Act 3; New beginnings, old traditions and a lost man.
Bladezzkiller99 as 'Jayden'
Oakbasil as 'Bazzie'
"Core Dynamics Oscar Alpha Kilo, it's good to see you again. Please submit a standard docking request before entering the station."
I smile to myself, and sigh as I submit the request. I start to line up my Corvette with the mail slot of Nusslein-Volhard.
I'd been away for quite some time, on an extended leave from Atlas Corp. I'd retired to an Earthlike about a hundred light years away or so. Things were never really the same after the incident I'd had with Max. The doctor had found me passed out in his facility. Said I'd come there by myself. I never really knew where he went, but every once in a while I'd receive a signature notification that he was flying around the Galaxy. We had unsettled business, there was still that one thing that we had started to look for, before some mercenaries had come for us.
It was good to see that Atlas, after falling dormant due to intergalactic regulations causing chaos, had lobbied to get it's power back. N-V was no longer in disrepair, no more slums, and livelier than ever before. After landing on my pad and disembarking, I was greeted by a few familiar faces.
"Ice, Wolf, Egon, it's good to see you all again!" I laugh and shake their hands. Egon tells me in his nostalgic voice they're out on a mission to reinspect our claims to our territories.
"After all, it has only been a month since those regulations were reversed. That's also, Bazzie, why we had to call you back from your leave. I can appreciate your understanding, we're going to make Atlas as much of a superpower as we were, and then some." Ice tells me. He, Wolf, and Titan (who isn't with us at the moment), are my second-in-command for our inner-Atlas division, named the VIE. We're the ones responsible for making sure things stay under our control. "Unfortunately there's a lot of paperwork for you to fill out with these new regs," he continues, "so I figured it'd be better to welcome you back to the stars first before you get back to work, haha."
"Damn haha, I should've expected that." I laugh back. I let them know I'll get started on it later today, and send them off with a little returning gift of some postcards from the planet I was at. As they leave, my eyes turn towards a familiar old area of the station.
I don't think anyone who is in the station now remembers why that one corner is important, or what hell it went through beforehand. But that doesn't stop me from making my way over to it. All the while I'm pulling my jacket back tight against me, the Atlas logo on the back faded and torn, bullet holes still through the pockets. I push open the door to the bar, and see that, while the layout is all still the same, it's been redesigned and repaired to day one status. There's five or six other people sitting around in separate groups, conversation mixed in with the pop radio station music. I take a seat at the bar, and wave the bartender over.
"I'll have a double with cheese, medium rare, and a Lavian Brandy." He heads back to the kitchen to get the order placed, and I take the time to reminisce about all the other times I'd sat in this same spot.
After a while, and nearly finished with your meal, you notice some of the alerts around the station have started going off, is there something happening?
A message comes over the bar's intercom, it being rigged up by some past members and recently restored along with the Bar, seems like the Authorities still haven't gotten around to silencing that bit just yet.
"Flight operations to all vessels in the area, priority emergency landing in progress. Clear the way, repeat, clear the way."
"Emergency landing, huh? Haven't had one of those in a while" Radtke pays for his meal, and walks over to the viewport.
"Man, I'm sure glad they got the glass back here." He muses as he looks to see what looks like a ship entering through the airlock.
ATC is heard in the distance semi-shouting; "I've got you on the scanner Commander, Emergency landing procedure is in effect, we're advising all traffic to steer clear of the station."
A garbled voice comes through. "Goo-...-ar, sh- retty mu- gon-."
"Copy that, adjust approach speed commander, vector looks good. You're free for pad 19." Sounds like whatever's kicking up this commotion is about to come through the mail-slot.
It's what you'd think an Python looks like. You think as it looks like it's quite literally pock-marked with various states of damage.
You make out that it's thrusters are firing somewhat erratically, power must be about to give. It's hull seems like it came straight from the scrapyards, one of the wings looks like molten slag and that's not even talking about the paint scheme. The cockpit looks like it's... well, it looks like hell to put it simply. There is a very faded Atlas logo alongside a more recent, but still blurry Galcorp roundel.
hmm, Atlas? I wonder to myself. I know plenty of the folks around Atlas space, but I don't think I remember anyone who had a Python. As I walk out the door of the bar, picking up my pace to meet up with the pilot, I flashback to when that door was nothing more than three planks of wood, barely hanging on one hinge.
