The Long Trip Home
"Wait wait wait...you can’t be serious. You're joking right? I just bolted to Gonnessiat and back here and then BACK to Gonnessiat and BACK HERE AGAIN!!! Yeah I know it was “time sensitive material.” It's not my fault your guy left without telling you. I did what you asked and got worked around several times over and NOW you're telling me you're only gonna give me 5,400CR because I took too long?!?! Good luck finding another pilot willing to work for you again. I'll tell everyone in this quadrant just how shady you really are. Just gimme the creds already!"
I’m sure he could see right through me. Who am I kidding? I hardly know anyone out here. Still, I can’t believe he’d be willing to short an honest runner like that. Well, I’m mostly honest anyway. I was this time at least! I mean I still got the documents to the right person within the time limit. Whatever, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Work has been light lately so these leads aren’t offering much to begin with. On top of that you get shorted creds when it comes time for them to actually pay up. These kind of people are why I’d rather not linger here in the station any longer than I need to.
Alright, alright. Just breathe man…(long inhale)...juuust breeaathe…(slow exhale). Ok well there’s no work worth doing here right now soooo I guess I’ll just take El Veneno, my imperial eagle, and pop a few wanted commanders. At least I know they’re out there and that SOMEONE is willing to pay their end of the bargain. Just another reason why I like cruising for bounties. Does that make me a hypocrite though? I do some of the same stuff those guys do. I’m just a little better at not getting caught. Guess it’s not my place to question why they’re wanted. For all I know these guys could have killed civies just to snag a few tons of minerals. I know I’m no saint, but it’s different.
Oh! Good timing. Looks like a “scanner” is stuck and needs some fuel. Guy says he was so taken by the sights of the systems he was mapping that he forgot to glance at the fuel gauge. I totally get it. No matter how many stars and planets I’ve seen they still manage to take me by surprise. Just a few jumps away from him. I’ll be there in no time. Let’s go, Sally. Let’s go get this guy rescued. On my way another call comes in. Looks like I’ll stay occupied for at least a short while. I’ll fuel this one first and move on to the next. Too bad I won’t have time to see what the guy was so impressed with.
“Take care CMDR and fly safe!” One down, one to go. See, THESE are the people I prefer. Granted you get them out of a tight spot so you’re not surprised to get a thank you, but that’s not the point. You can tell. You really can feel the appreciation and relief that these pilots experience when they realize it’s not the end for them. Not yet anyway. Number two just about fuelled and ready to head back to his wife and daughter without them ever having the slightest idea that he almost didn’t come back.
Oh dear. A code red. My heart sinks. Despite the weight of what’s really at stake in “typical” rescues, the overall mood tends to be rather lighthearted. This last one was even comical as we joked about how easy it is to make a simple mistake. Most really don’t acknowledge the finer details of the bigger picture like that. We’re just focused on performing “the job.” My job is to save him so I save him. His job was to haul 200 tons of palladium from Sothis to earn a living so he must deliver it. Simple as that. But when a call turns out to be a code red there is nothing else I can think about. I must save him because he’s about to run out of air. He is about to die. I can’t just let it happen.
Right about this time Sh1nyTh1ngs is spun up and launching to help shift the odds a bit further in our favor. It’s a somewhat quiet transit to the client’s location, but not too heavy. We just know we need to focus even though the pressure still lingers in the back of my mind. Ok, we’re both here. Staged, facing different directions so at least one of us is more likely to be facing the beacon. We’ve instructed the client on what to do via voice comms, but something’s off. I don’t like this and Sh1ny couldn’t agree more. We aren’t seeing the client in our contacts list. Our private comms network is solid transmitting voice and location data just fine, but our ships’ targeting and comms systems are effectively non-existent. The reality of the situation is quite apparent at this point. It might not be up to us whether or not we will be able to save him.
Although we are all aware of the potential outcome we immediately reboot our entire comms systems. Maybe it’ll come online and we’ll get to him in time. Having 1:40 oxygen remaining we should be more than capable of delivering the much needed fuel. It won’t exactly be without tension, but should be plenty doable. Comms about finished booting, but it seems it was in vain. The comms system was still offline.
Jumping home always seems so much faster for me after a rescue. On the way out it seems like things couldn’t be moving any slower since I’m in a hurry. But since I’m not racing the clock on the way back the systems seem to just blur by real quick. Unless I lose a code red. This trip feels like the longest there is.
