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The drift spat us out by an anchorage I knew well - an unsettled asteroid in the Devil’s belt. I didn’t even have time to shake off the drift haze before an alarm started blaring.
Alert! Alert! Sensors detect incoming vessel! All hands stand by!
“I thought you said no pirates!” I yelled.
That is impossible to determine from one side of the drift, and also I was hoping there would be pirates.
I groaned and brought up the sensor display, “What am I looking at here?”
Enter the fray: miss
Impossible to tell, they’re cloaked.
“Shit, okay, fuck.” I switched from the E-drive to thrusters.
React Under Fire: Strong hit
The thrusters chugged to life, and I engaged, “Overseer, find us a course out of here.”
Gain Ground: Strong hit
Course locked
“Sweet!” I grabbed hold of the controls, and began following the course on the screen.
Gain Ground: Weak hit
The ship shuddered as we swerved away from the pirate cutlass. There was the sound of footsteps clanging on metal as Bonfire appeared in the doorway.
“What’s going on?”
Ash is going to get us captured by pirates!
“No, I’m not.” I checked the sensors again - we were pulling away from them, “Everything’s going to be fine. Just a bit of a hiccup.”
Gain Ground: Strong hit
We pulled further away from the pirates, “Overseer, find us somewhere to hide.”
Gain Ground: Weak hit
There is a large comet 1,000 km from her, we may be able to lose them in the asteroid field. On screen now.
“Perfect.”
I made for the asteroid field, ship groaning as I pushed it to swerve and dodge.
Gain Ground: Weak hit
The asteroid Overseer had pointed out as being a good place to hide was coming up fast. I smashed the button to lower the landing gear.
Gain Ground: Weak hit
We crashed into it with a shudder.
“Izagi’s might!” Bonfire yelped.
“Overseer, play dead.”
Ooh, almost like if you actually died, there’s a thought!
“Overseer!”
The screens, the lights, everything went dead.
“What are you doing?” Bonfire asked.
“With everything except basic life support off, it makes it harder for them to track us.”
“How will we know if they’ve found us without the sensors?”
“When they hit us.” I said grimly.
Take Decisive Action: Strong hit w/ match
For several long minutes, neither of us said anything. Ears straining, my hands twitching on the controls to bring the ship back online at a moment’s notice.
There was a thunderous crashing noise. I jolted to action, “Overseer! Back online!”
The screens flickered back to life. There was no cutlass there to greet us however. Instead, we stared down the wreck of the ship that had just been chasing us, completely sheared in two by an asteroid.
Enemy cutlass appears to have been destroyed. What a shame.
“Oh my,” Bonfire said.
I grinned, “And that folks, is what happens when you’ve got Ash Savela at the helm.”
Deepen Relationship
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After getting some shut-eye, I made my way back to the cockpit, Bonfire having long since retreated to her cabin. Presumably doing bounty hunter type things.
“How’s the charge on the E-drive looking?” I asked as I strapped in.
Half an hour until completion.
“Great. Now, let’s see if we can’t pinpoint an anchorage.”
Secure an advantage: Strong Hit
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
With an asteroid closer to Reverie secured, I made the announcement, “All passengers prepare for drift.” And with that, we were off.
Undertake an Expedition: Strong Hit
With a thunk, we dropped out of the drift. On the viewscreen, one of the biggest stations I’d ever seen rose from the horizon, curved and smooth, orbiting an ice planet.
“Didn’t know that was there,” I said to no one in particular, at which point Bonfire appeared behind me.
“You have never been to Legacy before?” She said, peering over my shoulder.
I shook my head.
“It is my home.”
“Oh, I mean, we have a few hours whilst the e-drive recharges. We could visit if you like?”
“No.” She stood a little taller, “I have not been there in many years and I believe that doing so would be ill-advised.”
“Oh, okay then. Well, I guess there’s not much to do but sit around and wait.” I reached to pick up my book again, but Bonfire interrupted me again.
“When are we going to be eating?”
“We?” I raised an eyebrow. “Galley’s just through there.” I pointed her in the direction.
She frowned, “You would rather eat alone? That is incredibly depressing.”
It’s what he deserves, Mistress Bonfire.
Her frown deepened, “The fact that your Overseer module hates you is also incredibly depressing.”
“Rub it in, why don’t ya.” I muttered.
“It is okay, I will eat with you. As long as you cook – I am the passenger after all.”
Which is how I ended up cooking curry in a jar for two under the watchful eye of some lovely Spherie iconography.
There was of course, the standard spherie iconography - their symbol, a black sphere surrounded by a complex lattice of circles, was everywhere, often inscribed above some extract from their doctrine, ‘The Sundered Texts’. The one above the cooker was the one I knew best, ‘Foul be those who revel in material greed, who cling to life at the expense of their brothers, who cannot recognise their own insignificance.’
