Author's Note Wrote:The name of Jason originates from the Greek Mythological Hero, who went after the quest for the Golden Fleece. This quest set by the order of King Pelias would rightly place Jason on the throne of lolcus in Thessaly.
This story will compose of a similar plot, with the background of Sirius. It's an idea I had been thinking of for a while and I hope all readers enjoy and perhaps we may come across one another in space. Enjoy!
Jason awoke to the vibrating sound of his PDA. Slowly he opened his eyes and grabbed the device on the table next to his bed and read the newly arrived message. LINK
He sat there for almost an hour, listening to the logs, tears slowly crawling down from his eyes and falling to the sheets on his bed. At the end he let a sigh. He wasn't expecting a message like this to come. He was worried his mother was trying to contact him. Instead he didn't know what to think. He never heard about his Uncle, his mother's brother. Who was this mysterious relative of his? Who was this Markus Rixus?
Slowly he crawled out of bed and made his way to the bathroom in his hired room. They were small rooms, mainly for travellers that only need to stop by for a night or two and only provided a small cot, side table and side bathroom with meagre facilities.
He washed his face and dried his forehead, cheeks and chin with the provided towel. The towel itself looked no cleaner than an grease rag but that didn't matter. It had been almost 3 weeks since he'd left home on Planet Erie. Back there he had been living with his mother, a retired captain of a lawful shipping firm in Liberty. His parents had been doing well with their supplies that they had over the course of their careers earned enough to retire to a peaceful estate in the northern districts of the planet. It was unfortunate though when his father was killed in an accident on one of their final runs. Jason had only been 5 back then.
His mother had wanted Jason, like all of his siblings to attend pilot schooling and earn themselves degrees so that they would become pilots of some shipping firm. However Jason hated the idea of being controlled by some fat cat of society, his grades began to fall as he spent more time flying then sitting exams to train as a pilot. As a result he was kicked from his course. Furious his mother had denied him use of his own ship until he learned to "grow up". It was then that Jason decided to leave.
He had found himself shipping captain, a Junker in the city district in Erie. Luckily for him the captain had believed his story of been capable of flying and so he was given a position as a ship hand upon his hauler. They had made their way around liberty, delivering basic supplies to Rochester, Beaumont and Allentown from the major populaces of Manhatten, Erie and Houston.
They would only stay overnight whilst the ships supplies were offloaded and they'd be back out in space again, making their way to the next port of call. Jason had began to appreciate this kind of livelihood. Perhaps in few years time he could earn himself enough credits to get himself started with a basic Combat Service Vehicle and start a simple scrapping business. It was the kind of life he was after, Freedom and Profitability.
They had been his plans until today, when the news of his Uncle had reached him. He looked at his watch and realised the time, 9:30am. His ship was destined to leave half an hour ago. It was one thing his captain had mentioned to him when he took the job. They stuck to a time frame and they wouldn't wait for anyone.
"Well... I guess there goes that job..." He said to himself and he chuckled a little. He walked back over the bed and sat down. He looked over the logs briefly this time, noticing his uncle mentioning his entire estate had been left to him.
His eyes widened. "Why me?" Almost immediately he began to look through records of ships that belonged to his uncle. He noticed there had been a large database of ships docked at almost every single Junker base throughout Sirius.
Had been however... His excitement died almost as quickly as it left him. All of the ships, crew, gear, everything had been stamped with "Assets Liquefied." He began to look through records on his uncle's stocks. They had fallen so far and fast within the past two days. It seemed to him that his uncle's disappearance had collapsed his empire to almost nothing.
Jason let a sigh. "Well there goes that... Who ever my uncle was he sure didn't work out a system to take care of his assets when he passed." He wished now that he could of been warned sooner but something just didn't seem to be right here.
ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA SYSTEM, 1000 HOURS, DATE: 29/10
A knock at the door caught him by surprise. "Come In." A stout looking man was standing outside as the door slid into its crevice. "The dockmaster want ta see ya, and yer gotta be out of here in 5. I got a shipload of passengers comin' in, and they need beds." He said. "Very Well." Jason replied as he bundled up his belongings into to worn backpack. He then proceeded out the door and followed the innkeeper out to the bar.
