Prologue: Bartender and the Infant
792 A.S - 796 A.S
[font=Book Antiqua]A middle aged man was walking anxiously in Freeport 9's Medical ward corridor, he was a known face there, Ruben Walton, the Bartender of Freeport. Soon-to-be father of a twins, a boy and a girl. But everyone who passed by could tell something was wrong. Instead of his everyday warm smiling face, he had look of a middle-aged man with troubled thoughts on his face. It started the night before, when he had to run his pregnant wife to medicals because of the hard pain.
Finally after 9 hours, Doctor Richards walks out of the Medicals, hesitating a few steps away before coming closer. Ruben jumps on his feet "Is she alright ?" he asks. "I have to put it straight because it seems to be easiest way" Richards sighs, then continues "I am sorry but we couldn't do anything for your wife, she was already weakened during the last months" Richards continues as Ruben drops to his knees and stares and the floor without a word "we lost her, along with the twins ....."
Four years later, Ruben looks around the bar, as empty as ever, only a few Corsairs were sitting in a corner, talking in low voice with their strange accent. Ruben Sighs and sits at one of the desks, staring out of the window. It's been more than four years since the last time anyone had seen Ruben smiling. Staring to emptiness of space, he feels some movements behind him and turns around quickly just to see its the Corsairs who are leaving to docking bays, "Are you waiting for anyone ?" he asks himself.
He sighs and turns around to stare at the emptiness of space again, he feels someone moving behind him again, and suddenly a warm hand on his shoulder, "Amigo, we found something that is not our business to take care of" the Corsair says in a low voice. "What is the problem ?" Ruben asks, and gets up as the Corsair answers him "Just come and you'll see". As they walk out of the door, they see the three other Corsairs gathering around something on the floor. "Here Amigo, take a look at this" the Corsair tells something to his friends and they move away, when Ruben moves closer, he finds a huge bag with a small boy lying inside it, hardly around 2 years old and fast asleep.
Ruben reaches out to take him out of the bag when he notices something else inside the bag, a Digital Notepad. He picks the notepad and turns it on, and loads the only Entry written in it;
----Loading Log Entry #1----
Its been 2 years since Maria died, she was the only one I had in this universe,
but she gave birth to my son, My only son, before leaving us. But after 2 years,
I now realize that I can't give him the future he deserves.
So to whoever is reading this; Please, Take good care of my Son,
he is the only thing I have left in this universe.
----End of Log Entry #1----
Ruben couldn't help the tears running down his eyes, Reading a note from someone just like him, who had lost everything he loved. he started reading the short note over and over, and knew that he will be the one who takes care of this child, at least till he grows up and decides his own way of life.
Ruben jumps when one of the Corsairs clears his throat loudly to get his attention, he had completely forgotten that there was anyone around him. "Not that its our business or we care amigo, but what will happen to the kid ?" Ruben looks at the tall muscled Corsair and then leans down to gently raise the child from floor, "I think I will take care of him" Ruben answers with his first smile in years.
Two months later, everyone at the Freeport are happy to have 'The Old Ruben' back, and call the boy 'The little Miracle', the boy who is now known as 'Ruben Walton Jr.', Son of Ruben Walton, Bartender of Freeport 9
[font=Book Antiqua]Three years had past since the night Ruben found the little boy. Their relationship was not how Ruben had planed, they were more like two close friends, than like a family, but this was good enough to keep Ruben happy. After three years, nearly everyone knew the little boy, even those who visited Freeport 9 once a year and all of them agreed on one fact : The boy was much more mature than a normal Five year-old kid. He had the ability to communicate easily, sitting and chatting with every wanderer who visited the bar. He learned fast, and remembered everything with perfect details.
At the age of Five, he knew Omicron Theta and its neighboring Systems better than many explorers who have spent years flying in those systems.
What he couldn't understand was point of the Fights he heard about, Living in a Freeport all his life, he had only seen Peace and Quiet. He had talked with many pilots from different corners of Sirius, Military and Non-Military. All of them were same to him, older men who smiled when saw his curiosity about outerspace, those who would spend hours trying to explain the feeling of Flying in a Nebula to the little boy.
The boy would spend all morning exploring through Neural-Map Database, and all evening talking with Explorers and wanderers who came to Freeport 9, and all night, dreaming about faraway Systems.
Over the weeks, talks about Nebula and Asteroid belts between the boy and the strangers, turned into Strangers sitting together and talking about tension rising between the houses and strange accidents happening in Rheinland and the boy, sitting in a corner and listening to them.
