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

[Scion Drakhar]

Indeed, I've never realized how much money there is to be had in those freight scanning missions, although I know what piracy is worth. Either way I'm lookin' forward to more.

[Libelnon]

Really enjoying this one. Not normally a fan of Fanfics, normally because I can't stand bad grammar, but this DiD is something else. Watching.

As for a pilot character, I decided to throw a Xeno in the mix to make things interesting:

Huritas Galos Yayasios II, better known as 'The Huntress'
Ex mercenary, been through a long phase as an assassin-for-hire, but is growing tired of it as the job pool dries up.
Somewhat famous for destroying a Paranid envoy while it was under military guard, grinding the escort to dust in a cloud of mass driver fire and then vaporising the yacht's shields and boarding it personally, beating the official within inches of his life with a chair, and then towing he and his ship to sell the ship for scrap and selling out the entire crew and patrons onboard for just short of 2,000,000Cr. Things have gone somewhat downhill from there, and she now has quite the price on her head, and an empty pocket after splashing out on spaceweed. Cold and efficient, a little sadistic, but with a soft side and an undying loyalty to those who earn her trust by anything other than credit.

Yes, a Teladi who isn't completely about PROFITSSS, just a mercenary who's down on her luck and struggling to put enough pennies together for a good joint. I suppose she could work as either a pilot or a marine, only (to the best of my knowledge) you can't rename marines.

[Kirlack]

Either way I'm lookin' forward to more.

Thanks Scion, as always I value your input mate

Really enjoying this one. Not normally a fan of Fanfics, normally because I can't stand bad grammar, but this DiD is something else. Watching.

Hi! Thanks for the support. Love the sound of The Huntress, I think she'll fit this crew I'm quite keen on writing for characters when not in their ships, so she'll get to see plenty of action, be it bar fights or assassinations

Chapter 8 is under way at the moment, should be up in the next couple of days. Right now I have more potential pilots than I do ships, so I'll be adding folks in to the story in the order they were submitted, as and when more ships come my way. In the meantime though, I hope you all continue to enjoy and give me that precious feedback

[Triaxx2]

Oooh, incoming awesome. Can't wait. Incidentally, I hate towing mines. I really really do.

[Kirlack]

Chapter 08:Anything but honest work

“Sleep?” Stephen says to me, looking at me as though I just suggested he chop his left arm off with a spoon, “Boss the last thing you want to do right now is sleep.” I'm about to tell him just how long I've been awake for and how frakking tired I am when he nods towards the door what leads out of the bar and back towards the docking bay. “Come on,” he says, “I got something in my cockpit I think you'll like.” He's got this gleam in his eye, like he's up to something, but my poor tired mind can't even begin to process what. I sigh, nod once and follow him out of the bar.

Down in the docking bay he climbs into the cockpit of Dirty Magic, and comes back out again a few seconds later holding a small package in his hand.

“What is that?” I ask, hoping for some kind of drugs, something that'll keep me awake and going strong. O'Leary's grinning at me like a loon.

“It's called a cortical stimulator.” he says, handing me the package. “My cousin Mary was working in an ATF research lab in San Francisco a year or so ago.” My hands have unwrapped it now, revealing a thin metal loop maybe three inches wide and about four millimetres thick, with a small band to loosen or tighten. “Her team were working on a means to keep pilots at peak efficiency throughout long tours or extended periods of combat. What you're holding there is the culmination of two years research and development.”

“Uh-huh. And how exactly did you end up with it?”

“My cousin designed it. After the ATF approved mass production she gave me her prototype. It works by actively stimulating the synapses to keep you awake, alert and focussed. Pilots have recorded extended usage for up to sixty four hours with no negative side effects. After that though, they've been known to get a bit...wobbly. Wanna check it out?”

Now, normally I wouldn't touch this thing, but I admit my curiosity got the better of me. So O'Leary showed me what connected where and ten minutes later I was wearing it around my head. He laughed at me.

“What are you laughing at now?”

“It looks almost like a crown on your head, under that hood. Haha. 'King Kirlack'” Now, I gotta admit I kinda like the sound of that. “Ok boss. This might feel...a little bit weird.” He reached out and rubbed the right side of the cool, smooth metal ring now encircling my head.

