Way of the Gun - DiD (TC 3.2) [KIA]

[ruger44]

Sorry to here about Wren s family. She is feisty
so she will survive. Got a pilot if needed names Scott Bowie enjoys reading loves history during early of days of Earth. Has His own ship named San
Jac after battle of San Janticao Texas history Ship is a Blast claw prototype slow yes but lot of shields couple of twin gun turrets, huge cargo space ebc front pacs and prg on top. Has a couple of freighters working for him. He is loyal but not stupid will as long as treated ok and pay is ok will stay till done.

Feel free to use if needed may try to add more later if you need

[Kirlack]

It's at times like this that I think shooting Mahi Ma might be the answer.

It was tempting, but no. I might be able to use him for something, somewhere down the line

Ea't say: Yes, use old family recipe. Start with one old family of boron...

Ouch That made me laugh some

Sorry to here about Wren s family. She is feisty
so she will survive. Got a pilot if needed names Scott Bowie enjoys reading loves history during early of days of Earth. Has His own ship named San Jac after battle of San Janticao Texas history Ship is a Blast claw prototype slow yes but lot of shields couple of twin gun turrets, huge cargo space ebc front pacs and prg on top. Has a couple of freighters working for him. He is loyal but not stupid will as long as treated ok and pay is ok will stay till done.

Feel free to use if needed may try to add more later if you need

Thanks mate Yeah, I was a bit gutted about Ripper and his crew as well, I had a whole story planned around them. It never even crossed my mind that the Nathan's Voyage base might get destroyed before I reached it. Still, maybe it works out better this way? I'll keep Scott in mind, thank you!

For now though, presenting:

Chapter 14: Hubba hubba

It's kind o' nice to spend a night amongst the Boron, ya know? They don't tend to serve any alcohol on their stations, apparently they've never quite mastered the art o' drinkin', so I managed to wake up this mornin' with a clear head. And yes, the first thing I thought about was Ripper.

There's nothin' more I can do about huntin' down those responsible, I'm gonna need some more info fer that. I'm thinkin' it'd be worth my time sendin' George 'n' Talia to hang out in a couple o' the local neighbourin' sectors, Black Hole Sun and Wastelands perhaps. They've both got a talent fer pickin' up info'mation, 'n' maybe one o' the natives knows more'n I do. I should really try to get over to Loomanckstrat's at some point to see if I can pick up Tank's trail. With a little luck he didn't pick up that weed delivery until after the base was torched. Besides, he'd make an excellent pilot fer Suckerpunch.

Fer now though, my guys can hang tight in Hila's Joy, while I make a potentially suicidal run into Xenon core territory lookin' fer a couple o' missin' squids. I haven't told my pilots about the mission, mainly 'cos I reckon they'll take the piss, but also 'cos I think Talia will try'n talk me out o' doin' it. We've been mates a long time, and underneath that cold professional exterior, I know she cares. Just a li'l bit though, ya know?

Anyway. With Speedhorn all loaded up with jump fuel and the turbo booster I undock from the shipyard and swing south, down through Family Ryk, across Family Zyarth and into Zyarth's Dominion. As I'm crossin' the sector lookin' fer the gates I spot the local supply Elephant. They're fast ships fer their class, and despite the comparatively small cargo bay they can still hold massive stations. Plus, with fourteen dockin' slots fer fighters it'd give us a mobile base o' operations.

Dominion's quite a large sector, and if I ever manage to get my hands on my long awaited missile frigate I reckon we can have a decent pop at stealin' it without too much interference from the locals. Fer now though I just make a mental note and scout the rest o' the system. There's an eastern gate leadin' to an unknown sector, but it's not where I'm headed, so I spin and zoom fer the south.

Whilst I'm crossin' the sector I send word to George to collect a nav-sat from Tools and go drop it in Ghinn's. That angry Python yesterday ate my other one, and I reckon he'll be safe in Split border turf. By the time he's finished doin' that I've made the south gate. Takin' a deep breath to steady myself, I angle Speedhorn's nose fer the event horizon and slide across into Xenon space.

Immediately upon clearin' the gate I come face to face with a whole load o' angry lookin' machines. Big ones, small ones, all shapes 'n' sizes. They seem surprised to see me, but I at least had some prep time fer this. Pitchin' down and away from 'em I shoot below the ecliptic and open up the throttle. I don't wanna use my turbo yet, as it'll burn the few cells in my hold, but thankfully Speedhorn's quick enough that I don't need to.

I pick up the east gate on my scanner, but there's a good amount o' hardware over that way 'n' all. Were the Xenon expectin' me or somethin'? Fer frak's sake. Right. There's another gate out o' the sector down south, so I zip on over to it, givin' the machines the chance to thin out a bit, before spinnin' on my heel and zoomin' under 'em and on into Xenon sector 627.

These Xenon don't seem too bothered by my presence, bar the one N who tries to keep up with me. He's got no hope though as I climb above the ecliptic and blaze across the system lookin' fer the next gate. When I finally spot it way off to the east I angle my nose down, only to spy this lot comin' in my direction. Once again though, speed wins the day, and I skip past 'em all and cross the event horizon.

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As her small scout ship dropped through the gate, the assassin's eyes went wide in shock.

“What the frak...?” she hissed into the tiny ship's cockpit.

The entire sector appeared to be encased in some kind of hollow sphere, and Wren noted the gates, all six of them. Only two appeared to be functional, the one she'd entered through and the one directly opposite. To her left, through the apparently highly shielded gap in the construct she could see the angry red mass...of a star.

“Ho-ly shit!” Wren gasped. The sudden horror of how close to the star the construct must be dawned on her. If the shields on this place ever failed, she wouldn't survive long enough to even engage the jumpdrive, much less actually make the jump out. As her gaze lingered on the red monstrosity in the distance though, she noticed the two 'arms', outstretched from the sphere's exterior. From where she sat she couldn't tell how long they were, or how close to the star's surface they might be. Whatever they were, and whatever they did, they seemed stable enough.

Cautiously, Wren started her engine again and crept across the sector, looking for clues as to the missing Boron's whereabouts. As she neared the centre of the sphere her scanners picked up what looked like a very old piece of ship debris, and what appeared to be some kind of docking array far above her. Her IFF transponder was registering it as hostile though, so she closed on the debris and started scanning it.

Halfway through her scan her ship picked up an embedded message in the debris field.

