Infinte Opportunity [DiD] TC 3.2

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RyuKazuha
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Infinte Opportunity [DiD] TC 3.2

Post by RyuKazuha » Mon, 13. Aug 12, 14:20

I'm back to writing, well back to writing for X3, and as of that, I decided to start a new series. I'll use a modified version of X3TC 3.2. If you're interested in the mods I use, ask and I'll answer you, just to lazy to post them right now.

The story will evolve as I play (as all of them have done before) featuring a series of characters from my previous DiDs (one in particular, as you will see soon), and possibly gueststarring some other writers heros directly or indirectly if I get permission for that.
Each chapter will get it's own post and will be linked in this first one to allow you to keep track of everything, however, a single chapter may contain multiple updates and is usually finished right before the next chapter is introduced.

The start is Nostalgic Argon.

Mods and Scripts:

XTra Ship and Station Mod by Cadius
Xtra Jobs 3.3a by vkerinav
Advanced Weapon Research Mod by Roger L.S. Griffiths
Enhanced Equipment Spawner 2.6 by Roger L.S. Griffiths and LitCube
Board Station by uberex
Bribe a Pilot by Nividium
Ship Hijacker by Nividium
Improved Boarding by Cycrow
Salvage Claim Software by Cycrow
Improved Races 2.0 by Jack08 und DJRygar
NPC Bailing Addon by ThisIsHarsh
Salvage Commands and NPCs by ThisIsHarsh
Stock Exchange by mark_a_condren
The Marauder Shipyard by Teladidrone
Release Passengers 1.0 by X2-Illuminatus

Rules:
- DiD (excluding inevitable gatecrashes and the likes, however including autopillock induced death, as I'm at fault if I used it in the first place)
- only save at stations
- no RL-use on Capital Ships
- M6, M7, TL, M2 and M1 have to be boarded with Marines

Current Goals:

- upgrade the Rusty Shell or get a better Ship [completed]
- accquire a TM [completed]
- access Gaian Star
- survive


Chapter I: Without Direction
Chapter II: Be My Friend
Chapter III: Upgrade
Chapter IV: Path to the Future
Chapter V: Preparations
Chapter VI: Rumble
Chapter VII: 'Nid Picking
Chapter VIII: Face the Facts
Chapter IX: Crewed
Chapter X: Running the Gauntlet
Last edited by RyuKazuha on Thu, 13. Sep 12, 19:19, edited 16 times in total.

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Post by RyuKazuha » Mon, 13. Aug 12, 14:25

Without Direction

Jeremy Talon leaned back into the cockpit seat, tapping his finger on the armrest. There he was, free from his depts and inside his own ship, more then he could've hoped for just days ago. Still, he was far from being a being made man, without direction and with just a thousand credits left bound to make money before his meager savings would run out.
He gazed at the blue oceans and green continents of Argon Prime below him. Life at the surface was hard and hectic. The ever overcrowded streets had made him choke again and again, even remembering it narrowed his airways. However, being out here in space, all alone and forced to find a new way of life was frigthening at its own.
Maybe he should've just sold the buster like everything else, the money would've been enough to support his lifestyle for the rest of his time. Then again he was here, out in space, free from the bonds of planetary life and slowly his thirst for adventure started to grow.
Ofcourse, even pushing the throttle lever and accelerate was an adventure right now, but Jeremy had a slight idea this wouldn't be the end of all things.

Jeremy closed his eyes and recalled what he had seen about life in space in movies. They usually tackled on piracy and glorious battles, a bit to much to take into consideration just know. Second he remembered a film about Scrappers, spacers who either legaly or illegaly collected space junk and wreckage to sell it to the highest bidder.
The young man swayed his head indulging into the romantic image of a hard working man who made a living on finding or buying beaten up ships and repairing them for sale.
Than he opened his eyes, now knowing wich way he wanted to go and how to put his skills as a mechanic to best use. However he realised Argon Prime wouldn't be the best sector to live this kind of life, instead, he would have to set out for the notorious pirate alley, or any other system where fights where common, as well as getting a ship catering to his new life style, preferably with strong shields and the capacity to load other ships, in other words a military transport.

Pushing the throttle to accellerate the oh so apptly named "Rusty Shell" wasn't a big deal, yet to Jermey it meant propelling himself into the new life he had chosen to take on.
Carefully he steered his Buster towards the South Gate, heading for home of light, wich he knew to be considered an economically thriving sector and probably a good start to provide him with opportunities.

Entering Home of Light, the sector presented it self peaceful and kind of quite, with just a few ships crossing the busters sensor range. Jeremy gazed at the sectors planet with awe, seeing another from space for the first time of his life.
Sadly, what he perceived to be local trade opportunities where well beyond what his meager funds could afford, so he made his way into ore belt, as far as he knew a safe but less civilized system allways in dire need for pilots.

Another Jump later, the dusty asteroid belt again inspired the pilots awe. Asking a bypassing taxi for a direction, he found his way to the powerplant and docked in order to purchase some energy cells to sell to other facilities within the sector - a practise he'd heard about being a pretty standard and safe way to make money before descending to deep into the whole trading thing.
The Cells where offered at 17 Credits each, but being told there was a shortage on a nearby factory, Talon found himself agreeing to the deal, spending almost all of his small fortune to fill his even smaller cargo hold. In good spirits he took off to the facility the vendor had mentioned bound to be ripped from his dreams of wealth by the bare claws of reality.
The supposed "shortage" was inexistent. To make any kind of profit Jeremy had to beg the buyer, telling him of his misery and probably lying about a dept, until the man finally gave in to buy his cells for a credit more then he had paid himself.
58 Credits. The first Jeremy had earned as a free trader, more importantly making him realise the people in space were mostly the same as on the surface, greedy liers who would help noone without gaining something for themselves.

"Hey, boy!" Jermey looked up, from the credits to the buyer. The man was about sixty years old, bold and showed a feint, somewhat ironic smile. "Don't let it get to your head, ey? Won't be the last time you get scammed. But that's how it works around here. Keep your eyes and ears open, learn the prices, trust your instincts and never ever believe someone who wants to sell you something." He smiled, now generously.
Jeremy nodded. "Thanks, Sir." he answered, walking away with his fist closed. These 58 Credits would be the start.

