Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Drug Usage
24t a day. 24 * 200 = 4800. 5760 + 4800 = over 10k. If you take drugs 6t every 6 hrs you'll average about 200 APs per ton and thus score 10k APs per day.
If you take 4t ever 4 hrs (the most efficient method), you can average nearly 220 per ton, which means 5200 APs, or a total of nearly 11,000 APs per day.
And as I understand it, trip control does not apply to every dose of drugs taken. Basically it just extends the amount of drugs you can take before you start getting ill effects. Normally there are no penalties until after the 4th ton. so in theory, Trip Control lvl 2 allows you to take 6t every 6 hrs at an average of 225 APs per ton (or 8t every 8 hrs at 200 APs average). But it does not allow you to take more than the 1t/1hour overall rate, which means a maximum of 24t in a day. Any more and you would gradually accumulate an increasing state of over-druggedness.
If you take 4t ever 4 hrs (the most efficient method), you can average nearly 220 per ton, which means 5200 APs, or a total of nearly 11,000 APs per day.
And as I understand it, trip control does not apply to every dose of drugs taken. Basically it just extends the amount of drugs you can take before you start getting ill effects. Normally there are no penalties until after the 4th ton. so in theory, Trip Control lvl 2 allows you to take 6t every 6 hrs at an average of 225 APs per ton (or 8t every 8 hrs at 200 APs average). But it does not allow you to take more than the 1t/1hour overall rate, which means a maximum of 24t in a day. Any more and you would gradually accumulate an increasing state of over-druggedness.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Becoming a Villain: My Path into The Shadow Syndicate
Stardate: 10954.5
I have been training for the past week. Traded in the war set up of guns and special equipment for mining lasers, a large shield, and a space leech repair orbiter I lovingly named Asclepius.
Training is a boring tedious business, but necessity for survival for a pilot in my line of work. The monotonous boredom of the war dulled my skills; the endless hours of ambush, long pod rides from enemy territory back to my current homeworld, and the lengthy jumps from one part of the verse to the next. Although such moments lend me time to train my mind with studies and reading, they offer little else. Now that the war was over, it was time to restore the sharpness to the blade. But such work requires endless firing of guns, evasion, and maneuvering against euryales, medusas, energy bees, sparklers, and the likes.
Worst part is my mates from ULF were busy hunting the space lanes, and keeping me abreast of their many kills. Damn I hate skilling sometimes. Seeking a break from the monotony, I flew to the nearest star base to grab some rest and relaxation. The SB was small by any accounts, and barely had a tavern and brothel. Not much, but better than what I had in my ship.
I took a spot at the bar, and began planning the rest of my evening when this punk human kid in a Union recruit uniform stepped up beside me:
“You’re Hope Hubris, aren’t you?”
“Not sure what you’re looking for kid, but you ain’t gonna find it here,” I hissed angrily back, not even looking in his direction.
“I’m sorry to bother you, my name is …” He muttered before I cut him off, growling I said, “look kid, I ain’t interested in knowin’ anything about you. I’m just passin’ thru, ya hear? Now take off, before this gets ugly.”
Red faced, the kid stammered, “I’m sorry Mr. Hubris, I just wanted to buy you a drink, but I will go…” Cutting him off a second time, I replied, “Hold on boy, you should’a led with the drink. Pull out your money and take a chair.”
Nearly an hour later, the kid got up the nerve to start asking me personal questions. Seems he had been flying about the verse for more time than it looked. He tried the different factions before settling with the Union. Now he was thinking about joining the Shadow Syndicate. My membership in TSS is well known, or at least part of the public record, so I don’t deny it. But I also don’t talk about the details of TSS. No one does really. It isn’t that I am afraid Harrison Straw and his ilk, TSS just isn’t something you talk about, whether you are safe alone with a friend or in a crowded bar. I mean, what do you say, “so this one time, when I was engaged in an act of piracy or blowing up a star base or making illegal drugs and testing them on slaves or procuring and trading slaves.” Somehow, these subjects just don’t come up in polite conversation.
Hence when the kid steered the conversation toward TSS, I wasn’t really interested in going further. I am not looking for an apprentice, and openly talking about TSS activities just isn’t in my nature. But the damn kid was just so intrigued by it all, like TSS members were heroic or something. In the end, I told him one story and then went to experience the wares of the SB’s other entertainment establishment.
My story with TSS begins simply. It was back when I was still a member of Three Colours and flying a Pelican named The Jack Crow. I hated that damn ship. It was a death trap. Given to me by a ska’ari. Note to self: never take anything freely given by a ska’ari.
At the time, I was just getting started in the verse. I had little money, but lots of contacts, which explains the free cargo ship. I was moving drugs out of split to whatever customer paid the most. It was good money and constant work, although it only came a little at a time since my hold was small. I was the public face for the drug operation, so I was a little surprised when I heavily encrypted message pinged my communications during one of my trips to the South Pardus Rim.
When I finally got the message decrypted, I found nothing interesting. Some fella named Harrison Straw was calling me outlaw and offering me a spot in his shadow organization. Now I am always happy to earn some credits, but suggesting to me that can come from things like causing mayhem and destruction in the verse or repressing the noble and powerful or exploiting the weak is ludicrous. My adopted father instilled in me a genius notion reaped from the history of his people: credits come from hard work and ingenuity, not from killing. You can only collect from a dead man once, but let’em live and you can collect forever. So saying that I was disinterested in the proposition is the best way to put it nicely, but it just so happens that I had a delivery to the same sector (Elnath) as the location where I was supposed to meet Mr. Straw’s representative.
So what the hell, I figured I would give TSS a little looksy and then go about my own business if it wasn’t gonna be interesting, and yes by interesting I do mean highly profitable. I go to Elnath sector, do my business and then head over to the planet. At the planet, I head to the market, going past the legitimate retailers and slip into black market. Outside of seeing the normal faction sleazebags and a few traders, nothing happened. I did not see nor here anything even remotely interesting, just business as usual.
Disgusted, I returned to my ship and prepared to leave. Just before liftoff, the ship just shut down and the following message appeared on the main screen:
“Welcome, Hope Hubris, I have been waiting for you!
I was told you would be interested in joining our fine organization, The Shadow Syndicate. To prove your willingness, courage, and legitimacy, I want you to perform a little demonstration for us: Fly to Tau Ceti in Tau Ceti [11,4] (Federation Human Core Cluster), a developed planet deep in Federation space, and enter its black market - all within 72 hours. Another Shadow Syndicate member will wait there for you. As soon as you arrive, she will finalize your application, and you will be welcomed into the club. Don't forget to leave that place as soon as possible - as you know anyone will be able to shoot you down there.”
What the message didn’t say, but my security sweep did reveal was that Straw and his cohorts had rigged my ship with explosives. If I didn’t complete the “mission,” I was going to be dead in space. Bastards!
Of course, I was now heading to Tau Ceti. Worried about the stability of the explosives and the long standing ire of the Scorpion Guard against me I had to carefully use the x-holes. I went to Nex-06, then on to Nex Kataam. In the West Pardus Rim, I had to engage in ambush avoidance mode. Saw Crypto, but had to resist attacking him because I didn’t want to bring undue attention to myself. I passed through the MO walls at Pass Fed 02 and slipped into Tau Ceti.
Landing proved to be a little more difficult. Either the Federation was running training Ops in the sector, or the authorities were expecting me. There were fighting ships all over the place, and they were actively stopping every Harrier that entered the area. Luckily for me, I entered just after an unfortunate sap who quickly found himself surrounded and immediately boarded. My first reaction was to turn back into the worm hole and jump out of the sector, but a ship full of explosives told me that wasn’t an option.
I would have to use subterfuge to get as close as possible to the planet, then make a run for it. If I could land, I would just leave the ship—it wasn’t of any use to me in its current state anyways. Instead of waiting to be pounced on, I sent out a priority communication beam to one the nearest nighthawk keeping an eye on the other Pelican.
“This is Hope Hubris, connect me to your superior.” I directed. One thing important to remember about military types is they are trained to follow orders. If you speak to them in a commanding voice, and act like you are in charge, most won’t question you.
“Excuse me trader, but prepare to be boarded.” He responded.
“Are you questioning a direct order? Who is this?” I replied, “Patch me through to your superior.”
“Umm, okay . . . one moment, sir.” He stammered uncertainly. The great thing about the factions is they a really good about maintaining order among their lackeys. This guy probably knew that I was full of crap, but it was safer for him to pass me along then to openly risk a reprisal if I actually was important.
“Command says to wait here, the Captain is on his way.” He intoned. “Captain? I said patch me through to your commander. Where is the admiral? Look I haven’t got time for this, those kids need the medicine I am carrying. Tell your commander to meet me planetside.” I harped back, kicking my ship into gear and heading for the planet.
The Captain’s mantis pulled up alongside The Jack Crow halfway across the sector. The pilot didn’t send a message, so I took his silence to mean they were actively searching Federation archives for any information they could find on me. There wasn’t much outside of the fact that my adoptive father was an ambassador for the Federation. Probably explains why “the captain” was handling me with so much caution. As we came into orbit, the silence on the comm channel ended, “You are directed to land on the military dock at 14375.”
Shit I thought, now I was in serious trouble. I did not want to see the commander, admiral or any other faction leader. There would be too many questions. Straw’s contact made it clear that I was not to talk to anyone about why I was in Tau Ceti, so answering questions was not going to be possible. I needed a reason to land in another location, and my only option was to fain engine troubles and then cut them off. It would mean free falling into atom, which couldn’t possibly be good with so many explosives in my hull, but Straw might detonate them at any moment anyways so it was worth the risk.
“Captain, there seems to be a problem with my left engine. Can you see anything from your position?”
“R-i-g-h-t. I don’t see anything. Just land at the coordinates trader. You wanted to see the admiral, so now you are going to see him.”
“No can do Captain. Something is seriously wrong here,” I said, cutting the engines.
“W-T-F! I didn’t see an explosion. Did you just cut your engines?” He yelled over the radio.
“I don’t think I’m gonna meet the admiral. Engines out, falling fast.” I screamed back. He followed me down several thousand meters, then pulled up to wait for me to crash. As soon as I was far enough away to make a run for it, I cut the engines back on and raced across the surface toward the main starport. I glided my pelican into the softest landing possible at high speed, gathered my wits, then popped the hatch and went for the safety of the nearest crowd. Due to my screeching halt of a landing, it didn’t take much. The Captain slammed into the star port hot on my tail, which distracted the crowd gathering around me long enough for me to slip away.
With planet security searching for me, it was no small thing to get to the black market. I made it just a few minutes before the 24 hour deadline. I never saw my contact. Shortly after entering the market, I felt a slight jab in back. I awoke, several days later, in the cockpit of a rover docked in the squad bay of the SB in Grefaho. The ship computer was keyed to my body signs, so I started it up. The main communication screen blanked out, then flashed the following message:
“Congratulations MR. Hubris! Welcome to the Shadow Syndicate. I hope you enjoy your new ship. Your harrier has been properly disposed of. I hope you didn’t leave anything valuable aboard.”
And that is how I became a member of TSS. I never really had an interest, but it has proved to be a useful affiliation.
I have been training for the past week. Traded in the war set up of guns and special equipment for mining lasers, a large shield, and a space leech repair orbiter I lovingly named Asclepius.
Training is a boring tedious business, but necessity for survival for a pilot in my line of work. The monotonous boredom of the war dulled my skills; the endless hours of ambush, long pod rides from enemy territory back to my current homeworld, and the lengthy jumps from one part of the verse to the next. Although such moments lend me time to train my mind with studies and reading, they offer little else. Now that the war was over, it was time to restore the sharpness to the blade. But such work requires endless firing of guns, evasion, and maneuvering against euryales, medusas, energy bees, sparklers, and the likes.
Worst part is my mates from ULF were busy hunting the space lanes, and keeping me abreast of their many kills. Damn I hate skilling sometimes. Seeking a break from the monotony, I flew to the nearest star base to grab some rest and relaxation. The SB was small by any accounts, and barely had a tavern and brothel. Not much, but better than what I had in my ship.
