Condition: Null [DiD - Total Xenon Xenocide] - BANKS, RANA - KIA

[eldyranx3]

Condition: Null - DiD - Total Xenon Xenocide

Null, or [not] Null. That is the question. And for the Terraformers, there is but one corrupt purpose. For their self replicating kind, there can only be one answer. Null.

In 2918 my Uncle, Commander Jeri Banks, led the sortie ordered to repel the last Terraformer thrust into Terran space. He paid the ultimate sacrifice for human kind. As soon as I was old enough I joined the United Space Command with aims to eventually enlist with the AGI Task Force. Even though I attained the rank of Commander, the Brass continued to block my transfer to the ATF based on the results of my Psych Evaluations.

USC Intel suggests each successive Terraformer wave shows a 14% increase in use of tactics and performance in ship design. They are evolving. Growing more aware with each recursive generation. They must be stopped before they gain sentience or all will be lost. I was born on Earth, and I will defend it at all costs. My name is Rana Banks. And I will eliminate the Terraformer menace once and for all.

Or die trying.

Note: This Story May Contain Plot Spoilers

Game Start: USC Commander

Primary Goal: Take over all Xenon Sectors in known space (with the exception of plot related sectors)
Secondary Goal: Rebuild the Terran Economy in preparations for All Out War.

Rules:
Conditional DiD - Excluding Acts of GoD, GOD, Autopilok, Known Plot Bugs, (excluding Khaak) and Gatecrashes.
Can only fly ATF, Terran, or Xenon ships in my personal fleet.
Can Hire Commonwealth TLs.
Can only buy Weapons, Shields, Equipment, and Stations from Terrans. Commonwealth Salvage and Captures only.
Teladi Equipment Exceptions: Boarding Pods, ECS, Best Buy and Best Sell Software, Adv Nav Sats, TCS Mk3. Must work it into the storyline.
Can buy base wares from anyone, given the race requirements (Energy, Silicon, Ore).

Scripts:
ATF Shipyard v4 - Adds ATF ships and Most Terran Stations for Sale
Xenon Invasion Defense - Sets up missions to destroy vanilla spawned Xenon incursions
STO - Sector Take Over of Xenon space
CAG
TOA to Jumpgate Converter - Used after gamestart to work around known bug
Reduced Enemy Missiles
Marine Repairs

Terran Date 2938-05-01 00:48 - Chapter 01 - ‘This is not a Drill’

The call came across the AEBS (AGI Emergency Broadcast System) just after midnight tonight. After 20 years of silence, the Terraformers were back. I trade in my USC bars to enlist with the ATF as soon as I hear confirming reports of N-class Neumann scouts breaching Uranus orbit. This was not a drill. The comm traffic on the ATF propaganda channel trumpets full bore, calling for reserves and new recruits alike to report to their closest ATF recruitment stations. Within the hour I swap out my USC M3 for the ATF M4 Interceptor. Normally it would take such a radical transfer two years to clear USC red tape. But we all knew this day might come.

And we are ready.

The Mjollnir is a fine ship. With 25 mj shielding and a top speed of 275 m/s, it is the fastest interceptor in known space, partly due to its unique quad-slanted thruster design. It has seven forward facing hard points for EMPCs compared to the four on the USC M4 Saber and a decent weapon generator. What really sets this M4 apart from all others is its surprisingly spacious storage bay of 300 M-sized cargo units.

There is just a slight problem. Saturn doesn’t seem to have any of the 5mj shielding my M4 needs. Off to to the South Gate to Jupiter orbit. Once Im clear of the gate, there is a pileup with five M7 frigates. The ATF Aegirs are in such a rush to reinforce Uranus that two slam into the gate pylons. While search and rescue Scabbards pick up the survivors, I sort up the crates that are left, but there isn’t much. After outfitting the Mjollnir, I get an assignment to reinforce the increasing number of sentinel patrols in Neptune space.

When I pop through the gate, two wings of N's show up in the gravidar. After I blow them to chips an announcement comes over the comm. Seems there’s been some infiltration of drones at the Saturn research station, and some are heading back out to the edges of the Ort Cloud. When I arrive, my triplex scanners pick up an Argon Nova sitting near a jump beacon. Odd.

When I get within 10km the ship destroys the beacon and jumps out. I wonder what that was about. The Brass tells me that none of the drones made it through the gauntlet. Since I'm this far out of the Sol System, I take a few minutes to drop by the Military Base and pick up a Cargo Life Support System and a Docking Computer. On the patrols back to Neptune and Uranus, there's only four wings of N's led by a M wing leader. Once blown to bits and bytes, the Bass asks me to Debrief at the Saturn Research Station.

After unloading the data from my flight recorder, I pick up a jump drive from the Eggsheads at R&D. Why? Because as a famous Earth writer once said: "Space is Big. Very Big." A few hours later after USC Intelligence analyzes my flight recorder, Im told I'm being re-assigned to Maj. Gen. Rai Ishiyama in the Asteroid Belt. That sounds um, swell I guess. Once I report in, he tries to butter me up by giving me a unarmed Rapier M5 scout. Great. Thanks. I'll use it to take up a docking slot at AGI's R US or something.

But that gives me an idea. I buy eleven more to land at various stations to keep their docking bays from shutting down for good. Bad Terran Economy and all. For roughly the price of two EMPC's, I can pretty much keep the Terran Economy greased. And between five taxi runs and the jump drive I fitted earlier, I pretty much know the locations of all the Tech stations. It seemed like an easy patrol, but I have a hunch things will get a lot tougher from here on out.

Account: 1,225,962cr
Assets:

(01) ATF M4 Mjollnir - 'Recycler'
(12) USC M5 Rapier - 'Parking Tickets'


{moved from X-Universe; see note - Carlo}

[Captain Zorg]

Nice storyline.

[Buck_Rogers]

pretty cool. keep it up

[eldyranx3]

2938-05-01 05:39 - Chapter 02 - 'Stranger in a Strange Land'

After some slight downtime I report back in to Major General Rai Ishiyama. When he orders me to report to Commander Mark Jackson in the sector Heretics End, I know something big is up. Ive never been Down South before, and most of the aliens there make my skin crawl. Given the choice though, I'll rub elbows with a tentacle before I'll negotiate with a recycle compacter.

The first thing I notice in Heretics End is a big spinning cartwheel. Is that supposed to be a Trade Station? Artificial gravity tech must be primitive here in Argon space. After receiving my orders from Jackson, it seems they want me to monitor some Terraformer raids on Commonwealth freighter convoys in PTNI Headquarters and look for anything suspicious. Great. When they say jump, I ask how high. Hoo-Raa.

I top off my jump fuel tanks in Circle of Labor with E-cells, and suddenly I'm promoted to Federation Member. Swell. I'm glad I invested in a Triplex scanner, as the nebula of Omicron Lyrae is thicker than protein paste. I hear this part of Down South space saw some major Bug action a few years back. Maybe I'll have my own Bug Hunt and bring my Mobile Armor Suit along. I like to keep it handy, for Close Encounters.

The first alien race I encounter is the Teladi. Cold. Blooded. Reptiles. I don't hail them before entering their space, but my nav comm gets bombarded with advertisements just the same. When I get into PTNI headquarters all seems clear on the gravidar, at least for the moment. Thats when I notice a Nova with pirate markings pop in with three L's. I guess they call them Xenon L's Down South, but they still blow up real nice. The first one goes inert with 3% hull. Too bad my finger was still on the trigger. The next one goes down in a hail of Poltergeist warheads. The third one's IFF turns blue somewhere at 65% hull, and its three 25mj shields continue to recharge.

