Traps for young players #57

[onca]

It was around the time I'd just purchased a shiny new Defender fighter. This is the same model as used by those brave souls of the Liberty Navy, though the weapon loadout I installed would more likely be found on their enemies.

So it was I figured I'd take her out for a spin. I had a mind to pop across to exotic Kusari; consequently, unfettered space bum that I am, I punched up a path to New Tokyo and set forth.

Now it should be told the Xenos are no friends of mine. Those insane pirates, they'll shoot anything that moves, for sport or plunder. I'd barely hit the road through Colorado when I got jumped by a bunch of 'em; they took some of the still-fresh paint off me ship, which hurt me more than the inconvenience. Course, they're now guests of the LPI for their trouble.

Anyway, having dealt with that, I stopped off at Ames station in Kepler system to wet me whistle. Still sore at those Xeno curs, and itching to really give my ship a run, I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone and earn a few pennies at the same time.

As luck would have it the job board had just the mission I was looking for: fly out to a nest of Xenos where one of their captains was hiding out, and whack him. A run-of-the-mill job which the Mission Commissioner was happy to entrust me with.

Thinking back there was a crookedness about this MC; the way he grinned, like a conman selling you a Sabre knowing the Outcast owner's still alive and looking for it. Yea, a little too quick in fobbing off this job he was, and I soon found out why.

In Kepler there are three great dark matter clouds. Now I was no minnow, even back then; I knew about the corrosive properties of that evil stuff. I'd seen what it can do to a ship's hull, and to the poor bastards sitting inside. Eat right through the plating like hagfish through a carcass. Many a ship had lingered too long in a Dark Cloud and gone down. The place was full of 'em.

And yet, devil-may-care fool that I was, I accepted the job, not bothering to check the location of the dark clouds, or that my target was right smack in the middle of one of 'em.

I think I mentioned before Onca won't renege on a deal. I figured, with my tough new ship and deadly guns, I could be in and out before the dark matter could do its injurious work. So with course plotted and a spring in me step, I set off.

My heart sank as I cruised toward the cloud. Huge and threatening it loomed before me; a horrid mass 30k end to end, black as a kraken's insides and filled with asteroids like jagged teeth.

The ships sensors were struck blind as it swallowed me into its belly. I had to fly purely by eye in that murk; I might just as quickly founder against one of the treacherous rocks as see it.

But what disturbed me most was my ship's hull integrity: how it had dropped in such a short time! I couldn't believe how quickly the dark stuff was eating its way in. After only a minute my hull was a full 40% gone, and still 3k to the target!

If I turned around now I might be lucky to escape this monster, even using all my nanobots. Surely Ames was aware of this? What kind of man would send a pilot, even a cocky one, on a doomed mission? Damn you, this was never part of the deal!

There wasn't time to ponder it; for at last, emerging like sharks out of the gloom, came half-dozen Xenos. They flew at me with guns full aflame; but my shield withstood the onslaught, which I'd chosen special for their weapon technology.

Then fate smiled, as I spied my mark among them. Unlike many a lazy boss he hadn't sent his men ahead to deal with a problem; he'd come out to face me direct, and I'll give him that.

For the first time I glimpsed a spark of hope in that dismal place: if I could but kill this guy quickly, thereby completing the mission, I could make it out with my reputation and life intact!

But that Xeno chief, he was a cunning one. See Xeno ships, the ones they fly other side of Colorado, they got hulls much thicker than mine. Let's 'em live and hide in the clouds without concern. Thus it was that time was the chief's friend and my enemy, and he knew it. All his men had to do was keep my busy, let the cloud do their work for 'em.

I thrice doubled my efforts to gun him down, but he was slipperier than an eel. Between him and his men, the rocks, the darkness... all was proving in vain.

That's not to say I didn't put a dent or two in him. But my time was up. Nanobots all spent, and hull half gone: this would cost dearly me but there was nothing else for it, like a whipped dog I turned tail and ran for safety.

At first I punched my cruise engine, and I heard them laugh as they promptly shot it with a disruptor. So I was forced to go on burners alone, with those remorseless devils on my heels all the way.

Meteors flew one way and gunfire the other, and me caught in between the two. I dodged and I weaved, I swerved and I darted, I heaved and shook like a fish on a line. But try as I might those Xenos stuck to me like limpets. Again I blessed my choice of shield when their fiery orbs found their mark.

All the while my ship was dissolving around me, and I could almost smell the poisonous stuff seeping into the cockpit.

Hope and despair wrestled in my fevered soul, as I looked at first the navmap and then at the hull gauge. Both crept inexorably on; one towards life, the other towards death, with the relentless Xenos gunning for the latter. I could see the end, both of the cloud and of myself; which would get here first was uncertain, though there'd be a hairs-breadth in it.

Then for the second time an Angel smiled upon me, as at last I burst from the cloud, my hull strength still a sliver above oblivion. The last tendrils swept around my ship, as if it would drag me back in, but I was free of its clutches.

Ames now stood there before me, a shining harbour in a smogless space.

Yet it was still far out of reach. And those rascals had kept up the chase, even beyond their inky haven, so I was allowed no rest. Now bereft of their corrosive ally, and with my shield fully charged, the nerve for battle returned. Like a wolf I turned upon my pursuers, and with blazing mettle I dispatched 'em all to the last, even their wily chief.

Thus it was I limped home to Ames, rattled but victorious, my broken ship belching fire and fumes all the way. One look and they gave me immediate priority to land.

Coughing and spluttering I lurched from the cockpit. Oh what a pitiful sight that greeted me! My lovely new fighter, my beauty, my jewel among the stars; she was now worn and ruined like an aged strumpet. The hull resembled and airless moon, pitted and blasted without mercy. An entire wing was gone, and along with it one of me excellent pirate guns, a Xeno weapon ironically, which had been sorely bought in battle.

Those Zoner engineers, ever able to work their magic with meagre supplies, I'll give 'em their due. They laboured a day and a night and fixed up my poor fighter afresh. "Tissue thin, down to the last," said they, "it's a miracle you're not floating out there!" As if I needed reminding. They forgave me the smoky stench which took hours to clear away. Even sold me one of their guns to replace the one lost, and not the worst I've seen.

Now I had a matter to settle with that scoundrel MC. Like a summer squall I swept up to his office, but the lily-livered dog had got wind of my coming; he'd run off and left one of his underlings to face me. So I gave the fellow a present to pass on to his master -- a black eye, which won't be soon forgotten.

In the end when all was tallied, I'd come out of this escapade emptier of pocket than when I went in. Though I could still claim my life and my good name, at least.

So hearken to ol' Onca, all you greenhorn noobs, lest ye repeat his error: when looking at a mission, always check its location before taking it!