!
I made a message directed to Jacob to tell him I managed sold all the goods. While I was writing the message I looked at the ships credit account. It’s such a shame I can’t draw anything of that. Then I got this idea. What If Jake could manage to crack it open? I mean then I would actually be able to draw some cash off it. And if Jake would manage it to get me access, unnoticeable access that is then I can actually spend some money for myself. I hate it that I can’t just spend money of my own. Having to say ‘the bill can be send to this account’ just sounds so embarrassing to say. I finished up the little message to Jacob. There we go, I hope they are happy now. I set course for Liberty space. Only a short moment in the flight I noticed the personal ship account money returning to 0. I guess they got my messages. Then only a few seconds after I got Jacobs message.
“Ow, I did a good job?” Great.
Although I wonder how long I got this little quality time for myself.
I guess I got the time now to ask the Navy a few things, just like Serena had suggested.
I hope it would actually lead to somewhere.
I set out my waypoints to New York and while flying I was thinking of some questions or how I should explain it all to a Navy officer.
I have to be careful though not to say something stupid or make them upset in any way.
I reached New York and while heading to Norfolk I saw some Navy pilot being engaged with a Outcast, nothing special I guess. At least not at this lane, some Ageira pilot was engaged too. It looked like a pretty serious fight, both sides were very confident. And then suddenly a big bang. The outcast struck a mine and I saw his ejection pod skid of in space while getting stopped again by a beam of the Navy officer. I guess he must be proud now, those navies sure know how to handle situations like these. I guess it’s now or never.
I asked the officer if I could have a word, somewhere less populated. He seemed to be nice, he would be right there he said. I guess he first wanted to get rid the Outcast in his hold.
When he undocked again we headed to Pittsburgh. While we were flying there I was thinking of how to start. Well point of no return. I told him about ‘them’ and what caused me to get stuck with them and what I did for work now. Joshua seemed to be listening calmly. But when I asked if the navy would be able to anything for me, well he didn’t really know. He said he was just an navy pilot and that the Navy didn’t have time to protect some civilians for an ‘unknown’ treat. He told me to go the LPI, although after what they said about my father. Well I don’t trust the LPI anymore. At least I don’t want to leave them! So he told me to step to the LSF, they might be better in this sort of problems. Then he had to go again, duty was calling him.
I remained at Pittsburgh a bit distraught. Then the ‘incoming message’ light started to blink. I was a bit surprised by it. I opened it. A live video feed from Jacob appeared. “Hey, Carrie!” he waved “eh… hey Jaco’!” I said a bit surprised. “Look with all due respect Carrie, don’t start messing with the wrong people, I personally don’t care who you fly with and I won’t tell anyone. I’d like to trust you, but then you have to stay away from the Navy alright? Don’t ask me how I saw you were hanging around that erm… Joshua?” “B- But, I wasn’t doing anything with him! I wouldn’t dare!”
Jacob sighs and crossed his arms while leaning a bit back in his chair. “Look Carrie, no need to tell me what you discussed, I don’t know. Just don’t hang around Navy boys okay?" “ow… okay, I will try not to stick around them anymore.” I responded with. “Trying is not enough Carrie, just don’t do it! This is my first and also final warning, look we don’t trust you that much anymore, for obvious reasons.”
I nodded, “Okay, Okay I understand, I’ll stay away from them.” “Good, Good, we don’t want to repeat your first punishment now do we? Maybe I do though” He had a scary laugh while saying that. I sighted. “I’ll stay out of trouble Jacob, really!” “Yeah, yeah I believe you.” He grinned. “So would that be all, Jacob?” “Yes, Yes. That was all.” He smiled and closed the channel.
Frigging Jacob! I thought, how could he know to who I am talking?! I wonder if he really didn’t hear anything. I sighted. I need to go and find Jake, maybe he could explain how they could do it. Perhaps he could also work is magic on it. Ah well, I need a sleep, but this ‘ask the liberty authorities’ idea won’t work out I bet. I set course for Rochester to get some proper sleep.
Great, another job. I wonder what kind of original one this one will be. But Ames? It has been quite a while since I was there the last time. I guess I have to get ready to lift off because Jacob starts thinking I’m off with some Navy officer again.
