Chapter 02 - The Commodore

As I exited the lift from the lower decks to the bridge I looked around at the people on duty.  There was a look of concentration on everyone’s face as the ship prepared for a jump.  I figured we could do the jump to the Briarpatch from here in a couple jump points.  Surprisingly this was our 3^rd jump in less than 2 hours.  The bridge had no clutter or anything out of place unlike the hanger deck.  I surveyed the people present and walked towards Commodore Nadine.  “Sir, can I have a minute?”  Nadine didn’t seem pleased to see me on the bridge.  Her raspy voice had an even sharper edge to it than normal.  “I read your report pilot.”  Her eyes fixed on me with laser like accuracy.  “Yes Ma’am, but I wanted to tell you in person that Mitch was dear to me and ..”  I tried to finish but her hand was up palm towards me her eyes hard and fierce.  Her voice dropped a few octaves, “I warned him about trusting a Slam Junky on a mission like this.”

I looked up at her hand then back to her face.  She slowly turned her head taking in the people crowding the consoles on the bridge of her Corvette.  “Do you actually think that anyone here feels less of a loss?”  “No Ma’am but he knew that I haven’t used chems in quite a while ..” I squeaked out. Her out stretched hand became a fist.  “Is that so ‘pilot’?” she said with a slight sneer. “Let me see your arms and hands.”  I was taken aback by this request or was it an order? I rolled up the sleeves of my flight suit and held my arms out in front of me.  You could still see the scars and the dark tint of Widow in the veins close to the surface of my skin but my hands didn’t shake that much and I haven’t cracked a Slam vial in months.

She didn’t even blink as she said, “Mortensen, get this scrum off my bridge.”  “Nadine .. Ma’am .. Commodore,” I pleaded “Mitch asked for me to pilot the Ghost.”  I said a bit loudly as the ex-Marine Gunnery Sergeant rose from his seat and took my arm turning me towards the lift.  “.. and he paid the price in full for trusting that a Slam addict would hold up her end.” She continued.  Mortensen tightened his grip.  My feet twisted in place and I felt myself being pushed towards the lift.

At the lift Mortensen stood between me and Commodore Nadine.  His huge bulk blocked her from view, which was likely a blessing for both her and me.  “Alright ..” I hissed jerking my arm from his grip.  Mortensen’s face was expressionless as he towered over me.  His hand touched the control to call the lift.  I turned to face aft and stepped onto the platform.  “Everyone has a past life pilot” he whispered to the back of my head.  I didn’t acknowledge his words, frowning I just continued to look down as lift platform descended.

I was fuming when I got back to my bunk.  The stupid bitch didn’t even acknowledge I brought in the Stealth ship.  OK so it had a few dents and some scratches.  She got her stupid Stealth fighter, so why am I sitting here not out there doing what I do?  Shit.  I flopped back on the bunk and closed my eyes.

Thinking back over the past half day

Mitch was his typical male self this morning, all testosterone and grab ass. He and his crew were in the mess finishing a round of stims when I sat down with some juice and a packet.  “So, Kissy-beth, you up for a run today?”  He said with a small chuckle at the end.  “Maybe, maybe not ‘Itchie” I responded with no chuckle.  “Serious, I drew a good one today.  The Commodore has been planning this one for a while and intel is just in saying ‘GO NOW’.” He added waving his hands in the air indicating the nebulous thing called intel.

“So what is this ‘good one’ you drew?”  I questioned sipping juice through the attached tube.  “A simple snatch and run .. mostly” he posed. “Mostly?” I queried.  “Yeah it is a few jumps from here near the Shipyard on Terra.  Relax it’s not at the main hub or near the sector cops.” He answered.  “That is one huge ‘mostly’ Mitch.” I frowned adding “That is deep in high sec controlled UEE space.” “We will be in and out in less than 20 minutes way I figure it” He said chuckling again blowing off the seriousness of even going near there, given our occupation. “OK so .. multiple jumps and wander into UEE Space and do what?”  I asked ripping open the packet.  “F7-scrumming-C Stealth ship.” He answered looking straight into my now widened eyes.  I hate it when he does that.  He knows I can’t do eye contact like that for more than a couple seconds without throwing something. 

