Stoat - A log

[Stoat]

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.

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