The Argon Defence League [DiD]

[Libelnon]

Hi guys, I think I can call myself 'inspired'. In an attempt to try and stick to a game for more than 30 hours, I've started a DiD of my own - let's hope that firstly, I don't die, and secondly, I don't die. Or get bored.

Apologies in advance, I write. A lot.

Here goes nothing...

[Libelnon]

PROLOGUE: PARANIDS, HACKER CHIPS, AND AN EXCUSE FROM SERVICE

"Date 768-04-12, Time is..." The commander checked his watch. "I make it about 22:18."
"Is this neccesary?"
The commander shuffled in his chair to face the corpral opposite him. "This is perfectly neccesary, at least as far as you're concerned."
The disgruntled corpral sighed and slumped in his chair. Of all the places he had wanted to be, this Argon interrogation room was the last of them.
"Before we begin, Kai, let me ask you something. Do you know exactly why you are here?" The commander asked. He stared at the corpral straight faced.
"No." Kai returned his gaze.
"Do you think it could have something to do with that Paranid convoy you deliberately fired upon?"
Kai hesitated for a moment. "No."
"Tell me, then - where in your career as a military pilot did you gain permission to fire on civilian vessels without defering to a higher officer?"
"Do I seriously have to go through this again?" Kai snapped, defending himself. "I've told you this already, Ban, th-"
"That's 'commander' to you-"
"Whatever. I've already told you that those 'innocent civillians' was a Paranid smuggling operation - I was simply doing my duty to the Argon Federation and removing them from our space."
"Without the consent of a superior officer or police patrol?"
"And let them slip away?!"
"Without even a demand for surrender?"
Kai stifled a bolt of laughter. "Do you seriously think those arrogant bastards would give up their cargo willingly in Argon space?"
The commander met his argument with a heavy sigh. Kai could see that his commander knew that he wasn't getting anywhere.
"You scanned that ship. Didn't you see what else was on board?"
"Yes, a load of medical supplies. Nothing special."
"Nothing special?" The commander shifted forwards in his seat. "Do you have any idea where that cargo was headed?"
"No."
"Those medical supplies were being shipped southwards, towards Queen's Harbour. Any idea why?"
"No."
"Haven't you heard the news?"
Kai rolled his eyes. "Do you really expect me to be able to check the BBS when I'm couped up on a bloody prison ship?"
"Those medical supplies were bound for a station that was hit hard by disease. That missing shipment has caused the deaths of over four thousand Boron. Queen Atreus herself is demanding justice on the matter!"
"How was I supposed to know?!"
"You shouldn't have even been firing upon freighters!"
"They were smugglers!"
"You were not on patrol to deal with smugglers!"
"I thought it was part of being on active duty, is it not?"
"'Active Duty' does not entail firing upon innocent freighters!"
"They weren't 'innocent'!"
His commander produced a number of documents, of which he thrust across the table at Kai. "These are the police scanning reports of the wreckage of the three vessels you destroyed. Now, I don't know about you, but I can't see any illegal goods in there."
"I've told you already, I took them onboard to have them melted down."
"Yet nothing was aboard your ship? Seems more likely that there wasn't any. You know the rules, any confiscated contraband is to be handed to a police official."
"What, so they could lose it?"
"They wouldn't have lo-"
"What, like the last lot we sent through to them? Isn't this the same police force that had an entire month's worth of confiscated spaceweed 'dissapear' when it was being transported back to Teladi space?"
"That transport was attacked by terr-"
Kai threw himself to his feet, slamming the table with both hands. "To hell it was! There wasn't any terran activity in Nyana's Hideout when that freighter 'disappeared'. No, the careless police force are simply using that as an excuse to cover up the fact they let all that spaceweed back into the hands of the Pirates! Do you think I would've let them lose those hacker chips as well, so that they could be used to-"
"Enough!" The commander had risen to his feet, and stared into Kai's burning eyes with a look of sheer disapproval. "How do you expect me - or the Argon Government - to believe this when you've already been revoked on two other occasions for disobeying direct orders to chase down Paranid ships? How do you think Queen Atreus is going to react when I tell her envoy that those missing medical supplies were down to an overzealous corpral who destroyed half of the convoy on the basis that, to the best of our knowledge, they were Paranid ships?"
"I told you, they were smuggl-"
The commander silenced him with a wave of his hand. "Queen Atreus is not going to be in the least bit pleased if she the discovers that the pilot responsible was not punished in any way?"
"You're repremanding me for doing my duty?"
"Kai Rok, I am hereby officially discharging you from military service on the grounds of gross misconduct." The commander had assumed his 'official' pose, standing straight and looking directly ahead, as if he was adressing an admiral and not a disgraced corpral. "I am stripping you of your rank, your position within the Argon Military, and I am revoking your police licence. You are to report to the docking bay to board a transport bound for Argon Prime for debreifing. Do I make myself clear?"
Kai grumbled something.
"Do I make myself clear?!"
"Yes, sir." Kai heaved, trying to mask the rage that welled up inside him.
"Good. Dismissed."