I packed my stuff, whoop whoop. I shoved all the stuff of the table where I left most right into my backpack. But in one sweep I noticed a picture of my dad. I stopped packing for a while and grabbed the picture. I stared at it for a while. ‘Dadie, I miss you, please be alright! a- and I really really want to see you again. I don’t care what happened’ I was talking to the picture. I softly kissed the picture on the place of my dad forehead. Then I gently packed it in my backpack. “What am I doing? Talking to a picture?” I sighted and then checked the room if I didn’t forget anything. Everything looked clean and I left the keys at the counter. I undocked from Rochester. When I was outside I wondered which route I would take. The jumphole isn’t too far out. Ah, I don’t care and I went towards Kepler via the lanes. It was a really smooth ride.
Here we are. At Ames already I docked and asked one of the docking crew if they knew any Jacob and where he might be. But no one seemed to be able to tell me. So I thought I’d checkout the bar. Maybe Jacob is waiting in his little corner in the bar again.
I walked in the bar and looked around if I could recognize him anywhere. But nope, he wasn’t around the bar either. I asked the bartender and he actually recognized me. “hey, Carrie. Long time no see!” I nodded a bit. “Ahem , it’s been a while.” “Well what’s wrong? You look pretty serious.” “It’s nothing, ehm… have you seen Jacob?” “Jacob? Neh, haven’t seen him, he was here yesterday though. Don’t know where he is now” “hmm… okay if you see him tell him I’m at my ship in the hanger, okay?” “Will do Carrie!” “Thanks.” “You don’t want a drink Carrie?” “ehm… not now, maybe later.” “okay then, well, I’ll be seeing you!”
I quickly nodded and went back to my ship.
Maybe I could send Jake a little message to meet somewhere. Maybe he can find out how Jacob knew I was near a Navy officer and that he might even have been listening to the conversation. It would be pretty awesome if Jake could figure it out. Then I could at least have a little ini-mini bit of privacy.
When I entered I noticed a few men near my ship with a couple of boxes. One turned around. Ow look it was Jacob. I bet he already wants to load up all the so called ‘important goods’. “Hey Carrie!” He waved.
I returned with a short waving movement with my right hand. “ehm.. hai Jacob.” “It’s a bit of a urgent one this one. So no time to talk really.” “Ow, good” “What did you mean with that, Carrie?” Jacob tilted his head a bit with a wondering look on his face. “Ehm.. nothing.” I smiled a bit teasingly. “Right, anyway in these boxes there are computer harddrives. Very, Very important ones. We want you to bring them to Inverness, the spaceport there. We have a guy waiting there for you. I’ve told you are coming. All you need to do in go to the bar and wait there. He’ll recognize you. You will recognize him when he says ‘Hey, so how much were you asking for one night again?’ that will be his opening line.” “Who made that up?!” why in whole of Sirius comes up with such a line? I thought. “I did” He chuckled while saying it. “Right, who else ehm?” “Yeah, who else?” he laughed. “Anyway Carrie, this one is really important, Do not screw it up!” “I wo- won’t!” “Good.” “My boys are already loading it all up, you don’t want to get near the authorities with these either.” “Okay, I’ll take the ‘lone’ route then.” “Well I guess that’s that then. I’ll be staying on Ames for a few weeks, so if you need me you can contact me here at nearly anytime.” “hmm… okay, well I better get ready to leave again then.” “I think so yes. Have a good trip! Carrie!” “hmhm” I nodded and hopped into my cockpit and waved shortly to Jacob and the other guys who just finished up the loading. “Bye bye, Carrie” He winked at me. I shook my head and buckled myself up.
Here we go again, flying towards some distant base with some stupid cargo. All for a good cause I guess. My dad. I wish I could finely see him. I don’t even know for how long I’m already doing this, let alone how long I have to keep doing this. Let’s just hope this ends soon. That they let my dad go and that we can just go somewhere and pick up our normal lives again.
