I guess you can go home again

[LadyPhoenix]

"So you're really leaving?" Amy asked me.

"I am," I replied. I'm sick of this place and all the people here, present company excepted. I'm starting to think I should have never come to Houston."

"Don't say that, Jen," she said. "You've got me."

"And I appreciate you, Amy," I said. You're about the only good thing that's happened to me here. "But I can't stay anymore. Leaving me that old Kestrel freighter was the only good thing my bastard stepfather ever did for me. I'm going back home to California. It'll be easy enough to find a job on Los Angeles."

"Well don't be a stranger," Amy said.

"I won't. I promise." Perhaps in another life we could have been more than friends but she'd made it clear she was only into men. I ordered another Rheinbeir and took a sip. It was pricey but so much better than that swill they call Liberty Ale. "I'll send you a message when I get back to LA so you know I'm safe."

We had a few more drinks but I didn't want to overdo it since I was leaving in the morning. The next morning I loaded all my things into my new (to me) ship and bid goodbye to Houston. I'd had enough of that damn planet to last a lifetime. I could sell the ship when I got back home and that money would last a while. I docked with the trade lane toward the New York jump gate and relaxed with a cup of coffee. The folks in Texas had never really accepted me as one of their own. I was just "that snot-nosed kid from California". I'm sure they're just as happy to be rid of me as I am of them. The jump gate took hold and I immediately realized the inertial dampeners would need replacing soon. Damn the luck. Soon enough I was spit out the other end into New York. I contemplated visiting Manhattan. It had been years since I had been there, but eventually decided against it. I just wanted to get home.

It was somewhere in between West Point and the California jump gate that the idea took hold. Sure, Los Angeles was home and it was familiar, but it was also expensive to live there, more so than Houston. I could probably find a job easily enough, just as I'd told Amy. But would it be enough to actually live on. There had been quite the migration out of the California system toward Texas in the past two decades for this very reason. It was then I realized that I was the proud owner of a ship now, old as it may be. I didn't have to spend my life planetside. And that's when the idea of Jen Strathmore, freelancer for hire, was born. Oh sure, I'd still go back to LA, check out all the old haunts, see how everyone was doing. But I wouldn't be staying long. I had just enough extra in my account for a little vacation, and I had just the place in mind.

I stepped onto the landing pad on Los Angeles and took a deep breath. Damn it was good to be home. I booked a hotel not far from the spaceport and called a few friends to meet for drinks later. Once I got settled in my room I got my vacation plans in order. A week on the beach on Curacao would do both my heart and my head good. I had to book the smallest room they had because those pricks at Orbital like to overcharge but I'll manage. I can taste the tropical drinks already.

[LadyPhoenix]

A week on Curacao taught me that the place is a tourist trap unless you've got a ton of money. Maybe I'll come back sometime when I've got more. I got into a scuffle with some Rogues in Cortez on the way back home but they got the bad end of it and now I had five of them in my hold. I knew LPI had a standing bounty of 10,000 credits for each one, so I stopped by San Diego border station on the way back. ACAB but money is money so I'd deal. On my way to process the transaction though, I got a tip that they were paying 45,000 a pop over in the Pennsylvania system so I turned around and headed back to the ship. It would be a pain in rear to fly all the way there but the extra 175,000 credits would be worth it.

On Harrisburg Station I turned in the Rogues and collected the bounty, then grabbed some drill bits and mining machinery because I knew they'd fetch a good price on Pittsburgh. Which was ironically in the New York system. Whoever named that planet really screwed up but I guess they didn't know there would be a Pennsylvania system later on. After I got planetside on Pittsburgh I sold all the equipment and then hit the bar for a drink. They didn't have Rheinbeir here so I went with a vodka cranberry. After a couple minutes I felt multiple sets of eyes on me. Ah yes. The bar full of greasy mechanics and minors can't help but stare at the only woman in the place. Sorry, boys. I'm not interested. But I did get a good tip while I was there. Apparently there was good money to be had hauling gravity field stabilizers from Colorado to Texas. Ugh, Texas. But at least it was Austin depot. I wouldn't have to actually go planetside on Houston.

