Don't shoot first and ask questions later
19 Jun 2017Vizz Curio
::CMDR Vizz Curio on the Jupiter Jazz, docked & under hull repairs at starport Synder Enterprise, TZ Arietis::::personal log::
Met up with my friend CMDR Delco in the TZ Arietis system tonight. The evening before, this was one of the systems we patrolled for salvaging necessary materials for our Engineer friend, Felicity Farseer, to upgrade our frameshift drives. We returned to TZ Arietis because the system has several features for us, and we wanted to do some bounty hunting together in a HiRES site close to a station.
As it turned out, I'm very fortunate they were close to each other...
I dropped in to the HiRES site first. It was a typical rocky ring around a gaseous planet; absolutely ordinary in every way. Plenty of mining ships drilling into the big rocks with their mining lasers, and thus an area ripe for predators.
I aligned the Jupiter Jazz with the nav point of this HiRES area, and set her to be just above the top plane of the floating rocks; out of harm's way from stray asteroids.
I told Lennox to take the helm and hold position as I launched in my Imperial Fighter, kicking in the afterburners for the extra thrill on launch.
I looped around some rocks and blasted off in a few directions to get reacquainted with my SLF while checking out the local scene for trouble.
I'm not yet confident that Lennox can keep up with my hotdoggin' and not hit asteroids. Though she claims escorts are one of her specialties, she's still a little green and on probation to me.
CMDR Delco dropped in with his Anaconda, Soldier of Philipp, and got his bearings.
I formed up on him, and while my hotshot flying can keep me safe, I had a few close calls where he'd turned and I wasn't watching and he nearly whacked my SLF like a baseball bat to an incoming pitch.
We made an excellent pair, calling out Wanted ships to target, coordinating our strikes, racking up bounties. In no time we had over 1 Million juicy credits of bounty claims each and had no intention of stopping. Until I screwed the pooch.
A Wanted Anaconda flew in, and after scanning we decided to wait before attacking because Soldier of Philipp's shields were low and recharging and this ship was bigger & badder than the rest we had been icing so far.
I moved into a closer position ready for the opening volley when a Federal ship started attacking it. On my approach I noticed this Wanted Anaconda had its SLF bay open (I could see the blue holographic runway, a standard feature on our SLF hangars, but I was perplexed why a redocking-only feature would be deployed then) and then noticed the Taipan fighter escort.
I targeted the Taipan, figuring it has better shields & hull than I but getting the drop on it with an opening blast of my dual beam lasers should fry it in one go. It didn't, and I overshot the Taipan and had to deftly maneuver my nimble fighter to avoid smashing into the broadside of the Wanted Anaconda who had moved.
I punched the afterburners to get the hell out of there before the Fed's and CMDR Delco's blasts caught me in a crossfire.
As I looped around an Anaconda was jetting off crosswise from my path and I fumbled on the targeting lock and pulled my trigger too soon.
It wasn't that Wanted Anaconda.
It was a Federal Navy Anaconda.
Whoops.
I finished my loop and was already coming under fire!
Full pips to shields.
Afterburners.
Why can't I boost twice?
Ack, pips are 4 in SYS, 2 in WEAP.
Two to ENG!
BOOST!
I was trying to blast off and dodge blasts while getting my bearings to where my ship was, 10 klicks away.
A moment later and a bit closer I noticed she had several beams of lasers all around. Uh-oh, the Jupiter Jazz only has Seeker Missiles -- those lasers are incoming!
I called for the order to redock and realized how much time it would take me to get in and dock, under the panic my odds were abysmal. I switched telepresence with Lennox and took control of my Keelback.
Shields about to go down -- closed up my hardpoints and 4 pips to SYS, 2 to ENG and boost.
Shields down a second later.
Decided getting into supercruise, and pulling away from the rocks and any ships' mass lock was my priority and gave 4 pips to ENG so I can lean on the afterburners.
Keelbacks aren't known for their speed, but I was determined to get to safety.
I engaged the frameshift drive but was still under mass lock preventing it from charging.
Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! C'mon!
Suddenly the FSD started to charge up, and pretty fast -- did they give up or did I get just far enough out of range?
A warning kept flashing on my HUD in the corner of my eye in those FSD charging moments, some formal words about my fighter not having time to redock before the jump to supercruise. If Lennox was actually inside that fighter I would've felt bad, but she was here with me, controlling it via telepresence. Sometimes it's hard to remember that when you make these drastic decisions. The only thing I was going to be out losing the fighter was about 1000cr in rebuild materials, not a companion.
I jumped to supercruise and pitched my ship's nose down a bit to pick out Synder Enterprise as my target destination.
With my panicked shouting, ahem... I mean: "In the calamity"... I couldn't quite hear what CMDR Delco had been saying about his situation. He had quickly destroyed the Wanted Anaconda, but was under fire. We both had assumed the Feds turned on my wingmate because of my accident. In retrospect it was probably that little Taipan fighter I failed to destroy.
He made it out alive, and we docked side-by-side at Synder E.
My hull was down to 70-something percent under all that fire, I was impressed it held up so well. Strong boat. I was doubly impressed that I had not taken any significant module damage. And triply impressed that we made it out of there alive to port to turn in our bounty claims: 1.1 Million cr.
I guess it's true what they say about taking care of your ship and she'll take care of you back.
::end transmission::
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I really wish Elite Dangerous would amend the fines/bounty system to allow for one accidental hit on any non-Wanted ships before you incur a fine/bounty. Innocent accidents happen; no need to turn the entire Federal Navy on you!
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