The US-Opportunity - A Biography

[|nfrared]

The US-Opportunity - A Biography



Captain - Transport Captain Harold Thompson
Crew - 18 (3 shifts)
Cargo - Inter-house licensed and registered - Flags - 1 - Missing In Action.
Additional notes - It is believed that the ship may be flying under a new alias - The.Red.Serpent.

Notes - The Opportunity has more insurance claims for lost or hijacked cargo than any other ship in the fleet. The ship rarely takes fire from these criminals, who then escort under threat and divert the shipments to their own installations.

While the insurance logs indicate a wide variety of criminal entities and scenarios, it is known amongst some of the crew that Captain Thompson is known to secretly show sympathy for the Xeno cause, including signing the ballot when Universal Shipping requested they not be targeted so heavily by law enforcement following several incidents where Rogues, Outcasts, and Lane Hackers were driven off by small patrols of these "terrorists" defending Liberty's interests.

He has been known to mutter under his breath against "Xeener haters", often justifying a recently hijacked shipment of food or medicines to himself as "helping the greater good" or "preventing the poorest of Liberty's children suffering". The incident reports were all lies of course, using information gained here and there to implicate other parties. Fabricated blame fell squarely on the three previously mentioned groups.

While the financial penalties for Harold and his crew losing their cargo are severe, Captain Thompson splits his small kickbacks with the crew to keep them quiet, and also enjoy access to some goods not traditionally available on the open market.

---

Shard - The Faceless One

[|nfrared]

To enter the Serpentis Den - A Personal Log.

Jimmy,

I need help... The ship is in a bad way, that rad cloud has all but fried everything... The sheilds are arcing down the pod mounts and just creating a huge red light show, not protecting anything. We can't boot them without plugging into a shipyard core. The crew are safe enough, the hull is lined with ablative plating, so the internal rads are at a minimum even with no sheilding.

One upside is that it has also cooked the tracking transponder, so Universal effectively have no position on this ship. They'll start looking for it if I miss my next stop and dispatch a recovery team though. This is why we need to talk.

I appreciate everything you have done for me, showing me those shortcuts. They have kept the deception alive this long, but I fear that it is about to come to an end. If you want Oyster Creek to be a regular stop, we need to talk about what that means for me.

It's not that I don't want to help, but our arrangement has turned my life upside down. The CEO's are breathing down my neck, they want to know about the damage to the ship, we're talking millions of credits in lost pods and superficial damage alone... I'll be arrested as soon as I hit port on corporate negligence charges, no matter what I tell them.

I need your help. I don't want to go to prison. And it would be a shame to just set the Opportunity adrift when those such as you represent could utilise a vessel such as this. You'd have to run it dark though. And you would need me. Don't be worried about the costs, that's the thing with these pod-draggers. It's all modular, even the engines. Which is just as well or we wouldn't be getting much further.

I hope you see that I have done all I can for your group, and now it is I that needs the help. It doesn't bother me who I work for, I never did it for the lousy money as you well know, Jimmy.

I'll be at Oyster in the next few hours with more food and life support supplies. Who knows, soon I may be calling you "Boss".

See you in a few hours,
Harold.

---

Shard - The Faceless One

[|nfrared]

The Red Serpent - A Personal Log.

My life has changed forever.
Damn Junkers have caught our scent. The ship is a wreck waiting to happen. My family is reported missing - captured by terrorists to be exact. Oh, and I have four bodies in the back. Tried to take control of the ship and fly it back to headquarters presumably. Luckily the others woke up and sided with me.

I can't go back. I'll be locked up forever and rot in Huntsville - or worse, Sugarland - like the people I have tried to help. The people that need such basic things, like water, and jobs. This guy Jimmy, he had made these things possible.

A few credits off the bottom line for lost shipments. That was the nature of the arrangement. But it got complicated fast. The shortcuts were risky, and then I had to lie to explain the damage to the engines. When the shield generator faulted out I knew that was it. I was in over my head. But so were the Xenos I was helping.

