LTT 15899: A magnet for pirates
13 Dec 2015Synthorian
Date: 13th of December 3301Location: LTT 15899, Onufriyenko Station
Cashing in a 4 million credit bounty or even earning such a bounty isn't the easiest job, but I managed just fine on my own. The Redeemer can pull her weight, that's for sure. Though she still needs some fine tuning. Dual Pulse Lasers aren't exactly the greatest combo for punching through armour, and resorting to targeting specific components makes encounters just that little bit more difficult. I have realised that the thrusters that I had installed by an independ contractor, did indeed increase the ship's jump range significantly (just up to 14,50ly unladened), but have also increased power consumption, forcing me to redirect power from non-essential modules. Not really a nitpick but... more of a note to self.
The bounty itself wasn't exactly pretty. LTT 15899 C 2 has the richest mining area in this span of space, so of course pirates sprawl around here like cockroaches. I was hired by the local Law Party to help the miners feel... at ease. Let the heat off a little. Provide some breathing room. Of course being offered 4 mil raised some eyebrows, my own incluided. But money is money, and a good profit is hard to pass up.
My first stop was Onufriyenko Station, a small outpost about 6ls away from my new hunting ground, the system of rings surrounding C 2. It was small and out of the way, and a perfect spot to head back to and repair should it be necessary. I rearmed, refueled, and was ready to go.
Having jumped out of supercruise within my destination, I was greeted by a relatively empty extraction site. Almost felt like a Ghost Station, it was awfully quiet. But soon enough, my sensons were picking up anomalies in the area, some 9 to 10 km off, though upon approach and reaching my 7.50km sensor range, they were merely miners, keeping well out of the way of the navigation beacon that has been sending those NavPings for... pfff... god knows how long. It was a smart move, staying out of sensor range among the rocks kept them relatively safe for a time, perhaps just enough before the pirates would come looking.
Though it sure as hell didn't take long for them to do so. My eyes picked out flashes of light in the distance, more ships jumped into the zone. A lot of them, from what I could count, 4 wings of 3s. Assuming them as potential targets, I got closer and allowed my sensors to do the work of intel gathering. It didn't take long on almost all of those IFF's to appear as "Wanted" on the screen. Each carrying hefty bounties, more or less adding up to the advertised bounty on the Bulletin Board. These were my targets, but I couldn't take them on my own.
Staying just within 7km, I hoped to hell they didn't have sensors as good as mine, I followed and observed, and with that closed distance I could pick out the shapes of the vessels I was dealing with. Two Anacondas lead the pack with with and escort of a couple of Gunships and Dropships, accompanied by a small cluster of fighters of both medium and heavy class.
I couldn't take all these guys at once, so I chose to wait and keep watching. Though after about twenty minutes, the wings split off in different directions, going on their own seperate prowls. I followed the fighters first. Two Cobra's and a Vulture. They wouldn't be too much of a problem. Once we were out of sensor range of the other 3 wings, I made quick work of them, with the Vulture almost conveniently slamming into the rocks in a panic from the sudden attack and crushing his own canopy. I always considered that a weakness in the Vultures. Still do now that I own one. The canopy chassis is thin and easily crushed against terrain, and its open design makes it a big target to shoot at and blow open.
With the Cobras space dust and the Vulture pilot taking a scenic trip through the LTT 15899 C 2 belt system without a VacSuit, it was time to find another of the 3 remaining wings. Though being out of sensor range made that a little bit of an annoying endevour. Finally I found the second fighter wing, two Imperial Eagles and an ASP, the bigger of the three clearly decked with enough cargo space to haul what ever they manage to steal. Again, I followed the out of sensor range of the others.
The strategy with this one was clear, destroy the two eagles first, then move onto the ASP. My heavy pulse lasers would do the job quickly. The Eagles were a pain to deal with, their manueverablity slightly outmatched mine, making shots just that much more difficult to take, but my shield held out long enough to destroy both of the damn things. The ASP however, proved to be a tough one. Unlike the unlucky sod in the Vulture, this one kept a cool head, and didn't provide the convinience of pancaking himself on the asteroids. A shame really. Would have made my job easier and would have wasted less time. But soon enough, he was done for.
Now this is where I made a goof. As I approached the 3rd wind, the ASP has managed to give word to the other wings that he was in trouble. Both wings, both lead by Anacondas with 4 federal ships in tow, came at me with their hardpoints deployed. The best option here would have been to run, but something else came to mind. Boosting past the blaring laser beams and hails of bullets and cannon projectiles and god knows what else, I headed towards the miners. They hated the pirates after all, so I was pretty sure they wouldn't mind deploying their turrets to blow chucks off something other than space rocks.
What ensued, was probably the most exilerating fight I've had in ages, and probably won't have another like it for a long time.
After it was over my ship was mostly crippled. I'm surprised she didn't fall apart when I hit supercruise.
I arrived at Onufriyenko just half an hour ago, with the ship currently undergoing repairs. 20000 Cr they said to fix the damage. I got battered good. But the contractors came through with the 4 million, so that's only a drop in the ocean for my finances.
I'll say this as a final statement, however. Even if this system is remote, it doesn't stop the fact that there will be more pirate who will take the place of the ones I wasted.
CMDR Synthorian, out.