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.