My scanners are on the Nova, however. I just wish I had remembered what the transponder ID of the one in Ortt Cloud had been. Either way, Jackson said be on the look out for something suspicious. And the way that Nova peals away all unconcerned smacks of suspicious. Now call me crazy, but this pirate saunters to an unknown sector just one jump east of PNTI headquarters. After a few minutes, a Pirate Base pops up on the gravidar. These pirates must be pretty bold or pretty stupid to prey on Teladi shipping one sector away with a destroyer on station.

Once the nova docks I make a quick scan of the station, and then jump back into the west gate in PTNI to salvage that L for the Eggheads back in Saturn to dismantle and study. I'm closing upon the inert Xenon when several P2P jump signatures flash on the view port all around me. My IFF screams. Remember that Close Encounter I talked about earlier?

Eeep!

See that M3 icon surrounded by Red on the gravidar? Thats the L. That's where I was when the digested protein paste hit the air circulator.

I'm about to get splattered by one of those Kyon beams when I whip my interceptor around, gun the engines, and make for the closest gate. For a terrifying moment I'm thinking I'm cut off from Terran Space, until I realize I have a jump drive with plenty of fuel. Still, I dock at the trading station in Profit Center Alpha for some downtime. Reptiles > Bugs > Chips.

I am truly a Stranger in a Strange Land.

Account: 1,223,648cr.
Assets:

(01) ATF M4 Mjollnir - 'Recycler'
(12) USC M5 Rapier - 'Parking Tickets'

[eldyranx3]

2938-05-01 07:07 - Chapter 03 - 'These Arent The AGI You Are Looking For'

I wait around the east gate and wonder if that Teladi Destroyer had met up with that Khaak Destroyer and Carrier. After a while, a pirate Elite and Harrier pop through the gate and make a gun for me. They really didnt get very far, but I figure if an interceptor can run that gauntlet, then maybe the coast is clear. Looks like the Phoenix toasted the M1 and M2, but the Shrike is having issues clearing the clusters still around. Irony that one of the traders in sector was carrying this.

I help stomp out the rest of the scouts, but not more than a strangler or two at a time. While Xenon have those instant-hit Pulse Beam Emitters, its more than one Kyon I fear. I even manage to salvage a Thorn missile out of the cleanup. Those R&D guys are going to love me when I make it back to Saturn. Once I patch up the L, I transfer over the jump drive, the thorn, and as many e-cells as it can carry. I jump it back to Jupiter; no sense in escorting it all the way back through alien territory if I don't have to. Its a long flight back to the Sol Asteroid Belt though. I take the time to put my Rapiers into permanent storage and rename their transponders so I know which station I have them docked at.

On the way back through Omicron Lyrae I comm one of the Argon Mammoth's and see if I can convince them to head up through Terran Space. I'm confident I can clear it with the Brass. All I have to do is call the TL contract a 'Needed Requisition for the Terran War Effort' and poof, red tape security clearance gone.

While the Eggheads are taking apart the L and the Thorn, I report back to Jackson. Looks like I'm going to be on Xenon patrol, but this time back Down Under. What's even better? I have to babysit two Greenies. At least Jackson gave me three more Rapiers. At this rate I'll have the entire Terran economy hostage. So right. Patrol Argon Space. Why? Thats need to know. Within minutes of jumping into Circle of Labor I see why Jackson assigned me. A wing of N's and two M's pop up on the gravidar. The Greenies actually show a meager smattering of competence as I engage the two M's. There is a tense moment one both of them bring their PBE's to bear on my six after the first pass, taking my shields down to near critical. The two Sabers cover my six and shake them off, long enough for me to spin back around and take one down.

Another wing of Xenon pop in. Seven N's and two more M's. Two poltergeists missiles take care of the N's, mercilessly hunting them down even as they try to maneuver into my six. Two Argon border patrol Nova's help distract the two M's, and we leave nothing but scrap in our cones of coordinated fire. On to Omicron Lyrae. Looks like an L and its N escort dance with some pirates wandering through the sector. I weave between them, my EMPC's blasting away. After the dust settles, three M's pop up in the gravidar. Looks like the toasters are getting a bit smarter; forming up in a flying V. Too bad I form in on their sixes and pop them off one at a time. They must not have very good scanners, or the nebula is scrambling them. On to Treasure Chest.

I cant believe what I see right after the next gate. Commonwealth Xenon fighting Earth Terraformers. Either way, they are AGI, and Im going to make them MIA. Neither of them seem to change from their targeting subroutines, and my wing blows them out of space. After clearing the patrol, the Greenies think this should be reported back to Jackson. No, really? We collect some of the scrap and blow back to the Asteroid Belt.

Account: 1,243,708
Assets:

(01) ATF M4 Mjollnir - 'Recycler'
(01) Xenon M3 L - 'RE'
(15) USC M5 Rapier - 'Parking Tickets'

[Captain Zorg]

Nice, like the story so keep it up because I can't wait for the next one.

[eldyranx3]

2938-05-01 09:12 - Chapter 04 - Condition: Null

After some R&R at the Orbital Patrol Base in Asteroid Belt, Jackson asks me to reconnect with Lt. Plinter. Looks like we're escorting the remains of the Terraformers and Xenon back to Venus for closer study. Why the Brass doesn't do the research in Saturn is beyond me. Last I heard the boys over at R&D had flipped a tit over some of the subroutines stored in the RE'd L's inert but intact memory core.

This should be a milk run. While I engage the autopilot, I sit back in the cockpit seat and read some Machiavelli. Once in a while I flip through the map of Terran Space and think about what the first factory will produce and where to place it. Both Water and Protein Paste are in very short supply, so much that the Orbital Logistics Docks can't keep up. Ore is plentiful near the outer solar system. Silicon rare. Ice is plentiful. Energy is abundant in the inner solar system, and I have six of the fifteen Rapiers docked at SPP's to ensure a good energy base.

A klaxon wails through my cockpit, and I almost drop my datapad. The AEBS is going off like mad. Chatter on the comm is chaotic, but I get the impression its not good. A single terrarformer has broken through the patrol in the asteroid belt. I stay on escort per mission guidelines. Thats when the AEBS reports that the damaged ship has drop a jump beacon just outside of Mars orbit. Im too far away to catch it on my gavidar, but live footage from a patrolling Vali shows a massive Xenon carrier jumping in. I gun the throttle and pull back on the stick, roaring back to the west gate to add in the defense of the inner system.

"We have a Terraformer fleet in Mars Orbit! All ships: Engage!"

The full compliment of interceptors and heavy strike fighters zip out of the machine's hangers like angry bees. Nothing like this has happened in centuries, not since the bombardment of Mars colony during the first Terraformer War. United Space Command authorizes full use of Phantom and Shadow Missiles: Annihilate the machines at any price. A P2P jump signature from a Osaka flashes several kilos from the J, but already the carrier is smashing the backbone of our Baldric logistics line to the inner Sol system.

I red line the reactor, trying to get there faster. As the Osaka closes, its Starburst Shockwave Cannons rip apart the L's and M's of the J's fighter screen. The cataclysmic flashes of Point Singularity rake the J's shields. The carrier's reactor goes critical just as I get within EMPC range. A white nova forms, and my view port polarizes in reflex. The shock wave slams my ship around like a paper sailboat. I twist and kink, evading most of the J's tumbling superstructure, their jagged edges still crackling energy and glowing white hot. Once the debris field rolls away, the fighter screen starts to prioritize threats and adapt.

I know enough about AI targeting routines to smash two M's and get clear of the swarm. Mars orbit is lit up with the dance of EMPC and PBE fire. It looks like the flashes of a back alley knife fight. Two M's form on my six, and within moments their concerted fire shred my combined 25mj shields. My heart thunders as I watch my shields go down to red critical. I throttle out of their limited range just as my shields hit 16%. Too close.

