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We burned hard towards the unstable jump point, just like that was our destination. Since even the fastest ship in the fleet - the Lightning - didn't have a hope of catching us, we ended up running from nobody. Nobody even tried to give chase.
The turn, or big fat wide curve, since we had a lot of inertia built up, so it was harder to change directions, went off without a hitch and I didn't see any indication that anyone in Vanguard Fleet noticed. That was crucial since the fleet was enough closer to the jump point we were heading for that if they noticed in time, it might just be possible to intercept us.
I spent a whole lot of days biting my nails and staring at passive sensor screens. We didn't dare use active sensors, the fleet would definitely have picked up on that. On the up side, at this distance and with running as silently as we could manage, unless someone in the fleet was a complete badass on passive sensors, they weren't watching us. If they sparked up their active sensors, they would see us in a heartbeat, but we would know. Active sensors are noisy because that's how they worked, and the Haul-o-caster had automated, always on systems designed to warn us if we were being hit by active sensors. Yes, it gets really annoying when we are near a spaceport. Everybody seems to think they need active sensors on full blast when they are in port. The problem is, all those active sensors usually wash each other out, so they end up being less effective than a good passive system. A good passive system will take advantage of all those stray signals.
We made Otford Station, or at least the former location of Otford Station in decent time for having a huge detour. Sure enough, the Golden Screw was waiting for us as planned. Sure, it could have been a trap, but it would have had to be a pretty elaborate one, and I didn't think it would be. I will say that I was relieved to find out I was right.
The crew of the Golden Screw were wonderful people. Being a medium freighter, the Golden Screw was quite a bit slower, so even with our detour they didn't beat us to the rendezvous by much. Turns out, Cmdr. Barona recognized a few of their crew as cousins she played with when she was a child.
I was surprised by the amount of supplies that the Golden Screw had for us. We not only got all of my spare parts back, which I appreciated, we also got some upgraded equipment. There was a high-end Morganite Fleet sensor suite. Hauley's sensor suite wasn't all that bad, but the Morganite Fleet sensors were top notch. There was also a belly gun, and a turret for topside. Nothing like the huge blaster cannons on the Baskins, but big enough that we would have a fighting chance if we were attacked by something smaller, like the Lightning. Hauley had a couple small guns, but nothing close to this powerful. The best part was because the Haul-o-caster's main fuselage started life as a military transport, the new guns actually had a place where they could be mounted.
Needless to say, Lt. Cmdr. Dorn was thrilled!
Along with the supplies was a nice big stash of credit chips. I had never seen that many credits all in one place, it was more than our biggest haul had ever brought in. With it were instructions on crew pay and expenses and disbursements and petty cash and and and.
I finally just broke down and had Cmdr. Barona help me figure it all out. I didn't just give it over to her, I'm still the Captain and this is my job. It did hurt my pride a little to have to go running to Barona for one more thing. I can admit that.
There was also a note from Admiral Thomas.
Captain Kid,
A friend who is keeping an eye on things for me has warned me that there is more
to the accusations against you and the Haul-o-caster crew. They haven't been able
to find the details about why, but Admiral Foster is pushing to have the Haul-o-caster
and her crew "Brought to Justice" and there are rumors that he has sent ships out
looking for you. I will keep abreast of the situation and get word to you as soon as
I know something. Until then, keep your heads down and lie low.
I sent some toys to help you in this regard.
T
That sure was ominous.
We needed a place to set down or a docking bay at a station somewhere to mount our new toys. Also known as weapons and sensors. Cmdr. Barona started looking into the nearest station that offered docking bays, but I had to shoot that idea down.
"Commander Barona, we have prices on our heads. I know the usual Morganite policy is to let people go if they are outside Morganite space, but you saw the letter from the Admiral. We have to start thinking like Pirates." I explained. "But not acting like real Pirates. We won't go attacking ships and stealing stuff or anything. We just need to not go to the first place they'll look for us and tear our ship apart."
"I see your point Captain. Do you have an alternative in mind?"
I'm sure it's somehow wrong, or a breach of military etiquette somehow to mess with your XO's mind, but I couldn't help it. "Aahhrrrrrrr lass... We make sail for Treasure Island."
I guess I can't blame Barona for not knowing what I would consider Treasure Island. Angmar VII is a barely habitable desert world in the ass end of nowhere. Pete and I ferried some archeologists and their supplies to and from Angmar VII for a while. It was a vaguely lucrative gig, and not too much work. Because the archeologists paid us extra to stay on station in case they needed us, we had quite a bit of time to explore. It's surprising how many ships get abandoned in such a place, and Angmar had no government or law enforcement, so salvage was a finders keepers kind of thing. So Pete and I padded our vaguely lucrative pay with whatever salvage we could find. Some of the spares in my cache come from Angmar VII. Hence, Treasure Island.
I took a circuitous route to get us to the Angmar system, using jump points that aren't as well known or as commonly used. A few times when we exited transit, we would shut down and pretend to be a hole in space, watching the jump point for a few days to see if anyone was following. So far, nobody was.
