The Ship & I
06 Aug 2015Kitsu Sean
The ship I named the Stark Raven mostly because I must have been "stark raving mad" when I got drunk and lost my previous ship, a fully kitted Asp Mk II in a poker game. This is what happens when you let a former Fleet Sergeant talk you into a night of "drinks and fun" after you haven't seen her in nearly 15 years. I really should have known better but after a few drinks I wasn't thinking with the head on my shoulders anymore. It's been a while and a man has needs. Pfft....like those needs were gonna meet. I swear next time I see her, I'm gonna kick her ass. Oh well. Shit happens. I sank every credit I could scrounge into buying this Python. I've always wanted one and while what I got was far from new, she was a lot bigger than my Asp. Decent cargo tonnage. I've hated the thought of working as a full time Trader but this beast is costly to maintain and even more so to upgrade. After months of doing nothing but hauling cargo from one place to another, I managed to upgrade a few systems to the level I wanted them. I gave up some cargo tonnage in favor of a good fuel scoop so I can take even longer runs if need be. I managed to find a class six alpha sensor system with an on board advanced discovery scanner. Must have come from a major exploration ship because that piece alone is worth a few million credits but I got it for a steal of a price. I don't think the outfitter I bought it from knew what he had in his possession. His loss, my gain. After several more more months of hauling other peoples crap around, I managed a few more upgrades and I think she's a pretty decent "Armed Courier" ship now.
I took her out on her first bounty hunt earlier this week. She did quite well. Frighteningly so in fact. I've never really worked with class three directed energy weapons before. The Raven mounts three of them as well as a pair of class two rotary chain-guns. The bounty I was after was a Federation Army deserter. Got the slip from an old friend that has almost finished his thirty years in service. I didn't have a whole lot of information to go on really but I managed to locate the sludge-runner (what we called Army pukes in the Navy) in a bar in the lower levels of Biesbroeck Dock. He was "entertaining" a couple of dancing girls and from what I could overhear, over the so-called "music" with my cyber-augmented hearing, he was bragging about being a war hero. That crap boiled my blood in an instant. I got cocky. I walked right over and told him rather loudly that he was being bound by law for being a deserter to the Federation Army and flashed my Fugitive Retrieval license and badge from my wrist-comm. He choked on his drink and his "lady friends" quickly made themselves scarce. I fell for his ruse and got too close. I reached for him since he was doubled up choking and coughing. I took the blaster charge at point blank range in the chest. Even through the body armor I wore under my ship-suit, I felt like I'd been kicked by a pissed off elephant. I don't know how long I was down trying to catch my breath but thankfully my bounty decided to run instead of finish me off. Rookie mistake. I was smart enough to wear my armor but dumb enough to get too close.
After catching my breath, one of his "lady friends" must have felt sorry for me or hated deserters as much as I did because she told me where his ship was berthed and it's Ident code. Apparently he wanted her to come by after her shift to celebrate his "heroism". I took off after him. Instead of trying to get to him at his ship, I went for mine. I was pretty sure he had enough lead on me that even with my augmentations, I wasn't gonna catch him before he sealed ship. When I got to the Raven and plugged in his Ident code, it pulled up an Diamondback Scout. Fast and nimble ships and I knew that if he managed to get his Frame Shift Drive charged, there was no way I was gonna catch him in the Raven. If I still had my Asp, I'd be able to track his jumps and follow him wherever he went but the Python's jump drive has no where near the power to keep up with a Diamondback. I had to get him before he left system. I launched and had my sensors in full active sweep. On the first sensor pulse I found him. He was already away from the station and running hard to get out of Mass Lock range. Taking a chance, I went after him and started powering up my drive to go to Supercruise because I was pretty sure he was gonna be doing the same. On my second pulse I managed to read his profile and sure enough, his drive was fast charging for a Supercruise jump and likely a quick Hyperspace jump right after. When he vanished into Supercruise, I was right on his six. As soon as I re-locked his Ident code, I hit my Drive Interdicter. I don't know if he wasn't expecting it or if perhaps he figured he could fight me but we both slammed out of Supercruise pretty quick. I was in a flat spin with a surprising amount of roll but I managed to bring her under control and get my guns deployed. The bounty was already firing on me with his weapons systems and my ship's AI was telling me that the shields were holding steady. As soon as he shot past my nose, I opened up with my pulse lasers. As I said earlier, I'd never used such powerful energy weapons before so I was shocked when two trigger pulls ripped his shields apart and tore into his hull. I think he realized he was in major trouble then because he started charging his Hyperdrive and went fully evasive. I will admit that he was a hard one to keep locked but between my flying and those upgraded sensor packages, we tore his ship apart before he could jump.
I briefly felt guilty for killing him since my original goal was to bring him back for his court marshal and sentencing before a military tribunal but he shot me at point blank range and even though my armor kept me alive, I've got four broken ribs and deep tissue bruising that even my nanites can't easily fix. I'm in the infirmary even as I write this log entry. A few more days of being dunked in the regen tank for an hour a day is what it's gonna take. All because of my stupidity. Hopefully I've learned from this potentially lethal lesson. Idiot.