Gon Persius' possibly short life [DiD]

[Godani]

Hi all,

I have always wanted to do this, and today I finally decide to go for it.

I will play a Dead is Dead game in vanilla X3:TC (bonus pack installed) and post the proceedings here for your amusement. Yes, I am inspired by the legendary thread I read ages ago. Also this one.

Do hope I can be at least half as entertaining as NUKLEAR-SLUG, but I guess I will have to get a feel for it on the fly, so bear with me please

Have definitely played the game before, back when it came out and later another run in 2010. I think it's an absolutely awesome game and I am a huge fan. The thing is though I haven't got that much time, so I did finish the Main plot in 2008, but have never even started the Hub, or the Goner one... or even built a station complex.

So, my knowledge is pretty outdated and I have forgotten a lot. That will all be part of the fun

My self-imposed rules:

* Dead is Dead: No reloading ever (this means I cannot risk using the automated autopilot docking since that crashed my ship in a 5 min DiD testout game yesterday) except when PC or game crashes (this means I start in DiD mode but quickly revert to normal, as 'official' DiD games need to have an active steam link ALWAYS, and steam (and my internet) can be fiddly).

* Boron through and through: Never fly anything else than Boron ships, only ever buy stuff from Boron on Boron stations/ships and only do missions for Boron on Boron stations/ships.

* Split and Paranid Renegade: Always stay an enemy of the Paranid and Split.

* Terra Incognita: Never cross into Terran territory.

* Rebel: Friend of pirates; never attack them.

* Volatile Beginnings: Can never trade (selling stuff is fine, buying = using) until I have 2 million in the bank.

* Repair Limit: Can only repair the ship I am flying in with my repair laser, not any other (need to pay repair costs and get it to a dock safely).

* Info Limit: Can not look up any information outside of my ingame database except for non-spoiler info on things I own to add flavour (like the Boron M5 description from the wiki below). This means I really have no idea where to trade Space Fuel and will have to find such things out ingame. This also means I would request not to post spoilers in this thread, but I am not going to fuzz about it if it happens.

Gon Persius
Gon Persius II

[Godani]

Gon Persius Personal Log

Entry 1: King of my tin can

I am Gon Persius the Boron.
In a Boron Octopus, an M5 scout ship, and quite destitute.

I will have to make the most of my life here, in space. It will not be easy, as I spent almost every last penny on this ship and have no real plan about how to proceed.

A friendly Boron nearby offers a flight lesson. I'll take him up on his offer and take stock of my surroundings.

...

Alright, that didn't go too well. I actually crashed right into the flight instructor... I have much to learn!

Fortunately my measly shield held and he wasn't that angry at me, but the training was soon over anyway. He proceeded to ask me to shoot a crate as target practice, and since I don't even have a weapon I had to say the friendly Boron goodbye.

I did get the chance to take stock of my surroundings:

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/4426/entry201.png

I am in Queen's Harbour. Boron space.
That figures, since I am a Boron and just left the planet below.

Hmm, I need to find a way to sell the illegal Space Fuel in order to make the slightest bit of money.

I dock at a station (almost rammed into it on the first try!), but no one wanted anything to do with me, let alone my illegal wares.

Maybe better to dump them, as I have no idea where to sell them and they will only take up cargo space (of which I have 5, 4 taken up by the space fuel). Plus, they're illegal, that must mean something. But... the potential money!

While at the station I also take a quick look in the information database and check what it says about my ship, the Octopus. It was the only one I could afford... I doubt it will be good.

My Octopus is an M5:
M5 ships are scout ships. They are the lightest vessels flying in known space. Whilst they are armed, this armament is little more than token; these ships are no match for any other class in a fight, including armed TS-class ships.

They are designed and usually used for reconnaisance and anti-recon, or sometimes as cannon fodder. Some M5s are refered to as the 'rich man's fighter drone'.

Gulp... doesn't sound too safe.

Boron Octopus:
The Boron Octopus is not held in high esteem, and is considered by many to be one of the most useless ships available.

That's... worse than I feared.

However, it is quick, even for a scout.

Hmm, I'll take their word for it. Of course, they mean a fully upgraded pristine condition Octopus (top speed: 427.8 m/s), while mine is an old rusty brick and does 171 m/s as top speed. I'll need a lot of money to fix it.

