Tue May 01, 2007 6:41 pm by bradkak
Chapter 4 – One last job.
Vince woke up the following morning just before 0700 as he always liked to. Despite having slept in his browns, he knew getting them cleaned would be a waste of time as he was certain he would launch today, either for one last mission for BMM or to another quadrant of space. Only a trip to the bar would decide which. The Freelancer quickly stripped off his clothes and showered. He always though at least some amount of personal hygiene was necessary. After washing he donned the same clothes and made a quick check of his personal possessions before heading to the bar.
When it came to bars all throughout all of free space the time never mattered, they were always open. Many bars now employed an android for a barman for this specific purpose. Vince didn’t have any time for artificial intelligence as far as conversation went, but he didn’t care who poured his beer. Miles Cranford and Vince O’Hara had a fairly solid friendship. Vince would never admit that deep down he didn’t mind being called Vinnie, but his tough Freelancer persona always made him make a scene whenever Miles called him that. The barman used Vinnie to get a rise out of the often sullen Freelancer to liven him up. It always seemed to work.
The bar was normally busy early in the day. Mining crews were scattered all over the room eating meals before heading out to mine the ??name?? asteroid field for ??Alloy??, the very reason Stokes even existed. Vince normally flew missions commissioned by Bretonion Mining and Minerals to get rid of any Molly’s that might be looking to steal the precious ??Alloy?? or just destroy mining equipment.
“Hey Miles, anything decent on the job board this morning?” asked Vince whilst deciding what he wanted to eat.
The routine had been the same all week so Miles didn’t even wait for Vince to decide before dishing up the usual bacon, eggs and a glass of juice.
“Take a look. That ones been up for a couple hours already. Might be too tough for most of the ships here. I bet that Falcon of your’s would be up to the challenge though.” he hinted.
The Freelancer looked up at the AMV whilst chewing a mouthful of bacon.
Commissioned by BMM: Our patience with the Molly’s has grown thin. We can’t tolerate their actions any longer. Our profilers have identified one of their operatives, Wallace Braunstone, as a viable target. We believe him to be vulnerable, in Sector 5E right now. You have orders to terminate him with extreme prejudice. His execution will send a clear message from Bretonian Mining and Minerals. Use caution, though. We believe that some Weapons Platforms may be in the same area as your target and could be a danger.
Vince walked over the console below the AMV and punched in his ID Code to accept the mission.
“7000 credits ought to be enough for me to leave Stokes for a bit.” He yelled at the bartender.
Miles smiled and turned to address another customer.
“Freelancer Silver Six dash Two to Dock Two immediately.” Erupted over the speakers.
Vince stuffed his mouth full of bacon and eggs and washed it down with his juice before giving Miles a wave and running toward dock two.
Vince’s Falcon was being prepared by three dock hands when he arrived.
“Hey Vince!” yelled Sean Eaton, the lead dock hand. “You’ll get you’re mission briefing and waypoints once you launch.”
Vince nodded and gazed over his ship, making sure everything looked okay. He hadn’t upgraded his weapons since purchasing the Falcon but the Liberty Rogue weapons he had managed to obtain hadn’t failed him so far. Beside they would have to do until he could afford or acquire some more powerful ones.
Vince climbed into the cockpit and put on his helmet. After flipping several switches and pushing some buttons the Falcon roared into life. Out of the corner of his eye he could see that the young dock hands were in awe of the sheer noise coming from the powerful engine. Ships as capable as a Falcon were rare in this part of space.
The Falcon eased forward before the thrusters ignited and he was clear of dock two.
“Freelancer Silver Six Dash Two this is Stokes Smelter, everything’s go for launch. Good luck out there.” Said the Space Traffic Control Centre.
Vince looked around the dusty space outside the Mining Station. Sometimes the Molly’s would send in a raid to make life uncomfortable for the miners but today this wasn’t the case. He was almost disappointed.
“Freelancer Silver Six Dash Two this is Stokes. You’re target can be found at the mission waypoint. Refer to the Nav Map for specific instructions. Mission Commission out.”
Vince pressed the buttons to bring his two Usiel lasers online. Once clear of the Station he fired at some small asteroids as he was feeling a little rusty. He then brought the three Drail’s online and fired at a few more asteroids until he felt confident. Vince hadn’t had enough credits to purchase a turret and he was running low on Countermeasures so it could be tough battle indeed.
Now that everything was in order he selected the mission waypoint and pressed the go to command on the ships computer. The Falcon’s cruiser engine engaged and Vince clenched his teeth as the ship sped up at a phenomenal rate. Once the ship was as full speed everything returned to normal. Now came the calm before the storm. The silence was only short lived though, as the ships Comm System beeped to signal an incoming message.
