Rare Goods Run, Armzahd, End of Work Day
18 Oct 2016The Cynical Chef
My current log says 308 tons of goods collected. Time to do precise math later, for now what matters is that with trade and bounties I'm at 31.5 million, making good progress towards a devoted trading vessel. As much as I love this Python that hasn't failed me once, she at her best can't reach 300 tons of cargo, and loading her down really cuts into her jump range. And after how many heads she took today, I don't know if I ever want to trade out this loadout.I've only had her for about a month now, Li'l Lappy. I mostly did trading and exploration when I first got her, so eager to have her I broke the cardinal rule of never buying a ship without having enough left over for insurance in case you accidentally fly into a star. But now that she's as kitted out as can be without dealing with that nutty engineer again, she's proven to be a capable hunter.
My headcount today included a wing of Kumo Crew Watch. One Diamondback Explorer mounting a plasma accelerator and traveling with two Eagle back-up. They were aggressive, the Eagle's kept fighting even after the Diamondback went down. But what Martuuk did to my engines meant that the Eagles couldn't just dance around me, it was easy to keep them in my sights long enough to mow them down. Good thing too, the Federl Security Service didn't show up until I already killed all three and was charging up my drive. The second was another Diamondback serving the Emperor's stupid niece, and lastly a Patereus Sentinel.
Now he was a satisfying kill. I hadn't laughed that hard since finding recordings of an ancient Earth comedian named George Carlin. He must have thought he had the firepower to take me down. Maybe it even looked that way on his scanners. He had two rail guns, a shield cell battery, and electronic countermeasures. How many actually fell victim to him for him to earn that Master ranking? Maybe the Empire just has lower standards than the Pilot's Federation. He missed with his rail guns, and that was the only shot he got off. His shields collapsed under steady bombardment, and I had drawn a bead on his power plant. After we passed each other I managed to quickly turn around and flank him from above. A few more rounds, and his engines cut out when the power plant failed. A rookie mistake of not assigning module priority in case there was a power plant failure, his hull integrity failed when I rammed him, and in ten seconds he died with my shield readout not registering the nudge. And he was worth 75,000 to someone.
And I suppose the people on the planet below are happy. Despite the determined efforts of one of the Imperial Navy's finest at interrupting the festivities by attacking an Alliance vessel on it's way to Lave Station, I brought in quite a lot of tea, giant snail meat, Witchhaul beef, and high quality brandy for the party. The work for today is done, and I'm tempted to take a shuttle down planet-side and sample some of the delicacies i went through all that trouble for. Is Witchhaul Kobe really all it's cracked up to be? A portion from a real cook can go for around 1,500 credits. But then again Irukama Snails are more a novelty. The snails farmed since the days of old Earth? Much better. So why spend money that could go to ammo? That 1,500 could go to the clips of multi-cannon ammo that net me my next 75,000 cred bounty. Besides, best I not get into liquor again. One too many gargle-blasters and three culinary students missing kidneys is why I'm in space to begin with instead of still working kitchens on Waterloo.
I hook up to the station's network and begin arrangements. I'm docked in a bay with a steady 0.6g, my personal stores are still good, and it's a Python. Even by the Spartan standards of Faulcon DeLacy ships, the living quarters are more comfortable than the apartment i used to live in, so why spend money on a hotel room? I'll rest up, tomorrow will no doubt be busy.