Escape Velocity Nova: Gems of Fomalhaut

[Squishy Cheeks]

The inky blackness extends in infant directions, broken by far distant points of light and the light of the star Fomalhaut reflected off it's debris disk, creating hundreds of points of red and yellow. Two solitary planets compose the System: Gem and Snowmelt. The ice world of Snowmelt is the second most populated world in the Federation, The majority living in the habitable tropical region. The World Gem is little more than a planet sized asteroid. It's rich mineral and metal mines fueling the Fomalhaut economy. However there is even more wealth flying freely in the fomalhaut belt. The Debris disk of the young star.

A flash of light and the Asteroid Miner christened "Charlotte" exits hyper space two days after it entered FTL in the Tichel system. The ship is not built to be pretty, but functional. Equiped solely for long missions in the deep, the insect like ship with it's four grappling arms performs several maneuvers to avoid incoming asteroids as the pilot turns her around to slow their velocity.

"Fomalhaut reached December 31st, 1182 NC" The ships computer announced in a generic female voice.

"Hey it's New Year's Eve." James announced to the other two members of the crew as he dodged a small comet. "I hope this thing can haul cargo better than she handles. It's fighting me on every turn."

[Wolf99x]

Sev took some time to respond to James' announcement, since he was busy checking the scanners for any starship contacts around Fomalhaut. The screen was blank, save for one freighter that was seemingly moving out of the center of the system to make the next jump on its route.

"If you're having trouble," he said dryly, "I can take over for you. Otherwise you'll just have to tough it out until we can get back to a port and look it over."

[Squishy Cheeks]

"Sorry I'm used to flying fighters and light capital ships." James said in his light irish brogue. "Well we're at a stop and that gold beauty right there looks like a good candidate for a mineralectomy." He fired a control thrust to move the ship out of the 5 mile diameter space rock's way. "Shall we?"

[Krylo]

Kalis stood up from his seat and stretched out a little bit, a few of his joints audibly popping as he let out a yawn. "Yeah, gettin' a little bit of cash sounds good... might actually be able to have some fun on our next 'shore leave' that way. I'll head on over to the cargo bay and prepare for mineral collection," he said as he began to move toward the door from the cockpit, stopping by the entryway just long enough to make one more comment before disappearing down the, ostensibly short, hallway, "Try to mine out some good stuff, alright, James? I'd like some beef in the bell peppers and beef, next time."

[Squishy Cheeks]

"well we got that vintage jerky, from your uncle Olaf after he sold us this ship." James said. He flipped the toggle switches that activated the four arms.

The ship sprang to life as the four mechanical arms opened up making the miner resembled some sort of four legged spider.

He placed his thumbs on the triggers.

"Sev, keep an eye on the scanner, I don't want any interference while I operate." He flipped up the laser safety switches. The mining lasers began to draw power from the ships batteries.

The green beams fired in rapid secsession from beneath the cockpit. Each strike piercing the asteroid, leaving a glowing perforation. Like a professional chef, james peeled the asteroid layer by layer, as if it were an onion.

Using the claws he began to collect reddish brown rocks with flecks of green, orange, and blue. One rock he pulled close to the window of the cockpit to display the haul.

"can I call them or what." He pointed to the stone. The stone was a two ton piece of rock. Mostly reddish brown, save for a massive core of translucent yellow-green, blue, and yellow with splotches of reddish gold like colors. "Look at the size of that Opal."

[Wolf99x]

Sev did some quick math in his head. "At the high end of the trade market, we should be able to get 150,000 credits with a full hold."

He started looking at the scanner more intently With that kind of money waiting to be made somebody's bound to want to come here and take it for themselves he thought.

[Krylo]

Kalis did a careful check of the cargo hold, strapping down anything that couldn't be moved, and hauling anything else out behind the airlock on hover dollies. It was hard work, but the ex-pirate didn't particularily mind. Heavy labor always gave him something of a 'zen' feeling that made it easy for him to think and plan, and think he did as he hefted the crate containing the crew's small armaments onto the dolly, taking mental stock of his crewmate's dispositions and skills.

