I love the word of Elite: Dangerous. I love the lived in feel the galaxy has. I love the fact that actual history is happening there, be it player or developer driven. I also love all the story's that come out of the game; by video, forum post or by a fellow commander who just wants to tell someone. But these stories have a very common theme: I did that great thing with my ship, we found such and such a planet in our ships, we fought that wing and it was awesome. Don't get me wrong, I very much enjoy these stories. But, I don't think that this would be the kind of narrative you would get by actually living in the World of elite dangerous. Maybe because I studied sociology or maybe because I was missing this piece of told story, I wondered: What would life look like for the more or less average johns out there. Story's don't have to revolve around the absolute super hero, or most badass character to be a good and interesting story. So this is what you can expect from this story. No saving the galaxy, no winning wars single handed, just a guy that by misinterpreted paperwork gets the chance to see some of the galaxy.
I hope you like it.
The meddlesome orange light would not be ignored. It would keep lighting up every three seconds until Harro would give it the appropriate amount of attention. He kept pushing his glass from one palm into the other, creating a shuffling sound through friction with the counter. The light was not impressed. It kept demanding attention. Gloomily Harro pushed the glass against his communicator. Aside from no longer scratching the counter the situation did not change.
"You can't stare it into submission you know."
Harro looked up.
"Shouldn't you be teaching someone how to plot a course or something?"
Mathilda smiled and took the stool next to Harro.
"What, so there can be more half-witted hull rats like yours, certified to fly?"
"Oh Lord, what did they do?"
"Ah nothing out of the ordinary. Managed to jam a crane hook. Thought it would be clever not to tell anybody so they would not get into trouble. Of course the next crew that tried to unload with the crane unintentionally send a lot of agricultural supplies flying through the Dock. Gin"
The counter responded by flashing green, as to confirm Mathilda's order.
"Well you have to be thankful that is was only machinery. Grain might have caused a lot of micro debris and that takes ages to get out of a low g environment."
The Gin arrived via Mike, the barkeeper, while Harro dug his face into his palms.
"Have you told Gonzales already?" he asked through his hands.
"Yeah. He is talking it up with Montgomery right now. He told me he is insured."
"Yeah, my ass. He is lucky that the insurance for the type 7 is from the pilots'-federation. Your bosses are probably the only ones that insure his type of sorry business man."
"My bosses, I wish. You know exactly that Montgomery pays me. Stop teasing me with that. Now open your mail. You can't get around it anyway."
"Fine."
Harro opened his communicator and tapped the irritating orange button.
"Speaking about you bosses, it's them."
"What Montgomery? What does she want from you?"
"No, the Pilots-Federation."
"Would you please stop it."
Harro forced himself to open the mail. News from the Pilots-Federation usually was a fine or a notification to renew some licence. Bad news or chores… but not this time. Harro suddenly bolted upright and caused Mathilda to startle and choke on her gin.
"What's the news?" She asked after Harro had taped her on the back and she caught her breath.
"Apparently your bosses have promoted me to the rank of Entrepreneur."
Harrow frowned.
"This is probably not correct."
Mathilda whipped her mouth with the back of her hand and looked puzzled at Harro.
"They usually don't make mistakes. Don't they pride themselves with Galnet and their all-encompassing Information? Hey don't look so gloomy, congratulations are in order."
She started to grin like an idiot.
"You can start by buying me a drink and inviting your crew in here. Come on when was the last time we got drunk."
Harro shook his head.
"No there has to be something wrong. I don't own the Marduk. And the trade I run is payed with the money of the company. Don't you have to have a turnover of a 100million credits to be promoted to Entrepreneur?"
"130million or something. Don't quote me on that. Now where is my drink?"
Mathilda was still grinning like an idiot.
"You're impossible."
Harro grabbed his communicator and got up.
"Go clean up agricultural machinery or something."
He turned around and walked towards the exit of the Pilots-Federation Lounge.
