Oi there, blokes, Nort Bannen 'ere finally sending in an activity report.
Me'n Mr. Will David did a spot o' minin' last night and it went well enough. No pirates, only a loony Gaian treehugger who was yellin' somethin' about having someone or some lot. I didn't bother talkin' to him since I was busy hagglin' over ore prices with some USI gent. I got a good sell, too. 6k per unit. I'll take that any day.
After I sold that, lot, though, Davey sent me a communication that he managed to sell his Hege' full o' ore for 25 million! Can yeh believe that?! Poor sap's gonna be disappointed when he realizes he's not even gonna profit 3 million on that load if he takes it to Detroit! I wanted to box 'im on the ears for doin' that, but boy, you can't fault a miner for taking whet he can get.
Beyond that, we kept minin' s'more and ran into some some toaster who called himself a "Sentient Machine" and wouldn't respond to us unless we called him "Twelve", yet 'e had a hard time explainin' to us how he came by that name, said somethin' about a Mr. Wayne Gretzky, King o' the Maple Leaves or some nonsense. These machines are an eccentric lot.
We tried haggling some more to get a second load of ore sold, but nobody was interested in giving a reasonable price. Some trader was bold enough to cut me to a 5k offer! Th' nerve! 'E's lucky I didn't bash 'is 'ead in, 'e is.
Anyway, a decent night. I came out richer than when I went in, and got the name of the BMM out there some more.
Right, after quite some time we finally were able to get some work done.
we managed to get a full load of gold ore, wading through pirates. Now, we werent able to find a hauler so we have taken off to deliver the ore ourselves to Liberty. Currently we are stuck on planet leeds because we spotted several pirates on our route in Leeds.
We'll deliver the stuff tomorrow and come back to Dublin.
Also, can someone send us the s.k.y.p.e. uplink data? we smahed off our transmitter last night in a wild chase fleeing from 3 pirates.
Oi there, Bannen here. Figured 'twas about time I made another one o' these reports.
For the most part, it's been shootin' rocks. I've unloaded some here, some there, usually for around 5500 per, but it's been gettin' more and more difficult to get cargo runners to haul it fer that price. Might not be a bad idea to establish a transport division, as I can't ever seem to find a Bowex bloke when I'm lookin' for 'im.
No, the real excitement was today. Twice I tried to go out and make my keep, and twice was I thwarted by those who had no business in Bretonian space. Being the lovely person I am, however, I did my best to be a good sport.
First off was a Corsair Priest who was runnin' blokes outta the H4 field tryin' to make sure we were "blessed" or some nonsense. The long and short of it was I "donated" 250,000 credits to the "children" of Planet Crete. Even told the loon I wasn't Catholic, but he didn't seem to care. Queen Bless the Anglican Church for not allowing nuts like these among the ranks. Past that, he let me head back into the H4 field, but it wasn't two shakes later that another bloke charged in through there demanding everyone out. He didn't want anything in particular other than us out of the field.
So, with that, I docked for a few hours to unwind and tried again this even. Undocked from Essex and there was some BMM Contractor out there hollerin' about some Nomad fellow in the field. A kindly Junker bloke offered to head out ahead of us and check the field, and it came up clear, so meself and the Gohan gent cruised on out there, and proceeded to waste my time by offering me 5 million to help him load up his transport ship. Even if he's been able to manage to get half of that and we split the load at 1100 units each, that'd still be less than 5000 per, and I don't know about him, but I'm no idiot.
While he was sitting there gabbering away, that Nomad he was yelling about earlier started to pull up to the field. Mr. Gohan scurried away like a frightened rabbit and suggested i do the same, but I'm no coward, those squids don't scare me. I attempted to have a conversation, but those fish are a bit difficult to understand, but I sure as London tried my hardest to have a civil conversation.
I sat there and it asked some questions about what I was doing and why and what purpose and that lot. I tried my best to understand, and eventually Mr. Gohan came back a bit and that upset Mister Nomad quite a bit, I suppose they'd gotten into a spat earlier. In retrospect, what followed was Mr. Nomad conveyin' his dislike for miners who do nothin' but run away, although I couldn't understand it on the spot, especially with 'im bein' all upset and shooting my shields down. I eventually turned and left while he decided to go pester Mr. Gohan for being a coward. Gohan eventually did make it out safely, though I'm sure the average IQ of Bretonia would've jumped a couple points if he's not made it.
