Peace(s) of Eight - DiD [TC 3.0] (Inactive - Saves Lost)

[Gosnell]

Congratulations on the baby.
Excellent chapter.
Im actually shocked that Drakar did not know about Freight scanning missions.I always do them once made 2.6 million on one got a freighter with a few 10 gj shields onboard.

[Triaxx2]

Best part is that if you're quick enough you can scan all the ships then catch up with whatever has the cargo, and take the cargo as well, getting paid extra for it.

[Kirlack]

Well, I got another opportunity to look into those missions last night, and despite having a Titan, Cerberus and attendant fighters in sector to scan (all of which made the hit list), I was only counted for scanning 6 ships. So I'm wondering if the mission setup was changed in one patch or another and it is only freighters that count. I definitely scanned ~28 ships, but only a handful of them were TS/TM/TP class.

[Gosnell]

It only counts freighters

[Triaxx2]

It's possible the military ships were lacking cargo, but I doubt it. Odd.

[Scion Drakhar]

Im actually shocked that Drakar did not know about Freight scanning missions.

I've seen and done plenty of missions scanning for illegal goods, which were rarely present enough to warrant my time. I'd never seen the pirate version before, though, which seems a lot more lucrative.

[Gosnell]

Im shocked because given that you have done 2 pirate dids you didnt see any.Still thats the beauty of X finding summit you never knew was there.I recomend you try those missions if your lucky it can change the course of a new game.Though I wsomehow doubt it would be any use to drake given that he can just steal an entire sector for himself.

[Kirlack]

Chapter 06: Concussion

The bar on the EqD is a small, crowded, noisy and smoke wreathed affair. It's dark as well, which makes it feel kinda cramped, to the point that the place feels barely bigger than Good Intentions cargo bay, although I do notice a spiral staircase in the corner opposite the door. Following it up with my eyes I spy a balcony above the main bar. I reckon that's the smokers seating, judging by the scent of weed and the many red glowing spliffs I can see from here. Most of the patrons are lizards but there're a few Boron amongst the crowd. By the bar there's a group of Split having a fairly heated discussion with a smaller group of Paranid about the merits of the Split jatra over the Paranid 'chhuali', which I can only assume is a Paranid blade? None of them look like they're ready to reach for weapons just yet though. Shame. From the way the argument is going though, it won't be long. There's also a lone human sitting at a table in the corner, supping steadily on what looks to be a pint of some black liquid I don't recognise. Huh. I thought I knew damned near every drink in the universe.

I barge my way through the group of 'nids, who are still too busy arguing the benefits of the chhuali to even mark my passing, and order a wheat beer and whiskey chaser. The lizard bartender stretches to its full 4 and a half feet in height to pour my pint and I had to concentrate pretty hard to not tickle it under the arms. Teladi don't like being tickled there, it's kinda like a slap to the face for a human. But I'm good, I resist the urge. So I take my beer and whiskey and head for the spiral staircase to see if anyone up there can sort me some weed. It's been a long and somewhat insane day and I could right do with a smoke about now. My luck is in. There's a small booth at the top of the stairs where passing visitors can buy a joint, ready rolled. Typical lizards, package everything possible and sell it for maximum profitsss. Still, it's a good service so I take one, and mooch over to the railing looking down at the bar, lighting my spliff as I walk. It's actually a pretty good smoke.

I'm only about a third of the way through it and halfway down my beer when the inevitable happens. One of the 'nids pulls his blade, and I finally get a chance to see what this 'chhuali' is all about. Ten inches of dual edge serrated steel on a cross-guard hilt, compared to the slightly curved 8 inch single edge of the jatra. Hmm. Looks quite effective from here.

Of course, as soon as the first blade is drawn the Teladi bartender shits a brick and starts screaming for security. At the sight of a potential threat the group of Split have all drawn steel and the rest of the 'nids have followed suit. The lizards security team must've been right outside the door cos they're in the bar and pointing threatening looks and phase pistols at everyone and their dog. In fact the one person beside me who's paying attention and ain't moved is the other human, still sitting in his corner supping his black stuff. He's got his eye firmly on the action though.

