I had a ship and 5 aUEC. So the best thing to do was to look for work where I could use what I had and get paid. I opened the contract manager and started browsing. Hmm Bounty Hunting? 8 contracts available, that seems promising. But they were all player contracts. And I only had a Zeus CL. And I suck at PVP. SO on to the hauling mission we go! There’s only one available and would you believe it? Its bugged. The cargo never shows up. So i decide to head out into Pyro and see if I can find some work at one of the local outposts.

 

I first headed out to Yang’s Place on Pyro II. But after wasting around for a while I confirmed that Yang wasn’t home and took off again. Checking the contract manager I saw two hauling contracts to pick up goods at Patch City and bring them to Rustville. Perfect. Loading the Sophie was a breeze with the ship tractor and then I was on my way to Pyro I. That’s when I noticed I was very low on QT fuel… Of course when I clicked on “auto” for refueling back at Patch City I forgot to take into account that I only had 5 aUEC. So now I had absolutely no money and just enough fuel to reach my destination.

On approach I noticed there were a few ships on the ground. another Zeus, a couple cuttys, a gladius… I was nervous but running low on options. My first thought as I started walking around was “where the hell is the cargo elevator?!” I walked all over the settlement. Saw some friendly locals. And just as I had walked into one of the larger buildings in the compound I heard the airlock behind me cycling. I took out my gallant rifle and crouched behind some cover. I put my crosshairs right on the armored figure I could see in the airlock. That’s when I saw I only had 15 rounds. The door opened and the stranger walked in. I held my fire, hoping for another way out of this. One were I didn’t need to test my ability to kill with so few shots. The stranger saw me and stood still. I took a chance and flashed my headlamp at him. He flashed back. I bobbed up and down. He did the same. That was it. The universal sign for “lets not kill each other”. Wearily I put away my weapon and backed out to the airlock. I was out the door and safe.

As I continued to look for the cargo elevator I started to wonder why this settlement needed so much waste. What the hell were they doing with all that shit? Then, in a poorly lit hallway with items strewn all over the floor I saw signs of organic manufacturing.  “Oh look, they ARE making something. How industrious!” I thought. “Wait, are those drugs? Yup, those are drugs.”

I calmly and coolly walked out of there and headed back to my ship. ASs I went I started to notice little details about the way the locals had chosen to decorate their settlement. “Are those skulls?

Yep. yep yep yep. Those are skulls.” I now walked with even more calm, cool, deliberation than before.  That’s when I saw the cargo elevator. Right near my ship where I thought it would be at the very beginning. In what was surely a masterclass on gravitational cargo manipulation I emptied the hold of the Sofie and sent the goods down the elevator. Mission complete. I was now in the green with 98,000 aUEC. I loaded up on fuel CALMLY pointed my ship’s nose at the stars and blasted out of there like a rat out of an aqueduct!

 

I jumped to empty space and cut my engines. After a much needed cruz-lux I hoped into my bunk and signed off. Hero-to-zero and back again. And no one got hurt.