I kept thinking of how life could have been without all these things that happened. I was thinking of the good times with that. That one time we were at the zoo. That was hilarious when that monkey chased dadie all over the place to steal his apple. It was just so funny to see dad run for his live with such a little cute monkey chasing him. And then dad ending up tripping himself over his own feet with the apple rolling away. The monkey grabbed it and it even stuck it’s tongue out to my dad and then took off towards a tree with the apple. Everybody around was laughing. Even dad started laughing when he figured out what just happened. I sighed “I’d wish those times were back”
The flying itself went pretty smooth. Not much trouble along the way. And even if I got people bugging me, then I got these papers. There were a few documents they gave me with these things. They looked quite official. If something goes wrong, they seem to be my only way out. Let’s hope they are actually official and that the authorities will fall for it. If they ever would catch me in a scan that is.
Here we are already Cortez. I flew passed Curacao looking at its surface. You could see the ocean streams in different colours following over the planet. It truly was a nice sight. Some memories of what happened on the ‘Blue Ocean’. I tried to push away the thoughts and continue to the Inverness jump hole. It’s quite remote. I looked at the documents. ‘Invergordon Space port’ it sounds quite exotic.
After some time cruising I reached the jump hole. Next step is to fly to the station. Inverness, wow what was this place beautiful. The bright suns, the nebula’s. That pretty planet glooming up from the sunlight. I could see the station in front of the planet glitter in the sun. It looked amazing.
When I got closer I could see a few ships outside the station. An old liner and some other pilot. They were talking about a few things, nothing important to me I guess. I requested to dock, they told me they were expecting me already. Great I thought this could go quite smoothly then, no waiting and such.
Once landed, there was already somebody waiting for me in the hangar. I opened the cockpit and he waved at me. “You must be Carrie, correct?” he said with a little smile on his face. “That’s me yes” “I’m sorry I’m not doing this officially like Jacob said it would need to go. Sometimes his little ideas are a bit too, ermm… how should I say this… too teasing?”
He seemed to be checking me out a bit.
this guy seemed to quite okay, but I’m not going to fall for it again as I did from Jacob’s first impression. “You mean the ‘welcomes’ line you were supposed to say when I was supposed to be in the bar waiting for you?” I said. “That’s right. It was a bit too lame if you would have to meet me like that, besides this is Invergordon. No need for secrecy here. Everybody is everyone his or her friend so to say.” “Well that’s good to hear then.” Oh c’mon I thought. I’m not going to fall for this guy, even though he looks very char- what am I saying to myself now? I tried to push my thoughts away and get to the point. “So.. eh I got your cargo” I handed over the documents, he looked at it briefly and then whistled at some men. “You can unload her guys” he said. “… and Carrie, I haven’t heard anything yet about a new job, so I guess you have a little bit of free time to spend. Maybe talk around a bit with people. It would do you good.”
I decided to enjoy the system a bit and I thought I’d loiter a bit around the base. When I got into space I saw the people who were here when I landed, were still in space. We got to talk a bit. Some Zoner called Concordia and two girl on the Liner. They seemed to be nice people. Soon the conversation went on about what I was doing here. I told them I was just doing some deliveries. But of course I said to much. I really should learn to watch out with what I’m saying. But maybe I’m also glad I actually could tell people. If I even could tell them. I ended up saying thinks about me working with some stupid people with some dirty jobs. The more I said the more I kept thinking of what kind of mess this actually was. And how foolish it even was. Like doing all this for my dad, not even knowing where he is, if he’s still alive or how high these debts are, what kind of jobs I’m doing and what purpose do they have. What do people gain from me doing this.
So after we got to know each other all a bit better they offered we should meet somewhere again and talk about all this… so to say, mess. Concordia seemed to be a funny one. She seemed to like having a laugh with people, truly enjoying her life I guess. She wanted to talk this over again someday. But not now. She was tired and needed to get a sleep. Shortly after the Liner also left with those two girls, I suppose they were all friends.
When I sat there alone looking at the sun I wondered. Maybe it would do me good to tell the whole story to her, I don’t know. I don’t even know if I want to tell everything. All it would do is get all my memories back up into my mind. Maybe just seeing her again would do me good, having a laugh, since she always seemed to be into that.