On Pueblo station I did indeed find gravity field stabilizers, for 5000 credits each. The trade rep assured me I'd double my money on the other end, though, so I loaded up my ship with as many as I could afford. I asked him if there was something the station needed that I could bring back on the return trip. "If you're willing to hop over into Bering, DSE is rebuilding the jump gate to Hamburg and they generate a bunch of data packs that we need."

I'd heard of Ageira's infamous "white boxes" before. You had to work for them to be able to purchase or haul them. I had to ask if that was the case here. "Don't you have to work for Ageira to haul something like that?"

"Sure don't," the trade rep replied. "Just don't try and sell them to a third party unless you want to face their army of lawyers."

I knew there had to be a catch but if the money was as good as he was saying there was no reason to try and screw them over. I didn't relish going back to Texas but maybe I'd go say hi to Amy. I did kind of miss her. And this route had to be better than running bits of this and that between California and New York.

[LadyPhoenix]

It had been almost a year and a half and I'd been able to upgrade my ship a couple times. I was now the proud owner of a L'Ane transport. It cost a pretty penny to get all the controls and signage re-labeled from French into English but at least now I could read everything.

My good fortune was due to a man named Buck Owens and his company New Horizon Industries. He'd approached me not long after that first run to Bering and asked if I wanted to work for them as an independent contractor. They did a lot of work out in the Omicrons. Dangerous place but the money was good so I agreed. I'd never been outside Liberty except for Bering so this was a great chance to see more of Sirius. On arriving in the Omicron Xi system I discovered that the Corsairs were selling alien artifacts called "Xeno Relics" and that the elite in House space were gaga for them. Just one problem. They weren't exactly legal in House Space. But running them from Omicron Xi to California promised an eight figure payday, so I took the chance.

It wasn't easy keeping away from established trade lanes and traveling through jump holes exclusively but I finally made it to Fontana Freeport in California and offloaded the relics for around 30 million in profit. Now I was in the big leagues. When I got back to Omicron Xi, one of the 'sairs tipped me off that the Xeno Relics were not illegal in Gallia. The return wasn't quite as good but still substantial. And Buck pointed out there was am NHI base in Zurich where I could pick up molybdenum ore to bring to the Outworlder shipyard in Omicron Kappa which would more than make up for the lost revenue of selling the relics in Ile-de-France rather than California. New Paris was a nice place. Not sure I'd want to live there though. I'd done this run a few times and now it was time to go visit Amy on Houston.

The inertial dampeners kicked on as soon as I exited the trade lane above Houston. It was still a godforsaken planet but this was a victory tour, not returning in defeat. I put on my nicest dress and heels and walked out onto the mooring station to catch a shuttle. I'd messaged Amy that I was coming and she was waiting at the spaceport when I arrived.

"Oh my God, Jen, you look great!" she exclaimed. "Where's your ship, though?"

"Parked in orbit," I replied. "I sold that old Kestrel a while ago for something that could haul more cargo, then sold that one for something even bigger. I'll tell you all about it over dinner."

"What did you have in mind for dinner?" she asked.

"You know that fancy steakhouse we could never afford? I'm thinking that's our dinner spot. Then to the Neon Cowboy later."

"Jen, the Neon Cowboy is one of the most exclusive clubs in the city," Amy said. "They'll never let us in."

"Sure they will," I said. "We just need to take a little shopping trip first."

[LadyPhoenix]

We took a cab to the shopping district but not where Amy was expecting.

"These places are expensive," she said.

"Do you want to get into the Neon Cowboy or not, Amy?" I asked her playfully. "Don't worry about it. I got you."

After a bit of hemming and hawing Amy found a little black dress she liked with matching heels. I grabbed a cute silver clutch purse off the shelf and told her "Here, you'll need this." I found a little black dress of my own, but different from Amy's. I already had the heels and purse to go with it in my bag. I knew Amy didn't have any decent makeup so we walked into a store a couple doors down and got her some. We went to the waiting cab which took us back to the hotel to get ready.

