AP - New Contact, Status: Unknown [DiD]

[celem]

Wanted to do some creative stuff with a playthrough for a while but it's daunting. I love doing this sort of thing and have done so in other games before. My issue howver is that I have a tendancy to get carried away and try to add in so much stuff that it becomes a novel where I hardly ever get to play because im so far behind the thread in my writing.

So, thats not going to happen. Im not going to relate all the stuff that happens, write excessive dialogue or get crazy descriptive. Not yet anyway. I have an idea for a potentially interesting type of narrative I can reasonably sustain at a pace that lets me play, yet gives me room to colour in the world a bit.

So without further ado, lets see if it works.

This is a DiD. A proper, steam-cloud, suicidal squid DiD so possibilities exist for premature and inglorious endings. Therefore it's also straight up vanilla (+BP).

[celem]

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

Password accepted...Working......

Clearance passed. Retrieving. Accessing log AAC#10122639.

Loc: Faded Dreams #+1.203,+0.021,-3.001
Timestamp: 3A-02:42 local
Source: BC4071 - M5 'Octopus' Border Patrol
Message:
New contact, M5 'Octopus', civilian. Designate YM5ZU-99
#+1.279,+4.232,-5.288
Estimated Destination: Veil of Delusion
Purpose unknown, unresponsive to hail.
Intercept and scan not possible, BC4071 under D-Alpha constraint, bound for Queen's Harbour.
Forwarding. Ends.

:>
:>search -s -c YM5ZU-99 | trace -s -c YM5ZU-99

Searching...
References located, linking...
Plotting chronological trace...

Loc: Queen's Harbour #-3.501,+0.101,+0.797
Source: Military Thresher BM273
Estimated Destination: Faded Dreams

Loc: Faded Dreams #+1.279,+4.232,-5.288
Source: Border Patrol Octopus BC4071
Estimated Destination: Veil of Delusion

Loc: Queens's Retribution #+3.023,-1.289,+6.931
Source: Border Patrol Octopus BC2052
Estimated Destination: Sanctity of Corruption
Subject Scanned: Clean

Contact leaves her Majesty's space via gate to Sanctity of Corruption 04:29
No further Data.

:>
:>report -v YM5ZU-99

Creating Report...

:Subject entered Veil of Delusion for reasons not evident.
:Subject scanned clean without intervening dock upon leaving pirate space.
:No further conclusions can be drawn from limited dataset available.
:No direct action is currently recommended, Observe.
:Contact current Status: Unknown
:Ends

Saving... Filing...
Report DP66C filed.

:>
:>monitor -a YM5ZU-99 | DP66C
:>logoff

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

[celem]

For now we don't know our hero (or villain, not sure myself yet). You probably wont know who he is before anyone else in this universe. Im going to try and tell this one from the perspective of the universe, not the thing itself made up from stars and planets, but the sum of the 'civilized' races inhabiting it.

Pinging the radar as a possible smuggler seemed a good way to introduce me onto the stage.

It is of course the epic tale of how I flew to a pirate base to ditch the 2 spacefuel for the feeble headstart it grants the suicidal squid. That cash along with the crazy fortune you start with all went on speed tunings, I think I have something like 23Cr as I leave Boron Space.

I hope its followable for people. I tried to make the pseudocode parts somehwat intuitive. The format of updates may vary depending on the type of report I am showing you and the spheres it is intended for.