A few weeks have passed. A lot has happened in the meantime. I’ve been really busy working hard and I met some people every now and then. I’ve been seeing Connie a couple of times. She’s turning out to be a good friend. Nearly always having a laugh. And she seems to drag me to more and more people. Ever since I met her I got to know more and more people. Life doesn’t even look so bad now. As long as I don’t think about ‘why’ I do all this, then everything is fine.
Connie seems to really know her way around into finding things out about people. She knows what to ask and how to make people say things they never intended to say. Sometimes it gets hilarious but this time it was more serious. I ended up saying what had happened back on the ‘blue Ocean’ and what had happened all around it. Even saying what Jacob did to me. Connie seemed to feel really sorry, she wanted to see if she could help me with anything, no matter what really. She just wanted to help. She talked me into letting her go and look for my dad. I wasn’t sure it was such a bright idea. However she really wanted to help and what could go wrong? She’s just a stranger to them, maybe she could talk them into something of them saying things they shouldn’t say. For example saying things about my dad.
Soon we made our plans of what to do. I gave Connie some information about my dad, just a picture and a name though, I didn’t really had anything else. And the place where to look for dad was most likely at this Ocean liner. Since they seemed to be very active on that. I just hoped she wouldn’t get herself into trouble. It wasn’t going to be easy I thought. Looking for someone you only have a picture of and a name, and yet looking for him when you know he’s with some ‘underground’ people. I mean I really do believe he’s still alive. Dad is still alive! I believe it, he’s still alive! And now Connie is going to find him and we can finely see each other again! I really had my hopes up.
Shortly after Connie left into the direction of Curacao. I still had my worries. But I guess I had to trust her on this one. She knows what she’s doing, I thought. I kept telling me to trust her. Now it’s a matter of waiting to see if she would find something.
The time following I was seriously annoying, I couldn’t get any sleep at nights. I kept thinking of what could happen, what could go wrong, what if this, what if that. This was horrible but I had to keep going. I just have to hold on and keep doing what I’m supposed to do.
The few jobs I did in the mean time were pretty tedious. Jacob wanted me to see some software things to passing people, he would draw the earned money away from my account. It wasn’t the best job to do. Everywhere the cops were sniffing at me. Luckily I got out all of the checks with a bit of excuses. I sure brought some profit to Jacob and his bunch he works for I guess. I think it was at least 3.000.000 credits in total. But of all that, I didn’t get a single credit. So frustrating let alone how much I have to go. I mean how high are these debts my father has?
Here came a new job once again. This time the same as with the software but now with these odd stones. Glowing ones. I didn’t really know what they are and I couldn’t care less actually. But selling them? I needed to make something up to make them easier to sell. It seems they popped up as ‘alien artefacts’ on the scanners of people. I first thought they might be wrongly tagged. But the more check the more obvious it became they weren’t just some plain old rocks.
I managed to sell some to sell some to people. With the excuse they were meant for decorating. They looked pretty in dark rooms with the glow they had. I mean they did too but I started to get the feeling it wasn’t just the glow that was special. Especially when there was an other Navy check-up. They wanted me to hold my location and wait for some back up of the navy to arrive to examine my cargo. Not much I could do about it anyway. I tried showing the false documents. They said it looked in order but still needed a bit of more examination. Then all of a sudden a officer told me to follow him to Pittsburgh. I was a bit scared of why and what would happen now. This isn’t planned at all. Let’s hope Jacob doesn’t find out.
Once arrived at Pittsburgh the officer told me not to worry and that we had to wait for someone else. I was a bit nervous of what they wanted. Because Jacob wants to see some credits, not to mention who and what paid for it. He also mentioned not to get these things in the hands of the Navy or the so called ‘Order’. He said it would turn out very, very bad for my dad and me if such thing would happen.
We were waiting at Pittsburgh for a while. Then there he was this guy cruising at us from the scrap fields. And what do you know . A 015A ‘Nephthys’. Great just great. Now lets see what he wants.
