#RustbucketTales   #Part11

#RustbucketTales   #Part11  

Previously on Uncharted Worlds…

…The Shadow clips the prison transfer shuttle stabiliser, sending it immediately into a spin towards the city below…

…Orcha checks BountyNet and sees that he is wanted on Jagatika for murder, assault, and escaping from prison.

…Rustbucket sits in a rocky desert beneath a cloudy sky. Anvil looks at the scorched remains of the proton depolarizer on the top hull and says “looks like we’re not hiding anymore”

…The Shadow approaches Fallow Highport, passing the curved, deadly shape of the Scythe in its docking port…

…Lynard steps on a lizard burrow and is dragged down, screaming. Orcha activates his jetpack, then neatly shoots the lizard through the throat as it bites on Lynard’s legs.

…Kidd tells Kestrel and Anvil “I can get those parts for you, if you make a delivery run for me…”.

…Orcha dumps a bleeding Lynard on the ward-room table and tells Dev and Phoebe “you fix him,” then walks out.

…Anvil tells Kestrel the optimum course to take back to the station to avoid detection. Kestrel notices the course details popping up on the “backup computer”‘s screen just before he speaks them.

…Orcha looks up from gutting a lizard to see the Rustbucket make a wobbly liftoff, turn to the South, and disappear over the horizon…

Orcha had been walking all day. He was almost out of water, and had only the meat from the butchered lizard for food. Other than the burrowing predators, he’d also seen a few of the elephant-sized Fallow Beasts they preyed on, and had attracted the attention of some circling winged scavangers who appeared to fill the vulture niche. Rustbucket had come this way, but now he’d reached a barrier – a huge canyon, wider than he could cross with his suit jets. Hunkering down behind a rock and chewing some dead lizard, he scanned the edges through his rifle scope, looking for a way forward. Five or six klicks to the west, the canyon narrowed to just a few kilometers, and there seemed to be a structure across it. Increasing the magnification showed a bridge, a single span of stone in a perfect inverted catenary – not the sort of thing he’d expect the local rustics to have. On the southern side there was an obviously local tech watchtower, made of stone blocks, with a tethered fallow-beast and a thin plume of smoke showing habitation. Slinging his rifle, Orcha began to creep between the rocks to get closer…

Up on the station, Kestrel and Anvil had just finished loading the last of the parts into the Shadow when Anvil’s comm beeped for attention. Sai had been watching the traffic pattern for arrivals from Georus, the system they’d come from, and had got a hit. It could be bringing a news package, including word of Orcha’s bounty, and could even be transmitting it to the station right now. Sai beeped again: the ship was Nerian registered, the yacht Tanngrisnir. That wasn’t good – the only “yachts” from Neria were owned by the ruling family, and armed, and Rustbucket had past history with them. While Ironclad had got the Nerians to withdraw their bounty on the Rustbucket’s crew, the bounty on Orcha meant that all bets were off; they were free to collect, and Rustbucket might just end up as collateral damage. Definitely something to avoid. As they cruised towards the planet on an “authorised” flightpath, Sai beeped again: the “yacht” definitely wasn’t a yacht, and it had queried traffic control for news of Rustbucket. They were being hunted.

Down on the planet, Orcha hid in the rocks near the bridge until dusk, then began to sneak across, using the curve of the arch as cover. From up close, it was clear that the bridge did not belong here – it was made of a single piece of stone, probably nanoformed, and well beyond the tech the locals used (apart from antibiotics and a couple of long-range radios, they limited themselves to only what could be made by a local blacksmith). He’d made it over the peak and was partway down the other side when a voice called out from the tower: “who goes there?” Introducing himself as “Orcha of Hansar”, Orcha made his way forward, and was welcomed by the hunting party currently residing there. The lizard-hunters were friendly and hospitable, even to a forbidden offworlder. They inquired whether he was from the starship which had flown over that morning, but also insisted that he travel to a nearby village, Tapakiri, to present himself to the Guardians for arrest. One of them, Fortitude, would show him the way in the morning. Since the village was in the direction Rustbucket had headed, and figuring he could always kill or stun them later, Orcha agreed.