But I grinned saying, “That sounds interesting.  So what are we after? Schematics, parts, a quick look-see?” “Nope .. bringing one to the Briarpatch for the mechanics and techs to take apart” he said smiling hugely.  I sat the packet back down and pushed the juice box to the side.  A sticky syrup like coating on the table top caused me to look more closely at where I was placing my hands.  “You gotta be shitting me.”  I exclaimed adding “.. so we just jump in diddle around for as you say 20 minutes and fly off with one of these mystery ships.”  “Yep that is about as simple as you can make it.”  He said with the same stupid smile on his face.  “You are actually messing with me right?  Ha ha very funny asshole.”  “Not even a little bit Lisbeth.” He said in a tone of voice that reminded me of how my father, a long time flight deck officer, had sounded. 

Moments later we were in the briefing room going over tactical and the ‘intel’ that Commodore Nadine had been waiting for.  It was actually pretty straight forward.  The ship we were after was one of six the UEE had dropped in the yard for eval.  Security was dense on the station but not at the offloading platform.  Mitch read the intel dispatch out loud, “Just a few Marines and some science geeks.  Geeks we can deal with, Marines however, perhaps we need to look at this from all angles.“

I pulled the station topo survey in front of me and pushed at the image to give me a side view of the offloading platform.  “OK .. how about this ..” I said turning the topo towards Mitch and Ryder, the security maven aboard the ship.  I stood up and pointed at a tangle of piping and equipment under the platform.  “All you have to do is get a pilot here” I said pointing to an energy conduit. “.. and then all they will need to do is eva up the side of the conduit .. here or here.”

“Mind making it a little larger for those of us that don’t have hawk vision?” asked one of the other guys.  Zooming in on the conduit showed that it that it went most of the way to the platform where the F7-C’s were parked.  Security on the platform looked pretty well laid out though, covering most of the immediate docking area.  The Stealth ships were well protected. It would be tricky at best but the intel had provided tags for the ships and we have crypto tech that will allow quick access to any of the parked ships systems, provided the tags were spot on.  I personally thought 20 minutes from drop off to escape was a bit optimistic but just maybe it could be done.  Next though would be how to get a Cutlass or an Aurora close enough to the platform to deliver a pilot without detection which would lead to premature destruction and death.

“How about a fly by with the intended Pilot in a tractor beam?” Asked one of the other pilots “.. then all you have to do is slow down and release the beam.”  I have to admit that was a curious possibility, creepy but interesting all the same.  Mitch and Ryder puzzled over the topo survey for a few more minutes.  Ryder stood and looked around the room “We really want the technology this ship has, that goes without saying, but this mission is volunteer only.”  He scanned the faces of the four of us that were Hornet qualified.  Mitch raised his hand and stopped Ryder at that point.  He said, “I’m willing to pilot the drop off ship and provide cover fire if needed, but how about a diversion in the form of a mock battle?” 

Everyone turned to listen to Mitch.  “OK .. so we take two ships, separate and pretend to fight it out within sensor range of the platform.” He took on a more serious tone and continued, “we use the idea of the Hornet Pilot in the tractor along with some debris that gets released during the dogfight, close enough to the lower levels of the platform for safe and quick eva to the conduit Lisbeth pointed out.”  “Yeah, they will probably be more interested in the action than a pile of battle debris.  Although dogfights in hi sec are usually dealt with quickly.” Ryder said shaking his head.

_-o-_

Disclaimer:

I do not work for nor represent Star Citizen, Roberts Space Industries, Cloud Imperium Games or anyother Star Citizen related entity in any form or fashion with the possible exception that I am a Backer and have a huge passion for this game already.