When they completely changed the engines out, I knew no one back at Universal HQ would care one bit about what I would have to say. I'd be immediately stripped of my rank of Transport Captain and locked up facing a lengthy jail sentence. It would destroy my wife, my kids, everything. I can't let that happen.

It wasn't until then when Jimmy told me that it was he that had arranged to have my family extracted and brought to Oyster Creek. He said that they were being monitored and that Universal had ways of making me come in. Bastards. But my family was safe for now. My two boys were actually smiling at me.

I knew then I wasn't a Universal employee any more. Jimmy had made arrangements for the crew - all but one agreed to stay on. Not sure what happened to him. My life was safe though. Without me, without my codes, the ship would be dead weight. That's how I knew we would be all be OK. They have a cabin, and everything they need.

I knew the people there would need more help. Now my family needs that help too. Until I meet Jimmy, I never knew the pain the least fortunate in Liberty felt, the acute panic of needing something as simple as breathable air. Even though there are no shields, even though the thing is falling apart, and even though it is a huge target, I'll keep helping them.

[|nfrared]

Serpentis Maximus

Jimmy felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. The 5th Navy Fleet ship had tailed them right through the Texas system, inquiring to the damage and status of The.Red.Serpent. Harold, the captain was getting edgier. It was Jimmy's first trip aboard the former US-Opportunity, and the first trip since the engines had been repaired and the new scanning system installed. Little did he know the later was about to quite possibly save his life.

As the ship entered the Bering system, the Navy pilot was clearly getting suspicious. The slow reactant leak where the shielding bay used to be wouldn't have helped things, leaving a telltale trace of blazing plasma.

"Red.Serpent, cut your engines"

"Keep it going Harold, don't stop until we get to the Freeport." He raised his voice so the other crew members could hear. "Listen up. You all know who I am. I promise I won't hurt any of you. But I need that Navy punk back there to think you are all in danger or this ship will be blasted to bits before we make the next port. Act scared, It'll all be over soon."

Jimmy drew his plasma pistol. The crew had all stayed on voluntarily of course, but only Jimmy and Captain Harold knew the coordinates for Oyster Creek. He could take the risk and cut the others loose, and hopefully arrange a freighter to pick them up before the Police arrived to question them. The pilot was asking for a safeword now. Given out on a daily basis, Jimmy knew Harold would have no way of knowing the correct reply.

"Codeword? Uh, negative, negative, we uh, have an engines malfunction -"

"Enough Harold, I'll take it from here" Jimmy said quietly pulling his distinctive mask on, a plan forming in his mind. The Freeport provided amnesty for the likes of him, the area control not by police or Liberty navy, but Zoners. As long as he followed certain protocols, his life was almost certainly safe. In a heavily altered synthetic voice he addressed the Navy officer.

"Listen up, whatever your name is! This is Jimmy Predsman of the Xeno Alliance! I have seized control of this vessel. Back that snub up, or I'll start taking care of the crew." He cocked the pistol loudly, letting the weapon do the talking for him.

Jimmy reached over Harold's shoulder and punched a few buttons on the console. The escape pods, empty, deployed from the rear of the craft.

"See that? You fire on this ship and you'll kill everyone! Now back off! More! Further!"

The Navy pilot, taken aback by the unravelling situation, pulled his snubcraft back to about 5 klicks. Jimmy figured the silence was too long from the pilot. He was calling for reinforcements!

"I swear if any cops or Navy show up I'll do it!" He looked to the crew, wringing his fist near his eye. On queue they began wimpering, but one young man almost burst out laughing and had to shove the shoulder of his flight uniform into his mouth.
"What do you want?" Came the smooth calm voice. Smart, this one. To the point.

"I want the ship!" Jimmy's mind swirled with possibilities, then focused on one idea. "Let's cut a deal. I'll let the crew disembark onto the Freeport. All except this guy here, the Captain. Me and Harold are gonna be friends for a while, until I learn how to fly this thing... Then I'll let him go too."

