Things seem pretty routine these days. I've killed or captures over 6,000 pilots. I'm worth 160 million. I'm getting anxious to take on more challenging objectives, but I feel I need to upgrade my defensive systems before I do that. That will cost me hundreds of millions. My last power plant cost me 32 million, and still I need a much better one if I'm going to take on large numbers of very heavy fighters.
I've been breaking up the routine by hunting in different areas. Today I went back to Sigma-17. I had good luck there for a while. I mad a half a million from the first group of Bounty Hunters that I took on. After a while things quieted down. I ghosted around for a while and didn't see anymore Bounty Hunters for more than half an hour. That's when I decided to head back to New Berlin to sell my scanners and tractor beams. In all I made over two million on that excursion.
I haven't heard from Uncle Seth since I left Liberty. I may never hear from him again. He can be pretty stubborn. When he sets his mind to something that's it! I did get brief message from my cousin Greg. He's says he's not supposed to be contacting me. I don't like the sound of that. It means that Uncle Seth has decided to count me out. Greg will turn twenty in six months. Uncle Seth will make him start earning his keep then. He says he's thinking of joining the Liberty police or at least working with them as a private contractor. That should keep him in good standing with his father. Any way at least he'll gain some experience.

Tonight the Blood Dragons gave a big celebration. Last night while drinking in the bar and flirting with Naoko the Dragons kept talking to me about helping them with their cause. I'm not sure if it was the Saki or those beautiful dark eyes that persuaded me the most, but I agreed to help them take out a battle Fleet. Today we made a raid in Honshu. We attacked the first fleet we came upon. They had equipped my ship with a sun-slayer launcher. I came in fast and fired two torpedoes at the Battleship. Explosions tore through it's hull as the starboard turrets blew out. I circled around and made another pass on the port side. Once again explosions erupted from it's hull. Then the destroyers began to fire on me and I Fired a couple of rounds at one of them.


That pretty much did the destroyer in. The blood dragons finished it off while I worked on the Battleship. By now the Battleship was pretty much defenseless and tried to make a run for it, but I fired cruise-disrupter to end his flight. The gunboats did their best to stop me, but the Blood Dragons drew their fire. By the time I'd taken out the Battleship there was only one Dragon left. I fired at the gunboats with my cannons so as not to harm the fighter helping me. Eventually the fighter fell to those heavy turrets.



Then I launched a torpedo at the nearest gunboat. After that it was short work to take it down.

Eventually I destroyed the entire fleet. Although the Dragons were saddened by the loss of their comrades there was a great joy when they took the fleet commander out of my hold. I was paid over 30 million for my work and then was given all the Saki I could drink.
The fleet Commander will be used as political leverage to further their cause. I hope to help them more in the future as this has proven most profitable for me. Then there's the other reason to work for the Blood Dragons. Perhaps I'll find a lovely partner to share my journey in life.

I took out several more fleets and captured the Commanders. They will give the Blood Dragons more political clout.

It's exciting taking down those big ships. But one must be careful not to be too close when the torpedoes go off. Once they are disarmed I can take them down with guns at close range.


I ended up taking down eight fleets in all. The bounty on the Commanders came in handy. I bought some much needed upgrades for my ship. I still have a long way to go, but I think I have enough power defense and armor to get through almost anything.

After I got my upgrades I decided to take a break and have a look around Sirius. I made a trip around the edges of known territories.

I found a couple of jump-holes I didn't know about before. I even stopped at F.P.-5. It's not unusual to see Bounty Hunters and pirates drinking in the same bar and holding back their impulse to kill each other.

I don't know how the Zoners mange to keep the peace. I guess everyone depends on them for a safe harbor when repairs are needed. One Corsair I talked to said he was looking for a guy who was involved with his sister. He said the bum was due for a killing. Evidently the corsairs are very protective of their Racial heritage. Not to mention their culture. I prefer the Kusari Girls myself. I wouldn't want to be that Zoner when the corsairs catch up to him.

I passed through Omicron Theta on my way back. I got hammered by a large group of Bounty Hunters when I came out of the wormhole. Actually I think it was two large groups. There was more of them than I could count. I did my best flying and persevered. My victory did not come easy or cheap. I lost two of my guns and my C.M.. I wasn't using the guns anyway since I still need another power-plant upgrade, but the C.M. is vital to my survival against those Battle fleets. I'm going to have to hold off on that activity for a while. A really good C.M. will cost 18 M. I don't have that kind of money right now. I can't even get the repairs on my shield. They want 11 M to repair that. I'll just pass the time taking down Bounty hunters and collecting bounties on them until I get my ship fixed. They aren't that hard to kill anymore, and they don't use missiles. Besides I'll likely pick up a decent C.M. From one of them.

I finally got my shield repaired and replaced the C.M.. I had to take out quit few Bounty hunters to get there.

But once I got everything ready I killed many more fleets. In fact I've taken out 23 of them so far.

There's not much left of Battleship when I'm through with it.

I'm now worth over 300 million.

The Blood Dragons are calling me a hero. A lieutenant named Yuji Matsumoto congratulated me and bought me a drink.

