Chapter 1 - The Lapse
Chapter 2 - A Past Life
Chapter 3- Old Friend
Chapter 4 - Pirate Spy
Chapter 5 - Dream Factory
Completed below =======
Chapter 6 - Pirate Colours
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Instinct alerted Lumar that trouble had found him as soon as he stepped back on board the Nova. It was the sense of expectation and a lurking threat while at the same time there was no indication of immediate danger. The airlock doors were secured and an eye cast over the interior of the ship yielded no tell tale signs that someone had boarded during his absence. All his discrete items that would have been dislodged or moved should anyone have stowed away remained exactly as he left them.
He dropped into the pilot seat and fastened the restraints. “Treena, power weapons system and prepare jumpdrive to make the jump to New Income.” He tapped open the sector map display despite the fact it would not register hostile ships until he escaped the blanketing effect of the stations shields.
“Weapons are charged.”
“Let’s see who’s waiting.”
“Departure clearance granted.”
The docking arm released, retracted and rotated away. Lumar had already started to accelerate before he turned the nose down and dived the Nova between two other docked ships. The HUD suddenly registered a group of fast moving M-four ships on an intercept vector, the sector display listed them as Buzzards, three in total, lagging behind them were two pirate Nova’s and two Falcon’s. Two Harrier raiders swept in fast, the light IRE weapons fire crossing the nose of Lumar’s ship. Green HEPT plasma bolts from the Buzzards streaked past when he veered sharply to the left and rolled, several plasma rounds eating into the shields.
“Missile launch detected.”
A swift glance at the HUD and he knew he was too close to the station to risk bringing the Ion Disruptors on line. The rear turret whined into life and was followed by a ship rattling explosion from the detonation of the silkworm missile.
“Three missile launches detected.”
The light fire from the Harriers rippled across his shields. Lumar muttered, “These guys are beginning to annoy me. Switch to Ion’s.”
“Ion Disruptors on-line, however we are still within range of the station.”
“At this moment I’ve stopped caring,” Lumar said and swung the Nova around from performing a wild series of evasive manoeuvres the ship shook from plasma fire while the rear turret successfully detonated the missiles. A Harrier scraped past the nose of the Nova and received the full impact of the Ion Disruptors, its shields blinked out while the continual Ion stream forked out to lock onto two of the Buzzards. Releasing the trigger he noted the massive depletion in weapons energy reserves. “Switch to PAC’s.”
While the pirate ships disengaged to recover shields Lumar hooked on to the tail of the third Buzzard. Weapons fire tore through its shields and blasted chunks of metal from the unprotected hull. “Ion’s” The stream of Ion particles spewed out again, but only for a short burst and the Buzzard span into the void the engines off line. He registered that the pilot had bailed out, but there was no time to reflect on his actions as more green plasma rained in from the approaching Nova’s and Falcon’s.
“Missile launch detected.”
The warning came too late and the whole ship shuddered with the impact. A quick glance and he saw that his shields were seriously depleted.
“PAC’s, and prepare to make the jump.”
“Jumpdrive charging.”
Lumar had some edge in terms of speed against the pirate M-three’s but not the heavily armed Buzzards. One of the remaining two cut across him and turning sharply Lumar opened up, the Pirate vessel twisted sharply but did not escape impacts, with shields already down from being hit with the Ion cannons the hull took some damage. Lumar put two more shots into the damaged ship before breaking off to engage the last of the M-fours. He broke away when he found himself on a head to head charge and a lethal stream of plasma coming straight towards him. More impacts from the other Pirate vessels stole away precious shield strength.
“Jumping. Entering sector New Income.”
The world became calm, Lumar relaxed in the comfort of the chair and said, “Nine on one and in trouble, it looks like I’m out of practice.”
“My analysis of the situation is that you were not trying to kill your opponents. This gave you a significant disadvantage. Estimate of your survival probability when faced by similar situations and four hundred and seventy three against. I would suggest a new strategy more in keeping with past experiences,” Treena responded.
“And that strategy would be?”
“Shoot to kill.”
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The words sent a twinge up Lumar’s spine, Treena was right it would have been easier to take on the Pirate ships with the most powerful weapons on board but that would be an action of his old self and yet more blood on his hands. It was the one thing needed to avoid and felt deep down that he had done the minimum he could to stay alive in the last combat and no one had died this time, but knew the next time he might not be so fortunate.
“How do you want to be remembered?”
The question Noah had asked him drifted across his thoughts and at the time he had answered, “Not like this, not the killer.”
“For Creed that epitaph is already carved into history books. For Lumar there is a chance to write a new page and show the universe another side and so I ask the question again, how do you want to be remembered.”
“I need time to think on it.”
