[TC] A Pirate's Revenge [Book One Complete]

[Triaxx2]

Asset List, DiD

Stations
Silicon Mine L Alpha- Legend's Home
Wheat Farm L Alpha- Legend's Home

Ships
M7M- Gannet (Gunboat Diplomacy)

M6- Hydra (Snake in the Roids)

M8- Viper (Viper Strike)
M8- Peregrine (No-name yet)

M3:
ATF Mamba {Decadence}
ATF Nova {Decadence}
Blastclaw {Decadence}
Blastclaw Prototype
Mamba {Great Hold}
Nova
Nova Raider
Tenjin {Tow Wagon}

M4:
INC Solano x3 {Decadence}
PAT Pirate Buster Hauler {Decadence}
Solano {Decadence}
CSV Buster Raider {Mos Eisley}
Elite x2
Pike

M5:

Pirate Kestrel (Amazon) {Mos Eisley}
Discoverer Raider x2
Discoverer Hauler [[CAG]] 'Iaron Springer'
Discoverer [[CAG]] 'Warron Sillarn'

TL- Ryu (Decadence)
TL- Albatross (Great Hold)

TM- Chokaro (Mos Eisley)
TM- Zephyrus (Tow Wagon)

TS:

Caiman (Hold)
Mercury Tanker (Hold 2)
Vulture (Hold 3)
Mistral SF (LH Energy Tran) 'Liom Rana'
Mercury SF (Missile/Pod Fetcher) 'Ban Bro'
Caiman (Salvage Bucket)
Mercury SF (Sil CLS) 'Uma Gisler'
Caiman Hauler
Caiman SF
Mercury Hauler x2
Mercury SF
Mercury Tanker XL
Mistral Superfreighter
Vulture Miner

TP:
Express (Wheat CAG) 'Sayreen Gusta'
Express
Express Hauler

Reputations:

Trade Rank: Petty Financier 79%
Fight Rank: Fighter Chief 19%

Argon: Hero of the Federation 4% [L]
Boron: Queen's Knight 23%
Split: Family Protector 73%
Paranid: Desecrator of the Holy Light 59%
Teladi Company Manager 0% [L]
Goner Believer 0%
Terran Citizen 0%

OTAS: Combat Support 80%

[Triaxx2]

Chapter 30: One-hundred and twelve

That's the number of drones I dumped out of my Hydra. And the number it takes to beat down the shields on a Galleon to be able to burn weapons off of it to get boarding pods through. It's actually one-hundred MkI's and 12 MkII's. And frankly, I was glad to have them.

I decided that I wasn't going to be denied my bloody carrier by anything so stupid as a Carrack. And I dropped into the sector to find it... missing. Completely. WTF? No matter. The Galleon was still there. Collecting a hundred and twelve fighter drones on short notice is fairly difficult, but I wasn't completely unprepared. The twelve MkII's came from a military supply trader that had only kicked it's MkI's out and bailed without dropping the MkII's. His loss, my Teladi Gain.

Okay, yes, even the parrot thinks that one is bad. And no, it doesn't matter in the slightest that it's a stuffed parrot. Where was I? Oh, right, shoving an extremely large number of fighter drones into the orifice of a Galleon. Interestingly, among it's other wonderful attributes, the Hydra comfortably fits the full hundred and twelve fighter drones comfortably and even has some fuel space left over. Not enough, but I'll explain that later.

Diving into the fray without armament of my own isn't exactly the brightest idea in the world. So I managed to acquire, through contacts in the Boron, eight more of their finest invention ever. The Ion Disruptor. So I put them to good use, bulling my way through the flak to unleash lighting bolts of hell upon my target. What I really needed gone were the flak guns. And they went fairly quickly. Unfortunately, it was ALSO packing CFA. Fun fact about CFA. If the enemy is shooting it at you, you haven't got to be so close to hit them back with Ion D. It'll bounce off the CFA blast and smash into the idiot shooting at you.

Of course, he also had a PPC and a bunch of IBL's. But it worked. Sort of. For some insane reason, Gunboat Diplomacy decided to fire only 5 marines on the first attempt. Being busy surviving, I did not see this. Literally I heard the 'hull contact' message as an IBL banged off my nose. The Galleon can dump out a lot of fire by the way, and it's harder than a Teladi bargain to dodge it all. Especially in the Hydra.

But after being informed that they were 'through the hull', and I peeled away, I was more than slightly dismayed, as I cleared the final firing range, which is six bloody km thank you ever so much, that my boarding party had been eliminated. Bwuh? A quick check, first of my six to make sure the Galleon was following me. It was. And then a second quick check to see what the bloody hell was wrong with my Galleon, I saw that it had only launched 5 marines, and topping it all, it was under attack by some dumb gits in a pair of Pirate Nova's.

One quick lesson in the overwhelming destructive capabilities of the Gannet-class M7M convinced them to see the light. Personally. This time the remaining 15 numpties on-board my Gannet were stuffed head first into the pods, and flung as fast as they could be through space. At the Galleon that was once again attempting to introduce me to the great Gunne. In person. To hell with that. Though I did once again have to shift positions to take some CIG and IBL fire on the nose to keep it from noticing that my boarding pods were attaching to the hull like a Teladi attaching itself to a gold-plated bank card.

This time they punched through and plowed through all five decks, then, as the leader of my marines put it: Split squeeze Captains balls until brains pop through head.

And so while I'm one Galleon richer, I've manged to go from twenty marines, to five. Although, those that are left, with one exception, which I suspect is done simply because the universe enjoys laughing at my confusion are excellent fighters. One of those five marines is incredibly capable at everything. Except he's still a no-star fighter. How he's managed that I haven't the slightest idea, but it seems to work for him.

The Galleon... remember those IBL's that were getting shot in my face? It's still got 16 of them. And a 2GJ shield. Go figure. No Jumpdrive though, which is fine. The Mos Eisley jumps in and drops it off some energy and a jumpdrive and then leaves. The Galleon jumps to Great Trench for some retrofitting, not having the cash on hand to completely repair it. And so does the Gunboat Diplomacy.

I do to... or not. Did I mention something about spare fuel back at the start of this entry? Good. Pity I didn't think to BRING any. Balls.

Well, it's not a bad sector here, and I'll just cruise on up through to Ceo's Doubt. The trip is in fact, and perhaps creepily uneventful. I pop into Ceo's Doubt and bang into the back end of a Paranid High-Tech trader. I cannot help myself. CIG's flash in the dark and the trader bails out of his Vulture eventually. And in classic pirate style, I blast his suit out of the sky. Ooh rep loss.

With the Teladi. Nuts. Oh well, it's only one rank and I'm capable of restoring that. I send my new Vulture to the local SPP for some fuel and decide to dock at the local Trading Station.

This is when I find out where that Carrack went. It's on it's way through Great Trench. Remember Great Trench? Where my brand-new... slightly dinged Carrack is going to get some refits? NUTS!!

Of course I'm not stupid enough to rush into a fight I might not have to engage. So I'm watching on my Nav Sat, and snatching up the entire stock of Microchips at the Trading Station.

[Triaxx2]

Chapter 31: Buried in a Great Trench.

Thankfully for me, the local Boron Defenders are on top of things.