' Wrote:
Agent: Good day lass. Agent Chamberlain. Agent: Uhm..Mister Mally, your service here is done... Officer: *sigh* Roger that. Don't hurt her though. Agent: No intentions too. Me: er... I mean.. Order, Navy? what is this?! Agent: I really don't see any Order pilots here, lass...your ship maybe malfunctioning. Me: and.. eh your vessel then? Agent: Experimental.. Me: no need to fool me, I've seen some. Agent: Well... Me: so what is this about? Agent: As far as we're concerned, we have never met, and you won't know who I am after I've left. As for those artifacts. Me: I suppose it all kind of depends... Agent: Two million credits..sound fair? Agent: Half to keep quite and half for the artifacts. Agent: Quiet rather. Me: erm... are they really -that- important? Me: they are just some plain old rocks. Agent: Well...yes and no. Agent: To me? Yes. To you? Not really. Me: no...? Me: well... eh why are they that important? Agent: Research purposes, I'm sure you don't want to know the rest. Agent: And if I did, I'd have to kill you. Which, goes against what I believe in. Me: what is there to research on these things? Me: I mean... well they glow but... doesn't really looks like it's -that- important Agent: As I said, they don't seem that important to you. Agent: And now this has gotten dangerous... Me: why eh... did I have to come here, we could've done this at Manhattan right? Agent: Because Manhattan is filled with people who...would want to probably see me killed? Agent: And I would have to resort to using force, rather than talking. Me: why... you're just some agent in some 'experimental' ship? Agent: That is true.. Me: so why would people want you dead? Agent: But more people complicates things.. Agent: *Sighs and starts flipping switches.* As I said, two million, half for being quiet, the other for the artifacts. Me: look the whole idea... about this eh... kind of eh... gives me the shivers Agent: That's good.. Me: I mean... why all the secrecy? Agent: *Looks at his watch* Well..that's a long story. Me: but eh.. I... eh I don't know... the whole idea here kind of eh... mak- makes me feel uncomfortable Agent: It could be worse.. Me: what do you mean? Agent: Well..I could be shooting you. Or, those boys in blue could show up and take it.. Agent: By..shooting you. Me: and... eh why would you shoot me? Agent: Forcefully remove the contents of your hold. Me: you would actually.. eh shoot people for eh... these rocks? Agent: It's against my policy to actually shoot a fellow human being. Me: *sighs* Agent: Though, as I was saying. If it really came down to it, I would. Me: erm... but eh.. we can't go to Fort Bush and get something signed or anything? Me: that you eh... take them? Agent: I'll handle all of the paperwork. You don't need to worry about it. Me: eh... problem is I need to know something about those I 'sell' it to. Agent: *Sighs* Agent: You know this might not end nicely. Me: eh... look it's not like I don't want the money Me: it's just the eh... people I work for. Me: they want to... eh know just about everything. Agent: And the people I work for want to protect humanity. Me: *sighs* doubt that... but if I don't well... I get a lot of trouble Agent: And if I let you go, or fail here. Something bad might happen later, you see? Me: what do you mean... what would eh happen? Agent: Can't really say. Me: ehm... Agent: I'm sorry this is standard procedure. Me: what.. I mean... look if I don't get some info shipped to my ... eh 'boss' well.. I get trouble Agent: And what exactly is the information you want? Me: well... name, affiliation... Me: just so they know who it went to. Agent: Eh.. Agent: You can tell them Lance Horton.. Agent: Freelancer. Me: *sighs* it's not -that- easy Me: I mean... a Freelancer in such ship? Agent: Well..you could say it's an Eagle. Agent: Unless you took scans. Me: *sighs* and yes... they want a picture. Agent: Now it gets complicated huh? Me: I really don't mean to... it's just... well *sighs* Me: it's all these stupid regulations and stuff. Agent: Mmhm.. Agent: *Sighs again.* Me: so ... what now? Agent: Start running, I guess. Me: eh... Me: oh... okay. Agent: Just keep this quiet. Hm? Me: I eh.. I will. Agent: Good. Now, I'm not going to hit you... Agent: Just disable the lane behind you. Me: eh...good. Me: erm bye Agent: Later.
"So what just happened?" These rocks are really strange, all the interest it gets. It’s kind of freaky. So now what do I do? Head back to Manhattan and try to sell them as ‘normal decorative rocks’? I guess it’s all I can do right now. The quicker I’m getting rid of these the better.
