13 DEC 3303
14 Dec 2017IAmTheRad
Whoa, my last long was quite a time ago. Over a year. I swear I've been making updates in my personal log, but I guess they just haven't gone through. This time I am making sure it's getting through, and will be posting what happened since my last log. Remember, I go with the old time of Galactic -6, based on my personal sleep schedule. Even with daylights savings I keep things the same.-
I did pull into a spaceport, doing my usual passenger runs, and then decided to just park over a nice view of a gas giant. I mean I was about to leave, but the view was to die for. Decided to set down for a bit, take a bit of a vacation. I mean I could go anywhere, even to Earth for a vacation, but decided against it. I put my Asp Explorer the DFS Gengar inside of the hangar, and paid the fee to have it parked there for an extended period of time. Even decided to rent a room inside the station.
Sorry, I cannot recall the name of it. It's been a while. I decided to get a job there, even when I knew I had plenty of credits to my name. I mean, my old life before I started being a pilot was me working in a Shipyard, and this time I decided to do the same thing. I put my old name behind me, walked up to the Shipyard, and said I was a refugee that came from the Asp Explorer that just landed recently, and I had to leave the system then and couldn't exactly keep my ID. They took my story, and offered me a job.
My work was menial, of course. It paid my bills, got me enough to get food to eat. Even got a couple of times where they wanted me to go with one of the other pilots to a different station to help out them a while. Even the pilot asked if I wanted to fly a while, see if I could dock, but she would take over if there was going to be a crash. He didn't know that I was a good pilot, and managed to dock even faster than she did. She was scared, thought I was going to crash. Of course, I didn't, and sat down gently.
I mean she was impressed, and when we were done she asked if I wanted to fly back to the station we were at. I mean we were just at an outpost, not enough with a big shipyard, threw some parts in the cargo of the old hauler, and I took off, left the outpost, and even turned on the frameship drive back to the station.
She was a nice girl. It was more circumstance that took her to the system, and there she was stuck. She couldn't afford to leave to somewhere else, but still enjoyed her job. She wanted to leave, but her debts kept piling up, and she could hardly afford to even live on the station. When the boss always came by, she went to hide from him, knowing that she would be asked to work extra, but she was extremely tired.
"I just want to leave here, get a different view. Get a new life, but I'm stuck here," She said to me one day over beers. She paid, it was cheap beer, but she got a special deal with the bartender.
One day, we were set to go to some of the ships that were parked in the hangar for an extended period of time. Sometimes they would be considered abandoned, and would have their logs erased, their computers reset to defaults, and repainted to standard and reregistered for a new owner. Pilot's Federation members got brand new ships. These were for people not registered under them. Even the ships would be sold from Pilot's Federation members.
As I basically disappeared for a few months, my ship was one that I was actually told to erase. My partner, the pilot lady, was going to assist me. We walked through the halls, and there she stood. "There, a gold asp explorer," She said. "Registered to one CMDR IAmTheRad, but he hasn't been seen in ages. The DFS Gengar. A beautiful ship, I would sure like to ride on one of those. Perhaps this is a sign of my golden rope to freedom."
I got into the ship, and went straight to the cockpit and the pilot's chair. She came behind me, and I just relaxed a bit. "Hey, get to work."
I looked to her, "No, this ship doesn't need the memory logs wiped, reset to factory," I said, gently feeling the flightstick and throttle. "Let's just go to the next one on the list. I will take full responsibility for passing over this ship."
"It's pretty hard to pass over a gold ship. But if you say so," She said.
After we were done that day, I quickly paid more of the docking fee. It wasn't that much, but it was enough to still have the ship covered. The next day, the boss came up to me, and spoke to me, "Hey, you passed over a Gold Asp Explorer the other day. The DFS Gengar, if I understand correctly. I mean, your partner there was adamant that you'd take responsibility, and infact, I am going to praise you for not wiping it. The ship got its docking fee paid off, and even paid in advance for more. That is enough for me to say that the captain is still alive, even if they aren't here at this station. I'm going to give you a little bonus."
I mean my partner was impressed. I mean we were friends, just friends. Nothing more. I actually said to give her the bonus, but he said that she was so far in debt that just the bonus won't pay her way off the station. If she left without paying, it would be a big problem.
I mean we worked together for a few months, and even my timer got longer and longer. I kept up with my crew, and eventually they started to drift away, wanting to get work instead of managing my small fleet of ships. They would pay the docking fee, but leave me.
Time passed, of course. I did a bunch of more flying, and my partner was usually my copilot as I got more and more responsibilities. She said that I was such a good pilot, that perhaps I should save up my money and join the Pilot's Federation, and become a freelance pilot. She didn't have nearly enough money to do that, and mostly lived just on her meager pay. I said that I wasn't interested in flying a Sidewinder, but the nice Asp Explorer we did go to see a few times did make me go, "I will fly that out of here." She laughed at that.
Then the news came. A big change that would make me leave the station, and return to my old life.
The Diamond Frogs, a mercenary outfit based on the lawless fringes of the Capricorni sector, has announced plans to build a new installation in the 63 G. Capricorni system.
The faction's current base of operations has become virtually uninhabitable, as its power and cooling systems being have been pushed past their limits.
In support of this goal, the faction has placed an open order for Beer, Liquor, Coffee, Legal Narcotics, Computer Components, Power Generators and Superconductors, and has promised to reward pilots who deliver these commodities to Skvortsov Orbital in the 63 G Capricorni system.
