Lar Golo and his ruthless Fishborne Pirates [DiD] (Chapter XVIII up, game finished)

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RyuKazuha
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Lar Golo and his ruthless Fishborne Pirates [DiD] (Chapter XVIII up, game finished)

Post by RyuKazuha » Sun, 7. Mar 10, 01:17

Index

Chapters:
Prologue
I Sow the wind...
II Grand Theft Scout
III Pirate Alley, here we come!
IV Blasto's Fate
V A Feast for the Crows
VI Azula
VII Doors
VIII Hi Jack
IX Steamrolling
X Breakthrough
XI Lar Golo's Joy
XII Sadness and Sorrow
XIII Duck and Cover
XIV Below the Rader
XV Resurface
XVI New World
XVII Sol
XVIII Phantom Menace

Other:
A little Q&A on Evy



Setup:
X3:TC 2.6 modified

Start:
Boring Boron

Scripts:
[Cadius]
Xtra Ship and Station Pack
[Cycrow]
Advanced Navigation Software
Improved Boarding
Move To Coordinates
Station Camper
Emergency Transporter Extension
[ThisIsHarsh]
NPC Bailing Addon
Salvage Commands & NPCs
[Teladidrone]
Marauder Shipyard

Rules:
- DiD
- only save at stations
- only sell pirated wares or illegal goods
- all non-boron Ships need a extended Life Support System (CLS installed) in order to allow Golo to fly them for over an hour
- no RL-use on Capital Ships
- M6, M7, TL, M2 and M1 have to be boarded with Marines

Goals:
- assemble a crew (Mechanic/Engineer/Hacker/Rowdy)
- aquire a Boron Angel as Private Yacht
- steal a TL
- get access to Terra
- rule the world

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Prologue]

[Operation: file_open #registry]
...
>access denied<
[Operation: file_open #registry +auth]
...
>enter password<
[1928332/3x]
...
...
...
>access granted<
>File: #registry
>SHIP-ID: BM5QM-73<
>OWNER: Nala Fi<
>IFF: boron<

[Operation: Delete]
...
>access denied<
[Operation: Delete +auth]
...
>enter password<
[1928332/3x]
...
...
...
>access denied<
[Operation: Delete +auth]
...
>enter password<
[286-4597/x1]
...
...
...
>access granted<
>WARNING: OPERATION CRITICAL<
>proceed? Y/N<

[Y]
...
>#registry deleted]
>WARNING: CRITICAL ERROR DETECTED<
>reboot<

...
...
...
>ERROR: file not found #registry<
>file recovery #registry<
>file recovery failed<
>ERROR: file not found #registry<

[Operation: create #registry]
...
>create #registry<
>SHIP-ID?<

[YM5J-82]
...
>Owner?<
[Lar Golo]
...
>IFF?<
[boron]
...
>File: #registry<
>SHIP-ID: YM5J-82<
>OWNER: Lar Golo<
>IFF: boron<

[Operation: reboot]
...
>reboot<[/color]

[Audio Log]
Ehr... hey there

My name is Lar Golo and as the name suggests, I'm a member of the borons third sex. Despite the fact, that I've various degrees in all important areas of science, nobody wants to acknowledge me. But I don't care, because I have a goal.

I will become renown as a mighty King of Pirates! Yes, I will become pirate king one day and I already stole my first ship!

I dont want to interrupt you, Golo, but you didn't steal this thing, you found it on the scrapyard.

Ehr... well, okay, I found it, but it was still assigned to another pilot so... whatever. Where did I stop?

You said you wanted to become pirate king.

Yes, that's correct. By the way, this cute voice is Evy, an AS and I programmed her.

I wasn't intended to become sentient.

She'll help me on my way to fulfill my dream.

As if i had a choice...

Shut up! You ruin my legacy! Someday kids all over the Commonwealth will strive to become free souls in the ocean of stars! Don't make them laugh at me.

Don't make it so easy.

I said SHUT UP.
[End Audio Log]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

End one, start the next, sometimes I think I might be a bit addicted to this game. But whatever...

Since All-In Company got to end before I even got my first personal kill and was basicly a pure economic game, I'll this time start more of a fighting oriented game.
You already got to know two of the main characters, Golo, a highly intelligent but rather clumsy boron Lar and Evy an AS (Artificial Sentience) he created by accident and who likes to pick on him.

All-In Company was a "pure" log based DiD, this time I'm not quite sure wich form of presentation I'll choose in the end. Audio logs like the one above will occur, the most will be more of a narrative. Maybe switching between Golos and Evy's first person view, maybe plain as 3rd-person narrator.

I don't know if there will be a join-in-component when Golo assembles his crew now, I think I'll base that on the feedback I might get until then.

I'm open to any kind of suggestions concerning new rules, scripts or goals for the Fishborne Pirates. ;)
Last edited by RyuKazuha on Tue, 8. Jun 10, 23:17, edited 34 times in total.

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Post by Rednoahl » Sun, 7. Mar 10, 11:11

I could be wrong, but I think the only ship where Lar can be comfortable is an Angel (which could lead to some interesting situations for character development if you include it.)

It might add some weight to your character if the only ships you could fly personally were Boron due to the special requirements Lar need not being on other races ships.

Good Luck

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Post by RyuKazuha » Sun, 7. Mar 10, 12:00

I'd doubt Lar can only be comfortable on a Angel, since the Angel Class was only constructed recently and Lar existed long before that. Also, the "boring boron" introduces you as a Lar not used to the lifestyle of the royal family and not part of the government, what I included in the conception of Golo.

But I'll include, that he wants to have an angel for himself, just as a symbol of status. A pirate King without such a TP would be indeed not worth the title. :3

As for the 2nd suggestion:

I'll add a rule regulating that. I don't like to disclaim other races ships, but special life support sure is an issue.

Thx.

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Post by RyuKazuha » Sun, 7. Mar 10, 13:44

[Capter I]
Sow the wind...

It was the first time in Golo's life, that he left his hometown, water and the planet he had belonged to for several decades. His spacesuit felt uncomfortable, fitting tight around the typically bellied figure of his body, and since he wasn't able to afford the fee for boarding the Orcas Passenger Decks, our hero had to wait pent-up in his "stolen M5" and was unable to see anything other than the shiny Angel-Class TP docked right in front of his not-so-shiny old rag of an M5.
"That's not fair." he snarled suddenly, causing Evy to notice his mental status as upset. Ever since his application for civil service had been rejected by the competent authority several months ago, Golo held a deep grudge against everything in connection with the boron government and the royal family. As a Lar, Golo thought of serving the Kingdom to be his right and duty. Rejected, he now considered himself cheated of his rightful position - and the associated life style.

"This ship has 100MJ of shields. Shall I calculate your chances to harm it with Blasto?" the AS asked kindly, but clearly ironic. The "Blasto" was completely unarmed and it's engines were running even below the average of their potential. Even ramming the Angel at full speed wouldn't have done anything to it's shields, but severely damaged Blasto itself. "No need." Golo replied with a sinister undertone. "We've time."

The Orca broke free of Nishala's atmosphere after about half an hour after leaving the planetary ocean and opened the massive doors of the docking bay's.
Moments later, about a dozen of small civilian fighter craft left the ship, followed by several Shuttle Services' TPs and even a couple of Dolphins. The "Blasto" was among the last ships to leave the Orca, mostly due to Golo's lacking skills in steering the ship.

"I recommend you take some flying lessons. There's a Instructor nearby." Golo stared icily at the monitor, where the face of a cute female boron represented "Evy". "Yes you need them." she answered, before the question was asked. "At the moment, I'm a way better helmsman than you'd be." Another snarl left Golo's mouth, before he told his AS to steer the ship to the instructor.

Several hours later, the crash course was considered complete, while it was not. Without even the smallest gun on his ship, Golo was unable to proceed within the plans of his instructor and had to take his leave. With only 2000 Credits at hand, he needed to make money, fast. The Boron quickly scanned the channels for public offerings.

