The US-Opportunity - A Biography

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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.