I thought of this while commenting on the current DDF thread about salvaging. It's my own idea, there is no suggestion that it will be possible in the game.
---
The silence is the worst part.
I never should have come here. There's adventure and then there's adventure, and the latter is not for me. Getting off planet, getting a ship, that's one thing. Sticking to the easy trade routes, doing some milk runs, seeing a bit of the galaxy. All good fun; good clean excitement. But then I had to get greedy. And I guess I just don't know what I'm doing. Not really.
But scanning the news feed I spotted that with only a tiny diversion I could sell my Riedquation brandy for 3 times the usual price. I'd planned to sell it at Zaonce as usual. If only I had.
Now, all the guides say that going to an anarchy system alone is a bad idea. But I wasn't going to hang around. In, get the job done, and out. I thought I knew what I was doing.
I didn't even get a chance to fire up the frame shift drive. They either followed me, or were waiting for me, or it was just bad luck that they hyperspaced in at the same time as me. Hyperdrives do that: you can't control exactly where you come out, and something attracts ships to recent exit points. It's half the reason space is so dangerous. You're more likely to meet other ships than you'd think.
I panicked; tried to jump out but before my drives could spool up my shields were down and there were sparks flying around the cockpit. I accelerated, but in my panic I forgot to divert power to my engines. And then there were no engines. I was drifting. And then silence.
I look around. I can't see where they've gone. It's dark out there, and with no scanner and no HUD I'm blind and deaf.
Such bad luck. Getting attacked by pirates is bad enough. But in theory they hail you, you dump your cargo and they let you go. But there are stories... I'm starting to sweat now. Why have they stopped attacking me? If it's not my cargo they want...what are they going to do to me?
Then I see it. The Sidewinder drifts past my cockpit window just feet away. It's got some blood red, hand-painted insignia on the side and it doesn't look friendly. I catch sight of the pilot. Half his head is shaved and he's grinning at me. Now he's gone. I'm in deep now. It's time to eject. I pull the lever. Nothing. What am I doing wrong? I've never needed to use an escape capsule before. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. Keep calm: fear makes you do stupid things. But it's the right lever, and I'm holding the button in as I pull it. This isn't supposed to happen.
Then I hear it. This is worse than the silence. My ship is screaming. Something metallic is being twisted. There's a tearing sound, then air escaping. This is bad. I'm in trapped in an old, badly maintained Cobra in a lawless system, light-years from civilisation with no power, rapidly decreasing air pressure and at least one masochistic maniac with something in mind less pleasant than murder or robbery.
Then I see the light: it's a mining laser, and it's illuminating the hull of a Python. In some ways I'm relieved. They're not going to torture me or sell me into slavery. They're salvaging my ship out from under me. I've stumbled across the galaxy's most desperate, low-life pirates. They want me for my scrap metal.
There's a crunch. My Remlok activates. I'm laughing now at how insanely unlucky this all is, and crying too. This is going to hurt. I feel the heat of the laser. Then a rush of air and my ears are exploding and then silence again. I look around and where my ship should be there are stars. I'm still strapped in my seat and there's a jagged bit of bulkhead attached. But they've left nothing. I'm slowly rotating. The Python and two Sidewinders come into view, but they don't wait around. There's a strange light as they frameshift away.
I drift. I'm cold. I won't last long. I hope for rescue.
---
The silence is the worst part.
I never should have come here. There's adventure and then there's adventure, and the latter is not for me. Getting off planet, getting a ship, that's one thing. Sticking to the easy trade routes, doing some milk runs, seeing a bit of the galaxy. All good fun; good clean excitement. But then I had to get greedy. And I guess I just don't know what I'm doing. Not really.
But scanning the news feed I spotted that with only a tiny diversion I could sell my Riedquation brandy for 3 times the usual price. I'd planned to sell it at Zaonce as usual. If only I had.
Now, all the guides say that going to an anarchy system alone is a bad idea. But I wasn't going to hang around. In, get the job done, and out. I thought I knew what I was doing.
I didn't even get a chance to fire up the frame shift drive. They either followed me, or were waiting for me, or it was just bad luck that they hyperspaced in at the same time as me. Hyperdrives do that: you can't control exactly where you come out, and something attracts ships to recent exit points. It's half the reason space is so dangerous. You're more likely to meet other ships than you'd think.
I panicked; tried to jump out but before my drives could spool up my shields were down and there were sparks flying around the cockpit. I accelerated, but in my panic I forgot to divert power to my engines. And then there were no engines. I was drifting. And then silence.
I look around. I can't see where they've gone. It's dark out there, and with no scanner and no HUD I'm blind and deaf.
Such bad luck. Getting attacked by pirates is bad enough. But in theory they hail you, you dump your cargo and they let you go. But there are stories... I'm starting to sweat now. Why have they stopped attacking me? If it's not my cargo they want...what are they going to do to me?
Then I see it. The Sidewinder drifts past my cockpit window just feet away. It's got some blood red, hand-painted insignia on the side and it doesn't look friendly. I catch sight of the pilot. Half his head is shaved and he's grinning at me. Now he's gone. I'm in deep now. It's time to eject. I pull the lever. Nothing. What am I doing wrong? I've never needed to use an escape capsule before. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. Keep calm: fear makes you do stupid things. But it's the right lever, and I'm holding the button in as I pull it. This isn't supposed to happen.
Then I hear it. This is worse than the silence. My ship is screaming. Something metallic is being twisted. There's a tearing sound, then air escaping. This is bad. I'm in trapped in an old, badly maintained Cobra in a lawless system, light-years from civilisation with no power, rapidly decreasing air pressure and at least one masochistic maniac with something in mind less pleasant than murder or robbery.
Then I see the light: it's a mining laser, and it's illuminating the hull of a Python. In some ways I'm relieved. They're not going to torture me or sell me into slavery. They're salvaging my ship out from under me. I've stumbled across the galaxy's most desperate, low-life pirates. They want me for my scrap metal.
There's a crunch. My Remlok activates. I'm laughing now at how insanely unlucky this all is, and crying too. This is going to hurt. I feel the heat of the laser. Then a rush of air and my ears are exploding and then silence again. I look around and where my ship should be there are stars. I'm still strapped in my seat and there's a jagged bit of bulkhead attached. But they've left nothing. I'm slowly rotating. The Python and two Sidewinders come into view, but they don't wait around. There's a strange light as they frameshift away.
I drift. I'm cold. I won't last long. I hope for rescue.
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