Gobbell's Demise

[kclace]

The Demise of Gobbel (Mine Corp Sequel)

Gobbel was a character from my mining expedition story. Now he has come back for a brief sequel with the help of the Megacorp Mod! Since I've never lost an entire colony in an accidental fire, I definitely thought that this play through warranted a story!

Story:

SS: Jiangxin Interstellar Transport (The JIT)

Gobbell wandered down the cramped narrow hallway of the JIT on his way to the rest room. After that, he was scheduled to settle in for a centuries long cryosleep while the JIT traversed the vast distances of interstellar space, on its way from MineCorp's home world, to a rimworld in a nearby system.

After relieving himself, he decided to take his time and shave his face. While looking in the mirror, he realized that he wasn't a young man anymore. He was 58 now, but as he looked at himself in the mirror, he couldn't help but think about the first time he went to a rimworld some 20 years earlier.

He still had fond memories of that miserable mining expedition to the ice ball rim world on the edge of MineCorp's home system. The expedition had been somewhat of a success. Well, he had survived, so to him that was a success. There were sets backs to be sure. Famine, hypothermia, savage tribal people killing colonists, but it was ultimately profitable. "It was profitable!" Gobbell muttered out loud to the mirror, even though he knew no one could here him.

The next 20 years had proven to be somewhat less adventurous. He had steadily climbed the corporate ladder, working his way up to mid level management while at the same time navigating a tense marriage, and putting two kids through university.  But his career had stalled and his plans for an early retirement had not panned out.

That's why he had volunteered for a new opportunity to lead an interstellar joint venture between MineCorp and a SunCorp subsidiary operating on a nearby rimworld.  There were risks to be sure, and he would be leaving his family behind, but now he finally had a chance to make it all the way to the Board of Directors, and extend his lifespan by a few hundred years, not to mention becoming insanely wealthy and powerful in the process. All he had to do was dig up another rimworld. "I did it before, I can do it again." Gobbell muttered as he shuffled his way back to the cryptopod and closed the hatch.

Centuries Later... The AI persona core that controlled the JIT, fired off the escape pods and modules containing the necessary supplies for the colony. Once that was accomplished, it set a course for a return voyage to Minecorp Hq.

Gobbell, Jayna, and Lee arrived at a barren desert that intersected a dirt road. The first thing Gobbell did was survey his surroundings. Once he observed a familiar land mark and the dirt road, he realized that they had landed in the right part of the planet. This area was known as Corporate Alley for the Sun Corp activity in the area.

As Jayna and Lee got out of their drop pods, Gobbell decided to address them.

Good morning. My name is Mr. Gobbell, I will be your supervisor for the duration of this assignment. Although this is technically a joint venture, we'll be officially operating under direction from SunCorp management. Now if you activate your E-Pads now, I'll lay out the planned schematics for our operations.

He gestured to a small hill in the distance.

Gobbell: "I want steel walls and concrete floors set up around that hill. Once that's done, we'll dig into the hill to create additional rooms. The chem fuel powered generator will go right next to the storage area, which of course, is where the chem fuel will be stored."

Lee raised a hand: "Umm yeah we don't know how to build that."

Gobbell frowned as he sized up Lee and Jayna. They appeared disheveled and sloven, not eager to be here and not attentive at all.

Gobbell: Umm, alright, do we have an engineer on site? One of you is supposed to be the engineer.

Lee shook his head: I'm just a help desk employee. Umm I'm not really sure why I'm here? Where are we right now?

Jayna raised a hand: Sorry I'm just a sales clerk at the company snackshop, you know the one on the 51st floor? Yeah I'm not really sure why I'm here either. I thought I was going on vacation? But this doesn't look like Outer Rings resort though, soo, maybe they made a mistake?

Gobbell: This is a SunCorp mining expedition, not a damn vacation. We need to set up base camp. So how about this. I'll set up the complex facilities, you two just work on the floor and walls.

He sighed.

Two Seasons Later

Two seasons into the expedition, Gobbell had everything running smoothly. He had obtained a formal title from SunCorp as an independent contractor, and surface mining operations were proving to be quite productive. With the help of two dromedarys, vast quantities of steel were hauled to the nearest Sun Corp base at regular intervals. In exchange, Gobbell had purchased additional food supplies, since his small desert garden was not producing nearly enough to feed everyone. Further, a captured pirate named Ema had joined the group and was proving to be a good worker. 

Gobbell had summoned the group to the dining area for a daily meeting.

