#starships

C8H10N4O2

2024-08-27
Starship pilot who would kill for some real, non-synthetic coffee right about now

Jess took a slow swig from the thermos flask on her hip, savoring the flavor of Von’s “House Blend”. It’d only get her so far, but it was still worlds better than the legal stuff. Tasted better, too – somehow, Von could work that ubiquitous shitty synthcaf astringency into something actually drinkable.

“I’ve got the cameras,” Nine’s voice came in over Jess’s earpiece. “One guard at the front desk, two on the inner doors, a bunch more patrolling. And… perfect, someone’s heading out. Inner doors opening in 3, 2, 1, now.

Feeling the buzz of caffeine entering her system, Jess activated one of the chemoglyphs on the inside of her jacket, and sprung into motion as the world slowed down around her. By the time the guards and bystanders understood what they were seeing, Jess was already through the inner doors, racing three times faster than any normal human. She ran confidently down the corridors, following the directions on her visor as alarms began to blare.

"Okay, I’m up to speed now too,” said Nine, her voice sounding slightly tinny over audio codecs optimized for normal-speed human speech. “You’ve got company at the next corner. Three guards, accelerated, heavy armor. Looks a lot less breathable than your gear, I bet you can steam ’em no trouble.”

Jess gave a grunt of acknowledgement, charging another chemoglyph as she rounded the corner. An oppressive heat quickly filled the corridor. The guards opened fire, but they already seemed to be sweltering behind their masks, and their guns were standard-issue models not designed for accelerated combat. She quickly disarmed one, and shoved another out a plate-glass window; hopefully he’d gone through “cat training” for using accelerated mobility to survive falls.

nullspace

2024-05-29
Starship pilot who isn’t.

Six re-emerges through the hatch onto the cramped bridge, swearing in several languages.

“How bad is it?” Anya asks, tossing over a ration pouch.

Six catches it and takes a long swig before answering. “Fucked, is how bad. That missile the Blowjob Brothers hit us with had a bio payload, one of those engineered slime molds the fucking Accordance use for sabotage ops. Kill to know how the hell the bastards got their hands on that shit… Anyway, it ate half the engine before I could vent it, plus I think some of it might’ve gotten into the fuel lines, so I’m gonna have to empty the tanks, decontaminate the fuel, flush the whole system before I can even start on repairs…” She does some quick mental math. “Five days.”

Five days?

“Five days for me. Anyone else, it’d take a couple weeks.

“So we’re out, then.” Anya slumps forward in her seat, forehead against the dashboard. “Even at max speed, we’ll just barely beat the last stragglers to Eris XIII. No first-place finish, no grand prize, no money to pay off the Ocelot before he harvests my organs…” She turns her head slightly, looking at Six out of one eye. Times like this, Six always has some sort of miracle waiting in her back pocket. Maybe, just maybe…

“How much do you know about nullspace drives?”

Anya sits upright slowly. “I know they’re fast. And I know they’re ridiculously illegal in pretty much every inhabited system. Six, you didn’t –”