OI!!!!! Understatement of the jazura! The initial feeling as he turned the thing on was that my brain was on fire. Suddenly all my synapses were popping and shunting and I went from feeling dead on my feet to ready for a bare knuckle fight with a 'nid in a heartbeat.

“OH....OH YEAH!!” I felt sharp, I felt strong, I knew if I had to fight my way out of a situation at the drop of a hat I'd be ready for it. As far as my body and brain were concerned I'd just woken up from a ten hour sleep and wanted to rut. O'Leary was talking at me, but I was lost in a whirl of thought and sensation, noticing sounds in the docking bay that I'd missed only moments before, picking up how many people were milling about, where a few seconds ago I'd been almost oblivious to anything but myself, O'Leary and our ships. I felt good.

“...and continued use for over one hundred and sixteen hours has been known to lead to some kind of...psychosis...boss? You listening to me?”

“Hundred and sixteen hours. Psychosis. Check. What happens when I take it off?” I was grinning at him, bouncing on the balls of my feet and flexing my fingers. I didn't really care right that second what he had to say, I wanted to get back into the trade lanes and cause some havoc.

“You have to shut it down first. Taking it off whilst it's still active is kind of...traumatic, at best. Then you sleep, maybe ten to twelve hours, dependent on use. And you'll need to eat plenty and maintain a steady fluid intake whilst you're using it, or your body won't be able to cope.”

“Stars, you sound like a doctor. I thought you were just a country boy who could fly real well?”

So, after O'Leary had finished explaining the finer points of using this thing now strapped to my head, we jumped in our cockpits and made for the equipment dock. I bought us both some mosquito missiles and told him to set up missile defence for the pair of us.

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We break for Thuruk's with a view to talking some Boron out of their cargo, or better yet their ships. There's not much on the menu as we hit the sector, but we do find one guy...

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...who elects to go down with his ship. Oh well. Plenty more fish in the sea. The only other realistic target whilst we're in Split territory is a Duke's freighter, and I don't fancy souring my relationship with him if I can help it. Plus the pirates inevitably take offence at me shooting down anything to do with the Duke. So instead we make for the south gate, when I spot a Yaki Raijin. It's about time I made contact with home, so I open a comms channel to see who the pilot is. As his face pops up on my screen and his lizard eyes focus on me there's a hiss, and I can't tell if it's good or bad news.

“Yusmaeos.” I nod at him. Now, I've crossed swords with Yusmaeos Yalamandis Hanirases the fourth before, a couple of times. Rumour has it that he's a member of the so called 'Outer Circle', basically the bottom rung of Yaki leadership. In my experience he's just a little thug with the smallest amount of authority that anyone would give anyone, but as far as rank is concerned...well, I'm just a grunt. He does have enough authority to give me shit and me not shoot him for it, which really goes against my nature. I can't tell from his scales what kind of mood he's in, so I might be in for a grilling here.

“Kirlack.” What is it lately with people breathing my name like it's a dirty word? “We thought you had died in Black Hole Sssun. Your wingmatesss I assssume did not sssurvive?” Right to the crunch.

“No. Cali Le and Tusamios both got shot down. I only survived because I ejected so close to the gate. I had to EVA my way to safe harbour.”

“And yet report back you did not, dessspite a sssemingly miraculousss sssurvival. Sssussspissshiousss, yesss?”

“Frak you! I've had to work my nuts off to get this far, never mind not blowing my cover and getting shot to shit by damn near every ship from halfway across the universe! What the hell else was I supposed to do?” I'm angry now, furious even, that he would even suggest I would ever betray my brethren. I..no, you don't need to know about that.

Yusmaeos is nodding gently at me. “Very well Kirlack. Perhapsss you can take a little missssion for me to prove your loyalty...”

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The mission looks simple enough, so I agree and he cuts comms without another word. Moments later I receive the data transfer for the two targets and O'Leary and I wing our way south into Hatikvah's.

