[DID] Best Served Cold - APR Book 2

Official fiction, fan fiction and artwork. Let your talent express itself!

Moderators: TheElf, Moderators for English X Forum

banjaxo
Posts: 497
Joined: Sun, 7. Aug 05, 19:30
x3

Post by banjaxo » Thu, 11. Apr 13, 02:00

:(

Good luck.

Triaxx2
Posts: 7229
Joined: Tue, 29. Dec 09, 02:15
x4

Post by Triaxx2 » Thu, 11. Apr 13, 02:49

So, it seems we're getting surges of 220, instead of the smooth 110 we should be having, so while I have some power again, I haven't turned on the computer again. (I'm on my laptop.) I'll let you know what's going on when the issue is permanently fixed.
A Pirate's Revenge Completed Now in PDF by _Zap_
APR Book 2: Best Served Cold Updated 8/5/2016

The Tale of Ea't s'Quid Completed

Dovie'andi se tovya sagain

Triaxx2
Posts: 7229
Joined: Tue, 29. Dec 09, 02:15
x4

Post by Triaxx2 » Fri, 12. Apr 13, 14:25

So, it seems Anki owes her life to the power of surge protector. The entire computer survived because of it. So I'll continue the story as soon as the power is fixed.
A Pirate's Revenge Completed Now in PDF by _Zap_
APR Book 2: Best Served Cold Updated 8/5/2016

The Tale of Ea't s'Quid Completed

Dovie'andi se tovya sagain

banjaxo
Posts: 497
Joined: Sun, 7. Aug 05, 19:30
x3

Post by banjaxo » Mon, 15. Apr 13, 06:05

Well, that's good news. Hope the power's sorted soon.

Triaxx2
Posts: 7229
Joined: Tue, 29. Dec 09, 02:15
x4

Post by Triaxx2 » Mon, 15. Apr 13, 18:19

Okay, power is officially sorted, and I played a chapter. One minor nuisance is that the power surge took out my speakers. So I have to play tucked up against the computer, which is annoying. So I can't do long sessions. Fortunately, this was a short chapter anyway.

---

Chapter 17: Atmosphere Lifting

Ow. So it seems, that I've been working too hard. The doctor on the Revenge has told me that I need more sleep and less stress. So I'm going to annoy the Terrans. Completely stress free endeavor, right?

Of course it is. Or rather it would be, if Jupiter which is where I normally go capping, wasn't crawling with carriers. Two Tokyo's and an Odin. And naturally, in addition to the fighters they're carrying, they're also escorted by M6's. Vali's and Katana's. One of them seems to be on it's way out, leaving only one Odin and one Tokyo. I'm about to move to intercept the Atmo lifter when a Skirnir shows up. Seriously?

Patience is key, so I sit and wait for a few minutes. But they seem completely content to do nothing more than sit and have coffee. The Atmo fades into the distance and I decide to try my luck in a less populated sector. Naturally, this doesn't work too well because less populated sectors all have a serious lack of Atmo lifters. I'm not sure if I'm really interested in trying it in Mars, but I'm going to have a go. Mars has an Atmo lifter. Unfortunately, it's fully equipped with the Trifecta of Death. Deciding Atmos are not to be, I head south, hoping to pick up something in the southern territories.

Only to run into something fun on my way through Asteroid Belt. There just happens to be a Tyr who has become separated from his escort. On top of that, it's not even fully shielded. However, at only 9 GJ of shielding it does present a minor issue in knocking those down without destroying the ship or too badly damaging it. Let's see, one barrage of Hammers does 3.2 GJ, which means two is 6.4, so roughly 20 hammers. Then Flails to control the shields. It is however, escorted by a number of Thors, who don't seem to have died to the same problem that dealt with it's capital class escorts. I'm not really enthused about getting attacked by those, but perhaps I can deal with those using flails. It's worth a shot. Okay, new plan:

Operation: Tyred of this nonsense.

Okay, so the first thing to do is deal with the escorting fighters. This isn't as easy as it sounds however, and they prove particularly tenacious. However, enough Flails in the air do the trick and eventually the last few catch up and go down in a hail of Flak from my FAA. With that done, I launch the jarheads. They get through, though a few fail the hull cutting. It seems the ship had an HPD that I didn't see, but the rest of them make it. I'll swing around and pick the others up after we take the ship. It doesn't have an Advanced Firewall though.