It seemed the placement was deliberate; the Spheries had as much of a thing about eating as they had about literally everything else.
“Well fuck you too,” I muttered customarily to the wall, before plating up the curry and heading on over to where Bonfire was waiting, still in her full armour, forearms dagger straight on the table in front of her.
“That smells delicious, but I would rather not eat food cooked under your fuck wall.” Bonfire said, straight faced.
“Ha. Ha.” I said, before remembering forks and getting back up again.
Don’t worry Mistress Bonfire, Ash only does that–
“Computer mute!” I yelled, nearly dropping the forks.
A fine lady like Mistress Bonfire deserves to know what kind of lowlife she’s sharing a ship with, don’t you think?
“She found me through Corey, that’s basically the same as walking into a shop called ‘LowlifesRUs’. And trust me, I’m tame compared to the rest of his lot.”
You are the worst person alive Ash, so I don’t see how that’s possible.
“You know,” I said, “Most AIs would be grateful about being rescued from a cult that has ‘and before the forge runs red with blood, it shall also run silver with the foul fluids of the machine born’ as like, a key part of their doctrine. They were just biding their time with you, mate.”
You would have gone first.
“Really not the point.” I said, and began eating my curry in earnest, “So! Bonfire! This Lux guy, anything we need to be aware of? Presumably when you catch him, you’re gonna want to keep him here, right?”
Bonfire swallowed her food, and said, “That was part of the contract negotiated with Mr. Corey, yes.”
“Right, right. Things to be aware of? Like, what did he actually do to get you after him?”
“He is a Spherie,” she said, “To the Flint clan, that is enough.”
“Of course,” I said sagely, “Why this one in particular though? Instead of the like, hundreds of thousands of others running round out there?”
She shrugged, “I think he may have attacked one of their settlements.”
“Wait, seriously? Can you fight a guy strong enough to take down a whole settlement? I know I can’t, and The Nomad definitely can’t!”
He’s right, this ship is quite pathetic.
She tapped the energy pistol at her hip, “I will be fine.”
“And I still get paid if you get yourself killed?”
“Half if we arrive at Reverie in one piece, half if we make it to The Scorched Gap, as agreed. Mr. Corey already has the money.”
"Good to know." I said, then, noticing we were both finished with our meals, collected her plate, "Suppose I'll see you on the other side of the drift."
"On the other side of the drift."
Deepen Relationship
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Undertake an Expedition: Strong Hit
"We are nearly there, yes?" Bonfire said, emerging from her cabin as we dropped out of the drift.
"Better than nearly there," I grinned, pointing to the viewscreen, "Take a look at that thing."
There, hovering in the pitch blackness of space, was a huge structure. Rusted iron, layered in defensive arrays that shifted as if in time with some interior heart beat.
"A progenitor vault?"
"Completely untouched to boot from the looks of things - there're people that'll give their left leg to find one of these fellas. What's the betting that no one even knows it's out here?"
"You wish to… explore it?"
I snorted, "Not bloody likely. No knowing what's in those things. I'll take my chances with pirates thanks."
"What is the point of it then?"
"We can sell the coordinates. Split the profits - 50/50?"
"I suppose that is reasonable. You have a deal."
We shook on it, and then she added, "We will be at Reverie soon, yes?"
"Soon enough."
End An Expedition:Weak Hit
I’d been to Reverie only a handful of times before, and none of them under favourable circumstances. Built within an asteroid along the Devil’s necktie, it was primarily used as a stop off for miners who sold their cargo to the Quints before getting back on their way.
“Attention all passengers, we are now arriving at…” A light was blinking on the console, someone was hailing us. “Amity station.”
I accepted the call, and a woman’s voice filled the cockpit, “Ornither Class Vessel, this is Mantis of The Poltergeist, do you copy? Over.”
“Overseer, what can you tell me about the Poltergeist?”
Corvette class vessel in good condition.
“Mantis, this is Princess of the Ornither Class Vessel Nomad, I’ve got you loud and clear, over.”
“Princess, we demand you hand over the passenger flying with you immediately or we will attack, over.”
What? “I’m afraid that’s just not going to work for us, over.”
Footsteps, I turned around to find Bonfire standing behind me, “Hey, do you know a Mantis? She’s saying she’ll attack us if I don’t turn you over. Which isn’t happening, obviously.”
Her eyes widened, “Mantis, did you say?”
I nodded.
A sharp intake of breath, and she gripped the wall of the cockpit, “Yes, I know her. She’s my sister.”
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