Commander's Log 33010825: Oops!! Or, How I Got on the WANTED List
26 Aug 2015Amaya Manami
Bolstered by my comm with Tamara, and maybe a little bit in spite of my comm with Tamara, I decided to step up my game and earn enough credits to move to Altair. My plan is to use the Altair system as my base of operations for getting into the rares trading business.To do this, I would need at least 250k credits. As of right now, I only have 98k. A quick scan of the Bulletin board showed a lucrative haul of four slaves to Russell Ring for a net profit of 85k credits. Shiny! I took the job and quietly departed Engle Orbital.
The mission was going well. All systems were in the green and the four slaves chatted quietly among themselves. Apparently, their spirits were high with the hope of new and better masters waiting for them at the other end. One of them, the tall male, quipped a joke that I only half understood - something about the preparation of Ceti Rabbits and a faulty processor. It must have been funny because they all laughed. Slave humor.
About 5 LS out of Russell Ring, Rhiannon's alarms started blaring -- I was being interdicted. It had to be a pirate - or maybe a group of them. Damn! it was lucky that I upgraded my weapons before leaving Engle Orbital.
Twisting and turning proved fruitless, and I was unable to defeat the interdiction. We dropped quickly out of supercruise. Within seconds, laser blasts from my rear showed where the enemy was located. There were two blips. I turned quickly and focused on the nearest ship. A lock -- and my finger squeezed the trigger. It was only then that I realized that I had locked onto a Security Force ship - one that had apparently shown up to lend me assistance. It was too late -- my laser and cannon both hit the Security force ship with full effect. Oops! My mouth and eyes opened widely in shock!
Three things happened simultaneously - the reticule surrounding the Security Force ship turned bright red, a bright crimson WANTED beacon flashed on my HUD, and my heart lept into my throat! This was soooo not shiny!
The pirate kept his attention on the Security Force ship. Laser and cannon fire lept hotly between them -- they were in a duel to the death. Should I help the Security Force ship or should I run? With a cargo hold filled with illicit goods and a WANTED flag set on me, I decided that the best course of action was to get away from there as quickly as I could. Turning toward Russell Ring, I sped away at top speed giving the FSD a chance to charge. Once charged, I sped the rest of the way hoping I wasn't going to be vaporized on arrival.
What would they do with me there? I mean, if I show up with four slaves and a WANTED warrant - what would they do? Blast me out of the dark without a word? Arrest me? Fine me beyond my credit limit?? I didn't know and I was afraid.
When I dropped out of supercruise at Russell Ring, I discovered that the WANTED beacon was gone! What? What happened? I doubt the Security Force ship commander would perform a random act of kindness toward a stranger/smuggler who shot at his ship. What then? Could it be true that father was having me followed? And that someone saw a WANTED warrant on me and quietly/quickly had it erased? I had no doubt that anyone my father sent would have the power to do that. Somehow, the thought of someone following me was more frightening than the unknown of what would happen to me if I was WANTED.
I requested docking and slipped into Silent Running - unfortunately, not quickly enough. I got scanned and fined 11k credits. Grrrrr... Would this nightmare never end?
I finally made it safely to the dock and off-loaded the slaves. After paying the fine and fueling costs, I was only able to net a little over 60k credits of the original 85k I signed on for.
In the future, I need to make sure of my targets before I start firing. I decided right then that I would not tell Tamara about this incident- I would never hear the end of it.