Jacked - Part 1

Fan Fiction time. Escape pod here if this isn't your thing which will take you to the medium turret balancing thread for ranged turrets. CCP are looking to make medium railguns useful!


Jacked - Part 1

Krar sat at the controls in the cockpit initiating the pre-flight checks. The hauler itself was old, but reliable. Whilst most of the cluster joked about the construction of Matari ships, most couldn't deny that they were very solidly build. Rust covered, ugly and generally full of small faults and problems, but they would just stubbornly plough though even well beyond their expected operational life.

A red light flashed on the console as the checks ran through and Krar made a mental note that a plasma coupling would need to be replaced soon. He moved his chair over to a bank of monitors and flicked through. The cargo bay was being loaded with Quaffe. Thousands of gallons of the popular fizzy drink were being positioned by the docking crews MTAC's. The 3m tall mechanical exoskeletons strode through the open cargo hatch carrying huge cargo crates. Next Krar  swapped to the galley. His wife Adwin was there with their daughter Inga doing school work. Life as a hauler meant they were always on the road. His daughter didn't attend school. She learnt on-board with a mix of her parents teaching and Minmatar Education Board approved AI computer programs. He then swapped to the passenger quarters. Like many haulers this ship had a small section for guests and passengers. Krar studied the four monks carefully. He didn't like having strangers on board, he especially didn't like Amarrians. But when he was approached the money was too good. Also monks alleviated his concerns. Most people who wanted passage on an industrial hauler were suspect. Why did they not use the Interbus Shuttle Network? Because usually they wanted to stay off the grid. And anyone who wanted to stay off the grid was not welcome in Krar's ship. He had his wife and daughter to protect. However, the monks had pointed out he was going direct to their destination and the INS would have involved three changes and some lengthy stop-overs.

A bleep alerted him to an incoming message. It was confirmation from the loading crew that the cargo was now all loaded and secure. Krar looked out of the cockpit window at the line of Iterion Class haulers with the Quaffe logo's lined up beside his tramp hauler. He'd got lucky that two of the official Quaffe haulers had developed faults which required the shipping company to hire him as an independent contractor. The fee for the haul plus his passengers meant they could take a few days off after the run and enjoy themselves. His manifest was 2000 cubic metres of Quaffe plus a cargo container of space parts the destination station needed. Of course he had to haul the junk, whilst the branded Iterions hauled the majority of the goods.

Krar entered the commands to seal the ship and move over to internal power. Whilst the large cargo bay doors slowly closed he sent the undock request to station control. He leaned back into his chair and waited for permission to undock. This should be an easy run.

-o0o-

Adwin had been covering the Dark Days of Matari history with Inga in the last few days. The decades where the Amarr Empire captured and raided most of the Minmatar homeworlds. Most captives became slaves and were taken back to the Empire to serve the holders and their families.

Inga had always loved history. Much more than the sciences which had pleased her mother but infuriated her father. She was 18 and less then two years away from a possible place at the Republic University. She could take the entrance exams in a year and she was hoping for a place on the Ancient Matari Tribal History course.

However, Adwin had switched lesson plans today to physics. She decided covering Matari history would not be a good idea with four Amarrian monks on board. Her daughter had a fiery spirit and there was no point in making the situation worse. When she had heard about the passengers she had protested heavily to her parents. Unfortunately the protests had fallen on death ears. Whilst her parents had no love for the Amarrians, this was business and they needed the money. Unfortunately their rebellious teenage daughter had developed quite a hatred for the Amarrian race.

"So if the phased plasma is energized by the reaction. What will be the output?" Adwin asked.

Inga just sat there and thought. After a while she spoke.

"Do you think those monks see us as potential slaves?".

Wife sighed. Today was not going to be a productive day.

"Can we forget about our passengers please darling. They are simple monks. They do not hold slaves, money or even property. It is the Amarrian Holders you need to direct your hate at. Not all Amarrians are the same, especially not these men, if you could even call them men. They are not like other men."

Inga just sat there brooding.

"Well I can see we're not going to get anything done today so why don't you....." the sound of the engines cutting out stopped her mid-sentence. She stood and walked to the comm panel set in the wall.

"Darling, everything OK?" she spoke into the panel.

"Yeah." came the reply from her husband. "Customs check before we've even left system! Why the frack they couldn't have done this in station I don't know. They are saying its a full inspection so a scan won't do. They are coming aboard."

Adwin turned back to her daughter.

"Inga, why don't you go back to your quarters, I think we'd done for the day."

The daughter still brooding gave a small nod and left the room.

-o0o-

The docking sequence took a good five minutes. The Gallente customs ship had slowly aligned with the hauler and the docking arm had hardly made a sound when it latched onto the ship. Krar had several expensive repair bills were Matari customs ships had not been as graceful.

The airlock hatch opened and three men in Gallente uniforms entered the ship.

"Captain Krar?" the senior officer asked.

"That's me. You are welcome on board but all I ask is if we can make this quick. Both my Quaffe and passengers are on a deadline and I'll lose big time on the time related bonus which....."

"What passengers?" the senior officer asked.

"I've got four Amarrian monks that requested passage as they heard I was heading to the system they want to go. I filed the paperwork with..."

"Take us to them now." the senior officer didn't let him finish.

Krar led them down to the passenger quarters in silence. Not a word was spoken on the three minute walk.

As the four men entered the passenger quarters they found the four monks on their knees in prayer.

They all wore long hooded robes that hid them completely from view. Their heads were bowed and they were muttering in Amarrian. The senior officer cleared his throat. The monks fell quiet and rose.

Finally one spoke.

"I feel we need heavenly guidance here." one muttered.

"Judgement must be passed." said another.

"But not the Matari. We need the pilot." said another.

The three customs officers looked at each other in confusion. Suddenly the monks shrugged off their robes. Underneath they were wearing full Amarrian combat uniforms and blaster pistols in their hands. The customs officials went for their holstered weapons too late. The monks cut them down with precision shooting. Krar stood rigid in fear as one of the monks approached him. A lightning fast fist struck Krar on the temple and he fell to the ground.

Just as he was losing consciousness he heard them speak.

"We've still got a battleship of cops latched to us. What we going to do?"

"How many canisters of ZX21 have we got?"

"Six"

"How many do we need?"

"Four"

"Well there is our solution"

.....to be continued......