Hi, I’m Bait!

The story of how a single pilot gated an orca across Imperium space, gate by gate.

=== Asteroid Farm Unlimited === – Communications Systems

Mission Request – Asset Retrieval – Requesting Pilot ID – 1830319751 – Callsign “Chryonius”

Accept Contract location – GBT4-J

Contract note: Leave that for the boss, I’m too busy supervising this mining operation. Tell the old man, I said no balls! Gate that fucking thing over here, we need it.

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It was a quiet evening, the kind where time seemed to drag on. I was sitting back in the ADFU pilot lounge, half-listening to the chatter on comms. I had just returned to my office in 8EF-58 after transporting a load of Planetary Interaction materials to a few factory locations. Everything was running smoothly—slow, but smooth.

Then, a slight crackle over the comms interrupted the stillness. It was one of our recruitment officers.

“Hey, boss man, stop slacking and go pick up that ship we need. You look bored. The command codes are in your neocom—check your contracts. It’s an old ship left behind from the recent move. Go grab it for me. Don’t worry, it’s already kitted out with modules.”

Great. Another task to add to my list. I had just gotten back, but I sighed and replied, “Alright, I’ll go get it.”

I checked the contract, and it turned out the ship was on the other side of Imperium space—about twenty jumps away. Fantastic. And it was an Orca-class vessel, which warps slower than molasses. This was going to be a pain.

I set my course and began the long trek across space. Twenty gates. Twenty jumps. And I was stuck in this slow tub of a ship the whole way. Awesome.

When I finally arrived in GBT4-J, the Orca was waiting for me in the shipyard—a massive, hulking vessel that looked more like a floating storage facility than something you’d expect to haul around in battle. I headed straight to the insurance office and signed a policy, knowing full well I wouldn’t be able to make it home without at least a few dents in the hull.

With the paperwork out of the way, I made my way back to the shipyard for preflight checks. I checked the systems, fueled up, and was finally cleared for undock. I powered up the comms unit.

“Hey Chewie, I’m about to head out. Anything else I need to do while I’m down here?”

“No, sir. But don’t take any Titan-Bridges until we get a mechanic to check out the outer hull. Take it slow; it’s not a fighter,” Chewie replied, his voice a mix of amusement and caution.

“Hey, you’re gonna love the ship’s name,” He said.

I checked the transponder and stared at the name scrolling across the screen: “Hi, I’m Bait.” I stared at the text while a small grin began creeping onto my face.

Of course. I’d been suckered into this. But what could I do now? Time to go.

The twenty jumps back home felt like an eternity, especially with the slow warping speed of the Orca. Four jumps to go… Almost there.

As I jumped into the next system, my sensors picked up hostile signatures. Great. Just what I needed. I quickly plotted a course through the Ansiblex gate and yelled at the ship, “Warp, you bastard!”

The slow acceleration into warp speed had me on edge. Just as we arrived to make the jump, proximity alarms blared. A Proteus-class vessel dropped out of warp and immediately locked onto my ship. Here we go I thought, this was the end of this clone.

“Jump authorized. System engaged,” the comms unit said.

The next moment, we were tossed into the next system, narrowly escaping the hostile ship.

“Holy crap, that was close,” I muttered under my breath.

As we finally made it back to the ADFU Fortizar station in 8EF-58, I was greeted with the sound of thunderous applause and voices shouting over comms.

“No way! Holy shit, you made it!” someone yelled.

“Good work, boss!” another voice chimed in.

I couldn’t help but smile. Despite the close call and the ridiculous ship name, I had made it back in one piece.

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