I took a spot at the bar, and began planning the rest of my evening when this punk human kid in a Union recruit uniform stepped up beside me:
“You’re Hope Hubris, aren’t you?”
“Not sure what you’re looking for kid, but you ain’t gonna find it here,” I hissed angrily back, not even looking in his direction.
“I’m sorry to bother you, my name is …” He muttered before I cut him off, growling I said, “look kid, I ain’t interested in knowin’ anything about you. I’m just passin’ thru, ya hear? Now take off, before this gets ugly.”
Red faced, the kid stammered, “I’m sorry Mr. Hubris, I just wanted to buy you a drink, but I will go…” Cutting him off a second time, I replied, “Hold on boy, you should’a led with the drink. Pull out your money and take a chair.”
Nearly an hour later, the kid got up the nerve to start asking me personal questions. Seems he had been flying about the verse for more time than it looked. He tried the different factions before settling with the Union. Now he was thinking about joining the Shadow Syndicate. My membership in TSS is well known, or at least part of the public record, so I don’t deny it. But I also don’t talk about the details of TSS. No one does really. It isn’t that I am afraid Harrison Straw and his ilk, TSS just isn’t something you talk about, whether you are safe alone with a friend or in a crowded bar. I mean, what do you say, “so this one time, when I was engaged in an act of piracy or blowing up a star base or making illegal drugs and testing them on slaves or procuring and trading slaves.” Somehow, these subjects just don’t come up in polite conversation.
Hence when the kid steered the conversation toward TSS, I wasn’t really interested in going further. I am not looking for an apprentice, and openly talking about TSS activities just isn’t in my nature. But the damn kid was just so intrigued by it all, like TSS members were heroic or something. In the end, I told him one story and then went to experience the wares of the SB’s other entertainment establishment.
My story with TSS begins simply. It was back when I was still a member of Three Colours and flying a Pelican named The Jack Crow. I hated that damn ship. It was a death trap. Given to me by a ska’ari. Note to self: never take anything freely given by a ska’ari.
At the time, I was just getting started in the verse. I had little money, but lots of contacts, which explains the free cargo ship. I was moving drugs out of split to whatever customer paid the most. It was good money and constant work, although it only came a little at a time since my hold was small. I was the public face for the drug operation, so I was a little surprised when I heavily encrypted message pinged my communications during one of my trips to the South Pardus Rim.
When I finally got the message decrypted, I found nothing interesting. Some fella named Harrison Straw was calling me outlaw and offering me a spot in his shadow organization. Now I am always happy to earn some credits, but suggesting to me that can come from things like causing mayhem and destruction in the verse or repressing the noble and powerful or exploiting the weak is ludicrous. My adopted father instilled in me a genius notion reaped from the history of his people: credits come from hard work and ingenuity, not from killing. You can only collect from a dead man once, but let’em live and you can collect forever. So saying that I was disinterested in the proposition is the best way to put it nicely, but it just so happens that I had a delivery to the same sector (Elnath) as the location where I was supposed to meet Mr. Straw’s representative.
So what the hell, I figured I would give TSS a little looksy and then go about my own business if it wasn’t gonna be interesting, and yes by interesting I do mean highly profitable. I go to Elnath sector, do my business and then head over to the planet. At the planet, I head to the market, going past the legitimate retailers and slip into black market. Outside of seeing the normal faction sleazebags and a few traders, nothing happened. I did not see nor here anything even remotely interesting, just business as usual.
Disgusted, I returned to my ship and prepared to leave. Just before liftoff, the ship just shut down and the following message appeared on the main screen:
“Welcome, Hope Hubris, I have been waiting for you!
I was told you would be interested in joining our fine organization, The Shadow Syndicate. To prove your willingness, courage, and legitimacy, I want you to perform a little demonstration for us: Fly to Tau Ceti in Tau Ceti [11,4] (Federation Human Core Cluster), a developed planet deep in Federation space, and enter its black market - all within 72 hours. Another Shadow Syndicate member will wait there for you. As soon as you arrive, she will finalize your application, and you will be welcomed into the club. Don't forget to leave that place as soon as possible - as you know anyone will be able to shoot you down there.”
What the message didn’t say, but my security sweep did reveal was that Straw and his cohorts had rigged my ship with explosives. If I didn’t complete the “mission,” I was going to be dead in space. Bastards!
Of course, I was now heading to Tau Ceti. Worried about the stability of the explosives and the long standing ire of the Scorpion Guard against me I had to carefully use the x-holes. I went to Nex-06, then on to Nex Kataam. In the West Pardus Rim, I had to engage in ambush avoidance mode. Saw Crypto, but had to resist attacking him because I didn’t want to bring undue attention to myself. I passed through the MO walls at Pass Fed 02 and slipped into Tau Ceti.
Landing proved to be a little more difficult. Either the Federation was running training Ops in the sector, or the authorities were expecting me. There were fighting ships all over the place, and they were actively stopping every Harrier that entered the area. Luckily for me, I entered just after an unfortunate sap who quickly found himself surrounded and immediately boarded. My first reaction was to turn back into the worm hole and jump out of the sector, but a ship full of explosives told me that wasn’t an option.
I would have to use subterfuge to get as close as possible to the planet, then make a run for it. If I could land, I would just leave the ship—it wasn’t of any use to me in its current state anyways. Instead of waiting to be pounced on, I sent out a priority communication beam to one the nearest nighthawk keeping an eye on the other Pelican.
“This is Hope Hubris, connect me to your superior.” I directed. One thing important to remember about military types is they are trained to follow orders. If you speak to them in a commanding voice, and act like you are in charge, most won’t question you.
“Excuse me trader, but prepare to be boarded.” He responded.
“Are you questioning a direct order? Who is this?” I replied, “Patch me through to your superior.”
“Umm, okay . . . one moment, sir.” He stammered uncertainly. The great thing about the factions is they a really good about maintaining order among their lackeys. This guy probably knew that I was full of crap, but it was safer for him to pass me along then to openly risk a reprisal if I actually was important.
“Command says to wait here, the Captain is on his way.” He intoned. “Captain? I said patch me through to your commander. Where is the admiral? Look I haven’t got time for this, those kids need the medicine I am carrying. Tell your commander to meet me planetside.” I harped back, kicking my ship into gear and heading for the planet.
The Captain’s mantis pulled up alongside The Jack Crow halfway across the sector. The pilot didn’t send a message, so I took his silence to mean they were actively searching Federation archives for any information they could find on me. There wasn’t much outside of the fact that my adoptive father was an ambassador for the Federation. Probably explains why “the captain” was handling me with so much caution. As we came into orbit, the silence on the comm channel ended, “You are directed to land on the military dock at 14375.”
Shit I thought, now I was in serious trouble. I did not want to see the commander, admiral or any other faction leader. There would be too many questions. Straw’s contact made it clear that I was not to talk to anyone about why I was in Tau Ceti, so answering questions was not going to be possible. I needed a reason to land in another location, and my only option was to fain engine troubles and then cut them off. It would mean free falling into atom, which couldn’t possibly be good with so many explosives in my hull, but Straw might detonate them at any moment anyways so it was worth the risk.
“Captain, there seems to be a problem with my left engine. Can you see anything from your position?”
“R-i-g-h-t. I don’t see anything. Just land at the coordinates trader. You wanted to see the admiral, so now you are going to see him.”
“No can do Captain. Something is seriously wrong here,” I said, cutting the engines.
“W-T-F! I didn’t see an explosion. Did you just cut your engines?” He yelled over the radio.
“I don’t think I’m gonna meet the admiral. Engines out, falling fast.” I screamed back. He followed me down several thousand meters, then pulled up to wait for me to crash. As soon as I was far enough away to make a run for it, I cut the engines back on and raced across the surface toward the main starport. I glided my pelican into the softest landing possible at high speed, gathered my wits, then popped the hatch and went for the safety of the nearest crowd. Due to my screeching halt of a landing, it didn’t take much. The Captain slammed into the star port hot on my tail, which distracted the crowd gathering around me long enough for me to slip away.
With planet security searching for me, it was no small thing to get to the black market. I made it just a few minutes before the 24 hour deadline. I never saw my contact. Shortly after entering the market, I felt a slight jab in back. I awoke, several days later, in the cockpit of a rover docked in the squad bay of the SB in Grefaho. The ship computer was keyed to my body signs, so I started it up. The main communication screen blanked out, then flashed the following message:
“Congratulations MR. Hubris! Welcome to the Shadow Syndicate. I hope you enjoy your new ship. Your harrier has been properly disposed of. I hope you didn’t leave anything valuable aboard.”
And that is how I became a member of TSS. I never really had an interest, but it has proved to be a useful affiliation.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Father of New Keldon
The following items come from a series of forum posts during the recent EMP/Uni War 2010. During the war, I entered the EKC nearly ten times and podded 38 Imperial pilots. The posts, represent notifications I was giving to the Empire that I had not only entered their borders, but was raiding and killing without impunity. Although partly posted to aggravate and taunt the Imperial war command, these posts also acted as a boost to the moral of the Union while savaging that of the Empire.
Safe Passage to Keldon, This is so Embarrassing
First, let me state that I am incredibly embarrassed about this situation. Honorable pilots should not have to openly discuss such mundane and disgraceful topics in public. But alas, the situation presents me with no other option.
It seems that during my recent 10 day stay in the EKC, part of which I freely admit was spent in the arms of several dancing girls on Keldon and the rest actively engaged in the pillaging and killing of Imperial pilots, that I may have planted my seed and it took root. I have just been contacted by 12 different Keldon dancing girls who all claim that I am the father of their hatchlings and seek recompense. I am rather dubious of these claims, as I only recently departed (rather unceremoniously and with no thanks to Barchu) from the EKC. Nevertheless, it is imperative that I make immediate passage to Keldon and answer the legal charges of paternity being brought against me.
And thus, I have no choice but to prostate myself before the pilots of the Empire as well as the Emperor and ask for safe passage to attend to my legal duties. I realize that my name has recently become anathema to many members of the Empire. It should never be forgotten that I have openly attacked imperial pilots and proven that the Emperor and his minions are impotent when it comes to protecting the traders of the Empire (as well as impregnating the famed dancing girls of Keldon). But alas, duty requires me to put such important events aside and attend to what is right and honorable. And so I ask of the Empire, will you grant me access, or do I have to seek it out on my own accord?
Your faithful and most despised enemy,
Hope Hubris.
Safe Passage No longer Required, Ignore the Lies the Empies tell
Several days ago I respectfully asked within the Tavern for safe passage to Keldon to handle some :blush: personal business. Rather than offer me assistance or even a valid reason why such passage could not be arranged (which considering my recent attacks within the EKC I could certainly understand), yet the Emperors lackeys and sycophants responded with lies, childish stories, and ridiculous accusations.
Thankfully, my Keldon brethren within the union saw fit to assist me. Several pilots, who will go unnamed by me, broke an Imperial MO in PE6, allowing me access to Keldon and the EKC once again. And so mayhem and destruction again reign within the realm of the empire:
2010-10-06 18:39:59 Ship vs Ship Hope Hubris disengaged Qno
2010-10-06 18:33:10 Ship vs Ship Hope Hubris defeated Shirer
2010-10-06 17:03:05 Ship vs Building Hope Hubris disengaged Falco's Smelting Facility
2010-10-06 17:02:40 Ship vs Building Hope Hubris defeated Per's Smelting Facility
2010-10-06 17:00:52 Ship vs Building Hope Hubris disengaged Rickyfs's Medical Laboratory
2010-10-06 17:00:33 Ship vs Building Hope Hubris disengaged Theshadow's Brewery
2010-10-06 16:59:27 Ship vs Building Hope Hubris disengaged Asparagus's Nebula Plant
2010-10-06 16:59:08 Ship vs Building Hope Hubris disengaged Beastieleper's Electronics
2010-10-06 16:57:14 Ship vs Building Hope Hubris disengaged Red Rudi's Smelting Facility
To those who reside in the EKC, understand that the Empire cannot protect you. They are impotent before the might of dedicated pilots seeking the Empire's ultimate destruction. There is no hope, there is only destruction.
