Stardate 2009.12.6
Very long day with many sectors behind me it is time for some R&R...
I started with another "small" request from the Goaners who are rebuilding their temple in Elysum of Light, they needed more Ore and Teladianium Panels, this time I knew what I was in for so I figured I would take the super freighter and just Jump in and right back... it seemed like a good plan. Switched to my new Demeter Super freighter, and once I made a quick stop at the trading post for some fuel cells I made the jump back to Mines of Fortune for the pickup. The ore was no problem, I picked up 2000 units at the first Ore Mine I stopped at, now to find those Teladianium panels... time for that other shoe to drop, they only had 647 units in stock and I need 1200, aww crap. So I have to find another source, I have quite a few advanced sats placed so I check my space charts, and find a few likely suspects, time for some sector hopping, 320 at my first stop then 240 at the next, I am getting close, one more stop should do it... Ahh remember that dam Boron, has 3 feet, the third shoe drops, my cargo hold does not have the space to hold any more - I hate cargo expansions they cost an arm and a leg (OK Boron time to put that 3rd leg to good use) to operate, but adding 400 units of cargo expansion will be cheaper than a second run so lets do it. Cargo hold all retrofitted and I pick up the remaining Teladianium Panels and jump back to Elysum of Light, drop off the goods get blessed again by the High Goaner Priest (or what ever they call him, her, it), collect my credits and figure it is time for a little explore. I get the parting thanks, we may be in touch again if we need your services again - I am getting the feeling I may be the only space nut that will play fetch for these guys... Oh well they do pay well and they pay on time!
So time for some personal adventure, I have not seen the South East corner of the universe so lets go have a look see. There are a few Boron secotrs down there and those Borron can be a fun bunch. OK lots of mission notices up around here, I open up a comm chanel to the first station and chat up the frienly - sober even - Boron who is looking for help, it seems he has a few friends that went missing while doing a little "treasure hunting in Xenon space, can I be a good fellow and see if they are in need of a ride home or something like that... This sounds interesting, he is offering a "fair and generous" payment for any assistance or information on his friends (I did not ask how much "Fair and Generous" is in actual credits, but it doesn't matter Borron generally pay well and it has to be more exciting than hauling Ore), sure pal download the last known location and I will have a look see. I have plenty of Energy cells so - jump in, poke around and back out, piece of "Paranid Pie"... I will never learn, no bloody wonder his friends are "missing" they are probably space dust, one minor detail I spot in the mission details he forgot to mention, his friends were treasure hunting in the Xenon Core - sector 023, and here I am sticking my nose into this flying a freighter, oh sure it is well armed - FOR a FREIGHTER, this mission calls for a battleship or 10... wait I have one of those. OK call in the Battle Cruiser, I can dock the freighter with that switch to the Gunship that is already docked and go in guns blazing... not much of a plan but I might get away with a little look the operative word here is MIGHT.
Zip- Flash - Gigs battle cruiser jumps in, I mount up in the Gunship and away we go, check the chart and set my jump coordinates to the sector beside Xenon 598, maybe I can sneek in quietly...
yeah maybe I can toilet train my cat too... Well you know fools rush in, and I am in the front of the line. I aim for the gate into Xenon 598, and in we go, oh this is going to be easy,
NOT 3 Q's (the big ugly buggers), and 30+ N's just inside the gate, and just for good measure I see another 20 + red boxes near the East Gate, right where I have to go after (or IF) I get through the welcoming party. Lets just say the Salvage Insurance was worth every penny, it took 3 reloads to clear a path to the main force guarding the East Gate, the big boys went down after a mamoth furball and I was pumped, I called out the 6 fighters (read Disposable crewmen) I had in the bays of the battle cruiser and gave them orders to attack anything that even looked at me sideways. The fighters went to town, and I powered up full wepons and in we went, the fireworks were very nice, and when the smoke cleared there was no Red squares to be found, mind you there was a fablous haul of dropped missles and a few pristine lasers -
BONUS!
