Mike the Miner
18 Dec 2019Jonny_saturn
By chance, I bump into an old friend while out and about trading materials and configuring my new Cutter. I first met him a while back when I did quite a bit of opal mining, we would pass like ships in the night, comparing notes and competing with each other on profit gains, occasionally stopping off in the bar and having a drink or two together.Mike - a funny character, eccentric and swears a lot. Most people keep their distance from him, but he's actually a decent guy once you get to know him. I hadn't planned on mining again for a while, but Mike was keen for me to join him at a particular hot-spot he had found, 'where precious minerals were so abundant that I don't mind telling @#*£ #~&@'s like you about'. There was a catch though, of course.
"There is a catch though," said Mike, "Fizzy Chicken."
"Fizzy what now?" I replied.
"There's this pirate called Fizzy Chicken, known and wanted by the Empire. He's *#&@ing about with me, #@^&ing my *&@^ *&#@ and =&~#ing my &#*." Mike was getting wound up just talking about it.
It transpires that a 'spat' between the two had escalated to the point where this pirate was on the Hunt for Mike at his new favourite mining ground, looking to kill him. Mike was sporting an Anaconda last time I saw him, but he had lost this in one of the recent confrontations with his nemesis, the canopy blowing unexpectedly. But he had also taken down Chicken's Python, with a full cargo hold of stolen goods and now he wanted revenge. They had pretty much financially ruined each other in the on-going saga.
Despite the silly name, I had heard of Fizzy Chicken and his gang, while running courier missions out in Empire heartland. His name had come up a few times on the mission board as a wanted villain. His bounty was high too, so not someone to mess with in a DBX kitted out for courier hopping, or even Mike's Asp.
But now with my new Cutter, we could both go out and mine as a pair in relative safety and make a few million credits. My bank balance is still quite healthy, but I would like to have the Cutter earn back some of the 900 or so million credits I just spent on her.
We head out to mine for Painite, an odd pair with one in a brand new sleek cutter and the other in a battered old Asp. I hope not to meet any pirates, Chicken or otherwise, but at least we will be much safer as a pair.