Attenborough and the FCDI
20 Jul 2017Phelbore
My brother was heading to Sagittarius A* with passengers in tow, and I had a brand new combat exploration ship to show off (inspired by the recent Thargoid attacks). I caught up with him at Attenborough's Watch, where he was putting in for repairs. I buzzed him landing and waited for him to track down the asshole that almost hit him. The look on his face when he saw it was me was priceless. I assume the look on my face as his fist connected with my jaw was probably similar... I showed off my ship, we had a few drinks and I may have made some unwelcome advances to one of his passengers.Either way, repairs were made and I followed him for a couple thousand light years. It was uneventful, so I turned around to head home. On the way back I heard about the First Contact Defense Initiative and made contact. Their representative was coming back from Beagle Point, but would keep in touch to arrange a meeting. I was due back at Vinge about a week before he'd hit the bubble, so I spent the time running prisoners and tweaking Dancing Daggers more.
A few days before he was due to arrive, the representative started telling me about all the internal power struggles and policy disagreements they were having. To be honest, it sounded like schoolyard bickering to me, even more when he told me he was forming a competing group. I'm always up for watching a couple Type-9's wedge themselves into the mailslot at the same time, so I agreed to meet him. I may have thought it sounded like a trap, and those are always fun to spring...
When he arrived back in the bubble, he told me we'd have to meet right then on some strange planet, and he was bringing a friend and hadn't sold his data yet. Now, that sounded like a setup if I'd ever heard one, so I said I'd be right there in my new exploration ship. I arrived in Dancing Daggers to a bone stock Sidewinder and an unarmed Anaconda with almost no paint left. These guys were either really good or really stupid, it was hard to say...
I was told they were looking for the geysers to meet at but were having trouble finding them. I asked for the coordinates and was given them, to 2 decimal places. I told him I'd pull out the SRV and start looking. Once I got a bit away from my ship, my SRV rolled hard for no reason. I righted it and continued on to find it happen again, but this time I saw a Federal SLF leaving. The third time I saw it incoming and opened fire on it.
My contact yelled at me to find out why I was shooting him, I asked why he kept ramming me! He said he was giving up on the geysers and wanted to balance my SRV on his fighter. I told him if he does it again I'd waste his Anaconda. Sure enough, he rammed me again, I turned back to my ship. Once I boarded and deployed hardpoints he ran, fast. Guess he wouldn't have given the Thargoids much of a fight either. I headed back to Vinge, glad that all he wasted was a couple hours and a few dozen rounds.