Unfortunately for them, they were facing the wrong way. It turns out that while the Thresher is a good M7, it only works when it's FACING the target.

Facing away, the Carrack seems to be superior. It does, through the auspices of the fighters escorting the Thresher, drop to a mere 43% hull. It's busily recharging shields, when Gunboat Diplomacy arrives on top of it, and unloads a 6xBarrage of Flails, which is more than enough to rip the Carrack and it's entire escort to debris sized chunks. Fortunately for me, not all of them died. And I ended up with a brand new, 1% health Blastclaw. There are also several ships destroyed by it's cross-sector rampage, though for the moment, only the fighters are of interest to me. Those I claim, and send them to my now undocked if still somewhat, okay, very dinged Galleon, while my Great Hold arrives and deploys it's single, somewhat limpy Mamba to snatch up all the missiles. Me, I pick up the energy floating around, and wait for the fighters to dock with the Galleon so we can all jump home. The Great Hold is ready to move far sooner than we are and it's given orders to leap out as soon as the Mamba docks. In addition to a bunch of energy, I also scoop up 59 warheads. All in all it's been a good day, but I've noticed that no one around here wants to talk to me, and that's kind of a problem, because I've noticed there are a lot of Boron Sectors around the Paranid area in the south. Given that, I think it'll be worth my time and energy to do some good deeds for the deed worthy squids around here. First mission I manage to find however, is not for the Boron, but for a Teladi, well out of his element. He's managed to some how lose a Viper, well off in a Paranid sector.

In jumps the Mos Eisley, and valuing versatility over raw destructive capabilities, I send the Snake in the Roid's back to the Light of Heart Equipment Dock.

So, given the fact that I'm well versed in traversing sectors which are not necessarily inclined to allow me access. 635m/s will do that to you. Arriving in the sector in question, that same speed allows me to quickly locate the Viper, transfer a jumpdrive and fuel and jump it to Lucky Planets, where the Mos Eisley was waiting to retrieve the drive and the spare fuel. While the Viper went home, I ex-filtrated with the sort of style and flair that can only be associated with enough speed to out run any missile around.

Well, okay, with one particularly notable exception, which is the Disruptor. A very nasty missile, but that's why I have a rear turret which is set to missile defense. So there.

Ex-filtration occurs without a problem at all, and I rendezvous with the Mos Eisley and find two missions. One is another ship return, and an asteroid survey. Again, they've lost the ship in Paranid Territory. Last of my jump fuel kicks me into the sector. Since it's a border sector, and I'm still, somehow still not KOS to the Paranid, I make a quick right and pick the Octopus up on my scanner. Slam on the brakes, slide in, claim it, and with a slap on the ass and a hi-ho! It's away. I don't even see it through my engine wash as I burn back through the gate, kicking the Jump drive across to the Mos Eisley as I pass it near the gate, and step on it to snatch up my roid scanning mission. The Octo isn't exactly a slow ship and surprise, surprise, surprise! Rep up. And... what do you want? Some Boron want's my help. Sorry, busy just for a bit. Hold your seahorses, I'll be with you in a minute.

Okay, so it's actually more like five minutes, but I'm here and so is he. He's Mahi Ma. He want's me to find some friends. Who apparently didn't want to live real bad because they headed into a Xenon sector. Okay, fine Mr. Fish Man. Whatever you want. See, being a pirate, one word perks my ears up more than any other. 'Compensation.' Never mind that I need a dictionary to make sure he's not offering me some sort of weird Boron sexual favor. Fortunately all he wants is to pay, and I like pay. While I do know how to locate his friends, thanks to his handy-dandy 'locate my idiot friends who decided to piss-off the Xenon and are probably already dead device', what I don't know how to do is get there, because I'm out of gas in my Giddy-yup and go buggy. Fortuitously, I have a solution, in the form of the Great Hold.

In an unexpected moment of foresight, I've loaded it up with nearly 2500 units of energy. So, while it takes some fuel to jump to me, it's got more than enough to spare, and I gas up the Mos Eisley, and send the Great Hold home, while I jump to Grand Exchange. I've been here before, but it seems that my bribes did the trick and there is no Gauss Cannon barrage waiting for me as I come out of the gate. Slipping into something more comfortable. And there's nothing at all more comfortable than 600+m/s of pure speed. The Mos Eisley get's orders to the SPP's in the south of the Sector for more fuel, and I stand on the throttle and burn for the north gate. But not so fast that I don't slow down and let a particularly insane Teladi Energy Trader go first. Squiddy always did know the best way to deal with a Xenon sector. (Lots, and lots, and LOTS of missiles.) Of course the second best is to go really, really fast, and let some other schmuck go first.

Fortunately for me, all that's on the other side is a badly damaged P, with a top speed, running flat out of a blistering 30m/s. No chance to catch me, but he might have missiles, so I firewall the throttle, and blaze towards the far gate. No one here to send through ahead to attract party crashers. So there's only one thing to do. CHARGE!

[Triaxx2]

Chapter 32: Payin' Cash

Nothing. Well, not nothing, but there's a J off to the north, on the very edges of sensor range. And an LX just about up my nose, and a K at the far gate, and some Q's.

Nothing to worry about. I don't think the LX actually realized I was there before I shot past him, and while I got a missile warning, the computer identified it as a firelance. Single shot, straight line. Nothing to worry about. I did get a nasty, and frustrating surprise though. About halfway across the sector, something managed to tag me with some PBE's. I know this because it ripped my shields off like paper, and took 2% off my hull. It also blew up my Bioscanner. I didn't stick around for revenge, because of the chance he might have friends, and I wasn't in the mood to engage in a running battle with something that could do that to my ship in a single pass.

I did however decide it was worth the cost, and flung a couple of wasps at the K to keep it occupied as I blew through the gate. It didn't shoot at me so either it was out of range, or the wasps did the trick, but I slipped through the gate easily.

The next sector was NOT Xenon Core 023. I was starting to wonder if I'd been given bad co-ordinates, when I noticed a hulk sitting in the middle of the sector, and a second active gate. That one said 023, so there must have been something to it. Of course the only other thing in the sector would have to be an L. Fortunately I have just the item for such an occasion.

It's called a Hydra. And it does it's job perfectly. Jumping in, pounding the L into space dust, and jumping back out. The Mos Eisley comes in and I dock, and jump out before anything else comes calling.

Mahi Ma doesn't seem too disappointed that his friends are gone, and asks me to take him there. I'm only too happy to run him over, though I know it only means he's in my cargo bay. Fortunately, the com to the cargo bay has been broken for a while. I do notice that he's abandoned his ship. And Salvage is salvage. And since there's no portholes in the cargo bay, he can't see me claim it and send it to the Lucky Planets shipyard. It's an 'Enhanced Dolphin'. I have no idea what that means, but I've never seen another one, and I'm not going to sell it. As soon as I figure out how it's enhanced, I'll find something to do with it. But it doesn't matter. The Mos Eisley jumps back into the Xenon Sector. And this time it's an M hanging around. Fortunately, the Valkyrie is far more than a match for it, and while I'm busy, so is Mahi Ma. He manages to gain us access to the 'Hub'. Hooking back up with the Mos Eisley, he's yelling at me to dock, so I do, and he putters off into the station. Only to come back after no more than five minutes and asks me to fetch him some computer parts. Not a problem. Undock, jump back to reality, and set out looking for his doo-dads.