The bloke then offered to buy what little I had in my hold for 5500 per. I sold it and went and took tea. I didn't need that much excitement in one day. Oh, right, I made a note of this, and I almost forgot about it to. I recommend that we get a physician stationed out near the Essex too, by the way. I saw a few mild cases of Lawl's Syndrome out there, and whether they're in the comin' or goin' stages, they probably should be looked at.
And to finally wrap this mess up, I've attached to this two files containing transcripts for today's comms. Whatever that's worth.
> CommID: Matthias Nagl
> Origin: Battleship Essex, Dublin System
> Encryption: Medium
> Subject: Activity Report
> Message Begins
Aye,
had a rather fun meeting today. Been minin with a couple a fellas. Couldn get a count on all of them - been like 4 or 5 Miners there and some Transports along with a bunch o BAF-forces. Heck - they even brought two Gunboats and a Battlship with em.
Anyways - been minin in the eastern field having a good time dusting roids with some fella close by. The HMS Nottingham - royal Gunboat - having an eye on us and helping out with busting the rocks was around as well. been floating there for a couple a minutes till the other pal just got full and left the scene. Twasnt long after some dude calld "Desperado" joined the fun.
Knew the lad. Freelance-pirate. Covers himself as sum lawful freelancer but goes round chargin the miners for a mill in his Heavy fighter. Bet he hasnt even his Zoner-turrets registered. Told the Gal on the Nottingham bout our friend so she could welcome the lad approaching me.
Well, Nottingham did so right away and intercepted the guy 2K from me to greet him friendly. Chitchatted him about his nice ship and stuff. Been bout that time I was full and so I turned round to pass the two, getting my ores to essex to ready it for Shipment.
Now - one would think the lad would have the brain to let me pass. After all, whod dare to pirate a Miner while talking with some BAF-Gunboat?
Turned out, that fella did: Cruisedisrupted me and yelled "halt!". Guess what - I did so freely and asked with some fat smile on my face what the matter would be. Course the Gal in the Nottingham GB knew what would come now and asked about his registration for those Zonerturrets.
Being completely lost in his mindconsuming desire for my Cash he seemingly forgot the little he knew bout diplomacy:
"None o ya business!", he cried. It was about then I saw the BAF-Battleship, another Gunboat and some heavy fighter parking behind the lad. Having a small Fleet in his back he finally noticed something wasnt going as planned. When I was ordered to leave the scene i complied happily and ... slowly ... engaged my Cruisedrives while watching that madman turning on the BAF.
Upon reaching Essex i got the Message that the fella got terminated by some "hostile vessel". Met the BAF-fellas on my way back - laughing about how he got dusted by some longranged Rocket while dogfighting them. Aye - been an enjoyable day.
Well BMM was out in force last night, a unexpected patrol turned into a goldconvoy to New York.
I did some routine patrol hours in my fighter and was looking into the goldfields up north when i spotted a group of adventure miners.
Curious i got in closer and scanned them, *grins* well not much to scan just some old ships outfitted to mine.
I'am just amazed so many people don't join the big companys and profit from there superior equipment and knowhow. *raises shoulders*
When i went on i spotted some of our company's big miners and went in closer to have a lil talk because it can be pretty lonely for a girl out there.
Captain Bannen on the Ipswitch and dir. David on the Dalbury where commanding the company ships and audiopulse[ADP] seems the skipper believe Capt Naghl was on his private miner? bloody hell BMM now allows those beasts to be in private possesion?
Ahwell anyway they were a jolly good bunch to be around with so i decided to stay.
Soon director David was full loaded and headed back to Graves to do some paperwork i think.
Later reports came in some unknown pilot was around we should not trust.
And guess what it came on my scanners pretty soon.
Long range scanners showed a Falcata bomber and i warned it to stay away.
Dir. David who heared the chatter on the comms came out in his bomber craft to assist in the patrol to defend our digsite.
The unknown pilot turned out to be a woman who i suspect thought to have a easy target on our digsite, *laughs* man was she suprised to see a heavy escort, she choose to turn tail with the promise she would be back, anytime hon anytime.
Peace returned and we went on with our activity's.
But suddenly one of the miners yelled that he had a hostile contact "Desperado"
This lad came with his fancy GB in the middle of our group and demanded a payment from our miners.
Arrogant bastard, the dang nerve he had.
Well he still regrets it i think he did not leave on our first demand.
Even a full class eight armored gunboat can't with stand a full barrage of fire.
