JACQUES RECON AND RESUPPLY - Day 0 - Embarking
02 Jul 2016James Hussar
Preparing for this journey took considerably longer than I intended. I have not ventured this far before and was second-guessing myself until the last possible moment. When I committed to the journey, a few days ago, I quickly refitted my Anaconda for exploration, but elected to keep the after-market military grade bulkheads and to go armed. The cost to jump distance is significant as my loaded mass restricts me to just shy of 18 light years. And I am going loaded; 32 collector limpets and the rest meta-alloys I've acquired during the flight trials between Phiagre and Maia. I don't know when it happened, but the price of meta-alloys dropped precipitously in my home area of space, so when I decided to swap out a Class 5 cargo bay for secondary fuel tank, I took a massive loss selling the meta-alloys that occupied that space. Really unfortunate, but I think I'll need the limpets as much as Jacques will need the alloys, and they're still getting a decent number of them. So a Class 6 fuel scoop, dual Class 5 AFMUs, a small collector controller, dual-SRV hanger, system and surface scanners, several turrets, a couple of heat-seeker tubes, mines... I'm on the fence about point defense modules and heat sink launchers. I think two of the former and three of the latter is the right mix. I wish I could bring more heat sinks, or at least manufacture more as needed, but no such luck. Given the one part of the ship I can't maintain myself is the damned hull, I really do need the anti-missile capabilities.
The pantry and larder are stored, and I'm using some of the crew quarters for incidental food as well. Not the typical commodity containers, sealed for transit and accessible only upon completion of a transaction, but mine own. Even if I get 99% of the way there and then need to turn around and head home for some reason, I won't starve or die from thirst. And hopefully Jacques will want to purchase a few tons of biowaste. Ha! As much as I wish I had a crew much of the time, I think I will prefer a long sabbatical from human contact. After all the recent battles for system control and the frantic bounty hunting and commodities trading of one faction goal after another, I need a break from human concerns and get to know myself a bit better. Hopefully I won't come back a blubbering idiot demented by space madness. Hopefully I'll shed some of this travel anxiety and not overthink it so much for next time.
After visiting several local ports looking for the best possible sensors, I realized the power requirements would be entirely unsustainable if I need to get into a fire fight and decided to pass after all and stick with the D rated ones. Then I changed my mind, and after some careful priority backoff sequencing I found a configuration that works - but just barely. Thankfully the 8A sensor array I needed was available in my home system. I don't think my nerves could have handled another loop around the neighborhood.
My pre-trip jitters finally go the best of me and I spent a non-trivial amount of time fretting over the 99% ship health and "Unavailable" repair services at stations where I get patched up regularly. When I finally talked to my favorite berth-monger at VCF he, very kindly, pointed out that the ship integrity computer is run by a committee of sensors monitoring all systems and components, including the frelling paint job. He pointed out some minor flaking around the landing gear and weapons bays, and explained that so long as I don't do any planetary atmo-breaking or hug any stars, everything will be A-OK, and if I do, the nominal hull damage from the van der Waal friction will result.
The guy knows me too well, and knows how obsessive I can be before a long journey. He's worked with more seasoned explorers and explained that this is normal anxiety, bu it didn't make me feel any less the fool. But, it helped me to realize that I've done all of the preparation I reasonably can and was beginning to go to unreasonable levels.
So here we are. Upon committing this entry, I will turn my back to Phiagre and make way for "IC 1287 SECTOR ZP-P B5-4", whatever that is, other than an M Class star. I guess we'l find out. After 68 jumps. Jacques better share some of that famous hooch of his when I finally get there. If I get there.
Alright. That's it. I'm going. Future updates should be a lot more coherent and tactical. The plan is to make good time, but to scan each system as I go, and to divert for detailed scans of particularly interesting items. That, and surviving.
Supplemental: Make that 74 jumps, as the A rated sensors added weight and dropped my range to under 16.5 loaded. Bummer.