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+--- Thread: Stoat - A log (/showthread.php?tid=5905)
Stoat - A log - Stoat - 01-31-2008
I have no name of which I am aware.
I am a hunter.
I have always been a hunter; as far back as I can remember.
I will be a hunter until the day I die.
My father was a hunter, and he was Shrike.
His father was a hunter, and he was Lynx.
My mother was prey, and she was Damsel Fly.
My grandmother was prey, and she was Rabbit.
I have a spirit which guides me.
My spirit is Stoat.
My woman will be prey, and she will be Vole.
It is in our blood, and has been since time began.
It burns when I do not hunt.
I am never able to rest, never able to take stock.
It courses through me, forcing me onward, guiding my hand.
Some may escape the dance, but none are immune to its allure.
I must entrance my prey before I can strike.
The dance precedes the hunt.
The dance supports the hunt.
The dance is the hunt.
The men of my family have always been committed to their calling, right up to their dying breaths.
I cannot forsake their legacy.
I WILL NOT forsake their legacy.
Stoat - Stoat - 11-08-2008
Action at last! Way too much time grounded with that illness. At least it's over now.
First, tracking a load of Gaians with one of the SD in Newcastle. Athena's Memory it was. But we ran into some deranged cruiser, of the Raven clan. While I tried to lure it to the Ark Royal, Athena's Memory was unfortunate enough to engage the ship on his own. Didn't last long, but I secured his pod and returned him to Sheffield station. I'll be looking out for that Cruiser, for sure. High on cardamine, and seemingly cannibals. It'll surely pay a good price.
Second a nice and easy escort job to Colorado. Managed to avoid two LH in gunships, including Phate. Nice little earner for the start of the day, a nice 750k. Then a hire from the BAF when I returned to Leeds. Locating and neutralising a Gaian threat in Newcastle. No kills to my guns, but I near had both Marburg and Ktayn before they were taken by another. The battlecruiser was overkill, we should only have had Gunboats or fighters, but a paycheck is a paycheck. I certainly won't turn my nose up at four million. That was a good hunt.
Stoat - Stoat - 11-30-2008
Long range comms traffic from Manchester identified a RaVeN vessel in the system, so I set off in search of a bounty in my trusted Manta. As I departed Planet Leeds, my scanners picked up MonStar in the Necrosis! I immediately redocked and swapped to my bomber, hoping to delay him slightly to give any reinforcements time to arrive.
Sadly, there was no-one in the vicinity of Leeds, and although I was able to dent the shielding of the Necrosis, his firepower was to great for me to counter alone. I withdrew back to Planet Leeds as he jumped to the Magellan system. Perhaps the Hackers will do some good for a change and rid us all of this madman.
Stoat - Stoat - 02-23-2009
Well, it's been busy these last few days. Omicron Delta is certainly not a place for the faint hearted. The system is crawling with Nomads and Corsairs. I'm amazed that the Freeport there has survived. I was just going to pass straight through the system, cutting through Tohoku and Hokkaido, before heading back to Bretonia, but I heard the Aeria Gloris challenging a ship at the freeport, so I headed over to take a look.
There was an outcast destroyer sitting well within the no-fire zone of the freeport, happily blasting ships to pieces. The Aeria was busy trying to persuade the ship to cease fire, but the only response from the destroyer was some gubbins about language difficulties! There were no Zoners in the area, so we could do nothing to stop him sadly, as we were certainly not going to violate the no-fire zone.
Then, in the midst of all this, we start to pick up system wide transmissions from a corsair goading the Aeria into a fight. The Aeria quickly set out from the no-fire zone, as I scouted ahead. It didn't take me long to pick up the ship on scanners. The Diablo Blanco. My god, it was a monstrous ship. A 'Legate' dreadnought, no less. I couldn't believe the size of the thing. As the Aeria moved to engage, I also dived in, confident that the dreadnought would concentrate its fire on the Aeria. I was able to deliver significant damage to the dreadnought, and we were able to destroy the thing in short order. I'll be looking forward to a share of that bounty!
The Aeria withdrew back to the Freeport, so I set off for home, heading through Tohoku, Hokkaido, Kyushu and the Taus. It was a dull trip. No bounties presented themselves. Even heading into Edinburgh was fruitless. These Gaians are never around when you want them to be! So I headed back to Leeds, and docked for a well earned rest.
A couple of days later I was headed for Rheinland. The bounties are always numerous up there. The Omegas were surprisingly quiet, but I soon found trouble in Stuttgart. Two Corsair gunboats were busy terrorising the local shipping at the New Berlin jumpgate. One of the boats, Tritium, was heavily fitted for anti-fighter work, so I dived right in, trusting in my manoeuverability to overcome them. Tritium was no match for me, and soon fell. Proteus Lominus was fully loaded with Cerberus turrets, and might have caused me greater problems, had his aim been worth a damn! As it was I was easily able to avoid his volleys, and even had him begging for mercy before I converted the ship into so much debris. I was even able to recover a number of passengers, a Cruiser Commander and several civilian piots. The civilians I took to Planet Stuttgart, the passengers and Commander I transferred to the RNC Bismark when he showed up in the system.
