I lifted off from Planet Kyushu to begin my patrol today, barely clearing the docking rings before receive a request for escort to the Galileo system from a trader in orbit. We proceed most of the way there without incident until arriving in the Shikoku system. My system radio immediately started picking up a broken conversation between a trader and possibly a pirate (though he was claiming to only be a salesman). I hurriedly checked the trade lanes to the Galileo system and confirming they were clear of pirates I gave the trader an all clear to proceed and headed for the Kepler Jump Gate after briefly speaking with the trader who was possibly being pirated.
Arriving on the scene at the Kepler/Shikoku border I encountered a Kishiro transport being harassed by a Greg.Vederman. I intercepted Vederman and informed the trader that he could continue, at which point Vederman started trying to sell his goods to me! This included everything from Cardi to fine wine. Either he didn't care or didn't realize that I was KNF. The contraband he was hauling included Cardi, Synthetic Marijuana, and Counterfeit Software, any one of which could have carried a huge fine. But the quantities he was transporting were tiny and so I gave him the option of dropping all of the contraband and paying a single fine of 2,000,000 credits. He didn't particularly like this idea and continued to argue that he was just a simple salesman trying to make a bit of a living. The worn out Switchblade he was flying pointed to the fact that at a minimum he was a horrible salesman.
We continued to discuss what needed to happen while I tried to decide what to do with this relatively small threat. He had been drifting around the area rather aimlessly when he suddenly throttled up, switched on his guns, and opened fired. He was a skilled pilot and the engagement lasted for some time as both our fighters were slowly worn down. He apparently was aware of the same thing and suddenly cruised off a short distance away, requesting a ceasefire over the radio. Unsure if I would be able to bring down the fighter or not I chose not to take that risk and and agreed to let him go his way for now. While clearly not a large threat I have included a ship scan here and recommend that we keep an eye out for this criminal. He avoided paying a fine and dropping his cargo, avoided arrest, and fired on a KNF Samurai. He also stopped a trader however he did not seem violent at the time and seemed to be earnestly seeking only to sell a few of his products.
I headed to Plane Junyo for repairs before heading back to the Tau/Kyushu border to monitor the exports. Arriving at the border I scanned a ship, Matt_Ridcully, that had been trailing me since New Tokyo. It was a Firefly class transport and a quick scan revealed that its hold was full of military vehicles. With an Interspace IFF and Freelancer ID I ordered him to halt, which he complied with. I went over the regulations on exporting military equipment to the Tau systems. He first attempted to argue that I was out of my jurisdiction and had no right to stop him, when I explained that this was not the case, confirming it with my CO, he changed his story and claimed he was working for one of the permitted companies as a subcontractor. A quick check through our list of permitted subcontractors did not reveal his name.
Knowing that he wasn't going to be able to lie his way out of this one he quickly jumped into the JG right in front of a transport convoy that was already heading in. Unable to halt their approach I had to wait until the convoy had jumped through before I could follow. But it was too late and the trader was far into the system already. Receiving a report of an incoming system wide storm I was forced to head back to Kyushu and dock.
Several hours after the storm had passed, while monitoring the border once again, the trader jumped through and entered the first trade lane in Kyushu. I stopped the trader at Tsushima Depot and explained the various laws he had just violated. He again attempted to argue with me and seeing that he would fail at that attempted to make a run for it. I opened fire on the transport while an AFA ship in the area fired cruise disruptors as he attempted to flee. He figured out pretty quickly that this wasn't going to work and came to a halt again. I ceased fire as he turned his ship around, but before I could react he engaged his afterburners and made a beeline for the depot, docking immediately.
At about this point Chusa Hajime Hiroito aboard the [KNF-K]Sakabatou arrived on the scene and, after a lengthy discussion where he explained the consequences of failing to cooperate with the authorities now, Matt_Ridcully agreed to pay the fine and go on his way.