When we engaged him to defend our assets the coward fired on the miners first, but soon he shifted his attention to us because when you loose your shield and hull all the time it gets your attention. *grins again*
Not having the firepower to finish this maniac off a close BAF patrol responded and came in to assist us to finish him off.
They sended a bomber patrol of two challengers, adm. Adama and his wingman Lt. Woodrow, my god those things pack a punch!! Bug off dude
Well this guy was pretty presistance and did not get the message.
And soon a large field of debree was floating in space. problem solved
Unfortunally one of the BAF officers was caught in the reactor explosion and had to eject, but i believe his wingman picked up his pod.
Massive thanks to those lads.
Myself, dir David and Rick Astley flew later that day escort for 2 transport ships, coughing something (i never remember that name..) and BMM-Sugarcoat[H]
We delivered 2 fully loaded shipments of Gold ore to Detroit ammo station, i heared those fellas were quite pleased to see us
Well for the rest nothing important to report, so i concludde this report.
> CommID: Isaac Bannen > Origin: Graves Station, Dublin System > Encryption: Medium > Subject: New Equipment Now In Service
> Message Begins
I am pleased to report that our newest additions to the BMM ship inventory are now in service. We've a brand new Shetland Train that's had its shakedown cruise as well as a group of Mafics and Dacites that are performing up to spec.
Myself and a few others took the ships out on the first operation under the new procedures. There's still some rough spots to work out as would be expected after a change such as this, but we managed to deliver both the Isle of Wight Shetland and the Thruxton Firefly full of ore to Detroit Munitions in the New York System. I'm very much looking forward to the next operation.
As requested, 10% of the profit was sent to the Wolverhampton, which amounted to roughly six million credits. If we keep it up, we'll have the Shettie paid back in no-time. Hopefully we can buy another company-owned transport soon. It'd be nice to have another we can count on.
Incoming Query...Accepted CommID: Captain Jason Shipley Message Target: BMM Reporting Terminal - Thames Outpost:New London Message Source: Battleship Essex Public Room:Dublin
Been a productive few days out there kids. With two Hegemons and two Fireflys to do much of the work, and bein' the only one lately doin' the work, I've taken it upon myself to keep the effort goin'. Numbers below reflect the last week's worth of mining.
Operational Details:
Location: Dublin Independent Mining Fields Operation Time: Off and on over 7 days Total Drilled raw materials: 31,500 units Total transported raw materials 31,320 units
Also of note, I took part in a small anti-piracy sortie with BAF and Freelancer members in Dublin. Several Corsair gunboats had a stranglehold on trading and the gate in Dublin, and it would not stand. With Freelancer Austin.Goodman and a BAF admiral, the SNAC-equipped Brands Hatch assisted in destroying two Corsair gunboats, and another fled before it could be engaged.
Well you all now iam not a man of big speeches so ill make this short.
The operation yesterday was a great succes. Together with our lads and lasses from Bowex we managed to mine over 20.000 tons of raw Berrylium ore. With the Armed Forces guarding us heavily we feeled pretty save. three mining crafts of the type dacite and maffics mined there butts of despite constant ion interference with there equipment and communication.
Bowex lads were runnning constant between several miningsites to transport the ore to the massive White CLiffs, a huge flying ore station. Iff any of you man out there have made a photograph of the operation send it to me so we can add it eh?
At one point a Sair raiding party tried to interfene but was quikly eleminated by our supreme defence force of battle harded veterans from the BAF. At one point we all thought the sairs would break trough the defence line, but it soon turned out it would not happen. So the mining operation could continu.
After several hours the overall commander of the operation capt. Edwards of the White.Cliffs called it a end and we all headed back home for a fine drink of scotch. Well that is all las and lasses, a job well done.
Incoming Transmission
From Rick Astley *******************BMM Encryption******************* -= Tau-23 Construction Site=-
I think this is the first time I'm sending something to this inactive channel. but I have taken a leave of absence to go on a surveying mission to Tau-23. Here is my report,
As i left Graves station to this mission, I happened to pass by a Bowex security pilot, Gideon Hawk who offered his services to me, free of charge. The first Destination was the BMM Manufacturing plant in planet New London, where loaded my Mafic with mining equipment. We then went from to Leeds. Forgetting the geography of The jumphole system, I went into the hole near LD-14.
there I realised my mistake, not only didn't we reach tau-31, we were right in front of a gaian stronghold, moreover there was an NLH Gaian and a mercenary kaizoku bomber with it. Ignoring them, Hawk and I passed by them, but they pursued us. It became clear that the two were after me. Why? I'm not completely sure. with cruise engines on and the necessary evasive manoeuvres, I managed to dodge every single cruise disruptor the gave at me and happened to find the right hole at the right time... into tau-31.