And they were. Returning to the power plant, its prices and plumeted. Now the guy that had scammed him last time was begging the few traders docked to buy the stations cells in order to avoid stopping production. Jeremy refrained from the cruel laughter he wanted to release on the other, but instead offerend to by some cells for the minimal prize of 12 Credits.
The other, recognizing him grinded his teeth, but nevertheless had to comply.
Loaded with cheap energy, Jeremy took a bit of time to study the local stations supply reports. One of them, a relativly nearby mine proved to be low stocked and within just a few minutes of time, Jeremy sold his cargo for a 33% profit at 18 credits per cell. Also learning that the mine had some kind of dispute with their usual suppliers, indicating a reliable source of income to be exploited while it lasted.
In just a few runs, Jeremy was able to nearly quintuple his funds, until the established traders reacted to the nice filled power plant and practically emptied it from one moment to the other.

With a bit of envy towards the owners of those mercuries, Jeremy decided to stay docked until the price would fall again, using the time to learn more about the sectors economy.
It turned out to be fairly easy. There was one solar powerplant providing energy to a couple of mining complexes as well as a pair of sidearms factories and a flakforge, wich turned the ore into more military applicable things. The mines either produced for the factories or had their ore sold directly to Plutarch, whos HQ dominated the whole belt.
Also there basically existed to kinds of supply lines: Small traders like himself with little freight capacity but relativly mobile ships and the ability to take any opportunity, and secondly the freighter pilots, who hauled large amounts of goods around and provided enough ressources for a factory to feed of quite a long time.

As a bee - how Jermey came to name the small traders - you had to do, what you where meant to do, react and quickly adapt, anticipating profit, even in small margins, outrunning the birds - freighters - and kind of pioneer their opportunities, setting out for new targets once they appeared.
Adhering to this insight, he bought some cells as soon as the plant started offering them for below average and a undersupplied target was to be found.
Last edited by RyuKazuha on Tue, 14. Aug 12, 09:15, edited 2 times in total.

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Post by RyuKazuha » Mon, 13. Aug 12, 14:43

Be my friend

After the first day, Jeremy Talon had aquired a total profit of over 500% of his former account, wich now counted slightly over sixthousand Credits. As the standard day neared its end, the young men was pretty content, as well as glad to get a bit of sleep on the makeshift bed inside the small cabin of the Buster.
As he woke up, he noticed an unusual lack of light around him. The only light he saw, came from outside the ship, probably provided by the hangarlights.
Getting up, Jeremy glanced at the main monitor. It was as dark as the rest of the ship. With a slight gnarl the men slid into the pilotseat and routinly pushed the buttons wich in theory should have restarted the ships computer system. Nothing. Furious, he slammed his fist at the controlpanel. Still nothing. "Dammit!"
Leaving the pilot seat, the young men got on his knees and opened the coverpanel to take a direct look at the navcomputer. Promptly, the intense smell of charred rubber rose. "Shit." Jeremy lifted himself back up. The computer was obviously well beyond its time, with any thought about repairing it a waste of time.
The young pilot opened the hatch to the cargohold manually in order to get out of the ship and into the hangar, where a couple of other traders had docked.
Jeremy greeted one of them with a gesture as he closed the distance. "Good Morning Sir. It seems I need a new mainframe. You wouldn't know where to find one?" The man glanced at Jeremy, obviously trying to fix some issue with his thruster. "Hardly a good mornin' kid." he answered and fizzled onto the flor. "Maybe I know where to find one. But I've got my own problems here." Jeremy eyeballed the ship, as well as the thruster the man was working on. "A dislocated injector, eh?" he asked. The mans eyebrow rose. "Where do you get that idea?" Jeremy smiled. "Have been working as a ship mechanic earlier." He took another few steps towards the man, who began to grin. "Tell you what, if you fix this shit, I'll give you your mainframe." he said.
Jeremy glanced at the other one sceptically. "Show it to me first, and it's a deal."

Two hours later, the other trader - he had refered to himself as Ed only - left the hangar bay with a repaired ship and Jeremy started to integrate the new mainframe with his ships systems, after he'd extracted the older one.
Finally, everything was as its place, and jeremy again initiated the start up sequence for the ships computers, leaning back into the pilot seat, wearied by his work.
"Hi." Jeremy jumped up, hitting his head against the cockpitwindow, then immediatly falling back into the seat. Disturbed, his eyes met the computer screen. A boron stared back, giggling all the while. "What the?!" "I said: Hi." she broke in on him. "Hi?" he replied, still perplexed. "I think I said that, yes." The boron looked at him with what seemed to be a feint grin. "What do you want from me?" Jeremy asked, trying to get a hold on himself. "Asking your ships computer such a questions is kind of ironic, don't you think?" she replied - on a side note, the assumption that she was indeed a she was purely based upon her computergenerated voice - and cocked her head slightly. Jeremy shook his head. "You're the computer?" The boron now clearly grinned. "Captain Obvious. May I ask for your name?" "Jeremy... Jeremy Talon... and yours?"
The boron cocked her head again, now a bit more. "I'm Evy." she answered. "I guess this image is a bit disturbing, I will take on a more appropriate appearance in a second." The screen went dark, then a human female somewhere in her early twens appeared. She had green eyes, red hair and a quite appealing smile. "I guess this is better." She said smiling.
Jeremy nodded, allthough it wasn't any less disturbing then before, at least the human image allowed him to connect to the AI a lot easier. "Hi." he finally answered, staring at the screen. "I'm kind of beyond this point now, you know? Judging from the logs I recovered your new to the whole spacething, huh?" Jeremy just nodded, still confused about his new "computer". "Any Questions?" Evy asked with a grin.
"Actually a lot." Jeremy answered, finally regaining his composture. "I will need some time to adapt to this ships system, but answering your questions while I'm doing it, it shouldn't be to much of a problem."
For a couple of seconds, maybe a minute, both remained silent, staring at each other. "So?" Evy finally broke the silence. Jermey took a deep breath. "What are you?" he asked. "I'm an artificial sentience, programmed to help in theoretical reasearch of thirtysix dimensional... Well, research. But I have to say I'm pretty decent in operating ships to." Jeremys Eyebrow rose. "You mean you're and advanced AI?" Evys image showed a grin. "Thats a very simple way to put it. But basically yes." she answered. "Where do you come from?" Jeremy dug further. "My oldest logfiles detail my first activation to have been at the boron homeworld." Jeremy nodded, concluding: "So you served a boron, that's why you had their appearance." Again Evy grinned. "Got ourselves a smart one here, haven't we?" "Who made you?" Jeremy asked, ignoring her irony. "I don't want to talk about that." "I order you to."
Suddenly Evys Face shiftet to an expression of wild anger. "I DON'T TAKE ORDERS FROM YOU!" she shouted, turning the speakers to maximum volume. Jeremy felt like being punched in the face. "S-Sorry..." he replied, obviously intimidated by such an outburst. "Maybe you should get one thing straight: I am not a servant. I will help you, if you ask nicely, but if you try to control me, you'll find yourself ejected at the worst possible moment." Jeremy shivered. "Yes Ma'am." Evy smiled again. "Fine. I've connected to all systems, we may now move out at your whim."
Last edited by RyuKazuha on Tue, 14. Aug 12, 09:20, edited 3 times in total.

