Two and a half weeks, many happenings, and a new, bigger ship
08 Jan 2016Synthorian
Date: 8th of January 3302Well, I haven't made a log in a while. And many things have happened since my last one. A lot of things.
First off, I have been hired by an imperial trader, otherwise known as CMDR Olivia Vespera, to provide a security escort for her shieldless Python (originally agreed to have been a Lakon Type 7) and a small wing of other freighters. The pay was small. But the break from blowing shit up was a nice change of pace.
Things went to plan during the small operation, but prior to it, where some minor mishaps. Some on my end, some on the other CMDR's. In order to achieve the necessary jump range of 16,2 light years, I originally opted to have my Fer-De-Lance disassembled and replaced with a Python for it's superior jump range at the cost of maneuverability and firepower. But the disassembly process took longer than expected, about a week and a half over the Bubble-wide holidays, leaving me without a ship and grounded while I waited for the credits to slowly trickle into my account. Afterwards, upon purchasing the Python, and two days of vigorous testing, the ship proved to be worse than anticipated. I was forced to buy a brand new Fer-De-Lance and start at square one. At least within that time wasted. The Pilot's Federation has seen fit to promote my combat rank to Dangerous.
Getting a Fer-De-Lance to jump 16.5 light years and keeping it combat capable is a hell of an achievement. I managed to keep the retrofit cost down as well. Not bad, if I do say so myself.
The job itself was simple. Me and my Wing would rendezvous with CMDR Olivia Vespera's freight wing at a designated landing zone, we would split into two wings, my wingmen would join two of the freighters, while Olivia and myself would set off on our own. Me and Olivia had the process down like clockwork, my wingmen and the other freighters did not, mostly due to a comms malfunction on the freighters' end, leaving them unable to communicate over FTLC, but at least they could still hear my pilots. So it could have been worse.
The operation itself went mostly without a hitch, despite a couple of interdictions and one ballsy Cobra MKIII that decided to attack us right within the firing zone of a Starport.
All in all, a small success, despite the few issues encountered.
Straight after that, I returned home, with a new mission in mind.
I sold off the Fer-De-Lance, and purchased an ASP Explorer in the Kakas system, outfitting it purely for stealth. No weapons or shields. Just chaff, heatsinks, and 92 metric tons of cargo space. I had some connections with the Robigo Cartel, and they recently offered me some work smuggling some human product out of their system. I'm not one to look past the idea of human trafficking, so with a heavy mechanical heart, I accepted the job. It was a back and forth between the Robigo Mines and dozens of stations across the Bubble, 330 to 390 light years away.
The problem with such missions is, that you simply cannot get scanned. There can be no trace of the cargo.
But in a span of a couple of days, and countless interdictions and close calls. I walked away with 60 million credits. As distasteful as it is to say, crime pays. Shortly after, I sold off the ASP, and purchased an Anaconda at a 15% discount.
I named her the "Monsoon". Not exactly sure why. The name just came to me. She's a big one, big enough that I might not be able to fly her to her fullest capabilities without a crew. Sure, the on-board AI that has amply introduced itself to me as "Atlas" can run things for me. But I feel that a full human crew could make this thing shine.
I guess we will have to wait and see.