The Commute
25 Aug 2016Daksonn
"Frame shift drive charging" Paulah the computer chirped to Daksonn as he sat in the cockpit of MoonShard, his Asp Scout the new pride and joy in his life. Daksonn glanced to his left, down at the navigation panel. Last jump he thought to himself.He'd been in the cockpit for hours, system hoping halfway across the bubble, heading to a system called Vargerson. Word had come across the net that there was work for independant pilots out there, and work was something he'd desperately needed. Hearing of the possible employment, Daksonn had poured over the system maps, finding Vargerson, a tiny system consisting of a single planet and a single station, in the middle of empire space. But if it had work, then he'd go. At least the system was independant. He hated working for the big timers.
"4" The computer began its count-down, and Daksonn found himself mouthing the countdown silently, as the numbers flashed across the headsup display. Been out here too long he thought to himself as the number slowly ticked by. 'bout time i find me someone to talk to was all he would allow himself to think on the matter. He didn't have time to worry about his mental health, not right now.
"Engage".
Daksonn felt the familiar thump of power as he was driven through space by the frameshift drive, ducking across the immense distances in a few seconds, the universe flying past, all of which Daksonn ignored, only taking a moment to look down at his worn shabby clothing.
The engine whined and whoosh, he was finally in Vargerson, cruising along in supercruise. He'd made it, now just to dock. Turning the ships nose he pointed it to the "Browncoat Refuge" station, and settled in for the last couple of minutes of his trip.
Suddenly his comms beeped, and a voice spoke out. "What you got there? Drop it and live" he glanced over at his contact sheet, before he felt his frameshift drive begin to get pulled down from super cruise. He grunted as he scanned the list, the only thing close enough being an adder, the pilot registered by the name of "Hobbit".
He grunted once more and cut his throttle, an Adder not really a concern, and it would be faster to just talk his way out. They popped from super cruise down with the familiar rattle and the asp was soon scooting along, with the adder on its tail.
"Drop cargo, let live..." the guy sent through comms again, his voice singsong, as if this were some private song for him.
"I aint got nothin'," Daksonn keyed the mic and sent back, though he already felt this was going to go south. With practiced ease he swapped power from shields and engines to weapons. He rotated around, letting the ships scanner run down the Adder.
"Thats what the last guy said!" and with that the Adders laser shot, the asps shields absorbing the energy, and causing Daksonn to sigh. His scanner chirped as the adders details came through.
Wanted. Well, no surprises there.
No shields. This guys got a screw or two loose Daksonn thought to himself.
The adder roared its engines and took off, rotating and dodging fire that wasn't coming in. Daksonn sighed once more, tired. He keyed the mic and spoke.
"Stop now, and I'll forget it right? Let ya live" He deployed hardpoint, easily turning the asp to keep the pirate in its sights. He unleashed a salvo of lasers across the pirates nose, as emphasis to his threat.
"Ain't gonna warn you again friend"
If 'Hobbit' heard him he payed no mind, turning his ship around once more to fire off a few more bursts of the laser into the shields of MoonShard.
He's gone... Too much space.. Daksonn thought to himself as he cut the radio and gunned the asp into motion. He turned the ship around on the spot, bringing the ships guns to bear easily on the adder as they danced about the expanse, the black asp fighting off the smaller white adder.
With no shields the fight didn't take long, Daksonns more manoeuvrable asp scout staying out of the adders crosshairs and easily moving onto the adders six.
It didn't have to come to this Daksonn thought to himself. With a heavy heart he slowly squeezed the multicannon, the lead flying down into the adder, tearing apart the last few systems, before blowing the powerplant. With a muffled pop the adder exploded into a small field of debris.
Daksonn sighed, cutting power to the moonshards engine, and sitting dead still in the void. He glanced down at his sensors.
Come on.. Did he? he scanned across the contacts list once, then twice. Mad bastard didn't.. didn't even eject. he came to the sickening realization after the second pass through.
He sat for a long moment in silence, the ships idle engine humming. Finally, with a deep breath Daksonn forced a smile and pointed the asp towards Browncoat Refuge.
It was time to see what the job was, and what his new temporary home was like.