The bar was a lot emptier now than it had been the night before and appeared to have calm aura about it. The kind before the storm of drunkeds arrive and fill the place with sounds of shouts, laughter and maybe the odd smash of glass when a brawl starts up. Jason smirked as he saw the bartender and cleaners, hurriedly polish up tables and prepare glasses and kegs for next night.
They approached a table next to the window that overlooked Planet Sayre, the Gas Giant Planet that Allentown orbits. "He'll be with ya in a sec. Want somethin ta drink?" The innkeeper asked. "Nah I'm fine. Cheers." The innkeeper shrugged and left. Jason sat at the table and looked out. He could just see Planet Erie off in the distance. Once his home but now just a memory. He sighed and looked back towards the bar and saw the Dockmaster approach.
"Mornin'... A stroke of luck for you that you missed your flight I guess Jason." He chuckled and proceeded to sit opposite of Jason. "How so?" Jason replied.
"Well lets just say today is your lucky day..." The man smiled at him. Jason couldn't help but chuckle a little, "Is this about my uncle Markus Rixus that passed and left me his bankrupt estate?" He smirked a little as he looked at the dockmaster. "Quite so. A shame about that... Kinda odd how that happened. A lot of credits were lost there. But I was capable of holdin on to something of his. A Combat Service Vehicle in fact. Quite new, engine is in good nick. All yours ta fly. If you hadn't been around when I got the keys cleared I may have had to give it away. But here..." He handed Jason his PDA. "There's the key... and its holding up well in Dock 36. Want to go below and grab it?"
Jason smiled a little. "Well I guess that's not too bad. Saved me a few years as a ship hand to make this kind of money so I can get my own ship. Lets go check it out then." The dockmaster nodded. "Right this way then."
Jason looked up his new ship, "Heh its not much better than what they gave us in pilot school. How well does it handle?" He asked.
"It's not gonna make miracles happen and don't expect to do any long voyages to the Borderworlds or anythin' in it. It's a beaut for scrappin and can get most simple things done. I had to change its registration things over, a lot of pilots use em as skip bins of space for junk and all. Thought it was appropriate to name it so."
"That's fine. A Skip Bin. Heh well I guess this is where it all begins. I have you to thank sir." Jason smiled.
"Don't mention it... Only doing what's right. Oh and before I forget, you'll probably need to call up The Junkers Congress. They've asked for you."
"The Junkers Congress... Hmm. Yea my uncle mentioned something about that... Was he a Congressman?" Jason asked.
"Oh you bet. He flew with them for a quite a number of years. Quite an interesting life he lived. Anyway I gotta get moving. Chores to do here and there. I'll be seeing you Jason."
With that Jason looked back up at his newly acquired ship. He climbed up the rungs of the ladder on the side and entered the cockpit. He allowed himself to get a feel for the stick, pedals and controls in the compartment. When he felt confident he alerted the control to undock and proceeded through the airlock and out into space once again.
Jason looked at the reply he sent back to the message he received the other day about his uncle. "Heh. Well I hope I'm not intruding on anything where I shouldn't be." Ever since the other day when he received the message and ship a lot of Junkers being pilots, engineers and crewmen of Allentown had been more aware of Jason and often approached him with discussions on whatever seemed about them at the time.
He didn't find this bad all, life was a lot easier than it had been before. "It seems I have broken a social barrier down here with the Junkers." He chuckled at that thought. Climbing out of the cockpit of his ship he was approached by the commodity trader again. As he anticipated that Jason had returned with another haul of space trash. Jason smiled at that. "Got another load for you."
The trader smiled back. "Rightio... Let's have a look..." They walked around to the back of ship and Jason opened the cargo door. Once opened the trader approached the sheets of rusted metal, feeling the surfaces of each sheet. "Full load I presume... Hmm. I'll take it all for $15 grand."
"Only 15? Last load it was 50?" Jason questioned.
"Last load, you had a lot of better gear and that old engine which looked as though it had a few years left in it... 15 is my price and if you don't like it, take it somewhere else." The trader looked sternly at him.
"Comon... I gotta make a living here, at least 20 for this then." Jason looked back at him slightly anxious.
"Alrighty... Only cause your uncle was a good man." He passed over his PDA for the transaction, "And don't expect me to go lightly on fuel, we haven't got much of that lately either."