Two of the fighters actually survuived so I sent them back into the Battle Cruiser and we headed for the gate to the Xenon Core, now here is where I was ready to reach for Scotty's stach of Space Fuel, we head into the gate and everything looks normal, but when we emerge from Hyper Space we find outselves inside a huge sphere, and I mean HUGE... there are 5 gates, (3 go nowhere) and the hulk of a large ship - this does not look like the core sector of any race I know of? A quick scan of the sector map and no "unfriendlies" to be seen so lets look around, I scoot over to the derelict ship, it is 35 km to reach it so you know how big this thing is. The ship is totaled, broken into 3 sections and no sign of life or power. I am able to download the logs once I get close, and I learn this is a Xenon Hub that was discovered by none other than Bala Gi, he was on that ship and was brought here by the crazy Borron I am looking for, well I huess I have
"Some Information".
OK so now I am curious, the only other gate that is active lists Xenon Core 023, - well I have gone this far... power up the weapons boys, and smoke em if ya got em, cuz here we go again...
I have had a perfectly good evening - this was NOT it! The last time I seen this much Red was when my wife got the limit raised on her credit card...
"Lard Thundern Boyz, weez in a ***** fight now", I wonder if they will let us leave quietly if we pretend to be tourists - Yeah right,
"here kitty kitty, I promise I won't knock you in the bowl and flush this time..." All hands to battle stations and assume the position - Head between your knees and kiss your A$$ goodbye"
There were 6 huge battle ships, 3 Q's and 3 of these new XL's, lots of pretty light coming out of them to, a real "Laser" light show if you know what I mean... I ordered the fighters out again, they lasted 1.2125 seconds, the Battle crusier had already opened up with all weapons, and I decided to try a flanking move, this gunship is super tuned and can outrun any of the small Xenon fighters and I figure none of their missles can catch me either so I could possibly get behind them and thin down the ranks just a little. "Ears Hopin" the shields on the Cruiser can hold up. D@m if it didn't work, I was able to get 2 of the Q's, and the Battle Cruiser was doing a fine job on the fighters, they just disappeared, now these XL's are tough, I took a real beating before I was able to get a couple of Torpedos away and one of them went down, not sure what I would have done without the Torps my guns were useless on these things. All of a sudden I had a flash, check for some dropped weps, and sure enough some considerate Xenon Pilots were kind enough to leave behind a nice selection of gifts, -
Thank you Apricot Slice for that Freight Beam extension, I beamed in every Torp I could find and let em rip back at their original owners... more fireworks. By now I am getting a good picture of the sector, no friendlies that is for sure, and I can now see 2 Xenon stations and a whole fleet of fighters scrambling, OK the Cruiser makes quick work out of fighters, so my job is the stations, the Shipyard must be first that is where those fighters come from. Torpordos will not lock so guns it is, this thing does not move so the Concussion guns will be perfect, they chew up shields very nicely, it takes 5 or 6 passes to bring down the shields and now I can switch to PAC's and rip this thing apart, the hull is like paper to 8 PAC's and the shipyard is space dust. The story is about the same for the other staion, I never found out what type of station it was, not that it mattered, it gave us a nice light show and went up in a flash of white.
The Xeon Core 023 sector is nothing but a few asteroids now and those are not very high yeild, I have no doubt they will rebuild and if they do, I know how to take them out. I decide to take the long way home just for the ride, and after another quick look around the Xenon Hub I jump into Grand Exchange, time to dock at the shipyard, get the ships detailed, have a few cool ones, and maybe grab a few winks before I go back and collect my "Fair and Generous" payment for the Information on Bala Gi and his silly Boron friend.
The tab is on me boys & gurls when we get to the shipyard bar,

you all did a fine job out there today and you deserve to blow off some steam, just stay away from the Boron Chilli, anyone who who gets back on board and upchucks that stuff on the ship will be keel-hauled - and that is serious on a Aron Battle Crusier...
Pictures to follow...
Live Long and Prosper!