Supersize Me
23 Mar 2016TheDarkLord
Ising Dock, 109 Piscium. Type-9 Heavy “TDL RockWrecker”.January 3302.
My services to Emperor Arissa Lavigny-Duval in fighting battles against the Federation, and whittling down the numbers of local pirates – had led to a healthy credit balance. There’s something really lovely about working hard and saving up, then being able to get the thing you wanted.
Intending to take regular breaks from combat, I was off back to the rock rings of Jura, but I was going to do it in a behemoth of the mining world.
My Type-6 Transporter, TDL ManicMiner had given brave service these past few months, but it was time for her go on to another pilot. Her sale would cover the rebuy on a new ship, the giant Lakon Spaceways Type-9 Heavy freighter. I was jumping into it before I could fully A-rate it, but 110m credits would buy me a mining-spec “space cow.” And, back in my favourite shipyard, my salesman Jos gave me a great deal, allowing me to push the spec a little further than I would have been able to at full retail.
He shook his head though, “Mining… sheesh. And with that fancy FDL to zip around in, you want something that handles like a hippo in a mud pool. I don’t understand it.”
Where the FDL had jumped off the docking bay pad like an MDMA-fuelled kangaroo, there was a palpable weight to the RockWrecker. I was glad the hexagonal glasshouse of the cockpit was behind a biweave shield, because it looked awfully exposed, even though the view was fantastic.
Even with the view, I underestimated the width of the ship, and gouged the mailslot on the way out. 352 canisters of coffee rattled in their racks behind me. I was multi-hop trading my way back to Kamadhenu.