The 'nids ain't backing down from the security lizards, and the Split ain't backing down from the 'nids, so it's only a few seconds before the drawn steel and harsh stares degenerate into shots being fired. One of the Paranid loses an eye to the first volley fired by a nervous looking Teladi security officer, who in turn is promptly gutted by one of the other 'nids. Nice, I get to see first hand just how efficient the chhuali actually is. The serrated edge cuts through skin, flesh and bone in a heartbeat, leaving the poor lizard in a rapidly spreading pool of his own blood, and the second strike lops off the hand holding his pistol. The Split have joined the dance now, and are causing all sorts of havoc in the furball, slicing and dicing 'nid and lizard with wild abandon. I'll admit, I were almost tempted to jump over the balcony and join in. By this point, all hell is breaking loose on the ground floor and a few of my fellow smokers upstairs are peering down to see what's going on.

Then a stray shot from the ruckus blasts the humans black drink all over his table, and I swear it's like seeing a bomb go off in his head. All this time he's been sat there quite serene, as though the 'verse just weren't going on around him. Now suddenly he's up and screaming some quite inventive insults in a broad accent I'm not sure I recognise. I reckon he's of Terran descent though, and not Argon like me. He's just got that look about him, you know? Alright, so at least I know what I mean. Plus the shiny white and blue USC flight suit is a hot tip. I reckon he's probably about 22 jazura at most, so a couple jazura younger than me. He's a half foot shorter than me but stockily built, whereas I could best be described as 'willowy'. So he rants and rages his way across the rapidly clearing bar room towards the ruckus, his untidy red mop of hair flopping all over the place, grabs the first 'nid he reaches and promptly headbutts him!

Now, that's bold, that's audacious, it's something I would have done, and I like that, it impresses me. So I applaud his mentality, if not his smarts. Paranid have significantly thicker bones than humans and the cranial plating is particularly reinforced. This poor kid though clearly doesn't know that and stumbles back from his probably skull shattering blow clearly dazed and confused, whilst the Paranid, now screaming his own quite colourful insults, goes to knife him.

I ain't sure why I did it, but watching that 'nid just kill this kid in front of me didn't feel right. The kid was ballsy, and gets full score for that. Maybe he'd just amused me. Whatever it was I found myself suddenly drawing my pistols and firing two shots over the balcony railing, one to knock the 'chhuali' from the Paranid's hand, and another at its head. I were already moving for the stairs as I fired but I got to watch as the concussive impact of the phased plasma bolt rippled and finally ruptured his skin, before it broke apart the cranial plating that moments before had proven such a problem for the kid, and finally exploding grey matter in a three foot radius. As the broken carcass fell down the kid was just getting ready to rush back into the fray, but I was at the bottom of the stairs by then and grabbed him by the arm.

“Come on genius, you can ask the questions on the way.” He blinked at me, like I were speaking native Boron at him. “Trust me, you don't wanna go back into that,” I nodded in the direction of the ruckus as I pulled him towards the door, “cos you probably won't come back out again.” He nodded at me, his eyes still kinda foggy looking, but I weren't sure if that were the booze or the brain damage. So I half dragged him out of the bar as another group of security lizards were heading in, but they were fixated on the carnage inside and probably didn't give us a seconds thought. Sweet.

I angled us for the elevators headed down to the docking clamps and half dragged, half threw the Terran in. He sat on the floor in the lift looking at me and blinking rapidly as I keyed for us to go down.

“Who are you?” He finally asked me. I figure he must've been in that bar a while cos he were slurring his words some. Course that could just be concussion from 'butting that 'nid. I holstered my weapons and knelt down next to him, shaking my head slowly.

“Uh-uh pal. You first. I just pulled your brazen hide outta big damned fire, so we'll be having your name before you have mine, aye?” I think he were trying to glare at me, but he were still too fogged over to make it work.

“O'Leary,” he finally says, “Stephen O'leary.” He took my hand and started to rise from the floor on wobbly legs, but he managed it. Hmm, pretty strong willed and ballsy. I grinned.

“Well, 'Stephen O'Leary', my name's Kirlack and I reckon I just saved your life. Let's discuss how you're gonna repay the favour.”