They get the ship and the Terrans open fire on me. They seem perturbed, but flails deal with the incoming missiles easily enough and I jump up one rank just as a carrier drops in. I'm back at Citizen, thanks to a timely trade by my local Economy and Supply Trader. The military is still annoyed with me, but the rest of the Terrans are friendly. I decide that one near death experience is enough and decide to have a rest before I have any more 'fun'.
A Pirate's Revenge Completed Now in PDF by _Zap_
APR Book 2: Best Served Cold Updated 8/5/2016

The Tale of Ea't s'Quid Completed

Dovie'andi se tovya sagain

Triaxx2
Posts: 7229
Joined: Tue, 29. Dec 09, 02:15
x4

Post by Triaxx2 » Thu, 4. Jul 13, 19:58

This chapter did not want to go at all. I crashed to desktop four times. Not sure why, but I'm suspecting power supply. To be fair, it's not unexpected after the power problem. So it's short, but here it is.

---

Chapter 18: A Good Ship

I've finally, after a few weeks of work, found a name for the Tyr. It's an old earth name. The name of a ship reputed to be well liked by it's crew, and well regarded by everyone. There are no records anywhere I can locate of it being destroyed in battle, sank or otherwise having lost an engagement.

All this information being at my hands, I have decided on a title and name for the Tyr.

The Lollipop.

Everything else is going more or less according to plan, and requires little to no intervention from me, so I'm going to jump into Rapscallion (Brigantine) and go harass the Paranid. I think I'll head in the space around Paranid Prime. Perhaps Empire's Edge. It's a crowded sector, and should provide a nice shooting gallery.

I drop actually into Savage Spur, and move to engage a Pirate Elite. It's a nice palate cleansing, using capital class guns to knock out an interceptor. When I close in, my target makes a suicidal move and charges me. He dies in the blast from an IBL round. There's no salvage, so I turn and open up for Empire's Edge. It's a bit of a mixed bag though. I manage to smash an Ody without getting brutally murdered, then I start in on one of the stations. As I'm finishing it off, and turning towards the next one, I suddenly get a missile warning. Spinning around I check the gravidar display, and see a Hades in the sector and Tomahawk's in the air. Screaming for an emergency jump, we land in Paranid Prime. The sensors go ballistic with contacts and the MARS system begins blazing away at anything close. There are two Zeus, a Deimos and an Ody in the sector all closing on me. A second, more considered jump gets us to Cloudbase Southwest. We're almost out of energy now, but Great Trunk arrives to fuel us up. Once that's done, I jump back to the parking lot in Avarice.

Sorting through the loot, I find we've managed to locate a few light guns, then I drool over the THREE Gauss Cannons we liberated from the wreckage of the Ody in EE. Unfortunately, it seems that while I was away, my empire went on a sharp spiral, and I've got to plug up a few leaks in the system. It's a bit annoying, but there you are.
A Pirate's Revenge Completed Now in PDF by _Zap_
APR Book 2: Best Served Cold Updated 8/5/2016

The Tale of Ea't s'Quid Completed

Dovie'andi se tovya sagain

User avatar
Zaitsev
Posts: 2005
Joined: Tue, 2. Dec 08, 01:00
x4

Post by Zaitsev » Fri, 5. Jul 13, 23:16

Triaxx2 wrote:The Lollipop
This made me laugh so hard I think I cracked a rib. Again :D
I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am :D

DiDs:
Eye of the storm Completed
Eye of the storm - book 2 Inactive
Black Sun - Completed
Endgame - Completed

Triaxx2
Posts: 7229
Joined: Tue, 29. Dec 09, 02:15
x4

Post by Triaxx2 » Sat, 6. Jul 13, 01:06

You're welcome. :D
A Pirate's Revenge Completed Now in PDF by _Zap_
APR Book 2: Best Served Cold Updated 8/5/2016

The Tale of Ea't s'Quid Completed

Dovie'andi se tovya sagain

Song Of Obsidian
Posts: 305
Joined: Wed, 19. Jun 13, 19:46
x3ap

Post by Song Of Obsidian » Sat, 6. Jul 13, 02:31

Ever been hit by a lollipop on the head? Unkind. Those things hurt.

