Zen and the Art of Running away.. {spoilers guaranteed}

perkint · Post by **perkint** » Fri, 8. May 09, 01:58

Damn! That's a whole lotta guns! The Duke's gonna be skint once you've been to see him!

Enough to do some repairs and build a nice little missile complex

Tim

Troubleshooter11 · Post by **Troubleshooter11** » Fri, 8. May 09, 05:14

Dang, thats alot of booty there N-S.

Very nice work. This whole story has me inspired to play a pirate/scavenger type of game

delray · Post by **delray** » Fri, 8. May 09, 05:21

I wish there was something in the game like inventory where you could look up everything you own.

When over 200 ships it's easy to forget about many things.

Tiedyeguy · Post by **Tiedyeguy** » Fri, 8. May 09, 06:50

One has to love the balance of shields in the universe. 25MJ are probably the most widely used over all.

1GJ Shield stock: 13
25MJ Shield stock: 1

Lord Dakier · Post by **Lord Dakier** » Fri, 8. May 09, 08:28

And yet they are the hardest to come by, unless your friends with the Split. In X2 anyhow.

MegaJohnny · Post by **MegaJohnny** » Fri, 8. May 09, 08:32

I don't know about X2 but in TC you needn't bother with the equipment docks - the only reliable way is to get some freighters with full shielding, find a medium complex and hope to GoD it has stock, or pirate some ships.

stealthhammer · Post by **stealthhammer** » Fri, 8. May 09, 22:09

NS - Wasn't two jams the TL you sent to a Xenon sector after you dropped your forage you stole? Also keep up the pirating.

NUKLEAR-SLUG · Post by **NUKLEAR-SLUG** » Fri, 8. May 09, 23:29

85 - Way Of The Gun

The run to the Duke proved slightly more complicated than planned, it seems there was a pirate Disco and Elite loitering about there and they made a move for me as soon as I dropped into the sector. Given the offence the Duke took last time I pranged a pirate in his space and my need to keep him sweet, at least until I've offloaded these weapons, I decided not to stick around and jumped right back out again. I think they need something else to distract them so calling in my destroyer I went thru with that first and once I had their attention sent my TL thru shortly after. It's a little irritating having a couple of tiny fighters that would last approximately three seconds under flak fire nibbling away at your shields but such are the indignities I have to suffer..

http://dbbr17626.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/ut/85-1.jpg

.. Worth it tho. I'ld decided to keep a minimum stock of eight of each weapon just in case, never know when you might need it, but even then selling off the excess netted myself a decidely healthy 86 million. That's before I've sold off the hulks floating around Freedoms Reach, so with them too I may be able to top out the 100, which would go a long way towards a sizeable complex.

Meantime tho I'm heading back home. Got a few slaves sitting in my HCP there which need transferring to training as I need to rebuild a new elite capture force to try and follow in Leo's footsteps. Unfortunately I've miscalculated my jumpfuel so will have to drop into Hatikvahs and make my way back thru Nopileos, but not to worry. Halfway across Nopileos and off in the distance I can spy a Paranid capital ship exiting the west gate. Probably one of the many Paranid battlegroups that prowl the area but you never know, might be a TL with an IBL forge onboard! Probably not tho.. Anyways, can't tell at the moment quite what it is but should be no problem either way.

Odysseus, but only a few light fighters with it so no problem. Catching up to it about 2/3rds across the sector as I'm rounding an asteroid to come up at it from below I'm pumping out charged PPC shots and it's down to 50% or so shields before it even gets into firing range. Once it does tho it banks around towards me and a lot of my subsequent PPC fire goes wide. That is one plus to Paranid capital ships, while they make for a massively fat target if you hit them from above or below, in head on attack they do have a suprisingly small profile. Doesn't matter tho, I did the damage I needed to in my initial strikes and while taking a small amount of fire as expected the Oddysseus goes down easily. Just one more gate to pass thru and then it's a clear run back to Freedoms. Life is good..

