The Infinity Chronicles Volume 1

Act-25: Death of a friend...

Out-system of Alhambra, Barnard's Star, 11-Jun-2331

Act 25: "Death of a friend..."

A week later, he, his crew and his new ride were enroute to Alhambra, where he planned to leave Karen for the foreseeable future. Gunny Taylor had taken work with a mining concern as a hired guard slash shuttle pilot and was currently working Alhambra's inner most belt, claiming he didn't want to live off of the money Alex had bequeathed to his kid sister, preferring to make his own way. They were planning a family, but as of yet, Karen was still not pregnant. Cyban, Tina, Cygna and Ericka became gunners on the new Barnard's Star, which , true to Del's word, set him back a cool 175 million. But, with all the raw materials flowing into Center from Marrok and he taking his cut, he was so thoroughly flush with cash, the purchase price was but a drop in a very LARGE bucket. Before their departure from Center however, Alex did make a sound decision: He liquified a third of his net wealth, turning it into gold, and buying a run-down warehouse in Brown Sector. There he stored it, just in case. He also made a snap purchase of twice removed 100 year out of date vehicular radar and targeting HUDs, spending nearly a half million credits on them, and filling the ship's small cargo hold.

Only Elisha understood why...

"Hey Alex, I'm getting a transponder reading coming from three ships heading in our direction. They seem to be homing in on our sensor signal." Ericka said as she turned to look at Alex. He called up his own version of the sensor logs, and grunted.

"Looks like 3 Dragoons. Keep a track on them and keep me posted on what they're up to." He said, linking their Nav system with that of Alhambra's in-system traffic control. He always hated boxing and was happy whenever he was at a civilized world to let the auto pilot handle the flying. When the first shafts of emerald energy whizzed passed the forward viewscreen however, things got a whole lot more complicated.

"SHIT! They're shooting!" Ericka shrieked as she slapped the GQ button, setting off a shrill shrieking alarm throughout the ship. Leaning over, she kissed Alex on the cheek and raced from the bridge to man her turret, as Regina ran onto the bridge and took her position in Ericka's vacated chair. Within a few seconds, all four turrets reported manned and ready, though Cyban could be heard complaining of a lack of head room, leg room, and just plain room...

"Hello Captain." Regina said as she sat down in Ericka's chair, studying the readouts and looking at the tactical overlay in the holo-sphere which sat between their seats.

"Ms. Peterson." Alex responded curtly, as he maneuvered the Barnard's Star like a starfighter. Unlike his father's old Commercant however, this version was designed for this kind of flying, and responded to Alex's fighter jock touch with a nimbleness not seen in many nearly 10,000 tonne merchant ships. He watched as the three Dragoons separated from each other, one falling in behind him, then the two outer ships accelerating away and ahead of him at faster then light speed. The center ship still clung to his tail.

"Uh oh." He said, as he watched the sensors. Sure enough, the two ships that had zipped away were now closing with him from ahead, and each at an opposing angle, one to port, the other to starboard. He was nicely boxed in, and he knew it.

"Ok guns, here's the plan! I'm gonna stop dead, and I want you guys to blast that Dragoon off the port bow first, got it?" 4 affirmatives came over the 1MC.

He watched as the range closed with the lead ships and the ship on his tail dropped further back, the speed at which his ship could move being quite a bit higher than the Dragoons could muster. As the range dropped to below 50,000km, Alex brought his ship to a dead stop, the maneuver so sudden and violent, it sent all aboard into their crash restraints as though the ship had struck a wall, so powerful were the ships thrusters and reversers. But, just as suddenly, the two Dragoons dead ahead, closed the distance between them by half in an eye blink, and 16) 203mm disruptors blazed to life, all of them targeting the ship off to the portside. True to form, all 16 shafts of emerald energy hit, destroying the ships forward shields, and savaging it's sensors and flight control systems. It roared passed, spinning wildly to starboard and racing out of sensor range and view. The other ship responded with an 8 gun salute of 203mm disruptors, though all but a scant amount of energy was reflected back into space. The armor belt on the lower cargo deck took a beating, but nothing vital was damaged.