My stomach pain from laughter after reading it was worse though.

Triaxx2
Posts: 7229
Joined: Tue, 29. Dec 09, 02:15
x4

Post by Triaxx2 » Tue, 30. Jul 13, 19:18

Chapter 19: Administrative Expenditures

Some days, I hate being in charge. Some days, it has it's perks. I noticed that somewhere, I've managed to lose one of the shields on the Revenge. So, since I'm already in the Rapscallion, I'm heading to Weaver's Tempest to pick up another one from the Warehouse. I've also noticed a short in the supply of microchips from my complex in BS. Turns out there's a shortage of Bofu, which means also an overage of BoGas. I sent Decadence to Queen's Revenge to pick up another L, and then send it to Barren Shores, only to realize I forgot a CCK. Since I'm going to have to get one, I figure I'll get two and another BoGas factory with DW/H. I”m sitting here in BS watching for Paranid, since I don't trust those three-eyes not to try and hit my TL. Fortunately, I haven't seen anything more dangerous than a freight transporter. Even as I say this, a Paranid Nemesis patrol shows up, and heads south through the sector.

I move Rapscallion between the complex and the convoy, but Captain Gusta, flying Guard Dog (Cerberus) is unconcerned.

“They fly through here a lot. We've got an understanding with the Boron. As long as we don't attack, the Boron don't get haired up about it. But if they attack us, we're welcome to defend ourselves. It makes things a bit tense at times, but it's better than having to fight off the Boron and the Squints at the same time.”

“Squints?”

“Yeah, the way they're always squinting as if they still have a hard time seeing us in spite of those three eyes.”

“Thanks for the info captain. Anything I can get you before we pack on out of here?”

“As a matter of fact, we've only got two of the three shields we're supposed to have. Can you get us another?”

“I can indeed. I've got one on board for Revenge, but I'll have another one brought in for you as soon as I get back there.”

“Then we're still good to go.”

I rather like talking to captain Gusta. He's a solid man with very little temper and if he's a bit slow to react, that means he doesn't over react too often. As soon as I get back to Avarice, I order my personal TS to jump down to Weavers, pick up another 1GJ shield, and then jump to the Beacon in Barren Shores, and pass the shield over. I'm politely informed there isn't a beacon there. I tell the pilot to jump over there, kick the Navigator in the ribs and have him plant a beacon. He response affirmatively and a short time later, I get a message from Captain Gusta thanking me for the shield.

“Armored, sharpened, and Raring to go!

Regards, Captain Gil Gusta.”
A Pirate's Revenge Completed Now in PDF by _Zap_
APR Book 2: Best Served Cold Updated 8/5/2016

The Tale of Ea't s'Quid Completed

Dovie'andi se tovya sagain

Triaxx2
Posts: 7229
Joined: Tue, 29. Dec 09, 02:15
x4

Post by Triaxx2 » Mon, 16. Sep 13, 23:12

This one's a bit shorter. I've been having trouble playing. The game is running very slowly. I'm not sure why, but I think it might be my video card. I'm close to a new one, but... that said, I'm playing again, so...

---

Chapter 20: Shields Up

You know, after the shield issue yesterday, and now seeing how hard it is to find PAC's, I've decided it's time to start building my own weapons and shields. The only question in mind then, is where to build them. PMP is pretty crowded as is. And Split Space has proven pretty unsafe. I'm thinking somewhere in Argon Territory, since they're unfriendly to the 'squints' and so no one will mind if I have heavy perimeter defense.

The other option is Avarice, but I'm not sure if there's the resources to support it and I'd rather not have to scatter a support complex. Or perhaps one of the far flung Teladi Sectors. But all those options have the chance of being Paranid infested. The other choice is of course pirate space, which comes with it's own set of problems.

I have a feeling I know where I want to set up, but I'll have to have a look at it. For now, I'm planning the complex out, before I go in. I actually want to put two of each of the heavy shields, and one of each of the lighter shields. I can actually have CAG's go out and sell off the lighter shields. I'm thinking two separate complexes, with a third one feeding resources.

