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The Freelancer - JonasHudson - 04-25-2022 Part I: Escape from Gaia II April 25th, 829 AS Hudson sat in a booth at the bar aboard the OS&C liner Shetland, reviewing a pad while nursing a glass of whiskey, glancing around the room every so often. They'd just come from assisting the BAF against some Coalition trespassers there in the Poole System. They'd been lucky to make it out. A couple of the crew had just reported to him and departed back to the Magna, his Armored Transport that was moored in the liner's main bay. It had been a busy day. Really, it had been a busy week, and a crazy year so far. Hudson was reviewing some of the latest headlines. Reports about the stand-off over in Vespucci filled the news lately. Another year, another war, another day in Sirius. Yet many had already forgotten that 829 started with another war, the one out on the edge of the Taus. It had only been a few months since the genocide at Planet Gaia, and subsequent disaster that had been called Hudson's Platform in orbit. Hudson had put everything into it, it was a major project to try to establish anything like that out there in such volatile territory. But in the year after the withdrawal and subsequent collapse of the Royalist 'Enclave' Hudson had made his main base of operations near a camp starport on the surface of Gaia. Just enough to administer running his ships out of there, and had begun to establish a scrap/military salvage operation from there. After the war, Hudson left the service and went back into independent Junking as a cover to continue to pirate Gallic and Kusari shipping. He kept a small salvage operation running to keep his actual operations running. With it being a couple of years since the fall of King Charles, Gallic traffic was being covered pretty tightly by the Maquis, and the Kusari economy was not exactly bustling. After a year of being liberated, he tried to get an orbital platform up and running, something to moor some large vessels at, and to flip the salvage coming from Gallia for a decent price. Sadly the entire region exploded into battle around that time with the discovery of a new Gallic Navy base constructed just a system over in the Orkney System, not far from the jumphole back to Edinburgh. It was a blatant attempt to re-encroach on the system, and the BAF immediately went to work on it. The chaos actually worked well to help cover supply shipments Hudson had been running in and out of the system. At first, it seemed as though the Gauls would be his biggest problem. He was wrong. This time, the Gaians had turned sour. They also exploited the situation and launched a full on assault on the station, not long after launching a Bio Weapon Attack on the surface against the remaining refugees of the Gallic war. It was an atrocious act matched only by the destruction of Leeds itself just two years prior. Fanatics with nothing to lose were able to destroy both the planet's future for habitation, and Hudson's Platform. But, not without Hudson putting up a major fight, and a few answered the call as much as they could. He managed to get all he had off the planet safely, in hopes of making a stand in space. Hudson had replied with a wide array of bounties on any Gaian vessels caught attacking the base. At first it seemed to help keep their waves of attacks at bay, but they launched a non-stop cycle of raids that finally left the base too crippled to save. Hudson was on the base itself directing the last of the defense and evacuation, right to the last minute. They'd managed to deploy one 'anti-capital' defense array, and had kept it moving to keep the enemy off balance. It was like shifting a single cannon around from one wall to another to defend a small fort. That, and a well prepared storehouse of repair materials helped buy them a couple of days. It was all they could do against the firepower of those Gaian cruisers. With only a few percentage points left in its hull integrity, he packed up his crew and blasted out of there with the Magna, barely evading their sieging vessels on the way out. For weeks him and his crew went to ground hiding deep within the Arran Ice Cloud, out at the old Privateers hideout Providence Station. It is well hidden within the nebula there and to this date makes for a perfect hideout. As he'd suspected, the Gaians disappeared not long after and left the system in ruins. Not one of Sirius' best moments to be sure. It meant there was little to no hope of establishing any business or safe operation out there. It was over...for now. After lurking for a few more weeks, some commotion finally caused a shift in Sirius's spotlight, as the civil war in Liberty took a sudden turn against their Separatist 'Insurgency'. * * * * Hudson had drifted off into a stare for a bit, only to hear his comm start buzzing and it was enough to shake him out of it. The music and chatter in the background had become like ambient noise to him. He had thought a lot about the last few months. He wasn't really sure if it would work out, but in the wake of everything that had gone on over the last 5 years, advertising as a Freelancer seemed to make sense. From here on in, they were just gonna launch, and see where it took them. Over the last month, he'd been from the Nomad Worlds, to the Sigmas, back to the Taus, over to New York... Following the action was going to be just about the only way to get any work. Well, today it payed off. Hopefully, today's small job was a good sign, with a 15, 000, 000 SC payment. "Jumpstart here cap, the ship is ready to go, we're ready to launch where you are" Jumpstart reported. "Alright have the engine hot, I'm coming down in 10 minutes. I don't wanna linger too long, with all this Coalition activity out here, let's keeping moving for now." Hudson replied, as he downed the last of his drink. He looked down at