Memories from a past life

[Tolje Mimar]

PART 1

(Original story can be found on The Exchange Forums)

**Hades System**

A man grumbles as he crawls into his pilot chair. His breath leaving a puff cloud where he exhales. The air is rigid and cold, near freezing. Before him he can see the dew on the forward window. The leather in the seat he just rested in groans and complains as he gets comfortable. Majority of the ships systems are in standby. The hole ship is dark. Stale air has become a common thing on this trip. The only lights in the ship are from the steady blinking power indicators on the various screens.

As the man settles into his chair he begins to light up his screens. Navigation, Computer Control, Weapons, Sensors, System Status, communication. All of the screens light up, slowly, as if they are complaining of the cold just like the chair. Before him the darkest sky stretches out. His screens finish their power up, he looks down to read the System Status.

Status report...

Power levels minimal.

Auto-Pilot is still on course.

Weapons are offline (Administrativly)

Sensors are on passive.

Life Support...Minimal.

The man smiles as he rubs his beard. He can feel the dew on his beard as he passes over it with his fingers. Nothing seems to bother him at the moment. Not even the Vanduul Carrier that he has been shadowing. His oxygen supply is running extreamly low as the man had to utilize rigged thrusters that emitted no power upon use. In doing so, he had to hook up a gas based thruster system. This "rigged" system was allowing him to remain unnoticed for days. It also kept him within meters of the hull of the carrier above him.

The Carrier that the man was shadowing wasn't a normal Vanduul Carrier. This one had gotten it's ass kicked, and from the looks of the damage from as close as the man was, a Huge ass kicking. Massive tearing from explosions were all over the port side of the vessel. The entire carrier was riddled with pocket craters from missle impacts. Plasma burns were scaring the vessel every couple of meters. He could see the forward end of the carrier coming closer. The enterance to the main hanger bay was within sight.

Finally after 3 days of shadowing the carrier the man has come to the conclusion that it is deserted.

Powering up systems

Lights came on, and the sounds of his engine comeing to life was a pleasent one, expecialy now that he can feel the heat from the life support system encase his cold body and warm up his chair.

He smiles before he pushes the throttle forward, sending his ship toward a damaged hanger bay.

- to be continued...

[Tolje Mimar]

Part 2

---

The modified Freelancer landed in the damaged hanger with no problem. The problem from now till he was safe was surviving, finding fuel & Oxygen, and to get some loot.

The Loot would be easy, the other three, well, that's the hard part. The man shut down the systems, bringing everything offline he could, but at the same time leaving the powerplant alive incase he had to leave in a hurry. He got up from his chair and headed to the airlock. Once there he got into his enviro suit and sealed it up. Outside of his ship is a Vacuum, and not one he would like to visit without his suit's protection.

A hissing emits from the airlock as it cycles to match the vacuum outside. The airlock light turns green before the outer door opens to show the extent of the damage of the hanger bay. Four vanduul figthers sit to the left of the hanger. Each one with a degree of damage to them, none of them look to be flyable. The bay itself has frayed deck in all directions. Peices of Vanduul fighters look to be thrown about from micro explosions within the hanger. About 100 meters from his Freelancer, is a refueler terminal that looks to be dry. Pieces of debris from the refueling terminal are floating near it, some spinning as they edge away, others suspended in Zero G. Beyond that, the man can see a Constillation parked on the other end of the hanger bay.

"Bloody hell, I have competitors now." The man said under his breath. He exited his ship, but not before seeing the black skin of the Constillation out of the corner of his eye.

-

Hours seemed to have passed within minuets as the man approaches the constillation parked on the other end of the bay. He has a rifle aimed at the ship, scanning with his scope, hoping to find nothing. The constillation had its cargo doors open, crates were sitting half loaded on the lift. Three bodies are laying on the hanger deck, their suits white with red stripes running down the sides were torn and ripped. Frozen blood hangs in the air, just thick enough to blur the scope as he focuses on them. "Three down for me!" The man smiles as he tells himself, "But where is the fourth crewmember?"

