Lar Golo and his ruthless Fishborne Pirates [DiD] (Chapter XVIII up, game finished)
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kgkosio
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RyuKazuha
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Just for the record:
Lar Golo, Captain Evy, Artificial Sentience Mumi Li, Mechanic Tata Ma, Engineer Kulo Hu, Deputy Mechanic Himi No, Deputy Mechanic
[Chapter XI]
Lar Golos Joy
"You're insane." Tata laughed, walking around the hangared Perseus. "I bet those three eyes never saw someone taking a ship like that right under their nose." Golo smiled. "Hope so. But we're not finished." "Whatever you say Captain, but with that piece of hardware. Damn, it's going to be a walk in the park." Golo sighed. "I'm happy you enjoy our success Mr. Ma, but as the Captain said, we're not finished with what we wanted to accomplished. Please concentrate." "Right. How are things going with the Boarding Transporter?" "Ehr, as good as done. I was able to alterthe configuration to make the beam able to penetrate an enemy ships hull. However, the process is somewhat slow and we'll need to adjust it constantly. I already filled Li in on the details." "Speaking of Mumi, where is he?" "Digging for Gold." "Part me?" "Mr. Li remembered a pair of Pulsed Beam Emitters we salvaged some time ago, after he found two Energy Bolt Chainguns with Ammunition. He's currently searching the Rule of Acquisition XLVIII for them." A slight nod was the only reaction. "How much ammunition for the EBC?" "One crate for each gun."
Since the Hammerhead had returned to Outlaw Heaven, Kulo Hu and Himi No had been busy with installing weapons and equipment into the Perseus now nicknamed Orca for its appearance.
Meanwhile, Mumi Li had found the missing PBEs and delivered them to the ship, before joining Golo and Tata Ma on the Bridge.
"Evy told me you're looking for me?" he asked, closing the distance to the holographic map. "Somewhat. Did you found it?" "Yes, they are installed right now." "Good. The Orca will help us lower the enemies shields and keep them down. But I want something that packs more of a punch for the initial assault." "Missiles." "Right. But nothing as heavy as Evy's suggestion. Something we've in stock." "Well. We've 3 Warheads and a dozen of Wildfires. They could easily be fired from aboard the Hammerhead and would pack big enough a punch to matter." Golo was pleased and nodded in consent. "Excellent."
The next one to share his thoughts was Tata Ma, designated to find out how and where to lure the prey. "Basically we've two viable options. Either we rent an Albatross in Seizewell and get through kingdoms territory down to Bala Gis Joy. Or we rent one at Ianamus Zura and get it to the unnamed sector between New Income and Montalaar." Evy supported his words by showing the star charts. "And wich one would you support?" Golo asked, leaning back against his seat. "Both have their quirks. A ship from Seizewell will take considerable time to reach Bala Gis Joy. However, since the Marauder is in this area, we'll be able to get rid of any evidence asap. If we rent one at Ianamus Zura, the Investment will be somewhat smaller and the ship will arrive at it's destination faster. However, we'll have to take it all the way back to Bala Gis Joy, leaving us vulnerable to Teladi Police Forces and even other Pirates."
"So it's Seizewell." Golo concluded. "What about the friends you wanted to invite?" "They'll arrive in time." The captain dismissed Tata Ma and shifted his attention back to Mumi Li. "I want you to load the Orca, the Piranha and the Kappa onto the Hammerhead. Afterwards, you'll move te Fish Tank to one of the stations in Bala Gi's Joy, safe for the Marauder."
"I don't want to interrupt you, but there's a transmission. Signature matches one of those used by Princess Azula." Golo hestitate. "Mumi, you stay here. evy, patch her through."
Evy Avatar was replaced by a picture of a human, who wasn't the pirate princess, but one of the maiden, the Split one. "Greetings to you, Lar Golo. I'm honored to speak to you in the name of our dear princess." she greeted with a bewitching grace. Golo smiled. "How could I be of use for her majesty?" he asked politely, noticing a boron in the back of the women speaking. "The princess would like to ask you to transport one of your kin to the Solar Power Plant in Bala Gi's Joy." The woman stepped aside to fully reveal the person in question. Golo agreed, this time without hesitation of any kind. "It's my pleasure. Please send him to my private hangar, I'll take care of the rest." The split reappeared on screen. "Azula-hime will be pleased to hear this. As a little token of gratitude, she'll have a Blastclaw delivered to your hangar." Indeed a welcomed gesture. Golo understood, why she was as well loved, as she was feared. "Deliver my most sincere thanks. I'm happy to help." The screen darkened.
"What now?" "I'll take the guest to Bala Gis Joy instead of Mumi. Get this present into the Hammerhead as well. An full set of PBGs, maybe we'll need some heavy puncher." Golo left his Captains Seat and floated to the door. "If you're ready, Evy will jump the Ship to Bala Gi's Joy, pick me up there and we'll throw our bait.
Said and done. In a flight as boring as possible, Golo crossed Olmancketslat's Treaty and dumped his passenger at the powerplant, where he also left the Fish Tank and was picked up by Evy. The next jump brought them to CEO's Buckzoid, where they stayed just long enough to turn and pass the Gate into Teladi Gain.
Teladi Space was calm as expected. The only ships to be seen in vast amounts where the never resting vultures and several other TS-Classed vehicles. Only a hand full of fighters and not a single warship.
Passage into Seizewell was no problem. There, Golo was greeted by the imposing statue of a phoenix, unloading heavy duty gauss cannons on a small pirate convoy. With a gulp, our hero flew around the slaughter, not even attempting to salvage some of the parts that had survived the small time armageddon, and got into com range of the Albatross cruising near the shipyard.
"This is YTMG-40 to TTLSI-65." TTLSI-65 hearing YTMG-40." "I have a job for you guys." "Let's discuss the payment." Golo smiled, Teladi always liked to skip the small talk. Something a boron was unlikely to understand, but able to mimikry. "I'll propose one thousand, you'll ask for four, we meet at 2500." "Per Gate passed." "Of course." "Deal. Where do you want us to go?" "Bala Gi's Joy. I'll transmit account data." "Affirmative."
"We will pay them?" "Technically, one of our slaves will." Golo giggled. "He won't need his credits anymore anyways." Evy seemed surprised, but not shocked, even impressed. "You ARE a pirate." "Thanks for noticing. Get us out of here."
The day was getting better and better, and our Hero enjoyed his plans unfolding and fortunas tight embrace. When the Hammerhead entered Brennan's Triumph to the east, luck struck again. A floating field of debris accounted for a large battle fought between Argon and Paranid forces. "Wow. Nice." "I count as many as 6 Ships abandoned but intact. Some Scavengers are inbound, but we'll very well clear the field before they arrive." An inarticulated sound of joy slipped from the borons mouth, as he quickly left the bridge to take the fastest ship hangared, collecting his merchandise, while Evy took the Hammerhead home.
While the Albatross took his time to travel to Bala Gi's Joy, Golo kept himself and his crew busy by conducting excessive field testing on the Perseus' capabilities.
Wich means he basically attacked and obliterated any Convoy associated with Paranid or Split, even several Strong Arms-Convoys, who'd proven to big of a target before. Now, they just died by the dozen and surrendered several ships. Among them most notable a Toucan Hauler, wich was quickly adopted as another opportunity to house the Crew and nicknamed the Aquarium.
But the peak of Golos joy hat yet to come.
"I got something interesting on the gravidar." Golo turned his eyes onto the screen showing the garvidar-data. "Don't see anything I'd call so." he replied. "There." A marker showed up, highlighting a ship showed as being of the TP-class. "A boron Angel." Golo showed no sign of emotion. "Saw a few here already, so what?" Evy giggled. "You're blind, Professor. We do see an Angel, but what's missing?" "The halo?" Golo was getting angry, than he noticed what was missing. Something he wouldn't miss at all. "There's no Kraken." "You're so quick-witted." Evy giggled. "Actually, there's no ship at all guarding it." Before the sentence was entirely vocalized, Golo already entered the Orca and had himself thrown into the void.
With blazing guns the killer whale surprised the seal. The Angels ship faded away, befor the pilot even realized what was going on, leaving him with little options as the PBEs quickly engulfed the Angels Turrets with a stream of fire.
Not half a minute after the initial strike, the pilot bailed his ship and made a run for his life. This time, Golo was in no mood to chase down the pilot. The only thing he was interested in, was the sparkling green of the Angel. HIS Angel.
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Actually I salvaged the Blastclaw, but that was a little to mundane i thought, than there was this mission to carry someone from the pirate station to Elena's Fortune with a TP and bang, story born.
Lar Golo, Captain Evy, Artificial Sentience Mumi Li, Mechanic Tata Ma, Engineer Kulo Hu, Deputy Mechanic Himi No, Deputy Mechanic
[Chapter XI]
Lar Golos Joy
"You're insane." Tata laughed, walking around the hangared Perseus. "I bet those three eyes never saw someone taking a ship like that right under their nose." Golo smiled. "Hope so. But we're not finished." "Whatever you say Captain, but with that piece of hardware. Damn, it's going to be a walk in the park." Golo sighed. "I'm happy you enjoy our success Mr. Ma, but as the Captain said, we're not finished with what we wanted to accomplished. Please concentrate." "Right. How are things going with the Boarding Transporter?" "Ehr, as good as done. I was able to alterthe configuration to make the beam able to penetrate an enemy ships hull. However, the process is somewhat slow and we'll need to adjust it constantly. I already filled Li in on the details." "Speaking of Mumi, where is he?" "Digging for Gold." "Part me?" "Mr. Li remembered a pair of Pulsed Beam Emitters we salvaged some time ago, after he found two Energy Bolt Chainguns with Ammunition. He's currently searching the Rule of Acquisition XLVIII for them." A slight nod was the only reaction. "How much ammunition for the EBC?" "One crate for each gun."
Since the Hammerhead had returned to Outlaw Heaven, Kulo Hu and Himi No had been busy with installing weapons and equipment into the Perseus now nicknamed Orca for its appearance.
Meanwhile, Mumi Li had found the missing PBEs and delivered them to the ship, before joining Golo and Tata Ma on the Bridge.
"Evy told me you're looking for me?" he asked, closing the distance to the holographic map. "Somewhat. Did you found it?" "Yes, they are installed right now." "Good. The Orca will help us lower the enemies shields and keep them down. But I want something that packs more of a punch for the initial assault." "Missiles." "Right. But nothing as heavy as Evy's suggestion. Something we've in stock." "Well. We've 3 Warheads and a dozen of Wildfires. They could easily be fired from aboard the Hammerhead and would pack big enough a punch to matter." Golo was pleased and nodded in consent. "Excellent."
The next one to share his thoughts was Tata Ma, designated to find out how and where to lure the prey. "Basically we've two viable options. Either we rent an Albatross in Seizewell and get through kingdoms territory down to Bala Gis Joy. Or we rent one at Ianamus Zura and get it to the unnamed sector between New Income and Montalaar." Evy supported his words by showing the star charts. "And wich one would you support?" Golo asked, leaning back against his seat. "Both have their quirks. A ship from Seizewell will take considerable time to reach Bala Gis Joy. However, since the Marauder is in this area, we'll be able to get rid of any evidence asap. If we rent one at Ianamus Zura, the Investment will be somewhat smaller and the ship will arrive at it's destination faster. However, we'll have to take it all the way back to Bala Gis Joy, leaving us vulnerable to Teladi Police Forces and even other Pirates."
"So it's Seizewell." Golo concluded. "What about the friends you wanted to invite?" "They'll arrive in time." The captain dismissed Tata Ma and shifted his attention back to Mumi Li. "I want you to load the Orca, the Piranha and the Kappa onto the Hammerhead. Afterwards, you'll move te Fish Tank to one of the stations in Bala Gi's Joy, safe for the Marauder."
"I don't want to interrupt you, but there's a transmission. Signature matches one of those used by Princess Azula." Golo hestitate. "Mumi, you stay here. evy, patch her through."
Evy Avatar was replaced by a picture of a human, who wasn't the pirate princess, but one of the maiden, the Split one. "Greetings to you, Lar Golo. I'm honored to speak to you in the name of our dear princess." she greeted with a bewitching grace. Golo smiled. "How could I be of use for her majesty?" he asked politely, noticing a boron in the back of the women speaking. "The princess would like to ask you to transport one of your kin to the Solar Power Plant in Bala Gi's Joy." The woman stepped aside to fully reveal the person in question. Golo agreed, this time without hesitation of any kind. "It's my pleasure. Please send him to my private hangar, I'll take care of the rest." The split reappeared on screen. "Azula-hime will be pleased to hear this. As a little token of gratitude, she'll have a Blastclaw delivered to your hangar." Indeed a welcomed gesture. Golo understood, why she was as well loved, as she was feared. "Deliver my most sincere thanks. I'm happy to help." The screen darkened.
"What now?" "I'll take the guest to Bala Gis Joy instead of Mumi. Get this present into the Hammerhead as well. An full set of PBGs, maybe we'll need some heavy puncher." Golo left his Captains Seat and floated to the door. "If you're ready, Evy will jump the Ship to Bala Gi's Joy, pick me up there and we'll throw our bait.
Said and done. In a flight as boring as possible, Golo crossed Olmancketslat's Treaty and dumped his passenger at the powerplant, where he also left the Fish Tank and was picked up by Evy. The next jump brought them to CEO's Buckzoid, where they stayed just long enough to turn and pass the Gate into Teladi Gain.
Teladi Space was calm as expected. The only ships to be seen in vast amounts where the never resting vultures and several other TS-Classed vehicles. Only a hand full of fighters and not a single warship.
Passage into Seizewell was no problem. There, Golo was greeted by the imposing statue of a phoenix, unloading heavy duty gauss cannons on a small pirate convoy. With a gulp, our hero flew around the slaughter, not even attempting to salvage some of the parts that had survived the small time armageddon, and got into com range of the Albatross cruising near the shipyard.
"This is YTMG-40 to TTLSI-65." TTLSI-65 hearing YTMG-40." "I have a job for you guys." "Let's discuss the payment." Golo smiled, Teladi always liked to skip the small talk. Something a boron was unlikely to understand, but able to mimikry. "I'll propose one thousand, you'll ask for four, we meet at 2500." "Per Gate passed." "Of course." "Deal. Where do you want us to go?" "Bala Gi's Joy. I'll transmit account data." "Affirmative."