'Max chuckles, "The more things change, the more they stay the same. The more we want to stay the same, the more changes." as he continues his hunt for the elaborate 'free liquor'.'
Max's words ring through my head. I laugh, and jump down the stairs down towards the hangars.
As I approach the gates leading towards the walkway to pad 19, I notice it's been sealed off by the security. They hold their hands out towards me and say "Stop, access to this landing pad is forbidden to all personnel. We need you to leave this area immediately!" Definitely not what I need right now.
"I see that, but I need to get through. I have to know who that is!" I can see the guards don't care about my mission, just their bottom line.
"Yeah yeah," one of them says, "They've all said that so far. You're not special here, leave now."
"Buddy, I don't think you know exactly who I am," I sigh as I pull out my Atlas Corp badge, "I'm CMDR Radtke, one of the board members of Atlas Corporation. You will let me through, and I'll deal with any fallout from this later." The two guards look at each other before looking back at me.
"You just had to pull that card, huh Atlas?" The one on the left replies in a snarky tone. "Damned if we do, damned if we don't. Be quick." With that, I run passed them and see the doors starting to open on the pad. I may just be able to make it in time.
The ATC comes again, "Attention, deploy your landing gear, repeat, deploy your landing gear." Radtke hears transmitted as he was running.
A few moments later, there is a loud thump, followed by a screech as the craft scrapes into place. The ATC audibly relaxes "Landing complete. Glad you made it in one piece comman-" he barely gets out as one of the ship's landing gear gives out, the craft crashing on the pad below. "Damn it, belay that, sending you down. Flight operations to all ships, emergency lifted, please resume in an orderly fashion. Maintenance and Engineering teams, please report to Pad 19... Again." the resigned ATC says, knowing there was a stigma surrounding Pad 19, crafts always malfunctioning something or cargo 'mysteriously' disappearing. Sadly it was the only one available, even without the lockdown.
(AN; We should come up with some 'Pad 19' mysteries and hoaxes, could be fun.)
(AN2; Pad 19 mysteries sound great to me, haha!)
As the elevator descended, the thrusters finally gave the ghost, the reactor seemingly gave up barely after touchdown. Radtke watched from a nearby surveying corridor how the decrepit ship was hauled down the shaft to it's internal hangar.
'Welcome to N-V commander, glad you could make the trip.'
was displayed on a few nearby holoboards. Why? Who knew, maybe it's to make the incoming pilots feel welcomed, but the irony was apparent when looking over the scrapheap that just crashed landed.
The overhead hangar dock closed and sealed in place, a few minutes later a number of hallways opened up, allowing emergency workers to rush in and see if the craft was safe, and see what became of the crew.
Even for Radtke, who entered after the services, the heat was apparent. The left wingside was completely molten, the floor and Python's paint coming off further as it's heat found a way to vent some temperature, making entry from that side impossible.
It didn't help that said side was partways buried into the floor either.
Apart from the sizzling metal, and callouts from the ES, it was completely silent.
The Python seemingly had a Stark-white paint scheme before whatever happened to it did, it's other decals faded to strips and it was apparent that the internals were sharing their fate with the externals, as the craft didn't make the usual hum that was usually heard when getting close.
There was a name on the side, it read 'FL Call-to-action', it seemingly being the only thing that was kept it's quality.
It's weapons seemed either completely smashed by something, locking them partways outside their bays, or completely gone from their mounts. The heatfoils were locked in open position, their heat boiling and vaporising the air above.
Some of the ES were shouting for cutting tools, as the Cockpit was blocked off by a system of bulkhead doors, something that definitely wasn't standard in normal craft.
As the engineers tried to cut open the bulkheads, they were forced back as the metal got hotter and hotter as they cut through. Whatever or whoever was in the cockpit, it was fried now.
