Oolite Bulletins

Mad Dan Eccles wrote:

But seriously, while I do have a couple of X-Box controllers that work well (at least with LEGO Star Wars ) I've not tried one with Oolite. I do kinda like the old-skool feel of keyboard-only.

Mmmm, I don't know that it's "old skool" exactly, flying on a keyboard - you never saw Sulu flying the Enterprise or Blake flying the Liberator with a joystick...

I started in G3 where I traded the Wayward, my Fer de Lance 3G+, with whom I have killed many and was paid well for it, for the Takina CX-1 Cruiser because I felt like a lifestyle change. It was at Lamare in G3 that I made the trade and then after having passage booked on a Bulk Carrier to take the Wayward back home to my beloved Esceso in G2 in case I needed to call on her again, I embarked on an expeditionary mission for my Sovereign, the King of Esceso, to chronicle the various trade routes of all the galaxy sectors (record all the new cargoes as much as humanly possible.) After fitting her with a piece of tech of my own design, the Turret Toggler, I decided I liked the ship so much that I ordered up for her a custom paint job, also my own design. It was in a body shop at Istimale, also in G3, that I had her painted up with my custom paint job and there dubbed this new cruiser 'The Forgotten Sun', named after Oresrati, the loneliness place in the Ooniverse and the place of my birth.

From there I began a journey that was foreign to me. Before that time I was bounty hunter and assassin. I only dabbled in mercantile at the start of my career before I was whisked away to a wholly different manner of being (Long story which will be chronicled at another time.) So from G3 to G8 I traveled the trade routes and documented and chronicled all of the merchandise and the routes from this place to that place I could find for my Sovereign the King. I longed for home and am ever reminded of it whenever I reach G1 because whenever I am in G1 I know that the next Galactic Jump will take me to G2 and the place where rests my heart, that of Esceso, that boring planet, that dull place that is only good for its 'Ma' beer and Ceema fleeces.

Now with me for this trip were my two female felinoid slaves, Alimah and Najwa who have become my personal servants,....with benefits. You know what I mean! It was there in G1 that we were continuing with the chronicling of the trade routes and ferrying passengers and cargo contracts and parcels to continue accumulating my wealth during these chronicles. We plotted the next leg of our course in G1 witch'ing from Beraanxe to Teanrebi, for I intended to pick up more liquor and fur pelts en route to Tianve. I like to make it a point to see the pulsar whenever I am in the region. However I had a most unusual encounter en route to Teanrebi.

There was no warning, none of the usual alarms from my witchspace disturbance detectors. We found ourselves suddenly blown into the midst of a conflict between a group of renegade pirates and Thargoids. I was confused at first because the autolock targetter locked onto a pirate python. I did not even realize I was in interstellar space until I saw the red and green lollipops on my scanner. I eyed the space compass and found it staring vacantly and unable to get a lock. It was in a matter of moments but the passage of time seemed much longer before I realized I was in the vast and awesome emptiness that was the wastes between the stars.

I started pressing buttons wildly. Turrets activated, Laser booster armed! Then full throttle up and I joined the frey. Being that the pirate python was the first to whom I acquired target lock, that was the first to go down. And then my attention was on the Thargoids ejecting their beady little tharglets. Soon I was swarmed, so I was heavy handed on the fuel injectors, rushing within range of whatever I target locked at the time, putting my broadside to whoever got in my way first and laying waste with the turrets. It was in under a minute that one pirate, one Thargoid, and then another and another were splashed into the empty wastes that my screen filled with a sight mine eyes could not fathom even upon seeing. Was that a Generation Ship?

And then came the call from Najwa, who served as my engineer, "Shields down, fuel leak!" I was overwhelmed for there were so many tharglets swarming about me. My hand was heavy on the injectors again, putting the turrets to their task, evading incoming fire as much as I could. Then to Alimah, my number one, I gave the call, "Arm a Q-bomb!" Then with throttle at the full and injectors injecting, we rushed up on that Generation Ship and when I acquired target the computer reported it was hijacked. I had to rub mine eyes, for did I see that correctly? A 1,000,000 credit bounty? I saw that hijacked Generation Ship vomiting one Thargoid warship after the next. It was here that I heard the call from Najwa again, "Full leak sealed, iron hide armor holding firm." The Q-bomb was already armed and so I pulled within 5 kilometers and ordered, "Deploy Q-bomb!" Alimah flipped the switch while I brought the Forgotten Sun about and full throttled away and put the aft view on display. And there it was, that blue sphere of death from which nothing can escape. As soon as that blue sphere touched the smallest scrap of that Generation Ship I got that 1,000,000 CR recorded from the GalCop recorder. I was accredited with the kill. We continued pulling away from that blue sphere of death and I made use of the aft laser to splash a Thargoid warship and a frigate who managed to keep up with me and escape the Q-bomb effect.