"There was another long silence. Was this guy stalling him, for more firepower? Would they lock down the Freeport? That would create a huge incident, surely. Hopefully. There was no doubt that the Freeport's Hangar control would be listening to the communications.

Without this bluff, Jimmy's plan would have fallen apart. If the Navy took control and secured all of the hostages, Jimmy's life would be forfeit, and he knew it. He let Harold slide the ship towards the station, enough to get a docking tube to the auxiliary airlock. It was the only one that still worked.

The crew left their stations as instructed and soon they were all "safe". Jimmy shook his head. This complicated things, he thought. When the police worked out that they were all Xeno converts, they would do hard time. And it left only two crew to get the ship back to the Creek.

Suddenly, there was a loud beeping noise from the vacated communications array. An incoming Navy capital ship! True to his training, the Navy pilot had called in fire support. The new array had picked up the vessel from a long way out - almost 20 klicks - giving Jimmy a vital few extra moments A glance out the port side of the Stork showed red lights on all of the hangar bays on the Freeport that he could see from this side.

"They're doing it! Shit! They called it! Harold, get this thing moving! Now, dammit!" Jimmy was shrieking in panic.

"I can't do it alone! You need to be sitting there, hold that stick, keep us level!" Harold had both eyes fixed on the maze of rocky debri. One bad move and the unshielded ship would be torn apart, but it was this or prison for corporate negligence. The CEO's at Universal would make sure someone paid the price for their very expensive cargo ship.

The docking tube connecting the Red Serpent to the Freeport went tight, then ripped clear as the cruise engines strained against the flimsy alloy ducting. The vessel shuddered and pulled away into the asteroid field. The Navy fighter pilot was busy confirming the health and numbers of the disembarked crew, and didn't see the vessel move away until it was too late.

As if this situation wasn't bad enough, another console began calling in alarm. Suddenly the bridge was plunged into red emergency darkness. An automated voice began repeating "Alert! Incoming Ion Storm."

The vessel shuddered again, more violently this time. Neither Jimmy or Harold could leave these two piloting and navigation stations until they reached a safe destination and stopped. Unsure of the conditions of the storm or even if they were being followed, the damaged vessel snaked its way into the asteroid field. All they could do was run, and get the ship hidden again.

Jimmy cursed to himself again. His hand had been called. There would be no more hiding under the Universal IFF codes or docking papers. Within the day, all of Liberty would know of the missing vessel, its description and the "terrorist organisation" known as the Xenos. Damn propaganda.

He turned to Harold and said "You know, you are one of us now. A true Libertonian." He paused. "A Xeno."

"I know" was Harold's quiet reply. "I have known for a while now. Maybe I always was. I signed the ballot, when Universal pushed for more tolerance on you- uh, our kind. I just want to get back to the Creek and see my family again."

Jimmy said nothing. He couldn't relate to Harold's situation. Maybe that was wrong, every worker or crew member aboard Jimmy's recently constructed station he knew, and cared deeply about. They were his children, the cause was his family. A small smile crept across his face. He did understand.

[|nfrared]

Panic stations

The dilapidated transport meandered into high orbit of the proud Liberty capital - New York. The elite of the elite. The previous meeting with Navy forces in Bering still fresh in his mind, he relaxed as the scanner came up clean. Just a Freelancer civilian near the station, probably a hired escort. They were here for more supplies, Jimmy dismissed the gunboat with out much thought - after the previous encounter he felt almost invincible, the rush having sustained both himself and Harold for 32 hours to get to this new destination. It sounded like suicide, but that's exactly what he wanted them to think. It was the ultimate prank.

Sidling up to one of the Trenton cargo terminals, Harold feed the docking and licence registration codes through. They knew one day they would just be rejected and a hasty getaway would be their only recourse. But it wasn't today.