I can't see use for IRE's for anything, so I think I'll forgo those, but PAC's and MD's and HEPT, and even some CIG's. I know I'm going to want PPC's, and Gauss Cannon's. All I have to do is capture and flip a few ships to get the funds. And work out the cost and infrastructure. But that's easy enough.

Leaving the shipyard at Light of Heart, my first stop is Wastelands. I consider jumping in, but I don't have sat coverage in the sector and the voice in my head says fly. Of course that means going to through Xenon Sector 347, but I'm not too concerned about that. I intend to use Atalanta to race through the sector, and then bring the Revenge across to me.

My calculations put the complex at roughly 250 million credits. Factor in start up costs, and it's probably closer to 300 million. I figure that's about six or seven M2's. I'm not sure how many Ore or Silicon mines I need, but I can't find that out until I decide on the sector I'm building in.

Stopping at the Military Outpost in Great Trench, I see a Kraken leaving, unescorted. I could take it. Grab it and flip it, and start the cash flow incoming for my new complex. I think I just might.
A Pirate's Revenge Completed Now in PDF by _Zap_
APR Book 2: Best Served Cold Updated 8/5/2016

The Tale of Ea't s'Quid Completed

Dovie'andi se tovya sagain

Triaxx2
Posts: 7229
Joined: Tue, 29. Dec 09, 02:15
x4

Post by Triaxx2 » Mon, 6. Jan 14, 20:07

Chapter 21:Pirate Queen

I decided against it. Ultimately it was Great Trench itself that made up my mind. There's too many rocks and roids and friends of the target. Instead, I fall back to Avarice and jump to Rapscallion, who's been sitting there for a while. Captain Liom Keswen is only too happy to let me take the bridge for a while. I send the Revenge on a refit tour. Several of the Pikes and Tenjins aboard are improperly armed or shielded for various reasons, and so I need them rearmed. Heading south through Ceo's Doubt, I take a kill job for some criminal flying a Carrack. The Rapscallion shouldn't have a problem. I've only got twelve minutes, but that should be more than sufficient. Even if he's go bomber escort. There's one but I run it over as I come out of the gate. I get twenty-seven million credits as I destroy the target. But the real prize is his, very badly damaged, Pirate Carrack. As it turns out, it's still armed with a few Banshee missiles, three Concussion Impulse Generators, a Jumpdrive, and Internal Sentry Lasers. I send it to the Light of Heart Shipyard. The Revenge, which I called in to claim it, then jumps out to Black Hole Sun, in search of more PAC's. Atalanta I hangs around running Prospector inspect asteroid on the roids in New Income.

Heading on east to Ianamus Zura, I do some much needed maintenance on my empire. The two weed and two booze complexes in Avarice are constantly running low on energy. I purchase four Mistrals from OTAS and set them up as energy tenders.

Atlanta finishes it's Prospecting before I'm out of the sector, and it looks like New Income might be a good place to put my complex. Heading north into Eighteen Billion, I stop to consider my options. Do I want to try and cross Xenon 347? Or would it be better to jump across the sector to Scale Plate Green? Unsure, I decide to stop at the local Military Outpost. And then change my mind when they offer me money to mangle some Xenon. The Revenge arrives to offer backup, and we start hunting down the Xenon Raiding party.

The fight goes surprisingly smoothly. The P that's the leader of the raid goes down to the combine fire of four Tenjin and the rest of the Xenon are essentially toast once the heavy hitter is gone. Not the most glorious of fights, but they can't all be or the tension is lost for the big ones.

Revenge returns to it's position, and I resume contemplation of the gate to Xenon 347. All at once, I'm certain. I'm going through that gate. It might be a fatal decision, but I'm going to do it. Because I am the Pirate Queen. And no machine is going to stop me.
A Pirate's Revenge Completed Now in PDF by _Zap_
APR Book 2: Best Served Cold Updated 8/5/2016

The Tale of Ea't s'Quid Completed

Dovie'andi se tovya sagain

User avatar
Zaitsev
Posts: 2005
Joined: Tue, 2. Dec 08, 01:00
x4

Post by Zaitsev » Tue, 7. Jan 14, 00:12

Yay, Triaxx is writing again :D

*crossing fingers, arms, legs and toes hoping the pirate queen will make it*
I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am :D

DiDs:
Eye of the storm Completed
Eye of the storm - book 2 Inactive
Black Sun - Completed
Endgame - Completed

Triaxx2
Posts: 7229
Joined: Tue, 29. Dec 09, 02:15
x4

Post by Triaxx2 » Fri, 2. May 14, 04:43

Sorry for the long delay in chapters. That nasty Real-Life thing again.

