Into the black... one CMDR's adventure.

[Ryan256]

It was too good to be true. He had been saving up his credits for several weeks even after he could afford the initial purchase price. He had seen too many sob stories from CMDRs on the Galnet that had some sort of catastrophe happen. Only to discover they couldn't meet their insurance deductible and he was determined not to be one of them. Besides, he'd waited this long. A little more patience wasn't that hard. But when he heard that Li Yong-Rui was offering CMDRs a 15% discount on ships purchased at his stations he knew it was time.
As soon as his Python was securedly docked at Rushworth station, he dropped down into the hangers and immediately logged into the Coriolis Shipyards systems. And there she was. In her 1000T glory. A Lakon Spaceways Type 9. And sure enough.. the list price was less than the 76M credits he was expecting to have to pay. He sent in the specs for his Python and very quickly got back a good purchase offer. He wasn't too sorry to see her go. Maybe the shipyards could find the glitch in her life support systems. Few things were more annoying than powering down for a much needed nap only to wake up to your environmental control having defaulted the cabin temperature to 42C!
He spent the next day and a half refitting his new ship for some serious trade runs. Total cargo capacity was now 500T. And the class 6A frame shift drive was really going to help. At last all was done and he was ready to head back to his trading grounds. Out of curiosity he logged back into Coriolis Shipyards. His old Python wasn't listed. Oh well.... hopefully the new owner knows more about fixing the life support systems that he did. Otherwise it was their turn to wake up sweating buckets. He was just flipping through the listings now and was about to log off when he spotted something. A Diamondback Explorer! He'd heard about these new ships but had never seen one. He opened it up and started browsing the specs. Then he looked at the asking price. Seriously?!?! It was less than 10% of the credits he had left. He had always wanted to try taking a trip out there to do some sight seeing. And now.. staring at the ship specs and the asking price... he knew it was time.
Almost without thinking he entered his credit information and submitted the purchase offer. Approved. The ship was his. He didn't have much time to spend outfitting it. He needed to get back in the Type9 rather quickly to fulfill some of his trade agreements. About all he took time to do was install a class 5A frame shift drive and some scanning gear. As he started to power up the big Type 9 he looked over at his new Diamondback. "I'll be back for you soon."
"OI!! Wait a minute!!" called the station manager over the video com.
"Whats wrong?" he asked.
"Do you want to name these 2 new ships of yours? Or should I just enter their registration numbers as the name?"
Hmmm........ name the ships? He chuckled to himself. "Sure I'll name them. The Type 9 is Cash Cow."
The station manager raised an eyebrow. "O.... K.... then what do you want to name the other one? Peeping Tom??" he asked sarcastically.
Again he chuckled to himself "Sure.. Peeping Tom it is."

 

[Ryan256]

Cash Cow was certainly living up to her name. Big and slow, you could take a break for a few sips of Lavian brandy in the time it took to turn the beast around. But boy could it ever carry some serious tonnage. The big Type 9 had already netted close to 13M credits in just 4 short weeks. Operating costs weren't that bad even though she guzzled hydrogen fuel. But then again what do you expect from a ship equipped with class 7 thrusters? Nearly every haul had made good credits. Except for one. A nauseated feeling turns his stomach just thinking about it. He actually lost credits on that one. Not from the goods being traded but from the cleanup costs afterwards! Do you have any idea how much of a stench 500 tons of biowaste creates?? Compound that with containers not being sealed properly and careless starport loaders hurrying to get the stuff out of their warehouses and.... yeah. Never again.... NEVER again.
This was the last run and all trade agreements and commodity orders would be fulfilled. Then it was time to head back to where Peeping Tom was docked and go do some sight seeing. But currently he was hauling 500 tons of various machinery from Tepertsi to Bessel Gateway in the Orang system.
*WHOOOM*
The Orang sun explodes into view as he comes out of Hyperspace. "Pull up. Pull up! PULL UP." Slowly he pulls out of the suicidal dive into the sun and towards the station. He lines up on an intercept course for Bessel Gateway not really paying any attention to the large amount of subspace transmission traffic. As he checks the distance to the station it's only then that he notices the other contacts being reported on his scope. Signal and energy activity emanating from them suggest zones of intense fighting.
"Oh crap... what have I flown myself int...."
*BOOOM*
Cash Cow shudders and starts to pitch around wildly. His heart starts to pound. All too familiar with the feeling and sound of an FSD interdictor locking into its target. Try as he might to stay pointed towards an escape vector it's just no use. This fat heavy beast just can't turn quickly enough.
Frantically he switches targets on the radar screen. It's an Eagle.
"Ok... lets see what they want."
He prays they aren't homicidal maniacs as he throttles down and drops out of super cruise.
"Attention unidentified freighter! This is the Orang Citizens of Tradition. We have detected your ship on a course for Bessel station. All goods and starships found supporting the evil and corrupt Universal Organization are hereby forfeited by our authority! Drop your shields and prepare to be boarded!"
"What the..?? WHOA! Wait! Look if you want me to find another station for my wares.. fine. I'll go somewhere else. But this ship and its cargo are mine!"
And of course.... they open fire. His first ring of shields is half gone.
"This is not up for discussion!! You will forfeit your ship and cargo to the Orang Citizens of Tradition or you will be destroyed!"
Another Eagle and a Sidewinder drop in out of super cruise. They both deploy hardpoints and take up positions on his flanks.
Having spent over 100 million credits on this ship and her cargo there is no way he's going to forfeit both over to a bunch of puffed up thugs.
The leader drops down in front of him only 150 meters away. Aiming straight at the cockpit. Straight at him! Now he's really mad. "Don't even think about trying anything. It would be really stupid."
"Yeah... you know what else is really stupid? Trying to block a 1700 ton starship with one that's less than 100."
He shoves the throttle all the way up and hits the boosters! The Cow's top speed may be only 198m/s but it's rather surprising how quickly she can reach it. A satisfying crash of crunching Eagle hull and the sound laser blasts ring out.
It's on!!