The new sensor array began beeping continuously. Harold kept his eyes on the console before him while the ship was loaded. Another good thing about this oversized pod-runner. Very easy and quick to load or unload.

"They are hailing us" he said as Jimmy looked on.

"Hold it." said an unknown voice. Ship was showing as a Freelancer licensed vessel.

"Ignore him" Jimmy said quickly. With no Liberty frequencies or insignia on the ship, Jimmy's disposition was sour enough as it was without someone trying to push him - and a supposedly still legal commercial transport - around. Word hadn't filtered through from the Navy activity in Bering yet. There was still time.

"Gonna have to ask you to stay here!" The weapon placements on the large gunship came to life, tracking the naked Stork.

Then a slight pause. And then a prolonged exchange as the Freelancer told a dangerously accurate tale. Turned out the Police had already been onto them for some time. Damn mercenaries... Some were wannabe detectives like this one. Soon the scanner was beeping even louder. More incoming ships.

Jimmy's blood turned cold, sending a chill down him. Looking to the plasma pistol again as the unknown gunship began broadcasting its position and intentions, it wasn't long before Navy fleet vessels arrived. Enough time to load the last pods...

He looked at Harold and said softly "You know I won't shoot you, right?"

"Yeah. I know" then,

"You really think this'll work? Again?"

"Not really. If we are captured, you can fully blame me. I'll do hard time this time, and you can tell them that you are an actual hostage. Just make sure you get back to the Creek if I don't make it, well, maybe I'll see ya." He pulled the mask on, his voice changing to the synthetic intimidating rasp that he hoped would unnerve these curious ships.

Harold hailed the vessel, trying to appear calm and collected. The Freelancer continued to disrupted the engines, soon the lane was blockaded. Nothing, it seemed, would deter him.

"But we have no choice right now," Jimmy observed, "in fact we are surrounded."

It was true, three - Liberty - Navy ships had descended upon the exposed train, scouring the vessel with scans and hailing calls. Jimmy keyed the communications array to locally broadcast his intentions. He loaded the plasma pistol loudly, a distinctive clicking noise that spoke volumes in any language. Jimmy took a few deep breaths to calm himself before he interrupted them.

"Everything you have heard is true. So you will be responsible will you? For the death of this crew? There are no escape pods left. In fact, the whole back section is depressurised. You had better cut us loose I think! If you want them to live, that is..."

This threw the Navy formation into disarray. Was this really a terrorist act? Right here at the capital? Surely not. But soon Jimmy had twisted the tale. To attack the stricken craft would surely result in civilian deaths without any escape pods. A Navy formation destroying a unarmed and unshielded transport would create a huge incident and stir unrest.

However with no Police vessels nearby to corroborate the story, the ranking Officer must have thought better of being the one explaining those deaths to a court marshall judge, and gave the command to let the Red Serpent dock with the lane. He could imagine the gunship pilot, fuming in frustration in his cockpit. But this incident would be sure to put an end to any future supply runs to most Liberty bases. Word would spread. The deed was done.

A feeling of pure joy and elation came over Jimmy then. He may as well make the most of it, if this was to be the last legal run. He was suddenly drunk on this feeling of euphoria, and opened the system communications as the ship left New York.

"Let it be known, you have been played by Jimmy of the Xeno Alliance."

He cut the channel, turned back to Harold who was still calm and completely focused in navigating the hyperspace jump, and drew in a huge breath, the mask roaring as if in triumph. He pulled the mask off and threw the pistol on the plush console seating, letting out a huge sigh of relief and bewilderment. He felt as if years had suddenly vanished from his lifespan. Far too close.

Soon he relaxed as the ship drew closer to its destination, disappearing into the murky underbelly of Liberty again, safe - for now.

[|nfrared]

Red Alert

"Tell Jimmy to get up here! We have unscheduled incoming ships!"

Tim, the hangar control officer, was peaking out. The vessels were on a direct trajectory. One was an Upholder - the bombers the Navy manufacture, but the readings were sketchy on the other - probably jammed out by the radiation.

