Just a Milk Run - 1. Chapter 1

The life of a pilot was always an interesting one. The oscillations of utter boredom to gut-wrenching terror when the world flips upside down on you were not for everyone. It could be fairly stated that there was more gut-wrenching terror out at the edge of known space, pushing the boundary of human exploration than any place else.

Twenty-four-year-old Travis ‘Condor’ Jones knew this as well as anyone. He had one of the most exciting duties in the Terran Confederation Fleet: bringing supplies to the science outposts dotted around the outer edges of humanity's exploration. Reading the message saying he had new orders and needed to authenticate for a secure briefing was enough to perk up his interest.

Classified destinations were reasonably unusual.

As he was alone on his ship, he initiated the security authentication that scanned the vessel to verify that he was alone. A quick retina scan and voice password had him viewing the briefing.

He needed to move three scientists from one planet with all their gear with all due haste. The distance out was very unusual and would require six jumps. And the destination was insane. He was no astrophysicist, but stellar nursery was a term he knew and stayed the hell away from. Unpredictable bursts of high-energy particles that humans couldn’t survive were not high on his list of phenomena to witness in a front-row seat.

The planet was far less interesting and more dangerous than he liked. It was at the lowest level of habitable, with only a tiny science outpost on the rock. The air was technically breathable, and the temperature was survivable, but only if you were healthy and didn't do it very long. He would wear his spacesuit for this mission and stay on the ship as much as possible.

There was an unusual contingency listed at the end of his orders. He was to ensure that the three scientists were evacuated from the planet's surface no matter what. No matter what.

It was the first time he had ever seen such orders. The combination of the only almost viable world combined with the importance of the scientists means a lot of rules could get tossed out the window if need be.

He acknowledged the orders and hopped out of his seat to put on his radiation spacesuit. Not that it stopped much, but it was better than nothing. He hated wearing this particular spacesuit as it used lead to line the suit to stop the radiation. Effective, but heavy.

"Apollo, reduce onboard gravity by ten percent."

"Acknowledged."

The smell of the suit hit him as he pulled the helmet on. No matter how much cleaning he did, it always seemed to hold the stale smell of his sweat. It wasn't even as if he was unclean when he entered the suit. The antiperspirant didn't hold up between the added weight and longer hours.

It was best not to dwell on that. Travis sat down in the pilot seat and powered up.

"Regulus Station, this is Condor. Requesting immediate disembark for Mission X1-9489."

"Condor, you are cleared for priority departure 45 degrees mark 180 of the ecliptic."

"Acknowledged, Condor, releasing docking clamps and vectoring to 45 degrees mark 180."

Travis punched his burners when he cleared the minimum distance from the station and moved to the nearby safe jump point. It took five hours to maneuver through the jumps and arrive at the planet. This place hadn't even gotten a name; it was just some random numbers generated decades ago.

The planet was odd-looking. It looked like Mars just before it lost its oceans and atmosphere. Something was there, but not much. While they were light years from the nebula, the lack of defined stars dominated an entire horizon. It was disconcerting.

He refocused himself on the task at hand of landing the ship and retrieving the scientists.

"Condor to Base 9489."

"Base 9489, Dr. Reginal Barclay in command. Go ahead, Condor."

"I'm here for your immediate retrieval, Dr. Barclay. Please activate your beacon."

"Acknowledged."

He locked onto the guidance beacon and guided his ship straight down. There was a landing pad set up next to the habitat, which he landed on.

He was examining the habitat to figure out where to lock on for the relocation to another planet when he was joined by the scientists from within the habitat. They were fully suited up and looking at his heavy lift ship. They waved at him and boarded the ship.

He was used to the behavior since his ship was purposely designed to move the scientists around and provide them with the supplies they needed for whatever mission they were going on. The scientists typically treated him as a taxi driver or delivery man. He rolled his eyes to himself before refocusing on the task at hand. Clearly, the habitat had a few modifications from normal design that would require adjusting before he could lock on to move the habitat with the ship.

"Oh shit. Get in the ship now!" burst over the radio from Dr. Barclay.

Travis was in motion before realizing it, boarding the ship in record time and slamming the door close button, and he ran to the cockpit.

"Report!"

"Class 5 Gamma Ray Burst, five minutes out."

"We’re dead,” the youngest of the group said.

“Stow it, Justin,” Senior Scientist Doctor Reginald Barclay ordered.

“But we can’t sit here exposed and don’t have enough time to clear the atmosphere, and even if we did, it’s thousands of times more deadly in orbit!”

“Stow it, kid!” Travis barked back over whatever Reginald was going to say.

“What are we going to do, Captain?” Reginald asked.

“We’re dead if we stay and dead if we make orbit. The only thing we can do is not stay and not be in orbit.”

“Are you out of your fucking mind?” the quiet until now Dr. Elizabeth Barclay asked.

“At least if we die this way, it’ll be faster than the hell of dying over a couple of days of radiation exposure.”

“Will it work?”

Travis ignored the question and issued orders to the A.I. as he pushed all the buttons necessary to get the ship moving. “Apollo, initiate the jump sequence as soon as we clear the ground.”

“Captain, it is prohibited from initiating a jump from inside a habitable world.”

“This world will not be inhabited as soon as we get off from it and will not be habitable in about three minutes,” he said as he performed an emergency liftoff. “Override safety protocols for jump sequence authorization TANGO TANGO TANGO.”

“Override initiated, powering jump drive for an emergency jump. 30 seconds.”

“What direction is the burst coming from?”

“Mark 90, 30 degrees north of the ecliptic.”

“We need to head in the same direction as it is and put the planet between us. If this first one works, that’ll give us a few minutes for a second jump.”

“Is this going to work?” Justin asked.

“No idea, kid. Leap off the cliff first, and then worry about if we can fly as we start to fall.”

“10 seconds.”

“This is going to be rough no matter what,” Travis said.

“Once more unto the…”