Good Coffee and a blast of everything.
16 Dec 2015Jim Beaumont
The down day went pretty much as planned. A long wait as the software was rolled out across the galaxy, then another long wait while the ship systems were updated so the fleet could roll again. Merc got the go first and headed out, grabbing a few hauling jobs. Apparently the software engineer had a few snags getting my Asp functioning, hence my delay. Still, it meant I got to drink some more of the good coffee that had arrived in station yesterday. Nothing worse than a long day and poor coffee.Once I got the go ahead, I also grabbed a couple of hauling jobs. Suddenly, everyone is wanting to shift 50+t of commodities. Multiple loads and a round robin trip are going to be much harder to go by now from here. I was going to pull one of the courier tasks too, but whats this? Pilot Trade rank Elite! Goddam it. I didn't have time to seek out my contact, so I left without any courier job.
I did my deliver jobs, and checked at the final drop for any other jobs locally. On the bottom of the board was a hastily posted 'Hostage taken. Need help.'
Interesting. Not seen one like that before. And I like new and different. A lot.
I introduced myself to the poster of the message. He gave me the detail, and a healthy offer of payment. I got on my way home to grab the FD Almeida FAS, this could get a little hot and it's not a job for the Infante. On the way, I messaged Merc and we opened a chat channel, arranged to meet up on my return to the area.
When I returned Merc was waiting for me, and we winged up then jumped to the final system.
'Whats the name Jim?'
'Ichzeyyy something or other. You'll know it when you see it'
'Thanks for that'
'Your welcome'
'Got it Jim. Is that the name of the pilot or hostage?'
'Well hostage I thought, but maybe not. I'll swing round and interdict anyway.'
So all 3 of us drop out of supercruise, and we are just about to open up to drop the shield
'You got cargo space on that Jim?'
Shit. I didn't think of that. Balls.
'Outpost. Quick refit and we get him again.' Merc was just laughing now. 'Roger that. Some bleeding rescuer you are hahaha'
A quick refit and out again. We found Ichzeyyy whatever again, same scenario.
We drop the shields, I fire a hatch limpet, cargo exits. Imp Slaves, and a hostage. I collect the hostage. Not the one I want. And now I'm out of limpets!
Back to the outpost, rearm with more limpets. Rinse and repeat. Merc is in hysterics now.
The final attempt ended with no limpets left, more hostages but not the mission completion one. And a severly disabled ship. We left it to limp home.
I had to convey the bad news when I got to back to the station. He wasn't happy, but what more could I do.
After all that, we decided on some peaceful mining back home. Test out the new software on the refinery processer. Jobs a good one on that front at least.
Cmdr Beaumont (the Cargoless Rescuer)