Orbital combat report
Situation: In orbit, high above Ethren (CY-JXB-23)
Crew: 1 captain, 1 engineer, 4 crew (stasis), 4 crew (planetside)
Groundside communications were severed out of the blue. This is normal, considering Ethren normally has rough storms that can rock communications between planetside and shipside crew, but it's protocol for them to inform me of a storm ahead of time, and peering at the dropsite myself, it was clear of clouds.
Then, the RWR began beeping rapidly at a low pitch, slowly rising. [1] I peer at the RWR and check the counts and location, six contacts moving fast from behind. Likely missiles, but the warning system is old, susceptible to some of the older tricks in the book: presenting a <?> symbol.[2]
"Chaff, flare." The speakers play, as I tap the CM button twice. I take my ship for a spin orienting it planetside, listening for the RWR's pitch to be just right. beep. I push my throttle forward and burn. The ship's chassis creaks, as I deploy additional countermeasures to try and get the missile barrage off of me.
The missiles pass by like a fireworks show without the explosion. No impact, but before I can thank whatever deity is protecting me, I have to down the bandit. I can see an SL drive's[3] bright blue glow from here, before the RWR gives me an alert. An old Ellean-class Jouster[4], formerly for Jovian orbit defense, now just another piece of salvage that pirates use to down and tow their next payday, but I'm not going to fall victim to these scum.
From the bright blue glow, I see a burst of red[5] begin to expand - several bursts of red. They've gone to guns. The RWR says they're fifteen kilometers away, seven seconds to react, but my freighter isn't designed for combat - a burst of a hundred twenty milimeter proxfuse explode within range of my ship, breaching parts of my unarmored hull. Shit.
The bandit is ranging in, from seven kilometers to five in a few seconds. My damned freighter has nothing but a gunpod. The targeting computer gets a lock, now I just need to land the hits. The bandit is going to flyby me. My freighter's turn rate is slow, but...
It flies right past my ship spinning out of control. I peer out of my seat to take a look at it's carcass - the radiators still growing red hot, and visible steam escaping seeping through it's armor. Likely hit one of the reactor steam valves.
After action report
TODO fill in. Absolute fucking bullshit how I lose four crewmembers and a fine engineer because you can't bother to clear the hordes of pirates off your porch. It's amazing how people still recommend your planet as a trading hub. Fuck you.
Footnotes
[1] Radar Warning Systems (RWR) emit sound based on distance. The higher the pitch, the closer the radar contact is.
[2] Commercial RWRs have a database allowing them to differentiate one vessel from another solely based off the radar signature. Civilian RWRs don't have this liberty. Likely the author has a military RWR modded.
[3] Sublight (SL) is a term for any propulsion method that does not break the speed of light. An SL Drive is likely a Tachi Corp. ion propulsion drive, most infamous for their easy to repair and overclock drives.
[4] The Jouster craft type is a spacecraft designed for quick interception of a target. They are usually designed with crews of 1-2 in mind, and are usually very light compared to the Interceptor types.
[5] Tracer rounds.