Few months later, One morning when the boy woke up and walked to the bar, he could tell something was wrong. Ruben and 2 of the Engineers were looking at the News Console and talking in a low voice.
"What's it Ruben ?" The boy asked when he got near the three guys standing, Ruben turned around and put a hand on the boy's shoulder and started talking "Something went wrong in Freeport 7." Ruben was worried, the boy could tell from his voice.
The boy pulled a chair next to News Console and climbed it to read the News,
[font=Book Antiqua]“Few hours ago an Emergency Transmission was recieved from Freeport 7, Sigma-17 System.
Main part of the message could not be Recovered because of Statics in transmission.
As the result a Fighter wing was dispatched from Planet Gran Canaria, Omega-49 System to Investigate the situation.
According to latest News, Station itself is Completely Destroyed and no evidence of an outside attack is found.
Search for Escape Pods and reasons of Station destruction still continues.[font=Book Antiqua]”
The Three men were looking at the boy reading the news about Freeport 7 without a word, finally John Redman, one of the engineers broke the silence, "We contacted Gran Canaria, No one knows what happened, All they know is there was a huge static on Emergency Channel and then all channels to Freeport 7 were dead in a few seconds, and when they got there, they found the station completely destroyed. Nothing can Blast an entire station that fast! I dont think anyone could get out in that time." Everyone were looking at John, "Sigma 17 is only One system away" the boy said. Ruben looked around the bar, sighed and said "Thats why no one is here son, Everyone left as soon as the News was on the Net."
The boy didn't know what to say, so he got up and said "I'll be in my room, working on my Eagle. Call me if you got any news" and left the bar.
He was working on a Small model of CTE-6000 "Eagle" Civilian Very Heavy Fighter for the last few months, he couldn't fly away from Freeport 9 in that ship, but it was good enough so the boy could hang it next to his bed and stare at it, thinking about the time he can finally leave Freeport 9 in a real Eagle.
"Lights!" Ruben said as he entered his room, Lights turned on and Ruben walked straight to his desk and opened a small box to take out a Small Digital notepad he'd been keeping for a few years now.
The Screen came to life when he pressed the button on the pad. He started reading the only note in the notepad again, he'd never thought about adding any entries himself, but this time he needed to write, he needed to review all the choices to decide the best one for the little boy.
----Loading Log Entry #2----
Something is really wrong, I can feel it. A Freeport exploded in seconds, just 1 system away from here.
No one dares to say it out loud, but we might be the next one if that wasn't just an unfortunate accident.
If that really is the case, I think I have to send my son to a safer place, Maybe Gran Canaria.
I can ask Austin to look after him till things settle a bit, Or maybe I should send him somewhere inside house space.
That might be Safer, Freeport 2 maybe, but Freeports are not safe anymore.
And Bering is so far away, I can't get to him fast enough if something happens.
I have to talk to Austin first.
----End of Log Entry #2----
Ruben closed the Entry, turned off the pad and put it in the box and stared at his hands, thinking what he should do.
A few minutes later the Pager in his pocket vibrated, he took it out of his pocket and pressed the button, "Yes ?" Ruben asked, "Ruben, you'd better come down to Bar, Freeport 7 Search Party just arrived." John answered him, "Coming" Ruben anwered and walked out of his room.
[font=Book Antiqua]Sound of an alarm woke up everyone in Freeport 9, "Code Red, Repeat, Code Red! Hostile Contacts on long range Scanners"
Ruben jumped out of his bed and ran to command platform, half the station were already there when he finally entered the room, and everyone were looking at Scanners anxiously. 10 Eagle Fighters were scouting Freeport perimeter in case Hostiles wanted to come close.
"This is Freeport 9 to multiple Hostile Vessels, Please turn around and leave this perimeter, or we will open fire!"
Everyone were anxiously waiting for unknown vessels to either start talking or leave without a word,
"Hostile ?! *Static*" After a few seconds, one of the ships was responding to transmission, "I don't know what *Static* talkin' about amigo, we *Static* caught in an IONStorm *Static* all systems *Static* malfunctioning. Requesting *Static* dock and repair ... "
One of the technicians checked one of the scanners and said "Commander, Readings show that they are Corsair Titan Fighters, but their Identification Registry is probably malfunctioning, should we grant them to dock ?"
"Sure, but scan them before letting them through airlocks, to make sure its not a trick" Commander answered.
"Ruben ?" Ruben heard a whisper and turned around to find The boy standing next to him, "What is going on ?" the boy asked, "Nothing son, that was a false alarm, Go back to bed" Ruben answered him with a smile.
