Prologue

Algol Station, Beta Persei system
93ly from Earth Sphere

Space is a cruel lover. She is vast, takes every gift gleefully, yet leaves you in a vacuum for company. She is beautiful, aglow from heat so great that not even the toughest shields can withstand them. And yet she is cold, a body of frozen energy diffused between stars. Space will smother you, and yet men will always be drawn to her mystery and promise. The folly of Men will hope, and Space will entertain, till the moment a deed overdone, a mistake made, a trigger pulled. Then the curtain falls as you, your world and your lifelines make a hasty exit out the airlock. Most of all, no one will know. Not even light can outrun her grasp.

Men have tried and succeeded in changing the rules. So now, at the very least, when the fat lady sings, someone with FTL comms can hear you scream.

"Damn these Goons! Let's give it to them!"

With the binary star the audience, beam tracers flew thick and heavy as rumbling hulks lined up broadside to broadside, painting Space with a dazzle of destruction.

"Multiple bogeys CBDR!"

Fusion contrails from a triangle of fighters screamed as they twirled between the fireworks and ducked over ship after ship. At the last moment, they pitched up and into full view of fuselage bursting with turrets on full automatic. The lead craft disappeared instantly in a ball of flame and debris, its wingmen dumped missiles and banked away.

"The spinward flanks are folding! Where are those damn cruisers?"

Space was in chaos, like she always was for countless eons. The key was to roll with her moods. And if you knew how to keep her laughing, you could make a quick buck out of it.

BOOM!

The smoke from which there was once a door had nary cleared when a figure tumbled through. He rolled back to standing, blasters in both hands, taking care not to crush his conquest, a small datapad, shoved in his backpack. A mook burst through the cloud rifle drawn, then fell over as a green bolt nailed him between the eyes.

"37."

The man with a fedora over pressurized face mask aimed right and floored another flunkie.

"38."

He then bowled a round grenade into the smog and ran for it.

BAM!

"40-something!" He roared as flame and shrapnel filled the aft corridors.

"Jumbo! Are you dead yet?"

There was a firm "No"over the shortwave.

The caller skidded right round the bend at full tilt. The bulkheads behind flung open, and through swarmed more gangsters led by a man who perhaps had one too many steaks.

"KAAAELIIISSS!" he howled.

"Hello, Capitan Diego! Glad you could join us. Will do your heart some good!" The runner replied over the same frequencies as he zigzagged towards a sealed bulkhead, dodging the blasts being dumped at him.

"You are dead, Kaelis!" roared Diego as his vibroblade buzzed to full power.

"How 'bout a magic trick?" Kaelis said. "Open Sesame!"

The closed bulkhead ruptured on command, and a swell of force threw him, and his pursuers, off his feet as air rushed from the station and into the void-filled hangar bay. Disoriented cries of tumbling men and misfiring weapons flooded the channel as Kaelis coolly reached out for a strong arm to grasp and haul him out of the jet stream. The other men just kept on going, as no one turned on the artificial gravity in launch pads, do they?

"How was your trip?" Kaelis waved as Diego floated past, flailing like a raving lunatic against nothingness. "See you next fall!"

The boy changed back to private channels to not hear Diego's reply. Even while dangling from Jumbo's gauntlet, Kaelis was still floating a good quarter of a meter off the deck and that made him level with Jumbo's head. He grasped the giant of a man by the shoulders and bumped helmets with his buddy.

"Where is the gauss cannon you wanted?" Kaelis' voice rippled through the metal in contact.

"On board."

"Okay, let's haul jets!"

Without another word, Jumbo wound up and threw Kaelis towards the cream hull of their getaway craft. Jumbo was perfectly accurate; a faint buzz of static showed the deflector field turning off as Kaelis passed through. And he didn't have to move a muscle as he sailed through the hatch. The pilot only uncrossed his arms to stop inside the cargo hold.

"Honey, I'm home," he breathed to his ship as Jumbo skimmed in after him and drew up the boarding ramp. Outside, the deflectors buzzed on again, flinging any wannabe-boarders across the hangar, off the roof or into deep space. Kaelis quickly skimmed through to the captain's chair, Jumbo coming close behind. The pilot throttled up and the old freighter screeched her way out of the busted hangar.

Now that Phase 1 was complete, all the laser hate from Diego's deep space platform was instantly on to him. But Kaelis laughed with glee and threw his craft into serials of barrel rolls, diving and weaving between shots from turrets too big and too slow to keep up. He headed straight for the broadsiding ships, through the rain of fire and brimstone. Any foolhardy interceptor was quickly torn apart, while those with a straighter head broke off before it was too late. Kaelis kept on going, leaning and twisting in his seat along with his starship. Jumbo's hands danced over the gunnery controls, targeting and destroying missiles in their way. With those dealt with, and the battleships determined to kill each other and not him, the gaps were large enough for him to fly a frigate through.

A couple more spins, and Kaelis' field of view became clear of blue and green crossfires.

"Spinning up the FTL!" He declared and threw another lever.

Power flowed into the hyperspace motivator and rolled it to life. Space around the freighter rippled, warped, then stretched to infinity. And with a dull whomp, the old girl was flung into higher reality.

"Yeeehaaaw!"

- Audacious Space Traders -