Pilots Log: Russ Hubermun, Vanir-97a Planetary Date: 3300, September 44th, year 500 / Earth year 5030
Pilots Log encrypted (reason: criminal activity) … Enter Code: *****
Success
Three men entered the building. Each wore Michsuku emblems on the breast of their black collared t-shirts, and I couldn’t help but notice a small diamond shaped badge attached on the right collar. The largest one had a fox badge on his left collar. Some sort of secret society? “I heard someone in here, where is that war coat?” “That gun is missing too!” The three men moved around unorganized, must be some grunts.
I grabbed a piece of metal pipe from the ground by where I hid and threw it to the other side of the room when they weren’t paying attention. The pipe rang out loudly as I clashed with something metal.
“There, go look!” As they were distracted, I took out the plasma pistol and came out of cover. The best thing about modern weaponry is that its moderately silent, using magnets has ups and downs. I aimed at the man on the right and pulled the trigger. The gun made a thump sound as it sent the 10mm casing of magnetized plasma flying, instantly melting a sizzling hole in the man’s cranium. The other two followed suit, never knowing what hit them.
With that I took one of their shirts and put it on, putting the collar badge in my coat pocket in case it proved useful later. I looted the man with the fox emblem and found a letter, it seems someone was hoping to transport the canisters to Deimos. I covered their bodies with some cloth I found. I took some boxes and put them in front of the door and made my exit through a window. Its nice to know where the canisters of the missing 430 are, I’ll probably end up figuring out who took them. There was a road that led in a Southernly direction, so I took it in hopes it would put me in the settlement.
Deimos is Delpha’s only space port. It’s surprisingly busy and you can find more modern amenities in its city. Among many things, the director of Vio-crops Vanir-97a branch currently resides there. I’ve heard many a good thing about him, that he is very nice and patient. I find it hard to believe him being a politician and all.
It took a minute, but I finally arrived in the settlement. It was about 600 and the settlement was still very asleep. I decided to try to find a warehouse district, the canisters would likely be there. After a couple of hours of looking I found a place I assumed would house the generator and decided to hold off on going inside as the settlement started stirring.
Being Saturday, it wasn’t until 1500 that people started to move about. I made my way to the bar, in hopes I could mingle and talk to people. I found a seat at a table near the entrance and started people watching. My goal was to figure out who the operator was so I could threaten him to give me the location of the canisters I needed. It took a while, but I found him, and he started his day out with the largest drink id seen in a while. Must be something to celebrate, huh. I waited some time mingling with others before I got up and went over to him. I noticed a character watching me from the corner of the room, I’m sure he’ll be problematic later.
I introduced myself as someone named Jared from Igriod, a planet from the middle bubble. My character had been assigned a new job here to become an assistant to the operator and I had just arrived. Of course, he didn’t seem to care much, instead he was ranting and raving about a deal that had made him a lot of money. I decided to bring him outside. “Uh Mr. director? Are you feeling alright? I’ll help you back to your house!” I said as I grabbed his hand and forced him out of his chair towards the door. His company didn’t seem to care much, even with his protests.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
In an alley from prying eyes, I held him against the wall. “Listen drunkard, tell me where to find the fuel canisters.” He was stuttering and slurring. “Huh? The canisters?” ‘Yes you blabbering idiot, tell me now or else.” “Ah well you just had to ask! I'm glad your being studios as a new hire.” He had a grin on his face, could he not know the situation he is in? I backed off and started talking to him in a friendly manner. “Yes! You must tell me so I can go learn about them.” He pointed in some direction waving his hand stretched out and said they’re other there. “Why don’t you show me?”
Michsuku deserves to fall after putting me through this nonsense, the operator ended up leading me all over the settlement for hours before he started sobering up enough to get his directions right. By the time we arrived the sun was setting, and he was starting to ask more questions.
I made him take me inside, at which point I knocked him out and wrapped some chains around him, gagged him with some cloth and secured him to a pole in the warehouse I had identified before, which did end up being the place I needed to go. I was in luck, there were five canisters here. I undressed him and changed into his uniform under my coat and grabbed a hover cart and hauled the best four canisters onto it, taking four cooling pods and inserting them into one each. I felt some paper in the pocket of my acquired shorts, but it would have to wait. Now was the time to put on the act for real. I left the operator in the dark building.
“Sir, where are you going with those canisters?” I was almost in the clear, right at the edge of the village before the road that led to the house. “The operator instructed me to bring these canisters to a house north of here, my name is Jarred.” the man was the guy watching me from before, it was clear now he was a pilot for Michisuku, he had a winged badge on his collar, a flight bag on his back and a Heilsman just like my newly acquired one at his side. His name badge read Harry. “Listen Jarred, I don’t know who you are but you won’t be taking those so easily” He said. “Shit” I took my Heilsman 10 out and shot wildly in his direction, while giving the cart a stern kick in the direction I wanted it to go. He immediately dived for cover behind a nearby building, I ran behind the canisters, throwing my coat over them in the direction he would shoot from. “You wouldn’t want to shoot these!” I screamed, slightly scared for my life.
“If I did, I wouldn’t have to deal with you anymore!” He shouted from behind cover. I started moving the cart slowly towards the direction of my plane. “Where are you going!” “Don’t worry about me, just stay where you are” I told him. If he shot the canisters neither of the settlements will have heat for the winter, and although that doesn’t matter to either of us I doubt he would want the deaths of all these people of his mind. Instead of sticking around like I so politely asked him, he ran off in the direction of the settlements square.
“Ill have to be quick” I muttered as I started high tailing it out of there. I ended up at the house much faster than initially, and to my plane even faster. It was dark, I would have no change to do my preflight considering current situations, I was thoroughly stressed. I threw the canisters into the cargo bay with disregard as I heard shouting from beyond the tree line. I would have to change the cooling pods in air. I threw myself into the seat, frantically flipping switches. “Master battery, alternator, radios, landing light, fuel pump, magnetos, mixture rich, throttle up, primer, one… two… three… GO!” The engine cranked twice as I could see heavily armed men running through the woods, their torches glimmering through the crimson trees into the moonlit clearing. The engine turned over whipping some grass with the propeller. “Full throttle, lets gooooooo!”
I was pulled back into my seat as I held the yoke back for a soft field takeoff. Suddenly I could see flashes of red and purple whizzing past me, the distinct fire of heavy plasma rifles. The plane slowly ascended into ground effect, and then once I reached an airspeed I thought was good enough I shot up through the trees into the cool nights air.
End Log