After the transaction had taken place and the cargo unloaded, Jason went up above to the bar to see if he could pick up on any more rumors about his uncle. Unfortunately not much was offered to him. A man did approach him about scrap metal. "I couldn't help but overhear your dealings below with the scrap metal. I have to say that you got a little ripped off down there." He sat himself down at the bench across from Jason. "Yea... I knew he was trying to get the best of me. Who else can I go to though for selling this Junk?"
"A few others... Forgive me allow me to introduce myself. Cameron Igar, I work for DSE." He offered his hand.
"Jason Bates, work for myself." He shook the man's hand.
"Ah the Rixus boy. I heard a bit about you. Markus was a great man to get along with. I'm sorry for your loss." Cameron said sympathetically.
"I'm sure he's out there still... Are you trying to sell me something?" Jason replied
"Heh... Well yea I guess you could say that. DSE and Junkers have been working with each other for eons now. I'm sure if you came to places like Baltimore with scrap like that we can offer you triple or even more for scrap like that. Also I hear Texas is where all the fun is at. The Rheinland and Liberty war has donated plenty of engines, hull panels and scrap alike to the fields down there." Cameron looked at him.
"Yea... So I've heard. Beaumont isn't too bad I hear."
"That's the spot. Listen I gotta head off. But it was good to meet you. I'm sure we'll run into each other again. Here's my card in case you need anything." He offered it on the table and began to stand.
Jason also stood up. "Why are you doing this? What makes you think I'd be capable of making you guys a profit?"
"Because Markus, you're uncle was one hell of a scrapper. I've seen you a bit boy. You've come into Allentown within the past 2 days with 8 loads of scrap and you've managed sleep and eating and gambling here at this pub into your agenda. That's rather impressive for a man who's new to all this. I'll be seeing you Jason." He turned and walked away, leaving Jason standing there with his card.
ROCHESTER, NEW YORK SYSTEM, 2140 HOURS, DATE: 30/12
Days... Weeks... Months had passed with no word from Markus Rixus or any news of his fate. Jason spent days alone probing the net, searching for any source of his uncle. He soon came to the realisation that he would not be able to find reputable material on Markus alone and that help would be required in order to transverse the vastness of information layered out across the networks of the Sirius Sector. Unfortunately for Jason, the majority of Junkers, merchants and pirates that would visit Rochester believed that Markus had gone to his death and each passing day made it seem more likely. With these doubts many did not give Jason much help in his search.
"Even if he has parted from us, I still believe that there is more behind it than meets the eye." Jason would always reply.
In his previous years as a child, he had acquired the skills and knowledge of developing and building intelligent systems. An idea came to Jason, where an AI could possibly do the browsing and searching faster than Jason or any human could do alone. He set about this task for himself spending days at a time typing line after line of code for this system.
Some days however, he often reached a point where he couldn't continue. Frustration and weariness often drove him to taking out his ship into the scrap fields to earn himself some credits for the next week. Ideas would oft times come to him while he was out scraping as well. Eventually he reached a point where he believed his system ready but unfortunately for Jason, he lacked the processing power for his final product. At this point Jason almost gave up on his project entirely, believing that he had developed something too far ahead of its time.
A message tone bleeped on his PDA, he stirred from his chair at his desk and looked over at the device. He played the voice message.
"Hey There Jason. Cameron Igar from DSE calling. Dunno if you remember me. I believe we met at Allentown a few months back or so. Listen I was talking with some merchants here at Baltimore, they're interested in your scraping business and are after some gear. Come on over tomorrow if you can. Be seeing ya."
Jason smirked. "What scraping business is he on about?" He looked back over at the message details and the carrier it came from. He was intrigued to find that it was delivered by an encrypted service that seemed to be powered from devices connected to the net.
An idea sparked. This service seemed somewhat open but the message that was delivered could only be read by his eyes only. What if he could run his program on the net itself by drawing power for the vast amount of computers and devices connected around the Sirius sector. Of course it would not be considered quite so legal and he may indeed need to explore classified information regarding his uncle. But if he could keep this program encrypted for his eyes only, then this project of his could possibly become a reality.
"Hmm... I'll have to get in touch with one of those Hackers, they probably know how to encrypt stuff like this." Jason mentioned to himself.
