Game 9: X4 Foundations Part 3 - Jimmy

I've been thinking about whether to move on from X4 and decided to give it one last hurrah. I'm playing 'hardcore' (in the sense that I won't just reload after dying) mode because in my first playthrough, surviving struck me as not that hard to do - and considering I've only died twice in 60 hours of gameplay, I think that's true, but when it does happen it happens suddenly and unexpectedly.

I don't know what particular brand of masochism afflicts me, but I've become enamored with the idea of starting from almost nothing - like not even having a ship to begin with. So this is my third and final hardcore X4 attempt - we're going to start off with something like taking the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy a little too literally.

--- Name's Jimmy Two-Toes - Jimmy knows that ain't your run of the mill Split name, but hey, Jimmy's foster parents were Humans, what are you gonna do?

You may be wondering how Jimmy Two-Toes ended up here

Well see, Jimmy got real drunk, signed on with from Free Families to fight against a Zyarth fleet. Thing is Jimmy's commanders ain't so competent, and maybe Jimmy's not sayin' too much but maybe Jimmy ain't all that as a gun loader on a destroyer.

Whatever, doesn't matter - Jimmy's ship is space dust and so are most of the chumps Jimmy was serving with.

They got a little scout rescuing folks but you know? Screw that, they'll just stuff old Jimmy back in a gun turret to die somewhere else.

Jimmy's done with that life, Jimmy is out for Jimmy. 

But hey, some luck for Jimmy - this freighter gots what you call the kindness of the heart and picks poor old Jimmy up.

Real big of you to save Jimmy, friend.

Jimmy wants to ask the Captain to head somewhere but Jimmy realizes that Jimmy don't know where shit is.

Jimmy ain't got no map.

Jimmy's at the mercy of wherever this freighter captain wants to go. Still, beats deep space.

Jimmy offers to help as freighter crew until the next port, wherever that may be.

Captain Ra't pulls into some station and lets Jimmy off. Jimmy's his own Split now - 15K creds in the account and nothin' else.

Gonna need to figure a way to earn enough to buy a ship.

Trader's got some Micro-Gimbals that look cheap....

Maybe Jimmy can sell 'em somewhere else.

Also Jimmy doesn't get a map while riding around on a ship or walking around a station.

Gotta take a little spacewalk, let the suit look around and get some telemetry.

Jimmy's on a Free Families claytronics factory.

Jimmy hangs around for a couple days and scrapes by on Jimmy's remaining funds for food, sleeping behind shipping containers.

A few days later another freighter docks, time to hit the road.

Cap'n Soa runs a tight ship and Jimmy gets the worst jobs, like scraping space barnacles off the hull.

Still, the view is something else.

The next station the freighter docks at is under attack! The Captain spooks and decides to fly on, much to Jimmy's regret - Jimmy tried to get out in a suit to go look for salvage but the freighter's wake carried Jimmy off and nearly left Jimmy stranded in deep space again. Jimmy fumes at the lost opportunity.

That was free stuff just floatin' around that Jimmy coulda had!

Jimmy spends all his cash on cheap bandages and other goods at the next trader, then waits around for a ship.

This time it's a little food trader, it's cramped but at least the meals are free.

The captain refuses to talk to Jimmy, there may have been a miscommunication about free food.

A small pocket of air ensconced in a thin metal shell carries our Hitchhiker through the void.

Jimmy's luck takes a turn for the better at the next station, where there are two traders selling some of the same items at different prices. Jimmy works the two of them over for all they're worth.

Give Jimmy every Interface Unit you got, the guy over there will pay 30 creds more for each of 'em.

By the time Jimmy is ready to move on he's up to 42K credits - sadly just shy of the deal of a lifetime, one of the traders is selling a 45K laser and the other is buying it for almost 70K! But nobody will spare Jimmy just a few creds, even if Jimmy will pay you back with interest - nobody's buying it though. Jimmy learns that you've gotta have money to make money, and Jimmy still made some money today. Another day, another station. Jimmy walks in with a pile of credits from the last score and hitches a ride aboard an agricultural freighter, captained by one of them scaly folk. Jimmy got some contract work to conduct some repairs at a station Jimmy was just passing by, but Jimmy ain't got no way of getting there - it's one of the few missions Jimmy might actually be able to accomplish without a ship.

Jimmy likes the larger freighters, there's more things to see and more crew to talk to on a trip.

Dropping out of character for a second: I have inadvertently made this part of the game more difficult than it already is, because I've got a game bug (I suspect it's because the initial ship from the starting 'get rescued mission' still wants to rescue me) where if I'm floating in space I cannot call for help from other ships anymore nor can I ask ship captains to take me to a location like you normally can. I'm completely at the mercy of where these ships already want to go.

The agricultural freighter is the slowest vessel Jimmy has ever seen, possibly slower than some terrestrial life forms.

The journey takes weeks, and when it is over Jimmy hopes he never ends up on a ship like that again.

Jimmy find himself in good company with other day laborers on a Scruffin farm, even gets a job there for a brief period of time - enough time to learn that Jimmy is allergic to Scruffins.

Jimmy hops the next Water Trader back into the void. Hitchhiking eventually takes Jimmy back to the trading station with two traders on it, and Jimmy arrives to find it under attack! Jimmy won't let this opportunity slip by a second time!

Seconds after the freighter docks, Jimmy shoots out of the airlock in his suit.

And there, just free-floating in space, is the score of Jimmy's life.

An intact Flux Capacitor, valued at 130,000 credits.

Battle rages all around while Jimmy secures it and brings it back. Jimmy has to find a good buyer, but this is a huge step towards being able to afford Jimmy's very own ship. Jimmy leverages the additional cash from the flux capacitor - they won't pay top creds for it here - but temporarily selling it gives Jimmy cash to take advantage of every other deal Jimmy can get between the two traders and then buy it back. When Jimmy leaves the station he has the flux capacitor along with 90k credits - this is getting into ranges that might purchase a small ship, but Jimmy has never seen a Wharf, which is where he needs to go to buy one.

Jimmy's next ride is another small food trader - Wharfs need food too, maybe he'll get lucky!

