LD.Inc

[Koolmo]

A match flickers in the dark, and a face appears in the gloom, lit from below by a long, thick cigar

We are London Drugs Inc. Former members of the Cryer Pharmecuticals "Enforcement" Team, all of us, and a poor team we were. The local magistrate had just decided that a bunch of bums in ragged coats wasn't worth keeping on the payroll, unless we did this one little job. Apparently, someone had hijacked the latest shipment of anti-rad meds to some colony off in the wilds of northern Kusari. We set out, with our ragged ships and poor nav data, into the darkness of space. After a couple of weeks, we had became hoplessley lost, and stumbled into a dead system, a neutron star on the fringes.

Strange blips appeared on our sensor boards, and as we closed, we found a few dozen odd looking ships. When our boarding party entered the vessels, we discovered that no man had set foot on those vessels in years. Robots manned the consoles, Oxygen was nowhere to be seen, and not a sound was heard. When the Ships computer banks were pressed, it was discovered that the strange Ships were called 'X-Shuttles', and that they were a secret Kusari Government Project. As to what the ships were doing there, and why no humans were aboard, the computer had no clue. It did, however, have another little tidbit for us, in the form of... Cardemene. The holds of every single ship was stocked to the gunwales with the stuff, and more filled the spare spaces of every vessel. A Kings ransom, and who were we to say no? What were we, but poor, lost spacers? Spacers with a healthy knowledge of how things work in a cutthroat drug Trade... and now, the ships to trade it with.

So, we took those ships, leaving our old rustbuckets behind. Two men could run one in combat, and only one was needed in a pinch. Fifteen X-Shuttles, with a fortune in drugs, bought us all the weapons we needed, from Nova Torpedoes to Nuclear Mines, we were armed to the teeth, now all we needed was a port. Trafalgar Base, in New London, looked to be a likely harbor. The Junkers had no objection, two of our shuttles outgunned the entire base, and they like smuggling as much as any freelancer. The Junkers even had a supply of compatible spare parts, although where they’d come from, no one could remember.

A slow smile spread itself across his face, and he seemed to brim with a magnificent glee

Then, the fun started. We could outgun any fighter the bounty hunters or the police could throw at us, and massed fire could down even a destroyer. Battleships were few and far between, and we could always run. Cambridge research always needed a few Nomad Bits, and it seems everyone and their uncle was addicted to Something that we sold. We began to drift apart, there was rarely any need for even two ships to stick together anymore, and several pilots headed out for spaces unknown, in search of lucrative deals and fresh horizons. Life was good, and the money was rolling in.

But, a problem soon arose. The SF, as they were called, had an annoying habit of calling for us to drop our cargoes, and we staked everything on our reputation, ‘Deliver or Die’. After nearly half a dozen of us were lost to contraband patrols, we banded together again, and formed a company, an ‘association of businessmen’ if you will. London Drugs, Incorporated. We started moving in packs, carrying bigger guns, and blowing up the competition before they knew we were coming. We control the contraband trade within Bretonia, no one else. I was elected ‘Director of Sales’, by unanimous vote… and by that I mean I was fastest on the draw.

A low chuckle spread throught the room, as he stubbed his cigar on the table and stood.

There you have. My tale, as it is, and as it continues. Want some Synth?



origianl backstory, gotten from http://discoverygc.com/forums/index.php?sh...hl=london+drugs




Right! Just for those looking in, here's the first draft of the shiplist:

Freighters:

X-Shuttle
Camara
'Raiders Freighter
Firefly
Pirate Transport
BW Transport
Bactrian

Escort Fighters:

Eagle
Griffon
Collector
Crow
Bloodhound-Werewolf (All "pirate" fighters)

Weapons:

Junker, civilian, zoner, and bret. others may come, but not atm. Oh, and codies.

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<span style="color:#FFFF00">&quot;General Solo, is your strike team assembled?&quot;
&quot;Barely, they're pretty drunk.&quot; </span>
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I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it.