The Redeemer
22 May 2022Claude Lecardunoie
I left Beta Hydri about 30M CR richer after I worked for Zachary Rackham. Not bad.I decided to take Imran Bouyangi's advice: going to 10 Tauri to buy myself a Vulture. Imran, supposedly an humble humantarian worker for Sirius Corp. appeared to actually be much more than that: some sort of pilots, mercenaries and spies recruiter for Sirius and also managing them in order to help his CEO, Li Yong-Rui achieving is views to "promote technology for all" and "for a better galaxy for everyone", according to Imran's words. After all, why not believing him, I thougt.
I went to Clairaut City shipyard in 10 Tauri system, at the Core Dynamics Selling offices. Yes, they had a Vulture in their stocks. As soon as I mentionned Imran's name, the sales person I was negociating with quickly modified the estimate price on the Vulture with a 10% discount. "Sirius Corp. allied and Imran's friends are always welcome here", he said. So, Imran was right, Li Yong-Rui was somehow pulling the strings in this system.
I also visited several thrusters, power plants and weapons retailers to upgrade my new vessel, which I had registered under the name of "Redeemer". One large gimballed pulse laser, one large gimballed multi-cannon, a chaff launcher, two shield cells banks, a top notch power plant, a shield booster. I couldn't get the thrusters I wanted, as this time I decided to carefully fit my ship: in order to save enough power in case of emergency, I had to buy a lower rank thruster, making the Redeemer a rather slow heavy fighter. All together, all these pieces of equipment were more expensive than the ship itself.
Then, I hesitated: a heat sink or an extra shield booster? I went for the extra booster. I would change configuration if I should encounter cooling issues.
The political situation in 10 Tauri was complicated. ArmBorr Ind., a Federal pro-democracy party was in open civil war with the Official 10 Tauri Defense Force, a violent political group, trying to impose a dictatorship on the disputed stations of the system. Siding with the Federation was ok after all. According to Imran, the Federation was probably not behind the tragic events of april 3308 in Veroandi. I joined ArmBorr combat squadron. My new Vulture, although very slow, was doing well in battle. I engaged several Vipers, Vultures and a T-9 and got them all. Between fights, I had to fly back to Clairaut City for reparations, but the ArmBorr technical personel were skilled enough to send me back in combat quicker than I thought. The choice of a second shield booster over a heat sink proved to be smart a one. I had some minor heat damages, but the resistance of my shield helped to remain in battle longer than I used to.
I was about to fullfill my duty for ArmBorr Ind. when I received a vocal com from my old friend Coolboard. He was looking for a skimmer pilot to help him in the fight against some pirat insurectionnists in HIP 10792. Coolboard and I share the same opinion on these large pirats syndicates. One more Official 10 Tauri Defense Force fighter to destroy and I'll join Coolboard. There would always be time to see what Sirius Corp. and his ambitious CEO had to offer.
"Commander, glad to have you back in the squadron...". That was my wing leader: time for me and the Redeemer to jump into battle to finish Official 10 Tauri Defense Force off.