Chapter 22: Machine Menace

Admission: So just before I got out of the sector, I had a full-on, blue screen of death, complete system restart. So this is my second time through this little adventure. Which is why I don't use the DiD mode.

Of course, it will be me menacing the machines, rather than the other way around. As we approach the gate, I take my seat in the command chair. The captain has made himself scarce for one reason or another, and the crew is tense. I don't blame them. Entering a Xenon sector is a scary event, even with a fleet. We're just one ship. On the far side, we run into three Q's. Unfortunately, they all attack broadside. Which is a daft idea. Machines are retarded. There's a Caiman Superfreighter near the south gate full of Cloth Rimes. I jaunt out and claim it, then send it south to Ianamus Zura.

The Revenge and it's attendant Elephant jump into the west gate, so the Goblins from the Elephant can pick up the salvage. Once that's done, they retreat south out of the sector. Meanwhile, I'm busy fighting two Q's and several P's and PX's. As I close in, I eventually decide to engage and destroy the station. It turns into a minor mess as several more P's and PX's jump in on me. Of course, I'm a destroyer and they're Corvette's. It's no challenge at the end of the day. Heading north to Scale Plate Green, I ignore the ships trying to harass me from behind. Passing north out of the sector, I stop to watch a Xenon PX get wiped out by a passing Argon TM and it's escorts. It seems that two ships carrying PBG's beats a PX.

Arriving in Scale Plate Green, I see combat mission. I pick it up and find out the target is not only flying without bomber escort, but that it's in Ianamus Zura, inside my sensor range. Rapscallion drops in on top of the target, and opens fire. That's fantastic. What's not is having him bail out on me. With the clock ticking down, call in Revenge, bounce over, and launch in Warjack. I discover two things. One, is that Tenjin beats space suit. The other is that I really, really need to install a Turbo Booster on that thing.

Heading to Avarice to pick up Atalanta I, we had a minor issue. The ship slammed into the hull of the Revenge on it's way to dock. I suppose I should have expected that.

Jumping to Desecrated Skies, near The Marauder, I take a mission to defend the place and end up defending the place against the Argon. It's not something I wanted to do, but the drop in rank isn't too bad, and I'll make it back fairly quickly. On the upside, with the intervention of Venomous Cobra, I have a second Cerberus.

I've actually filled it with some of the new Pirate Kestrels for the moment. I'm thinking a Frigate full of fast movers might be a good thing to have on hand. Especially since they'll be working out of range of it's Flak guns, to reduce the chance of it accidentally shooting down it's own fighters. Might make for a good fast response ship.
A Pirate's Revenge Completed Now in PDF by _Zap_
APR Book 2: Best Served Cold Updated 8/5/2016

The Tale of Ea't s'Quid Completed

Dovie'andi se tovya sagain

User avatar
Sabrina Bergin
Posts: 2239
Joined: Sat, 12. Apr 08, 10:53
xr

Post by Sabrina Bergin » Fri, 2. May 14, 09:34

Glad to see you back Triaxx.

Blue screens are a bitch to deal with do you think it was a result of those power fluctuations you mentioned earlier ?.

Triaxx2
Posts: 7229
Joined: Tue, 29. Dec 09, 02:15
x4

Post by Triaxx2 » Fri, 2. May 14, 15:08

Nope, loose memory stick. Fortunately, it was easy to fix.
A Pirate's Revenge Completed Now in PDF by _Zap_
APR Book 2: Best Served Cold Updated 8/5/2016