[celem]

Teladi Eastern Mercenary Guild Report
New Asset Added: YM5ZU-99. Pilot Designate: 'Celem'
Duties accepted

Defend Sun Oil Refinery M beta - Sanctity of Corruption
2x Hostile M5 Contacts
Successful - retainer paid: 574Cr

Defend Teladi Trading Station - Company Strength
1x Hostile M5 Contact
Successful - retainer paid: 332Cr

Defend Teladianium Foundry L beta - Bright Profit
2x Hostile M5 Contacts
Successful - retainer paid 1,014Cr

Patrol - Company Strength
5x Hostile M5 Contacts
Successful - no kills - retainer paid 290Cr

Patrol - Bright Profit
4x Hostile M5 Contacts
Successful - no kills - retainer paid 301Cr

Pilot currently gives home port as Pirate Base - Bright Profit

[celem]

Heh, the clue to this one is in the 'no kills' patrols. Tedious as watching paint dry, im running about like a headless chicken staying miles away from everything until it gets eaten by sector defense.

Pay is abyssmal, managed to scoop 3 mosquitos from dead pirate harriers which gives me a second line of defense about as feeble as my 1mj shield.

Plus of course it leaves me 1m3 cargospace, but what do i need cargospace for yet?

Basing out of the pirate base since it means I dont generate an electronic trail with the Teladi, though of course my missioning generated the above report. This arrangement has been a little hair-raising. The base is happy with me as are the LT's, but about half of the local fighter wing are red so undock in this tincan is a little 'roulette'

Credits are beginning to 'pile up' in that I have something like 2.5k since I havent been spending my awesome missioning haul. The other side effect is a slowly increasing reputation with the Teladi. However, as I dont destroy any ships myself my fight rank has not budged from 0 so the missions are not escalating in difficulty.

[celem]

Argon Border Control Report - Belt of Aguilar

Argon Border Control Buster AC6981 reporting.
New Contact Detected. YM5ZU-99 'Octopus'. Pilot Designate: 'Celem'
Destination given as Argon Equipment Dock - Black Hole Sun.
Status: Unknown
Ends

Argon Military Intelligence Report - Argon M148

Pursuant to attached report, a file is opened on New Pilot Contact, designate 'Celem'. As Boron citizen, rights are extended as Argon Friend until reviewed by such authorised individuals or bodies as appropriate. Boron Military Intelligence liaisons report no relevant history on subject. Such open data sources as maintained by the Teladi Profit Guild register minor mercenary activity. (see appendix CBJ223).

Subject will be monitored as per Emergency War Act TC002 while in the vicinity of the active war-front.

Subject followed course as advertised in initial Contact Report and docked at Argon Equipment Dock in Black Hole Sun where Octopus class scout ship YM5ZU-99 was upgraded both in terms of top-speed and rudder efficacity. Current purpose Unknown.

Status: Tracked

Major Kan White, Argon Military Intelligence M148, Monitoring and Surveillance commanding

[celem]

Relevant Combat Report Detected. Linking...Decrypting...
Relevant Excerpt Extracted.
Compiling...

Commentary:

Source Document: Combat Report, Argon Titan - Circle of Labour
Report pertains to the destruction of a Terran taskforce by Argon Military group AS-Alpha in Circle of Labour on the North Gate.

Excerpt from gunnery sergeant Kit Morari

[...]Towards the end of the engagement our firing efficiency was hampered somewhat by the presence of a civilian salvager on the field of battle. The boron craft was tiny, barely more than a shuttle, and on several occasions turrets along both flanks were forced to break off as shells passed uncomfortably close to the civilian. He seemed to be willing to risk everything for the missiles littering the battlefield, but thankfully there were no accidents. Despite this both deck captains indicated a general satisfaction with the [...]

Craft later identified from guncams as YM5ZU-99, piloted by independant 'Celem'. Further cross-referencing with the infonet indicates that the aforementioned has recently scavenged from several sites of Argon/Terran engagement. Data-trails indicate that subject is not considered hostile by Terran forces and as such is unmolested in war zones. Transaction logs have been datamined from the Equipment Dock in Omicron Lyrae indicating that at least a part of recovered materiel is being returned to the Argon. These revenues have been likewise spent at the same station, with the pilot fully upgrading his craft's speed, handling and cargo capacity, and beginning to purchase some basic software systems.

