A freelance red panda pilot goes on an open-world journey, taking different types of jobs while also dealing with faction conflicts and hostile fighters. Hopefully, she won't acquire any bounties on her during this; if she does, she has a way of paying them off if she has enough.

Space Panda Pilot

Multiple explosions rock the sector with bright orange fireballs erupting through the area; a space battle of sorts is taking place between two different hostile ships trying to destroy each other. Poor Kim is in the middle of it all once again.

"Urgh, you gotta be kidding me! Another battle with the Fortuna Rebels?! When will this end?!" She grunts in annoyance. Her small Hornet-Class Fighter is definitely a step below the normal Flyer-Class fighters that the Fortuna Rebels commonly use; alongside the Hornet-Class Fighter, the Flyer is basically in the equal class, just stronger and more durable.

The Hellemus and Terekos sectors were both known for skirmishes between hostile factions; they're the only two places where most of the action occurs, apart from Dymapa 753, of course. But in the Hellemus sector, such a battle is already taking place. And Kim is unfortunately caught in the middle of it trying her best to evade everything being thrown between the two hostile factions.

With all the missiles and mines being thrown about between the two rival factions, even with the missiles themselves being scrambled by the electronic countermeasures, Kim had to be extra careful not to be a casualty during this heated battle. Least of all, the red panda had to avoid taking damage from stray missiles that could be coming her way at any moment.

There are at least two Fortuna ships: a Flyer-X Class fighter and a Hornet-A Class fighter. These two were taking on a Bluestar Express Creon-Class battleship. Not only is that a big mistake on the Rebels' part but there is also a Bluestar Express Thunder-Class frigate supplying backup to the Creon-Class battleship. So this battle could be in favor of the Bluestar faction.

While Kim makes haste in her flyby effort to avoid becoming an innocent casualty, she pushes her ship to the max in hopes of escaping, or at least distancing herself from the carnage going on around her. She proves to be more successful in the latter during the escape attempt, but by the time she manages to distance herself, the battle is already being won in favor of the Bluestar Express faction.

Once Kim is out of range of the firefight, she witnesses one of the Fortuna ships blow up from critical damage; the Flyer-Class fighter of that faction has already suffered major damage, but it was the Hornet-Class Fighter that had heavy damage. A missile from the Creon-Class battleship finished it off finally, which led to it blowing up afterwards. All of the remaining items inside of the ship are left as available cargo to pick up.

The Flyer-Class fighter isn't faring any better with heavy damage of its own sustained from numerous laser blasts and missile attacks. But the space mines laid out by the fighters did most of the damage, even to surrounding ships that were passing by. The passing ships only sustained light shield damage; the shields automatically recharge gradually after a certain period of time. Hull damage must be repaired. Even with a cloaking device installed, invisible ships can still suffer damage from being hit with either a stray missile or a mine.

Throughout the course of the battle, the Flyer-Class fighter suffered heavy damage while the Creon and Thunder ships had only light damage. While the shields on both ships held medium damage, they were still piling on the punishment delivered to the Flyer-Class fighter ship. Those laser blasts ended up dealing more damage than the missiles themselves! The mines were trickier to deploy and avoid at the same time. And all it took was a couple more laser blasts and their rival will be destroyed.

One final laser blast destroys the Flyer-Class fighter, sending fiery debris scattering throughout space. Any available weapons left behind upon destruction were now simply random cargo to pick up. But occasionally, destroyed ships will leave scraps behind, namely scrap metal and scrap electronics. These she can pick up by herself, if any scavengers don't get to them before she does. The rest of the faction-based cargo can be left to the scavengers themselves; if Kim were to collect anything that isn't hers, there is the chance of a small bounty being placed on her.

With the post-battle aftermath upholding some debris from the destroyed ships, Kim just sits back and watches the area to keep a close eye on the section ahead of her. This she does to see if any scavengers will come and pick up the leftovers from the raging battle that commenced earlier. But among the debris left behind by the destroyed Fortuna ships, Kim also noticed a few small chests of scraps that were floating about. If she wants to pick these up, then she better be quick about it.

Flying her way towards the debris field, Kim keeps a close eye on her radar and scanner, checking for any bandit or enemy ships that may appear at any moment. The cost of flying while fully visible is high with the chance of being spotted and targeted by enemy ships. A cloaking device would have eliminated all of these problems. If the red panda pilot had bought and installed a cloaking device on her Hornet-Class fighter, then she would have nothing to worry about; she could just uncloak herself upon reaching a field, and once she collected what she could, she could activate her cloaking device again to turn herself invisible.

For the time being, nothing comes up on her radar as an enemy ship, so this is a good opportunity to grab the scrap electronics and scrap metal floating around. There are also the chances of scavenger ships also collecting the floating cargo too. These are harmless, just doing their job. And the best part of that is the open opportunity to trade directly with them too. All Kim has to do is just scan the cargo contents of the scavenging pilot and ask for whatever she desires.

After collecting all of the electronics and metal that was left behind and floating about, Kim turns and departs from the area, aiming for one of the refineries in the sector. And there are three different refineries in the sector. So there are three available refineries to dock into.

Among all of the stations to dock at, there are three different refineries out of all of them. They are: Refinery A, Refinery B, and Refinery C. Refinery A belongs to the Deep Space Mining Corporation, and this is the most heavily trafficked spot for mineral supplies, such as scraps, ores, ice and water. The same is true for the other two refineries in the area, though they are the property of two other factions; Refinery B belongs to the Cold Steel Mining Company and Refinery C belongs to the New World Mining Corporation,

After collecting what she can tractor in, Kim heads directly for Refinery A, intending to drop off the supplies she picked up and make a small profit. Hopefully she can pick up a job of some sort for a much larger profit. This depends on the ship itself, be it cargo size, strength, and fighting ability. However, there is another category that Kim can take, and that is ship delivery. This is rather easy, but depending on the start and end sectors, a simple easy job can turn hard in the blink of an eye. And with bandits and other hostile factions roaming the sectors, Kim will have to remain alert and careful.