The two pirates followed me through tau-31, as I creeped into the Planet Harris area. There I engine killed my way there while the pirates made their attempt to stop me. Finally, at a safe distance, I stopped and asked what they wanted from me, as i was on a mission and had no time for petty disturbances. The Gaian wanted a donation from me. I don't understand why Gaians are so keen on getting donations from their worst enemies, but I offered 5 credits to the lad. This happened to anger the Gaian even more. He threatened to "pierce a hole through my hull" for that "insult" the next time it saw me in Dublin. I don't quite understand what happened there, nor what the Gaian was smoking. I don't recommend giving a single credit to any Gaian, the result is plainly too unpredictable after this recent experience.
I took a pit stop into Planet Harris, where i refuelled and reloaded my ship. The Next stop was the construction site.
the Path onward was uneventful. no pirates or Kusari ahead. We finally reached The station. It seemed be decently kept since the last time i saw it. As I entered, i checked if my stash of "Java The Hut Station" coffee was still there. I used to drink it frequently on my patrols in the area before become part of the larger BMM group. Anyhow there was about enough to fill one cup. barely the amount to bring something back home and brag about.
We left the station and began our surveying mission in the beryllium fields. The Hegemons in the field were still crushing the beryllium rocks as always, though they are getting quite rusty due to the lack of supplies. I then started mining the smaller, more mine-able particles. Compared to the Cambridge Beryllium field, This one is easier to mine in. There is more light, and there are twice the density of rocks to mine. Unfortunately they carry only a slightly higher yield.
This is the result of my preliminary research. I will scout the rest of the field to see if there are any "sweet spots."
Oh, and while i was surveying, an Outcast gunship came by and demanded to kill me or pay him a ransom of 2 million credits. The guy had some blood-lust on him. as i was offering to send him the credits, he began becoming more violent, to the point of shooting me. I had no choice to engage this fellow. with the Help of Gideon Hawk, I managed to destroy the gunboat. The Captain of the vessel clearly did not know what he was doing, and had too many opening for me to feel him anti-matter.
I decided to check the ever-shrinking Niobium field which the IMG currently reside in. There, two Hegemons were mining. Apparently one of the mining ships was just commissioned, and was testing its ship. The two threatened me as I approached. Gently, I told them That my presence was in peace, and that I was only there to survey the field. The Miners gave me the permission so long i didn't steal any of the niobium. The drop yield in this field is more bountiful. I find it similar to the drops in volume to the yields we get in Dublin. 1-14 units/shot with frequent high yields. After I finished, I came back to the The Construction Site, where i'm currently writing this Report,
Ill continue surveying the Beryllium field, and Ill try getting a... substantial amount of "Java The Hut Station Coffee" before I return.
Well well a long time of moining has past lads and lasses since oi've spoken to you. O'i must say oim impressed by the hard work you people have done f'r the company and the crown. Yes f'r the crown, because that is where we in the end work f'r.
We have managed to keep our doors open, we have been robbed, treathend, shot at and even lost ships and pilots, but still we are here and moin f'r the precious ore. Sairs, mollys pirates and other scum still try to get money from our moiners even when they know those lads & lasses have limited amounts onboard, its a disgrace.
Now recently oi' get word mollys are starting there own moining op'rations?? Laughs loudly Well maybe it gives us a more peaceful toime to moin eh? Aslong as they don't try to rip us off by sellin' it way lower!! Not that oi expect a good lawful citizen to buy fr'm branded criminals and terrorists, because even they help the crown someway oi still see them that way.
Alroight the board expect all moiners to contribute on regular base some cash to the bank f'r new op'rations and the aquirring of new ships. At this moment we have ordered several Maffics and dacites f'r joint op'rations these ships will be accesable for BMM- pilots when they are ready f'r work..
Alroight some announcements:
As of fthis week Nort Bannen has left the company. the good fella found a calm lake to fish and did not want to spent anymore toime on a noisy moiner, wich oi' bloody well understand.
Also Rick Asthley has taken over Will Davids dutys f'r now as acting Director of mining & security until is decided what to do.
We welcome two new moiners:
Mr Tobey J Mccould of the BMM-Novia-Scotia.
And
Mr Alexander Lee of the BMM-...... This lad has to be assigned to a moiner yet.
Oi wish you both good fortune in this company.