"Oh I have a long memory, you owe me a drink Mister Harro Denson… Hey, wait did you pay for yours, wait I'm NOT GONNA…"
As soon as Harro stepped out of the Lounge he regretted it. AKIYMATA MARKET was Brani 6's main Station. A Planet inhabited by around 4billion people in the Brani system on the edge of Hudson Space. It was a system like many others that contained an earth-like world like Brani 6. Politically more or less stable, economically sound and giving the neighbouring systems something to produce and export to Brani. Hence AKIYMATA MARKET was heavily crowded, loud and somewhat smelly. Except, of course, the Pilots-Federation Lounge. Only certified pilots were allowed in. Even Mike the bartender was a retired pilot. Harro put his hands in the pockets of his jacket that he wore over his flight suit and started to walk towards Universal Cartographics. It was one of the places where you could find an actual employee of the Pilots Federation, not like Mathilda, who was just a certified flight instructor licenced by the Pilots Federation, on payroll by the local government to train pilots and manage the traffic controllers of AKIYMATA MARKET. Harro could have just as well used his communicator to contact some legal entity of the Pilots Federation but he wanted to get away from Mathilda. He had known her for too long and her, finding happiness apparently only on the bottom of a glass, made him sad. Harro shoved through the crowed. It wasn't easy since he was around fifteen centimetres shorter than the average person that lived here. He was born on Cupis 7 in the Cupis system, 9 Lightyears from Brani. Cupis 7 was significantly bigger then Brani 6 and while on Cupis 7 you would experience 1.65g Barni 6's gravity was only 0.74g. This led to a noticeable difference in physique with people originating from Cupis being short and brought and Braniens being long and thin. Cupiens were sought after guest workers in labour intensive professions because they were known to be sturdy and enduring. These were of course generalisations. On AKIYMATA MARKET you could find all kinds of people, Spacers, born and brought up in Stations and Ships, Reptiles, born and brought up in conditions that required some kind of protective suit or Drifters, that came from god knows were. But the majority of people on AKIYMATA MARKET were born somewhere in local stellar neighbourhood. Even with the technology to travel dozens of lightyears in mere hours humans liked to stick with what they were familiar with. And, as Harro entered the Universal Cartographics, he wasn't really an exception. Universal Cartographics was usually fairly empty and if you encounter other people here, they were either high profile prospectors or some of the most curious bunch in the galaxy, explorers. Silent, aloof and with a stare that testified of thousands of suns that nobody had ever seen before, explorers were a select group of pilots. Full of stories they did not like to tell and usually more than a few quirks in their personality they kept the company of their crew or other explorers. Well at least they could rely on their crew not to trash a cargo crane…
"Can I help you Commander Denson?"
A young female employee, that was about twenty centimetres taller than him, was standing next to Harro.
"Ehh yes. I got a promotion from the Pilots Federation that must be a mistake."
"Congratulations on your Promotion Commander Denson."
Said the employee mechanically and extended her hand towards Harro.
"Yes, thank you."
Said Harro, shaking her hand briefly.
"Now, the promotion must be a mistake. I don't own the…"
"No there can be no mistake with a promotion… Well it is possible that there was a software error and the promotion was send to the wrong commander. May I have your licence please?"
"Yeah, sure."
He extracted his licence chip from the front pocket of his flight suit, were he stored all the other electronic paperwork, and forwarded into the hand of the young woman.
"Your name is Commander Harro Matheo Denson?"
"Yes."
"Then there is nothing wrong with your promotion."
"No, look. I don't own the ship I fly. And the trading profit isn't mine either. I am an employee of the Brani Federal Holdings."
"Well it says here that you, Commander Denson, are the Pilot and Commander of the Type-7 Transporter Marduk, leased form Brani Federal Holdings and insured through the Pilots Federation on your name. You, over the course of the past 6 years, have gained sufficient profits through trade that makes you eligible for the promotion to the rank of Entrepreneur. I can only repeat myself. Congratulations Commander."
She smiled again and handed Harro is licence chip back.
"Ehh, yes but, the ship… wait you said I am leasing the Marduk from Brani Federal Holdings?"
"Yes of course. Otherwise the Pilots Federation would not grant the insurance in your name."
Gonzales had a lot of explaining to do.
"Well, it's all here in your contract. And as you can see there is your signature underneath."
"I know. But the fact is, I was never made aware of this. And you let me believe that Brani Federal Holdings was still the holder of the Marduk, not just the owner."
"The company is the holder of…"
"No, I am. Read your own damn contract. You leased the Marduk to me in exchange for use of my pilot's license to buy insurance."
