Wrecking Rocks
25 Mar 2016TheDarkLord
HIP 21991. Lakon Spaceways Type-9 Heavy “TDL Rockwrecker”.January 3302.
Jura was becoming a bit too hot for my liking. Too many pirates jumping in and pissing me off. It had got like Delkar a few months ago. You know that they’re getting desperate when they’re interdicting you on the way to the mining site, when all you’ve got on board is half a hold full of 101Cr limpets.
I was tipped off about another location close by. Well, close-ish anyway. I lumbered over in RockWrecker, with an interim trade cycle and refuel in HIP 20524. I arrived in HIP 21991 with my ship fully trade outfitted, so I needed to buy controller modules. Outfitting at the local station was very poorly stocked, and I had to make do with only B class limpet controllers for this run. On my way back, wisdom struck, and I checked the Outfitting in HIP 20524. Everything I needed in A grade. Typical. Nevertheless, B grade kit would do me for this one run.
I stocked up on limpets and joined friends from The 9th Legion in the ring close by. Wing Commander Nathan de Verne was trying his hand at mining for the first time. He had been consistently scathing about it when we were chatting during covert operations, but once he fired up the mining lasers, he'd found the Zen-like peace that slinking around the asteroids can bring. One of our Operations Officers was also there, and we chattered away over local comms while working our magic on the rocks to release them of their precious payload. With its A-class thrusters, the Type-9 belied its ‘Heavy’ designation. Sure, it couldn’t sprint from rock to rock like the other two in their Imperial Clippers, but it was surprisingly easy to line up for the lasing.
The other commanders were dotting around, sampling rocks at random. They were gathering materials, but like the dragonfly their method was random, driven by whim. I was much more the bumble bee, heading in a straight line towards the planet.
After an hour or so, Nathan left, his hold full and his mind cleared. I carried on with the others. We weren’t working together as such – usually around 5km or more apart from each other. But it was nice to have friendly ships on the scanner, to see their limpets buzzing around, and to catch the occasional glimpse of flaring thrusters as they moved amongst the rocks.
It takes a long time to mine a hold-full in a Type-9. RockWrecker was performing very well. My friend Ziva turned up in her Clipper, joining in the fun. She was rude about the Type-9 of course, commenting about my weight gain (over the Fer-de-Lance she was used to seeing me in), but we carried on, our pink lasers boring valuable holes in the rocks.
This new star system had great promise as a revenue source, and with my Legion-mates in close proximity, it felt like a simpler time. Working in a field, harvesting the produce. The lasers working to make something useful and valuable, instead of just blowing things up all the time. It was relaxing and fun. And then with holds full, we docked. After selling off my spoils, I was six million credits richer. A good day’s work.