Boron Fleet Command, Kingdom End
Date: 768-05-09
Location: Nopileos Memorial
Assigned: Atreus Clouds Military Outpost
After action report of Captain Sansi Pa fleet commander of Taskforce Moray-3 based out of Atreus Clouds.

We'ld been trailing the target for days, always one step behind. Today however our painstaking intelligence operation proved it's value as the pirate vessel was ambushed as it prepared to exit the Nopileos Memorial system post destruction of a Paranid capital-class vessel. Led by myself in the Destroyer 'Last Best Hope' we exited the gate almost on top of the target and opened up immediately with full PPC batteries. The target vessel fought vigorously but such was our element of suprise that it had no chance of escape.

Search and recovery teams scoured the area post action but regrettably it appears the ship was destroyed with all hands. The vessels black box recorder was recovered but was heavily damaged, only one image could be recovered..

http://dbbr17626.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/ut/85-2.jpg

Legionnaire · Post by **Legionnaire** » Fri, 8. May 09, 23:35

NOOOOO!!!! Mak's gone....., Time to wipe out the Boron...(unless i'm gravely misreading that after action report...)

Legionnaire

Snowship · Post by **Snowship** » Fri, 8. May 09, 23:49

some DiD Karma there as the Split took out the boron Squidy and the Boron now get the split pirate Mak G'Yvr.

tough break there NS

softweir · Post by **softweir** » Sat, 9. May 09, 00:43

Oh poo.

Good story as ever NS! And, as ever, thanks - your stories always help make the X Universe more alive.

What's next, stay in Argon Prime, trading?

You might last a lot longer that way!

Golden_Gonads · Post by **Golden_Gonads** » Sat, 9. May 09, 01:20

GYARRRGGHHHH!!! I just started reading this two days back, and caught up last night... And now, now... GYARRRGGHHHH!!!

Rednoahl · Post by **Rednoahl** » Sat, 9. May 09, 01:30

If that's the end, I'm gutted.

HalcyonSpirit · Post by **HalcyonSpirit** » Sat, 9. May 09, 01:44

It is a sad, sad day... I was really enjoying this story, too.

When I finally get TC (after I finally get a computer that can handle it properly), I might try my hand at a DiD as well in Mak G'Yvr's honor.

A real shame, this is. I hope you start a new story sometime in the near future!

black_waltz · Post by **black_waltz** » Sat, 9. May 09, 02:37

Noooo! Things were looking so good too! Awesome job.

BDStyle · Post by **BDStyle** » Sat, 9. May 09, 02:40

If I'm reading correctly and Mak just copped it then I salute him.

NS cheers for breathing some life into the game. We all play this game and all have our own stories but yours show to all what the game can be to us.

MegaJohnny · Post by **MegaJohnny** » Sat, 9. May 09, 02:54

Dead is deads always end in an anticlimax.

'a stream of HEPT fire slices through my ship'

'I stray-shot a dragon and his friends shanked me with PBE'

'a ray came out of nowhere and kicked my ass'

zombat · Post by **zombat** » Sat, 9. May 09, 03:23

But.... you never got to use those shiny new atmo lifters.

delray · Post by **delray** » Sat, 9. May 09, 03:45

Live by the gun, die by the gun.

You died in combat with the king of destroyers. It's glorious death and you have nothing to be ashamed of. There aren't many people who saw Ray's 24x frontal guns firing at them and lived to tell the story. Apparently your guy isn't one of those either.

I wonder why you didn't Shift+E in the last minute. Brigantine under Ray's fire went down pretty fast I think (Pirate capitals have shields of M7), but still not fast enough to prevent you from saving your life...

dminor · Post by **dminor** » Sat, 9. May 09, 03:49

Well done nuke. A very enjoyable yarn. Whats next? Maybe time to use some scrips to make your game even harder. Looking forward to your next exploit, but totally understand if ya need a break.

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Zen and the Art of Running away.. {spoilers guaranteed}