Harro was no lawyer but he wasn't stupid either. He had read every legal document he ever signed with Brani Federal Holdings, while he waited in front of the local police office to process his deckhands. Brani Federal Holdings employed him now for eight years as the commander for one of their five T-7s. Six years past they changed his contract. He thought he was just singing his actual contract after his two years trial period but instead got into this leasing bullshit. The problem was that, if something had happened to the Marduk during those six years, Harro would have been directly responsible for any loss of cargo, damages to the ship or, even worse, loss of crew. In hindsight it was a wonder that nothing happened to the crew, not because he was a reckless commander, but because Brani Federal Holdings usually employed the cheapest souls with a licence they could find. His deckhands usually were unskilled, unmotivated and sometimes even a liability. Now to be fair, all of this was technically legeal. Harro leased the ship and Brani Federal Holdings supplied the crew and gave him trading missions to fulfil. But they also acted like the holder of the Marduk, telling Harro were to be and at what time. As the holder of the ship this should have been Harro's decision, since he was the one taking the risk. Save to say this was borderline criminal. And Edwardo Gonzales, manager of the Brani Federal Holdings on AKIYMATA MARKET, knew it. Harro could see it clear as day as Gonzales made a show of reading his contract again.
"Yes, you are correct of course."
Gonzales said slowly as if he was thinking about what to say next.
"Well, I think we should get this fixed. I'll get some new contract drafted. As you can imagine this will take some time. In the meantime, there are units to be transported and…"
"You are just going to brush me off like this?"
"I can't do much about this right now. I will have to contact the legal department. What I need you to do is deliver 200 tons of supplies to BEAR CITY. Standard rate. Here are the details."
Harro supressed his anger the urge to crush Gonzales' face, took out his communicator and accepted the mission details.
"I am missing two deckhands."
He said and started look trough the cargo he was about to take on.
"What about Liu and… ah… Hel… Hei…?"
"Hendrickson. Both lost their licence and are denied to leave the station till the case with the cargo crane is resolved."
"Well, you and Cantu know how to load the ship just as well. Just go ahead and…"
Harro put away is communicator and looked straight at Gonzales.
"We are not going to. That is not part of our contract."
Gonzales retuned the look, but he knew he was treading on very thin legal ice at the moment.
"You are right, yes that is not why I employ you two. How about this. I will organize the loading here and forward you 5k to your business account to organize the unloading in BEAR CITY and hire two new deckhands there. Acceptable?"
"Fine."
"Good, very good. Now would you please excuse me?"
Harro made his way back where he left Mathilda a few hours ago. She probably would still be there, dead drunk and needing some motivation to go home. The Marduk was loaded up with all kinds of foodstuffs. BEAR CITY had no way of growing food so it needed to import from neighbouring systems. Cantu, his navigator, was bringing the Marduk online at the moment. They planned to leave in two hours and catch some sleep during the hyperspace jump. Harro liked AKIYMATA MARKET best in the evening. Of course in space there was no such thing as an evening, AKIYMATA MARKET just used standard galactic time. A lot of stations used some time zone of the planet they orbited, but Brani 6 was tidally locked to its parent sun Brani, so a day was the same length as a year – 18 standart days. The agricultural products that came through AKIYMATA MARKET all day left an earthy smell and now, that only a few people were walking the brought corridors of the Station, there was something comforting about it. As if you were on a large farm that backed in the sun all day and was now radiating all the build-up heat back into the atmosphere. Mathilda sure was in a sorry state.
"…and then he told me, no, no listen! He told me I should just calculate puhhahaha. Just calculate hahahahaha. There was nothing to calcu… hey, hey where are you going…"
By the look on Mikes face he didn't enjoy her story half as much as Mathilda. He probably had to listen to it a few times a week.
"Oh good, Harro. I would bring her home but I have to keep the lounge open for at least another two hours, can you…"
"That's what I am here for. Does she owe you anything? Yeah dumb question."
Harro added quickly as he saw Mikes face and gave him his credit chip.
"HA, so he isss buying me a drink after all."
"Seems like it. Come on, get up girl."
He said as he put one hand around Mathilda's waist and accepted his credit chip back with the other.
"Ohh, I always forget how sssmall you are."
"And you are getting heavier by the day. Move your feet now, I am not caring you."
"Sooo and what will you do if I just sit down here?"