Takes a couple hours, because I'm out of Jumpfuel again, but with a bit of help from the Snake in the Roid's we manage to locate enough chips to satisfy him. The Great Hold hops to me, and I fuel up. Then I'm off to the Hub again...

Now he wants 500 Microchips. Does he have the slightest bloody idea how hard it is to find a dozen? And he want's 500? Cripes. I'm going to have to build factories to get him his bloody chips. Oh well, I'll bet I can make a tidy profit off the proceeds. Just gotta find a place to set... wait. Barren Shores, Ahoy!

Errr... but first I need some cash. Okay, a LOT of cash.

One other interesting thing of note. While hunting those computer components, I nailed a Paranid Weapons Dealer. He had components, though by the time I got to him, he'd off loaded them and picked up squash mines. In Interworlds. Where they're illegal. The Valkyrie once again proved itself, and caused him to bail. From his Falcon Hauler. I love being a pirate. Off course this P/O'd the Pirate Base he'd just left and I had to pour a considerable amount of fire down the throats of the laser towers to save my prize. Fortunately, they were so tightly clustered that a single hammerhead, covered by several wasps was able to take them all out in a single strike. Of course, I'll have to bang a number of dents out of the F-Hauler, but that's neither here nor there, nor is it in fact in any location this side of Terra.

In short order the Falcon Hauler was safely tucked away in the Great Hold, which jumped to the Light of Heart shipyard, to repair the Falcon, and then to the EQD to equip it. But not as a cargo salvager just yet.

Instead, the pilot has found himself as a founding member of my new squad of Chip hunters, also including a Mamba, and a Blastclaw, the latter two based off of the Galleon, which is setting up in the unknown sector east of Montalaar. Meanwhile, the Great Hold sets up in Rolk's Drift, reaching out to the local fabs & Trading stations for all the chips available. Since I know it;s going to be a while, I look for something else to do.

[Triaxx2]

Chapter 33: Hunting Treasure

It did not take long to find something. Remembering the hot tip I'd been given that there was an Argon carrier around, I decided to take up the hunt while I waited for the ships to gather the necessary chips.

Jumping across to Senators, I hunt down the Yaki I've been ordered to talk to. He's not happy to say hello. After a second try, he still doesn't seem willing to talk. Fortunately, ramming missiles down the throat of his Advanced Satellite seems to do the trick. But he wants a replacement. Fortunately for me I've got some on the Mos Eisley. Unfortunately, I'm in the Amazon. Thankfully, it's not too far for the Eisley to come, and it only takes a few minutes with the SETA on, and I deploy the Sat, and get the info.

This sends me to Ore Belt, and I scan through the roids. The one I'm after contains Nividium. And I'm in the Amazon. Again.

Thankfully the Snake in the Roids has hornets, and I happen to have a Vulture Miner. The Vulture jumps in and the Snake in the Roids follows shortly after. While I swap over and drop a Hornet into the stars to a pre-destined rendezvous with the roid. The Vulture, being far and away slower than.. well the asteroid I'm shooting at, takes a bit longer to get here. Snatching up the Data Storage Device, then transfer the MDS I've been carrying around for months on the Mos Eisley over to the Vulture, and order it to collect rocks while I jump to the next destination. Or rather near it. 'Xenon surrounded by profit? Can only be 347, but I'm sure not taking the Mos Eisley. Dropping it at the Eighteen Billion Military Outpost, and blowing through the East gate, diving under the two decidedly angry, but wrong facing Q's leads me out to the eastern area of the sector. Where I find a container.

Full of fighter drones. Fortunately two things are true. I'm packing a lot of Wasp Missiles, and I'm a LOT faster than they are. Especially since there are also a lot of angry Xenon that are chasing me. The trouble comes from trying to collect the DSD in a Kestrel. Moving very, very slowly is hard in the Kestrel, especially since the throttle is so touchy.

So finally getting the DSD, the only thing to do is stand on the jumpdrive, and watch as the Xenon finally show up. Good thing I'm standing still, because they're having a terrible time trying to hit me. I succeed, in jumping without taking a single hit. Kind of creepy.

Profit guild to Queen's Space, minus 1? Seriously? Atreus Clouds is where I drop into, and search. For three hours. Nothing. Calculating again, I can't figure it out. Finally a tip in a bar tells me that the map co-ordinates start at 0,0 not 1,1. Banging my head on the bar, I pay the bartender, give my friend a 100 credit tip for the help, and jump to Bala Gi's joy.

The next clue leads me back to the Yaki, for a trip to Savage Spur. There's another Tenjin floating in space, and I claim it, sending south to the Yaki Shipyard. Meanwhile I head north in the Amazon to three roids hanging out alone. The DSD is just waiting for me. I snag it, and run back to the Mos Eisley. This time it's and easy one. 4 beacons? Akeela's Duh. But I'm warned of guardians. I suspect I'll need some more firepower.

I'm right.

[Triaxx2]

Chapter 34: CODEA Commander.

I need firepower. I need the ability to completely decimate my enemies. Slipping into the Decadence is like coming home. It's the sort of ship that feels like it's designed to engage in battle even though it's actually a transport. And it does it's job admirably. 4 FAA and 6 HEPT make it quite the nasty battle machine. Plus the fact that it's carrying a lot of M3 firepower in it's cargo bay. Of course it does succeed in losing one of it's Solano's and crashes the LX that it captures when we get kicked to Haktikvah's Faith for the DSD.

This clue? Presidents end if my calculations are correct. I hope they are. And so they are. The clue inside this one is annoying and puzzling and it takes nearly three hours to figure out. Then I have a flash of inspiration, and drop into Herron's Nebula. The DSD is WAY up over the Ecliptic plane, but it's not too far with the Amazon. Now to Rhonkar's? And it's telling me to bring a Mineral Scanner. Which means I'll need the Snaaaaake! Err... rather the Snake in the Roids, and it's Hornet missiles.

And I do, the problem is that Rhonkar's Clouds is a particularly crowded sector full of asteroid's, and this clue contained no clues to the location. Fortunately, the Teladi have out done themselves again, and the Explorer Command Software solves the problem handily. The Snake slides in, snaps off Hornet and collects the DSD out of the rubble. This sector is mainly full of silicon, so I don't even bother with a miner. Speaking of which, I really need to check on my Vulture Miner, but first I need to decipher this clue.

It's not until late at night after sipping an entire bottle of Spacefuel that I have a sudden realization.

The Toilet seats in the Mos Eisley are really, really uncomfortable for throwing up.

Oh, yes, and the map is in the background of the message. Xenon 101? Are these guys out of their minds? Cripes. Only thing to do. Make a really fast run into snatch the ship.

Doesn't work out too well. First I nearly die by ramming a Q in a rather unpleasant location, IE right near the gate. Fortunately the PPC shoots a slow moving round and I'm a fast moving target and I'm out of range before it can hit me. Finding the Wreck? Not so much of a problem. Yeah, turns out they went and wrecked the Colossus. Jerks. Of course, I slide in close, and scan the ship. And then the 'Treasure Hunter' who sold me the first piece of info appears. In. My. Prize.