Unfortunately I've made a few enemies. Namely Samura and the G.M.G. as welll as the Kusari Navy and police. I can live with few enemies but having Samura hostile will cause problems if I go near any trade-lane or base they're docking at. It might be worth it though. I'm doing well with the Dragons. I think I might want to hang around for a while.

Time goes by quickly these days. I've taken out more than forty fleets now. I had some setbacks due to heavy damages. One time I lost my shield and had to fight my way back to Barcelona without a shield. I don't think I would've made it
without armor.

One time a fleet drifted into the clouds and I had to stay close to them to keep from losing track of them. It's all paying off though. As long as I don't get blown up I'll get rich, and the women are taking more interest in me these days.

I may end up making Kyoto my home.
I have one more enemy now. Kashiro Technologies. In fact the only one's who don;t hate me in Kusari are the pirates. I guess Uncle Seth was right after all. I may never be able to go back home. I just hope my cousin Greg doesn't follow in my footsteps. He's like a younger brother to me, and I think he wants do whatever I do. Like when I tried out for Batlet team. Next year he tried out as well. It really hurt his feelings when he washed out in the first season. The next year I quit the team just make him feel better. Uncle Seth was disappointed in me for that. Gregory will be twenty soon. Old enough for a pilots license. Back in the old days people could be licence'd as young as 17. But in 750 A.S. Liberty decided to up the age limit to give more men a chance at life. I think they also wanted to increase the population growth as well since many young people were dying without having any children. The population is growing steadily these days. That's keeping planet-form in business.

I've upgraded my ship enough to use all eight guns. I even went to Toledo; an Order base. The Order are a strange group. Hardened pilots familiar with danger. They don't talk much. In fact they kind of look at you like you're already dead.

I guess the life expectancy is kind of short out here. The Order come from all walks of life. Military civilian and even the pirates join their cause. Rumor has it they are a government black ops organization. It could be true they have some advanced equipment here. That's why I risked my life to get here. I bought a Hybrid shield that's almost as good as a nomad shield. I hope I don't lose this one to battleships. I've wised up since the last time that happened. I keep a spare shield in my hold in case I lose one in combat. I'ts worth the trouble since I don't dock at shipyards on a regular basis.
As for my reputation; that's getting worse. Even Orbital Spa is starting to turn on me. Deep Space Engineering as well. I didn't do anything to those guys. I guess they have friends in high places.

I've taken out fifty fleets now. That's 150 capital ships and more gunboats than I want to count. After this hunting Bounty Hunters is kind of boring.

I've been taking things kind of easy lately. I spend a lot of time at base. I go out on raid now and then and pay for my room and board. My quarters here are kind of small and cold. I think my room is a little close to the edge of the asteroid. Lucky for the ladies have taken an interest in me.

I usually can find someone to keep me warm at night.

I heard from Greg recently. He's got his licence a few weeks ago. My how the time flies. Greg's been doing jobs for Liberty Police and sometimes the Navy. He says a lot of his missions take place in the debris field.

But sometimes he goes into the Bad Lands to kill Rogues.

He says he's making money, but after 30 missions he still hasn't gotten many improvement on his ship. He picked up a couple of Usiel lasers and a Delux thruster, but he's not much richer than he was when he started. He says the jobs that pay well are out of his league. He thinks it's smart to be cautious. I have to agree with that. I've seen him run the simulator. He's no ace pilot. Greg Says he's thinking of getting his own place so he can entertain the ladies. he's met a few interesting prospects and thinks he can talk them into spending some time with him.




All I can say about that is good luck!

If Greg is going to be spending time with Triplets, he is going to be too busy to fight..

(After I posted, the other two dupe pics vanished)(There were three of pic 263)??

@ LW,

Cardamine, Cardamine, Cardamine....better lay off that stuff dude, it's messing with you eyes.

_________________

Not dreaming, not snorting anything I am aware of, but when I first loaded the screen of Daggit's last post, there were Three copies of "Screen263.jpg" and "Screen249.jpg" was not there...I had visions of Greg dating those Triplets.

I edited my last post. Still getting the hang of these picture shots.
Any way Greg has bought a star-tracker fighter. That gave him four improvements at once; all for less than a million. In addition to higher armor level he's got a slightly better power plant a better shield and a counter measure. He says he's doing much better in that ship. In fact he's doing solo missions now and making more money from loot. He says he's thinking of buying a piranha. That'll cost the same as a class four shield and will give him more gun mounts and cargo space. I think that's a good deal. But he'll more power mount four heavy guns on that ship. There's always something to upgrade when you get new ship.
I can't complain about upgrades. I've bought more than a few upgrades since getting my Valkyri II. It could still use an upgrade or two but now it's plenty of power, hard hitting guns and armor that can take a beating. Those Fleets still give me a hard time and I'm only fighting the light battle fleets.

I don't how well my ship will hold up against those Britonian fleets or the Rhineland fleets with their fighter escorts. But I have no reason to take them on at this time. I can always venture into Nomad space if I get bored and need a little excitement.

Tough when that Copy Paste gets the Hicups...



I usually take out most fighters before going after the big boys. Helps me keep shield up when I turn to them.