But let me assure you that I was not just engaged in fun and games. I entered the EKC at the prompting of my hatchlings' mamas, and I have spent several hours in their company (much to their appreciation). It seems that their accusations of paternity were real and so I have taken full responsibility for my hatchlings and intend to remove them to a much better environment. An act which won't be too difficult, given the present state of the empire. It is truly a sad situation, for the empire cannot protect its pilots nor their property. Worse, my jokes about the inability of my Imperial Keldon brethren to fulfill the needs of the Keldon females within the EKC was actually a reality. As the dancing girls tell it, Imperial Keldons are mere wastrel geldings who take out their sexual frustrations by bullying the rest of the verse. Such a silly Game.
An outrageous situation like this cannot continue. I, Hope Hubris, will fore swear all of the pleasures of life in several days time, and dedicate myself to the cause of destruction and mayhem within Imperial territories until the Imperial dogs/wastrels have suffered for their atrocities. I mean, let's face it folks, to fail to fulfill the fantasies of the ladies of Keldon is a crime beyond punishment. It is an atrocity so heinous that I am puking a little into my mouth just broadcasting these words. Disgusting! Sad! And just plain pathetic!
Before I engage in my crusade, I have a message of salvation for the ladies of Keldon, I will be in residence for several days before the Emperors geldings can find me and force me into action. I understand your needs and desperation. Send me a pm, and we can arrange a meeting of mutual satisfaction. All except my Dearest Twinkletoes, please understand that I must ask you to refrain from making contact, as I remain a bit sore and worn out from our last meeting. Those guns of yours really leave a mark.
Anyways, I digress, I've always wanted to fight a desperate battle against incredible odds! So here it is Empies, one Sudden Death against the Emperor's armada. Catch me if you can.
QUOTE (Twinkletoes @ Oct 7 2010, 07:15 AM)
I feel so rejected.
Dearest Twinkletoes,
I hope that you recognize that my mention of you is not a rejection so much as an open admission of your magnificence. Here it has been nearly a week since our encounter and yet I still harbor aches, pains, and scars that years of recovery might not be able to heal. If I was of the religious sort, like my fellow pilgrims among the ranks of Kai Rang, I would worship you as the goddess of war which you certainly must be, for no mortal Ska'ari could ever hope to achieve your sexy destructiveness.
Therein lies my problem, as drawn as I am to your power and valor, especially the humongous mounds of destruction that are your guns, I just am not quite keldon enough to be your equal. Thus with a sad heart, I am forced to slink away in your presence and hope beyond reason that you will not take notice of me once again and deal forth a much deserve pod ride. As much as I would personally enjoy your rancor (whip me oh goddess, whip me!), my mission requires that I avoid you.
My only conviction for the future is that one day I might dream of matching your strength, valor, and power, but alas I fear such dreams might never come to fruition and I will be forced to live within the exact position of gelded Imperial Keldon brothers--prancing about with a flaccid stick and over compensating for my own pathetic in-peculiarities.
Your faithful and obedient worshiper,
Hope Hubris
The father of Keldonia’s future.
Fear not, Ladies of Keldon, There is enough Hope Hubris to go around
After spending nearly 24 hours on Keldon doing my best to satisfy the needs of the ladies of that fair planet, I am forced to admit that the demand for my seed far exceeds all expectations. When I was re-called to Keldon by my hatchling mamas, I failed to understand how desperate the situation actually was. But rest assured that I shall service all petitioners
I know that at least a few of you out in the verse are proclaiming: "Hope, how could you miss this horrid situation" :blush: But alas, I somehow failed to notice that my Keldon brothers who are living under the Empire's tyranny had become completely and totally incapable of satisfying the needs of the Ladies of our home world. I guess that the evidence for this situation was readily apparent (as some of you have carefully pointed out), since the Imperials seem to spend more time prancing about with their flaccid little sticks talking about their past victories and the tremendous power of their big guns and missiles. Fool that I am, I never considered this.
But now, I stand before you, O ladies of Keldon, to offer assurances that I will not leave the sector before I have fulfilled the requests of all who seek my services. I know the lines seeking my services seem endless, But I promise that even if it takes me weeks, I will ignore the draw of my crusade until I have served your needs. If not for your own enjoyment, then for the needs of future generations of Keldon. Clearly, my gelded Imperial cousins are in capable of fathering a worthy progeny. And so, it is with a sad heart that I sacrifice myself (and my cause) for the good of my race, to become the father of the next generation of Keldon.
So relax, wait until you number is called, and rest assured that I shall willingly become your hatchlings' daddy, and give the Keldon people a little hope for a future.
Yours respectfully and with no tongue in cheek,
Hope Hubris.
Father of Keldonia’s future.
Let's face it: who doesn't want a little bit of Hope inside them?
Safe Passage to Keldon, This is so Embarrassing
First, let me state that I am incredibly embarrassed about this situation. Honorable pilots should not have to openly discuss such mundane and disgraceful topics in public. But alas, the situation presents me with no other option.
It seems that during my recent 10 day stay in the EKC, part of which I freely admit was spent in the arms of several dancing girls on Keldon and the rest actively engaged in the pillaging and killing of Imperial pilots, that I may have planted my seed and it took root. I have just been contacted by 12 different Keldon dancing girls who all claim that I am the father of their hatchlings and seek recompense. I am rather dubious of these claims, as I only recently departed (rather unceremoniously and with no thanks to Barchu) from the EKC. Nevertheless, it is imperative that I make immediate passage to Keldon and answer the legal charges of paternity being brought against me.
And thus, I have no choice but to prostate myself before the pilots of the Empire as well as the Emperor and ask for safe passage to attend to my legal duties. I realize that my name has recently become anathema to many members of the Empire. It should never be forgotten that I have openly attacked imperial pilots and proven that the Emperor and his minions are impotent when it comes to protecting the traders of the Empire (as well as impregnating the famed dancing girls of Keldon). But alas, duty requires me to put such important events aside and attend to what is right and honorable. And so I ask of the Empire, will you grant me access, or do I have to seek it out on my own accord?
Your faithful and most despised enemy,
Hope Hubris.
Safe Passage No longer Required, Ignore the Lies the Empies tell
Several days ago I respectfully asked within the Tavern for safe passage to Keldon to handle some :blush: personal business. Rather than offer me assistance or even a valid reason why such passage could not be arranged (which considering my recent attacks within the EKC I could certainly understand), yet the Emperors lackeys and sycophants responded with lies, childish stories, and ridiculous accusations.
Thankfully, my Keldon brethren within the union saw fit to assist me. Several pilots, who will go unnamed by me, broke an Imperial MO in PE6, allowing me access to Keldon and the EKC once again. And so mayhem and destruction again reign within the realm of the empire:
2010-10-06 18:39:59 Ship vs Ship Hope Hubris disengaged Qno
2010-10-06 18:33:10 Ship vs Ship Hope Hubris defeated Shirer
2010-10-06 17:03:05 Ship vs Building Hope Hubris disengaged Falco's Smelting Facility
2010-10-06 17:02:40 Ship vs Building Hope Hubris defeated Per's Smelting Facility
2010-10-06 17:00:52 Ship vs Building Hope Hubris disengaged Rickyfs's Medical Laboratory
2010-10-06 17:00:33 Ship vs Building Hope Hubris disengaged Theshadow's Brewery
2010-10-06 16:59:27 Ship vs Building Hope Hubris disengaged Asparagus's Nebula Plant
2010-10-06 16:59:08 Ship vs Building Hope Hubris disengaged Beastieleper's Electronics
2010-10-06 16:57:14 Ship vs Building Hope Hubris disengaged Red Rudi's Smelting Facility
To those who reside in the EKC, understand that the Empire cannot protect you. They are impotent before the might of dedicated pilots seeking the Empire's ultimate destruction. There is no hope, there is only destruction.
But let me assure you that I was not just engaged in fun and games. I entered the EKC at the prompting of my hatchlings' mamas, and I have spent several hours in their company (much to their appreciation). It seems that their accusations of paternity were real and so I have taken full responsibility for my hatchlings and intend to remove them to a much better environment. An act which won't be too difficult, given the present state of the empire. It is truly a sad situation, for the empire cannot protect its pilots nor their property. Worse, my jokes about the inability of my Imperial Keldon brethren to fulfill the needs of the Keldon females within the EKC was actually a reality. As the dancing girls tell it, Imperial Keldons are mere wastrel geldings who take out their sexual frustrations by bullying the rest of the verse. Such a silly Game.
An outrageous situation like this cannot continue. I, Hope Hubris, will fore swear all of the pleasures of life in several days time, and dedicate myself to the cause of destruction and mayhem within Imperial territories until the Imperial dogs/wastrels have suffered for their atrocities. I mean, let's face it folks, to fail to fulfill the fantasies of the ladies of Keldon is a crime beyond punishment. It is an atrocity so heinous that I am puking a little into my mouth just broadcasting these words. Disgusting! Sad! And just plain pathetic!
Before I engage in my crusade, I have a message of salvation for the ladies of Keldon, I will be in residence for several days before the Emperors geldings can find me and force me into action. I understand your needs and desperation. Send me a pm, and we can arrange a meeting of mutual satisfaction. All except my Dearest Twinkletoes, please understand that I must ask you to refrain from making contact, as I remain a bit sore and worn out from our last meeting. Those guns of yours really leave a mark.
Anyways, I digress, I've always wanted to fight a desperate battle against incredible odds! So here it is Empies, one Sudden Death against the Emperor's armada. Catch me if you can.
QUOTE (Twinkletoes @ Oct 7 2010, 07:15 AM)
I feel so rejected.
Dearest Twinkletoes,
I hope that you recognize that my mention of you is not a rejection so much as an open admission of your magnificence. Here it has been nearly a week since our encounter and yet I still harbor aches, pains, and scars that years of recovery might not be able to heal. If I was of the religious sort, like my fellow pilgrims among the ranks of Kai Rang, I would worship you as the goddess of war which you certainly must be, for no mortal Ska'ari could ever hope to achieve your sexy destructiveness.
Therein lies my problem, as drawn as I am to your power and valor, especially the humongous mounds of destruction that are your guns, I just am not quite keldon enough to be your equal. Thus with a sad heart, I am forced to slink away in your presence and hope beyond reason that you will not take notice of me once again and deal forth a much deserve pod ride. As much as I would personally enjoy your rancor (whip me oh goddess, whip me!), my mission requires that I avoid you.
My only conviction for the future is that one day I might dream of matching your strength, valor, and power, but alas I fear such dreams might never come to fruition and I will be forced to live within the exact position of gelded Imperial Keldon brothers--prancing about with a flaccid stick and over compensating for my own pathetic in-peculiarities.
Your faithful and obedient worshiper,
Hope Hubris
The father of Keldonia’s future.
Fear not, Ladies of Keldon, There is enough Hope Hubris to go around
After spending nearly 24 hours on Keldon doing my best to satisfy the needs of the ladies of that fair planet, I am forced to admit that the demand for my seed far exceeds all expectations. When I was re-called to Keldon by my hatchling mamas, I failed to understand how desperate the situation actually was. But rest assured that I shall service all petitioners
I know that at least a few of you out in the verse are proclaiming: "Hope, how could you miss this horrid situation" :blush: But alas, I somehow failed to notice that my Keldon brothers who are living under the Empire's tyranny had become completely and totally incapable of satisfying the needs of the Ladies of our home world. I guess that the evidence for this situation was readily apparent (as some of you have carefully pointed out), since the Imperials seem to spend more time prancing about with their flaccid little sticks talking about their past victories and the tremendous power of their big guns and missiles. Fool that I am, I never considered this.
