Chapter 4 - Own ship

After spending the last night in the room with his friends, Gordon said goodbye to everyone, gathered his things and headed to the bank of his choice. For 2 months, he naturally studied all the existing offers on the market, as well as possible conditions that the bank will offer.

Gordon, dressed in full dress uniform, with a holster and his brand new pistol, sat in the bank branch next to the manager.

The manager said, "So, Mr. Stanfield. You want to take a loan from us in the amount of 1 million 600 thousand credits? "

Gordon nodded his head in agreement with the manager. The manager continued, "After checking your information, the bank has concluded that at the moment you cannot repay the loan. You simply do not have any cushion, the bank is not ready to take such risks based only on your good grades at the academy "

Gordon sighed and then took a small box from his bag. Opening it, he showed his medal, which lay inside "As a pledge, I will leave my medal of honor. I recently looked at prices for platinum medals and they range from 700 thousand credits to a million. "

"Considering that there are very few such medals, I think we can estimate it at 800 thousand credits, which already covers half of the requested amount. What do you say to this? "

The manager thought for a long time, rubbing his chin, finally he answered "Okay. I can accept this medal as collateral in the amount of 800 thousand credits, but given the risks of the bank, we also need to make enough profits. "

"So the last offer is that you get a loan of 1 million 600 thousand loans for 5 years, with an annual rate of 20 percent."

"Payments on the loan will begin in 3 months with the amount of 42 390 credits. The total amount to be paid is 2 543 412 credits. This is our last offer. "

Without hesitation, Gordon agreed, after which he signed a contract and 1,600,000 credits were received on his electronic account. Considering that the academy has also awarded him an additional 50,000 credits, he now has 1,650,000 credits.

With a free soul and a heavy monetary debt, Gordon headed to the planetary shipyard, where he had already contacted the company in advance.

Entering a multi-storey glass building, he was greeted at the reception by a pretty girl "Welcome to Hyperion, number one on planet Krul 2, and also one of the best shipbuilding companies in all human systems."

Gordon also replied with a smile at the adorable girl, "A week ago, I contacted an agent of your company and we came to some agreement on the purchase of the ship."

The girl nodded, "Okay, tell me the contract number and wait. Your agent will come to you "

Gordon named a few numbers, then walked away from the reception and sat down in a soft chair. Looking around this spacious building, he saw many wide screens showing various models of ships, fighters, and various equipment.

Surprisingly, although humanity did not think of creating more convenient and faster computers, their technology for creating screens has gone far ahead.

There is a table next to Gordon with several magazines on it. Grabbing a random magazine, he began to read it. Basically, the magazine had the same information as the screens.

[A never-before-seen type of crystal was discovered in the B72G system, with the help of which a new model of blaster cannons was developed, which spend much less energy on shots]

[An outdated model of the SGR cargo shuttle enjoyed an unexpected surge in popularity. As noted, this shuttle owes such popularity to the rise in fuel prices for the next generation of hyper engines, which is also because of the growing tension between the Kwanzian Dominion and the Vrelian Technocracy.]

While Gordon was reading the latest news, a thin, middle-aged man in a business suit approached him. "Um ... Excuse me, are you Gordon Stanfield?"

Gordon put his magazine away, stood up from his chair and held out his hand to the man. "That's right. And you, as I understand it, Burton Murphy? "

The man in the suit was a little intimidated by Gordon's imposing appearance, given his sturdy build, military uniform, and pistol holster that stood out well, he was really worried. But seeing a friendly smile, as well as an outstretched hand, he quickly calmed down and shook Gordon's hand.

"That's right. Talking on the comlink, I could not even imagine that you are a military man. "

Gordon smiled back, "This is all in the past. Now I am looking for a ship for personal use. I hope the ship I chose is in place? "

Burton quickly nodded his head. "Of course, of course. I have made sure that your ship does not go to anyone else. Follow me"

After passing through several corridors, Gordon, together with his agent, finally arrived in a spacious hangar, where his brand new spaceship, fresh from the factory, stood.

They painted his future spaceship in gray and orange colors. It is a fast and lightweight corvette. It also has an impressive carrying capacity compared to its counterparts. Therefore, it was precisely such a ship that Gordon chose. Fast, lightweight, maneuverable, and capable of carrying cargo.

The ship has a triangular shape with an elongated nose, along the edges of the triangle, it has reverse wings, as well as 2 identical keels. Like most other spaceships, this ship is capable of vertical flight.

While carefully examining his future ship, Gordon noticed that heavy twin blasters were installed next to the wings, and a rapid-firing laser cannon was installed directly under the nose of the ship.

Pleased with his ship, Gordon said, "Great. As we agreed earlier, I am ready to buy it for 1,200,000 credits, and 250,000 more credits for various modules. "

The agent nodded "Yes, that's what we agreed on. Let's go through and sign all the documents, but for now our company will prepare your ship for departure. "

After some time, and a lot of paperwork, Gordon finally proudly entered his own ship.

