The annals of the Deathwing : Taking new recruits to a job for the Empire
08 Dec 2020Sawlcatcher
I arrived at the social hub with a deep thirst for Leestian Evil Juice. On my way, I heard people talking in the corridor about escalating tensions between the Federation and the Empire. That was true. I've had echoes from a contact at Mandh, that things were being settled to host a huge construction job to prepare for war."Here you are. At last ! How are you ?" Slevin was already there, waiting for me with Armaros. "We got you a drink... Leestion Evil Juice, is that it ?"
"Thanks guys! Actually I'm doing fine! how 'bout you?" I grabbed my drink, sat and took a sip. Oh gosh ! I realy wonder what it's made of, but it tastes delicious. It burns your mouth like 10 Xeno-Hells in one place, and leaves a taste no one could describe. I'm so fond of it I can drink that as if it was water. Always made people wonder how I could manage that. The experience I guess...
There was an Holonews linked to Galnet on the table. It showed as main title "Empire and Federation Increase Capital Ship Production". It mainly said that they were going to build Majestic Class Interdictors In Mandh, and that they needed commodities to accomplish that job.
"So it eventualy went public." I said.
"It's not like it wasn't expected but yeah, it did. Cigar?". Armaros answered handing me a Kamitra Cigar. Like I needed to be asked... He took a long puff on one he already had lightened. He had long blond hairs and an a sharp beard on a square jaw. That made him look dangerous.
We were meeting at Chelomey Orbital in Cubeo. It was the headquarters of our Squadron : The Deathwing. Slevin and Armaros were just arriving from Ratraii, a system nearby Colonia, about 22,000 light years away. They did the trip together to come help me with new recruits. We wanted them trained fast so we could go on with our expedition. I was with them on Ad Astra, our Fleet Carrier, but I left two weeks earlier for business with some ingeneers I heard of. And meanwhile met a few new pilots I enrolled in the Squadron. They came espacially looking for us, which gave us the motivation to show them how we get the job done, and make them real members of the Deathwing.
"What about Yoshino?" I asked. "Wasn't he traveling with you?"
"He left Ad Astra after us. He'll meet us shortly. Are the new recruits ready as planned?" Slevin answered, his emotions well hidden behind his dark tinted sunglasses. He always wore them no matter what. He would say it was to hide the worse part of his scar, which ran from his forehead down to his jaw and was pretty nasty aroud the eye.
"They are ! Gatlor made enough gridding to buy a T9-Heavy and we have Binou that will join us with a Type 7. I bought myself an Imperial Cutter, since Longshadow stayed on Ad Astra". I had to buy another ship to have a large cargo capacity, eventhough my anaconda would have sufficed.
"Sounds good ! But there will be a lot of pirates and we will need ships to fight them to protect our freighters."
"Yeah I thought of buying a Type 10 Defender for that Job" Armaros said.
"I have a Federal Corvette at the hangar I could use for that. And Gatlor may have enough credits left to fit a Vulture" I answered.
"Alright, well, I never had a Alliance Crusader, and that could be the perfect ship for a swift support" Slevin said.
"Armaros and I will need to go to Shinrarta Dezhra to buy the ships and stuff them."
"I'll gather the available recruits and escort them to Mandh. I already located some Starports nearby that can supply us the requiered commodities".
We stayed there for a while and had more Leestian Evil Juice until Yoshino arrived. He told us that he had in mind to get an Alliance Crusader to help us take down those pirates. It was good to see each other again. We cracked a bottle of Lavian Brandy and started a card game. We discussed more on our plans with Ad Astra and what we wanted to do to transform our new recruits into versatile pilots and ruthless killers.