That seemed to break the ice cos he genuinely laughed. We proceeded to walk across the loading bays to the lifts which led down to the docking clamps, talking as we went. It soon becomes clear that this is somebody I like, and could work with. Stephen used to fly a Rapier in the USC but decided he didn't want to stay stuck behind the Asteroid Belt when there was a whole universe of possibilities beyond the gate, so resigned his commission and bought his own ship. That happened about 22 hours ago, so at about the time I were hightailing it towards Elysium in my space suit he were exiting Heretic's End into Circle of Labour. He'd taken the safe route up through Split space to get this far, but his Rapier had been stolen somewhere in Family Rhonkar. He'd been drinking a lot of unfamiliar alchohol on his way and seems to remember passing on his keycodes to somebody. When he'd asked for directions he'd been pointed this way, and promptly started off in his space suit.

“So,” I says to him, “what would you say if I told you I needed a pilot for a scout ship?” We were stood at the docking clamp lifts at the time, and angled my head down at Giggity. He followed my eyes and laughed.

“Is that an Argon Discoverer?” he asks, wide eyed.

“Disco Vanguard. Bit faster than the basic model, but not quite so much cargo space. So here's the deal Stephen.” He looks me right in the eye at the sound of his name and I can see that foggy glazed expression has finally passed. “You get to fly my ship, complete with shields and weapons. You'll run scout duty when and where I tell you. When I need a wingman you'll do that too, even if it's just so you can shoot down hostile missiles. You'll get a basic payout of five thousand credits a day and a ten percent cut of any extra income we make whilst you're on my wing. If I take on more pilots that cut is likely to change. The upside being that we'll be able to hit bigger targets, with bigger payouts. You in?”

He blinked at me a few times, obviously thinking it through. “Alright. But I'd much rather fly a Mamba...”

So I settle my new pilot in the cargo hold and make for the cockpit. We undock from the equipment dock and head for the east gate, then from Thuruk's we head south. Along the way Stephen and I talk a little, him telling me he's originally from Ireland, a small island on Earth, which explains the broad accent, me refusing to let on to my own origins. What? I'm his employer, not his best friend. He don't need to know where I'm from.

So we cruise on into Hatikvah's and are just passing the Massom mill when I gets a call...

http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/3527 ... n00001.png

...and considering the payout for the last one of these I'd be a fool to pass it by. So we kill a few minutes scanning every freighter we can see and at the end of it receive a nice payoff.

http://img542.imageshack.us/img542/8224 ... n00002.png

That pushes my funds up over the 2 million mark which means I can now get the Buster Raider sorted and ship shape and Stephen can start earning his keep immediately. So we shoot through Aladna into Light of Heart and dock at the EqD. I arrange for a transfer of most the equipment from Giggity, although I leave the explorer software and Triplex scanner, plus anything Stephen will need in a fight. I get the Buster tuned up and kitted out as best I can, shift the 5Mj shields I bought earlier into it and give Stephen orders to head back to Company Pride and then north to scout the Teladi sectors for me.

“How do you know I won't just steal your ship?” he says to me. I glance at him briefly and go back to working on the Buster.

“I'm a real good hacker Stephen. To whit, I have coded a link to all my property into my wrist comm. Run away at your peril young man. I can remote detonate anytime it looks like you're disobeying orders.” I looked back round at him, and grinned to see he'd gone rather pale. “Any more stupid questions?”

“N...no B...b...boss.” he stammers and starts wandering off for his ship.

So, with him taking Giggity back towards CP I'm all set to undock this here Buster and get her patched up ready for flight. It takes a good deal longer than fixing up the M5s I've repaired so far, but I'm done and back in the cockpit in a few minutes. Then I'm off and headed for Legend's Home so I can replace some of my software and extensions and finally, get myself a jumprive.

It's a far slower journey than I've gotten used to, but having a lot more shielding and not having a paper thin hull already feels a lot better than hanging out in Giggity. I've decided to call her 'Dirty Magic' after an old song I like. Dunno why, but it just kinda fits.

When I get to Legend's Home I get an offer for a freighter...

http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/2410 ... n00003.png

...which is a pretty poor deal, but I'm in need of a freighter so I take it. It even has an IRE and a single 1Mj shield aboard, so just as I'm about to dock at OTAS HQ I order it to the OTAS Shipyard so I can see what it's worth and if 've been ripped off.

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/6194 ... 00005m.png

Hmm. If I could sell it I'd make a little profit, so it's all good. So, happy that my new ship wasn't a complete donkey I order it to dock at OTAS so I can outfit it and decide to look around the sector for work, when all of a sudden...

http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/1840 ... n00007.png

… oh shit...