Since we still had two cargo bays converted for water hauling, we took a detour to at a little out-of-the-way planet I knew that had good fresh water springs. You need to take a lot of water with you when you go to Angmar VII, because Angmar VII doesn't provide much if any on it's own. Along the way, we also dipped into a few systems with un-used gas giants to drop a scoop and fill up on reaction mass the old-school way so that we could skip any of the commercial fueling stations. It's a lot of hard work, and it takes a lot of time doing it that way, but we weren't trying to make any speed records, we were trying to stay off the radar. It ended up taking us six months to get to Angmar VII, when a direct route would have taken less than a third of that time.
Cmdr. Barona wasn't trilled.
Once we finally reached Angmar VII, the search for a good spot to set down began. Surprisingly, there is a small settlement on Angmar VII. It's a brutal place full of unhappy people. It is said that if you live on Angmar, you are either running from something or chasing something. We would avoid that place like the plague. With any luck, nobody at the settlement would ever know we were on the planet.
I made sure that Barns kept the planet between us and the settlement as much as possible as we approached. I didn't want to chance having someone see us and identify the Haul-o-caster. We were here for repairs and to upgrade sensors and mount weapons. The work to make those modifications would mean taking large parts of the Haul-o-caster apart, replacing power conduits that had been dormant far longer than I had been on the ship, and then putting it all back together. I brought us to Angmar because I hoped we would find an out of the way shipyard cluster to set down in where nobody would be able to find us while the ship was helpless.
In spite of years of archeologists scuffling through every square inch of every shipyard cluster they could reach, there really isn't much known about the people who built the facilities on Angmar VII. It is accepted that the facilities were used to build warships, tenders, and freighters. Possibly even shuttles, fighters, and troop transport ships. Basically anything small enough that it could be launched from a planet's surface. There were also a couple larger facilities that appear to have been used to build pieces of larger ships that were tossed into orbit using mass drivers to be assembled in orbit.
The shipyard clusters on Angmar VII come in a bunch of different sizes, but they are all similar in construction. There is basically a large shaft dug down into the planet. The bottom of the shaft served as landing facilities. Dug into the sides of the shaft, are various warehouses, hangers, factories, and living quarters that you would need to sustain such an operation. Unfortunately, whether the original builders took their things with them when they left, or some very thorough looters came and swept the place, nobody knows, but nothing, not even a bolt, nut, or screw was left behind. The only way to identify the various places was by feel. A hanger looks like a hanger. A factory looks like a factory, Living quarters looks like living quarters... or maybe they were offices? You get the idea, even if they are empty some things just look like what they are.
Almost the entire surface of Angmar VII is pockmarked by these shipyard clusters. There are hundreds of thousands of them, if not millions. With so few people living on Angmar VII, we could have picked one at random and been reasonably sure we wouldn't run into anyone, but I had a particular cluster in mind. On one of our exploration excursions, Pete and I found an old freighter parked in a hanger in a shipyard cluster. It had the name Old Pack Mule painted on the side. We almost missed the cluster altogether because of how the surrounding rocks hid the entrance. That was probably why Pete decided that this was the cluster to explore.
The Old Pack Mule wasn't a bad ship. Pete and I talked about going back with parts and getting her up and flying again, dreaming of all the credits we would make selling a complete ship rather than just a bunch of parts, but life took us another direction and we never got back to it.
The shipyard cluster was exactly like Pete and I had left it. The hanger doors still open, of course, because without whatever equipment the builders used it wasn't possible to close them. The hanger was just big enough that Hauley fit in beside the old freighter. That way, even if someone were to look down the shaft, they wouldn't see us. I could tell the crew were all excited to get off the ship and do a little exploring. Cmdr. Barona had other ideas and was about to crack the whip.
"Commander Barona. I think we should sit quiet and watch for a bit before we start tearing the ship apart, just in case we were followed."
"Yes Captain." Was all she said. I could tell she was frustrated by the delays and wanted to get the weapons and sensors mounted so we could start planning on getting back into the fight. I guess I could understand. After all, with everything that was going on, it's understandable that she would be worried about her people.
A few days of rest without having to worry too much did wonders for the crew. There was talk of getting the Old Pack Mule up and running and using it to go back to see what was happening. I was sad to have to shoot the idea down. We just didn't have the parts with us to do that. The Old Pack Mule also needed engines. Everything else we could cobble together from spares on hand, the engines were another story entirely.
After a few days of rest, it was all hands on deck. Chief Williamson was in charge of installing the new sensor suite. PO Smart and I teamed up on the weapons. Everyone else was in the labor pool to be drawn by whichever team needed a hand. The system worked surprisingly well.
I have to admit, it was odd seeing the Haul-o-caster broken down that far. At one point, I could stand under the ship and look up and see all the way through to the ceiling of the hanger. The sight gave me chills.
Surprisingly, the Chief was done first.
"The new sensor suite is newer enough than the old system that it's power requirements were far less. Lt. Tine and I didn't have to upgrade the power conduit at all, and we were able to use the cabling from the old sensors to pull the cabling for the new sensors through, so we didn't have to remove whole sections of the ship." The Chief reported.
PO Smart and I weren't so lucky. The new weapons systems clearly used a lot more power than the old systems did, so we had to completely rebuild the power delivery from scratch. The weapons control system was likewise different, so all that had to be rewired from scratch also. Once the job was done though, it was a thing of beauty.
The infectious grin on Lt. Cmdr. Dorn's face was worth all the work. Well, that and the fact that next time that smarmy Captain Stinkypants Tarkin shot at my ship, I was going to kick his ass.
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