I'm living on the edge here, running Xeno Relics out of that nice little place in Omicron Pi right under the noses of Core, Order, and Corsairs. Then flying it through the home of the Outcasts and into Gallia. I'm white-knuckling it the entire way but the scientists at that place in Gallia are all too happy to pay me extremely high prices for the goods.
Just netted me a cool 200.000 credits for my most recent sojourn from Delta to Orleanais. I found it pretty suspect that them scientists contracted me to bring them in instead of having one of their intelligence agents do the work for them. Probably because they aren't above board with whatever the hell they're doing there...ah, what do I care, I got my credits.
On my way back to Delta, ran into a Crayter and Zoner fella. They were both sitting outside of the Delta jump in Theta, they both dispersed after I showed up. I wonder if I interrupted a deal. Anyway, I mentioned how odd it was to see a Crayter so far from the Taus. They said something about trade taking them to beautiful places. I wouldn't say Delta is beautiful per say...maybe in a "Can-kill-you-at-any-time" kind of way I guess but...beautiful? Nah.
Gonna get a drink at Durban and get back to looting that ancient alien monument in low orbit and hope that the Corsairs, Core, Order, or any other variety of creepy crawly out there in the Omicrons don't scrag me.
...shit, if they do, I guess credits are the least of my worries. Might as well be drunk when I die.
Another few successful runs to Gallia and I'm up to just over a million credits. Not bad for a couple of days work. The scientists onboard the station in Orleanais have let me know that they're set for a few months of studies and have released me from our mutual contract leaving me a free agent.
During my pursuit of more Relics, I overheard some Core agents in Delta mentioning a botched attempt at delivering Xeno Relics into Liberty for a client. Apparently, it stirred up a bunch of shit in Hudson with Liberty intercepting the Core transports and preventing them from entering the system. Interested, I did a bit of inquiring around to see if I could locate this client in question. Unfortunately, I didn't, but I knew the system they were in: Texas.
With my work done in Gallia, I headed through the Taus into Liberty and hunted through Texas taking stock of various locations. The Junkers at Beaumont wouldn't have much use for Xeno Relics aside from reselling them to rich collectors and the only other station was a DSE outpost and a station near Beaumont. The logical choice was on the latter by process of elimination. On a whim I sent them a communication offering my services and requesting dock access. Time will tell if I guessed correctly or put my foot in my mouth.
Either way, at least I'm looking for more access to certain markets where my skills are useful. I guess all there is to do now is wait and see which is the case.
The past couple of days have been interesting to say the least.
I guessed correctly at the station in Texas being the one which needed the relics from the Omicrons and happily delivered a load to their station. However, the second attempt was turned away by the loadmaster citing that they were full. Puzzled, I departed the station and headed back through Pennsylvania, seeking to deposit the load at Allentown instead. However, as luck would have it, another station in system took the haul from me when I docked for quick repairs from the Dark Matter field in Texas. They asked that I keep their location out of my logs, and so I shall. After all, they said they would happily take any Xeno Relics that I had on me when I passed through...best to not piss them off and keep that money source flowing.
Satisfied, I departed Pennsylvania for Vespucci via Kansas. The flight went smoothly until Vespucci when my sensors got completely turned around. I wasn't able to find my route when I nearly flew straight into the side of an old station that looked like it might've been from the early Insurgency days. I decided to take a detour and investigate the station and see if there was anything worth salvaging in it's storage bays.
Unsurprisingly, the docking bays and mooring clamps were completely out of commission. Their motors were seized up from a lack of maintenance over the years leading my next point of entry via EVA. I was not a fan of EVA, so you have to understand my trepidation to leave the comfort of my ship. I pushed gently off the side of the Pigeon, which I had positioned near the window of what looked like a drinking establishment, and entered via a broken pane of glass overlooking the Guerrero field.
The Freeport was a mess. Bulkheads collapsing, cave-in's in various places, and more. I was surprised when I found much of the station still pressurized, however. A testament to Liberty engineering I guess. I combed through the logs of the station, finding out that the station was never even named and was used as a annex for the Insurgency as a fallback point should Liberty take the system and crush their rebellion. I suppose they never got the opportunity to use the station before the end came. I spent a good while sorting through things on the abandoned Freeport. At some point, I decided to call the little asteroid my home away from home. Hell, if no one else was using it, I might as well, right?
Took me a couple of days to use my new found credits from illicit smuggling to bring at least one of the docking bays up and online. After that I spent some time rigging up some audio cues to the stations PA system along with some networked lighting to really scare the pants off anyone who docked to the abandoned station. Much of it I left to the imagination. After all, monsters are more scary when our own minds conjure them up, right? Lastly, I rigged an AI to auto send a communication to anyone leaving the station to ask them to "Come back and see us soon." as a final jab to anyone snooping around. It would either scare them enough to not come back...or summon the entire Liberty armada to shatter my new home into pieces...either way, it'd be one hell of a show.
My work completed, and my credits once again drained, I departed my new little home away from home and pointed the Pigeon in the direction of the Omicrons once again. After all, those ruins weren't gonna loot themselves.
