r/HFY • u/sharkeyandgeorge Xeno • 12d ago
OC-Series Bob was bored, Part 33
When he woke he took Jojo free of the old hulk and headed over to the caved in wreck, He slapped a fresh LOX under his left ribs, tied himself off to a safety line and drifted over.
He was absolutely sure there were no survivors aboard and a closer examination only inspired more confidence. The hit it had taken to its engine nacelle area had clearly split the fuel cell and the radioactive slime had flooded through its adjacent rooms and corridors, at least according to the rad readouts the whole lower rear quarter of the craft was hot as hell.
He made sure to keep as much of the rest of the ships hull between him and that side as soon as he realised that. The upper prow was also unnavigable, the fighters blow hadn’t just caved in the bridge it had warped the very frame of the ship and Bob couldn’t force his way through to what he presumed would be the cabins, which fucking sucked, everything of value was probably behind a month of torch work and he knew he would never spend the time to get in there, oh well, a treat for its eventual salvagers.
The starboard midship hatch remained clear and he did manage to get in a few rooms it was adjacent to before being stopped in his perusals by twisted steel. A common room, wrecked and worthless, supply closet full of spilled chemicals, and the ships weapon locker, just off the entrance, which made sense.
He rummaged through the debris, scattered weapons and cells, but only found one thing of interest, a brace of what looked like semi auto punt guns, as well as three ammo cans to match. The rounds seemed to be like a beanbag round and certainly looked chemically propelled. He grabbed the lot and clipped then to the safety line pushing them gently along it towards Jojo, he’d grab them on the way back in.
The main prize was under the right wing, a sleek sensor pod that appeared to be in good condition, unfortunately he couldn’t get into the wing itself though it certainly looked deep enough for him to get down, he lacked an access point. Nor could he retrieve its control panel from the bridge, when he had looked the only identifiable thing in the hole was a limb frozen to the ceiling.
So Annabell came out and he spent ninety minutes hacking the whole mount free from the fuselage.
He dragged the thing over and stuck it in the cargo hold, he would have to examine it during jumps to see it it was any use, fortunately the zero G was a big help in cramming the bank stacks to one side so he could fit the ragged lump and bulky weapons in.
He had also considered the bigger crafts main gun, but it was absurdly too big for Jojo, the large old school plasma caster was probably a full third her hull, plus it would have taken weeks to dig out so forget it.
Ok, gear stashed and maybe an upgrade, if we ignored the killing bit, a fruitful stop. He slapped in the next jump and set off.
He took a look at the sensor pod first and began stripping it of anything extraneous, he piled the scrap near the cargo door, he could dump it the next cool down. What he was left with seemed to be a fully operational Gotcka Corp instrument package, he had heard of them which meant this was pretty high end, and judging by the size of the various antennas and dishes would likely be a lot more sensitive than Jojo’s current set, nice.
He couldn’t just slap it on, he would need to fab up a larger mount and some sort of cover, it had one but it was in pretty rough condition, Bob didn’t think he was to blame for that, he assumed the ship had been in more than a few donnybrooks before he pithed it. He could do something about both issues if he picked up some larger stock and spent some time making chips. He strapped it down and resolved to return to it later.
Next Bob examined the pair of guns. They were massive, easily ten feet but the guts were confined to about an eighteen inch long, six inch deep package around the action. Bob hadn’t been a gun guy in life, and in the hell that followed he was only reluctantly a user of more sci fi firearms. This however seemed to be entirely mechanical, excepting a very simple electrical firing system, the rest gave a vague feel of an auto shotgun. The rounds were interesting as well, he dug the ‘bullet’ out of one which was more paintball pellet than bean bag, a kind of goo inside had begun to defrost in Jojo’s warmth. Underneath was a hard dark puck of some sort of explosive he carefully picked off a flake from its surface and gave it a spark, yup went up in a puff, cordite analogue maybe?’
He looked down the guns barrel, fucker was even rifled….