“You should be in range. We’ve painted you’re target to make him easier to Identify.”
Vince’s computer had identified all of his targets so he cut his cruise engine. He targeted the closest enemy ship and prepared for what could be a suicidal pass as it was four ships against one. The scanner showed no other ships in the immediate vicinity so he was definitely going solo.
“Time to die Freelancer!” Screamed Wallace Braunstone.
Braunstone’s Wolfhound wasn’t the ship Vince had chosen to target first. He hoped that if he could destroy one or two of his cronies first he’d make a mistake that would make Vince’s job easier.
Not bothering to reply with words, the Freelancer used his thrusters to close the gap and opened fire on the Bloodhound he had targeted. The aim of the first pass was usually to get past the enemies shields and inflict some minor hull damage before finishing the job off in a dog fight. This was made more difficult with multiple targets, but not impossible.
The ships computer showed that the current target’s shields were no longer functioning. The Falcons shield was far more superior and had only sustained minor damage. Vince was happy to let it regenerate normally rather that using any shield batteries.
The Falcons shield rapidly regenerated as Vince made a sharp twisting downward turn. The Bloodhound was in his sights again. Opening fire on the enemy ships tail soon had it in flames. A scream went out over the open comms channel followed quickly by another threat from Braunstone.
“You’ll have to do better than that to take me down.”
Oh I will, Vince thought to himself as he brought his ship around. He used the ships computer to target another of the Bloodhounds. In the meantime his shields took a severe beating and he was forced to use a few shield batteries. The Molly ships would have drained a lot of weapon power in the attack so Vince knew now was the time to strike.
The Bloodhound he had targeted was trying to take evasive action but Vince used the thrusters to get him within laser range and opened fire. The Rogue weapons ripped through the shields and outer hull in just seconds. Two down. Now it was Braunstone’s turn.
The Molly captain didn’t seem deterred by the loss of his two wingmen. His Wolfhound was a more capable ship that the Bloodhounds but he knew that the Freelancers Falcon was even better. Braunstone issued an order to his remaining wingman to flank the Falcon from the left whilst he came in firing from the right.
Vince had already made the decision to engage the leader and turned hard to meet him head on. The timing couldn’t have been better as Braunstone dropped a Drone mine. Vince locked onto it and blew it to pieces before it could do any serious damage. Slamming down on his thrusters he flew through the explosion and let fly with a barrage of laser fire on the Wolfhound. Braunstone’s shields were momentarily down before he had repaired them with batteries. In that instant Vince had managed to damage the rear port quarter, but not enough to destroy him outright.
In the meantime, the remaining Bloodhound had done more damage to Vince’s shield. Confident it would regenerate he again opted not to waste any precious shield batteries.
The Falcon performed another sharp turn, this time upwards. Braunstone was in view again. The bright light emanating from his thrusters signalled he was trying to go into cruise and make an escape.
“I think not Wallace.” Vince fired a Wasp cruise disruptor and pounded on his thrusters again. Braunstone had to take his weapons offline to go into cruise. That was the mistake he was hoping for.
“You know you’re only worth 7000 Credits to BMM. That’s pathetic. You should be honoured I even bothered launching!” Vince taunted as he finished off the Molly group leader.
Vince turned his attention to the last ship and saw he too was trying to run.
“Run you bastard! Tell you’re fellow Molly’s that Vince O’Hara sent you packing.”
Not wanting to waste a Wasp he was happy to let him flee. Besides the commission only required Braunstone to be eliminated. As if on cue the Comm Unit activated.
“Freelancer Silver Six dash Two this is Stokes. We show target destroyed. 7000 Credits have been transferred to your Neural Net account. Mission Commission out.”
Vince smiled at the thought of what 7000 Credits could do for him right now. In the big scheme of things it wasn’t much but it would be enough to get him to Liberty Space, maybe even Rheinland, where the big paying jobs were. He hadn’t really taken any hull damage so most of the money he just earned was his, rather than for repairs like after most missions. He thought perhaps he could keep doing low paying jobs like the old days, as Molly’s and Gaian’s were no match for the Falcon but decided against it, as being a big fish in a little pond wasn’t always a good thing. Eventually they would hire a team of Outcasts or Bounty Hunters to take him down.
Vince used the ships computer to scan for any loot worth salvaging. He tractored in a two Angelito MK I turrets and a single Nanobot. One turret he would fit to his ship, the other, once repaired, would be sold for over 2000 Credits, not a bad haul at all. Now all that remained was to set a course for Stokes and tell Miles all about his latest exploits over a cold Bretonian Ale.