Eight Months had past since destruction of Freeport 7, and Freeport 9 was deserted like past few months.
Half of the station were already sent to Gran Canaria, and the rest were staying just to make sure the Base is up and running to supply Research parties in neighboring Systems.
The boy, now spent much less time in the Bar, because there was no one to talk to anymore, so he spent most of his time Running Flight and Combat simulations and studying about faraway systems on the other end of the Sirius.
He kept trying to get some information about Destruction of Freeport 7, or anything about the rumors of some creatures called 'Nomads' that he had heard about in the bar a while back, but he had no luck with that, Nothing was one the News or any channel he could access.
He got up and went to other end of the room and lay on his bed, looking at the small Eagle hanging next to his bed, "I will fly away in one of these ... one day" he told himself before falling asleep ...
Ruben walked to his desk, picked up the Notepad and Started to read an entry he had written a few months ago,
----Loading Log Entry #3----
Asked Austin to look after my son for now, But changed my mind, I just cant let him go like that.
I can make sure he is much more safer if he is somewhere with me, The only problem is I cant leave this place,
this might sound cruel but then it means he has to stay here too.
Maybe we both become lucky and get out of this situation alive ...
----End of Log Entry #3----
Then scrolled back to first entry on the Notepad and read it over and over ... "We were lucky enough till now, Hope this luck stays with us till end of this trip" Ruben told himself.
[font=Book Antiqua]Ten years after ending of The Nomad Wars, Freeport 9 was completely back to its everyday form, Traders and explorers stopping by to get a drink or repair their ships, and some of them would stop by just to talk with the boy - who was not a boy anymore, and had grown up to a young man. Although he knew many things about Edge Worlds, he had never been to outer space himself. All he could do was to stand and stare out of the window and imagine flying away from Theta in an Eagle.
"Ruben ?!" The boy called as he entered the bar, "Have you seen Ruben ?" he asked one of the traders who was enjoying a drink, "I think I saw him back in the docks" the trader answered. "Thanks ..." The boy said and headed to the door. He walked to the docks and found Ruben talking to one of the engineers, "Ruben, what are you doing here ? I searched the whole station to find you!" the boy said, Ruben grinned and pointed at a ship parked in a corner "Me and Ralph were checking this new ship they brought us" he said. The boy turned to look at the ship Ruben was talking about, "Whoa! Holy ... a CTE-19000 Roc Bomber ?! Who's the owner ? I have to talk to him!" Ruben looked at Ralph and they both started to laugh, "Told you he'll be like this when he sees the ship!" Ralph said. Ruben shook his head and said "This is the new ship we are selling here son" and grinned.
"Great! Then Can I take it for a spin ?" The boy said in a exited voice, Ralph smiled and said "Only if you can afford the 6mils worth the ship!" And all three of them started to laugh.
Later that afternoon, Ruben walked to his room, "Lighs!" he yelled as always, and the whole room was suddenly bright. He walked to his desk and opened the old box he had on his desk for 15 years now, he took out the Notepad and turned it On and started reading the entry he added ten years ago. After reading the entry for a few times, He started writing a new entry;
----Loading Log Entry #4----
All his excitement about going to space, and now we have a ship here for sale that he loves,
Wish I could buy it for him ... but a fully equipped ship like that costs more than 30 millions ...
Thats not something I can afford ... but maybe with a little help ...
I still have a few weeks till his birthday.
----End of Log Entry #4----
The boy walked into his room and looked at the small Eagle hanging next to his bed, he picked it up and looked at it a bit and scratched his chin, "Changing it a bit wont be a big problem ... I just have to remove that top fin without breaking it though ..." he told himself.
[font=Book Antiqua]Weeks passed one after the other and The boy's birthday was getting closer. Every year, Ruben would celebrate the same day he found the boy, as his Birthday and everyone in the station, even some who were just passing by, would give a small present to the boy.
"Yes ?" The boy said as he heard a knock on his door, Ruben opened the door and walked in, he looked at the boy who was working on his small Ship model again, and said "Son, come down to the bar, there is someone who wants to meet you." He said, the boy looked at him and answered "Cant he wait a few hours ? My ship is nearly ready, I just have to attach this last Torp Tube to its wing" and pointed at the small ship on his desk. "Don't worry, it wont take long." Ruben told him, The boy grinned and said "Alright, he has 15 minutes!" and walked to the door.
