Ser Arris' unofficial diary

quaker2k8

Rear Admiral
Hello there.

I've been lurking this place for a while and especially enjoyed following your replays of WC3 and 4, some good memories there...

I'm in the middle of replaying Privateer 2: The Darkening at the moment and as the plot thickens, I just realized (again) what a great universe and story this game has to offer. I started writing my adventures and thoughts down and if you don't mind, I'd like to share my journal, as it proceeds, here in case others are interested in my way of taking the Tri System on or maybe discussing one or the other interesting thing about the story when my diary reminds them of something.

This is not meant as a challenge to the ongoing WCP replay session, just a very personal and hopefully thorough re-telling of the story of a man trying to find his very self in a part of the universe that's just as strange as it is fascinating.

Oh, and doing this would also have the benefit of giving me another chance to practice my English writing skills. It's not my native language so I have to keep busy on it if I ever want to better myself ;)
 
As the person in charge of the Community Replay I wholeheartedly support your posting of your Tri-System adventures.

Priv2 doesn't always get a lot of attention and I'd be glad to read about someone's trials and tribulations in navigating the universe.

I can't wait to see what you've gotten written down. Don't worry about the english, most of us here are native speakers and we have trouble with the language as well. :D
 
Thanks. I'm somewhere in the middle of the game right now and only started the diary from Mitorr/Kappa Labs on. So I'll have to write down the first chapters from memory. I'll post them when I'm ready and then keep on updating as my game proceeds.
 
Intro up to Ser Shondi

So here's the first part.

SPOILER WARNING: If you haven't played Privateer 2 yet, you don't want to read this.

* * * * * * *

Waking up at the hospital, I had no idea what time or day it was. Not even what year! And as I regained consciousness for good, I realized that knowledge about this place, what planet I was on and who the hell I am was missing too. The hot doctor told me my name and that I was suffering from some kind of memory loss (yeah I guess it really takes years of studying medicine to find that one out...). I must've been the victim of some freighter crash. That's all she was willing to tell me. Arrogant, cold doctors, they always think they know what's best for one, holding back informations just to make their 'patient' "go easy" or whatever. The name of the young doctor with the distanced attitude was Frevel. Interestingly, in german "Frevel" means something like abuse/waste, and in a sad way, that beautiful woman finally got true to her name. When the unknown intruders murdered her with a clean shot to her brilliant little head...

I had been at the crian hospital for some time by then and my rehab made good progress when the attack happened. I still had none of my memories back but at least my body recovered some of its stregths again. I must have been 'stored' in a cryogenic pod for a long time, at least that's what they told me and my body seemed to agree to this story. Suffering from a then fatal illness and put aside for treatment at a later point in time or something along those lines. Anyway, now I was healthy and eager to escape this medical Kindergarten scene in order to find people who answer my questions when the kidnapping happened. I wanted to get out, but not like this. All happened very fast, at least two men stormed into the hospital and together with supposedly some air support managed to corner me and shove me into a ship. There must have been someone else opposing the murderers at the last minute and keeping them busy, but I really can't tell since I was knocked virtually unconscious at the moment. All I know for certain is that their craft took off with me as its only passenger.

Next thing I know is waking up at the Hermes commerce and transit center, being removed from the ship that wasn't mine and set free on the streets. Confused and nauseated as I was, I headed for the first bar in sight in order to find some food that would help me become strong enough to decide what my next steps should be.

Sinner's Inn was a bit too much for me at that moment. Since then I sure learned to like this dirty, dark and loud place with its smugglers, dealers, drunkards and assorted cut-throats. And of course their ever wary patron Joe. I ordered some refreshments and had a little talk with the famous owner of this joint. Obviously he knew about every shady deal taking place inside his bar and likely about many more. As the conversation went on, I realized that I was in need of a ship to fly back to Crius and investigate what happened to me there and if there's anything about me that the doctors hadn't told me yet. Joe must've had a serious laugh when I asked him about "ship deals," but I had no idea at this point. Noone beats the prices and services of the public, legal market when it comes to ships and with my balance of 13k creds I was in no position to even dream about any "hot" ship anyway. After having finished my meal, which tasted horrible, I got back to the space port and checked into the booth system. "Commerce and Communications" had me a basic ship and two fitting lasers so I could defend myself just in case... I also managed to rent a freighter and buy some less than legitimate goods to take along my journey to Crius.

When I finally sat inside the cockpit and took off it felt very familiar to me. Travelling the depths of space with noone to care about except yourself is a good thing. The trip to Crius was a short one, but I already ran into my first pirate encounter. Not a big deal, thanks to my buying some guns and I instantly got my first 50 credits pirate extinguishing fee. Soon after that, I landed on the "white" planet where I would visit the hospital with a now more self-aware and definitely more urgent attitude.

At the hospital, I met a Dr. Loomis. Apparently, he was the chief consultant in charge of my case but conveniently on leave during my stay and kidnapping that cost the life of at least two of his subordinates. He was very afraid of me. Considering the bad consequences my presence had brought to his institution the last time, I could understand his feelings. I was in need of a clue from him to what's up with me and obviously he knew more than he told me, but there was no good in putting pressure onto this frightened man so I just described my desperate situation to him and then left, disappointed at this encounter not bringing me any further and again without knowing what to do next.