"We will pay them?" "Technically, one of our slaves will." Golo giggled. "He won't need his credits anymore anyways." Evy seemed surprised, but not shocked, even impressed. "You ARE a pirate." "Thanks for noticing. Get us out of here."
The day was getting better and better, and our Hero enjoyed his plans unfolding and fortunas tight embrace. When the Hammerhead entered Brennan's Triumph to the east, luck struck again. A floating field of debris accounted for a large battle fought between Argon and Paranid forces. "Wow. Nice." "I count as many as 6 Ships abandoned but intact. Some Scavengers are inbound, but we'll very well clear the field before they arrive." An inarticulated sound of joy slipped from the borons mouth, as he quickly left the bridge to take the fastest ship hangared, collecting his merchandise, while Evy took the Hammerhead home.
While the Albatross took his time to travel to Bala Gi's Joy, Golo kept himself and his crew busy by conducting excessive field testing on the Perseus' capabilities.
Wich means he basically attacked and obliterated any Convoy associated with Paranid or Split, even several Strong Arms-Convoys, who'd proven to big of a target before. Now, they just died by the dozen and surrendered several ships. Among them most notable a Toucan Hauler, wich was quickly adopted as another opportunity to house the Crew and nicknamed the Aquarium.
But the peak of Golos joy hat yet to come.
"I got something interesting on the gravidar." Golo turned his eyes onto the screen showing the garvidar-data. "Don't see anything I'd call so." he replied. "There." A marker showed up, highlighting a ship showed as being of the TP-class. "A boron Angel." Golo showed no sign of emotion. "Saw a few here already, so what?" Evy giggled. "You're blind, Professor. We do see an Angel, but what's missing?" "The halo?" Golo was getting angry, than he noticed what was missing. Something he wouldn't miss at all. "There's no Kraken." "You're so quick-witted." Evy giggled. "Actually, there's no ship at all guarding it." Before the sentence was entirely vocalized, Golo already entered the Orca and had himself thrown into the void.
With blazing guns the killer whale surprised the seal. The Angels ship faded away, befor the pilot even realized what was going on, leaving him with little options as the PBEs quickly engulfed the Angels Turrets with a stream of fire.
Not half a minute after the initial strike, the pilot bailed his ship and made a run for his life. This time, Golo was in no mood to chase down the pilot. The only thing he was interested in, was the sparkling green of the Angel. HIS Angel.
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Actually I salvaged the Blastclaw, but that was a little to mundane i thought, than there was this mission to carry someone from the pirate station to Elena's Fortune with a TP and bang, story born.
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RyuKazuha
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[Chapter XII]
Sadness and Sorrow
In the Golden Age of Pirates Golo ruled the endless void, feared among his enemies, loved among his crew, he inspired the universes poets and children...
An annoying noise, happening to be the proximity alarm woke Golo up from his sweet dreams of a future blessed by all gods of fortune. "Wake up!" Evy shouted at him with speakers on full blast. "Huh? What? What's the matter." "A Deimos passed the gate several minutes ago." Golo was confused, yet unable to just look at the gravidar. Evy next words were marked unnecessary as the Hammerhead was shaken by heavy impacts. "Shield threshold 73%." "Evasive Maneuvers! What the hell is going on?" With a sudden boost, the engines jumped to full power and propelled the Ship to its maximum of 115m/s. "Looks like you overdid it with attacking, enslaving and killing paranid citizens." Golo steered the ship near to one of the big roids, to use it as cover. "Turrets on Missile Defense, launch 5 Wasps and the firestorm." "You think this will harm it?" One of the Deimos salvos made the asteroid exploden, leaving behind a dense field of debris. "Do it, NOW." Golo steered the ship in between the rocky debris left from the asteroid, heading for the Gate to Split Fire Rocks and Missiles gave him enough time to get out of the deimos weapons range, before the Hammerheads shields took critical damage.
"What about these missiles?" Evy asked. Golo sighed. "You've no sense of timing Evy." "So who's fault is that?" Another sigh, the Boron launched a small camera drone to keep track of the deimos' actions. It still followed them. "Waiting..." "The missiles were meant to keep the enemy from shooting us. Most of them could have been ignored, but they hat to make sure the firestorm wouldn't get them, wich means all turrets where reassigned to defend the ship." "I see."
Moments later, the Hammerhead reached the gate and got through. On the other side, Golo immediately had Evy engage the Jump Drive and jumped the ship to Bala Gi's Joy, where he docked at one of the SSP.
"Why did they send a Frigate after us?" Golo asked, finally able to catch a breath and cool down his thoughts. "Why not?" Evy asked, while analyzing the ships condition. "Because a corvette or two would very well have been enough." "So now you complain for being treated like a real thread, Mr. Pirate King?"
Golo gulped. "Evy. Are you sure they came after us?" The AS seemed confused. "They came straight at us, they fired every on us they got., yeah, I quite sure they came after us. You in particular." Golo slightly shook his head. "They didn't. We were just a bonus." he said, shivering in fear. He wasn't a suitable target to send an M7. Azulas Station certainly was. "Contact Outlaw Heaven, the station is..." "Already under attack. I just got the message they evacuate the Station." Even Evy's avatar seemd to have gone pale. "Open our hangar to anyone, direct them to the ships and get them the hell out of there. And contact the crew."
Minutes of anxious waiting tore Golo apart. With the departure of all of his ships safe the Rule of Acquisition, wich was given a Jump Drive the last to be pulled out, they had already saved about 150 souls, but were unable to communicate with the crew mates. Finally, seconds before Outlaw Heaven vanished into dust, the Rule of Acquisition undocked and jumped to Bala Gis Joy.
The Hammerhead was engulfed with silence. The safety of his assets was nothing, Golo was happy about. Not now. The only thing he did was praying for his crew to be alive and well, but with every minute passing, this hope died another gruesome death. Evy was silent. She didn't share her creators feelings, but she was sorry in her own way.
"All passengers cleared the ships. They're not there." Evy informed her creator after about half an hour. "I'm sorry." she added.
Golo looked at her avatar, tears running from his eyes. "You don't have to." he answered. "Of course I do. I thought they were after us. I could've warned the station." Golos Face showed anger, as did his voice. "I said you DON'T."
Of course she had to, as did he. They both failed to see the true reason. So they ran, instead of using the Hammerheads to destroy the M7. Golo felt like he killed his friends alone and with bare tentacles. From behind. And for a moment he was even sorry to have saved his ships from destruction.
Sadness and Sorrow
In the Golden Age of Pirates Golo ruled the endless void, feared among his enemies, loved among his crew, he inspired the universes poets and children...
An annoying noise, happening to be the proximity alarm woke Golo up from his sweet dreams of a future blessed by all gods of fortune. "Wake up!" Evy shouted at him with speakers on full blast. "Huh? What? What's the matter." "A Deimos passed the gate several minutes ago." Golo was confused, yet unable to just look at the gravidar. Evy next words were marked unnecessary as the Hammerhead was shaken by heavy impacts. "Shield threshold 73%." "Evasive Maneuvers! What the hell is going on?" With a sudden boost, the engines jumped to full power and propelled the Ship to its maximum of 115m/s. "Looks like you overdid it with attacking, enslaving and killing paranid citizens." Golo steered the ship near to one of the big roids, to use it as cover. "Turrets on Missile Defense, launch 5 Wasps and the firestorm." "You think this will harm it?" One of the Deimos salvos made the asteroid exploden, leaving behind a dense field of debris. "Do it, NOW." Golo steered the ship in between the rocky debris left from the asteroid, heading for the Gate to Split Fire Rocks and Missiles gave him enough time to get out of the deimos weapons range, before the Hammerheads shields took critical damage.
"What about these missiles?" Evy asked. Golo sighed. "You've no sense of timing Evy." "So who's fault is that?" Another sigh, the Boron launched a small camera drone to keep track of the deimos' actions. It still followed them. "Waiting..." "The missiles were meant to keep the enemy from shooting us. Most of them could have been ignored, but they hat to make sure the firestorm wouldn't get them, wich means all turrets where reassigned to defend the ship." "I see."
Moments later, the Hammerhead reached the gate and got through. On the other side, Golo immediately had Evy engage the Jump Drive and jumped the ship to Bala Gi's Joy, where he docked at one of the SSP.
"Why did they send a Frigate after us?" Golo asked, finally able to catch a breath and cool down his thoughts. "Why not?" Evy asked, while analyzing the ships condition. "Because a corvette or two would very well have been enough." "So now you complain for being treated like a real thread, Mr. Pirate King?"
Golo gulped. "Evy. Are you sure they came after us?" The AS seemed confused. "They came straight at us, they fired every on us they got., yeah, I quite sure they came after us. You in particular." Golo slightly shook his head. "They didn't. We were just a bonus." he said, shivering in fear. He wasn't a suitable target to send an M7. Azulas Station certainly was. "Contact Outlaw Heaven, the station is..." "Already under attack. I just got the message they evacuate the Station." Even Evy's avatar seemd to have gone pale. "Open our hangar to anyone, direct them to the ships and get them the hell out of there. And contact the crew."
Minutes of anxious waiting tore Golo apart. With the departure of all of his ships safe the Rule of Acquisition, wich was given a Jump Drive the last to be pulled out, they had already saved about 150 souls, but were unable to communicate with the crew mates. Finally, seconds before Outlaw Heaven vanished into dust, the Rule of Acquisition undocked and jumped to Bala Gis Joy.
The Hammerhead was engulfed with silence. The safety of his assets was nothing, Golo was happy about. Not now. The only thing he did was praying for his crew to be alive and well, but with every minute passing, this hope died another gruesome death. Evy was silent. She didn't share her creators feelings, but she was sorry in her own way.
"All passengers cleared the ships. They're not there." Evy informed her creator after about half an hour. "I'm sorry." she added.
Golo looked at her avatar, tears running from his eyes. "You don't have to." he answered. "Of course I do. I thought they were after us. I could've warned the station." Golos Face showed anger, as did his voice. "I said you DON'T."
Of course she had to, as did he. They both failed to see the true reason. So they ran, instead of using the Hammerheads to destroy the M7. Golo felt like he killed his friends alone and with bare tentacles. From behind. And for a moment he was even sorry to have saved his ships from destruction.
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kgkosio
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RyuKazuha
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Captain CAVEMAN!!!
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RyuKazuha
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Thanks Cpt.
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[Chapter XIII]
Duck and Cover
"Incoming Message. Undefined Sender. Advanced encryption." Evy announced. "It'll take some time to figure out the..." "Use Azulas public key." "What?" The boron showed no identifiable facial expressions, but Evy somehow concluded, the most adequate would've been a faint and slightly pejorative smile. "She's telling us that she's alive and well. Ironically it's called a death note among the pirates, 'cause its deemed to be a message from a - presumably - dead person, usually one influential among the underworld.
If she'd declared dead while in hiding from her enemies, the Blue Fire Clan would either fall apart or be taken over by another of the associated captains. So she survived the attack, got hid herself somewhere and now told the world 'I'm alive, I'll be back, don't mess with my business.'." Evy had meanwhile applied the key and found Golo's assumptions to be true. "But everyone could've written that." "Yes. But it's encrypted with her personal key. No one other than her or, if she's dead, her rightful successor knows it."
Golo was again silent for quite some time. Actually his state worried Evy. After grieving for two days, he had begun to reorganize his assets without saying a single word.
So far, the assets left to them were the Caravel "Hammerhead" the stayed in; the Advanced Perseus "Orca", the Nova Raider "Piranha", the Blast Claw "Skullfish" and the Discoverer "Kappa" all docked at the Hammerhead; as well as the Mercury Super Freighter "Rule of Acquisition XLVIII", the TP-class Angel "Angel Shark" and Hermes "Fish Tank", all scattered among the various stations of Bala Gi's Joy.
Last but not least the Falcon "Moldy Crow" and the Pike "Swordfish" also docked in Bala Gis Joy.
They severely lacked a home base now, a role filled by Outlaw Heaven until it's destruction, even if deemed makeshift. And most of all were searched for all around there former play ground by spreading paranid military.
Keeping a low profile was once more necessary and as long as it involved staying in Bala Gi's Joy, it sentenced them to do nothing. Wich was the worst for Golo's ego at all.
Some more hours of silence later, our hero had made his decision. "We're heading for argon prime." he declared, not really in the best mood. "You give up? We leave pirate alley?" The AS asked with concern. Picking at her creator was one thing, seeing his dream shattered a whole lot different.
But in fact, Golo was way from giving up. He laughed her words of. "Little idiot. No, I won't give up, but yes, we'll leave pirate alley for a while. Things have to cool down, but I'm not fond of waiting here, drinking and doing nothing. So we'll get to argon prime. The black market over there is buzzing, plenty of opportunities to find us a new crew, and as you may remember they like us shooting down those three eyed pests." The pirate grinned the grin of a madman. "We'll do them and ourselves a favor. Get us undocked, leave the other ships here, only the Fish Tank will come with us. I want a nice home without drawing to much attention." Leaving the Angel wasn't pleasant, but it was only recently stolen, to high of a risk to show it of in core territory of the borons closest ally.
Within an hour everything was set up and the Hammerhead set out into Argon territory. Considering salvaging of viable interest until his resurfacing as a pirate, Golo jumped his ship to the north gate of Elena's Fortune instead of going directly for Argon Prime in hope of some abandoned ship left from probable fights with pirates or paranid forces.
But Elena's Fortune was annoyingly quite these days. No wreckage, let alone ships in a condition to be salvaged, no ongoing fighting, only a lazy Cerberus on a half ass patrol.
Disappointed, the Boron steered his ship towards and through the West gate, Presidents End wasn't worth the time it did cost to get through, but Golo had enough time to not waste E-Cells on this distance and made his way to Argon Prime - in time.
Upon arrival Evy began to scan for usual and unusual frequencies used by pirates and identified one of the controllers of the Trade Station as being one of their kind, after wich it wasn't a problem to get a docking place in a small private owned hangar.
