The First:Stevie Lemmet

A Racer Chronicle

I was hangin out in the Kane Band Bar, watching news, and clips of my racing. I winced, watching how I gave up the lead at the last second. Still, second was not bad. That's what I did, I raced Vipers, and I was fairly good at it. Unfortunately, the GRN doesn't pay us much, and often times, the boys that aren't good at it have to find second hand jobs during the mornings to survive. I was alright, I had a few minor titles under my belt but not much. Suddenly I turned to see two rather large men in nice sports' jackets, "May I help you gentlemen?"
"Are you Steven Lemmet?"
"Yes."
The other handed me a small ornately decorated envelope. "You've been invited to a dinner party aboard the luxury liner Madras, we will depart from the space docks in three hours."
"Why?"
"Our boss want's to speak with you. Dress nicely, he doesn't like to see dogs from the streets, he wants them to have bathed first."
I nodded, wondering what it could mean as the other two walked out of the bar.

I showed up and waited in line in a nice white sports jacket and a rose, but it did little to match that of the other guests, who were obviously here for a reason, normally I wouldn't bother, but if a man who has influence to invite me to richboy dinner parties wants me to come, I'll be there. I turned around to see a striking young lady in a blue dress, "How are you Madaam?" I said, trying to fit in as much as possible.
She giggled, putting her hand over her mouth, "I am fine sir. You are looking quite handsome tonight."
"And you ma'am, are quite striking yourself."
She giggled again, and we launched into a conversation. Her name was Jane, she went to the academy of Kane's Dynamics of Flight on earth, and was a senior. I told her I was Steven, and I was a Viper Racer, at which her eyes widened, and she begged me to tell her of it. The half an hour at least that it must have taken the line to shrink enough so we could get in passed by quite fastly as we learned of eachother.
I grinned, "Well good night Ms. Jane."
"Good night Mr. Steven" she said, laughing.
"This way sir." they led me through hallways into the 'suites' dininghall that was extremely well decorated, with the same two guards that I had before guarding it. "Go to the end of the hallway, and knock on the door." they muttered lowly.
I walked into a dimly lit room, at which somebody behind a desk motioned for me to sit, then turned on the full lights. The small office was spartanly furnished, but it served well for a meeting place. "Mr. Lemmets, I was quite impressed with your racing of late, two first's in a row, giving in only this last night."
"Thank you sir."
"Yes, I was quite impressed with your piloting skills, which are still a little rough for your job."
"Sir?"
"I'll put this frankly, I am offering you a job as a pilot. There are no strings attached, you may leave any time you wish, unless you have been given special information. But I need a special courier for a small group of upcoming missions. Are you in?"
"Geez Mr...what should I call you?"
"Mr. Pennant will quite do for now."
"Geez Mr. Pennant, I'd be glad to."
"Good, it's settled then, go out into the hall and enjoy your dinner, I have filled it with some of my younger friends, about your age. Please do be understanding though, most of them are business associates' children, and as such are spoiled, I wasn't and I doubt you were, but please be understanding, in this business it pays."
"Yes sir."
"Good...we'll be giving you a new ship, no more of that blue viper...I'm a little out of merchandise at the moment, but I've a Pirate Viper that I can give you. I'll contact you when I have need of your services."
"Yes sir."
"One more thing, Steven."
"Yes?"
"When, if at anytime, the authorities, or a group known as the Wild Geese ask you for information, you should fly to Europa, and make contact with the bartender, he'll tell you where to go."
"Yes sir."

"Mr. Lemmets?"
"Jane! I'm glad you're here,"
"I know, I get tired of talking to all these rich snobs all the time, but now that I know you're an ordinary guy, well, I am more comfortable with you."

"Mr. Pennant? You requested me?" he said, adjusting to the man's slightly dimmer street office, other than lighting it was all the same. He had not seen or heard anything of the Pennant for two weeks, but when he got home to his apartment, he found the keys to pirate viper. During that time, he had taken Jane for several joy rides in it, and had raced a few more races with the good ol' blue streak.
"I need you to conduct a special mission for me."
"Yes?"
"A ship of some value to me was shot down on Trusa. I need you to make a quick run to Trusa and pick up the fragile cargo it was carrying. Now, I believe the offenders were thrown off, but just in case, I'm sending you in with a team of marines. Pay will be thirty thousand. Everything good? I'll see you in a few days."

The nearly deserted Trusa found a large leviathan shot down, the sandstorms had half buried it. I landed the ship, docking with its still intact portholes. As me and the marines clambered down the air hatch, two crew men entered the room. "We've been expecting you, I believe we have what you want."
I looked at the leader of the marines, who just shrugged. I followed him into the main cargo holds, which rapidly had a machine assembly line flowing. Workers worked throughout it, and from the railings above that I rested on, I could see the ship was definitely not shot down recently...it had been made into a factory. I looked at the marines, who were holding the weapons uncomfortably. These simple crewers must have been sent to help relieve the massive number of workers...Just what were they producing?
"Do you have cargo for me?"
"No...the last supply ship picked it up."
"When did the last supply ship arrive?"
"Two weeks." I nodded, making my way back to the Black Oath, as I had named it. Once buckled in, I undocked, and headed for the atmosphere, all the time wondering about the true intentions of Mr. Pennant.