The rest of the day I tried to sell these but I found no one who was interested. I was getting tired and I wanted to take a nap. I haven’t had a good sleep in a long time. If I could even get a good sleep now with all these things rumbling through my mind. Dad, Connie and these stupid rocks! I set course for Rochester to find some bedding. “I’m exhausted, I just need to calm down and get some rest!”
Jacob contacted me to head to Bering to meet up with a contact. He would take these boxes of my hands. I wanted to get rid of these things as fast as I could. The order being nosy and all that. I really don’t care what they do as long as I’m rid of them.
In my stupidity to get rid of these things made me make one big mistake. I rushed through the lanes in Texas towards Bering and before I knew it I was surrounded by four Navy pilots. They scans also showed these were ‘alien artifacts’. I felt so stupid now. They didn’t sound to kind obviously although there was this one officer who acted a little different to me.
I didn’t even have the slightest gap to get out of this and shortly after they stopped me they made up their demands. A hefty fine plus dropping all the boxes. At that point I felt my heart pounding. How was I going to pay them such a fine. I didn’t have any money on me, I’d have to ask Jacob but dropping these goods too? I don’t think Jacob would like this one bit. How could I ever be so stupid to take these lanes right through the heavy patrolled Texas system.
I was about to contact Jacob in an effort to talk him over to pay this fine for me. But before I could contact him one of the officers opened a secured channel. I was really surprised. “I will pay it for you.” He said, I was completely stunned. “Wh- Why would you do that?” Before I got an answer he already paid the fine.
One of the other officers sounded pretty happy and told me I now only needed to drop these boxes. Now what should I do? I can’t show up at Bering empty handed.
And there it was a miracle, an unknown vessel started to open fire on the facilities around Houston, I couldn’t get a clear view of what was going on. All I heard was two officer scream that shots were fired. Soon all officers took off in the direction to the action. “Take your chance now!” the officer who helped me said it over a secured channel.
I took it and soon I was on my way towards the Gate that would lead me towards Bering. I was so relieved when I was jumping to the Bering system. “How lucky was that?” I questioned myself. I arrived at Freeport 2. I was just in time. The contact should be here at any moment.
I was waiting wondering about this officer. What made him care about me? While I was wondering about him he once again contacted me. “Did you get out safe?” he asked
At first I didn’t know what to tell him. “Y- Yes I’m alright, why do you care so much?”
Shortly a conversation followed about him having a weak heart for girls who seem to be in trouble. I was trying to no take it up personally, I tried but I had to confess it to myself that I did have a troublesome life. He wondered what I was doing with this cargo. I told him about the contact I was waiting for. He tried to convince me these things were dangerous, really dangerous for the human kind. I tried not to listen I didn’t want to have anything to do with them.
As time passed I was still waiting. The contact was already one hour to late. This was making me worried and I was still talking to this Johnanthan the navy officer. He seemed to care a lot about these rocks and maybe me too. But I wasn’t going to let him these rocks no matter what I couldn’t care how dangerous these things were.
More time passed now nearing the two hours. And that would mean I would have to contact Jacob for plan B. Johnathan was getting curious so curious in fact that I was telling things I shouldn’t. I told him about the contact I was supposed to meet, about why I couldn’t pay the fine since my account was being watched, that I might have to turn to plan B even. I told him I had to deliver these things myself. He kept asking things I didn’t want to answer but I was having a hard time not answering I don’t even know why I could not do it.
The two hours have passed now I had to Contact Jacob telling him it wasn’t going to plan. I wasn’t going to tell Jacob anything about what had happened back in Texas though. He would get pissed if I did. At least I think he would.
I had contacted Jacob he sounded a bit stressed when I told him the contact never showed up. He told me to deliver them myself. I had to go to Kusari, to be more exact, I had to go to the Sendai complex. There would be some deal going on there. All I had to do was shutting up go there show them the boxes and it would be find, that’s how Jacob put it. It sounded pretty simple, although the way to Kusari might take a while.
I don’t know why I did it but when I was on my way to Kusari I told Johnathan I was heading to Okinawa. All of a sudden he came up with this stupid idea to try and safe from ‘these guys’ their hands. He told me he would come to Okinawa and try to make it look like I was really arrested and taken away. I really didn’t like this idea at all. I tried to talk him out of it, that I was okay and he shouldn’t risk his life for me. But he was very self confident he could help me. Although I wondered if it would help me a lot. He told me he was already on his way to Okinawa. I tried to rush to be there before him because I didn’t want him to be there. What if Jacob would find out about this? He would never understand nor forgive me for acting so stupid.
