Ever since I had to dart halfway across Galaxy 5 with damaged military shields (a little after
this encounter) I've been operating out of Xevera, a rich little corporate state with, importantly, tech level 15. Their grease monkeys did an amazing job fixing up the
Shifted Paradigm and I'm happy rewarding them with repeat custom.
Xevera is in close proximity to a number of pretty lawless systems, and so makes a decent base for my lifestyle. I like to keep my nose clean and my lasers hot, and I'm sure the cops in those Anarchies have grown to recognize my paintwork. But sometimes one needs a little
variety, that isn't always, strictly speaking, completely legal.
One night I'm running back into Xevera to sell off a pile of platinum and gems, and just outside the Aegis I spy a Boa and her three Manta escort. I decide to have a little fun and buzz them on injectors. Then, when I'm about 10 km beyond (and still out of Aegis range) I fire a single, short burst from my mil laser at the Boa. The Boa, of course, yells for help and peels away. The three escorts light the fires and come after me.
I frob the injectors to keep the Mantas at about 18 klicks distance (Mantas are faster than Boa Class Cruisers, it appears. Who knew?) until I enter the Aegis. Then I drop back a little, letting them get within weapons range. Sure enough, laser fire is soon flashing past my viewports, but these guys have lousy aim and I don't need to worry just yet. One of them gets a hit in, but I hardly notice it. I do note that his legal status is now 'Offender', though, as I'd hoped.
Just as the station itself is coming up on the scanner, I start jockeying so that their overshoots will hit the station. But looking behind, I notice two of the escorts have peeled off, and are apparently shooting at each other. I cycle through my targets and see they're both offenders. I suspect there was a blue-on-blue there (field of fire, guys. Field of fire) and they probably didn't like each other anyway. The third guy, still on my tail, still hasn't got a shot in and is still clean. Heh.
So I break and lock up one of the duelling Mantas at random, noting that the Boa itself has caught up and is hell-for-leather towards the nav beacon. I fire at the Manta, and the second one--an offender, recall--thanks me for the assistance. I find this quite amusing, and go ahead and splash the other guy for an offender bounty. But I don't bother with number two because Galcop are already lining up on him.
Number three, however, has managed to land a couple of hits on me and is now an offender. I head back towards the station, and wait until he hits that unmissable target a couple of times before engaging--after all, a fugitive in the Aegis is fair game, right?
Yeah. That was a nice bounty.
Finally, I buzz the Boa again as he's on approach, making him peel off and try again while I zip into the dock as cool as you please--with my legal status as clean as Windowlene, of course.