Yeah, he's not getting away. In a moment of brilliance, one of the two groups involved with the development of the Pirate Variant of the Teladi Kestrel, saw fit to arm it with three decidedly nasty pieces of equipment. One is an engine capable of bending physics in it's local area. A second is the ability to mount Wasps. The third, and most important?

Some genius fitted it with Remote Guided Warheads.

I wish I knew who'd done it, so I could kiss them. Fox 2, Fox 5, Fox 2,2,2,2,2.

And Fox 5 again, just for good measure.

Turns out that that sort of firepower bearing down is just too much for the 'Treaasure Hunter'. He bails out as the first RGW hits, and seems unharmed when the second slams into the hull as he jets away. Good thing. I come around, lining him up, when my Argon handlers whine at me.

Alive? Sure, I guess I can do that, but only if you promise to torture him. You will? Sweet.

Oh crap, Xenon.

[Triaxx2]

Chapter 35:RETREAT!!

There's a time to fight and a time to run. This is one of those times to RUN! Snagging the Treasure Hunter, I open the throttle, and dump in Mama's Secret Sauce. Or rather I engage the Split made Turbo Booooooooooooooooooooster!

Oh gods, remind me never to do that again. I could swear I went to plaid. And... oh great. The Teladi just hurled all over my cargobay. Gravidar beeping. What? More Xenon? A K! These guys don't give up. Suck space exhaust.

Throttle Firewalled, I punch through the gate and I'm safe into Nopileo's.

And nearly into the teeth of a Pirate in a Heavy Nemesis. What the hell is wrong with these people? I mean, seriously. I show up and suddenly everyone is breaking out the heavy hardware. I'd better go before things get... Worse.

Sheesh, as if being chased by large angry machines isn='t enough, I nearly get smashed in a tangle between a Paranid Deimos patrol, and a Pirate in a Heavy Nemesis. The only thing to do is get out of dodge. The only way to do that? Turbo Booster.

Okay, now I'm going to hurk. Nope, feeling's passing. I guess my stomach remembered how little my head likes the toilet seat. Alright, jump to Argon Prime, and drop laughing boy off with the authorities, with instructions to rough him up if he's causing a problem. The Gunboat Diplomacy leaps into the sector. Some sixth sense is telling me I'm going to need it.

I'm right. The tangos are flying an Albatross. My jarheads look at one another and then grin at me. They're ready to go. We jump to Savage Spur, where the TL is hiding.

Stupid place. It's full of Yaki and Paranid, and the only things they hate more than each other are pirates. I can't think of a worse place to hide. Except perhaps Terran space I've heard they patrol that like a Teladi patrols a weed farm. With far more firepower than is called for by anything short of completely glassing a planet.

Of course, since these pirates aren't completely stupid, they're sitting WAY up in the north west quadrant of the sector, pretending not to be there. Racing... sort of, in the Gunboat Diplomacy. The Gannet isn't the fastest M7 out there but it sure get's the job done. The fact that the escort can't punch through the shields really makes me feel better. I still 'Flail' away at them, killing all but one with a single shot. That takes two rounds, my Jarheads are good at their job and they get through the hull just as soon as the last of the crew from the Colossus are on board, and in short order, I'm officially up to 3 TL's. Cool. It's even got some shields, and it's jumpdrive intact. Nice work boys.... Er boys? Nuts! A stray missile, that's some how been hanging around, bangs into the ship and takes out the CLS.

Argh!!

Deep breath. Mos Eisley, drops in, pulls up close, transfers some energy to the Albatross, and both jump out. The Gunboat Diplomacy and I follow. Or try. The jump here took all it's energy. Ragh!!

Great Hold drops in, and passes some energy to me. Then we finally jump out, and dock at the Argon Prime Shipyard. They take the crew, give me the Experimental Shuttle, and tell me not to duplicate it. Yeah... pirate. So as soon as I figure out how, I'm going to fill a carrier full of these, and fly them through Argon Prime. Probably in the bird formation. Maybe I'll do a flip.

For the moment, it docks with the new Albatross, which lands at the shipyard, and I climb aboard the Mos Eisley and dock at OTAS. In the morning I'll do their mission, but for now, I'm going to sleep. I rent a room, climb into bed, and take a nap. A long, long nap.

---

I really hate Steam. I got Fallout New Vegas, and having dial-up it's a pain in the neck waiting for it to download 250 MB. I'm going to try and cheat the system to do it faster. Don't know if it'll work though.

[Triaxx2]

Chapter 36: One step back, two steps forward.

OTAS wants me to follow some guy. Who is supposed to go all the way to Danna's Chance. Unfortunately, he turns around and heads right for me, and I can't get out of his way and he bails. Mission failed. I hate follow missions. I really, really do.

So I check in on my various enterprises, particularly the Great Hold and Galleon, which are both running chip gathering operations. The Great Hold is up to a magical 50 chips, and the Galleon? 32.

I really need some factories, but I don't have the capital to do it. I head out into space, hoping to find some missions to boost my capital. No dice though. Docking at the OTAS shipyard, I do however, run across an Argon Osprey for sale. I get it for a steal. Less than a hundred thousand credits. Sweet.

I consider selling it, since it'll go right away for a cool 5 million. But something tells me to stop. So instead I sell some of the excess ships I've got hanging around, except for one Nova Raider, for which I hire a pilot and have him, wait, that's a her, patrol Legend's Home. Not exactly a difficult mission, given that Legend's Home is about as dangerous as a Goner/Boron wedding ceremony. But she'll train up into a capable pilot. And perhaps later she can be moved to the Osprey.

Sailing through Black Hole Sun, looking for more Boarding Pods, I run into an abandoned P, just floating in space. Never being one to look a gift Corvette in the bow, I immediately leap out and start welding the holes closed with my repair laser, while the Mos Eisley is sent to refuel the Gunboat Diplomacy. (Swapping to the Snake in the Roid's was the reason I originally docked at the OTAS shipyard.) It arrives not long after I've crossed the 60% threshold. And I order it to fire marines. It responds that I should do something anatomically impossible with a Paranid, because it's completely out of marines. Forgot about that accident. Okay, that's fine. Snake has two, and skimming around the universe, my Manta Hauler in Aladna Hill has four, and the Express Hauler there has one. Since it's a better marine than the ones I've got, I arrange a cargo transfer and have the Manta jump to me. The Marines are moved, and the Gunboat Diplomacy does exactly that, shooting Marines across in a technically spectacular waste of pods, but soon the P is mine. I send it along to the Omicron Lyrae shipyard for further repair. I jump along after, and am instantly annoyed, err... offered a once in a lifetime opportunity to suck up to some Terran loons. For only the third? Or is it fourth time this week?

Having nothing else to do until OTAS calls back, I take the mission.

Not only does the first sector, Circle of Labor hold two pirates, but a Kha'ak cluster also shows up and attempts to ruin my day. Suffice to say, I'm not in the mood to have my day ruined, and I terminate it with extreme prejudice. Which means a Firestorm Torpedo. Yes, it's a complete waste of 80K+ credits, but 'There is no Kill, like Overkill.'

Besides, it stops it right NOW, and I can take out the two pirates without any trouble.