"I wonder if Yuna is still around, maybe I can rope her into retrieving that black box for me before system sec gets their hands on it." Radtke whispers to himself. "Still got some time, who knows how long it'll be before that thing cools down."
He takes out his phone and starts sending some commands to his ship about "finding some old contacts."
A loud bang was heard from the back. Then another, and another.
Soon followed a few more, and the aft exit airlock began hissing as it's explosive bolts did their job and blew the door outwards.
Everyone near the back pretty much stopped what they were doing as before them they saw someone stumbling out of the aft exit, covered in sweat, grime and what else not.
He looked a bit pale, but who doesn't these days, with dark-brown medium-length hair.
He was wearing a torn-up Imperial Officer's uniform, a few small medals remained intact, but others seemed to have been torn off.
After getting half-way out, he noticed some of the ES had frozen when they saw him.
His dark-green eyes scanned the slowly growing crowd, a man on his data-pad that had joined the crowd and a few other pilots that got around security that came to see what the ruckus was all about.
"'Haaah-haaah' Well... This is a nice welcome back to society." his sweat-laced visage cracking a smile. '"Cough' Could I trouble one of you for a smoke? I'll even take a cig." his voice jolting some of the workers to snap out of it and start helping the man down and check him over for any injuries.
A man walked towards the group, headset still on his head, he must be the ATC from before asking, "The name is Mike, Mike Wright." He introduces himself before continuing, "Anyone else on board?" the white-clad man said in response: "No, no-one else. Just me, been just me for a bit now."
"Oh, quite the bag of tricks you've got up your sleeve, eh?" Radtke prods at the mysterious man. "What say you tell me the story of how your shi-," he stops, half-heartedly gestures at the molten mess, and shrugs "well, what was your ship, ended up like this over one of my Kamitran Cigars? I heard you asking for a smoke earlier. Name's Radtke." "Hm? Ah, sure. And yes, please. Haven't had a smoke since my pack ran out a few weeks ago." he looks himself over, "After I clean myself up that is. Hey you! Where is a restroom so I can get this grime off?" he shouts to one of the pilots watching the 'show'. The ATC watching him walk off with more and more annoyance.A few minutes later he comes back, uniform not-quite-as-horrible-as-before and a (somewhat) washed face, "Thanks for waiting. Sorry, but sweat burns like no other if left long enough, and I was sweating buckets back on the 'Cata'." he accepts one of the Cigars, but waits with lighting it. "Is there a bar or something nearby? That whole thing's left me exhausted.""Don't mention it, and yeah, there's one just over there called the Super Nova. Been awhile since I've been there, but it's still pretty good from what I hear. You cleared to leave here yet?" Radtke asks as he lights up his own cigar
"Think not, but I need a drink. HEY MIKE! WRIGHT!" Jayden shouts into the group, ATC discussing something with one of the supervisors and now looking back over to him, "What now?!" "I'm heading to a bar called the Super Nova or something, find me there!" The guy sputters for a bit, "What the hell?! You just crawled out of a burning wreck you crashed here, on my pad, and whilst it's still burning you're going to a fucking ba-" "Thanks Mike, I'll save one for ya!", he was cut off by the door shutting behind Radtke and him. "Well then, it seems I'm free to leave with restrictions, and I did tell the guy how to find me." He turned back to Radtke, "So, where to, oh honorable guide to booze?""Heh, not bad. I'll make sure to talk to him later, he'll understand." He laughs. "It's not too far, just up these stairs."Seeing a few familiar faces along the way, it took a few minutes more than normally. But they finally make it, and Radtke grabs the pair a table before the waitress comes over."Another double with cheese, medium rare, and a local brew""Just give me something smooth. Got any Rum?" he asks and the waitress confirms the order, walking back to the counter."Hm... Didn't know they had places like this on stations." he comments as he looks around the place."Most usually don't, but Atlas paid extra to get this to open." Radtke sighs. "Can't tell you how many bounties I had to grind in order for the boss to think it'd be viable.""Huh, Atlas you say? Really?" he asks in surprise, "Huh, didn't think they had come this far already." he gestures to the spaceport below, ships docking and departing to destinations unknown."Yeah. This is actually less than it was roughly a year and a half ago, but we're rebuilding" he replies"Rebuilding? What could you possibly rebuild from?" came the bemused tone, "I mean, you're all the way out here. What, did 