I fire off a salvo of poltergeists to cover my tail, and several N's blow up behind me. I track down an single M and allow my shields to recharge. Once I blow it to bits I light up the L wing leader trailing on my six with a few poltergeists. Not even enough to dent its shields, and my missile tubes are now empty. I skirt around the main melee and pick up a few floating poltergeists, five in all before leading the Xenon wings near the Osaka. I empty my tubes again at an M escorting the L. The swirling warheads find their mark, and as half the M spins apart, my swarm connects with the other M. Without changing its subroutine, the L wing leader bears down on me, just in time to smack logic board first into a PSP volley. There’s nothing left of that one.

The AEBS gives the all clear, and aside from two N's dancing with a Rapier, my grav is blue. I take some time to sweep up the Banshees and Specters floating about. I dont know what the Brass is going to think about me deviating from my orders, but I figure bringing down a Xenon Carrier and preventing it from reaching Earth is a bigger priority than escorting a garbage scow.

After confirming that the scabbard made it to Venus without issue, Im told to stand down and await order. For me and the rest of the USC, the J was a wake up call. War is upon us. With our baldric fleet in the inner system smashed, the first order of business is to rebuild our economic infrastructure. Without them our industrial weapon and shipbuilding capacity will grind to a halt.

If that happens Odin help us.

Account: 1,243,708
Assets:

(01) ATF M4 Mjollnir - 'Recycler'
(01) Xenon M3 L - 'RE'
(15) USC M5 Rapier - 'Parking Tickets'

[xcal13]

good so far keep up the great work

[eldyranx3]

2938-05-01 10:27 - Chapter 05 - Rebuilding the God of War

With some serious downtime heading my way, I scoot back to the Saturn Research station to retrieve my jump drive from the dismantled L. I'm surprised to find the Xenon ship reassembled and turned over to me. I guess once R&D is done with it, its still just hull plating and circuitry. It will compliment the modified Argon M5 the USC decided to give me. If I ever need to scoot around Down South unnoticed, that will be the ship.

After some serious thought I sell off the L to the highest bidder. I really don’t have any weapons for it, and that 800k credits will be enough for a large Protein Paste Factory. Once I get enough credits again, I’ll tack on a large Carbo Cake Factory for my first complex. Then, water processing plants where Ice is cheap and abundant. I sell off one of the EMPC’s from the M5's given to me earlier, and after spending 2M, Ive got my first factory churning out Space Peanut Butter. Ive got two Baldrics hunting for cheap energy, and its a good thing Ive hijacked three XL SPP.

Somewhere along the way I forgot to retain that Mammoth, and so I jumped from sector to sector trying to find how far Down South it made it. I poke my sensors in Omnicron Lyrae just in time to see two straggling Xenon L’s pass through. I take a run at them, expecting one to ignore me as I blast away its friend, but they both turn their PBE’s at me and light me up. I toss out a volley of poltergeist and make a break for it. Once my shields recharge some, its a volley for each of them, and while they are busy shooting them down, I recycle them to the great void. Ive got a 7% ding in my hull, but nothing that slows me down at the moment.

A few military transport missions crop up here and there, one for 511k. Enough for me to invest in another Baldric. Once I get a fledgling fleet of TS freighters up and moving, I notice Im wasting a lot of time looking for best buys and sells. What I need is some remote extension software to help automate that process. We Terrans, more of the ‘Shoot it and it may leave Salvage’ mind-set, haven’t advanced far in that realm of software engineering. When I was playing the slots at the casino on board the Teladi trading station in Profit Center Alpha, I noticed they had apps like that on their personal data pads. When I bring up the idea of using Alien tech to help bolster our flagging economy, the Brass look like they just swallowed their first Split Chelt whole. Looks like Im going to have to procure an equipment contract on the sly. And I know just how I can convince the thrifty reptiles to open up their EQ docks.

Scanners at maximum, I circle the Military Outpost. This close to Sector Xenon Sector 347, I can’t assume that this will be the smattering of M’s and N’s that Ive come across so far. My expectations prove true as I pick up a large echo on the edges of my grav, corvette class. The first catch of the day. A lone ATF M4 interceptor against a Xenon M6?!

Never tell me the Odds!

Ive never faced off against the Xenon’s corvette before. The sun at my six, I approach above before swooping down on my prey. I drain my entire bank of weapons energy and only take off 38% of its shields. Impressive given our EMP technology. Its turning rate catches me off guard as well, its forward battery slinging shards of ion energy at my thin shields. We tangle for position until I whittle down its superior shielding, and soon enough, my EMPC’s eat into its unique symmetrical obsidian hull. As the last bolts tear into the reactor housing, the P explodes in a thick plasma cloud. I dodge some larger fragments of reactor housing and forward sensor antenas, but nothing that doesn’t knock off more than 3% of my shields.

The shrewd reptiles pay me 254k and elevate me to Shareholder status. Time to sneak in some upgrades and maybe even a new factory or two.

Account: 1,354,524
Fleet Assets:

(01) ATF M4 Mjollnir - 'Recycler'
(01) Argon M5 Adv Discoverer - 'Scanner Darkly’
(16) USC M5 Rapier - 'Parking Tickets'

Factory Assets:
(01) Protein Paste Blending Factory L
(03) USC TS Baldric

[eldyranx3]

2938-05-01 15:25 - Chapter 06 - ‘ICE is NICE’

Space is one big ice locker. Sure you can argue that little of it is in dihydrogen monoxide form. But the small bit that is, well, it pretty much stays put and is cheap to harvest. In the end I decided to tack on a Water Processing Plant on the Protein Paste Blending Factory. Given that the water processing plant is only 400k or so compared to 900k, I can make more of them for less. And since Ive hijacked four XL SPP’s in the inner Sol system, I think Im going to dump a water complex somewhere around Venus. Granted the ice will take longer to transport from Jupiter, but there are four factories in the inner system that scream for the aqueous dihydrgen monoxide. Go figure.

The USC normally isn’t shrewd. We pretty much will drop a tac-nuke on a Xenon station when a simple volley of shadow missiles will do just as well. I just want to make blanket statement before I break ranks and bombast the Brass. I’m offered a deep salvage mission to reclaim a damaged M3 Scimitar from around Pluto. Its a Hard task, but hey, I’m almost the Hero of Sol anyway. Too bad the M3 is worth 1M in salvage, and they are only paying a tenth of that in recovery. I even repair their POS because hey, I’m a nice guy. But anything bigger comes along, and I don’t care if I get busted down to USC PFC. I’m claiming the ship for ATF salvage ops.

Im starting to get offered 1M credits a go for 14 passenger Military Transport missions, which will make my economic recovery efforts that much easier. Too bad a few more Terran missile fabs have gone belly up in the meantime. I pick up four more Rapiers and dock them at a Ghoul, Wraith, Phantom missile fabs, and to make things even, a PSP forge. I think thats about twenty parking tickets that will be racking up here very shortly. Between salvage operations and petty traffic violations, Im pretty confident Im going to have to recycle a Q or two in a day just to break even on Reputation and Credits.

While passing through a Jupiter jump gate another Aegir slams into the gate ring, disintegrating on impact. Surprisingly there is only one salvageable M/AM warhead left intact floating among the debris. One of these days these USC captains are going to be kind and drop a few SSCs or PSPs for me. After raising 4M, mainly through shuttling our USC boys to reinforce the front lines in Neptune, I purchase two Water Processing Plants and one Large Carbo Cake Factory. Why the USC is willing to pay 500k+ to ship two marines halfway across the system is beyond me. Maybe they are Special Ops. I dont Ask and they dont Tell.