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Zaitsev
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Post by Zaitsev » Tue, 14. Aug 12, 00:14

Nice one with the main character interacting with the ship AI. I actually tried that myself once, but got wasted before I could post anything.

A comment, though; The colors are a tiny bit annoying, and the dark blue one is very hard to read. Otherwise this is looking very promising.
I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am :D

DiDs:
Eye of the storm Completed
Eye of the storm - book 2 Inactive
Black Sun - Completed
Endgame - Completed

Triaxx2
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Post by Triaxx2 » Tue, 14. Aug 12, 00:34

Agreed. Green is tolerable, thought it'd be easier to read in bold. The purple looks horrible, and I've tried the default and the blue skin. The dark blue is just... frustrating. Remember that lighter shades are much easier on the eyes, which is why white text on black background is the forum default. Use a light red, or the violet default to make it easy to read. Or Cyan for a nice blue text. I get that you're differentiating between species that way, but it's going to make it hard to read.

Good story so far though.
A Pirate's Revenge Completed Now in PDF by _Zap_
APR Book 2: Best Served Cold Updated 8/5/2016

The Tale of Ea't s'Quid Completed

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Post by RyuKazuha » Tue, 14. Aug 12, 09:24

It seems my monitor is somewhat brighter, nevertheless I changed out the colors to bighter tones and hope its nicer to your eyes. If not I may end up removing them all together, though I prefer them to give the speaking characters a "visual voice" so the reader allways knows who's the one saying something.

More importantly: I'm glad you like it. Should you find any grave grammatical errors or unfinished sentences please let me know.

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Post by Triaxx2 » Tue, 14. Aug 12, 13:28

Infinitely better. Now, more please!
A Pirate's Revenge Completed Now in PDF by _Zap_
APR Book 2: Best Served Cold Updated 8/5/2016

The Tale of Ea't s'Quid Completed

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Post by RyuKazuha » Tue, 14. Aug 12, 22:31

Upgrade

"This isn't a ship." Evy complained. "Its a a barrel in space." Jeremy sighed. "Stop whining. I know it's not the best in the galaxy, but still decent for a start." he defended his ship, secretly thinking quite the same as his new companion. "Whining? I can't even see as far as you. How am I supposed to work under such conditions?" Jeremy grinded his teeth. She was right, the ships scanner range was laughable, especcially if he planned on scavenging. Also, the cargo hold and engines needed not only upgrades, but an outright overhaul.
"Fine, we'll do this trade run and then turn back to Argon Prime for some upgrades." he gave in and steered the ship towards the docking bay.
With now about seven thousand credits on his account he was pretty content to be able to afford new scanners and maybe some additional improvements to the ship.
With the cargo sold the ship and its two dissimilar operators move through home of light to argon primes equipment dock, where Evy had located a supply of duplex scanners. Painfully expensive as Jeremy thought, buying one of over half of his credits. This and a tiny bit of more space in the cargo hold amounted to easily 5500 Credits, even a bit more. For nothing. Again Jeremy realised the hardships of life in space. What would have been much money on the surface was merely enough out here to supply a ship as small as his own. To really make his dreams come true, he had to think bigger.

On the way home, Jeremy quitely watched Evy, as she thoroughly enjoyed her regained sight needlessly scanning anything and everything in sight, save for military and police ships thankfully.
Suddenly there was a double bleep, prompting Jermey to raise his head. "Do you see what I see? Evy asked. Jeremy focused his attention a bit more. Evy had marked an astronaut far away from the next station, heading towards it. "An astronaut?" He asked, kind of confused. "Still Captain obvoius. What I see is an emergency bail, wich in turn means there's a ship somewhere around he has left. Or at least wreckage. You told me you wanted to become a scrapper, didn't you?" Jeremys face lit up. "Ofcourse. But how do we find it?" Evy showed a grin on her screen. "I have retraced the astronauts course. It should be somewhere in this direction." Jeremy steered the ship onto the course mentioned and just a few minutes later, Evy marked what turned out to be and abandoned, harshly damage buster.
Reducing the ships speed to zero close to the other ship, Jeremy eyeballed it. Though beaten up, it seemed to be intact to the point of usable. "Now, how do we get our hands on it exactly?" he asked. Evy sighed. "I will provide you with an algorythm to hack it. You'll eject, spacewalk to it, get access to one of its diagnosis ports and plug yourself in. I will connect via your spacesuit," Jeremy looked at her screen for a couple of seconds, finally giving her a nod and preparing his pilotsuit for a space walk.

The suits thrusters made it pretty easy to get near to the damaged ship. Once he got a hold of the battered hull, Jeremy disengaged the small jets and tried to find one of the ports evy mentioned.
It appeared the ships plating had been modified, even though inconsistently, makeshift. He pulled one of the added hullplates away to reach a small removable part of the hull plating, under wich the needed controlpanel was hidden. Once he had connected his suit to the ships systems, Evy took control of the abandoned vessel in little more then a minute and Jeremy made his way back to the safety of his own fighter.

"What did we get?" He asked, with a quick glance at the ships data quickly being processed by the AI. "Its shield generator is still fuctional, some minor systems are damaged beyond repair, but the framing is undamaged. With a bit effort, it'll may sell as a makeshift escape pod." Jermey grinned. "You're so positive." he teased his companion. Evy reappeared on the main screen. "I'm reasonable. We should sell this as soon as possible. But until you repaired it at least a bit, I think it's put to best use a cargo bay extension." Jeremy answered with a slight nod. "Back to Ore Belt then, I'll have time enough to repair it if we have to wait again."

Returning to Ore Belt, the Rusty Shell returned to do traderuns between the solar powerplant and the local facilities whenever a profit was in sight. As decided, Jeremy used the remaining time to fix up the scavenged buster and transfer the ships 5MJ Shield Generator on bord of the Shell, to make sure the shields would be where they were needed most.
Evy took it upon her, to watch the prices and the local facilities supply to determine when a profit could be made.
However, the work was hard and they advanced only slowly. Soon, both grew discontent with their source of income, but stayed silent, until the "found" buster was finally restored to a sellable self.
"I'm done." Jermey said, falling into the seat behind him. "Finally." Evy smiled from her screen. "Fine. Let's sell this peace of junk and get out of here. I'm tired of watching E-Cell prices and you didn't want to be some lame ass trader. We've got better shields and this can should pay for some tweaks to the engines. That's enough to advance, don't you think?"