Subject 'Celem' is now considered an Accepted Advisor based on his contribution to the war effort, albeit second-hand, through the means of recirculation of 'lost' materiel. Recommend contact regarding extended service in the Argon Military with respect to our current Terran Conflict.

Status: Contacted, pending

Major Kan White, Argon Military Intelligence M148, Monitoring and Surveillance commanding

[Sabrina Bergin]

Celem:

Always good to see another DID up and running' I like the different approach you have taken and I am intrigued as to where you will go next. I wish you well in your current adventure and will be lurking on the forum for you.

[celem]

Argon Shipyard - Omicron Lyrae

Trace detected...Extracting Transaction Details...
Forwarding Transaction Notice...

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

Sold 1x Argon M5 Discoverer reg. YM5TQ-34, partial exchange on used craft Boron M5 Octopus reg. YM5ZU-99.

Purchasing Agent: 'Celem'

Pilot is tracked, forwarding Notice to appropriate intelligence channels.

Addendum: YM5TQ-34 has been fully expanded and upgraded by above pilot within minutes of ship purchase.

Message Ends.

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

Handling Agent's Comments:

Subject 'Celem' is currently operating as a civilian salvager in the contested regions. MilPsy mainframe's Restricted Intelligence (quotient .5% below self-determinism threshold) predicts exchange of ship will lead to no deviation in currently observed behaviour. It is the belief of the RI, and indeed also of this agent, that this move was prompted by a desire to salvage more effectively than the Small capacity of previous craft would permit.

Messages have been dispatched through the GalCom net following previous recommendation regarding enlistment of subject as freelance war asset. Message callback headers indicate this transmission was recieved, yet no reply is yet logged.

Action recommendation is unchanged. Observe and Monitor.

Status: Contacted, pending

Major Kan White, Argon Military Intelligence M148, Monitoring and Surveillance commanding

[celem]

A frustrating few hours of gaming last night. I had been steadily upgrading the Octopus, boosting it to it's awe inspiring limit of 2MJ shielding and 15m3 cargo-hold. I also scooped up some software for use later on, mainly fight/nav comms, freight/mineral scanners and so on.

I also took the opportunity to swipe a CLS from the PB back over in Bright Profit, this trip was uneventful and the Argon were having a royal dustup with the terrans in OL at the time so I'm assumed to have escaped notice as I slipped East for that purchase.

On returning from this little trip I re-entered OL just intime to see a couple of Terran M7's go up in smoke. One of them dropped a stack of 11 spectres, which I cried over at length what with them being an M class ware and all.

So thats why the 'sidegrade' to the discoverer. Still an M5 so I can still run away screaming as and when required, yet triple the cargo bay, 'M' ware compatible which will drastically improve my salvaging hauls and also permit later JumpDrive installation. I also obviously transferred all my software purchases across from the 'pus.

The disco has been upped to it's dizzying 3mj shielding but is still unarmed.

Credits as always are at or near 0, I've been making pretty good cash on poltergeist missiles and even at one point found a remote-guided warhead (at 27k these are epic 's' class drops). The disco will let me scoop some of the goodies i've been forced to leave lately, hammerheads, belugas, cyclones, spectres, thunderbolts and so on.

[Sabrina Bergin]

That sounds like a good decision on your part and as you have noticed allows for a wider range of salvage items.

You might want to consider the Kea as your next step it is still capable of RSLAG manouvers but will give you a bit more security.

[celem]

The fighter craft rolled and banked, shuddering slightly as cold-jets mounted on the nose and wingtips produced a skidding effect to realign the vessel as swiftly as possible. With the new course laid-in, the figure at the controls gave a barely audible exhale and settled back further into the viscous gel of the grav-couch.

Irritating really, to be dragged away from his desk and several crucial engagements, yet when SecDef called, you jumped. No if, no but, just 'which way, sir?!'.