I slid into my new dress and sat down at the table with my makeup mirror to put on the first full face of makeup I'd worn in God knows how long. There weren't many occasions to get dressed up out in the Edge Worlds. I'd missed it. Amy stepped out of the other room just then. I'd never seen her dressed up before but immediately decided she needed to do it more often. She ran a brush through her long brown hair and asked me "Jen, are you sure about this?"

"Most definitely," I replied. "You've been on Houston your entire life. You deserve something good for once. Now do you want a steak dinner or not?"

"Now that you mention it I am pretty hungry,"

"Well let's go then."

We caught a cab back to the commercial district that dropped us off in front of the Cattleman's Steakhouse. I'd always wanted to eat here but it was way too rich for my blood. Not anymore. I walked in the front door, head held high. I glanced back at Amy and she was looking kind of nervous. She'd grown up poor and not was used to any of this at all. It was still kind of new to me as well but it was growing on me. I walked up to the maitre'd.

"May I help you, ma'am?" he asked.

"Yes, I have a reservation for two at 1900. It should be under Jennifer Strathmore."

He clicked a few keys on his terminal. "Ah yes. Right this way, ma'am."

We were seated and Amy looked around. "I feel like we don't belong here," she said. "I'm just a poor kid from Houston."

"And I'm just a poor kid from Los Angeles," I said. "Our money spends just the same as everyone else in here."

"You mean your money," she said, obviously uncomfortable.

"Amy, you were my only friend on this godforsaken planet," I told her. "You deserve this. And I have a business proposition for you."

Just then our waiter appeared. "Good evening ladies," he said. "Can I get you started with something to drink?"

I looked at Amy, indicating she should order first. "Just a Liberty Ale for me," she said. Ugh, how can she drink that stuff?

"I'd like a glass of '23 Amiens red," I told the waiter.

"Very good, ma'am, I'll get those for you and be back shortly to take your order."

"So what's this business proposition?" Amy asked.

"The L'Ane is a lot of ship for just one person. I can fly her by myself, sure, but it's not easy. I need a crew and I was wondering if you'd like to be my first officer."

She was quiet for a few seconds. "I don't know anything about spaceflight, Jen," she said.

"Well start off easy so you can get the hang of things," I told her. "But before you say yes or no I'd like you to come with me on a couple runs, just to see what it's all about, see if you think it's for you."

"I'll have to arrange the time off work," she said.

"That's fine. I'll pop over to California to visit my mom and then come back and pick you up."

Just then the waiter came back with our drinks and asked if we were ready to order. Amy ordered an 8 ounce filet mignon and a loaded baked potato. I asked for the 16 ounce ribeye, rare, with garlic mashed potatoes. The waiter left and Amy looked at me again. "You said you're out in the Edge Worlds a lot? What's that like?"

"Well it ain't like flying around House space, that's for sure," I replied. "But the rewards are worth it."

[LadyPhoenix]

Three weeks later, Amy messaged me that she'd been able to arrange an extended period of time away from her job. I packed up my things and said goodbye to my home once again, hitting the trade lane to Mojave and then setting course for the Texas jump hole. I had a friendly relationship with the Junkers on the other side and this way I wouldn't have to screw around travelling through New York. I wouldn't bring Amy back this way. She wasn't ready to go off the beaten path just yet.

I moored at Houston once again and took a shuttle down to the surface. I missed being able to land planetside but the ships that were small enough to go in atmo were also too small to carry the amount of cargo I was hauling these days. I grabbed a cab to Amy's apartment, walked up, and rang the bell. I wasn't sure why we called it that when it was just pressing a key on a terminal but someone had once told me that it referred to an ancient Earth custom before they had computers. Amy opened the door.

"Good to see you, Jen," she said, seeming to have a bit more pep in her step than usual. "Today's the big day, huh?"

