THIS IS OUTDATED! CHECK THIS PAGE FOR MORE INFO!
---
The asteroid belt, then the planet, came into sudden view as Jay’s ship decelerated from close-to-light speed, bringing it to a gentle, floating stop. The engines, old and worn after years of use and no money to support them whined to a halt. Jay examined his surroundings.
He didn’t know or care much about the planet. It was solid chunk of dark red rock, uninhabited and, as far as he knew, dead. But it had been bombarded by meteors over the millennia, resulting in a phenomenon he cared much more about – the asteroid belt which surrounded it. Quickly, he checked over the systems of his ship – affectionately dubbed “Space Wasp”- it was a small, single seater bunker-class, sublight. Bought at a military surplus warehouse, its previously shining white paint had now faded to gray, chipped and neglected. Soon, Jay hoped, that would change. From where he floated, he couldn’t see his prize, but that matter would be easily resolved. He fired his engines back up with another whine, and proceeded around to the other side of the planet.
The light of Nath, the nearest star (five hundred million kilometres away), illuminated the space with a faint blue glow. The Nath system was relatively sparse with inhabited or inhabitable worlds – Jay’s bunker moved him at just under three hundred thousand kilometres per second (at maximum speed), and it had taken him a few hours to get here from the nearest dock. Of course, the bunker was lacking in many places. From what Jay remembered, the bunker-class heavy fighter had been discontinued half a century ago. They had been built to be tough bullet shields, absorbing as much damage as possible so that they could keep adversaries distracted for the lighter fighters. Of course, this meant that the bunker-classes couldn’t support much firepower of their own. The Space Wasp’s original rocket propelled weaponry was long since both obsolete and non-functioning. The only weapon it now carried was a frail beam cannon, attached to the chassis with duct tape, which could only fire its superheated payload in short bursts before having to recharge its batteries. Since the scanner had also proven to be unreliable, Jay kept his eyes open. He saw what he came for soon enough, as a giddy, lightheaded feeling washed over him.
On the dark side of the planet, entangled in the dense field of asteroids, a single monolithic battleship floated. It dwarfed the Space Wasp a thousand fold, in both size and weaponry. But that didn’t matter. For whatever reason the Wheel faction had, they had sent one of their own out to this rock. The explanation for its current predicament varied, from a drunk joyriding pilot to an attempt to resurrect an ancient evil lurking on the planet by sacrificing the crew. In any case, the battleship was empty. As it passed through the asteroid belt, it had been bombarded from all sides and caught in orbit. All life support had failed as the rocks punched through the hull. Anyone who could have left had long since done so, fleeing in shuttles or escape capsules. Anyone who could not have left was dead.
Jay weaved through the asteroids, the Space Wasp small enough to travel through the field. Fairly soon, the battleship filled his vision, the engraved wheel on its hull front and center. Below the wheel “DELIVERANCE” was printed. Below the word was the hangar bay.
The Space Wasp hummed delicately into the bay, the protective shielding which normally separated the artificial gravity inside to the zero gravity outside nonexistent. Jay had had the forethought to long ago install magnetic clips onto the Wasp, being a veteran of missions where he had nearly died as his ship floated out into space. He landed the wasp amidst the rubble and sheared metal of the hangar, the clips latching onto the ground. He put on his helmet, and exited the wasp.
He floated for a while in the void before activating his own magnetic boots, latching onto the hangar bay floor. The entire area was a looter’s paradise – filled with scrap metal, security panels, wiring, tubing, a myriad of salvageable junk. He began to fill his arms with anything he could carry. Of course, the biggest treasures were the Wheel fighters and bombers who floated around in the bay, unceremoniously crunched against the ceilings and walls. No one really understood how Wheel tech worked, which is why they paid so much for it.
The Hangar did have a ton of stuff, but what he was really after could only be found in the engine room. As his source so kindly shared with him (for a significant sum of money, of course) most Wheel battleships were powered by what was known as a "battery". A hunk of metal that no one except DSC big guys knew how to work. That was what he was here for. Checking his air supply and regaining his bearings, he searched the hangar for a clue. The sign proclaiming "ENGINE BAY: FOLLOW LEFT" was a help.
He stomped through the abandoned hallways of the DELIVERANCE, hearing nothing but the sound of his breath and the muted "thumps" of his footsteps. Decompression meant no particles to carry noise : he was proud of his knowledge of this fact, as it showed his years of colonial education paid off.
The hallways were unlit and mostly shredded to bits by the millions of asteroids that had smashed into the battleship. Often, Jay had to stop to kick some rocks out of the way (which promptly floated off) or smash a door in. Following the signs, he eventually came to his destination. The room itself was about the same size as the Hangar bay, and from his vantage point on a walkway, he could see it was in a similiar condtion. The Engines of the DELIVERANCE were mostly destroyed, both of them having been pierced by massive rocks, and scrap metal covered the floor. In between the two engines, however, was the only thing he wanted. A case, its' reinforced plastic walls long since destroyed, at the center of which sat a box about the size of a trumpet case. Jay hopped the railing.
Stomping over to the case, he got down on a knee and examined the battery. A plain and smooth black box. He picked it up and realized it surprisingly weighed a good deal. Heaving it over his shoulder, he made waddled his way back to the hangar.
Although satisfied with the Battery stashed in the trunk of the Wasp, he realized there was too much here to pass up, and he'd have to make a second run. With a heavy heart, Jay climbed back into the Wasp and shut the cockpit. The pressurization was quick, and, removing his helmet, he started up the engines once more. With its trademark complaining, the Wasp puttered out of the hangar of the DELIVERANCE, and back into the asteroid belt. As he weaved through the plethora of rocks, he brought the Wasp to a sudden halt. The space outside the asteroid belt, previously calm and dotted with the feeble lights of distant stars, began to rip and tear.
Directly to his front, but according to his sensors, a hundred kilometres away, a hole ripped in the fabric of the universe. From inside this hole came lights of hues of purple, green and blue, mixed together in an otherworldly glow.
Big ships such as the DELIVERANCE would require unreasonably massive engines to propel them to even close-to-light speeds. Jay was no physicist, nor did he concern himself with the inner workings of faster than light travel. But he had seen a Deep Space Confederacy battle cruiser enter a system a few years back. He had a feeling, however, that this wasn’t the DSC come here to slap him with a looting ticket.
A solemn form began to make its way out of the glowing wound in space, lightning striking its hull from the dimension it had just exited. Antennae with flashing lights on their tips twinkled around the opening of a large barrel in the ships’ nose. The entire vessel was otherwise devoid of light.
Jay knew what was happening. He’d left as soon as his source gave him the news of this wreck, but it wasn’t soon enough. The Wheel had come to take back that which belonged to it.
SO COOL :D!!!
ReplyDelete