Arriving at the DSMC Refinery A, Kim touches down on the docking bay and proceeds to tap a few buttons to access the cargo hold, powering down her fighter with a steaming hiss. She dismounts afterwards and lands on the ground beside her ship, going around to manually access her cargo hold instead. Having done this, she proceeds on her way to sell off the scraps she's collected before continuing on her exploration.

~~~~~

Though the scraps she collected weren't much, they did make a bit of a profit after being sold off. Once Kim finished selling off the scrap metal and scrap electronics she's collected, she traveled back to her fighter to enter her ship. And once inside, she boots up her ship systems, but she doesn't undock from the space station. No, she wanted something more to do, so she began to consult other avenues of service. One of these is the job board that's posted around each station and updated regularly upon each successful mission completed.

While gazing at her radar, Kim mutters to herself, "I need something to do… What can I do out here? There's the Job board, but what else? The bounty board? That's too dangerous! I'm gonna need something to keep myself afloat out here."

The radar isn't as effective when docked inside of a space station; it works more efficiently when out and about in free roam, showing the different ships, wormholes, cargo, stations, and asteroids (if there are any). Still, the female red panda pilot wants something to do, but the only thing holding her back is her cargo space. Even if she were to collect a whole bunch of cargo materials at once, her inventory will still fill up rather quickly. But 8 units total in cargo space is a tiny amount for a small ship, even for something as simple as a courier mission. Sometimes these jobs do come with cargo space requirements that are within the range, but half the time these deliveries have either a crooked or an evil destination listed in the job description. Either way, it is a sort of lose-lose situation for Kim. So far, the only other option Kim has is to scavenge whatever she can from the battles and skirmishes that take place in whatever sector she is in, but she isn't stupid enough to risk her own life over obtaining a profit. She just wants to make an honest living by getting by on whatever she can get her hands on.

While checking out the available jobs through her Heads-Up Display, Kim grumbles, "Ugh, there isn't enough to do here! I wish I could find something more useful to do than just sit back on the sidelines!"

With no other options left for her to consider, Kim powers up her ship and undocks, exiting the docking bay and space station. Once she reaches outside, she is met with the blackness of space. A few ships pass by from her right and part of an orange fireball lights up her vision. This catches her attention, prompting her to go check out what's going on. She mutters to herself, "I wonder what's going on now. Must be another space battle."

Observant of her surroundings and wanting to find out more, Kim heads for the source of the fireball, which has faded already. It was an explosion in the distance. More explosions follow while brighter, bigger fireballs erupt with debris scattering about freely. This gives the red panda pilot more incentive to check out the battlefield, hoping she can assist in the fight in any way she can.

Interestingly, most of the fighting in the area that Kim is zooming to encompasses the ships belonging to the Cold Steel Mining Company, and there are many Hauler-Class mining vessels swarming in the area. The culprits behind this whole ruckus are a pair of bandit ships. These two enemy ships consist of a Shuttle-Class vessel and a Hornet-Class fighter, and these two made the fatal mistake of targeting a mining vessel in hopes of an easy plummet; big mistake on their part!

By the time Kim arrives, the enemy Hornet-Class Fighter is already severely damaged with small fires breaking out over the hull while the targeted mining vessel is only moderately damaged. The enemy Shuttle has already been destroyed, leaving floating debris idle in space. Once the final blow is dealt to the enemy Hornet fighter, the ship spirals out of control with multiple explosions and fireballs erupting before combusting completely in a larger fireball.

"Dang, I missed it!" Kim grumbles out in disappointment upon arriving at the scene. By the time she arrives, there are at least 7 other Cold Steel Mining vessels around, and these begin leaving the scene of the battle while the damaged vessel moves back to the station to dock for repairs. Even though the red panda missed the action, she is still treated to a quick opportunity to snag some cargo.

The last time, there were no scavenger vessels around to pick up the stray cargo left behind by the final explosions coming from the destroyed enemy vessels. This time, there are a couple of scavenger ships in the area, but they are far away. And most of the cargo left behind by the destroyed ships are remainders of the Bandits ships. Through the mess there are a few chests of scrap metal and scrap electronics floating about. Kim needs to be fast if she wants to pick these up.

Taking scrap metal and scrap electronics is no problem. It's the other cargo that Kim has reason to worry about. Snagging this particular type of hostile cargo ensures the chance of a bounty being placed on her. And with that, the danger level further rises since bounty hunters are only in it for the money; they can come out of nowhere and ambush their target. These types of personnel use powerful vessels capable of taking down even a Shuttle vessel with a few hits. Such aggressors can be right on top of their targets with the element of surprise, leaving their victims unaware until either the first strike or radar detection.

After collecting as much scrap metal and scrap electronics as she can, Kim flies away from the post-war location, unaware she has passed a nearby Refinery. It was Refinery B, belonging to the Cold Steel Mining Company. This is the nearest refinery closest to the battle and yet Kim missed it. She was more focused on doubling back to the Refinery which she came from, that being the one belonging to the Deep Space Mining Corporation.

Only when Kim consulted her radar did she see she had passed the nearest refinery. She mutters, dismayed, "Aww man! If I had seen that I was that close, I would've gone there!" During her little journey back to her destination, the red panda just simply dismisses it as nothing, further reasoning to herself, "Ah, no big deal. I can still go there at any other time."

Suddenly, a laser blast sounds behind her during her return trip, which catches her attention yet again. She complains, "Oh come on! Again?! Isn't Hellemus usually quiet and safe?!" This happens just as Kim is approaching her destination, along with a couple of successive explosions in the background behind her.

Quiet and safe is nowhere near an understatement to describe the Hellemus sector, for bandits and other enemy vessels appear at a moderate - frequent rate only to get blasted down to oblivion after some time. Over time, Terekos and Hellemus become occasional battlefields between evil factions seeking to wipe everyone else off the map.

After Kim docks again at the DSMC Refinery A, dropping off her cargo of scraps she's collected, the red panda stays inside for a bit and begins to search on one of the monitors in the hallways for something to do. Something like a job involving courier service or ship recovery or ship delivery would be nice; destroying enemy ships is too risky depending on the sector location, ships involved, and faction. And with a ship to handle that matter like the Hornet, it's basically an extremely difficult to impossible task.