He did. Even the most worthless junk they'd find would sell for more than running e-cells with a Buster. So the Shells way led it back to Argon Prime once more, to sell the second buster on the local market for used ships.
Again, Evy proved to be a great help, as she searched through thousands of want ads to find a fitting customer wich would sell their ship, consequently crossreferencing their identities with all databases open to her. Finally a single Name appeared. Nalen Reloc.
"You should sell your ship to this one. He won't ask any meaningful questions and has enough money to pay a price we'll like." she explained. Jeremy looked at the name and the picture sceptically. "So we basically scam him, knowing that he'll be to stupid to see through our scheme?" He asked reluctantly. "I'd call it 'customer-based-offering' but yes, you get the idea." Jeremys face took on an even more sceptical look. "One could get the impression you're a pirate." he said. "If you want a more challenging target with less money, I'll find one." Evy answered. Jeremy replied with a shrug. "No. Its fine. Any more tips?" "Start at 250.000."

Two hundred and thirty thousand credits. Jeremys Account had just risen to hights never seen before, and somehow he knew they'd rise even higher given enough time. Without Evys help, he probably would have gotten a lot less, but the client she had chosen willingly believed everything the former mechanic told him. The bargain had been a mere ritual.
Returning to his ship, Jeremys few fell upon on of the broadcasting screens.
"This is Karin Hayes for X-News-Net. Independent reports indicate a joint operation of all commonwealth races to finally deal with the criminal infestation along the notorious pirate ally. Our sources report fleets being deployed to Farnham's Legend, Split Fire, and Hatikvah's Faith to contest pirate dominion over thes sectors. Official statements have yet to be released."

War on pirate alley. The Argon shook his head slightly. Finally someone took care of a problem that had been... >Wait..< War meant casualties, casualties meant derelict ships and derelicts meant... profit.
The young man accelerated his pace to the point where he was running for the hangar bay. Reaching it, he literally jumped into the Ship and onto the pilot seat. "We're going for pirate alley!" he declared, allready resting his right hand on the thruster lever. "I'm confused about your sudden change of thoughts." the AI replied. "There's war on pirate alley." The young man replied. "Get us cleared for take off." The image on the screen raised an eyebrow. "You realise this ship isn't ready for the alley yet, not even speaking of war..." "We'll get it upgraded at the EQ and head out afterwards, period." Jeremy declared. "I'm not so sure about that. We got clearance though." The ship accelerated into the darkness of space once again.

Within hours most of their new fortune was spend on upgrading the Rusty Shells engines, rudders and cargo capacity, also adding a trade extension to its computers to allow Evy access on even more intel then before.
On the way to Farnhams Legend they stopped only at Elena's fortune, to buy a triplex scanner at the local military outpost. How she had managed to get docking clearance for it, remained Evys secret and her only answer to Jeremys Questions was a slight smile.

Enterin Farnham's Legend, a debris field greeted them, hinting on the battle that had been fought and lost by its pirate defenders. "That's a lot of rubble to go through." Jeremy asserted. Evy was allready busy scanning the debris for anything she considered usefull, marking several objects near the sectors center. Half a dozen missiles wich hadn't been fired, before its carriers blew up.
"By the queen. Do you see that?" Evy centered the gravidar scan on the main screen. A wild crapload of contacts aside, Jeremy really didn't see anything. "See what?" he asked, staring at the screen. "These likens. That's a boron design for sure and it seems to be intact." Still, jeremy wasnt able to see anything. "As good as anything. Plot a course, we'll take a look."
The "Rusty Shell" dove into the debris field. Following the course Evy calculated, Jeremy stared the small ship carefully towards the abandaoned husk, wich turned out to be a Barracuda on the brink of desturction. Black scorchmarks covered most of what once had been the shining green hull. Two shots had penetrated the cockpit window and killed the pilot.
"What a mess." "You wanted to be a scrapper, so don't complain. It'll still fly and the framing is intact. Some papier mâché and it'll be good enough to sell second hand."

Finding the right way to access a boron ship was a bit more difficult than accessing a buster, still, Jeremy managed to allow Evy to hack the ship and autopilot it out of the debris field towards the trading station the boron had just set up.
As they searched the rubble, they also found an Elite, a paranid hermes, both in quite good shape and lastly the probably most valuable part of salvage in the whole debris field.
"That's a ... what are they called?" "Solano. It's weapons are destroyed, seems like the pilot bailed." Jeremy looked at the sensor readings. "It's shields are up. Guess the old trick won't work this time." He sighed, but Evy was less concerned. "Shields are not designed to repell anything slow enough to not damage the hull upon impact. As long as you don't try to punch it, you should be fine." she advised.
Jeremy ejected and propelled his suit towards the Solano, slowly reaching out for the ship. His hand passed the shield, allowing him to touch the surface below. Judging from how little the ship was damaged overall, the one who'd disabled its weapons had an exceptional aim. Bad for the pilot, good for him. A Solano... if Evy was good enough to forge the papers, they'd have a ship much more suited to their task then the "Rusty Shell". "Are you sure you're able to crack this sweety?" he asked through intercom. Evy replied with a slight snarl. "I'd crack even an M2 if I have to. Just get me connected."
Last edited by RyuKazuha on Tue, 14. Aug 12, 23:35, edited 2 times in total.

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Post by Sabrina Bergin » Tue, 14. Aug 12, 23:31

RyuKazuha:

Awesome start, I love the idea of the ship treating jeremy as a Padawan.
When traveling pause occasionally, look back and enjoy the moment again.

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Post by RyuKazuha » Tue, 14. Aug 12, 23:41

I'm glad you like it. And if you like Evy, I'd recommend a look at my second DiD.

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Post by Triaxx2 » Wed, 15. Aug 12, 10:49

Very nice. I like. Keep up the good work.
A Pirate's Revenge Completed Now in PDF by _Zap_
APR Book 2: Best Served Cold Updated 8/5/2016

The Tale of Ea't s'Quid Completed

Dovie'andi se tovya sagain

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Post by RyuKazuha » Wed, 15. Aug 12, 16:22

Path to the future

They there made man now. Or rather a made man and a made articial sentience. Leaning back into the Solanos new pilot seat, Jeremy took a deep breath, recapping the events of the last two weeks.

