NPC Britney Coffey joins the party
25 Nov 2017Commander-Wingnut
CMDR Wingnut's protracted siege against the Scortia Enterprise emplacement was not without any consequences.
When Ol' Squeezy Stan, the overseer of the compound, discovered that Wingnut's Scarab had connected to the datapoint and stolen a terabyte of his private pornography stash, he had had enough. Enter NPC Britney Coffey - a privateer from the Chacobog Movement for Equality.
"English. Is he by any chance related to Henley English of the Krumine Blue Mafia?"
"I doubt it," growled Stan - it had been almost a week since he had gotten any sleep. "He seems to be working for Canonn."
"A Diamondback Explorer.
This guy drives a school bus.
This should be a walk in the park."
--:-:--
The FSD interdictor lost its connection and the tether violently snapped.
NPC Coffey's Anaconda spun out of supercruise into normal space again.
For the fourth time, she gaped in horror as the Copperhead Road's engine flare winked off into the stars.
Her fist pounded the dashboard again.
"This guy drives a school bus!" Coffey screamed at her scanner. "This should a walk in the park!"
--:-:--
It was around the eighth or ninth time that he slipped Coffey's leash that Wingnut actually contemplated standing his ground and fighting.
But that Anaconda was a lot bigger than the Copperhead Road, and bristling with thermal weapons that would make short work of his bulkheads once the shields went down.
What an annoyance.
He did have to give respect where it was due, though. For a 24k bounty, Coffey was putting in a lot of work. He could only imagine the fits that the commander of the pursuing ship had to be going through each time the Diamondback slipped through her fingers.
Oh look, he had come in high on the rings above Finney Holdings again. Between him and the safety of Trinh Enterprise's Coriolis station, was a mind-boggling massive field of micro-asteroids big enough to make a whole new planetoid.
The ship shuddered about him.
FSD Interdiction Detected.
Oh, right on schedule. This time, however, rather than trying to outrun the gravitational tether now attached to his ship from the massive ship behind, Wingnut hauled on the stick and the Copperhead Road peeled upwards towards the enormous brown discs.
Safety interlocks engaged as soon as the Mass Lock light flared blue, and the shift-drive's engine hit the emergency disconnect. First, the Copperhead Road tumbled out into normal space, winking into existence where the asteroids first started to appear.
The Anaconda, however, was catapulted forward by its tether. She appeared a moment later - and a hundred kilometers deeper afield. Even as the CMFE Ticonderoga tried to turn to face Wingnut's Diamondback, NPC Coffey's ship disappeared into the rock-choked abyss, tumbling end over end.
A few glancing blows from the local course hazards, only served to send the Ticonderoga spinning even faster. Before long, she was only a signature on the scanner that abruptly crackled into nothing.
" - AND YOUR FUCKING SCHOOL BUUU - " Britney's crazed voice shrieked on Direct Comms.
There was a brief white flash - and the rings of Chacobog 4 A were, as they had been always, dead silent.
Trinh Enterprise, Chacobog
The Very Next Day
We find Cmdr Wingnut nursing his way to the bottom of a very hot travel mug of black coffee when a familiar face fixed on him and came stomping through the crowd in his direction. With little fanfare, NPC Britney Coffey - formerly of the CMFE Ticonderoga - plonked down on the bench opposite him. Seething, she exhaled through her teeth.
"Do you, Commander, understand how much the insurance deductible is for a FUC -" catching herself, the woman took a moment to gather her composure. "The deductible on an Anaconda happens to be?"
"Wild-ass guess here - somewhere around ten times the value of my original bounty ticket?"
"TRY A HUNDRED." Coffey hissed. "I am now without a ship, practically bankrupt, and just about ready for a new line of work. And the way I see it, you're the one who put me in this hole in the first place!"
Wingnut shrugged, taking another long pull of the condensed black death from his cup. "Sounds reasonable to me. Tell you what I'm gonna do."
"Hire me onto your crew, work me to death until my debts are paid off, then cut me off without so much as a cake?"
"Bingo. Let's get you started on the tour right away."
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NPC Britney Coffey has joined the party!