Discovery Gaming Community

I was always a bit different from everyone else in the family. During the troubles, they would huddle back in the cabin and cave - afraid that the lights in the sky would bring more death and destruction to our world.

Me? I stood outside and watched. I wasn't afraid, per se, just more interested. If I was going to die, then so be it. I'm still cautious, of course, and if I get into something over my head, I know to run like hell. Death is sort of permanent, after all.

My family was aware of technology - they just didn't really care for it. We're not quite descended from the Amish in what was the old United States back on Earth, but our religious beliefs - at least those of my grandparents, anyway - was to live with the land, and not use more modern things. I never thought that made a whole lot of sense, personally. And when I found that box my great to the whatever grandfather had hidden in the cellar of the community hall (okay, I wasn't supposed to be there - my love for looking into places I'm not supposed to be in well known in our community) that was full of old technolody - well, I just had to get it going again.

Turns out it was just a simple optical disk reader of more modern construction, but the real treasure was the optical disks from pre-diaspora. Videos and books - well, five of them, anyway. Three of them were vids - Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Lord of the Rings, and Star Wars. I wondered if I would find the Hobbits guarding the Grail by using the force. The two that were books were compilations of books by two men - David Weber and John Ringo. It's almost too bad that reality doesn't match the universe postulated by Weber - I'd like to have a treecat.

My wanderlust - I know I'm not a character in those movies, those were fiction - is still what finally made me leave home. I learned at home how to cook, clean, hunt, hide, work the land, navigate by the stars - except that now, of course, there are a lot more of them to see - and to trade. I had hitched a ride on a truck that was picking up food from our farmstead and gone into the big city. From there I signed up as an apprentice engine wiper on the freighter that was hauling our food.

Did I mention I'm a quick study? Oh, and that in the winter when I was growing up I learned how to play poker? WELL? Four months, and I'd made enough to buy my own StarFlier - which was good, because the crew kicked me off when we landed an Manhattan. Seems they didn't like my taking all their winnings.

Now we'll see what I can do in the galaxy. May the force be with me - and if you don't like it, then I'll bring you a SHRUBBERY!

Well, this is both tougher - and more rewarding - than I thought. I've been busy hauling cargo since I got my ship. Hey, you can't make any money sitting in the dock, right?

Of course, since the cargo hold on this StarFlier is about the size of a wart on a frogs butt, you can't haul much. I've also found out already just how lousy the guns on this thing are, too. It's sort of nice to have some big Liberty cruisers in the system - I'm not sure how the Rogues survive with all of them out here. Of course, space is big. I'm reminded of the ancient mariner saying from old Earth - "Lord, my ship is so small, and your ocean is so big." Space is big.

I'm trying to figure out, now that I've made a bunch of jumps myself, just exactly how that one movie could've got it so right - and yet SO wrong? Going through the jump gates is like making a leap into hyperspace - except you're dealing with wormholes here, guys. You cannot fit a wormhole generator into anything as small as the Millenium Falcon - just can't be done.

I think I'm going to stay for a little while at this Liberty Navy base. I'm not signing up for the Navy, by any means. I'm tired of flying passengers from New York to California for now, and I need to relax, get some sleep, and play some more poker.

I hate Rogues.

I thought that running into Tuskers was bad back in the woods of home. And they are. But they're nothing compared to Rogues. You can shoot one tusker and if you kill it, and the others smell his blood and start eating him instead of you, which gives you a chance to run away.

(Of course, if you only wound him, well, then you end up like Earl Yancey. That was an ugly, ugly sight.)

Rogues, you kill one, and the others keep on coming.

I'm just trying to build up my stake out here - cards are good, but the big money is in making decent cargo runs. I managed to trade up to a Bretonian freighter that has some decent room inside. The bad thing is that the Mollys and the Rogues - they don't give a crap about someone trying to earn an honest living. They just want to kill you.