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http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/1492 ... n00009.png

I figure now's a really good time to get out of Legend's Home before those frakking bugs lay waste to the sector! My brand new and quite expensive Mercury Super Freighter has a top speed in the 'slightly more than a snail' range and is far closer to the incoming Khaak fleet than it is the north gate. But if I dock it anywhere and the station falls under attack from those three Khaak M2s I'll lose it anyway when the station goes up. So I order it to run for the north gate and pull about just in time to see...

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/4459/x ... 00010o.png

...and I ain't sure if that was a ship or a station. But the OTAS Military are moving in to intercept, and now the clusters have split up...

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/5531/x3screen00011.png

...but that Boreas seems remarkably well armed.

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Remarkably well armed. From here it looked like that Boreas took out all three of those Khaak M2s by its onesey. That's quite impressive by anybodies account. As the dust clears and the OTAS guys mop up the last of the Scouts there's a lot of goodies to pick up, so I catch up with my freighter which was slowly running for the north gate whilst I watched that ant headed monstosity commit insecticide. Once I were in transporter range I 'ported a few choice software modules across to it and ordered it to pick up the shinies in the sector.

http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/4492 ... n00017.png

I dock back at OTAS and replace a couple of pieces of software and buy another jumpdrive since I just gave one to the Mercury. Then I push on for Akeela's where I come across a guy selling a Disco Vanguard for just over 60k. A wing mate for Stephen perhaps? So I take him up on the offer and then promptly stuff him in my cargo bay. He can stay there till I get docking clearance at a merc traning facility, then I'm gonna see if he's got the balls to be thrown out an airlock. When I check out my new ship though, I get a nice little surprise.

http://img542.imageshack.us/img542/4083 ... n00018.png

Sweet. Shields and sofware and that's another ship ready to go. It needs a bit of work in a shipyard, so I send it back into Legend's for that and a quick trip to OTAS HQ whilst I make for Aladna Hill and back into Hatikvah's. Once again as I'm passing the Massom mill I get a call from somebody wanting me to scan freight. He's offering a 4% cut but 20 minutes to work, so I take it. Then I get another call from another guy at the same station, offering 5% with a 19 minute window. Nice! I can sell them both the same information and maybe watch them fight it out for the spoils. Heh.

http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/3593 ... n00020.png

Oi. That's gotta have some quite valuable cargo on board. There's a Cerberus with it and I'm not sure but it might be the same fleet what were trying to ruin that pirate base up in Bala Gi's yesterday. So I move on in and scan the Titan and the many fighters and then turn for some freighters. There's not many in the sector at that point and I'm starting to run low on time so when both missions tick over I'm told I only scanned 6 ships! For which I've been paid just shy of 150k for each mission!

I'm not amused. I guess military ships aren't on the list. Nuts.

Somewhat annoyed by this I turn for the north gate intent on catching up with Stephen and Giggity, when I get a call from Good Intentions. I moved it out of Heretic's end a few hours ago and had sent it up to Scale Plate to pick up where my doomed Demeter left off. It's slow work getting the nostrop oil made, but it's worth it for the steady flow of cash. I've even made enough to fully upgrade Good Intentions cargo bay and install all the software modules needed to make it a fully functioning remote trader. The message I'm getting right now though is that it's docked at a PAC forge and can get me some weapons for a good price. So I snap up 6 of them and order the Ranger to the EqD in Two Grand. I figure it's only a seven sector flight through Split space to reach it and I'm headed that way anyhow, so why not?

I move north into Thuruk's then up into Family Rhonkar. I'm not sure whether 'Shameless Creature' is shoot on sight reputation in Spilt core sectors, so I hover around the gate for a moment. There's no ominous threats coming my way and nothing's flagging red to me so I guess I'm good to go. I push north into Rhonkar's Fire then east into Rhonkar's Clouds, Tharka's Sun and Cho's Defeat. I'm just turning south into Patriarch's Keep when Good Intentions finally signals that it's reached the EqD and I buy it explorer software. Then I order it to fly through Two Grands west gate to come meet me, whilst I make for the PK east gate. When I finally meet up with the Ranger in Two Grand and swap my shiny new PACs in I make for Split territory and the journey back to Thuruk's. I leave Good Intentions on it's course following me and buy a jumpdrive for the Mercury down in Legend's Home. Then I send it up to Akeela's for some energy. It's gonna get some upgrades and then take over nostrop shipping in the PTNI region. Being able to carry more than 140 units at once will be far more profitable. Plus I can ship in energy and ore from Two Grand and Profit Centre Alpha so the tech fabs in PTNI will be working mainly for me. In the meantime though I set course for Hatikvah's.

