Let me get the ball rolling.
I remember this one time back when I was still a Jameson and a pretty foolish one at that. I was on a milk run in a some corporate state system in an effort to drum up some cash for my new Cobbie fresh from the shipyards. We made quite the pair my Cobbie and me. I had just graduated from the Academy wetter behind the ears than a salmon going up a waterfall and my own ship was nary without an upgrade being the basic consumer model and all.
So there I was with a cargo hold full of food and a peashooter to keep away any enterprising pirates when suddenly three contacts enter my scanner range. Now, being an idiot and all, I get to thinking that maybe these three were traders too on their way to the station. After all, I was in cop territory. Pirates? In the lane? Ridiculous! So I thought to myself. Well sir, no sooner had I even got the thought in my head when the closest one started firing! I must've froze there for a like fool while the laser fire ate away my forward shields. It wasn't until I heard the shots strike the hull that I realized I had to hightail it out of there. I turned my Cobbie around and pushed those engines for all they were worth. All three of them were in range and firing now. A Python and two Sidewinders. All the while I was jinking and twisting and rolling, trying to make every second count.
All those years in the Academy came rushing back to me. The lectures, the simulators; things I wished I paid more attention to back when I had the chance. One little tidbit of information came back to me clear as a bell like I heard it yesterday. My old flight instructor, a tight-assed old veteran so straight you'd think he had a yardstick jammed up his backside, once mentioned that the old Cobbie was fast for her size. There were few ships that could beat her speed when it came right down to it. Unfortunately, Sidewinders were one of the few that did outclass her in this regard. Still, as I watched the Python slowly fall behind, I thought that two against one were better odds at least.
My rear shields were completely gone now and their shots were directly hitting my aft hull plating and oh Lord! The noise was just scary! The last thing you want to hear in space is groaning metal that's about to give in under the strain. Some of their shots had actually fried a few of the TCs of food I kept in the cargo bay. They were mostly potatoes. I thought to myself that it wasn't so bad. Maybe I can charge extra for french fries. I guess I was getting a bit hysterical at that point. I noticed my front shields were back up so I decided I might as well go down fighting.
I turned her nose around and targeted one of the damn Sidewinders. It broke off when it realized my old girl still had plenty of fight left in her and tried to lose me. Well, me and my Cobbie weren't having any of that! I kept her pointed straight and true and surprise, surprise! That puny little ship blew up after a few shots from my peashooter! Unlike my girl here, they could dish it out but couldn't take it. Still left one of them bastards though and boy was pissed off that I just killed his buddy! He was taking potshots at me the whole time I was tailing and gunning his partner and had me down to my last energy bank. I thought that was the end of me for sure when who should come screaming out of the void than no less than four Vipers! I guess some trader had seen me in trouble and sent a distress call to the station. Took them long enough to scramble and get their asses here! Heh, you should have seen that last Sidewinder skedaddle out of there like a bat out of hell when the odds weren't with him anymore.
Anyway, those Vipers escorted me all the way back to the station and I was able to coax her into limping inside. In the hangar, I tried to count how many holes there were in the hull. I had to stop at around six hundred when I lost count. Didn't even have to walk around the ship. These Cobbies, they take a whole lot of killing.
-Michael Gray, Freelance Trader and Courier
*Edited to avoid WTS (Wall of Text Syndrome)
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Capt. Murphy's OXPs
