The Hunter Hunted. 3 NOV 3301
07 Nov 2015ParkTyGreen
So I went down to the 109 Piscium system to try Bounty hunting there yesterday, but something went wrong.I was being hunted.
It all started when a group of anacondas interdicted me. At first, they seemed nothing more than Trolls or thrill junkies, seeing if anyone would fight them or something. I cautiously said goodbye just as the emergency cooldown ended, and began to leave. They began to fire. They had stated that they were bounty hunters, but I now understand their intentions. They were pirates. Any one pilot would become a pirate to sustain his/her family, or get a crumb on the table, but these people killed for wealth. Wealth in that they could mess with their victims, and then outnumber them. They would then catch up to them with blinding speed. And murder them. That is what people from Eravate had told me. They said that those Commanders, scoundrels, they can't be called commanders, had been killing new Commanders to the Pilots Federation for as long as they could remember. I escaped, I had my fast FDL and could easily outrun them. Once I was on my way back to the HazRes, they interdicted me again. The bastards.
I avoided the first one, but they set up an interdiction chain and the next one got me.
Once they interdicted me I connected comms and said "I deal no threat to you!"
Their "spokesperson", KSIWARMACHINE, as his code name was, replied with "You were a threat when you ran away!" They were chasing me down like a pack of wolves. Of course I was staying ahead of them. I then said "Can't we be allies, I have a schedule to keep!" (I didn't). He answered back "And I have a Lance to kill...."
I continued careening through space. Boosting as much as the ship could.
I tried to tie up loose ends by saying "I'll jettison my cargo!"
He pressed, "What cargo do you have?" This obviously meant they weren’t seasoned criminals, but bloodthirsty thrill seekers, preying one that they imagined to be easy targets. No sensible pirate would have no manifest scanner. I needed to think of something outlandish. Maybe I could distract them.
"FISH!" I yelled suddenly.
"The Hell?" He replied with ever increasing agitation.
"FISH AND WEAPONS!" I shouted
"I WILL JETISON THIS CARGO FOR YOU AND YOUR PIRATE FRIENDS IF YOU DO NOT BOTHER ME!"
"Full stop and we will take the weapons"
I closed voice comms after the FSD had finally reached stability level. It worked. They’d been distracted long enough to lapse in thinking about how I was about to jump away.
I then jumped to the nearby system Kalak
It was after about 50 minutes or so that I thought I was safe.
10 minutes later I received an encrypted message.
It said "We will remember you, by no doubt. You had better watch yourself out there, Bounty hunter. We do not forget. We do not forgive. Do not anger us."
I knew this was just a futile attempt to frighten me.
I had received voice comms, messages, etc, about how "I am a bounty hunter, yay yay."
I risk my life out there every day.
I get some attention from local factions in my home system, 19 Phi-2 Ceti, but, anybody else, meets me with anger.
Carrying on...
Later that day I went back to kalak, Nobel terminal.
They were there.
Python, 3 anacondas, and a courier.
I had begun docking, when I started receiving fire. They didn't continue due to the station's retaliation, but they came back. I had docked when I received a voice comms invite.
I accepted.
"So... I see you are still hanging out in our zone?"
I replied with "Your zone? Zone? Haha very funny"
"Fancy seeing you here" I added
They responded with "You are already dead my friend."
"Really? You would be dead in minutes if you fired. The station personnel do not take unauthorized fire lightly" I said.
"And you would be dead in seavonds (he had a lisp)"
"Seavonds? That must mean years." I replied.
I contacted my friend with the codename "Ducker" who piloted his own Python.
I told him my situation
He then said that he was on his way.
I said to my captors "I have a friend inbound. You guys stay cosy in your big ships. I bet you feel pride in that I cannot kill you."
They did not respond.
"Voice comms disconnected"
I threw my bottlecap I keep in the compartment on the HUD at the glass.
This was getting frustrating.
The bottlecap crashed into the glass on the cockpit, then bounced back due to the microgravity.
Ehhh... My head. Still hurts after I banged it against my helmet visor.
Soon I received a voice comms from Ducker.
He said "You should buy an eagle, if you leave the station you can outmaneuver them and escape."
I didn't do the idea, my FDL would outrun them.
Before he arrived, I thought that my captors had left
I disembarked.
Once I was near the letterbox, I realised they were still waiting for me.
I said to Ducker "They are outside, waiting for me"
He replied "Did you get the eagle?"
"Ummm...."
"You didn't?"
"No"
The python zoomed through the letterbox and tried to kamikaze me.
Ducky said "Then run."
I bolted out of the letterbox as fast as my trusty ship could go.
They opened fire as soon as I was out.
I ducked under their bulking hulls and zoomed away. Shields at 80%
50%
40%
30%
I was yelling "How are they able to take out my shields? It usually takes minutes to take down my shields!"
10%
5%
0%
"Shields offline" the computer said, ever so calmly.
"COULD YOU BE SO CALM!?" I yelled
90% hull.
60% hull
40% hull
I jumped.
That rush of electrons never felt better.
When I arrived in the system next door, I received another voice comms invite from Ducker.
He said he had arrived at the system.
I had survived, but I knew that they were still out there.
And they needed to be stopped, or at least deterred.
I went back.
I had arrived back at Nobel terminal, docked, and then received a message.
"Back?"
I replied "Let's have a diplomatic talk, like human beings. What have we become in this 34th century?"
To my surprise they agreed.
I had left the station, and was slowing heading towards the meeting point.
Ducker said "You are moving... Slowly"
"I'm being cautious"
I then arrived in front of the pricks.
"What will you do that will keep me from killing you right now?" He said.
I replied "A deal"
"What kind of deal?"
"Cargo'
"Lots of cargo"
He then said, " if we want an agreement, then 200 tonnes of imperial slaves."
"For each"
Not that I was ever going to be naturally willing to transport imperial slaves (even if they’re all debtors and such,) I would have been willing Tod I so if my life was on the line. Which it was here.
Ducker said "what do they want?"
I replied "200t of imperial slaves, each"
"Your ship can't hold 200t"
The group of perps surrounded me. Python on left, 3 anacondas or right and in front, and courier diagonal forward.
"Uh oh..." I muttered.
"I know what they are planning."
"Exactly", I heard a voice from the external voice comms.
DAMMIT. I didn't turn off secondary comms.
They opened fire.
I ran, boosting away.
They all converged behind me.
A swarm of bullets and beams surrounding me.
I jumped.
So did ducker.
"Run, run, but you and your guy will never be safe!"
That was the last transmission they sent me.
We arrived in the same system, and talked.
"So want to hide in Kaushpoos?" I asked
"Yes, but we need to move, they will follow our wake"
I doubted him, I had never been followed in such a way.
I jumped a second time to be sure. So did he.
I was feeling safe, setting up my route for kaushpoos. The quietness was broken.
"How exciting"
"They are here" I said
We jumped again, again, I fuel scooped as fast as I could.
Again, the icons zoomed in.
Ducker said he would split to a different route so it was fifty fifty for them to follow one of us.
It was a wild chase, fuel scooping so close to some stars I could boil an egg.
Finally, I arrived. Docked at Neville horizons, I was safe at last.
Ducker soon arrived, and we talked over the events at a community hall in the docking bay of the station.
And here I am, a few hours later.
Cosy in in the captain's quarters.
Got to start bounty hunting soon, so I will write again.
Keeping my eye out, still been very uneasy.
This is Commander ParkTy Green, Signing off.