After the Q-bomb effect subsided I brought the Forgotten Sun about and meant to finish the job after the manner of the Assassins of Galaxy 7. I ordered Alimah, "Ready another Q-bomb," which she did and I full throttled back into another swarm of Thargoids, the remnant of that which vomited forth from that hijacked Generation Ship. It was a second round of that blue sphere of death which almost finished the job. We had to go back in to that mess only to pick off the few Thargoids left that managed to escape. I turned the ship this way and that, saw nothing on the screen nor on the scanner and it was then I engaged the hyperdrive before things ran afoul and we might die there in the empty wastes of interstellar space.

It was through the tunnel and out the other side that brought us to our intended destination, that of Teanrebi. The three of us spoke not a word as the compass was brought to lock on the nav buoy of the Coriolis station, for we were still a stupor from our interstellar encounter. We even splashed one pirate python on the way, as if to remind us from whence we just escaped, but it was simple work compared to what we had been. It was only after we were safely docked and the logs of our account properly accounted with GalCop that we all looked at each other, each seated in our places on the bridge, and together exclaimed, 'Holy Frak!" Seeing I was 1,000,000 credits richer for living through that encounter I told the girls, "Evil Juice on me." Now we are not ones to drink, but that was a special occasion which called for a good drunk. There we drank till drunk at the lounge at Teanrebi Main.

Ranthe, that was science fiction. This is (oo)life!

A great tale Solonar! Good work.

Awesome tale Solonar!
I too dream of the day when I can get such a lucky break

Excellent tale, Solonar!

Hmm. I didn't expect to see him here.




Diar Brian

So, there I was, jumped into Biarge in Gal 1 with a load of cheap rotgut, for the constore I knew to be there. Sold it for a nice profit, and took some strange trinkets and cheap jewelery, that some poor chums had pawned there, to pay for the cheap rotgut they sold them at an even higher price than I got from them... I love making easy money.
On my way towards Biarge Main, just at the witchpoint bouy, I saw a cobbie being harassed by an asp II. I don't remember the bounty, but I sure as hell bagged it. Then I saw an escape pod and scooped it. I was mildly irritated to read that I rescued him. I wanted to cash in for his head, for sure. But when I started scooping debris and what was left of his cargo, I saw the cobra still hanging there. Grey blimb, abandoned. I hadn't scooped the pirate, I had the bloke, who was almost shot down if I hadn't interfered. Feels good to be a nice guy. His name was Etouonlo Bramstain and I made a little smalltalk over com. Very grateful, he was. Then I had a not so nice thought: If I would gut this husk I could at least scoop some wreckage... So, while talking to the former owner of the ... forgot the name, not important ... I slowly turned my main laser onto his ship... I wasn't sure about the actual legality of this. Maybe even I have a conscience, but foremost I want my record clean, being a bounty hunter and all. Sucks to be shot down by colleagues. So, while I was pondering the pros and cons of this action, in came a Moray, headed back to the con store... I waited. Better safe than sorry. Just before the yellow blimb disappeared, a patrol of the 249th Reserve appeared. Damn. I waited a little more. They where on regular patrol duty. OF COURSE they paused just at the bouy, and taking their time to get on the lanes again... when they finally flew away, just before they left my scanner range, in came a second patrol, a swat condor, even. I figured that they had to do patrol duty for being even bigger suckers than normal... or maybe they forgot to bring some donuts for their captain. So I waited a little longer, again... When the coast was finally clear I cut almost 150Cr of materials out of Etouonlo's ship, avoiding any ID-able parts. I grinned when I started the torus drive. This day started good. It should get really strange, really fast...

