The Raven
05 Oct 2024IAMDOC
These past few days have been a blur.I paid off my fines from my botched mission and turned myself in to the interstellar authorities to clear my bounty. 100cr lighter and a day of "pilot re-education" later put me back in my ship, only 100Ly away. I still had some jobs active in the system where I turned myself in, so I started making my way back. I don't leave jobs unfinished if I have a choice.
My account was pretty flush from all the bounties I'd claimed, so I started checking stations for a Cobra MkIV as I headed back to Avan. I must have checked a dozen stations to no avail by the time I got back. Even in a station as vast as Avan's I couldn't find a MkIV, but I found something potentially even better. A Vulture. I've never been a spur of the moment kind of guy, regimen and routine are part of what kept me alive up to now, but the Vulture seemed like a hell of a ship for an aspiring bounty hunter. I was about 200k light, but I figured on a 5 million credit ship the yard would cut me a break. No such luck.
I wasn't willing to sell my ship outright to afford the Vulture, not yet at least. I planned to cannibalize bits of it and retrofit them onto the Vulture so I didn't have to buy as many new parts. That left me with no other choices than to pick up some fresh bounties from the station rep and head back out into the void.
My last time using the Cobra MkIII was great, it's been a solid ship and I'll definitely miss it's mobility and speed. After knocking heads together across the HIP 96402 system, I went back to Avan and claimed all my missions and turned in the bounty chips. Several hours of changing out parts later and I had the beast laid out. The biggest changes I made were to my weapons: no more multi-cannons, I had upgraded beam lasers fitted, though I kept them gimbaled in case I can't aim worth a damn in this thing. Naming isn't my strong suit, so keeping with the bird theme, I named it The Raven.
Like a kid with his first bike I hopped in and headed straight back to HIP 96402, and I have to say I'm impressed. It's no Fer-De-Lance, but it held up against ships I was worried to take on before. Not even a Krait Phantom posed much of a challenge as long as I stayed behind it. I will say, I miss the tight turns of the Cobra, but the firepower makes up the difference. With The Raven being slower, staying on target has been made easier. Maybe I should ditch the gimbals and get fixed guns after all.
I'm docked back in Avan now, but that surface mission I failed is still bothering me. I have to complete a surface op for the sake of my pride if nothing else. For as many commanders as I've seen drinking together in bars across the galaxy, I've never made more than elevator communication with any of them. I just watched a ship pull into port with too many victory markings on it to count. If I can find the commander and they're willing to talk, this could be my next big step.
Doc out.