Exiting the ship, Golo was welcomed by a human of short, well fed figure. "So this is the fearsome Lar Golo." the man said with an odd mixture of awe and mockery. "I heard about the Heaven-Incident. Very unpleasant." Golo nodded. "Indeed. I need some place to stay for a while, just until the dust settles." he asked, making his way to the door, accompanied by the man. "Sure, we've some very good hotels for boron travelers on the 44th Floor." Golo stopped and eyeballed the man. "Just rent me half a dozen docking clamps." The man was surprised and he showed it quite obviously. "Six? Do you want a to dock a fleet here?" The human got angry. "You can't just get your whole fleet here, this isn't ..."
"Shut up." Golo shouted at the guy, who instantly took a step back and fell over a barrel. "Just shut up and listen to me. That possible?" "Of course, yes, of course..." Golo didn't even tried to help the men out of his misery. "I'll need six places to dock ships, either here or somewhere else. Doesn't really matter, as long as there are six. I'll not dock more then two ships regulary, but I do have business to attend to. Questions?" The man stood up and nodded yes on everything.
"Great. Okay, I heard about a training facility for mercenaries somewhere on this station, where is it?" "74th Floor, T-04-3."
Deck 74T turned out to be a section of the station abandoned for years. Most of the corridors branching off from the main hallway had their blast doors closed and permanently sealed. The Agents of Decay had gathered to a feast, as condensed vapor from the poorly maintained air conditioning and water leaking from various pipes all over the place had cast rust on way over 30 percent of the metallic surface.
Apart from some small rodents, no living being crossed Golos Path, until he entered Area 04-3 itself.
Approaching the Training Facility located there, Lar Golo ignored the smell as well as a group of mercs near the entrance. He entered, stepping into something, that could have been a bar centuries ago, a place now ruled by filth and living trash of all races, even if due to the system mainly humans.
The bartender stopped his doing and looked at the boron, who decided to speak to him first. "You're running this venture?" "I run a bar. Drink?" Golo abnegated. "I heard about merc-training around here and I'd like to invest something." Their Eyes met, for a brief moment Golo felt the men was reading him, far more experienced and dangerous than expected. Then he raised his thumb, pointing it at a door behind him. "Go ahead."
Golo did. The back room was in a way better state than any part of Deck 74T the boron had seen so far. In fact, it was quite luxury, furniture in expensive woods, the walls coated by precious metal paneling, everything a token of fine artisanry, even the Guards, one in every corner, armed with the most advanced and reliable weapons available.
"Nice." Golo looked around. "Money isn't a problem, eh?" he asked, sitting down at the central table of the room, where the obvious head of the facility already sat with a small glass of fuel.
"The first impression is important. As ours is quite improper, we need to make up for it." the men answered. "I hope you got away from Outlaw Heaven with no losses, Lar Golo." Golos Expression revealed the opposite in an instant. "I see. Sorry to hear that." "No you're not, but I appreciate your suavity. I lost my crew at the Outlaw Heaven and I need them replaced." "I see. I hear you prefer being among your kind and I've currently no boron in training. Of course, if you bring me some recruits, I'll train them well." The men leaned back. Golo eyeballed him. "Where would I get such recruits?" he asked. "Rehabilitation Facilities, Pirate Bases. Keep an Eye open and you'll find them. Just don't try to find experienced soldiers in Boron Space, you won't find any marine of the kingdom willing to follow you." "Figured. Well, that's it for now I guess. Thanks for your time." "Anytime. Please come back."
Golo knew he would. But for the time being he was very fond of getting away from this filthy place. Some minutes later he was back at the hangar and notified of a private docking bay rented to him, able to hold up to ten ships.
But he didn't care, instead of visiting his new place, he returned to the Hammerhead and told Evy to undock from the station. "Where are we headed?" She asked. "Back to pirate Alley."
-------------------
[Chapter XIII]
Duck and Cover
"Incoming Message. Undefined Sender. Advanced encryption." Evy announced. "It'll take some time to figure out the..." "Use Azulas public key." "What?" The boron showed no identifiable facial expressions, but Evy somehow concluded, the most adequate would've been a faint and slightly pejorative smile. "She's telling us that she's alive and well. Ironically it's called a death note among the pirates, 'cause its deemed to be a message from a - presumably - dead person, usually one influential among the underworld.
If she'd declared dead while in hiding from her enemies, the Blue Fire Clan would either fall apart or be taken over by another of the associated captains. So she survived the attack, got hid herself somewhere and now told the world 'I'm alive, I'll be back, don't mess with my business.'." Evy had meanwhile applied the key and found Golo's assumptions to be true. "But everyone could've written that." "Yes. But it's encrypted with her personal key. No one other than her or, if she's dead, her rightful successor knows it."
Golo was again silent for quite some time. Actually his state worried Evy. After grieving for two days, he had begun to reorganize his assets without saying a single word.
So far, the assets left to them were the Caravel "Hammerhead" the stayed in; the Advanced Perseus "Orca", the Nova Raider "Piranha", the Blast Claw "Skullfish" and the Discoverer "Kappa" all docked at the Hammerhead; as well as the Mercury Super Freighter "Rule of Acquisition XLVIII", the TP-class Angel "Angel Shark" and Hermes "Fish Tank", all scattered among the various stations of Bala Gi's Joy.
Last but not least the Falcon "Moldy Crow" and the Pike "Swordfish" also docked in Bala Gis Joy.
They severely lacked a home base now, a role filled by Outlaw Heaven until it's destruction, even if deemed makeshift. And most of all were searched for all around there former play ground by spreading paranid military.
Keeping a low profile was once more necessary and as long as it involved staying in Bala Gi's Joy, it sentenced them to do nothing. Wich was the worst for Golo's ego at all.
Some more hours of silence later, our hero had made his decision. "We're heading for argon prime." he declared, not really in the best mood. "You give up? We leave pirate alley?" The AS asked with concern. Picking at her creator was one thing, seeing his dream shattered a whole lot different.
But in fact, Golo was way from giving up. He laughed her words of. "Little idiot. No, I won't give up, but yes, we'll leave pirate alley for a while. Things have to cool down, but I'm not fond of waiting here, drinking and doing nothing. So we'll get to argon prime. The black market over there is buzzing, plenty of opportunities to find us a new crew, and as you may remember they like us shooting down those three eyed pests." The pirate grinned the grin of a madman. "We'll do them and ourselves a favor. Get us undocked, leave the other ships here, only the Fish Tank will come with us. I want a nice home without drawing to much attention." Leaving the Angel wasn't pleasant, but it was only recently stolen, to high of a risk to show it of in core territory of the borons closest ally.
Within an hour everything was set up and the Hammerhead set out into Argon territory. Considering salvaging of viable interest until his resurfacing as a pirate, Golo jumped his ship to the north gate of Elena's Fortune instead of going directly for Argon Prime in hope of some abandoned ship left from probable fights with pirates or paranid forces.
But Elena's Fortune was annoyingly quite these days. No wreckage, let alone ships in a condition to be salvaged, no ongoing fighting, only a lazy Cerberus on a half ass patrol.
Disappointed, the Boron steered his ship towards and through the West gate, Presidents End wasn't worth the time it did cost to get through, but Golo had enough time to not waste E-Cells on this distance and made his way to Argon Prime - in time.
Upon arrival Evy began to scan for usual and unusual frequencies used by pirates and identified one of the controllers of the Trade Station as being one of their kind, after wich it wasn't a problem to get a docking place in a small private owned hangar.
Exiting the ship, Golo was welcomed by a human of short, well fed figure. "So this is the fearsome Lar Golo." the man said with an odd mixture of awe and mockery. "I heard about the Heaven-Incident. Very unpleasant." Golo nodded. "Indeed. I need some place to stay for a while, just until the dust settles." he asked, making his way to the door, accompanied by the man. "Sure, we've some very good hotels for boron travelers on the 44th Floor." Golo stopped and eyeballed the man. "Just rent me half a dozen docking clamps." The man was surprised and he showed it quite obviously. "Six? Do you want a to dock a fleet here?" The human got angry. "You can't just get your whole fleet here, this isn't ..."
"Shut up." Golo shouted at the guy, who instantly took a step back and fell over a barrel. "Just shut up and listen to me. That possible?" "Of course, yes, of course..." Golo didn't even tried to help the men out of his misery. "I'll need six places to dock ships, either here or somewhere else. Doesn't really matter, as long as there are six. I'll not dock more then two ships regulary, but I do have business to attend to. Questions?" The man stood up and nodded yes on everything.
"Great. Okay, I heard about a training facility for mercenaries somewhere on this station, where is it?" "74th Floor, T-04-3."
Deck 74T turned out to be a section of the station abandoned for years. Most of the corridors branching off from the main hallway had their blast doors closed and permanently sealed. The Agents of Decay had gathered to a feast, as condensed vapor from the poorly maintained air conditioning and water leaking from various pipes all over the place had cast rust on way over 30 percent of the metallic surface.
Apart from some small rodents, no living being crossed Golos Path, until he entered Area 04-3 itself.
Approaching the Training Facility located there, Lar Golo ignored the smell as well as a group of mercs near the entrance. He entered, stepping into something, that could have been a bar centuries ago, a place now ruled by filth and living trash of all races, even if due to the system mainly humans.
The bartender stopped his doing and looked at the boron, who decided to speak to him first. "You're running this venture?" "I run a bar. Drink?" Golo abnegated. "I heard about merc-training around here and I'd like to invest something." Their Eyes met, for a brief moment Golo felt the men was reading him, far more experienced and dangerous than expected. Then he raised his thumb, pointing it at a door behind him. "Go ahead."
Golo did. The back room was in a way better state than any part of Deck 74T the boron had seen so far. In fact, it was quite luxury, furniture in expensive woods, the walls coated by precious metal paneling, everything a token of fine artisanry, even the Guards, one in every corner, armed with the most advanced and reliable weapons available.
"Nice." Golo looked around. "Money isn't a problem, eh?" he asked, sitting down at the central table of the room, where the obvious head of the facility already sat with a small glass of fuel.
"The first impression is important. As ours is quite improper, we need to make up for it." the men answered. "I hope you got away from Outlaw Heaven with no losses, Lar Golo." Golos Expression revealed the opposite in an instant. "I see. Sorry to hear that." "No you're not, but I appreciate your suavity. I lost my crew at the Outlaw Heaven and I need them replaced." "I see. I hear you prefer being among your kind and I've currently no boron in training. Of course, if you bring me some recruits, I'll train them well." The men leaned back. Golo eyeballed him. "Where would I get such recruits?" he asked. "Rehabilitation Facilities, Pirate Bases. Keep an Eye open and you'll find them. Just don't try to find experienced soldiers in Boron Space, you won't find any marine of the kingdom willing to follow you." "Figured. Well, that's it for now I guess. Thanks for your time." "Anytime. Please come back."
Golo knew he would. But for the time being he was very fond of getting away from this filthy place. Some minutes later he was back at the hangar and notified of a private docking bay rented to him, able to hold up to ten ships.
But he didn't care, instead of visiting his new place, he returned to the Hammerhead and told Evy to undock from the station. "Where are we headed?" She asked. "Back to pirate Alley."
-
RyuKazuha
- Posts: 921
- Joined: Tue, 22. Aug 06, 10:38
Chapter XIII is done.
XIV following.
____________________________________
[Chapter XIV]
Below the Radar
"Back to pirate alley? You said we'd stay clear of it until..." "I know what I said. And we won't return to stay. It's an easy job, jump in, get what we want and the hell back into safe space." The Ship undocked, enganged the main thrusters and steered clear of the station, before engaging the Jump Drive.
"Definite Location?" "Danna's Chance, East Gate." "Locked. What do you want to get there? "Mercs." The jump flashed.
Moments later, the Hammerhead exited the targeted Gate and set course to the Rehabilitation Facility. But Evy wasn't content with her creators decision and eager to address this matter.
"You've refrained from hiring mercenaries ever since the Boa-Incident. Why did you change your mind now?" Golo ignored her at first and kept his eye on the facility. "Cause I was wrong. I was a pike acting like a shark and got bitten. That's what changed my mind. We'll recruit everyone with a slight amount of skill and have them trained at Argon Prime Trade Station. Until they are ready, we'll keep a low profile, restrict ourselves to attack easy paranid targets in Argon Space and some occasional swift raids at the alley, that's it for the next weeks. The other pirates will know we're alive, but nobody who wants us harm will actually get through." the Lar explained. This time his plan was better than before. He had to learn, and he learned.
"I receive a message from the TL you rented. They want to know if they're still needed." "Yeah, it's okay, got that covered. Have them figure out how long it would take them to reach Midnight Star on the long route. Pay them accordingly and have them stay at Bala Gi's Joy for this exact amount of time." An evil grin conquered his face. "Hope they enjoy their vacation."
At the Rehab-Center it was quite easy to get some recruits. Although there were few boron recruits and most of them suffered from overall bad qualifications, Golo didn't back out of his plan. He picked as many as 6 of the best fighters among them and to be taken to bis ship by a price of roughly 300.000 Credits. Technically owning them, he jumped the Hammerhead to Loomanckstrat's Legacy and bought another 8 of the former slaves.
Finally the ship made his way to Kingdoms End and docked at the Royal Trading Station. Golo had Evy open the Airlock connecting them to the station and assembled all of the men and women he'd bought before. Hands on hips and hissed he stood, pointing out their choices.
"Alright guys, here's the deal. I just payed half a Million to get you out of your misery. There's the door, if you want, you can leave for good, take the next shuttle to Nishalla and start your new life as a citizen of our beloved kingdom." he said "Or you stay with me and choose a live of danger, adventure and violence, promising unimaginable wealth to each man on this ship." The Lar watched the men and new he already had won most of them. Either because of their gratitude for the rescue turning into devotion, or hearing of wealth and adventure with a glare of joy in their eyes. "It's your choice. If you stay, I'll provide you with anything you need. Living quarters, food, training, fun and a cause to live for. If you go, you're free to do what ever you want to, but I'll give you no more than your life, the suit you wear and enough money to pay the shuttle to Nishalla."
