Part 15 – Damn the Onramp Campers

My procurer’s engine kicked to life, barreling across the countryside! Still they came at me, firing shells and missiles relentlessly while my lumbering truck struggled to outpace them. Surrounded by carnage, I careened off a small cliffside and escaped into an open street, heading for the ramp that lead back to the highsec part of town, as they swerved about slowly to follow, having issues aligning with the street.

I was home free now! Not a foe in sight. I was going to make it back to highsec, and cash in this treasure trove of minerals and loot! A cackle of triumph escaped my lips.

That’s when the sound of a rifle sounded from miles away and the truck lurched. Some cowardly sniper had shot me! My Procurer spun out of control and swerved left hard, right as a flock of teenage punks jumped across my poor truck. One threw a net on the hood to slow my escape down, as the other tried to slash at my tires so I couldn’t flee using the highway.

Fortunately for them, I was fitted for such an occasion! Thanks to my Tire Tread Stabilizers, the inner linings remained unslashed and I prepared to escape from them once and for all… until I ran into a small rock on the road. It was a rather pitiful thing, barely as big as someone’s head. But the instant my little truck ran upon it, it halted and couldn’t align with the road to make a speedy getaway! I cursed.

They came still, swarming over, this bunch of goons. I felt that the earth below us was going to collapse and crash from all the people here, mugging my poor car. One of them brilliantly struck the fuel tank of my poor truck and the blast followed moments later, followed by a collective cheer from their crowd, salvaging a handful of metal scrap. Also of bizzare interest, a hidden compartment under my poor miner blew open, spewing little mail letters into the air, detailing exactly who I was and what they wrecked.

I got pretty pisseded off right there, but I knew I had to worry about later. Looking at the ground drawing away, then slowly zooming back in, I realized exactly where I was.

This was going to hurt.

Thrown high into the air back over to high sec, I groaned horribly to the sight of my burning vehicle, and all that lost profit amidst the rain of kill-mails. My dreams of being a wealthy Isogen-baron were foiled again.

My heart hurt terribly from the sense of loss. My soul hurt terribly from broken hopes. My spine hurt just as terribly from the impact against the ground.

I closed my eyes for what must have been two eternities to recover before gazing up again. My eyelids opened and even the light shining down hurt. Mercifully, shadows loomed overhead shielding me from that awful light. I looked up to see a circle of my fellow CareCorp employees gathering around me, murmuring amongst them with righteous indignation.

“He broke the rules! He went into the forbidden 0.4!”
“I’m scared… maybe the gangs will come after us now!”
“Is concrete ore not good enough for you or something, adrenaline jockey?”

Interestingly enough, those Asian miners still were busy at work, paying no attention to the unfolding drama. Perhaps it was for the best. But then, before I could speak a word of explanation, someone cracked down upon my head with the business end of a civilian mining shovel.

When I came to some time later, I realized just what kind of trouble that I was in…

(To be continued)