"Found something! A request to return an derelict Iguana. I'll steal it!" Before Evy was able to intervene, the Lar already accepted the mission and steered towards the nearest gate. "If you try to steal it, the police will be after you." she remembered him, but Golo was content with his decision. "We've enough time to get it to a shipyard and sell the problem to someone. Or do you think I let go of the ships worth and take this puny reward instead?" A chackering giggle filled the ship. "No, I think you're lucky if you even reach the ship before the time runs out. We've only got 30 Minutes to get the ship from Atreus' Clouds and back to Kingdom End. My database lists the average speed of such a ship at ..." "Cut it. We don't need to return, we'll just get it to the nearest shipyard and take the money." "The nearest shipyard I know of, is located in Kingdom End as well."

At the end, Evy was once more the one with the better judgement. While Golo was able to retrieve the ship, there was no way to get into safety before a wolf pack of police ships made quick work of it.
The next assignment turned out better. A boron from Atreus' Clouds wanted our hero to retrieve a Octopus Vanguard from Antigone Memorial. This time, he was able to get the ship to it's destination way before the time expired. Of course, it's destination wasn't the owner, but the Shipyard in Kingdom End.

"It seems your actions have been noticed. We've lost access to most wares, including all kinds of shielding and weaponry." "What, why?" "They accuse you of theft of two spacecrafts. Given your low notoriety, this is obviously enough to do so."
Golo sighed and undocked from the shipyard. The ship turned aimlessly west and accelerated to about half of its top speed. "If I can't buy weapons, I'll sit in this can forever. So what do we do about this..." "I recommend you actually help a member of the kingdom." Golo shook his head. "Be quite, I need to think."
Was there a way to gain the trust of someone, without doing something? The only way would be to trick him into believing you actually did something. The public channels offered some assignments for scanning asteroids, contracts to retrieve stolen ships, even assassinations, all of them not suitable for his ships outfit and his abilities. Without proper references, he'd not be able to fake 'roid-data, and killing someone or capping a ship wasn't possible with an unarmed M5.
"I receive a distress call from BHAPD-49." Golo raised his head to open the sector map. "What do they want." "They call for assistance against a incoming pirate raid. Promising everyone who wants to help them 743 Credits." A raid? They'd come from the gate near to the station. And come across a shark half way through. "We'll help them." "We are not armed." "I know, but they won't unless you tell them, just do what I said." Golo's grip around the control column tightened the moment he turned the ship into the direction of the shark. "Transmitted. They have accepted the offer. But how do you intend to do anything?" The boron smiled. "I don't need to. I'll just pretend to do something and wait for this shark to finish the pirates of." "I don't understand." "Nor do you, neither do I want you to."

"Blasto" quickly closed the distance to the shark. Golo contacted the ship via the short range intercom "This is YM5J-82 to Military Shark. We've some pirates tailing us. Would you lend us a gun?" "We don't mind some target practice YM5J-82." "Thanks, I'll transmit target data." "Data received, targets confirmed, leave the rest to us." "I'll stay back and watch." Golo giggled and stopped his ship in the shadow of the Carrier. With a content smile, he watched the first volleys of photon pulses being fired at the incoming swarm of M5.
Of course it didn't hit the fast fighters and it also didn't made the incoming ships alter their direction the slightest. They kept going until they closed the distance just under two kilometers, before the Shark brought it's Flak to bearing and turned the whole lot of them into dust with the first volley.

"You received a message. It seems, the principal is content with your 'work'. We've been payed according to the proposition." Evy wondered. Golo hadn't done anything and still got payed. "Why didn't they just contacted the authorities themselves?" she asked. Golo just gave it a shrug. "Don't care. Do we have access to buy IREs now?" "Yes." "Okay then, let's get us some upgrades and weapons."

A few minutes later, the Blasto had docked at the nearby Military Outpost to get it's rudders and engines tuned to about half of the maximum, leaving just enough money to top it off with a single IRE.


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Post by X1000 » Mon, 8. Mar 10, 18:50

I need more. :)

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Post by RyuKazuha » Mon, 8. Mar 10, 23:50

[Chapter II]
Grand Theft Scout

"I'd prefer to stick to the normal docking procedures." Golo ignored the AS steering the Ship right to the entrance of the docking bay. "Dock requested. Permission granted." Evy sighed. Golo dived into the stream of ships docking and undocking to and from the Military base, much to the discontent of the other pilots. "We got multiple transmissions containing foul language." His increasingly scarce attempts to dodge didn't seem to bother the Lar in the slightest, until he nudged another M5. "Muddy Boron! Pay attention you squid!" At last, decreasing the speed, Golo managed to dock the ship with only a small scratch. "Well done..." "Quite. We need some engine and rudder tunings, and some weapons." "We can't afford both." "Balance it." "Tuning the ship to 350m/s and a usefull turning speed would leave us with merely enough cash to purchase one Impulse Ray Emitter." "Order them, I'll buy some food in the meantime. Contact me, when they are done." "Certainly."

The moment Golo left the ship, he felt relieved. "Blasto" served him good, but he was sure he'd need something bigger to take on his plans. A single IRE was an onset, but still nothing serious.
Swimming trough the station, breathing the fresh atmosphere thousand times better than that created by the small ships life support system, he made his way to shopping decks to buy some BoFu on the market. It wasn't his favorite food in any way, but long-living and easy to store even in the confined space provided by the Octopus.
After the shopping was done, our hero headed to one of the observation decks, to enjoy the view on the blue pearl named Nishalla. A pearl, He'd never again set tentacle on, until he'd have reached his goal.

"The tuning is finished and the IRE was installed. The ship is ready to set out." "Set the ship to standby. I'm already on my way."

Two hours after a rather harsh docking and still slightly dented, the "Blasto" left the military outpost and headed aimlessly into the sector. "We need something to test the weapons on." Golo decided and looked at the gravidar. A bypassing civilian octopus seemed suited well enough for target practice. Golo accelerated to top speed and again made his first move, before Evy realised what he was up to.
The first volley however failed to hit the target and passed a couple of dozen meters starboard of it into the void. "Damn, I can't aim with this." "I'm glad you fired at this ship, in the middle of the Kingdom surrounded by police forces in all directions, ON PURPOSE. Not to think what trouble some inadvertent hits might have caused." "Don't be picky. Help me target." "I'm not designed to take control of the ships weapons. I could calculate the necessary vectors and draw a reticule though. Still, I do not recommend attacking boron ships in boron space." "Whatever, just draw the reticule."
And she did. On the second go, a stream of impulse rays hit the targeted ship and ate good four fifth of the shields. On the next attack the shields broke and the pilot bailed without even being able to alarm the police in the process. Golo smiled, steering the ship next to the abandoned one, while the pilot crawled away.
"Are you able to take control of the ship?" "I cannot access the ship through any of the open channels. But if you open a port manually, I could be able to access and overwrite all necessary functions." "So a spacewalk it is. Eject me."
5 Minutes later, the ship changed to the ownership of Golo, just when he reentered his ship. And much to his content, there was something useful left on the ship:

[ external image ]

"A freight scanner. How convenient." The boron grinned and steered the "Blasto" away from the other ship, to make sure they wouldn't collide. "Send the ship to the shipyard and follow it." "A 'please' would be appreciated." Despite not getting it, Evy obeyed the command and piloted both ships safely to the shipyards docking clamps. Soon after, the booty was sold and the freight scanner incorporated into the "Blasto" enhancing Evy's "senses" further.

Golo was already out for the next coup, but this time, he considered Evy's objection about the local police forces and set course to course to Rolk's Drift after the purchase of three more IREs at the Military Outpost.
Upon entrance, Evy had to filter the public channels for salvage requests and found one without problems. A Octopus had been left in Kingdom End for no reason. "Blasto" made a 180° turn and headed right back into the gate it came out of just one and a half minute ago. According to Golos plans the ship was claimed and repaired, since there was only a burned power coupling, and afterwards sold at the shipyard. Another easy 30.000.