In the end only two out of fifteen chose to leave the ship. Golo did as promised, bought them tickets to Nishalla and wiched them farewell, before introducing the others to Evy and returning to Argon Prime, where all of them went into training as soon as possible.
The next thing to do, was done by capturing paranid owned TP, a Demeter and a Toucan, withing Argon Space, providing the Crew with two more "Caravans" to comfortably live in.
Afterwards, with his crew still in training, Golo restricted himself to small scale raids on paranid Merchants and Transports within Argon Borders and covered by the local police forces, not preying more than half an hour in one sector and never attacking more than five ships during one stay, a convoy of six being the only exception.
The Weeks passed. The crew slowly got to know each other and Golo watched the bonds wich would form during the training. After a while he shifted quarters, seperating those who disliked each other, making everyone feeling more comfortable. Meanwhile Evy worried about the fact, that while observing, he almost never involved himself into the social life of his crew.
On a small patrol taken from the trade station, she finally confronted him. "You've been monitoring them since they first came here. Yet you never cared about throwing yourself in, too. You're their leader, shouldn't they know you at least a little bit?" she asked and as she did, Golo knew she allready had put thought into bringing this up. He sied and armed himself for a battle of words.
"I'm their captain. I rescued them, offered them freedom, I give them what they need, care for them, it's all they need to know."
"They get everything they need, yes, but what about you?" Golo stood up from his chair to float around the bridge. "I've got you." "I'm honoured. But I am a program. You should be among your kind once in a while. Make connections." "I will, if I feel the need. That all?"
"No. I think you're afraid." The Lar glared at Evys Avatar on the main monitor. "Afraid of what?" "Getting emotionally attached." Even though she wasn't programmed to detect body language, it was obvious to Evy, that she'd hit the bullseye. "You think the less you know them, the less it'll hurt you if they're injured or killed." Evy raised the pressure. "They're your people, you already care for them, even if you don't know them well. What happened to the others wasn't your fault. You even told me to accept it wasn't mine. So get yourself together.
If you want to get anywhere with this once we're out of hiding, you've to be able to absolutely trust any of your crewmates, and you know that."
While a pirate Centaur was wasted by the Argon One and Golo got paid for doing nothing but shooting down missiles pointed at him, the silence had again taken control of the cockpit. The boron didn't wish to discuss the topic any further, as he knew Evy was right as well as he wasn't going to change his behavior in the near future.
"By the way, I think I know how to add to our income, without reliance on piracy." Evy sought to animate chat again, catching her creators interest. "I hope you don't want me to guess." "No, you wouldn't get to it in years. I think we should get into the salvage business." "I thought you meant no piracy?" "I do. I'm not as trapped in my mind as you are. There are two types of Salvagers, the first is a pirate stealing ships by force and selling them on the black market. The second is a businessman recovering assets and returning them to their rightful owners for a fee." "So what? I can't shoot someone up and sell him his ship afterwards, can I?" "You're really stuck, aren't you? You're not the only pirate out there. And the last weeks boosted your notoriety with the locals to a level allowing you to apply for a police license. The license will legalize salvaging abandoned ships to ensure safety of the trade routes, afterwards we can give them to the local police or sell them back to their owners to earn honest money."
Golo hesitated. "You're right. Good idea. Should have had it myself. Well then, get us a license and scan for distress calls in the nearby sectors." "Affirmative."
XIV following.
____________________________________
[Chapter XIV]
Below the Radar
"Back to pirate alley? You said we'd stay clear of it until..." "I know what I said. And we won't return to stay. It's an easy job, jump in, get what we want and the hell back into safe space." The Ship undocked, enganged the main thrusters and steered clear of the station, before engaging the Jump Drive.
"Definite Location?" "Danna's Chance, East Gate." "Locked. What do you want to get there? "Mercs." The jump flashed.
Moments later, the Hammerhead exited the targeted Gate and set course to the Rehabilitation Facility. But Evy wasn't content with her creators decision and eager to address this matter.
"You've refrained from hiring mercenaries ever since the Boa-Incident. Why did you change your mind now?" Golo ignored her at first and kept his eye on the facility. "Cause I was wrong. I was a pike acting like a shark and got bitten. That's what changed my mind. We'll recruit everyone with a slight amount of skill and have them trained at Argon Prime Trade Station. Until they are ready, we'll keep a low profile, restrict ourselves to attack easy paranid targets in Argon Space and some occasional swift raids at the alley, that's it for the next weeks. The other pirates will know we're alive, but nobody who wants us harm will actually get through." the Lar explained. This time his plan was better than before. He had to learn, and he learned.
"I receive a message from the TL you rented. They want to know if they're still needed." "Yeah, it's okay, got that covered. Have them figure out how long it would take them to reach Midnight Star on the long route. Pay them accordingly and have them stay at Bala Gi's Joy for this exact amount of time." An evil grin conquered his face. "Hope they enjoy their vacation."
At the Rehab-Center it was quite easy to get some recruits. Although there were few boron recruits and most of them suffered from overall bad qualifications, Golo didn't back out of his plan. He picked as many as 6 of the best fighters among them and to be taken to bis ship by a price of roughly 300.000 Credits. Technically owning them, he jumped the Hammerhead to Loomanckstrat's Legacy and bought another 8 of the former slaves.
Finally the ship made his way to Kingdoms End and docked at the Royal Trading Station. Golo had Evy open the Airlock connecting them to the station and assembled all of the men and women he'd bought before. Hands on hips and hissed he stood, pointing out their choices.
"Alright guys, here's the deal. I just payed half a Million to get you out of your misery. There's the door, if you want, you can leave for good, take the next shuttle to Nishalla and start your new life as a citizen of our beloved kingdom." he said "Or you stay with me and choose a live of danger, adventure and violence, promising unimaginable wealth to each man on this ship." The Lar watched the men and new he already had won most of them. Either because of their gratitude for the rescue turning into devotion, or hearing of wealth and adventure with a glare of joy in their eyes. "It's your choice. If you stay, I'll provide you with anything you need. Living quarters, food, training, fun and a cause to live for. If you go, you're free to do what ever you want to, but I'll give you no more than your life, the suit you wear and enough money to pay the shuttle to Nishalla."
In the end only two out of fifteen chose to leave the ship. Golo did as promised, bought them tickets to Nishalla and wiched them farewell, before introducing the others to Evy and returning to Argon Prime, where all of them went into training as soon as possible.
The next thing to do, was done by capturing paranid owned TP, a Demeter and a Toucan, withing Argon Space, providing the Crew with two more "Caravans" to comfortably live in.
Afterwards, with his crew still in training, Golo restricted himself to small scale raids on paranid Merchants and Transports within Argon Borders and covered by the local police forces, not preying more than half an hour in one sector and never attacking more than five ships during one stay, a convoy of six being the only exception.
The Weeks passed. The crew slowly got to know each other and Golo watched the bonds wich would form during the training. After a while he shifted quarters, seperating those who disliked each other, making everyone feeling more comfortable. Meanwhile Evy worried about the fact, that while observing, he almost never involved himself into the social life of his crew.
On a small patrol taken from the trade station, she finally confronted him. "You've been monitoring them since they first came here. Yet you never cared about throwing yourself in, too. You're their leader, shouldn't they know you at least a little bit?" she asked and as she did, Golo knew she allready had put thought into bringing this up. He sied and armed himself for a battle of words.
"I'm their captain. I rescued them, offered them freedom, I give them what they need, care for them, it's all they need to know."
"They get everything they need, yes, but what about you?" Golo stood up from his chair to float around the bridge. "I've got you." "I'm honoured. But I am a program. You should be among your kind once in a while. Make connections." "I will, if I feel the need. That all?"
"No. I think you're afraid." The Lar glared at Evys Avatar on the main monitor. "Afraid of what?" "Getting emotionally attached." Even though she wasn't programmed to detect body language, it was obvious to Evy, that she'd hit the bullseye. "You think the less you know them, the less it'll hurt you if they're injured or killed." Evy raised the pressure. "They're your people, you already care for them, even if you don't know them well. What happened to the others wasn't your fault. You even told me to accept it wasn't mine. So get yourself together.
If you want to get anywhere with this once we're out of hiding, you've to be able to absolutely trust any of your crewmates, and you know that."
While a pirate Centaur was wasted by the Argon One and Golo got paid for doing nothing but shooting down missiles pointed at him, the silence had again taken control of the cockpit. The boron didn't wish to discuss the topic any further, as he knew Evy was right as well as he wasn't going to change his behavior in the near future.
"By the way, I think I know how to add to our income, without reliance on piracy." Evy sought to animate chat again, catching her creators interest. "I hope you don't want me to guess." "No, you wouldn't get to it in years. I think we should get into the salvage business." "I thought you meant no piracy?" "I do. I'm not as trapped in my mind as you are. There are two types of Salvagers, the first is a pirate stealing ships by force and selling them on the black market. The second is a businessman recovering assets and returning them to their rightful owners for a fee." "So what? I can't shoot someone up and sell him his ship afterwards, can I?" "You're really stuck, aren't you? You're not the only pirate out there. And the last weeks boosted your notoriety with the locals to a level allowing you to apply for a police license. The license will legalize salvaging abandoned ships to ensure safety of the trade routes, afterwards we can give them to the local police or sell them back to their owners to earn honest money."
Golo hesitated. "You're right. Good idea. Should have had it myself. Well then, get us a license and scan for distress calls in the nearby sectors." "Affirmative."
Last edited by RyuKazuha on Thu, 3. Jun 10, 16:16, edited 1 time in total.
-
RyuKazuha
- Posts: 921
- Joined: Tue, 22. Aug 06, 10:38
Chapter XIV done.
While waiting for the marines to finish training, I was playing around with Scorps X3-Map and found the "find free ships" feature to show any abandoned ship, bailed as well as normal freebies.
Having no option of a legal income suited to the story right now, I'll use it from time to time to find bailed ships in a maximum distance of 2 sectors. "Selling them back to their owners" therefore means selling them at the shipyard as they are instead of selling stripped repaired husks. Guess that's fair.
Also my marines are doing fairly well and the pirate base from brennan's triumph respawned in Freedoms Reach, guess it'll be save there. Next chapter will be started soon.
Until then, I little feedback wouldn't be that bad.
I know you're reading, I see the numbers climb.
While waiting for the marines to finish training, I was playing around with Scorps X3-Map and found the "find free ships" feature to show any abandoned ship, bailed as well as normal freebies.
Having no option of a legal income suited to the story right now, I'll use it from time to time to find bailed ships in a maximum distance of 2 sectors. "Selling them back to their owners" therefore means selling them at the shipyard as they are instead of selling stripped repaired husks. Guess that's fair.
Also my marines are doing fairly well and the pirate base from brennan's triumph respawned in Freedoms Reach, guess it'll be save there. Next chapter will be started soon.
Until then, I little feedback wouldn't be that bad.
I know you're reading, I see the numbers climb.
-
RyuKazuha
- Posts: 921
- Joined: Tue, 22. Aug 06, 10:38
Thanks. (=
--------------------------------------
[Chapter XV]
Resurfacing
Days passed, the men trained and Golo did what he had to do to finance their training and life. Every once in a while Evy scanned for distress calls and whenever she found a signal, the Hammerhead moved in to salvage the ships following the AS idea and sold them back to their owners untouched. Most of the time that is. A PBE left at a salvaged Pericles mysteriously disappeared, but only once. Or twice, maybe.
Eventually the time was right again to start capturing the Albatross still drifting through Bala Gi's Joy, its crew doing repairs most of the time and the only male aboard presumably enjoying himself the rest of it, while all of the Teladi were quite fond of earning money by doing nothing at all.
That would change soon, as Golo assembled ten of his men to fill them in on the plan.
"Evy, start it." The Main Screen of the Hammerheads Bridge showed a model of the Albatross. "Okay, this is our target. We've everything we need to get our hands at this ship and I don't want you to screw up on that." The Lar began his explanation. Evy showed a simulation, describing how the attack would start.
"An Albatross is vulnerable from two directions, below and above, so we'll attack from those. Our target is a hired one, so it's a peace of cake to get near it.
The Angel Shark will hold the ten of you and get into position below the Albatross, I'll be flying her myself. The Hammerhead will be positioned 3km away from the Target for evacuation in case anything goes wrong.
I'll fly the Orca via remote control to do the attack from above. Zipping 1.2GJ of shields with the PBE will take some time, but not much, so be ready. Once the shield threshold is below 6%, the transporter should establish a connection to the target and take you to it. I already filled Himi No in on the details of how the transporter works, he'll supervise the tech issues. Sala Hi is our most experienced fighter, he'll lead the operation once you're aboard." Some looks were shared among the ones addressed and the Captain to ensure everyone knew whom to talk and more important whom to listen to.
"Excuse me? I've never seen a ship named Angel Shark at the Hangars, wich one would it be?" One of the men asked. Golo grinned and pointed out of the window. "She's just docking." he said, as the majestic statue of the Boron Angel passed the ship, docking in the next bay. Everyone was impressed, even overjoyed. "Get ready, we'll leave at Zero One Four Five. Dismissed."
One after another "Angel Shark" and "Hammerhead" entered Bala Gi's Joy and headed for their prey. Golo controlled the Angel, while Evy was still connected to the Hammerhead and had to stay out of weapons range to be safe. Ordered to monitor any suspicious activity in the sector, especially at the gates and preparing an immediate escape in case of failure, she also helped Golo to coordinate the operation.
"Orca launched. Transferring remote control ... now. Don't approach the ship to fast, or you'll set up the proximity alert." "Understood. Any signs of life?" "They didn't notice us yet." "Well, they'll do soon enough. Alright girls, get ready, we're in position." Only a dozen meters separated the Angel from the Albatross' bottom. And the Orca was just about to ride his back.
When the PBE's started harassing the TL's shields, confusion broke out on board. Golo ignored the various radio messages send by the Teladi Captain, first to ask about what was going on, at last to call his employer a lunatic among several other things less suitable to be written down.
When the ship accelerated, Golo just matched the speed of the Angel and the Perseus with it and continued as planned.
Three Minutes later the Shield dropped below the mark. "Marines GO." "Confirmed. Establishing link. 20% 40% 60% 80% Link stable, transporting marines."