Jimmy's a lucky guy - not lucky enough to find a Wharf right away, mind you - but the next station Jimmy winds up on also has two traders, and one of the forks over 150K for the flux capacitor. Jimmy gets some fancy spacesuit thrusters with the cash - Jimmy's earned it after all, and who knows how long it will take Jimmy to find a ship? Jimmy's confident he's got the funds now to afford something that flies. 

Jimmy's been thinking - how does he get to a wharf? Not too many non-freighter ships have docked at the places Jimmy's visited, so it's almost certainly gotta be a freighter. He's just gotta get on one that might carry parts like hull places or sensor arrays - probably one of them high tech jobs, but Jimmy hasn't seen too many of those visiting the stations he's on. The chance to catch the ride he needs might be pretty hard to get. Jimmy needs one last big break.

Jimmy lands a job to fix up a station 35 klicks away... can the spacesuit O2 last that long? Jimmy's going to find out.

That's a long way to travel when your vehicle is your suit thrusters...

The O2 is down to about a quarter capacity as Jimmy approaches. trying to breathe real slow.

It's a little close for comfort but Jimmy makes it and makes an honest wage for once, patching up stray station signals. The problem with fixing things is once the work is done they ain't broken no more and nobody wants you to fix 'em again.

Jimmy catches a ride with a delivery ship, who knows where this one will go.

Landed a good one this time - Jimmy finds himself taken to a major Teladi trade hub. All sorts of ships are going to park here, and there's three traders!

What a sight, she looks like profits.

It's many times bigger than anywhere Jimmy's ever been.

Once Jimmy arrives someone here actually invites Jimmy down to chat.

The Teladi calls Jimmy a pilot - not yet buddy, maybe he's got the wrong Jimmy Two-Toes? Also Jimmy ain't fallin' for no fee-to-join pyramid scheme.

Jimmy barters his way up to 300K credits and scores a ride on a high tech freighter.

She sure looks the part!

It's a Paranid freighter so plausibly will be working Paranid space. Jimmy don't mind them despite their kooky beliefs - Zyarth have it out for Jimmy's blood, so the further Jimmy can get away from them, the better.

Jimmy's map looks like this patchwork, which has to be fairly unusual.

--- Jimmy walked by the freighter's nav console.

"Was that a Wharf?" he demanded as a symbol on the radar caught his eye.

"Sure was" said the navigator. "Not where we're headed I'm afraid."

"How exactly does Jimmy get back there?"

"I mean, here's the coordinates, maybe you could hop off at the next station and ask a ship..." the navigator turned around to the whooshing sound of Jimmy flying out of the airlock.

Jimmy finally finds a Wharf, it's now or never.

The ring road was built a long time ago - not a true road, but instead a strange, self-maintaining warped curvature of space. For many years ships great and small used it to vastly cut their travel times throughout the gated systems. As Jimmy approached he wondered whether it was entirely safe to use with only a suit protecting him, but aside from a tingling feeling and objects whizzing past at breakneck speeds he felt none the worse for wear as it carried him towards the end of his hitchhiking journey.

Turns out you can indeed ride the ring road in just a suit, lucky for Jimmy!

The Wharf is 30 kilometers from the road - and from experience Jimmy's already confident he can fly this far. He makes it with O2 to spare.

Jimmy pointedly ignores the 'Not Intended for Interstellar Use' warning on his suit thrusters.

The first stop is the trader - Jimmy cashes in everything he has that isn't credits, including the fancy spacesuit thrusters that carried him here.

The ship dealer is stop number 2. He appears nonplussed at Jimmy's worn-suit smell and the sheer variety of station credits in the pile Jimmy drops on his desk. "What can Jimmy get for this?"

Well, the dealer was never one to pass on a sale. "You're in luck, friend. I just acquired several ships newly commissioned by some 'Orthogonal' fanatic, he bought a bunch of fighters for his subordinates to form some sort of mercenary group, then got himself killed on their first training mission along with half the guys he hired. Two of the survivors came back here, sold 'em, took the creds and ran. For what you just dumped on my desk I'll let you fly one out of here. It's barely used." Jimmy's eyes light up. Jimmy's very own ship. Given by no-one, beholden to no-one, able to fly wherever, whenever Jimmy wants.

Jimmy... earned this.

"I can tell you're interested sir!" The salesman quickly fudged some numbers on his tablet to bring the total up to what he estimated the money pile to be. "Just imagine it, the 'Back'... no, you should re-name her. What do you want to call her?"

"Mine." said Jimmy.

Jimmy is surprised when the Hatikvah league reaches out to him to offer him some work - he's got a ship but no money, so hey, sounds good to Jimmy.

After spending months wandering the shipping lanes to afford his own ship, he's shocked when Hatikvah's representative immediately give him a small freighter in exchange for nothing more than delivering its current payload.

Hatikvah may be an up-and-coming nation but they've definitely earned Jimmy's loyalty for the time being.

After a little work for Hatikvah and some odd jobs around the sector, Jimmy's got enough to commission a cheap mining vessel - it gets to work in the Reach and it's not long before Jimmy can afford a second one.

Now people work for Jimmy. Jimmy's the boss of his own small organization - he could get used to this.

Then this Bozo shows up and just hands Jimmy a whole space station, because hey, Jimmy maybe deserves that too.

Jimmy keeps earning money with his small mining fleet and working for Hatikvah. It's all going smoothly until Hatikvah wants him to help play dirty against a competitor - and Jimmy finds himself planting a bomb on a Scale Pact station. But hey, Scaleys never did Jimmy no favors, and Hatikvah's been real good to Jimmy.

Mostly nobody got hurt, and the money was good.

Jimmy's work for Hatikvah and his mining fleet pay dividends - he saves up a cool five million credits and spends it commissioning a large Helios freighter - the type that took him near the Wharf to get his first ship.

Jimmy used to work on freighters like these, now he owns one.

The new freighter is great - he names it the 'Respectable'. She starts making profitable trades but it takes awhile to pay for the up-front investment.

Meanwhile, Jimmy's thinking about Hatikvah - look how big they got from being small-time, but they did it by being pretty rough.

Maybe Jimmy oughta play rough too.

