Backwater Ambush

Today, it is my pleasure to bring you a story written by fellow MTU Hunter, Carnivorous Swarm. Pour yourself a hot drink, put your feet up, and join him on one of his many adventures.

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1900 Hours: My Confessor jumped into Quier, a backwater system in Everyshore. Quier had only one exit stargate. These types of systems have infrequent visitors and, by extension, are under little scrutiny. They’re the perfect environment for decadent and irresponsible behavior. I launched my combat probes and confirmed the readings against my directional scanner.

The Region of Everyshore.

My assumptions were correct. Four mobile tractors in system and one was abandoned. I aligned and accelerated towards to the signature of the forgotten one, feeling a small amount of shame for the owner, when I noticed an anomaly.

One of the other MTUs was leaking radioactive gasses!

Sadly, leaks are not unprecedented. I got into the MTU removal business because these things are so damn dangerous. They’ve only been in wide circulation a few years, yet research shows they are already responsible for more than fifty-five million baseliner deaths due to collision, magnetic field exposure, and malfunction. Hell, those things will even vacuum up its owner without hesitation.

This ordinary patrol was now an emergency.

My warp drive hummed as I landed on an asteroid belt next to the MTU. A Hulk and two Ventures were drilling and compacting some asteroids nearby. Normally this would have been a serene view, but today we had a dangerous machine lurking mere kilometers away. I confirmed the MTU belonged to no one in the belt, locked on, switched to Conflagration crystals, and started firing with the hope of banishing it as quickly as possible.

The device’s shield stripped off cleanly. Another routine job, I thought for a moment, as the overview warning system began to blink furiously. The Hulk locked my ship! I hailed the pilot, hoping to get an explanation for his aggressive act, but received no response. A moment later both Ventures locked me followed by the Hulk’s drones. But drones do not bluff – an attack was imminent!

I soon realized that I fell right into a carefully laid ambush meant to harm this humble public servant.

The Hulk seemed to be the ringleader, so I scrambled his warp drive and tried to hail his ship again. I hoped I could reason with him to call off the unwarranted violence. The drones of all three ships evaporated my shields in seconds and began to hammer against my Confessor’s armor. Happy that I paid attention during my combat simulations, I switched to defensive mode and overloaded both of my ship’s repair modules. I retaliated against the attacking drones using faster-tracking crystals for my lasers.

During the ensuing firefight a Miasmos warped in and snatched the MTU, probably to use as bait again. Bastard!

I killed five of the nine drones and was finally able to stabilize the heat and capacitor usage by running one of the armor repair systems within its specifications. Still, no response from the leader. Enough was enough! I began to incinerate his ship with my pulse lasers and it soon exploded:

Kill: Siki Turanchox (Hulk)

Click on image for full size.

I did not want him to continue commanding his gang of outlaws, so I sent him back to the cloning bay:

Kill: Siki Turanchox (Capsule)

Leaderless, the Ventures began to panic and flee. I vaporized one with a graceful parting shot:

Kill: Lis Quas (Venture)

The Miasmos, other Venture, and freshly released pod escaped back to their station.

Let this be a cautionary tale to those who wish to take up the noble fight of MTU Hunting: there are those out there who seek to kill you when you least expect it. Every time you patrol, you put your life on the line to keep others safe. This is the burden we bear to ensure the universe is a better place for future generations.

I almost forgot the most important part of my story! I had one more job to do before I left the system to let the bandits nurse their wounds. I eliminated that abandoned MTU, noted earlier, and sent its former owner a citation for littering:

Kill: Tsjoenders du Tremblay (Mobile Tractor Unit)

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There we have it, a great example of the kind of dedication to expect from an MTU Hunter who quite clearly loves his work. Stay tuned for more from Carnivorous Swarm in the near future!