The third, unhappy account of the travels of the Gordon.
Since the near disaster that was my trip through Omega 41 I had decided to be a little more cautious and stick to a safe transport run. I therefore picked the Cambridge to New Berlin run as both suitable and safe, and started trading.
I had done a few back and forths when I noticed a new ship had appeared in system, Spaceball-3. I proceeded through Omega 3 without incident, fortunately on the way to New berlin, and picked up engine components in New Berlin to take back to Cambridge, entering the Omega system I proceeded to the trade lane and entered Wilkes Ice Field.
There I finally met Spaceball-3, a gunship of some sort, liberty rogue I believe, with Corsair IFF and a Gaian fighter as his second. I immediately fired up the thrusters and powered towards the other trade lane. However almost immediately I was hit by a cruise disruptor (which was ineffectual mind you) and the trade lane was disabled by a missile or torpedo of some sort. He then demanded I halt and drop my cargo while the gain fighter flew in front of me, threatening to destroy me should I not comply.
Against these odds my freighter had no chance so I was forced to drop my cargo (luckily these were cheap Rheinland engine parts) and leave the system with my cargo bays empty. Entering Cambridge I immediately informed BAF fighters present there of the pirate's location and they swiftly moved to respond. I returned to the trade route, and going back through Omega 3 saw the BAF fighters driving away the pirates, who didn't even dare engage them in combat. Clearly our armed forces' abilities are as renowned amongst those pirates as they are in polite society.
Anyway, the small loss was quickly recouped and the Gordon returned to trading. She's currently docked in Cambridge while I take some leave and proceed to familiarise myself once again with the pubs and pretty girls. So here's to you chaps and Rule Bre...
Well, to celebrate my recent promotion I have purchased a Percheron class transport.
I transferred across the Gordon's memory banks and logs and the system started up like a charm. The Gordon is now a somewhat portly vessel, quite unlike the previous incarnation, and the 4 transport turrets mounted on her don't look quite as shapely as I would wish. However, the increased cargo hold and shielding she carries make flying her a pleasure. I took her first to Gran Canaria for equipment, then to New Berlin via Cambridge for her maiden transport voyage. Luckily no pirates were in the Omegas and the trip was uneventful.
All in all, a great couple of days.
Incidentally, is everything all right with everyone? It seems as if many of our ships are grounded these days. I'm wondering if I've missed a memo or something.
To: Bowex InfoNet From: Frank Blacksmith, captain of the Bowex)Gordon
This is my first report detailing the beginnings of Operation Shetland.
The aim: accumulate 150,000,000 credits for the purchase of a "Shetland" Class Bretonia Train.
current earnings: 60,000,000
Route: Cambridge to New Berlin to New London, earnings approx 7,000,000 per trip
Required Trips: 13 (possibly more depending on piracy)
Since the Kusari invaded Leeds the few safe trading routes have been limited. Costs have risen as the government imposes taxes to aid the war effort, and the demand for machinery is at an all time high. This is the time where Operation Shetland must be put into play to further both Bretonia and Bowex's struggle against the Kusari.
The aim is to create an endless supply of engine components to aid Bretonia's war effort. Rheinland is the best producer of such components and therefore the primary source. The components will be paid for with Berillium, something Bretonia has plenty of and Rhineland lacks. This complementary arrangement should strengthen the ties between Bretonia and Rhineland while at the same time increasing Bretonia's strength against Kusari with a view to taking back Leeds and driving the KNF all the way to Kyushu.
At this time my Percheron is insufficient to the task at hand. However, I plan to accumulate enough to purchase a Shetland, the which has a sufficient hull capacity, to keep Bretonia stocked with engine components while it fights the Kusari in Leeds.
I hope this plan meets with approval, and hope that upon my successfully completing the operation I will be given clearance to make the new Shetland chassis the housing for the Gordon.
Trip 1: Having filled the hold with berillium in Cardiff I headed into Omega 3, there I found a pirate gunship menacing three trading vessels in the vicinity of Freeport 1. The traders were claiming immunity under a Zoner law that creates an effective cease fire zone around their bases, something I was not aware of. The pirate ignored their pleas and opened fire on them, at which point they paid him off.
While this was happening I cruised round the pirate's blind side and successfully reached the trade lane to Aland. Entering New Berlin I ran into a Gallic vessel and we traded banter for a short while. The pilot was somewhat overly proud of being able to speak some long dead language and I put him in his place before heading back. Passing through Omega 3 again I found bounty hunters engaged in a pitched battle with corsairs by Freeport 1. Whatever the cease fire zone is, it seems most people are as unaware of it as I.
I also came across an enormous Zoner ship, the Burninator, which was quite impressive to behold. The rest of the trip passed with no further incident.
[Comm ID] Captain John Harrington onboard Bowex)Stephenson Senior Employee
[To]Bowex management
[Subject]Flight report
Hello Chaps
It have been some time since i last used this Neural Bowex net.