Dare I look at the combat stats?

The Octopus mounts only the weakest weapon available, the IRE. Coupled with its poor shielding, this means that it has to be lucky to bring down even another M5. It is not a combat vessel.

Well... I wouldn't hit a mammoth carrier if it hit me in the face anyway. Probably. And did I mention I have no weapons?

Suggested Roles?

The Octopus has little usability in general, though it can act as an effective sector explorer due to its speed.

Great, I am in a (usually remote controlled) exploration drone.
A slow one.
Without weapon.

Well, at least it looks good.

Top:
http://img853.imageshack.us/img853/70/entry202.png

Bottom:
http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/9787/entry203.png

Next up: Action!

Possessions:
1 x Boron Octopus "Last Chance"
1 x 1 MJ Shield
2 x Space Fuel (illegal)
1,000 Cr

{Images posted directly to the forums should not be greater than 640x480 or 100kb, oversized images now linked - Terre}

[Triaxx2]

Added to the DiD list. Two congratulations. First, on your first DiD. Way to jump in the deep end.

And second, on being the first person with a G user name to do a TC DiD.

If I missed someone else I apologize profusely.

Good story so far. Can't wait to see how well you do.

[Godani]

Gon Persius Personal Log

Entry 2: My first mission

I decide to eject the 2 crates of Space Fuel. They filled up 4 of my 5 cargo slots and I do not know what to do with it anyway.
I am sure I'll regret it at some point... but not today: just after ejecting them a Boron patrol flies past!

I head for a gate to do some exploring, hoping to find some battle going on where maybe I can loot the crates that sometimes remain when a ship is blown up.
No luck, I only encounter quite a lot of Paranid traders, sometimes with armed escorts of M5s and M4s.

As the Paranid have reason to hate me they're colored a nice warning red in my HUD. And there's quite a lot of them in between the friendly blue. They would love nothing more than to vaporize me.

I manage to stay out of sight of the first few, and arrive at a gate to Faded Dreams.
Just as I near the gate a Pirate comes through and immediately opens fire on me.

"Hey! I am friendly!"

It does not matter, I see white-bluish streaks of lethal energy quickly approaching my hull and instantly halving my shields.
I lurch and weave as a drunken sea bass, but manage to avoid more hits to my ship and escape through the gate!

http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/701/entry302.png

Or so I thought...

As I emerge from the other end of the gate a full patrol of Paranid escorts is just about to jump through, but upon seeing me they immediately open fire.
White-blue death speeds towards me again!

I clank the throttle to full as my shields are stripped and manage to get away with just a few hits to my hull, which is at about 85%.

Luckily they do not pursue (I am not important or threatening enough no doubt) and follow the transport through the gate.

I hightail (although my max speed is now only 161 m/s due to the damage to my hull) to open space, away from any trade lines, and eject to repair the damage to my ship.

I may be new at spacefaring, but I do know how to fix up ships!

This area of space has way too much Paranid, for my taste.

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/87/entry301.png

Yet I risk looking around the debris (ship and station carcasses float around here since some heavy battle some time ago, no doubt) for one of the rumoured abandoned ships: ships in good condition (possibly stolen at some point, or piloted by a coward who ejected before his ship was seriously damaged) that sometimes can be found floating throughout space.

No luck as far as free ships go, but I do notice a Boron on a Military Outpost looking for help.

I ask him what he wants:

http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/3221/entry304.png

Luck at last!

If I stay out of sight and just follow the ship I can earn myself a cool 3,000 Cr without a fight!

I quickly locate the Argon Manta, and follow it, taking care not to let him get to far, nor too close. The Boron who hired me warned me at 10 kms that I was getting too close, so I keep him at about 12.5 km.

This isn't all that easy, because while I am trying to sneakily follow the Manta through a gate other ships start firing at me!

Yes, again, just when I am about to follow the target through the gate at a respectable distance, another squad of Paranid trader escorts appears out of it!
Damn! They eat through my shield in no time at all! Really... instantly. What shielding do I have? Paper?
Before I can react they start biting into my hull.

Possessions:
1 x Boron Octopus "Last Chance"
1 x 1 MJ Shield
1,000 Cr


{Images posted directly to the forums should not be greater than 640x480 or 100kb, oversized images now linked - Terre}

[Triaxx2]

On the edge of my seat, keep going.