"We are no longer allowed to purchase weaponry of any kind." "Again?" "I would recommend to proceed without involving boron property." Golo gnarled, but he had to admit Evy was right. He would need money and sufficient notoriety to purchase a better ship, so it wasn't a good idea to tick off his people to much.
Considered and decided, the "Blasto" turned it's back to boron space and proceeded to Argon Territory to seek new opportunities. It was not until Argon Prime, that our hero ran into another salvage request, sending him to emperor mines. Following the direction, he visited home of light and reached Ore Belt after a couple of minutes flight.
"Proximity Warning. Hostile M5. IFF Paranid." The boron targeted the ship. It didn't seem to have any hostilities towards them in mind, but that wasn't based on mutuality. "It's legal to attack paranid ships in argon space.""It's even appreciated." Evy corrected. "I don't see any particular dangerous freight. Only two IRE are installed." Golos Eyes turned inwards for a moment. "Let's get him."
On the third go, the fighter finally turned into a flashing fireball, leaving nothing behind but an improved reputation for the Argon.

Then the "great theft" began. The Octopus Vanguard in Emperor Mines was secured first. Second was a Harrier Sentinel, left in Herrons Nebula by a Worker from Ringo Moon and a Pegasus Raider abandoned in the Hole by a Miner from Herron's Nebula.

Upon returning to Herron's Nebula, a Vulture crossed Golos Path, owned by a member of the paranid race. "Evy, give me a scan on that one." "A single IRE. Four Drones. No cargo aside from that. I do not recommend attacking." Golo shrugged off his AS judgement like he was used to. Four drones and a IRE, just what Blasto would be able to handle.
Weapons blazing he approached the vulture from the the side and made a slight turn towards the nose of the freighter. After passing the ship making some distance, he performed a full turn and repeated the whole maneuver. "Leave your ship and I'll spare your life you pitiful Priest!" "Don't dare to attack me, Lowlife! You'll pay for this insult!" "Force me." "He launched the drones." Golo laughed it off and had Evy to target the drones, one after another. "Shields down to 50%." The first two drones exploded, another full turn brought the ship to face the third. "Shields down to 5%" Only one of the bees was now left, but it turned out way more elusive than its comrades. Soon, the first shots burned the hull of the Octopus chasing it, but Golo managed to keep his cool. "Evy, reverse thrust in 3 Seconds." "3,2,1." The ship was suddenly stopped, causing the drone to crash right into it, in the blink of an eye the cockpit turned red with warnings lights flashing on almost every panel.
"Okay... that wasn't the way I planned it, but I guess it... worked..." The warning lights shut down. "We've lost no vital systems, but hull integrity is under 50%." Golo smashed his tentacle on the eject button. "I'll mend the dents, make sure you keep track of that vulture."

Swinging his repair laser like crazy, our hero managed to put his ship back into a more reasonable shape and reentered it after only a couple of minutes, with the vulture still in sector.
Shouting "Pray my prey!" at the Paranid, Golo harrased his target once more and kept up until the enemy finally realized, that bailing would be the better option, leaving our hero to claim the next ship, before escorting it into the safety of Kingdom's Ends Shipyard and selling it along with the other stolen ships.

"How are things going?" Golo asked, undocking from the Equipment Dock. Selling all the ships made a lot of money, but upgrading the Octopus to the maximun munched away a good portion of the profits. "We still haven't the money nor the notoriety to afford an M4 as you wanted to." As expected by the boron. Selling Ships and spending money at the EQ raised his notoriety with the kingdom, but there was more to do.
The Gate to Rolk's Drift was passed and like the last time a salvage request popped up in the public channels. A time limit in the hours and the ship was located in Kingdom End. "Take it. I wonder if I will ever again enter that sector more than 5 kilometers..." The ship turned and sped back through the gate and to Kingdom End to recover the damaged Harrier.
"There go our 30.000 Credits..." lamented Golo, when Evy programmed the Ship to return to its Owner. "The gain in reputation is worth a lot more. I already found and confirmed another assignment. The target is floating idle in The Hole." "I didn't allow you to take assignments yourself!" "You didn't forbade it either. Besides, to the timing being you took every single mission containing these parameters." Golo hit the "I don't care, just shut up"- button (he actually prepared one after Evy ruined his legacy). "Alright, alright I got it. You took the mission, you always wanted to fly, fine with me, I'll take a nap until we are there."

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Post by RyuKazuha » Tue, 9. Mar 10, 02:41

A little Q&A on Evy:

Q: What is Evy?
A: Evy is an Artificial Sentience.

Q: What does AS mean?
A: Artificial Sentients (AS) is used to refer to non-natural entities who are self-aware. There are two possible types of AS:
Top-down would refer to AS such as Evy, created by Sentient Beingins to be Sentient (although Evy became what she is unintentionally, she is still programmed to be)
Bottom-up would refer to an AS such as |01| from eldyranx' "The first Question", AGI that developed sentience by enhancing their programming.

Q: Wheres the difference between AI, AGI and AS?
A: AIs are basically programs that are able to solve problems in non-linear ways. You give them a task, they figure out how to do it and do it.
AGI are basically AIs that are allowed to alter and improve their basic programming. They are able to learn and develop themselves beyond their original means.
AS are either AI or AGI who became self-aware.

Q: Who created Evy?
A: Lar Golo. He wanted to create an AI to help him handle a research project. A coding error led to Evy becoming self-aware.

Q: Is Evy bound to the ships computer?
A: No. Evy's core functions are processed by a portable quantum computer. She is able to access all of the ships functions and make it her body, but she's not bound to the ship.

Q: Is Evy able to travel through the communication networks?
A: Nope. Evy is not allowed to alter or copy her core data, so she can't "leave" the computer she's running on. She is able to use the ExtraNet in any way a normal sentient being would be able to do though, as long as she's connected.

Q: Is Evy mortal?
A: In a sense, yes. Destroying her Core Data one way or another would kill her definitely and instantly. Altering Core Data and altering/or deleting her memories would probably change her personality significantly an somewhat "kill" the Evy known to us. But as long as her data is preserved, she can't really die.

Q: Wich programming language was used to create Evy?
A: Maybe Python. :P But I guess it was more likely a boron one.

Q: How does she look like?
A: Like a hot, sexy chick of course. A boron one though.
Last edited by RyuKazuha on Tue, 9. Mar 10, 10:52, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by X1000 » Tue, 9. Mar 10, 05:27

RyuKazuha wrote:
Q: How does she look like?
A: Like a hot, sexy chick of course. A boron one though.
Is there any other kind?

:oops: :arrow: :boron:

(EDIT: Also, can you add an asset list at the end of each chapter? Hard to keep track of all those capped ships. :P )

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Post by RyuKazuha » Tue, 9. Mar 10, 10:48

I will add one as soon as Golo keeps more than "Blasto". Until now he sold every of the ships or returned it to its owner, so there's not really a reason to list them as assets.

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Post by eldyranx3 » Tue, 9. Mar 10, 15:34

The only suggestion I can think of is to make a new paragraph each time someone speaks. The colored text is great, but sometimes the block of text gets long. Example:
RyuKazuha wrote:"Well done..."

"Quite. We need some engine and rudder tunings, and some weapons."

"We can't afford both."

"Balance it."

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Post by RyuKazuha » Tue, 9. Mar 10, 21:14

@eldyranx3: I don't really feel comfortable about ripping the text apart like that, so I'm afraid I won't change it, until it is requested by a number of readers. But thanks.
------------------------------------------------------------

[Chapter III]
Pirate Alley, here we come!

The "Blasto" flew at half of its max speed through Antigone Memorial. The Ship from The Hole had been recovered and Golos thoughts oscillated between returning to boron space to take on several more missions to gain the needed notoriety with his Kingdom to purchase a better ship.
Evy was the one to give him a direction. "The local EQ-Dock sells many things to enhance the ships capacity. Your attacks on the Paranid have improved our reputation, we should make use of it." Golo nodded and allowed the AS to dock the ship, unwilling to risk another scratch. In open space he'd proven to be a rather good pilot, but maneuvering in confined space just wasn't his thing, as the boron had to admit.