I tack on the Carbo Cake Factory to the already existing complex in Saturn. I’ll see what effect that has on the food production fabs in the local area. Once I know, I can guesstimate how many much more paste, cake, and water its going to take to stabilize the local Saturn economy. The two Water Processing plants are heading to Venus where there is plenty of solar energy. I pass the time waiting for the Mammoth to make its way through the Asteroid Belt by taking a few taxi missions here and there; none of them more than 300k a pop.

When Im checking for some milk runs in the Moon, it seems as if some Lieutenant managed to get caught up in a solar flare up somewhere around Mercury space. While Search and Rescue managed to extract him before the rads could do more serious damage, his M8 Claymore bomber is floating adrift above planet Hellhole. I proudly accept. After all whats a Hero of Sol going to do with his spare time but fetch holed wrecks within an arbitrary time cycle? After getting on site an surveying the damage, the ship’s super structure isn’t space worthy. I spend a good ten of my thirty allocated minutes just patching the breaches with hull plating and transferring over my jump drive. Just shy of ten minutes left I realize the lumbering bomber just isn’t going to make it back to the Orbital Patrol Base

It has just enough time to scrape and spark its way into the Moon’s shipyard though. Given its initial state, USC would have scrapped it anyway. With 87% hull, it comes in at just over 3M credits. While I get a reprimand from the Brass for the failed operation, it doesn’t seem to affect my reputation at all. I think its time to invest in a Thor.

Account: 5,213,817cr
Fleet Assets:

(01) ATF M4 Mjollnir - 'Recycler'
(01) Argon M5 Adv Discoverer - 'Scanner Darkly’
(20) USC M5 Rapier - 'Parking Tickets'

Factory Assets:

Base Resources Complex - Saturn
(01) Protein Paste Blending Factory L
(01) Carbo Cake Factory L
(01) Water Processing Plant M
(04) TS Baldric CAG

Water Complex - Venus
(02) Water Processing Plant M
(02) TS Baldric CAG

[eldyranx3]

2938-05-01 20:32 - Chapter 07 - ‘I’m about to Drop the Hammer, and Dispense Some Indiscriminate Justice!’

If the ATF M4 Mjollnir design emphasized versatility, then the ATF M3 Thor purpose is specialized: to bring the hurt in short order. With five times the shielding and over three times the weapon generator output with only a 30m/s loss of thruster speed over the Mjollnir, I feel safer already. The major downside to this is that in order to house such a massive reactor, cargo space became a tertiary concern. Now 190 L -sized cargo units are nothing to sneeze at, but those EMPC’s and 25mj shields take a disproportional amount of space.

I’m not sure how I feel about the red tinted cockpit either.

I report back to Commander Jackson in Heretic’s End for my next joint ATF / USC Op. There I learn Im supposed to meet an undercover ATF agent named Captain Pearle who has been investing the various aliens of the Commonwealth and their development of AGI. I was going to use ‘Scanner Darkly’ for something like this, then realized 1) I have no experience flying Argon scouts 2) My combat maneuvers are about as subtle as a full bank of PSP’s and 3) 'Scanner Darkly’ is currently exploring and surveying out past the Oort Cloud.

Either way I have to find out who is behind the combined Xenon / retro-Terrafomer attacks. I don’t see how it could be the Argon, after what R. Gunne did. But then again, we were the first to create AGI. Maybe someone got curious again. If I had to guess, I would suspect the beetle-like Paranids. They are, according to USC Intel at least, the most technologically advanced race of the Commonwealth. They also dabbled in gate-technology and nivdium harvesting, proof that they don’t give a damn about other races.

After a quick re-fuel in Circle of Labor and a jaunt into Nathan’s Voyage some spastic *static* calls me a bastu over the open comm. What in the hell is a bastu anyway? Im about ready to flip her IFF and light her up with a volley of poltergeist when the Argon Elite’s transponder kicks back with a hidden USC confirmation data stream. My finger eases off the trigger as Lt. Haywood brings me up to speed on what Pearle had found out so far. That was before Argon station security found his hand in their data storage cookie jar.

Haywood confirms what I already know, that USC Brass doesn’t have the balls to find out who is re-creating AGI and stop them. She peals off before I really can say no to her proposition. My kind of gal. Off we run to Teladi space. Why? I guess we are going to try the sneaky approach and gain access to one of the heaviest militarized Argon sectors using one of her trade contacts. Yeah. This is going to go down oh so well. So Haywood’s contact tells us he wont supply his clearance ID unless we break up a rival narcotics ring. Oh he -says- his operation is legit, so why are they running afoul of each other? Before I blast some candy carrying ice cream freighter out of space with its full compliment of saurian orphans, I wanna make sure that this reptile is indeed packing some weed. A quick scan reveals 1) Yes his rival is a smuggler and 2) Im a jarhead for not securing a local security license to use my freight scanner.

After I smash up this little drug ring I fly back to Grand Exchange for the clearance ID but it kind of makes me wonder just why the Kha’ak invaded PTNI Headquarters. Wasn’t NMMC mining and selling nvidium? Kinda says it all in the name doesn’t it? Was that the Bug’s way of breaking up the Reptile’s little smuggling operation? Sometimes I wonder who is worse: the Reptiles or the Bugs.

You don’t see the Bugs screwing each over other for an Loki-damned percentage.

While I wait for the custom built Baldric TS - ‘But I’m NOT an Alien!’ to roll out of the Moon’s shipyard and get retrofitted for its clandestine Teladinium haul to Argon Sector M148, my IFF squawks. I look away from my copy of ‘Hitchhikers Guide to the X-Universe’ just in time to see a Teladi Falcon M3 sneak up behind me and roast me with some type of space flame thrower. That may have been an effective weapon. A thousand years ago. After I scatter his ashes across the sector, I wonder if I have some sort of bounty on my transponder for my little bit of anarchy back in Tears of Greed.

Oh well. Lets just see how well these older clearance codes work. Despite a Terran TS showing up with ATF M3 escort, the Python guarding the North Gate acknowledges the sector traffic controller’s order to stand down. Reluctantly the Split Destroyer powers down its Gauss Cannons and signals for me to stay on course. Once I deliver the cargo, I switch back over to 'Indiscriminate Justice’ and wait for Heywood to do something brash.

Like throw herself out of an airlock.

Really Lieutenant? You have me cross half of Down South just to watch you fling yourself into space like some suicidal floozy? I hope the Search and Rescue vessel ‘Lewis and Clark’ picks you up. Still, I need Pearle to figure out who is building and tinkering with AGI so I begrudgingly pick them both up. Heywood screams for me to punch it despite no one on the grav even caring that Pearle just escaped. Makes me wonder if they were just holding him just for a political bargaining chip or something even more benign. Either way there’s no /good/ reason for me to shoot up an entire Argon sector so we blow back and drop off little Ms. Drama Queen and Mr. Extraordinary Rendition to Terran Space.

I think its time for more Economic Stimulus.

Account: 884,562cr
Fleet Assets:
(01) ATF M3 Thor - ‘Indiscriminate Justice’
(01) ATF M4 Mjollnir - 'Recycler'
(01) Argon M5 Adv Discoverer - 'Scanner Darkly’
(20) USC M5 Rapier - 'Parking Tickets'
(01) USC TS Baldric - ‘But I’m NOT an Alien!’

Factory Assets:
Base Resources Complex - Saturn
(01) Protein Paste Blending Factory L
(01) Carbo Cake Factory L
(01) Water Processing Plant M
(04) TS Baldric CAG

Water Complex - Venus
(02) Water Processing Plant M
(02) TS Baldric CAG

[eldyranx3]

2938-05-01 23:19 - Chapter 08 - Live by the Sword ...