I was masslocked by a little trouble ahead, there were lasers blasting around one of this **Voice Recognition Failure** abbeys of the black monks. May they rot in hell. If they would at least just put bounties on the head of their... but I digress.
Where there's gunfire, there's almost always bounties to be had, but you never know with the monks. I decided to take a peek, at last. Would have been a good day, all in all, if I had ignored this. So I just... don't know.

There was lasers, but it wasn't really a fight. The station just hung there, and another reserve patrol -or maybe even the same, I didn't bother to check their ID back at wp- blasted at it. They didn't even scratch it, even with mil lasers they obviously hadn't the firepower to overcome the shielding of a major station. I rejoiced because I figured the Black Monks would have to have a BIG bounty on their heads before something like this could happen, and my pylons were filled with racks of ec-hardened missiles... But no. No bounty on that damned station. Even stranger, two of the patrol just shot exactly at the docking bay, with only a few stray shots hitting the station itself. The defense turrets were aligned to blast that patrol out of the vaccum into oblivion, but didn't fire. And strangest of all, in between the attacking craft, flew a gunship, obviously ignoring the patrol. I looked dumb at my screens and didn't get it. Total silence on the radio, but I picked up some scrambled noise, probably coded messages. A little distance away were some more GalCop blimbs, totally ignoring what happened there, but I id'ed them as minesweepers, so at least this mistery was solved. Then came a second gunship, and started to dock. In between the shots of the patrol, though they seemingly tried to avoid hit that on. Well... Just a few moments later, it reemerged and started firing on the patrol. Fugitive, about 65 Cr. I came to action. At least, this I understood. I shot it up and had even the courtesy to ECM the missile it left for the patrol cobbie out of space. Not even a thank you. Snobby bastards. All the time the other gunship still circled without action around that whole clusterf+++AUTOEDIT+++.

Then it happened again. This time I saw that the arriving gunship came back from the main, going directly to the docking bay. Few moments later, it flew out of dock with guns blazing. Another 65 Cr. Left an uneasy feeling, without knowing what's going on... I decided "Screw this!" and flew away. To give the cake some icing, I found some parentless cargo canisters. In the middle of the spacelane. Well, I know, that happens from time to time, as GalCops don't care for the leftovers of their kills, but in that mindset I was in it seemed like an omen from the other side. Got almost a dozen kilos of shiny in the first and only dreck in the others. Slaves, mostly. Took'em with me to Biarge Station. Can't let the poor buggers freeze to death out there. And 5 Cr a crate is at least 5 Cr a crate.

So, this was it. Rumors abound here. Some say, it was a pissed off high ranking reserve officer, who had a recent death in the family by gunship, but this wouldn't explain what I saw with both eyes open, cyber and natural. Others say, there was some madness in the black monks, because some of them where conned into huge debts by a remarkably absent friar. I don't know. And frankly, I will get pissed now until I don't care anymore, either. Freakish monks.

At least the bottomline was ...adequate.

@Mad Dan Eccles, Commander McLane: I'm not too surprised. Standup comedy must be a hanging offense in some parts of the galaxy.

I pulled out of Inve main, bound for Lequteor, and found a Boa and its four escorts about to hyperspace out. I like to hitch a ride whenever possible, so I analysed their wormhole as I plunged into it. Oh dear... they were headed for Quisbe, which is the system where the sun has gone nova (in my Ooniverse, that is). Luckily for them, Inve to Quisbe is only a 1.6ly jump, so the Boa had enough fuel to open another wormhole and jump back to Inve. They were pretty damn quick about it too, and I only just made it to their wormhole. A close-run thing, for the second time this evening... dangerous! They all made it back to Inve okay, and I hyperspaced straight on out to Lequteor, as planned. I bet those escort pilots were cursing that Boa captain right royally!

El Viejo wrote:

I pulled out of Inve main, bound for Lequteor, and found a Boa and its four escorts about to hyperspace out. I like to hitch a ride whenever possible, so I analysed their wormhole as I plunged into it. Oh dear... they were headed for Quisbe, which is the system where the sun has gone nova (in my Ooniverse, that is). Luckily for them, Inve to Quisbe is only a 1.6ly jump, so the Boa had enough fuel to open another wormhole and jump back to Inve. They were pretty damn quick about it too, and I only just made it to their wormhole. A close-run thing, for the second time this evening... dangerous! They all made it back to Inve okay, and I hyperspaced straight on out to Lequteor, as planned. I bet those escort pilots were cursing that Boa captain right royally!