So, with no lead to inquire further I found it the best thing to embark on a few cargo runs. When there's nothing else to do, doing business is always a good choice and having more credits never hurts. My route lead me to Anhur, Bex, Hephaestus, Petra, then again Hepaestus, Anhur, Hermes, running mostly raw materials and industrial goods, respectively. After that little tour de profit I recieved a message from a certain Ser Shondi, inviting me to Crius where he claimed an interesting business opportunity might await me. Likely nothing to do with my past, but earning some money and making new connections while at it was the next best thing, so I set course to that clean and centrally situated hospital planet yet again...
 
I certainly would like to read them as well. Just as it is with the ongoing replay, it's nice to read about it again and see what you can still remember.
 
What happened to my other post? "Moderator must clear it first?" I hadn't this one with the messages I wrote before..

EDIT: Tried to post the first chapter again and still the same. Does this have to do with message length?
 
Intro up to Ser Shondi

So if it works now, here we go with the first chapters:

SPOILER WARNING: If you haven't played Privateer 2: The Darkening yet, you do not want to read this.

*******

Waking up at the hospital, I had no idea what time or day it was. Not even what year! And as I regained consciousness for good, I realized that knowledge about this place, what planet I was on and who the hell I am was missing too. The hot doctor told me my name and that I was suffering from some kind of memory loss (yeah I guess it really takes years of studying medicine to find that one out...). I must've been the victim of some freighter crash. That's all she was willing to tell me. Arrogant, cold doctors, they always think they know what's best for one, holding back informations just to make their 'patient' "go easy" or whatever. The name of the young doctor with the distanced attitude was Frevel. Interestingly, in german "Frevel" means something like abuse/waste, and in a sad way, that beautiful woman finally became true to her name. When the unknown intruders murdered her with a clean shot to her brilliant little head...

I had been at the crian hospital for some time by then and my rehab made good progress when the attack happened. I still had none of my memories back but at least my body recovered some of its stregths again. I must have been 'stored' in a cryogenic pod for a long time, at least that's what they told me and my body seemed to agree to this story. Suffering from a then fatal illness and put aside for treatment at a later point in time or something along those lines. Anyway, now I was healthy and eager to escape this medical Kindergarten scene in order to find people who answer my questions when the kidnapping happened. I wanted to get out, but not like this. All happened very fast, at least two men stormed into the hospital and together with supposedly some air support managed to corner me and shove me into a ship. There must have been someone else opposing the murderers at the last minute and keeping them busy, but I really can't tell since I was knocked virtually unconscious at the moment. All I know for certain is that their craft took off with me as its only passenger.

Next thing I know is waking up at the Hermes commerce and transit center, being removed from the ship that wasn't mine and set free on the streets. Confused and nauseated as I was, I headed for the first bar in sight in order to find some food that would help me become strong enough to decide what my next steps should be.

Sinner's Inn was a bit too much for me at that moment. But since then I sure learned to like this dirty, dark and loud place with its smugglers, dealers, drunkards and assorted mercenaries. And of course their ever wary patron Joe. I ordered some refreshments and had a little talk with the famous owner of this joint. Obviously he knew about every shady deal taking place inside his bar and likely about many more. As the conversation went on, I realized that I was in need of a ship to fly back to Crius and investigate what happened to me there and if there's anything about me the doctors hadn't told me yet. Joe must've had a serious laugh when I asked him about "ship deals," but I had no idea at this point. Noone beats the prices and services of the public, legal market when it comes to ships and with my balance of 13k creds I was in no position to even dream about any "hot" ship anyway. After having finished my meal, which tasted horrible, I got back to the space port and checked into the booth system. "Commerce and Communications" had me a basic ship and two fitting lasers so I could defend myself just in case... I also managed to rent a freighter and buy some less than legitimate goods to take along my journey to Crius.

When I finally sat inside the cockpit and took off it felt very familiar to me. Travelling the depths of space with noone to care about except yourself is a good thing. The trip to Crius was a short one, but I already ran into my first pirate encounter. Not a big deal, thanks to my buying some guns and I instantly got my first 50 credits pirate extinguishing fee. Soon after that, I landed on the "white" planet where I would visit the hospital with a now more self-aware and definitely urgent attitude.

At the hospital, I met a Dr. Loomis. Apparently, he was the chief consultant in charge of my case but conveniently on leave during my stay and kidnapping that cost the life of at least two of his subordinates. He was very afraid of me. Considering the bad consequences my presence had brought to his institution the last time, I could understand his feelings. I was in need of a clue from him to what's up with me and obviously he knew more than he told me, but there was no good in putting pressure onto this frightened man so I just described my desperate situation to him and then left, disappointed at this encounter not bringing me any further and again without knowing what to do next.

So, with no lead to inquire further I found it the best thing to embark on a few cargo runs. When there's nothing else to do, doing business is always a good choice and having more credits never hurts. My route lead me to Anhur, Bex, Hephaestus, Petra, then again Hepaestus, Anhur, Hermes, running mostly raw materials and industrial goods, respectively. After that little tour de profit I recieved a message from a certain Ser Shondi, inviting me to Crius where he claimed an interesting business opportunity might await me. Likely nothing to do with my past, but earning some money and making new connections while at it was the next best thing, so I set course to that clean and centrally situated hospital planet yet again...
 
What happened to my other post? "Moderator must clear it first?" I hadn't this one with the messages I wrote before..

EDIT: Tried to post the first chapter again and still the same. Does this have to do with message length?

Are you still having trouble with this? My guess is that the board thinks you're a spammer or somesuch... but I don't know enough about the backend stuff to fix it.

