Becoming a Galactic Patrol Pirate

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Category: GamePlay

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Written by Angeleen

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With the advent of Faster than Light (FTL) drives there was a fast and furious colonization of star systems. After a millennium of expansion, Earth found itself at odds with some of the colonies. Much of the colonies discontent was caused by poor services and low supply of resources. Isolation from Earth and its closer colonized planets as well as the outer rim planets only served to further aggravate the situation. Earth and the inner colonies relied heavily on the outer colonies for raw materials to maintain growth and manufacturing. The outer colonies relied on Earth to supplement Food reserves. Most cargo ships transporting raw materials from the outer colonies to earth were incapable of backhauling foodstuffs, thus unbalancing the ratio of food out to materials in.

The high demands to supply Earth with raw materials, coupled with the high losses of miner’s lives and inadequate protection from unfriendly incursions, caused civil unrest to grow. Eventually, the outer rim planets formed the Outer Core Coalition (OCC) who no longer wanted to be governed by Earth's Colony Alliance (ECA). In time, the OCC refused to meet the harsh quota’s on raw materials that the ECA demanded. Lobbyist’s for businesses so affected by the shipment shortfalls convinced the Colony Cabinet to place sanctions on the OCC, further reducing the food shipments to them. In short order, the OCC found themselves at war with Earth for their independence and their survival. At first, not a lot of aggression seemed to surface; fleets held their ground, both sides taking a purely defensive stance. Time has a way of corrupting most anything, and as supply inventories dwindled, the cries for food and materials overwhelmed the military leaders of both sides.

In times of civil unrest, there are those who find ways to exploit the situation. Pirate activity became prevalent throughout the star systems; however, it was at best, a very hap-hazard and independent venture. While the idea of organized pirating may have seemed an impossible feat, one pirate inadvertently found a way to bond the pirates together.

Captain Ian Gabriel was having a bit of bad luck disabling an old civilian transport. Out of missiles when he happened across the transport, and with only one functional offensive laser, the transport proved to be most difficult. After many hours, the Transport’s shields buckled and she finally succumbed to Captain Gabriel. Once boarded, it didn’t take long to realize that this was not the good captain’s day. The transport was carrying a full load of refugees headed for the new colony on Cas. There wasn’t one single item of value on that ship; even the transport itself was more than ready for the bone yard after all the damage it had taken. While weighing his options on what to do with a worthless ship full of refugees, his answer came from outside the ship. There in the ship’s viewer was the perfect location for a base. Suddenly this transport had value. He could cannibalize the captured ship to start the hideout, and he had a refugee construction crew on-hand to start the building process. After the Foundation had been laid, the refugees were taken out to a system and released, starting the time tested practice of releasing all crew members, as pirates have no need or desire to keep prisoners.

The area was most suited for a base, a large ring of asteroids were lodged in-between two large ion storms. One asteroid was quite large and provided a good location to start the base, which was quickly given the name of “Gabriel’s Hideout”. A few friendly pirates were given coordinates for the base, and in time word spread. The small hideout grew into a community as more pirates joined the rank and file. Ships combined efforts and used tractor beams to push asteroids into holes in the ring to block access. Once in place, then they were locked in. Heavy weapons platforms were built at the entrance to safeguard the base.

One night, over many tankards of ale, the plan to raid the ECA bone yard at Rigel was born. The bone yard wasn’t even guarded, so in no time the pirates had cleaned out every frigate. This little venture is still known today as “Ian’s Raid”, and also started what is today, a very organized pirate Navy.

The most successful venture for pirates is to work the shipping lanes of hte ECA. Profits are very high on a full load of foodstuffs in the OCC; capturing the food stuffs before they reach the OCC equates to a nice paycheck for hte lucky pirate who finds it! Pirate incursions have happened in OCC space, if the promise of booty is strong. Weapons bring big money from both sides. In the end, a pirate will work anywhere he can. Pirates know all too well that friend and foe can be encountered no matter what side of space you're on.

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