Slurred Mathilda and let herself fall against the façade of the Pilots Federation Lounge.
"I'll probably drag you. Now get up, I have places to be."
"Oh don't be like that. Just, just let me sssit here. I don't want to go home."
Harro looked down on his old friend sitting drunk in the dust. He knew her for too long not to notice that she was terribly unhappy. It was the same unhappiness he had felt for at least the last five years. But he knew how to cheer her up.
"Come on we are going to the Dock. Get up."
He pulled Mathilda to her feet.
"Let's go. Yeah just don't stop walking. Let's get some water and take the Lift upwards."
AKIYMATA MARKET was an Orbis class Station with one large ring that was connected by two massive beams to the Dock. Since every square centimetre was valuable living space there were many living-quarters and a lot commercial space located in the beams (aptly named 'the beams') including the Pilots Federation Lounge. It's location in the middle of Beam one was easy to reach from the dock and provided enough g that dinks wouldn't spill as easily. In the Dock itself however you experienced barely 0.1 g and more than enough young pilots had gone for a drink after their first real flight, then came back to the dock just to empty their stomach of all that expensive liquor in an impressive case of explosive youthfulness. Mathilda however didn't even feel queasy as she was lying on top of landing pat 02's administrative building. Harrow jumped up the three story building with ease and landed light like a feather next to her. He had lived in so many different g-environments that it had become second nature to him. He didn't even have to think about how much force he needed to do something in any kind of g, just like seaman didn't notice their ship rock back and forth after enough time one sea.
"Here, drink that."
Mathilda open her eyes and sat up, letting her legs hang of the roof.
"Thank you."
She said, and took the water bottle from Harro, while he sat next to her. They both lingered there in silence, watching the traffic around the dock and listening to the swelling hum of the Marduk's starting fusion-reactor behind them. An orca was coming through the slot, filling the dock with a faint engine noise, as she slowly made for a landing pat to the aft of the station. They could see little figures gliding out of theirs seats and immediately stating to lose control over their body momentum. Harro had to laugh.
"I fucking hate this place."
He said watching a cobra undock. Mathilda nodded in approval and sucked some water out of the bottle.
"I hate this culture of cutthroat competition, I hate the people that only try to screw you over, I hate not being able to decide for myself were to fly. I just hate all this so much."
He said, making a swooping notion with his arms.
"You at least get to fly. I don't know any more how many times I asked Montgomery to give me a job where I could fly. But she keeps me here, training some Idiots who can barely find the throttle to manage traffic around the orbit."
"I thought it would be different after leaving the navy. Back then you could at least count on your comrades, you knew they had your back no matter what. Here, I find it difficult to trust anyone."
"Do you ever think about going back?"
"To the navy? Are you crazy? Have you forgotten why almost none of our crew renewed their contract? That eight month smuggling crackdown in Delaine space with that gorilla R. Admiral Sawyer and the forty-first flotilla?"
A smile creeped over Mathilda's face.
"Yeah that was bad."
They fell silent again, watching the evening activity's around the dock. The Marduk's power plant was now running smoothly and the heat from the radiators noticeably swept over them.
"Hey, how did your promotion turn out?"
"My, promo… oh right."
Harro had almost forgot. The troubles with Gonzales had occupied his mind most of the day.
"Well, I guess am an Entrepreneur now."
"Seriously, nobody tries to put in some legal action?"
"I don't think so. The Pilots Federation is definitely not taking it back. As for Gonzales, I guess I forgot to tell him."
"Maybe you should have. And demanded a better wage. You are an Entrepreneur after all. That's the equivalent of Dangerous for traders."
Harro nodded silently. He looked at his communicator for the time.
"Mathilda, I have to go. Will you please go home and not to another bar?"
"Yeah sure. I'm not in the mood anymore. I'll probably just get some ice-cream."
"Maybe just go to bed and go for a run tomorrow?"
Mathilda jerked upright, pushed herself of the ledge and floated towards the floor while giving Harro a salute.
"Yes, Sir, Lieutenant Commander, Sir!"
Harro grinned and waved at her. She is right. Slowly his grin melted from his face. He was an Entrepreneur now. And he technically was the holder of a perfectly functioning T-7. He got up and looked at the Engines of the Marduk. No… his Marduk.