Lifted from Kyushu in Hex-23 with snooty poots bound for Honshu, and right away Telicaster demands 20 Million. 20 Million! Why, I could have turned all those snooty poot VIP's upside down and shaken them til Sunday, and still only gotten a quarter of that out of em.. sheesh.
So, even with my jiggered controls and comms, I decide to risk the run anyway. Lifted, and no sign of the greedy.. whatever he is. Hit the Honshu lane, and zip, he flies past the other way. Then the local Dragons decide to get in on the action and break the lane, at which point Teli is off my Hud. I go to cruise and sail along next to the lane for awhile.. Still no pirate. Ah, but now he dribbles by in the lane, overshoots, and starts back for me. About this time I figure I'll make a hard starboard and go visit the Farmers for awhile.
So, off I go through the rocks 'n dust, red/yellow storm warnings all the way. Soon, Telicaster is off the scope again, so rather than stop for a plum wine at Kabouchikou, I head for the NT Jump hole. No Telicaster.. darn. did so want to haggle him down a bit.
The rest of the leg to Honshu was uneventful. The snooty poots all slap me on the back and bow and take my picture.. crick crick. Most excitement they'd had in months, I surmise.
Now, the prisoners for NB were a different story. Snarly mutts. But off we go to New Berlin. My lucky I Ching coins keep working, and the Wild stays in bed thru 13. My engines cough and stall on the NB side of the hole, and some Unioners try to get through my shields, breaking the lane to aid in the progress, but to now avail. Prisoners delivered.
As long range scans indicated some Helghast activity in Kusari, along with that poor frustrated Telicaster and a new friend, Pit Viper in Chugoku, I decided to break my routine a bit, and forego the diamons back to Kyushu one time. I loaded H-Fuel for Freeport 2, where I know I can get a good price on deuterium for the run up to Pittsburg. Off we go.
New Berlin is quiet, as is Hamburg and most of Bering. I swapped loads at FP2 and proceeded "north". Just as I reached the Texas gate, I hear "Halt! 4 Million! Lo and behold, It was Helghast Agent 100, who had been shadowing me all the way from Sigma 13. (I guess I confused him when I didn't head back to 13 with the usual diamonds, and it had taken a while for him to catch up to me in Bering..)
Well, my comms and nav get flakey again as I try to enter the Texas gate, but for some reason, I'm into Texas without a single shot fired. Then begins a merry chase across Texas, the Helghast vessel sometimes pulling within 1200 meters of my stern, but the old Hex starts performing a bit better, and we manage to make Pittsburg, my friendly Helghast escort, though frustrated by not even being paid for his "services", still on my tail.
I asked if he'd like to follow me home, (jokingly, of course.. I already have a pet..), but then decided it had been a long and amusing evening already, so I'd go tie one on with the other IND lads at the Ship Inn. I invited Agent 100 by for a drink, but he declined. (Doesn't like Sapphire, I guess..)
So, Mr. Agent 100, if you're around tomorrow, I could use another pirate escort up to Honshu. Those snooty poots from Manhattan will just love the chase, I'm sure! Who knows, you might get your picture taken too!
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