Then another voice "I'm outbound, headed for Milford to pick up basic supplies. I'll try and draw them off."

That was Randy, one of the freelance operators making regular stops. It was guys like this that were needed. A larger vessel, the Randy.Rattlesnake was an illegal Pirate Transport - the perfect bait to lead the Navy away. Guys with balls of super alloy.

Jimmy came through the threshold then, obviously roused from his bunk, rubbing his eyes sheepishly. The pulsing red of the room quickly brought him to full awareness.

"Look - two of them! Way too close!" Tim was almost shrieking now, hysterical. He knew what this could mean.

"Ready the Serpent. It can't be discovered here. We'll have to crash the party at Vespucci early..."

Then "Lock everything down! Get some reinforcements out to Randy. Who have we got?"

"Just one bomber, Jimmy. One of the new guys."

"Wake him, get him out there!" Jimmy was wide awake now, panic starting to set in.

"It's working! The Navy snubs are chasing Randy!"

"Pray that he makes it to Milford. Put the base on alert. Get word out to all Serpentis assets, we're gonna need backup. If they found us, we're gonna need every ship we can gather. Next time they come, they'll bring the heat."

"Do we evacuate?" Tim asked hesitantly.

"No. We can't be sure they got close enough. The interference from the cloud should have jammed their scanners. I hope." Jimmy said that last bit under his breath. "I want the weapons grid online from here on in. No exceptions. Any vessels that we aren't expecting, turn them to slag. Got it?" Jimmy was starting to collect himself, more resolved.

"Prepare my shuttle. I'm going out to Magellan with our little project. I'll get back as soon as I can. Keep it locked down, we'll be alright. I'll see if the Hellfire will bring something, anything in to help us. We're gonna need all the help we can get."

[|nfrared]

Respite

After the events that had transpired at the Creek, Jimmy was exhausted and slept for many hours after the ship was moored at Freeport 4. He awoke to the dull beeping of his comms unit. The Hellfire ships were making contact. An agreement had been reached, with the Chief Engineer of the Hellfire Legion wanting to get a closer look at the damaged transport. Now we would see what help our only allies could be, he thought to himself.

After completely disabling the transponder under careful instructions from Hellfire technicians aboard the Snowflake, the repair vessel made a couple of quick welds in places with hull panels flapping around haphazardly. More Hellfire vessels moved in, making a supporting formation as the vessel moved toward the Vespucci jumphole.

"Take it easy, we don't need more damage from all these rocks." Jimmy calmly said to Harold.

"You really think they can fix it?" Harold asked suddenly.

"I honestly don't know. I'm not sure what facilities they may have. I don't think they would have said they could help us if they couldn't, though." Jimmy said it more to convince himself.

Making the jump into Vespucci, the creaking and groaning of the spine of the vessel was unnerving. It was getting louder and with the pods full of alloy and other materials for the repairs, she was at her maximum load capacity. The ship came to a stop near the Ravager, and it was some minutes before the engines would start so that Harold and Jimmy could pilot the train along the designated flight corridor.

The text came up on the screen from the Hellfire pilots, relaying coordinates and specific instructions. One wasn't talking, the repair ship captain was relaying everything in text. Seems odd, Jimmy thought to himself.

"I've lost track of where we are relative to the hole." Harold muttered. "We're at their mercy now." Then -

"They're leading us into that cloud. Is this a trap? It feels like a trap..."

"Trust them, or if not, trust me. We have to, we are committed now."

Soon, a large station, immense in its sheer sprawl of heavy drydocks and service bays. A large shape loomed out of the cloud at them, "Fate's Hand" across its hull. Jimmy had never seen a battleship quite like the one he was looking at now. After a long dialogue with the traffic control officer, a course was laid in and a dock designated.

