- Miasmos in five, jet your cans - Breaking through radio static, Bruce replied with his Aussie accent.
Five out of eight mining ships farted closed canisters filled with ore. Jack saw them through ship's cam as pearls highlighted by the sun against the darkness of space barely penetrated by flickering of asteroids doing their lazy dance of gravity.
- One more week and we'll be able to pay the rent - said Tharadin Kardula in voice devoid of joy.
Of course he couldn't be happy, there weren't even ten miners in the belt. He should be seeing at least three times the number, but most of his pilots were on vacation. Few more were still waiting for transfer from the Empire. Deep space relocation was only halfway through. They didn't have big transporters able for long jumps. Interstellar gates simply attracted pirates and rogue drones, so good number of pilots simply had to limp in life support capsules, managing to reach the corporation's new address through slow and arduous trek. If they don't fulfill the quota, they will lose all they've built so far. Cartel that rented them the mining system, Brotherhood of Trey, didn't look favorably to late payments. As soon as rent was overdue, they would swarm the system with titan destroyers, ready to force the payment or simply evict the poor miners.
- I see two - squealed Dani, officer in charge for telemetry and scanning
- Ok, back to base, guys - Kardula gave order.
As if the quota and rent were not enough, Tharadin had to run the operation without any fighter escort. Combat pilots were not known for their patience. Guarding the ponderous mining ships didn't sit too high on their list of entertaining and lucrative tasks.
Slow. Way too slow, mining barge ships started to shift and align towards the command tower. Before the mighty thrusters were ready to fire, first pirate ships zoomed in the belt...
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