Consecutively the marines appeared aboard the Albatross with Sala Hi being the first. As soon as he materialized, he realized he wasn't alone and shot down the first Teladi as the second boron still was covered in a white flash. The last one to get aboard was Himi No, who'd operated the transporter. "We're through." "Okay Ladies, no time for a break, go, go!" As the Angel Shark and the Orca backed of from them Albatross, the slaughter began inside the ship. Com chatter got hasty on both sides. The first deck was cleared very fast, also the second. at the third the first real resistance came up, inflicting the an initial loss at the Boron Offenders, without stopping them. On Deck four the number of casualties grew, as it did on deck five.
The last thing to hear from the actual fight was some Teladi yelling "YOU SHALL NOT PASS." followed by two shots, the sound of a body hitting the ground and an "All clear. We got to the core." Message by Sala Hi.
"Evy?" "All clear, no distress call left the system, no witnesses. Congratulations Captain." The Boron nodded with a small smiles. Somehow he knew the success had come with a high prize.
Just how high it was had to be left open until he arrived at the ship itself. 25 Teladi dead as well as all eight of the marines who'd gone down during the operation. An eighty percent fatality rate. "Oh, hey Captain. Wasn't that easy to scoop the lizards." "What happened?" "The most effective was a Plasma Blow Torch. The chief engineer turned the reservoir into some kind of stone age tech grenade. Ignited four of them at once. The others got shot during the fights." Sala Hi seemed fairly content with the situation. And Golo did as well, judging to keep his distance was the right decision.
"Damage to the Ship?" "We were able to secure it with shields Jump Drive and Life Support fully intact. Explosions and Gunfire caused some hull damage, but minor. Most of the weapons are gone, destroyed by the crew." Golo nodded. "Good Job, get yourself some rest." "Aye Aye Captain."
[ external image ]
The Lar floated to the bridge and checked the transponder logs for distress signals possibly overlooked by Evy, but didn't find anything. The next thing to do, was to fly the bulky ship onto the marauder to get repairs done and a new crew to maintain the ship. Tweaking engines and steering jets would also cost a little fortune, but side mounted Pulsed Beam Emitters promised some possibilities.
But first and foremost the next step in setting up his pirate empire had to be taken and a private TL was the Key to this next step. Not only did it allow him to deliver stations ordered by those he wanted to support him, it would also allow him to purchase stations from the marauder without exposing it's position to outsiders, thus bringing him into position to start a drug empire without Argon notice.
The next days he was busy with the setup up of the afore mentioned venture. Buying the Distillery and Wheat Farm in L-Variants was the easiest but most time consuming part, but allowed him to observe the pirate Sectors for opportunities.
Soon he found an abandoned Dolphin Super Freighter by tracking a distress call to Olmacketslat's Treaty, saving him the need to buy a freighter to supply the complex with energy cells. Those would come from the extremely underutilized XL Power Plant in Bala Gi's Joy, where the Complex would be constructed.
While waiting, Evy suddenly interrupted the silence. "Incoming Message." "Read it." "There's nothing to read, just some numbers. 58 39 4 13 4214." Golo stood up to get a better view on the numbers now shown instead of Evy's Avatar. "Maybe bugged." "No." Golo grinned and stepped even closer. "That's not a bug. It's a message." "What? So... what does it say?" "Freedom's Reach, 58 4 13, Azula." "Ehr what?" "Fifty eight, Five Eight, that's freedom reach. The other three numbers are x y and z coordinate. Forty Two, Fourteen, Four Two One Four reads Azla." "Azla?" "Right. There's no number capable of representing the u." "I don't really understand. But isn't it careless to send such coordinates around?" "As you can see it's not. You thought it was an error, wich tells me it was encrypted." "Of course it was." "So you decrypted it, saw the numbers and thought it was a bug or bad file or whatever. The polices programs are way dumber then you. They'd just not understand the message even if they'd read it."
Soon the work on building the purchased stations was started. In less then a day they were installed, connected and supplied with the first sip of vitae - 5000 E-Cells purchased for 60.000 Credits. The last thing left to do was to assign the Dolphin to the station for continous Energy Supply and to infuse some cash.
At last Golo ordered Evy to take the long route to freedoms reach instead of jumping there, just to get some sleep.
-------------------------------------------------
In the simulations (aka parallel "non canon" save game) i was able to get 5 survivalists, but well, at least I captured the damn thing at last. x]
--------------------------------------
[Chapter XV]
Resurfacing
Days passed, the men trained and Golo did what he had to do to finance their training and life. Every once in a while Evy scanned for distress calls and whenever she found a signal, the Hammerhead moved in to salvage the ships following the AS idea and sold them back to their owners untouched. Most of the time that is. A PBE left at a salvaged Pericles mysteriously disappeared, but only once. Or twice, maybe.
Eventually the time was right again to start capturing the Albatross still drifting through Bala Gi's Joy, its crew doing repairs most of the time and the only male aboard presumably enjoying himself the rest of it, while all of the Teladi were quite fond of earning money by doing nothing at all.
That would change soon, as Golo assembled ten of his men to fill them in on the plan.
"Evy, start it." The Main Screen of the Hammerheads Bridge showed a model of the Albatross. "Okay, this is our target. We've everything we need to get our hands at this ship and I don't want you to screw up on that." The Lar began his explanation. Evy showed a simulation, describing how the attack would start.
"An Albatross is vulnerable from two directions, below and above, so we'll attack from those. Our target is a hired one, so it's a peace of cake to get near it.
The Angel Shark will hold the ten of you and get into position below the Albatross, I'll be flying her myself. The Hammerhead will be positioned 3km away from the Target for evacuation in case anything goes wrong.
I'll fly the Orca via remote control to do the attack from above. Zipping 1.2GJ of shields with the PBE will take some time, but not much, so be ready. Once the shield threshold is below 6%, the transporter should establish a connection to the target and take you to it. I already filled Himi No in on the details of how the transporter works, he'll supervise the tech issues. Sala Hi is our most experienced fighter, he'll lead the operation once you're aboard." Some looks were shared among the ones addressed and the Captain to ensure everyone knew whom to talk and more important whom to listen to.
"Excuse me? I've never seen a ship named Angel Shark at the Hangars, wich one would it be?" One of the men asked. Golo grinned and pointed out of the window. "She's just docking." he said, as the majestic statue of the Boron Angel passed the ship, docking in the next bay. Everyone was impressed, even overjoyed. "Get ready, we'll leave at Zero One Four Five. Dismissed."
One after another "Angel Shark" and "Hammerhead" entered Bala Gi's Joy and headed for their prey. Golo controlled the Angel, while Evy was still connected to the Hammerhead and had to stay out of weapons range to be safe. Ordered to monitor any suspicious activity in the sector, especially at the gates and preparing an immediate escape in case of failure, she also helped Golo to coordinate the operation.
"Orca launched. Transferring remote control ... now. Don't approach the ship to fast, or you'll set up the proximity alert." "Understood. Any signs of life?" "They didn't notice us yet." "Well, they'll do soon enough. Alright girls, get ready, we're in position." Only a dozen meters separated the Angel from the Albatross' bottom. And the Orca was just about to ride his back.
When the PBE's started harassing the TL's shields, confusion broke out on board. Golo ignored the various radio messages send by the Teladi Captain, first to ask about what was going on, at last to call his employer a lunatic among several other things less suitable to be written down.
When the ship accelerated, Golo just matched the speed of the Angel and the Perseus with it and continued as planned.
Three Minutes later the Shield dropped below the mark. "Marines GO." "Confirmed. Establishing link. 20% 40% 60% 80% Link stable, transporting marines."
Consecutively the marines appeared aboard the Albatross with Sala Hi being the first. As soon as he materialized, he realized he wasn't alone and shot down the first Teladi as the second boron still was covered in a white flash. The last one to get aboard was Himi No, who'd operated the transporter. "We're through." "Okay Ladies, no time for a break, go, go!" As the Angel Shark and the Orca backed of from them Albatross, the slaughter began inside the ship. Com chatter got hasty on both sides. The first deck was cleared very fast, also the second. at the third the first real resistance came up, inflicting the an initial loss at the Boron Offenders, without stopping them. On Deck four the number of casualties grew, as it did on deck five.
The last thing to hear from the actual fight was some Teladi yelling "YOU SHALL NOT PASS." followed by two shots, the sound of a body hitting the ground and an "All clear. We got to the core." Message by Sala Hi.
"Evy?" "All clear, no distress call left the system, no witnesses. Congratulations Captain." The Boron nodded with a small smiles. Somehow he knew the success had come with a high prize.
Just how high it was had to be left open until he arrived at the ship itself. 25 Teladi dead as well as all eight of the marines who'd gone down during the operation. An eighty percent fatality rate. "Oh, hey Captain. Wasn't that easy to scoop the lizards." "What happened?" "The most effective was a Plasma Blow Torch. The chief engineer turned the reservoir into some kind of stone age tech grenade. Ignited four of them at once. The others got shot during the fights." Sala Hi seemed fairly content with the situation. And Golo did as well, judging to keep his distance was the right decision.
"Damage to the Ship?" "We were able to secure it with shields Jump Drive and Life Support fully intact. Explosions and Gunfire caused some hull damage, but minor. Most of the weapons are gone, destroyed by the crew." Golo nodded. "Good Job, get yourself some rest." "Aye Aye Captain."
[ external image ]
The Lar floated to the bridge and checked the transponder logs for distress signals possibly overlooked by Evy, but didn't find anything. The next thing to do, was to fly the bulky ship onto the marauder to get repairs done and a new crew to maintain the ship. Tweaking engines and steering jets would also cost a little fortune, but side mounted Pulsed Beam Emitters promised some possibilities.
But first and foremost the next step in setting up his pirate empire had to be taken and a private TL was the Key to this next step. Not only did it allow him to deliver stations ordered by those he wanted to support him, it would also allow him to purchase stations from the marauder without exposing it's position to outsiders, thus bringing him into position to start a drug empire without Argon notice.
The next days he was busy with the setup up of the afore mentioned venture. Buying the Distillery and Wheat Farm in L-Variants was the easiest but most time consuming part, but allowed him to observe the pirate Sectors for opportunities.
Soon he found an abandoned Dolphin Super Freighter by tracking a distress call to Olmacketslat's Treaty, saving him the need to buy a freighter to supply the complex with energy cells. Those would come from the extremely underutilized XL Power Plant in Bala Gi's Joy, where the Complex would be constructed.
While waiting, Evy suddenly interrupted the silence. "Incoming Message." "Read it." "There's nothing to read, just some numbers. 58 39 4 13 4214." Golo stood up to get a better view on the numbers now shown instead of Evy's Avatar. "Maybe bugged." "No." Golo grinned and stepped even closer. "That's not a bug. It's a message." "What? So... what does it say?" "Freedom's Reach, 58 4 13, Azula." "Ehr what?" "Fifty eight, Five Eight, that's freedom reach. The other three numbers are x y and z coordinate. Forty Two, Fourteen, Four Two One Four reads Azla." "Azla?" "Right. There's no number capable of representing the u." "I don't really understand. But isn't it careless to send such coordinates around?" "As you can see it's not. You thought it was an error, wich tells me it was encrypted." "Of course it was." "So you decrypted it, saw the numbers and thought it was a bug or bad file or whatever. The polices programs are way dumber then you. They'd just not understand the message even if they'd read it."
Soon the work on building the purchased stations was started. In less then a day they were installed, connected and supplied with the first sip of vitae - 5000 E-Cells purchased for 60.000 Credits. The last thing left to do was to assign the Dolphin to the station for continous Energy Supply and to infuse some cash.
At last Golo ordered Evy to take the long route to freedoms reach instead of jumping there, just to get some sleep.
-------------------------------------------------
In the simulations (aka parallel "non canon" save game) i was able to get 5 survivalists, but well, at least I captured the damn thing at last. x]
-
RyuKazuha
- Posts: 921
- Joined: Tue, 22. Aug 06, 10:38
[Chapter XVI]
New World
Azula the Princess, Azula of the Blue Flames, even Queen of . Many names had been added to the one name ruling the Blue Flame Pirate Clan for Decades. As feared by her enemies as loved by her crew, as fiercely hunted by the Commonwealth as protected by her Allies, Azula was in all probability the most notorious female pirate since Kailan Weaver herself.
But on a table eating she was just a human as any other. Golo sipped at his plankton soup, while watching her and all of the other 36 pirate captains feasting on every delicacy to be found among the "six spaces". Most of the attendant captains were split or human by nature, closely followed by the Teladi. Only three of them were paranid and Golo was the only Boron to be seen.
While not even most of the influential captains outside of the Blue Fire Clan attended the meeting, it gave quite a good look at the profile of pirate society.
Split and Humans, by nature creatures of violence and striving for power represented most of the "brute pirates". While the Split just loved to slaughter everyone, the humans had a unceasing demand to dominate others one way or another.
The Teladi on the other side ruled the outlaw economy by sheer force of the almighty Commonwealth Credit. Most of them made a fortune as a smuggler, fence or by dealing arms to other pirates - and the police hunting the first ones.
With the paranid it was a different matter. Most of them were just as violent as humans or split, but as religious zealots they it was against their dignity to get into closer contacts with other races. Those walking the unholy path most of the time just walked alone, acting as short time mercenaries or contract killers, or fighting a religious war against the Empire of Xhaar.
As for the boron, Golo had to admit most of his kind were just pathetic peace loving squid, and those with skill and the power to rule remained loyal to the kingdom.
Not him. He was dedicated and skilled, so Golo said to himself and he deemed his determination the reason he sat among those closely or loosely associated with the Blue Fire Clan.
The real reason for his stay was another. While in hiding herself, Azula had closely watched the Lar and now deemed him reliable enough to use him in a venture she'd had in mind for several months. A couple of hours after the feast, she invited him to a confidential meeting. Unlike the last time she was completely alone, aside from two well armed guards at the front door.