Jimmy decides to commission a little ship off the books - not tied to Jimmy's organization officially, see?

He takes the License Please out to independent space and finds an Argon miner working alone. Jimmy's on great terms with Argon, they love him, fine upstanding citizen. Respectable, see?

Jimmy hopes Argon won't find out what happens out here.

'Attention mining vessel, please show your license to work in this area or face confiscation of your ship.' That oughta do it, thinks Jimmy, but the miners laugh him and his little ship off, so Jimmy opens fire. Jimmy attacks the miners until they bail. They put up a valiant effort but in the end the crew abandons the doomed and damaged freighter, and Jimmy captures it - a whole new ship for only the cost of repairs and crew. Jimmy decides to lay low for awhile to see if there are consequences from Argon, but they never figure out who's responsible.

What happens out here stays out here, capiche?

Jimmy's piracy doesn't end up amounting to much - ships are hard to find in independent space and some folks won't bail on their ships. Jimmy plans to revisit this after he has people that are willing to be a bit more aggressive in seizing vessels.

In the meantime, the trade fleet is earning significant credits and Jimmy discovers a lucrative opportunity in shipbuilding contracts - at first it's just a couple Teladi freighters, but Jimmy finds he can just order the construction of the freighter at any shipyard and then immediately hand it off to Teladi at a 50% markup. Every two ships sold is equivalent to a whole ship's income - word gets around that Jimmy is good at this and eventually he starts taking on contracts to build expensive military ships.

Jimmy doesn't see why he shouldn't be friends with just about everyone - even the Zyarth who had it out for him, some careful planning and diplomacy and his organization gradually makes inroads with every major faction Jimmy is in contact with. One day out of the blue, Jimmy's personal ship get's blasted to pieces by Xenon while he's minding his own business and trying to control his empire near a station. Fortunately teleportation lets Jimmy survive, but he's badly shaken by the near-death incident - he needs a tougher ship. Financially he's doing incredibly well - he just signed a massive multimillion-cred contract for constructing a small Argon fleet.

Jimmy pulls over ten million credits worth of profit on a fleet construction contract.

Jimmy splurges on himself - he really likes the Zyarth ships and he gets talked into purchasing a pair of Dragon corvettes and five Cerberus escorts as his personal squadron.

He expands the mining fleet such that he has miners working in every major faction - spreading it around keeps relations high with almost everyone, as insurance in case he does something that they might not appreciate.

He also buys two additional large freighters and some blueprints, and begins trying to build out his home station (Jimmy's Place) to produce refined metals with a full production chain - miners gathering ore, energy cells generated, and then processed into refined metals for the freighters to sell.

Jimmy still likes to do favors for Hatikvah, seeing as how they helped get him where he is today. They want him to lay a minefield somewhere he's never been - 'Sure thing, I'll take care of it'. The Hatikvah representative assures him it will be easy and the call ends. Jimmy is inspecting the newly formed Chimera squadron and but sends his reserve pilot in the Mine off to take care of it - and later gets word from observers that the Mine was destroyed attempting to lay the minefield directly around a Ka'ahk station!

That's a real dangerous place for a minelaying mission

Even though Jimmy upgraded his personal craft long ago, the loss of his original ship hurts, as does the pilot that helped him fly it. He's furious at Hatikvah - was it a mistake or were they trying to set him up? Jimmy tries to organize a rescue operation but he's new at this and it takes too long - the floating suits run out of air by the time his ships enter the sector. Blinded by rage, Jimmy takes his newly formed squadron on a vengeful attack run at the Kha'ak facility seeking some vengeance - he has no illusions that he can destroy the whole thing with what he's got, but perhaps he can smash one of the defense platforms. He cannot, the attack run is a disaster. Jimmy's ship is badly damaged and one of the novice Chimera pilots is killed when they crash into the platform. They have only inflicted minor damage on the target. Ruefully, Jimmy retreats with the survivors. Hatikvah has much to answer for. Jimmy seethes with rage as he contemplates his next move. Frustrated with the performance of his pilots, Jimmy takes them out on patrol - perhaps cutting their teeth on easier fare would help them gain combat experience. They do well enough when they encounter a Xenon destroyer that is under attack from a large amount of Teladi craft.

Sensing an opportunity Jimmy leads his squadron to assist.

They lose another Chimera in the fray, but this time they help bring down a huge menace.

Meanwhile, in the company, there's growing concern among Jimmy's top subordinates that the boss is taking too many risks - he'll eventually get himself killed trying to run a small squadron out against galactic threats. They convince him that all the stress has gotten to him and he should take a break. Jimmy actually listens. He leaves them to run the business and heads out on a galactic vacation.

First stop is Tidebreak Station, where you can relax and watch the sun send out wave of destruction every hour or so.

Then he spends some time visiting the newly-discovered Pioneers at their 'Spacelab' that his scouts sent back word of.

They have some intriguing ship designs so he spends some time there making friends and getting to know people.

He even takes a cooking class.

Jimmy's seeing a whole new way of living, something... different than the endless drive for more.

Jimmy blows through cash on his vacation and hires Kaori, a fascinating human woman who claims great expertise in boarding ships.

Jimmy's got an idea for how he can obtain more ships very cheaply.

This guy thinks he's Hot Shit. Jimmy hires him on the spot.

He also buys himself a new personal vessel - a Terran-made Katana Corvette.

It's pricey but it's got all the bells and whistles.

She is a thing of beauty, and Jimmy experiences a moment of regret that no space architect of any race in any system of the galaxy has thought to place a catwalk nearby, looking down on the ships so that they can be easily seen from a better perspective.

Jimmy names her Masamune, after a famous human sword.

Jimmy ends up liking the Katana so much that he orders six more, and calls the squadron the Seven Samurai.

Kurosawa likely would not approve.

Later Jimmy goes asteroid-spelunking, and discovers a Yaki (Pirate) ship hidden away.

Jimmy quickly secures the abandoned ship.

Top Mind Bozo proclaims their interest in the Yaki ship and Jimmy puts his vacation on hold to bring it back for analysis. The Yaki ship has the incredible ability to... appear as a Yaki ship.

