In the beginning was the word, and the word was “Fuck!” and that word was followed in quick succession by several other words of profanity, and the deliverer of the colourful tirade of abuse was Merionwen Strong, owner, Captain, Pilot, engineer and all round general dog’s body of the Tempest Class Freighter, Tornado.
The
recipients of said abuse were the Plasma Turbine Pyroclast Engines on the fore
mentioned Freighter, because although she was a good enough engineer to keep
something limping along she didn’t possess the skillset for fixing something
that had stopped limping altogether.
This
problem was further exacerbated by the fact that she was the best engineer left
among the crew and the ship was sitting on the outskirts of a mining town on
the surface of Alwi, the fourth moon of the seventh planet Aragon, in the
Cammaratian System, which was the sort of place that aspired to be the back end
of beyond but couldn’t even manage that.
For
centuries the reasoned voices of humanity cautioned the politicians and
captains of industry on the dangers of taking their natural world for granted,
but such voices fell on deaf ears, and because the inhabitants of planet Earth
had long abused their blue world, consuming its natural resources and swelling
its population past the point where they could produce enough food to satisfy
all the hungry mouths, by the middle of the 23rd Century they found it
necessary for the inhabitants of Earth to leave their once blue world in their
solar system and strive to settle on other worlds in neighbouring systems in
order to provide the resources needed
for the home world.
When
the inhabitants of Earth left their overcrowded planet their colonization was a
great success and they spread like an infestation across the stars, as a result
by the middle of the 31st century, human colonies thrived across the universe
and in Earths corner of the universe all was calm and peaceful and their solar
system was experiencing unprecedented prosperity, but far beyond their
backwater solar system it was a very different story.
The
known universe was in essence divided between two great superpowers, the
Legion, which was an alliance of hundreds of humanoid species, of which humans
were one, and on the other was the Mehreen Empire a much older and
significantly more malevolent union headed by the Mehreen themselves, who were
a fearsome warrior race dominated by Amazon like women and they ruled
absolutely, and without mercy.
Not
that the Legion were any more enlightened, they were equally ruthless and
capable of dispensing uncompromising smite without a second thought, but they
thought themselves morally superior.
But
despite their obvious abhorrence of each other a status quo existed between the
two great powers and barring the odd skirmish on the fringes of their empires,
an uneasy peace existed.
Although
there were conflicts a plenty within their own borders with territorial and
cultural disputes and even an occasional insurrection to be put down.
The
Cammaratian System, where Merionwen was abusing her engines was moderately
sized, comprising of 7 planets and some seventy moons, only one of the planets
was an M class, Lazarion, the fourth planet, and all of the others were either
gaseous, volatile or just plain unpleasant.
There
were various mining operations in the system mainly on the numerous moons, the
largest of which was on Alwi the fourth moon of the seventh planet Aragon.
The
great attraction of the system to Merionwen and other freighter captains like
her was the fact that it was, firstly one of the few remaining neutral zones
left in the known galaxy and secondly it bordered 11 other systems, all much
busier and populous than Cammaratian itself, so it was in effect a short cut, a
rat run between systems with the advantage of far less stringent border
controls, ideal for those either in a hurry or more likely those transporting
contraband.
Using
the Cammaratian routes was not without risk however, which was because of the
lack of scrutiny of the system by the empires, those choosing the less high
profile route were left vulnerable to the other inhabitants of the neutral zone
“Scav Raiders” which were in essence little more than pirates, so no one
entered the system unarmed unless they were in convoy.
The
other reason it was used so readily, despite the perils was because it gave the
merchant men easy access to the star gates beyond the frontiers which in turn
accessed the lucrative trade routes through hyperspace.
Merionwen
didn’t need to traverse the system as part of a convoy as her ship was a
Tempest Class Freighter and the Tornado was fast enough to out run most of the
predatory pirates and those that she couldn’t beat for pace could be beaten
off, either with the twin Pulsar Lasers at the front and a rear facing Plasma
cannon.
But
sometimes not even a fast vessel and a Plasma cannon were enough to escape
completely unscathed which was the reason why the Tempest Class Freighter,
Tornado was sitting on the outskirts of a mining town on the surface of Aragon
fourth moon, Alwi, causing Captain Merionwen Strong to deliverer a colourful
tirade of abuse as she struggled to repair the Pyroclast engines.
When
she landed to make repairs she expected a two or three week stay at most, but weeks
quickly turned to months as they discovered the extent of the damage and after
half her crew grew restless and signed on with other vessels, it left her
shorthanded and desperate and in danger of losing her ship.
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 kept the Tornado in lieu of payment and it passed to her on
his death but after only three years at the helm, losing it had become a very
real possibility.
Fortunately
she still had the loyalty of her remaining crew, co-pilot and navigator Malena
Endia and Shiyne, who was 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.
Merionwen
Strong was 28 years old and was best described as statuesque, she was tall,
straight backed, and proud.
And
was blessed with an abundance of red hair that trailed behind her like a mane
and penetrating green eyes and overall you would call her striking and then
along with her striking appearance went her forthright, volatile and feisty
personality.
She
loved the Tornado and she loved her life among the stars and considered herself
fortunate to live the life she lived, with friends like Malena and Shiyne, who
were like family, and whom she adored and doing the thing she loved to do most
in the world fulfilled her.
But,
and there was always a but, the thing Merri wanted more than anything in the
universe other than that, was someone to share with her the life she loved so
much.
It
was difficult enough to meet a suitable guy if you lived in a town or a city
but she lived in a space freighter in a back water system light years away from
the nearest sizable populous planet.
Obviously
she had boyfriends from time to time when she was growing up of course, but
those relationships never went anywhere, not in a way that she wanted anyway.
Merri
had no problem attracting men, in fact the opposite was true, miners, farmers,
space trash, bar bums and the military, they all gave her the eye.
They
were always persistent, though in truth not only with her, Malena and Shiyne
were also on the farm boy’s radar and none of them were interested in them,
even though they were at times lonely.
While
most of her other admirers, who she did like, had no interest in travelling the
stars or living the nomadic life and she had no interest in giving up the life
and home she loved.
She
remained forever hopeful though and kept her dreams alive but those dreams
would never come to fruition if she couldn’t get the bloody engines fixed.