The only person in the bar was a middle-aged man with grayish hair and white tuxedo, The man stood up as the boy and Ruben walked into the bar, "Aah! Finally I can meet the Young Ruben in person!" The boy looked at him, shook his head and said "Don't call me with that name," The man looked at Ruben and then back to the boy and said "Oh! Pardon me if I was being rude, I didn't mean to" He smiled and continued "Then what should I call you young man ?" The boy looked at him and said "Call me Junior, as some around here call me, or just don't address me with a name, thats better" The man smiled and said "Oh, well, Then Its nice to meet you young man"
Ruben cleared his throat and said "Son, this is Doctor Austin Elzner, one of my old friends" and then looked at Austin and said "We actually went to College together" and grinned. The boy walked forward and shook Austin's hand and said, "Its nice to meet you Doctor Elzner." Austin smiled and said "Just call me Austin. Ruben was telling me a lot about you in the past years, Its nice to meet you in person finally"
The boy nodded and said "Well, Its nice to meet you Austin. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go back to my room and finish my ship" Austin looked at Ruben and they both grinned, then Austin said "Sorry young man but I'm not done with you yet!" and grinned again.
"Well, how can I help you ?" The boy asked, Austin looked at him and said "My Ship was acting drunk lately" and continued with a small chuckle "And seems there is a problem with its Navigation system, but none of the engineers here know what to do with it, I thought maybe we can try our luck with you, to see maybe you can help ..." The boy looked at Ruben and back to Austin and said "Well ... I just know some general things about ship softwares, but maybe I can help, What is your ship ?" Austin grinned and answered "Its a Falcon, Civilian Heavy Fighter." The boy grinned and said "aha, CTE-3000, Best Heavy Fighter out there if you ask me!" and his grin widened.
They walked to the docks together without a word, but on the way, the boy noticed corridors were a bit empty! When they entered the Docks, the boy found nearly the whole Station there waiting for them. The boy looked around the room and said "What's all thi...", "Happy Birthday!" Everyone shouted together before he could finish his sentence! The boy laughed and said "Oh Crap! Didn't remember the date!" and then looked at Ruben and said "So it was all a trap ?" and everyone laughed again. Then Ruben put a hand on boy's shoulder and said "I know its not a really good place for a birthday party, but this year we couldn't bring your present into the bar." The boy looked at him and said "eh, What ?" Then Ruben continued "Me and everyone else managed to gather some credits, but still we didnt have enough, So Austin was kind enough, as always, to help us with rest of the financial parts."
The boy suddenly turned and looked at Austin, and asked with an excited voice "A Falcon ?!" Austin smiled and said "No" and his smile turned to a grin. The boy was looking a bit confused, and asked "eh, what then ?" and Austin pointed at a ship in a corner and said "Happy birthday young man!"
"No Way!!" The boy said and ran to the ship "A Roc ?! You all are giving me a Roc for my birthday ? Wow!"
Everyone were laughing, seeing the boy's excitement, then John, one of the engineers, walked forward "We also installed an AI on the main console, so you wont need a Co-Pilot to fly that ship" he said and smiled, "Wow!" was all the boy could say.
Then the boy climbed into the cockpit and turned on the console, after half an hour checking all the settings, he found an old Digital notepad next to his seat, he picked it up and went to bar and asked Ruben "Ruben, What's this ?" Ruben looked at the Notepad in the boy's hand and sighed "Your father ... left it here with a note inside it, I also added a few notes over the years, but now, I think you should keep it, maybe use it as your flight log" he said. The boy walked back to Docks without a word, climbed to his ship, and turned on the Pad and scrolled to First entry,
----Loading Log Entry #1----
Its been 2 years since Maria died, she was the only one I had in this universe,
but she gave birth to my son, My only son, before leaving us. But after 2 years,
I now realize that I can't give him the future he deserves.
So to whoever is reading this; Please, Take good care of my Son,
he is the only thing I have left in this universe.
----End of Log Entry #1----
"Maria ...."
he whispered and started reading the entry again.