So here he was, a senior intelligence officer patrolling one of the safest systems in the known universe in a prototype Nova craft worth more than his pension. Waste of time and resources really, he mused to himself as his ship accelerated on it's new course and he was pressed down by the invisible hand of G.

His eyes drifted across the instrumentation panel and gravidar plot every 30 seconds, as a routine hammered into him a decade back in flight-school ran loops in his hindbrain. A softly pulsing green icon flared into life in his peripheral HUD, and his eyelids flickered almost too fast to perceive as he thumbed it virtually and text disgorged across his virtual vision.

---------------------
Recipient: Major Kan White #10344927451
Sender: Corporal Jal Swing #2217263591

Body:
Spotted Argon Discoverer YM5TQ-34, location Enduring Light. Current course suggests subject is bound for Argon M148.
One of yours, yes? Pilot is tagged as monitored and contacted. Looks like he's coming on-side. Jal.
---------------------

The text ghosted and finally faded from view as the smart-sensors in Kan's HUD detected that his attention had moved on. He glanced down again at the gravidar plot.

'Hmmm', he mused to himself.

He was currently 24km off the gate to Enduring Light and his appointed patrol-path had him continuing South-down-East away from the point this Celem would enter system. He quickly brought up the comms interface into virtual-vision and squirted a tight-band signal to the Military Outpost requesting permission to deviate and intercept.

A few seconds ticked by as the system's intricate comm net decrypted, re-routed and forwarded his message via a bewildering chain of low-orbit commsats and relays. A moment later the voice of his direct superior crackled into his ears.

'Permission to deviate granted, additional military assets will assume your patrol-path. Standing orders remain, contact and recruit.'

He gave a slight smile as he hauled the fighter round yet again and plotted a new course toward the Northern gate.

[celem]

'Gate fire', droned the artificial voice of the Nova's computer.

Kan pulled down his Video Enhancement Goggles and zoomed to the gate, he was still 16km out, yet the hardware effortlessly acquired and resolved a detailed view of the system's only portal.

Sure enough the sleek needle-form of an Argon Discoverer-class vessel slipped through the raging EM-vortices created by the gate's activation and entered Argon M148.

Kan's HUD rapidly filled in with details as the computer parsed and interpreted the various IFF signals transmitted by the new arrival. Green across the board, this was indeed the pilot he had personally been tracking these past few days. A vague feeling of anticipation filled Kan as he pushed his Nova up to it's maximum speed, this guy appeared useful, despite his lack of communication. Just surviving in the contested regions, even as a neutral 3rd party indicated some fair degree of piloting skill and no small amount of sheer nerve. Yes, this guy could well prove useful.

His thoughts were abruptly derailed as the Nova's computer emitted a loud 'blarp'.

'Missile launch detected.'

Kan twitched involuntarily, his hands moving to begin evasive manouevers, before he corrected himself. A detected launch, not an incoming munition. This wasn't coming his way. The tension eased slightly as he scoured the gravidar plot for the tell-tale trace of a missile-launch.

There... That made no sense. His gravidar plot was showing the launch originating from a Split Military Viper patrolling the volume of space immediately surrounding the Military Outpost. Who were they shooting at?

The computer began to squawk again, and Kan watched in disbelief as more missile traces joined that in flight, multiple launches, tomahawk's from their profile, all headed in his general direction.

He realised with a jolt that he had been focusing too much on his gravidar returns and sought to reacquire the Discoverer that he was waiting for. Celem was still in the area of the gate, making top-speed for the Military Outpost Kan was stationed at, he really did seem to be coming on-side.

However, even as he watched the little scout blazed with radiation-wash as the pilot flipped the craft over it's own length. It began a tight, skidding turn as it's main drive rapidly scrubbed V and thrust the vessel back towards the gate.

'What in all the hells...' began Kan aloud in bewilderment.

A moment later the pieces slotted into place as the first Split Tomahawk cruise passed him at a low relative velocity. His computer analyzed it's trajectory and calculated an estimated target.

