Thought I'd take a shot at doing a serial story for a bit of fun and as a writing exercise in developing technique. Posting on main forums as well (https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthrea ... ost2279941 ) where the spaces just seem to keep vanishing!
Elite: ...than to arrive
1.
Space takes different people different ways.
Some people look at the countless stars bright and steady as jewels in the black, and wanderlust drives them out amongst them. Others gape at the millions of worlds, the billions of cities and stations, the trillion people, run back to their home and hide behind their little front door. A few look at the pitiless, frozen void and any kindness or mercy that they used to have in their soul evaporates away into it.
Karlon yawned, spat his gum at the vac bin and missed. It bounced off the control panel and drifted in the zero-g: a slow-spinning slimy little lump. Karlon swore and reached out to fumble for it, transferring his left hand from the throttle yoke to the main flight stick. The gum drifted through the “Functions” holofac display and down towards the floor; as Karlon’s fingers stretched he inadvertently twisted the joystick. The ship yawed sideways and the chunk of minerals he had been trying to scoop bounced off the hull with a reverberating clang. Straightening up, Karlon realised that he was also now heading straight for the abraded grey mass of the asteroid. Grimacing, he seized the throttle and yanked it hard back for reverse thrust. Jets burst from the front of the ship, blowing rings of dust from the space rock, and the ship juddered to a halt. As it did so, the floating gum hit him in the back of the head and this time, it stuck.
Karlon groaned and closed his eyes. Sure enough, there was thudding and rustling from the companionway. A moment later Captain Thurden came floating out onto the bridge. He was a sturdy man in his fifties with greying hair and a perpetual sour expression. Thanks to Karlon the grey hair was tousled, the eyes were red and the expression even sourer.
‘What the hell are you doing, can’t I even leave you to mine for a few hours on your own while I get some sleep?’ growled Thurden, glaring at the youth strapped into the pilot’s chair. ‘You forge those aptitude scores or something?’
‘Sorry boss.’ Karlon dropped his eyes in case Thurden thought he was eyeballing his reflection. ‘It’s the zero-g in the cockpit throws me, they can’t simulate it planetside.’
Thurden fastened his magnetic boots to the floor and clomped over to the instruments. ‘You’re haven’t collected much product.’
‘Pickings are thin out here!’ protested Karlon. ‘If we didn’t come to the edge of the system to mine...’
‘We’d run into more pirates, I’ve told you before. It’s slow out here but it’s safe!’
Karlon tried not to swear. Mining was incredibly slow work at the best of times; after a few hours of it, he was ready to turn pirate himself. ‘Bloody dark as well,’ he muttered. ‘At least we got a bit of sunlight to help out today.’
‘What?’ Thurden leaned forward, grabbing the back of the chair and leaning forward into the cockpit. A waft of armpit odour hit Karlon; the Captain reckoned time was better spent mining than washing. ‘That’s not sunlight, you fool! We’re a million light-seconds out! And it’s coming from the opposite direction!’
‘This is my third twelve-hour shift!’ protested Karlon. ‘Any wonder I make mistakes?’
‘Wrong colour as well.’ Thurden grabbed the controls, but being leant over the chair, he fumbled and nearly hit the asteroid himself. Swearing, he let Karlon take them back. ‘Show me where it’s coming from. You can do that, can’t you?’
It was the most excitement they’d had in space since... well, ever; Thurden wouldn’t even let him dock the ship yet. Karlon thumbed the thruster switches and smoothly brought the ship up around the asteroid, turning their old Adder-class vessel to face the source of the light.
It wasn’t the sun; it was blazing blasts of nuclear fire, six jets arranged in a circle, facing half-on to the ship. As Karlon focused the sensors, velocity and distance information appeared on a holofac display.
‘It’s coming towards us but its facing away,’ said Karlon in puzzlement.
‘That’s a deceleration burn!’ snapped Thurden. ‘Try to correct for the glare.’
Karlon pushed buttons and the smart canopy dimmed the engine flare while enhancing the brightness of the great, dark bulk behind.
‘By the waters of Earth!’ he gasped, ‘is that what I think it is?’
Thurden straightened up. ‘I’m afraid I think it is,’ he said, and heaved a great sigh. He turned and his boots clumped off across the cockpit.
Karlon squinted, tried adjusting the sensors; they did not know what to make of their target, finding nothing on file to compare it to. ‘So what do we do now?’
There were rummaging noises from one of the lockers, and the footsteps came back. ‘We do what is necessary,’ Thurden told him.
Karlon looked at his reflection. The Captain had raised a heavy wrench and was swinging it at his head.
There was no time to dodge. Everything turned red, then darkened to black.