Nope, Chuck Tes - Erh, I mean cliffhanger. I ain't dead yet.
Also, nice to know that I have at least two readers
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Chapter 3 - Close call
"Ow, ow,
ow!"
I hit the maneuvering thrusters to stop the tailspin and tried to get a bearing on that damn Blastclaw at the same time, in case it tried to take advantage and roast my ass. A couple of panels had blown up practically in my face, and the only thing that had saved my hide was the blast shield on my helmet. Speaking of which …
"Warning," the computer blared. "Hull breach. Atmospheric pressure at fifty four percent and dropping. Hull integrity at forty two percent. Shields at two percent and rising."
I took a look outside the cockpit. The entire left side of the Blackheart was scorched by PPC fire, and from the looks of it I was leaking plasma and cooling fluid all over the place. Thank Gunne the ship's main systems were buried behind thick layers of ablative armor, to keep things running in case of major hull damage. You could basically shoot a ship to pieces, and it would still work as long as the reactor and its controls were intact.
"Shields at twenty percent," the computer informed me. "Atmospheric loss contained. Structural integrity fields activated." Another neat thing that would keep a ship flying even with its proverbial guts hanging out, they were basically internal shields that kept important stuff from falling apart in case of an emergency. They ran on their own power supply in case of reactor failure, though, so I had to get the ol' lady fixed before they ran dry and caused her to fall apart on me. Since the OWP had apparently blown the Blastclaw Prototype to bits I jumped to Cloudbase South East and limped over to the local shipyard. Phew, that was a close one.
"Ye sure banged this one up good," the mechanic said as he looked at my ship.
"Thanks, I know." I replied, imagining my credits growing wings and flying away.
"Wha' did ye run into, Xenon?"
"No, the Plutarch OWP in Ore Belt," I said. "And my own stupidity," I mumbled.
"Welp, we'll fix it for ye in no time. Just sit back 'n watch tha fun."
I did watch as the shipyard's nano-weavers stripped off the damaged parts and started reconstructing the hull. Tubes and armor plating materialized seemingly out of thin air as nanites flowed into place and fused to form the new parts, and it was quite a sight to behold. A few minutes later the Blackheart was as good as new, and I was about one point seven million poorer for it. That meant I had to get back in the fray and make up for the loss. Guess that's what you get for not watching where you're flying.
Hitting the ground running I took on a patrol from Cloudbase South East to Cloudbase South West, and very carefully edged my way around the OWP in Ore Belt. I also managed to claim a Nova Raider, but the Xenon blew it to bits before I could get it out. Thanks a lot, toasters.
Speaking of OWPs ...
The one in Cloudbase South West ended up saving my tail, as the Xenon packs were starting to become unmanageable. If this keeps up I was going to need something with a bit more punch to manage things. I had seen the outside through holes in my hull once today, and I didn't care to repeat that.
Something like that Eclipse that was for sale, for instance? Or maybe not. I checked the stats, and since it could be overtaken even by some frigates I decided it wasn't worth it. It was dirt cheap though, and would probably sell for a pretty penny, so I picked it up and sent it to Ore Belt to keep it safe from the Xenon.
After cleaning up Cloudbase South West, with a little assistance, I took on a patrol that brought me to Ringo Moon, and happened to stumble across a TandiTech Tempest missile fab in Red Light. So, right in my back yard in other words. I knew I couldn't hurt that station even if I wanted to, so I just took note of its position and continued the patrol. I was definitely going to need something bigger though, as I now had seven fighters of various sizes on my ass and I couldn't kill them fast enough to avoid being shredded if I went after one of them. They also seemed to have adapted to my 'hit and run'-tactic, where I hit one and got the whole pack chasing me so I could stretch them out and pick them off one by one, as they now tended to stay in tight formation with only the Ns flying ahead of the rest. Might have to do some shopping when I can afford it.
Phew.
The last Xenon in Ringo Moon went down in flames, thanks to the assistance of the local patrols, and for once I was glad they were flying around. Things were getting a bit too hairy for my taste, so I let combat be combat for now and started exploring the sectors my Kestrel had skipped on its way out of Argon space instead.
One thing's for sure; I now know why someone invented the automated explorer, cause this is as boring as watching paint dry. However, now I had satellite coverage in the entire western block of Argon sectors and all I needed was …
That!
A Mercury Prototype for sale. And fairly cheap too. I paid the man and sent the ship to the shipyard in Argon Prime. It would be the first seeds of my new empire.
Yeah, I figured I kind of need more than one leg to stand on, especially since the OCV had proven to be hostile. I still wasn't sure if I wanted to enter
that fray, but if they kept advancing I would probably have no other choice. And if they were powerful enough to overrun the sector defense in Tokyo Gamma we would probably need a hell of a lot of firepower to drive them back, which meant I needed a solid financial base to run the kind of operation needed to provide that firepower. That was, however, a thing I hopefully wouldn't have to worry about just yet.