Absolutely great thread, though! Wonderful to see someone giving Privateer 2 some deserved attention.
 
One last try...

DISCLAIMER:

Spoiler warning: If you haven't played Privateer 2: The Darkening yet, you don't want do read any further.

Content warning: This contains a bit of swearing and sexually suggestive material. If that's not for you, then stay away from it, Priv2 is not for you then.

- - - - - - - - -

Intro up to Ser Shondi

- - - - - - - - -

Waking up at the hospital, I had no idea what time or day it was. Not even what year! And as I regained consciousness for good, I realized that knowledge about this place, what planet I was on and who the hell I am was missing too. The hot doctor told me my name and that I was suffering from some kind of memory loss (yeah I guess it really takes years of studying medicine to find that one out...). I must've been the victim of some freighter crash. That's all she was willing to tell me. Arrogant, cold doctors, they always think they know what's best for one, holding back informations just to make their 'patient' "go easy" or whatever. The name of the young doctor with the distanced attitude was Frevel. Interestingly, in german "Frevel" means something like abuse/waste, and in a sad way, that beautiful woman finally became true to her name. When the unknown intruders murdered her with a clean shot to her brilliant little head...

I had been at the crian hospital for some time by then and my rehab made good progress when the attack happened. I still had none of my memories back but at least my body recovered some of its stregths again. I must have been 'stored' in a cryogenic pod for a long time, at least that's what they told me and my body seemed to agree to this story. Suffering from a then fatal illness and put aside for treatment at a later point in time or something along those lines. Anyway, now I was healthy and eager to escape this medical Kindergarten scene in order to find people who answer my questions when the kidnapping happened. I wanted to get out, but not like this. All happened very fast, at least two men stormed into the hospital and together with supposedly some air support managed to corner me and shove me into a ship. There must have been someone else opposing the murderers at the last minute and keeping them busy, but I really can't tell since I was knocked virtually unconscious at the moment. All I know for certain is that their craft took off with me as its only passenger.

Next thing I know is waking up at the Hermes commerce and transit center, being removed from the ship that wasn't mine and set free on the streets. Confused and nauseated as I was, I headed for the first bar in sight in order to find some food that would help me become strong enough to decide what my next steps should be.

Sinner's Inn was a bit too much for me at that moment. But since then I sure learned to like this dirty, dark and loud place with its smugglers, dealers, drunkards and assorted mercenaries. And of course their ever wary patron Joe. I ordered some refreshments and had a little talk with the famous owner of this joint. Obviously he knew about every shady deal taking place inside his bar and likely about many more. As the conversation went on, I realized that I was in need of a ship to fly back to Crius and investigate what happened to me there and if there's anything about me the doctors hadn't told me yet. Joe must've had a serious laugh when I asked him about "ship deals," but I had no idea at this point. Noone beats the prices and services of the public, legal market when it comes to ships and with my balance of 13k creds I was in no position to even dream about any "hot" ship anyway. After having finished my meal, which tasted horrible, I got back to the space port and checked into the booth system. "Commerce and Communications" had me a basic ship and two fitting lasers so I could defend myself just in case... I also managed to rent a freighter and buy some less than legitimate goods to take along my journey to Crius.

When I finally sat inside the cockpit and took off it felt very familiar to me. Travelling the depths of space with noone to care about except yourself is a good thing. The trip to Crius was a short one, but I already ran into my first pirate encounter. Not a big deal, thanks to my buying some guns and I instantly got my first 50 credits pirate extinguishing fee. Soon after that, I landed on the "white" planet where I would visit the hospital with a now more self-aware and definitely urgent attitude.

At the hospital, I met a Dr. Loomis. Apparently, he was the chief consultant in charge of my case but conveniently on leave during my stay and kidnapping that cost the life of at least two of his subordinates. He was very afraid of me. Considering the bad consequences my presence had brought to his institution the last time, I could understand his feelings. I was in need of a clue from him to what's up with me and obviously he knew more than he told me, but there was no good in putting pressure onto this frightened man so I just described my desperate situation to him and then left, disappointed at this encounter not bringing me any further and again without knowing what to do next.

So, with no lead to inquire further I found it the best thing to embark on a few cargo runs. When there's nothing else to do, doing business is always a good choice and having more credits never hurts. My route lead me to Anhur, Bex, Hephaestus, Petra, then again Hepaestus, Anhur, Hermes, running mostly raw materials and industrial goods, respectively. After that little tour de profit I recieved a message from a certain Ser Shondi, inviting me to Crius where he claimed an interesting business opportunity might be awaiting me. Likely nothing to do with my past, but earning some money and making new connections while at it was the next best thing, so I set course to that clean and centrally situated hospital planet yet again...
 
Still not working. "Won't be visible until a moderator has approved of its content." Couldn't an admin please give me the right to post longer messages? I'd really hate to break my chapters down into 20 different, short posts...
 
Ah looks like it's been cleared now. So I'll put in the other few chapters I've already finished and just have to be patient until someone makes them appear.
 