Bounty hunting is basically at the same level of difficulty, but it all depends on four critical factors: the bounty hunter's vessel and weaponry, the sector where the target is at, the faction the target belongs to, and the target's vessel and weaponry. The chances of this coming out as a success is challenging ~ hard depending on the target vessel and faction they're in.

After a bit of consulting on the job board and bounty board, the red panda shakes her head in disappointment while muttering, "I'm not doing any of that; too risky, and not worth it. I need to find something decent that I can do, something simple. And I'll need to upgrade and buy a new ship for a larger cargo hold."

After backing out of the job board, Kim's eyes light up at the ticket dispenser, one of the easiest ways to somehow make a profit. All it costs is 5k with no risk of being attacked. She squeaks, "Ooohhh! Maybe this will help me out! I hope…"

Before the red panda even accesses the ticket dispenser, she checks her account and groans inwardly. She does have a little over enough for one ticket, but she didn't want to blow it all up on a single ticket. So she passes on the tickets. She backs out of this too and returns to the job board, searching through the list of available jobs one more time to spot an opportunity she can grab. Some of them are courier jobs, but with the ship she has, there is not enough cargo space for the task. Other jobs include destroying ships and ship recovery, something that her fighter is too light for.

Dejected, Kim exits back to the main menu of the board and turns away from the monitor, her ears falling in disappointment. She sighs, "Man, I was hoping for at least something that's decent! There's nothing to look for here!"

With no other options left to consider, Kim makes her way back to the hangar bay, disappointed at first since there was nothing of interest she could find in terms of job missions. Maybe there are affordable tasks elsewhere! Kim turns back into her cheery self after mentally remarking to herself, 'Eh, it's not the end of the world. There are other places out there where I can find a suitable job, at least.' Once Kim accesses her fighter and powers it up, she finally leaves the docking bay, launching out of the station.

The moment Kim launches out of the station, she is suddenly blindsided by a stray Interceptor Missile; the red panda doesn't anticipate anything until it hits, and it hits her hard…!

*BAM!*

"Aaaagghhhhh!!!" Kim is thrown into an earthquake from the sudden impact this stray missile has made on her ship. The first three shields, in clockwise formation, are yellow due to the sheer impact of the missile. There is no hull damage to her vessel, fortunately, so it is only one stray missile. After being rattled by such a stray weapon, Kim fervently glances around for the source while squeaking out in alarm, "Where did that come from?! There could have been no battle that was going on! I better check my radar!"

Tapping a few keys on her HUD, Kim is treated to a view of the ships in the sector that are within range. There is also some cargo left over from previous battles and from the current battle, but at a farther distance away. The radar is the best option for this since Hellemus is slowly turning into a debris field.

The radar presents a grand, colorful view of the Hellemus sector, complete with the stations, ships, cargo, and asteroids, if there are any in the sector. Ice asteroids are littering the sector, some within the confines of the wormholes and some past the wormholes. Even then, those locations become dangerous later on. Over the course of time, Bandits and other evil factions begin to set up shop in these locations, making it more difficult to survive and earn an honest profit.

Pretty soon, Kim treats her purple eyes to a colorful view of the Hellemus sector, taking note of the new pieces of cargo that are left floating idle. If she can collect and sell as much as she could, hopefully she can grab a cloaking device to remove all chances of detection; a good idea when enemy vessels are around and about. While flying about herself, the red panda muses, "Maybe I can land somewhere after filling up my cargo hold again. If I can find a series of tasks to pull off, then hopefully, I can grab a cloaking device or upgrade to a better ship."

Coincidentally, Kim is so focused on the radar that she wasn't paying attention to what's in front of her, resulting in a collision with her and another ship…

*BUMP!*

"Huh?! What was that?! …Oh…" After a sharp jolt rocks her in her pilot seat, Kim quickly darts her eyes around to see what she collided into when she notices a Pioneer-Class vessel also reeling from the hit. She sends the vessel an apologetic look while cutting her speed briefly, approaching the new series of idling debris in the sector. But during her approach, her ears perk up to an incoming transmission being sent to her. Wondering who it is, Kim accepts and answers the transmission, "Hello? Who is this?"

"This is Cassandra Adessi of BlueStar Express. Please watch where you're going next time!" The pioneer pilot cautions in a friendly tone over the transmission line.

Kim apologizes to the pilot, looking sheepish, "Ah, sorry! I'll be more careful next time!" She watches the Pioneer-class vessel disappear before her while she herself continues along her own pathway.

While making her journey throughout the Hellemus sector, Kim is still keeping a close watch on her radar, switching her attention between her radar and the view directly in front of her. Hopefully, one of the locations where she lands will grant her access to at least a few jobs with adequate pay. Little does she realize trouble is in the sector, and it is coming sooner than she thinks.

One red arrow doesn't pop up on her radar, but there are two red arrows indicating a pair of enemy ships traveling in close proximity to each other. These must be bandit ships again; if not, they must be from some other hostile faction. Apparently, these new hostile ships seem to belong to some other faction apart from the Bandits; after a brief scan, the faction they belong to is the Lynx Corporation, which must be some sort of rebellion-type faction. And they appear to be moving in on a group of other vessels close by; these two ships, a Flyer-A Class fighter and a Hornet-A Class fighter, are both moving in on a series of Hauler-M class mining vessels. Watching this from afar, Kim can only anticipate the worst to happen to the innocent pilots. But upon selecting one of them, she scans the ship to find out what faction it belongs to. The red panda obtains her answer seconds later, causing her expression to perk up. In capital, bold red letters is the name:

LYNX REBELLION

Seeing this new name makes Kim sweat. So that's who these guys are. And with more factions like these popping up, it's only a matter of time before Kim herself becomes a victim. If anything, she should at least grab a cloaking device to render herself invisible. It'll help lessen the possibility of being targeted and attacked. But given her current circumstances, Kim's chances of actually acquiring a cloaking device are slim, let alone purchasing a brand-new X-Class vessel to use - these come automatically equipped with cloaking devices to render oneself invisible. For the time being, Kim will have to be extra careful in flying around and exploring - if she is targeted, chances of her surviving are 50/50 - against larger ships, she can kiss her chances of survival goodbye, no matter how hard of a fight she puts up.

For the time being, Kim will have to stay to herself, sticking close to different stations and hubs in case of a potential firestorm. And to be on the safe side, the red panda pilot stays close to the laser turrets as well. This means that Kim will have to be extra careful when traveling around though the different sectors, including those that are barren.

Continuing her journey along the Hellemus sector, Kim notices a new depot and proceeds to scan it, all while an enemy battle is happening in the background - only laser blasts are heard for now but there are distant explosions in the background. Once the red panda completes her scan, the name of the station comes up.

