Today the Crusader Security contacted me. As I am wanted in the whole system, the bounty on my head of 10600 UEC attracts a lot of unwanted attention, and juicy contracts from... unknown sources. I was quiet surprised they found my whereabouts. Even more surprising was that they offered me a contract : 12k UEC to clear a zone from Nine Tails around Yela’s asteroid belt. I guess they were tired to fail at hunting me down, so they thought about hiring me instead? I know a bunch of Nine Tails, however, last month they tried to cut a deal with the Nova Riders and collect my bounty. You can guess it didn’t go as planned, as I’m quiet alive while writing those lines. So I didn’t mind having a chance to hit them back and maybe even get the security to turn a blind eye on my businesses. I didn’t have the UEC to refuel, or repair the right thruster, which fluctuate every now and then, of the old girl “Wandering Minstrel”, my rusting Retaliator. Still looking good for a 250 years old ship. Named her after the funny noises she makes while in QT transit. She sings to me. But the 100 000 km round trip was nothing she couldn’t handle. Time to fire the engines. At around 45k km out, four pings on my radar, Three cutlasses and a Warden. So I diverted 70% power to shields, I’d need to buckle up for a bumpy ride. One by one my four torpedoes hit targets, however they’ve messed me bad, especially that Warden. Lost my left wing, and my right main thruster is out of commission, I’m using auxiliaries to stabilize the old girl. Three more pings. Two torpedoes left. Two of them hits target, last remaining boogie is another warden dancing around my patched up Retaliator. I maneuvered around an asteroid so my shields could recharge, then ran in the top turret, and gave that Nine Tail a nasty surprise. I blew him up after a lengthy fight, however, now my left thruster is gone as well. Fortunately, my QT drive was still operational, so I was able to get to around 300 km from Grim Hex. Presently heading to Grim H. I’m running on fumes, and only on maneuvering thrusters, both mains are busted, my left wing is missing, the ships leak oil from god knows where and it’s smelling like fried chicken... At least this contract gave me enough credits to somewhat refit this lovely lady of a ship, she deserves it, and fill this informal captain’s log!