James was a good enough pilot, but was he good enough for Kalis's revenge? And Sev... well Kalis didn't know much about Sev, and wasn't sure if he could trust the ex-Auroran as far as he could throw him. He also doubted his ability to throw Sev, for that matter.

Shaking his head clear, Kalis pushed the last of the personal effects beyond the airlock and sealed the cargo hold before pushing a button on the intership intercom system--which was, honestly unnecessary on a ship this small.

"Alright, the cargo bay's ready, feel free to start loading whenever you want."

[Squishy Cheeks]

"Space the scrap, load the best gems into the pelican crates, We want good examples to show our potential buyers on Serenity." James said. He began to load the cut off mineral samples into the scoop. Soon the minerals passed through sets of automated airlocks and mineral anylzers to be dropped one at a time into two piles in the hold. Each rock tagged with an info marking chip displaying the mineral content of the rock when placed near a scanner.

"Hopefully we'll have a full hold in a day or tow with little to no interuptions."

A flash a couple hundred miles away alerted the crew to another arrival in the Fomalhaut system. The ships sensors identified the craft as a Federation Anaconda.

[Wolf99x]

The hair on the back of Sev's neck stood on end for a moment as the Federation craft entered the sector. He may have covered up his kill marker tatoos, but that didn't mean there were other ways of knowing he was an Auroran.

Hopefully he's just on patrol, and not looking for anything in particular. Besides, I doubt he's interested in a worn-down mining vessel trying to make a few credits, he thought, though one of his hands strayed absent-mindedly to the blaster on his hip.

[Squishy Cheeks]

"What are you gonna do with that pea shooter, sev? Tickle him to death?" James said, noticing his companion getting antsy. "Take over the mining. I'm going to get something to drink, you want anything?"

The Federation Fighter turned toward the Mining craft. and flew towerds them, avoiding asteroids. The ships computer dinged as a broadwave message came in.

"*ksht* Mining Craft Charlotte, prepare for a ship scan. *ksht*" the message said.

"Snooping arseholes." James cursed.

[Wolf99x]

Sev cursed under his breath as well. "Well, we might as well let him scan us, it's not like we can say no or block it."

[Squishy Cheeks]

"it's not like we have any illegal cargo." James said. "I'm betting we're going to be shook down, and we don't have the funds for it."

[Wolf99x]

"Which," Sev said, "Would be even worse given what we're mining he may just take that and bring in some Federation-backed miners to mine this area clean."

[Venatus]

Just as the Anaconda was closing in for it's scan, another ship jumped into system, it's IFF System identifying itself as the Shuttle Incipio. Almost immediately, the Anaconda did an about-face, taking off towards the shuttle, without giving an explanation to the Charlotte.

Several moments later, it transmitted a new message on open frequencies. "Heavy Shuttle Incipio, power down your engines and weapons systems and prepare to be scanned."

Without any response, the shuttle complied with the order, coming to a complete halt and powering down its systems. The Anaconda, meanwhile, began to arc its path, finally slowing to a halt a shot distance behind the shuttle. It then began scanning the ship (more heavily then normal, according to the Charlotte's sensors), continuing to scan over the next few minutes.

[Squishy Cheeks]

"It get's harder and harder, for masterless men to make their way in this universe. I don't know how my brother does it. Have you met my brother Conner? Best pilot in the verse, but a pacifist. You believe that? A son, of a son, of a son of mercenary, a pacifist. It's not like Connor isn't useful to the Geese. He's the best hot drop pilot in the entire universe, I think God and the heavenly host could be holding the blocade line, and Conner would still get through with no major damage." James had been mining the whole time. "Sorry, I'm running on an on here. Eamon always says I talk to much."

The federation missile boat power thrusted away from the shuttle and made straight for the asteroid miner.

"Charlotte, Power down defense systems and prepare to be scanned." the call came through more clearly this time.

"Defense systems? All we got are some mining lasers and some shields, and I ain't turning off neither at this moment."

James kept mining as the anaconda drew closer.

"Kalis let me know if we're getting near capacity." he said into the ships intercom.