REFINERY B - Coldsteel Mining

"Huh, neat! Hope these guys are as good as the others!" While Kim is thrilled to find a brand new refinery in the sector, she hoped that these guys were friendly too. And given the normal white coloring, they are on normal grounds with her. Maybe she can head over there to procure a job for herself where she can earn some much needed funds.

While en route to the new Refinery, Kim happens to notice yet another red arrow on her HUD, signaling a hostile ship close by. In fact, it is dangerously close. And before it can begin firing off its weapons, the laser turrets activate, completely punching through the shielding. Now Kim is caught in the crosshairs of a lone enemy ranger up against a series of death beams and further destruction should this enemy ship try to destroy the turrets.

"Oh come on!! Already?!" Kim is beyond frustrated upon being super close to an enemy ship. So she decides to take a chance and fight it off using her own arsenal of weapons. Coincidentally, the enemy pilot targets Kim first and then the turret.

Targeted by Flyer-A Class "Fire"!

"Here we go!" Kim begins to fight back, using her lasers and photon bursts to inflict damage. But when a sudden red flare shoots from the enemy fighter, Kim launches her own missile directly afterwards when out of nowhere, a red-tipped Lancer Missile streaks towards the enemy ship and curves right into Kim's fighter.

*BOOM!*

"BLARGH!!!" Shuddering from the scrambled missile blast, Kim rocks in her seat, jolted from the hit. Taking a moment to recover, Kim proceeds to circle and fly away to gain some distance between herself and the attacking Flyer-A Class fighter. But with the mixture of weapons coming to and from the enemy fighter, coupled with the turrets overwhelming the single enemy fighter, Kim has little say in the matter, although she comes back around for another run, firing her primary weapons once more at the enemy ship, which is now heavily damaged. With the enemy ship status flashing red on her HUD, Kim takes one last parting shot with her missile launcher, spitting out an Achilles Missile at the enemy ship. The final parting blow takes the enemy ship out of commission, causing the entire thing to combust seconds later in a big explosion, scattering ship pieces everywhere. What's left behind is a bunch of cargo from the destroyed enemy ship, mainly weapons left behind along with bits of Scrap Metal and Scrap Electronics. Taking liberties on the scraps, Kim begins to tractor all she can into her cargo hold, filling it up with Scrap Metal first and heading off to the Coldsteel Mining Refinery B and selling her cargo off.

While her ship is docked, Kim explores around the station for a bit before coming across a job board to see what's in store. But upon a sudden notification being received, Kim checks her messages and her eye immediately widen at the message displayed, which reads:

"From Lambda Corp - Bounty Received"

"For the destruction of Marianna Lombardi of Gisele Holdings, a bounty of 135,000 Credits has been added to your account."

"Whoa!! This'll make me rich!" Kim exclaims before looking around in embarrassment. She turns pink in the face and quickly corrects herself, not wanting to give off a greedy impression. "Er, I mean, this'll be enough for me to get a cloaking device, and hopefully a better ship."

After securing her message board, Kim goes on another brief exploration of the Refinery and she pauses to gaze outside, watching the vessel traffic pass by. Viewing the ships outside, the female red panda pilot begins to daydream to herself, visualizing herself in an upgraded, more powerful vessel. Maybe if she could get her hands on a Thunder Class frigate, she wouldn't have to worry about a cramped inventory or a cramped cargo hold - she can just venture about however she pleases.

Suddenly, the lights flicker and go dim with a brief moment, startling everyone inside. Even Kim's daydream is replaced with a moment of panic. But as fast as the lights go out, they come back on seconds later. This is followed by an announcement being broadcasted via loudspeaker.

"We apologize for the inconvenience due to a brief power outage inside the station. Please remain calm and do not panic. Power is back online."

Kim clutches her heart following the brief power outage and the panic as a result. She straightens up afterwards, drawing a quick breath of relief. While the female red panda takes a moment to refocus and reprogram, a sudden hand on her shoulder startles her, making her jump, "!!!"

Jumping, Kim whirls around to see a female black and white furred border collie in a green jumpsuit, her forest green eyes holding a sort of radiant energy to them until the dog notices how stressed the red panda is. The female canine backs off and introduces herself to Kim. "My name is Amanda Parker and I am with Lambda Corp. I am here checking up on a bounty transaction that was transferred from the destruction of one of the enemy factions and I wanted to confirm this with whoever made the killing shot. Was this you?"

Kim blushes and admits the final fatal blow is on her. She reveals, "Yeah, it was me - only because I was targeted by the enemy vessel. I didn't engage on sight. And as the battle raged on, I made the final killing shot that destroyed the enemy ship."

Hearing this confirmation surprises Amanda; the female border collie produces a contact and hands it over to Kim, informing the female red panda, "This is our corporation and line of work. If you ever want a spot, give us a call."

Looking over the contact information, Kim is left speechless - here she is being granted the opportunity to join an elite fighting squadron! This is one huge upgrade in her space career! But would she be able to handle all of the risky business? Only time will tell and the decision will be left up to Kim and Kim alone.

After silently contemplating on what to do next, the female red panda secures the Lambda contact into her database and marches her way along the corridor leading back to the hangar where she can finally hop back into her ship. Once Kim reaches her ship, she jumps back in and proceeds to undock, launching her fighter out of the base.

Following her launch out of the Refinery, Kim resumes her exploration of the sector. For the time being, the red panda pilot begins to freely explore the Hellemus district, casually flying about. However, no sooner does Kim begin her own freelance exploration does she relieve an alert about enemy ships in the area. Her Hornet-Class Fighter isn't durable enough to take on ships above it, so the best thing the red panda can attempt to do is hide. Speed alone isn't going to cut it.

Before long, two enemy ships appear on Kim's radar - a Shuttle-Class ship and a Hornet-Class fighter. Both of these vessels are registered as 'Hostile' on Kim's radar and they are closing in on her location. The red panda growls in annoyance, bracing herself for an impromptu firefight when they blow past her, instead going straight for the DSMC Refinery. However, one of the ships targets one of the miners in the process - leading to their first big mistake.

While Kim groans in annoyance, the red panda turns her ship around in hopes of spectating the space battle. Once the initial missile hits its target, the battle is on!

An initial impact shudders the Hauler-Class mining vessel. Normally, miners stick together but in this case, the DSMC mining crew are spaced out this time. Within seconds, missiles pour in from several directions, all going straight for the two enemy ships. Even laser blasts, photon bursts, and the occasional APC are included among the ranks of the DSMC miners. And all Kim can do at this point is watch - if she's able enough, she'll find a way to join the fray.