[font=Book Antiqua]Finally the day had arrived. After weeks of preparation, everything was finally ready for the boy to start his journey. Ruben entered the boy's room "You are packing everything, it's like you are not thinking about coming back." the boy answered him without looking up "Don't worry Ruben, I'll come and visit you from time to time" but he was a bad liar, and he knew Ruben could tell when he wasn't telling the truth. "We moved Euros to Dock 4, It's ready whenever you want to leave" Ruben said. They had decided to name his ship 'Euros', after Greek God of East Wind in Ancient Earth Mythology. "Thanks, I'll be there in a few" The boy answered him and walked to his bed to get his Small Roc. After making sure he had packed all the things he needed, he went down to docks. Ruben, Austin and a few of the engineers were waiting for him. Austin grinned and said as the boy entered "So our Young man is finally ready to leave for Space." The boy looked at him and smiled, "Thanks again" he said. Austin smiled back and said "Don't mention it, I owe Ruben much more than this, I've already transfered some credits to your Neural-Net account that should be enough to keep you in good shape for a while, but feel free to contact me whenever you needed more credits" Then Ruben walked forward and put a hand on the boy's shoulder and said "Take care son, You're on your own from now on" The boy smiled and climbed to his ship, then took his small Roc out of his bag and put it next to his sit and patted his ship command console and said "Let's see what you can do."
"Control, Euros is ready to undock!" He said after putting his helmet on. John answered him "Copy Euros, Openning Airlocks" and added after a short pause "And kid, Don't get yourself killed out there!" The boy grinned and said "I'll try my best!" and they both laughed.
"Euros, This is Freeport 9, Save Travels!" Ruben said as the boy left The NFZ. The boy smiled and said "Thanks, Take care old man" and flied toward the Green cloud his ship was facing. After he was out of Freeport Scanner Range, he stopped his ship and stared out of his cockpit "What now ?" He asked himself. He activated his Cruise Engines again and entered the Cloud. "Good, Jumphole to Sigma 17 should be somewhere around here" He told himself and looked at his Scanners. After flying for some time, he finally found the jumphole, "ugh, It wont feel good ..." he said and entered the Hole. "ugh! Told ya!" He muttered and closed his eyes. Finally after a few seconds his ship came to a sudden stop and he knew it was finally over, so he opened his eyes and checked his scanners. His Scanners showed an object tagged as "Mongoose" a few klicks away, he flied to it and found a damaged ship which seamed to be a Bounty Hunter Hammerhead, he adjusted his headlight to the ship's cockpit, searching for the Pilot, but no one was on the ship, and the ship seemed to be floating there for years. He looked at the small Roc next to his sit and said "Let's not get lost, I don't want to end up like this one." He activated the Cruise engines and headed toward the edge of the cloud, in the direction he believed would lead him to wrecks of Freeport 7. After setting the AutoPilot, he reached behind his sit to get the old notepad out of his bag. He'd spent last weeks reading all the entries over and over, but this time, he was thinking about writing one himself.
----Loading Log Entry #5----
I don't really know what should I write here.
I know world is not a fairy tale, but it seems to be uglier than I thought it really is.
At least I know how to protect myself in this ship if I need to ...
or I hope I know how to protect myself in this thing, Hope the simulations were accurate.
----End of Log Entry #5----
'Objective Reached.' He looked up as he heard the AI, "Damn ..." he swallowed loudly and stared at what was left of the the destroyed station.
[font=Book Antiqua]He sat there for hours, Staring at the Huge floating Metal pieces which once were part of a Station - Freeport 7.
He had seen Videos and Pictures of the station before and after its destruction, but he could never imagine it could be this horrible. He remembered the day he'd read the news about the Freeport and that "no evidence of an outside attack is found." Now he knew why that was, because technically, there wasn't anything left to be called Evidence. He started the engines again and started turning around the station - or what was left of it.
"Looking for something lad ?" He jumped and suddenly remembered where he was, he checked his scanners and saw a ship right behind him, so he turned his ship around to face the ship which was identified as Bounty Hunter, "Euros, ey ? Funny name for a Ship!" the stranger said, "uhh ... Hi" the boy said. "Hey I know you!" The Bounty Hunter said "You are Freeport 9 Bartender's Son, aren't ya ?" The boy was not expecting this one, he didn't think anyone might recognize him in space, "eh, well, Yea. Hi!" The boy said, "Good to see ya in space lad! Wanna join me to squish some low lives and make a living ?" The Hunter said with a laugh, it didn't sound appealing to the boy, was much violence for him at that point, so he cleared his throat and said "No thanks, I think I'll just do some exploring for a while ..." Hunter started typing something on his command console "Yea, why not. But maybe you change your mind later, I'll send my frequency to your Neural-Net so you can contact me when you change your mind, The name is John Scotts by the way, Some call me Reaper" he added with a chuckle. "So, Are you going back to Theta ?" He asked the boy, the boy looked at him and answered with an uncertain voice "umm ... no, actually I was thinking about going deeper into Sigmas" The Hunter laughed and said "Good Luck then! And be careful when you pass through 13, the Gas clouds there might scratch your shiny ship a bit!" and left to direction of Theta Jumphole. The boy looked at the wrecks of Freeport 7 once again and then activated his Cruise engines and headed to Sigma-19 Jumpgate. Then he reached out for his notepad again and turned it on and started writing another entry.
