NMLA Delenda Est
19 Mar 2021OmegaPaladin
It had been a day like any other. I was getting ready for another round of bounty hunting for Sirius Corporation after hauling enough coffee to make a Coriolis station dance. Maybe the Alliance would offer a ship from Lakon and a paint job for the Diamondback. That was when I saw the AEGIS feeds light up with damaged stations. GalNet told the story - the NMLA had struck again, including in all three capital systems! Even the political HQ for each leader was hit, alongside Lave station, the legendary home of so many pilots, was a wreck. A station orbiting Earth in Sol had been attacked, only a few days after my family had been docked visiting. It's stupidly evil, murder for kicks.I understand killing for your beliefs, for justice, even just for credits - God knows I have done that often enough - but did they really think nations would just kneel for them? When a pirate tries to interdict me, I want to blow him into scrap metal and spare parts, not give him my cargo. I got my Conda shot up after dropping out into a ring with pirates rather than hand over goods that cost less than the repairs. (Ring in the display may be closer than they appear) It's the principle of the thing. I'm pretty sure a lot of the galaxy's militaries and pilots are ready to make the entire NMLA into martyrs. They have given a lot of people a more unifying enemy than even the Thargoids.
Anyway, I headed over to Earth in my Type-7, loaded out with passenger cabins and salvage limpets. After several days of rescue work there, I realized the situation was well in hand. Even though I had aall the ship authorizations for the Federation, this was Sol. I was not going to just ignore the cradle of humanity. Next, I headed to Achernar, where I worked tirelessly for most of the week. While I could see many differences between Imperial and Federation starports, both of them handled the evacuations with commendable skill. One of House Duval's cadet branches took notice, and slipped me an authorization for all of the Imperial military vessels. I have honorary title of Duke, which is honestly worth about as much as a used limpet, but being able to pick up showroom models from an imperial ship dealer in Kamadhenu at a discount was worth it. I just have to fly them out of the burning station - fortunately, I had practice at that.
Last but not least, I visited Lave, which was in need of evacuation transports. Alliance spaceports did not attract as much attention as Fed or Imperial stations - the Alliance didn't have as many carrots to offer pilots. Still, people needed to be rescued. I ran missions there until the station waved me off. Now, as I park my Type 7 in Lembava, it's time to take a break. Not just a night at the bar, a trip away from terrorists and terrified civilians. I want to put several parsecs between my ship and politics for a while.
I hear the Crab Nebula is nice this time of year.