Business as usual
04 May 2019Gréviste
Patrick idly watched the solar flare next to him. His prey should appear any minute now. His contact had said that a transport was en route to a station in this system with a full cargo of painite. A Type-6 transporter, with light armor and even lighter weaponry, filled to the brim with one of the rarest minerals out there. This was almost too good to be true. He checked his contact panel again : a Sidewinder, two Cobras Mk.III, a Fer-de-lance and a Python, but no T6 yet.Some idiot started spamming music on the global coms. Patrick was about to ignore the source when he noticed a new signature entering the system. A quick check confirmed the ship model : the hunt was on. Forgetting about the music for now, Patrick started moving into position for interception. He chose not to throw the usual banter at his quarry; surprising him would be much better. As he was closing the distance, the song abruptly entered a much more intense section and, just as abruptly, the familiar interdiction interface appeared on the canopy.
It took Patrick a moment to realize that he wasn't the one that had initiated the interdiction. Also, the T6 seemed to be drifting away without a care in the world. Someone was on him! He had to break free soon, lest his target obliviously escaped. Patrick tried to align with the escape vector, jerking the joystick so hard he thought he would break it. But whatever ship was behind him, it seemed to be much more nimble than his. Still Patrick kept on resisting, managing to stay on supercruise, but not making any progress toward escape. The T6 was already long gone, but Patrick didn't give up yet : it was a matter of pride now. Unfortunately, his (undeniable) pride proved insufficient to disrupt a multi-million credits module designed specifically to forcibly stop hyperdrives. Shouting in exasperation, he lost to the interdiction.
When the ship stopped shaking, Patrick angrily yelled in the coms : "Who do you think y-"
He was interrupted by the alarms going off in his ship, and the board computer announcing "Under attack". Whoever this guy was, he was not there to chat. But Patrick wasn't either. Boosting out of the incoming fire and around his would-be attacker, he caught a glimpse of the enemy ship : a Fer-de-lance, with a golden paint job. The guy wasn't very subtle.
The ships turned around each other, trying to get good hits in while staying out of the line of sight of the other. The Fer-de-lance continuously managed to outmaneuver Patrick's ship, and seemed to be better equipped, too. After a few passes, Patrick had barely scratched his enemy's shield, but his was about to... well, had just dropped. Patrick soon noticed the song was still playing, and something even more infuriating : he was being hit in rhythm with it. The fucker was toying with him! Had he been holding back all along? Patrick watched the hull integrity display : 50% already. He couldn't win this.
Blasting away, Patrick opened the coms again : "So that painite transport was a trap, huh? I'll find you both, and I'll make you pay!"
He received no answer, only hearing a voice humming along with the song. And the Fer-de-lance kept firing.
When the shooting stopped, he was at 8% hull, sparks and small fires everywhere on (and in) his ship. For a moment, everything seemed calm. But on the exact moment Patrick thought he had a chance to survive, the board computer announced in a much too calm manner : "Missile incoming".
On a nearby Fer-de-lance, a pilot watched, his face briefly lit by the explosion. A message appeared on his information panel : "52,970 CR BOUNTY CLAIM AWARDED: DESTRUCTION OF CRIMINAL PATRICK".
CMDR Gréviste took a sip of tea and chuckled.
"52k? Barely worth my time."
"Yeah, sorry for starting the party without you, I just wanted to try out these missiles. You should too, someday. It's quite the light-show"
"No, you don't have to hurry, I'm not even there yet, I just attacked the first one I found."
"By the way, I think he said something about painite, have you heard anything about it?"