Strange Encounter
03 Nov 2020Vinesse
151 hours 13 minutes 07 seconds. Time since I left station. Star behind me, streaky blue ball of gas looming in front of me... drifting above the disk of ice and dust. I'm not a bad person, just unlucky. Pulse-wave is on continuous ping, but has picked out nothing of sufficient value. I need this to be a big haul - bromelite wont cut it this time. Opals or bust. I'm skint, fined and wanted... not a criminal mind you, just unlucky.153 hours. I have drifted into the ring again. Time to wake up. The shadows near the top of the ring are razor-sharp this far out from the star. Deeper into the ring plane it's alive with sparkling ice crystals, but I'm not looking at them. I'm staring at the edge of my scanner where I'm sure I just saw a blip. It's gone. Or I imagined it. 153 hours and not a lot of sleep.
159 hours 25 minutes: The blip again. I'm not going mad. I flip off assist and spin slowly around, straining my eyes for movement in the distance. Is someone following me? Pirate? What's the point, I'm empty apart from a couple of limpets. I'll park up behind a big rock and go find the binoculars. I'm glad nobody else knows what this ship smells like.
167 hours: I think I just saw a shadow pass across an ice-rock in front of me. Was it mine? No, mine's over there. Scanner is clear though. I need sleep. Pulse-wave is either broken or it hates me. This was meant to be the place for opals but it must have been tapped out years ago. I don't need a full hold, just a single core. Enough to pay the fines, bounties and people I owe. I'm just unlucky. Stupid? Yes... but everyone boosts out the mailslot these days.
171 hours: I'm thrown forwards - I've hit something. Wake up! My half-done-up restraint twists me around as the softer shield-strike gives way to hull on ice. I pull myself back towards my seat by the restraint and fumble for the throttle and thrusters. Back it up. I must have zoned out again and drifted back into the ring. Shields are down, hull damage minor, but it's on top of the crash earlier. Everyone boosts out the mailslot. It was just unlucky that a security viper cut in front of me. My speeding beat-up freighter won the mass game. Unlucky.
The ice is fractured where I hit it... how fast was I going? No wait... there's another fracture, and another... a core! 2 limpets. One to prospect, one to collect. Fingers crossed. Limpet's on its way... and NO! Dead... straight into a chunk of debris from my earlier collision. Damn these things to hell! One left. I guess I can manually scoop. It's down to this. I apply a touch of starboard thrust to change the trajectory. Prospector away. This time it makes it. I watch the telemetry, waiting for the composition to come back. Please, just this once, I cannot be unlucky every time...
Core Detected: Void Opals.
171 hours and 10 minutes. The gradual despair that has been eating me up has gone. I am saved! Already I'm doing the math in my head - I should be able to fill at least 12 canisters, if the nearby tourist port is still buying at the price I saw when I was running out of luck at their casinos, I should clear around 14 million... enough to pay everyone off and get out of this stinking Lakon tub. I'm snapped out of my reverie by the proximity alarm, a new pip - close - on my scanner... and a shadow passing over my cockpit. I'm frozen in my seat, my heart is in my mouth. How can someone be this unlucky? My shields are still a few minutes from coming back... not that it matters, I have no combat weapons, only an abrasion blaster capable of removing paint. They must have drifted in silent - their shields are still down... a Krait Phantom. It pitches slowly around to face me, hardpoints deployed. This old keelback doesn't stand a chance. I can almost feel their scanners like prickling heat on my skin. They'll know I'm empty, they can see I've just prospected. I squint past their lights to try and see the CMDR in the cockpit... all I can make out is a dark helmeted shape. He can see me, sunken cheeks, ragged beard, greasy hair. I guess we're in a stalemate. He needs me to mine this rock, but I need everything from it. Even if he subscribes to some sort of honor code and leaves me half, I'm ruined. I don't know what to do.
172 hours 12 minutes: He's still there. My prospector has long since run out of power, but I don't need it anymore. He (or she?) hasn't made any attempt to communicate. I've stayed silent until I can think of something to say that will get me out of this situation without being cleaned out - or killed. I'm not very good at this. I guess I have no choice. I bring up the comms panel and signal my intention to blow the rock. No reply, but the Phantom moves off a few hundred meters, still facing me. I set the charges... maybe I should trigger them right now and end this... not even brave enough for that... I move out of blast range, luckily my shields are back, but not taking any chances. The Phantom thrusts sideways to keep me in their sights. The flash comes in silence, followed by the slight shudder of the ship as the high-velocity debris wave strikes my shield. Right, let's get this over with. Cargo scoop out, vector in to the nearest chunk I can see. The pirate has moved closer... I can almost see them readying their hatch-breakers. Their cargo hatch is opening...
They're dumping... limpets? I can't believe it! I count 8 on the scope. They've released ownership. What is this? I look up... The Krait is turning and boosting out of the ring. Frameshift Charge Detected.
172 hours 15 minutes: I guess my luck is turning!