Just another retrieval mission
22 Sep 2024Grabaston
When I saw the posting on the mission board with an offered payment of 13 weapon schematics plus credits, I thought that this won't be an easy mission. However, I can always use more weapon schematics, so I was definitely interested. I met with Director Tyson of the Pikum Public Group and he gave me the specifics. Pick up an Insight Data Bank from a crash site in system. I asked, "That's it?" He said, "Yes, that is it. Just get the Insight Data Bank from the crash site and bring it back here. I need it within the next 5 hours. Is that going to be a problem?" "Of course not.", I responded, "No problem at all." I was curious as to what was so special about this particular Insight Data Bank, but as a practice, I don't ask questions about things that I really don't need to know. However, I was curious if I was going to encounter any resistance. He assured me that it was just a simple retrieval and there weren't any other people interested in the package.While I was a little annoyed about having to fly over 11,000 ls to the crash site, I knew I could get there and back in plenty of time to meet the schedule. When I arrived at the crash site, the four mercs that were currently searching the site confirmed my suspicions that this wasn't going to be as easy as Director Tyson made it out to be. I flew over and got the mercs attention. I then landed a couple of hundred meters away and deployed my SRV. Though this planet had extremely low gravity, the terrain was relatively flat and smooth. The mercs were currently running towards my ship, so I drove the SRV straight at them at high speed. I was able to hit two of the mercs with the SRV at a high rate of speed and send them flying. I never noticed where their bodies ended up landing. The other two mercs fell at the mercy of the SRV's cannon.
It didn't appear that there were any more mercs in the area and their ship wasn't around, so I drove over to the crash site and began the search. I found the package in a shipping container almost immediately. Since there didn't appear to be anyone around to claim any of the equipment here, I decided to do a little salvaging too. Amazingly, the crashed ship had one good power regulator. I can always use another good power regulator. I quickly salvaged all that I could, got back to my ship and left. I didn't want to get caught on the ground, if those dead mercs had any friends.
Back at Frobisher Station, I met with Director Tyson again. He seemed pleased that I was able to get him the package as quickly as I did. He asked if I wanted just credits or if I wanted the offered Weapon Schematics plus a smaller amount of credits. I went with the weapon schematics naturally. He asked if I met any resistance. "None that I couldn't handle", I responded and bid him a good day.