OOC:
If anyone is reading this please drop me a line through PM or a reply. Let me know what you think. Thanks.

 

[Ryan256]

The head on collision managed to significantly damage the little Eagle. Its shields were gone, the canopy shattered, and the hull exhibited some pretty nasty damage as it spun away in space. It wasn't without cost though. His canopy had started to crack and the shields had lost a full ring in strength.
"Damnit!! My canopy is broken! I'm headed back... KILL THIS EVIL CORPORATE TURD!"
Not that they had to be told. The other Eagle and Sidewinder had already started going to work on his last bit of shields. Fortunately the other Eagle was pretty stupid too. It was deciding to run in macho, read "moron", mode. It had no shield equipped. But this wasn't much of an advantage as his last shield ring collapsed under the laser fire. Now the blasts were hitting the hull. Hull integrity had dropped to 90%.
"Oh yeah!! My lasers are gonna mess you up!!" the other Eagle boasted.
"Well then lets see what these 5 burst turrets can do to you!"
He quickly deploys the turrets and selects the other Eagle as a target. Almost immediately the Eagle's tone changes.
"Holy Frak! This guy's tearing me up!! I can't get away!! Shoot out his turrets! GET THE TURRETS!!"
Yeah.... this Cow had some horns. Not very sharp ones but hopefully they were enough.
The flash of light that told him the Eagle had blown up wasn't much comfort. Hull integrity had gone down to 71% and the canopy had even more cracks in it.
He selected the Sidewinder as the next target. This one had shields though. And it looked like pretty good ones too because they were holding up fairly well from the turret fire. The only good news. His frame shift drive would come off of safety cooldown in 20 seconds. He made a mental note to get a manual override installed the next time he was in port. Still, a lot could happen in 20 seconds of combat.
Hull down to 67%.
A Viper dropped in out of super cruise. Finally! System security had shown up. Maybe he would survive this after all.
"Beardon told me you had a piece of corper trash in here giving you guys some trouble."
His heart sank as the Viper started firing. Not at the Sidewinder, but at him! Hull down to 48%. The frame shift drive had 5 seconds left on its safety cooldown. It was the longest 5 seconds of his life. The Sidewinder had broken off its attack and retreated to a safe distance out of range of his turrets. But the Viper was still attacking. The Viper had much stronger shields and it shrugged off the turret fire like it barely noticed. But now was not the time for fighting. It was time to run! All systems were green on the frame shift drive and he immediately stowed the turrets and started charging it up.
"Oh no you don't!" the Viper screamed.
Multicannon fire ripped through the canopy smashing it into a million pieces. The automated life support immediately kicked in. He heard the rest of the cannon fire that was tearing his ship apart through the muffled sound of his own frantic breath.
4....
28% hull integrity.
3....
22% hull integrity
2....
17% hull integrity
1....
11% hull integrity

*WHOOOM*