My Vacation On the Exotic Shores of a Black Hole - Part 16

_{This is a continuation of my story series "My Vacation On the Exotic Shores of a Black Hole".}

_{To read the previous installments of this series, you can click below.
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15}

I tried to open my eyes. The hypersleep still encrusted them. I blindly reached for the release lever to the hypersleep chamber's hatch. I heard the familiar swoosh of the hatch opening and blindly grasped for a towel to wipe my face.

"Julia." My voice cracked and sounded harsh.

"Yes captain?"

"How far are we from the space station?"

"Still six hours out, captain."

"Good." I tried to clean out my ears from the crud that covered my body in the hypersleep chamber. I disconnected the tubes from my hypersleep suit, and slowly tried to get my bearings. "Jesus, I'm out of it. Julia, get me something to drink."

"What would you like, captain?"

"I don't care. Um...something with sugar. Orange Bite." I tried to make my way to the shower. At least floating was a bit easier than walking after hypersleep. I remember falling over a few times when I've come out of hypersleep in artificial gravity. Your legs are always half dead at first. At least the chamber maintains your muscles though, so you can still walk, or in my case, float around a bit.

I pulled and pushed my way to the shower room, and was met by Robert in the hall. "Thanks Robert."

Orange Bite was pretty good. It was named after the, you guessed it, bite it has. There's no carbonation in zero-g, but some drinks try to simulate it. Orange Bite does it with a bit of, well, bite. I dunno what they used. Not like I recognized half of the ingredients on the label.

I finished nearly half of the Orange Bite, and left it floating, then peeled off my hypersleep suit, and got in the shower stall. The water felt so good. I reveled in the feeling a bit, then pressed the button to spray myself with soap, and tried to clean off as much hypersleep gunk as I could. After a minute or two, an alarm began to sound. "What the hell..." I pressed the button to switch on the drying mode and then got out.

"What is it, Julia?"

"I have detected a ship coming from the other side of one of the moons surrounding the gas giant. From their armament and systems, I have concluded they are likely pirates."

"Seriously? What the hell."

"Of course I am being serious, captain. I would not joke about this."

"I didn't... Nevermind, just gather as much as you can about them, and give me a report. I wanna see what we're facing." I grabbed some coveralls and put them on. I would have preferred something nicer for the space station, but given the situation, it wasn't time to quibble with Julia about proper attire.

I quickly made my way to the bridge, and strapped myself into the chair, and looked at the display. Then I noticed there was still some hypersleep gunk on the chair. "Uhh, Julia, have Robert clean the chair before we dock. Not right now though." I pressed a few buttons on the display and looked at the ship that was approaching us. "Ehh, this isn't so bad. I think with our new cannons, we should be able to get out of this with only minor scrapes and bruises." Just then another alarm sounded.

"I have detected three more ships coming from starboard."

"Seriou... Give me a display of what you can detect about the other ships."

The three ships coming at us from starboard consisted of one ship with several cannons that looked pretty tough and two support vessels. "This doesn't look too bad...maybe if we..." Then the display updated. "Oh, those cannons are a lot tougher than I thought. And that plating? Ouch. Julia, give me several battle plans."

"Yes, captain."

"Julia, none of these look very good. But I guess we work with what we've got. Guess we'll head for the ship coming from the moon. Although I wonder if there's not a chance there are more vessels lying in wait behind it." I pushed the display out of the way a bit. "Now, Julia lets talk about this outfit. Do you really think I want to go on the space station wearing my coveralls? I use these to work on the ship."

"I'm sorry captain, it's what you usually wear on the ship. I didn't consider your human feelings of insecurity in regards to how others may perceive you."

"Now..." Dammit, she wasn't wrong. "Fuck! Fine, you're right, I'm worried about how others will 'perceive' me. But such things are important to humans. I'm going to my quarters to pick out something else to wear. We have another hour or so until we run into them."

"An hour and thirty-four minutes captain, on their current trajectory. Do you want me to warn you if that changes?"

"Yes, Julia. And can you make me a burrito? There's no way I'm kicking their asses with my new cannons on an empty stomach."

"Yes captain. What would you like in it?"

"Surprise me! But make it spicy. I want it hot like the fires of hell that I'm sending them to." I could feel my face morph into a snarl, but I still hoped I could back up my actions. With luck maybe I could fend off the one ship coming at me from the moon, but I didn't know about the three others.

I unstrapped myself from my captain's chair and floated to my quarters. I must admit, I picked out the most bad ass outfit I could find. Well, that is, until I looked in the mirror. The mesh top really was a bit too much. If by any chance the pirates got on board, that wouldn't exactly offer much protection anyway.

I decided to go with a fiber plating reinforced vest, and lightly armored leggings. Both were made from a heat and penetration resistant material. I put on my old beat up faux leather jacket over it. I had put some fiber plating on the shoulders and elbows years ago and lined it with a protective inner lining, as well as a few plates. Truth be told, if I zipped it up, it alone would protect against most things, but the dual layers of projection lent my mind some ease. In the mirror, I realized I still looked pretty badass. I was definitely ready for some action.

On the arm of the jacket, there was a patch for the flight corps I belonged to in school. For a minute or two when I was with them, I considered joining a military force. I had gotten in the top five for my class in strategic space combat maneuvers. Of course, that was stick and rudder flight with a fighter. Maneuvering a big boat like this was a bit different. On a fighter, you steer the engine or the plasma flow. On a cargo ship, you fire maneuvering thrusters and have to predict every movement. It's not the same fly by the seat of your pants action.