Ser Shondi up to Ser Mitorr

- - - - - - - - -

The Surgeon's Blunder bar on Crius is a strange place. Who else would have his major drinking etablissement coloured white than a people of crazy doctors? And the group of dancers performing there all the time with their red organ or blood paintings on white suits are more than a bit questionable either. Must be on some outlandish prescription drugs or who knows what. But then, they serve some decent drinks there. Ser Shondi, who asked me to come to this place, was a remarkable man. Not only did he look like a famous submarine captain from an old vidflick I remember, he also was a man of great taste: The Cobalt Blue is probably the best drink in the system and one really can't ever go wrong with wearing all black clothes. Plus, Ser Shondi was an idealist - a very rare trait for a man doing mercenary business and reaching his age. The deal Shondi proposed to me was one I'd usually hesitate to accept: Escorting a freighter is bad for your blood pressure and the long distance made this one even more stressful. But then, he promised me a sum of credits that would almost double my balance with one flight. For that striking monetary reason and since I sympathized with Ser Shondi's genuine ambitions, I decided to go for it and escort his arms shipment to Karatikus. For some extra profit, I chartered my own freighter filled with Medi Kits (where there's strong demand for guns there's most likely also strong demand for Medkits) and was on my way. The trip to Karatikus wasn't especially eventful, we ran into some pirates here and there but no organized resistance my guns and my Monolith "wingman" couldn't take care of. We had some CIS heavy fighters and even destroyers passing us closely though and if they ever scanned Shondi's freighter we would have been in an extremely fatal situation, but luckily all went well. After landing on Karatikus, I headed straight back to Crius for meeting my client again. Tough guy only transferred money to me personally and still owed me half of my paycheck once I had finished his job. I guess he knew why it's better to stick to such a cash only fashion of doing business - his booth record was remarkably clean for a man supporting militant karatikan mutants. I made sure to remember that I owe Joe of Sinner's one for telling that outstandingly well-paying customer about me. It must've been Joe making the contact, noone else knew of me at this point and I had no reputation to speak of yet.

On my way back to Crius, a message from Dr. Loomis reached me. It was good to hear Loomis was still alive, after all the people hunting me were seemingly also threatening him. He informed me an official report on the Canera crash had now been released and that I'd better check it out. That I did, once I was back on the ground and had access to a C&C terminal. The Canera had been under attack by two unknown craft just before it crashed and among the passengers was one big shot rich man, a Larn Regis. I wondered whether that whole crash was an assassination and the people following my trails just wanted to make sure the only survivor had his mouth shut indefinitely. But then they must've known that I was inside a pod and didn't see a thing. One way or the other, I had to find out who put me inside that pod in the first place. The Canera record mentioned some local small time shady businessman called Taffin as the individual in charge of the wreck salvage rights.

At the lousy shop called "Taffin Reclamation," I ran into this sorry loser and demanded to know what had happened to my cryo pod. Don't know who the jerk thought I was - for that matter, I didn't know who I was either. But I sure knew who I wasn't: Someone getting impressed by a weakling playing tough and wanting to get paid for information. I really got tired of this boy, and when he tried to threaten me with a gun I finally had a good reason to draw my Mr. Plasma and let it do the 'bribing.'

My next stop was on Anhur where the corporation calling itself "Interplanetary Aid" was that had sold my pod from Taffin. Anhur is a planet both interesting and ugly. From the air its surface looks like it had experienced a good deal of thermonuclear warfare, with its rough rocks and piss yellow colour. But the former capital of the Tri System is more than that. It's also home to one of the most stylish bars of all the major planets and has a very interesting cargo market. It's strange but this very well developed planet has quite some cheap ores to offer. Because of that, it makes for a good bipolar trading route together with small capacity industrial producer Hermes comparable and almost as good as Petra-Hepheastus. I'd make sure to fix myself some metals and having a drink at the Shadowplay bar before leaving. But first, I had to visit that big NGO whos building looks like a big bexian church. The "chairman" or CEO or whatever they call their guru was a yuppie listening to the name of Angus Santana. He talked about being very busy but still had time for meeting me. I guess he was interested in the Canera affair too. For an experienced business man, his assuming I worked for Taffin was a very stupid mistake. One that showed terrible knowledge about people. How could a man like me ever work for a rat like Taffin? I left him under the impression for a moment and let him mention something about a memory solid they found together with my pod. Very interesting, but unfortunately Ser Santana didn't tell me anything more about this object of interest. What he then did also tell me was the serial number of the cryopod I had been in. Not the big turning point for my quest but at least another clue to follow that would bring me another little step further. Wondering whether I should consider Santana a benefactor or a fool for giving me informations, I left.

The pod's serial related it to a factory on Crius, so I had to visit that hyper-clean planet yet again. At the reception of Shernikov Medical Equipment (that was the name of the firm) sat a young blonde woman that must be a real pig in bed (in the hot sense!). I don't remember having had any dirty secretary sex fantasies before that day, but this woman just had something about her that made my mind go crazy. Maybe it was my thrilling killers-avoiding and pirates-bashing space life in contrast to her prude 9-to-5 existence that made me want to corrupt her innocent existence. Or maybe the explanation was easier than that and I just urgently needed to get laid for the first time in what, how many years?! In any case, when asking Sera Deskjockey about details on my pod I made sure to act as clumsy and ridiculous as I could, in order to stretch the conversation to as big a length as any possible. I must admit I really took a wierd joy at her catching me inside a force field when I got a little too... penetrant. When I was finished with her, or arguably when she was finished with me, I had accomplished my primary goal (knowing the name of the man that bought the pod from them a long time ago) but unfortunately failed my secondary one (getting it on with her).