[Wolf99x]

"Well, that was certainly an interesting interlude, unfortunately it left us right back where we started, and now he just seems irritated."

[Squishy Cheeks]

The Anaconda flew near and performed the routine scan. James never stopped mining the asteroid. He pulled apart and dug deeper harvesting gems of many sizes, and many different colors. He was particularly impressed with a fire opal the size of a large dog.

The anaconda said nothing more, but stayed uncomfortably close to the Charlotte after it concluded business.

"Oh I hate these arseholes. This type arsehole is the kind that will shadow you in the off chance you do something illegal. I need a break. Sev take over, we probably are up twenty tons of product now."

[Wolf99x]

Sev took over James' seat, quickly strapped himself in and started mining. His hands flew across the controls, manipulating the lasers and the claws in the fastest way possible, yet while still maintaining efficiency and quality work.

Just keep watching, Federation dog Sev thought as he kept going You're just wasting your time.

Spurred on by his desire to get out of here as quickly as possible, Sev upped the pace to a ton and a half a minute, any faster and he wasn't sure the equipment or the personnell could keep up.

[Squishy Cheeks]

Suddenly, a bright light pierced the black as another ship jumped into the system. The computer processed the IFF signature of the transponder and found no signal. The sensors identified the craft as a modified pegasus. An image apeared of a ship decorated with battle damage, hasty repairs, additional weapons, and worst sign of all human remains chained to the hull. This was a marauder ship. The anaconda turned suddenly and headed straight for the marauder. The Anaconda's missile pods opening The anaconda began to fire missile after missile but many became lost in the asteroid field and detonated harmlessly on asteroids. only a few struck the marauders shields. The enemy shields still read 75% to the charlotte's sensors. The marauder returned fire with a barrage of rockts and blaster fire.

"What's happening?" James called from the kitchen in the crew compartment.

[Venatus]

"And that's why people don't mine in this system," Terrus muttered to himself as the Anaconda and the Pegasus began dueling (the Pegasus clearly having the upper hand). Transferring power from his weapons and secondary systems to his engines, Matt veered away from the asteroid he had been preparing to blast, accelerating as quickly as he could towards the planet.

As his ship continued flying towards Gem (the closer of the two planets for him), Terrus watched the two ships continue to duel on sensors. The Anaconda's crew was talented, but against a Pegasus, they had to know they stood no chance. Clearly, they were trying to buy the civilian vessels in the system a chance to flee.

Which, Terrus thought to himself as his engines began to whine with the stress he was putting on them, was an opportunity he was not going to miss.

[Wolf99x]

"A Marauder Pegasus jumped into the system and is currently fighting the Anaconda in battle." Sev shouted back. "The Federation ship is not going to hold out for very long against them, we may want to consider getting out with what we have before the Marauders turn their attention on us."

Sev began shutting down the mining lasers, pulled the few remaining gems he had mined into the cargo bay, and began pulling away from the asteroid.

"We can either head for the planets or hyperspace out of system." He said. "There's no way we're going to take on a Pegasus in this."

[Squishy Cheeks]

James raised an eyebrow. "You do realize even this rust bucket is twice as fast as that pegasus." He shouted back. "They can't kill what they can't catch."

[Krylo]

The static crackled over the intercom for a minute before Kalis's voice came over, calm as ever, thanks mostly to the fact that no one had bothered mentioning marauders or feddies over the intercom system, "That should do it. Cargo Hold's full. I'm heading back up to the bridge."

And, after tapping a few buttons on the wall, to secure the current cargo, Kalis turned and began walking back up the small hallway toward the bridge of the ship, picking up his pace a little bit as he caught the last few words of James's last shout, now that the sounds of mining weren't obstructing his hearing anymore.

[Wolf99x]

Sev about faced the mining ship and started burning heading out-system for hyperspace, while at the same time plotting the route that would take them to Serenity.

Just 10 more seconds and those marauders will be a memory

[Squishy Cheeks]

The anaconda exploded spectacularly, as the marauder turned it's attention to the Charlotte.

"Ok time to book, have the jump coordinates for Tichel yet?"

