Recession (Trunked Novel)

Chapter 22

Recession | Chapter 22

Jimmy didn't know what planet he was going to start from but when the time came he was filling his hold and plotting his coarse, ready to set out before anyone else. They started at planet Sigler, were he knew the best exports were the raw materials made up from the center of the planet. It was a very small planet, which made it easy to dig straight to the core. They pumped out the molten material which, once cooled, could be made into very strong building material. They sold it to planets with a lot of quakes and seismic activity. Jimmy loaded up his frigate with all that he could afford with the credits they were alloted and set off. Mark spent a lot of his money on missiles and then transferred the rest to Jimmy so he could buy more cargo. It wasn't much because Mark filled up every mount on his ship with the best missiles available. Each player started out with a standard frigate, or fighter. Jimmy wished he had his own much larger ship, but he wouldn't have been able to fill it even halfway with the their credits yet anyway. Even the small ship he was given was not full.

"Have enough missiles Mark?"

"You'll thank me later, now let's get moving."

With Mark protecting him, Jimmy knew that at least for the first few trades, he didn't need to use any of his money to upgrade his weapon systems. He stuck with the default missiles and guns and spent it all on trade goods. Jimmy set the nav point, and plotted their course for the planet Origin Systems, just two planets away and named after the company which took up most of the surface. He sent the nav point to Mark, and they began their route. Jimmy was moving at full speed, with Mark flying alongside as his wing man, taking care to watch his radar closely to pick up any ships that came near their proximity. For now everyone else seemed to be scrambling to figure out what they wanted to do, and they were the first ones in space. Their first run was smooth sailing and completed with no interference. They docked and unloaded the planet core for a huge profit. They filled up their cargo holds with bundles of clothing fabric made from a local animal. It sold for a lot on Bremerton, just four planets away. They had enough credits to fill Jimmy's cargo hold, and with a little convincing from Mark, Jimmy mounted each port on his ship with the most expensive and destructive missiles he could buy, then he upgraded the front laser on his frigate. Trent, Kate and Quickstar cheered from the crowd and began to get more excited, as they heard the announcer's voice describe what they saw the dots doing.

"And it looks like the Tradesman twins are the first ones to go up on the board."

The fat man pointed up and on the left screen it showed their handles in first place next to each other, and a profit of twenty four thousand credits.

"Oh, that was a good trade! These boys must have been doing their homework. It will take the next player a while to catch up to that profit total this early on. Folks, the excitement might be in the fight for second and third." The third screen showed in-game action of Mark and Jimmy's ships. The boys ditched their things and then took off. Jimmy punched in the nav point for the planet Bremerton and sent it to Mark's console as well. Trent looked back to the middle screen after watching his son's avatars sell, upgrade, and buy. It appeared now that they were passing a planet which had a lot going on, with many ships docked. Most still remained on their first planet trying to figure out what to buy. A few people were nearing their first stop to sell. When they went passed the second planet on their way a fighter undocked, entered space, and pursued them. Little did he know what he was going up against. Mark immediately broke formation and slowed a bit so that the pirate would catch him first. As Trent watched, he wasn't really sure what Mark was doing, it looked like he wasn't expecting the other ship.

"What's he doing Quickstar? He looks like a sitting duck, just waiting to be shot."

"You'll see Captain, this will be good."