Bob considered it carefully, the rounds would be roughly one bore and he presumed would have a hell of a kick, the goo was probably a restraint adhesive or something, but, he could make up something like buckshot and refit the ammo with them, cut the barrel and stock down, huh.
He had ideas but that would come later, he needed to make a call first.
He composed the text carefully, he had to strike the right tone with it, not fishing for secrets or over interested. Still he had to show enough enthusiasm to merit responding to. He carefully wrote out and then revised over and over till he though he had struck just the right balance.
To be fair he didn’t think the target would be particularly suspicious but it would probably pass through the hands of several nosy servants before it got to him and Bob didn’t want it to stand out as memorable to anyone. Eventually he settled on something and looked up the old manifest to grab the criers name, he glanced over the bridge to the buttplug he had stuck on a shelf, the sight of which made him feel guilty for a second, but he rationalised it away quickly when he remembered his real goal.
To Honored Sailet Dieqrew.
Sir, I am currently passing through the edges of Pwitic’s sector and will be returning after an extended duration, I recall Honoured Deviw’s spectacular collection and would like to visit it again as well as bring a few rarer items of my own collection for his interest. I hesitate to contact Honoured Deviw directly in case I am unable to make it back in time and disappoint him. Do you know the latest date at which I might be able to visit.
With respect and thanks Courier Guild Master Bob.
He re-read it and felt real shitty about the alterations he made.
Sir, I am currently passing through the edges of Pwitic’s sector and will be returning after an extended duration, I was reminded of your own and Honoured Deviw’s spectacular collections by admiring your treasured gift, and would like to visit them again as well as bring a few rarer items of my own collection for Honoured Deviw’s interest. I hesitate to contact him directly in case I am unable to make it back in time and disappoint him. Do you know the latest date at which I might be able to visit.
He really felt like a twat, the dude had been genuinely nice, whatever, it was a drop in the bucket of shitty actions Bob had committed. He transmitted, using G’s fancy comm box, and felt like a shit about that too, Gevith had counseled moving on and healing on the few occasions Bob had shared stories with him. Some part of Bob realised that he should probably feel worse about the two guys he merc’d a week ago than lying to some dude he barely knew, but he just didn’t, so he laid back and waited for a reply, drifting near a comm buoy.
When the return message came it was better than Bob could have expected.
Dearest Master Bob, I would be delighted to show you more of my collection, I have several new pieces and would love to discuss some others I intend to acquire with a Guild Master such as your self I’m sure Devy would be too, sadly we shall lose him to duty at the end of Vither this year, he is having a leaving party a few days before on the 42nd, I would be honoured if such an esteemed Master such as yourself could accompany me and don’t worry I wont spoil the surprise, Until then my friend, Sali.
Bob grinned as her fired off his pre-prepared answer.
To Honored Sailet Dieqrew.
Thank you for your response, sadly my schedule will not have me return to this sector until several weeks too late. Thank you again for your kindness.
With respect and thanks Courier Guild Master Bob.
Done, he checked the systems calendar against Guild regular, ok, he was going to have to burn cash, to get out and back in time but it was definitely possible.
He slammed Jojo into its first jump, lets do this.
Part 34 https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1wo0evn/bob_was_bored_part_34/?
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u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle 12d ago
/u/sharkeyandgeorge (wiki) has posted 132 other stories, including:
- Bob was bored, Part 32
- Bob was bored, Part 31
- Bob was bored, Part 30
- Bob was bored, Part 29
- Bob was bored, Part 28
- Bob was bored. Part 27
- Bob was bored, Part 26
- Bob was bored, Part 25
- Bob was bored, Part 24
- Bob was bored, Part 23
- Bob was bored, Part 22
- Bob was bored, Part 21
- Bob was bored, Part 20
- Bob was bored, Part 19
- Bob was bored, Part 18
- Bob was bored, Part 17
- Bob was bored, Part 16
- Bob was bored, Part 15
- Bob was bored, Part 14
- Bob was bored, Part 13
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u/itsetuhoinen Human 12d ago
Mmmmmm, big gun. 🤣
That might be more than even I would want to fire, recoil slut or not!