Bozo looks at it for 30 seconds and deems this to be an advanced technology that cannot possibly be reverse engineered. Despite how flummoxed Bozo is by this, the capability to pretend to be a Yaki proves immediately valuable - the Xenon are apparently not hostile to the Yaki and it lets Jimmy safely explore Xenon space, as well as making missions like laying satellites in Xenon territory and scanning a Xenon station much more feasible.

Jimmy takes a close look at a Xenon station.

Xenon stations are strangely beautiful.

Jimmy wonders if maybe they're simply misunderstood.

Jimmy ends up on the Yaki station and finds their leader surprisingly reasonable - and ethical.

These people have learned to co-exist with the Xenon, which would be an invaluable lesson if everyone could also do so.

Jimmy leaves, promising to keep the Yaki's secret. They took a great risk in trusting Jimmy with the location of their base and letting him go, and Jimmy appreciates that.

Meanwhile, the Terrans who are hunting for the Yaki won't even let Jimmy visit the human homeworld of Earth! Everyone already knows where it is, what's the big deal? Jerks. Jimmy returns from vacation. Some of his subordinates aren't happy he's been gone so long but they largely keep their grumbling to themselves.

There was a serious incident in the Reach while Jimmy was gone - the Ka'akh attacked Jimmy's miners there and destroyed them. Jimmy's organization sent replacement miners with escorts only to see those miners and an escort destroyed.

The Reach is profitable, and dangerous.

Despite that however, they've kept the company running and profitable. There are mining operations in numerous sectors throughout the galaxy generating regular income as well as keeping relations good with various factions, and Jimmy's Place is now producing refined metals from mined ore in its system.

"All right." says Jimmy. "Things happen. The Ka'ahk suckers are gonna pay for what they did - if Argon can't patrol the Reach and keep it safe for our operations then we're gonna use our own ships to get the job done."

"Furthermore boys, we're gonna expand our manufacturing operations. What's the main thing that's been holding up our military contracts?"

"The... weapons sir?"

"That's right Dal, weapon components. Maybe they just ain't makin' enough, maybe it's because our contracting business is putting out a lotta demand, whatever, don't matter. Point is, there's always a shortage of the things, so we've been fillin' it by buying 'em at high prices, and sellin' at even higher prices than that. But if we make 'em ourselves..."

"Profits?"

"Big, fat profits. We're goin' into the arms dealing business boys - everybody's fighting somebody so everybody needs 'em." 

Jimmy gets all this started by buying the bluprints for and building the weapon component production as well as production modules for its precursors. The only thing he can't produce on this station appears to be Graphene which requires mining Methane. He can start by purchasing it from other stations but he would like to set up an operation to supply his own - ideally Jimmy's organization can control the entire supply chain from basic mined components all the way to the weapons.

Jimmy's place is about to undergo significant additional construction.

"Jimmy we got a problem, we gotta source Coolant too! It's gettin' too hot in here!"

Jimmy heads out to resource Methane for Graphene and spends a lot of time on trading stations talking to miners who know the area.

One thing he'll never understand are the elevator systems which change the order of where station locations are listed for selection depending on where you happen to be. It doesn't simply keep them in a listed order like #1, #2, #3, etc.

This means that just to visit every trader on a station even with only three or four traders Jimmy has to carefully note which ones he has already been to so that he doesn't revisit them.

To deal with the situation in the Reach, Jimmy produces a single, large tough Teladi mining ship, names her the Suck this, Ka'akh! and assigns the entire Seven Samurai to protect it.

Just try attacking this miner, Jimmy dares you.

Jimmy thinks the best prospect Jimmy can get for Methane is back out in Free Families territory. His organization works to establish a self-sufficient mining operation there, to wit: They invest in a massive construction ship (Union Buster) so they no longer have to hire outside help to build modules for Jimmy's stations.

The construction vessel looks more intimidating than most warships.

They construct a Graphene-production station in Tharka's Ravine VIII, relying on the Free Families stations present there for system security.

Graphene needs both methane and energy cells, so solar panels on the station take care of producing the energy cells.

Jimmy's figuring out logistics!

Two new mining vessels scour the system for methane gas, bringing it to the new station. Now supplied with the prerequisites the station produces Graphene. Finally, Jimmy commissions a new large freighter dedicated solely to making trips between the new station and bringing the Graphene it produces back to Jimmy's Place.

Speaking of Jimmy's Place, it has expanded by adding new production modules, storage, and habitation.

People live here now, breadwinners support their families by working for Jimmy in several industries all geared towards weapons production.

Jimmy's teleportation technology (which he has kept to himself personally and not sold for a trillion credits) is great except nobody believes Jimmy can do it! Jimmy was hanging around a server room just because it was left open and the guards got all testy but Jimmy cleverly escaped by just teleporting away - problem was his employers didn't believe he had gone to the station and insisted Jimmy go back into a firefight with another ship just to undock from the station he already escaped from!

This was an annoying mission bug - if your players can teleport you need to anticipate that!

There are some unexpected difficulties with expanding weapons component development - people on the station want food and meds which introduces its own additional infrastructure if Jimmy doesn't want to just pay for 'em (the first tangible 'upkeep' costs Jimmy has had to deal with). Also he comes back to his place to find a whole line of ships just waiting by it!

There's about a dozen ships just waiting around!

Jimmy bursts into a meeting - "What the hell are all these ships doing lazing around Jimmy's place? Ain't they got places to be?" "Yeah Jimmy" says Dal. "Thing is, see, we only got one dock, they gotta wait..." Jimmy nearly blows his top. "ONE DOCK? YOU SEE THIS LINE OF SHIPS COMING TO BUY WEAPONS AND YOU DON'T BUILD A DOZEN MORE DOCKS? DOES JIMMY GOTTA DO EVERYTHING AROUND HERE?" Then, Jimmy goes silent. A fragment of an idea begins to form in his mind. Dal and the rest of the high-level folks glance at each other nervously when Jimmy just turns around and leaves, muttering "More docks... more docks..." --- Jimmy likes to take things at his own pace. Back when he was hopping ship to ship he did a lot of waiting around, and now as construction orders go out to make Jimmy's place a mass weapons manufacturer, he finds himself waiting again while construction ship drones create module after module and freighters continue to ship in the materials necessary for their construction. And then, out of the blue, Dal takes him into a private communications booth. "Jimmy, it's the Yaki, they gotta talk to ya right now." "Jimmy!" Kendai Orcanic popped onto the screen. "Something bad's happened and the Xenon have started attacking us. We're not sure what caused it but we're being swarmed, we don't have a lot of friends so I'm hoping you can send something." Jimmy hears the faint sound of weapons fire impacting the base in the background. "Sure Kendai, Jimmy will be over shortly." Jimmy terminates the call just as Kendai starts to say something else. "Be nice to pay her a visit, eh Dal? Been awhile." Jimmy hops in the Yaki ship he found in the asteroid and heads into Xenon space, using its fake identity system for cover. The Xenon he encounters on the way leave him alone, but he learns to his surprise that Kendai may have been underselling the situation.