Once I get there's I'm greeted by the ass end of a Split Mamba Vanguard. Now I like this ship, it's fast for an M3 and carries a lot of punch, but it's got no turret. If I can snag this one I'll need to set Stephen up as my missile defence screen whenever I'm in combat. It's not to be however, and the Split goes down with his ship. Damn. Then I try my luck with a Boron Barracuda, if only to give myself a decent combination of shielding and speed. This one also opts to go down with his ship and I'm getting irritated. The I notice that the massom mill is once again offering work, and mosey on over to have a look.

Assets:

'Good Intentions' – Goner Ranger
'Dirty Magic' – Buster Raider

'Giggity' – Discoverer Vanguard – Stephen O'Leary

Mercury Super Freighter 78% - M.O.R.T. (Manually Operated Remote Trader)

Discoverer Vanguard - Refit/Pilot required.

943,944 Credits

Time: 768-05-02 00:24

***

Gosnell, I hope I have done Stephen justice. For anyone else interested I will be needing pilots for my ships as the 'fleet' grows so feel free to dream up some characters

[Triaxx2]

Awesome chapter Kirlack.

Because everyone needs a little smuggler in their lives:

Name: Jim "Baritone" Marchetti
Race: Argon
Story: Jim Marchetti is an Argon space pirate, been doing it for years. Specializes in cargo, primarily the very valuable, not necessarily legal type. Contacts in all the right wrong places. If you need it, he can probably find it. If he can't find it, you certainly don't need it.

[Scion Drakhar]

Thane (Eric Thane, but he won't answer to Eric.)
Callsign: Peacemaker
Argon Mercenary/Pirate
6'4"
245 lbs
Thane is bad tempered, often violent and doesn't suffer fools. He's built like a brick shithouse and even though he doesn't talk about it a military background seems to bleed through the ragged exterior. He's got a head of hair like a lion's mane and is usually sportin' a three day beard. He's always armed to the teeth. He has a custom hand cannon that he calls 'Dorothy' and a matte black combat knife that could easily double for a short sword that he refers to as 'Tina.' Together they are his 'girls,' and when he talks about "takin' the girls out" it usually means bloodshed.
He'll fly whatever you put him in but will be hard to deal with if it doesn't have adequate weapons and shieldin'. He does tend to refer to M4's and M5's as either tin cans or target practice.


Loved the chapter. Those Khaak sure do know how to cause some tight sphincters don't they?

[Kirlack]

Awesome, thanks, both of you.

Triaxx I like the sound of 'Baritone' already, a smuggler would fit this story really well. Also if he's well connected he could be useful for picking up more ne'er do wells along the way!

Scion I think Thane is gonna fit right in. I can see me ordering him to introduce {insert Idiot what crossed me here} to his 'girls' on a regular basis. I already have a mental image of him being the muscle to my brutal nature

[Nathancros]

hehehe

MY TURN

name: Sam*nothing else, got a problem? suck my lasers*

story: wam BAMN in comes SAM XD, a long trail of corpses, bad deals, big mistakes and bum burning curries, this guy has one hell of a record,
The Record being hes a crazy fool who has no clue what hes is doing, just likes exlodey things, and curries...

Male argon*cause im boring that way*

ship name

"problems? Problem solved"
OR PPS for short

i can make up another if you are not satisfied

[Gosnell]

Good Job as always Kirlack.
One small prob though you made O'leary into a ginger,you b@@@@rd .

[Kirlack]

Good Job as always Kirlack.
One small prob though you made O'leary into a ginger,you b@@@@rd .

Yeah...what happened was that when the mental image of the bar fight hit me and I saw him headbutting that Paranid I just saw this cocky, arrogant, flame haired Irish lunatic. It was such a strong image that I couldn't justify changing it.

[Coupaholic]

Ooo I couldn't resist!

-

Name: Sark Rossi

Race: Argon

Background

Ex military. Had a good career ahead of him until an accident during a routine patrol led to civilian casulties. He was unhonourably discharged, humiliated and imprisoned. While inside it changed him, these days he looks out only for himself. He is paranoid, quick to anger, mis-trusts any kind of authority and has no qualms about backstabbing or cheating people to stay ahead - he'd say that the universe doesn't give a shit, then why the hell should I?