Gobbell: Right so Ema, you will come with me on the caravan bound for Sun Corp today. It should take about a day or so to get out there. We'll stock up on supplies and come back. Jayna, and Lee, continue normal operations here until I get back. Any questions?

Lee raised his hand: Umm one question, why don't we have any guns? Like, we keep getting attacked I people, I think we should have them.

Gobbell rolled his eyes: I told you this yesterday. I need to get promoted before they'll sell me any guns. They don't just sell guns to anyone now. Any other questions?

Ema raised a hand: Yeah, it's going to get really cold out there. Do you have a spare parka for me to wear?

Gobbell shook his head: You'll be fine. It's a desert for crying out loud. Deserts don't get that cold. Now come on let's get to work.

Hours later, Ema was laying in the dirt road, paralyzed by serious hypothermia and unable to move. Gobbell looked annoyed.

Gobbell: Yah know Ema, I've had it up to here with you nursing these so called injuries all the time. You can go back to being a pirate for all I care, you're fired. Gobbell grabbed the dromedaries' reigns and kept moving up the road without a further thought.   

When Gobbell arrived with the fresh supplies from SunCorp, he motioned for Lee and Jayna to join him in the dining room again.

Gobbell: Right so Ema is no longer with us. She umm, kind of had an epiphany and decided she wanted to be a pirate again and drink rum and stuff so I had to let her go.

Jayna got out of her chair as a tear streaked down her eye. "You're a liar and a jerk Gobbel, she's dead and you killed her!"

She stormed out of the dining room and out of site.

Gobbel frowned. "Umm, yeah so ahh, Lee, can you go find her and make sure she doesn't break anything? If she wants to cry it out that's cool, but umm yeah.

Lee nodded sluggishly. "Ok boss," he muttered before leaving the dining area himself.

Gobbel: Yeah, that didn't go so well.

Instead of going to her bedroom, Jayna decided to sneak into the storage area. She knew that Lee would be on his way to her bed room to try and comfort her, but that was the last thing she wanted.  Once she reached the storage area, she slouched down against a nearby wall and reached for her lighter and smoke leaf joint. With a sigh, she lit up the joint and inhaled deeply, then she let the joint fall to the ground, next to a toppled canister of chem. fuel that had been slowly leaking for the last several days.

Lee walked to Jayna's bedroom but didn't see her in there. He looked around some other parts of the base, but Jayna was nowhere in site. He saw Gobbell talking to a SunCorp rep on the coms console but decided not to bother him. Instead he went to work in the garden.

Moments later, a massive incendiary explosion tore through the storage area of the base, sending out a shock wave that knocked Gobbell and Lee to their feet. When Lee looked up, the entire storage facility was ablaze, and the fire was spreading fast. Jayna's terrified screams could be heard coming from the blaze.

Lee grabbed a hold of Gobbell.

Lee: We got to get out of here, the whole base is going up in flames!

Gobbell grabbed Lee hard around the neck and shouted. "You go in there and get Jayna, I'll grab the supplies. Come on!"

As soon as Gobbell and Lee entered the storage area, sparks ignited a secondary supply of chemfuel, creating a second explosion that knocked them unconscious. Within another hour, flames had consumed the entire base, creating a column of smoke that could be seen from miles away. ..

An official SunCorp investigation later revealed that the cause of the fire was accidental, and that Gobbell had engaged in gross negligence by storing nearly 500 liters of chemfuel in a room with steel walls and a concrete floor with no fire poppers. Minecorp was required to reimburse SunCorp for the damage. As a result, Minecorp placed a lien on Gobbell's family home. His widow was not happy.

About a week later, SunCorp held a memorial service for Gobbell, Jayna, and Lee. The service was held near the ruins of the base.

Besides the minister, the only people that showed up were Gobbell's cohorts from the very first Mine Corp expedition: Salamo, Chung, and Ramos. They had emigrated to this world nearly a decade before Gobbell arrived and had thrown themselves in with a bunch of rough outlanders.

Salamo raised a cup of beer in the air to offer a toast.

Salamo: Gobbell, when you were young, you were a wimp. And when you got older, you turned into a real #$%^&*. But at least you never got us killed.

Ramos: He went out the way he lived, a flaming &^$!

Chung: I'm just going to drink now. Rest in Piece Gobbell.

The three rough men downed their cups of beer, then Salamo took the remainder of the bottle's contents and poured it over Gobbell's grave.

The End



 
       

[carlweber]

Awesome story!
Nicely told as well.

[kclace]

Thanks man. This wasn't the sequel that I had planned, but I like to let the games tell the stories.

And the story of an epic colony fail is always a good one!