There's a few hostiles in Hatikvah's faith, a pirate wing centred around a Perseus with a trio of M4 to back it up. It heads in our direction but isn't fast enough to keep up, so we slip between the rocks in the middle of the sector and break for the south gate. Our targets are making for Third Redemption and we need to intercept 'em, if only so I can recover my standing. The payout won't hurt either.

Clarity's End comes and goes. The sector is so spread out from the gates that we only pick up one station on the gravidar, and then we're on into Third Redemption. About halfway across the sector I spot another Yaki ship, piloted by another lizard, although I don't know this one. He's offering another hit up in Gunne's Crusade...

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...so I take it and push on into Perdition's. Our targets are hovering over by the local equipment dock, a pair of Paranid freighters. I flip our IFF recognition to foe and send Dirty Magic in to get their attention whilst I come in behind him with the big guns. A couple of passes and both of them go up in smoke, leaving us with a nice little bundle of cash.

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I transfer Stephen his ten percent and we swing back around to pick up the leftover freight.

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Looks like a pirate or smuggler got shot down too, judging by the spaceflies. They'll fetch a tidy price in Split turf, so we'll hang on to them for now. In the meantime we blaze across Redemption and into Gunne's. Our next two targets are Boron headed for Lucky Planets and we catch up with them just before they reach the north gate into Rolk's Legacy. Again I send O'Leary in first to get their attention and draw them towards me, after that we both open up on them and they both burn in the night.

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So I transfer O'Leary his fifty two thousand, eight hundred and fifty three credits and we make our way back down through Redemption and Clarity's, up into Hatikvah's. I feel ready for some good old fashioned piracy now, having warmed up a bit and tested out this stimulator. So far so very, very good.

Hatikvah's is playing host to a Paranid task force centred around a Deimos. The two Nemesis guard dogs follow it through the west gate, as does it's fighter wing, leaving three M8 class Hades waiting at the gate, powering up their jumpdrives. We're just about closing on them as the first one jumps, and a quick scan of the second shows it's not armed with any missiles, so I make a play for him.

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Sweet! A bomber will go a long way to securing my future operations. The last also jumps out so there's no chance of acquiring a second, but upon inspection of my shiny new Hades...

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… I discover a nice little bonus. It even has enough energy aboard to jump straight back to Company Pride, so I send it on it's way and then on to the EqD to get some software and tuning. I can't really afford to repair it right now, so it'll have to stay on a quite reasonable 84% until I can. I'm going to need a pilot for it as well, preferably somebody who I can trust with high yield nukes.

In the meantime, I send O'Leary back to CP to get some energy cells, whilst I wait by the west gate of Hatikvah's, scanning the occasional freighter to see if there's any good targets. There aren't, but it keeps me occupied while I wait for him. By the time he gets back I'm itching to shoot something, but we've got a ship to retrieve from Freedom's Reach. So we blaze across Nopileos', down through Danna's and dock at the Teladi trading station in Freedom's. We shift the jumpdrive offa Shooting Fish and the cells aboard Dirty Magic into the freighter and jump the Demeter back to CP. I might get it some software and upgrades and set it up as a second remote trader eventually, but for now it's going to be my storage space.

So, O'Leary and I make our way back across through Danna's and into NM, where we pick up a handful of missiles, including a few Tempests and a Thunderbolt, which have been left over from a ruck. Shame we weren't about to see it though. Then we hit HF and skip across the sector and start heading back to Argon space. I want to stop at OTAS and buy another jumpdrive, as at the moment Dirty Magic is the only one of us that has one. As we're crossing Akeela's beacon though I spot a used ship for sale...

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...and a TP has many applications, both legal and illegal, so I take it. I order it down to the federal shipyard in Legend's Home and carry on across the sector, ordering O'Leary to pick up the former pilot and stuff him in a crate. He's another one that can keep until I get docking rights for a training facility. Heh heh heh.

We're just making our way from the west gate when this guy jumps through it...

