Locking and loading
02 May 2020Maggie Oz
"Al ... AL! .... can you hear me Al?" the vid comm sputtered and jumped, the Image of Al fading in and out"Yeh ... I can hear ya Maggie, how ya doin'? " came the reply, a little distorted
"I am well thank you Al. I'm working on building my ship, to come and have another go"
"Heeyyy dat's great, it'll be good to see ya back down 'ere"
"Is there anything in particular I should add to my ship? " I asked, pressing to get the information before the line dropped out
"Naw, just like I said before, lots of hull reinfawwcements, and as many o' dem AX cannon as you can fit"
"Ok well I'm going to have 2 heavy and 2 medium cannon, and pretty much everything else is reinforcing, I'll also A rate all the drives and power systems"
"Yeh dat sounds great, should do da trick"
"Is there anything I can bring you?"
"Well, I guess a marriage proposal is outta da question so maybe just pick up up a nice bawx of cee-gars?"
"You got it Al, and hey, you never know play your cards right and anything's possible," I said with a wink.
"You shouldn't tease an ol' guy like dat y'know?"
"You're not so old Al. I'll see you soon hey?"
"Ok , see ya then"
I closed the comm link and made a note to collect some Kamitra Cigars on my travels.
OK let's see what the market has ..... great; looks like I can get everything over in Baal.
I made the jump to Baal System, I figured I avoid seeing Roy as he'd just be trying to talk me out of hunting Thargoids again.
I made my first stop Stromgen Orbital, the online stock list said they had the A rated units and hull reinforcements I need.
After 5 minutes of calling, a grubby looking mektek came online and I gave him my list.
"Sorry Luv, we only got a 6D powerplant, for a 6A you'll need to go to Martin Settlement, ."
"Ok well just the hull reinforcements then."
"Yeh right-o , we only got a 5 slot unit though, you can try Martin for the smaller ones too"
"Oh alright well I should probably just get them all at Martins's then?"
"They don't 'ave any 5 slotters on Martin's though"
-sigh- " OK fit what you can then"
"'ere 'ang on, if I fit this hull reinforcement and the shields you want you ain't got enough to power them,"
"it's ok I just won't run them until I get the upgraded power unit"
"I don't fink so, I can't let you go out of my shop like that, it's against regulations, not safe. I got a reputation to keep you know"
"I'll leave them deactivated," I replied testily
"Nah you'll have to fit the 6D unit and then trade that on the 6A when you find it"
"I will not. Fit what I have asked for and I shall be on my way. Alternatively, you can wait while I put in a call to Lord Batty and have him run a snap inspection on your workshop .... every day for the next month"
"You wouldn't"
I just looked at him with an "I bloody well would" look on my face.
He relented and the fitting went quick enough, as did my cash.
So off to Martin Settlement, a planetary landing which went smooth enough.
"Oo' told you we 'ad a 6A plant? Those tossers on Stromgen? They dunno their arse from their armpit Luv"
"Ok well, what HAVE you got from my list?"
"Right, we can do all your hull reinforcements, we got everything from 5 to 1"
"Stromgen said you didn't have any 5's"
"I bet they did"
"And the AX cannon?"
"We only have 2 slot units if you want turrets"
"OK well I'll buy them all at somewhere that has 2 and 3 slot units"
"You sure? Wouldn't want to get there and find they 'ad none"
"No I'm sure they will have plenty"
More fitting, more fleecing of my Cr disk.
On a tip off for the AX cannon, I headed to Zeta Horologi
"OK Luv well we got the 6A plant and Distributor for ya but we don't have turreted AX cannon, sorry. Yoo might try over in Reynes for that, 'eard they got a shipment just yesterday"
-sigh- "Ok just do what you can"
More fitting and my Cr disk is starting to look like it needs a hull reinforcement.
Another boost to Reynes
"Yeh Luv we got the 3 slot AX turrets, bran' new dey are straight from the factory. We run outta 2 slot turrets though, you can 'ave gimballed ones If ya want"
-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRR!-
"OK just fit the turrets you have thank you, I'll source the 2 slots somewhere else"
"Oh look 'ere we go, they got 'em at Martin Settlement in Baal, you know where that is?"
"Yes I think so," I said, not letting on
More fitting, more cash
Finally, defeated, I end up back at Martins Settlement
"Oi, come back for them cannon have ya Luv? "
- no, for the scintillating conversation-
"Yes that's right, turns out they didn't have any after all"
He smirked
More fitting, more cash.....
So after an entire day of tripping about the sector, the Witchy Woman is fully spec'd for hunting Thargoids, all I need now is a box of cee-gars and I'm off to the Pleiades.