[Wolf99x]

blaster fire from the Marauder vessel passed dangerously close to the Charlotte,

"James get on the nav computer and lock in the coordinates, I need to keep us from becoming space dust." Sev ordered.

Looking ahead, he could see asteroids right in front of the ship

Well, escaping will just be a minor challenge, he thought, just before the mining ship rocked and the shields dropped to 75%

Sev cursed under his breath. "Kalis you'd better strap in because I'm going to be pushing this rustbucket for all its worth." he shouted over the comm.

Up ahead two asteroids loomed, almost seeming to move to crush the Charlotte between their combined masses.

Quickly aligning the mining lasers, Sev blasted into both of the asteroids, tilted the ship 90 degrees, and flew between the space he had opened up as the rocks broke and fragmented behind them.

"James are we locked in and clear yet?" he asked as blaster bolts hit the asteroids behind them and just missed hitting the starboard side of the hull.

[Krylo]

Kalis reached the bridge, and swung into a seat, strapping himself down before bothering to say anything. His eyes moved over the displays, and he quickly realized exactly what was going on.

"We're so using some of this cash to get boosters installed on this piece of shit," he said as he locked in the last of his restraints, "Now hurry up and hit the damn jump. I don't feel like being made into a hood ornament."

[Squishy Cheeks]

"I'm working on it." James said as he typed furiously at the controls. "We're to close to the planetary gravity well to make a jump, we need anothe 1000 kilometers before we can make a successful jump."

[Wolf99x]

Figures the distance always seems to be longer than I want it to be, Sev thought as he pushed the throttle as far as it would go and started heading head on for the densest asteroid patch he could see.

"Hold onto your butt," he said.

He swerved around an asteroid as a missile from the Marauder Pegasus impacted into the planetoid sending fragments spraying into the immediate space.

Blaster fire just barely missed the Charlotte as Sev flew up the side of another asteroid Just as he was about to dip down behind it another missile hit just behind the mining vessel, the blast buffeting the sheilds and rocking the ship.

Sev took a quick glance at the Shield indicator, they were down to 58%.

I have to somehow slow them down, Sev thought as he kept weaving back and forth between the asteroids, blaster bolts splitting the space and shattering the rocks around them, even if they can be slowed down.

Sev headed towards one of the larger asteroids, activating the ship's mining lasers. Slowing down just enough to fly level to the asteroid's surface and burning into the rock with the lasers.

Another blaster bolt hit the ship, dropping the shields to dangerous levels.

Sev cut a decent sized piece of rock and grabbed it in one of the claws of the mining ship.

"Let's see how they like shooting rocks when the rocks shoot back," he said as he spun the ship around and flung the rock at the Marauder vessel.

spinning back around he fired the thrusters back up to maximum and slid around two more asteroids and kept heading back outsystem.

[Squishy Cheeks]

"jump sequence activated." James announced. The asteroid miner Charlotte entered into the pre jump sequence and automatically spun around and fired a control thrust to brin it to a stop. The heavy blaster fire burned through the shields. The Charlotte turned toward Tichel automatically as blaster fire began to pound the ships armor.

"10..." The hum of the Hyperdrive activated as the engines flared to life.

"9..." the ship began to accelerate rapidly as the jump boosters fired.

"8..." the ship began to shake and rattle as it darted forward faster and faster.

"7..." The marauder left far behind prepared to enter into it's own hyper space sequence to pursue the Charlotte.

"6..." The unshielded damaged ship groaned as it began to near the threshold of it's maneuvering thrust.

"5..." The hum grew louder into a roar.

"4..." James felt his vision becoming more focused forward as he was held firmly in his seat.

"3..." The universe seemed to shift to white.

"2..." The roar of the hyperspace engines changed in pitch rising higher.

"1..." The universe exploded in to blinding white light and deafening explosive noise. The feeling of being forced through a whole the size of a penil tip overcomes James' body. Then there is nothing.

_____________

Tichel, Federation space January 4th, 1183

In a blinding flash the Charlotte reenters the universe. James runs a post jump diagnostic, the ship is battered, but flying. Warnings appear on the screen indicating a battle.