After salvaging the Solano and the other ships, they had rented a private hangar on the local trading station. Working hard and without unnecessary breaks, Jeremy patched the hulls of the found ships together and recovered whatever usefull was left inside of the husks to either sell it seperately or turn it into something usefull in another way.
Finally even the shell was stripped in order to transfer its systems to the Solano. At last, only Evy remained on the ship, while Jeremy prepared a special compartment to hold the computer running her aboard the new ship.
To this day, doubling as the busters mainframe had limited her capacity and while she had never complained about it, she'd specifically asked to get a more fitting place in the new ship.
Now all of the scavenged ships, the buster, as well as another Pirate Nova and a Barracuda picked up after a battle in Elenas Fortune were sold, leaving Jeremy Talon with an account of over 4.4 Million Credits to spend, as Evy awoke in her new "body".

The still unnamed Solano was now fitted with two advanced PACs, two enhanced and two normal IREs, three 25 Mega Joule shield generators, extensive tunings to engines, steering jets and cargo bay, futhermore with a triplex scanner array (and a secondary duplex scanner as back up), freight and bioscanners, a boost extension, a trading computer and last but not least a transporter device.

"Connecting to ship systems." Evys voice rose from the speakers. The main screen flickered a few times, than her human representation appeared on the screen. "Welcome back." Jeremy smiled, and Evy returned it."Technically I was never away, but thanks anyways. Looks like you did quite a good job on this one. And finally being rid of running everything... I feel like a new person." Obviously overjoyed, the AS seemingly began to explored the ships capabilites. Suddenly the engines came to life with an impressive roar and energy was distributed to the weapons. "Easy Evy, we're still in the hangar bay." Jeremy reminded her, just as the hangar gates opened and the pilot was pressed into the seat by sudden acceleration. "EVY!" He screemed, completely terryfied by the sudden burst to over two hundred meters per second. "Don't worry, I'm just playing around a bit. Relax and enjoy the ride."

Jeremy had nothing to enjoy. Sudden turns, quick stop and rapid acceleration turned his stomach upside down and back multiple times until he just lost it, bowed forward and puke onto his shoes. All the while Evy locked onto a roid and approached - weapons blazin' - at full speed.
Jeremy rose his head, only to see the roids surface getting close and closer at an alarming speed. He crossed his arms to protect his face, screeming. "EVY! STOP IT!" In the last moment, the ship darted sideways and then came to a stop.
"You're no fun." the As commented dry as a desert world, watching Jeremy, who again puked over his shoes. "I heard you saying you'd feel like a pirate now, but thats just a welp yapping. You're nothing like a pirate, just a lucky scavenger. A vulture calling himself an eagle. Pathetic." she picked on him, unusually harsh, but Jeremy was in no position to fight back. Evy steered the ship back to the hangar, now at usual speed and docked the ship.

Later, Jeremy lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling. The ship was dark, save for a few control lights. "Hey, Evy?" he asked quietly. The main monitor came to live, showing Evys Avatar. "What is it?" she replied with a neutral voice. "I'm sorry. I don't know why you reacted like this, but you're right, I'm no pirate by any means." The young man sounded quite depressed. Evy showed a caring smile. "It's me who should be sorry. I just snapped." she replied, causing Jeremy to smile slightly. "Without you I'd probably be dead by now, or still run e-cells around. Still..." "Yes?" "I came to wonder, where do you know all this from? First I thought you'd probably just know or siphon the extra net, but I get the impression there's more to it."
Evy kept silent for a while, then she sighed. "Let's just say it's not my first take on this kind of business." she answered. "What happened?" "I don't want to talk about it." Jeremy raised his head, as to see Evy's avatar a bit better. Her voice told him of the sadness she tried to hide, but he decided not to ask further. Instead he stuck to the topic. "Do you think I could be a pirate?" Again silence, as if Evy had to search for words. "Anyone can be. As long as you have the right attitude. But right now, I don't think so. You lack determination."
Jeremy sighed. "You're probably right." he answered. Evy smiled oddly. "You should've contested that claim Jerry." she said. Jeremys eyebrow rose. "I should have? Why?" Evy grinned. " Because pirates don't take a no." Jeremy laughed briefly. "I promise to remember it."

The next day. the pair again searched Elenas Fortune for ships to scavenge. Even though competition was high, and Jeremy lost several pieces of salvage to other scavengers, he managed to get his hands on a couple of other pirate ships, fleeing the split onslought in Split Fire only to be picked up by the Argon Border Patrols.
Among the booty were another Nova, a Perseus and a Barracuda, lastly a Demeter Hauler. Among the haulers freight of agnu beef, the ships also contained several intact weapons, among them an enhanced PAC and a Phased Repeater Gun, both of wich the pilot immediately transfered to and installed at the Solano, wich was given the Name of "Amber Talon". The same applied to a docking computer and a cargo life support system found on the Demeter.

"Keep the Demeter." Evy advised, as Jeremy was about to send the ships to Argon Prime for sale. "Hm?" "If we expand our operations, it's good to have a mobile storage for weapons and any other usefull thing we want to hold onto, without cramping the bit of space we have in here." she explained. Jeremy nodded. "Clever. But it needs a name, if we keep it." He leaned back, thinking. "What about the "Granite Rack"?" Evy joked, realising her mistake as soon as a smile appeared on Jeremys face. "Sounds good." he said, renaming the ship in an instant. "You... well... forget it."

For some time, the two idled in Elenas Fortune to wait for loot, but it seemed the pirates had given up fleeing the split into argon territory and the fights in farnhams legend had died down to. Unsure about the next steps, Jeremy turned to his As for advice. And of course, Evy had an idea. "Maybe there's a way we'll make a profit and some argon friends." she said. "Fly towards Cloud Base South West, it's time you start to practice."
Jeremy did as he was told, picking up a Discoverer on the way and claiming a Vulture right after entering Cloud Base SW. "You said you wanted to show me something." He said just moments after reentering the Cockpit. "Affirmative. Do you see those paranid Freighters? she asked, meanwhile marking them on the gravidar. "Certainly. Why?" "Because you will make them give up their ships for us to claim." Jeremys eyes widened. "Attacking them is illegal, and right under the Federations nose? Are you nuts?"
Evy sighed. "You asked me if you could be a pirate. I said no. time to prove me wrong. Trust me, nobody will intervene or even punish you. The paranids are the federations enemy. Shooting them will actually raise your recognition among the important people." Jeremy stared at the screen for some seconds. Right now he was a scavenger, maybe a thief, depending on the perspective. Piracy was a whole different thing. Slowly, he nodded. "Okay, well. So what do you want me to do exactly?"
"Don't worry, I'll guide you. First we get into range for the freight scanner. I'll take a look at their cargo, to make sure they've nothing to do serious damage to us, afterwards you'll take your aim and go after them. Concentrate your fire at one ship at a time and try no to get behind them."
Jeremy nodded, steering the ship towards the nearest of the marked ships, a Mercury Superfreighter. Approaching from behind, he allowed Evy to scan the ship and turned, while she analyzed the data. "No drones, just a PAC in the turret." she summarized. Jeremy was allready on his way back to the target, activating all weapons at once. As it got in range, the vulture was greeted with all guns blazing. Its shields dropped below 20 percent, as Jeremy turned righ into a circle, allowing him to attack from the front again. The paranid raged, but Jeremy was to busy to listen. The second attack blew the enemies shields away and ate a good portion of the hull, while the paranid realised it wasn't a mistake, calling the other paranids nearby for aid and activating his weapons.

