The Glorious Grind
24 Oct 2021Seth Bradwell
I am currently having an extended break, and just been flicking through Gutamaya's latest holo-brochure for the Cutter. I remembered why it was so long since I last set foot in the Hercules. Been doing supply runs to Dyson City for most of the past 10 hours, slowly whittling down the materials requirements. I did a similar amount the previous day before writing my log about my interview with the IISS from the prior day. It was okay to begin with, I found some routes which I could just do on one full tank and managed to net a fair bit of profit for good measure. But all the endless jumping, exacerbated by how it takes fracking ages to steer a T9 anywhere started to take its toll. First I started overshooting pads after one boost too many whilst docking. Then I started trying to land on the wrong pad - fortunately getting away before the dreaded obstruction fine took effect - a real nuisance, especially at Dyson City because the facility for paying fines is still out of service until repairs are complete. Then I started to overshoot then try to land on the wrong pad. One time, I misjudged my speed when docking at a planetary base which had slightly more gravity than I was used to, realising too late how fast I was still going, desperately pointing her upwards and boosting to cancel out the inertia, yet I still took out half my hull when I subsequently crashed into the surface. How I managed to grind a billion credits in this thing I will never know, it must have been through stubborn determination, that and the work I wanted to do was beyond the capabilities of the Cobra I had settled into but was still not too sure about stepping up to the Python with its increased insurance costs. Then there are the officials - remember when I said Imperial flight controllers are a breed above? Well I partially take that back, maybe I have been away from the Empire too long but their condescending attitude which greets you gets on my nerves, and if I have to hear one more statement about Imperial decree this or Imperial decree that, I might just send the Hercules into the nearest black hole. Hercules indeed. I named it for the Herculean tasks that she undertakes, hauling immense amounts of cargo across the galaxy. But at the moment more a more apt name would be Tedium. Or Brave Sir Robin, considering how I have no armaments on this thing so all I can do is run away. I did put turrets on her once, but removed them when I realised I need to actually confront my enemy for them to be much use, when running away is far more time efficient, and time is money, remember. My time with her has not all been misery, but I am definitely considering replacing her with that Cutter now I have the rank and the credits to do so. At least I would have the option to efficiently cut down pirates who see me as a soft target in one.On the subject of pirates, they are mostly small fry who give you the common curtesy to announce they are after your goods over public comms, giving you ample time to either prepare for an interdiction or drop into normal space, allowing you extra time to set up a high wake to the next star on your route before the pirate arrives, and if you are lucky you will be able to say "Bye sucker!" to the pirate as the FSD kicks in. But this is where the T9's infamously poor manoeuvrability, plus its great inertia really hurts it. In most other ships you can run away from the amateur pirates and would-be assassins that try to take you down, or at least your shield will hold for long enough to high wake to safety. On a T9 one usually puts on undersized shields - typically Class 5 (the lowest you can fit), in order to maximise cargo space, and that is more to safeguard against prangs whilst in the station. On paper a 5D will serve that role as long as you remain on the ball whilst docking and undocking, and don't try to cut corners or come in too fast. But when under attack that 5D shield will evaporate in a heartbeat, leaving your ship very exposed, and worse still a T9's thrusters are a very big and obvious target, and if they get knocked offline you can't jump to safety, and if you can't jump to safety then you are pretty much doomed, unless you are able to give him the cargo he wants (I refuse on principle). Even a lowly Eagle represents a significant threat with such a configuration. So unless you are exceptionally skilled at evading interdiction in the worst ship for doing so (as mentioned, dropping into normal space on getting wind of a pirate attack before they can interdict you then high waking is a sound escape tactic, assuming you can do so in time), a 5A shield plus shield boosters in every utility slot is a bare minimum, that way you can mostly tank whatever the pirate throws at you until the FSD takes you to safety.
Yet I carry on, somehow. The end is in sight, more and more materials are being crossed off the list as myself and fellow pilots continue contributing to the repair effort. I am trying to remember why I am doing this. In spite of me not seeing eye to eye with Nova Imperium, I do share a kindred spirit with them, forged in the heat of battle with the Federation five months ago. During that time Dyson City was a second home to me, I drank in her bars, walked through her botanical gardens, gazed into deep space from her observation dome, and made several friends whilst fighting to keep the Imperator out of the Federation's hands. Seeing that station burning in fire and caustic slime gave me a deep chill, and I was one of the first pilots to answer the call to get her inhabitants to safety. This relief effort was more personal than most to me for sure, and I want to see this through to the end, as soon as I want it to come, as much for the residents of Dyson City as for me. I am about to do a few more runs, probably sticking to places within a jump or two away even if it's not as cheap as sourcing them further out. I'll leave you with this shot of the Hercules departing Dyson City for another repair supply run.