Whoops! Someone wasn't paying attention when they set course .

The flashbacks still continue, the sudden increase in atmospherics in the cabin, the shrieking claxon indication catastrophic occurrences in the life cycle systems, The sudden loss of light functions followed by the smell and stench of burning components. Then silence… the silence of space, the stars whirling around you in concentric circles, then darkness.
Waking is a slow process, first to comeback is your hearing… I can hear as if from a far distance, clicks, clacks, metal on metal tappings, the gurgle of liquids intermingled with soft whispers. Second is smell… antiseptics, medicinal sweet with underlying smell of baser smells. Third is touch, the feel of something touching the skin. It is a smooth, light,warm touch to the skin. It feels comforting but out of place. Fourth is consciousness of the mind, I can feel, smell, touch and my mind gathers and catalogues these sensations but sight does not occur… what has happened? I fall asleep wondering.
My mind today is much better and focused, I am aware of what is around me except for my sight. A voice comes addresses me from the right of me: “You have been in a space accident. Your ship has been lost just outside of the station, only small parts were left after the vaporization of the hull. You managed to be ejected with a remlock unit. There was a beacon that was activated and you were picked up and transported back to the base. “
Several weeks have come and gone and finally I am seeing a foggy light that brightens and then dims. The Doctor says that is not unusual when a person is thrown out into space before the remlock has a change to cocoon the person. Another several weeks will resolve itself back into functioning sight.
My insurance agency says that because I had no escape pod… they will cover my medical but not the loss of my ship. I know I cried but was it for me or for the loss of my ship?
4 months and I have been released into rehabilitation, Just let me go!!!!!
I went to my local credit union… I have enough saved to get a cobra MKIII… purchased and started back in the space lanes.
6 years of toil, trading, bootlegging , furballs have gotten my account up to 2.5 mill. I now am hunting for a replacement vortex.
Found one in a level 14 station and got it. Once in command of this beautiful vessel, I find that trading in computers and furs to be totally humdrum.. I am frequently haunting anarchy systems and taking contract hits… Some of the seasoned spacers cannot bear to look me in the eye… they say that I have the eyes of a serpent that can see into their black souls and curse them with bad luck. “snake eye”
I like it. In the year that I have been active as “snake eye” I have focused on credit hunts… these offenders are weak and easy prey.
Their escorts have no chance against me… Today, I reached a milestone… I completed 800 kills… all contracts… I think I will go to a little hideaway and get a rejunvate treatment good for 50 years.
Then I will continue my advancement to being the Elite Hunter in the OONIVRSE! “snake Eye”

Raid on Vebege Space Bar, The Blue Lagrange: Arrived from Encereso to check the advert board, to see if there was a juicy target along my route. Even from the WP I could see the bar was under attack, so closed in to assist. Spotted a Liberator pummeling the bar, so throttled down and opened up with my forward laser. He turned his three forward lasers on me, while hurling all his missiles at me - one after the other. Fortunate for me, none were of the hardened sort. I pitched 180 and red-lined the aft laser. Still alive and kicking, but not very agile. Yawed 180 to port, lined up on this big fecking target and let him have what for. That had to hurt, if his curses at me were any indication. His ship shuddered, then expired in a brilliant 1.77 mega-blast. Me and the rest of my fellow hunters rounded up the remaining henchmen who seemed crushed with the loss of their bigger brother. I parked near the bar waiting for clearance to dock and took this picture of my battle weary compatriots approaching the docking bay and then for a few well earned drinks.

Seeing as I was cruising round the Steel Halo, I decided to visit Avernus Orbital, and play torus-dodgem with the asteroid swarms. I pulled out of Zaenza main, initiated a jump to Lazaso, mis-jumped myself into interstellar space - and emerged straight into a bunch of Thargoid warships that were right on their game. Four, I think it was, but I was too busy to count 'em, as they were already giving me a right hammering. Luckily, Rolling Thunder's flight-systems* were having a rare good day, and I survived - at some cost though. When the last warship blew, I had time to check the instrument panel - damn close-run thing! F5 was a sorry sight, and the damaged kit items were going to be very costly to repair, as the NEU was amongst them. Then I flipped to the second page - and found that they'd killed my ship's cat! Poor Lord Effingham - who I had become rather attached to - was dead, gone, departed! <howls in anguish>

[*the joystick]