After a long time flying and talking to Johnathan trying to talk him out of it I arrived at Sendai Johnathan was yelling at me not to dock yet. He told me I would risk a lot of lives if I took these rocks to these ‘Artifact smugglers’ as how he called them. I couldn’t go and wait for him. This deal seemed really important to Jacob. I made up my mind and docked before Johnathan and his wingmen he seemed to have brought too reached me.
Once on the base I tried to calm down. Two groups of people were waiting for me in the Hanger. They all looked a bit impatient. Two guys walked up to me, “where were you, you are really late!” one said one a angrily tone. I really didn’t know what to tell him about me being late I pointed them to the cargo bay. They rushed a little to check out the boxes. And quickly put them down on a table in the middle of the hanger. The other group all seemed to be well dressed men with two suitcases between them. I figured that they were holding the money that was part of this deal.
I stayed at my ship watching the deal develop from a distance. I saw a few men open the boxes and admiring what was in it. A glow came out of the boxes when they were opened. One of the men who belonged to the group with the money pulled on some white gloves and picked one of the rocklike items up. He was looking at it closely. Then all of a sudden the rock stopped to glow. It went completely dark. I saw the men with surprised faces. They didn’t look to happy and then the group with the money suitcases suddenly all pulled a guns out, shortly followed by ‘my’ group. I was completely shocked for a moment and I just froze up. Both groups were yelling at each other and then one of the guys who helped unloading my ship fired a shot in the ceiling trying to say that everybody had to shut up instead he was shot in his chest. All hell broke loose. People trying to find cover behind whatever they could find and firing at each other. I was completely frozen not knowing in what sort of danger I was. A shot grazed past by my head missing me by inch and ended in the side of ship. I finely figured in what sort of danger I was. I panicked and tried to find cover behind my ship. The two groups were keeping each other pinned. I held my hands on my ears trying not to hear all the yelling and shots.
After a ten minutes of yelling, screaming and shooting the guys who wanted me to bring the artifacts here seemed to want to get out. Two of them tried getting back the boxes who were now laying on the ground because the table was pushed over. They managed to get all the artifacts back in and shoved them over the ground towards me ship gesturing I should load them back in and get the hell out here. The moment I tried to get one of the boxes and shot landed right in front of me again in the side of my ship. I got back behind my ship while shivering. My heart was pounding in my throat. ‘I can’t do this’ I thought to myself. The guy who shoved the boxes to made a run for me and jumped behind my ship grabbing me by both my shoulders. “You have to get out of here and take these to-…” He suddenly stopped talking his eyes growing big. He looked at me speechless. I froze again staring him in his eyes. “I.. I..” he crumbled down ending up on my lap. I kept staring him in his eyes as he looked back. He started coughing up blood, he was badly hit by a shot in his back.
“GET OUT OF THERE!!” People yelled at me. I looked at my hands now covered in blood. I quickly stood up getting in my ship. Rushing to get my gear on. I looked in the back I saw one of the guys who throwing the boxes in and closing the cargo door. He knocked twice on my ship saying I should get out now. I got in my seat hearing shots landing on my ship. I tried not to look at the guys who were fighting. I got my ship in the air and just when I was about to move out I saw someone else getting hit. He crumbled down screaming of the paid. I looked away trying not to look.
I managed to get my ship out and I took a random heading and engaged my cruise engines. I tried not get my emotions up but I couldn’t stop myself from crying. I looked at my hands which were still partially covered in blood. I quickly tried cleaning them up. My hands were shaking a lot.
I ran into a cloud hoping no one would follow me. But just when I thought I was safe two navy ships appeared out of the fog. It was Johnathan and his wingmen.
I didn’t know what to think, I still had the artifacts onboard so nothing would let them to arrest me and throw me into jail not to mention me running from them. These things must be really important for the Navy since they are right here in Kusari.