Despite my best efforts, several more Terran stations have gone belly up. Both my complexes are filling up with stock despite setting the prices to below average credits. Most of my Commercial Agents are still Apprentices, and just can’t sell the goods yet. I need more freighters. I need more freighters that are manned. Once again I’m going to have to turn to the Teladi. They are always willing to help. For a price.

Outfitting some more Baldrics and training the Sector Traders will take time and money, both things I really don’t have. It seems as if most of the lucrative transport missions are least mission essential right now. I spend an hour or so jumping between sectors, checking in to see if anyone needs a flight. Seems there is a lot of salvage on the Search and Rescue channel though. Why two Sabers are worth more than a Katana Corvette and a Cutlass is beyond me.

Guess which ones make it back? I use the proceeds from the Cutlass to equip three Sector Traders. That M6 on the other hand, I can’t just spot weld hull plating on and call it good. I’m going to need a trained crew of mechanics to repair and outfit the Corvette, but first I need a place to stash it for safe keeping. Now where can I find a shady and corrupt government that will not only stash hot ships at and also sell me closed lipped technicians that pander to the highest bidder?

Brilliant!

Now all I have to do is bargain my way into the Reptiles sleazy graces. And not a moment too soon, as the ship was reported stolen ten minutes ago. I don’t know how long its going to take for Terran authorities to sniff this far Down South, but I already have materials and mechanics en route to the Katana. If only I had a bio scanner it’d make picking out mechanics so much easier. I better make this Last Xenon Stand a quick one.

The 'easy’ Xenon incursion consists of a P and three M’s. I strip the first M’s shields with a strafe of four EMPC’s on the first pass before the third M clears the south gate. I launch a poltergeist swarm at the first one before I bring my forward guns to bear on the second. As we zip by each other its shields go critical even as it peppers me with PBE fire. Unlike the Mjollnir, it barely scratches my 125mj shielding. Another volley of poltergeists clears my launch tubes even as my two rear EMPC’s tear into the second M. I have to jink to avoid the barrage of Ion Shards the P leader slings at me, but the two missile swarms blow the M’s out of space before the third M starts to light me up. That one gets two poltergeists for his effort and the attention of my rear turrets.

The P is a different story. Instead of a knife fight like before, I simply strafe at low speed around its six. Despite my finger on the trigger the whole time, my weapons and shield generator never dips below 90%. I vape the P within 30 seconds tops, earn Majority Shareholder status, and the Teladi misappropriate certain docking records. Even if if the Terran authorities decide to snoop around, I doubt they will want to try to run this. Even though the Cutlass and Saber salvages gave me 4M credits, outfitting the three Sector traders and the Corvette left me with a paltry 1M left to my name. Its going to be a while before my Commercial Agents and Sector Traders get experienced enough to help with the war effort.

Until then ‘Scanner Darkly’ just finished its survey of 90377 Sedna, and has reported back with something that could threaten the security of the entire Sol System. Given what transpired in PNTI headquarters yesterday, the USC considers this a top priority.

Account: 1,115,739
Fleet Assets:

(01) ATF M3 Thor - ‘Indiscriminate Justice’
(01) ATF M4 Mjollnir - 'Recycler'
(01) USC M6 Katana - ‘Die by the Sword’
(01) Argon M5 Adv Discoverer - 'Scanner Darkly’
(20) USC M5 Rapier - 'Parking Tickets'
(01) USC TS Baldric - ‘But I’m NOT an Alien!’
(03) USC TS Baldric Sector Traders (Venus, Mars, Jupiter)

Factory Assets:
Base Resources Complex - Saturn
(01) Protein Paste Blending Factory L
(01) Carbo Cake Factory L
(01) Water Processing Plant M
(04) TS Baldric CAG

Water Complex - Venus
(02) Water Processing Plant M
(02) TS Baldric CAG

[Fendalis]

interesting story. Don't go dying...they get less interesting when that happens.

[eldyranx3]

I don't plan to. But it would be funny if I did.

Former USC Commander reading his Order of Battle: "Huh, that didn't go so well. Lets see. Oh. Says right here: Invade X347. All die. Even had it underlined."

[eldyranx3]

2938-05-02 02:59 - Chapter 09 - The Corrigan Maneuver

On the plus side, the Terran Economy shows signs of stabilizing. A new Starburst Shockwave Cannon and Phantom Missile Facility just opened their bays up in the far reaches of the Oort Cloud, and Transport Missions are showing up again. I send two Rapiers to the new station’s docking bays right away. On the down side Ive hired two Teladi marines who seem to want to use EMP Rifles as plasma torches. Picking out well trained mechanics would be so much easier with a Bioscanner. They are currently undergoing Advanced Engineering training to reduce the chance of them shooting more holes through my hull plating.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the M6 Katana ‘Die by the Sword’ has undergone a complete repair of all major ships systems and a transponder change at the Teladi military outpost in Eighteen Billion. What it needs now is a refit of some M/AM Launchers to give it some teeth. This is going to be put on the back burner, as the discovery of Nvidium in the outer reaches of the Oort Cloud raises a much higher security concern.

But how to take care of it? Breaking the asteroid up is just going to scatter the fragments to the far reaches of the Sol System. The Eggheads of Saturn might have a solution. They’ve postulated that if enough Anti-Matter were released into an Artifical Singularity Event, a sub-space rift might form, drawing all matter caught in the implosion’s radius into itself. Now if I could just find a way to get to the core of that asteroid and trigger that series of events, our little Bug Trail problem would be gone ...

Both of these things are going to take a huge sum of credits to fix. And with only 1M credits in the account right now, thats going to take some time. Unless something like this shows up. Its listed as ‘Very Hard’ and by all rights it should be. Salvaging that big of a battered hulk out of an asteroid field is not going to be a walk in the park. Even when I locate the wreck, I have a hard time breeching the shattered bridge. Once I get inside and transfer over a jump drive, its still not a sure bet.

As you can see here, the autopilot is taking a poor trajectory to dock at the Moon’s shipyard. And with only five minutes to go, I can’t guarantee to make the owner’s arbitrary deadline. My hands are tied on the matter though. I can’t have a manned pilot on board the holed wreck without CLS installed on it. Nope. Too dangerous for my union mechanics. Yes Sir. It’s against USC maritime safety laws.

I’m sure the owner is jumping up and down behind the shipyard’s outer viewports, just livid. He files a police report just as 'Die by the Sword’ and 'But I’m NOT a Alien!’ show up to deliver mechanics and shielding to the M7, now safely docked at port. The police Katana makes slow circles around the port, but its not like Im trying to steal it or anything; its been in plain sight the whole time. After all is said and done I sell the ship back to its owner for over half of what he purchased it for. Finder’s fee and repair costs of course.

If to add salt to the wound a few hours another Yokohama turns up adrift in the rings of Saturn near its largest moon Titan. That one’s even worse off than its earlier predecessor, but I manage to find a easier way in through an engineering access panel. For some reason there was a ton of static on the comm, and I thought it was to be dissembled and sold for scrap at the ATF shipyard in Saturn orbit. By this time that police Katana is starting to get a might bit suspicious, so I need to come up with a distraction so big that everyone on Earth will take notice and forget about these minor details.

I think this might be a big enough diversion. And where is 'But I’m NOT an Alien!’ off to? Why the ore mine that I placed on the Nvidium ‘riod of course! By using the station’s reactor to overload the Singularity Projector and then detonating the Matter Antimatter Mines at once, it will cause a cascading effect on the Matter Antimatter Warheads dropped at the center of the asteroid. Time to get ‘But I’m NOT an Alien!’ clear of the blast wave.