"Welcome Lar Golo. I thank you for visiting me on such short notice." "My pleasure, Princess. I'm the one to thank you, for the invitation." With the usual grace, the princess told Golo to sit down, before she continued. "The stars tell me you've become a big game hunter recently?" "Well, yes. Stole an Albatross." The princess smiled a short smile. "Congratulations on that. In fact, it's the reason I wanted to speak to you." "Please." "You've made yourself a name at pirate alley. Your notoriety with the Federation and the Kingdom is excellent. The Paranid hate you, the Split respect you, cause you've killed so many of them. You've done your duty in the old world." "Pardon me?"
"You've potential, Lar Golo. A potential I don't want to be wasted at the Old World." "What do you mean by 'old world'?" Azula smirked. "Oh my. Know space is divided into two parts, wich we pirates call the Old World, referring to the core territorries predating the Xenon War and the eastern expansion. And the New World, wich referes to the new Territories claimed or reclaimed in the last two decades."
Golo leaned back. "And you want me to go east?" he asked. "I don't 'want' you to. But I'd advise you to do it. And if you do, I may have something to do for you. If you don't mind getting new opportunities." Golo was curious and couldn't deny it in any way. "So what exactly would you want me to do?" he asked. The princess grinned. "Until now, none of us have gained access to Terran Space. Well, not in the way we'd like to." "You want me to pave your way into Sol?" "I don't want you to do that. I want you to consider it to strengthen your position among our kind. And I assure you to help you on this path, if you choose it, Lar Golo Captain of the Fishborne Pirates." "Fishborne Pirates?" "That's how the others call your little venture. They are snotty. But I see your potential."
Golo hesitated. He wasn't sure about Azula telling the truth, but he liked her idea, as well as the name given to his crew. The fishborne Pirates, catchy. "Well. Assumed I'm going to take your advice, where would I have to start?" The princess smiled, showing her white teeth. "There are two major routes to the New World. Both of them blocked by either Paranid or Split Sectors." "So I obviously can't use them. But you said to major routes. What with the minor ones?" "One. Beyond Ianamus Zura and Eitheen Billion, there's a small passage to Scale Plate Green." "But there's a problem, right?" "I guess a Xenon Sector could be considered a problem, yes, but nothing a fast ship couldn't handle."
Golo stood up, he just had the urge to walk around. "The Teladi are not my best friends either." "So that's were you should start."
It was, certainly. Leaving the "New Outlaw Heaven" Golo had already made up his mind about advancing into the so called new world. Although most parts of the Core Territories of Split, Paranid and Teladi were still unknown to him, he figured there wouldn't be a real benefit in exploring them while under heavy fire.
"Evy, order the Chachalot to pick up the Moldy Crow and the Swordfish from Bala Gi's Joy and to store all the freight stored at the Rule of Acquisition in its cargo hold. Afterwards have the Rule of Acquisition and the Angel Shark dock at New Outlaw Heaven." "What's on your mind?" Evy asked, curious about the sudden change of pace. "We head to the east once we're fully prepared and will do some good deeds to our lizard friends."
Golo activated a Data Pad, storing intel about currently destroyed stations in Teladi Border Sectors. Stations he planned to rebuild. Some time after, the Hammerhead crossed the gate to Loomanckstrat's Legacy, where the Boron was about to meet a Teladi Captain. The baseline was easily established: Golo agreed to transport stations needed by the Teladi for at least 50% less than any given competitor. In return the Captain would use his contacts to restore the borons notoriety.
At first Golo taxied the Teladi to CEO's Doubt, collecting a build mission for an Argon Cattle Ranch, next to New Income, where two other assignments waited. Leaving his passenger at one of the local stations, Golo returned to the former sector, met up with the loaded Chachalot and deployed the first factory, allowing him pass into Ianamus Zura without tipping of any military forces in it.
Consequently the next flight led Golo to the Sector of Ianamus Zura. As the Chachalot slowly moved to dock at the Shipyard to collect the next batch of stations ordered, the Hammered, steered by the Boron himself, advanced deeper into the sector to explore the long lost Teladi home system.
Suddenly an screeching alarm filled the ship, lights flashing red like they never did before. "Incoming hostiles." Evy announced. "I'm under attack. Multiple Threats detected Cyber Warfare Systems engaged." Golos Tentacles bustled over the controls. "This is Ianamus Zura Central Command. The sector is under attack by Xenon Forces. Dock to the closest station immediately or report for duty with the sector defense." A ComLink was established in an instant, even though he had to do it on his own, while Evy fought of the Xenons attempt to render the ship useless. "This is the the Hammerhead, we'll join the fight." "IZCC to Hammerhead. Affirmative, a Group of fighters is heading for your position at Vector 7, -3, 12." "Got it, I'll take them out." "You'll be on your own." "I know Evy, just protect the Hammerhead, I'll be fine."
The Advanced Perseus fired its engines and propelled himself out of the docking bay at full speed, directly facing a wolf pack of 6 Xenon N led by a single L.
Two N didn't survive the first go, turning to dust in the embrace of the PBE's fire lances. The Orca took fire in return, but absorbed it easily for the time being. Golo flew a 180° turn and opened fire on the next N, destroying it in the process.
With 3 gone, the other ship got a lock at him and started firing PBEs themselves. Golo turned and strafed, refraining himself from trying to evade the shots, but instead minimizing the time he needed to acquire a new aim and drawing the pack in range of the Hammerhead. Within seconds the shield threshold dropped to about 30% while the fourth target face his inevitable fate.
"Alert! Shield Threshold Low." the computerized indifferent Voice of the Ships Computer announced. Golo turned the ship and nailed the L hard, but was unable to destroy it in the first go. "Alert! Shield Treshold Low." "Damn it. Evy, I could need a hand here." PBE Shots hailed on the Perseus, while another heavy turn doomed the last two N. "WARNING! Shields critical." "Evy?!" "On it." Now the time of evasion had come. Combining the strafe controls with a continuous barrel roll into a spiraling course wich allowed him to evade even the fast PBE-Pulses, or at least half of them.
Suddenly the L lost speed and shut down for no apparent reason. "Target deactivated."
Golo stopped his engines. "I feel queasy." "No problem, don't mention it." "Yeah, thanks. Was about time." "About time? I fought for my life here too, don't complain."
Golo didn't when the Sector Command ordered him to the next batch of rogue machines, he took the Piranha instead of the Orca and delivered some burning punishment to his enemies, with no more problems for the rest of the fighting.
New World
Azula the Princess, Azula of the Blue Flames, even Queen of . Many names had been added to the one name ruling the Blue Flame Pirate Clan for Decades. As feared by her enemies as loved by her crew, as fiercely hunted by the Commonwealth as protected by her Allies, Azula was in all probability the most notorious female pirate since Kailan Weaver herself.
But on a table eating she was just a human as any other. Golo sipped at his plankton soup, while watching her and all of the other 36 pirate captains feasting on every delicacy to be found among the "six spaces". Most of the attendant captains were split or human by nature, closely followed by the Teladi. Only three of them were paranid and Golo was the only Boron to be seen.
While not even most of the influential captains outside of the Blue Fire Clan attended the meeting, it gave quite a good look at the profile of pirate society.
Split and Humans, by nature creatures of violence and striving for power represented most of the "brute pirates". While the Split just loved to slaughter everyone, the humans had a unceasing demand to dominate others one way or another.
The Teladi on the other side ruled the outlaw economy by sheer force of the almighty Commonwealth Credit. Most of them made a fortune as a smuggler, fence or by dealing arms to other pirates - and the police hunting the first ones.
With the paranid it was a different matter. Most of them were just as violent as humans or split, but as religious zealots they it was against their dignity to get into closer contacts with other races. Those walking the unholy path most of the time just walked alone, acting as short time mercenaries or contract killers, or fighting a religious war against the Empire of Xhaar.
As for the boron, Golo had to admit most of his kind were just pathetic peace loving squid, and those with skill and the power to rule remained loyal to the kingdom.
Not him. He was dedicated and skilled, so Golo said to himself and he deemed his determination the reason he sat among those closely or loosely associated with the Blue Fire Clan.
The real reason for his stay was another. While in hiding herself, Azula had closely watched the Lar and now deemed him reliable enough to use him in a venture she'd had in mind for several months. A couple of hours after the feast, she invited him to a confidential meeting. Unlike the last time she was completely alone, aside from two well armed guards at the front door.
"Welcome Lar Golo. I thank you for visiting me on such short notice." "My pleasure, Princess. I'm the one to thank you, for the invitation." With the usual grace, the princess told Golo to sit down, before she continued. "The stars tell me you've become a big game hunter recently?" "Well, yes. Stole an Albatross." The princess smiled a short smile. "Congratulations on that. In fact, it's the reason I wanted to speak to you." "Please." "You've made yourself a name at pirate alley. Your notoriety with the Federation and the Kingdom is excellent. The Paranid hate you, the Split respect you, cause you've killed so many of them. You've done your duty in the old world." "Pardon me?"
"You've potential, Lar Golo. A potential I don't want to be wasted at the Old World." "What do you mean by 'old world'?" Azula smirked. "Oh my. Know space is divided into two parts, wich we pirates call the Old World, referring to the core territorries predating the Xenon War and the eastern expansion. And the New World, wich referes to the new Territories claimed or reclaimed in the last two decades."
Golo leaned back. "And you want me to go east?" he asked. "I don't 'want' you to. But I'd advise you to do it. And if you do, I may have something to do for you. If you don't mind getting new opportunities." Golo was curious and couldn't deny it in any way. "So what exactly would you want me to do?" he asked. The princess grinned. "Until now, none of us have gained access to Terran Space. Well, not in the way we'd like to." "You want me to pave your way into Sol?" "I don't want you to do that. I want you to consider it to strengthen your position among our kind. And I assure you to help you on this path, if you choose it, Lar Golo Captain of the Fishborne Pirates." "Fishborne Pirates?" "That's how the others call your little venture. They are snotty. But I see your potential."
Golo hesitated. He wasn't sure about Azula telling the truth, but he liked her idea, as well as the name given to his crew. The fishborne Pirates, catchy. "Well. Assumed I'm going to take your advice, where would I have to start?" The princess smiled, showing her white teeth. "There are two major routes to the New World. Both of them blocked by either Paranid or Split Sectors." "So I obviously can't use them. But you said to major routes. What with the minor ones?" "One. Beyond Ianamus Zura and Eitheen Billion, there's a small passage to Scale Plate Green." "But there's a problem, right?" "I guess a Xenon Sector could be considered a problem, yes, but nothing a fast ship couldn't handle."
Golo stood up, he just had the urge to walk around. "The Teladi are not my best friends either." "So that's were you should start."
It was, certainly. Leaving the "New Outlaw Heaven" Golo had already made up his mind about advancing into the so called new world. Although most parts of the Core Territories of Split, Paranid and Teladi were still unknown to him, he figured there wouldn't be a real benefit in exploring them while under heavy fire.
"Evy, order the Chachalot to pick up the Moldy Crow and the Swordfish from Bala Gi's Joy and to store all the freight stored at the Rule of Acquisition in its cargo hold. Afterwards have the Rule of Acquisition and the Angel Shark dock at New Outlaw Heaven." "What's on your mind?" Evy asked, curious about the sudden change of pace. "We head to the east once we're fully prepared and will do some good deeds to our lizard friends."
Golo activated a Data Pad, storing intel about currently destroyed stations in Teladi Border Sectors. Stations he planned to rebuild. Some time after, the Hammerhead crossed the gate to Loomanckstrat's Legacy, where the Boron was about to meet a Teladi Captain. The baseline was easily established: Golo agreed to transport stations needed by the Teladi for at least 50% less than any given competitor. In return the Captain would use his contacts to restore the borons notoriety.
At first Golo taxied the Teladi to CEO's Doubt, collecting a build mission for an Argon Cattle Ranch, next to New Income, where two other assignments waited. Leaving his passenger at one of the local stations, Golo returned to the former sector, met up with the loaded Chachalot and deployed the first factory, allowing him pass into Ianamus Zura without tipping of any military forces in it.
Consequently the next flight led Golo to the Sector of Ianamus Zura. As the Chachalot slowly moved to dock at the Shipyard to collect the next batch of stations ordered, the Hammered, steered by the Boron himself, advanced deeper into the sector to explore the long lost Teladi home system.
Suddenly an screeching alarm filled the ship, lights flashing red like they never did before. "Incoming hostiles." Evy announced. "I'm under attack. Multiple Threats detected Cyber Warfare Systems engaged." Golos Tentacles bustled over the controls. "This is Ianamus Zura Central Command. The sector is under attack by Xenon Forces. Dock to the closest station immediately or report for duty with the sector defense." A ComLink was established in an instant, even though he had to do it on his own, while Evy fought of the Xenons attempt to render the ship useless. "This is the the Hammerhead, we'll join the fight." "IZCC to Hammerhead. Affirmative, a Group of fighters is heading for your position at Vector 7, -3, 12." "Got it, I'll take them out." "You'll be on your own." "I know Evy, just protect the Hammerhead, I'll be fine."
The Advanced Perseus fired its engines and propelled himself out of the docking bay at full speed, directly facing a wolf pack of 6 Xenon N led by a single L.
Two N didn't survive the first go, turning to dust in the embrace of the PBE's fire lances. The Orca took fire in return, but absorbed it easily for the time being. Golo flew a 180° turn and opened fire on the next N, destroying it in the process.
With 3 gone, the other ship got a lock at him and started firing PBEs themselves. Golo turned and strafed, refraining himself from trying to evade the shots, but instead minimizing the time he needed to acquire a new aim and drawing the pack in range of the Hammerhead. Within seconds the shield threshold dropped to about 30% while the fourth target face his inevitable fate.
"Alert! Shield Threshold Low." the computerized indifferent Voice of the Ships Computer announced. Golo turned the ship and nailed the L hard, but was unable to destroy it in the first go. "Alert! Shield Treshold Low." "Damn it. Evy, I could need a hand here." PBE Shots hailed on the Perseus, while another heavy turn doomed the last two N. "WARNING! Shields critical." "Evy?!" "On it." Now the time of evasion had come. Combining the strafe controls with a continuous barrel roll into a spiraling course wich allowed him to evade even the fast PBE-Pulses, or at least half of them.
Suddenly the L lost speed and shut down for no apparent reason. "Target deactivated."
