Captain's Log: The Past Catches Up
21 May 2021Pon Pon
Well I found myself in a bar the other day. Fancy that, right? A CMDR in a bar, never seen that before. Yeah, I know, most folks like me--cutthroat space truckers--tend to frequent those kinds of place regardless of gender. 'cept, I never managed to give off that "don't mess with me vibe," so I still get hit on.Anyways, that bar got me thinking. Well, actually, I've been thinking a lot lately to be completely honest. Thinking about how, and why, I got here where I'm sitting. Y'see, switching from trucking goods to saving people was a jump for me, but it's not the most drastic change I've had in career. And, saving people from that burning station reminded me why I became a CMDR in the first place. A long time ago, when I was a wee lass looking for an easy way off the planet, I enlisted with a mercenary group. I won't say who we were or where we operated, but we were good at what we do. Whether it was legal or pseudolegal, system local or galaxy-wide, chances are, we were there, flying under the radar. When I was young, that worked. I cared about myself, and only myself. I killed people without hesitation... Mostly.
As I grew older, that "mostly" began to grow. I realized I couldn't be a mercenary forever. Those types, they either change jobs early, or... Well, you can probably guess what happens to the hotshots who dive into every firefight, never once considering what might happen if things turn sour. So I began saving. That year, on May 19th, I got a call from my dad. Or, well, his estate. He had passed away, for reasons that don't really matter. In his will, he basically gave me his entire life's savings on the condition that I use it as a buffer while I change professions. Well, working with that mercenary group for such a long time, it wasn't like I had any shortage of contacts, so I quickly got in touch with the Pilot's Federation. Fast forward a bit, and I was doing my last mission for the mercenary group, after which I would board a private shuttle to the Pilot's Federation District where a Sidewinder was waiting for me--the only thing I could afford with my savings and the boost from my father.
Sitting in that bar, on the rescue ship near Donar's Oak, I realized I missed the freedom. Sure, flying a massive freighter certainly makes money, but I miss the simple life of a mercenary. While I grew to dislike anything focussed on combat, like strikes on settlements or assassinations, I did quite enjoy the salvage work. Navigating around with the Maverick suit and cutting things open to reveal the treasures within. Certainly more constructive than the barbarism the mercenary group usually did. So I decided: Once I'm done saving people in Donar's Oak, I'll find a station selling what I need for a jaunt on planetary surfaces. And guess what? As May 19th rolled around, I flew my ship out to Donar's Oak. Nearing the station, it looked like the fires were mostly out (though I suspect that was more due to hull breaches and life support failure than it being brought under control). And, I saw a sight I didn't think I would see so soon: An empty passenger lounge. Or, well, it was empty after my ship finished boarding.
After I returned to the megaship, I left my number with some of the other CMDRs I had gotten to know briefly, and charted a course to the nearest station. A few hops later, and I was sitting in an Apex shuttle headed for the next system over. A few shuttles later, and I had my Maverick suit, a Dominator suit, and a couple of Manticore guns just to be safe... Yeah, Pioneer Supplies salespeople talk a big game, but it can be hard to come by stock when you're under attack by Thargoids 300ly from the bubble. I get it, I had trouble jumping out here in the Clipper, so I imagine large trade ships don't come by very often. I also might have bought a Sidewinder to use as a dropship, though I also had my Hauler brought out here. Either way, on the off chance I took some less than legal jobs, at least the ships were disposable and anonymous.
Over the past few days, I've mostly used the Hauler to do salvage and support work. I fitted here with some rockets to deal with the Scavengers, though I find that the Dominator is enough as long as it's only around 10:1 in the Scav's favour. Yeah, I still got it in me. That being said, it's not like I want to run into them, but employers usually will give a bonus for their heads, and those people are basically scum anyways, so it's not like I'm leaving them alive. Besides, if I let them scavenge the place, what will be left for me to salvage? Today, though, I decided to go back to my roots. Even though I talk a big game, a lot of my skirmishes with the Scavengers have been close, chaotic firefights. It's obvious I'm out of practice, so today I decided was the day I take some... Less tasteful jobs. All for the sake of knocking the rust off, of course. And, well, it hasn't exactly gone well. I took a job to disable the reactor at an outpost, effectively taking the whole operation offline. "Yeah, I've done this a thousand times. This will be perfect to remember my skills."
Oh how wrong I was. First, the place was crawling with security. Pretty normal, all I had to do was use my energy siphon to overload them, easy. It's even night, so I barely even have to worry about being spotted if I'm careful. Yeah right. The Pilots' Federation has an "honour system" where it will automatically detect when you're doing criminal activity. Normally pretty nice, but when every guard has a scanner and is suspicious of you already? I needed a better option. So, I swapped from the Dominator to the Maverick for a bit to cut off the access panel to the Hab module's O2. Cheeky? Yes, but I needed to take down as many guards as I could before a firefight broke out. Preferably, a firefight wouldn't break out but I wasn't that optimistic. Well, I got more than I bargained for, and two Strikers showed up ready for action. No zapping them, so it was time to go loud. I took them down and sprinted for the ship, which I had landed nearby. Taking off, I deployed the single hardpoint, and began raining missiles down on the base with the goal of eradicating them. With a few guards dead already, I figured I would thin the herd then land for some mop up... Except that didn't happen. I heard the whine of another ship's engines, and quickly drew back and dropped into silent running: It was a Cobra, not something I was kitted to fight. A Cobra, packed to the gills with reinforcements.
There was no way I was cleaning up the base at that point, but I kept raining missiles after the Cobra left, until I inevitably ran out. After that, I landed a bit far away and used my Manticore Executioner to down a few more guards, making sure to keep my distance and hide amongst the foothills. My suit's energy got dangerously low as I tried to take down as many Strikers as possible without giving away the location of my ship, and I made it back with ~5% energy left. Well, at that point I actually realized that there was no way I could clear the base. I needed a distraction, a sacrifice, if I was going to buy the time I needed to eject the generator's power regulator. And what a better distraction than my ship? I landed her next to the power building, dove out in my Dominator suit with shields up, and charged into the power building with my Intimidator shotgun blazing. The techs inside didn't know what hit them, and neither did the three Strikers that tried to raid the building a few moments later. It was a tense few minutes for the regulator to eject, the whole while my RiCom pinging me about the ship being under attack. I could hear when she finally gave, the explosion rocking the power building as presumably her fuel ignited. There was about 60 seconds left before reactor shutdown at that point, so I braced myself. But no one came. The reactor shut down, and I grabbed the regulator and ran. It was... Eerily silent. Yes, everything was offline, but not a single shot was fired at me as I fled the station on foot. I don't know why; I didn't look back.
I ran. I ran, and ran, and ran. In total darkness as well, since I didn't want to risk getting caught due to them seeing my torchlight--that's how I was targeting the Strikers, after all. Every bloody rock, crack, and crevasse I stumbled on, because I could barely see a few steps in front of me. My suit's mask was getting splattered with grime as well, making visibility even worse. But I needed to make sure I wasn't being followed, and I sure as hell didn't want them seeing a ship take off with me on it. Eventually, I ran "far enough." My suit's energy and O2 were doing fine, but I wanted to leave time in case Apex didn't get to me fast enough. And, yes, I used Apex as my getaway vehicle. They don't ask questions, and really what other choice did I have?
Anyways, though I need to call the insurance about my Zorgon Peterson that got scrapped in an "unfortunate accident," right now I'm in the bar at Copernicus Observatory in Aterope. And there's a nice hard drink with my name on it, waiting to reward me for this long day's work. Until next time.