Hmmm nothing quite like the sight of a second sun. I bet somewhere on Europa some giant squids are thawing. Speaking of thawing, Ive got more water than I know what to do with now in Venus. And now that the Bug issue is resolved, I think its time to turn my attention back to the economy. I invest in four more Baldrics and a Mobile Mining Base ship aptly named CTV Nostromo. And its first order is to replace the Ice Harvesting Facility in Jupiter 3 that just disappeared. I also get four more Rapiers docked at the remaining facilities to ensure they sit tight.

Along with my own Ice Locker I tack on another Large Protein Paste Factory onto the Base Resource Complex in Saturn. With the majority of Food Fabs within three jumps from Saturn, its been the sweet spot for that resource. Now that my Commercial Agents are starting to use their jump drives, its just a matter of time before the C-Ration and MRI bases stabilize. One of the new Baldric’s becomes a Commercial Agent for the Ice Locker, and the other three become sector traders.

With my remaining credits, I outfit ‘Die by the Sword’ with eight M/AM launchers and buy four more ATF M4s to form my first Interceptor Wing. While they don’t have pilots, shields, or weapons right now, I’m sure that will come in due time. Right now I better see what Jackson wants again.

Account: 1,761,250
Fleet Assets:

(01) ATF M3 Thor - ‘Indiscriminate Justice’
(01) ATF M4 Mjollnir - 'Recycler'
(01) USC M6 Katana - ‘Die by the Sword’
(01) Argon M5 Adv Discoverer - 'Scanner Darkly’
(24) USC M5 Rapier - 'Parking Tickets'
(01) USC TS Baldric - ‘But I’m NOT an Alien!’
(04) ATF M4 Mjollnir - Green Wing - Interceptor Role
(06) USC TS Baldric Sector Traders (Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto)
(01) MMBS - ‘CTV Nostromo’

Factory Assets:

Base Resources Complex - Saturn
(02) Protein Paste Blending Factory L
(01) Carbo Cake Factory L
(01) Water Processing Plant M
(04) TS Baldric CAG

Water Complex - Venus
(02) Water Processing Plant M
(02) TS Baldric CAG

Ice Locker - Saturn 1
(01) - Ice Harvesting Facility
(01) TS Baldric CAG

[eldyranx3]

2938-05-02 09:37 - Chapter 10 - Knees and Toes Knees and Toes

After I get debriefed by Jackson on the less than graceful rescue of Haywood and Pearle, I listen blankly on to the news feeds reporting back the military buildup of the Argon in Circle of Labor. Seems they weren’t too keen on having Terran spies on their trade stations. For whatever reason the Brass feels the Argon isn't behind the recent AGI developments. Fine, sure. Instead there have been recent AGI attacks concentrated on the Boron and two Split factions: Family Zyarth and Family Njy, so Pearle thinks we should start there.

The first order of business it seems is to plant a network of spy satellites in Split Space. Since we don’t build them, looks like yet another round of Xenon protection for the Teladi. After that bit of fun consisting of all three L’s, ‘Die by the Sword’ jumps down to Merchant Haven for some Adv Sats and a few more possible mechanics. It seems like they will only consent to a skill test after I give them a contract. This is getting to be most annoying. Either way I go North from Grand Exchange as Pearle indicates only to find my second Xenon Sector, code named X589. I expend what meager jump fuel ‘Indiscriminate Justice’ can carry in order to leapfrog over the Carriers, Corvettes, and some odd Frigates in scanner range. Once to Family Zyarth’s West gate, I catch the attention of a marauding Xenon Frigate, the Q.

I’m not sure about the capacities of the Q, so I make a quick scan of the frigate. Nothing area effect. I’ll have a go at it. If nothing else USC Intel can use the flight video and scanner data from my black box in my post humorous war effort. The first thing I realize is how dangerous the Q is at any angle . Forward batteries, side batteries, the only blind spot seems to be above and slightly behind some dorsal sensor housing. But with the Q’s 130 m/s max speed, most Commonwealth M3‘s would be hard pressed to escape this behemoth. In the end the Q’s aggression subroutines override its navigational capacity, and it slams into the West Gate. The bight nova slams my ship around, and once the plasma cloud starts to disperse, my shields are weakened, but holding.

Back to the Spy Sat Network. I drop off the sats like Pearle instructs, but notice another Q has flown in to Zyarth’s Dominion from Xenon Sector 598 again. I might have to invest in a M8 soon if these Q’s prove troublesome. I park ‘Indiscriminate Justice’ with ‘Die by the Sword’ at the trading station in Family Zyarth, waiting for something to pop up on the spy network. Looks like something pops up in Zyarth’s Dominion. The sector with the Q. Great. Looks like Im going to have to hold off on this one until I either get a Claymore or the Q moves on to greener pastures. Back off to Terran Space.

While Im there doing some small taxi missions to get enough credits for an M8, I notice that a few food and Spectre missile fabs have gone belly up. There just isn’t enough M5's in the USC fleet to keep the Terran Economy stable. When I look over the few missile fabs that are left, I realize that ‘Die by the Sword’ can launch Wraith Missiles. I buy up as many as I can and head back to Zyarth’s Dominion. Sure enough the Q has moved on by now. Pearle suspects that the terraformers are using jump drives, and has me scan a few split fighters for the components. Sure enough some little carrot head turns red and starts to engage his jump drive. Judicial use of EMPC’s convinces him to leave his ship, and Pearle instructs me to get in it.

What? Why? To follow the autopilot back to its TL base? Why dont we just interrogate the bailed pilot? Oh well, if Im going to do any traveling in this heap, its going to need some shields. After I get within 7km to the TL, Pearle suggests that things might get dicey once the Split realizes we are planting a bug device on their ship. Well, thanks for warning me. I fly ‘Indiscriminate Justice’ in to swap out its jump drive. The TL gets ancy with a Terran M3 that close and jumps back out to 27km. Great. At least I have a chance to jump out if this goes sour. And it will. Because its an Official USC Operation.

Well, now that I’m close enough to plant the bug, Pearle tells me to get the frack out of there. I start charging the jump drive just in time to have six of these beauties take off from the TL and start to pound my thin 50mj shields. Just as I think my shields are about to buckle and the fire rip into my already battered hull, I jump clear.

Right into the path of a Xenon Heavy Corvette, PX class. Another emergency jump to the west gate, and I recall ‘Indiscriminate Justice to re-transfer over the equipment I borrowed while ‘Die by the Sword’ stands guard. All I need is that Q from earlier popping through behind me and joining its friends in a merry Deus Ex three-way. Once Im done with this nightmare of an Op, I jump back Terran space and set the Split freighter adrift with Xenon bearing down on it.

Im so tempted to stash Pearle in it and see how HE likes it.

Account: 4,163,450
Fleet Assets:

(01) ATF M3 Thor - ‘Indiscriminate Justice’
(01) ATF M4 Mjollnir - 'Recycler'
(01) USC M6 Katana - ‘Die by the Sword’
(01) Argon M5 Adv Discoverer - 'Scanner Darkly’
(24) USC M5 Rapier - 'Parking Tickets'
(01) USC TS Baldric - ‘But I’m NOT an Alien!’
(04) ATF M4 Mjollnir - Green Wing - Interceptor Role
(06) USC TS Baldric Sector Traders (Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto)
(01) MMBS - ‘CTV Nostromo’

Factory Assets:
Base Resources Complex - Saturn
(02) Protein Paste Blending Factory L
(01) Carbo Cake Factory L
(01) Water Processing Plant M
(04) TS Baldric CAG

Water Complex - Venus
(02) Water Processing Plant M
(02) TS Baldric CAG

Ice Locker - Saturn 1
(01) - Ice Harvesting Facility
(01) TS Baldric CAG

[eldyranx3]

2938-05-02 12:27 - Chapter 11 - ‘Nukem’ Rico!’

