One More for the Road The quad engined box of a ship which was Sandra Carter's current vessel wound its way between the rocks of a previously uncharted asteroid field. The young Houston woman leaned to one side to goggle at the sheer size of the dirty-looking gas giant some distance away.
"Well, I'll be darned! This's some find I've stumbled in'ta! I bet Becky'll be jealous!"
Come to think of it, this entire star system was something that the Junker gal had yet to run across. Sandra swore that the jump hole she knew the location of in New Hampshire was supposed to lead to the Bremen system.
But, this was clearly new territory to Sandra.
Upon finding herself in a strange system, her first instinct was to frantically check the radar and ensure that she wasn't stuck here. Thankfully, there was indeed a jump hole which seemed to lead back to the New Hampshire system, and according to her Service Freighter's Nav-Computer, it was safe enough to utilize.
Hopefully.
Circling about the massive gas giant and it's slightly volatile looking moon, Sandra found herself riding on the planet's gravity well to slingshot her way towards the large, brown and smoggy looking nebula on the other end of the system.
It looked rather...
Well. Dirty.
But also rather foreboding, especially considering that even at this distance, Sandra's computer was telling her that there was a planet within that nebula.
God... She hated planets in nebulae.
On the other hand, according to her sister - Rebecca Carter (Or, Becky for short) - Nebulae tended to hide the best treasures!
As her spaceship rocketed towards the gaseous smog, the sensors of Sandra's Nav-System rattled off a warning and preliminary data, such as predicted gas material compositions.
"Ehhh... I've gotta learn how'ta shut that prattle off."
As the clouds wafted past her cockpit, Sandra brought the speed of her craft down a bit as rather pointing looking asteroids revealed themselves. "Oh, huh... A planet in a nebula, and giant spiky spears of death. Sounds like'a real swell rodeo of a time! Guess I'll stick'ta thruster power fer now."
Bringing her craft out of Cruise Mode for the time being, the Houstonite set her Nav-Computer to a loosely defined auto-pilot to ensure she wouldn't gut her little box ship on one of many spike-spears littering the cloud. Exploration was a good time to let her think on a multitude of subjects; like, what the heck was she still doing flying Congressional colors.
"I swear I'm gettin' too attached'ta these Junker-models. Dang scrap peddlers ain't jus' the clean-an'-straight types they like'ta make themselves out as." Becky had warned her about continuing to hang with these so-called Congressmen, and Sandra was darn close to just closing up shop, ditching the lot of them and taking some time on Planet Houston to herself.
But... What was the harm in one last little adventure?
Two Close for Comfort Care was given to the speed and direction in which Sandra was headed. In a field such as this, caution was the name of the game. It was at times, a bit too easy to zone out of reality while traversing asteroid fields within nebulae, but this one in particular was keeping Sandra on edge.
"I ain't ever even seen asteroids like these, 'afore now. They're like... Icicles, but the ice is frozen every-which-way instead've jus' one way like they ought'a be, if gravity was involved. How the heck does that even work?"
Perplexing over what was likely explained via science - she'd have to maybe look into it later - The Houstonite checked her sensors to find a large, ominous blot which covered up a good portion of her radar. "Whoah, uh, I'd better slow down a bit." Doing just that, Sandra brought her craft down to a crawl at impulse speed.
Slowly, surely - A massive shadow lurched forth from the cloud, revealing the upper atmosphere of yet another gaseous giant.
"Geez...
Okay, that wasn't so bad at low speed."
Pulling to a complete stop now, Sandra surveyed the clearing which surrounded the massive sphere. Off in the distance, a flash of dry lightning amongst the clouds revealed another shadow, albeit rather small, yet sizeable - and blocky. A quick check of her sensors indicated that it was a space station, which was guarded by at least two forward-placed armament platforms, all of which appeared very hostile to her radar.
"Wuh oh, I'd better not stick around."
Getting smart and urging her Service Freighter away and around the gas giant in a careful, loose orbit, the Junker gal placed the massive natural barrier between herself and the rectangular space station. With luck, her small radar signature and currently-low heat generation hadn't been around long enough for the station's sensors to catch a whiff of her.
"Maybe I'd be better off stickin'ta cloud cover. Those platforms were a little...
Two, close fer comfort."
...No one was around to appreciate that joke.
"Right, I forgot - Becky ain't here 'ta cringe at a quick pun."
Shrugging off the awkward vibe, Sandra checked her radar again. On a whim, she tapped a secondary screen a few times, scrolled through a list of songs, then pulled up an oldie that seemed fitting for the situation. The tune played for a while, with Sandra humming along - she particularly tuned the volume up during a certain verse.
♪♫♪"Everyone knows, I'm in,
Over my head
O-ver, my head
Eight seconds, left in overtime,
She's on your mind,
She's on, your, m--"♪♫♪