In the midst of the fray, the Shuttle-Class ship explodes in a fireball upon suffering critical damage, breaking up into multiple pieces. There is some cargo left behind that is optional to grab, apart from the small amounts of scrap metal and scrap electronics that are among the wreckage. But Kim moves in just when she sees a window of opportunity against the Hornet-Class Fighter.

Keeping up with the status of the battle, Kim had remained in the background to spectate. While the Shuttle-Class ship is destroyed, the Hornet-Class fighter has moderate damage, indicated by the hull blinking from green to yellow. About half the shields are also gone in the process. As for Kim's opportunity, the red panda uses her opportunity to target the damaged enemy fighter - after collecting some cargo scraps, Kim targets the enemy fighter and sends an Achilles Missile hurtling straight at it. However, a red flare evaporates upwards, rendering the missile useless. With the targeting systems scrambled, the missile charges off-course. There goes Kim's initial shot at joining the fray. But the red panda doesn't go unnoticed.

Targeted by Hornet-A Class Fighter

"Oh great! Here goes nothing!" While Kim braces herself for battle, a series of four small rockets appear out of nowhere, hammering the enemy fighter in the side. However, the impacts also affect Kim's shields, draining them halfway. That's when Kim gawks out her canopy and swallows in fear. "Oh crap, I better move out of the way!"

An Overlord-Class battleship slinks into the fray, also assisting the miners with the remaining enemy fighter. Compared to this giant battleship, the Hornet-Class fighter is just an ant that can be squished easily. Though the tiny Hornet attempts to put up a remaining fight, a Stage 5 Laser Blast pulverizes the remaining hull strength, completely destroying the smaller fighter. This results in more cargo being scattered about from the enemy ship exploding. Amidst the remaining enemy weaponry as cargo, there are more scraps to collect freely.

Kim's attempt is genuine, even when the giant Overlord battleship finishes the job. But if there is one thing about dealing the final blow to an enemy ship, it is this - no matter what sector you may be in, there will be bounty hunters lurking around. And when they do pounce, it is sudden. Kim never has to worry about that yet because she has no bounty. For other pilots that have bounties on them, it is a matter of time before the inevitable happens.

After collecting whatever scraps she can into her cargo bay, Kim makes her way to the DSMC Main Refinery to sell off the scraps she's collected, coming back out to resume her own cleanup. But before she could get there, some scavengers got to them before she could return. While initially disappointed, Kim pushes her disappointment away and continues on her way. She keeps right on going in her exploration of the sector until she catches sight of another base.

"Huh? What's that??" Curiosity leads Kim to perform a quick scan on her radar - this turns out to be an Orbital Farm placed there by the Terran Expeditionary Force, or TEF. But why in a hot sector like this one? Intrigued by this new discovery, Kim flies over to dock her ship and do a closer investigation. However, this could be her last. Kim knows that at any second, the base can be out on lockdown in case of emergency, so she will have to be quick in her exploration if she wants to get out of there.

The moment Kim touches down and climbs out of her fighter, The lights go out - a sudden blackout. This is much like last time where Kim docked inside of the Refinery B belonging to Coldsteel Corporation. But unlike the lights flickering and shorting out, the blackout inside of this Orbital Farm is sudden and swift. But it doesn't last long. The lights come back on and begin blinking yellow, signaling an approaching unknown vessel. The lights then turn red - it is an enemy vessel. In a hurry, Kim rushes back to her ship to avoid being blown into pieces along with the Refinery itself. But outside is a different story.

Outside, two enemy ships are engaged in battle with a fleet of mining ships. The enemy ships, two Flyer-Class fighter ships, are up against Hauler-Class vessels. And these miners are showing no signs of stopping. With a constant barrage of laser fire, coupled with high-powered turret lasers obliterating the shields, these enemy Bandit ships don't stand a chance. Within minutes, both ships are destroyed, leaving behind mounds of scrap metal and scrap electronics to collect. Kim arrives fashionably late to the battle, only to partake in the aftermath of cleaning up.

"Aww man! I missed it again!!" Kim bemoans her disappointment at arriving to the aftermath of the raging battle outside; she really wanted to join. But now she gets to assist in the cleanup effort for now. Like last time she collected cargo to sell, Kim is often reminded, though disappointingly, that her cargo hold is already full by the time she manages to even begin the cleanup process. It is a repeated effort. Kim goes back and forth collecting whatever cargo she can and transports it back to the Refinery B to be sold.

After assisting in the cleanup, Kim finally heads back to the Orbital Farm to investigate the place a second time. While doing so, she checks her account, only for dollar signs to appear in her eyes. In her bank account - a little over 200,000 credits. From seeing this, Kim exclaims in finality, "I can finally buy myself a new ship!"

The dollar signs disappear from her eyes and Kim resumes her day. While out of her ship, the red panda pilot begins to manually explore the place, stopping and passing by different areas of the farm. During her little romp, she passes a huge board in the process; she backtracks to do a double take and upon making out the differently colored text, Kim finally picks up on the listing - it is a job board filled up with various assignments, ranging from easy tasks like ship delivery, to hard tasks like destroying enemy vessels.

During her search, a few assignments catch Kim's attention. They are courier jobs, tasks involving cargo delivery from one place to another. But there is a problem - Kim's Hornet-Class vessel is too small to accompany the load sizes. And the ones with less cargo and higher payouts end with hostile territories as their destinations. The red panda sighs in disappointment - she will have to decline for the time being. But she shouldn't lose hope - Kim still has enough for a larger ship with more storage space, allowing her to take part in more assignments. However, she doesn't leave so soon.

Coming back to the job board, Kim returns to browse again from the selection of jobs available. There are more jobs available to take, and one of these catches Kim's eye in particular. It is a simple ship delivery mission to a base in Beta Pindola. And with the money in her account, the red panda will have more than enough cash on her to buy herself a new ship.

The job board listing and descriptions reads on the display as follows:

Deliver a Hornet-A

We urgently need a Hornet-A Class ship delivered to the Lambda Corp Trade Station in Beta Pindola. We will pay you the full price plus a little tip for the extra trouble.

"Hmm, maybe I can tackle this one! Should be no problem at all." Kim's mind is already made up. In her mind, the events will play out like this - fly to the Lambda Corp Trade Station and deliver the Hornet-A Class ship, take a space taxi to a Shipyard (provided there is a Shipyard in the sector), and purchase a new ship." Sounds easy enough, right?

Given the amount of traffic through the space corridors, pirate and hostile activity should be minimum. But activity could be moderate considering Dymapa 753 is close by. That sector is home to multiple hostile factions, as well as the notorious Black Sail faction. These guys are hard-core enemies of the Terran Expeditionary Force and Al-Ghat Galactic. All Kim can hope for is a safe journey between her current location and Beta Pindola.