He doesn't even get to guess as he sees the bolt from a Vanduul rifle blast pass through the vacuum. He looks to the source of the bolt. What he sees surprises him. Four Vanduul pilots are firing at a humanoid figure, most likely the last crewmember of the constillation in front of him. "Oh dear, that poor bloke has it in for him." The man says.

"So do you." He hears from behind him as a rifle is jabbed at his helmet. "Get up."

Slowly, the man gets up, leaving his rifle on the ground to his side. Out of all the times he was raiding Vanduul vessels, today he had to get caught by another raiding party. "Turn around!" Yells the man behind him.

As he turns around, slowly, he gets a sight of the one who caught him. The armed man stands around 5'8", taller than him by 2 inches. The man himself stands at 5'6", stocky and always ready for a fight, but with the surprise and no concrete knowledge that he can survive against what he has seen so far, he waits. Well built from what he can see on the shape of the suit. He has a rifle trained on him, midlevel. The rifle seems to be well used, bits of dust still clinging to it, even in Zero G. His suit matches the three on the deck, as well as the one in the firefight. "Well now!" He states as he drops his arms, smiling. "If it ain't but a lonely pirate like myself!" The man said.

"Orion!" The armed man said aloud, enough for the comms to pick it up.

The man being assaulted down the bay chattered back on the comms as he returned a couple of volleys back at the vanduul pilots. "Orion? Here, hell he has some balls coming alone!"

"Stuff it Jack, this here man, Orion, is a friend. From the same group we are from." Said the armed man infront of Orion, dropping his rifle's aim.

Jack, now Orion can place a name to the man under assault. Jack was a quick fella, about 38 years old, and full of spunk. He could navigate jump holes better than most, and he was an expert smartass. Couple all that with a desire to see shit get blown to bits, he was a dangerous man, but a great crewmember for any pirate.

"Good to see you too Jones!" Orion laughed. "I thought I was the only one to found this peice of junk!?" Orion half asked as he picked up his rifle from the deck.

Now when it comes to Jones, this man could get out of any situation. There were times where the Vanduul started a raid against his prey as he was aboard collecting his cargo. With moments of the Vanduul's first blasts, UEE Patrol vessels had responded to an anonyomous distress beacon. They overwelmed the small raiding party before returning to their orginal patrol path. Some say that Jones has luck, others know it is because of his connections. But Orion knew the real truth.

"We just spotted her about an hour ago. We saw it drifting in the system, a couple of dead ships near it, and some Vanduul fighters that looked abandoned."

Orion smiled, "You should know better, it's not easy capturing a Vanduul Fighter, Jones."

Orion should know, to this day, his attempts to capture a Vanduul Fighter for his own has failed, six times.

"I know, but we aren't here for the fighters, we brought bait." Jones said pointing his rifle at the dead bodies near the open bay of the constillation. "Scum who couldn't cut it, we let them out first, and they were cut down in minuets. The Vanduuls brought their fighters in after we landed, they waited till we shut down before slipping in behind us. When we sent the bait out, the pilots took." Jones shook his head as Orion looked at him.

"Bait? You had an idea this was a bad setup? I have been following this scrap heap for at least 3 days so far. Finally thinking it was safe, I landed to find your ship and the four vanduul ships landed in the bay." Orion said to Jones.

Jones lost his smile when he heard Orion speak about following the ship before him. By most claims, the first to sight a vessel gets salvage rights, but when it comes to pirates, it is work together or kill for the loot.

"Well, lets help out Jack before he bites the dust, aye?" Jones said to Orion.

"Lets!" Orion said back as him and Jones turned and ran after Jack, blasting their rifles away at the Vanduul Pilots.

-to be conintued...