----Loading Log Entry #6----
Why everyone just think about violence?
The Bounty Hunter thinking about killing some criminals to make money,
Can't he find a better way of making cash? Risking both his own life, and someone else's?
It's all pointless ...
----End of Log Entry #6----
And as he suddenly remembered Austin saying something about putting some cash on his Neural Account, he put the notepad aside and checked his account "Woa ....!" He said as he found 25 million Credits there.
[font=Book Antiqua]The boy looked up as he reached Sigma-19 Jumpgate, and positioned his ship in front of the Gate with hesitation. He shook his head and asked himself "Do you really want to do this ?" then closed his eyes and entered the gate. after just a few seconds he opened his eyes in surprise and grinned. He was moving so fast, but also so smooth. Now he could understand difference between a Jumphole and a Jumpgate, and he was grateful toward Ageira for it! He didn't feel sick even one bit, and looked out of his cockpit window with excitement, watching all the fading colors pass by. After a few more seconds, he finally reached the other side of the Gate and his ship reached to a full stop. He grinned and said "Well, was not as bad as I thought!"
"Oy! You comin' from Munich ?" The boy heard a man, checked his scanners and found a Ship 4k away. "em, excuse me ?" The boy asked. The man's face appeared on the screen, and shouted "YOU!" and said after a short pause, "Comin' from Munich ?" the boy was surprised, he was hours of travel away from Munich, "Answer me already god dammit!" the man shouted again. "No! What makes you think I'm coming from Munich?" The boy asked. The man pointed at the Jumpgate and said "You're comin' from Sig 17!" The boy still couldn't understand why coming from Sigma-17 would mean coming from Munich, "So ?" he asked. The man looked at him and said "You don't know about the Munich Jumphole ? Damn!" And punched the command console angrily. The boy Suddenly heard the AI 'Incoming Torpedo' and hit his Disruptor without thinking. Disruptor flew toward torpedo and made it explode and damage the stranger Ship's Shield. "Wohoho! Sorry! Sorry! You're so good! Never saw any reflex as fast as that! Sorry! Sorry! Accidents happen!" The man started saying without a pause. The boy chuckled and said "Don't worry but be careful with those Keys on your console ..." The man shook his head and answered "I've been looking for Munich Jumphole for Eight years now, EIGHT Damn Years!!" then took a deep breath and continued, "Believe me, If you say even one word about 'Maybe it doesn't exist' I'll blow you right here Right now! I'm not Crazy! I know it exists! I just don't know where ..." then took a deep breath and said "A Bounty Hunter wanted to sell me the location of the hole for Fifty Million! I'm not that rich ... So I tried to force him to tell me, and that pig was so good! Blew me up before I could even scratch his shields! I was floating in Space for two weeks after that! Can you Believe it ? TWO Stupid Weeks!" The boy decided to get away from the man as soon as possible, so said "Well, sorry, I don't know where it is, And I should be on my way now! Good luck finding it!" And activated Cruise Engines before the man could answer.
After the man was out of scanner range, the boy took a deep breath and told himself "Was he crazy or something ?" Then looked out to space for the first time after entering the system, "hmm ... pretty ..." He said with a smile on his face and flied toward the blue cloud on his left. "There should be some GMG Installation in that cloud, where I can rest a bit" He thought and grabbed his pad to write another entry.
----Loading Log Entry #7----
Munich? Never heard of any jumphole in Sigmas leading to Munich ...
Maybe he - Was - Crazy after all ! But if there really is a jumphole to Munich,
And it is that hard to find, maybe I can go and look for it and after finding it,
I can sell the co-ordinance for 50 mils or so ...! Sounds good!
No, on the second thought, No one will be stupid enough to pay 50 mils for
location of a Jumphole, so it would be waste of time ... really ...
But maybe I look for it in a while, for now, I just need a straight ground
where I can walk on my legs are feeling numb already ...
