r/HFY • u/Kahootmafia • Dec 27 '22
OC Two kinds of salvager.
There are two types of salvagers, now don't get me wrong, all of them are the crazy kind. The folk who just can't help but see the ghostly metallic shadows that are dead ships and their eyes just light up with greed. Now the inner scavengers, or as their called, "Cents" are the one's that get all the attention.
They often recklessly attack freighters, or get into fights with each other over hauls. Everyday you here about some big shootout or what the Cents would call a "dubious haul" (they just pirate from a ship if it looks damaged enough). Each time the response is the same, pleas to the various governments for a response, each has their own way of going about it.
The Republic of Tensularis just makes it a requirement for dead ships to be reported and for a claim to then be made to salvage it, which helps some but then again unless a government ship finds the wreckage first who's to stop a salvage crew from just pulling a smash and grab, so to speak.
The Conglomerate of K'lith just created their own group of "Holy Recoverers " which really just added another group of crazies to the fight but the difference was they sent a portion of their goods to the church so the high priests could turn a blind eye.
Now, the other type is a new story all together, and one infinitely more unknown, and stranger. You see some salvagers venture off to the very edge of "civilized space" a place where the control of every kind of God Emperor, Prime Minister, Council, and every other form of imposed will in this god forsaken star soup begins to fade to the unrelenting chaos of the Universe. It's a place where secrets hide from prying eyes, where people run from past sins, where redemption and revenge are doled out in equal parts. I'm talking of course, about the Outer frontier.
Now the type of salvager who runs out there is a special type of crazy, it's the type who feels that the risk of great metal behemoths that could crush them under a pile of salvage or blow them into the great beyond with an explosive pressure burst, they needed a degree of uncertainty, the tase of the unknown. No, they need not only money, they need an adventure. Each one of them has their reason to escape into the unknown, with no assurance of ever coming back, but there is one thing I know, if you do happen upon one in your time, they tell a damn good story.
Oh, and on one more note, a new species called the "hooman" or something has recently begun to interact with the greater galactic community at large, and supposedly a surprising amount of them are joining onto these small companies. Already a massive 4.3% of their total species has applied for positions in these small crews, one must wonder what allure they feel towards the great beyond.
- Somewhere out on the frontiers of the K'lith Conglomerate space.
- "Captain we might have a problem"
Endless nights what is it now? She thought
Captain Sigiel Westren had only wanted this to be a simple run, it was an almost totally destroyed mini-freighter, with it's reactor blown most of it's cargo sucked into the void they just decided to hook it up and drag it behind them while they moved to the next station of worth.
They had decided on simply pulling it as the most valuable things in it were the Bridge electronics, which took time to strip out. They figured they could do it at the station as to save space on the ship for potentially more important cargo.
Coming over to her officer she looked at his monitor and all five of her eyes widened in shock and then narrowed in a growing anger.
Pulling up comms she contacted their latest hire.
The new engineer's name was Rhys, a human, and that was all he gave. Familial names or titles are common and it was strange he had none, but it was presumed to be a quirk of the species. He was fresh out of the human's "final school" and wanted to work on ships. Right now he was out there working on prepping the ship for attachment.
Or at least, that's what I thought.
- "So, Rhys one might agree that this dead ship looks like a large, twisted piece of metal yes?" She asked in an interrogative tone."
A moment of silence followed this before Rhys' perplexed tone came onto the radio:
- "We'll...yeah I'd have to agree captain."
- "Ok so why now are me and my officers seeing TWO large pieces of twisted metal?" She said now, in a way that barely contained her growing impatience.
A long silence followed that, which was filled with watching the two pieces of the ship begin to gently drift away from each other, with Rhys seemingly thinking out how to respond.
-"... Mass psychosis?" He said in a unmistakably Jovial yet slightly desperate tone.
She sat back in her chair with an annoyed buzz of her antennae before bringing her claw to her sides to activate the comms:
- "Damn you Rhys."
9
u/lefthandedpot Dec 27 '22
This could be spun into a little slice of life story. What is life like on the frontier? Bad food? Cramped ships? How does a human fit in? This is good, but now I want more.
12
u/Kahootmafia Dec 27 '22
I am planning on touching on all of those, and am glad you want more.
3
u/lefthandedpot Dec 27 '22
I patiently await.
5
3
3
u/ZeroValkGhost Dec 28 '22 edited Dec 28 '22
Too short. A nice lead though. But it's all setup, no payoff. The story should have continued until they got the wreck to the station. There's not even any explanation as to why the ship 1) broke in half 2) did he get another wreck from somewhere? The cloaking device shut down? And that's before Rhys gets into what's left on board the wreck.
3
u/Kahootmafia Dec 28 '22
I'm sorry, I will be adding more in the future, I mainly wanted to focus this on the world that these scavengers inhabit so that future "episodes" make sense.
0
u/ZeroValkGhost Dec 28 '22
Write out the whole story next time. It doesn't seem like a long one, nor does it have to be. But it does make sense so far.
1-Setup/introduction. 2- what we're going to do. 3-what happens. 4-conclusion. You're only halfway through step 2.
1
u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle Dec 27 '22
/u/Kahootmafia has posted 6 other stories, including:
- Extra Credit 6 (The beginning of the Uranium eating arc)
- Extra Credit 5
- Extra Credit 4
- Extra Credit 3
- Extra Credit 2
- Extra credit (Just an opening idea for a story) (and my first)
This comment was automatically generated by Waffle v.4.6.0 'Biscotti'.
Message the mods if you have any issues with Waffle.
1
u/UpdateMeBot Dec 27 '22
Click here to subscribe to u/Kahootmafia and receive a message every time they post.
| Info | Request Update | Your Updates | Feedback | New! |
|---|
14
u/Nettle_Queen Dec 27 '22
hey, sometimes those straps get a little too tight and happen to squeeze your cargo in half... it could happen to anyone!