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...well now, a Nova would be a helluva lot better for me than a 'cuda. More weapon options, including both Energy Bolt Chainguns and Plasma Burst Generators, plus an increase in cargo space and 50% more shielding than Shooting Fish...I can't say no really. So I take this one too, and, like the Express, send it on down to the shipyard and get Stephen to pick up the pilot. I think that Nova will take over as my personal ship, meaning I can pass the 'cuda on to O'Leary, giving him that much extra bite on my wing. I might have to up his basic daily pay as well, after all, he's not flying an M5 any more.

About three quarters of the way to the south gate I spot another ship for sale...

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...which for just shy of 50k is a good deal. The tanker variant of the Caiman keeps all the speed of the basic model so I think I'll be setting this one up to be my loot collector. I send it to the shipyard along with the Nova and the Express so I can see how much the three ships are worth and head on through the gate so I can dock at OTAS HQ.

Whilst in Legend's I spot another Caiman Tanker for sale, but this one's not such a great deal.

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No, I'm not paying out that kind of cash for it mate. Even at 100% hull. Instead, I dock at OTAS and buy a jumpdrive for Shooting Fish. Whilst that's being installed then I meet up with O'Leary and we go and grab some breakfast at one of the overpriced but quite good restaurants the OTAS employees use. We get a good solid meal, stewed scruffin fruits in a sauce over meatsteaks, and although it costs, it tastes really good. Stephen doesn't look too impressed at first but after his first bite of the sweet and sour scruffin sauce he's grinning like a fool. “Tastes like Chinese food!” he says. I don't have a clue what he's on about, and the stimulator is making me burn through energy so quick I'm too hungry to ask. I also buy us a light wheat beer each, which O'Leary says is the best he's tried since arriving in the commonwealth, and then head back to the ships, refreshed and ready for some more trouble. Before leaving the sector I check on my three purchases which have now made it to the shipyard...

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...and it looks like I did well on the TS and the TP, but lost out a bit on the Nova. All in all though the three kinda balance out, and having the Nova to fall back on once we source weapons for it will certainly be better than me flying Shooting Fish.

For now though, we're going back to Company Pride to replace some of our missiles. By this point I've had the Mercury jump down here from PTNI and shifted all the gear across to my Demeter, which has also bought 900 or so mosquito missiles, giving us a healthy stock to play with. Alongside the Wasps that gives us an edge even when outnumbered.

In Thuruk's I get an offer from a desperate Split looking for some serious anti capital weaponry...

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… but the only places I know that even produce SQUASH mines is Profit Centre Alpha, and the two factories there are still out of stock, due to a lack of nostrop. I really should consider investing in an oil refinery up that way.

As we hit CP I spot another second hand ship for sale...

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… and take it. I can use that as my storage which frees up the Demeter for use as a trader. In their current states of repair the Demeter is actually faster than the Mercury, so I might switch duties for trading in and around PTNI, since Two Grand and Profit Centre Alpha are such big sectors to cross, and use the Mercury for trading in and around Ceo's Sprite.

So, I've spent a good portion of my available cash in the last few hours, buying the three ships in Akeela's has put a bit of a dent in my funds. Worse though, I'm still finding ways to spend it. I've got my supply of Wasps, but I'm thinking about investing in a stock of Dragonfly missiles as well, both to give us a bit of diversity in combat, and because I can be both supply and demand for the Teladi complex what makes 'em. Working both ends of the deal I wind up making a profit if I'm the only customer. I might look into getting some Commodity Logistics Software for one of my freighters and hiring someone to do the rounds for me, selling energy, ore and oil to the complex, then buying up all the stock when the prices are good. Hmm.

In the meantime, we're back on the hunt. I undock from the equipment dock and am immediately confronted with this lot...

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… well I'm not about to let them ruin the sector I'm currently using as a base of operations. So I cue up a Remote Guided Warhead and let rip.

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You're welcome. I turn towards the east gate and then get a message ping. My ships down in Legend's Home have made it to OTAS HQ and I've bought jumpdrives for each of them, along with a docking computer and triplex scanner, then sent them on to the trading station in the sector for engine and rudder tunings, and for the Nova, maxed out the cargo bay. Now they've made it to the shipyard, where I get both the TS 'Swag Bag' and the TP 'Puddle Jumper' fixed up. There's only minor damage to the Nova which I can repair myself. My Demeter has transferred all the missiles and equipment I currently have to the Vulture, parked at the SPP here in Company Pride and stocked up on energy, before jumping down to Legend's to drop some off to my new acquisitions. Moments later the four ships are here in CP and heading for the dock. I order Dirty Magic back as well, dock up myself and start switching equipment around.

