FastForecast 16 September
Good evening citizens, it's been a very eventful day. As you know we are in hiding at a non disclosed location bouncing this signal off of every comsat in Stanton as well as through some encrypted bands run by the UEE Navy. We've gotten very good, thanks to help from our listeners, at utilizing all available resources to keep you, dear listener, informed. As you can see, our location maybe spartan but to avoid scans, you do what you have to.
We were called out by a source promising direct information that linked not only the Widow trade but also all narcotic trade back to the Imperial palace itself so of course, we had to go. During a clandestine meeting with our source, we discovered that a bounty has not been issued for us but rather money is being passed under the table at every station and port as well as through pilot trade organizations to "bring FastForecast's head in on a pike." That just warms our heart.
It seems our "source" was bait to draw us out as the station went on lock down which lead to a bit of 'hide and seek' to get us out of the station by an elevator shaft that dropped us out of the station due to damage from a previous firefight. Thank the Maker for union speed.
Quickly outnumbered, our Valkyrie, the Imperial Media Ship Dark Fall's shields were overwhelmed and even Anvil's redundant systems could not hold up forever. Suffering the loss of 3 engines with the remaining running at 300% overload, we began reentry to lose the missiles and torpedoes launched at us. It seemed that our pursuers did not even want our ship to be taken in.
A heavy drop ship was never made for reentry with only one engine. Our approach was...less than optimal but the fireball consumed the attacking missiles and bought us time. Unfortunately, running an engine that hard and overheating it with reentry, the last engine blew leaving your FastForecast on belly thrusters and attitude control only.
As you can see, the entire back half of the ship is glowing with internal flames. Fortunately, the fireball and lack of engines led Crusader security to believe we perished but, NOTHING takes a beating like an Anvil. Like the warrior she draws her name from, and with a bit of rerouting of power from the prototype weather forecasting systems, we were able to reestablish flight controls. No shields, no weapons, no armor and not even skin on the ship, we were protected only by the ballistic glass in the cockpit and the thick armored door behind us to provide atmosphere while the ship shuddered and the tortured systems screamed and caught fire. Power surged and shorted but the mighty Valkyrie refused to be beaten.
Slowly, so slowly, she fought Hurston's gale force winds, turning into them and using them for lift. Remaining armor ripped off, remaining ammo cooked off and finally, internal environmental controls gave up with all power being shunted to thrusters. Anvil's manual says this ship should not fly with less than 2 engines. She shouldn't be able to have a controlled landing with less than 1 so she absolutely should not be able to claw towards the sky with no engines, no flesh on her bones and with fires raging deep in her bowels but that rage that makes Anvil, Anvil was an inferno that drove her beyond design specs, beyond sanity and finally...beyond the bounds of Hurston's gravity.
At 20 meters per second she climbed, breaking free. As she broke the dividing line between night and day, between life and death I was forced a hoarse whisper "Not today Valhalla..you do not claim this one today."
It has been our deep honor to continue to bring you the latest from Stanton while in exile. It's made possible from Anvil, nothing takes a beating like an Anvil, StimCaf, when you need to be awaken and alert next week and .... listeners like you.
From all of us at FastForecast, it's a long trip home running on suit O2 so we're taking a nap and hoping that the quantum jump will work. We can't deploy a beacon for obvious reasons but transponder codes have been changed (thank you citizen Jai808) and we're back in the black.
Posted Sep 17, 2020, 1:48 AM UTC
I already want to irrationally blow the 4.6 million I've told myself that I'm going to buy a Caterpillar with on a Valkyrie. This... This is making it worse.
We are very happy with our Dark Fall. She was paid for with UEC and outfitted by Anvil for weather forecasting but she is a ship of war and she remembers battle.