[RyuKazuha]

Good luck. (=

[Godani]

Thank you both

[Godani]

Gon Persius Personal Log

Entry 3: That bitter taste

So I lurch and weave again as best I can and make it through the gate with only a few chunks of hull missing.

...and find myself within 5 kms of the target! Much too close! What the heck? He was waiting for me?
I am not sneaky, it seems.

As quickly as I can I turn about face and blast away from the target, but it's too late, I am too close for too long and he is very suspicious. Mission fail.

Bah.

I spend the next few hours looking around the sectors, not finding any other such mission and not seeing anyone having a fight where I can grab the loot they might leave behind.

Just as I decide I need a change of tactic I see, at the same Military Outpost in Faded Dreams I might add, a new covert mission.

I may have botched the first, but let's see if I can do better this time.

http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/646/entry307.jpg

They say it's hard though, but... what can be so hard about following some ship at about 13 kms?

I will soon find out.

I quickly locate the Boron Manta and, careful around gates, follow it at a respectable distance of around 13 kms.

Gate 1, fine.

Gate 2, fine.

Gate 3, not fine: Just as I am about to enter the third gate again a pirate pops out. At first he seems to not bother with me and I sit back, at ease. Then he seems to have a change of mind and opens up fire!

Gone are the shields and more fire is coming my way!

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/4341/entry308.jpg

I try to turn and weave but it's no use, I see my top speed dwindle fast... 120 m/s, 79 m/s, 44 m/s.

My hull is being pelted and I have to act now or die!

I eject.

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/2985/entry309.jpg

I see that my Octopus 'Last Chance' has literally 1% of hull left. Yikes! I could not have waited even a splitsecond longer... lucky there.

Usually enemies tend to let you go after you eject, I thought, and it's possible to dock at stations in your suit. It's quite a hellish endeavor though, and how ever to get more money?

Well there's good and bad news.

Good news first?

Ok.

He's not destroying my ship! Awesome, with my repair laser I'll have it up and running again in... uh oh..

The bad news?

He's shooting at me.

I am rather tiny so he misses at first, but there's nothing I can do at a top speed of 10 m/s.

Why? Why is he shooting at me?

As I see the red fire coming at me for the last time I think I know: it's probably the shady dealer being extra careful and protecting the Manta from any followers...

That's probably why they labelled it as hard.

I dunno, and I am beyond caring, frankly.

I close my eyes.

The Pirate hits.

GAME OVER.


{Images posted directly to the forums should not be greater than 640x480 or 100kb, oversized images now linked - Terre}

[Godani]

Lessons learned:

1. QUIT IT WITH THE SCREENSHOTS.
Seriously, if I want to have any chance at this screenshot priority needs to be bumped way down.
I especially shouldn't have tried to grab one from when he was firing at me, I should have focussed all attention on escaping, surviving.

2. RED SHIPS ARE DANGEROUS.
Even if they don't attack me 80% of the time (the traders never did, only their escorts sometimes did), I still have to be very careful around them.
Especially pirates.
If I had scrambled and hightailed it out of there at the first sight of the pirate, I could have gotten away.
I need to be more paranoid!
Which brings me to:

3. MISSIONS ARE NOT AS IMPORTANT AS MY LIFE.
I took the risk of passing the pirate instead of pulling a RSLG (Run Screaming Like Girl) maneuver for fear of losing the target and failing the mission.
Well shit, better to fail 100 times then to die once, right?
Again, a priority issue.

So, am I going to try it again?

Definitely!

Rules?

The same (see OP).

(any info gained in my head will carry over as well, since it's too hard not too. Plus, it'll nicely show my progression. As I said, haven't played the game for a long time, so I will need to rediscover a lot)

I will not make a new thread and continue here as that makes it less predictable for later readers: they cannot tell you'll survive because they don't know how many times you started over.
Also it keeps my experience in 1 tidy chronological thread.

[Triaxx2]

Sorry to hear that. Honestly, I think Savage Split is even worse, because of the flood of Argon and Boron ships moving through. Boron you can pick on, but Argon are not fair game, and will start trying to kill you, and you can't fight back without tripping the police. I died several times before I finally survived long enough to write a story.