Awed by the sheer size of the operation, the pair manuvered the crippled Stork into the waiting drydock. The unloading of the materials would be easy, with The Red Serpent only having to release its clamps as the waiting Hellfire transport Delta-1 collected the cargo pods full of ablative armor plating, panels and super alloy required for the project. The repair ship scanned the vessel continuously, analysing the damage as the patrol vessels circled like buzzards about the shattered transport.

The text on the screen again, this time simply saying -

Come aboard the station when you can. You have been assigned temporary quarters. We will discuss the repairs in more detail there.

[Katherine Snow]

Katherine Snow or Kathy, how Jimmy liked to call her received last message just when her staff's preapared all important stuff on board of her love, repair ship called "Snowflake". Katherine is well aware of current Magellan system situation, where two Sirian nations, Gallia and numerous groups have to fight against each other in order to survive this age of the war, shortly it's not the peaceful place. In order to survive and to bring "Serpent" to Vespucci and Fort Leniex, current stage point for all Legion's damaged ships, she had to contact few Legionaires. First one was PFC Mu, another one was Major Fightmaster and in Vespucci near Ravager Lt. Westbrook came to escort their beauty to Leniex.

PFC Mu and Kathy, both approached Freeport-4 where Red Serpent's been waiting for them. Kathy tried to establish communication channel between "Snowflake" and "Red Serpent" as soon as they came closer to each other, making sure it's Jimmy over there.

Kathy: "Hello, can you identify yourself?" ~ Jimmy: "Hailing Hellfire vessels. Code Xeno Alpha Zulu Tango. It's me Kathy"

Yes it was Jimmy with his beauty, that's all Katherine needed to know before she approached Stork train near 4th Freeport.

Kathy: "Hey there! Your beauty, I guess? ~ Jimmy: "Yeah, this is her, The Serpentis Maximus. As you can see, she needs some love"

With a slight nod and silent giggle, Katherine and her staff made few circles around Jimmy's beauty, trying to finish diagnostic protocol as soon as she could, due to danger of another conflict between Navy, Armed Forces, Royal Navy and so on. Engines and even Cruise engine protol seemed to be okay and Kathy led Jimmy to Vespucci hole, of course she chose different and a bit harder path because straight way could be a bit too dangerous for "Serpent". Actually the biggest threat was a huge ice asteroid field around Vespucci jump hole, however Police Guardian appeared near 4th Freeport in same time when Jimmy and Kathy departed from there, flying to Eta-2 coordinates. Katherine ordered PFC Mu to intercept Police vessel, while she and Jimmy would reach Vespucci jump hole.

Kathy: "Rather slowly here, Jimmy. We are approaching Ice field. ~ Jimmy: "At best thrust speed. All ahead slow!"

Katherine however had to contact Ravager Command Center and inform them about their new and not common guest, of course she didn't want to experience horrible accident, not now...

Kathy: "Ravager? Fleet Admiral Snow speaking. We are entering Vespucci with Jimmy and his "Red Serpent" Stork Train, do NOT engage. I repeat, do NOT engage, Jimmy is here with me."

They made it... Homeworld of Hellfire Legion called Vespucci. Lt. Westbrook joined "Snowflake" and "Red Serpent" near Ravager and well guarded entrance to Magellan system.

Kathy: "Welcome to Vespucci, our Homeworld Jimmy. ~ Jimmy: "Wow... Looks like we are still in one piece.... Amazing! Looks like Ravager has us as clear... I'm not seeing a shipyard...." ~ Kathy: "Well, Jimmy. Shipyard is well hidden." ~ Westbrook: Just follow our lead and you'll be fine.

All three proceeded to Monterey, where they had to slow down a bit due to "Serpent's" lack of shield generator and nobody needed even more damaged "Serpent". There Westbrook and Jimmy followed Kathy, who was entering the cloud above, huge and orange beauty of Vespucci, hiding Legion's legendary station.

They arrived to Leniex and Jimmy seemed to be really shocked by this view, "Fate's hand" and "Leniex" appearing in front of him with huge and heavy patrols flying around, protecting this beauty and ready to eliminate everything possing some form of threat.