The system indeed seemed evolutionary at first and it was being virtualised on the current systems in place connected to the net. The service would be encrypted as well.
E.V.E, an Artificial Intelligent system was then born.
BALTIMORE SHIPYARD, NEW YORK SYSTEM, 1410 HOURS, DATE: 04/01
"Well ain't she beautiful" Cameron remarked at the hologram the AI system E.V.E. "And you wanted me to do what?"
"Encrypt all information sent to and from her, like the way you encrypted your message to me the other day." Jason replied.
Cameron smiled, "Heh, thought you might not notice. There's a bit of a reason behind that however. I'd rather that some higher powers rather not know about our little meetings and hopefully, if you agree today, our dealings."
Jason stared plainly back at him, "Why, Is there something wrong with us Junkers?"
Chuckling Cameron replied. "Of course not, although some think otherwise. Personally I believe you kind of people get jobs done, no questions asked." He walked to the window and peered out at the Jersey Debris Field. "And you, son, seem rather special. I'm sure you've heard that from me before. Scraping has made you rather wealthy these past few months, I hear." He looked back at Jason. "But I somewhat doubt you'd be prepared to do that for the rest of your life. Hmm?"
Jason thought about that. It was mainly his search for his uncle that drove him. "The scraping business has been a side thing. Something to give me a bit of income, you didn't think I came here today with this AI to entertain me while I'm out in the fields did you? I'm after my uncle and she's going to help me find any trace or leads out there. His passing seemed... wrong. I know there's more to it than meets the eye and I'll be needing all the help I can get."
"Very well, I can begin to see why you want me. It's a clever little method I learnt back when I was at university. I've used it a few times myself like with that message I sent to you. I'll see what I can do. In return however I believe you and I can start together a partnership of some sort. Here." Cameron passed Jason a key. "Head down to dock 3A. She's all yours." He made his way to the door. "Oh and I'll send you, your AI when I'm done. I wish you the best in your search for Markus."
He turned and made his way out leaving Jason staring at the key in his hand. "Detritus Haul" was marked on the key.
BALTIMORE SHIPYARD, NEW YORK SYSTEM, 1100 HOURS, DATE: 30/01
"Ah good to see you again Jason, come in... She's ready." Cameron Igar was standing by the door to his apartment.
"You took your time with this Cameron." Jason replied. "However I suppose you've been occupied with your work."
"That I have. Come. Come." He was gesturing with hands to Jason to come toward his work desk.
Jason eyes widened as a Hologram of a work came to life above the screen on the desk.
"I hope you didn't spend all this time creating a pretty face." Jason scowled.
"No. No. You can thank EVE for that. It's remarkable how she does some things automatically. She's picked up on speaking English almost fluently too now. She's all ready for what she needs to do Jason."
"Very well. Thank You. And what about your payment? I'm sure you want at least something in return. You did also give me one of your old transports I believe last time." Jason replied
"Ah yes. I remember now. Detritus Haul. I'll arrange something soon to return the favor. I promise you. Don't get worried it won't be much of a hassle." Cameron turned off the screen and ejected the removable drive the contents of EVE on it and handed it Jason. "I got a question for you though, are you really after Markus or his money? I know his disappearance was rather... strange. Would love to catch up with the old codger one day."
Jason thought about it for a while. "My uncle of course. Aside money though its strange as to why it all disappeared. If the money is gone then its gone. I just want answers. And you know she's going to help me with that."
"Very well. I best leave you to her then. I wish you the best of luck Jason." Cameron shook Jason's hand and they both departed.
ROCHESTER, NEW YORK SYSTEM, 1800 HOURS, DATE: 30/01
"Eve. Power on." Jason was sitting in his desk chair and the hologram of the AI came to live on the screen in front of him.
"Hello Jason. How may I be of service?" The voice of the AI was tinny but resembled much of a female.
"I need you to find any and every single record of Markus Rixus. Search through all broadcasts, all transmissions, everything. Then report back to me with your findings. And while your at it play through the logs from Markus Rixus. From 783 to 786."
"Very well sir. It shall be done."
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![[Image: Eve.jpg]](http://s9.postimage.org/gjr0zupyz/Eve.jpg)
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