The Tale of Ea't s'Quid Completed

Dovie'andi se tovya sagain

Triaxx2
Posts: 7229
Joined: Tue, 29. Dec 09, 02:15
x4

Post by Triaxx2 » Tue, 6. May 14, 01:42

Chapter 23: Hunting for a profit

I've decided to put my complex in New Income. It's a reasonably safe sector. And it's relatively easy to reinforce, particularly considering only the south gate is a problem, because that's the gate closest to the Paranid. Needing a cash infusion, however, before I can begin, I decide that there's only one place to go. Duke's Headquarters should have been rebuilt by now, which means he should have a new defensive force in place. From Contorted Dominion, I head west to Patriarch's Conclusion. With a new Turbo Booster in place, the Atalanta III does just over 1km per second. In Pat's Conclusion, I land at the equipment dock for tuning. As I pass through though, I pick up a mission to deploy a Scruffin Farm. Decadence(Ryu) bounces from Avarice to Zyarth's Dominion, and then down to Pat's Conclusion, drops the station, then up to The Marauder to pick up the rest of my Pirate Kestrels. Duke is still hostile, though curiously, his Zeus is not. It's escorted by two Nemesis, but it's not carrying any fighters. A single Tomahawk a piece would wipe out the escorts. Then it's no more than a matter of taking the carrier, because for some reason or other, it's completely empty of fighters. Looks like a job for some snakes. Namely Viper Strike and Venomous Cobra. In a fit of inspiration, I order Venomous Cobra and Viper Strike both to dock with Command and Control (Aran), and then jump that down to contorted Dominion. I'll fly the Viper Strike to Duke's sector manually, and then eliminate the Nemesis', and then transfer to the Cobra. The Cobra has been given a single Jump Beacon from Command and Control. Once we have the Zeus, we'll drop the beacon and have C&C get the Zeus out. Then Cobra can jump back to Contorted and I'll transfer back to the Revenge. What can possibly go wrong?

Well, not having the Nemesis escorting the Zeus can is what. Once the marines are on board though, it's all up to them. All I can do is stand back and listen to them as they go deck by deck. The ship takes a beating, but I'm sure it's mine once the marines reach the central computer. And all without a single marine loss. I'm kind of heavily impressed. Even better, the Zeus still has a jump drive. So, changing plans, I send that along to the Patriarch's Conclusion shipyard, and have the Command and Control jump home. Or rather try, because it can't get there on the 60 energy cells it has remaining. Sigh. Okay, so my Personal TS (Mistral SF) jumps in to a hastily placed beacon and fuels the big ship and sends it home. Meantime, Revenge jumps to me, and the Elephant's Goblins collect the droppings from the various Nemesis that I just vaporized. One of my missile suppliers arrives in sector to rearm Venomous Cobra, and so I hang around to ensure that everything goes well.

Once the Cobra and it's tender are gone, we jump out to the northern beacon in Avarice. Once there, it becomes completely obvious that I need to organize my equipment. Since there's nothing pressing going on, I order Great Hauler 2 to shut down the warp gate connecting UW534 to the Hub and jump to the HUB. Then I start the process of coalescing everything onto Missile Warehouse. Dumping a large part of it onto the Zeus, it gets sold, for a tidy profit. The rest eventually goes into Great Hauler 2, which I then sell. It's a hard decision, but there's not much other option to get rid of the excess trash. It's easier to replace the ship than try and sell the cargo. I'll replace that as soon as I can get back into Terran Space for a little recon. Meantime, I'm going to see if I can find a nice, undefended Paranid TL. Then I can offload the missiles onto that, and get rid of them all at once.

Time for a little recon.
A Pirate's Revenge Completed Now in PDF by _Zap_
APR Book 2: Best Served Cold Updated 8/5/2016

The Tale of Ea't s'Quid Completed

Dovie'andi se tovya sagain

Triaxx2
Posts: 7229
Joined: Tue, 29. Dec 09, 02:15
x4

Post by Triaxx2 » Tue, 22. Jul 14, 03:27

Chapter 24: Rapid Recon

You know, when it comes to recon, nothing makes it easier than a fully-tuned, boosted Pirate Kestrel. Landing in Jupiter at the beacon placed in the path of the Mos Eisley starts moving upwards out of the lane of traffic, as I turn and jet rapidly towards the far off glint of a silhouette of an Atmosphere lifter. Venomous Cobra is fueled, armed and loaded with Marines and Boarding Pods. The morning started, with a nice little jaunt out in Warjack to hit a Paranid freighter. With support from Goblins launched off the Tender Elephant, it went quite well. He ejected some of his cargo, then jumped ship himself. Of course, I gave him a plasma funeral for his trouble. One less squint, cluttering up the universe.