The list of purchases wasn't long, but it brought major improvements. A duplex scanner probably brought the most joy to Evy, since she had nagged about Blasto's sensors being less helpful than the visuals from the kameras for a while, especially when crossing nebulae.
The Fight Command Software Mk1, Special Command Software, a Mineral Scanner and a Trade Computer completed the list.

"How do you feel?" "Great. The galaxy feels a lot more alive now." The boron could tell Evy was overjoy just from the way her voice changed.
"The Scanner Range doubled and I am able to latch into any of the local trade networks." Golo leaned back and initiated the undocking sequence. "Sounds useful." "It is. But I think you'll like this one better: With the Fight Software upgrade, I'll be able to actively assist you in aiming." "Good to know. Is there something in the public channels? I'd like to get the money back in." "Yes, a salvage request, Harrier, Atreus Clouds." "We take it." A split messenger passed by and was noticed easily on the new scanner. "And show me a bit of your aiming assistance..."

Two quick runs later, the messenger was dust. Golo somehow felt obligated to praise his AS a little. "Not half bad." The little picture on the screen turned its eyes inside. "Thanks. By the Way, someone is offering star charts for sectors we've none." she replied. The boron nodded and told Evy to buy the charts, adding Elena's fortune, Cloud Base South East and Slit Fire to the Ships Data base, along with some improvements on the map of Herron's Nebula.

I found two fact's tha i think might interest you." Golo turned eyes to the screen. Evy's animated representation was gone to make room for the galaxy map. Split Fire was framed by a flashing cursor. "Slit Fire is mentioned to be one of half a dozen of sectors belonging to a route nicknamed pirate alley." The cursor changed position to Herron's nebula, opening the sector map short after, showing one of the factories indicated by the update. "And Herron's Nebula Contains a Space Fuel Distillery." "Space Fuel is illegal in the most parts of the commonwealth." "And therefore pretty valuable. Ever since the practical prohibition was put into place, pirates made a fortune smuggling it." "I know what you want to say, fine, let's head for Herron's Nebula, let's see if we can find something."

They couldn't. At least there was no place to sell the ware with a reasonable amount of profit to justify the risk, so the Blasto headed out of Argon Territory to claim the ship in Atreus' Clouds.
With the help of the local police forces, a lot of fog and some dumb pirates, Golo managed to "protect" two stations in Atreus' Clouds and Rolk's Fate, pushing his reputation with the kingdom even beyond the needed.

After that, our hero decided to proceed south to Elena's Fortune an into the "legendary" systems known as "Pirate Alley". Along the way, another poor messenger, this time associated with the paranid, met his end in several volleys of IRE-fire.

Exiting the gate into Brennan's Triumph, Golo fired the engines of his M5 and steered towards the systems main trade lane. Most traffic crossed the sector from the north to the south or in reverse.
The pirate station "Outlaws Haven" was located about ten kilometers to the east of the sectors center, stating clearly who was in charge of the area.
"Quite a busy place." Golo wondered and set course for the pirate base. "If the traders frequent these systems like this despite of the ongoing raids, it sure has to be a important route." It was. Connecting the most races core spaces with each other, the lawless systems of pirate alley where very much worth to risk trouble for the sake of time saved. Especially to the Paranid it was important, being the only connection to their allies' core system and the only way to boron territory without passing argon space.
But also as a viable connection to the "new world", the eastern colonies.

Golo docked to the pirate Station and got himself out of the can called "Blasto" leaving Evy behind to watch of the upgrades he ordered, before he left the ship. An additional life support system, capable of making even the cargo bay inhabitable and enhancing the ships standard LS to make it less unpleasant.
The boron floated into a bar next to the hangar bay's and took a seat at the bar. "Hey there squid, whad'ya want?" "I..." "Froged id, we've only fuel anyways, here ya go." "Ehr, thanks." "Ehr? Pirates don't 'ehr', pirates 'har'. Wanna be a pirate, then har. Har." "What?" "It's 'What? Har." "What har?" "This! Har!" At this very moment, Golo experienced for the first time, what could be named total confusion.
"Don'd ya mind him. Da old man likes do confuse da rookies." The human bartender said with a face spanning grin and a wink. "Don'd ya?" "Har!"

Golo let his view wander around the room. He was the only boron in a colored mass of Split, Humans and Paranid, some clearly Pirates, some more like smugglers. Even a lonesome goner staring into a half filled pint of fuel.

"Who's in charge of this place?" he asked the bartender. "Azula-hime id is. Don'd call her Amazon Lily for no reason. Leading da Blue Fire Clan for a decade now an' no sign of retiremend yed." The boron grabbed his glass and took a quencher. "Do I have to report to anyone, if I want to do business around here?" he asked afterwards. The bartender laughed him off. "Ya in da free secdors now, no repord do anybody. Jusd sdick with da rules and ya welcome." "Wich rules?"
"Ya sure are a rookie aren'd ya? Okay, lis'en: Dhere are dhree rules ya wan'd do follow:

1. Don'd ya f*ck with Azula, or she'll f*ck you up da ass. And nod in da good way.

2. Don'd ya pick a fighd on da station.

3. Don'd ya expecd any help if ya ged in a fighd.

If ya condend widh dhad, ya not gonna be in trouble ya don'd wand do. Bud id wouldn'd be half bad if ya do some jobs for da local clans. Makes dhem more unlikely do pick on ya."


Golo nodded and emptied his drink. Right in time. "The new Life Support is installed." Evy commed. "On my way. Here's your money guy, thanks for the info." "Don'd ya mention, rookie. May da wind fill your sails."

"Blasto" undocked from the pirate station and made his way along the trade lane. Soon the first opportunity popped up: a paranid weapons dealer was attacked by a wolf pack of Blastclaws. It launched a full load of drones and got the pirates distracted, but unarmed and with only it's two Pegasus escorts left, it posed a good target for Golo.
"Let's do this." Blasto sped forward and evy targeted the first Pegasus escort. As soon as he was in range, Golo unloaded the IREs into the enemies shields and scared not only the crap out of the pilot, but also the priest out of his ship.
The second was more persistent, mainly because he was in a better position than his mate, when the fight began. Golo turned the ship and brought is weapons to bearing, but wasn't able to take out the shields on the first go.
Still not used to high speed dock fighting, Golo told Evy to handle the shooting and concentrated on steering the ship into the right position without giving up the advantage in speed for a single moment. As soon as his hull dropped under 50%, the second priest bailed his ship, leaving only the dolphin with the weapons dealer.

Unfortunately, the pitiful priest was unwilling to bail, until the explosion of his ship ripped him apart.
Last edited by RyuKazuha on Wed, 10. Mar 10, 11:28, edited 2 times in total.

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Post by RyuKazuha » Tue, 9. Mar 10, 23:50

Chapter III completed.

Today I learned that proper pirates would have to end any sentence with "har!" from a friends little sister. It was just way to cute to leave it out. ;)

Edit: The suffix "hime" indicates a noble woman. It would translate roughly to Princess Azula or Lady Azula, but I left it in japanese of the sake of immersion

Also, if you find any of the many references to more or less well known works of film and literature, go ahead and mention it, I may reward you with virtual cookies or even a cameo. :P

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Post by RyuKazuha » Wed, 10. Mar 10, 18:24

Okay guys, I feel it's time to get winged.

I never really liked to go pirate in vanilla, so I'll add some Scripts to the game that I think will spice things up and make them more fun.

Let's see what I've got:

Advanced Navigation Software, Move To Coordinates and the Station Camper, all made by Cycrow, will give me a bit more control over my ships and are justified by Evy's abilities as an AI. Basically I just want to spare myself some unnecessary work with these. (Had enough with the micromanagement in the last game :P)

The Emergency Transporter Extension by Cycrow is a must have for any winged DiD, if you ask me. It keeps you alive, while allowing you to get into the action. I'll set the emergency transport to 1 - 5% Hull, to make sure it won't allow me to just go crazy and careless.

