Exploration and Pirates
08 Jul 2019Kezika
The timing of Aegis' call for exploration data could not have been better. As fate would have it my To Do list had me needing to perform a test flight of the early legs of my expedition coming up in January 3306. In addition to that I also was to set out and participate in the Apollo 11 anniversary expedition. These combined would give plenty of exploration data for Aegis to sift through.Upon my return however I jumped into the Delphi system to a message from a pirate organization calling themselves "The Code" that they were blockading the system and access to The Oracle spaceport. Their reasoning unclear, but they were well equipped and were interdicting and destroying any vessels attempting to leave orbit of the system's primary star.
Only a slight delay for me however with Ruby of Eventide at my disposal, which I'd been meaning to test for just such a situation like this. I sent comms to my estate manager in Keltim and requested him get it transferred for me to Ceres Tarn in HR 1185. I waited there in one of the high end lounges for the carrier to arrive a few hours later. It appeared I was not the only one with similar idea, as shortly after I received the notification that the carrier was in orbit and beginning ship dockings not only did I see my Imperial Eagle being flown down, but it was accompanied by a small handful of other vessels as well.
I made my way down to docking bay 8 and boarded Ruby Of Eventide, instructing my ship steward slave to wait for me at Ceres due to Ruby of Eventide only being equipped with one escape pod in the event of my plan failing. I then departed and made the jump to Delphi, with the assistance of some FSD Injection since Ruby of Eventide isn't really meant for jumping between systems on its own normally.
As I jumped in I yet again received the warning that the system was under blockade, but this time I ignored it and moved on. As expected one of the blockading ships broke their formation in pursuit of me. I made it look like I didn't want interdicted and gave him a little challenge by flying in differing angles towards The Oracle. Once close enough to The Oracle that I would need to begin slowing down I began flying straight so that they could interdict me.
My COVAS blared out a warning about the interdiction as expected, and I zeroed my throttle to submit to the interdiction. The cyan glow of the supercruise bubble faded away and my thrusters flared up in the return to the normal reference frame, and I immediately punched the boost button and prepared for the pain that followed from the sheer g-forces.
600.…700.…750 m/s, distributor ready again and another loud roar as I hit the booster 750… 800… 900… 920… I see the pirate's blip on radar zooming away behind me. A few seconds later the radar indicated they fired a missile in my direction. Contacts identified it as an FSD Disruptor missile. It too though was getting further away. Those fly at 750 m/s which is fast, but… not fast enough for Ruby of Eventide.
Charged my FSD and jumped back into supercruise and shortly thereafter was docked with The Oracle and turned in my accumulated exploration data.