his pad and pressed the 'send' button on a message file he'd had ready. It broadcast via the neural net back to his HQ ship, the Ragnarok , stationed several systems away. "File sent" the computer voice alerted. Done and done, he jumped up, grabbed his bomber jacket, and barreled out the hatch in the direction of the hangar bay. RE: The Freelancer - JonasHudson - 07-10-2022 Part II: Cold Space July 10th, 829 AS A Bustard Class civilian carrier finishes it's docking procedure at Leicester Shipping platform, nestled in a tight orbit around Planet Spraque, in the Omega-3 system. Jonas Hudson was standing on the bridge of the Ragnarok sipping a cup of coffee while overseeing the bridge crew's execution of the docking maneuver. They'd jumped over to the system recently just in case anything crazy went down between Bretonia and Rheinland. Hudson figured they might as well bring in the big boat for this, as at the very least they might be able to offer emergency docking abilities to the Bretonians, for a modest price. Hudson turned to the ship's first officer and called him over for orders, "Now that the ship is secure, begin refueling and maintain all systems at full readiness. I'll be taking my freighter down to the surface of Sprague to monitor things from there. My bomber and gunship are already waiting down there." Hudson informed him, "Keep a lid on things here until I get back. Otherwise, we'll stay a couple weeks and jump back to the Taus if things pass." The officer saluted and turned to resume his duty. Hudson's comm link beeped and began to buzz with a voice, "Boltcutter here cap, the Stratocaster is ready to launch in the hangar bay, standing by for orders" Boltcutter reported. "Roger, I'm already on my way down. Fire up the engines, but we aren't going far" Hudson blurted back as he whisked through the corridors of the Bustard, crew bustling about doing their duties, making way for him as he barreled through. He arrived at the ship, looking hagard but still running smoothly as always. He trotted up the ramp as it closed behind him and the ship launched normally. He stepped up into the cockpit and took his seat in the main pilot's chair. It was only Boltcutter and Cyclone aboard, with the rest of the crew down on the surface manning the gunship. They stayed quiet as the captain took over the flying. Re-entry was standard for a docking ring assisted re-entry, and the ship zipped overhead of the main colony there to close in on the landing pads Hudson was renting, bringing it down next to his gunboat and bomber. As he stepped out of the ship, down onto the pad he stood and looked out at the city for a moment as a cool wind blew across the elevated platform. Sounds of heavy ship traffic filled the air. He took a deep breath, exhaled and then took out a small cigar, lighting it up and exhaling the smoke into the wind. The rest of the crew joined him and approached as a group. "What's on your mind boss?" Bulldog asked, as they all stood there with slightly puzzled looks on their faces, all geared up and ready to go. "Just thinking folks, just thinking" Hudson replied cryptically. "That's what we're afraid of" Butterfly blurted as they all chuckled for a moment. "Alright folks, take shifts keeping the gunboat ready, the rest of you can hit the town for the weekend. Unless something comes up.... so keep your communicators on and within earshot," he said to them as he turned and continued to smoke the cigar. "What about the Rheinlanders captain? If they show up, we gonna be joining the fight?" Cyclone asked. "Well," Hudson sighed "Doesn't look like much will be going on. Probably a bluff, no one's in the best position to launch a war still, and the only one's that will really come out on top are the criminals out here," he explained, "The House Goverments know that" "You think it's the Hessians that scared everyone off?" Boltcutter chimed in. "Maybe, after what we saw" Hudson said as he puffed his cigar pensively, "That's what I mean. Bretonia and Rheinland wind up committed to a war, who really comes out on top? The Hessians, the Corsairs, the Coalition ..? I suppose if they avoid war, we'll still have chances bagging some decent escort contracts through the Omegas for a while. Time will tell" He finished. "What about you captain?" Jumpstart asked with concerned frown on his face, as the rest began to disperse. "Oh me? I'll be at the bar" he said back with a smirk. "Just...at the bar?" Jumpstart retorted. "Got a better idea?" Hudson replied, as he finished the stogey and dropped it to stamp it out with his boot, "You know me, I'll be cruising the neural net, if anyone needs me...", he then turned and walked away towards the doors leading to the city. Uploading Log Entry... Uploading Log Entry... RE: The Freelancer - JonasHudson - 09-06-2022 Part III: The Job September 5th, 829 AS So there I was, just sitting there in the cockpit of the Stratocaster, as it sat out on the main landing pad of Freeport 1, ready to depart. It had been a quiet couple of months. I was just getting ready to head back to Sprague after a long evening of wallowing at the Freeport bar... When along came a Freelancer. He was hesitant at first, some kinda young hotshot Freelancer I figured. He seemed to recognize the ship and lingered close by for a moment. I noticed the fighter of Rheinland origin and hailed him. We talked for a short while about Leeds, and the LRF. Post war Bretonia. I advertised my services as per usual out of hope he might be looking for a decent operative, he seemed curious about my experience. Finally he cut to the chase. He was looking for some "preferably" active Nomad Power Cells. Not impossible in this day and age, but you can't just snap your fingers to get 'em either. 