'94% probability. Munition locked onto YM5TQ-34. Warhead is hot.' came the digitalised voice, confirming his suspicions.

This was entirely too much, after all the effort taken to bring this Pilot in, here their allies were, throwing capital-class munitions at him. No wonder he had scrubbed out and bailed so fast, the discoverer might outrun a tomahawk, but the missile's copious fuel reserves would have meant quite the run-around before it self-destructed.

And then of course there were the other Split patrols in system...

'Gate fire', droned the computer once more, and Celem vanished in a blaze of exotic radiation.

'Bloody fiasco', Kan muttered to himself as he swung his craft around and headed in to dock.

This was going to be tricky to work through. Their Split allies were notoriously intransigent, and rarely forthcoming about anything not pertaining directly to their current conflict.

'What could he possibly have done to piss them off that badly?', he wondered to himself as he began mentally composing his report. Bailed out of an assigned patrol to intercept and recruit a freelancer, only to have said pilot scared off by their allies. Yes, this was not going to be too much fun to explain.

[celem]

Wanted to 'use' Kan a bit, since he's the only individual i've created other than myself.

I had thought to go and start the Argon plotline since it brings Celem most definitively onto the Argon 'grid' and gives me something to write.

I had of course forgotten that a suicidal squid is public enemy #1 to both the split and the paranid. And of course Argon M148 generally contains a number of split military vessels.

I actually made this mistake, jumped in and then left almost immediately when a Mamba came onto the scanner and I realised the situation.

Some creative license used regarding the nature of the threat, mainly so Kan will understand what went down.
Was fun to write something a bit more descriptive, will do so off and on as I see fit. Made sense since I was entering a tightly controlled military zone and the homebase system of my 'handler' for him to be your eyes.

Incidentally this is a good example of what I was talking about in the OP. about 3 minutes of gameplay that took 90 minutes to compose and write-up. But I enjoyed it, hope you do too.

[celem]

The salesman frowned as he double-checked the order. Remote sales always warranted an extra look-over, just to make sure the buyer's spec was being followed. Mercury TS, check. Full upgrades to speed, handling and cargo as standard, check. Special command software, check.

Looked good...

He hit the confirm control and logged out of the system. Somewhere beneath his feet the shipyard would be gathering modules and components, assembling the craft this pilot had just ordered. The salesman had spoken with this customer, even if they had not physically met, the order coming in over the communications net had put him in direct contact with the buyer. The 'conversation' had been short and to the point, bordering on terse, yet he was in some small way glad of this. Typical deals face-to-face involved a lot more aimless chitchat and small talk, which when you lived by commission was wasted time.

He left the sales suite and headed for the nearest elevator, which would take him down some 30 floors to the entertainment decks. The evening stretched ahead of him, beckoning and inviting. A few bars, some unwinding. Somewhere there was probably a woman waiting for him if he had the patience to search her out.

He grinned and stabbed the button for deck 42.

As the elevator descended he gazed out of it's armor-glass wall/window at the view of the production floor far below. Even as he watched a ship was emerging from the fab units and being shunted by cargo-tugs onto a docking clamp. Yep, there it was, Argon Mercury TS. He began to idly calculate his commission on this latest sale.

Some moments later the elevator wheezed to a halt and the salesman disembarked, heading toward his favorite haunts.

Behind him, unobserved in the dimly lit and cavernous docking bays a figure slipped from behind a stack of cargo crates and flitted across to the newly comissioned hauler. After a mitzura of fiddling with the entry-pad the docking-locks irised open and the figure slipped through and onto the ship.

Barely had the locks zinged shut when they were spiralling open again and the interloper slipped out again to vanish into the gloom.

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

(Author: Got inspired, setting the stage for something to come. dot dot dot)

[Triaxx2]

Added to the DiD list.

[celem]

Added to the DiD list.