Of the seven 25 Mj shields I bought five are immediately allocated to the two heavy fighters. I split the other two between Swag Bag and Puddle Jumper, giving them at least a little bit of protection. The shield that was originally aboard Good Intentions is now on my as yet un-named Nova, and has been replaced with a 200 Mj shield. It's going to be busy doing high tech runs for me I think, so it won't hurt for it to be well covered if anyone decides to take a pop at it. The PRGs, 4 PACs and a couple of IRE's go on the Nova and the last two PACs and a handful of IREs from the two M5s fill out Shooting Fish main laser bank. O'Leary might not be able to deal massive damage for the moment, but he can fire nigh on constantly with that set up. Once I get us some more solid weaponry of course I'll be giving him a bit more range, but for now this is the best I can do. I load up both ships with thirty mosquito missiles and thirty wasps, tell O'Leary to set himself up as missile defence and undock, ready for action.

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Huh. Now that's just odd. I seem to be getting those every time my Mercury completes an order. Maybe there's a glitch in the software?

We shoot through into Thuruk's and immediately spot a mark...

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He's too fast for me to catch, so I send Shooting Fish in to grab his attention and then scare him out of his ship.

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Hmm. That's going to cost a pretty penny to get fixed up. Not really sure it'd be worth it though. It can only mount one 25 Mj shield which means it probably won't survive long encounters, but it does have a top speed of 228m/s, and can mount PBGs. If nothing else it might fit a pilot with a penchant for fireball tactics. For now though, it gets sent back to Company Pride and it's former pilot gets stuffed in the Barracuda's hold.

I do a quick check on the stations in the system and spot four HEPTs for sale at the local equipment dock. The Split like me enough for me to buy them, so I snag the lot and switch two for two of my PACs and the others for two of Shooting Fish IREs. That should give it enough range to get their attention pretty quick and lead them back to me. Just needs a couple of PRGs for smaller, lighter targets and I can pull the other weapons off to re-arm the M5s. Whilst I'm here I also splash out the 1.8 million credits for a turbo booster for the Nova. It's not fast enough to get out of trouble when the shit hits the fan, so this will hopefully give me an added degree of survivability.

We head into Hatikvah's and see a few targets and a slightly worrying problem.

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Looks like a lot of the pirates have a problem with me, and I don't know why. But I don't like it, that can mean trouble. It soon slips through the west gate though, so we carry on through the sector looking for targets worth hitting. After a few minutes we come across this guy...

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… and there was no way I wasn't going to try for him.

I stayed tight on the TM as O'Leary shredded most of his escort, which consisted of two Mako and two Octopus. By the time he'd finished spewing crates everywhere the last Octopus was trying to make a break for it, but I caught him with my PRGs and he bailed.

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So I send him up to Company Pride and set about collecting up the goodies from that Boron.

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The Ion Disruptor gets switched into my rear turret to give me a small EM field making me all but immune to missile fire. For now I want to keep the PRGs on board, so I give my two HEPTs to Shooting Fish and rack up with four PRGs on my main bank.

With the weapons collected and switched we make our way into Nopileos' whilst I call in Swag bag to pick up the ammo and missiles. There's a Pirate Galleon and his mates beating up the freight traffic, but it's not hostile to me, so I push on. I spot a Boron military freighter and a Paranid high tech runner heading my way, and take a peek at what the fish has in his hold.

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Oooh..CIGs. Now they fetch almost 450k a piece, so getting both of them is almost a million credits. That said, they are bread and butter corvette weaponry, and at some point I will be trying to steal something that can fire them. For now though, I need to get 'em. So I give that little squiddie a tap on the shoulder...

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… and he happily complies with my wishes. That Galleon is also happily kicking the snot out of the trade lane, so there's even more goodies to scoop up. I'm going to need Swag Bag again.

