Mandh: Hostile Takeover
03 Dec 2020OmegaPaladin
The week of hauling shipyard supplies was finally over. As I prepared to leave the station, I saw notices of an impending hostile takeover of Miyasaka Orbital by Purple Operations. Given the massive amount of business that Miyasaka had received, that looked suspicious as all hell. I used my old contact in Artemis Security, and this time holocalled him from the cockpit of my Anaconda. He was first to respond: "Nice work out there - knew the Viper would work great with you.""Yeah, thanks." I had gotten bounties, and my revenge. Very satisfying. "What's going on with the hostile takeover?"
"Oh, yeah." Instantly his face seemed to harden. "Those huge swarms of pirates? We have evidence that Purple Operations made arrangement for them to get through our security. They even paid off some of the pirates. That weakened our position enough that we only have a contract for 4 of the 5 capital ships that were planned."
"And that created an opening for Purple Operations to step in." Growing up in a corporate system like ZTA meant getting used to these kind of shenanigans. "Listen, your company helped me. I'm willing to help you, if you'll put a good word in with your patron."
"Well, damn." The chief visibly relaxed, shaking his head. "You help us fight this off, and I'll get you an all-expenses paid trip to Achernar. Maybe even cut you a deal on an Imperial Courier."
"Nice." I had been admiring the sleek lines of the Gutamaya combat scout and personal vehicle of Imperial nobles. "What exactly do you need?"
He pulled up a display. "Data courier work. We need to need to move around data with secrecy to our business partners." He offered his hand. "This is a dangerous mission. Are you in?"
How bad could it be? "Sure. Get me the data." I'd use my Cobra III and Viper III, in case someone tried to interdict me. That would also fit the small pads on on outpost to get into and out of places quickly.
After picking up the data drives, I set out for the first station in a nearby Artemis-controlled system. As I dropped into supercruise, I saw a message about an enemy being send to track me. Pretty soon, I got a taunting message from a hostile pilot before I was hit with the interdiction. I was suddenly glad I was not flying a large ship as I twisted and turned. Finally, I reached the first destination, and boosted for the no fire zone. Then a damned Anaconda dropped out right next to me - since this was an outpost, he was not here to trade. A scan revealed it was the same guy who interdicted me... an Elite pilot. He didn't open fire, just watched me with hardpoints ready.
I waited a while in the outpost, chatting with the local representatives and getting coffee. One of the local security officers let slip that that the Purples had sent hired some top notch talent for this mission, offering them stacks of rare materials. I didn't know whether to feel insulted or honored that a fairly new pilot like me was getting this kind of attention. After it was clear my pursuer was gone, I left for my next destination, where there were two separate interdictions. One was a Fer-de-Lance, the ship of hunters. Even in my Viper, I figured I'd have no chance against them, so I evaded them again and again. So it continued for several days of data delivery and interdictions.
That changed on day four. I drifted too close to a ring and dropped out of supercruise. The enemy Conda dropped in next to me and opened fire immediately - these weren't pirates, they were a hit squad. I popped a heat sink and boosted away, frantically trying to evade fire. My shields did not last long, but I managed to get to low wake long enough to reach the station. All of the money I paid for the mission went to fixing my Cobra III. Looking at the scarred hull made me shudder - a few more seconds of that kind of fire, and I would have been space debris.
When I returned to Miyasaka after finishing that day's operations, I went to the bar the locals recommended. The Purple Operations liaison drifted by and casually asked "I hope you haven't gotten interdicted out there?" It was a good thing I was on my first drink, otherwise I probably would have started a brawl. The glare I gave her was enough to stop further conversation. Besides, I knew something she did not - several other corporations were floating Artemis a line of credit, and their lawyers had negotiated one hell of a poison pill. The hostile takeover was dead in the water.
When I woke up after a well-deserved rest, the news revealed it was even worse for the Purples. Their sole asset in system had been leveraged to finance the takeover. Artemis bought it themselves, causing Purple Operations stock to plummet. I could only imagine where they were getting the money to pay their goon squad. As for my reward, I had received an Imperial authorization for access to Achernar and a discounted offer on an Imperial Courier, which would make for some interesting bounty hunting...