“Take your time and also reflect on this, although you may never truly rid yourself of the stigma of your past you can for the moment do great things without being encumbered and judged by your old name providing you put it and everything it stands for behind you.”
Lumar said aloud, “No, not to kill. I need another way.”
“Computing alternatives.”
“While you’re doing that see if you can help determine the best probable location of the local pirate station,” he said and took his time studying the local map. Teladi stations were clustered together around the local trading station on the fringe of a nearby nebula. Out of the cockpit window he could see the pock marked faces of asteroids turned slowly in the void held in orbit by the gravitational field of the local sun, among them nestled the twinkling gems of factory complexes, and no more than glimmering specks in the distance were a steady stream of civilian and trading ships cruising the shipping lanes. The HUD indicated a flight of Teladi military patrol ships lead by a corvette and Lumar felt comforted that their presence would, for the moment, keep any pirate vessels out of scanner range. He set course for the trading station and piloted the ship to the docking lights before switching to autopilot for the final approach this time he had little desire to roam the promenades of the station and sat in quiet contemplation while listening to the stations rolling news channel.
“And now a special report from our war correspondent Mollet Tump”
“The continuous raids and heavy conflict with the Khaak has once against spilled into the core sectors. The main energy cell manufacturing sector to the Boron, Queen’s Space, witnessed two Khaak Destroyers break the Boron front line and go on the rampage wiping out factories and killing everything in their path before three Boron reserve force Destroyers arrived to bring order back to the sector. Tens of thousands are believed to have died and two of the Boron response force vessels were heavily damaged.
One Argon transport pilot who witnessed events unfold just before he escaped the sector said, ‘Sector patrols, what sector patrols? It was wholesale carnage out there, and if anything got in the way or tried to stop them they were vapourised.’
The Boron fleet is now estimated to have only twenty five percent of its heavy Destroyers and Carriers in active service since the beginning of the conflict. Government sources have indicated that the situation, although grave, is under control and that its citizens need to remain confident that they are well protected, and that the shipyards have prioritised the production of new capital ships to replenish the diminished fleet. Little consolation to the families of the victims of those that died in Queen’s Space. The only real consolation for the Boron is that the Split are fairing as badly if not worse, unconfirmed sources estimate the Split are down to less than twenty percent of their former strength ..” Lumar changed channel and found some soothing music to listen to.
Treena interrupted his meditative moment, “I have finished analysing various combat strategies that would allow you to engage in combat without causing death.”
“And?”
“Probability of survival in all scenarios is low. The odds of accidentally killing an attacker in all instances is high. The odds can be adjusted significantly with the use of disruptor missiles however the probability of obtaining the missiles is low.”
“And have you worked out where I should start looking for the Pirate station?”
“My analysis of sector reports indicate that there is a squash mine field in the nebula, there is a high probability that the Pirate Station will use this as a defence against unwanted visitors.”
“Let’s go looking for some mines.”
++++++++++++
The Nova dropped away from the station and pirouetted round to face the nebula. Lumar kept his attention on the scanner and adjusted the scan resolution to pick up smaller objects and had it refresh the display. A series of nav buoys marked the boundary of the nebula and where there was a break in the line there were wispy streamers at the edge of the cloud, a clear indication where ships had dragged frozen gas particles as they exited. He felt there were too many and too obvious for pirates, and while he contemplated this a freighter appeared on the scanner followed by a second. A personnel transport vessel cut across his path heading towards the gap in the buoys. Setting course he vectored in on the gap and before long a Teladianium Foundry appeared on the HUD. With falling visibility he focussed on the instrument readings and piloted a course that went wide of the station markers and off the established trade route.
The station was some distance behind him and the scanner range had shortened dramatically from ion interference when Treena announced, “Squash mines detected.”
Lumar diverted the course of the Nova and slowed, visibility was less than a few metres in the dense shimmering cloud and he was acutely aware that scanner range was down to three k’s for small objects. He had no doubt that he was close enough to be affected by the blast of a mine but, to his relief, not to trigger one. The new vector heading revealed a random pattern where mines were generally separated with enough distance not to cause a chain reaction with adjoining mines or in clustered group that would set each other off and, he assumed, would put a hole in the hull of any destroyer that ventured too far into the nebula. After nearly fifty five mizuras of searching and with a log of over a thousand mines there was still no sign of the Pirate station or a gap large enough in the field to allow a ship to pass safely through. He brought the Nova to a stop and carefully pondered what he should do next.
He reviewed the map and noted that there was no clearly defined edge to the mine field, there was also the occasional asteroid lurking dangerously in the cloud and old wrecks of ships either heavily damaged or simply abandoned having become obsolete and uneconomical to repair. An idea occurred to him, “Treena, scan the wrecks for power sources.”