Golo stopped his engines. "I feel queasy." "No problem, don't mention it." "Yeah, thanks. Was about time." "About time? I fought for my life here too, don't complain."
Golo didn't when the Sector Command ordered him to the next batch of rogue machines, he took the Piranha instead of the Orca and delivered some burning punishment to his enemies, with no more problems for the rest of the fighting.
Last edited by RyuKazuha on Sat, 5. Jun 10, 20:11, edited 5 times in total.
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kgkosio
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RyuKazuha
- Posts: 921
- Joined: Tue, 22. Aug 06, 10:38
[Chapter XVII]
Sol
Eighteen Billion. Eastgate. A single Caravel slowly approached the gate. Of the swirling blue vortex, light shed on an emblem covering the ships front, save for the front shield. Two toothed fish bones, slightly leaned and crossing each other below a disc symbolizing the blue Planet of Nishalla. Named Hammerhead, it was the the flagship of the new named Fishborne Pirates.
Aboard, Captain Lar Golo and his companions, mechanic and computer wiz Himi No, ship engineer Tosi Wi and head of the fishborne pirates boarding party Sala Hi, as well as the charming and slightly cynic Artificial Sentience called Evy prepared the fastest ship in possession of the small Group, a discoverer vanguard, for its venture into Xenon Sector.
Nicknamed Kappa and used as an advanced escape pod, it needed to be fit with almost everything, ranging from a triplex scanner to as many Dragonfly's as possible to deal with any N able to intercept the small craft on its way through X347.
Some time later, the Discoverer undocked from the Caravel and accelerated itself to maximum speed, before crossing the gates event horizon.
As the ship entered the sector, it was instantly greeted by as much as 3 Q's with benevolent salvos of deadly capital class weaponry. Evading the unfriendly streams of flashing photon balls, Golo turned the ship right and had his ship dancing between them, until he got out of range and able to redirect his path to the north of the sector.
Across half the sector, a shiny Xenon Station spit out a couple of fighters to hunt for the trespasser, but a quick glance ensured, that none of them came even close to 380m/s, rendering all of them unable to catch up in time.
Was last problem turned out to be a Xenon J sitting right before the gate to Scale Plate Green, escorted by a P and another Q just to complete the picture. Golo circled them and just as he was about to get in firing range again, a small Strong Arms Task Force jumped into the Sector, diverting the fire of all three ships away from the Discoverer and allowing him to slip into Scale Plate Green unnoticed.
There Golo mapped the Gate to Nyanas Hideout and transmitted the coordinates back to the Hammerhead, wich jumped in after just another couple of minutes.
"You ok?" "Yep. Not the most relaxing flight I had, neither the worst though, too." The Kappa dived into its "Cave" and surrendered her freedom to the iron grip of the docking clamps.
"PTNI is to the West, if we go South from there, we should get to the Pirate Base Azula wanted you to visit." "Plot a course." "Affirmative." "And the three of you reverse everything we just did." "Will do, Commander."
PTNI was a lively sector, with buzzing traffic lanes and ever expanding industry. Keeping his side of the contract with the Teladi, Golo took a couple of station deliveries for just a couple of ten thousand Credits final pay out and ordered the Chachalot to get them, before he turned his attention to the South Gate and the Sector behind it.
The Outpost there consisted of two station, quite heavily defended by four Laser Towers, wich easily took out an incoming Kha'ak Cluster. As he contacted the Station, he was greeted by a man who called himself "Silver" and was one of those associated with the Blue Fire Clan.
"So a Squid is our way into the Terran Sectors?" he asked with open doubt. "While I've nothing against Squids in general, I'd like not to be referred to as one, I don't call you a monkey either, or at least not as long as you can hear me." The man grinned. "Okay, I think I get why the Princess likes you. Anyways, your only chance to get into Terran might be playing an escort for one of their diplomats." "How would I do that?" "It's not that hard, as long as your argon record is clear." "It is, so spit it out already." "Go to Omicron Lyrae, they are recruiting there." "Alright."
The human made it sound just way to simple. Golo prepared for somewhat more than a walk in the park and decided to use the Blastclaw "Skullfish" for this Mission, with the Hammerhead following as backup but out of sight of the Terrans.
While advanced Artrificial Intelligences or even Artificial Sentiences were neither common nor widely accepted in Commonwealth Space, the Terrans hated them and in the short time since reconnection had made numerous attempts to destroy such systems where ever they found located them.
"I want one of you always awake and supervising the ship. Evy, act like a normal autopilot as long as you have to, to keep up your coverage." "Aye Aye Captain." "Autopilot activated." "Good girl."
The Skullfish entered Omicron Lyrae. The system was seemingly quite and the oncoming traffic just consisted of a small Mercury Tanker. Soon enough the mission proved to be just as easy as the human had told him.
"Hey there pilot. Some terran diplomats will leave Omicron Lyrae soon and need an escort. We'd like to show them, how we deal with such issues out here. Are you with us? It'd certainly improve your record."
Golo grinned, and controled this motion, before he activated the video-feed on his side. How they dealt with things? They hired a notorious pirate to protect a precious cargo. Monkeys. "What's in for me?" he asked, like he would, if he wouldn't have been interested.
Golo didn't want anyone to suspect him escorting the Terrans on purpose. "What about five grand?" The boron smiled. "Sounds about right." "Alright then, the Terrans are already closing, get in formation." "Yeah-yeah."
The TP, a quite aestheticly designed Scabbard-Model, arrived, just when Golo did. Immediatly the com was filled with bitching monkeys voices, babbling about how bad argon pilots were. The Pirat just remained silent and took his place some hundred meters behind the shuttle.
Crossing the gate to Circle of Labor, pissing and bitching continued. And while the Argon Wingleader and the Terran pilot argued about who had the bigger breasts or larger penis in terms of scanners, the boron had already left the formation to greet a small Xenon Patrol with fire, when Humans first noticed them.
The second enemy encounter in Heretic's End went along the same lines, a second time with golo beeing the only one to fire his guns, toasting all machines with a single well aimed burst of plasma.
The first time Golo rose his voice during the whole mission was right after the Terran Pilot Erin Iovy adressed all pilots as argons. "I'm not Argon." A simple correction at itself. But when the Argon Wing Leader spoke for all parts of the Wing, again adressing Golo as a argon, the pirate nearly lost his temper. "I am BORON, not argon, you filthy son of Apes and Swine!"
At least the Terran recognized his performance and - not expected from the most xenophobic cuture, Paranid aside - specifically offered him to work for the terran and to be treated as an embassador. Of course he agreed and received his Visa to Astroid Belt and the Outer Planets of Sol.
Upon exiting the Gate in the mids of Sols Asteroid Belt, one thing was certain to Golo: The home system of the humans had to be called beautiful in any way and the further the Skullfish got in, the more of its beauties unfolded.
Jupiters Storms, Saturns Rings, the nishallan blue covering Neptun, and at last the silhouette of Uranus, all highlighted by the golden light of Sol itself. And, as was to read in tourist guides, the inner system was even more impressive, but the entry strictly restrictedto any private ship. However, there were commercial Starliners around to help anyone willing to pay and allowed to enter the Solar System in general to see them.
Golo didn't take the opportunity, in fact, he never even thought about doing so. Anyways he was called for duty to take part in a standard USC-patrol.
To be treated as an ambassador was something else, but the pirate knew his place and the right time to speak up against something. And this wasn't. So instead of complaining he kept quite again, listening to continued babbling on the com, until something depicted as micro asteroids turned out to be messenger drones, presumably send by Xenon Ships, wich attacked Neptun an Pluto in the meantime. Without waiting for orders, Golo used his advantage in speed to leave the group behind and get into the fight as quickly as possible.
Once the targeting locked onto the first L, everything became routine. A couple of bursts burnt the Xenon to ashes, and half a dozen of its friends quickly fall victim to the overheated gas, too.
Golo scanned a beacon used by the AGI to point jump into the System as he was told and scorched it afterwards as well. Right in time to be directed to the Oort-Cloud, where he was told to watch out for trespassing drones.
As he was chasing down the last drone through the system, suddenly something struck Golos Eyes and made him doubt Azula's story...
Sol
Eighteen Billion. Eastgate. A single Caravel slowly approached the gate. Of the swirling blue vortex, light shed on an emblem covering the ships front, save for the front shield. Two toothed fish bones, slightly leaned and crossing each other below a disc symbolizing the blue Planet of Nishalla. Named Hammerhead, it was the the flagship of the new named Fishborne Pirates.
Aboard, Captain Lar Golo and his companions, mechanic and computer wiz Himi No, ship engineer Tosi Wi and head of the fishborne pirates boarding party Sala Hi, as well as the charming and slightly cynic Artificial Sentience called Evy prepared the fastest ship in possession of the small Group, a discoverer vanguard, for its venture into Xenon Sector.
Nicknamed Kappa and used as an advanced escape pod, it needed to be fit with almost everything, ranging from a triplex scanner to as many Dragonfly's as possible to deal with any N able to intercept the small craft on its way through X347.
Some time later, the Discoverer undocked from the Caravel and accelerated itself to maximum speed, before crossing the gates event horizon.
As the ship entered the sector, it was instantly greeted by as much as 3 Q's with benevolent salvos of deadly capital class weaponry. Evading the unfriendly streams of flashing photon balls, Golo turned the ship right and had his ship dancing between them, until he got out of range and able to redirect his path to the north of the sector.
Across half the sector, a shiny Xenon Station spit out a couple of fighters to hunt for the trespasser, but a quick glance ensured, that none of them came even close to 380m/s, rendering all of them unable to catch up in time.
Was last problem turned out to be a Xenon J sitting right before the gate to Scale Plate Green, escorted by a P and another Q just to complete the picture. Golo circled them and just as he was about to get in firing range again, a small Strong Arms Task Force jumped into the Sector, diverting the fire of all three ships away from the Discoverer and allowing him to slip into Scale Plate Green unnoticed.
There Golo mapped the Gate to Nyanas Hideout and transmitted the coordinates back to the Hammerhead, wich jumped in after just another couple of minutes.
"You ok?" "Yep. Not the most relaxing flight I had, neither the worst though, too." The Kappa dived into its "Cave" and surrendered her freedom to the iron grip of the docking clamps.
"PTNI is to the West, if we go South from there, we should get to the Pirate Base Azula wanted you to visit." "Plot a course." "Affirmative." "And the three of you reverse everything we just did." "Will do, Commander."
PTNI was a lively sector, with buzzing traffic lanes and ever expanding industry. Keeping his side of the contract with the Teladi, Golo took a couple of station deliveries for just a couple of ten thousand Credits final pay out and ordered the Chachalot to get them, before he turned his attention to the South Gate and the Sector behind it.
The Outpost there consisted of two station, quite heavily defended by four Laser Towers, wich easily took out an incoming Kha'ak Cluster. As he contacted the Station, he was greeted by a man who called himself "Silver" and was one of those associated with the Blue Fire Clan.
"So a Squid is our way into the Terran Sectors?" he asked with open doubt. "While I've nothing against Squids in general, I'd like not to be referred to as one, I don't call you a monkey either, or at least not as long as you can hear me." The man grinned. "Okay, I think I get why the Princess likes you. Anyways, your only chance to get into Terran might be playing an escort for one of their diplomats." "How would I do that?" "It's not that hard, as long as your argon record is clear." "It is, so spit it out already." "Go to Omicron Lyrae, they are recruiting there." "Alright."
The human made it sound just way to simple. Golo prepared for somewhat more than a walk in the park and decided to use the Blastclaw "Skullfish" for this Mission, with the Hammerhead following as backup but out of sight of the Terrans.
While advanced Artrificial Intelligences or even Artificial Sentiences were neither common nor widely accepted in Commonwealth Space, the Terrans hated them and in the short time since reconnection had made numerous attempts to destroy such systems where ever they found located them.
"I want one of you always awake and supervising the ship. Evy, act like a normal autopilot as long as you have to, to keep up your coverage." "Aye Aye Captain." "Autopilot activated." "Good girl."
The Skullfish entered Omicron Lyrae. The system was seemingly quite and the oncoming traffic just consisted of a small Mercury Tanker. Soon enough the mission proved to be just as easy as the human had told him.
"Hey there pilot. Some terran diplomats will leave Omicron Lyrae soon and need an escort. We'd like to show them, how we deal with such issues out here. Are you with us? It'd certainly improve your record."
Golo grinned, and controled this motion, before he activated the video-feed on his side. How they dealt with things? They hired a notorious pirate to protect a precious cargo. Monkeys. "What's in for me?" he asked, like he would, if he wouldn't have been interested.
Golo didn't want anyone to suspect him escorting the Terrans on purpose. "What about five grand?" The boron smiled. "Sounds about right." "Alright then, the Terrans are already closing, get in formation." "Yeah-yeah."
The TP, a quite aestheticly designed Scabbard-Model, arrived, just when Golo did. Immediatly the com was filled with bitching monkeys voices, babbling about how bad argon pilots were. The Pirat just remained silent and took his place some hundred meters behind the shuttle.
Crossing the gate to Circle of Labor, pissing and bitching continued. And while the Argon Wingleader and the Terran pilot argued about who had the bigger breasts or larger penis in terms of scanners, the boron had already left the formation to greet a small Xenon Patrol with fire, when Humans first noticed them.
The second enemy encounter in Heretic's End went along the same lines, a second time with golo beeing the only one to fire his guns, toasting all machines with a single well aimed burst of plasma.
The first time Golo rose his voice during the whole mission was right after the Terran Pilot Erin Iovy adressed all pilots as argons. "I'm not Argon." A simple correction at itself. But when the Argon Wing Leader spoke for all parts of the Wing, again adressing Golo as a argon, the pirate nearly lost his temper. "I am BORON, not argon, you filthy son of Apes and Swine!"
At least the Terran recognized his performance and - not expected from the most xenophobic cuture, Paranid aside - specifically offered him to work for the terran and to be treated as an embassador. Of course he agreed and received his Visa to Astroid Belt and the Outer Planets of Sol.