Last in the Package are Improved Boarding, again by Cycrow and the NPC Bailing Addon plus Salvage Commands & NPCs by ThisIsHarsh.

Improved Boarding will make TP-Boarding possible once more by adding transporter boarding and will allow me to add enemy boarding parties later on.

NPC-BA will be used to allow pilots to bail in NPC battles, to allow NPC-Crews to leave capital Ships (with a VERY LOW possibility) and to make sure the Pilots don't pack all equipment into their space suits. Instead, the amount of destroyed equipment will now be calculated through hull damage taken.
The second script by ThisIsHarsh is solely used to add NPC-Salvagers to help balancing NPC-Bails and add competition. This way I'll have to claim everything I get to bail asap.

This also leads to a new rule:

I'm forbidden to claim idle capital ships the normal way (not possible most of the time anyways), I have to board them with marine regardless of their state.

I'm still not sure whether to stick to Improved Races or Race Response Fleets, but I'll figure it out until it becomes important.

And I'm still open to suggestions.

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Post by kgkosio » Thu, 11. Mar 10, 01:16

Lurker aboard. Keep it coming.
Fan of the save game manager by badger
Best Steam DiD death: Fly into a TL repeatatly while repairing it

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Post by RyuKazuha » Thu, 11. Mar 10, 14:12

LOL, just lol, it'll take me a while to write down what happened in the last 3 hours of gameplay. NPC-bailing really makes you believe you deal with sentients that care about whether they die or live. :P

And welcome lurker. ;)

-----------------------------------------------------------------

[Chapter IV]
Blasto's Fate

Golo moved on and into Nopileos' Memorial, having his eyes on the scanner for the whole time and watching out for suitable target.

A pair of Goner Rangers caught eye. They looked somewhat like Novas, but where considerably less dangerous, though better shielded. Judging from that, they'd net a good profit. Probably.
Evy didn't object to his idea - she was happy with targets who wouldn't try to kill both of them - and instead calculated a course to intercept the two fighters.

It took the IRE's a while to munch through the shields and one more to burn through the particular thick hull. For nothing, since the first Goner preferred to be a goner for real.
His mate still was optimistic to get out of the mess with his ship, but when the hull integrity slowly approached the 10%, he decided to take a walk in memory of his comrades destiny.
The ship was patched up a bit and send to the Argon Shipyard, because Kingdom End was just way to far away for the ship to reach it in reasonable time.

On the way to the north gate, a Military Transport of Split origin entered the scanner range, escorted by 3 Jaguars and one Scorpion. A quick scan revealed drones and PRGs on the TM, but no missiles on board of the escorts.
"Perfect." "You call that perfect? These Phased Repeater Guns will trash us in less than 20 Seconds." Evy's voice just how worried she was. Yet Golo normally did not take a risk, if he hadn't planned how to minimize it. At least not since attacking civilians in Boron Core Space.
"They won't be a problem, trust me." Golo turned Blasto, heeled the convoy, turned again and took another approach from the front, targeting the Scorpion. "Ready yourself." The distance melted and as soon as they broke range, "Blasto" opened fire on the M4, decapitating the shields an crippling the ships engines on the first go an passing by before the TM even realized what had happened.
"I'm impressed." Evy admitted, but she was still skeptic about what her creator had in mind. "Not done yet." Golo grinned and steered into the asteroids with the three slightly slower M5 tailing him and the M4 following with some distance, leaving the TM behind.
About 10km apart from the TM, Golo utilized another full turn, targeted one of the Jaguars and destroyed it in the first go, engaging the other two in another high speed dogfight.
One of the pilots clung to his life and bailed, the other one was reduced to space dust through collision with a rock, just when the Scorpion arrived at the scene and a stream of accelerated particles hammered against Blastos shields.
"Shield threshold at 5%. We will not survive another volley like this one." Golo showed a grim grin and steered behind the attacker. It was far to easy to keep the ship behind the interceptor and harassing it until the pilot bailed out.

"Here we go, let's claim the booty and get out."

When the boron left his ship to claim the idle jaguar, he failed to noticed the TM closing the distances as slowly as constantly. Our Hero managed to make it back - still without noticing anything, and steered near the Scorpion, to claim and repair it as well, when suddenly a burst of PRG-Rounds ripped the Jaguar apart. "Dammit."
Golo turned half way to the Scorpion and returned to the Blasto, right before the first rounds fizzled past the ship.
Evy accelerated as soon as he entered and flew the ship through the south gate into the safety of Hatikvah's Faith.

"That was fun." the pale boron demanded and gulped the shock. "I'd like to discuss your definition of fun. You could've gotten us killed for real this time." "Touché. Guess I've to tweak this strategy a bit."

Golo decided to take a breath, before he'd take on more acts of piracy. Evy kept an Eye on the gate to make sure the TM wouldn't surprise them another time, but apart from that, the Blasto floated idle through Haktivah's Faith, until a Scout showed up on the scanners, catching Golos Eye with his unusual speed.
"What a nice toy." he said while targeting the ship. "Almost as fast as we are." "Let's check it out." "It's Argon, you'll damage our Reputation..." The Objection was ignored and the scan showed something even more interesting: An installed CLS.
"Don't know what you think, but if we cap this, it's well worth the setback in reputation." Evy wasn't as sure as the boron, but it was useless to object, so she decided to don't even try it.

A short hard fight later, the Discoverer changed it's owner along with the CLS. And Golo already had an Idea of how to use his new asset. "Evy, I want you to pick up the previous owner of our last acquisition. The cargo bay should be big enough to make him comfortable." "Why would you want to rescue him?" Golo laughed. "I don't want you to rescue him. We'll sell him to the pirates later." "He is a sentient being. That's slavery." "Exactly, and other than that, it'll make him keep quite about what we did with his ship. As long as they don't have any evidence, the Argon won't do much more but suspect us." "If you say so... but I don't like this."

The two ships headed back to Nopileos' Memorial. Despite the former events, Golo hoped he could still claim the Scorpion or even take the pilots captive, but obviously the TM had recovered both, its pilots and the derelict ship.
A bit angry about that, Golo attacked another Goner until he left his ship and send it to Argon Prime like the other one, hoping to make up for the lost Scorpion. Like with the discoverer, the bailed pilot was taken captive with the help of the still unnamed Ship, before they returned to Brennan's Triumph, where two Split messengers met their fate. The first in fire, the second as a slave.

Selling the slaves at the local pirate base provided enough money to fit the Discoverer with the last engine tunings and cargo bay extensions, as well as some software upgrades to make handling it easier.
As soon as the work was done, Golo decided to proceed into boron territory, sell the captured ships and to upgrade to an M4 - finally.

But before that, the little ship had another fight to survive. In Rolk's Drift a Split Strong Arms Convoy crossed paths with "Blasto". And as while being still jealous towards the Royal Family, Golo was a Boron, a Boron with some fighting skills, enough to obliterate 4 M5, 2 M4 and a Kaiman within a reasonable time. None of the pilots bailed, but Golo was content with cooling down by making Split explode.

On the way to Kingdom End, a Split Caiman was the last ship to fell into the Hands of the "new star" among the boron pirates. He wasn't well renown, he wasn't even known to most of his captives, but he was successful, or at least, he deemed himself successful.

The profits of Golos Venture exceeded the cost of a Mako double, but they where still barely enough to afford a Pike. Luckily, the captured Caiman provided not only a great part of the overall profits, but also a single 25MJ Shield, that would fit into the Pike.

