Zacarias smelt the recycled air of Phoenix Shipyards in the Vespucci system, and it smelled great. He was more alive than he had been in months. He was standing next to a Lane Hacker Gunship. His Falcata was next to the Gunship, huge cables connecting the two ships. Many Hackers were connecting more; the widest was two feet in diameter.
He watched them work, making sure that nothing was connected wrong. Everything had to be just perfect. He was selling his old Falcata, but Carina was worth hundreds of millions of credits, and priceless to him. Since he fixed her, they had become fast friends. Sort of. She liked to mess with him a lot, but that was besides the point. It was all playful and good-natured.
He had just been promoted within the Blue Lotus Syndicate to Underboss, which cleared him to purchase a gunboat-class ship. Keen on the fact that the Lane Hacker's had extensive computer systems, he had jumped to get one. As the final cable was connected, Zacarias smiled to himself. He boarded his old bomber, and began the transfer sequence. Jogging over to the Gunship, he climbed the steps and casually walked down a narrow corridor lined with doors. At the end was the door to the command center, which he pulled open with the turn of a wheel that would lock in the event of a decompression.
Stepping into the command center, he took a deep breath. It was very nice, with a plush captain's chair, a console in front of it that controlled the helm, a console above and to the right that did tactical, and to the left of tactical was operations. The recommended crew was four, and the extra went to the engine room. It could hold up to eight, with the extra four manning the many computer stations which was right down the corridor. With Carina, he didn't need any crew, but he figured he'd bring some on, if for nothing more than some comic relief.
Sitting down in his new chair with a sigh, he punched in a few buttons on the right armrest, which brought up a bigger computer holo-display from the same armrest. Establishing the uplink, he hit the 'connect' button on the holo-display and waited. The little 'Loading' icon appeared, which was a circle rotation around the word 'Loading'. It stayed that way for a few minutes, and then it said 'Completed'. The holo-display flickered and vanished, and all three stations on the bridge came to life. He smiled to himself, then went back down to the station.
He oversaw the disconnecting of all the cables. Some were muttering about all the work when a wireless connection could be achieved, but Zac didn't want to take any chances. Soon the work was complete, and he went over to the ship-salesman and paid him, less the trade-in for his Falcata, which would go straight to Lane Hacker stocks.
As for the weapon system and crew, Zacarias only purchased three Outcast gunboat turrets, and waited for everything else on Malta. He hoped it was an uneventful maiden voyage. He boarded his gunship for only the second time, and went to the command center. He stopped as soon as he entered. Turning around, he took out a gold plaque and fastened it to the wall next to the door. On it, it said this:
MNS Carina
He took his seat in the captain's chair. Looking straight ahead through the viewport, he said one thing.
"Take us home, Carina."
This ship came to life, undocked, and set a course for Malta.
The ship took the fastest route, Vespucci to Magellan, then Leeds, Tau 31, 23, 37, and finally Omicron Alpha. The ship was greeted by several people that Zacarias had met over the years, people he had come to consider friends. Several exclaimed over his new ship, saying how it was good to see him out of a Sabre and into something a little bigger.
Zacarias loved every minute of it.
Face aflush with pride, he patted the armrest of his chair. He could have sworn he heard it purr. It probably had.
Carina descended through the atmosphere to the docking area for gunboat-class ships, her landing struts sinking into the pad. A few mechanics jogged up, preparing to do the standard run-down, but Zacarias quickly disembarked and chased them all off. Carina could do a self-analysis, and if she couldn't fix it herself, she could tell Zac about it. He was a bit overly protective today.
He walked to the outfitter section, looking to buy a few more turrets to adorn his new ship. He found what he needed, bought it without any attempt to bargain, and had it moved to the landing pad, where he spent quite awhile using machines to mount everything himself. It was strenous work, even with machines. He finished and took a few deep breaths, sweat gathering on his brow. He wiped it off, and went off in search of what lazy bums would be crewing his ship.
Off the merchant's building by about a block was the place where crew stayed while not working. They were each and everyone for hire. Zacarias needed (or wanted, rather; he didn't need anyone with Carina around) four people: a navigator, a comms operator, an engineer, and a weaponry specialist. He went to a terminal and keyed in his needs. A list of recommended people popped up: Vincenzo Beneditti, Emilio Ruggerio, Salvator Quixote, Carmen Masuchi. He didn't second-guess it and hit "Accept", and went back to Carina to await their arrival
He met them at Carina. Vincenzo Beneditti was an Outcast with a cardamine deformity. His eyes had the milky film of blindness, but his ears more than made up for it. He could tell if someone was lying by the tension in their vocal cords. Emilio Ruggerio was an Outcast in his forties, who had a disturbing love of heavy weaponry. Salvator Quixote was a hundred-and-sixty years old. He walked in a hunch and what few hairs he had left were all gray. His mind was nimble, without a trace of senility, though. He had been over most of the galaxy quite a few times now, and new a lot of jump holes and secret routes by heart. Finally, Carmen Masuchi, the only girl. She was twenty and a fresh-out-of-the-academy recruit, who had majored in engineering.
Zacarias gave them a week off while he went to do something. He never came back for them, and they eventually took other jobs, never knowing what became of their would-be captain.
![[Image: u8rHEaq.png]](http://i.imgur.com/u8rHEaq.png)