'Ohm' or something finally manned up and taken a shot at you guys?" he joked as the order was placed before them on the table. "Thanks dear, you're a lass." he said to the waitress. "Yeah, rebuilding. There were new intergalactic regulations that came and fucked us over for some time, but we lobbied and got them changed back. Stupid regs and paperwork, I had to do so damn much paperwork." He rolls his eyes, before taking a bite of his food."However," he says after a while, "I saw you running around with an Atlas decal on your ship. What's the deal with that?"He swishes the liquor around in the glass, "Hm? Oh simple. It's not mine." he sighed, "Belonged to an old friend of mine, might've even called him a son if he wasn't that subbornheaded about it." he briefly chuckles "But then again, we have that in common." He falls silent, then realizes something, "Oh damnit. I completely forgot to introduce myself." with a small flourish, he says; "The name's Jayden, Ex-Viscount Jayden Huntinghawke. Pleasure." he sticks out a hand, lopsided grin on his face."Huh. Didn't realize it was possible to steal a ship from other people. Thought it was locked by fingerprint." He says. "Jayden, nice to meet you. I feel like I've heard that name before... But I can't remember where." Radtke grabs his hand, and gives it a firm shakeAfter the handshake Jayden continues, "No, no. I didn't steal it, he gave it to me a few days ago." he explains, "You see, he had this 'big evil bad' bounty on his head for helping a friend of ours. Sure I might have helped him somewhat, which might have resulted in my own hauler getting totalled, so he gave it so we could split-up. Divide the danger one could say." he takes a swig. "Hm... Expected it to be better... Eh, it's doable." "Heh, sounds like someone I know as well." Radtke chuckles a bit. "But then again, with the Galaxy as big as it is, who doesn't these days." "Heh, well, that's true enough I suppose." Jay agrees. "Wonder what they're doing now?" as he was about to take another swig he snorts, "'Snnrk' Yea, never mind, I can already figure both those anarchists are pissing off some high-ranking people and Mihra's never far behind." he amusedly told Radtke."That sounds so familiar, I'm almost expecting Pad 4 to blow up again at any second. But then again, the chances of it being the same guy are about as much as a ceramic vase orbiting a star having meaning, eh?" Radtke cracks a big smile "Hah. I've got no clue what you mean with Pad 4, but I can definitely agree with the vase bullcrap." he laughed "Dickhead of a drill-instructor gave me that bull to figure out back in basic. I believe I'm one of the few to have come to the same solution;" ""Screw the vase, we give up."" they both intoned with mirth and amusement. "Damned thing" Jayden said with some chuckles, gazing back to the dockyards.
"Glad I'm not the only one to come to that conclusion, haha. And don't worry about the pad, it's a bit of an inside joke. One of the old regulars here blasted his way out of here. I think he called himself Coalhead? It's been a while so my memory is a bit fuzzy." Musing about with his cup, an eagle goes past the viewport. "Wow, that brings back some memories." Radtke chuckles. "Coalhead? Really? What a stupid fucking name." he asked with a slight of amazement, but mostly laughing at how dumb the name was. (Somewhere, deep in space, an AI sneezes before going back into stasis before his friend noticed.)"Yeah, something about it tells me it's not exactly his real name. But, he was quite the character." Radtke laughs, a *ping* noise from his datapad indicating he got a new message. "Ah, seems my ship is finally all cleaned up. Wonder how much that's gonna cost me, considering she'd been landed in the elements for a solid year." He groanedJayden looked surprised, "A year? Huh, and you made it all the way out here before servicing it? You've ridden your luck raw I'd say." he drains the glass."Well, you'd be surprised at how durable she really is. Engineered to the teeth, the Nightingale, she didn't come cheap but damn will she do her job." Radtke clicks a button on his data-pad, and a large pad starts to open."Take a look" he gestures out to the pad"Engineering, the deuces are you talking about?" Jayden looks over to the pad Radtke's rises a Federal Corvette, clad in all black and red accents. "engineering, a little secret one of my old mentors let me in on. If you meet certain people, you can get people to upgrade your ship passed just an A rated module. She can take a planet impact and still punch a hole through a capital ship""Hm, impressive. Would've liked to have some of those back at Electra. A lot happened in the month I was away it seems." he bewonderdly says as he pours himself another glass, the bottle seemingly being left there."Electra? You've been there?" Something is clicking in Radtke's memory, but he can't place it just