Capítulo 3: "To Barda."
Barda had always loved this part. He remembered that this was how he started life as a mercenary. His father had been a farmer and that was the life he was supposed to follow. That was until he met a drunk ship hand who sold him on the idea of going to the galaxies. Since then, he had never turned back.
Somewhere along the way, he ended up picking up a weapon, and since then he became a mercenary. A very skilled one at that. Now, as then, he found himself doing the same work he had begun with. His current body looked order that when he had started, but he was younger and more vibrant. Current him would put his old self to shame.
Barda was masquerading as a ship mechanic's apprentice. This was a few levels higher than the starting point of a ship-hand. Many people in low tier planets such as the one he was on hardly had much to live for. many looked forward to exploring the galaxy, but not everyone had the skills. Many hands began from an apprentice level and grew to become more.
This also created a good avenue for an escape from a planet. Of course, there were smugglers and space pirates who facilitated any nefarious activities, including serving those who needed to flee a country on a pinch. Barda didn't want to use these since there would be a trail to follow. Barda needed to put a big full stop to his former life. He also knew that anyone looking for him would check out these underground service providers first.
It had taken arduous work to get here, and most of it had been him pretending not to know. As someone with access to the information grid, the Skynet, internet or whatever the name was across the various known worlds in the galaxies, the work given him was child's play.
While his superbrain was an asset anywhere, no genius would sprout out just anywhere. Anyone with proper ship handling knowledge either already held important positions or was suspect. Barda didn't want any of the above, so he opted for a humbler role.
Fortunately, the android body was just as advantageous in manual labor as it was in mental tasks, as it never tired and it had quadruple the strength of other men. The pay could have been better, but Barda wasn't concerned with that. Also, ship hands were often just grateful to have a place on the ship, hence pay was never regulated.
Soon, the spaceship took off. Most new ship crew rarely looked at the manifest, for they wouldn't know much about the places in the galaxy. Barda had selected this travel group agency for a reason. The ship that left the port that day had only one destination. It was the one place no one who knew him would think he would go, which made it so perfect. Barda had no intention of seeing it get to its destination, he'd get off along the way.
Life as a mercenary had its ups and downs. When it came to information, Barda had way too much, and now he applied it to full effect.
Coming up the ranks, he came to learn that there were planets that had humans and some other sentient beings. The planets were considered seed planets for the grander civilizations. Onto one of these planets was his target.
There were several rules imposed upon by the larger civilizations about the handling of lower civilizations, but Barda had it on good authority that the civilizations themselves blatantly broke those rules. To make his escape, he too decided that he would bend them a little.
A bright glow appeared in some corner of the universe. Seconds later, the ship came out of hyperjump, the second in the day. They couldn't make too many of those due to the adverse effects it had on the human body and the ship. This meant that the ship would have to travel for 5 more days to get to where they were going. Of course, considering that the solar system they were going was several eons away, traveling in under a week was a miracle already.
For one person, he perceived his time had come. Barda knew that it was now or never. He had everything ready, now he just needed to be in the right place and push the right button at the right time.
Complex calculations had been put in place before Barda came up with this plan. He knew his only chance of accomplishing it hinged on the robotic calculations of the android counterpart. No human would have such knowledge.
It all started a few days ago, back on the planet. Barda had found and secretly stowed away a transport pod in the ship he was in. Next, he then jury-rigged it with Subspace navigation to allow him to travel across the vast emptiness of space. Not that he could steer is properly, just enough to orient him in the direction he willed.
Everything was set. All he needed to do was get into his pod, point it in the right direction and wait. The problem was, how would he get his escape vehicle out of the ship.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Engine Room 2, where Barda was working, suddenly started blaring with alarms. One of the valves was overheating, and it was going to blow. A consequence of too much pressure being built up during the hyperjump. A common problem with a common solution, just vent the excess pressure out of the shafts and into space.
"Sir, something is seriously wrong," Barda reported over the intercom. He was one of the lead apprentices of the Ship Engineer.
"What's the matter, son?" The engineer asked. He could tell from Barda's tone that there was a serious issue.
"Sir, the shafts won't vent, there's a blockage somewhere, and I am not sure I can find it in time."
"In time?" This came from the captain.
"He's talking about the pressure build-up from the engines following the jump." The engineer patiently explained to his boss.
"Why not just shut down the machines?"
"Sir, this is residue pressure from the jump. It will keep building up no matter what, and if we don't find a way to vent it..." The engineer's voice trailed off, "Boy, I am coming to you." His mind was made up. This was his ship and he was responsible for it. If she had any issues, he was the one supposed to cater to them.
"Sir, I don't think there is a need for you to come," Barda said, sounding dejected.
"What do you mean," the captain asked, "Do you think you are any better than the chief Engineer?"
"No sir, it's just that, there is another option, and if I am not wrong, you are coming to activate it, right?" The engineer's face crumbled. "I taught you too well!" He cursed under his breath.
"What do you mean exactly? CAN SOMEONE PLEASE SPEAK A PROPER SENTENCE!" The captain was getting exasperated.
"What he means is that there is an option of directly releasing the pressure into the chamber he is in. There is a hatch that can then vent the pressure directly to space, alleviating the problem. The only issue is..."
"Directly opening the hatch with someone in the chamber will lead to death." The captain summed up.
"Yes."
"And there is no way of getting the person out of there before the chamber is pressurized?"
"Unfortunately, there is no such option."
"It's been a pleasure, sir," Barda said.
"Wait..." Before the captain could finish, he heard a loud bang. The ship sounded as though it was being torn apart, and the sound was coming from Engine room 2. Suddenly, there was a louder blast and the sound of massive gusts of wind. This went on for a few minutes before calm finally returned.
The crew and passengers were freaking out wondering what the hell was going on. They were not sure if the silence was a good or bad omen, so they just held their breath.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We apologize for the disturbances you've heard. The crew was just getting some bit of maintenance done. We'll soon be on our way. As always, enjoy your flight with us."
"So that's it?" The captain asked. He had been shaken by the noises, and even after he had finished assuring his passengers, he still wasn't completely safe.
"Yeah." A dejected engineer answered.
"His name?"
"Barda, Barda King."
"We shall remember him fondly for his sacrifice today." The captain said as he laid his hand on his engineer's shoulders. Many words were not spoken. He reached for a bottle of whiskey, poured on 2 glasses before handing one to the engineer.
"To Barda."
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