NLTT 9447: Into the RES for Revenge
28 Nov 2020OmegaPaladin
When I heard that the Federation and Empire were calling for material shipments to support new warship construction, I knew there was going to be significant profit available. With my recent acquisition of a gently-used Anaconda, I could turn a decent profit. I hit vo Dock in Atropos to oufit the Buzz Aldrin for the long haul. I added in a few gray-market tweaks to the FSD, a decent shield, and a small fuel scoop - it was worth losing a little cargo capacity to avoid getting killed by pirates or having to bug the Fuel Rats. After that, I made my way to Parutis, the Federation shipyard area. With half the galaxy running cargo there, I had to get creative with sourcing. 18 Scorpii had a distant companion star, with outlying stations selling Building Fabricators. While it was a tedious trip in supercruise, I was able to make a decent profit and do my part.While on one of my last runs to 18 Scorpii, I saw that the Empire had fallen behind. Artemis Corporation in Mandh was offering significant incentives for pilots to help them out. After finishing up over at the Federation base, I plotted a route that would take me to a good position to haul a lot of shipyard supplies. I had never been to Imperial space, s
Upon arrival at Miyasaka Orbital, I was greeted by the polite voice of the Imperial Flight Control Bureau, and flew into a station emblazoned with the Imperial logo, holographic portraits of Her Imperial Majesty the Emperor lining the docking bay. As I touched down, a crew of strangely dressed workers moved to begin unloading cargo and handling minor repairs. A quick glance at the cameras confirmed they were all wearing matching bracelets and anklets - they were slaves. While my cargo was unloaded, I holo-called the dock foreman - he was not a slave. "What can I do for you, pilot?"
"I need to rely on my ship, sir. Normally, I get technicians and tradesmen working on my ship."
He cut me off. "The difference between a slave and a free worker is that we can force a slave to work where we want. They still earn money to pay off their debts, and good work gets them free sooner." He paused and looked over the crew before continuing. "We don't grab any random person for duty like ship maintenance - we have to meet the same Pilots Federation standards other stations do. We need your business."
"I understand. " Cargo was almost fully unloaded for sale. "I'll be making a large number of deliveries here, keep an eye out for me." I had already started plotting the next jump to make some more purchases.
He simply nodded and got back to work. In just a couple minutes I was heading out of the dock for my next destination, a massive cargo carrier in the next system that was unloading Building Fabricators. Thus began hours of intense cargo hauling, working around the clock. There was heavy pirate presence, and I was dodging interdictions regularly. On one of my trips from Mandh, I slipped up and the pirate managed to drag me out of hyperspace. When the scumbag saw I was running empty, she swore and opened fire. I kicked in my boosters and put energy toward shields, fleeing her deadly onslaught. As my shields failed, I popped a heat sink to break sensor lock, but it was not long before her lasers were lashing my hull. I high waked out to another system, when I faced costly repairs.
After a few more loads of supplies, I left the ship and found a cheap spacer's motel. When I woke up there was a notice from Artemis Corporation waiting for me. As I contacted them and changed into a fresh flight suit, the company's local chief of security came on. "My apologies about the pirate attack. It's rough out there, and our patrols are stretched thin with so many ships in the sector."
"I appreciate it, but that's the way it goes." The audio-only call couldn't see my shrug. "I'm just glad this is not a fine notice."
He laughed "Even in the Empire, we automate those messages. We are not that old-school." His voice dropped lower. "Would you be interested in getting some payback?"
"Certainly, but my ship's rigged for hauling cargo, so it's not exactly dangerous." I was not going to try to outfit my largest ship combat away from all my contacts. That was asking for trouble, and a date with my escape pod.
"We have a few surplus Vipers, rigged with a basic loadout, available for standard cost." He had an almost conspiratorial turn in his voice as he continued. "This is bigger than just standard piracy - we have massive activity in the the mining sites of NLTT 9447. We need all the ships out there we can trust."
