The Tempest Class Freighter was powered by 4
Plasma Turbine Pyroclast Engines, which allowed for a very quick turn of speed
once airborne, and four vertical take-off jumper engines, whose purpose is
self-explanatory, they could also be used independently to provide auxiliary
power on board while they were on the surface for periods when the solar
converters were inadequate.
It wasn’t a huge ship as freighters go, but
pound for pound the Tempests had the highest freight to fuel ratio yield of
their class.
The front section comprised of a sizable
pressurized hold for large freight accessed via a front loading ramp, above
which was the flight deck, living and sleeping quarters, mess facilities and bath
rooms, at the rear was the main propulsion and amidships were the universal pod
bays, which allowed for a mixed cargo option, which allowed for quick
inspection and loading, although sometimes pods were sealed which meant it was
either very valuable or very illegal, either way Merri didn’t mind and
transporting sealed cargo paid much much better.
The Tornado always flew with at least one pod
but then that was because it was where they stowed their gear and where the
hidden compartments could be found, or not, which was where they hid the
contraband, or even fugitives when necessary, but not so much in recent
years.
It had been almost three years since the
Tornado, reached the Eikon Cluster with a full complement aboard, funds in the
coffers and three pods of Thermalium mineral ore for delivery to Eikon Major,
and two years since they finally shook off their Ghambran pursuers once and for
all, thanks to the Gouveian Crown Jewels, Commander Emad Salmin of the Legion
Aeronautica, and some cunning in planting the stolen jewels aboard the
Ghambran’s Scorpion Cruiser.
They should have felt guilty after effectively
framing the Ghambran’s for a crime they knew full well they didn’t commit, but
they didn’t.
They may indeed have been innocent of the
criminal, subversive and treasonable acts that landed them in court, but they
were not innocent, they had committed many and varied crimes and had always
gotten away with them because they were under the banner of Prefector Collis’s
protection.
But the charges that they faced, they had to
face alone, because Maxil Weltz and
Vint Reganus were disowned by Prefector Collis, who chose to distance himself
from his former employees fearing he might otherwise find himself in the dock
for treason.
In reward for finding the Crown Jewels,
Commander Salmin was made Supreme Commander for the whole of the Eikon Cluster
and those aboard the Tornado, and their friends and allies felt the weight of
his gratitude.
As a result of their action to preserve the
life they loved in the Cluster they actually Malena Endia and Shiyne had their
lovers, Zerrad Skeet and Terrell Vorton with them, Zerrad’s brother Lyris had
been tamed by the member of the Gouveian Royal family among their number, Asti
Alegionaris.
While engineers Pulsat Rad and Vanzyl, who
were magicians with all things mechanical had also found love, a love for the
children of Montrose, who loved them in equal measure.
Even Visitor Parham, who tended their
spiritual needs, while his alter ego Bagg fortified them with his culinary prowess,
had also found love in the form of his family on Montrose.
So, everything for the Tempest Class Freighter
Tornado was set fare, and Captain Merionwen Strong knew that apart from a good
crew, good food and a liberal quantity of love, that on the Tornado’s Sojourns
around the Eikon Cluster they were bound to have more adventure, and she was
not wrong.
Merionwen Strong was 32 years old and was best
described as statuesque, she was tall, straight backed, proud and was blessed
with an abundance of red hair that trailed behind her like a mane and
penetrating green eyes to stare you down with, and overall, she cut a striking
figure and along with her appearance went her forthright, volatile and feisty
personality.
She was owner and Captain of the Tornado, and
her love interest was Parse Sacrod, whom she called Beefy, a former Legionnaire
of the Royal Guard of Gouveia who she met after Princess Asti Alegionaris was
abducted at the space port by the Ghambran’s.
He was huge in stature, standing 6 feet 8 high
and he was broad and powerfully built, his hair was short, curly and the colour
of burnished steel, and with the characteristic ivory skin of the Gouveian
race, and with his mercury-coloured eyes he was as arresting a figure as Merri
and they had become inseparable, and always spent the long watches on the
flight deck together.
Technically the ship belonged to the Garangon
mining company, but as they went out of business when they inadvertently
destroyed the moon, they were mining, Merionwen’s father Ben kept the Tornado
in lieu of payment and it passed to her on his death.
