To Hell and Back (Hellworlder pirates)

Ch 68 Into the Frying Pan Pt.I

Into the Frying Pan Pt.I

"Reactors are nominal, reactor three is holding steady within acceptable parameters." A bridge tech reported.

"Hull is pressurized, no leaks detected."

"Ventral EM stabilization is green, aft ion engine is green, inertial compensation is green."

"Avionic system check and diagnostic is green; we are all clear for takeoff." Kat called to Astarte.

Astarte smiled as she felt her ship practically purr in pleasure at finally being able to move again. She knew in her head that her ship didn't actually have wants and desires, but in her heart she knew that the Astaroth was more than just steel and wire. Astaroth was built for battle and would never be content with sitting idle in a dry dock, just like Aster would never be comfortable staying ashore when there was still work to do.

Modius had been stalwartly against her heading to the Wrethren sector on her own, he had argued that if she just waited a few months then they could arrive on the field as one unified force. However he was out voted by both Bell and Lucile, who argued that it would be advantageous to nip Domnall's plans in the bud before it could spiral beyond their control. Besides, Astarte was a grown women who knew how to handle being deep into foreign territory with enemies on all sides, it was pretty much how she spent her whole life.

Karega had seemingly put their argument behind them and executed his tasks with the perfection and excellence she had come to expect and deeply respect. He would make a great captain one day, she just needed to find the right chance to push him into the role to make him realize that he had nothing to fear.

But that was a concern for later, right now she just needed to command her ship. "What's the word from Cameo?"

"They say they're all good to set sail." Kat answered.

"Strange" Karega intoned "We're about a few centuries past the age of sails, and yet we haven't ever bothered to replace the term."

"We're space pirates Kar, we'll always set sail, just as we'll always raise the black flag. Doesn't matter that we don't have any sails or a flag to raise." Aster said jokingly as she sipped her coffee. They had filled their pantries with as much real coffee as they possibly could, and word had it that plenty of crewmen were had stashed as much coffee as they could into their bunks, one report claimed that a snipe had replaced his mattress and pillow with coffee beans. Their last deployment had lasted over a year and a half to fill the gap in their network left by First fleet when they left for the Bedona conflict. When they had run out of coffee they didn't have the time or money to replace their stores and instead switched to Uq'ot, or Zeno Joe. But after getting hooked once more on the real stuff no one was willing to go back to those dark days without real coffee.

Karega chuckled "Well at least you've ditched the eye patch."

"Yeah, strangely enough I kind of miss it. My face feels a little cold without it."

"Tower just cleared our flight plan Sir" Kat called.

"Then lets stop wasting time, raise the anchor and cut the mooring lines." Astarte ordered.

Karega looked at her incredulously "We don't even have an anchor."

She smiled at him devilishly and went back to her coffee as everyone went about the necessary preparations to take the ship out of Mar's atmosphere, a notably more difficult process than descending.

They ascended above the city of Noctis, the Cameo rising from her own berth a ways down the pier. They gently swung their bows in a North-Northeast direction as indicated by their flight plan and gently accelerated forward. Astaroth and Cameo had more than enough power to break past the sound barrier within atmosphere, but for ships as large as their own breaking the sound barrier would be very disruptive to the lives of everyone down below. So instead they slowly plodded forward, soaring well above the Tharsis Highlands, until they had gently pushed their way past Mar's atmosphere. Once free of any air friction both ships poured power into their ion engines and rocketed away from the terraformed world.