Upon exiting the Gate in the mids of Sols Asteroid Belt, one thing was certain to Golo: The home system of the humans had to be called beautiful in any way and the further the Skullfish got in, the more of its beauties unfolded.
Jupiters Storms, Saturns Rings, the nishallan blue covering Neptun, and at last the silhouette of Uranus, all highlighted by the golden light of Sol itself. And, as was to read in tourist guides, the inner system was even more impressive, but the entry strictly restrictedto any private ship. However, there were commercial Starliners around to help anyone willing to pay and allowed to enter the Solar System in general to see them.
Golo didn't take the opportunity, in fact, he never even thought about doing so. Anyways he was called for duty to take part in a standard USC-patrol.
To be treated as an ambassador was something else, but the pirate knew his place and the right time to speak up against something. And this wasn't. So instead of complaining he kept quite again, listening to continued babbling on the com, until something depicted as micro asteroids turned out to be messenger drones, presumably send by Xenon Ships, wich attacked Neptun an Pluto in the meantime. Without waiting for orders, Golo used his advantage in speed to leave the group behind and get into the fight as quickly as possible.
Once the targeting locked onto the first L, everything became routine. A couple of bursts burnt the Xenon to ashes, and half a dozen of its friends quickly fall victim to the overheated gas, too.
Golo scanned a beacon used by the AGI to point jump into the System as he was told and scorched it afterwards as well. Right in time to be directed to the Oort-Cloud, where he was told to watch out for trespassing drones.
As he was chasing down the last drone through the system, suddenly something struck Golos Eyes and made him doubt Azula's story...
Last edited by RyuKazuha on Tue, 8. Jun 10, 00:47, edited 3 times in total.
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RyuKazuha
- Posts: 921
- Joined: Tue, 22. Aug 06, 10:38
Chapter XVII finished.
I gained access to Sol and used the Disco to map the Sectors from Asteroid Belt outward, noticing the Terran Economy is already and utterly failing. So while I restrained myself to not trade anything but illegal goods, I have to support it, if I want to dream of purchasing EMPCs and the other Terran Weapons.
Since we all know building Terran Rep isn't that kind of a problem and the only thing coming from business besides rep and trade rank is money, I decided to set up a kind of "phantom business" called Sol Logistics. It won't appear in the Story (at least not as a business run by Golo), and consists of a Orbital Freight Dock in one of the Unknown Sectors beyond Pluto and several Baldrics I scripted with Cycrows Cheat Scripts. I gave the Freight Dock 2 Million from Golos Account (without replacing them via Script), homebased all Bladrics to it and have them run Sector Trader. Set up like this, all the money will go towards and stay in the Freight Dock for all eternity, Terran Economy will buzz and I don't need to do Taxi-Missions to build up rep (though I might do that if I feel like it).
I'll also introduce Cadius' Xtra Ship and Station Pack as mod used and recommend it to everyone of my readers, its awesome.
I gained access to Sol and used the Disco to map the Sectors from Asteroid Belt outward, noticing the Terran Economy is already and utterly failing. So while I restrained myself to not trade anything but illegal goods, I have to support it, if I want to dream of purchasing EMPCs and the other Terran Weapons.
Since we all know building Terran Rep isn't that kind of a problem and the only thing coming from business besides rep and trade rank is money, I decided to set up a kind of "phantom business" called Sol Logistics. It won't appear in the Story (at least not as a business run by Golo), and consists of a Orbital Freight Dock in one of the Unknown Sectors beyond Pluto and several Baldrics I scripted with Cycrows Cheat Scripts. I gave the Freight Dock 2 Million from Golos Account (without replacing them via Script), homebased all Bladrics to it and have them run Sector Trader. Set up like this, all the money will go towards and stay in the Freight Dock for all eternity, Terran Economy will buzz and I don't need to do Taxi-Missions to build up rep (though I might do that if I feel like it).
I'll also introduce Cadius' Xtra Ship and Station Pack as mod used and recommend it to everyone of my readers, its awesome.
-
RyuKazuha
- Posts: 921
- Joined: Tue, 22. Aug 06, 10:38
[Chapter XVIII]
Phantome Menace
"Looks like every messenger drone was either destroyed or captured. Patrol the Outer Planets and destroy any AGI-Ship left."
The Blastclaw slowly turned and headed back to the gate, where the rest of the wing had just arrived. Golo ignored the com chatter again and enterte the OA, to get back to Pluto, where not only a bulk of Xenon awaited him, but also the Hammerhead.
"Sala Hi, this is Golo, i need you to do something for me." "Captain?" "Scan for any intact, but deactivated Xenon Ship and retrieve it." "Aye Aye Sir."
After some more battles, Golo finally reached the Rings of Saturn and was told to dock with the Saturn Research Center, where the data recorder would be examined. Something Golo had to avoid at all cost. But things had turned out well, with the Hammerhead able to retrieve three Xenon Wrecks.
When the Scientists approached him, he offered them to give them the wrecks, diverting their interest away from his own ship. The deal was finalized and the Hammerhead unloaded its cargo with Golo and his ship free to go, as the scientists hoped to find more direct intel in the Xenons Data Cores.
Shortly after, the boron got a message, telling him to meet up with Major General Ishiyama in Asteroid Belt. He did as he was told and docked with the Defense Station in the System, where he was brought to the Generals Office.
Apparently the Terrans suspected their kin, the Argon, to be one of the culprits behind the recent attacks on the solar system. Somehow, they thought, someone animated the Xenon to attack, but it was unknown why and how, something the Humans wanted to find out - of course.
For the time being, the only thing known was, that several incidents involving Xenon accompanied by ships of argon production had been reported from the Commonwealth and as one of the natives to this, as well as to honor his work for the Terrans so far, had been chosen to play a key roll in the whole investigation. To enable him to help, he was also given a Terran M5 and access to Mars.
Golo accepted the offer and left the station. Still, the things he had seen disturbed him. He wasn't sure about what he had seen, but it was still enough to mistrust the women who had talked him into coming here.
Anyways, he had to concentrate on his task, wich was to investigate the trouble. Doing so, he'd find his suspicion reasonable or not, thus either revealing or solving his actual problem.
Aboard the Hammerhead it was only a quick jump to Scale Plate Green, where an attack had been reported. It was still ongoing, as the boron arrived.
Again an argon built ship worked with a couple of Xenon he seemed to manipulate. As soon as the target was dust, the Nova Raider picked up some crate and left the Xenon confused, vulnerable to Golos Fire. After destroying the Xenon, our hero followed the pirate ship with ever increasing doubt.
Eventually, the pirate docked at a second pirate base in the unknown Sector beyond PTNI Headquarters. Seconds after, another ship undocked. A freighter wich jumped almost immediately, but not fast enough for Golo to miss the emblem on its flank.
The following fight with pirates from the base backed up be Xenon was as hard as short. Within three attacks, every offender was reduced to space dust and Golos Shields had run down to just 3%. He scanned the base and left the sector as soon as possible.
Work wasn't done yet. The Xenon had started to attack the sector, coming from Treasure Chest they wreaked havoc on everything, and of course Golo was supposed to take them down with two terran newbies, both of wich he had met on his first patrol in Terran Space. "Great."
Again, everything worked out quite well, even with the burden of the human wingman. Most of the ships burned down in the first volleys of Golos Skullfish, the others were ripped apart by the Orca or the Phiranha.
The next surprise waited just inside the Treasure Chest. "What the hell?!" Golo exclaimed, realizing unknown Ships between the Xenon, fighting at their side. "What are these?" "Tell me." "They look like some of the old terraformer designs." "Impossible." Golo fired his engine and targeted the first of the unknown ships. "They're attacking, would probably be good to shoot first and ask later."
And they did, again. Mindless shootin was something Golo somewhat enjoyed. Not because of the "challenge to overcome an obstacle", just because he was able to pull the trigger and reduce to rubble in seconds what was created in a far greater timespan.
At the East Gate a P had joined the Fight. Golo closed the distance, exploiting blind spots in the enemy ships fire screen and burned it to hell withing a couple of attacks, while the Terrans gathered their first kills. Suddenly, the Sun just disappeared. Or at least it seemed so, as the shadow of the Q dunked the Blastclaw in darkness. "HOLY SQUID."
It took only a few shots to turn the fire spitting dragon into a fireball itself. And this time the dragon to be slain was the Skullfish. A dragon with a fierce breath, but unable to take more then three direct hits of light spitting dragon armed with an photon pulse cannon.
Golo was not killed by the explosion, he even failed to get shot by the PPC, as he had ejected soon enough. But he was decided to be slain, and in the end, the Q just crushed him with a brutal body slam. The King of Pirates turned out not to be Lar Golo, to whom the "New World" became a shallow grave.
The End
Phantome Menace
"Looks like every messenger drone was either destroyed or captured. Patrol the Outer Planets and destroy any AGI-Ship left."
The Blastclaw slowly turned and headed back to the gate, where the rest of the wing had just arrived. Golo ignored the com chatter again and enterte the OA, to get back to Pluto, where not only a bulk of Xenon awaited him, but also the Hammerhead.
"Sala Hi, this is Golo, i need you to do something for me." "Captain?" "Scan for any intact, but deactivated Xenon Ship and retrieve it." "Aye Aye Sir."
After some more battles, Golo finally reached the Rings of Saturn and was told to dock with the Saturn Research Center, where the data recorder would be examined. Something Golo had to avoid at all cost. But things had turned out well, with the Hammerhead able to retrieve three Xenon Wrecks.
When the Scientists approached him, he offered them to give them the wrecks, diverting their interest away from his own ship. The deal was finalized and the Hammerhead unloaded its cargo with Golo and his ship free to go, as the scientists hoped to find more direct intel in the Xenons Data Cores.
Shortly after, the boron got a message, telling him to meet up with Major General Ishiyama in Asteroid Belt. He did as he was told and docked with the Defense Station in the System, where he was brought to the Generals Office.
Apparently the Terrans suspected their kin, the Argon, to be one of the culprits behind the recent attacks on the solar system. Somehow, they thought, someone animated the Xenon to attack, but it was unknown why and how, something the Humans wanted to find out - of course.
For the time being, the only thing known was, that several incidents involving Xenon accompanied by ships of argon production had been reported from the Commonwealth and as one of the natives to this, as well as to honor his work for the Terrans so far, had been chosen to play a key roll in the whole investigation. To enable him to help, he was also given a Terran M5 and access to Mars.
Golo accepted the offer and left the station. Still, the things he had seen disturbed him. He wasn't sure about what he had seen, but it was still enough to mistrust the women who had talked him into coming here.
Anyways, he had to concentrate on his task, wich was to investigate the trouble. Doing so, he'd find his suspicion reasonable or not, thus either revealing or solving his actual problem.
Aboard the Hammerhead it was only a quick jump to Scale Plate Green, where an attack had been reported. It was still ongoing, as the boron arrived.
Again an argon built ship worked with a couple of Xenon he seemed to manipulate. As soon as the target was dust, the Nova Raider picked up some crate and left the Xenon confused, vulnerable to Golos Fire. After destroying the Xenon, our hero followed the pirate ship with ever increasing doubt.
Eventually, the pirate docked at a second pirate base in the unknown Sector beyond PTNI Headquarters. Seconds after, another ship undocked. A freighter wich jumped almost immediately, but not fast enough for Golo to miss the emblem on its flank.
The following fight with pirates from the base backed up be Xenon was as hard as short. Within three attacks, every offender was reduced to space dust and Golos Shields had run down to just 3%. He scanned the base and left the sector as soon as possible.
Work wasn't done yet. The Xenon had started to attack the sector, coming from Treasure Chest they wreaked havoc on everything, and of course Golo was supposed to take them down with two terran newbies, both of wich he had met on his first patrol in Terran Space. "Great."
Again, everything worked out quite well, even with the burden of the human wingman. Most of the ships burned down in the first volleys of Golos Skullfish, the others were ripped apart by the Orca or the Phiranha.
The next surprise waited just inside the Treasure Chest. "What the hell?!" Golo exclaimed, realizing unknown Ships between the Xenon, fighting at their side. "What are these?" "Tell me." "They look like some of the old terraformer designs." "Impossible." Golo fired his engine and targeted the first of the unknown ships. "They're attacking, would probably be good to shoot first and ask later."
And they did, again. Mindless shootin was something Golo somewhat enjoyed. Not because of the "challenge to overcome an obstacle", just because he was able to pull the trigger and reduce to rubble in seconds what was created in a far greater timespan.
At the East Gate a P had joined the Fight. Golo closed the distance, exploiting blind spots in the enemy ships fire screen and burned it to hell withing a couple of attacks, while the Terrans gathered their first kills. Suddenly, the Sun just disappeared. Or at least it seemed so, as the shadow of the Q dunked the Blastclaw in darkness. "HOLY SQUID."
It took only a few shots to turn the fire spitting dragon into a fireball itself. And this time the dragon to be slain was the Skullfish. A dragon with a fierce breath, but unable to take more then three direct hits of light spitting dragon armed with an photon pulse cannon.
Golo was not killed by the explosion, he even failed to get shot by the PPC, as he had ejected soon enough. But he was decided to be slain, and in the end, the Q just crushed him with a brutal body slam. The King of Pirates turned out not to be Lar Golo, to whom the "New World" became a shallow grave.
The End
Last edited by RyuKazuha on Tue, 8. Jun 10, 23:15, edited 1 time in total.
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RyuKazuha
- Posts: 921
- Joined: Tue, 22. Aug 06, 10:38
...
...
...
Dead.
*sob*
I... suddenly this Q... and... *cry*
I'll update the Story later, as i got further than I've written done so far, but well, this is it.
Eight days, six hours and twenty four minutes, five days fourteen hours and eight minutes of those without the use of SETA found an unwanted and early end.
...
...
Dead.
*sob*
I... suddenly this Q... and... *cry*
I'll update the Story later, as i got further than I've written done so far, but well, this is it.
Eight days, six hours and twenty four minutes, five days fourteen hours and eight minutes of those without the use of SETA found an unwanted and early end.
Last edited by RyuKazuha on Tue, 8. Jun 10, 20:51, edited 1 time in total.
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Madw0lf
- Posts: 323
- Joined: Fri, 24. Dec 04, 01:53
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