~~~~~

The trip to Beta Pindola surprisingly went well without incident. The entire commute was quiet, save for the occasional bumps and knocks from other ships. No pirate activity or other hostile activity flashed up on Kim's radar or elsewhere, which was also a sign of relief. It was just a peaceful journey to a peaceful sector. And Beta Pindola is known for being a peaceful sector of the universe. In fact, Beta Pindola is home to the Lambda Corporation similar to how Gatopea is home to the Terran Expeditionary Force, minus the asteroids in the far back and the mining company, known as New World Mining.

When Kim docks her Hornet-A Class ship inside of the trade station, she retrieves her database tablet and manually scratches off the ship delivery job with a built-in stylus, retrieved from a hidden compartment at the top of the device. Just then, she remembered something.

"Oh, that's right! I gotta seek out the guys responsible for posting that mission up from Hellemus! That's if I can find them!" Realizing what she had to do to move on and sell her ship, Kim needed to seek out the ones responsible for the job listing. That is, if she can locate them in this sector.

"Hmm, let's see… where would they be…??" A bit of chin-tapping with her stylus and Kim finally has an idea on where to find the guys responsible. She secures her tablet back in her inventory and steps away from her Hornet-A Class ship to get to exploring around the trade station. Hopefully she can find an office inside. That's going to be tough to do, since so many people crowd the Trade Station in buying and selling merchandise.

During Kim's exploration of this Trade Station, her database vibrates where she retrieves her device, only to stop mid-stride to find a distress call being sent out.

Distress call in Dymapa 753 - Lieutenant Paul Chan in Hornet-X Class Fighter

[Center["To all friendly pilots, this is Lieutenant Paul Chan of Terran Expeditionary Force! I am under attack by ships belonging to Black Sail! Immediate backup requested!"[/center]

Kim makes a face in consideration and uncertainty upon checking out the distress call. "Huh," she commented, "I can't think of the last time a distress call went out… Must have been a long time ago since that happened." Still in thought, Kim starts to walk off while attempting to figure out the last time a distress call came her way. Unfortunately, she concludes with a groan, "I must have deleted them - those things crowd out the more important stuff I need to know about! I wish I had an abandoned ship I could claim and sell!"

Unfortunately for Kim herself, the red panda ends up lost inside the Trade Station during some aimless wandering. And now she can't find her way back around. The only way back is to retrace.her steps, and that's hard to do due to the many twists and turns she's conducted. She needs some major help and it looks like she's going to get it - she notices and flags down a passing Beagle guard, who promptly comes to her aid.

"Excuse me sir! Do you know where the office is to see the job requirements?" Kim requests help from the beagle guard who is now strolling to meet her. From hearing her request, the guard admonishes her with a wave of his hand, "Follow me. It's no good to get lost here."

"Oh, thank you!" Kim breathes a sigh of relief and begins to follow the canine guard. Offhandedly, she begins to ramble about her most recent escapade, "You see, I just came here to complete a job involving ship delivery and I want to upgrade to a different ship. There are so many ships out there but I want one with a large cargo hold so I could– *BUMP!* Oi! Why did you– oh…" The red panda pilot is just rambling on about her most recent job, not even paying full attention to the guard in front of her. She continues to follow him and is led directly to an office room where she bumps into the guard from behind. It is here that she realizes this is the place she's supposed to turn to. The door is also marked, "JOB DELIVERY".

Kim suspects that this is the room she must enter to inform the staff of her completed job. Unsure of whether or not this is the right one, the red panda hesitates, hiding behind the beagle guard. The dog only chuckles at her uncertainty, pointing out, "This is the place people usually go to wherever there is a delivery mission to be completed." Here, the guard motions for Kim to waltz inside, insisting, "Go on in! No harm in doing so! No one will bite you."