“Scanning. I am picking up a number of small energy sources. Mapping to the display.”
Lumar looked at it and then smiled at the spiders web being displayed, “Well that’s one way to build a sensor grid,” he tapped onto the console and highlighted the wreck in the centre of the grid, “Can you isolate the transmission signal from this ship and determine its destination.” If Lumar was right in his guess the signal would be focussed towards a single relay.
“Analysing. Destination determined.”
“Let’s follow the relays.”
Thirty mizuras later and the HUD picked up on a large vessel nestled in the shadows of two asteroids. Despite the density of the cloud Lumar could picture in his minds eye the heavily armed mobile pirate station. The pirate base based on an old TL station transport extensively modified with enlarged hanger bay and additional weapon turret emplacements. He had little doubt that a string of laser towers encircled the base, and so he kept a firm hand on the flight controls in case of an unwelcome response to his presence, “See if they’ll let us dock.”
There was a short delay, “Docking permission granted.”
==========
“Let me know if anything untoward happens,” Lumar said and slipped out of the chair and into the main cabin. He opened the lockers hoping to find some older fatigues that he could make a little more ragged and worn but not so much so that he would end up looking like a station down and out. He knew he was too old in appearance to try and play the wild eyes, slack jawed, adventure seeking, stoned out of his skull, youth that could be found hugging the bar stools of most pirate stations until the security, having grown tired of their antics and abuse, bundled them into the garbage disposal for recycling as spaceweed fertilizer. Lumar felt a twinge of guilt having not mentioned this snippet of information to Tobius and made a mental note to tell him if they should meet again. The youth that tried to romanticise and immortalise the pirate image and generally got it very wrong.
He also knew that he was still too young to try it on as an old hack and his fatigues lacked the patchwork of faded, stained badges that had been stitched together over the original fatigues which had long since been eaten away by years of sweat and contact with drive motor lubricants and hydraulic oils. He knew never to enquire about an interesting looking badge as every one of them could tell a story and every story was an epic waiting to be told.
For him there was only one choice, middle of the road veteran thief. Not so successful to be brash but not so poor as to raise un-necessary questions. He removed the least well pressed clothes, knowing that pirates had a certain look about them and it did not include freshly pressed or straight out of the wrapper and had an ability to make anything new look worn in. He formed a plan in his head while ruffling up the fabrics then changed.
The ship gave a gentle bump and moments later he heard the docking tunnel clamp to the airlock door.
“What do you want?” The voice filtered through the cabin speakers.
“Not the usual greeting. Bagged me a ship and it needs some colour,” Lumar responded.
“Do we know you?”
“Not even if your life depended on it.”
“Where di’ you get the ship?”
“Trading station, less than a stazura ago. No followers, no police, I got away clean. Now are you going to help.”
“Show yourself.”
“So you can point me out in a crowd, forget it creep. If you ain’t going to help then this beauty has a drive, I’ll be gone before you can get your guns targeted and so will my business,” Lumar changed into the spare environment suit while he spoke, a standard model unlike his own tailored set.
There was a delay and Lumar stood poised to jump back into the pilot seat then the response came back, “Come on board and let’s do business.” Slipping on the utility belt and clipping on the helmet he released the airlock door and stepped out.
A momentay lapse of reason - Ch6 pt3 (11/07)
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A momentay lapse of reason - Ch6 pt3 (11/07)
Last edited by Mercenary on Tue, 11. Jul 06, 09:29, edited 8 times in total.
Excellent read! Nice battle and yes, a battle at such odds is not a walk in the park in a Nova. It is too slow to run away and those Buzzards can make a difference. Even the Harriers are dangerous enough not to be discareded and fast enough to be hard to hit.
Well, he is safe for a few mizuras, I guess. Just how long is it going to take for the next posse to show up?
Looking forward to the next part!
"and four hundred" - should that be "are four hundred"?
Well, he is safe for a few mizuras, I guess. Just how long is it going to take for the next posse to show up?
Looking forward to the next part!
"and four hundred" - should that be "are four hundred"?
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The Rogue Trader
- Posts: 760
- Joined: Wed, 23. Jul 03, 07:59
Excellent read! Nice to see that Lumar does not walk the easy road of destruction but looks for alternatives. I have never used Disruptor missiles apart from one case where it actually led to the destruction of a Jaguar. 
Will be interesting to see what use he will get out of them.
Looking forward to the next part!
"It was the one thing needed to avoid" - I think there is a 'he' missing
Will be interesting to see what use he will get out of them.Looking forward to the next part!
"It was the one thing needed to avoid" - I think there is a 'he' missing
Nice battle sequence. Interesting to see how Lumar was trying to fight off the pirates and trying not to kill them....suppressing the 'Creed' side of his personality Cool!