-

If you think he's useful feel free to shove him where you need him, pilot seat or boarding pod.

[Kirlack]

Sweet, thanks Coup

I'm in the process of writing chapter 7 now, so won't be long before my next update. Triaxx, Scion, Nathan and now Coup I will be bringing your characters in shortly I hope. Apologies for the delay but between the baby and moving house all in the last three weeks I've been kinda busy. I did find time to play a few hours at the start of the week though, just typing up the update. Should be either tonight or some time this weekend.

Thanks to all for reading!

[Zaitsev]

Looking forward to it, Kirlack. Keep up the good work

[Triaxx2]

Take your time. Good writing is always worth waiting for. No matter how quickly we want it to get here, NOW. Besides, if I can wait for Senor Slowpoke to finish Wheel of Time, I can wait for you.

[Kirlack]

Chapter 07: Honest work?

Having had no luck in securing a better ship and not wanting to risk my hide keep trying, I take another freight scanning mission. It's only a 4% cut, but there's almost 20 minutes on the clock, so I head out across the sector hitting every freighter I can see. I reckon this one will be some pretty easy money. There's a lot of ships flow through Hatikvah's, in two distinct patterns. There's a diamond like flow of ships in both directions around the gate perimeter, and a cross shaped flow through the middle between the gates. Hatikvah's is within three jumps of maybe three dozen tech fabs and at least four equipment docks, so there's a lot of weapons dealers and high tech traders, of all five Commonwealth races, moving through it, as well as a fairly heavy amount of food and minerals.

So I start with the tech traders and weapon dealers, hitting up the occasional food runner or heavy goods transporter as I go. I'm just passing the local rastar oil refinery when I get a comm from another guy offering freight scanning work. He's offering 5% with 12 minutes to scan, so I figure, why not? I'm doing it already.

I make my way closer to the west gate and hit the small concentration of ships there before passing through into Nopileos' Memorial. NM only has a single trade lane, running right through the middle, so I should be able to cruise across with my remaining time, hitting up a few more juicy transports and get a decent payout from both missions.

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Nice! I just more than doubled my current funds. I'm already more than halfway across the sector so I drift on into Danna's and down into Freedom's, looking for more scanning work. By this point, Good Intentions has made it all the way down into Family Rhonkar, so I send a message to Giggity with orders for O'Leary to go and keep it company on it's trip down through Thuruk's Beard and into Teladi space. The Ranger might not be good for much, but for now it's going to have to suffice as my storage space once I start pillaging the trade lanes.

O'Leary has scouted north to Greater Profit and Spaceweed Drift, which I think is far enough for now. I might be able to set up another freighter somewhere around here and siphon off a steady supply of weed for those crazy trades on the flight deck. He's done so without any whimpering or grumbling, so considering the payout I just got I might give him a bonus when we turn in for the night.

Freedom's Reach offers another scanning mission...

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...so I take it and press north, hitting a few freighters in Danna's Chance before moving into Brennan's. I reckon there'll be a good few ships moving back and forth from the pirate base there...

http://img862.imageshack.us/img862/5317 ... n00006.png

...bugger. I guess that Colossus fleet that was hanging around here last night finally decided to take out the base. That was one of the local bases that offered mercenary training for the semi skilled, and break.... erm...'indoctrination' for the uninitiated. It would have also been an ideal place to find a hacker for the forge and training centre in Danna's. Nuts.

So, I carry on scanning freighters as I go and am rewarded a few minutes later with a nice 400k payout. I'm just starting to think that my bank balance is looking quite healthy when I spot a lone Paranid fighter making for the west gate...

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...and decide to make a play for it. The Perseus is a good solid fighter, 75Mj of shields, reasonable top speed and a good weapon generator. In fact the only thing it especially lacks is cargo space. Once again though, this is not to be. I catch him just before he hits the event horizon but the stubborn bastard refuses to give up his ship and I'm forced to atomize him. I take a couple good hits from his Fragmentation Bomb Launcher in the rear turret, which wipes out my shields and chews a couple of points off my hull integrity before he goes down, and am forced to pull up after the fight and patch some holes in Dirty Magic's hull. Maybe I should go for something a little less toothy? That Mamba Vanguard I went for last night, or the Barracuda, both lack rear turrets, meaning if I can just get behind one I should have a good chance to capture it without getting my ass handed to me. With this in mind I start mooching around the sector looking for an M3 to steal. That fight with the 'nid has made my Busters limitations painfully apparent.