I purchased a Serenity and decided to have one half of my income be from legit hauling. Gotta diversify, right?
[He chuckles.]
Anyway, saw a contract for Orex Industries out in Omicron Delta for 5,000 SCU's of Robotics and Construction Machinery and decided to run the cargo for them. Turns out, another was doing the same, an Omicron Supply Zoner ship. I was surprised to see them flying around doing deliveries as I haven't seen them around for a while. Regardless, I subtly mentioned that they were "competition" and moored with the station before they could respond.
That'll teach em to try to hoover up all of the contracts in the edge worlds.
[He chuckles to himself again.]
Well, the Serenity can't breach the Omicron Pi jump hole, so I suppose I'll get a haul of something from Delta and hoof it back to my little oasis. Gotta get back to my more lucrative income with smuggling. Having apart of my income being legit is nice, but the illicit side is so much more profitable.
So, with the power vacuum left behind by those MRI guys, it looks like the market is wide open for Freelancer shipping and hauling. I've been looking into opening a front of sorts which runs legitimate cargo to specific places on open or hired contracts. All the while running Freighters back and forth from the Omicrons to haul in things such as Xeno Relics, Cardamine, and other less than savory goods in the eyes of the authorities. I have a few options for names but I'm keeping all this stuff close to the chest. After all, it's only me right now. I wouldn't want to mess this up by bringing in others that might ruin it.
Also, I've been busy during all this continuing to pilfer the alien ruins at Knossos. Frankly, I'm surprised the Corsairs or any other variety of groups out there haven't found out about my little operation. It gives me more of a head-start to get some scratch saved up to pay them off or buy mining rights in the area should they stumble upon my little Pigeon. Plus, being semi-next door to the Technocrats probably isn't that ideal either but no one has discovered my little oasis yet so I should be pretty safe. After all, the station lurked in this field for well over five years on it's own before I discovered it, I think I'm fairly safe...for now anyway.
Another load of Xeno Relics was dropped off this morning. I should have a load out to Texas within the start of next week. Then it's back to the shuffle. I need to find another load to shuffle down to New York...other than Cardamine. That route is often too scrutinized by authorities. Though, my usual route through the Omegas might yield some success. I may have to give it a test and see how we do.
It was bound to happen at some point. The Pigeon had a mechanical issue this evening in Omicron Delta. I lost engine power and wound up drifting into port at Durban Station. It's no surprise, the engines I had on board were retrofitted Liberty engines that were on their last legs when I bought the ship...and I've been running them pretty hard. Luckily for me, I'm a fair common sight on Durban and some of the crew were willing to work in it in-between their normal shifts. They gave me an estimate of a week and about 100,000 credits to get the job done so I went ahead and paid a deposit on it and got a lift over to Freeport 11.
I haven't frequented the Freeport in many years, mostly on account of my route taking me elsewhere in the system. Many more security measures are in place than the last time, including the imposing scanners searching for any hint of alien infestation. Once security was out of the way, I decided to see about renting a ship during the week the Pigeon is down and wound up just buying another Dragur, new this time. Got it setup with a basic engine and weapons setup and am planning on utilizing it soon for more hauling. Named it the Errant.Venture after an ancient movie that I named the Pigeon after too. Nothing like old movies to pass the time between routes.
It'll be nice to be in a new ship for once instead of the junk ships I've frequented over the years. I suppose it shows how far I've come when I can buy a new ship instead of paying pennies for a scrap heap.
Well, the Freeport is mostly repaired now. Generally speaking, not much else needs done other than patching a few holes here and there. The location and the creepy atmosphere of the station is keeping people away so I'm able to do my work.
The Aluminium Falcon, the original ship anyway, was too far gone for even Core personnel to repair. The relay that blew out cascaded into nearly every system as it turns out. They offered me a pretty good deal on scrapping the ship and I used some of the proceeds of that as well as from my hauling to replace it with a used Peregrine from Gran Canaria with overclocked engines. Those Zoners know how to make a lean-mean-smuggling-machine, let me tell you.
After that, I was able to bring in various items: Nox, Artifacts, Cardamine, and other less than legal items for certain individuals within the sphere of Liberty. Why, just today I hauled a bunch of Artifacts to Allentown and netted me a nice 1.075 million. Not too shabby if I do say myself. There is a lot more work to do yet but I think I'm nearing the point where I can reach out to certain interested parties from the Outcasts, Corsairs, and Corse to see if they want to make some money by providing me with their merchandise. I've already got the Xeno Relics angle covered with the Errant Venture so unless some other miner wants to make some money, I'll be handling that front myself. Lastly, I'm bringing in Military Salvage and have some systems onboard the Freeport sorting through that shit. I already have some prototypes ready and up for sale provided the buyer has the scratch required to get em...maybe someone in Liberty would be willing to pay premium dollar for them.
Anyway, that's all for now. Going to switch gears from Artifacts to Nox for a bit. The Omegas and Omicrons are a bit too active with phenomena and random patrols of Bundschuh and Hessians for my liking, the former even threatened me as I flew through Omega-11. Maybe those up towards Alpha and Provence will be a little more respectful to someone providing services to those unable to do so.