Going inside, he immediately found himself in the cargo hold. This is a fairly spacious room with a lot of mounting hardware. Also, at his request, a printing module was installed inside the cargo compartment, which can print some things from any materials.

Of course, this printer is not immediately capable of printing a pistol or a complex design. But the printer can quickly process the ore into the materials Gordon needs, or it can process the materials into the parts he needs. For example, chips, wires, gears, batteries, etc.

Passing through the cargo hold, Gordon found himself in the common room. There is a table, a sofa, a monitor with access to cameras that are attached to the ship's hull, and there is also a kitchen.

Refrigerator, stove, microwave, kettle, as well as a nutrient dispenser, which is able to turn any organic matter into not delicious, but nutritious mass.

From this place, Gordon saw 3 doors. The door on the left leads to the living area, where there are only two rooms with two beds each. As a result, this ship can comfortably carry 4 crew members, including Gordon.

The door to the right leads to the compartment containing the ship's core, in the truest sense of the word. It houses the fusion engine, hyperdrive, fuel cells for the hyperdrive, and a small energy core for the reflectors.

This is a weakened version of the so popular Energy Shield in various Sci-Fi fictions. The reflector can absorb only a few projectiles, after which it goes to reload. But this is enough for Gordon, because the maneuverability of his ship allows him to avoid most of the hits.

Finally, the door leads directly to the cockpit. Inside there is an extensive view glass that allows you to view everything within 140 degrees from the front. Besides the main pilot seat, there is also a seat for the assistant pilot. Since the heavy blasters are equipped with a camera and a movable turret, the co-pilot can fire 360 ​​degrees while the primary pilot is busy maneuvering.

Entering the cockpit, Gordon sat down in a comfortable leather seat. He gently ran his hand over all the various monitors, buttons, levers, and then removed the chain with a plastic card from his neck.

After inserting a plastic card into the desired slot, Gordon pressed the ship's power button. And a quiet hum spread throughout the ship, as if to indicate "Hey look, I'm ALIVE!"

For a ship, this hum is like how blood flows in a human and a heart beats, but instead of blood, it is energy.

After checking the status of the entire ship using the displays for any problems, Gordon pressed another button. After a while, a beep sounded and he heard a female voice "Ship [Eclipse] Banova L15, pilot ID 131366. Takeoff from Hyperion 3 is cleared."

After hearing what he heard, Gordon slowly began to pull the lever up, and the quiet hum gradually intensified slightly. The ship shook slightly, and within a moment [Eclipse] was lifted off the ground.

Taking off a little higher, Gordon pressed several buttons and the engines, which had been directed towards the ground, quickly switched to a horizontal position. Pulling the lever even further, the ship began to accelerate.

Firmly grabbing the steering wheel, he directed the bow of the ship towards space and after a few minutes, Gordon found himself in an infinitely dark space, which was illuminated only by distant stars.

Gordon has already flown into space several times in a training fighter, but this is his first flight in his own ship, so it is very exciting for him.

After several more flights around the planet, Gordon again pressed the button for communication with the planet. After the audible announcement, he said "Ship [Eclipse] Banova L15, Pilot ID 131366. Request permission to land on planet Krul 2 at New Zion Spaceport."

Already a male voice replied, "Acknowledged. Landing permitted, seat ZI 21 "

When the link was disconnected, a route appeared on Gordon's screen that pointed directly to Dock 21. After 10 minutes of slow flight, Gordon finally landed his ship.

Sighing in satisfaction, he turned off the engines and exited the ship. The doors behind him automatically closed and in a legal way, no one except him can open them.

Walking along a long corridor, Gordon found himself in a vast space, which was simply packed with many people. Someone was in a hurry, someone had bags in their hands, someone with a smart look walked in front of the monitors with the latest information.

In addition to the news screens, there were also various price charts, lists of laws, advertisements, and more. Gordon found himself in a place that connects all the activities of any pilot.

Here you can rent a lounge, eat in a restaurant, have a cultural time or visit a brothel, fix, modify, sell, buy a ship.

Load, unload, buy, sell cargo. Get, hand over the assignment. In general, such places are considered the administrative centers of spacecraft pilots. This is a space port.

Unfortunately, Gordon is still not an official working cell. He's just the owner of the spaceship for now. So after spending 30 minutes to stand in line, he finally came to one of the windows in which a young girl was sitting. Gordon said, "Hello, I would like to register for the labor exchange."

The girl nodded, clicked something on the screen, and then replied "The entrance fee is 20,000 credits, please, your pilot card."

Without hesitation, Gordon handed out his pilot card, as well as a chip with 20,000 credits. A few minutes later, the girl returned the pilot's card, and several documents that confirmed his new working identity.

Returning all this, the girl said "Now you are officially registered. For more information or to get a job, please go there. NEXT!