exit strategy

I managed to slip into a jump just before the seek missile hit us. It wasn't a clean jump, as the ship scraped the spaceside of a debris asteroid on the way out, but it got us far enough to manage another jump. Doubtful they would--or could--follow us, as there are not a lot of ships that would risk anything this close to Hadrian's Point for something as petty as a deal gone slightly wrong.

It didn't go wrong for us, as we managed to profitabley unload all our smaller cargo as well as make the deal with the water processor. The only thing that went awry was the timing of the miners, who didn't wait until we were out of the system before reminding our contact that they had yet to purchase the assembly instructions. Our contact reacted with more ire than even Caban expected, and decided that they could trap us at the check point. There were no other ships in the queue, or else Conrad might have gotten to blast them out of the way. The scan seemed to take forever, with the three of us anxiously watching the pursuing ship come closer...closer...it caught up with us just as we disconnected from the checkpoint, the hardest act of legitimacy we've done. I pushed Oberon into speed and jumped as soon as possible, hearing the surprised shouts of the men as I dialed in the coordinates and leapt. The missiles behind us didn't make a sound on the scanners, but they were there, bearing down on the heart of the ship. Caban saw the flash on the screen just before we jumped, though I don't know if Kon knows about them. He bellowed at me for rusting our bolts, for trying to turn the ship into a junkheap scrapboat, until Caban silenced him.

As soon as we're far enough out, we'll have to suit up and repair whatever damage was done. We got off easy, considering the ever-shifting location of the asteroids around Hadrian. We might have slipped by clean, or we might have ran straight into one. I knew we'd be safe, and a hull scrape is a better price to pay than a one way trip to the vacuum.

It was an insane move to make, looking at it from a safe distance. If anyone is paying attention, they'll see it. Ice always said that she could see where I was in the 'verse by scanning the jumptracks. She said she always recognized mine, knew that I was still out there. If she is anywhere nearby, she'll see it, and have a chance to find us again. We didn't make any tracks between here and Target City, I flew it so we wouldn't even catch sight of another ship for a month. I hope that if she finds us, she won't be upset that we told our contact on Hadrian that our ship's name is Roller. Either way, we all have our business done.