One thing to note, edit your opening post to inform long time readers where the new stories start. There's a way to link to a specific post, that way if they jump into your third one, they don't have to search through the first two to find where number three starts.

[Godani]

Yeah ok... It is a bit of a spoiler though, but sure, I guess it's handy for people.

To be honest there is something good from having died: It means the challenge is sufficiently high and that if I survive longer next time I will already have set a new record
And it's cool to have death around a close corner... I like living on the edge ^^ (well, in games!)

I don't really know what you mean about Savage Split being even worse?
The Savage Split start you mean? I am afraid my reason for picking Boron (in the DiD mode from steam) is simply that I really like the look of Boron ships, DiD default is a Boron, and Squiddy McSquid's example I read years ago

[Triaxx2]

Oh, don't get me wrong, I love the Boron organic look. I'm a big proponent of the Pike because it's fast, agile, well armed and shielded.

Yes, I did mean the Savage Split start. You start in Family Pride and either way you go is major trade lane for the two enemy races, so you end up having to fight your way out. Doing Ea't s'Quid, I started no fewer than five times, only to get killed by an Argon trader, or a Boron with fighter drones, because I was too close. The sectors in and around Family Pride are pretty lightly patrolled by capitals, so it's eat or be eaten.

Queen's Retribution and Harbor both have a fair sized military presence. Of course your experience doesn't really indicate it being that easy.

[Godani]

Gon Persius II Personal Log

Entry 1: Fresh beginnings

My name is Gon Persius the Second. I am a Boron lowlife and I am in space.

I'll need to discover how to turn my 1,000 Cr into a vast fortune and if possible my goal would be to join the pirates and raid spacelanes. Not Boron spacelanes though, I have some loyalty to my race.
Consider me a privateer. I may not have an official letter of marque but I happily oblige the citizens, who, like me, have a big hatred towards Paranid and Split, but who don't have a ship to do anything about it. I am sure the Boron police won't mind one bit.

Being Boron I can only fly Boron ships, so I'll have to sell any captured ships and use the money to upgrade what I fly. Or... I guess I could turn against my race and capture their ships... always a possibility, but one I'd rather not be forced to use.

Anyway, my starting possessions:
1 x Boron Octopus "Pride and Joy"
1 x 1 MJ Shield
2 x Space Fuel (illegal)
1,000 Cr

Hmm, I decide to dump the Space Fuel, as I am unsure what to do with it, and it fills up my extremely limited cargo space.

I also sell my 1 MJ Shield. I have heard it's worth just about as much as paper, so I won't really miss it, just have to be extra careful.
What I do need though, is a gun. I really would feel a lot better with even one Impuls Ray Emitter.
Fortune has it my shield sells for 5,192 Cr and a new factory standard Impuls Ray Emitter (IRE) will cost me 4,676 Cr.

However, I cannot buy any IRE here in Queen's Harbour it seems... and I already sold my shield. Hm, well, just one gate away in Queen's Retribution the Equipment Dock should stock them.

What could possibly go wrong in that short trip?

Possessions:
1 x Boron Octopus "Pride and Joy"
6,192 Cr

[Godani]

Gon Persius II Personal Log

Entry 2: Good fortune

The Jumpgate poses no problems and I see before me the Equipment Dock (EQ). I set a course towards it and engage SETA (the time compression device that slows down my personal time so everything else seems to speed up by a factor of 10).

But then! In the corner of my eye:

[ external image ]

That's weapon's fire!

I head over to see if maybe, just maybe, the combatants have dropped something worthwhile.
If I am lucky I find some missiles. I recall that they sometimes sell pretty well.

[ external image ]
(Click image to view at fullsize)

Yes! I take the Remote Guided Warhead, expecting to make up to 2,000 Cr with it.
The other crate contains 11 energy cells, which is 9 too much for my remaining 2 cargo space, and they're probably worth less.

I try to see if it fills up my cargo if I try to scoop it up but no, the crate just explodes, doesn't do any damage as far as I can tell.

As I turn to happily sell my loot at the EQ I spot another two crates some 10 kms away!

One is a Silkworm Missile, nice! The other is 9 energy cells.

Now to hope I can fit the Silkworm Missile in my 2 spots... Got it!

[ external image ]

Now to see what they sell for:

[ external image ]

Holy Majaglit!!!