Ah, well - that last bastard I ran into - too bad for him I had a full cargo bay. Maybe one of his buddies transported him onboard. Oh, wait - there wasn't anyone left out there. Hope he died just fine, then. Leave me the hell alone, Rogues, and I'll leave you alone.

Bastards.

I've been seeing so many of these corporation advertisements - come fly with us, whatever.

I'm honestly wondering if I can just save up enough money and buy my OWN damn ship - something along the size of a Percheron - and go into legitimate competition with these guys. Nothing against the companies - but why give them 10 million creds a month when I can put that into my own retirement account?

I think running a perfectly legitimate small business between Bretonia and Liberty is feasible. Of course, I do need to spend some time checking out Rhineland as well, just to make sure that I'm not missing any opportunities over there. Certainly it can't be any worse than running into Mollys and Rogues all the time. I do think I need a little more firepower, too.

I believe that it's an ancient Kusari curse to state, "May you live in interesting times."

Well, if so, then I've been cursed - a LOT.

I finally earned enough from flying a Clydesdale to upgrade to a Humpback. All I wanted to do is haul cargo, and make an honest living, after all.

So what happens my first TWO cargo runs? Hessians and Mollys. I swear, it's almost enough to make a man turn to drink. (Oh, yeah, I can do that anyway!) I finally got a couple of breaks - considering I was almost broke, I needed them. I've spent the last - eternity, it feels like - making risky runs back and forth in a triangle from Edinburgh to New Berlin to Cambridge. I thought I would finally have enough money to pick up a freighter that wouldn't fly like a barge.

Guess what - NO! Still short by more than a million credits.

It goes against my independant nature to sign with anyone and take charity. I'm just too ornery for that, I guess. Anyway, I needed to run to Texas - something about my temporary pilot license going to soon expire, and I'd need a more permanent one. None of these yahoos in Bretonia would sell me one - I needed to be friendlier to them. I guess they weren't watching me and those girls at the Cambridge dock - if we were any friendlier, we'd be linked, instead of merely being joined at a few strategic places.

Anyway, I ended up at Sheffield, and ran into an old buddy of mine from school. He's now a Bounty Hunter - albeit a bit shorter than he used to be. Something about a Rogue missile hitting his cockpit and not exploding - but it still took off his legs at the knees. We worked out a deal under the table - I traded in my Humpback for a Bounty Hunter ship. I can still run cargo, just not as much. Any pilots that attack me and I capture alive, I bring to him at Sheffield.

With this more powerful ship, I've also hired a tail-gunner, Corneus de Lafayette. Turns out his half-sister went to my school, one forum behind me. I think between us, we'll probably be able to still make cargo runs, maybe pick up some escort for hire work, and in general just save up until we get enough for a decent sized cargo ship. It'll take longer, of course, since I'm only going to haul 60 units at a time instead of 270.

But if what I just did to those Rogues in Liberty space that decided to rip me off is any indication - I can't wait to see the Hessians over in Omega 3 that DID rip me off on one of my last cargo runs. My Manta is an expensive ship - with nice armor, shields, and weapons that I can fire all day. Add in my serious missiles, and I'm not afraid of those bastards anymore.

I'm feeling much better now.

Seriously - I figured out the freelancer way to life - or at least my variation on it.

I ran enough missions and took out enough pirates that I was able to save up enough money to get an armored transport. One thing I didn't do was skimp on the weapons - I've got the best Transport guns available.

Does the phrase Q-ship, from old Earth navy history mean anything to you? Letter of Marque? Or just an old fashioned privateer? You know what the difference is betwen a pirate and privateer is, don't you? A pirate hunts legit cargo ships to steal from them. A privateer hunts pirates WITH a cargo ship.

My old buddy and I have upgraded ships - a nice armored transport fist, now a regular transport, and we're saving for what will be our ultimate Q-ship - a Firefly. Of course, since we're running regular cargo runs, the pirates still like to hit us. I just don't run full cargo holds, though - so it's a rare run indeed that I'm not making a side detour to Karlsruhe or Sheffield with a half a dozen Mollys, Hessians, or Outcasts.