Big Game Hunting in Riedquat
19 Oct 2016The Cynical Chef
I'm a little unusual for a Pilot's Federation pilot. One? Not a lot of pilots make it to Python without signing to a major faction or corporation. Sure i'll lend a hand to Mahon forces on occasion, but that's because Edmund Mahon has done right by my home system. But it's still conflicted territory right on the border of Federation and Alliance space. One of the reasons I haven't been home in so long is because of how dangerous Riedquat can be for a freelance pilot.But I'm an old fashioned human. I like to work with my hands, read instead of relying entirely on audio and video logs, and when a friend asks a favor, I don't turn him down. Even if on text, it sounded suicidal.
Now I haven't been back home on Waterloo since I joined the Pilot's Federation around three years ago. No surprise, the Federation was stiffing them on military support and the shipping lanes were only being patrolled by Vipers and Eagles. Normally that would be enough, but the Mob of Riedquat was at war with another Federation group. And it was hurting Tony.
Tony was someone I went to school with on Waterloo. Classic Earth cuisine was our specialty, though he was more the dessert guy while I was the appetizer guy. While watching the news in regards to the Gathering the event I was working on for the past couple days, he somehow noted my callsign under the Top 10% Contributors for the run, and reached out. The Mob of Riedquat had some big vessels tying up the shipping lanes. One of them had a huge bounty, 200,000 with the Federation, over 70,000 more from Riedquat Corporation, the group that more or less owned our home planet. There were others, including a confirmed Elite pilot in a Viper MkIV. They weren't just targeting Baijungu Netcom ships, they were targeting his ships and the Federal Security ships. If the problem wasn't dealt with soon, the Federation would deploy Naval forces and bottleneck the shipping lanes. Tony was already bleeding credits after this Hussein guy shot down two ships with important cargo for his main restaurant, and the shipping lanes slowing down even more?
Worse. If the rumors were true and it was an Anaconda that Hussein was flying, the bottleneck could turn into a lockdown as the Federation deployed a Corvette or Battlecruiser to hunt down this punk. Tony decided to gamble on me. He saw I'm flying a Python, he saw the Pilot's Federation had ranked me high in combat abilities, he knew I'd do him a favor.
The reason Riedquat is such a hot spot for bounty hunters is because it's Nav Beacon is close to the sun, and the ruling party is only a corporation. It's officially designated a system in anarchy by the Pilot's Federation, and hard not to see why. When a Nav Beacon is that close to a K-type star, it's in an area with enough background radiation that ship sensors don't operate at full efficiency. A viable tactic for pirates is to have the ships well armored and to just shut down the shield generator so that they aren't detected until they're within firing range. Even large ships with advanced sensor suites can only detect hints of emissions in a five kilometer radius. But I've already learned how to cope with that, and went to work.
Well, not right away. I first did a quick shipping mission to make sure I had some rare cargo in my hold. Not enough to slow me down, but enough that pirates would be lured in. Prey bit early, that Viper MkIV i heard so much about. He went down, easy enough, good 65,000 bounty. Imperial Clipper? I pick my teeth with those. They fly like bricks.
Bad analogy. Bricks are hard. They fly like balls of foil. Bad module defense, weak bulkheads, poor hardpoint placement, they're built to look pretty.
Which was good. He didn't hit me. It was after he died my audio simulators picked up rail gun fire. I didn't need it to be on radar to see it, a small ship was engaging an Anaconda. As i drew closer, it became clear. Some Federal Security Agent in an Eagle with balls of steel was engaging Hussein. 275,000 credit bounty, and sure enough, he was returning fire on the authority vessel. But despite being an Elite, he had tunnel vision. He didn't notice me scanning him, he didn't notice me flanking him, he didn't notice me until suddenly his shields were eating hits. He managed to return fire, a bit too slowly. His shields failed, my multicannons scored a few direct hits on his power plant. At that point he turned his attention from the Eagle and gave chase, me making tracks when I saw he was relying on close ranged weapons for shields and heat-seeking missiles that he was saving for when my shields collapsed. But the Eagle caught on to the plan, and he was the one with the rail guns. He hit the Anaconda on the flank, penetrating the hull and hitting his already damaged power plant. It failed, and I noticed on my HUD that the Anaconda was tumbling and it's shields stopped recharging. I mad a quick turn around, and managed to get on his flank again, hosing him down with more multi-cannon fire. When his hull integrity hit 5% and his power plant hit 0, secondary explosions began happening inside his ship. The power plant was melting down, and soon exploded, the liquid oxygen tanks for life support and hydrogen fuel all adding to a nice big firework.
I hunted for a little while longer before heading back. An Elite Anaconda? The Federation will be happy, sure. Riedquat Corporation? They'll offer me up more missions with that little bit of proof of just how dangerous I can be. The real achievement? Tony's down payment. VIP meal, on his restaurant along with proof that I managed to chase off Hussein or at least kill a couple of his Elite back-ups. Hussein himself? Let's see if I can con a few cases of black cherry soda from my old friend. Time for a trip back home. Hit a bookstore, see Tony, maybe throw a brick through the window of my old landlord's car. 5,000 credits a month for that rat hole apartment? I don't forget being robbed like that.