yet. The confusion is visible on his faceJayden's gaze turns a bit distant, "Yea. Been there, been shot at, bombed, mortared, boiled, mashed and been stuck in a stew of just grade-A bullcrap." he finally lights the cigar Radtke gave him earlier, the vents above him taking the smoke away before it flows out of their spot. "Some advice? Keep to ship-to-ship combat, it's a helluva lot cleaner in both directions.""This is just like Electra..." He mutters. "Listen, Jayden. The man who gave you that ship. What was his name?" He takes another pull off his cigar, and stares at the empty spot to the side of them, waiting for him to come out of nowhere again"His name? The stupid little shit called himself a 'Dumbass who gets things done'." he chuckles, then sighs, in a tired voice he asks, "Max never could get himself out of trouble... So, what's he done in the mere month I haven't seen him?" "Did he sicc Nigel on someone again? That'd be a nice change of pace for once, not just charge headfirst into a criminal outpost, then wonder why they started firing when you've gunned down their leader for some reason or another." he reminisces. "Good times those" he chuckles at his own memories, smoke coming out in puffs. "Max is part of the reason there's bullet holes in this jacket. We were attacked in this very bar, by an eagle. Before we made it to my ship, he got shot in the leg. I bought him to a doctor, but I passed out, and the doctor told me I went there alone. " He smokes again, before continuing. "Nigel was definitely part of it somehow, but I never saw him with Max. So in a way yes, but also no. Same old Max apparently."
Jayden laughs a bit before calming down, "Yep, that's definitely Max for ya. Never a dull moment and gone the moment you take your eyes off of him. I should've never taught him that." he grumbles the last part out. "As for Nigel... Well... In short he's Max's companion. Aside from Mihra, as god knows how that woman keeps up with him, Nigel's always fairly close-by. You probably got followed by him and he got Max out via a back door or some bull. Probably paid off the staff there too, jackass pays everyone but his debt to me." he says, the last part a bit annoyed."That'd make sense. But I thought he was dead, he was quite nearly out of blood by the time I passed out." He paused for a moment before saying "We were looking for someone. I don't know whether it was you, or if it was a thing vs someone. Fuck, this makes me need another drink."Partly annoyed, partly bemused he says, "Yea, with him that pretty much sums it up;
'Fuck it, I need another drink'." "Something tells me that I'm somehow going to get roped into another ridiculous adventure here." Radtke groans. He presses a few buttons on the data-pad, and his ship returns inside the hangar. "I figure I might as well get the right weapons on her if I'm getting pulled somewhere""Another adventure? Oh pray tell, what has that Kid been up to in my absence?" Jayden asked, "Hell, how'd he even join Atlas anyways. A month ago he was flying with some other group when they ratted him out." he wonders."Less him joining Atlas, and more getting shot at by ships and people. That was mostly it. Obviously with that python being his with the atlas logo, he must've joined when I was on this planet" he remembers."Yea, probably." He says, then asks, "Say, I've not really been up-to-date with whatever's been going on lately. Was there any more info on how the Onionhead kerfuffle in Xelabara turned out?" he asks absentmindedly, taking another swig of the gold-brown liquor."Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time. I haven't heard much else besides it only getting marginally better" he lets a smirk escape his lips. "Last I heard you could still make a good profit out there" Jayden pauses a moment, and setting his glass down he asks, "'Still?' What do you mean 'still'? Last I know is that it close to getting legalized, thought that maybe that's be a good place to lay low. Next thing I know something's melted half my ship off and left me near-stranded and my comms were complete garbage. Hell, I was lucky this station's all the way out here, else I wouldn't have made it." he asks a bit confused."Yeah buddy, when it's that close to legalization that's when you make the money. Did you get a view of the thing that attacked you? Was it human? Or 'goid?" Radtke get a bit more nervous as he keeps talking"Hell if I know kid. One moment I'm jumping from system to system to a meet-up point, the next the entire ship just gets ripped apart and torn straight from the 'tube'. All I know is something ripped me mid-transit, followed by what seemed to be a Cthulhu imitation scanning me and damn near slagging the left side before I got the hell outta dodge." he goes a bit more silent, "although, now that I mention that, the drive did take a fair bit longer after getting away from that mass of 'Nope'."
