3. Murphy's law

3. Murphy's law


The convoy had arrived at the final destination without any problems. The one time they had been trapped in the soup of charged particles so aptly named ion storms, the hive had glimmered with its absence and so it had merely delayed the arrival time by fifteen minutes. Ruteli received his bonus and was just about to walk out to his Vulture for the journey home when a merchant put a hand on his shoulder.


"Son, I have an offer for you."


"Sorry, I am not interested. I just want to go home to my wife. Besides I have to go to work later."


Ruteli smiled at the merchant disarmingly, but started to walk out again. Not about to let him get away, the trader raised his voice.


"I'll pay you half the profits on the cargo, up front. 200 thousand SIC's"


Ruteli stopped. That amount could ensure that he could get the prime quality incubators and maybe even a couple of  geneplanted features on his, no their kid as well and that way securing his or her future. He turned to the trader.


"Depends. I absolutely have to be in Cantus in four hours or I am a dead man."


"No problem, I have to shift some time sensitive items to Eo and my standard guard got cocky and ran into a hive fleet yesterday. He is still recovering and will not be able to fly again for some days. Tell you what, as soon as we are inside the capitol sector you can leave us, the security is good enough there. We'll leave in twenty minutes, that will ensure that you can be in Cantus in three hours or less."


Ruteli nodded, this sounded like a sweet deal for sure. Today sounded like his lucky day!


"Sure, I'll make sure the old gal is up and ready in ten."


They exchanged IFF information and Ruteli made sure to ensure that the trader paid the 200.000 SIC's into his account, deliverable upon end of mission. He smiled like a crazy during launch, and even more when he saw that the convoy consisted of three centaurs and four atlases, with only a single vulnerable heavy moth. Easiest money in the World.


###


Hasdrubal launched his mining moth and exited on the vector given by the STC. It had been a very good short stay in Tellus, very profitable indeed. He had really struck a veritable gold mine with those Dau fashion clothes; who could have known that the regular shipments of standard socks had been delayed for two months? He had sold every single pair at a three hundred  percent profits. He kept the scanners running all the way to the jump point but not really paying any attention to it. He jumped out to the unguarded sector that he had been briefed on previously by his Serco employers. A single Serco Vulture Guardian, better known as a SVG awaited in the deep of space. Hasdrubal floated through the void and watched as the SVG matched velocity and heading with style and grace. Even though the Itani were generally better pilots than the Serco, he still had to give it to the pilot of this ship. He or she was very good. The ship's computer received a query from the SVG's systems and started sharing the data on his auxiliary system. 


"Your payment will be in the account as usual."


Hasdrubal almost choked on the cup of Kappucino he was enjoying. A female voice, a female pilot on the SVG. Contaminated with a metallic background noise and completely without any trace of sensuality, the voice still gave him heart flickering.


"Thank you very much," he managed to croak, cursing his pulse that was now approaching 140 without any reason.


The data had almost transferred when his proximity sensors beeped, then again and again until it had nine contacts. He looked down at the IFF's and took a deep breath. This could be a problem. The SVG broke contact with his ship and accelerated towards the group.


A direct link opened with his communications unit.


"Stay put trader, help is inbound in seconds. Do not flee."


Screw this, what could a single SVG do against a whole convoy? He killed his IFF and started to set up a jump sequence for the wormhole to Eo. Hopefully he could talk his way out of this situation. Getting caught with a member of the Serco military three systems deep in Itani space was not a way to ensure continued good relations with the Itani government.


###


Taerow didn't realise that he had fainted until he awoke on the floor on his back, someone waving a probably "secret" stamped document in his face to give him some cool air. He opened his eyes and stared directly into the concerned features of Ms. Oselasis. Not able to summon the power to really do anything, he tried to talk but managed only a hoarse croaking. He tried to get his head up but couldn't find the power.


"You, get him some water, you, contact medtech and tell them we need an IV set now. Give me that."


Someone spoke with great authority, and if the movements of her lips corresponded it was probably Ms. Oselasis.


"Utia, this is going to hurt."


She called him by his first.... blackness


He woke up again, this time on a stretcher but still with Ms. Oselasis over him. She was wearing a pair of latex gloves and held a small bottle in her hand.


"That should wake you up. Hello Utia, are you with us?"


He responded, but no noise came out of his mouth. He nodded instead.


"You had a severe case of de-hydration and sensory overload. You have an IV tube in your arm now and the doctor is on his way. You'll be fine, I guarantee it."


She allowed a concerned smile to adorn her face, the effect like a sunrise on a perfect beach. Se moved out of his vision and he closed his eyes again. Just for a.... blackness.


###


"It seems that the sensory rig that allows us to remotely pilot the ship interacts with the neural pathways of the pilot. Thus the pilot not only feels a pain every time his ship is hit, he also feels a constant presence of the Omega. That is the most likely reason that Captain Taerow fainted today."


The sensory tech specialist nodded to professor Raewon to indicate that he was finished with his briefing. Raewon finished his notes and looked up.


"Very well, we shall have to find some way to work around that for the next trial. That is a priority Z, understood?"


The tech nodded and walked down to his chair already scribbling on his data pad.


"Biomics, how did the Omega handle the stress?"


"Well, we had no indications at any time that the stress level actually arose even slightly. There was some scrounging after the battle after sugary substances indicating that it had used a lot of energy during the encounter, but nothing on biometrics. There was a net weight loss of two hundred and nine grams."


The weapons tech looked up and frowned.


"Two hundred and nine precisely?"


"Yes. Well there were a net gain at one time of thirty grams in the form of a glucose stick, so the total loss was two hundred and thirty nine."


The weapons tech nodded.


"Sir I think I have a correlation. The Omega shielded a total of 3,9999 million kilojoules. That corresponds to roughly 239 grams sugar, give or take 0,1 gram per million joule shielded."


Raewon looked at the young woman over his glasses.


"So, as long as I feed the Omega with enough glucose it can shield an object from damage at the order of a million joule per gram of sugar? Make sure we test that thoroughly next time."


"Yes professor."


"Anything more for me biomecs?"


"No Sir."


"Very well, good work both of you."


The biomecs tech sat down and looked happily at the weapons tech. He was going to celebrate this with a bottle of the finest Verasi champagne tonight for sure. Maybe she wanted to join...