Long ago on a cold, dreary, dark night........
24 Jul 2019Eskwadl
So awhile back I got talked into helping Zemina Torval out. Boy was that interesting. Juana and Kyara talked me into acquiring Mining Lances. I eventually gave in and we signed up with the old Hag. For the first few weeks all seemed to go smoothly. Come the third week we found out that that Zemina has a dark side.She gave us a shady request. She wanted us to travel to a few systems that she was looking to spread her talons into and collect "information". Well we did as we were asked. Few days later we get a classified communication. Now we are being asked to detain a few suspects that allegedly committed High Treason. We were 2 days away from earning them lances so we decided to help out.
After nearly a week of tracking, we finally find Donnie Gibson and his co-pilot Maci Compton. We set an intercept course in our trusty Phantom, get within interdiction range and all hell breaks loose. Kyara is at the stick getting a bit of flight time in. She struggles to keep us engaged but she ultimately won. We all drop out of supercruise immediately we have an SLF popping plasma cannon rounds into our engine bay. Mothership is a Crusader. So we have a full on dog fight goin on. Juana jumps into our SLF and launches out to go for the other fighter. Kyara still at the helm evading the incoming rail shots as best she can. So I jump into the weapon ops seat and fire up the big cannons. I'm shooting at this damn crusader getting maybe one out of three shots to hit the target.
Meanwhile, Juana is out there dodging and weaving with the other SLF. Unknown to Kyara and me, she is engaged in some diplomacy and having a mock battle. Finally I get a clean shot at the Power Generator with penetrating rounds. Power flickers a few times and thankfully knocked shields offline. Those engines are exposed and I fire both rails and both cannons and got a killing shot on the rear left pylon. Now we in for a hell of surprise when the enemy SLF turns back towards it's own mothership and open's fire, with Juana in our SLF at it's side firing as well. Kyara and I are wondering what the fuck is goin on, but we seize the moment and open fire on the other engine pylon.
Second engine down, hell of a death spiral heading towards the star. Escape pod launches. Not sure what is going on here but Kyara changes course to pick up that pod. In the mean time I finally get Juana on comms. She informs me that the other SLF pilot sent her invite to an encoded channel. Maci has been tryin to escape a bad situation and decided to reach out and ask for help. We all know how Juana is a bit of a softy. Long story short Maci docks her fighter into our spare bay (some noob wrecked the other fighter a week ago in an asteroid field, won't name the culprit for that stunt). We now know the crusader is a dead husk in space. and its captain is stuck in his escape pod down in the cargo hold.
Naturally I'm skeptical and expecting an ambush or something from Maci. Well I get outnumbered by Juana and Kyara and now I have to hear Maci's story til the end.
So I make juvenile jokes about "Imperial Sex Slaves" quite often. Well now I have met one. That nasty old Hag Zemina, had kidnapped Maci when she was only a small child. Treated her horribly and smacked her around at her leisure. Once she came of age the old Snaggletooth took a liking to her and Maci became her personal Concubine.
After nearly 10 years and many many scars later, Maci met another slave, Donnie. So Donnie lays on all the charm and wins over Maci's heart and is somehow able to teach her how to fly an SLF. Not sure how but anyways. The duo come up with a master escape plan. The night comes and they sneak out while Zemina is having a big social event. They stole the crusader and hightailed it out of there.
Turn's out that Donnie wasn't such a gentleman. His long term plan was to steal Maci away and he made her his slave.
Now at this point I am a bit unhappy. Thankfully Kyara had an idea. We return to Zemina and give Donnie to her and tell her that Maci went down with the ship. Obviously she questions us in depth and searches the ship and its logs to verify our story (good thing Kyara is a genius with computers). After nearly another week of interrogations, Zemina finally accepts our story. We collect our Mining Lances and depart the Zemina's hell hold palace. Once we leave orbit we fly into the asteroid belt a few planets over and pick up Maci. Good thing we modified the life support on her SLF and gave her extra rations expecting a long run in with the old Hag.
With everyone on board we jump away. Get 20 lightyears away and we put the ship in Supercruise Assist for a awhile and had to the bunks to get some needed rest. Next day we meet in the gally and make a feast for breakfast. Maci starts telling us what she can remember of her life before the Torval's took over her home all those years ago. Got a bit curious and got on galnet and did some research. Turns out Maci's home world was a federation system. A bit more research and we come to realize that Felicia Winters lost that system about the same time that Maci was abducted. We decide to head to the Rhea system.
Upon our arrival we head to the local Embassy. We wait awhile. And wait some more. Damn bureaucratic bullshit (pardon my French). Finally we can speak to the Administrators office. Maci gives them what info she can remember and a genetic sample. More waiting. Finally they have some good news. Turns out Maci is the daughter of a Diplomat. Unfortunately her family perished but a friend of the family has been looking for her all these years. This "friend" happens to be the assistant to Felicia Winters.
So the gals convince Maci to meet the family friend. She can now try to find her place in life. And as a plus....Juana, Kyara, and I are kindly thanked for helping Maci and have been offered asylum and a safe place to dock for awhile.
Good thing we have a safe place to stay. The old Hag has found out the truth and we are now on her KOS list.
After a lengthy discussion the ladies and I have decided to sign up and work for Miss Winters for awhile. Few more days and we will be eligible to collect her PP weapon. It's been over a month of us running Data around and Collecting Intel. For all the bad rep the Feds get, Felicia seems cold until you get to know its all a front. Of all the Power Players in the bubble, Miss Winters has been one of the better people to work for.
Now me and Juana and Kyara are discussing what we want to do next. I'm sure we will find some kind of adventure, we always do. As a side note, it seems we now have a few high ranking friends in the Federation.
Until Next time,
Eskwadl, and Juana, and Kyara,
(now we need a ship mascot, any suggestions?)