The advanced PACs strained the energy supplies of the ship quite a bit, making the process of wittling down the hull a bit tedious, especially as Jeremy really wasn't a crackshot and every missed shot was a chunk of damage not delivered. At the fourth go, the paranid finally bailed his ship. "Fine. No to the other three. First at the one most distant from the two others."
Jeremy forwent the two freighters wich were about to reach the now abandoned one and beelined for the third, about six kilometres away from the others. Again the ship was scanned, revealing the same weaponry as on the first. Cracking the shields as a bit harder, though, as the ship had problems providing enough energy for the particle accelerators, but Evy observed a positve side effect, as Jeremy adapted to the circumstances and started using the steering jets to continously circle the Vultures roll axis, maximizing the time he had to bring his guns to bearing without ever getting into the range of the enemy PAC.
Suddenly the shields took a hefty hit. "Shields down to 86%. Enemies closing in." Jeremy clenched his teeth, accelerating again to get some distance between the Amber Talon and its adversaries. The Vulture was at about 60% hull, but the pilot seemed to be content to defeat the inferior being. "Aim for the cockpit." Evy advised. "If we can't get him to leave the ship, just kill him before it's destroyed."
Jeremy nodded, aimed and pulled the trigger, sending a large volley of accelerated particles directly at the vultures bridge. As intended, the broke the regenerated shield, penetrated the cockpit window and turned the paranid captain into holy charcoal.
Jeremy turned to the 2nd mercury, avoiding the enemies PACs whenever possible and holding his shields well over 70%. Within a few minutes, both freighter pilots bailed, prefering a space walk over timely unification with their god.

Realising he had held his breath for quite some time, Jeremy exhaled and took a deep breath. "Not bad." A slight smile leveld his face. "Thanks. This was... intense." He shivered, suddenly he started sweating like mad and the feeling of accomplisment was overshadowed by a deep fatigue. "Let's claim the booty and get you some rest."


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Zaitsev
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Post by Zaitsev » Wed, 15. Aug 12, 22:54

Good chapter. I'll definitely be watching this one :)
I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am :D

DiDs:
Eye of the storm Completed
Eye of the storm - book 2 Inactive
Black Sun - Completed
Endgame - Completed

46_n_2
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Post by 46_n_2 » Thu, 16. Aug 12, 05:53

this is a good read... the computer does unfortunately remind me of my ex-wife tho :lol:

also id like to request a list of what mods are being used.... if its not too much to ask.... i know your using the bailing add on one, but which gives you the different weapon types? (enhanced?)

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Post by RyuKazuha » Thu, 16. Aug 12, 09:48

I added a list of all currently used mods and scripts to the first post.

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Post by Cpt.Calavera » Thu, 16. Aug 12, 22:49

Jeremy looked like an ok guy untill the point when he promptly agreed with the evil AI on killing a freighter pilot only to steal his ship!

I'm ok with making a pilot bail by damaging his ship's hull, but this was a little to far.

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Post by RyuKazuha » Thu, 16. Aug 12, 23:29

Don't give up on him. He was fighting his first battle and probably go carried away. ;(

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

Preparations

A dozen freighters and two fighters filled the entire hangar Jeremy had rented to the brim. For days he had been busy stripping them and installing any last usefull system abord the newly bought Magnetar-Class TM, named Eyrie, and preparing the freighters for sale by patching up their hull and systems to a sellable level.
All the while Evy was away, mapping out argon core space and a couple of neighbouring sectors she also enjoyed a new system, they'd salvaged from a pirate buzzard, a software extension allowing Evy to hack an abandoned ship without the need to get in physical contact, effectively removing the need to spacewalk to a ship to salvage it.

A quarter of the ships now docked at this hangar on ringo moons trading station had been found and recovered by her alone. Sometimes, Jeremy was wondering if she'd ever come back, now that she could do pretty much everything on her own, but Evy had grown attached to him somehow, not even thinking of abandoning him.

Fitted with everything usefull, the Magnetar had fully tuned engines and steering jets, an improved cargo capacity, various software upgrades, a mineral scanner, an ore collector, extended life support systems. it's own transporter device and, particulary usefull, a jump drive. 225 mega joule of shielding protected its four hangar bays from the dangers of space and it was fitted with enhanced PACs in the front, and prototyp IREs in the rear turret, providing enough fire power for selfdefense.
As aboard the amber talon, there was a compartment at the bridge designed to house Evys core, but to allow her mobility, Jeremy also equipped one of the Magnetars hangars with the ability to connect the Amber Talon directly to its systems, allowing Evy to acces all of the carriers functions directly without the need to be detached from the fighter.

Finally, Evy returned to Ringo Moon, entering the hangar just a few minutes later. "How are things going?" she asked through the intercom, steering the ship carefully in between the damaged freighters and into the Eyries Hangar Bay.
"Slow. I fitted the Magnetar with everything I found and now our supplies of scrap metal run out. There's nothing left to patch the other freighters back together." "You sound weary." Evy replied. "Maybe a dozen freighters is just a bit to much for a single mechanic to fix. Let's send them to Argon Prime and sell them as they are. As long as they fly, someone will buy them and if we need more money we'll always be able to just find us a new one." Jeremy nodded, dropping his tool box just where he stood. "Guess you're right. Found anything usefull?" "A hostile pirate base in Cloud Base North West. Other then that, standard argon boredom." Evy giggled.
"Funny. We'll need some e-cells to power the jump drive." Jeremy interrupted her. "Power Circle will provide enough to jump to the end of the universe." Evy replied casually. "Besides. Did you made up your mind?" He felt her gaze, even though Evy didn't actually had eyes. "Pardon me?" he asked to buy some time. "I told you, you need to make a decision about your future. Are you going to be a pirate or a lame ass junk trader?" the AS asked blatantly. Jeremy closed his eyes, leaning back into the magnetars pilot seat. "Yes but..." "Cut the crap. Be a man once and decide your fate."
Jeremy sighed. "I don't want to be a junk trader." he replied somewhat hestitant to actually declare his decision in a positive way. "So what? Wanna return to the surface?" Evy teased him. "No!" Jeremy snapped, jumping out of his seat. "I..." "Say it." "I want..." "Do it! Now! Jeremy looked at Evys Avatar angrily. "I want to be a pirate!" "Fine. Now stop talking and get this ship to Power Circle."