A handful of Xenon, an M and four N's all join the fun in Heretic's End. Fortunately, a single Silkworm reaches out and gives the M a big headache, and Wasps are sufficient to deal with the N's. Then I smash the M. No, literally, I've mentioned it before, but the Hydra has some braking problems. Such as, it apparently has none.

The Scabbard I'm... Escorting, seems to want to take credit for the fighting, despite doing nothing but running in a straight line, and having fewer weapons on board than a Goner Ranger. Finally reaching the ODS, she wants me to ask her about joining them against the Xenon. I think not. The blighted fools didn't pay me for the last mission and I'm not a fan of NOT getting paid.

Good for me that OTAS wants some assistance. Kicking it back across to Legend's Home will probably annoy the Terran's, but the idea of a Station Defense is right up my alley and since it's in Aladna Hill, I'm happy to hop over and dispose of the frustrating annoyances.

Oh, joy. They've brought a bomber. Happily for me, a single Hornet not only eliminates him from the scene of the fight, but also the gene pool, and the realm of objects larger than their component sub-atomic parts.

I get three useful bails. A Pirate Scorpion, a Pirate Buster, and Pirate Buster Hauler. Those get sent to the local Military Outpost, and I return to Legend's Home. This time, the OTAS rep wants a a taxi to the Aladna Hill PRG forge, and he wants a TP for the job.

A Express jumps in at my behest, that I might quickly fulfill his request, lest he find good reason, to protest. Seriously though, it's not a hard job, considering the Express is a fairly speedy TP. Dropping him at the PRG forge, I turn and head back for OTAS. But, as I start towards it, the realization hits that I'm not making any progress working for OTAS. I mean, sure, it's pretty easy money, but it's not really making me much progress towards doing damage to the Paranid. I think it's time to step up operations. I'll need a plan though. I'm thinking an attack on the Third Redemption shipyard is a good bet. First I'll have to get in and knockout any defenders. Dropping a couple hundred Flails should do the trick quite handily. Then I'll open up on the stations. Since I'm currently lacking a destroyer, and not exactly in the Missiles either, I'll use the Galleon as a substitute. It's not ideal, but you've got to do what you can with what you've got. I hope I can scrounge up enough Tomahawks to scrap the shipyard, or it'll sit there and pour out enemies at me. So, drop in, pop Hammers out take out any of the capitals I can see, and then dump Tomahawks until the Shipyard blows. Easy.

Right.

[wreckzors]

good stuff, also.. how can you heat steam it is practically saving PC gaming and is the only reason I own X3

[Triaxx2]

Because I'm on dial-up and trying to download 256 MB to play a new game is rather seriously annoying. Fortunately I was able to cheat the system by installing the game to my laptop and borrowing some public internet and then moving a copy of the whole folder over to my desktop.

Not fun.

[Triaxx2]

Chapter 37: Destined meeting with Vengeance.

Not quite, but close. For the moment, I'm going to boost the fighter population of the Galleon before I go in, which means it's time for some piracy, of the slightly dishonest variety. I need fighters, but just what I can harvest doesn't interest me. I'm intending to buy a core of Tenjins for my fleet, and that's not at all cheap. 5 Million a piece? Really? Sheesh. I wonder how that Vulture Miner is getting along? What do you mean you've not collected a single piece of Nividium? I dropped your ugly ass right on top of it! Argh! Does nothing work the way it's supposed to? You know what, fine, you're heading for the EQD in Argon Prime. I'm going to hire one of those prospectors I'm always hearing about. Maybe something with a brain will do a better job.

And after about two hours of waiting, I'm right. Of course he's picked up a grand total of 34 Nividium. Lovely. Oh well, at least he's doing his job. Unlike the lunatic the AI that spent almost a week doing nothing but staring at the rocks. So, no quick income there. Hmm... A little piracy goes a long way, and fortunately most of the way is around a hundred pieces of Silicon out of a Paranid mineral Transporter. Fortunately Greater Hold was hanging around in Light of Heart and it jumped in to pick up the spoils. Finding only one ship in the two hours of looking, I decided to hop to Mi Ton's refuge. Annoyingly, it's filled with a bunch of fighters. Fortunately, I'm packing quite a few missiles, and all but a couple of fighters go down in a blaze of missile fire. One of the survivors, an Elite, bails. And then I slammed into it. Grr... Two Paranid Mineral Transporters drop a bunch of silicon, and one bails. So it picks up the Silicon, and transfers it to the Greater Hold, and then de-ugly's the universe by being destroyed. Then I run across a score. A Weapons Dealer and Heavy Load Transporter. The Heavy Load bails, but the Weapons trader holds on hard, and goes down with his ship. A food transporter, which goes pirate on bailing, and is driving a Vulture, also goes down with his ship, but the two of them leave missiles and an IRE behind. The Demeter that the Heavy Load Pilot was flying is a 'Hauler XL' and I use it to pick up the Silicon that the pilot dropped, and transfer it and the Ore it's carrying to the Greater Hold. Then it too goes boom.

There's more traffic in the area, but I don't see much of interest. I'm considering dropping sats in the area, when I suddenly am inspired to another plan. I'm going to go hunting in a Paranid border sector. It's the sort of bold, daring plan that Steve would love to have.

Well, okay. Steve would do it with a massive battle fleet full of mighty warships and I'm going to do it in a single, lowly Boron Hydra.

But it's going to be awesome. Presuming of course that I don't die.

[Triaxx2]

Chapter 38: Aen't ded yet!

Deciding, wisely that jump fuel is important, I make for Perdition's End, the closest border sector. The fact that I have to travel through two Pirate Sectors to get there without wasting fuel, turns out to be a blessing in disguise. Along the way, I convince a freighter to give up a pair of Microchips and some Quantum Tubes, along with a couple of other goodies. Another ship gives up a bunch of Mosquitoes, which come in handy, because the next couple of ships I attack unleash a LOT of fighter drones but since I'm packing more than three hundred Mosquitoes, I have no trouble dispatching them. The actual freighters don't really drop that much that's terribly useful, except far more energy cells than I can carry. The Greater Hold jumps out of Moo-kye's Revenge with far more energy than it spent coming in, and makes up more than enough to leap back.

As I roll through (Sector Between Moo-kye's and Perdition's End) I slide right beneath a Split Military Raptor. I'm tempted. Gunne knows I'm tempted, but a scan reveals it's carrying not only 31 fighters, but it's fully tuned, and shielded, plus it's got the trifecta of no-no's. Advanced Firewall, Hull Polarization Device, and Internal Sentry Lasers.

There will be time for something like that, but not now, and not with those options. So I let it pass by, and slide into Perdition's end, just under the nose of a Paranid Odysseus, and roll into Perdition's End. My first victim is one of opportunity, and I ambush the food transporter just as it's approaching a station for docking. It yields it's cargo of Soja Husk, but it's Majalit, which is what I was really after goes down with the ship. A couple of military supply freighters go smoother, and I get both some more energy, as well as a bunch of Mass Driver ammo, and a couple of more Mosquitoes. All under the nose of the Ody battle group.

I also expend a firestorm torpedo to eliminate a MASSIVE Kha'ak cluster. The Paranid thank me, even though I wasn't doing it for them. I really dislike the Kha'ak. At least the Xenon make sense, but not the Kha'ak.

