章 17: 17 - Free system

"Well, shit…"

Having returned to the Scorpion after a lengthy investigation of the camouflaged drug lab, Mike waited for his cockpit to repressurise before removing his helmet and turning to face River through the fighter's intercom. Although Mike very much wanted to know why Lu biomedical conglomerate of all companies wanted to take control of the Trane imperium, the fact that they operated in this area was bad news for River and Mike that were both already being hunted by them for reasons not yet known to Mike.

"You can say that again, if it really was Lu biomedical's goons we killed in that alleyway they'll already know that we're here. Sure now that their plot failed it'll be a bit hard for them to get us, but we're still not safe here."

On that front Mike agreed, what's more, they owed nothing to the Trane imperium after already having saved their fourth princess once and gotten paid for that their score was settled, the problem was the 4 pirates and this container, sure the pirates had quite reasonable bounties on them but getting back into contact with the Trane Imperium wasn't without risks as River and Mike might get stuck with the Imperium until Lu biomedical finally got to crossing them off their shit list.

"Yeah no way I'm willing to get assassinated someday far into the future, I'll rather leave this world the same way I entered. I saw we drop a beacon and cash out the bounty somewhere else taking the hit in earnings, we need to reach the galactic centre before time runs out."

Agreeing with Mike, River started looking at the navigation systems and went over nearby systems and local powers.

"Let's see here… Roughly in the direction of the galactic centre we have 2 more empires, a republic and a corporate free state."

"Let's go with corporate then, they always have a larger variety of goods and services on tap. I figure we need to hit up a gun range so I can give you a few pointers."

"Yeah that would be a good idea, I'm still not entirely sure how to use this thing…"

Receiving nav data from River Mike started warming up the Scorpion's reactor as he popped out a nav beacon and made preparations for departure before contacting Crown station a few light seconds out.

"Crown station security, this is GCV-43 affiliated with the pilot's guild. We've found what looks like an illicit drug production lab and marked it with an encrypted navigation beacon, standby for data packet."

Springing the local security forces with a major intelligence break Mike could almost hear people tripping over each other as they were rapidly getting their shit in order.

[GCV-43, please lock down and secure the area, we're dispatching fast responders to your location now.]

(Yeah no, we're not waiting here so you can try and recruit us again…)

"Crown station security, we're both unable and unwilling to hold our position, please await bounty claims for the pirate wrecks in the area, goodbye."

[What do you mea-]

Closing the communication channel, Mike immediately started accelerating for FTL jump as he confirmed with River.

"Ready for jump?"

"Ready, punch it."

Entering hyperspace Mike double-checked the navigation and autopilot before taking his hands off the controls and stretching the best he could in the cramped cockpit.

"ETA 6 hours… We'll need to be on our toes when arriving, there's a decent chance Lu biomedical knew we were in the Trane Imperium, so there's a chance they'll be looking for us in nearby systems too. We can't afford to stay in one system for more than a few days at the most, at least not until we're out of their sphere of influence…"

With the conversation naturally dying down, Mike was about to turn in and get some sleep when River finally spoke up.

"... Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why aren't you asking? Don't you want to know why they're after me?"

It was pretty clear that question had been gnawing at River's mind for a while now, while she had accepted Mike's frankly insane story as true (or at least what Mike believed to be true) he had never dug into her past.

"Because I figured you didn't want to talk about it, besides the reasoning hardly matters, they're after you, which means they're after us both. Simple as that."

Giving his own brutally honest opinion, Mike really didn't see the need to know about River's circumstances, meeting the operator from Lu biomedical told him that betraying River wouldn't end up any better, in all likelihood it would end with Mike getting shot in the back of the head sometime down the road.

Not that betraying River was ever an option for Mike, he had long since stopped thinking logically and putting his own survival above hers.

"That's really not fair."

"Guess it isn't, then tell me why Lu biomedical is gunning for you?"

Although River really didn't like the way Mike worded things she nevertheless started explaining.

"The first thing I remember is my dad holding me while I was crying, the look on his face was one of absolute confusion, but that was because he just found a child inside a cargo pod so who can really blame him?"

From the smile on River's face, it was clear this was one of her most cherished memories.

