Going to the Vettes... Warning, cheesy picture included!
20 Feb 2021CMDR CWolfXUK
I previously spoke of the wonder that is my Imperial Cutter, a gloriously extravagant ship with much style, cargo space and shields. Well, having spent many good hours hammering large ships with it - often literally as the Cutter is excellent at ramming ships and coming off a lot better than them - I was finding that it lacked the raw firepower to prevent certain well built ships running away. So, I started looking at alternatives.
My previous vehicles all had good and bad points, either sporting great firepower yet lacking in defence, the manoeuvrability of a cargo runner or generally just not quite being right - in my mind. The arrowheaded Fer-De-Lance and the twin pronged Mamba could deal damage and dodge around well enough, certainly fast enough to keep up with running vessels and capable of taking down even the biggest ships. The problem with those was that chasing a target down out of a combat zone or Res site allowed other ships to escape. What I needed was a ship that could handle like a medium craft yet with the turning ability and raw firepower of a large ship. I suppose the answer should have been obvious, I needed a Federal Corvette!
Now, I have owned nearly every ship on the common market. In fact if we travel back a fair bit I have even flown ships no longer available and no longer maintainable. The Federal Corvette was not one of them. Like the Imperial Cutter, the Corvette is only available with the right military licence. Luckily for me I already had most of the ranking toward getting one, a natural offshoot of Bounty Hunting is that contracts are often offered by the military as they are too busy to hunt smaller targets. I started to focus on the missions offered by the Federal Military, working my way toward my new goal. Handily it also tied nicely into overthrowing a government in a system I call home, as the replacement power is Federally aligned. We won the war, I also won a licence.
Strolling to the shipyard I started to panic. The Cutter had cost a lot of credits and surely the Federal equivalent would be of equal cost. I sold my Fer-De-Lance and my Mamba to make up some extra credits to be safe, I did not want to be haggling with the sales people over this. Finally, the Twinfang Wolf - my shiny new Federal Corvette - was signed over to me. Actually shiny, the sales crew had delivered it with the Azure paint job. It was a little too close to other ships I own and this was meant to be special. Not a problem though, the hangar team were happy to repaint the ship whilst applying my hull upgrades. Fitting the various weapon systems, especially the pair of super heavy weapons just above and behind the bridge section filled me with anticipation.
I launched from the station, opting to take it out manually to fully feel the weight of the moment. Different to the Cutter, the Corvette was less majestic and laid back and more determined to get a job done. The thrusters span it on an axis like a Python, the roar of the engines felt incredible through the whole frame to the seat. Unlike the luxury Gutamaya pilot seats the Federal Corvette has solid and utilitarian seating, allowing you to feel the actual pulse of the powerful beast you are sitting upon. Heading to a nearby Haz Res site I went through all my systems, ensuring my new ride was fully battle ready, shifting power into shields and weapons I dropped out of frame shift into the rocky rings of the planet.
Two pirates immediately targeted me, possibly reading the newly registered potential victim and ignoring my personal combat rating. The weapons deployed with satisfying whirrs and clunks, the beam lasers charging and the multicannons spinning up to speed. I locked onto the lead ship, an anaconda class in the process of locking his own weapons to my ship. Squeezing the trigger I actually made myself jump a little in my seat, being used to the largest weapon point being under the ship previously I was not quite prepared for the dual blasts of concentrated death that roared over my head (silently to me, due to the vacuum of space of course, my on board computer systems simulated the appropriate sounds in the cockpit), tearing into the target with relentless impact. The other weapons on my ship joined in and very quickly the 'conda lost shields and a chunk of it's hull plating. The enemy pilot realised the mistake that had been made and turned to flee. I locked onto the engines and fired again, marooning the bounty before me. My own computer then alerted me to the fact that my own shields had lost of of it's three rings and I remembered the other ship flying with the anaconda. Quickly changing target lock I found the Vulture blasting away to my right. In my cutter the turn to bear arms on this ship would have taken too long, allowing it to dodge out of harm and giving the crippled anaconda time to repair. Not so with the Corvette. I span almost on the spot and demolished the smaller ship in moments, then returned to the first target, completing the kill with a blast of cannonfire which caused the previously confident vessel to balloon into a ball of fire.
The Federal Corvette is now my new battleship, my Cutter can now become what is best for, massive cargo trading with the ability to take out or outlast any would be attacker.