A pair of Xenon destroyers and several Xenon craft are assaulting the Yaki base.

"What the hell happend Kendai? Jimmy thought you and the Xenon was on good terms, live and let live, capiche?" "We don't know Jimmy, all we know is that this batch of Xenon just started attacking us, please help!" "Fine, it ain't like Jimmy can't tangle with the Xenon." Jimmy blasts in and helps the Yaki defenders and drones engage the attackers. The fight is furious with casualties on both sides - Jimmy's ship suffers damage as well, but with the aid of the defenders and station turrets they take down the attacking craft and smash the two Xenon destroyers.

Beauty in death.

"That oughta do it." Jimmy said.

"Thanks Jimmy, but we're not out of the woods. It's not just those ships, it's the entire Xenon shipyard nearby that's marked us as a hostile target. Maybe some pilot got drunk and took a shot at it."

"Aw hell Kendai. You can't think what's left of the Yaki can take down the shipyard, what if you piss all the rest of the Xenon off?"

Kendai sighed. "We discussed it here. If we don't the shipyard will just keep manufacturing and sending ships at us until we're dead. We're going to attack it with everything we've got left." "That's suicide!" "That's life out here Jimmy, we're surviving on the knife's edge and we do it or we die."

If anyone has any ideas about why the Xenon and Yaki started fighting I'd love to hear them.

"Wait, Kendai... just hold off, Jimmy's got an idea. You and Jimmy better hash this out face to face."

Jimmy landed on Yaki outpost, flying past blast marks and twisted metal to one of the undamaged pads. "Fix her!" he yelled at a nearby mechanic, gesturing at the ship as he rushed towards Kendai's office.

"Make it fast Jimmy, we think the Xenon are preparing another assault."

"You can't win against the Xenon with what you have left Kendai. Your only chance is... the contingency."

Kendai's eyes widened. "That's for insurance against the Terrans... Last time we spoke you told me you wouldn't do it... but if we survive this, we still need it."

Jimmy nodded. "Your lives weren't on the line last time you asked Jimmy. It'll help you survive this too. Maybe. Maybe the only chance you got, anyway."

Desperate times call for desparate measures.

Everyone who knew about it within the Yaki simply referred to it as 'The Contingency'. Kendai's people had taken control of a Xenon amplifier station months earlier and believed they could direct Xenon anger towards certain locations with it. Given that the Terran high command considered the Yaki a thorn in their side the Yaki were sure that if the Terrans ever found them it would be a very one-sided battle, but this gave them a chance to use the Xenon against the Terrans - provided someone laid a series of specially constructed navigational beacons within Terran territory, including the human homeworld of Earth.

When Kendai first proposed this to Jimmy, Jimmy balked - he wasn't going to turn the Yaki's location over to the Terrans, he knew that much (and indeed Terran security had contacted him asking for details when they noticed Jimmy flying around in a Yaki fighter - Jimmy suspected that someone less rich might have ended up in an interrogation chamber). But Jimmy also wasn't going to just help the Xenon attack someone. Jimmy just let it sit so he could think on it.

But now things were different. The Yaki's existence was at stake - the only people to ever figure out how to co-exist with the Xenon, however little they understood how they'd done it. And Terra was strong - probably strong enough to defend itself, surely? Some of Jimmy's military contracts had helped see to that. Come to think of it, a Xenon attack might well prompt more demand for military ships and weapons....

"Here's Jimmy's plan, Kendai - Jimmy will get some ships to lay the beacons so you can set that thing off. When the Xenon go after Earth, maybe that gets them off your back - Jimmy's gonna call in all his favors to get a fleet made. When it's ready, you set off the amplifier, Jimmy will take the fleet through Xenon space and come here, and smash the Xenon stations in this sector while their ships are gone."

Kendai nodded. "We don't have a better plan than that - we'll go with it."

"Hold out as a long as you can. Jimmy knows battle fleets don't come quick. Oh! Before Jimmy goes, give Jimmy your ship blueprints."

"In case this doesn't work?"

"In case this don't work, yeah. A little piece of the Yaki will live on."

"What are you doing to our accounts?!?" screamed Dal as over a hundred million credits were transferred to huge shipyards in a matter of minutes.

"Jimmy's accounts Dal, don't ever forget it." Jimmy replied in an icy tone.

"Right boss, sorry."

---

"Kendai, how are you holding out?"

"We just beat back the fifth attack. The damn robots are persistent. Our pilots are exhausted, and we lose more every time. Is the Contingency ready yet?"

"Jimmy just got word that the last beacons are set, transmitting the data now."

"Data received... thank you Jimmy. Thank you so much."

---

Jimmy pulled together six Osaka-class Terran Destroyers, three Argon Behemoths, the Seven Samurai, and every single other armed vessel in his employ. There was no time for training and he was hastily sending battle manuals to the newly commissioned destroyer captains.

"Think this is enough to save the Yaki sir?"

"What, you think Jimmy knows? Jimmy don't know shit except we're going to try."

Jimmy was on the bridge of the Salvation, the Osaka-class he had made flagship of Salvation fleet. There was no time for sophisticated tactics, so the standing order to the entire fleet was to follow the Salvation and shoot whatever it shot. Jimmy was going to have to take untrained crews through Xenon space, avoiding enemy defenses as much as possible, to reach the Yaki base. Jimmy didn't even know whether the Xenon would really clear out when the Yaki used the amplifier.