Johnathan contacted me again in a secured channel wondering what happened at Sendai. I did my best not to let him know I was crying and told him the deal went completely wrong. He actually sounded a bit cheery about it, I don’t know if he really was though. He seemed very eager to try and catch this Artifact smuggle group and I was his key. He told I had to explain everything to his wingmen because he didn’t yet tell him all that I told him.
I looked at both of them asking them if I was under arrest now. Johnathans wingmen quickly responded with a yes saying I was coming with them to Liberty right away and that we would do the talking along the way.
So here I was being brought back to Liberty probably ending up in jail. Because I acted without thinking again. The trip took long. Along the flight Johnathan seemed to not want to put me into jail. He said I was actually the victim and that I shouldn’t get punished for something I can’t do anything about. I kept quiet as the two officers discussed what to do about me. It felt strange hearing them talk to what do with ‘me’.
Eventually Johnathan managed to talk the other officer into taking me into a ‘witness protection program’. The other officer didn’t really seemed to be too convinced though and he left me to Johnanthan. I was relieved to head that I wouldn’t end up in jail. But I would get a new identity everything currently known about me would be gone. I also wasn’t allowed to talk to anybody about my life as 'Carrie'. It all sounded pretty easy. Johnathan told me he would go and look into the case of my dad and that he would try anything to stop this smuggle party too.
We arrived in Liberty the other officer left me and Johnathan alone. He told me that I could go and get a new name on Manhattan. One that I could just pick. It was one of the weirdest things I ever did. I also needed to get rid of my ship. Johnathan said he would take care of the cargo that I had, he took it somewhere. I don’t know where neither do I actually care about it. I got a little money to get myself a replacement for my ship. My good old Ki ended up at some ship dealer who thought he could use it to get some parts off but that was about it. Neither did I get a lot of money for it in return. But altogether it was enough for me to get my hands on a Griffin. It had so much more room inside, although the ship itself was a bit big but shiny.
So here I was in a Griffin with my new name now being 'Nikki Carr'. And with an officer looking after me, keeping an eye on me if I was really safe and that there were no people going to try and find me.
As soon as I got back into space I saw someone I knew. I hung around with him a few times before I was 'cought' by the navy. I wanted to contact him to see how he was doing. Just before I opened the channel I figured I shouldn't. I was not allowed to let anyone know I was Carrie. I might tell people a bit too much. I sighed as I saw him fly past me. I guess I don't know anyone anymore, except for Johnathan? Maybe this officer Mason Ralusch who caught me before Johnathan, although he never arrested me he tried to help me, he thought I needed the help. I looked at Zack Fair fly by, the guy I knew.
I sunk away in thoughts while taking my Griffin for a test flight. A new life, people I know don't know me anymore. Carrie is gone to some place uknown. I can't blow my cover, what if I talk to the wrong people and those appear to be one of Jacob's men? All I need to do is shut up to those I know. Then it appeared to me. How would Connie find me now, how would she be able to contact me if she doesn't know where 'Carrie' is or 'who' I am?
It all started with Carrie's Parents getting split up due to her father being considered dead. Her mother was taken away due to her suicide attempts.
In a drunk evening she met the wrong people where she was forced to work for. Giving her the believe that Carrie's dad was still alive and if she would work for them she would be allowed to see him again. Their reason for this was repaying debts. However how high these debts were or where they came from was never told.
She had good hopes to see her dad again and she worked hard. But as time passed by she started to wonder if this would really get her to see her dad again. She made up a plan to go and search for her dad alone. She decided to run away from Jacob and the ones he worked for. She stayed on Gran Canaria for a while.
They found her on Gran Canaria, she was rudely taking to the 'blue ocean'. Here she experienced some very unwanted things. She was talked back into working for them. She did her best at the cost of making the authorities upset. All she wanted is to see her father as fast as possible.
One of the jobs went completely wrong and ended up in her having to run away from a 'deal'. The Navy interested in her goods she carried stopped her in Okinawa. They followed her there.
Now she is in a 'witness protection program' with a new name. The name 'Nikki Carr'.
She now flies a Griffin around Liberty mostly. Because of the 'program' she is now in a officer keeps an eye on her to ensure her safety while the Navy tries to find out what happened to her dad and who these people are she worked for.
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