Carol Mayer was exhausted. She hadn't slept in days. She had been far too busy staring at the view-screen at the small ship. She sat in her ready room with a glass of whiskey. She looked at the bottle that to her dismay was nearly empty. "This was really good stuff" She said to herself. She fumbled for a minute trying to remember where it had came from and then it came to her. Dieter Warthburg. That poor S.O.B from Hannover-Rossik Mining. They were Interworld's European Union competition. Every bit as ruthless as IW just not quite as lucky. Her mind wandered back to those nights she had spent with Dieter. He was just as miserable about his job as she was about hers. She had, (in a drunken vulnerable moment) told him about her farm and her dreams of leaving Interworld and it's genocidal lust for energy far behind. He had also voiced the same goal. She wondered if he had made good on it. Dieter had confided in her that he owed a great sum of money to the company and was in danger of not only losing his job but in fact his life. Mayer sighed loudly at the irony of life. Two people both miserable and suffering trapped in a cycle of destruction that neither of them could change. She hoped for his sake that Dieter had figured out a way to escape. She downed the last of her whiskey in a great gulp and poured another voicing a silent toast to her lost companion.....Dieter Warthburg was walking back to his quaters, the communiqe from HQ foremost on his mind. He had to find a good planet to mine and soon if he was to keep his job, not to mention his life. Interworld had just scored a major succes in sector 124 B and the Hannover-Rossik share was still way behind after the corruption scandal last fall. He sighed as he put his hand on the scanner. As the door opened he saw the screen flicking on - a message blinking - a private message. He knew who it was before he even reached the screen and he had no interest in talking to him now, listening to the threats, to how high his debts were by now. He sighed, sat down and poured himself a drink. Slowly sipping it letting it roll around his tongue... savoring the taste he leaned back... that Carol had given him some expensive tastes, but damn this was good whiskey. He wondered were she were now - probably gotten out while she was ahead. She hated the job, she told him on more than one occasion - in confidence of course - and drunk. Well they both were drunk, who wouldn't be with jobs like theirs. The glass was empty - already. He put it down on the desk and was just about to open the message getting ready to beg for his life when his com sounded.
"Captain - we got a promising planet only 2 jumps away." the ensign said.
Dieter smiled.
Thanks everyone for the kind words
This story is so much fun that I just had to do something to this map so that I could keep it going. I added a small "moon" in orbit around UNC 201.F (And of course it has no mineral value whatsoever)
###LATEST WIP###
UNC 201.jpg