"Instead of doing the logical thing and flushing me out the airlock, dad and his entire crew went and raised me like one big family, and they did a surprisingly good job at it. Partly because I seemed to absorb knowledge like a sponge, but also because my dad and his lieutenant came from a nice background. The rest of the crew also took turns teaching me, it seemed like they all had their little specialities and they all did their best to teach me all about them. Lee taught me all about reactors, Bob made sure I knew how to defend myself while Troy and Adam taught me how to operate and plunder."

"It sounds like they were a nice ad-hoc family unit.

"Yeah, they were… But the thing about being a pirate is that no one really ever gets to grow old."

Although she was talking about her dead family, River wasn't really that sad, having been on both sides of the pirate hunting experience she blamed neither party, it was just the way life was out in the vast wasteland of weak powers and vast systems with poor security. Still, River gradually pulled her legs in tight and started hugging them, it was clear she was afraid of something, even if it was just in her memories.

"By the time you got the rest of my pirate group, there was no one who raised me left, I was actually talking with my lieutenant about quitting when we were attacked by you, Mike."

"Well, I'm glad I forced your hand on that point."

Feeling like she had gotten on a bit of a tangent, River took a deep breath to steady herself.

"My father told me this on his deathbed, but the reason why he found me inside a cargo pod was that he accidentally activated it and watched in horror as my body was printed on top of what had until a few minutes before just been an exposed nervous system... The reason why Lu biomedical is after me is because I'm one of their freak prototypes. A weapon my dad found in a capsule and felt obligated to raise as his own because I at least look like a person on the surface."

(Well that makes sense…)

For as long as Mike had known River she had been extraordinary. Stronger, faster and sturdier than she had any right to be, River had seemed to abnormally recover from injuries at about twice the speed of Mike, moreover, she was had been easily able to kill a fully grown man with a single kick, her being an artificial lifeform actually made more sense than her just being a normal person.

"Neat."

"Hah?"

While Mike heard 'artificial lifeform' and accepted it as part of Interstellar Online, River wasn't just about to accept the confession about her deepest and most shameful secret with a 'neat'. As River's cockpit feed was cut Mike figured he had somehow pissed her off, a theory which proved correct when Mike felt the back of his chair getting pulled back and River was suddenly grabbing both his shoulders.

"What the fuck do you mean 'neat'!? Don't you understand!? I'm a freak!"

"I'm a freak too, in b-"

"Do you want me to choke you?!"

"That would be so h- arg! Okay okay okay!"

Realising mid-sentence that River was actually going to kill him Mike did his best to soothe River over before he tried to mend his earlier words.

"I… Are you suddenly someone else because you are an artificial lifeform?... I don't think so and it was clear your family didn't think so either so that just means you heal up faster than me and are generally more sturdy. Besides, I have no frame of reference for all this sci-fi stuff, I'm just a college student remember?"

Peering deeply into his eyes for what felt like an eternity, River gradually loosened her grip on his neck as a thin smile eventually found its way onto her face.

"You really are a strange one, Mike."

"I am insane, remember?"

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot that. I'm going to go get some sleep."

"Yeah, sleep tight."

"So what do we know about our missing investment?"

Inside a luxurious corporate office overlooking a bustling capital city, an executive of Lu biomedical was getting an update on a lost prototype his predecessor had misplaced. Although the sheer incompetence of the executive's subordinates was rage-inducing, news of another department failing in one of their major projects had brought his mood up for the entire week.

"Yes sir, the operatives have made contact, although due to the field commander's decision, they did not proceed with collection."

"Ah yeah I did hear something about that, seems like they encountered some sort of trouble?"

Instead of digging through his cached reports, the executive just went to the direct source of said reports.

"Sir, according to the commander they encountered a skilled operator, affiliation unknown. After failing to recruit the new contact, the field commander decided to tag and release while awaiting the reinforcements you greenlit 35 hours ago, we should go for collection soon."

"Good, tell the commander he's free to engage, while losing the prototype would be regrettable it is more important that it does not fall into the hands of our competitors, failure is not an option."

"Sir, yes sir."

"Approach vector good, speed good, punching out in 7… 5… Welcome to system CDG-1109387, please return your trays to the upright position and prepare to disembark, next destination: capital station belonging to one Lex heavy industries."