30 years ago these things had only just been discovered, only one was ever thought to exist at first. Now we know the Nomads use them for a variety of high energy consuming activities, like cloaking. You might find them dropped off a destroyed Nomad Marduk or Ishtar, or you might find one still stashed away on a wreck somewhere, of a ship that almost made it back to civilization with one in its hold. The Nomad War of 801 A.S. started over one. So I told him give me 48 hours. I made my way out of the Omegas not long after, and zipped my way in the Stratocaster out as far as Omicron Delta. Freeport 11 is still kicking after all of these years, now under the administration of a sub group of Zoners called the 'Outworlders'. Another name but they seem to be about the same kind of quiet Zoners. After a brief rest I grabbed the crew and we set out on a major patrol of several of the surrounding systems. Even let myself get carried away and ventured out into the Nomad Edge Worlds to test my luck on some highly secluded wrecks. Unfortunately, luck didn't save me. We churned out one CODENAME turret from an old wreck, but that's about it. Not a piece of Nomad technology in sight, and sadly, the old freighter was no match for anything but the smaller Nomad fighters. Taking down a gunship or battleship was totally impossible. But the small ship with it's high speed, maneuverability, reinforced armor and cloaking device, made it ideal for the odd 'surgical' in and out trip. As long as we didn't linger in one spot for too long, it can be done. But my flight recorder proves, if you let down your guard, even for a second, that's all it takes. Groups of Nomads can appear on you suddenly at point blank range, and in only seconds reduce you to scrap. We stuck it out as long as we could to scan a pilfered wreck, and got the hell out of there. Still, there's always something intriguing about the entrance to the mega structure out there. According to the stories, it's a huge Dyson Sphere the Daam K'Vosh built to encompass an entire star, and there is a great inhabitable surface on the other side. Only the famed Edison Trent and his few fellow Order operatives were said to have been inside and survived to tell the tale. For 30 years since, explorers have only ever been able to get photos of the outside. Too bad the Nomads still guard the area vehemently... So after a long search I packed it in. The freighter took a few bad scratches, and the crew was starting to think I was crazy. At least I took the chance to chart most of the Omicrons that can be charted safely. Well, there was always the backup plan. I had already found one out here within the last year on a trip out in my Waran. Captain Antares had a Nomad Power Cell in storage since the war. Both were at my disposal, and technically were just collecting dust in the cargo hold of a storage freighter back in the Taus. Yet it's never easy to let these go without a backup or something. We doubled back and hit the road out of town, zipping quickly across Corsair space, until returning to Omega-3. Once there, I contacted the operative "Caliban" and offered him a deal on what I had, but by that point I wanted him to convince me why it was worth it. Lucky for him he decided to come clean on his ties to Bretonia Intelligence. I'd suspected he might work for an organization. He said he'd seen my old report files in the database, and knew of my direct involvement with the SIS from that. I figure he must be telling the truth there, else security at the SIS has gone lax. So I let him have it after he convinced me it was going towards some Intel project to help combat the Nomads. We met back up at Freeport 1 and made our way to the Taus where I finally offloaded the items. They were burnin' a hole in my pocket anyways... Days later, I hear some talk about a surge in activity up in Kusari, in the Tottori System. We bounced back up to Freeport 10 in Tau-37, and I had one of my bombers meet me there by remote. I figured I'd leave the Stratocaster behind for this one, since it would be double illegal in Kusari House space. I'm trying to avoid the ire of the House authorities these days, so I jump into an old Lance and made my way over to Tottori. I did a bit of scouting to get my bearings and then returned to the area of the Tojimbo Ice Field. It's a large asteroid field permeated by an ice crystal field that is theorized to have once been a small ocean world, long destroyed and scattered by time. The Hogosha, civilians, and Kusari's vagabonds that compete with the Junkers, had built a base smack dab in the middle of the asteroid field, near one of their other bases. It had attracted the attention of local Outcast warlords and their drug addicted slaves in the criminal gang Golden Chrysanthemums. Their purpose was clear, to suppress local business competition in the area. Sadly these days, the big guys often succeed in driving the little guys out of town. Personally, I have no attachment to the Hogosha, back in my Junker days we did what we could to avoid them. At this point, it seems prudent to keep the Outcasts from having too much, too easily. Plus its always a chance to get some trigger time in, maybe make a few million credits. Well, we did succeed in that. Yet there was no easy way out for this one, with a civilian operation on the line, there's no bugging out when it gets too hot. That's what ejection pods are for. So I went in, guns blazing, and woke up back at Jeju Mining Facility hours later. The base was destroyed by then, not surprising. But we gave them a hell of a fight! After recoving my composure from a few bumps and bruises, I slipped out back through '53 to Tau-37, and back to the Stratocaster. The things we do for the job. *sounds of the bar at the Sprague spaceport can be heard in the background, chatter and the sound of ice on glass* Made it back to Sprague safely, now filing my log for the record. Looks like it's back to the bar until something else comes up... Uploading Log Entry... Uploading Log Entry...