Several Hellhound missles from two nearby Federation carriers streak past the Charlotte toward a distant Auroran Cruiser.

"Charlotte, be advised you are entering a combat zone, please leave as soon as possible for your safety."

The auroran cruiser turns toward the two carriers, who have begun launching waves of vipers. It's deck guns crackling with energy as the slugs are thrown from the rail guns.

[Venatus]

As the Marauder jumped out of system in pursuit of the Charlotte, Terrus brought his shuttle to a halt, recognizing he no longer needed to be fleeing, as there was no threat.

Flicking several switches, Terrus scanned the system, and, sure enough, found an escape pod with a standard Federation distress beacon attached not too far from the system center. Re-powering up the engines, Matt let Gem know he was no longer landing, and made his way out to pick up the pod. He'd have to make his mining run later that day.

[Wolf99x]

Sev did a quick systems check. The shields were still out but the hull integrity seemed to be intact.

He decided not to slow down. "We're headed insystem, if that Marauder followed us it might be advantageous for us to have nearby Federation and Auroran forces. There is a chance they'll fight the greater of two evils.

He started plotting the fastest course to the center of the system that would keep them out of the main battle and fired the thrusters.

[Squishy Cheeks]

"you're not that good of a detail pilot, sev, no offence." James activated the co-pilot controls and slammed the wheel forward forcing the Charlotte into a dive out of the rail gun fire. "We probably should just try and make the jump to Sol. If we have someone tailing us they won't be able to catch us before we jumpp again. We have enough fuel for three more consecutive jumps, which could put us in Serenity in a month of real time."

[Wolf99x]

Sev had to admit the Human was right, and he silently cursed himself for his instincts slipping since going undercover.

"All right, let's get out of here and head for Sol."

he turned the ship around and put full thrust outsystem.

[Krylo]

"I'd also like to point out that getting to Serenity as soon as possible, should be prime right now. Our hull is damaged, our shields are down, and we're flat broke, so we've got no way to get repairs or upgrade until we make it to Serenity," Kalis pointed out quietly, "So, I humbly suggest that we don't stop for anything until we make it there."

[Wolf99x]

Sev nodded. "James, you can take over command, I'll get us plotted to head to Sol"

he keyed in the coordinates for the jump.

[Squishy Cheeks]

The marauder took a rail gun shot through the bridge as the charlotte started the jump to earth. Again the unpleasant squeezing sensation gripped them.

__________
January 8th, 1183

The charlotte arrived into the middle of inbound Solar trafic. A leviathan almost jumped in right on top of them. The ships gravity pulled at the charlotte hard as James throttled down for a control boost out of the Super Freighter's way. Another Cyldrical Leviathan, centuries old jumped in system, marked with the symbol of Sigma Shipping. A whole convoy of the massive ships Followed the original. Their target, the artificial ring of the 3rd planet, The Kane band. supported by 10 orbital elevators along the equater of the earth. The Kane Band is the center piece of Federation technology. A Ring of warehouses, shops, restraunts, shipyards, freight docks, Bars, even Disney Space Themepark.

[Wolf99x]

"Well, we have no time to waste right now, I suggest we keep moving." Sev keyed in the coordinates for the jump to the Archenar system.

[Squishy Cheeks]

January 10th, 1183

The Archenar system is a testiment to human greed. The system mined to near exhaustion for the last millenia. The once rich asteroid and planet resources, probably went into the construction of those leviathans landing on earth. The once great ore refining satelite of Sirrusa appears to be a floating scrapheap. Archenar, little more than a pit stop on the way to other worlds.

[Wolf99x]

Sev hit a few keys on the nav computer. "Lotus system jump is computed"

[Squishy Cheeks]

"Yeah, but the Jump drives are overheating." James said whimsically. "I say we get some food and drift in the empty, until the drives are ready."

[Wolf99x]

Sev sighed slightly. "All right. Sounds ok, not like this desolate rock gets a lot of traffic anyway"

He got up, stretched and headed to the back, looking through all the ramen packets.

