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DSV Ontario, Coordinate C/3, Texas System, Liberty Space
September 3rd, 812 A.S. - 2148 hours
The DSV Ontario was a bulk hauler, made up primarily of compartmentalized cargo sections converted into smelters and refineries, with a large cargo bay at the center of the ship functioning as a hangar bay for the two ships docked aboard - a Scimitar fighter and a Surveyor mining ship. The crew of four worked as a freelance crew of quasi-Junkers, although remaining neutral in all diplomatic respects.
There was Edgar Hammond, the leader of the group, and the owner of the Ontario - having bought the ship as a stripped-down hauler in 804, he had been running the vessel as a modified salvage trawler ever since. The first man he brought aboard was Jake Lloyd, his right-hand man and a good pilot, in some respects. Previously working for the Liberty Police, he fell on hard times after a layoff of his precinct and joined up with Hammond to build up a life again. When he's not drinking coffee on the bridge of the ship, he's sitting in the hangar, hoping that some two-bit pirate doesn't show up and make him do his job for once.
The third was Hannah Rosenthal, a mechanic who tends to be tight-lipped about her past. Though her background lies in mystery, she is still highly valued by the crew, as her mechanical and engineering experience has saved the crew from many a repair bill or drydock refit.
And finally, there was Sean Roberts. A new hire by Hammond, picked up last August. He worked as the cargo hand and the scrapper, analyzing the wreckage they flew past and picking up what was worth it, and smelting what wasn't. He was paid what might be considered minimum wage in the medieval ages, but it was at least a stable job. And it was a relatively simple job, all things considered. Find scrap metal on the scanner, analyze it, figure out if it's any good. If it's worth something, power up the tractor array, focus in on the part, and bring it in. If it's useless, bring it into the smelter and burn it down for the raw components. It paid the bills, mostly. 'course, it wouldn't stay that way.
It was a relatively normal day, all things considered. Sean was pretty much wrapping up salvaging in this sector, and they only had one more zone to crawl through. They hadn't caught too many parts this time around, as pickings were slowly getting slimmer and slimmer as more salvagers and scrappers hopped on the craze. Where one used to find entire wrecks, fully intact, now only discarded ammunition and ejected turbofans remained.
So, it came as a bit of a shock when the scanner reported three fully intact haulers directly in front of them. Upon arriving at the reported contact, they began to conduct deep scans of the internal structure of the vessels. They were bulk haulers, not unlike the Ontario, but clearly designed for more long-range supply contracts - their engine blocks were more heavily armored and point defense batteries dotted the exterior of the vessels. But as they scanned the ships, something very odd stuck out to the crew: the wrecks were new. The scorch marks and debris left from what was quite clearly some form of piracy were fresh, only hours old, and parts of the ships still glowed red-hot from the searing plasma of anti-ship weaponry. And as the crew pondered over what to do next, the scanner lit up like a christmas tree.
Posts: 1,947
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Staff roles: Systems Lead Server Administrator
Cargo Hand Sean Roberts
DSV Ontario, Coordinate C/3, Texas System, Liberty Space
September 3rd, 812 A.S. - 2150 hours It's those moments when you realize the magnitude of the situation that you are in that really take you by surprise. One moment, you're in a bubble of safety, your emotions and mental state tightly wrapped and secured - and the next, it's all out the window. Your heart and mind racing, putting in one-hundred and ten percent of the effort to get you through.
Lloyd was the first to see the ships. "Contact, contact! Eight bogeys on fast approach, due bearing 330 and closing quick! Spool up those drives and get us outta here, now!", his gruff voice barked, reverting to his old Police training. Hammond and Rosenthal left their stations to the command and engine rooms respectively; Roberts, however, ran to the top turret. It wasn't anything special - a quad-mount of plasma lances synchronized to fire in alternating pairs, the turret was mainly designed to scare off the odd pirate when Lloyd couldn't do it himself. Hopefully it would be enough this time, too.
Roberts crawled up the claustrophobic tunnel into the ball turret, taking a seat in the tattered chair and powering up the weapons systems. Just over the blaring klaxon that had begun to sound, he could hear the hum of the engines turn into a roar, reverberating throughout the ship. Roberts began to scan slowly, turning his turret and attempting to visually see the hostiles. As he began to spin around the rear of the ship, three red triangles appeared in front of him. The HUD's triangles identified the craft as bombers, bearing a xeno identifier and closing quickly. It wouldn't be long before they'd be attempting to open up the Ontario like a can of beans.
"Lloyd, if you're on here, there's three bombers on our tail. Got nothin' else in sight at the moment." He began to lock onto the closest ship. A little over six kilometres away, but closing fast. The toaster that passed as a targeting computer on the ship calculated a firing solution, and Roberts waited for the ship to come into range.
He gets distracted for a moment as a trail of light bursts out of the hangar bay. The HUD identifies it with a green square, noting the vessel as FRIENDLY - JAKE LLOYD | LIGHT FIGHTER. He flew a loop around the ship before heading on an intercept course for the bombers. Their velocities cut sharply when they came within three kilometres - he could only assume this was them cutting their cruise engines.
He could tell that they had cut the Ontario's, too, as he nearly slammed his head into the turret due to the sudden deactivation of her engines. Pushing her way on maneuvering jets, Roberts shook himself and focused back on the bombers. The targeting computer let off a little "ping" when the closest bomber came into range. He took hold of the joystick in front of him and held down the trigger.
Where five seconds ago a slightly used Roc bomber craft was, there was now nothing but some fiery debris and scrap. The two bombers to his immediate left and right broke off, with Lloyd chasing down the one peeling left. Roberts waited for the thermal discharge to settle - the last thing he needed was for the gun to overload - and began to lock up the bomber on the right.
That is, until the Ontario shook like an earthquake. Roberts spun around, attempting to locate the source. It didn't take long, considering it flew over him. Bomber, like the others. He used the manual leaf sight and took some shots at the culprit. It seemed to only take superficial damage, before it combusted into a ball of fire. Must've hit the poor sod's bombs..., Roberts thought to himself. He had little time to celebrate however, as the three new contacts began to take potshots on the Ontario. The shield convulsed and withered as it held back a wave of plasma and laser fire. Roberts ejected the turret's heat sink and picked off another bomber - his last burst had cut the ship clean in half, and it sailed off a short ways before detonating. Three down, a million to go..., he thought as he heard the ever-familiar sound of additional targets appearing.