Apart from Merri the only other survivors from
her father’s crew were her co-pilot and navigator, Malena Endia and Shiyne, the
latter being that rare commodity in any crew, someone who could and would
perform any task required of them without question, but her real strength was
in the role of negotiator and as an eternal optimist.
The rest of the crew arrived in dribs and
drabs mainly as a result of being stranded on the stranded on the surface of
Alwi, the fourth moon of the seventh planet Aragon, in the Cammaratian System.
The first to arrive was Visitor Parham, a
Christian minister who it turned out set a chain of events in motion, firstly
he brought with him two first rate engineers, Pulsat and Vanzyl, who were
magicians with all things mechanical and the next day they lifted off and went
for a spin among the stars.
It was during that test flight that they had
to go to the rescue of the Skeet brothers whose ship, the Phoenix, was attacked
by Skav Raiders, and the attack was so severe that they had to eject in a life
pod which nearly cost them their lives anyway, but they were saved in the nick
of time, and when they recovered from their injuries they joined the crew, and
it was the Skeets injuries that brought Sciberran Healer Terrell Vorton aboard
the Tornado where two significant things happened, firstly he saved Zerrad
Skeet’s life, which was crucial in reconciling the unresolved love between him
and Malena, and secondly it brought him into the close orbit of Shiyne where
they also fell for each other.
When the Tornado left Alwi bound for Delta 500
they had a passenger aboard and that was Princess Asti Alegionaris, youngest
granddaughter of the Regent of Gouveia, who was subsequently abducted and
rescued, which introduced Parse to the captain.
Visitor Parham’s role aboard was to tend to
their spiritual needs, but his alter ego Bagg, fortified them with his culinary
prowess.
Once they arrived in the Eikon Cluster, so
called due to the high number of M class planets and moons in the Eikon solar
system, they quickly found an abundance of work with Golbolt Interstellar,
based on the moon Somar.
The
main reason for that was that the Operations Manager was Oshwin Lemik and he
fought against the Legion in the Shaxon War with the Skeet brothers, they as
pilots and Oshwin as Logistics Commander.
From the moment they were reacquainted, the
Tornado got as much work as they wanted and regularly ran between Eikon Major
and Minor, Eirkos and its moons, Soman, Rekar and Marikya, and neighbouring
planet’s, Achrem and Zenden as well as Zenden’s moon, Linden, plus a host of
other smaller moons and asteroids.
In
the time they had been in the Eikon Cluster they had familiarized themselves
with the planets and moons they visited and had cultivated great friendships
along the way, so whatever part of the system they were in they always knew
where to go where they would be welcomed, and they could relax and enjoy their
down time.
Although Merri would have been just as happy
to stay aboard with Parse and enjoy a bit of “alone” time.
Similarly, the diminutive Princess Asti with
her short platinum hair, ivory skin and silver eyes, would have preferred to
keep her six-foot-tall, broad and muscular, black haired, dark eyed boyfriend,
Lyris Skeet, all to herself.
Shiyne and Terrell just wanted to be wherever
the other was, such was the depth of their love, though they were an odd
couple.
They were both the same height but that was
the only thing they had in common, he was older than her by 6 years and was
stoutly built, while she was slim, his skin was of chalk white and hers was
cerise, his eyes were violet, Shiyne’s were purple and Terrell’s hair was
midnight blue and she was bald, the other difference was that he was very quiet,
and she would often chatter incessantly.
Physically Zerrad and his brother were very
similar and only blonde hair and grey eyes differed from his older dark-haired
brother, and his lover Malena was a tall slim brunette, with olive skin and
hazel eyes, at least that was how she appeared, her true form was more
mercurial, but Zerrad loved her in any form.
Pulsat Rad, Vanzyl and Bagg had no significant
others, but the latter would have indulged his love of baking in the Galley
while the other two would have happily played with their engines.
So for differing reasons they would all have
been equally happy staying aboard, but Merri insisted they should all spend
time away from the ship, which was why they had so many places, recreational
bolt holes, but their favourite would always be the agrarian settlement of
Montrose on Eirkos where Bagg’s brother and his family lived, but there was one
other location that held particular significance for him, and that was the
Gipki on Eikon Minor where there was a small Legion Aeronautica Garrison, and a
hostelry called the Visitors rest, and more particularly its proprietor Wisma
Berita.
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