I had no idea. And energy cells are worth around 12 Cr. Hah, well, good to know for the future.

This means I have about 33,000 Cr to spend! Awesome.

I do not hesitate and buy 4 IRE's to mount in my 4 weapon slots and buy a Shield, because, hey, well... Paper's more than nothing, surely.

Then begins the choice on what to upgrade on my ship. Speed is really good, I love that. It means being able to run away and survive. It's basically the one thing going for this ship, so yeah.

I can afford 10 out of 20 Engine Tuning upgrades. That way I can get 7 of 10 Cargobay Extensions as well. Cargo is very important too, especially since after buying 4 laser weapons and 1 shield my cargo hold is full already, and finding missiles obviously is a great way to make money.

The thing with optimizations upgrades is that they cost a lot more for every additional one you take.

Right then, I have a little bit left, I'll put that in Rudder Optimisation, so I can turn faster etc, also 10 out of 20.

I have exactly 666 Cr left, how funny is that?

Top Speed: 285.2 m/s out of a possible 427.8 m/s
Cargobay: 12 units (of which 5 taken) out of a possible 15
Max Steering: 40.5 rpm out of a possible 60.7

Right, the day is still young, and I feel awesome!

I cruise around and quickly locate a Duke Transport attacked by Boron Police:

[ external image ]

Duke is a Pirate, I recall, so I cannot help the police and possibly get the pilot to bail unfortunately, but I decide waiting to see if a crate drops is good enough.

BOOM.

No crate.

Oh well.

In the next sector over I encounter a lonely Paranid Transport.
No escorts. Only 1 turret.
And I have ship that flies about 3 times as fast.
And I hate the Paranid.

It might be a risk, but I decide to attack and see if I can get the pilot to bail, or to scare him into dropping some crates.

Possessions:
1 x Boron Octopus "Pride and Joy"
4 x IRE
1 x 1 MJ Shield
666 Cr


(Oversize image to thumbnail - Terre)

[Godani]

Gon Persius II Personal Log

Entry 3: Setbacks and giddiness

The Paranid Energy Transporter is slow... I can easily circle it and make strafe runs, all the while firing my IRE's at his shields, which vaporize rather rapidly and satisfactorily.

Hmm some of my old combat skills are coming back... well, at least the memories of how I used to dodge incoming fire.

I am not entirely bad at this

The Paranid's hull has a nice dent, and I decide to try and ask him to drop his cargo.

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/6599/entry00300.jpg

He doesn't, so I make another run at him, eat his shields which had halfway regenerated and bite into his hull some more.

Again I ask him to drop cargo from a safe distance. Again he tells me to get lost in no uncertain terms.

So I decide to end his life and hope for some crates and attack him again. This time however, he manages to hit my Pride and Joy with 1 shot of his turret.

*THUNK*
http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/317/entry00301.jpg

Ouch! I lost my entire shield and about 30% hull... from 1 ... bullet? laser beam? From 1 bluish white streak in any case.

Suddenly feeling very fragile and self-conscious about the next shot already underway I hightail it out of there and hop out to repair.

Phew... Safe. He has probably jumped into the next system by now, but I don't care. My ship is really weak, and his one turret obviously pretty powerful. I decide to leave those transports alone for now.

Alright, scouting the sectors around Queen's Harbour then, on the lookout for opportunities.
Sweet, sweet opportunities... Like the RGW and Silkworm missiles earlier.
Hmm I am starting to sound like a Teladi. Oh look I am in Teladi space.
*Dons tinfoil hat* Protect me, o hat of hats, against Teladi brain patterns!

Yeah... I could really use a swim.
Confined in a tiny metal coffin hurtling through hostile vacuum for hours being bored because I find nothing does not do wonders for my composure, or my sense of humor. But hey, I am alone in here, so what gives, right?

Some Split High Tech Trader in an M4 takes some shots at me, because he can and because I am hurtling through space at SETA 10x and can't change course fast enough.

He misses and doesn't pursue. Still, I decide to be more careful with SETA.

After some more silly banter with an uncooperative Betty I finally see a mission I like:

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/7161/entry00302.jpg

Cool, it doesn't reward me much, but it gives me something to do and a chance to get some loot. Judging from the price it should be rather easy as well, so let's try.

I happily fly to the target sector and...