Whilst the Caiman is scooping up weapons for me I look for another target. That 'nid got munched on by the pirates so I won't be picking on him, but then I notice another problem.

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Bloody bugs are getting everywhere! So I cue up my last RGW and smash 'em like Teladi eggs on omelette night.

Just after watching that cluster go up in smoke I spot a Boron freighter passing close by. He's only carry a few meatsteaks, so I go for him.

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Now, I ain't sure why, but either stomping on that bug cluster or hitting this here Boron has ticked off the locals...

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They're not heading in this direction though, so I'm hoping we can keep operating in the middle and west of the sector without them deciding to break us. I've had to jump Swag Bag back to CP as it was close to the east gate and I didn't want it to get humped. So we coast on over to the west gate and spot this guy.

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He promptly spews his guts all over the sector under PRG fire and I'm forced to catch up with the Dolphin I just stole and swap the CIGs into it's hold so I can pick up the IPGs. I order the freighter to the trading station in Freedom's and tell O'Leary to look after it on it's way. Whilst I'm scooping up the IPGs the two of them make their way out of the sector, then I get a worrying report from Danna's. Seems there's another pirate Carrack there and it's heading for my freighter. I know O'Leary can't handle something that big in a 'cuda, so I tell him to break for the trading station beyond the south gate and eject all the cargo from the Dolphin, moments before that Carrack turns it into shrapnel. Nuts. Now I'm gonna have to try to recover those weapons myself, under the nose of an angry M7.

So I idle at the east gate until Swag Bag has made it back to the SPP at Company Pride and refuelled, before jumping it back down to me to shift the 3 IPGs in my hold over to it. Then I send it back to CP whilst I attempt to retrieve the two CIGs currently floating in Danna's Chance.

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I manage to stay far enough ahead of it to grab my cargo and make my escape into Freedom's to hook up with Shooting Fish. Now, this pirate problem is starting to get annoying. A little while ago they were all 'happy happy joy joy', and now suddenly they wanna blow my head off. I think I need to do a bit of scouting around to work out what's going on. So I send a message to Giggity to remote pilot down here, and get Swag bag and Puddle Jumper to fuel up and bounce down here too. There might be some missions I can take to get the pirates off my back, and I'd like to keep my options open. For now Freedom's is a good safe harbour for keeping the local clans smiling, so with all my toys in one box, I can get to work.

Giggity has no trouble slipping past the heavy ships in NM and Danna's, and arrives at about the same time as the two transports. I hop into the scout, leave O'Leary with orders to stay out of trouble and head north.

I skip past the Carrack in Danna's and up head for the north gate. On the way I look at the stock levels on the PBG forge, only to discover they have nine in stock. Hmm. I need to find a hacker. There's none in Brennan's but I find one in Olmancketslat's Treaty, who kindly hacks the forge for a measly 200k credits. After I finish dealing with him and head south I spot this...

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… which is the same one that was trying to stomp my ass down in Danna's Chance. I think I'm being followed. Still, at least I know he's not in Danna's causing any more trouble, so with the forge hacked I send the Nova up to pick up some weaponry. I make my way back down to Brennan's and take a personnel transport mission.

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So I order Puddle Jumper to jump up and meet me. Once it reaches the station I hop in, welcome my paying passengers, set the ship up for autopilot and jump back into Giggity. A few minutes later the passengers reach their destination, I get paid, and Puddle Jumper gets another load of fuel before jumping back to Freedom's.

I pass the Nova on my way south and pick up two more missions at the FR trading station.

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I'm going to need to take these, as right now I don't have enough cash to buy those PBGs. Since the solo passenger is demanding a TP for his flight I'm going to need to take this lot personally, so I hop in the cockpit, ensure all my passengers are strapped in and make the jump for Brennan's. There's no hostiles, so I creep over to the Space Jewellery fab and collect my 967k, before jumping up to Bala Gi's and dropping off my last fare. With that done I pick up a few more cells to keep my fuel reserves topped up and bounce back to Freedom's. It's almost time for lunch and I'm frakking starving. This stimulator thingy is burning through my bodies energy like flames through paper.