Space is kind of desolate, even in a populated sector. Scanning the ship nets me a loss of reputation. It seems that one ship trading around isn't enough to off-set the penalties I've incurred. Not a big problem. That just means I need more traders. And, of all the things I'm lacking, TS's with free space is not one of them. Jumping back to Avarice, moderately annoyed at having to wait, I do a little maintenance work and start planning for the new traders.

In the end, I retro-fit one of my Teladianium traders from the HUB to act as an EST and base it in the Uranus system. The pilot was already a CLS Logistician, so it only took a little work with one of his counterparts to bring him up to speed on the minor differences between the two jobs. With that done, I get word of a potential M2 capture, and head to Spaceweed Grove for a look. The Revenge (Panther) is not the stealthiest ship in the universe, but not knowing what the pirates are feeling about me until I arrive, I'm not taking the risk of a smaller ship.

The Brigantine and it's escorts are friendly but a group of Pirate Elite's are decidedly not. Fortunately, Tenjin's are more than a match for them, and I've got back up. However, I don't actually need the assistance, as I get there and wipe out the targets before my backup shows. Returning to the carrier, I set up Warjack to be part of the Commodore's Hangar, ensuring my ship is always armed with missiles and fueled.

Changing out of my flight suit, I realize just how long of a day it's been when I see a bulletin informing me dinner is about to be served to the crew. Instead of taking my meal in my room, the way I usually do, I decide instead to head to the mess hall. After a momentary stop at my room for my coat. I arrive at the the mess hall just after it's filled. There's a few empty seats, because someone has to run the ship even though it was designed to feed the entire crew at once. It's impossible to slip into the room un-noticed and I don't even try. Several pilots wave. I return the wave. Some say you shouldn't be friends with your crew, and others say you should. I don't subscribe to either, but it's easier to tolerate a polite tyrant, so that's what I strive to be.

The pilots are different. They know I'm not just someone standing on a bridge giving orders. I get out and barrel through the middle of their formations and get into the thick of the fighting. And when I'm not flying a fighter with them, I'm moving the carrier into position to lay down flak fire. I wouldn't say I'm a hero, but they like me. The crew of the carrier... they don't like me. They're nice and pleasant, because well, I'm a pirate. I'm the commodore and commander of the group. And the scariest person in the fleet. I'm told, that I tend to scare just about everyone, including those people who quite literally created me from the ashes of my 'father'.
A Pirate's Revenge Completed Now in PDF by _Zap_
APR Book 2: Best Served Cold Updated 8/5/2016

The Tale of Ea't s'Quid Completed

Dovie'andi se tovya sagain

Triaxx2
Posts: 7229
Joined: Tue, 29. Dec 09, 02:15
x4

Post by Triaxx2 » Fri, 25. Jul 14, 04:10

Blech. Had to run this one twice. First time I ran through it, I tried to jump out of Barren Shores and the game crashed. Haven't the slightest idea what happened, and it didn't repeat, but I'm just noting it for transparency.

Also, sorry for the long hiatus. Hope the forum isn't dead.

Chapter 25: Preparing for the Construction

So, the first thing I need to do is prepare New Income for the new complex. I've decided to place down the shield factories first. Instead of building a massive complex to support it, I'm simply going to bring in the massive stores of ores, food and minerals I have from other complexes to feed this great beast.

Great Hauler 1, now the only one, begins collecting shield production facilities. Everything is fine until it jumps into Zyarth's Dominion. There's a Q hanging around, so I have to jump into the sector to deal with it. It provides some nice loot. There's a protection mission from one of the local space stations, but it's against the Yaki and I want them to be as friendly as I can manage.

The local shipyard wants me to kill some Xenon. The first ship through the gate is a K. Ye olde malignant D-bag destroys the southern jump beacon, before the Bombers finish launching missiles. I call in Born of Ashes (Phoenix) and transfer to it, only to find that the K is the only ship the Xenon sent. Slightly disappointing considering the missiles have already destroyed it by the time we get up to speed.