He sighs, "And here I am, two ships down and nothing to gift back on Christmas Cycle next month. Ain't I SOL...""Hmm. That's rough, especially hard not knowing whether to keep for anti-xeno or anti-human around here. I'm kind of the one who's responsible for keeping Atlas' things, well, Atlas'. I can't exactly help you much, but I could at least get you a ship to get out of here if you really needed to. It ain't much, but there is a Cobra MkIII for sale in the shipyard. It'll get you out of here. Who knows what you'll do to make the money, but I'm sure you'll live." He sighs, not exactly sure whether he'd see the return on the investment"'Xeno's'? Hah, good one kid. Next you'll tell me the Feds, the Alliance and the Imperials learned to team up against these 'Xeno's', I'm not stupid, pull the other one." came the annoyed remark. "Hey, maybe they even found some bullshit element of 'harmony' or something, wouldn't that be ironic. Hahaha." he laughed, not seeing Radtke's puzzled expression.
"I, uh, I don't know how to word this quite right, but the Thargoids are real. I've fought many of them myself. There's even galnet articles about them, all throughout the pleiades and witch head sectors. Some even made it within 200 or so light years from sol, I was part of the task force assigned to repel them. Take a look." Radtke pulls out his data-pad, opens the most recent article about the incursions, and slides it across the table over to Jayden."We've even repurposed old guardian tech to fight against them in recent months. Gauss cannons, shard launchers, fighters, even power plants have been modified with guardian tech." He continues."The hell is a Guardia-..." Jayden asks as he falls silent, "Radtke. This date. This is recent?" he asks, a tinge of fear in his voice as he points to the article's posting date.
Noting the fear appearing in his voice, Radtke proceeds a bit more cautiously. "Um, yeah. It's from..." He looks at the date again, "about five days ago. Is something wrong?""...Right. Nope. Fuck that. Fuck this. Just... *Sigh* ...Fuck..." Jayden leans back into the seat, hand covering his face into a facepalm. After a few moments of gathering his thoughts he says, "Radtke, remember how I spoke about Xelabara and how that drug got legalized? That was a few cycles ago for me.""Clearly something didn't click for me when you said that, but looking back at that now, that was damn near five years ago." Radtke says, hand falls from his face, exasperated he says, "Well... Atleast I'm alive, and well away from the bubble's bullshit."
"Listen, uh, I definitely understand this is a big system shock to you. Five years going by in what seems like a few cycles. If you have some place that you want to see, or uh, if you want to sit here and read through the galnet to catch up to speed on what the Galaxy is like now, I'm your guy." Radtke says, after a few moments of minute later, he continues, "Although like Max once said to me, 'the more that things change, the more they stay the same.' it's still the same big old Galaxy out there."Jayden livens a bit, "Of course they do, and of course he stole that quote from me. Damn greenhorn." he jokes a bit, still coming over a bit listless. He asks "Well, no time like the present... or past in this case. So, what all has happened in the apparent 5 years I was gone?" He chuckles mirthlessly, "And if it's not too much trouble, I'll take that offer up on you later on. After after that Mike guy finds out I'm not the actual registered owner of the ship."
"Where do I begin?" Radtke wonders, then deciding, "Well, commanders were recently cleared for PlanetSide sorties again. Settlements have spread across those planets like wildfire, and there's these special people called Engineers who can modify the components of your ship so they're either stronger, faster, or lighter. Take this video, for example, of a battle against another Commander I had just a few days ago." He loads up the recording onto his data-pad "It used to be most medium ships don't fight large ships unless they were with a wing of other pilots. But this guy took me on solo, and had I not been prepared for combat that day, he would've easily won against me."