But now, I stand before you, O ladies of Keldon, to offer assurances that I will not leave the sector before I have fulfilled the requests of all who seek my services. I know the lines seeking my services seem endless, But I promise that even if it takes me weeks, I will ignore the draw of my crusade until I have served your needs. If not for your own enjoyment, then for the needs of future generations of Keldon. Clearly, my gelded Imperial cousins are in capable of fathering a worthy progeny. And so, it is with a sad heart that I sacrifice myself (and my cause) for the good of my race, to become the father of the next generation of Keldon.
So relax, wait until you number is called, and rest assured that I shall willingly become your hatchlings' daddy, and give the Keldon people a little hope for a future.
Yours respectfully and with no tongue in cheek,
Hope Hubris.
Father of Keldonia’s future.
Let's face it: who doesn't want a little bit of Hope inside them?
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
End to the EMP/UNI War 2010
Just a collection of stuff from my profile which were war related and thus no longer have a place there.
Laurels of War 2010
~ One of Forty-Nine
~ Scourge of the EKC (5)
~ Father of the New Keldon (8)
~ Burner of Exbeur/Rigel
~ Forlorn Hope, PE-07 (PH)
~ The EKC Butcher (38)
~Hero of Diphda
Medals Earned (but not award-able)
War Kills
x 2
x 3
x 1
x 2
x 4
x 5
x 4
x 1
x 5
Buildings Destroyed: 5
Refuse, resist, destroy, war is my destiny,
Disorder unleashed, anarchy, war is my destiny,
Chaos A.D, war is my destiny,
Under a pale grey sky, war is my destiny!
Disorder unleashed, anarchy, war is my destiny,
Chaos A.D, war is my destiny,
Under a pale grey sky, war is my destiny!
Laurels of War 2010
~ One of Forty-Nine
~ Scourge of the EKC (5)
~ Father of the New Keldon (8)
~ Burner of Exbeur/Rigel
~ Forlorn Hope, PE-07 (PH)
~ The EKC Butcher (38)
~Hero of Diphda
Medals Earned (but not award-able)
War Kills
x 2
x 3
x 1
x 2
x 4
x 5
x 4
x 1
x 5
Buildings Destroyed: 5
Monday, November 29, 2010
The Hero of Diphda
Tired and irritable, I dragged my bedraggled wreck of a body to the bar and took a stool next to a Rashkir named Zozo. He turned his head slightly in my direction, sputtering “Hope, what the hell happened to you?”
“I am never going to Diphda again,” I muttered as I motioned to the bartender for a drink.
“This is about a girl isn’t? Details, give em,” squealed another Rashkir named Tacoman.
“Diphda?!? Hope, what are you talking about?” whined Zanoni, the only human in the room. “Funny, I thought we heard you were being declared a hero in Diphda,” he buzzed
“You realize we have been ambushing around that gods forsaken sector Zueben Elakrab for the past three days waiting for you to come back, right?” growled Stryfe as he glared in my direction, the Rashkir leader of our little band of pirate misfits.
I raised a hand, slowly shaking my head, and mumbled toward Stryfe, “I know, I know, sorry. You aren’t gonna believe what just fucking happened to me.”
“Get talkin,” the Keldon Fallen Angel hissed grumpily.
“Alright, but I need another drink…” I muttered.
“First off, did anybody notice that Fallen Angel shot me? Course not, cuz nobody ever notices that shit, do they?” I groused at FA. “Anyways, after I triggered on Prince Frozen and Stryfe stole the kill once again,” I muttered as I rolled my eyes at Stryfe. My ambush teleporter slung me across the sector to my retreat point next to the worm hole to Zaniah.”
Raising my hand to stop any objections, “Before you start with the lectures, I usually try to pick a safe location, but with so many of us ambushing together I had no concern about being discovered, just reloading missiles as quickly as possible. I made the jump and headed to the planet. Radioing ahead to the technicians in the repair bay, I was told they had no missiles and the closest bay with missiles was Diphda.”
“Hope, didn’t I tell you that?” Stryfe gruffly broke in, glaring in my direction. “Probably, but I blocked your communications when I realized you stole my kill. Again.” I responded, returning Stryfe’s glare, who just shrugged as his glared morphed into a wolfish grin and went back to his drink.
“I knew that shooting down a Prince at the choke to the pass to the Empire Keldon Core would bring reinforcements, so I wanted to get back as quickly as possible in order to get a kill,” I continued. With Zaniah empty, I passed by the planet and went directly to the worm hole to Mebsuta. I made the jump, then paused shortly to check for the location of Perry (perry winder) before racing across the sector to the Phao worm hole.
As I jumped into Phao, my scanners picked up I slight blip near the worm hole to Seginus. It was a trader, and paused to let him enter the sector far enough that I could get a full scan. It was probably a Union trader or something else I could not shoot at, but one never knows. To my surprise, the visage of a Boa appeared on my target screen. Without missiles, I was too far away to engage so I broke from the worm hole on an intercept course to take it before it got to the planet. As I closed in on the target, the pilot must have realized that he could not make it and turned back to the worm hole to Seginus. Since I could not catch him, I sent a few salvos in his direction and then turned toward the planet.
Thinking the Boa might try to make the run again, I sat in orbit for a handful of minutes, but he seemed to have turned tail and run back to the EKC. Since I still needed to get to Diphda to get missiles, I broke orbit without docking and headed toward the worm hole. Just as I was about to hit the worm hole, another Boa popped up on my scanner directly behind me in the nebula gas. I started to turn back, but he ran for the planet before I could engage. Since the Boa pilot was either following me or hell bent on getting to Diphda sector, I figured my best bet was to get to the planet, load missiles for a little extra punch, then come back and set an ambush in the energy near the wormhole from Phao. To my surprise, I wasn’t alone in the worm hole. My scanners detected at least three moon crushers and several other Empire ships. I made the jump to Diphda, and found several more Imperials.
“Shit, this ain’t good,” I muttered to myself, then punched my ship into over drive and raced across the nebula to the planet. My plans for the Boa were not going to be put into action. I hit the planet and found several members of the Union and Empire elite floating in orbit. “Have ya’ll ever notice how strange it is that the factions refuse to shoot each other while in orbit? I mean, they have no problem shooting the likes of us due to our low reputation in the verse, but even in war they don’t shoot each other…” Thankfully they were all so distracted with each other that no one seemed to notice me. I docked at the repair station. Loaded armaments, and connected my scanners to the long range satellites orbiting the planet.
What I saw was disconcerting. It appeared that the Empire was attacking, or had attacked and was now defending the northern nook. There were military outposts all over the place. War ships were coming and going in all directions. Chaos reigned. And in the midst of the madness, I saw the most ridiculous thing. A Union behemoth was flying about like a giant bulls eye just daring an Empire ship to attack him. Several did, but no one seemed to hit the sucker. I have to say I forgot everything else and just stared and the crazy bastard in wonderment.
‘Talk about balls,” I laughed and decided to break orbit and get a closer look. When I got close enough for my scanners to identify the BBB, I wasn’t surprised to see who it was: crazy, brave, Dagobert. “Dags, ya’ll need help?” I messaged. “I am teleporting you some drugs. See if you can help the fighters take out that MO,” he responded.
I checked the navigation display and followed a scorpion into attack position on Juffo Wup’s MO. We hit simultaneously nine or ten times, reducing its defense and causing some structural damage as well as damaging his docked PASC. Since I took some damage myself, I turned back to the planet for repairs and more missiles. Then I headed back to the battle.
At the wall of military outposts, there were several scorpions and two Federation constructed Doom Stars engage with each other. Uncertain who was on what side, I bypassed the engagement and went back to the MO wall. Juffo Wup’s MO was down so I engaged with the next one in the line. Since it was owned by an old nemesis, Miche of X-com, I was more than willing to put as many rounds as I could into the structure and her docked PASC. As I hit the MO and Miche’s docked PASC with my six round, my combat computer flashed a brief warning and then the next thing I knew I was flying across the sector in my escape pod.
“Wait, I thought this was a story about heroics. So far, all we’ve heard is that Hope is a fool. Didn’t we already know that?” hissed Zanoni with a smile before he gulped down his drink and asked for another.
“Seriously,” said ZoZo, finally showing some interest in the story. “We heard through the Imperial communication channels that Hope Hubris caught an Imperial trader shuffling bots to the war zone 10-15 minutes before the operation began, warning the Union of the assault.”
As a big shit eating grinned took control of his face, Zozo raspy voice crustily finished his commentary saying, “Can’t you see Tsunami saying, ‘we would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for that meddling Hope Hubris.’” With that, the whole bar broke into uncontrollable laughter. Everyone except me, of course. The finally laughing myself, I added, “So I was credited with killing Frozen, huh? Guess Stryfe doesn’t count anymore.”
After several minutes of drink and shared mirth, the members of the Union Liberation Front returned to business when Zanoni brought us back to my story, bleating, “What a minute, Hope. When we got a reading on your ship entering the sector, your flight path looked to me like you were coming from Diphda. Why in the world did you go back there?”
“One pod ride not enough for you hatchling,” jeered FA as he brusquely clapped me on the shoulder.
Well,” I responded, dipping my head in embarrassment, “that is another story.” You see, I got to my home world and went to the office for my insurance agent. Silly Ska'ari crab was jubilant to see me. Never seen that before, and I’ll be damned if he didn’t clap me on the shoulder with his pincer before clicking and clacking at me so fast I could hardly catch any anything he said. One thing was clear though, he had no intention of paying for my replacement. Told me to go to Diphda, and handed me a first class ticket on a passenger ship. I nearly crapped myself looking at the crew for signs of sympathy.
“Do I look like a passenger to you? Don’t answer that,” I glared at them all as they smirked or guffawed in my general direction. So anyways, I board the ship when the time comes, and waste away the time with booze, cards and ladies—not necessarily in that order, mind you. After what seemed like an eternity, we jump into Diphda sector, make orbit at the planet and I am escorted to a shuttle by four burly security guards. They took me planet side to the presidential landing bay. “Yeah, you heard me correctly, Zanoni. They took me to meet the President of Diphda,” I intoned, since he was looking at me like I was crazy. “Diphda has a President? He asked skeptically, not whining for once, “Shit, I didn’t even know they had a loo.”
“Me either,” I shrugged before carrying on with my story. The president greats me in this massive ceremony broadcast all over the sector and possible the whole damn cluster. He gives me a stupid medal and declared me the hero of Diphda. At that point, a big swooshing sound went off, and down fell this massive curtain unveiling a giant statue of me dressed in my flight suit with my arms raised into the air like a damn idiot. Thing must be like two hundred meters tall and made entirely out of freaking butter.
“Butter? What is this butter?” hissed FA.
Ignoring him, I continued, “Now keep in mind there was a whole slew of Union fighters and support people at the Battle of Diphda. Together, they kicked the crap out of the Imperials and took back the nook, right? Yet, I am the one getting the recognition. And the Diphda-ians practically killed me before I got off that god forsaken planet—clapping me on the back, shaking my hands, and kissing me on the damn cheek. And it was all because some stupid Imperial pilot wrongfully credited me with a kill and said I warned the Union of an impending Imperial attack. Both of which were even half true.”
“Woe, woe, woe, so let me get this strait. You didn’t do shit except get yourself shot, and they gave you a statue?” exclaimed Tacoman incredulously, shaking his head in disbelief.
“What is wrong with this universe?” moaned Zanoni, burying his head in his hands, “I never get anything.”
“I call bullshit! This story is ridiculous” snarled Zozo, then he pursing his brow, he asked, “Wait a second, it was you that robbed Havok wasn’t it?”
“Me, never” I deflected as a big grinned smeared across my face.
“Alright, enough with the fairy tales,” barked Stryfe. Slamming his huge fist upon the bar as his wolfish grin shifted into his characteristic stoic masked of concentration, “Time to make plans for our next operation.”
“Next operation,” I sighed sleepily, and looked around the bar as if for the first time. I spoke confusedly, “Where the hell is Pirate Poo?”
“Oh, he got himself banned from the bar,” snickered Tacoman.
“Called some idiot a retard…” smirked Zanoni.
“I am never going to Diphda again,” I muttered as I motioned to the bartender for a drink.