I get back to the trading station, switch back to Giggity and check in on my Nova. It's almost back...

http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/4968 ... n00061.png

… and packing some serious heat. Now though, I'm noticing a problem. All this jumping around and mucking about is starting to get irritating. I don't have anything like the kinds of funds to pay someone to break my prisoners for use as meatshields, but I'm in increasing need of a TM class ship.

I might need to head home and see about buying a Chokaro...

Assets:

'Nova' – Nova
'Giggity' – Disco Vanguard
'Good Intentions' – Goner Ranger
'Swag Bag' – Caiman Tanker
'Puddle Jumper' – Express

'Shooting Fish' – Barracuda Vanguard – Stephen O'Leary

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

Demeter Super Freighter 77% - Storage

Vulture Super Freighter 60% - Refit required

Hades 84% - Pilot/Refit required
Barracuda Raider 9% - Pilot/Refit required
'Dirty Magic' – Buster Raider – Pilot required
Disco Vanguard – Pilot required
Octopus 62% - Pilot/Refit required

Credits: 489,058

Time: 768-05-02 11:53

*****

I'm a bit stuck for a name for the Nova. It's so nondescript I'm struggling to think of something that fits it Hope you all enjoy

[Libelnon]

Whoo! Moar received! Condolences to you, great Kirlack!

Anyway, worshipping aside, it looks like you've got quite the haul going. I had an Eclipse called 'Nebulae' once, I've always thought the M3 Argon ships are best named after spacial phenomena. Although, some do sound a bit nerdy.

[Scion Drakhar]

Good stuff, mate. You write an easy and enticing read that's hard to look away from.

What a day, eh? I mean a Hades! And in good shape, AND with a jumpdrive! Nice catch! Those are my favorite bombers. They just looka' SO nice. If you need a pilot for one I'm sure Thane could be talked into it. He does like hittin' hard after all ...

Those were some very respectable second hand ship purchases btw. I don't know why but I rarely seem to have that kind of luck with those. I usually get the guy wanting ten million for a busted up buzzard. That Caiman might have been worth it, but only if it had a maxed out cargo bay, those extensions can get very expensive. Only way to know for sure is to scan the ship.

In any case I'm eagerly awaiting MOAR!!!

P.S. Imageshack has a maximum image size and all the uploads get reduced in quality to fit it. You can make the most of it by using paint to select maps or mission pages or whatever you want to draw attention to and crop it, which makes the screenshots clearer and easier to read, especially for folks who don't use Firefox and can't zoom in.

Anyway, well done bro. Keep it up.

[46_n_2]

great read.... i would like to sign up for fighter duty if you would have me...

Name: Ardentes Somnium
Call sign: Fire (火)
Race: Argon
Age: 25
Height/weight: 6'4"/250 lbs

Description: large bulky human. long brown hair and beard. left side of face scared from burns and an eye patch with a red stone shaped like a flame over that eye

Short bio: long serving merc and pilot for hire before that was kicked out of argon services for burning a squad mate alive during training exercise with a PBG (in a statement he said it was an IFF malfunction but rumor has it the pilot owed him money) Ardentes is a natural pyromaniac and loves watching things go BOOM. He will work for anyone who pays well but will only truly follow those who earn his respect (those that do he will die for) he attempts to appear like an unintelligent fool but those that are keen notice the genus behind his good eye.

Role: any fighter that can equip PBGs or any M8/M7M

[Triaxx2]

SD is right, which is one of many reasons I swapped to Photobucket. Other reasons including being unable to remember my Imageshack password...

I did find it a little hard to follow this time, mainly because of all the photo links. I'd get the thread and then have to search for the next line and lose both my place and the cadence of the story. It's not bad, just annoying.

It's definitely worth the extra effort to make words link to the images. Keeps the flow and still gets the images in important places.

Just an idle thought though...

[Kirlack]

Thanks guys

46_n_2 (is that a Tool reference by the way?), Welcome! I'll reserve a spot for Ardentes once I get some more ships

What a day, eh? I mean a Hades! And in good shape, AND with a jumpdrive! Nice catch! Those are my favorite bombers. They just looka' SO nice. If you need a pilot for one I'm sure Thane could be talked into it. He does like hittin' hard after all ...