"Which sounds better? Beef flavor or...beef flavor?"

[Squishy Cheeks]

"That's all you, I call dibs on the chicken ramen pallet in the cupboard next to that one, and the bag of carrots in the freezer. And you said I was wasting my money on Viking, when I bought those carrots."

James checked the diagnostic computer in the lounge.

"Hey, Our shields are back to 20% we can attempt atmospheric entry safely."

[Wolf99x]

"Not that we need to land on that desolate rock," Sev said pointing his thumb at Archernar as he heated up one of the ramen packets.

Hundreds of years and it still takes 3 minutes to make ramen. he thought.

[Squishy Cheeks]

James slurped loudly, as he swallowed his noodles.

"Kalis! How much longer on those jump engines?"

[Krylo]

Kalis walked around into the kitchen a few moments after being questioned via shout, and responded as he opened the refridgerator door, "Eh, we've got awhile yet... christ... we've got fuck-all to eat in here."

The sounds of items being shuffled around could be heard as Kalis dug about and poked at a few packages until finally shutting the door, apparently giving up.

"Awww... screw it. I'm going to go nap. Wake me up when we land," he said off-handedly, waving his hand in the air limply as he headed out of the kitchen and toward the sleeping area.

[Squishy Cheeks]

The computers chimed.

"Oh good news, the engines are ready." James said as he slurped up some more noodles. "Do you want to push the button, or should I?"

[Wolf99x]

Sev swallowed down some of the ramen and walked back to the cockpit. "I got it."

He quickly ate what was left of his meal and strapped himself in. Keying in the coordinates, he activated the jump drives.

"Strap in and hold on" he said.

[Squishy Cheeks]

January 11th 1183

The ship exited hyperspace smoothly in the distance several uninhabited systems of planets and asteroids rotated the sun in the outer disk. The inner disk had only one terrastrial planet, named Serenity. Serenity was founded by japanese corporate sponsorship. In the Federation Serenity with it's traditional gardens and ultra modern architecture soon became the center of banking and finance in the federation. A starliner being escorted by two federation destroyers proved the oppulence available to enterprising souls.

"Serenity Ground control, this is the Asteroid Miner Charlotte, requesting permission to land."

"We read you charlotte. You are to land on tarmac epsilon." the space traffic controller said.

"Tarmac epsilon, confirmed. We make our approach." James sat back. "Ready to land this flying brick sev?"

[Wolf99x]

Sev nodded as he started making the approach towards Tarmac Epsilon. Compensating for the slightly underpowered landing thrusters and the weight of the cargo taken on, Sev brought the Charlotte in slowly, much slower than he'd normally land a vessel, but after the firefight they'd just been through he figured "why take chances?"

The vessel landed with only a slight jolt as it made contact with the tarmac. Sev locked the controls and the landing skids.

"And we're landed," he said somewhat obviously.

[Squishy Cheeks]

"not bad, this thing still flies like a brick, but what can you do." James said as he went through the post landing routines. He looked over the ships damage report. "Well good news is we may be able to fly with our current damage level and a few minor repairs. Most of the damage is superficial. However we still need to find a buyer for our cargo."

[Wolf99x]

"Leave it to me," Sev said as he headed towards the Bar. "I'll find us a buyer. James, you go look at the mission BBS and see if anything grabs your interest."

***

5 minutes later Sev was seated at a corner booth in the spaceport's bar, a pitcher of beer in his hand. He took a long swig until the glass was half full, then he set it down and slid it to his left.

30 seconds later a man in a hat pulled over his eyes and a trench coat sat next to him.

"It's been a while since your last communique to the Thurokiir," he said. "We were beginning to worry you had been compromised."

"Nope, just had to go into hiding for a while," Sev said in response. "But now is not the time for the past." He slid two datapads to the disguised Auroran. "The first pad is of the information i've gathered since i last contacted Herran. The second is of other interest to you."

The Auroran pocketed the first pad and activated the second. "Hmm...100 tons of rare opals, how does this interest me exactly?"

