We had been running the same routes for the third straight week in a row and it was actually beginning to bore me. I had been promised by the Astex recruiter that there "...would never be a dull moment!" Well, I probably should have known better if I was going to join the crew of a mining bulk freighter. My name is Chris, but my name on the ship here is Tempest. They named me that because on a run eight months ago when I was a rookie I was able to fend off four pirate Defenders with me manning the only turret. That's been my station ever since.
These three weeks have been quite uneventful, though. Our runs consisted of runs to Sauron, where we would drill for two days and then return to drop off our cargo. To my surprise we hadn't encountered a single threat. I had sat in my quarters, staring out the port window into the endless space, with nothing more than asteroids to look at. Suddenly, a high pitched beep broke the silence.
I walked to the wall and flipped on the communicator to answer my call. It was the captain who had called. He spoke in an excited voice, "Commander, I'd like you to report to my ready room if you have nothing else to do at the moment."
"Yes captain, no problem. I'll be right there," I replied.
On the way out the door I zipped up my jacket half of my uniform and clipped on my rank insignia. I walked quickly towards the bridge. The halls weren't lit up well, as usual, and the air was dry and smelled strongly like old plasma. Plasma leeks had always been in this old ship, but it was to be expected. This freighter had been to hell and back again.
I found the narrow vertical tube that lead to the bridge. I stepped inside on to the shaky ladder and began climbing and reached the bridge level in less than a minute. I stepped out and got a sleepy nod from the bridge crew that was currently on duty. They were all tired, considering we had been doing 18 hour shifts.
The ready room was closed when I approached it, so I hit the entry buzzard assuming that the captain was probably inside. Soon after I rang, I heard the captain from behind the door say, "Enter!" I stepped forward and the automatic doors whooshed open. The captain stood with his back facing me looking out the window. I stepped in and waited for him to say something. "Ya know, old guys like me are stuck here, doin stuff like this until retirement. Our prime is gone and so is our chance to do something more exciting..." A puzzled look came across my face as I didn't understand why he was saying this to me. "We will be docking into the station soon. As soon as we get there I want you to take a shuttle down to the planet," he said. "Why?" I asked inquisitively. "They are giving you your own command my boy!" He turned around and had a huge grin on his face. "Congratulations!" My jaw dropped and then I was suddenly overwhelmed with pride. "Why would they give me a command though? I'm not even a bridge officer!" The captain's smile faded, "Its because of your combat experience mostly."
I looked at him in a puzzled way and said, "Why would they need combat experience when you command a mining freighter?" But I didn't need to ask, for I already knew the answer. "Deep space assignment, pirate interference is to be expected," he said softly.
For a quick second I thought to myself, is the captain's chair worth this? Then I remembered that I came out here for the action, so action is what I'm getting. I looked back at the captain, "Sir, you bet I'll be on that shuttle." The captain smiled again and replied, "Go get 'em, Captain."
After filling out a pile of paperwork, I departed from Astex Station and headed toward the planet. The ride down was swift and as soon as we approached the landing pad I looked out the window to find my crew and greeting party. They were all gathered around a brand new shiny courier with the Astex markings on the side.
The landing took little time and before I knew it I was on the ground accepting my captain's bars from an Astex corporate official and shaking hands with my new nine member team. As the sun set on the horizon, we commissioned the ship the U.S.S. Tempest and broke a bottle of champagne over its hull...
(This message has been edited by moderator (edited 08-26-2002).)