“This is about a girl isn’t? Details, give em,” squealed another Rashkir named Tacoman.
“Diphda?!? Hope, what are you talking about?” whined Zanoni, the only human in the room. “Funny, I thought we heard you were being declared a hero in Diphda,” he buzzed
“You realize we have been ambushing around that gods forsaken sector Zueben Elakrab for the past three days waiting for you to come back, right?” growled Stryfe as he glared in my direction, the Rashkir leader of our little band of pirate misfits.
I raised a hand, slowly shaking my head, and mumbled toward Stryfe, “I know, I know, sorry. You aren’t gonna believe what just fucking happened to me.”
“Get talkin,” the Keldon Fallen Angel hissed grumpily.
“Alright, but I need another drink…” I muttered.
“First off, did anybody notice that Fallen Angel shot me? Course not, cuz nobody ever notices that shit, do they?” I groused at FA. “Anyways, after I triggered on Prince Frozen and Stryfe stole the kill once again,” I muttered as I rolled my eyes at Stryfe. My ambush teleporter slung me across the sector to my retreat point next to the worm hole to Zaniah.”
Raising my hand to stop any objections, “Before you start with the lectures, I usually try to pick a safe location, but with so many of us ambushing together I had no concern about being discovered, just reloading missiles as quickly as possible. I made the jump and headed to the planet. Radioing ahead to the technicians in the repair bay, I was told they had no missiles and the closest bay with missiles was Diphda.”
“Hope, didn’t I tell you that?” Stryfe gruffly broke in, glaring in my direction. “Probably, but I blocked your communications when I realized you stole my kill. Again.” I responded, returning Stryfe’s glare, who just shrugged as his glared morphed into a wolfish grin and went back to his drink.
“I knew that shooting down a Prince at the choke to the pass to the Empire Keldon Core would bring reinforcements, so I wanted to get back as quickly as possible in order to get a kill,” I continued. With Zaniah empty, I passed by the planet and went directly to the worm hole to Mebsuta. I made the jump, then paused shortly to check for the location of Perry (perry winder) before racing across the sector to the Phao worm hole.
As I jumped into Phao, my scanners picked up I slight blip near the worm hole to Seginus. It was a trader, and paused to let him enter the sector far enough that I could get a full scan. It was probably a Union trader or something else I could not shoot at, but one never knows. To my surprise, the visage of a Boa appeared on my target screen. Without missiles, I was too far away to engage so I broke from the worm hole on an intercept course to take it before it got to the planet. As I closed in on the target, the pilot must have realized that he could not make it and turned back to the worm hole to Seginus. Since I could not catch him, I sent a few salvos in his direction and then turned toward the planet.
Thinking the Boa might try to make the run again, I sat in orbit for a handful of minutes, but he seemed to have turned tail and run back to the EKC. Since I still needed to get to Diphda to get missiles, I broke orbit without docking and headed toward the worm hole. Just as I was about to hit the worm hole, another Boa popped up on my scanner directly behind me in the nebula gas. I started to turn back, but he ran for the planet before I could engage. Since the Boa pilot was either following me or hell bent on getting to Diphda sector, I figured my best bet was to get to the planet, load missiles for a little extra punch, then come back and set an ambush in the energy near the wormhole from Phao. To my surprise, I wasn’t alone in the worm hole. My scanners detected at least three moon crushers and several other Empire ships. I made the jump to Diphda, and found several more Imperials.
“Shit, this ain’t good,” I muttered to myself, then punched my ship into over drive and raced across the nebula to the planet. My plans for the Boa were not going to be put into action. I hit the planet and found several members of the Union and Empire elite floating in orbit. “Have ya’ll ever notice how strange it is that the factions refuse to shoot each other while in orbit? I mean, they have no problem shooting the likes of us due to our low reputation in the verse, but even in war they don’t shoot each other…” Thankfully they were all so distracted with each other that no one seemed to notice me. I docked at the repair station. Loaded armaments, and connected my scanners to the long range satellites orbiting the planet.
What I saw was disconcerting. It appeared that the Empire was attacking, or had attacked and was now defending the northern nook. There were military outposts all over the place. War ships were coming and going in all directions. Chaos reigned. And in the midst of the madness, I saw the most ridiculous thing. A Union behemoth was flying about like a giant bulls eye just daring an Empire ship to attack him. Several did, but no one seemed to hit the sucker. I have to say I forgot everything else and just stared and the crazy bastard in wonderment.
‘Talk about balls,” I laughed and decided to break orbit and get a closer look. When I got close enough for my scanners to identify the BBB, I wasn’t surprised to see who it was: crazy, brave, Dagobert. “Dags, ya’ll need help?” I messaged. “I am teleporting you some drugs. See if you can help the fighters take out that MO,” he responded.
I checked the navigation display and followed a scorpion into attack position on Juffo Wup’s MO. We hit simultaneously nine or ten times, reducing its defense and causing some structural damage as well as damaging his docked PASC. Since I took some damage myself, I turned back to the planet for repairs and more missiles. Then I headed back to the battle.
At the wall of military outposts, there were several scorpions and two Federation constructed Doom Stars engage with each other. Uncertain who was on what side, I bypassed the engagement and went back to the MO wall. Juffo Wup’s MO was down so I engaged with the next one in the line. Since it was owned by an old nemesis, Miche of X-com, I was more than willing to put as many rounds as I could into the structure and her docked PASC. As I hit the MO and Miche’s docked PASC with my six round, my combat computer flashed a brief warning and then the next thing I knew I was flying across the sector in my escape pod.
“Wait, I thought this was a story about heroics. So far, all we’ve heard is that Hope is a fool. Didn’t we already know that?” hissed Zanoni with a smile before he gulped down his drink and asked for another.
“Seriously,” said ZoZo, finally showing some interest in the story. “We heard through the Imperial communication channels that Hope Hubris caught an Imperial trader shuffling bots to the war zone 10-15 minutes before the operation began, warning the Union of the assault.”
As a big shit eating grinned took control of his face, Zozo raspy voice crustily finished his commentary saying, “Can’t you see Tsunami saying, ‘we would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for that meddling Hope Hubris.’” With that, the whole bar broke into uncontrollable laughter. Everyone except me, of course. The finally laughing myself, I added, “So I was credited with killing Frozen, huh? Guess Stryfe doesn’t count anymore.”
After several minutes of drink and shared mirth, the members of the Union Liberation Front returned to business when Zanoni brought us back to my story, bleating, “What a minute, Hope. When we got a reading on your ship entering the sector, your flight path looked to me like you were coming from Diphda. Why in the world did you go back there?”
“One pod ride not enough for you hatchling,” jeered FA as he brusquely clapped me on the shoulder.
Well,” I responded, dipping my head in embarrassment, “that is another story.” You see, I got to my home world and went to the office for my insurance agent. Silly Ska'ari crab was jubilant to see me. Never seen that before, and I’ll be damned if he didn’t clap me on the shoulder with his pincer before clicking and clacking at me so fast I could hardly catch any anything he said. One thing was clear though, he had no intention of paying for my replacement. Told me to go to Diphda, and handed me a first class ticket on a passenger ship. I nearly crapped myself looking at the crew for signs of sympathy.
“Do I look like a passenger to you? Don’t answer that,” I glared at them all as they smirked or guffawed in my general direction. So anyways, I board the ship when the time comes, and waste away the time with booze, cards and ladies—not necessarily in that order, mind you. After what seemed like an eternity, we jump into Diphda sector, make orbit at the planet and I am escorted to a shuttle by four burly security guards. They took me planet side to the presidential landing bay. “Yeah, you heard me correctly, Zanoni. They took me to meet the President of Diphda,” I intoned, since he was looking at me like I was crazy. “Diphda has a President? He asked skeptically, not whining for once, “Shit, I didn’t even know they had a loo.”
“Me either,” I shrugged before carrying on with my story. The president greats me in this massive ceremony broadcast all over the sector and possible the whole damn cluster. He gives me a stupid medal and declared me the hero of Diphda. At that point, a big swooshing sound went off, and down fell this massive curtain unveiling a giant statue of me dressed in my flight suit with my arms raised into the air like a damn idiot. Thing must be like two hundred meters tall and made entirely out of freaking butter.
“Butter? What is this butter?” hissed FA.
Ignoring him, I continued, “Now keep in mind there was a whole slew of Union fighters and support people at the Battle of Diphda. Together, they kicked the crap out of the Imperials and took back the nook, right? Yet, I am the one getting the recognition. And the Diphda-ians practically killed me before I got off that god forsaken planet—clapping me on the back, shaking my hands, and kissing me on the damn cheek. And it was all because some stupid Imperial pilot wrongfully credited me with a kill and said I warned the Union of an impending Imperial attack. Both of which were even half true.”
“Woe, woe, woe, so let me get this strait. You didn’t do shit except get yourself shot, and they gave you a statue?” exclaimed Tacoman incredulously, shaking his head in disbelief.
“What is wrong with this universe?” moaned Zanoni, burying his head in his hands, “I never get anything.”
“I call bullshit! This story is ridiculous” snarled Zozo, then he pursing his brow, he asked, “Wait a second, it was you that robbed Havok wasn’t it?”
“Me, never” I deflected as a big grinned smeared across my face.
“Alright, enough with the fairy tales,” barked Stryfe. Slamming his huge fist upon the bar as his wolfish grin shifted into his characteristic stoic masked of concentration, “Time to make plans for our next operation.”
“Next operation,” I sighed sleepily, and looked around the bar as if for the first time. I spoke confusedly, “Where the hell is Pirate Poo?”
“Oh, he got himself banned from the bar,” snickered Tacoman.
“Called some idiot a retard…” smirked Zanoni.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
The EKC Butcher
Stardate, 2010-11-14
Spent the day in Becanin hunting with Zanoni. It was a profitable afternoon for me, albeit a tad bit quiet since most of the action had shifted to the Pardus Empire Contingent (PEC). I destroyed two traders (Tryton and Kvalion), but we failed to take down two neutrals (Silvercrest and Gool Duck).
As the day came to a close, Zan returned to the planet to re-load his missiles and grab some much needed Rec time. Truth be told, I suspected that Zanoni needed some strong libations. There is no certainty on whose number will be called first when ambushing in a stack, but mine seemed to supersede Zan’s all day. Hence, I got the kills and he got bills. Not a good outing for him in a rather long string of bad outings..
I was tempted to follow him and help drown out the drudgery, but I had a full tank of fuel and wanted to put the latest incarnation of The Refuge of Audacity through the paces. It was a recent replacement. Although the insurance companies provide a solid substitute for the high rates they charge pilots in my profession, I never completely trust a new ship until it has been strenuously tested. Even if the war between the Empire and Union was not in full effect, it just is not safe for a pilot with my reputation to encounter a systems failure or some other malfunction. Bad luck always follows bad preparation.
With that in mind, I headed to the wormhole and jumped to Tilalia in search of critters. I targeted a few ice beasts, two space worms and a blood amoeba. None of them offered much trouble for my ship. I wanted to locate the dread scorp (a much more worthy target), yet it seemed to elude my scanners. Although there were several ways into the sector, I decided to jump to AN 2-956 to see if there were any Imperial traders servicing the nooked starbase.
Instead of Imperials, I found the wormhole in the hands of the Union. With the Union’s war effort focused on PEC, I was more than a little surprised to see several Union fighters heading in and out of the nook. Recognizing a member of the Union Nuke Squad I knew, I contacted Ded Spot to find out what was going on and offer my services. Sadly I missed the destruction of the military outposts blocking the entrance to the Empire SB, and the Nuke Squad was actively eliminating the remaining buildings inside the nook but lacked squads to engage the SB defenses.
Since there was little I could do in AN, I asked Ded Spot if his group controlled Imperial access to the sector. As I expected, the Nuke Squad took control of the choke point to Pass Empire-4 just before the operation went into full swing. Recognizing an opportunity was at hand, I notified the Union defenders that I would be passing through their ambush formation and headed into the Empire Keldon Core.