"Okay, I've talked to the vendor, our new ship will be delivered fully tuned within the next two or three hours." "What do we do with the "Blasto" and the Discoverer?" Evy asked, watching the boron cutting down her connections to the ship one by one. "We'll keep the Disco, I decided to name it 'Kappa'. For 'Blasto' this is the end of the line. It was junk from the start anyways." "You keep that discoverer and throw a ship that served you since you first came to space away like that?" Evy got enraged, at the least because Golo seemed to just ignore her question. "Don't treat me like that! Why do you want to get rid of our ship?" she shouted.
The boron hesitated for a brief moment. Then he stopped. "I don't want to." he answered calmly. "We need a better ship, and we need to equip it with more than just some IRE's. Blasto will be stripped from any usable part and the rest will provide as with money to fit our new ship." "Why don't you sell the Discoverer?" "Because it has a larger cargo bay and better overall shielding. It's not the better ship, but way more useful to us now."

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Post by RyuKazuha » Thu, 11. Mar 10, 19:14

Okay, it was actually that many, that I wanted to split it into two Chaps, therefore, Chapter IV was renamed.

........................................................................
[Chapter V]
A Feast for the Crows

"Swordfish". The name of "Blasto's" successor had been decided. With it's 25MJ of shields and the five installed IRE it was a worthy replacement for the little M5 from the junkyard.
Lacking another gun, the last weapon slot had to be left empty for the time being, but Golo was content to fill it soon enough. The energy supply for the weapons was sufficient to allow continuous IRE fire for a rather long time and the ship was still fast enough to keep up with most other crafts.

The first to learn that were two Pegasus' escorting an Paranid owned Buzzard on its way through three worlds. Our hero took the whole group from behind, eliminating the escorts in the first go and complementing the Buzzards Captain out of his ship.
The Claimed and repaired ship was than sent to Argon Prime, to boost the relations by selling some ships to the argon. Ships take from the paranid of course - a Split convoy was very pleased to see the Swordfish leaving them unattended whle proceeding to Cloud Base North West.

Unfortunately Paranid ships where scarce in most sectors from Three Worlds to Cloud Base South East and the only Ship Golo found was a full tuned Pegasus Messenger. Way to fast to catch it with the swordfish - and the Kappa was still unarmed.
Selling the buzzard and the - annoyingly worthless - rangers to the shipyard, as well as some shield generators to the local EQD however did build up the reputation enough to provide access to a full load of PACs at the local Equipment Dock, leaving 4 IREs for the Kappa and a spare one to sell it.

Entering Presidents End, another Paranid owned Buzzard became a target practice for the new guns, leaving the ship almost entirely destroyed and abandoned in the first go. Fishing for the bailed pilot, Golo failed to realize a threat yet again.

"We are under attack. Shields down to 72%. Incoming Missile detected." "What?" A barrel roll protected the ship from another stream of charged particles. "Who's attacking us?" "A Paranid salvager. M3 Perseus." A salvager? Had he been around before? Coincidence? Probably not, but it was more probable than a instant reaction to a distress call.
The "Swordfish" turned and Evy targeted missile. A few shots later it was destroyed, but Golo was forced to take another load of HEPT-fire, before he was able to evade and get behind the Perseus. "Shields down to 32%" The PACs got to work. Bright burst of accelerated particles munched the shields and burned the hull of the enemy ship, while the shields laughed of the targets constantly firing backside IRE.
Soon the salvager found him self first spaced and afterwards taken captive by his enemy. The ship was wreckage, but intact enough to take a walk to Cloud Base SE's Shipyard, while Golo entered Elena's Fortune.

Heaven and Hell tightly entangled with each other, a massive pirate fleet wrecking havoc on the local police and the sectors stations.
Death, loot and bailed pilots all over the place and a brigantine turning anything lawful into a great mess.
Being nothing like lawful and on good terms with the pirates, Golo sent the Kappa back to Cloud Base South East and began to fly deeper into the battlefield, only to find even more bailed pilots.

"Looks like most of them barely managed to leave their ships alive." Evy stated, a conclusion mainly based on the fact, that there where way to few derelict ships for so much pilots. Observing how the Brigantine swatted whole wings of fighters like flies provided further basis for this thesis.
"Well, if there ships are destroyed, nobody will miss them." Golo replied and already fished for the first of the drifting astronauts, covered by his reputation with both argon and pirates, it was easy to scavange the battlefield for anything useful.
Including wreckages, bailed pilots and of course missiles.

[ external image ][ external image ][ external image ][ external image ]
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The battle refused to end. Nothing seemed to be able to even scratch the Brigantines Shields and soon it became clear, that apart from the marauding brig a Carrack had some fun between the South Gate to Split Fire and the Military Outpost, effectively covering its bigger sister from incoming fighters.

Golo worked with the tides. While the brig harassed the east, he picked the spoils in the west, adapting, when the big ship decided to change its position.

"Looks like the Argons noticed what's going on." Evy said and targeted a patrol led by a Cerberus. The Brigantine had already noticed them and was approaching the gate, opening fire soon after. "I don't think it's gonna take long." Golo leaned to his seat and turned off the thrusters. His new chunk of salvage was to be made and instead of hunting for bypassing Paranids, he thought he could as well watch the fun.

[ external image ]

An impressive wall of fire turned the patrols fighters into dust. The Cerberus was way to bad equipped to take on a brigantine and it was only a matter of minutes, until the ship gave in to the Brigs fire and turned into a bright flash.

Only a few ships had survived the attack badly damaged and abandoned by their owners. The amount of bailed pilots was easily triple to that of surviving ships, while not even one ship of the whole patrol was still on duty.

This fight hand ended and the crows came to feast. Golo was one of the crows, and the most hungry one, turning any other Salvager to dust without mercy and gathering not only wares and ships put also all of the pilots.

Meanwhile, the brig destroyed the Trade Station and opened fire on other stations as well. Even a Galleon joined through the south gate, wich was still guarded by the, now rather badly damaged Carrack.

Another Cerberus attempted to chase it, but was destined to fail ins his taske, since the other ship was way faster and not the patience to wait for its foe, dragging it away from the battlefield and through the north gate, while the big bad brigantine continued its work on the local economy and obliterated and attacking patrol led by a Centaur and accompanied by 4 bombers.

[ external image ][ external image ][ external image ][ external image ][ external image ][ external image ]

To be able to take all the pilots into custody, Golo had to utilize another salvaged CLS carried by a falcon and the Kappa. While Golo gathered the pilots in the combat some, the Kappa had to travel between Elena's Fortune and Cloud Base South East, to bring the Pilots to the Falcon docked at the Local EQD, wich was than used as a "storage" for the captives, wich were declared as passengers to anybody who'd ask. Wich nobody really did. The captives themselves believed to be brought back to Argon Prime as soon as possible, and they wouldn't know anything other until given to the slavers.

Evy counted 35 of them, when Golo finally called it a day and backed off from the still ongoing battle. Mainly because the brigantine started to concentrate on the stations, rather than wrecking more fighters and freighters.
With a total of 13 claimed ships it was well worth the time spend and would net a very decent profit.
.............................................................................

With the next chapter, I'll include a property list. I still have to repair all these ships and to see wich carry valuable equipment. I basically just claimed everything I saw derelict, so I don't really know what these ships carry.

The bail-script works quite good. I left it at default settings and while pilots bail quite often, they usually do it just before their ship is destroyed, so that the amount of ships I get through making them bail myself is not really affected.

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Post by X1000 » Thu, 11. Mar 10, 20:23

Holy cow! Look at all those M3s!

Now you can take your pick. :wink:

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Post by RyuKazuha » Sat, 13. Mar 10, 00:53

Holy cow![/color]

Beware of Loki. ;)

......................................................

[Chapter VI]
Azula

"Okay, I think I've a purchaser for that Perseus. Would you...? Thanks." Evy's ability in multitasking was naturally way higher than Golos, so the AS was in charge of managing the details of each sale with customers picked by the hands of the boron.

Most of the scavenged ship where hardware wich beforehand belonged to the Argon military, making it impossible to sell the ships to the official market.
This, and the fact that they were used and in some cases had been abused, the ships worth was further shortened. 5 of 13 ships had been sold, when Evy received a data burst.

