Recession (Trunked Novel)

Chapter 23

Recession | Chapter 23

"You can do it Jimmy! I've got a lock on my guy. Missile three away, missile four away! Boom he’s gone! How's that coming?"

"I could use some help over here!"

"Okay I'll shoot at him too, coming around. I might hit you from this angle, but it shouldn't do much damage. Man that guy was good! He was distracted from getting a lock on you just long enough for me to get one on him! I bet he's ticked!"

"Cut the chatter Mark! Okay, he's within range, I've got it lined up! Firing now!"

Jimmy used what power he had built back up in his guns. All four of the massive energy cannons mounted on his ship exploded with beams of bright light.

"I got him!"

"Good job little bro."

"Hey, stop shooting at me!"

"Oops, sorry. How is your ship holding up?"

"I'm doing pretty good, my shields are going to need to be replaced, but my ship is fine." "That's great, shields cost a lot less than ships. I have a feeling this is only going to get worse. Isn't there a planet in this system that sells super shields?"

"Yeah, but there isn't anything good to buy or sell from there."

"What about buying the shield generators, can't you buy those?"

"No man, they have regulations so that only the federation can sell weaponry like that. You can find it, but it's illegal and if you get caught you'll get penalized big time. So no, they won't let you buy it for trade, only to mount onto your ship, unless you go to those shady systems which we can't get to in this game."

"Well I still think it would be worth it for you to get those put on your ship if we get a lot more people firing on us. Your credit score is only going to go up from here. What about planets near it?"

"No, it’s Plested. That planet out in the corner of the system. There aren't any other planets near it, or on the way from here, but I guess we are about as close to it right now as we'll ever be."

"That's good. Look at the stats dude, you're way above everyone else. It would take the person in second forever to catch up."

"I know but,"

"Our goal is to finish alive, not just see how many credits we can get. We do need to have the most at the end and still be alive. I know it's a long run out there with nothing to sell or buy when we leave, but we're talking about real money here if we win this thing. Money that will help us get to Grandpa."

"Alright fine. You’re probably right. Let's sell this stuff and get going. At least we are the closest to that corner."

"Sounds good bro."

From the stands Trent, Kate, and Quickstar had cheered through it all. While the middle screen showed the various ship locations on a map, the left screen had the players’ stats, and the right screen had changed from Mark's piloting view to Jimmy's. They had done it, all three opposing ships were taken out. Trent had started to clap, he couldn't help it. He soon found himself on his feet cheering. A few people turned and looked at him, but he didn't care. The last time he had felt any excitement, was back at Goerge's house during the poker game. The long strain of job hunting, and then moving to the ship and starting a new life had taken a toll on him. He felt great releasing stress with excited shouts of joy. He had always wanted to know what it felt like to cheer for his sons, and they were dominating the tournament.

"Jimmy is your ship ready to go, what are you doing?"

"Yeah, I bought new shield generators and reloaded my missile stock. I'm just seeing if there's anything I can sell. It looks like there's some shield generator parts here that we could sell over there. It won't be much of a profit, but it’s better than nothing. I never looked at this route because there’s no profit in it."