Kai exited the interrogation room with long, purposeful strides, his clentched fists swinging by his sides. He found himself shying away from his former comrades as he passed, both out of disgrace, and in an attempt to stop the urge to punch them. Part of him wanted to ignore his ex-commanders orders, and find his way to the bar, and try and find meaning at the bottom of a whiskey jar, but he knew better than to disobey orders. His legs simply carried him to the door of the docking bay, while his guilty conscience gnawed away at the last of his pride.
The doors of the docking bay slid apart, and Kai found himself face-to-face with a rather pasty-faced security officer, who seemed somewhat nervous about greeting an ex-military convict. Either Kai was a lot more intimidating than he remembered, or the glare he gave the man revealed a lot more of the fire burning inside him than anticipated.
"I've been told to inform you that your transoirt has been held up by a Terran incursion, and that you are to wait here until it arrives," The guard stammered. Kai noticed his hand hovering somewhat close to his stun pistol.
"Under watch, I assume," Kai muttered, half to himself. The guard nodded.
Kai sighed and turned around, leaning himself over the rails and staring into the docking bay. A Boron angel sat in one of the three bays, surrounded by numerous people and drones, likely loading it with supplies and making repairs. Probably was the Boron envoy's ship, after all - he'd be the kind of squid who needed babysitters to look after him. A Split Mamba sat in the bay beside it, which Kai noted was in remarkably good condition.
There was a slight crackle behind him as the security officer's comm buzzed into life. "Officer Fisty," it blurted, "Please make your way to the recreational area on level nine - there has been an... incident."
The security officer paused for a moment, looking between Kai and the doorway, before exiting without another word. Kai half expected someone to arrive and replace him.
Nothing.
A slight smile crept across Kai's face as he realised the opportunity. Without second thought, he had vaulted over the railings, climbed into the Mamba's cockpit, and requested flight clearance.
It wasn't until he was about halfway across the sector on the way to the Nyana's Hideout gate when he became aware of the faint fishy smell that lingered in the cockpit. Something appeared to be pinned to the bottom of the left monitor - when Kai reached out to grab it, turned out to be an ID card belonging to a 'Nimi Hu' - a Boron escort pilot serving as an escort to 'her magesty's envoy'. Kai found himself sat in the pilot's seat of the envoy's escort ship.
Well, he thought. Shit.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Argon Defence League: Libelnon's first DiD
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CIRCUMSTANCE
Bankrupt Assassin start
X3AP

No mods, apart from a few select parts of the Bonus package (CLS, CAG, Mozzie defence)

RULES
1: Dead is Dead. Of course. Except when it's a case of death by autopillock or glitch, no reloading.
2: Patriot. Kai is a naturally born patriot, so the fleet must consist of Argon ships only. Other ships are fair game for capturing, but only then for selling.
3: Vendetta. The Paranid scum do not deserve 'friendly' treatment. No dealings with Paranids, including accepting missions from them.
4: Joystick. Using joystick-only flight controls will at least give the AI a fighting chance - since it breaks down in tears if you start strafing.
5: Closed Market. No trading stocks on the local stock market. Kai's a combat pilot, not a broker. (Besides, I find it earns money a bit TOO quickly.)
6: No other game-breaking money earners, such as OOS Nividium mining.

OBJECTIVES
To remove Paranid influence from Argon territories, and to assist the Foundation Guild in any way possible.

For the Glory of the Argon Federation!

[Libelnon]

Chapter I: Hunted
It feels so good to be back in Argon space.