At least the fleet might be powerful enough to defend Jimmy from angry shareholders once they saw what he'd done to company accounts.

"Jimmy to Kendai, fleet's as ready as it'll ever be. It's now or never."

Kendai came on the screen in a helmet. The base had lost pressure, or was in danger of it.

"Actually Jimmy... it's over. The Xenon just stopped - someone here was trying signals and managed to calm them down, we think. Don't risk the fleet just to piss off the Xenon again."

"What the hell? Jimmy's headed back there."

Jimmy arrived in the Yaki ship to find immense carnage in the aftermath of the attacks.

If anyone knows why the Yaki and Xenon spontaneously stopped fighting I'd love to hear it.

 Xenon and Yaki ship and drone wreckage littered in the space between the warring stations.

Jimmy requested docking clearance from the Yaki station but only got an error in response.

"Sorry Jimmy, you can't land here anymore. The Xenon destroyed the docks." "Aw hell. Can you even recover from that? That means you can't build ships anymore either." "I'm not sure myself." Kendai replied. "Construction crews are somewhat reluctant to operate here. But we'll figure something out. We always have. We did today. And thanks to you, Jimmy, we have everything we need to hold off the Terrans, too." Jimmy's brow furrowed. "Awfully strange for the Xenon to just stop like they did... not long after Jimmy helped you set up the Contingency... you didn't actually set Jimmy up, did you?" "That's rude of you to insinuate considering the damage, Jimmy. We lost a lot of good pilots today. You're not wrong that what you gave us in terms of leverage over the Terrans may well make their sacrifice worthwhile." "Jimmy noticed you didn't say no." "That's true. I do mean it when I say thank you, Jimmy. You helped us immensely today and you were prepared to do even more. We'll always be grateful." ---

"Are we not going into Xenon territory after all boss?" The young captain's relief was palpable, which irritated Jimmy.

"No, Jimmy thinks that's a bad idea now. All dressed up and no place to go. Jimmy maybe got set up, spent tons of money - tons of money that Jimmy maybe didn't need to spend, and maybe put an entire planet at risk."

"You seem frustrated sir. If I might make a suggestion?"

"What?" Jimmy snapped.

"We just had a Xenon destroyer pop through the gate onto this side, probably to scout. They do this every so often, usually Argon takes care of them, but... we're the biggest force in the sector right now."

"Huh. You know captain, Jimmy thinks that's not a bad suggestion. Considering how much this all cost, it would be real a shame if we didn't blow something up with it."

"Couldn't agree more, boss."

---

Liam Felden watched the freighter Call my Lawyer dock slowly. It looked like it had been in service for a long time and was not well maintained, but the fact that it was here at the Argon Weapon Components Factory attested to the fact that she could still fly. He was surprised to see that it was apparently registered to Jimmy's organization - their freighters usually looked more modern than this piece of junk.

"Welcome" he said as the ship's rep walked into his office. "We haven't had the pleasure of seeing one of Jimmy's ships in quite some time, since you guys started competing with us. Got a big order you can't fulfill?"

"Somethin' like that." The representative grinned - he actually had a tooth missing. Argon would never allow that in any position that required interfacing with other interstellar organizations, even one staffed by lowlifes like Jimmy's. "Name's Bodega, nice to meet you Liam, I bet we is gonna get on real good."

"I'm sure." The fellow's breath did not smell great. "How much are you buying? Price per crate is currently 332.6 creds."

"Nah." said Bodega. "We was thinkin' maybe a thousand crates, for a trillion spacebucks."

Liam laughed. "You're serious? You're going to give us a trillion credits for a thousand crates? Well I can certainly...."

"No no, ya don't get it Liam. We want a thousand crates and you pay us a trillion bucks to take 'em off your hands."

Liam was already tired of this. "We have a standard price you can pay per crate or you can shove off. Unless you're robbing us we're not paying you to take our product. Don't waste my time."

"We ain't robbers, we're big-time negotiators! You'll come around, it's a good deal for you!"

Liam was morbidly curious. "How, exactly, is that a good deal for us?"

"Because then we undock with our money and weapons and we go away! You'd be helping the good of the people, see?"

Liam sighed. "You're not getting squat from me, and that freighter's unarmed - unlike this station - so you're not getting away with robbery either. Shove off and take your bullshit somewhere else."

"No. We're gonna keep negotiatin'." Bodega replied, grinning.

"What? We're not doing a deal, you will get nothing from us. Leave this station and take it somewhere else."

"See, you can't order us to do that." Bodega pulled out a datapad and showed it to Liam. "See here? It says we don't gotta undock our ship while there's negotiatin' goin' on - it's a Union thing. You don't have to do a deal of course, no obligation, but all the same we ain't obligated to leave while we is discussin' these things - speaking of which, I'm lowering the price of taking them crates down to 100 billion bucks, ninety percentile discount for you Liam, because I like you - and I got a feelin' we're gonna be spending a lotta time together, eh?"

Liam took the data pad and was trying to parse all the legaleze on it when Tyler walked in. "Hey Liam, there's a problem - got some freighter captain at Dock 3 says he won't leave unless we pay him to haul away product! Can you believe this joker?"

Realization began to dawn on Liam just as the AI over the loudspeakers said "Docking permission granted for Dock #2". 

---

"It worked Jimmy! Operation Parallell Parking has every weapons factory except Jimmy's place locked down."

Jimmy grinned at the lawyer, Tk'cha. It was expensive, to be sure - stations could have three or four docks for large freighters and the 'cheap' ships he'd gotten his hands on for this still cost 2.5 million, but that meant that for 5-10 million he could choke off a given weapon's factory's entire large shipping capability.

And for over 100 million, Jimmy had done it to every weapons factory in the galaxy.

"Jimmy still ain't sure they ain't gonna just shoot us off. That's what Jimmy would do, no more bullshit."

"Jimmy, we're fine. We're within the law on this, you have a sizeable fleet that'll make them think twice, and we made sure the freighter crews are all real diverse - so if someone blows a gasket they're gonna kill Split, Teladi, Terrans, Argonians, Paranid choir boys - they'd be risking open war with you AND everyone else just to clear a dock? Not a chance."

