Frontier - First Encounters(Elite3)

[child of Thor]

sounds fun....... I might try it with my hexed ship - its not as large as the Imp Explorer(which looks kinda cool in a star trek way), but i might have enough space for fuel scoops etc? It might be easier to handle when scimming a sun or gas giant(did you try the gas giant thing? - i think it is meant to be safer than sun scimming).

I started to get money too easily - and with the huge hyper-drive range of my ship most delieveries were very easy to do in time. Still the combat and planet missions are still really tough to do - so i was thinking the vast expanse of the empty universe might be a welcome break?

Its been a while but i feel the further adventures of commander Thorson will be getting some more poly posting soon

[Snotty]

Well good luck! I hope yu have more patience than me

I remember getting stuck in galaxys with only very high gravity suns. best avoid those I think.

I headed out east from the Imperial HQ Boldly going, and all that

[child of Thor]

high gravity suns!!!! lol space is weird and scary. now you've made me scared.......do i really want my unique ship sucked into a sun(reminds me of a bit in the Hitch Hickers Guide books - where Marvin was being typicaly himself facing the same prospect ).

Still i feel like giving it a go - to the 'west' of Alliance space are some reported sightings of the Thargoids, so i may go that direction and let you know what grizzly fate lurks there.

[child of Thor]

Thorsons luck part one:

Pilot Childov Thorson had never been the recipient of good luck except in odd really important cases. For example, when he was going through his navy basic training he had been the only survivor of a nasty accident.
This had been due entirely to him catching a rare case of food poisoning from his ration pack. He’d been locked inside the toilet cubicle when the crash had taken place, and by some fluke chance this had been the only place anyone would have survived the crash.
So he had been given the nickname “Lucky”, which was kind of ironic as many people could lay testament too. Thorson’s luck often came out of him being in an unlucky situation.

Today had been no exception. He’d ended up on Mars, the first time in his life he’d been to the Sol system. Olympus Village seemed so full of history and culture he’d found he had lost himself in its winding back streets, they had whole neighbourhoods that were thousands of years old – it was amazing!
Still the whole reason he’d come here was to find that double-dealing no good ex partner of his that had dumped him on Merlin and took of with his ship and cargo.
Thorson hadn’t enjoyed the two-week journey he’d had to make on the cargo ship that had been the only one to give him a lift. Doubly so as that ship was full of the stench of its cargo, the rare Merlin Pilchard, probably the most stinky fish in the universe.

Still Thorson took all such happenings with a stoic resignation – stuff happened to him all the time, and smelling of fish was one of his lighter burdens.
But he was really lost now and most people he tried to approach to ask directions, well….they smelled him first and hurried off.
He’d been logged onto some kind of info booth, trawling its menus for some kind of lead or directions for a good half hour or so; and then something interesting caught his eye. It was the words Galactica Falcon.

[Hueij]

Good to see this thread is still alive

[child of Thor]

Part two:

Trauma can last a long time, and some people are better at dealing with it than others. Admiral William Saunders cast another worried glance over to the silent and hunched figure that sat unmoving in the co-pilots seat.

It had been two months ago that his young partner had come into his charge in such tragic circumstances. Even now he was finding it difficult to talk about the murders; such a conversation always ended very one sided with him fumbling for words that he hoped would ease the others pain.

That in part was why he had decided to bring them to Mars and Olympus village. William Saunders knew of an excellent psychiatrist here, one that had worked wonders with Commander Jameson after the war. Still William had kind of kept this a secret, making out they were going to Mars to meet an old friend; which was only part lie he kept telling himself.

The flight from New Rossyth had been mostly uneventful, something William Saunders hoped would continue; flying around in the stolen Galactica Falcon wasn’t helping him give up on the ezzy-tabs he’d noticed.

They would have to do something about the ships identity as soon as possible. That meant dealing in the murky and illegal world of ship re-tagging. Still since he had been forced to take the Galactica Falcon in the first place he had known this would come up at some point.
It also wasn’t a prospect that was helping him relax; he’d always found it difficult to work with the rougher denizens of the galaxy, even during wartime.