Trust. That was why they were asking a Mostly Harmless freighter pilot for help. "I'm in."
"Authorize the credit transfer, and we'll have the Viper ready at in your hangar." I let the terminal scan my biometrics, and the payment went through - not much more than a good mining run. "Good luck out there."
When I got to the hand, there was a Viper III waiting for me - the classic pulse lasers and multicannons visible. It was also rigged for salvage operation, if the limpet controller was anything to go by. I climbed the ramp, looking over the worn interior. This ship had been through some hell. I had the crew give it a once-over and a fresh coat of paint before firing it up. The tough little craft crackled to life, and smoothly flew through the docking bay. I punched in NLTT 9447 and jumped. After I popped in system, the Resource Extraction Sites appeared. I locked in the one I had been told about, and cruised over there.
When I arrived, it was a mess. This was not a dogfight, this was an insane game of King of the Hill, where pirates kept streaming in to kill the miners. I formed up on the main formation, led by a security Anaconda and a pack of Vipers and Eagles. As soon as a pirate got highlighted, I lit him up with my pulse lasers until their shields dropped, then unloaded my autocannons on their bare hull. While the police were rapidly crushing the pirates they found, more kept on streaming in. A pirate 'Conda with Federation Assault Ship and a Fer De Lance jumped in and began pounding the main Security. I rolled in on the tail of the FAS, ran his warrants, and opened fire, raising hell on his shields. A pair of police Eagles bracketed the FAS as a I stayed out of its gun lines. The FAS did an inertia turn, and suddenly I facing waves of fire smashing into my shields. I broke hard just past him, killed throttle and spun around for another attack run. As the Eagles dropped his shield, I unloaded both multicannons into his armored hull. Meanwhile, another Viper III fired a salvo of missiles into the ship on a strafing pass, and attracting the pilot's attention. That was a mistakes, as the persistent fire on his tail took his thrusters. He was dead in space... soon, just dead.
With the FAS out of the way, we poured fire onto the pirate Anaconda, which had been taking fire from our own big ship all this time. Like a bear swarmed by bees, we ground it down before it could get its shield up. The FDL promptly high-waked out of there. I rolled out away from the group, and patrolled the inner edge of the RES. Mostly miners, not much activity. Then I saw it - a Cobra IV moving to scan miners. I ran its warrants, and a familiar named came up. This was the pilot that tried to kill me.
Noone else was nearby, so I moved in closer. She scanned me and swore about my lack of cargo. I forced myself to breathe slower as I swung around her, hoping her situational awareness not that great. She obviously didn't recognize the name. I pulled below and behind her, then opened fire with everything. The rain of fire bathed her shields in impacts as she unleashed a torrent of profanity. I carefully rolled with her rapidly accelerating ship, keeping up the laser fire as my autocannons reloaded. She swung around an asteroid and boosted away before flipping around for a head on pass. I indulged her, holding fire until we got into optimum range. Then we traded fire, shields flickering, dumping our ammo magazines into each other. She looked ready to ram me, but I broke out just in time, our shield scraping against each other. Hers gave out, though mine were scarcely holding on. I ejected a collector limpet as a distraction as I came around, and we began circling and weaving past each other. She popped chaff, so I switched to manual targeting. I kept up laser fire before I was able to close in, her chaff fading. My autocannon tore into her armor - her ship was tougher, but it was still not strong enough to just tank hits like a Fed Navy ship. Now she was running, but it wasn't like she gave me a chance to run. I boosted in behind her and switched all power to weapons. Pieces of hull were torn off of her into clouds of shrapnel. Finally, her ship exploded as I raced beyond the wreckage.
I took a moment to swing around the RES, letting my heart stop racing, and my breathing slow down while my shields regenerated. Off in the distance, I could see the police unit, now sporting two Anacondas. dueling another massive pirate force. As I moved to engage, I thought of what I had read in history class - pirates were Hostis Humanae Generis, enemies of all mankind. Amazing how little things changed as the millennia went on.