Although I had used PE-4 to enter Imperial territory several times during the war, I was a little surprised that the military outposts once again granted me access. I recognize that it was at best difficult for the factions to control access to their territories, with eight to ten passes, but the Empire seems to have given up entirely during the recent war. It is a sad situation to see a faction give up on protecting its members, but their failure is my opportunity to wreak havoc once again behind the lines of the Empire. Although my actions might result in the destruction of a few traders, every act of aggression I engage in disrupts the Imperial war effort and brings a slew of emotions to Imperial subjects: terror, uncertainty, disillusionment, and
Assuming there would be Imperial defenders heading out to AN 2 soon to evict the Union Nuke Squad, I was a little uncertain how far to entire the EKC. My instincts said that most of the Empire was focused on trying to protect what little remained of the PEC, so there would not be many defenders left. Short on numbers, the Imperial defense forces would try to secure the choke point before clearing out raiders with search grids. If I was right, then I was open to ambush wherever I wanted for at least a short while. I decided to set an ambush on the plastics facility at the coordinates [8, 16]. Since food is more essential to an SB, I expected any defenders passing through the sector would miss me en route to the choke. It was a risk to stay in the Pass, and if I was wrong I would know soon enough when my escape pod fired into the black.
I did not wait in ambush for very long. Within a few minutes of setting up, my combat scanners caught sight of a ship sending off an Empire signal. I locked my targeting systems on the Venom, and open fired. My cannons and missiles ripped into its hull, igniting it into a fireball. The Venom pilot must have had an e-pod, since I received a foe listing from Duglas before the fire cloud subsisted.
I could not stop myself from grinning at Duglas’ misery, but I had decisions to attend to: Do I stay in the EKC, or do I go? I decided to stay, but I had to leave PE-4. I jumped into Duralia, reloaded my ship with missiles at the planet and cloaked in the nebula nearby to plan my next step. There were two main directions I could take to head deeper into the EKC. Normally, I would want to place a few sectors between myself and an ambush point, but my scanners detected no Empire defenders passing through the sector en-route to PE-4. I tapped the screen and ran a test simulation to make sure the scanners were working properly. They were.
“What the hell?” I wondered to myself aloud. The Empire had the most responsive defense forces I have ever encountered, usually searching an ambush spot within minutes of an attack. It was quite annoying to be honest. Yet, I could find no traces of any defensive response to PE-4. In fact, my scanners detected no Empire pilots in the sector at all. Either Duglas had not sent out warnings, or the Empire was even shorter handed than I thought.
More decisions… Go deeper in the EKC, or set another ambush just one sector from my last. It was foolish to take the chance, but the lack of an Imperial presence gave me confidence. I set an ambush under a space farm along one of the travel routes through Duralia. It took me a bit longer to trigger, but once again my scanners detected a trader piloted by Souldsinger coming within range. Since the Behemouth was giving off an Empire signature, I opened fire with my cannon and launched four NN550 Fleet Missiles. BBBs are hard to miss due to their size, but they have an extraordinary amount of amour. My arsenal cleaved through the traders shield, armor and hull; leaving little more than parts and gases in the aftermath
Still expecting defensive forces to arrive with immediacy, I went to the planet to reload missiles and headed out of Duralia sector. I passed through PI 4-669 and into Eta Cassiopeia to find a spot to cloak for a few hours.
Stardate, 2010-11-15
No one seemed to notice my hiding spot. I will not divulge the location in case I need to use it in the future, but there are always locations to hide if one has need. I always set to attack any ship that passed nearby when I am hiding, so the Empire’s defense forces either were not looking or not present in the sector. I broke from my hiding spot and set an ambush in the sector along a trade route to SZ 4-419. Four hours passed while I twiddle my pads with no activity. War slows traffic within a sector, and my frequent raids into the EKC may have limited the number of sightseers and tourists. I decided to move to a new location.
In any cluster there is at least one sector with an e-matter source and it is usually the most frequented sector in the cluster because so many buildings (both legal and illegal) depend on it. I decided to move to Regulus, knowing there should be enough traffic to find a target. Traders actively frequent e-mater sectors, so I took up a position close to the source and waited from a target. It took only a few minutes for John Deer’s Hercules came into my scanners. I prepped the targeting computers and waited for an opportunity to attack. He was dawdling just outside of my range. Since there were no other ships visible in the sector, I was considering the possibility of breaking ambush and attacking the target while he was harvesting the e-matter. To my surprise, he came straight to my location. I dispatched him in a few rounds of combat. Since he was geared for trade, I did not even bother to shoot missiles. The target was a member of the Imperial Legion. I knew from prior experience in the EKC that defensive forces would be arriving quickly this deep into the cluster, so it was time to move.
Rather than running a long distance, I decided to take out as many traders as I could before the defenders arrived. I left Regulus for Greandin and immediately set an ambush along the main trade route. Within eleven minutes an unarmed Boa came into sight. I poured four 550 missiles and full salvos from my guns into Hidden Hmong’s ship, but failed to take him out. The amour on a Boa makes it a difficult target to take out with just one attacker. I went to the planet to reload and found Hmong in orbit. Empire officials let me load, but I could not dock and was not safe. Since Hmong was a member of Conglomo, I knew defensive forces would be coming and that he would probably load missiles to retaliate. There was no point staying in the sector, but I still was not ready to run to far away.
It was a major risk. Defensive forces in the EKC were quick to respond to any attack, and Conglomo was a large enough alliance that news of my attacks would travel fast. Yet I had so much luck so far, I thought it was worth the risk to stay close on the main trade route for the cluster. I jumped to Aeg and began looking for a good spot for another ambush. Since I was still looking for a trader, I decided to go to the trade outpost in the sector. I was not sure if it would allow me to dock and trade, but I thought I could at least check to see if I could brace up my supplies. To my surprise, I encountered a Behemoth sitting in open space near the TO. Since he was not docked and clearly asleep at the helm, I dispatched him. Kasros was clearly a well skilled pilot, and probably better skilled than myself, so it took a number of rounds from my guns to destroy him. Since he was a member of Conglomo as well, I knew I had to leave the sector as quick as possible. I docked quickly at the TO, loaded up on some stimulants, then moved to the planet and reloaded my missile racks.
As I exited the docking station of the planet, I saw a Moon Crusher passing through the sector. It seemed to be heading toward Greandin, so I hovered near a building. As long as he did not come close to my position, I knew that the mass of the structure would keep his scanners from picking up my ship signature. Once he passed I fluttered from building to building, slowly passing from the sector to the worm hole to Besoex.
I jumped through Cassand and moved to Besoex without difficulty, seeing neither targets nor pursuers. I knew that the Empire defensive forces liked to set up under buildings next to planets rather than ambush elsewhere in a sector, hoping to catch malcontents like myself when they tried to reload armaments rather than chase them down. As long as I avoided the area surrounding the planet, I figured that I could set up one more time and take down another trader. Since traders are essential to the success of any faction’s war effort, it was far more important to kill another one (and thus disrupt his support of the Empire while spreading terror among the rest of his ilk within the cluster). I avoided a confrontation with defenders, sought out a new ambush point.
I set up in Besoex under a building along the trade route to Cassand. With some distance between my last attacks, I knew the traders in the sector probably were unaware of my presence. I set up on the trade route. I waited only ten minutes before a familiar Empire signature come on screen. Viscount Hondo Doon, a member of Conglomo and a frequent victim to my attacks, came into range.
I honestly hate attacking the same pilot multiple times unless given fair reason. Unfortunately, war has brought me into contact with Hondo Doon on too many occasions. I wished that I could let him pass, but once our scanners acknowledged each other and we each had a role to play. His would require him to notify Empire defenses of my location, mine to give him yet another pod ride. Hopefully, I could do so before he could send off a communique.
I unloaded on him, destroying his ship. After ward, I went to the planet to reload missiles. I ran into some hostility from the Empire technicians .They could not prove my guilt in the attack on Hondo since it happened just beyond their scanners, but they correctly assumed my guilt. I greased some palms to get the work completed, then quickly lifted off and shifted my SD into hyper drive to get out of the sector as fast as possible.
Having destroyed several traders and raided a handful of structures, I knew my recent depredations would be well known within the EKC by this point. I needed to put as much space between me and Besoex as possible and find a place to hide. I flew threw several sectors, avoiding military outposts and patrols in search of a safe hiding spot. While passing though Laanex, I noticed A Boa making his way to the planet. Taking a chance, I decided to set up on the trade route in the sector that headed back the way he had come. In less than ten minutes, I caught him. Stealth Assassin was well aware of my presence, but knew his duty required him to continue his trade run. Hoping he could destroy me or at least distract me from a kill if he caused heavy damage to my ship, he loaded his ship with an Imperial Elite Mk.II before filling up with cargo and setting off. A true patriot. The missile ripped into my armor, doing major damage, but he did not escape.
Unfortunately, Stealth Assassin was a member of Ruby Legion. While I have no problem dispatching any member of the Empire, I knew the heavy hitters would be looking for me now. I had a few safe docking spots in the cluster, but it was imperative for me to find a safe location to hide without bringing undue trouble upon a friend. I traveled through the cluster: KU, Laanex, Tianbe, Fomalhaut, Ackandso, and even PE 3. In every sector I encountered military vessels and outposts. I intentionally avoided Keldon, although I genuinely love the planet and its lovely ladies, my past exploits in the sector meantd the Empire had completely locked down the home world. There were ambushes and security forces everywhere, so it was too dangerous to risk. Perhaps next time we shall get together ladies…
While in Tianbe, I saw several PASCs so intense on their search and destroy patrol patterns that they did not notice me. Since I could not find a safe location when I left the sector, I assumed it was safe to go back and hide in an area already cleared by search. I picked a spot in the energy a fair distance from the planet and surrounded by nebula gas. It was no where near the normal travel routes, and there were no space critters nearby. It was the perfect location. Just far enough away but within scanner range was a Sarracenia. It offered the perfect unofficial alarm. Sarracenia were heavily hunted by most fighters, since they were easy targets, so I knew that any fighter ship that passed through the nebula gas but did not engage was in the midst of a search pattern. It took less than an hour. A PASC raced by the Sarracenia without stopping. He obviously was not hunting critters, systematically checking every spot in the sector. I knew he would find me, so I had a choice: run or hit em and then run. I figured all the main routes were now under ambush, so I might as well go out in a blaze of glory then get a pod ride from triggering an ambush.
With that in mind, I waited for the hunter to come to my ambush. It took another ten minutes, but he did finally find me. My ambush computer unleashed fire and brimstone upon him. I did some damage, but took even more. Next came the flash as my ambush teleporter hurled me to the other side of the sector and my computer immediately cloaked. Quickly checking that my engines and hull were sound, I raced to the nearest worm hole and ran as cautiously as possible. I did not kill Melstadt, so I had to get as far away as possible and then hide yet again. He could easily repair his damages. I could not.
My quick strike and retreat seemed to work. Melstadt failed to see me leave the sector. I located a safe spot, and then set into a hiding once again. It is amazing how wars can influence interaction. There are some pilots you engage with in war and, after several interactions with them, you come to realize that you are glad to be on opposites sides. Then every once in a while you encounter a pilot you like, and quickly develop a respect for them and come to wish you were not on opposite sides. Melstadt is one of those pilots. Even though he was seeking to dispatch me from the EKC with extreme prejudice, we passed several hours worth of communications between us. Nice fella. I would hate to have to pod him, but obviously I would if the situation forced my hand.
Stardate 2010-11-17
I remained undetected for the past twenty-four hours. Knowing the tenacity of the Empire, they are probably still hunting me. I would prefer to keep a low profile, but making jumps from sector to sector has its dangers. Wormhole anomalies caused severe damage to my hull. I needed repairs, but can not get any of the Empire repair stations to do the work. I am persona non grata in the EKC now. Even bribes can not push one of the small out of the way repair stations into taking the chance at repairs. I really can’t blame them. No telling what the Empire does to punish subjects knowingly giving comfort to the enemy (especially a piratical one like me). Worse, I am certain every technician I report contacts the security forces and gives away my position. Damn bounties.