The next station on my journey was a retired businessman called Mitorr and lived on Janus IV. Since showing up on filthy rich Janus in a rusty Straith would mean bad prestige and I felt it was about time to change my ride, I preferred to first spend some time gaining a little more liquidity and buying a new craft before going there. I had a message from a man whose name I never tried to memorize who wanted to meet me on Anhur for proposing a mission. The old man with his destroyed ears got on my nerves but at least I got to enjoy the atmosphere at the Shadowplay bar. His mission consisted of flying to Bex, rendezvousing with a freighter full of "military memorabilia" and escorting it back to Anhur. This mission didn't pay too well and it was also a toughie: A group of pirates (belonging to some minor clan, unsure which one, they all look the same when exploding) ambushed our convoi and caused some damage but I managed to get the job done. Back from Anhur, I ran some minerals to Hermes, where I learned about a water contamination on same planet causing a high demand of fresh H2O. I also found a nice little mission in the booth that would take place just on my way to the number one water source in the Tri-System, Leviatha. The CIS needed some assistance in a skirmish where some of their rookie pilots had trouble. After having taken care of the situation, the CIS proposed a kind of "follow-up" mission but it sounded all way too vague with not even a mention of how much payment was in for it so I decided to keep the money I already had gotten, head straight for Leviatha and get back to Hermes for a good deal of crisis profitting ASAP. Some time on one of these flights I could watch a pretty spectacular sight: A pirate, I think he was flying an Ecantona, tried to take on a full-grown CIS destroyer on his very own. This guy must've had balls the size of a bexian zeppelin. He also almost managed to win, the destroyer's armor was virtually gone when it finally nailed the pirate. Impressive attempt, yet still failed in the end. Those pirates sure are no cowards, if only they were a little smarter than attacking head-on no matter the angles, no matter the odds... But then I guess I don't want them to stop being fools.

After the water run, I finally had enough credits to get my favourite ship and also equip it with the most important weapons and modules. The Aurora is a far better ship than its reputation. The two gun mounts are in very good positions and close enough to eachother to hit things, the ship's thin silhouette gives the enemy a hard time actually hitting it in head-on encounters (a quality about a ship that's often ignored, I've seen many a pilot choosing a flying brick like the Freji and then wondering why he takes so much damage all the time and why a much cheaper ship like, say, the Heretic is so hard to hit). The Aurora's four module mounts suffice for the most vital systems, though I had to realize after just a flew flights with it that one of the mounts better be reserved for a repair droid. Harder to hit than most other models it is, but the Aurora's frontal shields still are pretty weak and pirate shuttle encounters can quickly cause some system damage.
 
Ser Mitorr to Ser Hassan

- - - - - - - - -

The trip from Hermes to Janus IV saw no encounters worth mentioning. Landing on Janus and taking its equivalent to public transport was quite a sight. Talk about excessive terraforming, city planning and shiny chrome cabs.

Knocking at Jan Mitorr's house the old man told me to get lost. Unfortunately, I absolutely had to get to this man and get to know what he had to do with my getting 'stored' inside that damn pod. So I had Mr. Blaster open the door for me. Behind it waited a fragile, frightened old man. I should've gone easy on him but he seemed to KNOW ME, I just couldn't be patient and fix the sucker a tea to calm down. I needed to know! So Mitorr died from a heart attack upon seeing me, in total fear. All he could tell me before his time was over was to go to Kappa Labs, a research installation at the most remote place that can be imagined. And there I would see, according to the dying man.

The journey to Kappa Labs was a long one. It also lead through very pirate-infested waters but I still had enough time there to think about old Mitorr and feel very bad about causing his death. I had broken into his house and threatened him until his wrecked body couldn't take it anymore. And the suggestions about his involvement with me, what had he said? That he wasn't supposed to remember. And that combined with his shock and fear at seeing me. There must've been a lot of very dark business taken place in my life before the memory loss and quite probably, Mitorr wasn't the first victim of my brutal, murderous side at all. He must've been some former enemy of me though, why else should he be so afraid of me? But that thought didn't cheer me up at all. I really despised these hints at who I am and didn't know how I could go on and live with such a burden. If only I had waken up then on Crius to find myself being a bexian farmer or an unimportant, light-hearted office clerk like the blonde Sera at Shernikovs...

Arriving at Kappa, I wasn't sure whether I could take any more bad news. Yet I had to dock and see, no point in waiting around at the outer-most godforsaken place of the systems. No idea what this station really used to serve for, but now it had become a haunted place. All the staff brutally killed and noone there to tell me a thing. There were a number of cryo pods just like the model I had been in, maybe a dozen or even more. In the middle of the row of them, there was one missing - probably the Canera one. Very confusing stuff, I suppose I had been stored there for years and then put onto the Canera, likely by the people who caused this massacre. So my 'trip' on the Canera had been a kidnapping too... Or maybe the time at Kappa Labs had been an imprisonment and the trip to Crius an attempt at freeing me. After all, if the ones raiding the station wanted me dead they could have easily destroyed me there, no need to ship me to the heart of the Tri-System first. Too many questions and no answers.

I didn't have much time for thinking about these things, as just after my take-off from the station an urgent message from a military operative calling himself Hassan asking to meet me at the nearby jump point reached me. Arriving at his position, it looked like a damn trap: Kindred ships all the way. Hassan sent another message to meet him on Hades after this mess had been sorted out. Hassan's fighter wasn't attacking me alright so he was no enemy, but he didn't do much to fight the pirates either so I had to do all of the work and save both our asses. Damn self-important office types.