Discover he's in a pirate ship!
Well duh. He's a criminal... It said so in the briefing.

For some reason I didn't connect the two in my head and now I have to cancel the mission as I do not attack pirates.

Bah. I wonder if there was any reputation loss from cancelling. I check my stats and see I am a Trusted Courtier still, but only at 15%. I think it was 50% before.
Double bah. I do not want to lose recognition/standing/reputation with the Boron. In fact, I want to gain it.

Pretty soon thereafter though a second mission is presented to me by another friendly Boron:

http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/3917/entry00304.jpg

Now I have heard about this at the bar in the EQ: As long as it doesn't say it's getting further away it's just drifting and should be pretty easy even if they call it hard: Accepted!

As I make my way over to Contorted Dominion I get visions of very damaged ships and time limits making me fail and then me being falsely accused of having stolen the ship and aaaah!

But I needn't have woried, I wouldn't even get that far.

The ship is somewhere through a gate in Contorted Dominion.

But it seems Contorted Dominion is Split space.

And they're not just happy to see me:
That IS a Hurricane missile in their pocket.

And they're flying a Tiger.

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/7695/entry00305.jpg

And they're making a beeline for me.
And there are more Split there so I cannot really circle around.
And now they're firing their first Hurricane at me.
And the gate back to Faded Dreams is still far.

Beep... beep...

Possessions:
1 x Boron Octopus "Pride and Joy"
4 x IRE
1 x 1 MJ Shield
666 Cr

[KingsMongoose]

Really enjoying reading this DiD! Hope to see the mad escape from missile launching Split

[Godani]

Gon Persius II Personal Log

Entry 4: The edges of principle

The Hurricane is still about 4 km away, so I turn towards the gate to Faded Dreams and accelerate to top speed.

The missile is closing in on me, but the Tiger is losing ground.

When the missile is about 2 kms away I quickly turn around, blast it out of the vacuum, and turn back.

Another Hurricane is launched at me.
Shot down.
Another.
Shot down.
Another.
Shot down.

With sweaty palms I steer my Octopus through the gate, confident they will not follow: Faded Dreams is full with Boron military ships.

They don't. I am safe. Not exactly a mad escape, but an escape nonetheless.

I tell the mission-giver I am not about to get his ship from deep in enemy space, and that makes me lose more recognition:

[ external image ]

Bah.
Dropped in rank. Only a Boron Friend. That's one step above Neutral.

I am now on a personal mission to gain more Boron reputation.

Cruising though space looking for suitable jobs I encounter none.
I do see a Boron Spacefly Protector, and smile about it.

Then I discover a Pirate sector: Veil of Delusion.

Excellent, if they offer me missions I can gain standing there. And they even have a Rehabilitation facility, which will allow me to train captured pilotes as marines to use in boarding operations, if I am not mistaken.

[ external image ]

That's for the far future though: they're red to me, and offer no jobs.
The Pirate Galleon is blue though, so that's promising.

I fly around some more, get scanned by customs but they're happy, as I am not carrying anything illegal, and I continue on my way.

Then I get offered a Hard Covert Operation:

[ external image ]

Yes, I know the last one killed my father, but I am not my father.
I am smarter.
And I have guns.

I find the target to follow easy enough.

Gate 1, fine.

Gate 2, not fine: Just as I am about to enter the gate a pirate pops out.

I do not wait for him to decide whether or not he's going to attack me, but start weaving and turning and making my way towards the gate.

That helps, as he does decide to shoot me and even launches a missile, but all incoming fire misses and I evade the missile and reach the gate.

Now to hope he doesn't follow through.

...

He does. Shit, he's probably related to the mission.

What's worse, he is in a faster ship than I am in, and even if I could outrun him at full speed I am bound to get too close to the target I am supposed to be covertly following.

I sit there for a few kms, figuring out what to do:

* He's obviously not going to give up.
* He's a Pirate, which I am not allowed to attack.
* He's going to make me fail the mission and I already lost way too much standing lately.
* He can very well kill me.

It's a bit of a problem I've gotten myself into.
Time is running out though...

I decide that self-defense is ok. I haven't attacked him, he attacked ME, I am only defending myself.
I tried my best to avoid shooting him, but now it's just him or me, and then it definitely well should be him.