"Incoming transmission from 'Outlaws Heaven'." "Put them through." Evy's virtual representation left the screen to make room for a human face.
"So you're that Squid everybody is talking about." the man said and laughed rather impolitely. Golo ignored his attitude for the moment. "What do you want?" he asked, making his most serious face, wich caused another laughter. "Relax man. Azula-hime told me to contact you."
"The princess?" Golos Eyes widened and he couldn't trust the translator about what he heard. The human laughed again, this time he seemed annoyed "Never heard another Azula. At least, not on board this station. So, yes, Azula-hime it is." "How may I help her?"
"You may sell the Blue Fire Clan four of the Novas you claimed during the raid in Elena's fortune. We'll pay you a good price. You won't find many customers for stolen military Novas in Argon Space anyways, won't you?"
"He's probably right." Evy added, suspending the conversation for the brief moment she needed to say this. Golo nodded. "Deal." "Excellent. The princess will be pleased with your decision. Just leave the Novas on the Shipyard for us to claim them. Your payment will be transferred as soon as they are in our possession." "Confirmed."

"Nine sold, leaves us with four to take care of." Evy agreed and suggested: "I think we should keep the Mercury Hauler. With the CLS from the Buster Raider, it would make a decent ship to store freight and your captives."
"Okay. So we'll keep the Merc, the Falcon and Kappa. That should be all we need at the moment." "I guess. With just the two of us it'd be pointless to keep, what we don't need." "You could fly the other ships..." "Don't overestimate my capacity. It's one thing to order the Ships Autopilot around, another thing to take remote control of a ship. I may be able to do it with one ship at a time being in the same sector, but apart from that I'm not better than the average auto pilot."
"Yeah, I didn't though of that and I'd want to keep you unique. Okay, that means we need a crew." "If you want to expand, that is indeed the only way." "Why wouldn't I want to? I'll be the pirate king one day!" "You want to be." "Yes, I don't know what's wrong with my dream. Well, I don't care either. You didn't believe we'd come this far in the first place." "I admit I thought it to be next to impossible."
Golo sighed. "You could've said that a bit more polite." "I'm not allowed to lie." The Lar laughed. "I know, but you're not forced to tell the truth either."
Evy was quite for a moment and arranged the To-Do-List.
"You'll need to decide wich of the Novas to keep. Also, the Falcon and the Mercury Hauler will need some Names, if you don't want to refer to them by type." "Thought of that, had some Ideas."

"Geez, it sure was a pain to get all these Ships back together and up for sale." Maybe for the first time in his still short life as a pirate, Golo felt more comfortable in the pilot seat of the Starfish than outside of it.
They repaired, they had cargo moved around, they searched and found buyers in the local underworld. For every ship but one. The Military Nova Raider not sold to the Blue Fire Pirates was still docked in his initial bay. Repaired and stripped of everything but his SETA-Device.

The four ships Golo had decided to keep had been upgrade with everything stripped from the other ships. Software Enhancements and Hardware Upgrades of every kind had been distributed between them and the money from the sales went into tuning the engines and rudders or into enhancing the cargo bays. Also the Captives were moved from the now "Moldy Crow" named Falcon to the 'more comfortable' because wider cargo hold of the Mercury with the odd name "Rule of Acquisition XLVIII"

Swordfish and Kappa were still fully equipped with either PACs or IREs, but the choice of weapons for the falcon was somewhat more messed. With Four PACs, one PRG, one PBG, one IRE and at least a FBL it was stocked, but nothing more.
The Rule of Acquisition had to be content with a single IRE for missile defense duties.

The three fighters were fully shielded, while the Freighter had only 60MJ of Shielding from 25 and 5MJ-Modules. Not the best, but still enough to work.

Upon exiting the station, Golo noticed a lonesome Paranid Hades traveling in the direction of the shipyard. Immediately the Swordfish turned and approached the enemy from the rear.
"What do you ahve in mind?" Evy asked sceptically. "Destroying it." "You know this thing has Tomahawks on board, do you?" Golo nodded. "How many?" "Enough to turn us into background radiation." "Evy..." "Two."
The AS didn't want to encourage her creator to take the M8, but she had to answer, even if only in the second go. "Ridiculous. Lock the target."

The Hades' rear turret opened fire only moments after Golo unleashed the first volley of PAC-Fire onto the Hades Shields, wich quickly dropped. "Shields down to 57%, you should utilize the steering jets." Evy commented, while bolts of accelerated particles continued to harass both ships shields.
Golo agreed and steered out of the incoming fire, while Edy took care of reducing the Hades' hull integrity, after its shields collapsed.
"Warning, the enemy ship armed its warheads. I recommend immediate retreat." "It's alright, cease fire and let me take care of it." The ship dived, enabling Golo to aim for the launchers. When the hades launched the two tomahawks, it practically turned itself to dust.
"I'm impressed." "Thanks." "Still, it was a unnecessary high risk." "That's what a pirates life is all about. You'll get used to it." Golo turned is eyes inwar for a moment. "I doubt it.

The Starfish turned and set course for President's End, with Brennan's Triumph in mind as point of destination. The Kappa and the Moldy Crow had been ordered to accompany the Rule of Acquisition to "keep the Passengers safe on the Way back to Elena's Fortune".
Of course Golo had no intention to let go of even a single of his captives until selling them on the Slave Markets of Outlaw Heaven.

Elena's Fortune was dead silent. The pirates had called of their forces, when a Colossus accompanied by a Minotaur showed up, both of them now laying in wait near the Military Outpost.
The Trading Station, a Rhymes Factory and a Cattle Ranch had been turned to piles of scrap. A successful raid in any case.

Continuing into Split Fire, Golo loaded his weapons to fly several attacks on Split Transports in the System, destroying four Ships of various Classes without any big problems and being able to cap another Perseus before proceeding into Brennan's Triumph and right into Danna's Chance, unwilling to wait for his convoy to arrive and doing nothing in the mean time.
The system was not as busy as usual, only a abandoned Susanova and a lonesome Astronaut indicated an already ceased battle. Golo approached the bailed Yaki slowly. "Hey there, need a ride?" he commed. "That would be great. Just to the next Pirate Station." "Sure. Hop in."
"Do you want to enslave him also?" Evy asked. "No, we'll space him near the Rehabilitation Facility. I don't want a Yaki to haunt me. Separate him from the other guests." "Confirmed."
Things went like decided. The Yaki pilot was spaced near the next pirate Station and happily docked there. He wouldn't find his ship where it was though, since the boron took it as payment for the little rescue operation.

Upon exiting the gate into Nopileus' Memorial, the scanner showed a rather lively sector. Most of the traffic however went to the east, with the exception of a few paranid and split traders.
The first target to fall into the hands of the Boron was another Perseus, a dedicated weapons trader without noteworthy cargo and only a few fighter drones. Three or four attacks late it was mostly destroyed and the pilot bailed, condemning himself to a life as a slave to one of the lowlifes he despised that much.
The following scout ships pilot did choose death over slavery and was granted to and in the little fireball his ship exploded into.

Next on the list was a Demeter Super Freighter, wich carried a load of soybeans. At first, the pilot refused to give up on his ship, but after his two MK2 Drones bit the dust and the freighter was near to do the same, he finally came to his senses and bailed, choosing live over death, and regretting it the very moment he was picked up by the Starfish.

Waiting for his weapons to recharge, Golo already marked the next targets. An undershielded Split Chimera guarded by a single M5 and two more Freighters belonging to the Paranid.

The fight with the did go as every fight with them, it was hard and fast, nearly scrapping the Chimera, while the Swordfish had to endure some scratches on the hull, driving it under 90% integrity.
Golo collected the Pilot, claimed the enemies ship and repaired his own where it was necessary, before he set course for the next targets.