Sev sighed a bit. "Basically it's like this, you can either find me and my associates some buyers...or you can save yourself some time and buy the gems off of me, and then sell them at a profit. That Viper of yours has to be due for repairs knowing how you operate."

The man thought for a second. "Ok...I'll go with the latter. I can give you 1300 per ton."

Sev scoffed. "Not good enough, we went through a lot of trouble to get those gems. 1800"

"1400"

"1700, I'm not leaving without hazard pay."

"1500, do you think that the Empire pays me a fortune for this line of work?"

"1600, I know you do plenty of jobs on the side it's not like the Empire is the only one signing your checks."

the agent sighed slightly "Deal," he hit a few keys on a datapad that he slid to Sev. "There's the payment info, the money should appear in your account shortly. Below that there's the information on where the cargo needs to be unloaded."

"Pleasure doing businees with you as always, Devlin," Sev said as he pocketed the datapad and left the bar, heading back to the Charlotte. He took a roundabout way so as to throw any possible tails off of him.

[Squishy Cheeks]

James ducked into the stellarnet cafe portion of the spaceport bar. He swiped his license card into the card reader on one of the terminals.

"Welcome James Sullivan" the screen flashed. A window opened up with a series of minner freight jobs, nothing thrilling. A few bounties popped up as well, but being sans combat ship he skipped over those. "Unread message" a box said as it popped infront of the mission BBS window.

James stared at it for a moment. Only a few people in the whole verse would try to contact him like this, and even fewer knew he was going to try the serenity run. He tapped the box

To: Bogey face (James covered his eyes for a moment and smirked.)
From: Arseways Con

Hello Big Brother. I hear you bolloxed up and got your ship in lockdown. I also hear you went in with some friends you made on a miner. I was laughing me cacks off after I heard that. Wait till da finds out, He'll have your fecking bollox, you know that. Well I got a business proposition for you. Bring your boyos to my hanger on the Kane Band, and we'll see if going into business together can't get you right as rain. If not at least we'll have a flagon or four, on me no less. Hope to see you before February 1st, or I might have to tell Da about your troubles.

Love,
Connor Sullivan

[Wolf99x]

About halfway back to the ship, Sev realized he had forgot to check the scores for the starship racing leauge. He knew another covert agent who was in the league and was wondering if he had made it up the ladder beyond 10th this year.

Damn how'd I forget this? he thought as he turned around and headed back. Ah well, if someone's following me they'll be a bit surprised.

He made his way back without any incident, save for one person who tried to pickpocket his wallet. One broken arm and 5 minutes later and he was back at the bar. He noticed that James was there as well.

He sidled up to his ally. "So, did you find us a job?"

[Squishy Cheeks]

"Of sorts, but we need to get to earth to hear the offer. feel up to it?"

[Wolf99x]

Sev tried not to look too excited. Earth, heart of the Federation, maybe i'll get a chance to look into a few leads the Thurokiir gave me...

"Yeah that shouldn't be a problem at all." he said.

[Squishy Cheeks]

"Then let's see if we're ready to fly, and make the two jumps." James said. He logged out.

______

"So are we ready to take off Kalis?"

[Krylo]

Kalis was sitting in the bridge sipping at a hot bowl of Ramen with a spot of bedhead when James walked back into the ship.

"Yeah, we can leave whenever... but I don't suppose anyone thought to go grocery shopping while they were out... kinda like no one thought to wake me up when we landed," he said, reaching up to lazily run his fingers through some of his ill-managed hair.

[Squishy Cheeks]

James threw a bag full of canned ravioli.

"Think fast. That will last us until we get to the Kane Band. My brother has a job offer for us, and at the very least he'll buy us dinner. Let's get this heap in the air, and make off with our profits to a port with more services."

[Wolf99x]

"Sounds good to me", Sev said as he took the controls. "Tower this is Charlotte requesting takeoff."

"Charlotte this is Tower, takeoff is approved."

Sev engaged the engines and with a little bit of coaxing and cursing, the mining ship took off from Serenity and headed outsystem, engaging the jumpdrives once they were clear of the gravity field.