Some might complain about the use of the Firestorm for such an application. I have a three-fold argument for them. 1) It's much safer to blow a Cluster up from 30km than to get closer for a lesser warhead. 2) It was a big cluster and I wanted to be absolutely sure. And 3) it's much cheaper to buy another torpedo, than spend hundreds of thousands of credits replacing weapons lost because I didn't have nearly enough shields to survive the onslaught of Kyons. Deciding that I'd had enough of playing with the Paranid, I jump clear to Eighteen Billion.

Deciding that I've not had quite enough masochism for one day, I undock and slide through the gate into Xenon 347.

---

Even as fun as New Vegas is, I can't play it all the time. Unfortunately, now it's a moot point because my mouse failed. EPICALLY.

[Triaxx2]

Chapter 39: Xenon Cruisin'

347 is decidedly quiet. I'm rather surprised in fact. There are a total of two Q's and both are having inexplicably large amounts of fun terrorizing the trade lanes. I step on the gas, and slide by the first, getting out of range before it finishes off the trader it was chewing on. The second is a little more challenging. It manages to swing around for a firing solution, flinging CIG and IBL fire at me. Probably would have killed me. Fortunately, the acceleration provided by the Split Mk1 Turbo Booster, is more than sufficient to throw me both clear of the fire coming at me, as well as push me out of range. I consider playing chicken with it for a moment, then decide against it. Sliding through the north gate into Scale Plate Green, I'm suddenly hungry for more. A short hop, skip, and jump lands me in Black Hole Sun. Facing the North gate.

Do I have the giant brass orbs necessary to run through 472? Sure I do, they're hanging from my rear view camera monitor. On the other side of the gate, I see this:

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll27 ... n00066.jpg

That's a lotta firepower. Fortunately, I'm running flat out with the Turbo Booster and they haven't a hope in Merchant's Haven of catching me. I slip past the Xenon Station there, laughing as an N splatters itself on the shields and then I'm free and clear. Except for an L hiding around the other side of the station. He suddenly catches on, that I'm NOT supposed to be there, and opens up with PAC's. PAC's? Seriously? I'm sitting beneath 600MJ of shields, and you're going to attack me with PAC's? Crazy Xenon.

Since he's not alone, and thus has friends who might have other things, like PBE's, I punch the Turbo, and race towards the gate. I make it through with ease. Okay. Now it's enough. Split sectors eh? I've been through here before, but in the Amazon, way back when I started my quest. Well, I'm sat in a Boron Ship, in Split space. Obviously there's only one thing to do.

Go exploring. Pushing on to the north, through the gate I can see on my Grav, I slip into Family Njy, and then cut to the east, across Njy's Deception, and then into Family Ryk. Along the way, I'm getting offered Sector maps, which I'm taking. After all, what's the point of being here exploring if I have to do it all myself?

Family Zyarth gives me a heart attack. The south gate, which is the one I'm heading too has a Q hanging around, picking on the trade lane. Fortunately, the Viper Strike is fully fueled and looking to redeem itself after the Mi-Ton fiasco.

8 Tomahawks up the tail pipe of a Q are enough to kill it, though the camera shows that it managed to shoot one of them down. Still, it's enough to kill it, and I continue on my way. Apparently, someone has managed to lose another ship. A Demeter Hauler it turns out. It manages to make it home with one minute left on the timer. Sheesh.

Well, at least I got paid for it. The Zyarth's Dominion shipyard has a special it seems. A fully loaded Jaguar Hauler. It's a bit over priced, but that's okay. Strip the equipment, and send it on a mission of great importance. Through the south gate of Zyarth's, into Xenon 598. It's a lucky little blighter, It goes straight through a bunch of Q's and a PX and survives coming out the other side. Unscathed. Seriously? I couldn't do that.

Anyway, I slip into the Unknown east of Zyarth's Dominion, and see that it's full of... Asteroid's. Lots, and lots, of Asteroid's. How terribly exciting. So exciting I can't contain myself and Jump all the way back to Haktikvah's. I've also sold the P that I boarded the other day. 3 Million credits won't even buy one of the chip plants I need, but it's seed money. For what, I don't know. But it's seed for something.

For now, I'm moving into the center of Haktikvah's, and scanning for Paranid traffic. Meanwhile, in other news, I've purchased a Mercury that's being outfitted to haul Nividium from the Vulture Miner to a Superfreighter sitting in Cloudbase Southeast. From there I'll sell it to the shipyard. They always pay good value and the fact that I can get more Superfreighters for 'free' I can keep my profits high.

Now, to find some more freighters to... liberate.

The area is in fact surprisingly profitable. The Paranid have re-established a presence here and from the Weapons Dealers and transporters, along with a couple of opportune food transporters, and even a mineral transporter hauling both Silicon and some Ore, it's actually profitable venture.

But beyond those, the system is also playing host to a number of Military Supply transporters. So that at the end of the day, I am very much several dozen missiles and a few guns richer. It's a good feeling. So much so that as I prepare to swap to the Decadence for the night, I cannot help feeling that I've accomplished something, by hunting down and destroying those transports. It's as though I've stopped the Paranid's production, though in truth I've probably only annoyed them.

One note of less than enjoyable news: I've had to replace the Tow Wagon. The one I had was defective, and was refusing to use two of it's docking places. While they didn't exactly offer me a free replacement, I they did pay me more than the original value of the ship, which is nice. Apparently it was a system glitch, only affecting the docking ports, causing the ship to believe they were full even when empty. It's kind of a sad feeling, since it was such a good ship otherwise. I hope it's successor, the Tow Wagon II no longer faces the glitch and can redeem it's name.

Okay. Enough of the mushy stuff for now. Time to get back to the task at hand. I've decided that I cannot afford to fill the Galleon with Tenjins, but the Solano is sufficiently capable that I'm now purchasing weapons to out fit 20 of them to give the Galleon Punch enough to hold it's ground. The other five slots are going to be filled with a Falcon Hauler, two Blastclaw Prototypes and two Busters. The Falcon and BC’s are going to be Cargo Salvage and the Busters are going to be escorts for them.

I'll only need a few more guns to fill them out. On the other side, acquiring sufficient Tomahawks is proving problematic. However, given that it's a station, I suspect that firestorms will suffice as a substitute. Especially if I use enough of them.

And I think that a wing of ships, probably deployed off the Tow Wagon II armed with Wasps should help make a dent in anything that shows up to threaten the attack. Yes, good idea.

---

Pic will follow, I'm a little light on the internet because of rain this morning.

[Triaxx2]

Chapter 40: Pirating', Old School

More or less anyway. So there I am, sat in the Snake in the Roids, minding my own business, hammering away at a Paranid Military Supply Transporter, when the nastiest thing in the world shows it's face.

A freight load of MkII drones. Balls. Fortunately, this intercept was near the west gate, and I lay on the throttle, accelerating through and leaving my pursuers sucking exhaust.

Well, not really,because they don't breathe, but you get the idea.

Nopileos' Memorial is not somewhere I go very often, and not only because I don't like to engage the Xenon patrols that keep popping up out of Xenon 101 every once in a while. It's a decidedly small sector and that means there's not a lot of room to work, either to maneuver for attack position, or to defend myself from fire. It's fortunate then that I only engage one target and it's an M4 which poses precisely zero threat to me, particularly not in a fully armed and shielded Hydra.