"After that all happened," he continues, "it was about a year or two of basic fed-imp cold war bullshit. Until suddenly, someone came about with video evidence of, what we all knew deep in our hearts was a Thargoid, himself being ripped out of hyperspace, ship turning off, and this massive alien creature coming up and scanning him. They had returned." The chatter and music seems to stop around them."Naturally, I went to investigate them myself, and chanced upon one while I was in a multi-squadron lineup. I would've died if it hadn't been for Caius, who snapped me out of the fear and got me out of there." "I had lost many good friends that day, and I had vowed to kill every last Xeno I came across. In the meantime, the cold war was placed on the back burner, and the two finally came together to protect our Homeland.""The alliance helped out too, with some new ships kitted for anti-xeno, but I still think they're a bunch of glue eating bug lovers. Bah."At the mention of the apparent ongoing cold war of Fed vs Emp, Jayden noticeably becomes a bit bitter, "I see. Even now they kept it up until something pissed in both their cornflakes. Guess that's at least one good thing those... 'goids' you said?, are good for." He switches topics, "By the way, the hell's a Krait?"
"You got that right. I can't truly stand either of them. And ah, a Krait MkII is a remade version of the Krait superlite from back in the days of CMDR Jameson. They're like that python you rode in on, but they've got ship launched fighter capacities in exchange for less cargo space. It's a nice ship, and a well needed refresh." He replies
"Ah those things! Yea, I remember now. We used to call them 'Tri's' back in the day, short for triangle." he admits, "Weird things to see those were."
He continues, "Usually when you saw them it meant your space was getting 'sinked'. Meaning that both sides were throwing everything plus the kitchen sink in to win.
Normally, it meant Mercs, sometimes it was mothballs. T'was never good."
"Makes sense, yeah." Radtke remarks, "Some people call the new ones pizza boxes because of how flat and square you can customize them to be." He laughs a bit.
"To be honest with you, however, I didn't get started on the pilots life until a few years ago. Was born in Cubeo to some supposedly rich family gone bankrupt after my parents got involved in some huge scandal. I was sold off to imperial slavers at the age of four, and was broken out about 3 years ago by a brand new Commander and brought to the princess Duval" he regales
Jayden eyes narrowed at the words 'broken out', before shaking his head clearing his thoughts, "Scandal you say, on Cubeo? Hm... I do remember hearing about something akin to that in passing, shame to say I'm not much interested in rumours and such." he admits, "Well... Before Max I wasn't, how a stray kid is running along the docks or how I'm practically committing suicide if I didn't hear the rumour that someone's looking for a big bounty, namely me..." he continues annoyed.
"Wonder if people think i'm dead yet?..." he wonders audibly to himself.
"As far as I'm concerned, I'm ultimately the last of my lineage. Used to hear through the rumor mill that my parents held big parties in their mansion, flinging out on narcotics before fixing the damage with progenitor cells. Overdosed probably six or so years ago. To everyone over there, Prince Rasmaltivea was 'lost in a tourist accident'" Radtke sighs "And besides, I guess there's something freeing about being 'dead,' but maybe not so in your case."
Jayden snorts, "Rasmaltivea? Really? Sometimes people surprise me."
"Yeah, my great grandfather thought that his old last name, the name I bear now, wasn't regal enough for a family in power. Was probably drunk as shit when he came up with it" he chuckles back
"Hah, not regal enough. Reminds me of an old war buddy of mine. You wanna hear his name?" he asked, a bit more humourful than before.
"Fuck it, why not" he grins, motioning for the waitress to bring another round of drinks to the table
"Now mind, it's a bit of a mindful." He says, preparing himself.
"He went by Mihaly Shilage, but his real name was Mihaly Dumitru Margareta Corneliu Leopold Bianca Karol Aeon Ignatius Raphael Maria Nikitas A.-" he pauses for dramatic effect, "Shilage." he finishes, never noticing how the bartender's look turns to him, before going back to his current customer.
(AN; A few of the people were talking about Ace combat 7, we made a joke about Shilage's space program and here we are.)
