The Cruise
It was marvelous. For all I knew it best ever. Sleek in one way and rugged in
the other. Of course there was some rust…and it badly needed a paint job…but it
was marvelous. Well, if you don’t go inside, ugh, the smell of burned circuits.
On the positive side it was only 80,000. I could’ve bought a Scoutship. I can
buy a Scoutship. But being in debt for a couple of years wasn’t the best idea.
But it could fly. Four jumps. Pretty fast. Maybe Marco, my best friend, was
right. It wasn’t the best idea to be a cargo pilot at the age of 20. But I
bought it. The Shuttlecraft. I decided to name it the SS Dragonie, in honor of
the ship my grandfather flew during the Great War. It took 10 alien fighters to
bring him down.
*Comm static*…Ground control Levo 5 to SS Dragonie, your departure has been
confirmed and you are clear to exit the port…*comm static*…Copy that ground
control. Disengaging port locks…now…*comm static* …Departure confirmed, goodbye
and good journey…*Click*
Well, I was off. I had no idea what to do. I could go anywhere, but my first
stop was going to be the Solar system, center of the universe. Sort of.
Population center of the universe anyway. I wanted to see it for myself. My
journey was brief, nothing special. Until I reached Centauri. I came out of warp
and suddenly realized that I was under something, something big. I looked on my
scanner - it was a Rebel Destroyer. The next thing happened in a couple of
seconds but it seemed like forever. My scanner blinked and showed that a
Confederate frigate was entering subspace right below me. I was trapped between
a Frigate and a Destroyer and I knew that they weren’t going to ignore each
other. Both ships knew that. The Frigate started first. I suddenly saw about 5
bright oval-like objects come out of the weapons bays on the Frigate. My systems
board and scanner board went nuts. Those torpedoes were aimed at the Destroyer,
but were going to hit me instead. I pushed the thrust level to maximum and the
engine, trembled, creaked, coughed, made spitting sounds and did just about
everything but make the ship move. Damn it I thought 20,000 more credits and I
could’ve bought a brand new one. But no, I had to save credits in case of an
“emergency”. Torpedoes went by, causing my ship to shake because of their
magnetic fields.
*Comm static*…SS Dragonie what are you doing? Get the hell out of here now!
*Comm static*…can’t engine doesn’t wor-----*Comm static*…
Another torpedo went by, but this one skimmed my ship’s starboard side, luckily
without exploding, but knocking out all communications except the automated SOS
signal. Both ships were still in a fairly well condition, because of their
shields, but now they switched to Mk 75 missiles. These things went by and
created such heat because of their speed, that the color of my ship was no
longer white, it was dirty, burned gray. It was amazing how the missiles went by
so close without exploding. I was very lucky. And then something happened that I
would remember all my life. Both ships were out of missiles. They were ready to
come in and finish off each other with turrets but the Frigate saved some
torpedoes for this occasion. And he accidentally aimed them at me! There were 4
of them shot at me instantly. And the Rebel ship did something truly heroic. He
aimed his ship about 10 vectors lower than mine and went full speed. Suddenly I
realized he was covering my ship with his own. He was slow, so were the
torpedoes. But he was slower. If the ship were a little faster than its radar
signature would cause the torpedoes to miss both of us. But it wasn’t. And the
captain knew that. The torpedoes hit the engine with a strength that would have
destroyed my ship instantly even if the torpedoes weren’t explosive. The
maneuvering nozzles that weren’t completely destroyed were either melted or
twisted to a point where a single laser pistol shot could make them fall off.
The battle was over. The Destroyer had barely enough power to warp. Luckily he
did. The captain risked the lives of dozens of people on his ship to protect me,
the innocent little bystander. I guess that was the reason. The fact that I was
simply a bystander. His people had known the risk when they joined the Rebels. I
never agreed to take that risk. But someday I will. Someday I’ll join the
Rebellion. I just hope I will do it in time. I just hope I won’t be too late.
When I landed I saw the captain of the Frigate that almost killed me. He excused
himself briefly and stated that if I would never mention it to Confederate
authorities he would pay for all service and repairs I needed to do to my ship.
That was good because my ship was damaged awfully close to a state beyond repair
for a Shuttlecraft, and I wouldn’t have enough money to repair it anyway.