Gliding into Danna's Chance, having decided that the pickings in Haktikvah's are too thin right now to justify the jump fuel to drop back into one of the gates not currently hosting a horde of angry fighter drones, I encounter a surprising turn of events. There is currently a Rehabilitation center here. It's rather surprising, because I definitely don't recall seeing it here before. Odd. Odder still, is the presence of not one, but two Plasma Burst Generator Forges. Of the three, only one of them is not hostile, and it's one of the two forges.

The forge is FULLY STOCKED. Score.

A little over a million credits for 10 PBG's? Why yes, I think I will spend that much. And I have to make sure they work, right? Of course I do. Fortunately, there's a Kha'ak cluster hanging around. These are some of the most dangerous enemies in the entire universe.

I don't get why, since their cluster and this one was BIG, seems to be no match what so ever for my Hydra, particularly not armed with 8 PBG's. There's quite the good feeling about using them to plow through a Kha'ak Cluster.

A totally different feeling accompanies going from plowing through a Kha'ak cluster with PBG's, to suddenly watching a very annoyed Xenon L bounce off your hull. That feeling is sheer terror. Because those things are almost never alone. PBE fire slicing into my shields informs me that my assumption is not only correct, but is going to become a very severe problem in just a couple of seconds. Good for me then that I have just the tool for the situation. TURBO BOOSTER!! I take off like a rocket, clearing PBE range and just narrowly missing crashing into the gate structure. This is not one of my better moments, and I decide that Danna's Chance is not a place I want to hang around any longer. Slipping through the midst of the Boron Hydra group that's engaged both the Xenon and Kha'ak, and is doing quite a number on them, I run for the north gate, going flat out at 147 m/s. At some point my Machinist, apparently deciding I'm insane, has left my ship, so I'm without the wonderful speed increase he provided. I am however not defenseless and the pair of N's that try to follow me take a face full of Wasp missiles. I love the smell of burning silicon in the morning.

Split Fire, is perhaps, even less enjoyable to pirate in than Nopileos' Memorial. Smaller yet and with a planet far too close for comfort there's only a couple of large rocks to hide near. There's not a lot of traffic, but a nice little Caiman captained by a Paranid piece of scum. Who is only too happy to first give up his cargo, and then his ship. He regrets it for about three seconds, which is the time it takes to line up a shot and end his miserable existence. The Decadence slides into the sector, transfers a jumpdrive and some energy and then both leap back to Light of Heart.

As this happens I'm thinking I really need a new place to put all these captured ships. The Equipment Dock is getting full, since it now holds Salvage Bucket and Hold 1-4 which are mostly Caiman's except for one which is a Vulture.

Split Trading Ports are excellent for docking large ships, having 10 docking ports. Free Argon Trading Stations can hold massive numbers of fighters, and 10 big ships, but having undocked from them once in a fighter, that's more than enough. Teladi Trading Stations can only dock 5 big ships, but have a back door fighter launch system.

Equipment Docks are a much more expensive option, being nearly 50 million credits, but they can dock two capital ships and 15 smaller ships. On the other hand, I'd need at least three to put all my capitals safely into dock. Again, though this is all long range planning. For now, I'm going to case some targets with an eye to making some captures and sales. If I can snatch a couple of Mammoths and turn them around through the Teladi, I'll have no trouble affording both my attack on Third Redemption, but also be able to put my hands on some Flail and Hammer factories. So here I go!

Not much turns up though. There are two Split Panther's running around. One has a total of two ships, one is a docked Mamba, the other is an escorting Heavy Dragon. It also already has 99% hull, so it's been in a scrap already, but it's fully shielded. On the other hand, it's also mounting some Advanced Firewall Software. It's based off the Rhonkar's Fire Military Outpost, so I can follow it with relative ease given that I've got an express hanging out there picking up marines.

The other was last sighted in Cho's though I don't know where it's based, and it might in fact not even have a homebase. It's a less inviting target for all that it's slightly under shielded. It's got three 1GJ shields, and one 200MJ shield. Why I can't figure out, but there it is. The reason it's not appealing isn't it's escort either, which consists of a single Dragon. Nor is it the six FAA that it shares in common with the first.

No, it's the Magically Marine Mincing Internal Sentry Lasers that make this one a serious no-no. And considering just how hard it was to knock the shields down on the Galleon, and keep them down, the prospect of beating down 3.2-4 GJ of shielding is not a happy prospect. Continuing along the path, towards Scale Plate, I find that PTNI Headquarters contains an Arena and Casino. The Arena has a Hull Polarization Device, and the Casino has both Internal Sentry Lasers and Advanced Firewall Software.

Bloody Greedy Teladi. They only spend money when it'll cause you to spend more. Of course it might because they heard of my Tears of Greed adventures. I get the feeling that I'm going to have serious trouble taking much but civilian TL's unless I can do one of two things. A) master the method of boarding which allows me to use flails to control the shields of a target with razor precision while also launching marines and having everything go smoothly enough that I don't cause too much damage before my trained monkeys can. Or B) I put my hands a Frigate with the shields to withstand a bit of a beating while I fry the weapons off the target. The Cerberus is supposed to be good at this, mounting Ion Disruptors everywhere...

Wait one bloody moment. I seem to recall.... why yes indeed. The Galleon does in fact mount IonD in every single slot, turret and nasal passage.

I do believe I have a plan forming. The Galleon certainly isn't a destroyer, nor is it as fast as the average Frigate, but packing a Turbo booster that shouldn't be a problem. And with both sufficiently large weapon generators, and the ability to mount flak on the side I'm not using to electrocute my target, it could well make my life a LOT easier.

The only trouble will be acquiring enough IonD's to outfit it. The few missions I picked up as I made the rounds through Split space have given me some capital to work with, and while it's not enough to put my hands on more than a single Flail Factory, it should be enough to build an IonD fab. To the price list!

10 million and change? Seriously? What do they think it's producing, pure Nividium? Sheesh.

Hmm... I wonder if the Boron happen to carry these on their TL's? After all, I suspect the blind spot on something the size of the Orca is large enough that I could slide into it and drop the shields enough for a boarding attack. I guess first I'll have to find the shipyard that sells IonD forges instead. A sat dropped in Tears of Greed tells me that the local Arena is slightly under shielded. 1025MJ.

Unfortunately, not only is there a Phoenix hanging around, as well as one in Grand Exchange, which is an almost Split level of defenses, but the Arena itself is packing Hull Polarization and Internal Sentry Lasers.

So in the spirit of the mighty Steve, I'll whistle innocently and keep moving. A plan has formed, which consists first of frustration that I'm out of energy. AGAIN. So after a quick mission to drop a sat factory in Merchant's Haven and dock at the Military Outpost for some fuel, I'm going to buy an SPP L, and food factories, so that I can set up a Crystal Fab on the Silicon mine and produce my own energy. As well as having a place to store some of my ships. Dropping Greater Hold at the Omicron Lyrae shipyard for the SPP, and then jumping in Salvage Bucket full of fuel so Greater Hold can GET to Akeela's Beacon, I notice that the local Casino is somewhat under shielded, packing a mere 825MJ of shields. OmLy is not an optimal location to do much of anything though, given the general inability to see beyond the nose of most ships.