Cheers

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

'Delta-oh-eight-niner, acknowledge'

'Delta-oh-eight-niner, standing-by'

'Proceed via South Gate, commence patrol of Circle of Labour.'

'Roger, that'

The wing of three Scimitar-class fighters leapt forward as they engaged their combat drives. Ahead of them, just off the southern gate, a Katana-class escort circled. As the fighter wing closed it slipped alongside, joining their Delta formation at point. The smaller craft throttled back to allow for their newest member and they made the jump into hostile space.

Emerging into the target area they began their standard patrol routinue, bearing first East and then due South towards the other portal in this Argon system.

All was unnaturally quiet, as they closed on the variety of Argon stations found in Circle of Labour they jinked and weaved, yet it was unnecessary, no fighter wings climbed to intercept, and no orbital weaponry raised issues with their passing.

Man, what a boring patrol. Where were the Argon hiding? This was supposed to be their space after-all, why hadn't they come to deal with the interlopers?

Wait, something on the southern edge of scanner range. Debris-clouds, still dense enough to be recent kills. Some tumbling ordinance spilled from the losers of the latest border skirmish.

But whatever had happened here, they had definately missed the party.

The wing's commlink stuttered into life as the lead fighter liaised with his escort and a holding pattern was agreed upon. The Terran light-wing began to gently orbit the Southern Gate to Omicron Lyrae. Nothing red in system, any potential targets ought to be coming from that direction.

They waited, and held. And held, and waited...

At last a gate fire! The IFFs did their thing, electronic handshakes criss-crossed the void and both incoming were swiftly designated neutral. Nothing for the warships to do here, just a light, unarmed scout and attendant Transport vessel.

The two newcomers headed out from the gate and began picking through the still expanding debris-clouds, the scout swooping down upon scattered missiles, while the Transport slowboated it's way from canister to canister, retrieving some energy cells and ore, dropped in all likelihood by the last Argon Transport to attempt to resupply the stations here in Circle of Labour.

Still no hostile contacts, whatever intel had sent this combat wing screaming South had evidently been erroneous. Or maybe someone higher up was bored, or one of the members of their little wing had upset one of said higher-ups. However it had happened, here they were, but here the Argon weren't. Just another tedious patrol.

The two salvagers finished their work, the last vestiges of useful material sucked into the cavernous hold of the Mercury-class vessel. They wheeled about and both set courses back toward the gate they had recently arrived through.

Back to Argon space eh? 'Neutral' in name alone, the war-zone would occasionally bring forth these scavengers. As a rule they based themselves from Argon territories and returned there with their booty. And yet Terran High Command had, at the very start of the war, issued standing orders that such 'civilians' were to be left unmolested. Perhaps THC hoped they would in time come to sympathize with and even join the Terran war. Fat chance, these two looked useless anyway, the scout was completely unarmed and the hauler seemed fresh off the production line, woefully under-shielded and with it's turret hardpoints devoid of anything remotely useful/threatening.

A gate fire as the scout blazed out of the system ahead of the lagging hauler, which was still plodding it's way along on a convoluted gate-approach, clearly under the governance of an unimaginative auto-pilot.

The Terran Wing banked as a single unit and began another pass across the volume around the gate.

Suddenly targetting computers began squawking in the Terran cockpits. HUDs burst into life and began tracking a hostile contact.

The warships wheeled and accelerated to combat speed, the Scimitars pulling out ahead of the slower Katana as they sought to acquire this threat.

Ahh yes, right there in the gate-mouth. An Argon hauler of the same Mercury-class as that previous scavenger. This one flagged red and designated hostile, viable target!

As the Scimitars descended upon the hapless merchant, EMPC's winding up to deliver what must surely be a lethally effective pass, the wing's commlink chattered into life. The Katana bringing up the rear was questioning the target's designation. Something about his course was wrong.