• 
  
  Message from: Julian Brennan.
  
  Day 1: Bala Gi seems to think he has found a major Xenon sector, only a few jumps from Shareholder's Fortune. He wants me to help him survey it. I'm not really into suicide missions but I owe him one.
  
  Day 2: Well, here we are. There are Xenon everywhere and they've already damaged the hull. Bala Gi managed to get some deep scans of Xenon capital ships but he didn't seem to find anything too interesting.
  
  Day 4: We discovered a gate and entered a previously unknown Xenon sector. Besides the shooting and the insane robots, it's not too exciting. Bala Gi is getting a little agitated. It's the same old Xenon junk.
  
  Day 5: We headed back but found that the gate did not lead back to the same sector. There is a huge installation with gates. Bala Gi is going nuts over this. He wants to stay. The Xenon don't seem the least bit interested in the installation. Bala Gi is trying to hack into the docking mechanism and get us aboard. He wants to bring someone else here to help. A Boron who works for him, named Mahi Ma. I'm going to find and collect him tomorrow.

Wren read the messages again, twice, just to make sure she understood what they were hinting at. As the possibilities dawned on her she reached out a hand and quickly punched in jump coordinates.

“I need to speak to Mahi Ma.”

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The jump could only get her as far as the northern gate of Family Ryk, and the assassin quickly span her ship about, blazing up through Ocean of Fantasy and Bluish Snout, into Menelaus' Paradise. Her Boron contact was still idling by the eastern gate and as she closed to communication range she hailed him.

“Hello Mahi Ma.”

“Did you find my friends?”

“I managed to put names on you friends, Bala Gi and Julian Brennan. And no, I didn't fine 'em. But they seem to have found somethin' pretty big.”

“Oh. Yes, those are their names. I apologise for not being straight with you. So, what is it that they found? Can you show me?”

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Before I could even speak, the crazy Boron had hopped out o' his ship, leavin' me to collect him in his space suit. I don't much fancy makin' that flight again in Speedhorn, so I get Boots fuelled up and bounce her up to me. Once I'm beamed across I pick up Mahi Ma, and then cruise on over to collect his 'enhanced' Dolphin. Well, he's not usin' it now he's in my bay is he? I don't see anythin' too special about it, but it's another freighter, and I managed to steal it without firin' a shot.

So I beam the jumpdrive off o' Speedhorn, give the freighter some jump fuel and bounce her over to Hila's Joy. While my scout makes the flight back down there I'm going to bounce back into that frakkin' amazin' sector and see what Mahi Ma can figure out.

As we drop back through the gate I notice a few Xenon fighters idlin' between us 'n' the far gate. So I call in George 'n' Talia, sendin' 'em jump coordinates with the message. Moments later and the pair o' them are there to back me up. Well, I couldn't resist showin' 'em the sector, ya know?

While we dispense some fire-power on the roamin' band o' machines, Mahi Ma has somehow managed to remote hack the dockin' array, and netted us not only access, but ownership rights...

Oi. That's got some potential.

“Form up folks.” I radio to my pilots. “We're gonna dock at this here 'station'. Save your questions fer later, alright?”

With confirmations from both o' them, the three of us dock.

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George stood, dumbstruck for perhaps the first time in his entire life, as he stared through the small viewport at the sun hanging in the distance.

“We're how close?” he finally managed, glancing sidelong at the assassin.

“I don't know.” Wren replied with a shrug. “But Mahi Ma assures me that we're safe.”

“I'd say we're more than safe Wren.” Talia chimed in, walking silently across the observation room they'd found just above the docking clamps. “From what Mahi Ma was babbling at me, those arms are drawing in enough solar energy to keep this whole station's power systems up and running. That includes shields enough to withstand not only the sun's excess energy output, heat and radiation, but also any kind of bombardment we could imagine.”

“And what does Mahi Ma think the station is for?” Wren replied, turning from the stellar view to face her pale companion.

“Oh!” shrilled the Boron, hovering through the doorway on his encounter suit's anti-gravity generators. “This installation is marvellous and fascinating! It's fairly damaged, but active nevertheless. I wonder if this is some sort of hub. There are a few signs that Bala Gi and Julian Brennan were here but where are they now? Perhaps deeper inside the structure, we'll need to investigate! In order to find them, I'll have to build an interface to interact with these ancient systems.”

Wren turned and arched an eyebrow at Talia.

“Did you make sense o' that?”

“Not really.” she said, shaking her head. “Slow down Mahi Ma.”

“Oh.” the Boron said. “Could you please get me a couple of things?”

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Get him a couple o' things? A couple?

No, the frakkin' pain in the arse wants 400 computer components! Frak that! I don't have any in stock and I can't think o' one single place I can buy 'em. Maybe I can keep an eye out next time I'm on a piratin' run, but until then, Mahi Ma is just gonna have to sit tight.

In MY hub.

For now, the station itself is largely useless to me. It's in far too remote and dangerous a location fer us to use as a homebase, but it does provide somewhere fer me to homebase my CLS freighters, and a common cash pool fer 'em to draw on. So I stick a five million credit float fer 'em to use and set 'em all up to use the station account, instead o' mine. All o' my Demeter pilots have made the rank o' Cargo Messenger' now, and I start off by settin' one o' them up to collect energy cells from Aladna Hill and distributin' it to my storage lockers.

The other two can idle down at the Company Pride equipment dock until I need 'em fer another logistics run. With everythin' else set up, the three of us make the jump back to Hila's Joy. Once we're docked back to the military base I refuel Boots, load up on some missiles and a couple o' satellites and leave my pilots to keep an eye on things fer me while I jump down to Black Hole Sun.

I'm still lookin' fer a missile frigate, so another satellite dropped here will let me keep tabs on the local military base. As I'm closin' on the drop point though I spot a job offer. Considerin' that all I've done today is run away, I quite fancy shootin' somethin', so I take the job. As a Hades and his Falcon mate roll through the south gate, I burn towards 'em, thinkin' that's the whole force.

Wrong. Yikes! Quickly lockin' 'n' shreddin' the first Hades before he can get a shot off at me or the station, I strafe around the second and lay into him. He's beggin' fer his life and offerin' his ship, but whilst I'm concentratin' on avoidin' fire from everythin' else, I didn't notice he's jumped ship till the hull was down to 51%.

The Osprey goes next, and I catch the Falcon a couple kilometres from the station. Most o' the accompanyin' M5s have already crashed, and I rinse the last'n out with a burst o' PBE fire. With the sector suddenly clear I get paid, but I'm not worried about the money, since I just got myself a Hades.

Sweet! Now, you might be thinkin', “But Wren, you said 51%, how come it's only on 39%?” Well, truth is....I bumped it. Yeah yeah, laugh it up. I spent what felt like an age patchin' it, so I've already suffered fer it once, alright? Good.

Whilst the former pilot makes his way over to the military outpost I have Creed loaded with shields and jump fuel and bounce it over to feed my new bomber. I beam my jumpdrive across so it can bounce back to Company Pride, but that leaves me without one, and I'm a long way from anywhere that sells 'em. After thinkin' about my options fer a few minutes I finally decide to take the long road, down through Paranid space towards Atreus HQ.

I make my way south, down through Nathan's Voyage and Wastelands, through Interworlds to the Paranid border. There's a fair few hits on offer as I'm trundlin' along, but with no jumpdrive there's a high chance I won't be able to make the target within the time limits, so I ignore 'em and carry on. Once I'm through into Sacred Relic I turn south again, headin' down through Pontifex' Seclusion. As I'm passin' the military outpost here I tap into their comms channels in a bid to see if they've got an Ares out on patrol somewhere I could hit it, but it seems they've lost the missile frigate that was stationed here.

The local Agamemnon and his mates are showin' more than a bit o' interest in me as I'm cruisin' the sector though, and I end up using' the turbo booster to avoid 'em and reach the south gate unscathed. As I'm makin' my way across Heaven's Assertion I decide to try my luck with the Duke again, and pull south to go and see if his boys have calmed down any since I had the base hacked.

Apparently not. There's not enough hostiles to force me to abandon my run fer the station though, and I dock up and collect both a software signature scrambler and system override software. That ought to make my claims a fair bit easier.

The run back out o' the sector is a li'l more difficult, as the Duke's Zeus seems adamant that smashin' me with gouts o' PPC fire would make his boss happy, but once again I put the turbo booster to good use and make the north gate with several kilometres o' clear space to play with. Then I spotted a few units o' medical equipment that some silly sod had dropped, so I made a quick detour to collect. Well, you never know when something like that might come in handy, ya know?

With the few units o' med gear safely stashed I give the rest o' the Duke's ships the slip, and make y way back across Heaven's and east into Patriarch's Conclusion. The Split are none too happy to see me although I can't imagine why. It's not like I've been tryin' to steal a Cobra off o' them is it? Heh.

I give the Raptor and his mates the slip and blaze across the event horizon into Contorted Dominion. As I'm movin' east fer the gate to Faded Dreams though, I spot another Cobra. It's got no homebase assigned, and seems to just be idlin' in the middle o' the sector...

Oppo'tunity?

With a possible capture in mind I send a message to my pilots and get 'em to arrange a quick refuel fer the capture wing. Moments later Last Resort, The Metatron, Suckerpunch and Tendencies all jump down to Queen's Harbour to dock up at Atreus HQ, followed by Tools, Keres and Ladies Man. With all my toys in a new box I'm free to get to work, just as soon as I get a new jumpdrive installed in Boots.

The Atreus techs were more'n happy to fix that up fer me, and whilst they were busy sortin' it out I took Tendencies back over to Contorted. Cruisin' across the sector towards my intended target I start thinkin' about removal o' potentially dangerous Split military assets. The OWP fer one is gonna have to go, as it'll flip hostile on me as soon as operations kick off.

Before I fire a single shot though, let's get a surreptitious passive scan o' the mark. Ooh, zero missiles, that's a good start. And lookin' a li'l deeper reveals no countermeasures either.

Deja vu starts naggin' at me whilst I'm lookin' the target over. This is how the one in Ghinn's Escape was lookin' yesterday, right before the frakkin' Boron swung in from next door and blasted it to shreds. If they manage to do that again today I think my new-found friendship with 'em will be getting' washed down the pan. Well, serves 'em right fer screwin' up what should o' been a simple capture, ya know?

Finally satisfied that I can make this work, I glide back over to the eastern gate and bounce Suckerpunch in to remove the heavy backup, startin' with the OWP. The platform's packin' 6 Gj o' shieldin', so I'm gonna need a minimum o' two tomahawk barrages to get shot o' the frakker.

As my missiles close to target I cut my engines and wait fer the fireworks. I wasn't expectin' the full spread to hit, but it seems somebody fergot to set the turrets fer defensive duty, as moments later the whole platform gets obliterated!

With the sector's primary defences out o' the way I set Suckerpunch to send a single barrage at each o' the corvettes, re-engage my engines to start closin' the gap to the Cobra 'n' start rollin' thunderbolt missiles at anythin' else flaggin' hostile. The Dragon falls to nuclear fire, but the Heavy manages to shoot down every warhead in it's path. All but one o' the fighters go down to my thunderbolts, and a follow up one to finish the last leaves me with the all but impotent Cobra and the Heavy Dragon to deal with.

I close on the corvette, rollin' a couple more thunderbolts at him to keep him occupied so I can get around behind or underneath him. He's too fixated on me to worry about the missiles though, and when I finally engage him his shields are down to a hair over 50%. Ions soon remove the rest before I switch to EBCs and punch through him like confetti.

A quick check o' the sector map shows it's just me 'n' the Cobra, so I close on him ready fer the money moment. A full scan reveals a few other guns that I'm gonna have to dispose of but my method o' driftin' into his firin' arc seems to work.

I start out by hittin' him with disruptor fire until my generator starts runnin' hot, before makin' the switch to my chainguns. From here on in I keep switchin' back 'n' forth, constantly depletin' his shields. When they're finally in the single digits I start concentratin' on fryin' him, tryin' to only fire enough EBC rounds to keep his shields zeroed before my Ions lash out again to wreak havoc on the ship's systems.

It takes almost twenty minutes but then we hit crunch point as two o' his shield generators burn out. Now I should be able to sustain disruptor fire on him constantly, without his shields startin' to climb again.

From here on in it's a slow, long process. He's constantly tryin' to manoeuvre around me, but I'm gradually burnin' out his guns, one by one. It took me nearly an hour and a half but finally all he had left was the one EBC and no ammo fer it. There's no Boron in sight, so it looks like it's time to bring in the boardin' crew!

It's a tense few moments, as it seems like my guys have all split up into smaller teams, so I zoom on over to the small cloud o' mercs 'n' match speed with one o' them. As we're gettin' back within range o' the Cobra I open up with EBC fire to zero his shields again, and suddenly all o' my guys were cuttin' their way in! We're on!

It's all down to my mercenaries now, so I line up fer the Cobra to follow me and match speed with it so I won't drift too far ahead. Moments later I get the report that my guys are through the hull...

They steam across the first two decks, cheerfully led by Daye Bro, the cocky li'l frakbag I nearly shot a while back. As they're crossin' the third though I think they ran into a cluster o' resistance, 'cos twenty suddenly became fifteen. Includin' Daye Bro, which ain't much of a surprise, and my smokin' buddy Wegoras, which is a shame.

The rest o' them seemed quite resolute after losin' a quarter o' their number, and Tata Ga led them across the final deck without any further casualties. I get a report from Tata and Etmanckosset that they're hackin' the core, and a few moments later...

Ladies 'n' gentlemen, we have a flagship.

The sector's still clear o' hostiles, so I jump Tools back to Company Pride fer some shields to protect my new ship. Whilst she's busy doin' that I take a look at my remainin' mercs. There's a couple o' decent fighters in there now, so we might be OK fer an attempt on an M6 in the not too distant future. I'm gonna want to secure a TL first though, but that can wait till tomorrow.

Since I've got somewhere fer my mercs to call home, I send Last Resort and The Metatron to find me some new meat. The pirate bases in Freedom's and Acquisition are my first ports o' call, and I manage to bag a few more rookies from each station by the time Tools gets back with shields and jump fuel. I beam my jumpdrive across to the Cobra and bounce her over to Queen's Retribution fer software refit at the equipment dock.

With everyone else cleared out o' sector, I start the flight back towards Atreus HQ. En route I get the message that my frigate's been tuned to maximum spec, and every shred o' software the Boron have available has been loaded into her system. By the time I'd made the corporate station she'd gotten across to the shipyard so I can assess how much she's gonna cost fer repairs. I might be able to patch fighters 'n' freighters, even a bomber, but anythin' bigger'n that's too complex fer me.

Right now the squids would happily buy her off me fer 30 million, but it's gonna cost me a hair over 14 mil just to get her back in shape. I think fer now, she's gonna have to get by with a few dents.

Right, it's been a long day and I really need a drink. I hope George or Talia bought a flask o' whiskey or somethin' along.

Assets:

'Violent Tendencies' – Skate
Fully tuned
3x 25Mj shield
4x PRG
4x EBC
2x PAC

Cobra - 71%

'Keres' – Perseus Raider [Talia Corvo]
'Ladie's Man' – Mamba [George Oaken]

'Old Boots' – Medusa
'Assassin's Creed' - Mamba
'Tools o' the Trade' – Caiman
'Ragin' Speedhorn' – Discoverer Raider
'Small Fry' - Octopus
'Mostly Harmless' – Discoverer
'The Metatron' – Hermes
'Last Resort' - Manta
'Suckerpunch' – Peregrine

Hades
Perseus Raider
Mako

Demeter Super Freighter – Storage
Demeter Super Freighter XL – Storage

Demeter Miner
Enhanced Dolphin

Stations:

The Hub – 4,883,096 Credits

• Demeter x3 - CLS
• Demeter Hauler – CLS collector (Aladna Hill)
• Caiman – CLS Storage Locker (Freedom's Reach)
• Dolphin Tanker – CLS Storage Locker (Company Pride)

18,314,710 Credits

[Timsup2nothin]

Nice work Wren...and great job Kirlack.

[Kirlack]

Nice work Wren...and great job Kirlack.

Thanks mate That fight with the Cobra was a bitch though, from launch to dock the whole thing took ~2.5 hours Still, mission accomplished!

Chapter 15: Home

“You did what?” George asked her, wide eyed.

“I stole a Split Cobra this afternoon.” the assassin repeated with a shrug, gazing at his frozen expression with a grin. “Well, technically the mercs stole it, I just suppressed it until it couldn't fight back.”

“You...you just....frak me, Wren!” he finally laughed, stroking his thin moustache. “How'd you do it, huh? How'd you manage to steal a frakking frigate in a fighter?”

“Ions.” Talia cut in, flashing Wren a wry smile and a nod of respect. “Give it long enough and they'll eventually burn out everything on board. I have to assume that the Cobra wasn't very well armed to begin with?”

The assassin smiled at her friend and sat back, glancing around the now unoccupied main cabin of her Hermes. “Not a single missile, honey. Frakkin' thing was just beggin' to get yoinked.” she laughed.

“You know the Split are going to be gunning for you now Wren, right?” George asked, leaning in across the table to grab her attention. “They're going to come for you. What are you going to do about that?”

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When I woke up this mornin' I still had George's last comment knockin' around in my head. In the past couple o' days I've accounted fer a small carrier's worth o' fighters, half a dozen corvettes, at least three Cobras and an orbital weapons platform. I think it's fair to say we won't be seein' that Christmas card I was hopin' fer. Funny how quickly things can turn around, eh? Just a couple weeks ago I was very much in the Split's good graces.

So. With all that in mind, what would I do if someone had just taken all o' that from me?

Yeah, you're damned right I'd go after 'em. I think it's time we made ourselves scarce fer a while. But fer that, we need a mobile base, somewhere we can fall back to. I've got fifteen trained mercenaries left after the Cobra mission, and another fifteen rookies in boot camp. I think today then, we're gonna make at least one run fer a TL, preferably a Split Elephant. Then we're gonna find somewhere the Split ain't likely to come lookin' fer us.

Once I'd showered and grabbed a coffee, I sat down with my pilots. I'm sendin' 'em both off to see If they can't net me some intel, specifically, who destroyed Ripper's base. Talia's headin' over to Black Hole Sun, while George scopes out Interworlds. With a little luck they'll pick up somethin' in the next couple o' days. It'll keep 'em both out o' trouble while I make mischief amongst the Split.

While we were talkin' it over, Talia reminded me of a potential target over in Rhy's Crusade.

“A civilian Elephant, marked as a...Casino ship, I think.”

“Aye,” I nodded, thinkin' back to our days on the mercenary circuit, “I remember the one you mean.”

I think we have a target. First thing though, bounce the fleet...

Oi. The fleet. One capital ship and we've gone from a wing, to a fleet.

I'm gonna need some crew. Right. Yohandris might be able to help with that, if I grease his claw a little. Fer now, the Cobra's gonna have to get by with my mercs and the remote systems. I start by sendin' Tendencies back to Company Pride, followed by Suckerpunch and finally Tools. As they cleared the sector I undocked in Boots and turned north, with George 'n' Talia fallin' in behind me.

Once through into Retribution the three of us hooked up with my boardin' crew aboard the Cobra, and bounced the fighters. Once everythin' was secured up in Teladi space, we made the jump, and docked at the equipment dock.

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The pirate glanced over his shoulder at the pale skinned assassin, working to reload her ship for the jump out of sector. He held the view for several heartbeats, admiring her curves, before turning back to his own ship.

And coming face to face with Wren.

“You're gonna get yourself into trouble, George.” she hissed, softly. “But you keep tryin', we'll see how much o' you is left when she's finished.” He grimaced in painful memory, but winked at her anyway.

“Present company excluded, I'm not a man to take no for an answer.” He looked her up and down and grinned lewdly. “If you ever change your mind, you'll know where to find me, yeah?”

He stiffened suddenly at the feel of her hand on his crotch. Pleasure, confusion and fear all raced through him in equal measure. He grimaced again. The last time this had happened it had hurt. A lot.

“Remember,” she said quietly into his ear, “what I did to you that first time?” He nodded carefully,as her grip tightened. “Talia would have used her teeth.”

She let him go, and crossed the fighter bay towards her Skate, leaving him panting.

“You're one evil bitch O'ren Rock.” he said quietly as she walked away. She paused, turning to wink at him.

“You better believe it honey.”

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After scarin' the balls, almost literally, off o' George, I finished loadin' Tendencies 'n' sent my pilots off to find me some info. Before they left, Talia pointed out to me how unlucky it is to send a ship out without officially namin' her first, so I've decided to call the Cobra 'One Way Ticket'. Makes sense, right? Either my mercs take the target, or they die tryin'.

While we were gettin' the fighters loaded I've also sorted through some o' the gear in my storage freighters. One Way's bay is loaded with over 200 fighter drones, a handful o' laser towers 'n' all 45 o' my boardin' pods. She's got ISRs in the rear turret, and I've even loaded the handful o' flails I've got into the bay, in case of emergencies like.

With everythin' seemin'ly in order, I make the jump down to the Priest Refuge north gate. It's still a several sector flight from here to my intended mark, but this is the closest gate I've got coordinates fer. As I'm crossin' the sector towards the west gate I spot a small wing o' Yaki ruckin' with a passin' OTAS TM. The TM launches it's Solano defence wing, but the Yaki ain't about to surrender, and promptly slag the freighter, leavin' a few nice missiles fer me to scavenge. Sadly, the Yaki don't live long enough to celebrate the win, as the Solanos rapidly kick the snot out o' them.

As I'm passin' through Barren Shores I spot a fleet o' Paranid ships headed back towards their own turf. That's quite a lot o' M3s, and I don't fancy riskin' that they're armed with PBGs, so I cut 'em a wide berth and break around the southern side o' the sector's tradin' station. A quick scout o' the gate into Reservoir o' Tranquillity puts 'em well out o' reach though, and then I turn north into Wretched Skies.

As I'm blazin' west across the sector a couple o' light police fighters try tacklin' me, but they're no match fer Tendencies PRGs and I swiftly slag 'em both, before crossin' the event horizon into Family Rhy. As soon as I'm out o' the gate I get told to clear out o' Split core space, but I'm not one fer doin' as I'm told, ya know? Seriously, just ask George.

A quick dodge around the local excuse fer a police force puts me up by the north gate, and then I'm out o' core turf and back in the border colonies. Rhy's Crusade is just one more sector west o' here, so I start driftin' through the asteroid field that makes up the northern half o' the system and eventually find the gate.

Moments later I'm through into Crusade, and immediately spy my target idlin' in the centre o' the sector. I don't get time to contemplate my next move though, as the local military forces are on to me. The Jaguars and Scorpions only last a heartbeat each, before PRG fire obliterates 'em, and then I shred the Dragon with extreme prejudice.

With the sector clear o' hostile contacts I take a good look at my target. That's definitely an Elephant, and it's civilian so there won't be any guns aboard. A quick scan shows there's also zero countermeasures to worry about, meanin' I can just drop the shields and pod the troops in! Result!

So I call in One Way, and set her to follow me across the sector, whilst I start droppin' the shields o' this here TL. As soon as the shields reached 3% I put the command across to launch the pods, and heartbeats later my fifteen mercs were sailin' across the system at over 400m/s.

It takes less than a minute fer the crew to make contact with the hull, and then Tata Ga cheerfully leads my guys through five decks of what sounded like total carnage. I'm guessin' the crew o' the Casino ship didn't think to fight back, 'cos not a one o' my mercs bit the bullet, and within 90 seconds o' launch they were at the core! And moments after that...

Bingo. Note the second Elephant in the background? That's the supply ship allocated to the Family Rhy shipyard. I think he might have followed me. I don't fancy riskin' my prize though, so I dock to my new ship, transfer my jumpdrive, grab some energy cells from One Way and bounce us all the hell out o' here!

Ten seconds later my two capital ships were jockeyin' fer a dockin' slot at the Company Pride equipment dock. Once the were both docked I sent my mercenaries back to the Cobra and got the Elephant kitted out with software and upgrades, before undockin' her from the station and very carefully movin' her up near the tradin' station so my storage freighters can offload all o' their gear. Oddly enough, fer all o' my piratin' the one thing I've not managed to steal from the trade lanes are 200 Mj shields, so I bounce Tools over to OTAS to look fer some.

OTAS are carryin' a few, but not enough, so Tools makes another quick stop at the Light o' Heart dock to pick up the rest I'll need, before bouncin' back to me so I can get 'em fitted. With that all done I bounce over to Ceo's Sprite. I wanna get this honey repaired, plus I'm gonna need to talk to Yohandris.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The fat lizard sat back in his chair and stared at her with his glittering yellow eyes.

“Crew.” he hissed.

“Crew.” she confirmed, nodding. “For two capital ships.”

“That'ssss not going to be an eassssy order to fulfil, Wren. And it'ssss going to be eksssspenssssive.”

Her eyes narrowed dangerously. “How expensive?”

The Teladi gulped. “Ten million creditssss, five per sssship.” he paused, holding up a claw to indicate he had more to say before the assassin began raging at him. “I'm going to have to bribe a lot of people, Wren. You're gong to need bridge crew, maintenansssse engineersssss, handlerssss for your fightersss. And that'sss jussst for ssstarterssss.”

He watched as she suppressed an angry shudder.

“Frak me.” she finally hissed through gritted teeth, “Ten million? I'm down to my last seven as it is. Gettin' the Elephant repaired cost me a hair over five.” She nodded though as she said it, before adding. “Alright Yohandris, look into makin' it happen, alright? Just give me a couple o' days to get the cash together.”

The fat lizard nodded back at her. “Underssstood. I'll contact you in two days. Good luck, Wren.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rawr. Ten million frakkin' credits. Ten MILLION. And what makes it worse, is knowin' that every ship I steal is gonna require at least as many crew members. Frak me.

Right. I'm gonna need to find some high payin' jobs, Or some high value ships. With that in mind I bounce the Elephant down to Freedom's Reach. She should be safe here while I mooch around the local sectors. Before I've even switched down to Boots though, I get a call from the local pirate base. Seems somebody's in need o' my services.

My mark's in a Carrack over in Split Fire. This gives me cause to pause, as I've got no satellite in that sector. With three gates to pick from I've got a fair chance o' droppin' in right on top o' the mark, and they don't tend to travel alone. In the end I settle fer the north gate, on the assumption my target's not likely to have come down through Elena's Fortune, and make the jump.

As soon as I'm into the sector I pick up my mark over by the east gate. That bodes well, he's a good distance in, meanin' I can drop Suckerpunch in behind him with a bit o' clearance to play with. Moments later and my bomber is in position, I run through the command and watch 5 Gj o' nuclear death wingin' towards my target.

He manages to shoot half o' the missiles down, but the rest crack his point defence, wipin' him out 'n' nettin' me a sorely needed 4.8 million cred!

With the mark down I bounce back to Freedom’s, only to pick up another hit from the pirate base. Nothin' like the money I just made, but the target's only flyin' an Osprey, so I ain't complainin'. A quick hop to the south gate o' Olmancketslat's Treaty puts me in range o' the Osprey and it's attendant Centaur, but Boots' PBE/EBC combo is more'n punishin' enough to rinse the mark before the Centaur can become a problem, and I bounce back out o' the sector with my shields still in the high fifties.

So far, so good. Freedom's has got nothin' else fer me, so I decide on a change o' venue, bouncin' my TL over to President's End. As I'm manoeuvrin' her into a safe position I notice a passin' Heavy Centaur Prototype. Hmm. I'm in need of a corvette, that'd give me a lot more freedom on missile loadouts 'n' weapon options. I'm not set up to take it right now, but I stick it up on o' my monitors. Sometime in the next couple o' days I'll be comin' fer you mate.

It's slow goin' gettin' the TL into position, and as I'm cruisin' I get a comm from a Boron Octopus. 1.1 million? Yeah, alright. Wait, that's per ship?

Where do I sign?

I climb back into Boots' cockpit and undock before bouncin' to Brennan's. My four Split marks are all crowded together over by the broken gate, so I slip across the system and start hammerin' 'em with PBE fire. The first two punt a few drones out, but I swiftly shred 'em and finish the job, nettin' myself another 4.6 million!

Right. I've got the money I need fer Yohandris, plus a li'l bit to pad out my bankroll. Before we do our vanishin' act though, I'm gonna need to make sure every one o' my ships is fully kitted out, includin' my CLS freighters. With this in mind I bounce the Elephant up to Hila's Joy to collect Speedhorn, then back over to Company Pride fer the rest o' my fighters. Once they're all loaded I bounce her first to OTAS, to make sure everythin' that can carry one has a jumpdrive, then all the way across to Terracorp fer transporter devices. My scouts are carryin' spare software fer any new captures, so with a bit o' luck we should be able to run some hit 'n' fade raids. Before makin' the final bounce out I make a personal stop at Terracorp fer a special purchase.*

That sorts everythin' out and I jump the TL, One Way, Suckerpunch, my Hades and Tools all down to our new home, the unknown sector south o' Menelaus' Oasis. We ought to be pretty safe here, with a couple o' heavily defended Boron sectors between us and any hostiles.

Ya know, it's been an interestin' day. Now I'm gonna go find myself some quarters on this city sized ship!

Assets:

'Violent Tendencies' – Skate
Fully tuned
3x 25Mj shield
4x PRG
4x EBC
2x PAC

'One Way Ticket' - Cobra – 71%

Elephant

'Keres' – Perseus Raider [Talia Corvo]
'Ladie's Man' – Mamba [George Oaken]

'Old Boots' – Medusa
'Assassin's Creed' - Mamba
'Tools o' the Trade' – Caiman
'Ragin' Speedhorn' – Discoverer Raider
'Small Fry' - Octopus
'Mostly Harmless' – Discoverer
'The Metatron' – Hermes
'Last Resort' - Manta
'Suckerpunch' – Peregrine

Hades
Perseus Raider
Mako

Demeter Super Freighter – Storage
Demeter Super Freighter XL – Storage

Demeter Miner
Enhanced Dolphin

Stations:

The Hub – 4,785,393 Credits

• Demeter x3 - CLS
• Demeter Hauler – CLS collector (Aladna Hill)
• Caiman – CLS Storage Locker (Freedom's Reach)
• Dolphin Tanker – CLS Storage Locker (Company Pride)

13,159,685 Credits

[*]I bought 5 Salvage Insurance so I've got the option of ending chapters whilst docked to the Elephant.[/i]

[Kirlack]

So, it seems my new laptop can run TC in it's highest possible resolution, and with all the graphics settings at full! Never been able to do that before. So I've ported all my save files across from the tower. Hopefully the picture quality on the next chapter should be a whole lot better

[snelson2]

sweet read. grats on the upgrade and hope to see more soon

[Kirlack]

sweet read. grats on the upgrade and hope to see more soon

Thanks man I hope you enjoy this one

Chapter 16: All things in moderation

The assassin rolled out of her bunk to land gently on her feet. In the vast silence of the enormous station carrying vessel she'd slept well, and awoke with a sense of purpose. Today she was going to steal some ships. Lots of ships.

She didn't bother to grab her clothes from the locker near the foot of her cot, and ran through her daily exercise routine, before walking naked along the crew corridor until she reached the shower room. As the cool water hit her skin she tensed, but seconds later the hot cycle began, purging her body of toxins. Her mind raced with possibilities as the cycles continued, up and down, until she felt purified, awake and ready.

As she stepped out of the shower she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, and stopped to re-spike her bright red mohawk, before grabbing a razor and shaving the last couple of days worth of stubble from the rest of her head. She ginned at her reflection.

“You're one bad motherfrakker Wren. Don't screw things up now, ya hear?”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Right. Fresh from my shower 'n' shave I headed up to the Elephant's bridge to set up her systems. I spent a good bit o' time last night fittin' CIGs to all o' her turrets, and makin' sure the automated systems would allow me to use her as a mobile base without too much intervention. Since she's gonna be my home base from here on in, I've decide to name her 'The Bastion o' Fortitude'. A bit fancy, mayhap, but I think she deserves a cool soundin' name, ya know?

With the system check out o' the way I started lookin' fer targets. You might remember the Mako I claimed a while back over in Split Fire? Well, I've set it up as my spy in Elena's Fortune. She's been docked at the military outpost fer the last week or so, keepin' tabs on the station's owned ships. And today, she came back with some interestin' intel. It seems the outpost's Minotaur is headed fer Getsu Fune, but right now it's passin' through Shareholder's Fortune. With a little luck I can corner it, take out any escorts and have a clear shot at gettin' the boardin' crew into position.

Heh. My mercs have taken to callin' 'emselves 'Wren's Renegades'. Kind o' cheesy, but it's their call, ya know? They like it, 'n' as long as they're doin' their jobs I don't give a shit what they call 'emselves.

I'm not sure how much time we might have to play with before the Minotaur gets out o' Shareholder's, so I jump the Bastion to the sector's eastern gate. I can't see the mark from here, but I know it's in the sector, so I call up the info feed from my Mako again 'n' use that to target the frigate from almost 40 klicks away. A handy li'l trick I picked up somewhere. As Bastion pulls out and up away from the gate, I bounce One Way in and send her orders to hold a position roughly 10km above the gate.

It's lookin' like the target's bought some o' his mates along fer the ride, but it's not until they close to scanner range that I can pick up all o' the contacts. The trio o' Gladiators are gonna have to go before we can even think about an op, so I cue up the 8 typhoon missiles I've picked up along the way, and start spinnin' warheads off into the dark. One each at the bombers, one each at the Novas and two fer the Eclipse. I can use silkworms to banjo the two M4s if they're gonna become a problem.

As the missiles start closin' to target I run down to the fighter bay and climb into Tendencies cockpit. Moments later I'm out into the trade lanes, and send orders fer the Bastion to bounce over to the Home o' Oppo'tunity equipment dock. She can wait there fer me until I'm done with this here missile frigate.

With Bastion clear o' the sector I watch in triumphant joy as my missiles reduce the Minotaur's escorts to shrapnel before closin' fer a quick scan. Excellent, not only is he poorly armed, he's not packin' a single countermeasure. So I loose a couple o' silkworms to finish off the Busters, and then it's just me 'n' the frigate.

It's slow goin' at first, as he's intent on reachin' the gate, but with me orbitin' around him and swappin' between EBCs to keep his shields low, 'n' Ions to fry his systems, he finally decides to start lobbin' missiles at me. The first hammer heavy gets caught well away from the mark, but the second blows up on launch as Ion Disruptor fire washes over him, knockin' a large chunk out o' the hull integrity. He's still on 84% though, so we're on fer a capture!

With me layin' into him he's havin' to keep tryin' to line up on the gate, and not havin' much success because I'm keepin' him more than occupied. When I pull away to check him though it seems he's lost his primary shield generator. I'm a bit wary o' launchin' the mercenaries while he's still got those few flails aboard, but he's not makin' the effort to throw 'em at me, so I shift around him and out o' One Way's firin' line, before orderin' my crew into the pods.

They've only got a few kilometres to cover though, so I order the launch. As the boys are en route I get clobbered by a flail, knockin' my shields down into the low fifties, but that's his last shot before they make contact. Before I even get a chance to check in on their progress Tata Ga radios to say they've made deck 2, and less than a minute later...

Score one fer the bad guys!

And that's not the only bonus. I dunno where the frak they came from, but my guys are reportin' a whole load o' heavy torps in the cargo bay. As as extra special bonus, two o' my mercs are now readin' as badass 5 star fighters on the bioscanner, meanin' they're ready fer elite trainin'. I don't wanna leave the crew short though, and the rest o' my rookies are still a long way off o' bein' ready fer ops, so we'll see about findin' some more targets first.

With the frigate secured I beam my jumpdrive across, and the mercs back onto One Way. The Cobra bounces back down to homebase, while the Minotaur jumps down to Queen's Retribution 'n' I call in Bastion to pick me up. A quick jump down to Queen's allows me to retrieve Tendencies' jumpdrive from my new frigate, and after a while waitin' fer her to dock at the shipyard I can see just how much the Boron are willin' to pay fer the bare hull.

18 million. That's a long ways shy o' what I was expectin', but I'll grant 'em that she's not in the best o' condition. Still, I ain't sure I wanna sell her yet, so fer now she can hang tight whilst I decide what to do. After all, she might make a good heavy fire support ship, if I need one.

With the first capture o' the day secured I climbed aboard Boots and headed north. My intel network isn't flaggin' any more marks, so I'm gonna scout the Teladi sectors beyond Sanctity o' Corruption and look fer some. As I'm crossin' Sanctity though, I get a call fer a hit on a pirate Centaur over in Company Strength. I'm headin' that way anyhow, so I take the contract. I was almost to the eastern gate when I got another call, from a Paranid of all people.

The contact fer the second job is in Company Strength 'n' all, so I agree to this'n and cross the event horizon. My first mark's all the way up by the north gate, but that's cool, it gives me a chance to find the contact fer the second mark. He's hangin' out at the local silicon mine, and tells me the second mark's flyin' a Yaki Centaur up in Bright Profit. Right then.

I close on the first target and swiftly lay into him with Boots' EBC/PBE combo. He doesn't last long enough to cause me any trouble though, and as he goes up in smoke I get paid my 344k. A swift dodge around his mates gets me to the gate, and then I'm gone, through into Bright Profit.

My second mark's almost made the centre o' the sector, so I hit the turbo booster and zoom in to catch up with him. As I'm on my way there though, the locals comm me, askin' me to help 'em out with a small Xenon problem. Hey, I can do that.

Oh. I might need to rethink this actually. The Ns are no problem, but that Q is goin' to cause issues. Still, they're a good distance away, and I've got a contract to complete first, so I ignore the machines fer a moment and concentrate on rinsin' the Yaki M6. Like the pirate next door though, he doesn't last very long against Boots' savage beatin', and then it's just me 'n' the Xenon. Time fer some nuclear goodness I reckon. So I call in Suckerpunch, grab the Qs attention and order my bomber to launch a single barrage.

The Q's far too interested in me to notice the warheads, and a few seconds later the frigate vanishes as multiple explosions rip it to shreds. The Ns are busy pepperin' my shields with PAC fire, but they can't stand up to Boots' PBEs, and in a couple o' minutes I take out the last o' them fer the loss o' just over 50% o' my shieldin'. Aar!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The assassin watched, wide eyed, as the second wave point jumped in on top of her. As her shields dropped under massed PBE fire she made a stab for the jump controls, but as the drive was charging the Xenon started biting into her hull.

“Jumpdrive: destroyed.” her ship's computer piped up.

“Shit!” Wren yelled into the cockpit, reaching for the turbo booster. As her hand reached the lever, the ship computer chimed in again.

“Turbo booster: destroyed.”

Wren's eyes widened further.

“Oh no...”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Final Assets:

'One Way Ticket' - Cobra – 71%
'Bastion o' Fortitude' - Elephant
Minotaur – 55%

'Keres' – Perseus Raider [Talia Corvo]
'Ladie's Man' – Mamba [George Oaken]

'Violent Tendencies' – Skate
'Assassin's Creed' - Mamba
'Tools o' the Trade' – Caiman
'Ragin' Speedhorn' – Discoverer Raider
'Small Fry' - Octopus
'Mostly Harmless' – Discoverer
'The Metatron' – Hermes
'Last Resort' - Manta
'Suckerpunch' – Peregrine

Hades
Perseus Raider
Mako

Demeter Super Freighter
Demeter Super Freighter XL
Demeter Miner
Enhanced Dolphin

Stations:

The Hub – 4,651,072 Credits

• Demeter x3 - CLS
• Demeter Hauler – CLS collector (Aladna Hill)
• Caiman – CLS Storage Locker (Freedom's Reach)
• Dolphin Tanker – CLS Storage Locker (Company Pride)

12,472,452 Credits

• The end.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And sadly, that's all she wrote. The second wave of Xenon included a whole swarm of Ls and Ms, and every one of them was packing a full rack of PBEs. Once the jumpdrive was down I was in serious trouble, and then...poof. Game over man.

@shaun bergin and ruger44: Sorry guys, I never did get around to adding in your characters, maybe next time...

Thanks to all for reading! And especially to those of you who offered up characters for me to work with. It's been a real blast I've still got the save file from the end of chapter 15, if anyone is interested. I've also compiled a PDF version of the story, if anyone wants it, let me know and I'll upload it to somewhere.

Thanks again!

[Mythrantar]

Oh man, this sucks! Still, loved the story, good job!

[Zaitsev]

Aw, bollocks ...

Still, it was a fun ride while it lasted and I enjoyed every moment of it. Nice work, Kirlack

[Kirlack]

Thanks gents, I'm glad you enjoyed it

Any suggestions on what to try next? I was thinking maybe a Xenon DiD, but I'm not sure I could write from a machine point of view...

[Mythrantar]

BUt what about a self-aware, cut-from-the-hive machine?

[Sabrina Bergin]

Unlucky break there Kirlack but as others have said a cracking read.

[Triaxx2]

Didn't you learn from Z's example? And stay the heck away from the Xenon until you're rolling in a capital? At minimum.

Sorry to see the end of Wren.

I still think Corrupted Goner is a perfect Role-play starter.

[Knucles2]

Oh
Em
Gee

Great story Kir. A bit short, maybe.

[Zaitsev]

Didn't you learn from Z's example? And stay the heck away from the Xenon until you're rolling in a capital? At minimum.

Sorry to see the end of Wren.

I still think Corrupted Goner is a perfect Role-play starter.

Glad to see I can be of some use, then

[ruger44]

I would like to read till capt 15 but ok. thanks for consdering my guy perhaps a humble trader start ? My guy will not be going anywhere so he might stop buy next time. enjoyed it

[Timsup2nothin]

Ouch.

I have a compliment. I say that so you can look for it just in case I mangle it.

Writing the final chapter, when you knew it was the final chapter, without giving it away...I know how much of a challenge that was, and you did it very well. Final touch on something that was well done from start to unfortunately early finish.

[Kirlack]

Sorry to see the end of Wren.

I still think Corrupted Goner is a perfect Role-play starter.

Me too mate Didn't I already do the Corrupted Goner?

Writing the final chapter, when you knew it was the final chapter, without giving it away...I know how much of a challenge that was, and you did it very well. Final touch on something that was well done from start to unfortunately early finish.

Thanks mate. Not giving anything away in the final chapter was quite hard, had to revise what I had written a few times before I was happy with it, but I like the way it panned out

[Sabrina Bergin]

Kirlack:

I am up to speed with nomad after a comp failure that's required me to build a new rig and do some intensive gaming.
I have a Heavy Hydra a Heavy osprey a Katana and a springy oh and an Ammaan prototype and a couple of angels.

Do you want to jump in I have good rep with all races except Argon but that is slowly changing as I have a weed plex in avarice. all plots good and corporation rep is at 6 .

What I need is a fighter who can defend my primary base in distant clouds, I,m still waiting to get my hands on a cobra but I do have 30 elite marines to hand.

[Kirlack]

I'm not sure I understand what you're asking shaun. Do you want me to jump in to take over your DiD? If so, I appreciate the offer, but no. For one thing it sounds like you're playing AP, which I don't own. For another, playing from the beginning is my fave part of a new game

Of course, if I've totally mis-read your post, just call me a pillock