"Well you certainly seem excited, Amy," I told her. "If you're all packed, we can go. Not like we have to wait on a commercial flight." I gave her a mischievous grin.

"I am," Amy replied. "Let's go." We loaded her things into the waiting cab and headed back to the spaceport.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Amy?" I asked her.

"As sure as I'm ever going to be be," she said. "It's an adventure, right."

"Maybe not this first run," I told her. "We're just going to New York and California. But after that things might get a bit more interesting."

We took a shuttle back to orbit and walked to where my ship was moored. As I opened the air lock, I made a grand gesture toward Amy and said "Welcome aboard the Ruby Phoenix, your home away from home. After you."

After we were both aboard and I'd closed the air lock Amy took a look around and said "I'm guessing most transport vessels aren't this nice inside."

"Generally, no," I said. "That costs extra. I bought her in the Ile-de France system, had everything re-labeled from French into English, and then flew her to Manhattan to have her made over with some good old Liberty luxury aesthetic. In the crew quarters, galley, and bridge at least. The engineering and cargo areas are more utilitarian. Luxury just isn't practical back there. And don't worry. I've stocked the galley with some Liberty Ale for you, even though I can't stand the stuff. Hands off my Rheinbeir though."

"No worries there," Amy said, making a face. The entry corridor ended at another wider one that went off to the left and right. I pointed right. "Bridge is that way," I said. "All the way at the end. Those two doors before are my quarters on the right and the galley on the left." I took a few steps down the left corridor and stopped at two opposing doors. "Men's bathroom is on the right, women's on the left. Not that it matters yet. Next door on the left is you." I opened the door and showed Amy into a spacious cabin carpeted in the same navy blue as the outer corridor. "You've got a bed, nightstand, table, chair, bookshelf, dresser, closet, and personal computer. If you need anything else, just let me know.

"No bathroom?" she asked.

"I already showed you. It's out in the hall. Only the captain gets her own bathroom."

"I see. Like you said it's not a big deal right now."

"Go ahead and leave your stuff here and I'll show you the rest," I said. We walked further aft and came to a bulkhead with a door. I opened it into a corridor that was decidedly more about function than form, unlike the fore of the ship.

"Now this is more what I expected," Amy said. After about 10 feet the corridor opened up to the both sides and the engineering bay was visible.

"This is where we end up when stuff needs fixing," I told Amy. "The next hire I make is going to be someone to man this part of the ship full time. This is also where most of the defensive systems are. We've got two CT-401 pulse turrets up top, two CT-402 Charon class turrets down below, and two SW4-T Spiker class turrets, one port and one starboard, Liberty's take on the CT-403 Iron Hammer class. The power draw on these is slightly less. The shield generator is also housed in this part of the ship." We continued walking down the corridor. I pointed to a door on the left, larger than the ones in the front of the ship. "This goes to the starboard cargo bay," I said. "There's another door further aft. This door on the other side of the corridor goes to the port cargo bay and also has another door down there." I pointed down the hallway.

Finally we reached the stern of the ship. Amy asked "What's this?"

"This is the aft gunnery station. It's an M0-3H Sacre Bleu class turret, the finest Gallia has to offer for transport class ships. I can man all the guns from the bridge but this one is kind of a pain in the ass to target from up there. So it can be operated manually as well. Let's hope it doesn't come to that. Now, it's getting late. Let's have some dinner, get some sleep, and head out in the morning."

"Sounds like a plan," Amy said. "And now that you mention it I'm hungry."

I really hope she decides to sign on. I could use a first officer and even though I'll have to train her, there's no one else I trust to do the job right now. We'll head out for New York in the morning.

[LadyPhoenix]

Amy was with me on the bridge as I eased the Ruby Phoenix away from the Houston mooring fixture. She looked at me and said "So I guess this is it, huh?"

I gave her a grin. "This is only the beginning, my friend. If I recall you've never left Texas, much less left Liberty. We're doing the first one right now and we'll be doing the second before it's all said and done. But I'm going to start you out nice and easy. First stop is on Manhattan. We have to fly there empty because Houston doesn't have anything anyone there wants. Not ideal but it is what it is."