Those turned out more of nuisance than expected. Not only where both of them armed with PACs, but they where close enough to each other to cause the second freighter to help the first one.
"The enemy deployed drones." "How many?" "12 all together." "12?! He only had 4 on board." "Correct. But the second target seems to have decided it'd be a good idea to join the fight." Golo took a barrel roll and sheered to the left to loose the drones following him. "How troublesome. Switch to configuration two, we don't need all the PACs dto destroy these drones."
The Starfish turned, aimed and blew three drones up with just a couple of shots. "Shield Threshold 80%, dropping." Reversing the thrust, Golo stopped the ship in an instant, causing 3 of the drones following the ship to pass and get into the cone of fire. The first was destroyed upon entering, the second and third didn't managed to turn, before they also were destroyed. "Shields down to 40%, we take fire from the freighters." "Got it." The Star Fish accelerated and outdistanced the freighters for good, before turning and taking on another batch of drones. "Shields critical. 15% and dropping." Golo steered and turned like crazy to get rid of the last four drones, finally killing all of them with only 1% of Shields left on the Starfish.

Unfortunately, neither of the Freighter Pilots decided to stay alive, instead, both blew up along with their ships. "Damned Monks."

The next raids went better. A Kaiman and another Demeter, both Super Freighter Variants were abandoned fairly early, leaving them to had back for 'Outlaw Heaven' with a far more reasonable speed compared to the chimera or the former capped Demeter.

An uneventful period followed, until a Manta entered the scene. A Manta owned and piloted by a split. "Didn't you want a TP?" Evy asked and highlighted the ship. "It's a boron ship owned by a faction hated by the borons. I think you're allowed to take it back." Golo sighed. "We'll take it. But the TP I wanted was an Angel, not a Manta. The Manta is just old fashioned." "I don't really see a difference between TP and TP." "It's not about the class. It's about the status and symbolic meaning." "I see."

Apparently, the Split was a bit more interested in his TP. He refused to hand the ship until is was merely qualifying as a swiss cheese, but finally bailed and was promptly taken captive.
Golo just had Evy take over the Dolphin, when the ship was hit by a couple of energy blasts and turned into a fireball. "Golo, you should come back, Paranid Patrol incoming, Distance is just above 3km." Golo turned his space suit, having a quick glance at the Heavy Nemesis, accompanied by a dozen of fighters ranging from M5 to M3+. More Ion Shards where already on the way, failing to hit the little ship and the space suite for the time being.

As fast as possible Golo made his way back to the Starfish and accelerated to top speed, right when some of the shots hit and stripped the ship of ~70% of it's shields in an instant.
Golo steered to a nearby asteroid and hid in its shadow, while the Nemesis strictly followed it's course to the gate into Danna's Chance, casually obliterating a pirate wing and destroying one of Golo's capped Demeters.

"It looks like we're safe now." The last escorts of the Nemesis passed the Gate. "Keep an eye on the Chimera, it's still in Danna's Chance and I don't want it to get caught like the other ships." Golo replied with a grim face. "Will do. Are you okay?" "Yeah, just pissed." The Starfish sped up and left the Asteroid. Golo targeted a bypassing Perseus, the only paranid ship left in the sector, and opened fire without a warning, determined to make the pilot pay for the lost ships with his life. Even when the paranid bailed, his suit was just targeted and a few particle bursts blew the pilot into oblivion.

Evy kept silence. 'Pissed' slightly failed to describe Golos mood adequately. So instead of questioning his action, she searched for a replacement for the Manta and found it in form of a Hermes passenger transport in Danna's Chances, moving to Brennan's Thriumph. "The Chimera is save and there's something you might want to know: A Hermes filled with passengers."
Golo looked at what Evy showed him. "Paranid. What's with the Nemesis?" "She would have crossed path with the Chimera right now. I assume its destination was freedoms reach." "Why...? Well, not of concern to us. Take us to this Hermes, I'll rest for the moment." "Confirmed. Do you wish to hear some relaxing music? I downloaded 'Tracks of Nishalla' recently." "Yeah, thanks."

It was not until 4kms away from the Gate to Split Fire, that the Starfish caught up with its target. Upon entering weapons reach, Golo took the back the helm and unleashed his fury upon the TP, destroying it's 5 defensive fighter drones without even getting a single hit.
Soon after the pilot tried to get away by bailing, but as usual the Starfish gathered him out of the void and afterwards escorted the Hermes with its full dozen of passengers - all of paranid origin - to "Outlaw Heaven, where all the other captured ships and Golos little convoy already where docked.

"I'll have a look on the slave markets." The boron informed his AS, while leaving his seat. "Anything you want me to do?" "Nothing in particular. Keep an eye on the ships and enjoy yourself." "Okay."

When Golo set foot on the gangway, a Split accompanied by two armed Humans appeared at the entrance to the hangar bay. All three of them carried a stylized Blue Flame Symbol in one way or another. "You Golo?" the split asked with a harsh undertone. Golo eyeballed the three and nodded. "You come. Princess Azula summoned."
The boron figured he'd have no choice but to follow the invitation. "Lead the way." he replied and tried to sound as if he wasn't daunted. The humans flanked him and the Split led the group to an elevator at the end of the hangar deck, wich carried the group all the way to one of the top decks of the station.

The door opened into a large hall with wide panorama windows and made of precious materials. Lo pitched classic human music filled the room with a warm flair, and despite his company, Golo was quite comfortable.
The Hall was filled with several lounge suites, with about half of them occupied by people who looked as wealthy as shady. Most noticed the grouped with a quick glance and ignored them afterwards.

At the far end of the Hall an especially precious suite was occupied by a human woman in her late twenties, accompanied by two females - who looked like teenagers - of Argon and Split origin. All of them very attractive spoken in humans standards.
Even as a boron, Golo was able to notice the sizzling sexuality engulfing the three of them.

"Lar Golo, I suppose." the oldest of the three raised her voice with an undeniable grace. Her black hair emphasized her bright blue eyes, wich reminded Golo of Nishallas Oceans.
"I'm honored to meet you, Princess." he replied, lowering his head as if she was a member of the royal family.
"You are. But it is my pleasure as well. Please, raise your head and take a seat."
The boron did as he was told and placed himself at an armchair to the Left of the three womans. "How may I help you?" he asked.
Azula smiled, whispered something to her human escort and watched her leaving the scene, before she answered. "I want to ask you to join my crew. You only stepped in here recently, and now you're one of the most active pirates at pirate alley." she stated. "If you join me, I'll provide you with a ship, even a fleet if you keep working like this. You'll make yourself a name among the pirates in no time."

Golo gulped. The offer was tempting, but he had already made his decision right after the first words. "I afraid..." he started "I'm afraid I cannot join you, Princess. I plan to assemble a crew on my own. I always wanted to be the captain of my own crew, since I first heard about the pirates."

Azula still smiled, she seemed pleased with the answer beyond expectation. "I see." The younger woman returned and brought a data pad with her. Azula took it and typed something on the touch screen "I'm saddish to not have you join my crew, but I acknowledge your determination. I'm sure you'll find yourself a fine crew soon. With your skill you should be admired by the pirates around here." The princess handed the data pad back to her escort, wich gave it to Golo. "Take this as a gift." Azula explained. "It will open you some doors in our small world. However, since you want to handle things yourself, I won't spoil you the fun to find these doors yourself." Another smile took possession of the Princess' face.

Golo stashed the pad away without looking at it. "I'm honored by your generosity, Princess Azula." he said thankfully. "You are. But you deserve it. I had my first mate reserving docking bays for you to use them as you see fit. You'll always be welcome on board this station."
Golo lowered his head and rose from the chair. "Thank you. Please feel free to summon me, whenever I may be able to help you out. It was a pleasure to meet you."
Azula nodded faintly. "May the stars guide you."

On his way back, no one accompanied the boron.

Permanent Assets:
Starfish (M4 Pike)
Rule of Acquisition XLVIII (TP Mercury Hauler)
Moldy Crow (M3 Falcon)
Kappa (M5 Discoverer Vanguard)
unnamed Nova Raider
Last edited by RyuKazuha on Sat, 13. Mar 10, 17:02, edited 5 times in total.

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X1000
Posts: 896
Joined: Mon, 22. Jun 09, 16:59

Post by X1000 » Sat, 13. Mar 10, 01:12

How much is the princess paying your for the novas?

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