After the excitement of this morning’s harrowing Op, I could use some relaxing moments of peace that don’t involve a few hundred tons of homicidal machinery bearing down on me. In fact, things are a bit quiet. It being the vacuum of space and all. I spend a few hours criss crossing Terran space looking for some work, but looks like the economy still hasn’t crawled out of its hole yet. With cash reserves getting a bit low, when another Yokohama salvage operation become available, I breath a sigh of relief. Despite recycling two and holding another hostage while I re-negotiate the salvage contract, USC Brass doesn’t seem to really care all that much.

I do my best to locate a bomber reported lost in the Kupier Belt, but it doesn’t seem to be in Terran space any longer. Reports of a Terran M8 showing up in Teladi military dock somewhere Down South are greatly exaggerated. So with a few more million credits under my belt I go and finish outfitting Green Wing and the recently ‘acquired’ Claymore M8 ‘Nukem’ Rico!’. Despite my Base Resource complex churning out space peanut butter left and right, protein paste demand in the mid system food fabs still outstrips supply. With energy resources in the outer rim about tapped to their potential, its time to set up a new complex in Venus.

I have ‘Nostromo’ pick up another Water Processing Plant and two more Large Protein Paste Blending Factories before plunking them down. After reassigning two of the experienced Master Dealer Commercial Agents to the new complex, I replace them with two green Baldric trade pilots I just commissioned. Meanwhile I eye how slow the economy produces nukes for ‘Nukem’ Rico!’ and swarms for Green Wing. I think I might invest in an open loop Missile Fab here shortly. With how scarce energy is on the outer reaches of the system, I think its more of a priority right now. Pluto has a nice 64-yield silicon roid I could take advantage of to build a nice Energy Core. The only thing that is stopping me is, again, credits. And since no one is throwing salvageable M7‘s at me right now, I might have to resort to a more mercenary solution.

I’m about to scout around for more Xenon Incursions when I notice the mission indicator on my HUD is blinking a yellow warning. Odd. What do you mean I need to pick up Captain Pearle? Last I checked he was aboard the Thor .... *checks* huh. Well. Um. Well then. I guess I must have left him on board the broken down Camian with the PX bearing down on it after all. Oh well. He died for all of mankind. I’ll send flowers to Haywood. Roses. Red ones. With my name on it.

Still, USC command might be upset I lost one of our officers. I jump ‘Recycler’ to Ocean of Fantasy to rendezvous with a Tyr to break the good, errr bad news. Jackson informs me that the tracking device Pearle planted is leading them east from Zyarth’s Dominion, and that I will be protecting a boarding crew while Pearle leads an assault wing against any protectors. Pearle pops out of thin air and gives me a thumbs up wishing me luck. Jackson drops off a un-tuned Cutlass for such a good job with the last Op, and I’m torn between selling it off to make that energy core or keeping it in the fleet.

Either way, the next operation is about to begin. I fly ‘Recycler’ back to Argon Space through Family Njy while the heap o’ Cutlass ‘Eagle V’ jumps to get retrofitted with some more gear. On the way back to Black Hole Sun I scout out Xenon Sector 472. Its got a shipyard and some heavy hardware in that deathtrap. While I assemble my personal fleet in Zyarth’s Dominion, USC Intel starts planning on their first direct Operation against Xenon shipbuilding capacity. The ATF might have me hold off on that energy core in favor of that Nuke Complex. Its to be seen.

So, I wanted to say I jumped in my personal Thor to Dispense some Indiscriminate Justice, but after the last Split Intel operation, I decided to just steam roll the carrot heads in my M6. Like most USC commanders, I get a perverse joy out of jabbing the ‘Nukem!’ button over and over again. Remember what I said about USC tactical nuke use? We don’t **** around. HOO-RAA.

I sent so many warheads against the poor bastards that I somehow steam rolled a few asteroids not even -close- to the target area off of my right wing. They didn’t call me Rana ‘Collateral Damage’ Banks for nothing! Green Wing mops up anything faster than the wraiths, thus earning their ATF Trial by Fire badges. After that massacre some Split scientist hops out of his over tuned M5 jaguar and throws me the keys.

Account: 5,751,751
Fleet Assets:

(01) ATF M3 Thor - ‘Indiscriminate Justice’
(01) USC M3+ Cutlass - ‘Eagle V'
(01) ATF M4 Mjollnir - 'Recycler'
(01) USC M6 Katana - ‘Die by the Sword’
(01) Argon M5 Adv Discoverer - 'Scanner Darkly’
(01) Split M5 Enh Jaguar - 'Kessel Run’
(24) USC M5 Rapier - 'Parking Tickets'
(01) USC TS Baldric - ‘But I’m NOT an Alien!’
(04) ATF M4 Mjollnir - Green Wing - Interceptor Role
(06) USC TS Baldric Sector Traders (Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto)
(01) MMBS - ‘CTV Nostromo’

Factory Assets:
Base Resources Complex - Saturn
(02) Protein Paste Blending Factory L
(01) Carbo Cake Factory L
(01) Water Processing Plant M
(04) TS Baldric CAG

Space Peanut Butter Complex - Venus
(02) Protein Paste Blending Factory L
(02) TS Baldric CAG

Water Complex - Venus
(02) Water Processing Plant M
(02) TS Baldric CAG

Ice Locker - Saturn 1
(01) - Ice Harvesting Facility
(01) TS Baldric CAG

[eldyranx3]

2938-05-02 16:59 - Chapter 12 - Batteries Not Included

So after I drop off the Split scientist to the Moon, I’m informed that the Split TL was only a mobile manufacturing plant for the Commonwealth AGI, and that someone else must have designed them. Well, I could have told you that. The carrot heads are good for fighting and dieing, not so much else. Now that the USC has sufficiently pissed of the Argon and the Split, the Boron and Paranid can’t be that far behind. I don’t know what the Split are so upset over. Its not like we are going to torture enemy Alien combatants conspiring to create AGI and destroy Earth. No Sir. The USC would never do something like that. Ever. We are Stars and Bars and Carbo-Cake Pie.

Turning back to that energy core Im trying to get rolling, I realize since I don’t have a tractor beam Im going to have to work around the asteroids in Pluto when I raise the money. Now, I like clean complexes. Call it my OCD. I run a few missions here and there until I earn enough to get a Large Silicon Mine, a Large Crystal Fab, and a Large Solar Power Plant. I don’t have enough money to get a solid MRE base, but maybe I can just buy scrape along at Logistics Bases until then. Either way ‘Nostromo’ is full, and I need to empty her hold.

After having to steer clear of the Orbital Logistics Dock the Power Core isn’t very sexy, but its 1) Expandable and 2) Gets the job done. Because Pluto is so close to Sol (150% sun?) I have to turn off the Solar Power Power Plant initially to let the Crystal seed grow, but aside from MRE’s, here in an hour I hope to have this core reinforce the outer system energy deficit I ironically created in the first place. Hey, I got my Education in the School of Hard Knocks, not Business College.

I commission three more Baldrics to sell off the surplus energy and to bring in some more MREs, and soon enough milk runs one and two falls in my lap. Once I get them outfitted and configured, I increase the jump range of my CAG’s working for my Base Resources Complex in Saturn to 5 jumps and lower the maximum buy of Energy to just 12 credits in order to ease demand in the outer system. Im not exactly hurting for credits right now, but that Missile Plex isn’t going to be built on hope and aspirations alone. I’d /prefer/ to have a steady stream of Nukes coming in if Im going to whack the hornets nest that is X472. A Claymore and a Katana pop up on the Salvage network, but I return both of them for a 7M credit loss. There just wasn’t a good way to explain their disappearance only one sector away in an asteroid free sector.

