The Fer-De-Lance, a cheating Bounty Hunter and the Pilots Federation Promotion
16 Dec 2015Synthorian
Date: 16th of December 3301The Fer-De-Lance never arrived at that designated location like I requested. Had to travel all the way to Leesti to find another one, bone stock unlike the one I ordered. Good thing I didn't pay in advance.
Purchasing said Fer-De-Lance, which I have now named "Sundowner", put a massive dent in my finances, but that's not a big deal for me. I can make that money in about a week, give or take, if I feel dedicated enough. But the cash pouring in will be spent on upgrading this vessel. A stock Fer-De-Lance is not up to snuff for my standards, and I need this thing combat ready pretty soon. A contact of mine gave word that something big was coming up, and I want the ship to be completely milspeced before then. It's going to take around 70 million credits before I can take it into intense combat and not have to worry about it falling apart on me. I tend to throw my ships around a bit, after all.
I didn't really wait around, and got started. Pirates here aren't as prominent as in LTT 15899, and this place has plenty of hunting grounds. So I did my rounds, with 5 Medium sized Pulse Lasers. The medium strapped to the Huge hardpoint looks a little a silly, but that will be replaced with a Cannon soon enough.
There was one nuisence I had to deal with, however. Another Bounty Hunter has been following me on my hunts, and robbing me of my bounties. But before I go into that, let me explain the Bounty Registration System. It's a function of the ship's OS that uses the ship's sensors to scan a targeted vessel for their information, linking directly to the Pilots Federation as well as local law enforcement agencies in the current system. I use it to scan for bounties. This system also registers if you made the kill, and automatically claims the bounty in your name as a digital bond that you can redeem at a station within the system. Now this bond can be shared evenly between bounty hunters if they are both in the same Wing. But if another person who is not in your wing scores the "Last Hit" on the target, they claim the whole bounty, doesn't matter if you did 99% of the damage. It's frustrating as a whole and why any sensible bounty hunter avoids "taken grounds", or simply returns later.
Now you can understand why I was annoyed by the presence of CMDR Komsrov. I would do 99% of the damage, and he would swoop in and score that last 1% with his auto-cannons. And this happened with every single bounty. He followed me around like he was glued to me. By the end, I simply turned around and shreaded him. He was in a Viper MKIII after all, so it was quick work. Of course, System Authority were there, and I had to high-tail it out of there. But boy did it feel good to waste this asshole. You see, I like money more than people, and people more than my competitors, and I don't like my money being stolen from me, especially when it's the competition that's doing it.
Anyway, in other news, the Pilots Federation have sent me their congradulations on my promotion to the Combat Rank of Master. I don't really think much of these ranks, but they are important to contractors, especially the wealthier ones, so I guess it's a good step forward to greater riches and more unsavoury sorts to shoot at.
CMDR Synthorian, out.