CMDR Frescador
Rescue #16
"Wait wait wait...you can’t be serious. You're joking right? I just bolted to Gonnessiat and back here and then BACK to Gonnessiat and BACK HERE AGAIN!!! Yeah I know it was “time sensitive material.” It's not my fault your guy left without telling you. I did what you asked and got worked around several times over and NOW you're telling me you're only gonna give me 5,400CR because I took too long?!?! Good luck finding another pilot willing to work for you again. I'll tell everyone in this quadrant just how shady you really are. Just gimme the creds already!"
I’m sure he could see right through me. Who am I kidding? I hardly know anyone out here. Still, I can’t believe he’d be willing to short an honest runner like that. Well, I’m mostly honest anyway. I was this time at least! I mean I still got the documents to the right person within the time limit. Whatever, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Work has been light lately so these leads aren’t offering much to begin with. On top of that you get shorted creds when it comes time for them to actually pay up. These kind of people are why I’d rather not linger here in the station any longer than I need to.
Alright, alright. Just breathe man…(long inhale)...juuust breeaathe…(slow exhale). Ok well there’s no work worth doing here right now soooo I guess I’ll just take El Veneno, my imperial eagle, and pop a few wanted commanders. At least I know they’re out there and that SOMEONE is willing to pay their end of the bargain. Just another reason why I like cruising for bounties. Does that make me a hypocrite though? I do some of the same stuff those guys do. I’m just a little better at not getting caught. Guess it’s not my place to question why they’re wanted. For all I know these guys could have killed civies just to snag a few tons of minerals. I know I’m no saint, but it’s different.
Oh! Good timing. Looks like a “scanner” is stuck and needs some fuel. Guy says he was so taken by the sights of the systems he was mapping that he forgot to glance at the fuel gauge. I totally get it. No matter how many stars and planets I’ve seen they still manage to take me by surprise. Just a few jumps away from him. I’ll be there in no time. Let’s go, Sally. Let’s go get this guy rescued. On my way another call comes in. Looks like I’ll stay occupied for at least a short while. I’ll fuel this one first and move on to the next. Too bad I won’t have time to see what the guy was so impressed with.
“Take care CMDR and fly safe!” One down, one to go. See, THESE are the people I prefer. Granted you get them out of a tight spot so you’re not surprised to get a thank you, but that’s not the point. You can tell. You really can feel the appreciation and relief that these pilots experience when they realize it’s not the end for them. Not yet anyway. Number two just about fuelled and ready to head back to his wife and daughter without them ever having the slightest idea that he almost didn’t come back.
Oh dear. A code red. My heart sinks. Despite the weight of what’s really at stake in “typical” rescues, the overall mood tends to be rather lighthearted. This last one was even comical as we joked about how easy it is to make a simple mistake. Most really don’t acknowledge the finer details of the bigger picture like that. We’re just focused on performing “the job.” My job is to save him so I save him. His job was to haul 200 tons of palladium from Sothis to earn a living so he must deliver it. Simple as that. But when a call turns out to be a code red there is nothing else I can think about. I must save him because he’s about to run out of air. He is about to die. I can’t just let it happen.
Right about this time Sh1nyTh1ngs is spun up and launching to help shift the odds a bit further in our favor. It’s a somewhat quiet transit to the client’s location, but not too heavy. We just know we need to focus even though the pressure still lingers in the back of my mind. Ok, we’re both here. Staged, facing different directions so at least one of us is more likely to be facing the beacon. We’ve instructed the client on what to do via voice comms, but something’s off. I don’t like this and Sh1ny couldn’t agree more. We aren’t seeing the client in our contacts list. Our private comms network is solid transmitting voice and location data just fine, but our ships’ targeting and comms systems are effectively non-existent. The reality of the situation is quite apparent at this point. It might not be up to us whether or not we will be able to save him.
Although we are all aware of the potential outcome we immediately reboot our entire comms systems. Maybe it’ll come online and we’ll get to him in time. Having 1:40 oxygen remaining we should be more than capable of delivering the much needed fuel. It won’t exactly be without tension, but should be plenty doable. Comms about finished booting, but it seems it was in vain. The comms system was still offline.
Jumping home always seems so much faster for me after a rescue. On the way out it seems like things couldn’t be moving any slower since I’m in a hurry. But since I’m not racing the clock on the way back the systems seem to just blur by real quick. Unless I lose a code red. This trip feels like the longest there is.
CMDR Frescador
Rescue #16
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