Bondranses: A Matter Of Business
15 Jan 2021OmegaPaladin
Bondranses had never crossed my mind before this week, but the current situation had made it highly important to certain people with money and influence - along with a desire for anonymity. I had a simple objective - get the system into tip-top shape, both in security and financially. A quick overview showed the likely cause - there was the potential for a system takeover. Was this going to become my main job?Security was the first priority. After my experiences in ZTA, I decided to try out the Vulture. It was quick and nimble, but the powerplant was terribly undersized. It took some significant tuning, but it became an excellent fixed pulse laser dogfighter. I ran a patrol through the local mining sectors, successfully destroying numerous pirate ships. It was strange to think of how casual my anti-pirate activities had become. In a few months, I had gone from fearing pirates to killing them regularly. The police conveyed their thanks, as did the local government at the bounty office.
Financial well-being seemed less of a concern, but it seemed that the leading corporation was having trouble meeting demand for raw materials. With a tip from a grateful miner I had saved, I set course to Algol. The system was bathed in scorching radiation, and the target planet was a hellish planet. However, the platinum-rich rings were nothing if not worthwhile. This was not as good as the Painite / Diamond boom several months back, but all the precious metals were in high demand. After a few runs, I had earned millions of credits. It was almost as good as the runs from HIP 13644 and GCRV 1568. All in all, I could see why my benefactor had not paid me - this was pay enough.
As I sold off the last load, I saw some disturbing news. Not only was there a potential famine in the new Marlinist colonies, Zeta Trianguli Australis Corporation was going to into elections. Yet another power was trying to knock them off their pedestal. This time it was the damned ZTA United corporation. At this rate, helping the stabilize corporate governments really was my new job.