Mirthful he says, "Best support I've ever known, even if a bit cold at times."
"With a name like that, I can only imagine" Radtke sits back in his chair
"Yea... Last I heard of him some upstart shot his wing out. Fighting was heavy so I could never check if he was alive or not." Jayden thinks back.
"Nothing more tragic than a pilot getting his wings clipped. I've been planet bound before, but being able to leave the planets is a freeing feeling."
The waitress comes back around with Radtke's order and picking up the empty bottle of Rum.
"Cheers, love," Radtke smiles as he takes his drink from the waitress.
"Eh, I wouldn't know. The only 2 ships I ever had were an old beaten up hauler and that pile of parts on bay... 19 I think." he says as the waitress goes over to some other customers to take their order.
"Well, if you were ever looking for a reason to get a new ship, that molten mess is plenty reason for it. Can get you started again in something other than a shitty sidewinder, if you're willing to put in some work to it." Radtke lets Jayden take a peek at his credit balance.
Jayden whistles, "Damn, that's a lot of zero's." he says, "Quite a lot, especially to some rejected Viscount like me. What, they pay you flyboys by the minute?" he jokes.
"Haha, you would think, but I made most of this through a combination of mining, and hunting down those 'goids. Pilots federation pays a pretty penny for taking one down."
"Huh, the alliance finally dropping that 'Holier than thou' BS I've been seeing since I had my boots on the ground." he remarks, "Earlier you said something about work?"
"Yeah, while it's not exactly anything uh, sanctioned by any of the minor factions in the station, if you could pick me up a specific package at this drop zone, I'll get you a new ship and a million credits to get yourself started out there again. That sound like a deal to you?" He says in a hushed tone
In a resigned voice Jayden says, "Yea, sure. Ask the man you just met to pick up something important... But fine, sure. My account is probably frozen as-is, what with the disappearance and all."
"Important might be overstating it by a factor of 10, you know." He sighs. "It's more of a personal venture of mine, and the higher ups in Atlas told me I've got an hour to get back to a stack of paperwork that's taller than you standing on my shoulders."
"I'm quite partial to the old alcohols of Earth, which I have to pay out the nose for sadly. If I had the time I'd do it myself, but you know how it is when someone's breathing down your neck to meet a deadline, eh?"
Jayden chuckles, then gives, "Allright, fine. Got nothing to my name so I might as well act as a courier for a few hours. So where would this package be?"
"The package will be in this system called Liburodo, maybe a jump or two away in my ship. Head to the station there, and they'll load it in. They know the ship I use, if they give you trouble, tell them you were sent by Zero 13."
After pulling a set of keys out of his pocket, he slides them across the table and says "Pad 27, you'll find a red Dropship there. Take care of her on the trip, and radio me if any trouble comes your way."
"Federal ships, great... Ah hell, I'll take what I can get. Might as well drop by Mike too." Jayden picks up the ignition keys, "By the way, what's up with the callsign?" he asks as he makes to get up.
"Yeah yeah, it'll get you there. Zero Squadron is the squad I'm in in Atlas, and the 13 comes from the Commander who rescued me. Had a yellow 13 painted on the tail of his adder. Fly safe, Jayden." He stands up, and extends his hand out. "I'll keep my eye out for your return."
"Heh, guess we both knew a bunch of weird people." he remarks as he shook Radtke's hand.
As Jayden starting to leave, he looked back and said, "If Max pops up again, let me know. I feel the need to punch his lights out, same with Nige'." he requests as he starts walking away.
At the door, he semi-shouts back, "Thanks for the free drink!" before turning the corner, on the way back to pad 19.
"Will do, and any time!" With a wave, he heads through the back door up to his office. His main thought being;
'Fuck me, my hand is gonna be sore from all this paperwork.'
That's it, that's what we had written so far.
Honestly, thank you both Baz, Helio, for indulging me back then.
And thank you, reader, for reading this in the first place.
I hope that someday this story'll continue, but until that day;
Farewell Commander, may the void guide you to your destination. O7
CMDR Bladezzkiller99, 14/09/2022