Taking the guard's admonition, Kim enters the office to see a female canine worker behind the desk, casually inspecting the job board and radar. At first glance, Kim isn't sure what to make of her, but with the curly, puffy fur on her head, she could be a poodle.

Approaching the female poodle behind her desk, Kim addresses her, "Hello, Miss! I am here to confirm the ship delivery mission for the TEF. The requested ship is docked in the hangar bay."

The female poodle has a friendly smile on her face while listening to Kim explain the situation. The black furred female canine stands up from her seat and grabs a tablet of her own, settling her liquid blue eyes on Kim. While she sets off, the canine introduces herself, "Call me Becky. Becky Wheeler. Right this way, please!"

"Okay." The two women exit the office with Kim guiding Becky to the hangar bay of the Lambda Corp Trade Station. Once they arrive, Becky performs a careful inspection of the ship and is satisfied with the results. However, she turns to Kim and questions her, "Is this one of your ships?"

The red panda pilot rubs her neck in nervous laughter. She wasn't anticipating an interrogation. "Haha, well you see, this is my only ship. And I just received a bounty collection from a takedown I made in making the final shot count, so yeah; this is my only ship." To erase any suspicion on her, Kim quickly explains, "I was gonna buy another one from a Shipyard to have something better!"

Becky raises a hand to stop the red panda from rambling on and she admits, "I understand where you're coming from, and it's fine with me. 're coming from. I was in the same situation as you, trust me. My first ship I had was a Shuttle-A Class and I absolutely hated it. I used a job delivery mission to trade that thing in for a better ship, and now I am the pilot behind the controls of a Thunder-A Class Frigate."

"Why not an X-class ship?" Kim reasoned with Becky in inquiry. "You'll have a better chance of slipping past Bandit ships while undetected and invisible. And if you do happen to get spotted and attacked, you can cloak yourself to disappear in the process. My name is Kim, by the way."

Becky only giggles at Kim's suggestion. The poodle claims, "Nice to meet you too, Kim! And you're right, you do have a point there - cloaking during battle phases. But what are the chances of you turning invisible in the process while a Stage 5 Laser turret obliterates you in one shot?" Kim sweatdrops at Becky's logical and straightforward counterclaim.

As much as Kim has witnessed what Becky described in battle, the female red panda rubs her neck again in consideration. "Yeah, good point there. I mean, I've seen ships take hull damage from just cloaking while getting blasted by lasers and other weapons by ships but not laser turrets. A Stage 5 laser turret can instantly obliterate a Shuttle-A Class ship in just one blow. But cloaking during battle phases is equally bad."

Following a thorough inspection of the Hornet-A Class ship, Becky informs Kim, "Alright Kim, you're all set to go! The funds will be transferred to your account and you can consider this delivery mission a success!" To emphasize her point, the poodle gives a thumbs-up to the red panda, indicating the mission's success. The two later separate with Kim making her way through the halls in search of a passenger taxi point.

~~~~~

After securing a taxi ride and paying a quick fare to the pilot, Kim was transported by request to a shipyard in the sector. Bulldog Corporation's Shipyard A was her destination to go to where she can finally get herself a new ship for an upgrade. Her brand new ship? A Thunder-X Class Frigate. While similar to the Orion frigate, the Thunder has more structure and durability, but Kim's biggest worry is the cargo hold. With her new frigate, Kim no longer has to worry about taking multiple trips back and forth or a tiny cargo hold. Even more, the red panda doesn't have to worry about jobs where her cargo space isn't an issue, giving her a better chance at accepting more courier missions. However, this also increases the possibility of exposure to enemy factions whose destinations are listed in the job descriptions. But due to the cloaking system, Kim can now render herself invisible.

With her delivery mission complete and the funds transferred to her account, Kim sits inside of the new Thunder-X Class frigate that she has just bought. After looking over and inspecting the controls of her new frigate, Kim launches herself out of the hangar, undocking from the Shipyard. Flying out of the base, Kim shoots herself into Space once more, setting off in her brand new ship. And she is immediately treated to an eye-opener of new locations to dock at.

Several places to dock appear on Kim's radar, along with a host of passing ships of different factions. But there is also the low chance of Bounty Hunters and hostile activity lurking here. But far away between the Lambda Corp and New World Mining is the Fortuna Rebels section - there is an outpost located a long distance away between them. And sometimes, these guys fly out to different sectors. Skirmishes between these guys and an enemy faction they're up against can turn ugly in an instant.

While Kim is flying around and exploring Beta Pindola in her new ship, a sudden laser blast erupts in the background behind her. When Kim checks her radar, she finds a couple of Fortuna-based ships in the area. And they seem to be engaged in some kind of skirmish with a Bluestar Express-based Creon-Class battleship. Only after hearing an explosion does Kim turn her ship around to investigate and what she sees makes her eyes light up.

While Kim moves in to get a closer look at the battle, she witnesses the Creon battleship holding its own against two Fortuna-based ships - a Flyer and a Hornet, both X-class. Out of nowhere, two escort ships join the battle in protecting the Creon - a Venture-A Class fighter and a Thunder-A Class frigate. It is now three against two with the tables being turned.

"Man, those two don't even stand a chance! They're fresh meat!" Kim commented to herself. She continues to spectate the battle from the sidelines until one of the Fortuna ships bumps into her Thunder-X frigate during the battle. Not wanting to be caught in the crosshairs, the red panda maneuvers her ship away from the warring ships. It doesn't take long for one of the Fortuna ships to suffer critical damage and receive a killshot that literally sends it twirling into a spontaneous fireball.

The destroyed Hornet-X Class Fighter combusts in an orange explosion, sending pieces of the ship scattering about. Some of its cargo is left behind in the ensuing explosion, along with some pieces of scrap metal and scrap electronics. Kim wastes no time in tractoring the stray cargo back to her frigate while the battle around her rages on. Soon, other tractor beams join the cleanup just as the Flyer-X Class Fighter is destroyed by the Bluestar Express team - one of the Bluestar pilots even relays a message to their cohorts.

"Enemy destroyed. That's the last of 'em."

The Bluestar escorts regroup around their target while flying away, leaving the carnage of their battle behind. While continuing the cleanup process, Kim mutters to herself, "Gotta watch that - they could be minding their own business for now and then be attacked again a moment later. Gotta be careful out here."

Leaving behind the post-battle aftermath, Kim bumps into an incoming Hauler-A Class mining vessel belonging to a scavenger, who relays an annoyed message to the red panda.

"Oi! Watch where you're going next time!"

"Ah, sorry!" Kim apologizes to the pilot and flies away from the scene; she steers her ship towards the wormhole to head back to Terekos and sell her stuff off.