"I see you're quite wondering...aren't you?" The large man asked.
"Yes..."
He hesitated, talking, but choosing his words carefully, unaware of how much he could trust me quite yet, "My employer has several of these ships throughout the Federation. As the Federation looks down upon our actions somewhat...you can understand that, can't you."
"Yes." I said, but it revealed more questions than it answered.
"Anyways, I'm glad you stopped by, here's your pay. Good job, I was testing your abilities to go along with the flow, its an important skill in this business, and it requires a bit of fine tuning. The report I got from the 'marines' was promising...Until next time."

This time the wait was longer, only in my dreams did I ever get payed like that, and I spent it lavishly on upgrades for the Black Oath. I took Jane out to several expensive Italian restaurants, and all in all lived it up. My racing was improving too, as I learned to maneuver the Black Oath better, my regular viper piloting improved massivly, and soon I was breezing the raceways, outpacing my opponents easily. Soon more cash was flowing into my pockets from the racing, and I spent many hours training hard.
I had just come back from a small trip to Viking, to change my 3 light blasters in for two fusion pulse cannons. Those babies fired well, and I practiced on asteroids, waiting for my chance to use them. I arrived at home, and there was a note on my table. I checked, I had left my door locked...how strange that they could get in. I read it:

Dear Steven Lemmet,
This note is from the Pennant, remember everything and keep this note. A dire situation has arisen, one in which my fleet was mainly destroyed. I am rallying my forces on Europa, you will be further briefed there, but be prepared to go to on to another place.
Pennant.

I sat in a small council room in Europa. Various scourgy looking pirates, one was almost too wounded to move, but they had assembled here. I felt uncomfortable as they all sipped their drinks, waiting for the Pennant. Finally, a short stubby man, with the same face as the Pennant entered the room. "I am now the Pennant." he said, in a voice. The rest of the room acknowledged this, and I began to guess more and more about the intentions of my true employers.
"Unfortunately, it is tragic that the old man had to die, but we've a situation. Our most important processing plant, here." he pointed to a small map of the solar system. On it read the Glimmer system. "...Has been blockaded by those damn Wild Geese, Flannigan knows we are still smarting from the battle a few days ago, so now I realize he's attempting to cripple our entire network. I know you weren't called to do this normally, but we have to take down those damned Lightnings. The Federation refuses to help, despite our contract..." he looked at a paper, "Mr. Lemmet?"
I raised a hand.
"You'll be a spare fighter pilot on Captain Gulth's ship." he said, pointing to a chubby man with a red beard.
"Yes sir."
He went through a list of assignments, and pointed out that if we could keep Sirius blockaded, they would fly from the frying pan to the fire. The plan seemed to work, and I suited up the Black Oath, flying into Captain Gulth's ship.

The pellets of light blasters hit my viper hard, but I knew that with my FPC's, I could drive off the offensive lightning. I raced behind it, and let loose a rain of FPC blast into the engines and backside, and after a few moments, it exploded, and I flew back to Gulth's ship to repair and suit up again. "Good work." the engineers said to me, then I raced out again.
The battle ensued a good two hours, in the end, the fleet of lightnings fled for Sirius, and from there onto Kerella, but I knew the main pirate fleet would completely wipe out the five lightnings. With the Black Oath, I flew through the wreckage, seeing particles of ship lying around, and there was a good thunderhead. Luckily, I had taken precautions of having a Marine troop fly with me on this mission, experienced ones, and I took the ship quite easily, it's pilot surrendered almost instantly.

Back on earth, after having sold the thunderhead, I was debriefed by the real Pennant. When I asked what it was all about, he just shrugged. I could keep my secrets too, as I housed the pilot for the Wild Geese Thunderhead. That night I spoke with him, who had sworn on his honor not to attempt to escape. "Please," he begged me, "If you allow me to return, I promise I will speak wonders of you, and the Wild Geese will forget your involvement with McGowan-"
"McGowan! That's who I've been with this whole time?" I asked angrily, McGowan had made it hard for my family when I was younger. I agreed, and he ran down the hallway. I refused to keep working for him, and I called Jane. I told her the whole story, and she agreed that I should leave. But she begged to come with me. Racing was good on Rill, maybe if I changed my name, I could start a family there...I had a decent amount of money saved up, I could easily buy a very nice house she agreed, and I got my things together, and headed for the Pennant's office. I told him I was starting a family, and I couldn't risk dying with missions like the last. He nodded and said he would be much amiss to see me leave, but a man must do what he must.
As soon as I left the planet, I made sure nobody was following me and headed for my new life on Rill. ____________

Hey guys, first story in a while, be expecting the second and third soon, and maybe if it gets enough popularity, some revised versions. Reply soon as possible...
Peace Out.