[Squishy Cheeks]

The Kane band, the artificial ring surronding the Earth, was alive with activity. Thousands of ships were docked around it, others docked inside hangers. Connor Sullivan had a private hanger in section Gamma 3. It was located directly above the Pacific ocean, and in a clear day you could see Panama as you left port.

The charlotte was cleared to dock in Connor's hanger. The insect like miner landed comfortably next to a heavily modified Starbridge.

The airlock engaged when the hanger doors shut a tapp came at the airlock door of the Charlotte from the docking collar she landed on.

James opened the door. Connor looked like a younger version of James, same hair, same miscievious eyes.

"Flying this kind a hunk of junk, eh. What would da say?"

"Shut your hole." James said. "Don't embarass me infront of my mates."

"Aye. I'll keep it to a minimum." He turned to the nearest stranger. "I'm Connor Sullivan, Captain of The Wild Rover, perhaps you've heard of me or my ship. Well let me say, all the stories are absolutely true." he said it with a perfectly straight face, but then started to crack up.

"You never get tired of that sad joke do you?" James asked rhetorically in typical older brother fashion.

[Wolf99x]

Sev cracked a small grin from Connor's joke, sad as it was. "So I'm guessing you're the one James said had a job for us?" he asked.

[Squishy Cheeks]

"Aye, I'm sure your a bit peckish. Let us retire to a nearby diner, my treat."

_____________________
Joe's Twentieth Century Diner was small and well lit. The booths were bright red and padded in leather, the floors were tiled in black and white checker tile, the place had all kinds of memorabilia from mans first steps into space. The food was greasy, and usually smothered in cheese. The prices were a tad outrageous.

"Only decent place to get a burger for 600 miles." connor said. "Real top Sirloin, hope that's not to rich for your blood."

"Well done to business." Connor said as he sat across from the three in a booth. The table depicted a Saturn V launch. "What do you know about the Kont system?"

[Wolf99x]

Sev blanched at the name of the system. "It's a forbidden world to the Aurorans. They've sent several research teams to it in an attempt to research the artificial ring system, but all of the teams vanishsed without a trace and the project was abandoned," he said in a hushed tone.

[Squishy Cheeks]

"The way I hear it, is that the planet is made up mostly of Palladium, and we all know with it's rarity and it's neccesity in Starship construction the value of Palladium is sky rocketing. The aurorans abandoned the riche seem in favor of safer seems on their thousands of worlds, but everyone knows the Federation is having trouble finding new sources of palladium ever since the deep space miners joined with the Rebellion in the galactic north. Now I have a commision charter of some scientists to Kontik, nothing to special they want to launch a deep space probe into a nearby nebula. Meanwhile, you three run a mining expedition, If this haul is half as pure as the legends say, We're looking at a price of possibly 1,000,000 credits per ton. I have a 30 ton Cargo capacity so that's 30,000,000 credits split amonst the three of us.. oh let's say 70%-30%"

[Krylo]

"Only if we're taking the seventy-percent," Kalis replied, as he shifted in uncomfortably in his chair, trying to remove pressure from some hot Ramen burns thanks to a certain crew-mate.

[Squishy Cheeks]

"Now, Now, It's my boat we'll be using, she's faster than any ship this side of the polaran line, so the majority of the risk in this venture is mine." Connor said. "I do have a crew to feed, and portage fees to pay."

"50%-50%" James said to his brother.

"60%-40"" Connor retorted.

[Wolf99x]

"55-45," Sev chimed in. "You're not getting me to go to a cursed world unless i'm going to be compensated."

[Squishy Cheeks]

"If I get the Fifty-five you got yourself a deal." Connor said. he folded his arms across his chest. James looked at the rest of his ship mates.

[Wolf99x]

Sev sighed a bit but nodded. "That sounds...reasonable enough."

[Squishy Cheeks]

James and Connor shook on it.

"So we depart next week, I'll pay the docking fees for your ship if you would like. Then it's off on a suicidal adventure through unknown territory to a cursed world. With only a rumor of a big payout. Seems like old times, eh bro?"

"Yep" was all James said. He sipped his soda.

Connor lifted his cardboard cup. "Here's to adventure."