Back in the swing of logistics and economics, I was moving cargo when an agent of my organization approached me. I should note that I’m abnormally cagey about revealing who I work for since I have enemies, they have enemies and I’d would behoove me to avoid openly discussing their habits using pronouns and titles. Suffice it to say, I met with a person and they offered me some work.

Seems a group of pirates, not necessarily aligned with each other, had taken to harassing a nearby system and my name came up in conversation. While the technicians looked over the ‘Augur I carefully considered the contract. I’d done a minor refit two stations back so while my jump range wasn’t as robust as it usually is, my defensive measures were more than adequate. Loaders heaved 70 tons of Gold out onto the dock and with a resounding clunk completed their task. With little else on my plate I accepted all the contracts and set course.

The fight itself was almost boring. Two of the would-be assassins jumped me almost immediately. As though working in tandem they arrived at the Nav Beacon just after me and began their campaign of harassment. My shields, reinforced with some unusual tech I picked up along the way, repelled their attack with such ease I hardly noticed. “Weapons Hot” I called out. Alix, my smart agent and COVAS responded by allocating power from engines to defenses and weapons in equal measure. Laser-fire flared out and railguns hammered one target then the other and amidst the fray transports, explorers and other travellers near the beacon gave us wide berth. Within a minute it was over. Normally I’d feel accomplished but these targets were too easy. So bad at their job they were barely pirates. I noted the idea that this was a setup as I conducted a short-range scan for my other targets.

In all I think I was in-system less than 20 minutes. Quiet work, relative ease and minimal danger. I collected my bounty and loaded more cargo for another hop out-system. Keeping on my toes and moving, keeping trouble a step behind me.