Those were some very respectable second hand ship purchases btw. I don't know why but I rarely seem to have that kind of luck with those. I usually get the guy wanting ten million for a busted up buzzard. That Caiman might have been worth it, but only if it had a maxed out cargo bay, those extensions can get very expensive.

Yeah, the Hades was the highlight of my captures for the day. I was thinking of Thane when I started wondering who'd be the first choice for pilot, we'll see how it pans out As for the Caiman, I have a golden rule where I never buy a 2nd hand ship at 100% hull. Regardless of what it might have on board the money involved is generally too high to justify.

P.S. Imageshack has a maximum image size and all the uploads get reduced in quality to fit it. You can make the most of it by using paint to select maps or mission pages or whatever you want to draw attention to and crop it, which makes the screenshots clearer and easier to read, especially for folks who don't use Firefox and can't zoom in.

SD is right, which is one of many reasons I swapped to Photobucket. Other reasons including being unable to remember my Imageshack password... Wink

I did find it a little hard to follow this time, mainly because of all the photo links. I'd get the thread and then have to search for the next line and lose both my place and the cadence of the story. It's not bad, just annoying.

It's definitely worth the extra effort to make words link to the images. Keeps the flow and still gets the images in important places.

Thanks guys, your advice is duly noted. I will try to add the links as part of the text from now on and we'll see how things go The reason the images are coming up smaller than planned is because I'm still uploading them at message board size (680 x 600 or whatever it is), rather than full screen. I will look into cropping them and uploading differently though.

So, I'm thinking about switching up to a modified game in the not too distant future. I will certainly be adding SerialKicked's Yaki Armada 2 script as it adds an EqD to Senator's Badlands, once I get as far as Savage Spur. I'm also considering Pirate Guild 3, CODEA (and Personnel Transporter etc.), MARS (for loot collection more than combat, for now anyway), and the NPC Bailing Addon. I'm also tempted to install Cycrow's Cheat Package, mainly to add the currently unavailable Yaki ships to their shipyard but also to cheat in some Yaki stations to simulate a real economy in their territory. What do you guys think?

[Triaxx2]

Yes, and no. The unavailables are unavailable, for good reasons. The Advanced Chokaro for example is exceptionally useful. But it should be limited to just one.

Make them all sort of backroom deals.

[Kirlack]

That's not a bad idea. I might add them in as mission 'rewards', since a lot of my game play once I'm back in Yaki space is going to revolve around me working for them. I like the concept of only having one Adv Chokey, since it is such a great ship But it would be nice to be able to buy at least one M6 and M7/M7M class from somewhere

[46_n_2]

46_n_2 (is that a Tool reference by the way?)

it is indeed and thanks for the welcome

[Kirlack]

46_n_2 (is that a Tool reference by the way?)

it is indeed and thanks for the welcome

Cool! I love that track..and Eulogy...and Push It..and...well pretty much anything that was on the Aenima or Lateralus albums Mmm...Schism

[Scion Drakhar]

MOAR!!!

[Kirlack]

MOAR!!!

You know...it occurs to me that after months of folks demanding MOAR! of From Nothing...

You must be loving this Now that the shoe is on the other foot I mean

Chapter 9 is under way. Patience my young padawan

[Triaxx2]

I'm sure he is. Of course, those of us who know, know it's much easier to sit and demand 'MOAR' than it is to actually play the game and write this stuff.

I also have a wish to see more, but am patient and willing to wait.

Stupid asteroids...

[Libelnon]

MOAR!!!

Seconded... MOAR!!

We only do it 'cuz we love you. (jokes.)

[Scion Drakhar]

MOAR!!!

You know...it occurs to me that after months of folks demanding MOAR! of From Nothing...

You must be loving this Now that the shoe is on the other foot I mean

Hell yeah! There are definite perks to being in the audience.

[Libelnon]

I just caught myself going 'ooh, Kirlack's on! Maybe he's updating this!'

...

I think I'm addicted.