Shock
10 Sep 2021Aylin Ouyang
I need a moment. Or many moments.I got interdicted by a pirate for real for the very first time. I'm still here, both me and New Prospect are still in one piece, I didn't lose my cargo, but I'm shaking. I'm shaking really bad.
I was carrying the last of the silver from Nemehi en-route to Guest City here when it happened, right in the middle of a low-sec system. I guess the pirates must've heard about the haul coming out of Nemehi and were waylaying traders in less-patrolled neighbouring systems.
Everything was going about normally; I was making my way around the star to gain LOS to Zeta to make the jump, when suddenly warning lights started flashing and the ship started rocking. Then the "WARNING: Interdiction detected" warning flashed on the HUD, and real-space around me started flashing as the FSD tried to hold supercruise.
I think I screamed then, I'm not sure. I recall grabbing the controls as the COVAS helpfully plotted an escape vector and I tried to keep the ship on the calculated course. I could feel my insides hurling and my brain going in all directions as I grappled with my assailant in this dance-like sequence. Up and down, twisting and turning...
I don't know how long that went on, but then the HUD flashed again, this time with the words "Interdiction Evaded", and the buffeting around the ship stopped, and the cockpit became calm again.
I sunk back into my seat, exhausted. I managed to remember to hit the FSD jump control before finally slumping down and crying.
After docking with at Guest City... I haven't left the ship.
I now know why pilots are such a paranoid bunch. I now am wondering how could that have happened? Did the pirates have people on the station who relay information to them so they can be targeted? Could it have been someone working in the cargo area? The port authority? Or worse, system authority?
I'm still shaking as I make this entry. I suddenly miss Gehry Port and all its restrictions and dull routines.