Kathy: "Here we are! Welcome Jimmy!" ~ Jimmy: "Uh.... Whoa! What the!" ~ Westbrook: Amazing isn't it?"

Jimmy was ordered to moor his ship with drydock 4, currently empty and prepared for his beauty. "Delta-1" transport arrived as well and helped Katherine to unload important materials for repairs of "Serpent"

Kathy: "Alright Jimmy, diagnostic complete. It seems your shield generator mount got some hits, but don't worry it's something we can repair quickly. Then it seems your defense systems might be damaged and your right side of hull seems to be damaged as well" ~ Jimmy: "Do we have an estimate on the repair time? ~ Kathy: "It might take few days, maybe a week. I am not sure about internal damages and systems colapse." ~ Jimmy: "I can send for a shuttle, unless you have some quarters I could use?" ~ Kathy: "I am sure we have some free quarters. And also, I would like to meet you in the bar so we can discuss future plans and so on about ship and future between Xenos and Legion. ~ Jimmy: "Prepare to power down systems. We'll let the Legion techs take it from here."

Katherine docked her ship and went to the bar to relax for a while, before Logistic guys move everything to Deck-12 where's entrance to Jimmy's beauty.

---

[|nfrared]

Ramifications

[

When word got to Jimmy about the latest news back home, he made a snap decision. Work had been progressing well the past few weeks as the Hellfire Legion striped most of the hull panels off and relayed the front of the vessel in the ablative plating that had been brought from their brief stop in Bretonia. The superstructure had been well reinforced, the spine stronger than ever. But the tasks further down the list - some that others would have put at the top of Jimmy's priority list, like shields and proper armor reinforcements - would have to wait.

Loading up on some black market munitions for the return trip, Jimmy's heart would not stop racing. The news was bad. The Navy had found the Creek. He had to get back to Oyster. He was breaking the rules.

He was keeping his girlfriend on the station.

The Serpentis Maximus had been summoned. He had taken a few crew now, only those he trusted. They were all completely unfamiliar with the ship and would have to learn by simple watching at first. All was going well.

"We are approaching a gravity well" One young man named Kevin ventured.

"It's just the Cortez star." Then he whispered something no-one quite heard. And then "Check the engine plasma levels or something..."

There was some beeping from behind the pair. The a thoughtful sounding "Oh I see..." Beep beep beep.

"What are you doing?"

"It's OK, I got it." Beep beep.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO THAT CONSOLE!" Harold was roaring, eyes locked dead ahead.

Jimmy was sitting in the secondary pilot seat. He was mostly monitoring hull integrity and the engine temperatures as well as calling out navigational hazards on the scanner array. He watched as the temps on the port, and then about a second later the starboard engine, dip then rise sharply.

"Shut them down! Before they fry!" Inertia dampers kicked in. The ship lurched, then came to a full stop. But it was too late. There was a bright orange flash The entire vessel was on fire. With this cargo that was bad. Very bad.

"There's no charted cloud here. I can't see out the porthole. It's just... Smoky.

"So what did you touch?" Jimmy was asking now.

"I just vented the waste plasma..."

Harold looked at Jimmy. "What does the hull integrity read?"

"Uh, it's at zero. That can't be right though. We would be dead. The munitions must be intact too..."

"The hull sensors are fried. Ignore them. And you - don't touch anything!" Harold glared at Kevin.

"Engines are still running. And we aren't dead so... Let's go."

As the Serpentis Maximus moved forward, it exuded an envelop of cooked waste plasma smog. But it was moving forward. And in the right direction also. Harold weaved the vessel through the ice in California as though it was a living snake. Soon the Serpent was home.

Rushing up to the command deck of the station he burst through the threshold. She was there, watching the panels. As Deirdre looked up at him, tears ran down her pale cheek.

"Is it true?"

"Yes, yes..." Then her face hardened into one of resolve.

"They have found us."

[|nfrared]

The Den, Oyster Creek