I jump from Zyarth's Dominion all the way to Omicron Lyrae, and engage in a little old fashioned piracy. Using capital class weaponry on nearly unarmed civilian transports. The old man would probably be proud. Presuming he wasn't scattered across kilometers of space. I park there, to wait for Great Hauler to dock with the Zyarth's shipyard. In the mean time, I'm watching my credit account, looking to see how it's doing. I'm hoping to see a total increase, but I'm not sure. A little while of watching shows I have a slow leak. I'm not sure where that's from, though I have a guess. I suspect one of the External Commodity Logistics ships I have jetting around the Galaxy is still buying something that I am producing a massive excess of. Unless it's microchips in which case I'll just absorb the problem.

There's a military transport coming to Black Hole Sun, so I jump there to intercept, only to find myself sitting in front of a PX and it's escorts. Fortunately, Panther beats PX. I pick up a mission to protect the local equipment dock. As soon as that's done though, I get a message of a Paranid Task force in Barren Shores. I immediately jump down there. Guard Dog (Cerberus) already has it's fighters out, and I'm not sure if I'll be in time to save them.

Bloody Squints. I lose two pilots, whom I'm informed were right pillocks anyway, but three Lieutenants survive. CSV picks them up while we deal with the 'nids. I decide to up arm the Guard Dog with Xenon L's. I've got a few lying around, and they're easily armed with the nearly one hundred PRG's that have been collected by my OmLy weapon buyer. However, I have somehow, neglected to equip either ship with a transporter, leaving them staring awkwardly at one another until I give permission for them to land at the OmLy shipyard to make the exchange.

In addition to the six Xenon L's that will be it's primary Interceptor Defense, I will also be adding four Barracuda Vanguard's as escort fighters. This does however mean that I am stuck in Barren Shores until the preparations are completed.

On the upside, I did manage to construct the shield portion of my weapon/shield complex. I have yet to finish outfitting it, including finding a Logistician pilot not doing anything important at the moment. There's one in Herron's Nebula who's been carrying fuel for me since I was eligible to hire CLS pilots. And his ship was working for me even before I hired him.

Guard Dog completes it's task of picking up weapons from the weapon buyer in Omicron Lyrae. He also picks up weapons for the Barracuda's and the shields for the lot of them from Missile Warehouse in Aladna Hill. Once Guard Dog is back up and running, I jump with the Revenge to Light of Heart. We engage a group of pirates and some Paranid. With Revenge unable to get into reach of the pirates in time, I call for Born of Ashes (Phoenix) to jump in ahead of the attacking group. With the group gone, I jump back to Black Hole Sun to retrieve a pair of Tenjins that I left behind when I had to rush to Barren Shores.

I'm going to send the Revenge to Legend's Home to retrieve new docking computers for most of my fighter group. They've been damaged or destroyed through hull damage. I don't like Legend's Home. Something about the place bothers me. I'm going to take a tour through Family Zyarth and the surrounding area. I summon Knight's Lance to me. Sending the Revenge on it's way, I jump to the southern beacon of Zyarth's Dominion. I land almost on top of a Q, who proceeds to destroy the jump beacon, then die to my IBL's. My Personal TS comes in, replaces it and then jumps out. I spend the long run to the west gate assigning home bases to my ships. Once I'm through the gate, I start picking up the various damaged and derelict ships.

A local computer plant has two things of interest. One of them is an abandoned Hydra. The other is a mission to defend the station. Three Bombers are the lead of the group. Upside, they collide with several of the ships I just acquired as they come through the gate. It's hilarious and horrible. I spend a little while claiming ships. I think it's time to get down to business and find the funding for the remainder of my weapons complex. And that involves ship hunting. So I'm off to find ships and pick up boarding pods. First stop, Great Trench.
A Pirate's Revenge Completed Now in PDF by _Zap_
APR Book 2: Best Served Cold Updated 8/5/2016

The Tale of Ea't s'Quid Completed

Dovie'andi se tovya sagain

User avatar
Zaitsev
Posts: 2005
Joined: Tue, 2. Dec 08, 01:00
x4

Post by Zaitsev » Fri, 25. Jul 14, 17:18

Dead? Nah, there are still some ol' farts kicking around. Also, nice to see the pirate queen back in action :)
I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am :D

DiDs:
Eye of the storm Completed
Eye of the storm - book 2 Inactive
Black Sun - Completed
Endgame - Completed

Post Reply

Return to “Creative Universe”