With no place to repair, my options are limited. Flee the cluster, which is impossible since I am so deep into the EKC and damaged, or find a safe spot to put up a small structure and repair the ship myself. I chose the later, putting up a mock energy well in Fomalhaut. I gathered materials for the structure and my repairs, and then set to work. Eight hours later, the work was finished but I was drained of energy. Four days without sleep, heavily drugged and under the constant threat of destruction had taken its toll. The sector seemed to be quiet, with few travelers passing through. Although it was risky, I decided to stay docked and get some rest.
It was a mistake. Bad luck always follows poor decisions. The Empire’s defense forces located me three hours later. Prince Felkron in a moon crusher. He ripped through the shell structure and tore up my armor with four 40 MW Plasma Lasers before I could even get my bearings after being shocked into consciousness. Several salvos later, I was taking the long pod ride back to the insurance agency ship depot. My latest adventure as the EKC Butcher was over.
Before my escape pod left the sector, I engaged its basic communication console and sent Felkron congratulations for a job well done. He was polite and gracious, commending me for my abilities to escape detection, and even laughing a bit when I promised to return to the EKC again soon. The interactions of war can be so interesting. In the midst of bloodletting and clouds of destruction, courtesy and good humor reigns.
Spent the day in Becanin hunting with Zanoni. It was a profitable afternoon for me, albeit a tad bit quiet since most of the action had shifted to the Pardus Empire Contingent (PEC). I destroyed two traders (Tryton and Kvalion), but we failed to take down two neutrals (Silvercrest and Gool Duck).
As the day came to a close, Zan returned to the planet to re-load his missiles and grab some much needed Rec time. Truth be told, I suspected that Zanoni needed some strong libations. There is no certainty on whose number will be called first when ambushing in a stack, but mine seemed to supersede Zan’s all day. Hence, I got the kills and he got bills. Not a good outing for him in a rather long string of bad outings..
I was tempted to follow him and help drown out the drudgery, but I had a full tank of fuel and wanted to put the latest incarnation of The Refuge of Audacity through the paces. It was a recent replacement. Although the insurance companies provide a solid substitute for the high rates they charge pilots in my profession, I never completely trust a new ship until it has been strenuously tested. Even if the war between the Empire and Union was not in full effect, it just is not safe for a pilot with my reputation to encounter a systems failure or some other malfunction. Bad luck always follows bad preparation.
With that in mind, I headed to the wormhole and jumped to Tilalia in search of critters. I targeted a few ice beasts, two space worms and a blood amoeba. None of them offered much trouble for my ship. I wanted to locate the dread scorp (a much more worthy target), yet it seemed to elude my scanners. Although there were several ways into the sector, I decided to jump to AN 2-956 to see if there were any Imperial traders servicing the nooked starbase.
Instead of Imperials, I found the wormhole in the hands of the Union. With the Union’s war effort focused on PEC, I was more than a little surprised to see several Union fighters heading in and out of the nook. Recognizing a member of the Union Nuke Squad I knew, I contacted Ded Spot to find out what was going on and offer my services. Sadly I missed the destruction of the military outposts blocking the entrance to the Empire SB, and the Nuke Squad was actively eliminating the remaining buildings inside the nook but lacked squads to engage the SB defenses.
Since there was little I could do in AN, I asked Ded Spot if his group controlled Imperial access to the sector. As I expected, the Nuke Squad took control of the choke point to Pass Empire-4 just before the operation went into full swing. Recognizing an opportunity was at hand, I notified the Union defenders that I would be passing through their ambush formation and headed into the Empire Keldon Core.
Although I had used PE-4 to enter Imperial territory several times during the war, I was a little surprised that the military outposts once again granted me access. I recognize that it was at best difficult for the factions to control access to their territories, with eight to ten passes, but the Empire seems to have given up entirely during the recent war. It is a sad situation to see a faction give up on protecting its members, but their failure is my opportunity to wreak havoc once again behind the lines of the Empire. Although my actions might result in the destruction of a few traders, every act of aggression I engage in disrupts the Imperial war effort and brings a slew of emotions to Imperial subjects: terror, uncertainty, disillusionment, and
Assuming there would be Imperial defenders heading out to AN 2 soon to evict the Union Nuke Squad, I was a little uncertain how far to entire the EKC. My instincts said that most of the Empire was focused on trying to protect what little remained of the PEC, so there would not be many defenders left. Short on numbers, the Imperial defense forces would try to secure the choke point before clearing out raiders with search grids. If I was right, then I was open to ambush wherever I wanted for at least a short while. I decided to set an ambush on the plastics facility at the coordinates [8, 16]. Since food is more essential to an SB, I expected any defenders passing through the sector would miss me en route to the choke. It was a risk to stay in the Pass, and if I was wrong I would know soon enough when my escape pod fired into the black.
I did not wait in ambush for very long. Within a few minutes of setting up, my combat scanners caught sight of a ship sending off an Empire signal. I locked my targeting systems on the Venom, and open fired. My cannons and missiles ripped into its hull, igniting it into a fireball. The Venom pilot must have had an e-pod, since I received a foe listing from Duglas before the fire cloud subsisted.
I could not stop myself from grinning at Duglas’ misery, but I had decisions to attend to: Do I stay in the EKC, or do I go? I decided to stay, but I had to leave PE-4. I jumped into Duralia, reloaded my ship with missiles at the planet and cloaked in the nebula nearby to plan my next step. There were two main directions I could take to head deeper into the EKC. Normally, I would want to place a few sectors between myself and an ambush point, but my scanners detected no Empire defenders passing through the sector en-route to PE-4. I tapped the screen and ran a test simulation to make sure the scanners were working properly. They were.
“What the hell?” I wondered to myself aloud. The Empire had the most responsive defense forces I have ever encountered, usually searching an ambush spot within minutes of an attack. It was quite annoying to be honest. Yet, I could find no traces of any defensive response to PE-4. In fact, my scanners detected no Empire pilots in the sector at all. Either Duglas had not sent out warnings, or the Empire was even shorter handed than I thought.
More decisions… Go deeper in the EKC, or set another ambush just one sector from my last. It was foolish to take the chance, but the lack of an Imperial presence gave me confidence. I set an ambush under a space farm along one of the travel routes through Duralia. It took me a bit longer to trigger, but once again my scanners detected a trader piloted by Souldsinger coming within range. Since the Behemouth was giving off an Empire signature, I opened fire with my cannon and launched four NN550 Fleet Missiles. BBBs are hard to miss due to their size, but they have an extraordinary amount of amour. My arsenal cleaved through the traders shield, armor and hull; leaving little more than parts and gases in the aftermath
Still expecting defensive forces to arrive with immediacy, I went to the planet to reload missiles and headed out of Duralia sector. I passed through PI 4-669 and into Eta Cassiopeia to find a spot to cloak for a few hours.
Stardate, 2010-11-15
No one seemed to notice my hiding spot. I will not divulge the location in case I need to use it in the future, but there are always locations to hide if one has need. I always set to attack any ship that passed nearby when I am hiding, so the Empire’s defense forces either were not looking or not present in the sector. I broke from my hiding spot and set an ambush in the sector along a trade route to SZ 4-419. Four hours passed while I twiddle my pads with no activity. War slows traffic within a sector, and my frequent raids into the EKC may have limited the number of sightseers and tourists. I decided to move to a new location.
In any cluster there is at least one sector with an e-matter source and it is usually the most frequented sector in the cluster because so many buildings (both legal and illegal) depend on it. I decided to move to Regulus, knowing there should be enough traffic to find a target. Traders actively frequent e-mater sectors, so I took up a position close to the source and waited from a target. It took only a few minutes for John Deer’s Hercules came into my scanners. I prepped the targeting computers and waited for an opportunity to attack. He was dawdling just outside of my range. Since there were no other ships visible in the sector, I was considering the possibility of breaking ambush and attacking the target while he was harvesting the e-matter. To my surprise, he came straight to my location. I dispatched him in a few rounds of combat. Since he was geared for trade, I did not even bother to shoot missiles. The target was a member of the Imperial Legion. I knew from prior experience in the EKC that defensive forces would be arriving quickly this deep into the cluster, so it was time to move.
Rather than running a long distance, I decided to take out as many traders as I could before the defenders arrived. I left Regulus for Greandin and immediately set an ambush along the main trade route. Within eleven minutes an unarmed Boa came into sight. I poured four 550 missiles and full salvos from my guns into Hidden Hmong’s ship, but failed to take him out. The amour on a Boa makes it a difficult target to take out with just one attacker. I went to the planet to reload and found Hmong in orbit. Empire officials let me load, but I could not dock and was not safe. Since Hmong was a member of Conglomo, I knew defensive forces would be coming and that he would probably load missiles to retaliate. There was no point staying in the sector, but I still was not ready to run to far away.
It was a major risk. Defensive forces in the EKC were quick to respond to any attack, and Conglomo was a large enough alliance that news of my attacks would travel fast. Yet I had so much luck so far, I thought it was worth the risk to stay close on the main trade route for the cluster. I jumped to Aeg and began looking for a good spot for another ambush. Since I was still looking for a trader, I decided to go to the trade outpost in the sector. I was not sure if it would allow me to dock and trade, but I thought I could at least check to see if I could brace up my supplies. To my surprise, I encountered a Behemoth sitting in open space near the TO. Since he was not docked and clearly asleep at the helm, I dispatched him. Kasros was clearly a well skilled pilot, and probably better skilled than myself, so it took a number of rounds from my guns to destroy him. Since he was a member of Conglomo as well, I knew I had to leave the sector as quick as possible. I docked quickly at the TO, loaded up on some stimulants, then moved to the planet and reloaded my missile racks.
As I exited the docking station of the planet, I saw a Moon Crusher passing through the sector. It seemed to be heading toward Greandin, so I hovered near a building. As long as he did not come close to my position, I knew that the mass of the structure would keep his scanners from picking up my ship signature. Once he passed I fluttered from building to building, slowly passing from the sector to the worm hole to Besoex.
I jumped through Cassand and moved to Besoex without difficulty, seeing neither targets nor pursuers. I knew that the Empire defensive forces liked to set up under buildings next to planets rather than ambush elsewhere in a sector, hoping to catch malcontents like myself when they tried to reload armaments rather than chase them down. As long as I avoided the area surrounding the planet, I figured that I could set up one more time and take down another trader. Since traders are essential to the success of any faction’s war effort, it was far more important to kill another one (and thus disrupt his support of the Empire while spreading terror among the rest of his ilk within the cluster). I avoided a confrontation with defenders, sought out a new ambush point.
I set up in Besoex under a building along the trade route to Cassand. With some distance between my last attacks, I knew the traders in the sector probably were unaware of my presence. I set up on the trade route. I waited only ten minutes before a familiar Empire signature come on screen. Viscount Hondo Doon, a member of Conglomo and a frequent victim to my attacks, came into range.
I honestly hate attacking the same pilot multiple times unless given fair reason. Unfortunately, war has brought me into contact with Hondo Doon on too many occasions. I wished that I could let him pass, but once our scanners acknowledged each other and we each had a role to play. His would require him to notify Empire defenses of my location, mine to give him yet another pod ride. Hopefully, I could do so before he could send off a communique.
I unloaded on him, destroying his ship. After ward, I went to the planet to reload missiles. I ran into some hostility from the Empire technicians .They could not prove my guilt in the attack on Hondo since it happened just beyond their scanners, but they correctly assumed my guilt. I greased some palms to get the work completed, then quickly lifted off and shifted my SD into hyper drive to get out of the sector as fast as possible.
Having destroyed several traders and raided a handful of structures, I knew my recent depredations would be well known within the EKC by this point. I needed to put as much space between me and Besoex as possible and find a place to hide. I flew threw several sectors, avoiding military outposts and patrols in search of a safe hiding spot. While passing though Laanex, I noticed A Boa making his way to the planet. Taking a chance, I decided to set up on the trade route in the sector that headed back the way he had come. In less than ten minutes, I caught him. Stealth Assassin was well aware of my presence, but knew his duty required him to continue his trade run. Hoping he could destroy me or at least distract me from a kill if he caused heavy damage to my ship, he loaded his ship with an Imperial Elite Mk.II before filling up with cargo and setting off. A true patriot. The missile ripped into my armor, doing major damage, but he did not escape.