I Gathered the recuits for a briefing. "Alright guys, open your ears and listen carefully, I won't say it twice! A contact of mine in Mandh system told us informations that were later confirmed in a public announcement. We have to deliver some Building Fabricators, Energy Grid Assembly, and Microbial Furnace to complete the construction of new Majectic Class Interdictors, which are the Imperial battle cruisers. We are preparing for war here, so don't mess around! There will be tons to deliver. We won't be the only squadron on the job, but just so you know, lot of pirates will be involved and will try to steal our cargo, so don't let your guard down. I loaded some systems on your star map where you will find the requiered commodities. Be fast, we have a limited time to deliver the shipment needed. We dispatched a wing of fighters to ensure thoses pirates are dealt with. Once loaded, activate your wing beacon. That will be necessary in case of emergency, so we can find you quickly and come to your help. Good luck commanders and fly safe !"
The trading started and it went smoothly at first. But after a little more than 30,000 tons delivered, there were more and more pirates and things needed to be done to take them down. So I jumped in my Federal Corvette to erradicate that scum, with the support of my fellows. The fighting was tough. Armaros, Slevin and I were patrolling and we were doing a pretty good job. We've been there for hours and all our ammunitions were dry. We only had our lasers left. Yoshino was back to Myasaka Orbital for repairs. We were about to join him to rearm and repair when we saw a group of pirates with an Imperial Cutter ranked Elite. We wouldn't miss that, would we ? It was a wing of three, the two others being Imperial Courriers. The last ones had been killed easily, why would that be different ?
We engaged them.
We had the Cutter down to 51% integrity when the three ships targeted me and started blasting all guns out. I guess I was the biggest threat here with my two grade 4 Beam Lasers. I stopped firing and tried to get away from the fight, so Armaros could get their attention back. He had a way better armor than mine, and a better shield too. I hadn't enough credits to make huge investements on defensive outfits. I was trying to escape but nothing would do, they were still on my ass. We were not taking them down fast enough, and the heavy fire was too much for my shield and armor. The Cutter was 38% down, but I would not last long enough to see it dead if I continued fleeing. I changed my strategy. I swiftly turned around and distributed all the power in my weapons. Maybe if we could kill it before it got me... I had 78% integrity but was taking very heavy damages since I wore lightweight alloy, and a poor 5D shield generator. I should have fit that Corvette instead of buying a damn Cutter.
"Warning Module Malfunction" Screamed my COVAS
The two courriers were targeting my guns god damn it!!! 31%... how the hell did they hit me so hard? And the Cutter wasn't dead yet, it still had 9% integrity... There was nothing Armaros or Slevin could do to help me... 2% left... I couldn't realise how fast they had shot me down. "EJECT, EJECT, EJECT" my COVAS repeated. The ejection was so powerful it knocked me down, and I blacked out.
I woke up in a detention center, where I had to deal with my inssurance company to get a new Corvette with the same outfit than Lifetaker. That's what happen when the authorities catch your escape pod. You end up here having to explain yourself for having been shot. Once I had my ship back, I headed to Misayaka Orbital where my Squadron was waiting.
"What happened back there?" I asked Slevin, "Last I know I ejected, and I woke up in a detention center."
"Well, just when you got destroyed, the authorities arrived and picked you up before we could finish the last ship."
"Yeah, sorry dude ! We couldn't do anything" Armaros added.
"Nevermind." I said. "Anyway, we should have thought a little and synchronize before going berserk on this Cutter without ammo." Both laughed and started teasing and mocking me.
The public event was finishing in 15 hours and we were pretty far away from the goal. We had 40 million tons to deliver and were only two third through. So we went hard at it. We would never meet the objective, but we might still be able to provide at least enough commodities to accomplish the construction of four Majetic Class Interdictors. And we did it. The rewards were nice ! We received each 40 millions for the transportation job, and had a bonus of 24 millions for killing all thoses pirates. They even offered us three stickers for having the job done. Though they could have gave us pretty ones instead of these.
The new recruits were happy to make good money and to have learn a few new things.
Now we are back to Cubeo, playing cards and enjoying cigars and good beverages. We'll take a day or two off and then prepare ourselves for the next mission.
And this time we better be ready, you never know what's coming to you. And being a pilot in this galaxy is more than ever something dangerous.
Sierra Alpha Whiky, signing off.