Speaking about worries, I better get that Eclipse fixed and sold before someone either run into it or run off with it. Too bad it's hopelessly slow, otherwise I would have claimed it for myself
Hello, Ore Belt. Hello, Eclipse. And hello, private security mission.
"Thank Gunne you are here!" A clearly distressed woman appeared on my screen as I followed the link announced by the mission system.
"We've gotten frequent messages over the last couple of tazura, telling us to pay for 'security', but we couldn't afford it. My man and I just took over this station a few wozura ago, and now we're kinda stressed out 'bout this. Can you help us?"
I still wasn't up to speed on these weird Commonwealth time units, but if I remembered correctly a tazura was the equivalent of a day down here and a wozura was about eight terran days.
"Yeah, sure," I said. "For a price, of course …"
She laughed nervously.
"Well, we didn't expect you to do it for free … However, business has been kinda slow, so we can't pay you more than 323 484 credits."
I gave her a reassuring smile.
"I'll do it."
"Oh, thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!"
I cut the link in fear that she might start hugging the camera, which would have been really awkward. Then I lined up and waited …
"Warning. Hostile contact detected at western gate."
There they were. And … Bollocks, a P. Yeah, a Xenon corvette. I was wondering when they might start showing up, but I didn't think it would be this early. Well, here goes nothing.
The two Ns accompanying the P went down in flames after the first volley from my HEPTs. The P, on the other hand, would be a harder nut to crack. Time to close to knife range, then.
"Hey, toaster! Over here!"
The plasma bolts from my cannons hit it in the right engine nacelle, causing it to switch its attention from the station to me. As it started to turn I fired one more volley to make sure its attention stayed on me, then I hit the throttle and zipped underneath it to the other side. This obviously confused the toaster, as it tried to turn back to face me again.
"Nonono, other side!" I yelled as I zipped past it again. Of course it couldn't hear me, and it probably wouldn't understand me if it could, but almost like a dog on a trail it started turning again in a futile attempt to get me into its forward firing arc.
"Not gonna happen, buddy!" I zipped past it again and lined up for another attack, but only one of my HEPTs fired. Bollocks. I checked the weapons energy, and sure enough it was bone dry. I could avoid its guns all day long if I had to, and my shield generator was keeping the peashooters it had in its turrets at bay, but its shields were still in the fifties and while my guns would recharge, so would its shields.
"Huh?" A small flash to my left caught my eye. More popped up, just a few clicks away from us, and when I understood what they were I grinned. A quick scan of the map confirmed my suspicion, so I turned my nose towards the north gate and floored it.
Then, just on cue …
"Heads up, asshole!" I yelled at the P as the next salvo of Hammers flew by me. The flashes, which was the missile's self destruct mechanism, had told me there was probably a missile frigate here somewhere, and my satellite had confirmed that a Minotaur had indeed just jumped in from Home of Light. With the P focused entirely on me it got a face full of tactical nukes, and it ended about as well as you can imagine.
Oh, and the woman did hug the camera when I told her their problem was no more, and yes, it was very awkward.
This incident highlighted one of the challenges of having thirsty guns, namely that you risk running dry in the middle of a fight. Not particularly interested in repeating that I skimmed through the available options and decided to try getting my mitts on some energy bolt chainguns. They weren't quite as thirsty as my HEPTs, and while they didn't have the same punch they more than made up for it by being more efficient. If I remembered correctly the EBC was a Teladi weapon, which meant I had to head for Teladi space. Oh joy.
"Yesss?" A green, lizard-like face with hints of yellow above its eyes appeared on the screen. They way it looked at me you'd think it was trying to calculate how many pieces it could cut me in and how much they would earn it.
"Uhm … Way to the nearest shipyard, please?"
"Head sssouth to Ssseizewell. You will find one there."
"Thanks."
I cut the link and shuddered. Damn scary lizards. Well, south it is, then.
The next sector had a shipyard, and also what I was really looking for, namely an equipment dock. Now to find the weapons dealer in this hellhole …
"Uhm … Why are there no rep requirements on this?" I had found the weapons dealer, and now I was looking at all the toys she had.
"It'sss bad for busssinesss," the little one behind the counter hissed. "No rep requirementsss meansss more mercsss come to buy our waresss."
Yeah, folks like me. It kind of made sense, though. In an odd, moneygrubbing way. Lucky for me though, as I could buy some leverage to use against those pesky Xenon.
"Nice to know … I'll take eight energy bolt chainguns, then. And five Cyclone missiles. I also got eight high energy plasma throwers I'd like to sell."
She literally lit up when I mentioned the plasma throwers.
"Good choicssse! Would there be anything elssse?"
I thought about it for a moment. She did have a lot of tempting stuff, but I needed to think ahead. Right now I was getting by just nicely, but if the OCV decided to advance further into the Omicron Channel …
"No, that would be all. For now."
I left those last two words hanging in the air, and it had the intended effect as the Teladi lit up again.
Guess it's back on the hunt, then.
So far it's looking good, though.
)
At least it wasn't the Xenon this time.
