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With the jump complete, Damien made his way through the ship to join the other ship’s officers in the conference room on Rib One, one of the flattened structures that rotated rapidly around the Blue Jay ’s central steady-state keel to provide a semblance of gravity as the ship coasted.
Entering the tiny conference room, he slid into the last of the five chairs, nodding his thanks to the ship’s first officer, Jenna Campbell, as she slid a steaming hot cup of coffee in front of h im. He was always exhausted immediately after jumping, but this meeting was important.
The stocky blonde exec smiled at him, gesturing at the carafe in the center of the table to make it clear there was more coffee left.
To the Mage’s right sat the ship’s First Pilot Narveer Singh, the man in charge of the ship’s several heavy lift shuttles. Dark-skinned and wearing a blue turban, the pilot flashed a bright grin, baring stunningly white teeth.
Just past Narveer, looking even darker-skinned than usual next to the dusky Sikh, was the ship’s Chief Engineer, James Kellers. The bags under his eyes were almost invisible on his near-black skin, but Damien could see the man’s exhaustion regardless. The Blue Jay had limped from jump zone to jump zone for four days since they’d been attacked, and only the engineer’s skill and determination had kept her together.
At the end of the table drinking his own coffee was the dark-haired and squat figure of their Captain, David Rice, looking surprisingly calm for a man whose ship had nearly been blown out from under him.
“How are we doing James?” the Captain asked once Damien was seated. “Are we going to make it into Corinthian Station?”
“Engine One is fully up and running with no flaws or cracks that I can detect,” the engineer replied. “Two and three… we’ll need to get fixed at Corinthian. We can make half a gravity without straining anything too hard though, so we’ll start decelerating a bit sooner and drift in a bit later – nothing worth worrying about.”
Damien let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, and he wasn’t the only one. The laser strike had almost destroyed the ship when it had ripped through the freighter’s engines, and it had been entirely possible they wouldn’t have any of the main engines. Thankfully, the magic that teleported them across the stars didn’t need engines, but Damien could only bring them so close to a gravity well.
“That’s good to hear James,” Rice told him. “Well done.” He brought up a picture of the planet on the screen along the wall of the room, a massive silver three-part cylinder hovering in the corner of the picture.
“ I think James and I are the only ones here who’ve visited Corinthian before, so here’s the run-down,” the Captain continued. “Corinthian is the most heavily industrialized system outside the Core, and Corinthian Prime is, among other things, a first class shipyard that’s better than some in the Core.”
He tapped the cylinder.
“ Top part of the cylinder is civilian docks, bottom part is the shipyard, and the middle is a rotating habitat with an artificial eco-system, including parks, trees, and semi-wild animals. It’s an impressive station, unique in the Midworlds, and only possible because of Corinthian’s industry.
“ Our raw materials are for the factories and our luxuries for the factory owners,” Rice continued. “We’ll trans-ship on the station and get repairs done – there’s nowhere better.
“Now, Corinthian is a world to step carefully on,” he warned. “The factory workers are better off than most, but they compare themselves to the factory owners, who compare themselves to the even richer magnates. The entire culture is obsessed with moving up that ladder by their bootstraps… and they occasionally run rough-shod over anyone in the way. Corinthian Prime’s dock module is home to some nasty organized crime, and we are going to stay far
With the jump complete, Damien made his way through the ship to join the other ship’s officers in the conference room on Rib One, one of the flattened structures that rotated rapidly around the Blue Jay ’s central steady-state keel to provide a semblance of gravity as the ship coasted.
Entering the tiny conference room, he slid into the last of the five chairs, nodding his thanks to the ship’s first officer, Jenna Campbell, as she slid a steaming hot cup of coffee in front of h im. He was always exhausted immediately after jumping, but this meeting was important.
The stocky blonde exec smiled at him, gesturing at the carafe in the center of the table to make it clear there was more coffee left.
To the Mage’s right sat the ship’s First Pilot Narveer Singh, the man in charge of the ship’s several heavy lift shuttles. Dark-skinned and wearing a blue turban, the pilot flashed a bright grin, baring stunningly white teeth.
Just past Narveer, looking even darker-skinned than usual next to the dusky Sikh, was the ship’s Chief Engineer, James Kellers. The bags under his eyes were almost invisible on his near-black skin, but Damien could see the man’s exhaustion regardless. The Blue Jay had limped from jump zone to jump zone for four days since they’d been attacked, and only the engineer’s skill and determination had kept her together.
At the end of the table drinking his own coffee was the dark-haired and squat figure of their Captain, David Rice, looking surprisingly calm for a man whose ship had nearly been blown out from under him.
“How are we doing James?” the Captain asked once Damien was seated. “Are we going to make it into Corinthian Station?”
“Engine One is fully up and running with no flaws or cracks that I can detect,” the engineer replied. “Two and three… we’ll need to get fixed at Corinthian. We can make half a gravity without straining anything too hard though, so we’ll start decelerating a bit sooner and drift in a bit later – nothing worth worrying about.”
Damien let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, and he wasn’t the only one. The laser strike had almost destroyed the ship when it had ripped through the freighter’s engines, and it had been entirely possible they wouldn’t have any of the main engines. Thankfully, the magic that teleported them across the stars didn’t need engines, but Damien could only bring them so close to a gravity well.
“That’s good to hear James,” Rice told him. “Well done.” He brought up a picture of the planet on the screen along the wall of the room, a massive silver three-part cylinder hovering in the corner of the picture.
“ I think James and I are the only ones here who’ve visited Corinthian before, so here’s the run-down,” the Captain continued. “Corinthian is the most heavily industrialized system outside the Core, and Corinthian Prime is, among other things, a first class shipyard that’s better than some in the Core.”
He tapped the cylinder.
“ Top part of the cylinder is civilian docks, bottom part is the shipyard, and the middle is a rotating habitat with an artificial eco-system, including parks, trees, and semi-wild animals. It’s an impressive station, unique in the Midworlds, and only possible because of Corinthian’s industry.
“ Our raw materials are for the factories and our luxuries for the factory owners,” Rice continued. “We’ll trans-ship on the station and get repairs done – there’s nowhere better.
“Now, Corinthian is a world to step carefully on,” he warned. “The factory workers are better off than most, but they compare themselves to the factory owners, who compare themselves to the even richer magnates. The entire culture is obsessed with moving up that ladder by their bootstraps… and they occasionally run rough-shod over anyone in the way. Corinthian Prime’s dock module is home to some nasty organized crime, and we are going to stay far
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