I've been in hiding, almost, since the incident in Black Hole Sun, and my expulsion from the Argon Military. Yeah, okay, it wasn't supposed to happen that way, but I was starting to wonder just how long my hatred of anything arrogant, three-eyed and religious would go on before it caused something bad. Looks like it did. Should've seen it coming, I guess.
It's good to get out of those wretched Teladi bars though. As much as that was some of the best whiskey I've had in a while, the place stinks of Spaceweed - and my days in the military taught me one thing above all else, and that's to hate that sickly stench of Spaceweed. And how to fly properly, but I guess that's always really been second-nature. Kept an eye on the BBS while I was at it - Queen Atreus is pretty pissed with it, and I've now got a squiddy bounty on my head on top of my pretty impressive 'nid one, so I think my head's worth more than an M7 right now. Not a great situation to be in. I've grown attached to my head.
Made me way down through Split space and back into Aladna Hill yesterday, and had some Split guy rework the ID for the Mamba. Called it the 'Lamprey', seemed fitting for a Split ship owned by a Boron. He gave me a reboot code for the CPU core as well, I've just finished running it. Looks like it's erased my fight ranks and sector maps alongside it, but I guess it's worth it if this thing stops screaming 'Squid Navy' at anything that passes. Even that shady Split guy commented on the fact that the cockpit still reeks of ammomonia. Note to self, get some cockpit freshener.
Other thing that program seems to have done is fried the sensors. Fortunately, I've gotten them up and running properly again, and reconfigured them so that it stops flagging every Split ship as hostile, which made me extremely nervous when making my way here. I guess I ought to go scout out the local area, and fill in some of the void on the sector map, then look for some way of making money. Between paying that Split guy, living off space fuel, and bribing that Teladi who put me up for a week to keep things hushed, I'm now completely bro-

[ external image ]
[ external image ]

Lookie here, there's a Pirate patrol across the middle of the sector. How they've managed to slip past the Boreas patrol in this sector's a bloody mystery, but I'm not going to pass up the opportunity to endear myself to the Federation again. Let's go see if the Lamprey has teeth, shall we?

I think 'Lamprey' was an accurate name. The Mamba's certainly squishy enough to be one. I don't think I've ever gotten the drop on a patrol like that before and lost shields. Man, I miss my old Elite. I was about to become stewed eel, so it's almost a good thing that the local border force intervened. One of the Blastclaws was even piloted by an Argon. Traitor! Why the hell's she attacking Argon shipping when she could be hampering the Paranids?
I've limped off a bit, trying to decide whether it's worth jumping out to repair this thing. I've still got my trusty welding torch, which has saved my hide a few times back in the warzone. Never tried repairing a Split ship before, but I guess there's a first time for everything. Better that than risk being a sitting duck. Going to get her hull patched up a little, then going to scout around a bit. I seem to recall OTAS' HQ being not far from here, and there's a pretty big shipyard nearby. Wouldn't mind seeing just how much a new Elite'd be.
I'd just finished welding the last melted section of teladianium panelling in place when I got an offer from some guy at the Military station.

[ external image ]

92,000Cr? I think he must've seen me take on those pirates or something, and this Teladi he wants dead must be pretty dangerous. Either way, I can't pass up that kind of money. Yes please!
He's only hiding out in Akeela's Beacon, too. A jump away. I'm starting to think my luck's just turning the other way - must be because I'm in friendly space again!
Of course, I only had to get through the gate for things to take a downward turn.

[ external image ]

I'm not sure who these punks are - his buddies maybe? But there's a lot of them, and not many of me. I sure as hell hope the Lamprey can handle so many little fighters, I seem to remember HEPTs are pretty crappy at dealing with anything smaller than a moderatly slow M4...

I almost decided to make a run for it after the inital volley of those PACs off the Harriers dropped my shields well below comfortable levels, but I took them out (with some difficulty) and set off after the Teladi again. I'm starting to think my oversized bounty is attracting some attention - those guys were far too organized to be normal pirates, and there were a number of energy cells among the wreckage. Suggests to me that they'd been using jumpdrives.
Still, the Lamprey's pretty duffed up, but if I stop to weld some more plates on, I could lose that 92 grand... Or I could be jumped by another wave of bounty hunters. I'm only 12 m/s down, I guess, so chasing that Teladi would probably be the wiser option. 92k would buy me some ample repairs, once I find a shipyard. Or at least, I could use some protection while I patch these melted panels on my hull.
With only a minute and thirty seconds on the clock, I'm starting to think I won't make it...

[ external image ]
[ external image ]

Blast! Those bounty hunters just cost me the opportunity to get myself back on my feet!
Still, they did drop a few missiles. If all else fails, sell those somewhere. Time to head back to Home of Light and see if they fetch anything. I think there's an equipment dock in there...