My ship have been in drydock for some time, The technicans have been working on a update of the software in my onboard systems and a upgrade of my navigational unit.
The Crew and I have done some testing and abit of trading runs. Mostly inner Bretonia runs to be sure all systems were working as they were supposed to do, we have done 3 runs to Rheinland.
All those runs were just buisness as usual.
But that changed dramatic today.
I did a short run from Planet NewLondon to that place in Manchester we deliver some special good to. and then back to Planet Leeds. all was normal untill we dropped out from the last tradelane shortly before PL Leeds, where we picked up 2 KNF contacts. they were a fair distance away from the mooring fixture, so we desided to continue to dock.
As we had a prearrange delivery we had no choice other than to undock and make a run for NL, sounds easy right, Well it prowed to more than easy.
undocking was not a problem but when we were allmost at the first Tradelane the ugly voice of a Noodlemucher broke in to our com with the words " it?s a bad day to be flying a Bowex ship" and then the tradelane dropped, at same time all our alarms were screaming INCOOMING FIRE. I quick sounded the Combat Alarm and my crew who were allready seatet in their combat positions got extremly fockused.
It did not take long before all ore Turrest were starting to hit the attacker.
He was ID`ed as [KNF-K]Yoritro flying a Kusari bomber, I could feel the sweat starting to show on my forehead, and wished i had a nice cup of relaxing tea. We were now engaged in a running fight, every time we got glose to a TL he somehow brought it down. But he was only postponing the ineviblte end of the fight.
As the longer we fought the more information our inboard defence fire control computers got.
And then when we were out of Bots and low on bats, My gunner got the firing solution we were hoping to get, and a long salvo hit his bomber from nose to tail from the under side, it only took 1-2 sec then his ship exploded.
I then send out a message to whole Leeds system, you can see the message in the following printout from my onboard recorder.
I have promised my crew a night out tonight with food and drinks on my bill to celebrate our first KNF kill.
Signed Captain John Harrington and Crew
[Closing Download in 3.....2....1....Download close]
[Comm offline]
// server crashed shortly after so i have to wait to be able to get onlie to shat i lootet from his exploding wreack. Signed RR
I am not a native English Speaker, so i make grammar errors.
But it annoys me when people make silly comments about that... especially brits who for the most part can't speak their own language let alone anyone elses!
G'day chaps i set out at around 1900 hours knowing a night shift was ahead of me and my crew, couldnt find an escort so i went it alone keeping my whits about me as i had no security. So i headed for Graves Station in Dublin to pick up some gold for the journey to Rheinland hoping to make a nice profit when i got back into cambridge i managed to find myself some very friendly Bretonia Armed Forces pilots who escorted me safely out of the system, having reached omega 3 in one piece i thought i would be in for a good pirateless night but then the inevitable happened, those god damned corsairs in omega 3 again they stopped me and i had no chance but to pay them off as they gave me two choices 2million credits or death so i picked the obvious, two million credits. i then reacher Stuttgart and got into New Berlin where i was once again pirated but this time by the Red Hessian Army i had to pay them one million meaning that this run i had made a loss then i managed to reach the New Berlin Ring in one piece and there i decided to call it a night having already made losses and not wanting to risk anymore. A fairly eventful night which cost me alot of credits! baisically the usual.
Righto, paperwork, commence! This is just to let you fellows know that the Bramall weathered it's maiden flights admirably with little-to-no interruption from the ne'er do wells that often loiter among the lawless Omega and Independent World systems.
The Bramall has sourced supplies from Rhienland and cashed credits in Liberty! Things are going swimmingly. I have noticed, however, that the Shetland class Train in rather expansive on the rear end, yet not so when it comes to it's turning capability. Still, I'm jolly well flying a space-tank, so what to expect, eh?
The crew and myself have been stirring the old patriotic blood too - running supplies through to the besieged Planet Leeds. Alls been well so far, leading to the general feeling that those Kusari devils couldn't find their rear ends with the use of both hands! It's not like the Bramall is easy to miss!
Oh, one final note, I've had the Bramall's ejection systems altered ever so slightly. There is now the facilities to safely eject a pride of House Cats. That should make traveling with Tiddles through war-zones much safer!
Ceaseless trading has been the order of the day. I have managed to accumulate a fair bit of credit and move what I estimate to be approximately 48,000 units of engine components into Bretonia. Another 6 trips and I should be finally able to upgrade the Gordon. Once upgraded I will have sufficient hull space to start the effective transport of military vehicles and such things.
Given the new intensity of trading I also enlisted some crew to save time in dock.
Remi Artois - Our new mechanic, he says he just recently came to Bretonia from the Gallia systems. He seems to have adapted quite well to the Gordon and keeps her well maintained and functioning.
Argyle McNalty - Our assistant mechanic, he's usually drunk but apparently there's no better man with an electro-spanner. Remi insisted he come along, I have yet to discover their history.
Jose Garcia Fernandez - Our cargo overseer, a friend of a friend. He makes sure we get a good price where we go and also keeps some corsairs off our backs when we're going through the Omegas. He can occasionally be a bit hot tempered but so far we haven't had anything beyond bar fights to worry about.