Finally having gotten rid of all Kindred forces, I had a break at the nearby repair station and then headed for the prison planet and CIS HQ Hades. The nav route was again crowded with pirates up to the point where it leads into the Crius-Hades main transit route but this time I managed to reach my destination without suffering damage. At the CIS offices, I met Ser David Hassan. Apparently a very big player within CIS but what an ass. And what's all that talk about double agents and 'mushroom treatment?' If the military's really such a tough force, how come I can't complete even the shortest cargo journeys without having to run into ships flying openly under pirate flags all the time? Maybe the CIS itself should eat shit and never see the sunlight again! However unhappy I was about meeting this individual, he did do a few things for me. He had a nice missile scrambling, "back to sender" device installed into my Aurora and also equipped it with the less useful but still nice-to-have "blind fire" system (which doesn't allow fireing blindly at all, just gives an optical sign when aiming at a target. Probably useful for visually challenged pilots but whatever). Hassan told me that I'm somehow caught in the middle between the Kindred crime syndicate and the CIS. Though I thought there's also at least one other side. Apparently the Kindred took a great interest in me and that really rang a bell: On my journeys up to this point I had run into all the pirate clans of the sector at one point or another. Usually they had been aggressive, attacking civial craft, military vessels and often also me. But the Kindred Vendettas were different in that they ALWAYS headed straight towards me, trying to kill me no matter who else was nearby shooting at them. The informations Ser Hassan gave me about the Kindred rang an even bigger bell. I clearly remembered the names of the (former?) Kindred godfather and his 'right hand man:' Kronos and Malakai. So I must've had some dealing with the Kindred at some point in my former life, bad news but I already expected something like that. Why else would a number of so important people take interest in me? What came now was even more unpleasant than these facts: Hassan wanted to use in order to shake things up a bit or for whatever manipulative plan he may have had. I was in a hell of a situation, with noone else to stick to than Mr. CIS, no other place to find out a thing than the one Hassan would lead me to. So now I was by all measures his personal tool. He told me to talk to a entrepreneur with Kindred connections called Carmichael on Bex and I'd eventually have no other choice than taking this road... Damn the CIS and their schemes.
 
Sera Banks up to Ser Carmichael

- - - - - - - - -

After having my business on Hades finished, the situation I found myself in gave me a headache. So I didn't feel like heading straight for Bex and I rather checked the ads for some quick mission that's near to Hades and voila, I found one only three or four jumps away. Some crazy jerk in a transport wanted me to waste a few pirate imitations and an (apparently real) pirate cruiser. I disposed of this tiresome vessel as quickly as I could, then headed for Crius.

Stocked up on Medkits and with a news report that there's loads of uncommonly cheap Platinum on Anhur, I was on the short passage and already near to my next destination when an SOS call from Melissa Banks, a woman I've never heard of but who sounded pretty charming, reached me. Since she was only five jumps away and I was in the mood for running errands and cash a few quick ones anyway, the decision whether to help her or not was none. Arriving at Melissa's position, I found no more than two perps but they were all after Sera Banks so I had to hurry anyway in making sure my client survived to thank me.

We agreed to meet at the most famous hephaestean bar after we'd both landed and there she was, already awaiting me when I arrived. She was not that average client, we had a conversation that lasted the whole night and I found out that I and Melissa have a great deal in common. I already supposed that the Tri System is home to a number of haunted souls just like me, but never would I have assumed that one of them is as lovely as Melissa. She asked me to escort her to a nearby jump point the next day from where she would continue her very own quest for thruth and peace of soul, and I gave everything I had to make sure she made it there. It cost me a share of missiles and some rather ugly scratches to my ship but I got Melissa to her destination safely. From there, she then said good-by and jumped away, direction unknown. There was no payment for my help but damn, this wasn't about money. I wouldn't have accepted any credits from her anyway, on the contrary I would've even been willing to PAY for this marvellous and reassuring encounter. After all the unsettling informations about my past I had up to this point collected, and the death of Mitorr, I had finally run into a person that gave me a feeling of being a man doing the right thing and maybe even getting some genuine love for it. Or more satisfyingly, just for who I am without looking at what I do or what I HAD DONE. If only for a day. I just hope I'll see her again some day. And that she'll find what she's looking for.

Landing on Anhur, I finally got the opportunity to buy that super-cheap Platinum cargo. Just one more little stop at nearby Hermes to cash in on it and I'd be on my way to this 'notorious bonvivant' Carmichael person. The ore profit allowed me to upgrade my Aurora a little further: Now all 4 module spots had been taken (coolant unit, shield enhancer, repair bot and afterburners) and I was on a full complement of proximity missiles and the best guns available on the market, the infamous Flux MkII. After having myself very well prepared for the journey to Bex, I decided it wouldn't make a difference if before leaving this ever interesting planet I made another visit to Sinner's, checking out if Joe had any "news" and having a drink celebrating my recent achievements - net worth of my enterprise over 80k credits and more than 120 pirate lowlifes toasted. On entering the as usual crowded and loud joint, I was more than a little surprised to see the familiar (not to mention sweet) back side of Sera Banks, standing at the bar...

I have to admit the main reason for my visiting Sinner's before taking off really was the hope of seeing Melissa again. But I would never have dared assuming that I'd really get that lucky. Now I did. Great. The encounter was again a marvellous one but there's really not much about it to write down. -Not because nothing stunning and important happened, on the contrary, but as a gentleman I reveal any details about it.