On their way to Mars William took them through the asteroid belt, hoping the diversion would buck up his gloomy passenger. He’d come in a bit too close as it turned out, his navigation skills being slightly rusty. The diversion had worked as they both had their hands full trying to avoid getting a hull breach!

As they left the outer rim of the belt and set the course for Mars, William had deployed a remote camera to catch the moment for posterity. Just under 9 AU to go, and then hopefully his passenger could start the process of healing their scars; he owed it to Jameson.

[child of Thor]

Part three:

Childov Thorson had eventually found his way back to the starport of Olympus Village. He’d then found a place to watch the Tiercel freighter Galactica Falcon. She looked like a normal freighter as far as he could tell; nothing gave away the secrets she held within her hull.

The only activity he’d seen was the movements of two of its crewmembers, the older one Thorson recognised as Admiral Saunders. He’d been head of the research and development department on New Rossyth; it was interesting that he was involved in its disappearance. And interesting that in the last five hours no other crew had left or entered the freighter, maybe they were ordered to stay and guard the valuable ship?

Childov had known Admiral Saunders when he’d been working for the Navy as a pilot-tech in New Rossyth, they had never met personally, but part of his job had been involved with the R+D section; he’d known a little of the secret project the Admiral had been working on.

While stumbling across the information that the ship was here, Thorson had also found out it was berthed for the week; so hopefully that gave him time to make a plan. With such a lucky chance happening he would be a fool not to act on the opportunity, but what to do exactly?

Getting his old ship back would be very useful, it was docked over at Quenisset and he’d been planning to take the inter-rail across mars since his lift hadn’t been willing to drop him of there. Then with a ship at his disposal again, he would be in a better position to react to the unfolding situation. He wasn’t concerned about his partner; old Jethro was a terminal drunk; and probably already spending all his money in the local taverns while brooding over his actions. Childov would let him be, that was the worst punishment you could give to a loser like Jethro, he would eventually destroy his own life.

Happy that the Galactica falcon wasn’t going anywhere soon, Childov hailed a Johnny cab and requested the inane robot driver take him to the inter-rail station and book him a place on the next hypertrain to Quenisset. The journey would take forty minutes.

****************

For William Saunders the week on Mars passed quickly and uneventfully enough. He’d spoken with Doctor Richards at length and after the seven days was up could see the progress that had been made.
“Come back when you have time”, Richards had said, “There are still some techniques I can use to speed up and help a full recovery”.
William had promised they would.

Now as they approached Brenan High orbital station in the CD-37º15492 system, William hoped the contact they had been given would turn out to be genuine and not an undercover police officer. Time was against them, they needed a new identity for the Galactica Falcon; in the back of his mind he felt it was only a matter of time before someone recognised the ship. Treason was a charge best avoided.

[child of Thor]

Part four:

Anne Mathews your still beautiful, she told herself as she put on her makeup for the day. Her hazel eyes and auburn-blonde hair set the frame for her attractive face. Lips pouting she applied the neon blue lip-gloss that was the latest fashion. She was still single, but at 49 that was not unusual for a professional.

Still her profession did often get in the way of any aspiring suitors, once they knew what she did for a living. It wouldn’t be so bad if she was in another more interesting system, well that’s what she kept telling herself.

Sure she could always take a trip planet side to New Caledonia, it was quite a pretty planet too; just a shame about the one-dimensional characters that inhabited it. If they weren’t falling over themselves to buy her drinks with tongues lolling, then they were boring her to tears with talk about the coming harvest; the eternal curse of the worldly city girl in an agricultural outpost.

Make up done, she checked everything was in order. Her coming job sounded very interesting, a welcome diversion from the normal jokers and small time con men she usually dealt with. Going back to the mirror she started going over her routine again, practise makes perfect her mother had always told her; mothers were often right.

