David Chambers chortled all the way to the infirmary. He hadn't ejected to much as drifted slightly faster than the disintigrating ruin of his ship. The Waran bomber had sustained hours of transport barrages, Outcast snub fire, gunboat blasts and the harsh environment of the Barrier Nebula. When her structure finally succumbed under the fire of the pair of BH fighters and Orca gunboat striving to end the life of her pilot it had beyond exploded, the engines had somehow ripped themselves free of the superstructure and taken her powercore with it.
Sitting atop half of a ship, he had opted to pull the ejection lever and see what would come of it.
Nothing had.
He felt invulnerable, there were too many scratches on the dash of the bird for this to be the day he died. So he had kicked the cockpit canopy and... Simply thrust himself away from the ruin of his ship. In their frenzy the hunters had rent the vessel asunder, returning in the wake of its final shudder to turn upon his short lived compatriot, Caleb Swift. As he simply floated away.
Which presented its own challenges in retrospect.
He was retrieved by a passing Zoner, some young thing that would doubtless spend the next several months singing a song of heroics for plucking a drifting pilot from the vasts. Oh but danged if it hadn't been a good day.
Pity about all of the exposure.
He crinkled his eyes behind the breathing mask and held his pad before his eyes. The painkillers would doubtless add to a colorful report. At least one that he wouldn't avoid filing because it ended in a really really pathetic beating at the hand of a BS Razor.
I landed myself in the Hornet's nest. My Civilian Bomber is more a theory than a fact, following the brutal clipping I received in Colorado, fighting a Liberty Assault Cattle Bruiser. Not wishing to disturb the cobwebs on my Eagle I opted to take my fat cow of a Waran out for a spin.
The recent upswing in human trafficking that I observed during my last foray in Pennsylvania prompted my decision to explore further up the river. What I encountered in Cortez surpassed my wildest expectations. I was swept into a near constant running battle which took me from the Coronado hole in Cortez to the California system. At every turn I encountered another batch of Outcasts or Slavers attempting to haul the next dump of Cardamine into Liberty space.
Every vessel that I allowed to pass would return bearing a cargo of human flesh. This is something I could not abide. I attacked mercilessly.
I was met with light resistance at first, beyond the desperate impotent pings of the transports themselves, their feeble cries of morality and justice echoing like laughter through my cockpit, an complimentary symphony to match the crackle as my shields brushed aside the spreading clouds of orange debris that marked their passing.
My works garnered swift attention however.
I was swept into a fierce bidding war with a mercenary by the name of Ander Black and a pair of slavers, Eclipse and Gravy. I was somewhat desperate to outbid them, as my chances of downing both heavily armored trains with his Talon firing on my cumbersome Waran were very slim.
I was able to seize the upper hand in the bidding war, and while the Merc was slim help for the price I paid, at least he was not a hindrance.
Within California my position was probed by many, yet remained undiscovered as I strove to maintain a temporary stranglehold on the day's flow. The worst assault came in the form of a Salvager, Pirate Transport and Outcast Bomber. All were eventually destroyed however, though left my vessel much the worse for wear... Allowing an overconfidant Corsair gunboat to assume an upperhand in jumping my lone bomber.
Swift of the XG replied in swi... Er, rapid order however and I was able to lead the gunboat to him, between the two of us it was eventually downed.
We were then beset by an Orca gunboat, pair of BH fighters and another Salvager. The Salvager was destroyed and the Orca severely damaged before my fat cow decided to take on a shade of looks a tad closer to that of roadkill.
Still. Fair enough day for the loss of a single bomber I dare say.
The Day's Hunt
Serwin - BW Transport - 3.6k Pineal Amulets.
Ceza - Advanced Train - 5k Pineal Amulets.
Pricell - Advanced Train - 5k Pineal Amulets
Edgeworld - Pirate Train - - 4.3k Cardamine
Dragonfire2x - Firefly - 3.5k Cardamine
Gravy_For_The_Mind - Advanced Train - 5k Cardamine
Solar_Eclipse - Advanced Train - 5k Cardamine
B-Line - Advanced Train - 5k Cardamine
Pricell - Advanced Train - 5k Robotic Components
Serwin - BW Transport - 3.6k Robotic Components
Ceza - Advanced Train - 5k Robotic Components
Starline - Pirate Transport - 3.4k Cardamine
Junk.Valley - Salvager - Dead Junkers (retrospect)
B-Line - Advanced Train - 5k Cardamine
Gagarin - Falcatta - One dead pilot.
Leo.Del.Luca - Pirate Transport - 3.4k Cardamine
Leet_Sauce - Corsair Gunboat - A Corsair hoping to protect the Cardamine trade
Guther_Azitov - Salvager - More dead junkers.
Cardamine that wont be reaching home:34600. Financial Loss, Manhattan Street Value:116256000 credits.
Mojave, Adder, good show both of you in Colorado. While I consider allowing the passage of the Samura transport to be somewhat... Unconventional, I shant begrudge your judgement in the matter. While we need more Navy birds in the air like we need holes in the head, we need 'em down in Rheinland to keep up the war.
Viper! Now there's a name I haven't heard for a while. I hope you wear it as well as Glenn did. Congrats on your promotion Ms. Rodriguez. It was well earned, despite a number of hiccups on your end. Hopefully recent incidents have rolled some of the bubbles out of your conduct, though I'm somewhat charmed by your "see what you can get away with attitude".
Just remember that pushing my patience can result in your being pushed out an airlock.
Few of our pilots score such a substantial kill so early in their careers. My commendation to you. Wear your new callsign well and it will serve you as well as it did its former holder.