After a few minutes I spot this guy...

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...and make a play for him. He's packing almost no heat and my PACs cut though his shield like a HEPT through argnu butter. This one is just as stubborn as the Paranid was though and gets swiftly butchered when he refuses to give up his ship. That's four for four ships I've gone after that have elected to burn rather than give up. My scorecard is looking a bit sad right now. I may have lost my mojo.

I get a comm from the local soyery for another freight scanning mission, and following the traders takes me back into Danna's and east into Nopileos'. When the mission ticks over I'm another 520k richer. Now I'm starting to get the feeling there's a lot of small, independent pirate crews working out of these stations, because these missions are coming up all over the place. There's another one on offer...

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...so I agree to his terms and head back through Danna's into Brennan's, scanning everything in sight. As I'm passing through Brennan's Triumph I get a call for a taxi mission...

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/3064/x3screen00014.png

...which works out at around 230k per passenger. I can't say no to that kinda money, so I pick them up and head north into Olmancketslat's. There's not much in the way of freight traffic in this sector, so I lose maybe four minutes or so of my scanning time, but I reckon the payout for the taxi fare will cover more than I could have scanned. As it turns out the payout on the scanning mission was a lot more than I would have expected.

http://img804.imageshack.us/img804/6668 ... n00015.png

Add the 913k from dropping off my fare and that's just shy of another 2 million credits I've made. Sweet! I've also had my Mercury running around around the PTNI region selling oil to hungry lizards, and buying up any good deals on weapons and equipment. I now have a steady supply of Wasp missiles that I need to ship down to Company Pride for storage, and a handful of Typhoons for when I upgrade to something with a bit of bite.

Good Intentions has made it into CP by now, and I order it up to Ceo's Sprite to look for some more deals. In the meantime, since I'm docked at the Special Weapons 'plex I look at their prices. They're charging over average price, but the 2 Phased Repeater Guns and 3 Mass Drivers they have in stock will all fit my Buster, so I buy them, along with a few units of ammo for the MDs, and undock, intent on heading back towards Hatikvah's.

Just as I'm moving away from the station and setting up my PRGs to give Dirty Magic a bit more range I get another scanning mission pop up. This one is offering 6% and has 10 minutes on the clock. I take it and decide to head north into Bala Gi's and then into Farnham's Legend. It'll take too long to move south from here into Brennan's where there's more traffic, and Bala Gi's Joy has a lot of tech fabs, so there might be a couple of high value freighters. Farnham's borders both Argon and Boron space, so with a bit of luck there'll be a good amount of hardware making the trip through.

Bala Gi's yields up a few tech freighters and energy haulers, but it doesn't take very long to scan everything in the sector. The pirate base is still here and a quick inspection reveals it to have both training facilities and mercs for hire. I may have need of a bioscanner in the not too distant future. Course, I'm gonna need a TP class ship first.

I push on into Farnham's and start hitting the freight traffic moving north and south between the sqiddies and the Argon. Just as the mission time ticks over I spot two ships what get my attention, a Split tech trader in a Chimera and a Boron freight runner in some kind of Barracuda. I'm tempted by the Chimera, since it's a pretty good match for a Yaki Tenjin, but I don't trust myself to not get smeared all over the system taking him on in Dirty Magic. So I head for the 'cuda instead.

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Well alright! That's what I wanted to see! And I just got a message ping from Good Intentions saying it's arrived at the medium shield 'plex in Ceo's Sprite, which nets me 4 200Mj shields and 7 25Mj shields. With the weapons I've already got and those shields I can get 'Shooting Fish', my new Barracuda Vanguard and personal ship, up and running in no time. A quick patch of the hull and I fly it into Bala Gi's, pick up some cells from one of the SPPs and swap in the jumpdrive from Dirty Magic. A quick jump to Company Pride and freight transfer from Good Intentions and I dock back at the EqD for upgrades and software. I send Stephen a message to escort the Ranger back to the trading station whilst I dock at the SPP and pick up fuel for the jump back to Bala Gi's.