***************

Childov cursed loudly, the hydro-spanner had left a large welt on his head where it had fallen and the cramped space he was working in was giving him neck ache.
The darn fool Jethro had installed a new security system to his ship, and bodged the job too. It hadn’t stopped Childov from getting access to his ship, the Mary-Sue; an older model of Constrictor, and flying to Olympus Village; but it had caused a malfunction in the main computer on route.

He had been right about Jethro, he had found him unconscious in a corner of a bar called ‘flightfoogles’; he’d left a quick note for him, and the credits to cover his last wages due. It was bad luck for a ships captain to not pay his crew, even a back stabbing idiot one like Jethro.

Still Jethro was the last thing on his mind as he started to remove the memory units that had become corrupted. Luckily he’d still had his captains locker’s contents to fall back on, so he’d had the money he needed to pay for the replacement parts he was trying to fit. He’d smiled ruefully at the new scratch marks on the safes hatchway, Jethro had not been the first to fail to try and force it open.

As he worked he went over the plan he had decided to follow. Between his repair work he had kept an eye on the Galactica Falcon, following Admiral Saunders on a few occasions and learning his next destination; Brenan High orbiter. He’d overheard the Admiral talking to a seedy looking individual, and had to choke back the laugh when he heard whom they'd advised the Admiral to contact.

Still he would have to get there first, the Mary Sue would be no match through hyperspace, and these repairs were almost done. As the last memory unit clicked into place he was relived to see the correct green lights come back on.

A few minutes later and he was leaving Mars behind, the navicomp set for Brenan High in the CD-37º15492 system. He never had subscribed to the theory that the Constrictor class needed two crewmen to fly it. One capable crew was uncomfortable, but entirely possible.

[child of Thor]

Part Five:

There are a few lucky people that seem to get into each other from the outset. Maybe it’s just a flash of a really genuine smile, or a spark exchanged in a glance. It happens far too rarely in this cold empty universe.

William Saunders was going through a strange mix of such emotions as he watched the approach to Denver High with some trepadition. He was fighting the sidewise glances he kept wanting to give their new passenger. She seemed calm enough, no outward signs of impending crisis. Still she was a policewomen, or more accurately had been a policewomen. And maybe he was making the biggest mistake of his life.

It had been a strange meeting on Brenan High, and it hadn’t been until after the kiss that she had told him who she really was, and that he’d been set up. He ruefully admitted that she had put up a good act on the bulletin link – he really had no clue she was a cop. Still that spark thing had happened, for the second time in his life, and a nasty situation seemed to resolve itself. Her name was Anne Matthews and she wanted to go with them, help them disappear for real. She was fed up being alone in a dead end job and had fallen for William. These thoughts, replays of those conversations they had shared, kept going over and over in Williams mind. Was she for real? Was it just part of an elaborate sting operation? His instincts said no, but he just couldn’t know for sure. He would just have to let events pan out for better or worse.

******************

Childov was confused now. He hadn’t been expecting the undercover cop to travel onboard the Galactica Falcon, and least of all to Denver High in the Lalande 25372 system. He knew that a guy named Gus operated from there, a guy who could get you a good counterfit ship ID. Whatever strangeness was afoot he needed to follow the Galactica Falcon if he was going to get a chance to enact his plan. Attached to the side of a bulk cruiser he monitored silently the approach of the Galactica Falcon.

[Snotty]

Dude

[C0ckney]

damn you thor, you got me interested in playing frontier agian!

[Hueij]

More!!

[child of Thor]

the Muse has left the building!(the problem when writting on instincts alone)

But maybe she'll be back over the weekend

So just play some FFE in the meantime and be carefull out there - space is very very big, and the pirates very very nasty.

[Snotty]

Too true. but persevere,it was just a ring ofpirates surrounding the inhabited universe when I passed through. Hard as hell, to be sure, and sadly all too random at times (or maybe I never grew to understand it)

[child of Thor]

In the Galactica falcon space is much safer(probably too safe in hindsight).