We were approaching the trade lane to the New York Jump Gate. "OK, Amy, here's your first lesson. This is how to initiate the trade lane sequence." I went slowly and made sure she understood each step. Once I was finished the autopilot aligned the ship with the trade lane and it took hold, rocketing us toward the jump gate much faster than the ship could do on its own, even with the cruise engine engaged. I looked over at Amy and her eyes were as big as saucers. "Never gone this fast I take it?" I asked her.

"Not at all," she replied. "I see why trade lanes are such a big deal now."

"Indeed. Whoever designs a ship that can go this fast on its own will be Sirius' first quadrillionaire. I'd damn sure buy one. Wouldn't be cheap, but it would be well worth it." After a couple hours the trade lane spit us out the other end in front of the jump gate. I looked at Amy again. "You ready for this?" I asked her. She just nodded her head. "OK, watch what I'm doing here. This is how to initiate the jump gate sequence. It's similar to the trade lane one but a bit more involved." Again I went slowly. When I was finished the arms of the jump gate began to open and I saw the familiar well of light appear within. Soon enough the gate took hold and hurled us into jump space. Amy shielded her eyes. "The brightness does take some getting used to," I told her. After a few minutes we emerged into the New York system. "Now it's just three trade lanes to Manhattan. Hopefully the Navy isn't doing too many exercises off Fort Bush. That area of New York can get a little congested. I keyed the trade lane sequence once again, making sure Amy was watching, and soon we were on our way to Norfolk Shipyard.

"You make this all look so easy, Jen," Amy said.

"Oh believe me there was a learning curve when I upgraded to transports but you'll get it. I have faith in you."

Norfolk Shipyard went without incident and we were now coming out of the trade lane at Fort Bush when the comm chirped. "This is Liberty Navy Blue 7 to unidentified Gallic heavy transport," the voice over the speaker began. "Stop and submit to a scan."

"Roger that, Blue 7," I responded over the comm. "I'm not carrying anything illegal."

I looked over at Amy. "These assholes just love doing this," I told her.

The comm chirped again. "Something wrong, Blue 7?" I asked.

"Just curious what a black market ship from Gallia is doing in New York. You're showing a Liberty registration based out of California, which is also odd."

"Everything is in order, Blue 7," I responded. "Not my fault Liberty doesn't make anything that hauls as much cargo as this ship does. Not without a corporate license anyway and that's way too expensive."

The comm was silent for a few minutes. Amy looked at me. "We're not in any trouble are we?" she asked.

"No, we're fine Amy," I told her. The l'Ane class transport has an unfortunate association with a couple of unsavory groups in Gallia and jagoffs like Blue 7 here like to think I'm up to something. This ship model used to be popular with the Brigands, who are basically Gallia's version of the Rogues, and the Maquis, who are a group opposed to the Gallic monarchy. Can't say I blame them. It's kind of a grey market ship but not illegal to fly. I honestly get more grief in Liberty and Bretonia than I do in Gallia. The government there keeps track of legit owners of this ship class so I'm flagged in their systems as one of the good guys and they leave me be once they determine I'm not carrying anything illegal."

"The comm crackled to life again. "Ruby Phoenix this is Blue 7. Your registration checks out. You're free to go."

"Roger that, Blue 7," I replied. I keyed the comm off. "Asshole" The rest of the trip was uneventful and soon we were at our destination. "There is, Amy. Planet Manhattan, the shining jewel of Liberty. Make sure you bring money. It ain't cheap." I keyed the comm again. "Manhattan control this is NHI Ruby Phoenix requesting an orbital berth."

"Copy that, Ruby Phoenix," came the response. "Proceed to Fixture 7, Bay 3."

"Affirmative," I replied, easing the ship through the congestion of Manhattan's orbit to the designated spot. "Should be just after noon local time," I said to Amy. "We'll get some lunch before we head over to the warehouse."

"Sounds good to me," she said.