Get Out of My Space

[independenttrader365]

Growing up in Syndicate space, Fenric had always been around wars; the Baza occupation, the Aro Prime Freedom War, and the civil infighting period on the Syndicate Capital. His life was always centered around the idea that he'd never see a day when people weren't being killed. Almost an adult, he couldn't wait to make something of himself. He knew that it was going to be dangerous, but he had spent five years fixing an old ship on the outskirts of the Siege Barriers. He had planned everything out; call his best friend on Steel Fortress, Aluss, and tell him they were leaving, start up the ship and bring all the fuel and food they could, set a course for Delta Hydri-3, get in contact with the owner of the nearest Spice Den, and voila, he and Aluss are on the gravy train. He hoped it would work, since if the wrong person caught you in deep space, you were as good as dead…

“No! Fuck that! I’m not goin’ back in a cell you son of a bitch!” Heller DeValtos struggled against the palace guards. His cousin, Kashmire DeValtos, sat upon a throne with his arm outstretched in the direction of the Star Dock. “You all know who I am! You know he doesn’t deserve to sit on that fuckin’ chair! Let… go of me!” Heller lashed out at his relative, and Kashmire looked unphased, but the royal court was in disarray. “If I see you in the street, I’m kickin’ your Goddamn teeth in, you bastard!” Heller was forcibly dragged out and detained. Kashmire let out a chuckle. Heller rode off into the cryogenic sunset a week later, and was shipped off to be sold to the Black Flag. His cousin noted that growing up, Heller had always daydreamed about joining the Black Flag organization, fighting the system, adventuring and pirating the deep space that so frequently haunted their dreams. He figured being sold on the black market would be enough of an adventure for his deadbeat cousin…

Junto Venturi stared into the vast collection of lights and buildings from his penthouse on Javat Prime. His whole life had been a hard day’s work, beginning on Tucanae-Javat Mining, and now somewhere close to the middle on Javat Prime. His early childhood was filled with suffering; growing up a slave in a spice cavern was not very fun, and his life’s course wasn’t much fun either. But he knew how to do it, he was good at it, and he was born a leader. At least, he was in his opinion. He looked straight down from the balcony. There wasn’t a whole lot down there. Just a diner, a military cargo bay, and a few kids kicking a ball around. Lucky kids, whose lives weren’t tattered and stained by bloodguilt. Of course, he didn’t want to traumatize those kids by landing and breaking every bone in his body from a fall right next to them. Feeling weird to think about killing himself, Junto walked to the kitchen and got out some food. He looked at the assortment of vudka in the floating bar. I don’t think I can stomach that right now, he thought. Suddenly he felt relieved, as his contact on DeValtos Prime had contacted him. Delta Hydri-3 was under attack…

[travail]

New adventures in the Star Trader's universe- yay!

Interesting to watch where this one will go, keep up the nice work!

[fallen]

@indie365 - welcome to the forum! Nice post and I hope you keep it up.

[rabidbite]

Nice post

[independenttrader365]

Chapter One: The Visionary

“Aluss. Al, wake up. We‘re being boarded, wake up!” Aluss jumped out of the co-pilot’s seat and landed on his ass. “Wh-what’s going on?” “We’re being boarded. Grab a gun.” “But there’s only two of us. Right?” “You know the answer to that. Grab… A gun, right now.” Aluss got to his feet and headed for the armory. The boarding craft hadn’t sent over any message indicating that they wanted the ship to surrender, they simply forced them to. Fenric looked out of the viewport in the aft section of the ship. It was some type of cargo freighter, what they were doing boarding an Escape Shuttle was beyond him. Aluss came back with a crate full of guns and other contraptions that would, from a distance, appear to be just toys. “How’d you get all these guns, Fenric?” “I bought it all from a man named Nunya.” “Nunya?” “Yeah. Nunya’ Goddamn business.” Aluss shook his head disapprovingly. “Nothing like a little humor when we’re about to be killed.” “You don’t know what they want. Could just be a routine inspection.” “Routine?! You call being siezed in deep space by an unidentified ship, with only the two of us, and God knows how many of them, routine?” “Yes. This happens all the time.” “Yeah, I know. That’s why so many spacers get fucked and deserted by their crew, the Navy, and everybody else eager to make a quick buck.” “That’s why we don’t have a crew.” “Well, I guess that makes some sense. I‘m still not happy with this. When we land, I can‘t go with you if you leave again.” “Wait- What?” “I’m staying on the Outpost when we arrive.” Fenric’s mouth hung open. Suddenly, an explosion rocked the ship. A few men stormed the inside of the ship, taking down Fenric and Aluss in the process.

Fenric stirred, his eyes heavy and his composure shattered. “Wake up. Wake the fuck up!” A tall man with a beer belly and a long unshaven beard kicked him in his gut. “Hey! I said, wake up!” “What happened?” “Is that your friend over there?” He looked over at Aluss. He nodded as he noticed that his best friend was currently screaming as loud as he could. “Well then, tell him to SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!” Fenric struggled to get the words out. “Al. Al, shut up!” “Fenric who are they? What do they wa-” The tall guy with the beard leaned down and held Aluss by the throat. “What we want, is information. We have reason to believe that you are in possession of a package that belongs to us. If you have it, and you cooperate with us, we will spare you your lives.” “I’m sorry, but I don’t know what you’re talking about. If I had a package belonging to you, I would’ve given it to you already.” “Fenric, stop; I know where it is.” Aluss murmured. “You… You took something from them?!” “No. But I took up a contract with some people I knew before we left. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.” “Where is it? Where?” Aluss pointed to the secret compartment holding the package. Two of the men went over to open the hatch. They took out a small, but obviously important, wrapped box. They opened it and said they were finished here. “So… Can we continue on our path?” “You can. But your friend is coming with us.” Aluss panicked. “No. I’m not gonna’ die over a delivery!” “And you’re not going anywhere, either. You can’t take my friend with you.” The beard came over to him and looked him in the face. “I’m sorry; did I just hear some kid tell an officer that he couldn’t do something? I have authority to do just near whatever the fuck I please! Valance has authorized me to use lethal force, and I’ll be damned if an immature piece of shit like yourself is going to tell me I can’t do something. I will slit your throat, I will cut your hands off, I will gouge your eyes out with a knife, and you won’t be able to say a fucking thing, because I can also have your mouth sewn shut! So keep your mouth shut, before I make you keep it shut.” Fenric shut up. “If you take him, you take me.” “Very well. Men! Take these two to the decks and make sure they don’t try anything funny.” They escorted the two young men to a makeshift prison cell.

“Why the hell didn’t you tell me you took a contract? We could’ve been killed!” “I said I was sorry, what more do you want?” “I want you to learn from this.” “From what?! Don’t ever take a contract because you might get stopped by vengeful pirates? If everybody had that attitude, nothing would ever get done. I took the opportunity because I was told that it was a low-risk job. I take contracts all the time. Nothing‘s ever happened to me.” “Just be glad they’re not too vengeful. Otherwise we’d both be dead.”