This Reddit thread got me thinking about Elite futurescapes, so I thought I'd knock out some fanfic to that end-game dream. (I'm thinking 10 years down the line here 
)
In this example there are a few additional wishlist items, like Shadow of Mordor style enemy memories...
Crit welcome!
---
**Action Stations**
The pirate who'd cussed my landing technique is up ahead, his wing crowded round a Reptanoid fight. The Cutter's light had made him look cruel in the bay, but he's not looking any friendlier amongst these day-glo food stands. Augmentations stir to life as he spies me approach.
'You're in my way again' he snaps, focusing on my face. 'Nah, you're in his,' is my best response, shouldering a passing trader his way. I'm five steps down the concourse before I hear a response, and it's the luckless trader hitting some trash. Three more steps and the next bet is slammed down. Nothing beats spending those spoils.
No-one follows as I magna-clomp to the main drag, but I join the huddle under an Arena holo just in case. It's blaring out a Swarm round, 10 SRVs tackling a fighter in a low-slung dome. The SRVs take it with their last man, a great canopy shot following his partner's suicide ramp into the Eagle's shields. A grand finale for sure. But now it really is time for work.
I turn off my boots and coast silently into the Barrens. Every anarchic base has something like it, clustered around the hull of the docking bay. Part illicit den, part illegal opportunity. The loads undocked here need an armed guard to even make it to the marketplace, let alone the devilish emporiums of the outer rings. I keep my eyes fixed on one bustling bay in particular as I drift silently into the rafters.
I don't have long to wait before Falad Doon's squad arrives, looking around edgily. That's a huge payload of palladium stacking up on the pallets, and there's no fancy delivery array to transport it for them. It's very tempting to shoot out the clamping terminal and watch the barrels scatter in chaos, but Falad's crew would red-mist me if they even knew I was in the system. That Corvette sabotage has really never been forgotten.
I glide further into the shadows while they heft weapons and bark orders at lingering locals. As they strong-arm their way up the exit ramp my goal draws into view. The battle-scarred cargo bay of their recharging Python.
Their security is good, but my stealth suit is better. It wouldn't have stood up to a fight, but the camo hides me well as I hack the terminal. Before a stray glance falls upon me I'm gliding past motion detectors and looping into the camera feed. I spy the pilot still clanking around the recreation room, but it won't be long before we're loaded with supplies and heading back out, and that's where my real prize lies. The Kasanta Crew will pay a whole canister of creds to find out where this particular mining base is hidden, and I intend to make it there and back to tell the tale.
If the co-pilot on this run is Bretch Zee, so much the better. I've got an assassination contract with his melty mug all over it, and that should keep the flight home interesting. I won't be able to hack the Python's flight deck if it gets messy, but that Condor humming in its bay will certainly succumb to my skills. I scooch into a camera's blindspot, settle back to survey the feed, and check my zero-recoil blaster is good to go. Just in case. Just in case.
---
EDIT: I've since learnt a Nemesis style system is actually in the old design docs
) In this example there are a few additional wishlist items, like Shadow of Mordor style enemy memories...
Crit welcome!
---
**Action Stations**
The pirate who'd cussed my landing technique is up ahead, his wing crowded round a Reptanoid fight. The Cutter's light had made him look cruel in the bay, but he's not looking any friendlier amongst these day-glo food stands. Augmentations stir to life as he spies me approach.
'You're in my way again' he snaps, focusing on my face. 'Nah, you're in his,' is my best response, shouldering a passing trader his way. I'm five steps down the concourse before I hear a response, and it's the luckless trader hitting some trash. Three more steps and the next bet is slammed down. Nothing beats spending those spoils.
No-one follows as I magna-clomp to the main drag, but I join the huddle under an Arena holo just in case. It's blaring out a Swarm round, 10 SRVs tackling a fighter in a low-slung dome. The SRVs take it with their last man, a great canopy shot following his partner's suicide ramp into the Eagle's shields. A grand finale for sure. But now it really is time for work.
I turn off my boots and coast silently into the Barrens. Every anarchic base has something like it, clustered around the hull of the docking bay. Part illicit den, part illegal opportunity. The loads undocked here need an armed guard to even make it to the marketplace, let alone the devilish emporiums of the outer rings. I keep my eyes fixed on one bustling bay in particular as I drift silently into the rafters.
I don't have long to wait before Falad Doon's squad arrives, looking around edgily. That's a huge payload of palladium stacking up on the pallets, and there's no fancy delivery array to transport it for them. It's very tempting to shoot out the clamping terminal and watch the barrels scatter in chaos, but Falad's crew would red-mist me if they even knew I was in the system. That Corvette sabotage has really never been forgotten.
I glide further into the shadows while they heft weapons and bark orders at lingering locals. As they strong-arm their way up the exit ramp my goal draws into view. The battle-scarred cargo bay of their recharging Python.
Their security is good, but my stealth suit is better. It wouldn't have stood up to a fight, but the camo hides me well as I hack the terminal. Before a stray glance falls upon me I'm gliding past motion detectors and looping into the camera feed. I spy the pilot still clanking around the recreation room, but it won't be long before we're loaded with supplies and heading back out, and that's where my real prize lies. The Kasanta Crew will pay a whole canister of creds to find out where this particular mining base is hidden, and I intend to make it there and back to tell the tale.
If the co-pilot on this run is Bretch Zee, so much the better. I've got an assassination contract with his melty mug all over it, and that should keep the flight home interesting. I won't be able to hack the Python's flight deck if it gets messy, but that Condor humming in its bay will certainly succumb to my skills. I scooch into a camera's blindspot, settle back to survey the feed, and check my zero-recoil blaster is good to go. Just in case. Just in case.
---
EDIT: I've since learnt a Nemesis style system is actually in the old design docs
Last edited:
