(DiD:TC) Justy's Misfortune -- updated 23.aug.2012, ch.17: A Drop in a Bucket...

[Triaxx2]

Awesome chapter. But what's the deal with all the wimpy pirates I keep seeing? Justy's bothered by a little slavery, another one I saw was bothered by the actual stealing of ships... Oh, is this that 'characterisation' I keep hearing about? Nasty stuff...

I guess I just have meaner pirates.

[RyuKazuha]

Really like it so far, keep it up. (=

[Vim Razz]

@Triaxx2 --
Yeah, fear teh character development and all that. Though it's just Justy who's struggling with his moral conscience at his point -- at worst, he's never been much more than a petty thief and he's starting to get in over his head.

The pirates are a mixed bag. Some them don't necessarily want to be seen as pirates (at least not in public), but mostly they're less interested in morals then they are about making money and not getting caught, looking to exploit Justy's situation in a way that will benefit them most, seeing how far they can push him, how far they can use him, etc.

@ RyuKazuha --
Thanks!

[Vim Razz]

16. Back to Business. Again.

Cleaning the bile from the interior of the cockpit isn't pleasant, but it helps. The simple task provides a needed distraction. It keeps me from dwelling on things that I'd rather not be thinking about.

My robes are filthy, so I stripped down to my thin undersuit and rolled them into a bundle. No one seems to notice the change or care as I take them down to the Ranger to put in the cleaning unit and grab a spare set.

Putting the fresh robes on feels strange. Uncomfortable. Like I shouldn't be wearing them after what I've just done. I take them off and just carry them with me.

By the time I get back to the Discoverer I feel reasonably composed. Not exactly good, but well enough to function. Well enough to get out of here, anyway. One final bit of motivation is provided by the new posting to the Jobs list.

Yeah, this is not where I feel like being right now.

Once I make sure there aren't any particularly ornery pirate crews coming or going just at the moment, I order the Ranger and Buster to move to the Trading station and I'm on my way.

[ external image ]

Part of me is screaming to put Nathan's Voyage behind me as quickly as possible, but the business side over-rules it. The pirate base has recently taken a full shipment of space fuel, and that generally means that there's more to be had for cheep. Hopping quickly from station to station, I manage to find 11 crates at rock bottom prices while stocking up on cloth rimes too.

The rimes I can bring with me on the Ranger safely enough, but the space fuel is a more of a potential problem. Leaving them here on the Buster is probably my best bet, since this is where I'll be trading them anyway -- in a few hours when base's stocks dry up, demand will be extremely high.

Unfortunately, the Buster can only carry 10 at the moment so I need to fly it back to the pirate base for a slight cargo upgrade. While I'm there, I decide to go ahead and shell out for engine tunings as well. I don't want it to be too obvious that it's going to be sitting around as a storage boot, after all. Some of these pirates around here might get some ideas if they hear that I was buying up space fuel and try looking to find where it's parked...

By the time the Buster is secured back at the Trading Station again, a little over half an hour has passed since I started out. One last thing to do is pick up a more normal looking flight suit from a kiosk in the station's marketplace -- I found that not everyone's as comfortable as the pirates are at seeing a man doing things in his undersuit -- and then I take the Discoverer north with the Ranger in tow to Black Hole Sun.

It feels good to be out of Nathan's Voyage.

Very good.


A small skirmish between some Yaki and the Argon Military as I enter Treasure Chest livens things up a little bit and provides a few missiles and energy cells to salvage. I makes a few trades here and there where I can, but most of my time is spent running around trying to find odd jobs and a ship that I can afford. Some jobs work out well; others not so well.

The Disco Hauler is certainly a more pleasant to run around in than the Octopus had been with it's higher speed (due to it's being in good repair), larger cargo bay, and properly human-sized cockpit that actually provides a bit of leg and shoulder room. I think that Paranid actually did me a favor by taking the Octo away.


Things get rather more interesting when the shipping manager at Omicron Lyree's computer plant asks me to pick up some cartography chips from a pirate base in Treasure Chest. How long has that been there?

It wont be there for for much longer. An Argon Cerberus battle group has already found it by the time I do just north of the gate to the Elysium, and the station's shields are down by two thirds. When I comm my Paranid contact to see if he'll still be there to load the wares, he just tells me to shut up and fly faster.

The station's already falling apart as I reach the dock. We load fast, and I'm about to move out when I notice that they have sunrise flowers here. Time may be short, but those will be seriously valuable goods in Nathan's voyage. The Teladi dealer and her crew are jamming as many as they can into their own getaway ship, but they don't have enough room and I buy up 11 crates to stack on top of the cartog chips before making my own rushed exit.

Gotta love those Teldai: profit trumps everything. Even fear of immanent demise. Of course, I'm not much better, apparently.

The base is gone before I'm even halfway to the Omicron Lyree gate.


After the drop-off, I can't help but come back to take another look. I'm glad I did, too. Crates of spaceflies and sunrise flowers are floating outside the wreckage along with a banshee missile. It takes two trips to get as much as I can back to the Ranger.

And the less mercantile side of me was happy to see that blasted hulk as well. For personal reasons.


The best news of the day came shortly after: a Mercury Hauler near the gate to Black Hole Sun that looked like it might be in my price range, around 250k or so. I didn't even check to make sure I could afford it before telling the owner he had a deal. It turned out I had just enough, leaving barely six thousand credits to spare.

I'm not even sure exactly how much it cost, but I'm too excited to care.

I'm not dreaming again, am I?

We can finally get down to business.


Flight time: 1-17:52
Delivered: 0/2000 Ore, 0/200 Silicon

Assets:__________

• Goner Ranger ..................... 84 m/s ...... 280 L cargo .. 104 cr/hr upkeep
  Discoverer Hauler, 92% .... 363 m/s ....... 67 M cargo .. 100 cr/hr upkeep
  Buster Vanguard, 58% ..... 140 m/s ....... 22 M cargo .. 275 cr/hr upkeep
  Mercury Hauler, 81% .......... 37 m/s .. 6000 XL cargo .. 600 cr/hr upkeep
  
  6,223 Credits
  
  .. 1 x 25 MJ Shield
  .. 2 x SETA
  .. 1 x Video Enhancement Goggles, Transporter Device
  .. 1 x Special Command Software
  .. 1 x Cargo Lifesupport System
  
  . 24 x Energy Cells
  . 32 x Cloth Rimes
  . 78 x Sunrise Flowers
  ... 2 x Argnu Beef
  . 11 x Space Fuel
  ... 6 x Spaceflies
  . 98 x Mosquito Missiles
  ... 8 x Assorted Missiles

[Kirlack]

Hmm, bit of a deja vu moment, but....

Congrats on your first TS Justy!

[Vim Razz]

Damn, that's a good point -- chapter title should have been "deja vu all over again" or something similarly pithy.

I suppose I'll still have time to work that in somewhere down the line. For now, just appending "Again." to the title. It's not ~quite~ as cheesy, but it'll have to do.

and thnx!


Also, I've just had the awkward experience of finding out that a user here has the same name as my primary villain... That wasn't meant to happen. Guess I need to come up with something else.

[Kirlack]

Also, I've just had the awkward experience of finding out that a user here has the same name as my primary villain... That wasn't meant to happen. Guess I need to come up with something else.

Nah, just link the first instance of your villain's name to said user and add a bracketed disclaimer or something similar

[Vim Razz]

Nah, just link the first instance of your villain's name to said user and add a bracketed disclaimer or something similar

I considered that suggestion for a bit, but it just didn't feel ~right~, ya know?

So, we have a little continuity note:

• "Roy Graaf" is now "Roy Graves" instead.

Also, it seems I've already used "deja vu all over again" for a chapter title.... Not surprising -- that's totally something I would do. Obviously. Because I already did it.

Gotta get to work thinking up some new lame jokes for these things.


17. A Drop in a Bucket Still Counts as Progress.

There's no reason not to get started right away, so as the Mercury makes it's way to the nearest mine, I start ferrying goods and supplies to it from the Ranger, which I then park nearby.

I decide to move everything over, including my one shield. The Mercury is much more important to protect than the Ranger right now

The next hour and a half is spent working the Mercury slowly from station to station in Treasure Chest, looking for minerals and trading whatever else I can get a deal on.

There's quite a wait between ports, so a quick trip to Nathan's voyage cashes in my six spaceflies and brings back some more cloth rimes. After a while, with nothing better to do, I switch over the the Mercury fly it myself.

It's rather slow, but that suits me fine right now. It's calming. Peaceful, even. The quiet, open interior of the cabin provides a very nice change from the limited cockpits of the Discoverer or the Ranger.

Or the Octopus. I'm not exactly tall and that was still a tight fit. I have no idea why a Paranid would have chosen a ship like that...

But I suppose that's not my problem.


There's not a whole lot to be found in the sector -- at least not from traders willing to give me the time of day -- but it's a start.

I change back into my robes while the auto pilot takes me into Elysium of Light. From there, the Ozias is easy to spot and it's time for my first delivery.

[ external image ]

Mercifully, Kalvin isn't around so I don't have to deal with him. He apparently went off to check out something at the solar power plant where he had some kind of incident and hasn't been seen since -- probably out drinking. That's what I'd be doing.

Avens is so busy he barely glances up from the paperwork in his hands to say, "Cargo received. Please bring the rest soon." before signing off again.


And that was that. A bit anticlimactic, to be honest. I don't know what I was expecting, exactly, but certainly something... more...

Well, more something, at least.

Then again, that's probably just as well that things went quietly.

After poking around the sector for a few more cloth rimes (naturally), it's time to head south again.


Flight time: 1-21:08
Delivered: 128/2000 Ore, 14/200 Silicon

Assets:__________

• Discoverer Hauler, 92% .... 363 m/s ....... 67 M cargo .. 100 cr/hr upkeep
  • ::: SETA, Video Enhancement Goggles, Transporter Device, Cargo Lifesupport System
  Mercury Hauler, 81% .......... 37 m/s .. 6000 XL cargo .. 600 cr/hr upkeep
  • ::: SETA, Special Command Software
    ::: 1 x 25 MJ Shield
  Buster Vanguard, 58% ..... 140 m/s ....... 22 M cargo .. 275 cr/hr upkeep
  
  Goner Ranger ..................... 84 m/s ...... 280 L cargo .. 104 cr/hr upkeep
  
  41,488 Credits
  
  . 183 x Energy Cells
  ... 40 x Cloth Rimes
  . 178 x Meatsteak Cahoonas
  ... 71 x Argnu Beef
  ... 95 x Delaxian Wheat
  ... 78 x Sunrise Flowers
  ... 11 x Space Fuel
  ... 98 x Mosquito Missiles
  ..... 8 x Assorted Missiles

[Triaxx2]

Wow. Only seventeen chapters to progress? Speedy.

Can't wait for more.

[Progress-M]

This one looks really interesting! Looking forward for more.