The system was pretty quiet. Slumbering. Tau 23 at 'night,' if there's such a thing as night in space. Scattering debris was attracted to the asteroids, which stoically stood the onslaught of time and weapons fire from human ships. An Eagle skimmed quietly by on low engine power, sensors sweeping furiously.
James Hart was looking for something.
Or some things. He wasn't sure. The damn things were small, but if he found one he should be given a good idea of where the others would be. At least the interference was minimal, the IMG mining operations were closing up and the night security shift was beginning their patrols, while the Outcast raiding parties were biding their time on Cali, waiting for a more opportune time to strike.
Ping. Ping. The short-range sensors returned a signal, sweeping across the common bands used for short-range probes that need to transmit back to a nearby vessel. Not good for any inter-system recon, but if your plan is to sit still and launch a few probes to map out the system they work great. Of course James had shot down the guy who was doing the probing, but he had asked (in the event of his defeat) that James look for the probes.
Well, the guy had had the good grace to fight it out to the end (something James himself didn't do most of the time, if he looked like he was going to lose), so why not look for some probes? The Eagle zeroed in on the first probes' location, and once it was in the hold he hooked it up to the navcomputer and it spat out the location of all the rest of the probes. A little bit of legwork later, and James had almost a dozen probes in his hold.
OK. Now, how to get these back to him... James wondered. He sent out a transmission to Totienne Wraganoff.
-(Incoming Transmission -(Reaver Mercenary Company -(James"Lemon"Hart - Company Grunt
Hey Totee... tota... Tot! I'll just call you Tot. I got your probes. Hail me back if you want to pick them up. Maybe on Freeport 10 or something. Uh... see you around, maybe?
After his succesfull exam at the Saint Justin Naval Academy, Totienne got the driving licence to fly one of the Council best vessels. While his parents made the preparations for the family event, what could be his first step to the adulthood, he called his girlfriend Antoinette for a date. While he have waited for the girl, the Council Emergency Office gave him a ring about a chance to explore a very odd stuff at Orkney system. Since he always wanted to be a proud pilot of the Council, he had agreed. Totieene wanted to call his girlfriend to discuss with her another date, but the phone was mute...
Totienne suddenly wakes up and smells a damn stinky odour around him.
-What the...? Oh well, mon dieu...that cursed cheese...always forget to close the box of it.
He tries to clear the escape pod's window from the vapor and looks around at the space of Orkney. Suddenly a weak signal arrives to the communication center and the radio starts to make some baffling noise.
-Hmmm...this voice reminds me for somebody...oh, I remember...It will be James. That handy sirian.
He tries to knock the radio, maybe that could help...like his teacher told at the Academy.
....*static*....Hey Totee... tota... Tot!...*static*... I'll just call you Tot. I got your probes...*static*... Hail me back if you want to pick them up. Maybe on Freeport 10 or something...*static*... Uh... see you around, maybe?...*static*...
Totieene get a paper from the lunchbox to write the meeting point and he has to realise that the cheese flow on it. After he cleaned the escape pod from it and evaded a nasty puke, he tries to send emergency signals to Reunion base.
-Reunion...*static*...its Totienne Wraganoff...I had a little problem with the Basilisk...it has been damaged from unknow sirian vessel and now it circulate around the jump hole where have you sent me...*static*...I need a rescue ship as soon as possible...*static*...the probes are in safe and I could get them back...*static*...but first I have to get a new ship to reach....*Freeport 10*...oh, and please...anybody knows what is that "Freeport 10" and where could I find it?....*static...
The pod reached the gravity field of Planet Rousay and Totienne started to eat the leftovers what ha found at the lunchbox, while the rescue ship will arrive.
James walked into the bar on Freeport 10, looked around, and figured this was as good a place as any to sit back and wait.
"Hey bartender, get me a bottle of something nice and put it on my tab!"
The bartender gave James a weathered look and said, "We don't do tabs here."
James gave him a more determined look. "Fine, put it on the Reaver tab."
He groaned and pulled a bottle out. "Which one are you?"
"Uh.. Silver,' said James, in case he ended up roaring drunk and wrecked the place. Three chairs scooted back and three men started sitting up when they heard that though.
".. Is a woman!" he amended hastily. The men slowly started sitting back down. "I meant to say I'm Lemon! Haha.."
After some time the rescue team have arrived and tractored Totienne's escape pod onboard. While he tried to find out where is Freeport 10 a weak signal spotted on the screens about a lost probe from Tau-23. The captain agreed to get the probe because it could be very important for the exploration plans.
After the succesfull mission the ship arrived to the Reunion base and Totienne got another Basilisk from the Commander to solve this odd situation at Freeport 10. One of the Council vessel have met with a slaver, who told something about cardamine fields and some "sniffers" who could be so dangerous but as they realised, Freeport 10 is one of the neutral sirian bases.
The Basilisk have been launched from Reunion and Totinne sent a lons range message for James about his arrival. [color=#000000]
-James, you dirty dude...I knew that you arent a really bad guy, since you get my probes. I'm on my way to Freeport 10 for our meeting. I got your message...thanks for it.
The Basilisk reached Tau 23 jump hole again and Totienne jumped to that scary place again, where those rocks and mess remind him for the war with the Gallic Royal Navy.
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