[ external image ]

More of those goons? I haven't even left Akeela's Beacon yet!
Ugh, those guys are annoying. As much as they haven't killed me yet, this Mamba was in pretty much pristine condition when I first flew it. It's starting to look like a floating scrapyard, with the amount I've had to weld back onto it. At least there are some missiles in the wreckage. Not much, but enough to get by on. Hopefully. How much do Firelances sell for, anyway?
Oh, hello - what's this?

[ external image ]
[ external image ]

Two job offers, just as soon as I enter Aladna Hill? I've never really been one to believe in luck, but this is starting to look more lucrative than a month in the Military. Don't like the sound of that patrol, that's going to creep a bit too close to 'nid space. But that station defence should be a cakewalk...
And a cakewalk it was! A discoverer and a buzzard? I've shot down worse with my eyes closed...
The Disco faltered quickly under fire, and the buzzard got himself bogged down in a Jonferco patrol. I thought the guy said this'd be 'difficult'? I haven't broken a sweat!
And what's more, they both bailed! That me- oh.
Blast! Those missiles from the defence platforms destroyed both of them afterwards. That's cost me about 400k!
At least I got the mission complete, though, so I can't complain about my growling stomach. Still, 400k would've been a good step towards that new Elite... which reminds me, I've still not seen any shipyards, nor gotten a price for that just yet. Well, onwards to Light of Heart then!
Upon crossing the gate, I had some Boron take a potshot at me. Seriously, the Queen must really have it in for me if the common trader is taking shots at me.
Speaking of Boron, they can't hate me THAT much. One of them's offering me missions! How kind. Shame he's offering a pittance for it, and I'll bet even the ship's worth more than that.
Anyway, I'll take it as is. A bit of goodwill might show the Queen that it was an accident, after all.
A quick dock at the shipyard reveals two things: one, my meagre funds will only repair a measly 2% on the Mamba, and two, a brand new Elite will set me back about 850k. Money I really don't have.
Still, a quick trip to Montalaar is in order, even if only for sector data and to retrive the lost Jaguar. What is it with these Boron and Split ships? I thought they were enemies? Still, it doesn't take long to patch up the wounds in the wafer thin armor, so I send the ship on it's way. My luck may have taken an upward turn, but my wallet is still pretty much empty.

[ external image ]

Oh, blast. Those bounty hunters are back, and there's a hell of a lot of 'em too. Discresion is the better part of valour, methinks. Where the hell's that Boreas!
Nope, doesn't look like I have that option. Not even a kilometer out before I'm drowning in IREs. I was starting to wonder if the armor peeling away from the chassis when under fire was normal when I noticed the Centaur come to my aid - and believe me, I've never been so glad to see an M6 come steal my thunder. I think I'm starting to hold onto these by the skin of my teeth... I feel giddy...
Ugh, looks like I'm going to have to slink off for repairs again. I'm not risking it this time. Going to make sure I'm well protected while I do them.

[ external image ]

That should do it! If a defence platform of that size isn't enough of a deterrant, I don't know what is. The Jaguar also arrived at the dock while I was at it, and the Boron no longer consider me quite so bad of an enemy - apparently I'm just an 'antagonist' now. Does that mean they've forgiven me for stealing their escort?
Ugh. I don't think I've ever seen battle damage quite this bad and been able to come out of it still flying. The engine's fried - I've had to rip out the Boost Extension and use it as spare parts. It's that bad.

[ external image ]

Great. I've not even finished fixing this one yet. Fortunately they don't stick about long enough to cause problems, but clipping a volley of CIG fire's left me in a worse state than before. Joy! This Mamba probably has more scrap Teladianium panelling I've pulled from old supply crates in the cargo bay welded onto it than you'd find in a small foundry. And to think it was new three weeks ago!
Worst thing is, there's no decent loot to be had. A few missiles dot the place, but the best I've seen is a RGW that I'm almost tempted to save for something big and nasty. That would practically double my bank right now though...

[ external image ]

Not again! I've almost finished scouting out this cluster of planets, and now I've got another bounty hunter group on my tail? I'm beginning to doubt the capabilities of the Argon military in these parts - ugh, just saying that feels like treason!
My trip into Legends Home turns up naught but a sub-par defence mission, which I take purely for the credits. Honestly, I'm starting to believe that I'd been far better off going after three-eye frieghters...

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

Assets:
Split Mamba, 'Lamprey' (Personal Ship)

50,535Cr

[Triaxx2]

Added to the AP DiD list.

[discharge]

Nice to see another AP did. there are so few out there...
ill watch out for this one