possibilities
You can't jump past Point Hadrian.
I won't say its impossible, because it isn't. It can be done, of course, with the right ship and the right system and enough daring to give it a try.
But it puts a stop to a lot, its just the way the universe works sometimes. Feds gleefully post all along the asteroid belt near the point, knowing that they have the ability to check every ship coming into or out of the system. It's a wall, really. The only ways to get a ship through the border are to either hide it in the hold of a mining rig; bribe the Feds; hide what you've got and get through clean; or jump it.
The first option is nerve-biting, risky, damaging to profit margins, and deliriously exciting. If you can pull it, you can carry anything and make a profit to match. The Runners game in the system past Hadrian is wide open, ready for anything. The problem is you've got to find crooked miners with a big enough hold and you've got to pay them enough. Same with paying Feds--crooks don't last long, and they're expensive. There is no strict duality in this world, no reason to expect it, either. There are decent-minded criminals and lawless Feds. They are duty-bound to uphold the law, and that makes them worse than Runners. I may break laws, I may steal and shoot and bribe, but I never made a promise to do otherwise. I get paid by what I do, not for something I lie about doing. But crooked Feds make Running possible, or at least easier. They'll get their business done, or have it done for them.
Caban is a traditionalist. We've got an empty hold since Palidiar, and with a legit and boring cargo there is no better time to get through the Point looking decent. Check points make me nervous, of course, even when we're clean. I don't like the feel of scans sweeping through the decks, laying bare my bones. Worse are the boarding checks, strange people judging our hold. Caban has gone by countless checks like these legitimately, his lines are glib and easy. Strange that I trust in his lies.
Another consolation is that Ice is more anxious at checkpoints than even I am. She barely shows it, but I know its there. When I plotted in the course to Hadrian's point she pried in with her sharp smile and asked me why we didn't jump past. Caban laughed, but he hasn't heard all the stories of Jameison's glory days.
So we'll get by, empty hold and legit IDs, fill up and try to get back out past the wall with a fortune or two. Such is Running. I would have thought it impossible to be this optimistic, but then again... not much is as impossible as we believe it to be.
I won't say its impossible, because it isn't. It can be done, of course, with the right ship and the right system and enough daring to give it a try.
But it puts a stop to a lot, its just the way the universe works sometimes. Feds gleefully post all along the asteroid belt near the point, knowing that they have the ability to check every ship coming into or out of the system. It's a wall, really. The only ways to get a ship through the border are to either hide it in the hold of a mining rig; bribe the Feds; hide what you've got and get through clean; or jump it.
The first option is nerve-biting, risky, damaging to profit margins, and deliriously exciting. If you can pull it, you can carry anything and make a profit to match. The Runners game in the system past Hadrian is wide open, ready for anything. The problem is you've got to find crooked miners with a big enough hold and you've got to pay them enough. Same with paying Feds--crooks don't last long, and they're expensive. There is no strict duality in this world, no reason to expect it, either. There are decent-minded criminals and lawless Feds. They are duty-bound to uphold the law, and that makes them worse than Runners. I may break laws, I may steal and shoot and bribe, but I never made a promise to do otherwise. I get paid by what I do, not for something I lie about doing. But crooked Feds make Running possible, or at least easier. They'll get their business done, or have it done for them.
Caban is a traditionalist. We've got an empty hold since Palidiar, and with a legit and boring cargo there is no better time to get through the Point looking decent. Check points make me nervous, of course, even when we're clean. I don't like the feel of scans sweeping through the decks, laying bare my bones. Worse are the boarding checks, strange people judging our hold. Caban has gone by countless checks like these legitimately, his lines are glib and easy. Strange that I trust in his lies.
Another consolation is that Ice is more anxious at checkpoints than even I am. She barely shows it, but I know its there. When I plotted in the course to Hadrian's point she pried in with her sharp smile and asked me why we didn't jump past. Caban laughed, but he hasn't heard all the stories of Jameison's glory days.
So we'll get by, empty hold and legit IDs, fill up and try to get back out past the wall with a fortune or two. Such is Running. I would have thought it impossible to be this optimistic, but then again... not much is as impossible as we believe it to be.
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