Next stop Bex. Well, not quite. On my way I got an email from the CIS asking for my help. I usually don't like working for the pigs if I can help it and the position they gave me was nowhere near my route either, but this mission had something intriguing about it so I checked it out. An unidentified ship had stranded at a nav point and a few Papogods were attacking it, so I had to pick up the ejected pilot. I hadn't seen such a model before, it was significantly bigger than my Aurora and looked in a way like an antiquity. After picking up at the pilot, my ship had suffered a little damage and I thought it best to get the rescue pod to a safe place quickly in case the pilot was inqured so I paid a short visit to superstation Curium that was only two jumps away. Those super stations really had a creative interior designer, I must admit it, but for a Privateer they don't have much to offer. No news, no missions, they buy and sell most of the common trading goods alright but their prices can only be described as mediocre. Lack of production and demand in any amount worth mentioning I suppose.. Taking off from the station, I saw a pirate transport approaching. I got behind it and started firing upon it when it was just performing its docking sequence. It was quite the sight to see four military fighters take off from the station. I first thought they were sent out because of pirate presence and was more than a bit surprised when they started attacking me. A few of my shots must've had strayed towards the station or maybe shooting at a pirate ship while it's on autopilot docking alone already counts as an offence. Anyway, after shooting down the CIS interceptors I hurried to nearby Hermes to fix myself a fresh, clean ID because I really didn't feel like running into a destroyer while having such a bad friend/foe status.

Finally having arrived on Bex, I first visited the local bar where I wanted to enjoy myself for a while. Pretty meditative place, that Blessed Brew joint. Not exactly my place, too "cultish." But on a nice planet. Green hills, purple sky, clean air, monumental architecture, Bex is really an extraordinary place compared to the other worlds of the Tri-System. Would make a nice place for retirement if a way to avoid those monks could be found. It's also a favourite among rookie traders with its steady supply of alcoholic beverages and basic agrarian products. Its business opportunities are bit overrated, though, in my opinion: Since freighter space is scarce and expensive, what's better? Running a thousand tons of grain you bought for 3000 credits and netting a 100% profit or investing 40'000 creds in industrial goods and selling them for 60'000? Right. If you have the liquidity, running food is not the way to go. But for a beginner on a tight budget Bex sure is an idiot proof market. My reasoning about business strategies and holiday destinations got disturbed when this elder lady approached me. First I was a little afraid she'd try to hit on me, but it turned out Auntie Marie only wanted a ride to Hephaestus and was also willing to pay for it. Why not take her along on my next trip, after all my ship did in fact have a secondary seat constructed for visitors and passengers (though I usually used it as a 'mess compartment' where I 'stored' stuff like maps, empty liquor bottles and fast food boxes). After I had finished my beer, I took a Zeppelin ride to Ser Hugo Carmichael's place. He lived in what looked like a monastery, but was just about to move out indefinitely when I arrived. He was an arrogant man but he also had some inside knowledge about the Kindred. He informed me that big man Larn Regis who had died on the Canera and the Kindred goon Malakai were in fact the same person. I didn't know what new light that shed onto the Canera attack but I had a positive feeling that I'd soon find out. Carmichael agreed to letting me escort him to Hephaestus. Nice coincidence, I wanted to fly there anyway but then Hephaestus is the destination of more than 90 percent of the flights leaving Bex so it wasn't too much of a surprise.
 
Ser Carmichael up to Rhineheart

- - - - - - - - -

The trip to Hephaestus included a rather large Kindred encounter. I had somehow anticipated an ambush and brought a Nuke'em bomb along. I didn't need it though, my own Flux Beams combined with the heavy guns of the beer-carrying Ilia MkII I hired to earn a few extra creds took care of the situation well enough. I went out of the skirmish without a scratch, the freighter wasn't so lucky and took heavy damage. Luckily freighter repairs are to be paid for by the freighter captain and not by the customer. Auntie Marie on my backseat was quite thrilled by this encounter, must've been the biggest engagement in her lifetime. I must admit it was also one the biggest for me up to then. Ser Carmichael of course preferred to stay away from the battle, I hadn't expected anything else from the rich sucker.

Down on crowded Hephaestus, Auntie Marie thanked me for helping her escape. This lady must've had experienced a pretty traumatic time back on Bex, telling by the way she acted. I then went to the "premier address on Hephaestus," the Galactig Gourmet Hotel(TM) where I was supposed to meet Hugo Carmichael. On entering his room, I saw a professional assassin leaning over Carmichael's body. And a professional he definitely was, since he saw me coming. I had more luck than sense in dodging his gunshot and overcoming him. I would've liked trying to beat a name or something out of the bald killer, but since the place was already a mess I had to hurry and get out before any uniforms showed up. So I quickly finished the killer and took the shiny capsule he had obviously just retrieved from Carmichael with me. I wonder whether Hugo was going to give that capsule to me as a thankyou or if I should be thankful to the assailant in a strange way for uncovering this object for me.

I had no idea how what was in this capsule and how to open it. My best guess was to ask Joe on Hermes if he knew someone who's familiar with the thing. But instead of heading directly for Hermes, I made another brief visit to Petra. There, I sold the local miners the shipment of hephaestean hardware I had bought for 30'000 credits for a nice 44 thou. Big, big money. I also used my stay there to have another look at the public database's entry on Larn Regis a.k.a. Malakai. My memory was right, the man really had been described as "one of the richest men of the Tri-System." Boy, if such a high roller was only one of the subordinates of Kindred boss Kronos, then what might Kronos probably be? God himself? I started to understand why Hassan's folks were fighting an obviously losing battle against organzied crime: Saying that the Kindred controlled half of the Tri-System wasn't just emptry words but rather an under-estimation...