Unfortunately, Stealth Assassin was a member of Ruby Legion. While I have no problem dispatching any member of the Empire, I knew the heavy hitters would be looking for me now. I had a few safe docking spots in the cluster, but it was imperative for me to find a safe location to hide without bringing undue trouble upon a friend. I traveled through the cluster: KU, Laanex, Tianbe, Fomalhaut, Ackandso, and even PE 3. In every sector I encountered military vessels and outposts. I intentionally avoided Keldon, although I genuinely love the planet and its lovely ladies, my past exploits in the sector meantd the Empire had completely locked down the home world. There were ambushes and security forces everywhere, so it was too dangerous to risk. Perhaps next time we shall get together ladies…
While in Tianbe, I saw several PASCs so intense on their search and destroy patrol patterns that they did not notice me. Since I could not find a safe location when I left the sector, I assumed it was safe to go back and hide in an area already cleared by search. I picked a spot in the energy a fair distance from the planet and surrounded by nebula gas. It was no where near the normal travel routes, and there were no space critters nearby. It was the perfect location. Just far enough away but within scanner range was a Sarracenia. It offered the perfect unofficial alarm. Sarracenia were heavily hunted by most fighters, since they were easy targets, so I knew that any fighter ship that passed through the nebula gas but did not engage was in the midst of a search pattern. It took less than an hour. A PASC raced by the Sarracenia without stopping. He obviously was not hunting critters, systematically checking every spot in the sector. I knew he would find me, so I had a choice: run or hit em and then run. I figured all the main routes were now under ambush, so I might as well go out in a blaze of glory then get a pod ride from triggering an ambush.
With that in mind, I waited for the hunter to come to my ambush. It took another ten minutes, but he did finally find me. My ambush computer unleashed fire and brimstone upon him. I did some damage, but took even more. Next came the flash as my ambush teleporter hurled me to the other side of the sector and my computer immediately cloaked. Quickly checking that my engines and hull were sound, I raced to the nearest worm hole and ran as cautiously as possible. I did not kill Melstadt, so I had to get as far away as possible and then hide yet again. He could easily repair his damages. I could not.
My quick strike and retreat seemed to work. Melstadt failed to see me leave the sector. I located a safe spot, and then set into a hiding once again. It is amazing how wars can influence interaction. There are some pilots you engage with in war and, after several interactions with them, you come to realize that you are glad to be on opposites sides. Then every once in a while you encounter a pilot you like, and quickly develop a respect for them and come to wish you were not on opposite sides. Melstadt is one of those pilots. Even though he was seeking to dispatch me from the EKC with extreme prejudice, we passed several hours worth of communications between us. Nice fella. I would hate to have to pod him, but obviously I would if the situation forced my hand.
Stardate 2010-11-17
I remained undetected for the past twenty-four hours. Knowing the tenacity of the Empire, they are probably still hunting me. I would prefer to keep a low profile, but making jumps from sector to sector has its dangers. Wormhole anomalies caused severe damage to my hull. I needed repairs, but can not get any of the Empire repair stations to do the work. I am persona non grata in the EKC now. Even bribes can not push one of the small out of the way repair stations into taking the chance at repairs. I really can’t blame them. No telling what the Empire does to punish subjects knowingly giving comfort to the enemy (especially a piratical one like me). Worse, I am certain every technician I report contacts the security forces and gives away my position. Damn bounties.
With no place to repair, my options are limited. Flee the cluster, which is impossible since I am so deep into the EKC and damaged, or find a safe spot to put up a small structure and repair the ship myself. I chose the later, putting up a mock energy well in Fomalhaut. I gathered materials for the structure and my repairs, and then set to work. Eight hours later, the work was finished but I was drained of energy. Four days without sleep, heavily drugged and under the constant threat of destruction had taken its toll. The sector seemed to be quiet, with few travelers passing through. Although it was risky, I decided to stay docked and get some rest.
It was a mistake. Bad luck always follows poor decisions. The Empire’s defense forces located me three hours later. Prince Felkron in a moon crusher. He ripped through the shell structure and tore up my armor with four 40 MW Plasma Lasers before I could even get my bearings after being shocked into consciousness. Several salvos later, I was taking the long pod ride back to the insurance agency ship depot. My latest adventure as the EKC Butcher was over.
Before my escape pod left the sector, I engaged its basic communication console and sent Felkron congratulations for a job well done. He was polite and gracious, commending me for my abilities to escape detection, and even laughing a bit when I promised to return to the EKC again soon. The interactions of war can be so interesting. In the midst of bloodletting and clouds of destruction, courtesy and good humor reigns.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
Ship Names
There is a forum post currently circulating in Orion asking for players to explain their ship name. It really got me thinking about the name for my own ship, which was chosen for a specific purpose. Sadly, I am so tired of the constant and continuous grief-ing that I decided to take a break from posting, so I will put it here instead.
My ship name (Refuge of Audacity) comes from a quote by Tacitus: Crime, once exposed, has no refuge but in audacity. (Annals, book XI ch. 26)
I thought it fit my activities as a member in ULF which are always one step away from blatant criminality while I always display foolish audacity. Although many things can be said of Hope Hubris, this character's actions and interactions with others exemplify the many aspects of both hope and hubris.
My ship name (Refuge of Audacity) comes from a quote by Tacitus: Crime, once exposed, has no refuge but in audacity. (Annals, book XI ch. 26)
I thought it fit my activities as a member in ULF which are always one step away from blatant criminality while I always display foolish audacity. Although many things can be said of Hope Hubris, this character's actions and interactions with others exemplify the many aspects of both hope and hubris.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Vengeance is the business of Keldons
Upon you I will visit famine and fire
Till all around you desolation rings
And all the demons in the outer dark
Look on amazed and recognize:
Vengeance is the business of Keldons.
Till all around you desolation rings
And all the demons in the outer dark
Look on amazed and recognize:
Vengeance is the business of Keldons.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pirates
1. Pillage, then burn.
2. A Sergeant in motion outranks a Lieutenant who doesn't know what's going on.
3. An ordnance technician at a dead run outranks everybody.
4. Close air support covereth a multitude of sins.
5. Close air support and friendly fire should be easier to tell apart.
6. If violence wasn’t your last resort, you failed to resort to enough of it.
8. Mockery and derision have their place. Usually, it's on the far side of the airlock.
9. Never turn your back on an enemy.
10. Sometimes the only way out is through. . . through the hull.
11. Everything is air-droppable at least once.
12. A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head.
13. Do unto others.
14. "Mad Science" means never stopping to ask "what's the worst thing that could happen?"
16. Your name is in the mouth of others: be sure it has teeth.
21. Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Take his fish away and tell him he's lucky just to be alive, and he'll figure out how to catch another one for you to take tomorrow.
27. Don't be afraid to be the first to resort to violence.
29. The enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy. No more. No less.
30. A little trust goes a long way. The less you use, the further you'll go.
31. Only cheaters prosper.
34. If you’re leaving scorch-marks, you need a bigger gun.
35. That which does not kill you has made a tactical error.
36. When the going gets tough, the tough call for close air support.
37. There is no 'overkill.' There is only 'open fire' and 'I need to reload.'
38. Just because it's easy for you doesn't mean it can't be hard on your clients.
Heh heh. Part of the Schlock Mercenary universe: http://www.schlockmercenary.com/
2. A Sergeant in motion outranks a Lieutenant who doesn't know what's going on.
3. An ordnance technician at a dead run outranks everybody.
4. Close air support covereth a multitude of sins.
5. Close air support and friendly fire should be easier to tell apart.
6. If violence wasn’t your last resort, you failed to resort to enough of it.
8. Mockery and derision have their place. Usually, it's on the far side of the airlock.
9. Never turn your back on an enemy.
10. Sometimes the only way out is through. . . through the hull.
11. Everything is air-droppable at least once.
12. A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head.
13. Do unto others.
14. "Mad Science" means never stopping to ask "what's the worst thing that could happen?"
16. Your name is in the mouth of others: be sure it has teeth.
21. Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Take his fish away and tell him he's lucky just to be alive, and he'll figure out how to catch another one for you to take tomorrow.
27. Don't be afraid to be the first to resort to violence.
29. The enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy. No more. No less.
30. A little trust goes a long way. The less you use, the further you'll go.
31. Only cheaters prosper.
34. If you’re leaving scorch-marks, you need a bigger gun.
35. That which does not kill you has made a tactical error.
36. When the going gets tough, the tough call for close air support.
37. There is no 'overkill.' There is only 'open fire' and 'I need to reload.'
38. Just because it's easy for you doesn't mean it can't be hard on your clients.
Heh heh. Part of the Schlock Mercenary universe: http://www.schlockmercenary.com/
Monday, October 11, 2010
Tiltles and Accolades
Bon Vivant | Irredeemable Rogue | Gentleman Scholar | Unbeliever Pilgrim
Memberships of Note
Union Liberation Front
Grand Unifying Alliance
The Irredeemables
Shooting Star Reborn
Three Colours
Memberships of Note
Union Liberation Front
Grand Unifying Alliance
The Irredeemables
Shooting Star Reborn
Three Colours
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Achievements Log
Pilot's Academy Ribbon
Pilot Merit Ribbon
TSS Service Ribbon
Fighter Pilot: 20 PVP Kills
Explosives Expert
Escort Service
Stack Attack
Two in the Bush
Hacked to Death
Disturbance in the Force
Body Business
Crime Doesn't Pay
Bloody Money
Quick Buck
Tycoon
Big Spender
Guru: Hack Skill: 25 or higher, performed 200 Hacks
Wrecking Crew: Destroyed 10 Buildings
Strike One: Obtained a bounty of 1000 credits or more
Hunted: Obtained a bounty of 100,000 credits or more
Wanted: Dead...: Obtained a bounty of 2,000,000 credits or more
Pod Sweet Home: 1 death
Up a Creek: Died without an escape pod
Building Blocks: Constructed a building
Jack of all Trades: Traded at least one of each non-illegal standard commodity
FW-Wee!: Made 5,000,000 credits doing FWE runs
Washing Machine: Made/Spent 100 ATP's or more
With Friends Like These: 20 people friended you
Nobody Likes Me, Everybody Hates Me: 100 people have foed you
Candy Addict: Used 1000t of drugs
Give em' Hell: Purchased 100 Missiles
Dragon's Lair:Killed 1 of each Dragon NPC
Johnny Law: Killed 1 of each Pirate NPC
Pilot Merit Ribbon
TSS Service Ribbon
Fighter Pilot: 20 PVP Kills
Explosives Expert
Escort Service
Stack Attack
Two in the Bush
Hacked to Death
Disturbance in the Force
Body Business
Crime Doesn't Pay
Bloody Money
Quick Buck
Tycoon
Big Spender
Guru: Hack Skill: 25 or higher, performed 200 Hacks
Wrecking Crew: Destroyed 10 Buildings
Strike One: Obtained a bounty of 1000 credits or more
Hunted: Obtained a bounty of 100,000 credits or more
Wanted: Dead...: Obtained a bounty of 2,000,000 credits or more
Pod Sweet Home: 1 death
Up a Creek: Died without an escape pod
Building Blocks: Constructed a building
Jack of all Trades: Traded at least one of each non-illegal standard commodity
FW-Wee!: Made 5,000,000 credits doing FWE runs
Washing Machine: Made/Spent 100 ATP's or more
With Friends Like These: 20 people friended you
Nobody Likes Me, Everybody Hates Me: 100 people have foed you
Candy Addict: Used 1000t of drugs
Give em' Hell: Purchased 100 Missiles
Dragon's Lair:Killed 1 of each Dragon NPC
Johnny Law: Killed 1 of each Pirate NPC
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