The Battle of Baal A 1
01 Feb 2018Tuts
*** Baal system, above Planet A 1 , Stardate 01.17.3304 ***. . . where I soon learned what they meant by 'high intensity'.
There were certainly more ships than I'd ever seen engaged in a firefight in one place. Both factions also brought some heavier ships with their flotillas - imperial cutters, pythons, anacondas, even one of the new Lakon Type 10's made an appearance. But the lessons I've learned on the job still served me well. It's all a matter of carefully choosing your targets, staying near the periphery of the melee, and knowing when a temporary strategic withdrawal is called for.
The Baal Guardians had seemingly won the day, and I was preparing to head back for some downtime, when an alarming crackle of energy flared very close behind my ship. I boosted away immediately, and my ship's computer chose that moment to tell me something new.
"Warning. Capital class signature detected."
I watched in awe as an immense starship shoved its way through the gaping rift in spacetime it had created. An indescribable groaning accompanied its entry into normal space. Somehow, the VSOP Privateers had obtained a Majestic class Imperial Interdictor - and they were deploying it right on top of us.
Shortly thereafter, the Baal Guardians' own interdictor arrived. Soon the two capital ships were locked in an evenly matched slugfest, firing massive broadsides into each other. My own popguns wouldn't make a dent in that monster's hull. Fortunately, I did discover that its teeth could be pulled . . .
After a lengthy pitched battle (at one point I was reduced to fabbing my own ammunition), the VSOP capital was forced to withdraw or risk complete destruction. Just as the mopping up was being completed, leaving only friendlies on my scope, I received a notification from the Pilots Federation:
and judging by the timing of his message, Broo Tarquin must be highly connected with the Pilots Federation...
*** Baal system, Oterma Station, Stardate 01.17.3304 , Supplemental ***
I had just powered down the FAS, was unstrapped and pulling off my sweaty Remlock even before the docking platform's hydraulics were finished lowering, when I received a 'mission critical' message from my contact with Baal Guardians. I squashed an impulse to ignore it. I needed a damn shower and some serious rack time, but my clients had been paying me increasingly well. My allies had earned some courtesy on my part.
It seems that during my last sortie, right before the VSOP's capital ship arrived, an unidentified transmission was intercepted. It was encrypted, and too short to pinpoint with much accuracy - only that it originated from one of Baal 4's small, airless moons. The timing was suspicious enough on its own, however, to merit investigation by someone discrete. Interesting word choice. It seems my employers have at least some background on me.
Fuck it, I thought to myself as I acknowledged my agreement to carry out one last mission. I came through the last engagement without a scratch on my hull, so clearly I'm on a hot streak today. But I'm taking that shower first.
*** Supplemental Again ***
I should have ignored the damn message and gone to bed.
Oh, I completed my objective, and without getting vaped - just barely - but now I'm in hot water with the big boys in this system, and who knows who else by extension.
My first misgivings manifested when I triangulated the 'rebel' transmission source on Baal A 4 E, a frozen little rock without a real name. I followed my SOP and landed my ship out of line of sight of the tiny, uncharted ground installation where the signals allegedly came from. I used the SRV for some cautious recon.
Great. Not only did this site belong to the White Templars faction, who actually run this system and almost a dozen others, but they had an Imperial Clipper parked right beside it. I almost abandoned the mission right then and there. I knew from recent firsthand experience that the Clipper, properly fitted and flown, could eat me for breakfast in a straight-up fight.
I hate bailing on a mission. I've only had to do so a handful of times in my career. In my opinion, if you agreed to do a job and then bailed on it because things got too hard, that just means you didn't have the brains to foresee the possible complications, and that's on you. So yeah. I didn't have a good feeling about this one, but it was my own fault for not considering who might actually be underwriting this little civil war. Politics again.
So I grit my teeth, bumped the SRV's shields up as high as I could (for what it's worth), and found the best approach. A small piece of luck there - the transmission tower was near the edge of the installation's security perimeter, and I was just able to mosey up within 50 meters. I'd be able to access the terminal without triggering a tresspass alarm. I knew they'd notice a data breach immediately, but it would buy me a few precious seconds to make a getaway.
Turns out I needed ever second. That Clipper pilot was pissed. Babysitting that terminal was probably his ONE JOB and boring as hell, and I snuck past him and made him fail at it. He did his best to parboil me on my frantic dash back to the FAS, but I squeaked by with 6% hull...
I got what I needed from the data terminal to complete the mission, as well as a few tidbits of interesting data for my own perusal later. Unfortunately the White Templars had definitely noticed my meddling:
The Iron's pilot continued to shoot at me until I pulled out of the gravity well far enough to hit supercruise. So much for ending the day without hull damage. I flipped him the 'Peace Among Worlds' hand signal as my FSD powered up.
I had to use my old skillset just to get back to station for the reward.
A small fine, easily paid - but it was also a message - "Your presence had been noted."
Time to pull up stakes again. Sigh.