----End of Log Entry #7----
He turned off the Pad as he heard voice of a woman, "This is Gas Miner Ogashawa to Freelancer Vessel, Identify yourself" The boy cleared his throat and said "This is .. em ... Exploring Vessel Euros, Requesting Permission to Dock" and waited for answer. After a short while, the same woman answered "Permission Granted Euros, Proceed to Dock 1"
[font=Book Antiqua]As the airlocks closed, the boy got out of his ship and walked toward the Bar. "Konnichiwa" He heard someone behind him, as he turned around he found a Young Kusarian man behind him, "Hello there," The boy answered. "Welcome to our small home" The man said with a smile, the boy smiled back and said "Thank you, I'm not staying for long though, just getting a drink and resupplying my Ship, then I'll leave for Sigma-13", The man turned around, searching for the ship boy was talking about, "Oh, that one?" He said and pointed at the Roc sitting in a corner, "Yup, that one!" The boy said with a grin. "Well, Such a fine ship you have there!" The man said, and then continued with a smile "I'll be glad to run a quick checkup on it if you want", The boy could tell the man was just curios about the ship, not really interested in doing a free checkup on a Freelancer's Ship, but still, he smiled and said, "It'll be great if you do it for me" And suddenly remembered about his stuff in the cockpit, and said "Oh, I forgot taking what I need again!" And ran to the ship, once in cockpit, he quickly threw his Pad and small Roc model into his bag and got out of the ship again, "Well, Its all ready for you now!" he said to the man, the man smiled and nodded as the boy walked to Bar.
Bartender walked toward him "Konnichiwa Freelancer, what can I get for you ?" then said before the boy could answer, "Well, We are not a spot for tourists, so we don't have much, but still, you'll have a few choices!" and Smiled, the boy smiled politely and said "Well, Hi ... I could use something cold and not so strong!" the Bartender nodded and walked away, less than a minute after the boy sat down behind one of the tables, another man walked in the bar, saying something to the bartender that the boy didn't understand, he was apparently a Miner, judging from his outfit, but what the boy noticed in the first glance, was that the man was not Kusarian. He walked toward the boy "Can I sit down ?" He said, pointing at the table, "em ... Sure, Why not?" The boy said, "Well, we don't get many visitors here you know" The man said as he was sitting down, "Oh, well, not to be rude! Hello stranger, What brings you here?" The boy looked at the man and answered "oh, Hi." and continued with a grin, "Just exploring wonders of space?" The man laughed and answered "Enjoy your time as an explorer, because sooner or later, you'll meet a nice lady somewhere and decide to settle down and say goodbye to flying around weightless in space!" and continued with a smile "Or that was what happened to me!" The boy smiled. Bartender walked to them then and put a glass in front of the boy and said "Well, Your order." and put a Bottle in front of the other man and said with a grin "And your usual Mark" and walked away, "Well, I am Mark, as you probably noticed" The man said as he hold his hand in front of the boy, "And you are ?", The boy looked at him and shook his hand "Oh, well ... Call me whatever you want, I don't really care." "Yea, whatever!" Mark said and shook his head, "hmm ... Wanna test my favorite?" he said and hold the Bottle in front of boy, "eh, No thanks, I'm good with this" Mark laughed and started drinking.
"So, You are a Miner ?" The boy asked, "mhmm" Mark mumbled without taking the bottle away from his mouth. "So, what do you mine ?" The boy asked, "hhmfmmm" Mark mumbled and suddenly started laughing hard, "Oh, H-Fuel I mean!" then grinned. The boy chuckled and said "Does it pay good ?" Mark looked at him, scratched his chin and said "Well, Good enough to keep me and my lovely wife in good condition, so yea!" Suddenly Mark's Pager started beeping and he jumped to his feet, and said "Well, Work is calling! See ya around!" And walked out of the bar before the boy could answer. "hmm ... well...!" the boy told himself and reached for his Bag, then took his Pad out and started writing a new entry.
----Loading Log Entry #8----
Strange how so many different guys suddenly get together in a place like this,
Well, Its not a place for me for sure, but I might linger around a while.
Maybe ask around to see how I can get through those Gas clouds in Sigma-13,
Might be a bit tricky!
----End of Log Entry #8----
Then he closed the pad, drank rest of his drink and got to his feet, "Leaving already?" Bartender asked, "No, or yes ... Just going to check on my ship then decide" The boy answered, Bartender nodded and smiled again and walked away.
"[font=Book Antiqua]So you are leavin' ?" The boy heard a familiar voice behind him, and found Mark standing near him as he turned around. "Well, Yes, I prefer to move around than stay in a place for long." The boy said. Mark chuckled and said "Well then, Good Luck! Where are you headed by the way?" The boy thought for a few seconds and the answered "Sigma-13 I guess ..." Mark shook his head and said "Yea, Good luck then, And watch your head when passing through those explosive gas packs all over the System!" The boy just nodded and said "Thanks, I will" and walked to his Ship.
