{"sf1_id":866526,"sf2_id":"ve3Y0ydn","title":"2 down 400 billion to go","author":"Marcus R Jones","words":403,"posted_at":"2015-05-27T18:40:00.000Z","tags":["Dingo","Elitedangerous","Pirate","Space","Suspense","empire","stars"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/866526-2-down-400-billion-to-go","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/ve3Y0ydn","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=866526\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"With earth already light years behind the young dingo his new found freedom was now solidified. Not his overbearing father or mother could have drawn him back to that \"prison\".","content":"* * *\n\n**2 down 400 billion to go**\n\n* * *\n\n_By: Marcus R. Jones\\*_\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; With earth already light years behind the young dingo his new found freedom was now solidified.\u0026nbsp; Not his overbearing father or mother could have drawn him back to that \"prison\".\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; He is headed for empire space, approximately three hundred light years from earth, and its prison of law.\u0026nbsp; The empire, where the ships are sleek and efficient, and poverty is of the past.\u0026nbsp; At least that's what the merchants and travelers who landed in the Galileo talked about.\u0026nbsp; He just hoped they weren't exaggerating.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; The light of millions of stars flooded, and warped around the cockpit of the ship.\u0026nbsp; The creaks and rumbles of the craft bothered him very little.\u0026nbsp; After all he was traveling at over 4000 times the speed of light at some points.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Blue, Red, Orange, Yellow, White, Purple, Pink after each jump his cockpit was flooded with these.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; His gaze shifted with the stars, and his thoughts wandered from his current task.\u0026nbsp; His ship in super-cruise around a main sequence yellow star, a few planets, rocky mostly.\u0026nbsp; A station orbited a metal rich planet, controlled by a local faction aligned with the Alliance.\u0026nbsp; His main fuel tank was half empty, so he slowly fly his way over to it, but s sudden jerk in his controls heaved him off course, and threatened to pull him out of super-cruise.\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; A pirate!, he thought. It must be.\u0026nbsp; He had heard of their ship modules that could pull nearly anything out of super-cruise.\u0026nbsp; The feminine electronic voice of his ship's AI crackled through the speakers around his head, \"Align with escape vector!\"...\"Align with escape vector!\".\u0026nbsp; With little time to spare he griped his controls tight, and pulled up and into the ever moving escape vector.\u0026nbsp; He wasn't about to get himself blown up only a few hours after leaving earth!\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; The controls constantly fought against him, making his ship veer away from its target, but he had completed his training, especially for things like this.\u0026nbsp; With little time left he hit the accelerator forward and strained to keep his vector inline.\u0026nbsp; With what was comparable to the end of a massive thunder storm all fell silent.\u0026nbsp; His ship creaked as the pirate moved on to find other prey, less skilled than this dingo.\u0026nbsp; He was safe, for the time being.\n\n  \n  \n\n","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/854947-1-down-400-billion-to-go.json"}