"And Tk'cha don't think they can make up for it with little guys?"

"They can still service the small freighters via their general docking bays but those could carry a paltry 23% of what the big ships can and there aren't a ton of them to go around. They'll sell a few weapons, sure, but it'd take a month for them to ship enough to build a destroyer. The galaxy is waking up to a new reality today Jimmy."

Jimmy's eyes brightened.

"Nobody builds a real warship without Jimmy."

Operation Parallel Parking brings the defense industry to its knees.

--- Jimmy's celebration was rudely interrupted by the news.

"Jimmy!" Dal said breathlessly. "We found a Ka'akh station!"

"Maybe send yer mother there Dal, she'll handle it!"

"I'm serious Jimmy. It's in OUR sector!"

Jimmy put his glass down.

Those sneaky little cubic bastards.

"That explains why them Ka'akhs keep showin' up and raidin' ships around here. Jimmy thinks it's time to see what the Salvation Navy can do. Let's go Salvation them Ka'ahks real good."

The Navy formed up, coordinating its attack.

Small ships flew in to assault the station while the destroyers formed a battle line.

The combined firepower of the destroyers proved decisive, smashing the station piece by piece.

The Ka'akh unleashed a huge wave of small craft that devastated the Salvation Navy's fighters and corvettes, but their effectiveness ended as they failed to even penetrate any destroyer's shields, let alone damage the hulls.

Smaller Ka'akh fighters flew around for awhile until they were picked off one by one by secondary turrets and defensive drones. 

The Ka'akh station was smashed, but every corvette and fighter was lost in the battle. No destroyer even suffered a scratch.

Capital ship resilience wins the day.

"More like the 'No Samurai' now eh?" Dal quipped.

"It ain't like those little guys is cheap!" sighed Jimmy. "Jimmy can't be buyin' a whole squadron after every scrap! From now on, Jimmy wants capital ships for fightin', and nothin' else!" --- The infestation in Heretic's end doesn't stop however, and eventually Jimmy's scouts find a second Ka'akh hive. This one is stronger, with more defense platforms protecting it.

By the time it is located Jimmy has designed his own variant of the Osaka-class destroyer, with upgraded shields and beam turrets. He commissions ten and forms them into a second fleet, Jimmy's Finest.

It is led by the Flagship I got nothin' to do with it

The new fleet assembles and attacks the station along with the Salvation Navy

The destroyers out-range the defense platforms and they're mainly only effective against small craft anyway.

The new beam weapons make short work of the smaller vessels that the hive sends out to defend itself.

All the additional defenses manage to accomplish is to let the Ka'ahk station hold out for longer. In the end it, too, is reduced to space junk. The destroyers come through unscathed.

---

Jimmy realizes that his freighters don't automatically carry the weapons out to stations beyond three sectors away from Jimmy's place, (It's a Union thing).

To solve that problem, Jimmy sets up distribution centers for his weapons and sets up dedicated freighters to ship the goods out to every major power in the galaxy.

Jimmy is simultaneously pleased with the distribution center idea and annoyed that his Captains can't navigate the galaxy on their own very well.

"That's it boys!" Jimmy threw out the latest balance sheet. "We got this! We's dominatin' weapons production everywheres! Even if the ratfink lawyers is eatin' up half the budget."

Indeed they were. Jimmy's organization had supplanted most major weapons manufacturers who had still not managed to remove Jimmy's ships from their docks.

"Now..." says Jimmy, "We gotta really make 'em want it. It's time to make some moves that secure our place and make sure nobody messes with us."

"How we gonna do that boss?"

"Well Dal, we ain't. We ain't gonna have nothin to do with it, see? It's just gonna happen, real bad things, serious accidents, species not able to come to the negotiating table and slipping into open warfare. But we ain't got nothin to do with that. It's just gonna happen, see?"

Jimmy ain't got nothin' to do with how that cryo-ark fulla Paranid wise guys blowed up and made their civil war go round the bend.

And Jimmy don't know nothin' about how his good Teladi friend was so unfortunately attacked and violently killed by unmarked ships.

And Jimmy was most certainly locked up at the time 'cause of a misunderstandin'..

and had nothin' to do with that unlucky science teleportation accident that just disintegrated an SCA tech factory, oh my that was unfortunate, such a tragedy.

Bozo asks if profit is really more important than leaving a lasting and positive mark on the galaxy?

Yes Bozo, it is.

Jimmy had nothin' to do with... ah who is Jimmy kidding, Jimmy absolutely had everything to do with the head of the Vigor Syndicate sleeping with the space fishes on account of Jimmy's fleet destroying his station.

Destroying the station whilst he was on it.

Jimmy and that guy had a beef, see.

The next guys in line was very reasonable, gave Jimmy control of a coupl'a stations and sectors and turned over a solid 70 ships. Real stand up guys, the remnants of Vigor can hang around what with makin' deals like that, payin' a very reasonable price for Jimmy's protection.

Being given this much stuff at once is a quick way into Jimmy's good graces.

But some guys is not so reasonable. Like the Ministry of Finance. Them MOF guys had a problem with some of Jimmy's friends.

Jimmy's friends here may have been pirates but friends is friends.

They would not make a deal so Jimmy says let the Legal Department handle it.

The Legal Department consisting of the destroyers Tied Up In Court, Acceptable Collateral Damage, Contempt of Court, Settlement Litigation, and So Sue Me.

Well-argued litigation is a beautiful thing.

Unfortunately the MOF had somethin' to say about Jimmy's distribution center after the courts shut down their Shipyard.

Jimmy's weapons distribution center turned out to have a lot of legal liability and inadequate defenses.

So Legal had to take things a step further with MOF using some real clever legal strategies, up and down the legal system.

Jimmy had high hopes for this attack plan.

Unfortunately the destroyers attacking from up and down didn't work so good on account of the ships not wanting to point in that direction, it's a Union thing.

Wouldn't want to angle a ship too many degrees up or down. In space.