I do vow to never take a covert operation like this ever again though, as it seems it's aimed against pirates, something I didn't know, and had obviously not thought about thoroughly enough. It really sucks... probably succeeding this mission and shooting down this pirate means lost recognition with all pirates everywhere.

IF I manage to win, that is. Otherwise this is all moot.

I check the ship I should shadow for a last time and turn my ship around:

I need to kill the pirate without getting too close to my target, or too far away.
And fast enough so my target doesn't disappear through the gate at the other end of the sector.
Quite an endeavour!

I am now flying straight at the pirate, finger on the weapon trigger.

Possessions:
1 x Boron Octopus "Pride and Joy"
4 x IRE
1 x 1 MJ Shield
666 Cr

[Godani]

Gon Persius II Personal Log

Entry 5: First blood

As soon as he comes into firing range (1.39 km for my Impulse Ray Emitters) I fire my four weapons while using my thrusters in a clockwork fashion to avoid his incoming fire.

Great! After the first pass his shields are mostly gone while mine are virtually intact.

Another pass, and now he bites a little into my hull. He's worse off though.
And now I am behind him!

I manage to stay behind him and after a few more salvo's his ship explodes: he wasn't the bailing type apparently (a type which one would expect to die out sooner rather than later, I might add).

Success! Win! First Blood! I am better than at least 1 someone else!

There is even something I can use among his ship debris: a Firelance Missile.

Curious how much money that will net me. I am hoping it will be a nice surprise like the Remote Guided Warhead, but some foggy memory at the back of my head tells me this will be one of the run-in-the-mill missiles that sells for about 2,000 Cr. Which is still a fortune in my current situation.

I happily scoop it up before I quickly return to my covert stalking (the fight didn't tip him off, which is lucky).

... or not. I miss the crate.

Gah: try again.

Miss.

Try again, kinda worried about the ship I should be following.

Miss.

Try AGAIN.

Got it.

Now racing towards the target, I am at about 28 kms out after the fight and the time lost trying to scoop up the missile. I close in and quickly eject to touch up my Octopus with my repair laser: there, fixed! I pursue again and see him vanishing through another gate.

I follow through without incident and continue to follow the target to a Free Argon Trading Station.

Mission giver sends me a thank you message with about 6,000 credits attached:

http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/7478/entry00501.jpg

I sell the missile as well, which nets me about 2,700 Cr: not bad.

The mission also increased my standing: I am now a Boron Accepted Friend again, which is obviously better than just a friend.

Back to Boron space. I see nothing interesting on the way there. Once in Queen's Retribution's EQ I get a second shield, so I have maximum shielding now: 2 layers of paper, essentially.
I also get 2 more engine tunings done and get 1 cargobay extension.

Top Speed: 313.7 m/s out of a possible 427.8 m/s
Cargobay: 13 units (of which 5 taken) out of a possible 15
Max Steering: 40.5 rpm out of a possible 60.7

Next I am looking around for any opportunities, but they seem scarce. I do see quite a few passengers in need of transport, and make a mental note to invest in a cargo bay life support system so I can do those kinds of missions.

I find some unknown sector in my roamings, filled with asteroids and from what I can tell empty of anything else. I make a note of that too, for a possible future.

I return to the pirate sector, hoping they offer any mission, but the station is red to me, the galeon is still blue. I also discover a Brigantine in the distance, also red to me.

More roaming, not more luck.

Then I end up in faded Dreams, where I notice a Pirate Harrier Vanguard in combat with a Boron Thresher (M7) and a few Boron M4's and M5's. I stick around to see if he drops anything on destruction but he doesn't.

Emboldened by the mighty nearby Boron presence I attack a nasty Split Recon Jaguar Vanguard that's been shadowing me for 2 sectors now. He's really fast but luckily he's in for a fight and doesn't run away.

I whittle his hull down and try to get him to bail, but to no avail.

No drops either.

Tired for the day I dock at the Military Outpost right there in Faded Dreams planning to have a few dreams of my own in the safety of the station.

Tomorrow is a new day, and I want to be fresh and alert.

Possessions:
1 x Boron Octopus "Pride and Joy"
4 x IRE
2 x 1 MJ Shield
295 Cr

[Sabrina Bergin]

Godani:

Realy enjoying your story, keep going.

[Triaxx2]

Hey, at least GP2 has survived longer than GP1.