[Tolje Mimar]

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Part 3

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The Vanduuls were not prepared for what happened next. Jones and Orion opened up at the entrenched Vanduuls. The glow of the bolts raced toward the Vanduuls to find secure locations on the barrels, crates, and scrap. Of course, they were not shooting to actually hit something, they wanted to suppress the Vanduuls, to keep their heads down as they got to a better area to actually pull off the killing shots. Jones cut sharply left, weaving around scrap and debris that littered the hanger deck. His brow was covered in sweat as he wiped it to prevent the sweat from stinging his eyes. He needed to see his targets, or else he could not keep their heads down. Ahead of him was the perfect spot, a destroyed fighter was in pieces and smoke was still bellowing from its body. He could easily duck behind that to confuse his prey as he snuck around to a vantage point.

Orion was doing just as good. He ran straight at the Vanduuls for 10 meters before he cut sharply right. He saw a clearing of debris right in front of him. 'Not good!' He thought to himself as he quickly scanned the area for cover. The best cover he had was another 12 meters in front of him, right through the clearing of debris. If he were lucky, he would only be shot once, if they were any good, he would not survive. Jones saw where Orion was running to; cursing to himself, he brought his rifle up and fired at the Vanduuls at full automatic. They all ducked. Not even one of them wanted to be hit by an auto rifle at the range he was at. Just 30 meters from Jones, that rifle blast would rip a hole in one of them big enough to step through.

What neither of the three realized, was that the Vanduul had a surprise in their group. If they could get 4 seconds to aim, the escape route for Jones and Jack would be cut from their very existence. The Vanduul were arguing at which ship to fire at. They only had one high-explosive rocket available, and that one would have to do. They could take out the Constellation and be rid of the danger that it brings, or they could blast the Freelancer right off the deck. The Connie was a promising target. If those turrets ever targeted them, they would be dead within seconds.

Jones must of thought of it at the same time that the Vanduuls did. He pulled a laser sight from his left hip pocket and aimed it at the Vanduul cover. *Click* A dot lit up the cover. Jack and the Vanduuls saw the laser guide at the same time. They all bolted. The Constellation’s top turret trained on the laser guide. It fired; the cover was no match for the Behring M5A Laser Cannon Turret. It erupted in fire on the first bolt that scored a direct hit. The cover had to be some sort of fuel cells. The flash and explosive fire was green. The Vanduuls could not believe that their own concerns came true. One was hit instantly in the blast. The shrapnel from their own cover cut down two more.

Orion could not believe it either. He never knew Jones had acquired the funds to automate the turret with a laser guide. It was perfect for ground combat, the best cover fire. Well that was as long as the person using the laser guide kept alive long enough to eradicate the threat they were facing.

The fourth Vanduul pilot managed to duck behind a elevated deck plate. The turret did not have the power to puncture it, so Jones had to come up with another way to get rid of the Vanduul. Orion did not have to figure it out, he was in perfect sight of the pilot, and he fired before the Vanduul could move. His bolt landed solidly on the chest of the Vanduul's suit, automo vented, along with blood and bits of flesh. The dead body fell to the deck, a loud thud in the vacuum.

"Good shot!" Orion heard Jack say over the comm.

"You baited him right to me Jones. I was impressed that you were able to get the upgrade of your turret. Guided firing mode is a well sought after mod for Connie pilots." Orion expressed over the comm.

The mess was spectacular. The two Vanduul pilots that were caught by the shrapnel were finally dying. The air had fully escaped their suits. The first Vanduul to die was impossible to locate, his body was in thousands of pieces all over the deck, and in the air. The best prize of course was the four Vanduul fighters. Two were in perfect condition to be repaired. One had too much damage to the engine section, and the fourth had no glass covering the cockpit.

Jones tapped a command into a command pad he had on him. A repair bot dropped to the Carrier deck and headed towards the 2 repairable Vanduul fighters.

"Orion buddy, you can take one home, if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't even be getting one of them." Jones said over the comms.

Orion could hear Jack's complaints before Jones cut him off.

"Enough Jack, you'll pilot one of the fighters back, Orion can have the other one, but I'm not sure how he'll get it off." Jones said, half asking.

"Don't worry about me, I don't stalk a Vanduul Carrier and not let someone know where I am at." Orion triggered his comm to long range.

"Patty, it's all good. I got a present for you to fly back!"

-to be continued...