The Miracle Ship
10 Nov 2019ParkTyGreen
Tiberius Captain’s Log - 10th of November 3305Fozard Port, Upaniklis
Today the same person nearly blasted me into space twice. It all started when I went to bounty hunt again for the community goal, winged up with Commanders Sky High, Dingding, and badassdrummer. Immediately after establishing comms, they frantically told me one of them was being attacked, others interdicted by a wing of commanders led by “EZA10.”
I tried helping them, but their displays on the hud quickly ran out of shields and turned grey. They barely ejected and made it out alive. Later, it didn’t take long for me to encounter none other than EZA10 in the haz res.
Shields suddenly dropped significantly. Sounds of cracking metal bursted through the ship. At first I thought it was another accidental collision, but then it happened again. And the next time it happened, shields went down. And now the computer said, “Ship under attack.” I pushed the throttle forward so fast my hand still hurts. The Tiberius’s hull screeched as a series of Plasma accelerators and lasers impacted her hull. I quickly checked external sensors for who was attacking me. I audibly gasped. My ‘friend’ EZA10.
My comms were ablaze. I was frantically alerting everyone that I was under attack, that EZA had done something. Sky high’s comms were down. Everyone else was getting ganked by Iron and interdicted. I was as good as alone. FSD began charging, but not nearly fast enough. The hull was giving way. The computer announced, “ship integrity critical’ and sparks flew everywhere. Then the mass lock factor vanished and I let out a huge sigh of relief as the ship lurched into supercruise.
Later, Sky High and I headed back to the haz res and quickly spotted him again.
“Park and I are here bounty hunting and this jackass is trying to ram us and be an asshole.” Sky High picked up speed and his Python’s engines roared as he turned to face the Phantom.
“Nearly killed me,” I added. “Got me down to 21% hull.”
DingDing grunted and said he was on his way. Also, everyone else in the rings was now coming to our defence. It was heartwarming to see such a large group of Bounty Hunters working to protect their own. Being out in the rim for so long, away from other commanders, the amount of pilots that were willing to protect me and Sky High was shocking. Pretty soon, someone fired on EZA10.
It was a wild chase through the rings. The Phantom was fast as hell, weaving in between asteroids with startling grace for a lowlife. And I’ve gotta say, seeing that line of jet-trails weaving between the murky dust haze of those rings has got to be one of the most amazing sights I’ve ever seen. And I’ve been exploring. Commander Sky High was yelling “Get his drives!” I could barely keep up. Kaylyn and Sloane pursued him but couldn’t get a single shot in. EZA was pulling at least 500m/s. The pressure was intense. Alas, he quickly pulled upwards and made a wild run out of mass lock. I was trailing far behind by now. He jumped away.
Immediately after, everyone engaged their frame shift drives, nearly blinding me as I recalled Sloane and Kaylyn. A few seconds later, as the fighter had just docked, a series of bursts cut into the canopy, and I quickly followed them. JZA was nowhere to be found. But it was a low-wake, so he had to be in the system still. Out of options, the lot of us headed to the port.
I huddled with the crew near the comms console on the bridge once we’d docked. A flurry of comms fluttered about the station, and it was almost hilarious to listen to, if only it wasn’t from EZA10. “The dick in a corevette, you think you’ve got the upper hand or something? Your name says it all. Ding dong.”
“Can you read?” Ding ding laughed. “It’s not ding dong, dumbass.” And so they continued to argue.
While EZA was distracted, I flicked a few keys and began typing a message to the system. “EZA10 is a ganker, stay the hell away from him, or help us kill him.”
Anyways, all things considered, that was the most money I’d made from bounty hunting in a single day, ever. And, additionally, I’d jumped to the 25% reward category for the community goal as well. I’d managed to keep the Tiberius from becoming space junk at least three or five times today. She’s a tough ship, but not tough enough for Upaniklis it seems.