Jolo jumped on the hover bike and wound up the thruster. A very calm-faced George hopped on the back and Jolo punched it. One of Jessica’s main engines smashed down into the water right behind them with an earth shaking boom, sending a hot wave of water to either side of the stream. He looked back once as both halves of the fuselage crashed into the stream, but by then Jolo was twenty meters down the ravine, gliding a few feet over the water and gaining speed. The ground shook when the full weight of his ship hit the bottom of the ravine and he felt a sharp pang of pain and regret. He’d lost the Jessica.
He put his head down and raced towards the safety of Marco's house.
Corsair
Duval
“Too many jumps,” said Hurley. The whole crew was in the library standing around the 3D map. The tiny moon on the edge of known space the Vellosians called Montag was in the center.
“We could send a refuel ship out ahead,” said Koba.
“Nope, they inspect every ship in the sector three jumps beyond Bakanhe Grana space,” said Marco. “During the war, the Feds made a resupply line and made it out to Montag, but paid dearly for it.”
“We just need a single ship that’ll make eight jumps and be able to break through the outer patrols,” said Jolo. “That old Racellian pod I flew in on made it.”
“Bigger ships ain’t been able to do it,” said Hurley. “A freighter can go five tops, then it’s recharge time, or float in space until the pirates come. And them bastards’ll take everything down to your last pair o’ dirty skivvies.”
“There was one ship that could’ve done it,” said Marco. “Computer, pull up the last known sketch of the Leviathan project from the Fed archive.”
“Mr. Vargas, have you been pilfering into Federation databases?” said Katy. He just smiled.
Up popped a 3D image of a large war ship with four front mounted ion cannons and a larger beam weapon mounted topside that no one had seen before. Marco had the computer overlay a Federation Defender next to it so they could see the scale. The ship was enormous.
“The Fed was working on a ship to take out the BG home worlds. A ship that could break past the outer defenses and penetrate deep into BG territory. It was to be called the Leviathan, and it was claimed they’d figured out how to get ten jumps out of it.” They all stood around and marveled at the thing, slowly circling around them. “But then the war ended and the plans were scrapped.” Another quiet moment as they mourned the loss of a great ship that would never be.
Katy broke the silence. “That looks like the Corsair.”
“The Fed party boat?” said Greeley. “That shiny big-ass, girly boat, slow as one of them Kanabun sub-space transports?”
“Yeah, that shining symbol of Fed-BG solidarity that stays in orbit just over Sol,” said Katy. “The dignitaries flock there. The president meets the BG Emperor there. I used to make trash runs to that thing and they’d make us wait for hours until the upper crust Fed ships had fully disembarked so they wouldn’t have to get near the shit down at the bottom. That’s a shiny symbol of Fed greed, is all,” said Katy.
"When they built that Corsair monster, they shoulda been buildin’ the Leviathan," said Hurley.
"Well maybe Katy’s on to something," said Jolo. "Computer, overlay the Corsair on top of the Leviathan."
The computer overlaid the Corsair on the Leviathan and everyone stared at the two ships. The Corsair’s nose was sharper and longer than the Leviathan and the middle was a little wider with subtle wings. The were both big ships, but didn’t look anything alike. The Corsair had a big observation deck right where the large beam weapon was supposed to be and the surface of the ship was different.
"Ain't the same ship," said Greely. "No gun turrets on that party boat. Only got one thruster in the rear. One of them big Sonic 883 jobs that the Nam Corp. freighters use. Those engines are made to push a heavy load, real slow."
"Yeah, and the 883 goes three jumps tops, before you got to rejuice," said Hurley.
"I'm not so sure," said Marco. "Computer, how many months after the end of the war did the Corsair officially launch?"
"The Federation ship Corsair, officially launched 73 days after the peace accord was signed between the Federation planets and the BG."
"So the Corsair must have been in production prior to the signing of the BG accord. It takes a long time to build a ship that big," said Jolo.
"Years," said Hurley.
"Computer, access the Federation archive. Pull up any known references to the Corsair prior to the signing of the peace accord."
Everyone waited quietly as the two ships, superimposed over each other, circled in the center of the room.
Finally the computer responded: there are no references to the Corsair prior to the signing of the Accord.
“So the shining symbol of BG-Fed harmony, a ship that should have taken a few years to build, was whipped up in 73 days?” said Katy. “Ain’t buyin’ that.”
“Still ain’t seein’ it,” said Greeley. “Them ships ain’t the same.”
“Computer,” said Marco. “Round off the Corsair’s nose and replace the observation deck with a large beam weapon.” And suddenly the two ships did look alike. Everyone moved in together to get a better look.
“Computer,” said Greeley. “Get rid of that fancy cowling shite along the fuselage of the Corsair and add two more thrusters in the rear.”
And the Corsair became the Leviathan right before their eyes.
“I bet them thrusters on the Corsair are still there. They just got ‘em hidden. That ain’t storage space right there,” he said, his finger reaching into
