The Tornado Sojourns (5) – Chapter 1 – A Friend in Need

 

With the Tornado grounded at Cranack port on Eirkos for repairs and Captain Merionwen Strong two systems away from the Eikon Cluster in the Messengis System visiting Andraxis with her newly acquainted cousin Dwynwen, they were at a loose end after completing their share of the chores.

The vary capable engineers, Pulsat and Vanzyl worked on the Tornado to get her back to her best and would ultimately get her to beyond her best.

They rest of the crew weren’t idle either and took the opportunity of their downtime to get the interior back up to snuff, Terrell spruced up the sickbay, Bagg did a complete spring clean of the mess and kitchen, while the two Gouveian’s, Parse and Asti, sorted the flight deck.

Everyone did their own quarters and they all came together to do the common areas.

When the Tornado was fully functional they were based on Eirkos’s second Moon Soman and worked exclusively for one of the largest Interstellar Freight Distributors in the system, Golbolt Interstellar, and they had collectively decided to sign up with them rather than operate as independents and find their own work.

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.

It was through that friendship that Oshwin loaned the Tornado crew a clipper called Darios, so that acting Captain Malena Endia and temporary first officer Shiyne could do some local freight hauling and the clipper also allowed them to keep the supply of parts coming to facilitate the engineer’s repairs on the Tornado.

It was also through Oshwin, as a result of a conversation, that the Skeet Brothers chose to use the down time to fly the Spider Hawk to Eikon Major because they had news about an old friend and were concerned for his well-being.

 

The Skeet brothers were born on the agrarian world of Shax in the populous Shaxson system, which was one of the last to join the Legion and it was not an easy transition or indeed a wholly welcome one.

In fact, it was a protracted and bloody courtship which involved three years of bitter war and it was that war that saw the Skeet’s swap their plough shares for Pulsar weapons and tractors for Spider Hawk Fighters, Lyris was 22 and his brother Zerrad was just 19 when they left their home.

When the war came to an unsatisfactory conclusion for the Shaxson rebels the Legion exacted a heavy retribution which lead to some of the former fighters having to turn their backs on their home worlds to escape the Legions punitive punishments and give up living on the land and live on the lam instead.

Not that the Skeets had much appetite for farming after all the action they had seen.

They had no family left on Shax by the time the war was over so even if the Legion had been prepared to allow them to live in peace there was nothing left to bind them to their birthplace.

So, they left the Shaxson system and signed on to an inter galactic freighter and spent two years jumping from galaxy to galaxy until they tired of the life, albeit a well-paid one, so they disembarked at the Exodus 9 space dock before the Goliath departed through the star gate.

They found life was different outside of the cossetted world of the “deep spacers” and found that most employers treated people very differently and they had a very uncomfortable 12 months working as flight crew on an Omega class planet hopper, the Phoenix, until one day as they were approaching the Exodus 9 space dock to drop off a load of farming implements Lyris made a hasty decision.

As they were on their final approach an Apantician grain freighter was just leaving and momentarily it put the little Omega on its blindside so instead of proceeding to dock on the outer docking ring Lyris had a sudden rush of blood to the head and concealed the Phoenix beneath the grain freighters starboard engine array rendering it invisible to the ship’s crew and the space docks instruments.

“What the hell are you doing?” Zerrad asked

“We’re getting the hell out of this system before this work bores us to death” Lyris replied

“Better that than being worked to death on a penal planet” his younger brother pointed out “and if we go through the gate we don’t have enough fuel to get us to the next one”

“Firstly, these little Omega’s are ten a penny so they’re not going to waste time and money tracking us down and secondly we don’t need fuel, we’ll just hitch a ride on this beast” Lyris said

“But we don’t know where it’s going Ly” Zerrad said

“Anywhere is better than here” he retorted 

Which was how and why they ended up living and working

in the Cammaratian System plying a fairly lucrative trade going from planet to planet, moon to moon and mine to mine where they worked on the margins of legality, frequently operating on the wrong side of the law just to make a living and with Scav Raiders at large they needed their wits about them at all times just to stay alive.

But although the Phoenix was unarmed it had a good turn of speed which could outrun most of the trouble they came across.

 

They were only half-brothers, but despite their differences they were unmistakably brothers.

They were both six feet tall, broad and muscular but Lyris had black hair, dark almost black eyes and a short fuse, while Zerrad was blonde, grey eyed and was quiet and thoughtful.  

 

Like many of the independents in the system they had their base on Alwi the fourth moon of the seventh planet Aragon, which was where they got to know the crew of the Tornado, and Merionwen, Malena and Shiyne were their closest friends although Zerrad secretly hoped for more in regard to Malena.

Lyris was content with friendship though, although they were all really attractive and of the right age for him they all had drawbacks, tall slim Merri with her abundance of red hair trailing behind her like a mane, pale skin, penetrating green eyes and an altogether striking appearance but along with that she was a forthright, volatile and feisty personality and that made her far too like him for them to be anything other than friends.

Then there was the smaller Shiyne, who was completely bald, had cerise coloured skin and purple eyes who he found to be the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, alas though she was a Vann, and the Vann were telepaths and he couldn’t get anywhere with someone who could actually read his mind, it was difficult enough with the ones that thought they knew what he was thinking.

And finally there was Malena, also tall and slim, brunette hair, olive skin and hazel eyes, at least that was how she appeared but of course in reality, she was an Obgaron shape shifter so in her own natural Mercurial form of liquid silver glass she looked very different, not that he had ever seen her in that form or any other Obgaron for that matter, but he understood that even in their natural state they were very pleasing to the eye, but Lyris was a meat and potatoes kind of guy, unlike his brother who he knew saw her in a very different light, though nothing came of his attraction until one day when they didn’t outrun the trouble they came across, when they were ambushed by Scav Raiders, but fortunately the Tornado was on hand to rescue them, just in the nick of time, and the love between Malena and Zerrad which had been ever present beneath the surface was suddenly brought to the fore when they so nearly lost each other.

It was just after their dice with death and their joining the Tornado’s crew that Lyris met Princess Asti Alegionaris and his fate was sealed the moment he first laid eyes on her.

So, they both had a lot to lose as they flew to Eikon Major, where they parked at the space port and rented a Runabout.