Two of the Scimitar's wheeled off, breaking the tight Delta of fighter's that had been screaming along like an arrow-head in flight. Looping back around they were buying time to query the Katana before continuing.

The third little fighter however seemed oblivious to the confusion rapidly developing within his wing and strafed the Mercury with glowing plasma shells. The charged balls smashed into the lumbering hauler and swiftly annihilated it in a blaze of hard-rads from it's imploding power-core.

The victorious fighter blew through the expanding cloud of charged patricles and pulled a wide victory-loop to rejoin his comrades. In it's cockpit the Terran was whooping and pumping his fist. First confirmed hostile kill, a big moment for any combat pilot.

'Weapons cold!, Wing disengaging!' came the comm from the Katana.
'All assets, plot for Asteroid Belt, I am washing out this patrol' came the call.

Odd really, for an escort to take it upon himself to prematurely cancel a patrol. Such orders usually came in long-range over the Military net.

'There was something altogether wrong with that, didn't anyone else notice?' The Katana pilot seemed unsettled, what might he have noticed that the fighters had not?

A general silence over the commnet indicated that his wingmates had indeed not noticed whatever it was that had brought the escort up short.

'The red, he was in the gate-mouth right? But did nobody notice his course was outbound and not inbound? He was only 50m into the system, but he was headed South, not North!'

More silence as the group of pilots struggled to understand what they were being told.

'So, like, he entered, saw us and made a bee-line back out? Happens. Red is Red. Red is Dead.' commed the pilot who had scored the kill.

'Negative', replied the Katana. 'No gate fire was detected after the departure of the civvie scout, I think we just fried his hauler.'

'But... Red...'

'Look... I really don't know. I agree, his IFF was hostile, signal transponders indicated affiliation with the Argon Military, computers designated him hostile. But nobody entered, and I never noticed the civvie leaving, the target's course holds with the civilian's last plotted course.'

The Katana pilot sounded as confused as the others, he might have noticed (just too late) what was happening, but he had no better idea of what had caused this debacle.

A chill crept down the spine of the Scimitar pilot who had so recently been looking forward to boasting of his success in the bars of Mars' Outposts.

'Did I just fry a neutral?', he wondered to himself as the patrol headed homewards.

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

[celem]

Asteroid Belt - Orbital Patrol Base

Incoming Transmission...
Ref:#210833
Origin System: Omicron Lyrae
Source: 'Celem' - designated neutral

Registering complaint. Unprovoked aggression against my assets in Circle of Labour. Loss of 1x Argon Mercury class hauler. Compensation and explanation requested...

Ends.

:>
:> reply #210833

:Wing Commander Danni Wheeler responding
:Incident acknowledged
:Incident under investigation
:Gunlogs confirm your asset redesignated as viable target
:Redesignation occured immediately after your own departure from system
:Believe tampering with your vessel's IFF systems
:Further contact as information becomes available
:THC regrets incident
:Ends

Saving...
Sending...Sent.

:>
:>logoff

[celem]

Yes. I forgot war-zone OOS mechanics and lost my Mercury. Just couldn't help but make it all sabotage and intrigue for story purposes Did actually go down as posted otherwise, had him following me and he got caught between me jumping the gate and him jumping behind me.

Mercury was bought with the profits of a particularly good salvage haul. Filled the disco with hammerheads (wow those things are bulky), which at 80k a piece left me for the first time sitting round the half-mil mark.

I had started to see some XL wares in freight cans after the Terrans wasted a convoy and had hoped to grab them, also most battle-sites yield far more missile volume than the disco can hold, but lost the TS on it's first flight.

These things happen (frequently since im scatterbrained), but I'l recover easily enough, just need to spectate on a few more cap ship battles from the disco and do some more missile recovering.

Assets: 50k Cr, Fully upped Disco, Healthy feeling of Foolishness

[Sabrina Bergin]

Yeah that had to hurt, but good job on using it in a mission tale.