I went straight to my boss, and told him that I was leaving, and he asked me why, and that I wouldn't work here again. I said because I was taking my ship, the DFS Gengar off the station, and I would want it to be taken to outfitting. He laughed at me, saying that CMDR IAmTheRad was the owner of the ship. I took out my license, and showed it to him, and he scoffed and brought me to the Pilot's Federation post on the station to say that I made a counterfeit license. The biometrics scan told no lies, it said I was CMDR IAmTheRad, and I have been at this station for ages. There was no log of me leaving the system, but there were reports of me leaving the station.
My partner did hear the news, and looked sad as the boss gave me my final paycheque. I looked at her, "Do you want off this place, go somewhere news?" I asked her.
"I couldn't ask for that. It's expensive to fly to another station, let alone another system. Not to mention my debt," She said to me.
I looked at the boss, "How much does she owe?"
"By my records, she owes about half a million. Took a Cobra Mk. III, crashed it, didn't have insurance. Paid of a large amount of how much was owed total, but still owes that much," The boss said. "She's stuck here until it's paid off."
"Is that all?" I asked him. "Well, consider it paid off," I said to him. I looked at her, "I am willing to offer you free passage to any system in the galaxy. Well, any in the inhabited galaxy that doesn't include the area around Colonia. Well, if I have access to it."
She refused to take the money, but I just said that she deserves a fresh start, sort of like what I tried to do. I did need to pay a fee for lying about my identity, but that was a small drop in the bucket. My ship was taken to Outfitting, and it was time for a change.
I paid for it to be repainted. I mean I could have just gotten it resprayed, but I had it painted Golden, as my licence recently got authorization for the Asp Explorer to get that paint. I had my passenger seats ripped out, and replaced with Cargo Bays. I got the entire thing inside cleaned, and shined up, replaced the seats in the cockpit, cleaned the computer. Almost basically being a brand new ship, but all nice and shiny, but still the old DFS Gengar.
I got in my seat, my partner sat in another seat in the cockpit, and I looked at her, as the ship went to the hangar. I turned on the computer, and the voice spoke, "Welcome, CMDR IAmTheRad. It has been quite a while since you last flew in this vessel. Would you like to perform the pre-flight checklist."
"Please perform a full system diagnostic at this time," I said to the computer, slipping on my helmet. I looked at my partner, and told her to put her helmet on too, as this ship wasn't armed.
The diagnostic came back, one bad mark, and I put a note to get it looked at. It wasn't anything system critical. It would not cause my ship to blow up in flight.
I asked her, "Where would you like to go?"
"Earth. I've always wanted to see it," She said.
"It's on the way," I said to her, looking at the galaxy map. It was actually the opposite way of 63 G. Capricorni, but I would load up on Superconductors on the way. "Unfortunately you need a permit to go to the Sol system," I said to her, doing the pre-flight checklist.
I took off, headed straight for Sol, passing through many systems on the way. She was impressed. Seeing the stars come so close, hearing the sounds of hyperspace, and then suddenly a loud alert came on my system, letting me know that I was going into a permit restricted system. I scanned my ID, and the authorization check came through, and I was headed into Sol, my destination being Galileo around the moon of Earth.
She was impressed, and I did a slow orbit of Earth in supercruise. She wanted to actually visit it, but because she was just a passenger and not the pilot, she did not have access to this station at all. I would still bring her somewhere with a Earthlike planet, but it wasn't Earth. I docked at Galileo around the moon, and I decided to let her view Earth from the station, as well as view the moon. I wanted to land on the moon, but that was strictly forbidden.
"Commander, your passenger is not authorized for this system. I hope you know what that means," I was told when we got off so the commodities could be loaded onto my ship in a orderly manner. It was going to be slower, as I wasn't paying for the rush job. It would still be done.
"We are just here to fuel up, get some superconductors, and then we'll be on the way," I said to him.
"That is the problem, Commander. You are staying here, and that's against regulations," He said to me. "If she had access, I would willingly let her wander the station, even take a shuttle down to Earth. But she cannot be here," The docking official said.
"We are just going to one of the viewing galleries, she really wants to see Earth. I didn't dock at one of Earth's stations, but she still wants to see the planet from a more stationary point than me flying around the planet," I said to him. "I promise we will be no more than two hours."
"Are you saying that you will like to pay for a two hour permit to the station, restricted to be with someone with a full Sol permit?" He asked me. "To go to a viewing gallery of Earth?"
"Is that something that can be done?" I asked him.
"Absolutely! I would think that you, a licensed passenger pilot would know about the provisionary permits for passengers!" He said to me.
"I have not gone to a system with passengers that requires a permit. Usually I go there, drop them off, and that's the end of the transaction," I responded to the official. He was already writing up the pass.
"The cost will be added to the cost of the superconductors. The amount you're getting it won't seem like anything," He said. "What is the plan for those conductors, if you don't mind me asking."
"Trade, of course," I said, signing the form he gave me. He ripped off a piece of paper and handed it to me.
"Two hour time limit. Be back here by then, and head off. Take care, Commander," He said to me.
-
The viewing of Earth was something she enjoyed immensely, but the time limit was coming and we had to be back on my ship. We headed there, I sat back down in my ship, got on my helmet, and headed off, straight to Skvortsov Orbital.
A short 6 jump set. Only 71.66 LY
Got to Skvortsov Orbital, got off, signed up for the delivery goal, and parted ways. Of course we're still in touch. But she started a new life here. I even said she might want to become a pilot of the Pilot's Federation.
But that brings us to now. More logs will arrive.