I put my mag-boots on, and activated them, then began to walk to the bridge. The full exo-suit may have been a pain in the ass, but having on only the mag-boots kind of felt like you were just sticking to the floor plating.

"Julia, had we begun slowing down on approach to the space station yet?"

"No captain. We were scheduled to start in about an hour, but that was before the unknown ships appeared on our sensors."

I walked onto the bridge, to find Robert cleaning my chair. I kind of wanted to get to my displays, but I didn't want to interrupt him. "Can we do a slingshot maneuver around the moon to modify our trajectory towards the closest planet to the space station, slow down a bit in its atmosphere, then approach from the rear?"

"It shouldn't be a problem captain, however, we will likely need to slow down before we approach the planet, as we cannot slow down enough in the atmosphere without damaging the ship."

"Okay, plot a course to pass by the ship, and slingshot around the moon. Assuming the ship is hostile, we'll want to fire on it as we pass by. We should keep our guns trained on it and firing as we pass. I want you to run continuous models on the likely course of every ship, displayed on a map for me to review. We'll continue assuming that we're going to follow this plan, but be ready to change it at a moment's notice. I assume you broadcasted a distress message?"

"Correct, captain."

"That's my girl. Any response?"

"Negative. We are unable to do laser communications with the space station at this time, and there is likely to be lag before it is forwarded between the satellites and the station."

"What about the mining facilities on the planet? Or any of the colonies on the moons?"

"Some of them may have received our message, but it is doubtful that any of them will send their defense forces."

"Yeah, I figured. So we're on our own for now."

While I was talking to Julia, Robert had finished cleaning my chair and came back with my burrito. "Thank you, Robert." I opened the foil like bag the burrito was in and peeled it back, then took a bite. It was potato and beans, with Baelg, and bits of fake bacon. "Wow, Julia, you really went for broke on this one."

"If it's going to be our last meal together, you might as well enjoy it."

"Thank you, it's incredible. And spicy!" The green sauce made my mouth feel like it was burning up and even made me sweat a bit.

I strapped myself into my chair, and finished my burrito before long, then found myself bored. "Julia, would it tax your processor too much to make a space-based sci-fi show to coincide with our combat?"

"It shouldn't be a problem."

"Good. I want it to follow along with the combat, shot for shot. Gimme a dashing captain and his sexy female copilot, dealing with space pirates, just like us. I guess I'll leave the plot up to you. Feel free to add other characters as you see fit. Display it on one of the upper right auxiliary monitors."

_(source)

It took a few minutes before the monitor finally switched over to displaying the show. "In a galaxy gone awry, one man, and his faithful co-pilot, fight back against the scourge of evil spreading across the stars. He is Space Cowbow 99."

"Oh my god, Julia? Did you have to make it so cheesy?"

"No, but you seem to like these kinds of movies."

"Okay, I do, but it's a bit over the top."

"Would you like me to change it?"

Orchestral music was playing as the screen displayed some alien star system and slowly zoomed in to display an old-school looking sci-fi ship. "No, I'll give it a chance."

The screen faded out and they cut to a view inside of the ship. It had two seats for the pilot and co-pilot. "Captain, we should be arriving at Tau Ceti V in about an hour."

"Good, we have to get this medicine to the poor orphans ravaged by the plague. It's amazing that they survived when all the adults in the colony died." I chuckled a bit at the absurdity and camp already on display.

The camera began to shake, and the actors threw themselves around. "Captain! We're receiving fire from an unknown source!"

"Don't they have sensors?" Clearly, it wasn't a very realistic show.

"It's those dastardly pirates! I just know it is! They want to steal the medicine and sell it on the black market as a drug!" The captain was way over the top, and Julia had obviously intentionally simulated bad acting, and writing. This was...beautiful. I loved it.

"Captain, if we continue to get hit like this, we won't make it. We have to get out of their range of fire!" The camera shook more, as did the actors, as cheesey sound effects played.

"Bring on the auxilary power, and push the engines to 120%!"

"Captain! The engines can't take that!"

"Just do it! We have no choice!"

"Is he trying to get them both killed? If she says the engines can't take it, she's probably not lying."

"Pushing engines to 120%."

"What are they gonna do if they engines fail? Get out and push?"

"Hold on tight! I'm going to take evasive action!"

"What were you doing before? Just letting yourself get shot?"

The movie continued. They ended up barely making it to the planet and having to take the ship down several kilometers from where they were supposed to land and carry the supplies all the way there on their backs. Once there they were met by a kindly old preacher, and children, who for some reason were ecstatic and trusting of these strangers. They also saw a few sickly ones, laid up with fevers in bed. I'm not exactly sure where the doctors were that were meant to administer the medicine, or why they didn't bring the medicine themselves, if they were there, but apparently, Julia had seen fit to ensure there were some plot holes, for that low budget sci-fi feel.

Then the pirates showed up just as they were leaving, and they have to fight them off. Next thing I knew the pirates were chasing them through the woods. I'm not sure why exactly. Weren't they after the medicine? Why wouldn't they just kill anyone that got in their way, and let them leave if they wanted to? Plot holes.

Then they took off in the ship, and were about to face off with the pirates, just in time for my own encounter with the pirates.

"Well Julia, here we go."

_{Gonna leave it there, like a bastard. Mmm, cliffhanger.}