There is, as it turns out, a slight difficulty with the SPP L in the fact that the closest Crystals are in Thuruk's Beard. And I don't happen have enough cash to put up a Crystal Fab just yet.

No matter. I'll repurpose the Silicon CLS to deliver silicon to the Crystal Fab, and then bring crystals to the SPP, and energy to the Silicon mine.

Of course it then reminds me that there's a Crystal Fab in Legend's Home. Figures.

Which means I need to buy a Mistral to pick up the crystals and energy. Which means that I need more money to buy the factories.

Which means I'm going to take these two missions. One is to patrol Light of Heart for Xenon, the other is to protect a Cahoona Bakery. The Pirates brought their A-game, including two M8's. Of course, it might have been more effective had either one been carrying even a single Tomahawk...

The Xenon show up with two waves of fighters, and one of them is headed by a P, which amuses itself by attacking and forcing to bail, one of the Arena's hanging around. I take it out, while the Gunboat Diplomacy jumps in and dispenses diplomacy in the form of four barrages of Flail missiles. That done, it's time to turn my attention to the Mammoth. It's not precisely what I was thinking about, but when something drops into your hands, you don't look too closely at it's source, you just fill it with marines.

Which I consider for several seconds, then send those aboard the Gunboat for a little more training. Few things are more embarrassing than having your marines bounce off the hull of an abandoned ship. Showing up for your graduation ceremony wearing nothing but your hat for one. Good thing I'm a clone that didn't have to go through that sort of thing.

No matter, while they're busy getting a lesson in hole making, I'm going to make myself useful and weld shut some of the ones already in it, so that the marines have something to capture. Since the majority of the holes being closed leaves the ship at 80%, there's not too much to do except to wait until the Marines are ready to land and scrape all the gooey bits left from the decompression that occurred when the airlocks ventilated. It's never a pretty sight, since usually the crews have bailed out AFTER the life support systems have failed.

It's not a sight I like, having been on a couple of ships being used for prisoner transport and finding leftover... bits. I don't go on to TP's until they've had a thorough cleaning. Fortunately I have some things I can do while I'm waiting for the instructors to finish screaming the ear drums out of them.

First is checking in on my... wow. That's a lot of energy. I think I might need to set up a CAG to discharge some of that. Or possibly two CAG's. Ideally I'd like to set them up in some 'acquired' bombers, for speed and defensive purposes, but freighters work just as well. A pair of Mistral SF's might be nice, but I'm trying really hard to save money. So I think I might just move the goods from the various holds into the Great Hold, and use two of them as fast freighters. 6 m/s and 500 units of cargo space shouldn't cause that much difficulty. I hope.

Though... I do have a couple of other options. I've been collecting freighters as I move, mostly abandoned by... well, just about everyone, I think I'll sort through and see what I can come up with that's not in too bad shape. For some reason I cannot quite explain, I seem to have an over abundance of Mercury SFXL's, though why they seem to survive being attacked more often than other variants, I'm not really sure. This isn't to say that they're really in... spaceworthy condition mind you. Oh, they'll fly. Though most pilots take one look and demand an EVA suit to wear while flying them.

Of course that I'm only too happy to provide, so long as they shut up and start flying. Usually they'll take themselves on to a shipyard after they've made some cash. They then refuse to fly until I repair the ships. Naturally there's only one option.

Fire them.

No, kidding. Usually they've made enough that I can repair them. So I go ahead and repair them, and then move them along. Ninety-nine percent of the time, they're only too happy.

Hmm.. hey, my A-crew is in the Military Outpost, but I've got a B, or perhaps C-crew hanging out on the Decadence doing nothing but running up an astronomical pornography bill. Time to put them to work doing something useful.

Success, despite what Steve would call a crew of complete numpties. 13 out of 20 survivors. From what the squad leader, a some what severely scarred Split tells me, six of those seven were the big porn consumers. Guess it is bad for your health. Of course, having the job of cutting through automated defenses is pretty unhealthy anyway.

Number seven apparently had a problem with decompression. As in he decompressed, as a result of having a large saw arm in the repair shop chop a hole in his combat suit and EVA system.

But the end result is that I am one Mammoth richer.

Given Mahi Ma's tendency to want large numbers of rare equipment, I think I'll keep this Mammoth. Get some fighters to arm it and use it as a delivery vehicle. If I ever get the bloody Microchips he wants.

For now, it's limping it's way to the shipyard in Light of Heart. I suspect that if I got out and pushed, it might go faster, having a total of 33% hull left. Oh well, dirty thieves can't be choosers. Besides, hull doesn't have anything to do with Cargo Capacity.

Gravity on the other hand... that is of course the reason that I'm letting the auto-pilot fly, rather than running it myself.

---

I know, I've been skipping asset lists. Mostly it's because I'm too lazy to bother, but also because I'm playing 5-6 segments ahead of the story so by the time I remember to actually do one, I'm well past that point. I'll try and do an asset list for the latest chapter before I move on. That's 45 so...

[Scion Drakhar]

Just caught up. Bravo.

[Triaxx2]

Thank you. Where'd you catch up from? I still don't quite have the hang of boarding, but I'm getting better at it.

Of course it helps when you're engaging under armed and undershielded targets.

[Scion Drakhar]

I get kind of iron sited on 'From Nothing' so it's been a while, most of page 5. I'd be happy to give you some tips on boarding. In exchange I'd love to ask some questions about CODEA and the CLS software as well as the use of TL's. It seems to me that you're very skilled with them.

[Triaxx2]

I'm definitely happy to exchange tips for questions. Mostly I have time to think things through because at the moment I'm unemployed, so I have much free time on my hands. Ask away.

[Scion Drakhar]

Okay, high fight stats are great for survival. Even more than that, though, you want numbers. Literally stuff as many marines aboard a target as possible. The more the merrier, in that they'll still be breathing ... a prerequisite to being merry. The only downside is that unless they have decent engineering stats more marines means more damage.

Next, think training. You keep mentioning your guys bouncing off the ships. In order to enter a corvette or TM marines should have at least two stars in mechanical. To even have a chance of getting into a capital ship, including frigates and TLs, they need at least three stars even with boarding pods, and obviously the higher the stats the better. In order to beat Hull Polarization you'll want five stars, ideally 100/100. Similar rules for hacking and Advanced Firewalls. High engineering stats mean you have more ship and more goodies left when the troops are done with the whole shock and awe thing. Personally if you're capturing wrecks I wouldn't use pods. Just EVA 'em over. But that's just my two cents.

er... I think that's it for now. Feel free to ask any questions. I'm going to be.

[Triaxx2]

The trouble I've found with high fight stats is getting them to survive long enough to raise those stats. And numbers are great, if I can get the M7M to fire them all at once.

I find that there's a point even in three stars where you've got to be above it. It's like plus the halfway point to four stars. I tend to train Mechanical first, since the rest of it doesn't matter if they can't get in.

Capital Hulls seem to require pods even if they are wrecks. It's got to do with the length and collision mechanics. TP's won't get to distance before they veer off to avoid crashing.

I picked up a Tiger, or will pick up in a couple of chapters, and had to move in and take some FAA on the chin in order to keep it from blowing up pods. I was IonDing it, but it was causing lots of hull damage, but not burning anything off.