him on it when she saw what he was doing. She knew that without those power distributors a part of the engine would have ta be wired without a backup line or safeties.”
Finn shook his head and whistled. 'Wow, one thing goes wrong and you could start a fire or blow a whole line of thrusters without distributors. Besides, used in the wrong place they'll just heat up and slow everything down.'
'Right, so Nokilla passes her off and tells her to keep her nose out of his business. She stomps off, pissed like it was all personal, an' just stops dead as she rounds the corner. There's Captain, standing right within earshot. She can't move, he's fumin'.'
'Oh crap, he didn't hear the whole thing did he?'
'He musta. He just politely as pie steps around her and walks right up beside Nokilla. He looks over the mess he's made and just asks; 'Do we have more distributors?' Chief tells him; 'I'll get them from somewhere Captain.' Captain looks over ta the repair girl, I think her name was Limerick, real nice young thing, and asks; 'Do we have any more in stores?' an' she says; 'we don't'.
Captain didn't say anything, he just grabs Nokilla by the collar and hauls his ass down the hallway like some sack of meat. At one point Captain pulled his gun so the Chief wasn't arguing until he saw the starboard airlock. I was standin' right there, gettin' suited up for another trip out to help with patchin' the hull and the Captain tells me; 'Open it.' I'm not the arguin' kind, 'specially when he's got his gun out, so I do and in goes Nokilla. Captain closes the inner door and shoots the controls then says; 'If you can fix this from in there and let yourself back in, I'll let you stay aboard until we get to the next port.' Well, Nokilla just stared for a minute then he opened the control panel on his side. He must have been more rattled than anyone thought, 'cause the next thing we see is this spark from our side of the controls and the outer doors open. Sucked him right out into space, no helmet, nothin, guy wasn't even smart enough to strap himself in or get into an emergency suit.'
'You're kidding!'
'Nope, Nokilla's prolly still driftin' around out there.'
'I've heard of people getting spaced before, but I've never met someone who actually did it.'
'Well, that's our Captain. He doesn't lose his temper often, but lazy cusses like Nokie and folk who endanger the ship'll send him over the edge every time.'
'Has he done it to anyone else?' Finn asked in a whisper.
'He hasn't had to, everyone knows what happened ta Nokie. He's left people in port before if they can't follow the ways of the ship, sure, but that's different. You've still got air, you're somewhere and you can prolly find another crew to sign with.'
Finn looked at the inertial director, double checking his workmanship.
'Hey, look at that, it looks exactly like it did when ye found it,' Frost said as he picked up a mechanical scanner and checked it. 'Temperature's down twenty four degrees, looks like you did a hell of a job.'
'I just matched what the Captain did before.'
'You'll do just fine as long as you keep doin' everythin' that way. I'll see ye 'round kid, Captain prolly wants me on the bridge,' Frost said as he handed the small scanner tool to Finn.
Frost wiped his hands off on the back of his loose fitting vacsuit and rounded a corner, nearly bumping into Captain Valance. The lighting was always a little dim, as though to hide the bare cables and piping along the walls. The panels that hid them were long gone, whether as a result of some kind of damage or because they caused a major inconvenience during repair no one but the Captain knew.
He nodded at Frost, who had fallen in step at his left hand side. 'Nokilla story again?'
'Yup, kid's eyes were the size of pie plates.'
'You know I really thought he'd be able to find his way in, even if he had to suit up, go outside and come in through a working hatch.'
'I hear ya, but it's still a good story to tell the newbies. Keeps 'em in line right from the start.'
The Bridge
The Samson emerged from hyperspace and expelled its waste gases in a flaring dispersal cloud. For a moment it looked like the ship had luminous white wings before the debris scattered in all directions. The tarnished brown and dark grey hull of mix matched panels and armour plating glinted under the light shed by the distant blue sun of the Thadd solar system.
Inside the snub nosed bridge section at the front of the ship Captain Jake Valance piloted the vessel personally. He glanced towards the transparent steel window by reflex then back down at the console. Originally the bridge featured a large window at the front but over time armour took priority and with the addition of plating there was nothing but a four centimetre high, meter wide slit left. The bridge was dark, most of the light came from the flat control panels or safety lights lining the inverted U shaped walkway.
“Why aren't we connected to Navnet? I'm not alligian, I can't sense gravitational shifts and magnetic fields with my mind. We need a trajectory.”
“The Port control system says our subscription has expired,” replied a dark haired young woman from beside him. She was scrolling through a holographic list of prices and news announcements that was contaminated by dozens of advertisements. On the panel underneath it the subscription terms were listed. “They say you'll have to pay the last four months and the next two if you want access to the Navnet.”
“God damned crooks, why the hell do we have to pay every month for network access? We've been here maybe twice since I signed on three years ago, bloody pointless,” Frost complained as he scanned the area watching for ships that could cause trouble.
“Easy Frost. I agree but we don't have a choice. Put our hazard marker on. We'll hold this pattern until I pay us up. Take the controls Ashley,” the Captain directed quietly.
“Yes sir,” she had long black hair and dark eyes that were a stark contrast to her pale skin. They slid their reclined control chairs out of their stations and switched seats. Her hands deftly unlocked the console and she took the manual controls, following the drifting course set by her Captain a moment before. “You recalibrated while I wasn't looking and brought the new port stabilizers online. Feels like I'm driving a flying carpet.”
“Ah, it was the new lad, he's finishin' all the mechanical work 'round here like he's in for a bonus,” Frost chuckled. “He'll learn.”
“With fees like this, we'll have to finish this quickly.” Captain Valance said as he entered a credit number and paid the high network subscription fee. “Remind me to switch to a different transponder the next time we come anywhere near this system, it would be cheaper to start a whole new subscription.”
“Aye sir.”
“And suddenly I can see. Navnet's up,” Ashley smiled widely as the holographic display in front of her started giving her detailed information about every ship's destination and available pre-plotted courses through the mess of port traffic. There were thousands of ships in orbit all coming and going.
“The last solid lead we had on the Ferret Three said she was supposed to pick up a priority shipment today at the St. Kitts Port.”
“Ooh, the tropical section. I might just get some sun this trip,” Ashley said as she selected and reserved a safe trajectory leading to the planet side port. “Course plotted, waiting for the word to start in.”
“Okay, we have a landing platform marked. Go ahead.”
“Aye sir, fresh fruit and sunshine here I come,” she said as she rotated the ship and fired the main engines, starting the Samson on its course towards the massive blue and green planet.
“I'll take deck plating and artificial air any day. Never know what kind of diseases are brewing on a world like that,” Frost grumbled. “No contact from anyone who might want us slagged sir. We won't have to look over our shoulder more n' normal.”
“Good, I was hoping this trip would be uneventful,” Captain Valance said as he finished entering in the information required by port control.
“Can I go planetside with you and the boys sir? Please?” Ashley begged exaggeratedly as she flew the ship between two massive cargo haulers. One was ten kilometres long, the other stretched over fifteen with all their compartments lined up behind them. She spoke with a slight lisp that most of the crew found endearing, especially