~~~~~

The journey back to Terekos was successful without incident; having a more efficient ship means a higher and better profit and net worth. While Kim is able to sell off all the collected merchandise with ease, outside is somewhat of a different story.

Leaving behind a refinery belonging to the Deep Space Mining Corp (Refinery B), Kim notices a red arrow on her radar and activates her cloak to turn herself invisible. One red arrow becomes two with two enemy ships prowling the Terekos sector. Both ships are Flyer-X Class fighters and they are looking for an easy target. Out here, anyone is considered easy pickings. Only exceptions are invisible pilots and factions. Unfortunately, they set their sights on one of the Deep Space Mining vessels located close by the refinery, and the surrounding laser turrets rip into action.

Missiles are launched at the mining vessel in an ambush, but the DSMC have the upper hand - Stage 5 Laser turret fire plunges through the shields of both enemy fighters, ripping into the hills. Then other DSMC ships join the fight to defend their own. Wanting to join the battle, Kim uncloaks herself to reveal her new Thunder-X Class frigate where she uses her own attacks on the enemy ships. But as fast as the battle starts, the battle ends just as fast. Suddenly, Kim receives a new notification along with an increase in her account. Unfortunately, a bounty is placed on her as well - 250 credits.

Kim notices this and immediately begins to panic. However, she does take the opportunity to scan the remaining enemy cargo left behind to see who it belongs to, and once the scan is complete, the faction name appears on her H.U.D.

Bandits

Quickly, Kim goes about removing the bounty placed on her where she ends up paying a small fee of 10k credits to erase her wanted level. Then the red panda pilot goes about checking the recent message that popped up on her board following the battle conclusion.

From TEF: Bounty Received

For the destruction of Simone Withersby of Bandits, a bounty of 90,000 credits has been added to your account.”

Upon seeing the message, Kim mutters, “I didn't expect another bounty to be dropped into my account. I was just trying to help out. I'm not a bounty hunter but I definitely don't want to be the most wanted pilot in the universe.”

After deleting this recent message and the last bounty message from Lambda Corp, Kim heads towards the refinery to dock and sell the scraps she's collected from the cleanup. Then she hops from her frigate to explore the area. It is the same as the one in Hellemus, so there is no big difference - it's the same thing. However, when Kim finds the job board, she receives an entirely different lineup made of available courier missions, ship recovery and delivery missions, and ship destruction missions. One of these, in particular, happens to catch her interest the most.

“Courier Needed - Deliver 3× Space Suits

A courier is needed to deliver 3 Space Suits to the TEF Space Station in Gatopea. A ship with at least 15.0 units of space is required.”

“HUH, I'll take it!” Kim wastes no time in accepting the courier job displayed on the electronic information board, and she soon sets off for her destination after picking up the cargo and loading it into her ship. Finally, Kim undocks from the Refinery in her frigate, on the way to Gatopea. Along the way, the red panda activates her cloaking system to render herself invisible on the way there. That way, she has no possibility of being attacked or spotted by enemy ships.

After rendering herself invisible to both the naked eye and the radar, Kim flies off towards the Androla sector undetected, making a straight beeline for the sector. But along the way, Kim is alerted to an abandoned ship close by the wormhole. On taking a closer look, the abandoned ship is actually a Venture-A Class ship. A further scan from the red panda reveals a critically damaged hull and shields. Kim is interested in this ship and she proceeds to leave it behind for now. She comments to herself, “If that ship is still there, maybe I can take it to a repair shop. Might be useful later on, so I'm gonna save it. Hopefully it'll still be there when I come back for it.”

Kim leaves for Androla, transferring to the sector via Wormhole. But when she emerges, she is presented with a front-row seat to a battle already in progress - a laser blast streaks by her, impacting a nearby battleship. It is actually an Ares-A Class Destroyer. And the culprit - a single Hornet-A Class Fighter. Immediately, Kim rushes to get out of the way, knowing mines are being deployed by both ships. In her haste, she bumps into the attacking Hornet, which turns out to be yet another red hostile ship.

A quick scan of both sides leads Kim to a startling conclusion - another enemy faction known as the Mamba Rebellion, is attacking the Ares Destroyer, which belongs to Arco Couriers. This leaves Kim debating on whether or not to join the battle when a laser blast and an Achilles Missile both appear out of nowhere, striking the hostile Hornet. The red panda finally uncloaks to reveal herself just as two Arco ships arrive - a Pioneer-A Class ship and a Thunder-A Class frigate. Additionally, two TEF ships also arrive on scene - both Flyer-A Class. Wanting to do battle, Kim also joins the fray in her own Thunder-X Class frigate, despite being currently occupied with a job mission herself.

With the combined firepower of six different ships amounting to the power of a battleship, the Hostile Hornet is taken down within seconds - the final parting shot makes the critically damaged fighter explode into pieces, leaving behind remaining weaponry and scraps as cargo. While the ships separate, Kim collects the scraps and goes back on her way, resuming her mission. Then once her job mission is finished, hopefully that abandoned ship is still there. Then she can add that to her fleet while selling off the scrap cargo she’s collected.

~~~~~

Kim belongs to MooKaa in this long-length story commission for 0ri_Onz, the original creator and owner of Kim!