"Euros Vessel, This is Gas Miner Ogashawa. Safe Travels!" He heard the same voice who had hailed him before, as the Airlocks opened and he left the Station. "Which way now ?" He asked himself, then remembered hearing some explorers talking about a jumphole to Sigma-13 somewhere near the station. So he started his engines and headed to the direction he thought is the right way. After a short while of flying, he finally got what he wanted on his scanners, so he headed toward Sigma-13 Jumphole and then entered the hole and closed his eyes!
After a few seconds his ship came to a full stop and he knew he was in Sigma-13 now, so he opened his eyes and saw the endless blue in front of him. "Ouch ... Lets not get lost, alright?" He told himself and looked next to him, then suddenly remembered his Roc model in his bag, so reached behind his seat to get the Roc and notepad out of his bag, then he put the Roc model next to Ships Console and the pad next to his seat. "Well, where now ?" he asked himself and looked at the Roc, "hmmm ..." he said and scratched his chin and activated cruise engines in same direction he was facing. He suddenly heard a loud explosion above his cockpit. "Holy ...!" He shouted and changed the Flight mode to manual. He could hardly see through the gas cloud in front of him, but was doing his best to dodge his way through. "Oh! Finally! Someone! Help!" He heard a low voice on his Comm, then checked his Scanners to find a ship 13 klicks away, so he said "Where are you?" The stranger answered "I don't know, somewhere!" So he started flying in circles to see which way would get him closer to the stranger. "I'm running out of Oxygen, Please!" the stranger hissed. Finally after a few minutes the boy managed to find the other ship, It was a heavily damaged Hawk Civilian Fighter, "Please, I will eject myself, but beam me in quick so these damn clouds wont blast me off" The Stranger said and looked at the boy through his cockpit window, "Ok, Do it!" The boy said and activated his tractor beam as soon as the pod was in space. Then the boy killed the engines and leaned back to open the door to cargo hold. The stranger climbed into the cockpit and took a deep breath, then looked around and said "No Co-Pilot ?" The boy smiled and answered, "No, I have a AI installed on my ship to do that work." The stranger took another deep breath and sat down. Then muttered "Darn Clouds ... I came here to search the wrecks for some nice Prototype weapons to sell in the market, but got lost, and those damn clouds disabled all my systems ... Lets go to Naha before same thing happens to you as well!" The boy looked at him and said "Where is it exactly ? I don't have this system mapped out yet." The stranger scratched his chin and said "It should be somewhere around D4, but don't hit these darn clouds for the love of god!" The boy nodded and activated cruise engine and flied toward the sector, after a long flight they finally got in range of the Station and the boy heard "This is Gas Miner Naha, to incoming Freelancer Vessel. Identify yourself" But before he could answer, the stranger bended forward and said "Ah, This is Ralph, I got lost ..." and muttered, "again ..." and then said "And this young man here saved my life, Now let us dock!" After a few seconds the same person from Naha answered "Stupid old man, You never learn, do you ? Proceed to dock 1." The boy chuckled and headed to dock One. After the airlocks closed, the boy and the stranger got out of the ship, the stranger who called himself 'Ralph' sat on the ground right away and started taking deep breaths, after a few seconds he looked at the boy and said "I think I'll get someone to take me to medicals first, you can go to the bar, you have a free drink on me!" then got to his feet and walked to the door and shouted "For God's Sake! We have an old man One step away from death here and no one gives a damn?!" and sat on the floor again. The boy looked at him for a few seconds and returned to his ship to get his bag, so after putting all the stuff in his bag, he took the bag and got out of his ship again, and walked toward the Elevators. 8th Floor was marked as 'Bar', so he hit the button and watched the doors close, after a short while the doors opened again and the boy walked into a bar, so much like the one in Ogashawa. So he walked to one of the tables and the bartender came to him "Need a drink sir?" The boy looked up and said "Something cold." The bartender nodded and walked away, then the boy took the pad out of his bag and started thinking about what had happened today. After a few minutes, he finally started to write;
----Loading Log Entry #9----
I'm starting to get scared a bit, to be honest ...
Is there a problem with me, or everyone are really strange ?
I mean, everyone just act weird! I mean ... whatever!
Those gas clouds are beautiful but deadly, Now I see what all
those guys who came to FP9 meant about it ...!
Gonna make my way through Kusari after this one ...
----End of Log Entry #9----
"Here is your drink!" Bartender put a glass on the table and walked away, "Thanks" The boy said and took the glass and stared out of the window to the endless blue in front of him while enjoying his drink...