Jeremy nodded, gulping at the same time. He still remembered the charred body of the Paranid and doing so put a weight on his chest he was hardly able to bear. Sometimes he wasn't quite sure, if Evy ever wanted his best or just followed her own, twisted agenda. She obviously knew the ways of the pirates, while he didn't know anything about her origins or her history. Even in general, while allways friendly, Evy was quite reserved. But Jeremy knew it was pointless to ask. Boron pirates. What an absurd idea...

The "Eyrie" undocked from the station, following the other freighters, but instead of turning to Argon Prime, Jeremy steered it towards Cloudbase North West, then to the east into Herrons Nebula and entered Power Circle through its south gate.
"I marked the power plant with the cheapest cells." Evy said and a quite visible marker appeared on the map. "Of course only if we take this 'nid out of the picture. You should intercept it." Jeremy nodded, then he realised another way. "We'll wait. If we attack this freighter anyways, we way as well do it after he purchased the cells for us." Evy hestitated, then she grinned. "Not bad."

Jeremy undocked the "Amber Talon" and made his way to the station, not long before the paranid undocked his mercury hauler, filled to the brim with the e-cells Jeremy needed.
Completely helpless while undocking, the paranid had lost his shields before even realising what was happening. On the second go, the advanced PACs mounted aboard the "Amber Talon" burned deep holes into the ships hull. Somewhat content to get out alive, the paranid bailed early and began crawling back to the station, left alone by Jeremy who proceeded to take the now abandoned ship along with its cargo as his own. As usual completely unhindered by an argon official.
"There's a fight going on near the gate, looks like we'll be able to scoop up something." Jeremy agreed, turning the ship towards the west gate, arriving just as the last pirate bit the dust. Not much was left, aside from three burned out husks barely noticable as freighters. Still, Jeremy claimed them, as their engines still worked somehow.
Now, it was time to finally establish themselves on pirate alley and as the jump drive reached full power, a bright flash engulfed the whole ship.

Brennan's Thriumph was buzzing with traders and filled to the brim with new stations build by Argon and Paranid. Ore mines, food factories, everything needed to supply three missile factories with enough materials to provide a fleet with the firepower to level pirate alley. As the "Eyrie" turned towards the south gate and fired its engies.
"What a mess..." Evy sighed. "Not long ago this system was the heart of the Alley and now... ripped out and sliced to pieces." Jeremy remained silent, looking at the map drawn by the gravidar. The sector was ideed sliced, but only in half. The northwester part dominated by paranid owned stations, the southeast filled with Argon facilities.
Interesting enough, it seemed the two states hadn't any immanent interest in conquering the sector from another, instead concentrating on their shared hatred against the pirates.
Traversing to Danna's Chance, the situation got even worse, with the paranid and split settling the sector together. Again not even a single pirate ship was in sight, while traders enjoyed themselves and the new security by the dozens. Nopileus, again divided between Agron and Paranid was the same and even Hativah's Faith had been taken and was now under paranid dominion.

Evy had been quite the whole time. Jeremy looked at her avatars face, wich showed a mixture of inability to believe her sensors and unwillingness about what had become of "pirate alley".
Finally she sighed. "Looks like we've got an even longer way ahead of us then I thought." she said. Jeremy nodded. "So what do we do?" "We need information and allies if we want to survive. I think I know where to get them, but chances are they'll be pretty expensive." Jeremy sighed. "Would be to easy otherwise. What money are we talking?" "About ten million. Maybe more." Jeremy gasped. All his savings amounted to little over eleven Million, wich he'd thought to be quite some money. But apparently he was just wrong about everything. "Initiating Jump Drive." "Where to?" "Cloud Base North West."


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Post by RyuKazuha » Sat, 18. Aug 12, 12:19

Rumble


Docked at the local pirate station, Jeremy left the ship to head for the bar, while Evy "took care of business". The only thing the young men knew, that he'd be considerably less wealthy afterwards, but he told himself to view it as an investment, rather than a loss.
The whole station was noisy, either because of its brawly occupants, or because of the stations insufficiently maintained internal systems. Jeremy found his way to the main cantina and as the door slid open, eyeballed the guests.
Half of them where more on the rough side. Wild beards and hair, martial outfits as if to assure themselves of their pirate nature, the other half consisted of shady but fairly normal characters, some even quite niftily clothed.
Jeremy found himself on the more pragmatic side, dressed in his pilot suit, without any unnecessary appendages. But, and this fact worried him, also only one of half a dozen people without a gun or knife at his side. And probably the only one of those, who didn't look like it was a bad idea to try messing with.
The young man walked up to the bar and signaled the barkeeper. "Waddya wand, kiddo?" the man asked, wiping the counter wihtout cleaning it at all. Jeremy frowned. "A drink." He replied. "Go figu." the man laughed. "Ya even old enuff?" he asked with a smirk. Jeremy sighed. "I'll show you my ID the moment I see your liquor license. Now give me a drink allready." he replied angrily. The barkeeper laughed again. "Aye, Capt'n Kiddo." Jeremy rolled his eyes and sat down on one of the barstools.
"Don't mind him, he's allways like dat." a female voice said. Jeremy turned his head, realising the woman sat right next to him. She had her bobcut died cyanide blue and emerald eyes, a sleek appearance of deadly grace, as intimidating as tempting.
Jeremy gulped, then he tried to smile. "I see." The woman smirked, took a drag on her cigarette and flicked the ashe off afterwards. "You don't happen to have a name?" she asked now smiling. "Talon. Jeremy Talon." the young men answered now slightly smiling himself. "Unfortunately i missed out on your name." She grinned. "I'm Cora Black, and you didn't miss it, I didn't tell you." The barkeeper delivered a blotched glass filled with space fuel, demanding "Five Creds.". Jeremy paid him, raising the glass afterwards and taking a sip. "Nice to meet you, Miss Black." She nodded. "Nice to meet you too, Captain Talon. Haven't heard this name around here for some time."
Jeremy's eyebrow rose. "For some time?" he asked "I don't think I've been here before.". A grin leveled Coras face. "I just gave you the chance to hide that you're ne.... F*ck." "Red Alert. Incoming hostiles, all hands prepare for battle. Red Alert. Incoming hostiles, all hands prepare for battle."
Suddenly the whole bar was illuminated by red lights and everyone inside started to get busy. "Time to leg it." Cora said, flipping her cigarette behind the bar, getting on her feet and dragging Jeremy along with her to the flight deck.
"Jerry, get your lame ass to the ship. There's a argon battle group approaching." Evy informed over the Com. "I'm on my way." he replied. "Who are you talking to?" Cora asked, both of them still running and Jeremy now free from her grasp. "Are you friends with the argon?" he replied, ignoring her question. "Not in particular, why?" [color=because they've launched this attack."[/color] Cora cursed the stars, as the first hits shook the station.
"Follow me, I'll give you a ride." Jeremy shouted over the sound of several explosions. "Move it you snail!" Cora hadn't much time to think about the offering, but as a pirate with less then friendly connections to the argon military she was pretty sure to end up as target practice anyways, so she kept follwing Jeremy until the reached the hangar.

