A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
28 Feb 2020Chad VanGaalen
Resuming log patterns. Or trying to. Therapist says it's good. Still not sold on her yet, but her heart seems to be in the right place.
Been a long time since DWII, and there's too much to catch up on for me to wrangle it all. Not going to. Really just spent most of that time planet side. Shaking off the dust, hustling to make a buck. But it felt good. Dirt between your toes. If you don't know what I'm talking about, well, it's hard to describe. But it's something real.
Present day. Our central network systems are down again. Second time this week.
Honestly, I enjoy it... brings me back a bit. Kids in the shipping lanes these days have no idea what it's like to fly a ship without a computer doing most of the job. Supercruise assist. Hell, even docking computers will do most of your piloting for you these days. Maybe this'll wake them up a bit.
This week has been an odd one. With the war in Phra Zhons over, I've been finding myself struggling with all the free time. The Greybeards are partying - deservedly so - but I'm back in the Straylight lounge, and it's been quiet.
There is much to do. But a lot has been done, and I shouldn't let that fall to the wayside.
CMDR Hvitserk Hong and I went out on a routine patrol on FEB 23. It was our second time out together, though the first was more of an exercise in getting to know each other. His Challenger is a force to be reckoned with. My FDL, well, it needs some tweaking.
Looking for Feds. And hell, they weren't hiding.
One trip to Deciat and things got hot real fast. We fragged multiple CMDRs like clockwork. One of them gave me pause as I hit him with my interdictor... a Type-6. Totally defenseless. Easy pickings for our wing, ashamedly so. But what was he doing all the way out here? And working for the Feds?
Doesn't matter. The explosion wasn't any less pretty than the hapless Python we vapourized right before him. Sometimes in life, you take the wrong path. Sometimes it ends in laser fire.
The real trick was this Anaconda we pulled. Shields glowing green from the start, so we knew we were in for a haul. But this guy was the business, worked it without breaking a sweat. I don't think we got him halfway through that prismatic. By the time we bugged out, Hong was in half hull, I was out of pack-hounds, and the two of us were the ones sweating.
Had to look the guy up. Guy runs a network for CMDRs who frequent the CQC. Fucking hell. It's a miracle we made it out of there at all.
The last catch of the day was a Mamba, right outside of Farseec Inc. He was on approach to the port, and we snagged him just outside the no-fire zone. He could have made it, but he decided to turn tail. A complete 180 away from the port. Why? Did he panic when the drag rounds hit him?
We shredded him. Focused the drives because we knew it'd be a problem. It was.
0% on the drives so he's cold, but he's moving at god knows how many meters a second. Faster than my 450. He's 4% hull, but he's outrunning us. While cold. This goes on for several minutes before he drops from radar.
I radio Hong. He radioes back. Nothing. Like a ghost.
We laughed. It was ridiculous. But that moment cut the tension we'd both been feeling, being on the hunt for hours. It was time to head home.
Time to focus on the Straylight.