After refueling and re-arming the fleet, I decide to peek Down South and see if there are any Xenon Incursions that the Teladi or Argon might be willing to hire a mercenary on for. No such luck. But I do start realizing the logistics difficulties of moving the fleet (the M3 and M3+ specifically) when they can only carry enough fuel for seven sector jumps tops. I think there’s going to be an Operation to secure some type of Commonwealth TM here in the near future. So after much running around and clawing my way up to 16M credits, an Yokohama salvage operation finally appears.

The only issue now is where to place the Missile Plex. Im thinking maybe in the Asteroid Belt where I can add an Ore mine and MRE production, that way any Commercial Agents can sell off the excess ore. I still haven’t really made a dent in the inner system energy market. Hijacking those four XL SPP’s has to be the best thing I ever did. First things first. The Ore and MRE core. Then two Phantom, one Wraith, and one Poltergeist Missile Fabs. Again, its not pretty, but it gets the job done. I’m suspecting that there was some mix up in the pricing for some of these fabs. Why is the Ghoul fab 10M credits when the commonwealth equivalent Flail fab is only 2.9M? Then again two Shadow missiles almost have the same nominal yield as an entire barrage of Phantoms.

Just because I have some credit wiggle room I tack on a Large Protein Paste and a Large MRI fab onto the Large Energy Core in Pluto. That makes it self sufficient, and yet still produces half of its energy as surplus. I shuffle around some experienced Commercial Agents, Protein Paste, and a few million credits to stabilize the two new complexes, then commission four more Baldrics as replacement Apprentice Commercial Agents. After 30M spent, it looks like the outer system is stabilizing once again. Whew.

Account: 9,149,797

Fleet Assets:
(01) ATF M3 Thor - ‘Indiscriminate Justice’
(01) USC M3+ Cutlass - ‘Eagle V'
(01) ATF M4 Mjollnir - 'Recycler'
(01) USC M6 Katana - ‘Die by the Sword’
(01) Argon M5 Adv Discoverer - 'Scanner Darkly’
(01) Split M5 Enh Jaguar - 'Kessel Run’
(24) USC M5 Rapier - 'Parking Tickets'
(01) USC TS Baldric - ‘But I’m NOT an Alien!’
(04) ATF M4 Mjollnir - Green Wing - Interceptor Role
(06) USC TS Baldric Sector Traders (Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto)
(01) MMBS - ‘CTV Nostromo’

Factory Assets:
Base Resources Complex - Saturn
(02) Protein Paste Blending Factory L
(01) Carbo Cake Factory L
(01) Water Processing Plant M
(07) TS Baldric CAG

Space Peanut Butter Complex - Venus
(02) Protein Paste Blending Factory L
(02) TS Baldric CAG

Water Complex - Venus
(02) Water Processing Plant M
(02) TS Baldric CAG

Ice Locker - Saturn 1
(01) - Ice Harvesting Facility
(01) TS Baldric CAG

Energy Core - Pluto
(01) Solar Power Plant L
(01) Crystal Fab L
(01) Silicon Mine L (64 yield)
(01) USC Food Supply Factory L
(01) Protein Paste Blending Factory L
(03) TS Baldric CAG

Missile Plex - Asteroid Belt
(02) Phantom Missile
(01) Poltergeist Missile
(01) Wraith Missile
(01) Ore Mine L (50 yield)
(01) USC Food Supply Factory L
(01) Protein Paste Blending Factory L
(03) TS Baldric CAG

Note: With the Terran Economy now stable, I will start listing only new assets gained from each new chapter.

[eldyranx3]

2938-05-03 01:52 - Chapter 13 - I Spy

Now that the Terran Economy is somewhat stable again, and dare say it, growing, I can turn my attention to trigger pulling ventures. I peek Down South past Eighteen Billion to check on possible Military Transport traffic and eventually find myself in Acquisition Repository. A few pirates, but no TM’s. Its just as well, the best hacker I have knows VitaKiaScript and would faint if he even looked at an EMP rifle. I can cross train my mechanics, but that will take time, and I’d rather not have any enterprising saurians hack my fleet out from under me and sell the tech to the highest bidder. The Brass would not be pleased.

And speaking of Command, the ATF says they have a special assignment for me. It might involve Special Forces Command training. Gee, you mean Ive been throwing myself and my wing mates out of airlocks for the fun of it? Alright. I’ll dock at Mars shipyard and see what Jackson wants. Once I get there Im marginally informed about what the USC has determined. Sounds like some Terran lab coat turned himself into a popsicle when we turned off AGI development way back before the First Terraformer War. Why he’s back is anyone’s guess, but it probably has something about a Lost Colony.

Either way, this Special Ops training consists of overseeing boarding Ops on a crewless, unmoving Vidar. Still, I really want to know how the Brass expects me to do it with without any hackers. And who gave this little test to me? Pearle. Seriously Captain, where did you go after pulling your Houdini? Anyway I assign this guy to lead the SNAFU, and after the Scabbard is jinking like mad trying to dump off the marines, Pearle throws in the towel and just gives me the Vidar. Thanks. I was rather looking forward to the screams of green Boron marines throwing themselves onto sharp control terminals.

Now that I have my holds filled with useless alien marines who can’t to much but die, the pirate base next to PTNI headquarters gives me an idea. While clearing out the two Teladi military outposts of useless meat shields with the Scabbard ‘Pressed into Service’, I decide to take the Vidar ‘Death Trap’ for a little shake down spin. The Xenon invasion fleet consists of two P’s, four L’s, and about six M’s. I fire off three poltergists for each of the M’s, a volley of wraiths for each of the P’s, and while they are all distracted, I engage the L’s with six forward facing M/AM launchers. Needless to say my shields don’t go below 99%. While the Vidar is more nimble than the Katana and can still carry Wraith missiles, something seems off. Oh well.

While I’m Down South planting a spy sat network near Ianumus Zero for any MT traffic, Green Wing happens to catch a lone pirate Nova heading up through Terran space un-obstructed. I have green wing tail it, wondering if pirates have set up a hidden smuggler base in the far reaches of the Oort Cloud. Instead its hellbent on attacking a water processing plant in Saturn 2. Green wing sends their regards. While dropping off a satellite in Acquisition Repository I notice a few freighters flying off the beaten path. Investigation turns up another Pirate Base.

Even though I’m in ‘Recycler’, flight times are getting a bit long, so I fit ‘Scanner Darkly’ with a jump drive and have it explore west of Ianumus Zero. I figure an unmanned Argon M5 will get less attention than a fleet of USC and ATF vessels. One of the first things it picks up is an errant trail of suspicious nav sats. As I fly about Spaceweed Grove, my first likely MT target comes within scanner range. Still, I dont have any good mechanics to make a play for it. I might have to resort to desperate measures.

Begin Operation: Disposable Assets

So I assemble what crackhe ... err crack team of mechanics and hackers I could scrounge up in that hive of scum and villainy and take ‘Death Trap’ to meet up with that Pirate Caravel. I lock down the hold so the pirates have only one way to go: out into space. The TM’s escorts are easy enough to deal with. Never bring a flamethrower to an antimatter fight. But when I go to throw out the marines only two leave. Um what? I boot out the other two, but by that time its too late. The split up marines breach the TM’s hull 30 seconds apart and find something nasty on deck one.

So were there already pirate mercenaries on board ready to repel my own mercs? Until I get a bioscanner, I’ll never know. And that might take a while ...

Account: 4,435,064

New Fleet Assets:
(01) ATF M6 Vidar - ‘Death Trap'
(01) USC TP Scabbard - ‘Pressed into Service’

[travisdh1]

Keep up the good work