Into the Lion's Den
03 Oct 2020Eagle 5
The Journey from Lave to Baal was remarkably smooth.... too smooth in fact.No pirates... no patrols... no hangups.. smooth.
This was deep into Empire space... typically things would be safe here as their obsession with the appearance of law and order was only matched by their vanity. You could see it in their ship designs, their stations, their clothes... their society. Everything had to look effortlessly clean and polished.. soft even no harsh lines... no harsh people. perfectly coordinated... orchestrated... engineered.. yes even their people.
Heh... How else do you maintain a lineage of rulers without genetic drift happening..?
A quick glance of the scanner revealed that (remarkably still) I was not being followed..
>Leo target Oterma station.
Lucky for me the station was a short trek away from Baal but where is everyone? For the logistics hub of an event such as Harold's funeral the spacelanes were a bit.... empty
> 124 Contacts... Holy Shit.. Leo is the Scanner working right?
"...yes"
> ok then!... let's start taking some scans
I spent about 5 minutes combing through the contact list. Lots of navy ships here...
> Sounds like a damn barber shop here! Nothing but Clippers and Cutters...
...but that was an exaggeration there were just as many ships that weren't from Gutamaya... Looks like the Empire is doubling up on * mercantile outreach * as well... I better log this.
" This is Imperial Flight Control to Delacy Echo Alpha Golf... clearance granted watch speed around drydock and steer clear of security forces "
"Copy that flight control.. Liberty out"
It was at this point that I realized the security forces being referenced were not just for the protection of the funeral preparation... rather not one but two Imperial battle ships docked at a short proximity from the station... That seemed like a lot of firepower for what effectively was just the supply dump of the event and not the event itself.
> I better log that too... Leo time to fly casually
casually recklessly I thought.
Putting an all out galaxy wide call for supplies typically has some drawbacks. Arguably the worst one has to be having to deal with whoever decides to answer the call. You may get skilled tradesmen, truckers and privateers that are willing to put in the work necessary while seeking a sizeable payout. But you may also get riff raff tearassing around looking for the shit. Slone likely predicted this and sent me here knowing full well I'd be able to ride the line between the two groups. The Empire definitely was aware of this and brought in a sizeable contingent to handle whatever situation would arise.
I took the opportunity here. Though I couldn't do much in terms of scanning I had to think fast and make a break for it. The orbit of ships surrounding station and drydock would have been an intimidating sight for a fresh spacer on its first outing... so I did what they would.. adopted a strict A to B route directly to the station's safety which casually brought me in and through the drydock... but also casually within meters from the two cruisers that I could clearly see had sustained heavy damage from recent action. I better log this too as I don't think I could pull this trick off too many times without serious repercussions.