The next trip lead to Hermes and since it was a long one, I decided I could use some company. Usually I never hire wingmen because I don't need them and really don't understand why they sell themselves for a few hundred creds while they could make ten times more flying their own missions, but this one I just had to get off this ugly mining colony and to a decent place. Petra's no place for a lady. Cinquante Delores had a beautiful name, her face on the picture looked sweet and her ad on the bulletin board was well done ("reassuringly natural blond wingwoman," who wouldn't like that?). Having her with me on the trip was a nice experience too. At one point we approached a Papogod shuttle in close formation, opening fire at the same time with her four Volt lasers and my two Flux Beam MkIIs. Never before had I seen such a big ship go down so quickly.

As expected, Joe could introduce me to someone who knew how to get the capsule open. The man wearing a flashy suit and a fake accent wanted me to believe his name was Dimitri, but I couldn't care less. He said getting the thing opened would draw some unwanted attention on his side and take some time so he expected me to pay him a generous 30'000 creds. The guy wasn't up for bargaining but I wasn't up for stripping my ship's extras in a time where pirate encounters became ever more intense and my Aurora's survivability needed to be at a maximum. So I told Dimitri I'd be back later once I had organised his fee in cash. I then accepted a mission from Messineo Couriers who wanted me to clean the route between Hermes and Leviatha. The salary they promised me wasn't too big but all those Kindred ships along the way would make for some good bonus bounty money, plus I could run a little fresh water and assorted goods on my way back. All those Kindred ships also gave me a good test for my new guns' layout: I was now employing a Flux Beam MkII combined with a Mass Ion cannon - the destructive output of this variant was only insignificantly lesser than that of two Flux MkIIs and had the great advantage of providing a steady barrage without needing an external cooling device, allowing me to have one module mount on my ship free for other uses at my convenience. After arriving back on Hermes, I recieved a message from a Ser Vonx who wanted to make business with me at his place on Anhur. Good enough, the next thing I was planning to do was running mining equipment to Anhur anyway and if this Vonx could give me a good assignment the combined profit would roughly give me enough cash to pay Dimitri.

As it turned out, Lord Vonx was one of the bigger animals of the anhurian political zoo. The job he had for me was to destroy a convoi transporting weapons for the mutant resistance on Karatikus. I first hesitated to accept this one. After all, my very first mission at all, the one I had flown for Ser Shondi, had me fight for the opposing side... But in the end, I came to the conclusion that I had enough problems myself and needed the money. Better not worry about ethical or political positions and just do what the money says. The mission itself was pretty hard. Upon entering the nav point where the convoi was, I saw three Ilia freighters in a formation that allowed them to cover eachother, and they were escorted by half a dozen expert pilots flying well equipped civial fighters. I quickly took out the first fighter, then afterburned away from the scene to avoid the freighters' flak fire. The fighters alone were trouble enough. They pursued me, firing a lot of missiles at me. Good thing I had the return-to-sender gimmick Hassan had given but one or two missiles still got through. Luckily nothing big enough to outright destroy my Aurora, but it was close. After I had taken care of the ace pilots, I could re-approach the three transports. Two of them were (according to Vonx) carrying refugees and no targets for me so I had to identify the right one, the one with the weapons. This one I then took out elegantly using a Stingray torpedo I had brought along (I didn't feel like taking any more damage to my already crippled ship) then the rest of the convoi jumped out and I instantly got the 8k credits I had worked so hard for transferred into my account. I would have to buy a ship with stronger shields/armor on the next occasion, that mission had almost meant my end and the pirates had begun to deploy more and more smart weapons too.

Back with that 'burglar king' or whatever Dimitri was trying to pose as, I paid his price and he in fact did a decent job in getting the thing open without triggering the bomb that was built into it. Stored inside was a data crystal, probably the one that Ser Santa or what was his name on Anhur had mentioned, the one Taffin had retrieved from the Canera wreck. Damn CIS, if only they had given me the cryogenic pod and the crystal right when I was at the hospital instead of letting that sewer rat Taffin sell them, could have safed me a lot of troubles. But then I wouldn't have been able to understand a thing about them and on my journey up to this point, I had the 'pleasure' to meet many of the 'illustrous' players in this game of system-wide conspiracy. It was also Hassan who lead me to Carmichael and therefore the data crystal so he was of some help after all and not as big an ass as I had first thought.

Unfortunately the informations on the data crystal were mostly uninterpretable. The names "Malakai" and "Larn Regis" appeared many times in the files, I already knew who that was. There was also mention of one of the firms Regis was involved in quite a number of times and mention of a "Rhineheart." Now that name I hadn't heard of before. Of course the booth database didn't have anything on him, now that really would have been too easy.

With no idea what to do next, my priority again was making some money while waiting around if anyone would get to me in time. I didn't feel comfortable travelling deep space in my loved Aurora anymore, but for my roughly 109k creds I couldn't find anything significantly stronger on the defensive side, conserding I'd also have to equip the ship with decent guns and at least the most vital of modules. So no ship change, maybe a few missile decoys would do the trick too if I learnt how to use them. They'd have to, for the moment.
 
I've been a little busy the last month and after having played the last part of the main storyline lost a bit the interest. But I will write and post the endgame chapter at some point in the next days. Rhineheart-Nabakow-Kronos.
 
"At some point in the next days." Yeah.

Well, it also has to do with the end of the Privateer 2 Story being a little disappointing. Maybe I'll finish this little diary some day, say in another five years or so.
 
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