Not only was Mike in an extremely good mood after getting a few hours of sleep, but he was also practically ecstatic to reach the next system on his tour of the galaxy, the current destination was a brown dwarf, red dwarf binary system, the pair of 'tiny' stars were locked in a tight orbit which would eventually lead to the brown dwarf getting torn apart from gravitational tidal forces in about a million years.

"Well someone is in a good mood, no hostiles or bounties spotted for now, nav package updated, ETA 15 minutes."

"That's because we're going to visit the pilot's guild this time, that means I get to soak in a tub for about an hour while drinking cold beer."

As River and Mike arrived at their next system the pair kept up their banter as Mike set the destination for the capital station in the system, a large ring style refining station orbiting a metal-rich planetoid that Lex had been mining for the last 400 years.

The approach to the capital station was also smooth and in no time at all Mike found himself punching out of supercruise about 8 kilometres from the capital station while letting out the external radiators to bleed off waste heat before getting inside the station.

"Capital station, this is GCV-43 affiliated with the pilot's guid requesting clearance for approach and docking."

If only things could have gone smoothly all the way.

[GCV-43 this is tower control, I've assigned pad 13b for you, now stop bothering me.]

"... Are you sure you contacted the right one?"

"Yeah, they even transferred the docking rights to us so that was the legitimate tower control…"

As larger stations generally only had one entrance with heavy ship traffic 24 hours a day the norm would be strict speed limits, approach restrictions and hefty fines if any rules were broken, not just 'yeah here's your pad, now fuck off'.

"Well okay then… No rules yay!~"

"Mike, wa-"

A second too late to stop him, River stopped talking so she wouldn't accidentally bite her tongue as Mike lit the afterburner without warning.

With no speed limits, there was no way Mike was going to dock at just 5 m/s.

Closing the 8 kilometres to the station faster than anyone had any right to, Mike disabled the flight assistance and g limiter to flip the ship around on a dime before working the manoeuvring thrusters as he lined the Scorpion's rear up with the tiny entrance to the docking bay while closing in on it at over 300 metres a second.

"And the rookie lines up the shot, with no time to think or aim he blindfires!-"

Slipping into the docking bay still going backwards at quite some speed Mike lit the afterburners to break before he impaled the Scorpion on the tower control in the rear of the rotating docking bay.

"- It's a stretch to think that he could nail this but despite his lack of experience the rookie takes the cake, grid locked 5 by 5!"

Cutting main thrusters mid-sentence as he pulled out the Scorpion's landing gear, Mike somehow managed to avoid crashing into other ships inside the docking bay while also managing to find his own pad and make contact with it right as he zeroed out his velocity.

"... 41 seconds. I've gotten rusty."

"Don't tell me that's how you normally land?"

Finally able to breathe freely, River did her best to calm her pulse as she released the seat she had been holding onto for dear life.

"Of course it is, they don't enforce the speed limits in Interstellar online unless you hit something, besides docking computers are for suckers. Let's head inside and find out what the fuck is going on with this station… Keep your helmet on."

Entering the station proper Mike and River found it mostly abandoned and half falling into ruin, trash littered the streets and most shops had either closed up or been picked clean.

"Okay, what the fuck is going on here?"

Finally reaching the pilot's guild which seemed like the only place still in somewhat order, Mike went directly up to the front disk and slammed both his hands down on the reception desk.

"The mine closed about 2 weeks ago, as a result, Lex heavy industries went bankrupt, leaving this system as a free state with no government until the nearby Solar empire gets its act together and absorbs us."

With a blank look on her face, the receptionist explained the current situation like she couldn't be any less bothered about the current state of anarchy. Not that there was anything to worry about as the pilot's guild could easily continue operating as there still would still be pirates that needed to be wiped out, goods in need of transport and protection and trade to be had.

"Well fuck… You guys have a range here?"

"Yeah it's on the 7th floor, feel free to buy something from the overpriced vending machines too, I just got done increasing the prices of everything."

As the receptionist went back to playing around with her tablet, Mike turned to River with a shrug.

"Let's hit the range while the Scorpion is getting refuelled, then get the fuck out of dodge."

"Agreed."

While no government didn't really mean anything in terms of work, Mike had counted on the presence of security forces, no security forces meant people were much more likely to act up.