Once I've swapped the jumpdrive back over to Dirty Magic and switched the PRGs, 4 PACs and a couple IREs into 'Shooting Fish' I buy another load of jump fuel and send the Buster back to the trading station in CP and head over to the pirate base to pick up another cargo lifesupport system. With that done I make for the south gate to Olmancketslat's.

Once in OT I get a good offer for my Disco Vanguard...

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...but decide to keep it for now, as a playmate for Giggity. I think now I've moved up to the 'cuda I might give Dirty Magic to O'Leary and see how he handles himself on my wing. That leaves me with Giggity and its playmate to find pilots for. I think some time tomorrow I'm going to hunt around the bars on the pirate bases and see if there's anyone desperate or crazy enough to sign on with me.

For now, I'm on the hunt. I play with a couple of freighters in Brennan's Triumph but they won't give up their wares, or their ships, so I shred 'em with PRG fire and move on. This Barracuda Vanguard ain't bad you know. 198m/s top speed, 50Mj shields, 197 M cargo bay and a decent array of compatible missiles. There's not much that it can take in it's laser bank, but it's good enough to get me started. It's only real drawback is the lack of turrets for missile defence. I'm going to have to pick up some mosquitoes for both myself and O'Leary once I get back to CP.

I bring 'Shooting Fish' about to have a shot at a passing Paranid Frozen Goods Transporter, when he suddenly bails under PRG fire and leaves me a ship...

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...which even had a 5Mj shield left. So I send it on down to the trading station in Freedom's Reach and pick up his space suit, stuffing him in a crate in the hold. When I meet back up with Dirty Magic he can join the Argon feller what sold me the second Disco. Hahaha. My first two marines perhaps?

There's some quite impressive hardware moving through Brennan's as well...

http://img542.imageshack.us/img542/8190 ... n00021.png

...like that Nova Prototype. I make a play for him, but he's stubborn and goes down with the ship. Now I gotta say, I kinda like the look of those on paper. 187m/s top speed, 100Mj shields and an impressive array of compatible weaponry combine into what appears to be a rather solid and potentially quite powerful ship. I may have to keep my eyes open for more of those.

So, I pass back through Danna's and into Nopileos' Memorial on my way to Hatikvah's. Whilst I'm in NM I get 2 more scanning missions and start hitting every freighter along my path. By the time the two missions tick over...

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http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/7596 ... n00025.png

...I've made another 2 million for just a few minutes work. That last one has been my highest payout for a scanning job to date, although it took 32 ships to get.

I'm tired now. Looking at the time shows me it's after 04:00, so I set the ship on auto pilot for the trip back to the trading station at Company Pride and sleep for the rest of the flight. It feels like I've barely closed my eyes though when the computer tells me we've arrived at our destination. I really do need to sleep for a good six hours or I'm gonna get myself dead out there. My reflexes already feel dull. So I crawl out of the cockpit and meet up with O'Leary at the bar.

“Boss, you look hammered!” he says, and since I just woke up his words feel like thunder on my brain. I show him what I assume to be my most fearsome 'not right now or I might shoot you' look, but I'm too tired to make it work and the cheeky little frak actually laughs at me. I'd hit him, but I really don't have the energy.

“Yeah yeah, laugh it up. Maybe if you shut your mouth now I won't blow Giggity on your next flight.” That shuts him up pretty quick and he goes kinda pale for a moment, until I hand him his days pay, plus a hundred grand bonus.

“Eh? What's this for? Not that I'm complaining...”

“You did what you were told, you didn't gripe about it and you didn't try to steal my ship. All threats aside Stephen, I think I can trust you to fly on my wing. So after this drink you and I are gonna rent rooms, sleep like gods, and tomorrow...tomorrow you get to fly Dirty magic whilst we rob every ship from here to Split Fire and back.”

Assets

'Shooting Fish' – Barracuda Vanguard
'Good Intentions' – Goner Ranger

'Dirty Magic' – Buster Raider – Stephen O'Leary

Mercury Super Freighter 78% - M.O.R.T.

'Giggity' – Discoverer Vanguard – Pilot required
Discoverer Vanguard – Pilot required

Demeter Super Freighter 77% - Refit required

Credits: 5,052,030

Time: 768-05-02 04:13

[Zaitsev]

Nice chapter, Kirlack

I think I'll have to fly down to Pirate Alley and go look for scanning missions myself, although with my luck I probably won't find any