Like I said, it's been busy these last few days. I hope it stays this way.
Stoat - Stoat - 02-23-2009
A change of pace for me. Putting the gunship into dock for routine repairs, I headed out for Liberty in my Hammerhead. A short chat with Esther Carson had reminded me I was rusty in it. Bounties are wall to wall in Liberty, so it seemed a good opportunity to mix training and hard currency. I passed through Rheinland again, just in case, but pickings were short. Even Texas was quiet. Not so New York though.
As soon as I entered the system, comms chatter went through the roof. Pirates, navy, police, hunters, independants, freelancers, traders, all shouting for their share of the airwaves! Mayhem! I wonder how the lawfuls can ever hope to manage to coordinate their management of the problems in that system. Within minutes of entering the system I was confronted with a Xeno in an Eagle a mere 14k from the Battleship Missouri. I left him be as he was not doing anything illegal that I could see, and headed on my way. I'd barely reached the Missouri when the Xeno was intercepting a ship and broadcasting the fact across system comms!
Well, he'd had a chance and declined it, so I headed back to take him on. I was unable to get there in time to save the trader, and another hunter had got there before me. The Xeno proceeded to threaten us both, then engaged when his feeble threats failed. I was going to leave him to the other hunter, but the Xeno trained his guns on me, forcing my hand. He was a tricky one - the Eagle is incredibly fast - but eventually fell to me. I docked back at the Missouri for quick repairs, then headed out for California. The incessant chatter on the comms was giving me a headache!
California was blissfully quiet. I was just taking in the scenery when I ran across a merc in a Taiidan bomber. Scans revealed he was loaded up with Corsair weaponry, so I knew to expect trouble. He engaged after we exchanged threats and banter. I am rusty. He dropped so many mines, and eventually I got too close to one. Boom, one wrecked Hammerhead. I know the survival pod is working at least. I was right next to Mojave, and the base there was able to recover me easily enough. The repairs to the Hammerhead will take a few days though. I guess I'll be kicking back on Los Angeles until then. I can think of worse places to be.
Stoat - Stoat - 02-26-2009
Yesterday was a good day. My hammerhead was repaired much faster than had been expected, and I was able to return to Leeds early in the morning. The work on my gunship had been completed, so I took her out. I'd heard early reports, before I'd left California, of heavy pirate activity, so headed back there in search of a hunt.
It didn't take me long to run across a couple of LN pilots under heavy fire from a Rogue gunboat and Falcata bomber. One of the navy pilots was Admiral David Hale, no less. When I hailed them, they immediately requested I engage the gunboat, Jones.Rowe, while they concentrated on the Hacker in the bomber. As I engaged, Jones.Rowe disabled the Liberty gunboat that was there, its' crew ejecting to safety. Jones.Rowe was no match for me, and I soon despatched the ship. Hale and his wingman, Toliman, chased off the Hacker, breaking off pursuit soon there-after. Netted me a cool million, that little piece of work. Very nice.
I returned to Leeds, as reports suggested that California was clear of any threat. As I arrived, I heard reports from the York of a Hogosha incursion. A lone Corsair gunboat had been spotted in the vicinity and was being hunted by Lieutenant Commander Blake Owen of the BAF. I immediately headed for the area to see if I could assist. As I traveled the trade lane from Stokes to Glasgow station I picked up the Hogosha and Owen on long range scans. When I hailed him, Owen requested my assistance. He'd been taking a pounding from the gunship, and only his exceptional piloting skills had kept him alive. When I engaged the Hogosha, Owen had lost all guns apart from his SNAC. Again, it was a short fight. The Hogosha was poorly equipped to deal with a gunship, its' missile turrets useless against me. The ship was destroyed in short order, though the crew was able to get to safety in the escape pods before I was able to find them.
Owen advised me to apply for a reward from the BAF contracts.
Returning to Leeds, I switched to my Hammerhead and headed for Cambridge. Reports were flooding in detailing a Corsair incursion from Omega-5. As I approached planet Cambridge I picked up several Corsair ships on scans, and several BAF pilots moving to intercept them. The fight began as I arrived. I had planned to leave the 4 corsair ships to the BAF, but they engaged me, so I returned fire immediately. The Corsair ships consisted of an Eagle, a Spatial, a Corsair gunboat and one other that I failed to get a direct scan of. The gunboat was poorly crewed, and fell easy prey to Commodore Nelson and myself. I was able to get the killing shot in. The other ships soon fell to the rest of the BAF pilots.
Commodore Nelson transferred 400k credits to me in thanks for my assistance. I shall still be claiming bounties from their channels though!
I returned to Leeds again. It was time to apply to the bounty contracts channel. It was then I found that the scanners on my gunship had malfunctioned, and I had failed to get a record of the Hogosha, Desert.Snow. Still, I had the logs of my conversation with Owen. I trust these will be sufficient for me to claim the bounty. I am awaiting a response from the contracts office.