Lastly, to speed up unloading I bought 3 cargo droids, now its the work of minutes to unload our wares, buy what we need and be headed out again. Now I can delegate most of the tasks and spend my time in port planning the route or, more usually, relaxing and putting my feet up.
Some interesting events:
I have seen a Rheinland naval vessel allowing passage to a smuggler breaking the Rheinland-Liberty embargo in exchange for 500k. Lets hope they are not so free with pirates.
There have been prolonged battles, sometimes involving gunboats or similar sized vessels between the BAF and the Junkers in New London.
The Omegas seem to be relatively clear of pirates these days. Whether this is because they are busy or because there is a bounty hunter capital ship (Apocalypse.Now) patrolling the area remains to be seen. There is a considerable bounty hunter presence in southern Sirius of late, almost as if there were a sustained campaign against both the Hessians and the Corsairs.
The RHA launched a significant incursion into Rheinland space, effectively blocking the trade lanes to Planet New Berlin. Fortunately the asteroid field served to mask my movements and I made it safely past them.
Some dangerous looking AI vessels have been flying around Bretonia, and there seem to be more and more Zoners trading through Bretonia. Lets hope this provides a nice economic boost to our war effort. Rule Bretonia!
[Comm ID] Captain John Harrington onboard Bowex)Stephenson Senior Employee
[To]Bowex management
[Subject]Flight report
Hello Chaps
Well my ship have been Grounded for along time due to repairs, and Crew overdue overtime freetime.. A sceleton crew flew her to A place in NB where the crew could gathere
When all were onboard we loaded up for at trip to leeds
The trip was extremly un eventfull and was a good shakedown flight for the whole crew.
Signed
Captain
John Harrington
Bowex(Stephenson
I am not a native English Speaker, so i make grammar errors.
But it annoys me when people make silly comments about that... especially brits who for the most part can't speak their own language let alone anyone elses!
Operation Shetland has reached the final stages. The credits have been accumulated and stored. Once I get permission from the higher ups I will be announcing the upgrade.
The last trip was definitely an interesting one. The Rheinland Military battleship "Megavolt" was present in Omega 7, warning all traders of an outcast presence in Omega 3. I wonder why he didn't just go through and engage. I went through into Omega 3 anyway and was immediately detected by the pirate vessel "Plisken". Knowing that the pirates would be checking the trade lanes I resolved to go for the Jump Hole instead. Near the Jump hole one of the pirates detected my location and moved to intercept me. He landed a few shots on my hull but I made it through the jump hole. In Cambridge I realised the fastest way to escape him should he follow would be to take the nearby jump hole to Leeds, from where I could easily travel into New London and Southhampton station. When I entered Leeds, I realised a pitched battle was taking place between the BAF and the noodle munchers. Unfortunately I didn't remain long enough to see how it went.
Hopefully the next report from me will be one of celebration, I know Remi (the mechanic) can't wait to get his hands on the new chassis.
To: Bowex InfoNet From: Frank Blacksmith, Captain of the Shetland Class Bowex)Gordon
And operation Shetland is officially complete! I have been promoted and the Gordon has been transferred into her new Shetland chassis. We took her out on two voyages to get used to the feel of her and to test her capabilities. The first voyage's profits were spent on getting her the required armour upgrade. The lack of gun mounts on the chassis make fighting simply a matter of flying towards the nearest trade lane as pirates try ineffectually to breach your hull.
Remi, my mechanic, is very happy that despite her huge size her docking procedures are as fast as the old Percheron (as long as she's lined up properly on approach). He's already spent hours tinkering with the engines and flight systems.
Argyle, the assistant mechanic, isn't so happy. He's just spent days recalibrating the cargo drones from the Perch. He perked up a bit when I told him that with the new increase in cargo space he could use a few units to keep things like whiskey and various other comestibles on board. I think he's programmed a victory dance routine into the droids for tonight's party.
Jose is overjoyed by the size of the hold and is already trying to convince me to start carrying slightly less legal goods. When I told him that I was in no way going to become a smuggler he sulked for a while. He then brightened up when I mentioned our company's change in policy direction and began speculating which Kusari blockades would be most profitable to run.
I'm happy with the new chassis. She does have a tendency to lift her nose up for some reason but it occurs rarely and the autopilot can compensate for it. The joy of being able to fly past smaller pirates on cruise, secure in the knowledge that their disruptors are no longer effective, is worth the cost. The turning circle is what you would expect from a ship her size but isn't so bad as to make travelling the space lanes a chore.
Anyway, the Gordon is now ready for business. I'll be testing a few routes for viability although I doubt there is anything around these days that's better than our primaries.
Now I have to rush off to start the celebrations, the drink is out and the currently empty cargo hold is festooned with decorations. I took the precaution of buying a tonne of anti-hangover pharmaceuticals so hopefully tomorrow we can start trading early.
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