Out in the desert, Kestrel frowned at the empty valley. “This is definitely where we left it” – but Rustbucket was gone. Low-light sensors showed some blood, and some tracks heading south, but no sign of what had happened to their ship. Boosting The Shadow to altitude, she had Anvil run a sensor scan – which rapidly spotted the heat signature of an idling starship power-plant near a small village to the south. Rustbucket had been set down in a cornfield, but looked undamaged. Kestrel put the Shadow into a dive, pulled up at the last minute, triggered the docking port, and executed a perfect docking-under-thrust.

Inside, the ship was empty. A lot of blood and discarded medical supplies in the ward room, but the crew were nowhere to be seen, and Dr Westcott wasn’t in his cell. While Kestrel and Anvil speculate about what has happened, there is a banging on the main airlock door; there is a group of Guardians outside who want them to present themselves for arrest. When they ask about their friends, they’re informed that they are currently in the town jail. Kestrel turns on the charm, and arranges safe passage to negotiate with the local authorities.

Shortly afterwards they’re led through the dark streets, past rows of low-tech “houses”, to a stone building and a meeting with the village headman. He reassures Kestrel and Anvil that the others are safe – though one of them lost his leg due to venom from a lizard bite – and demands to know why they have broken the law and landed. Kestrel says they were here on a hunting trip, and that Nakamoto sold them a permit; when one of their party got into difficulties they naturally assumed they could call on the local people for assistance. Naturally, she’ll compensate the village for their trouble, and once the ship is repaired, be on their way. The headman buys it hook, line and sinker, orders everyone released, and starts talking about urgent messages to the capital and demanding explanations from the offworld security force. As she leads them back to the ship, Kestrel tells Dev to whip up a quick official looking landing permit; she’s sure they’ve got some Nakamoto letterhead around they can crib from…

The next day, as Anvil works on fixing Rustbucket (under the watchful eye of a couple of Guardians, who are largely there to keep the curious away), they talk about Orcha. Phoebe thinks (hopes?) that he’s died of thirst by now; she’s pretty angry about Lynard’s leg, and blames Orcha for the whole thing. Kestrel says she’ll make Orcha buy Lynard a new one. But they have to go back and get him; “I wouldn’t trust leaving him on this planet with these yokels. He’ll set himself up as a god-king or something”. Fears of incipient divine tyranny are eased later that evening when Orcha, escorted by Fortitude, arrives at the village. Kestrel quickly identifies him as the missing member of her crew, forestalling arrest, and Orcha gives Fortitude a shiny new rifle as thanks for the company on the trip. As he r-enters the ship, Dev spits at him: “I wish you’d died out there in the desert”. Rustbucket is not a happy ship.

Repairs complete, and the villagers paid off with some handwoven Jagatikan fabrics, Rustbucket lifts off. Orcha persuades them to check out the bridge, and after a scanning run (definitely nanoformed), they land on it. The bridge doesn’t look human made, and they speculate on its purpose – is it an artwork? Anvil hauls out a laser cutter and cuts a sample – which reveals that the bridge is also (slowly) self-repairing; in a year or two there will no sign anyone ever vandalised it. Information on the bridge is probably valuable; all they need to do is get it to the right market. So Rustbucket lifts off and heads for orbit.

…and runs straight into not just the Tanngrisnir, but a Nakamoto interdiction boat. Tanngrisnir wastes no time, broadcasting that Rustbucket is harbouring a wanted fugitive and opening fire with its energy cannon. Rustbucket fails to evade the blast, but the shields take most of it. As damage indicators start flashing, Kestrel turns tail and runs straight for the Nakamoto ship, trying to put it between her and the Nerians. It works, and Tanngrisnir pulls back, unwilling to fire on a Nakamoto ship, but it simply trades one problem for another: the Nakamoto ship scans Rustbucket and gets a solid ID, and the Nakamoto Captain demands Kestrel repay her obligation to them by turning over Orcha so he can collect on the bounty.

This is a problem Kestrel knows how to solve. “You expect me to give over my bounty like that?” Instead, she shifts to a private channel and offers to compensate the Nakamoto captain personally if he looks the other way and lets her collect on Orcha herself – in another system, of course. One cargo of dustspice later, and Rustbucket is running for the jump-point, Tanngrisnir far behind. But as they burn for the outer system, they notice something ominous: Scythe is no longer docked.

Damaged, and with no cargo beyond a slightly depleted haul of guns, and with the Nerians and probably a crew of professional bounty hunters on their tail, Rustbucket jumps. They’ve escaped… for now.