Stoat - Stoat - 03-10-2009
Two more gunboats have fallen before me now. First was a Corsair, flying the M26. Capt Cosmo was his name, though there wsa nothing cosmic about is flying skills. I took him down without even having to use a shield battery! Those corsairs will obviously let anyone fly the M26 now. I'd love to get my hands on one and show them all how to fly it, but that'd just reduce my income!
A few days later I ran into a Hacker gunship at Leeds. Nemesis was his name. He'd obviously been able to overcome the security systems on the docking ring, but his skill as a pilot was not up to the same standards. He put up a better fight than the corsair a few days before, but still fell without me having many hair-raising moments.
I'm still waiting on bounty payments from the BAF. I guess they're distracted with the losses they're sustaining in the war. It seems that half of Leeds has fallen to the Kusari invaders. While this may be good for my business, it saddens me to see the faces of the refugees now on the planet. They are losing everything, and no-one seems to be able to reassure them. It must be a terrible thing to have your life ripped apart in such a way. It makes me thankful for the life I lead.
The new guild shipline has finally been released, and all the old models recalled. I'm sad to lose my gunship, but its replacement, the Bottlenose, seems well suited to its role. I'll not be taking on gunboats in it though, so I may have to splash out on the new Orca. It's shrouded in mystery at the moment though, and no-one seems to be able to tell me where I can get hold of one! Looks like I'm in for a trip out to Rostock.
Stoat - Stoat - 03-16-2009
It has been a momentous few days for the Guild. Major restructuring has been undertaken, to allow us to coordinate ourselves more effeectively throughout the Sirius sector. After much discussion, it seems that Esther Carson and myself have been raised to Guldmasters, reponsible for Bretonian space. I find myself at a loss for words, though I am sure Esther feels no such reticence!
It is an honour to be chosen to represent the guild in this way. I am afraid I will be unable to bear the responsibility of the role, but this will spur me on to succeed. I will make sure that what I achieve will outlive me. My father would have been proud of me at this moment.
Stoat - Stoat - 03-18-2009
Another fine days work. Well, certainly no more than an hour!
I took a transprt to Planet Cambridge to collect my bomber, as I have been thinking of relocating it to Delta. No sooner had I launched than I received a call for assistance from Commander Hobart of the BAF. Seems that a group of Corsairs were disrupting trade in Omega-3, so I immediately headed for their location. Communications revealed that there were two Praetorian bombers and the new gunboat, while both BAF lads present were in Templars, so my bomber was going to prove a useful tool against the gunboat.
We formed up at Freeport 1 and immediately headed for the lane into the Wilkes icefield, when all power to my ship failed. I've no idea what happened, but everything suddenly came back after exactly sixty seconds. A quick diagnostic of my systems revealed nothing, so I headed for the action. Both BAF pilots had already engaged by the time I arrived, so I dived in, targetting the gunboat. He really didn't stand a chance. His shields were soon ripped away, and then a single, well placed SNAC shot took him out completely. The two praetorians didn't last much longer after that, the BAF lads dealing with them, while I kept the corsairs' shields down.
A nice little earner that one. Two million credits for thirty minutes work.
I decided to head back for Cambridge to get the electrical fault checked out further. Everything was fine as I took the lane towards Battleship Norfolk, when suddenly all electrics failed yet again! I was kicked out of the lane, and the force of that expulsion caused me to black out. When I finally came to, I couldn't believe my position. I was on the far side of Planet Cambridge, close to the trade lane, about half way between the planet and the New London jump gate! I quickly checked my logs, which were blank from the exact point I was ejected from the trade lane to the Norfolk, for a period of exactly sixty seconds. By the time the logs restarted I had reached the location I found myself in. Sixty seconds to travel from one side of the Cambridge system to the other!
Not wanting to risk the lanes again, I put out a distress call to Planet Cambridge, and within the hour I was recovered. Mechanics and engineers are currently taking my bomber apart piece by piece in an attempt to discover what occurred. Diagnostics were unable to identify any anomoly. It is all most strange.
Stoat - Stoat - 04-01-2009
Good god! Testing, testing, testing. All I seem to be doing is testing, with a copious amout of paperwork for the Guild thrown in. If I have to file one more report on the damned Bottlenose's turning speeds, inertial values, electrical logs, fuel consumption, conversion innefficiencies, power coefficients or those bloody gravimetric shielding relays, I'll........
Why the hell isn't Esther doing this stuff? Ok, there's the fact that she doesn't have a Bottlenose, but that's hardly a valid excuse. She's meant to be joint guildmaster. If she can't rustle up a ship to test out from Sheffield, there's something seriously wrong. Mind you, it's a damned pain to have to head all the way out to Omega-56 just to get hold of a replacement gun for the thing. What a shocking waste of time that is.
Hang on, maybe I can use that as an excuse to get the hell out of Bretonia for a few days. Get back to doing a bit of hunting. Yeah, Esther will just have to get used to doing some of the paperwork while I'm gone.