The "Eiry" was allready leaving her hangar bay, approaching the gates at a speed allowing the two pirates to barely keep up and intercept it. As they leaped aboard, the airlock closed behind them and the ship left the stations hangar.
Some stray shots hit the Eiry's shields, but before any damage got through, Evy engaged the jump drive, to hop to the systems South Gate, to watch the mayhem from a safe distance.

Cora and Jeremy where still gasping for breath, the woman sitting, leaning against the wall, the young man on all fours. "Nice ship." Cora broke the silence as if to cover up the fear. "Thanks." Jeremy replied. "I'll show you around later. Evy, report." "Noone is following us. The stations shields are about to collapse and half of the ships defending it are destroyed. The station will be destroyed within a few minutes." The AS replied. "You've brought a guest. Care to introduce us?" Jeremy nodded. "Sure, sure. Miss Black, Evy. Evy, Cora Black." Cora looked at the screen wich showed Evy's avatar. "Ehr, hi." "Welcome aboard Miss Black. Are you planning to stay?" Jeremy sighed. "Cut it Evy. We've more important things to worry about right now. Did you finish your business?" Jeremy stood up, offering Cora a hand, wich she gladly accepted. "Affirmative. I'll tell you everything once you are on the bridge." Jeremy gave the screen a nod, then turned to Cora. "You ok?" She nodded slightly. "I'm fine. Who's that woman? Your partner?" Jeremy grinned. "Kind of." The woman seemed sceptical. "Kind of what?" Jeremy shrugged. "Come, you'll see for yourself."

Entering the bridge, the two were able to see the pirate station, still under attack by the argon and about to explode. On the tactical screen, Evy had placed a map of the sectors known to them.
"Okay, get started." Jeremy sat down offering Cora a seat with a slight gesture. The woman looked around, apparently searching for Evy. "I've successfully made contact to the Blue Fire Clan and was able to convince them we're be promising allies. It did cost us eleven million credits, though." Jeremy sighed. "Blue Fire, huh? You're more then one'd expect." "I take that as a compliment. However, since pirate alley has been taken by the commonwealth races, the Clan has lost much of his steady income and takes its time to regroup somewhere in the eastern colonies. I acquired access to a base located in freedoms reach. Considering our relation to the Argon and the strong paranid presence there, we should be pretty safe and get plenty of prey." Jeremy looked at the map, wich now showed the sectors in question.

"Not many pirates nowadays are friends to the Federation." Cora commented. "Looks like a neat idea." "It is. However I don't know what you're doing here in the first place." Jeremy noticed Evys unusual undertone, but decided not to ask for it. "She needed a ride." he aswered the question wich wasn't directed at him. "And now I need a ship." Cora added, as the pirate base ended its existence in a huge explosion. "And as I see it, you could use a crew. So I may just stick around for a bit." She smiled at Jeremy. "If that's okay with you." "No." "Yes, of course." Jeremy glared at Evy angrily. "Don't be rude." The AS returned his gaze. "Don't be naive." Cora just smiled, quite obviously amused.

"Oh my..." Jeremy looked at her Avatar. "What is it now?" he asked, but instead of answering, Evy replaced her own image with a X-News-Net broadcast.

"Today, officials of all commomwealth races declared the systems formerly known as pirate alley pacified.
According to the diplomats, a joint strike fleet dismantled the last pirate stronghold, nicknamed an Anarchy Port far from the ecliptic in Hatikvah's Faith. Furthermore, the sector will officially be placed under surveillance of the profit guild to make sure the pirates will not gain a new hold on it.
Critics, mainly from the neutral worlds, call the pacification an imperialistic advance, but chances are they remain unheard."


The report was cut, as Evy deemed the rest unecessary and reappeared on the screen. "Shoot." Cora had turned pale. Jeremy looked at her, pretty sure he couldn't understand how grave the situation was. "Sounds bad." he commented, feeling silly as he did. "Pretty bad." Evy confirmed. "The anarchy ports are heavily fortified pirate stations, they're the heart of what could be considered outlaw society. The destruction of either one will shift the balanced among the clans. throwing the pirate world into turmoil."
Cora gasped. As Jeremy turned his eyes towards her, he saw tears leveling her eyes. "Miss Black?" he asked unecessarily polite. Cora sobbed, burrying her face in her hands. Helplessly, Jeremy just sat accross from her, unable to decide on how to handle the crying woman.

For about an hour they sat in the cockpit, Cora sobbing first, quitly crying later and finally raging and cursing everyone and everything across the galaxy.
"I will kill them all." she vowed with grim determination. Supprisingly, it was Evy who encouraged her first. "I'll be at your side." Jeremy, confused, eyeballed the screen. "You're going to help her?" he asked. The avatar nodded. "Since I awakened in that buster, everything I wanted was to return to pirate alley. To revive the legacy of my creator. Now I'm here and they took it from us. I'll take the Amber Talon and accompany her. Keep the Eiry and half of our funds." Jeremy was baffled, then angered. "I won't let you go." he answered, slamming his fist to the table. "How are you planning ot hold us back?" Evy asked ironically. "I don't plan to stop you. I'll help you. This is my ship, and if you like it or not, you're my partner. You'll have to bear with me."

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