Hubris & Humility from the Best Pilot in the Galaxy
22 Nov 2017Vizz Curio
::CMDR Vizz Curio on The Striker, at Aegis Research station Cavalieri, Electra::::personal log::
I like to boast that I'm the best pilot in the galaxy.
It's not a hollow statement, I have plenty of stories to back up my claims. Plenty. (I should write a book!)
Now, I know I'm far from the best shot in the galaxy; some days even with gimballed guns I'm surprised I manage to hit something.
But give me a fast & nimble craft, and I'll show the designers themselves ways to fly it they can't believe.
As intended, I revamped the kit of my Imperial Courier and took it to Farseer Inc for FSD and misc modifications.
Previously unknown to me, Ms Farseer's base sells an exclusive type of 3A thruster aptly named an Enhanced Performance Thruster.
It costs over 5 Million credits but when I saw the spec sheet I had to have it.
A credit transfer later it was mine. I asked my favorite Engineer to tweak the hell out of it before even installing the modules, so she could really get into the finer systems' parts easily. She came through, and once installed The Striker now flies as fast as, and almost handles as well as, the Ship-Launcher Fighters like my Keelback's Imperial Fighter I love to fly so much!
She was in a good mood (thanks to my large purchase no doubt) and spent some extra effort modifying my Frame Shift Drive for long range. It upped my jump range from 18-20ly all the way into the 27-29ly distance. (Later when I flew to the Pleiades with my 3 guns removed, I was getting 31.6ly to 34.7 ly jumps!)
Indeed, from Sol I made it to Maia in 14 jumps. I took the "scenic" way, could've done it in less time, but my route gave me some stars to scan and I turned in half a Mil in cartographic data when I arrived in the Pleiades.
Now I had gotten my speed demon of a ship into Thargoid territory, and was determined to salvage as much from wreckages as I could. I was intent on saving anyone who managed to get into escape pods.
I had a few close encounters with Thargoid Cyclops ships over the course of the evening. The Striker is so fast now, I could zip by the alien ship whenever it came towards me. I'd do a loop, throw in a twist, open the cargo bay door and scoop up a black box or an intelligence canister, close the cargo doors, and boost away before it could get a bead on me.
The sounds those huge Thargoid ships make, the kind of metallic roar, it's... unnatural. It's unnerving.
Once I took an incredible risk, as I had scanned the area and located a damaged escape pod, Just as I was activating my target lock from afar I noticed the Thargoid ship was approaching it and emitting a yellow-green cone of light towards it. I knew it would next suck the pod into its cargo hold, abducting the poor person inside!
I boosted in to close the distance fast and as I did I saw the ship deploy a swarm of its Thargon drones. If I had spare time to think I probably would've freaked out, panicked, and fled. I was laser-focused on rescuing that escape pod, my hand gripping the joystick and the throttle so tightly they could crack; I wasn't letting go of my plan.
Yes I zipped around one of the "petals" of the Thargoid ship, did a Flight Assist Off afterburner slide to get in position around the scrapped hull of the Federal Corvette that was in pieces, deployed my cargo scoop, and deftly captured the pod!
I think the adrenaline must've overtaken my brain; I don't remember exactly what was next. I vaguely remember the deafening metallic roar of the Thargoid at close proximity, I remember Eden calling out incoming somethings, I remember boosting continuously, and frantically pressing my supercruise charge-up button so it would the instant I was out of mass-lock range.
I remember when I approached docking at Cavalieri, I notified station security to have emergency medical personnel meet at my docking pad for this survivor. They did. They opened the damaged escape pod and we found TWO people crammed inside, both unconscious and weak vitals. I hope they'll be able to recover.
I was preoccupied with sincere concern that I had forgotten to collect the "finder's fee" from the Search & Rescue board. It wasn't until later when I got a notification that it was then automatically transferred to my account that I realized. It didn't quite seem right to get paid for rescuing someone. And that's odd for me to say, considering how many wanted criminals I've mercilessly iced without a thought just for money.
Later, a representative of the Aegis Research group asked me to investigate a couple of outposts on the first planet of a neighboring system. Seems they had lost contact recently and couldn't spare one of their own right now. I looked at the guy askance implying "I have more important things to do why are you wasting my time?" and then he told me how much they'll pay me.
3.5 Million credits just to pop in and scan a couple of planet-side outposts? Easy money.
And it was.
::end transmission::