Things can get messy with a court battle and MOF lost big, but something real dangerous starts brewin' - some Teladi ships (but not all and not the Teladi as a whole) turn hostile and threaten to attack Jimmy. Jimmy's a bit taken aback.

Jimmy's beef wasn't with the Teldadi, why they gotta beef with Jimmy??

Jimmy's gotta protect his property from these MOF thugs, some Teladi get caught in the crossfire...

Things just got a little out of hand, you can't pin this on Jimmy.

With MOF forces largely defeated, Jimmy sends his fleet to mop up various enemy fighter groups that continue to harass and destroy Jimmy's freighters.

These groups are sometimes embedded with Teladi and relations between Jimmy and the Teladi have been decreasing as Teladi attack Jimmy's ships and are destroyed.

Then, the Matrix Incident happens.

A lone Teladi destroyer captain has had enough of Jimmy's antics against their MOF allies and attacks Jimmy's fleet.

This turns the entire Teladi squadron of five destroyers and dozens of support craft hostile and a full scale battle breaks out.

The battle is massive - Jimmy's force of 35 Osaka-class destroyers smashes the Teladi.

Jimmy's forces are not unscathed - the Teladi take down two destroyers and damage several more.

I offer my kingdom for a free camera mode!

The battle is the final straw for the Teladi corporation which declares open war against Jimmy's fleet.

The fleet suddenly finds itself in hostile territory.

Relations with the Teladi are beyond repair - Jimmy is going to war.

Jimmy orders the fleet to to escape the sector containing most of the Teladi military forces.

The fleet rests and refits in Free Family territory.

Refurbished, Jimmy's fleet goes after the Teladi shipyards in Profit Center Alpha. The Shipyard here was occasionally producing Ministry of Finance destroyers after the destruction of the MOF shipyards, so its removal will both hamper the Teladi and hopefully shut down MOF production.

Hit the enemy where it hurts!

The Teladi have hardly any ships in the sector and fail to recall their forces from the Xenon front to face the new threat.

Teladi shipyards pay the price for military incompetence.

With ship production destroyed, Jimmy proceeds to punish the Teladi by wiping out the rest of their stations in the sector.

Do not fuck with Jimmy.

Let's make this crystal clear: Do. Not. Fuck. With. Jimmy.

At first Jimmy think's it's a good idea to split his destroyers up and attack separate stations, but stations take so long to kill that it turns out to just be safer to have the whole fleet fly around as one massive death squall.

Ostensibly there are fleet formations but they all end up as this clusterfuck.

Guess we never trained the Mob guys in battle tactics.

Toward the end Jimmy notices that the Xenon are moving more freely through the nearly empty sector.

Not Jimmy's problem!

As the last stations in Profit Center Alpha fall, the Vigor syndicate takes this opportunity to stab Jimmy in the back and renege on their deal.

Jimmy is furious. "They think they can try this with us while we're focused on the Teladi? They won't know what hit 'em!"

Jimmy's fleet remains combat capable.

Jimmy diverts the fleet from its attacks on Teladi to go deal with Vigor.

Vigor has almost no capital ships but tries to make up for it with a LOT of small craft.

The battle is a hell of a light show.

Chaotic.

Confusing.

Utterly Incomprehensible

But in the end the Vigor craft just aren't very adept at taking on capital ships. One by one they fall, and Jimmy destroys the Vigor wharf and shipyard.

Turning back towards the Teladi, his scouts have found another Teladi shipyard in the sector with the best Teladi military forces.

It's time to take on both.

The Teladi military is incompetent and divides its forces during the battle.

A fair chunk of these enemies just pulled out of the initial fight.

Despite the Teladi having numerous destroyers at hand, Jimmy's fleet loses fewer than 10% of its ships.

Teladi's military capability is smashed.

Their last shipyard suffers the same fate as their other stations.

Still, the Teladi refuse to surrender or come to terms. Jimmy is initially at a loss. "What the hell, they want us to destroy everything? Because we can destroy everything they have, it'll just take time. Hell the Xenon will probably come in and destroy it for them eventually."

But there's no reasoning with the Teladi Management Board.

Jimmy's fleet finds itself at the arcology / trading post that hosts the Board and prepares to attack.

But when Jimmy sees it from the bridge of his flagship, he's taken aback.

"Hey... I remember this place..."

"I was there back when I was hitchhiking across the galaxy, caught my last ride there. Beautiful freighter, can't remember the name... last ride I had before I bought my first ship." Jimmy's minions stand around looking confused. Did the boss just refer to himself in the first person? "Sir, the plan is to attack in fifteen minutes." "No." "No, boss?"

"No, Jimmy doesn't want to do that anymore. There's a little place there see, serves these noodles? Great noodles, guy that runs it is a good guy. We ain't gonna blow that up. Hell, I got enough money and a fleet that'll take on all comers. Jimmy can do whatever Jimmy wants, and this? Jimmy doesn't want this. Leave 'em be."

"And the Teladi Board?"

"Fuck 'em, let 'em rot."

"Ok... well Jimmy, what is it you want?"

---

Komankatslot hadn't been having a good day. He was down to his last few credits and he'd just been fired from working at the trader's in the stockroom at a station that primarily farmed snails.

That changed when a Split walked up to him and said 'Yo three-eyes, you wanna ride outta here? This place is a dump. Courtesy of Jimmy himself."

"S.. sure?" the Paranid replied.

"Come on, I got a real sweet ride."

"Where are you going?" "That's the beautiful thing." Jimmy replied. "I don't care. We'll go wherever you want, no charge. There's a whole galaxy out there, and my retirement package is damn good way to see it. I pick up someone, give 'em a free ride, and I do it again at the next place."

"You're not just going to force me into slave labor or something like those Holy Order freaks?"

"Probably not but don't be a dick about it, I do what I feel like - actually just dropped one of those 'freaks' off here. Nice guy but you all gotta lay off this Pontifex stuff, what's it matter?"

Just then Komankaslot knew where he wanted to go... somewhere where it actually didn't matter. The war had raged for months now with no end in sight.

"Sure, I'll go with you." "Wait'll you get a load of Jimmy's Retirement Package, you're gonna love her. Beautiful ship."

Hours later they were underway, stargazing.