The convoy gathers at Budrys
30 Nov 2019Junagu
Been stationed in Karbon, at Budrys, for a week now. The past few days comms chatter at the station has been getting busier, as there are at least a dozen CMDRs from the convoy here already, and there is much discussion on the various pros and cons of certain ship load outs, comparing notes on who has what cargo. In fact it's making me a little nervous. There doesn't seem to be much worry about security. Karbon is a backwater for sure, but loose talk costs lives. Like a trail of fat merchantmen on the high seas is what we'll be. My experience with these fleets leads me to believe that the only place where we will form an actual group will be around the waypoints, where there will be a steady trickle of CMDRs for days. These will most likely be the places of danger. Seeing as the convoy consists of ships with a wide variety of ranges it becomes almost impossible to stick together. The cargo in my own ship knocks about 8 Lyrs off my range and I'm sure that most of the other ships will be slower still. That will make it harder to shake off any pirates stalking the convoy. I've been bounty hunting in-system and have managed to get on friendly terms with the controlling faction at this station by thinning out some of the pirate gangs that gather around the mining spots. Even with a full cargo this ship can outrun and out-manoeuvre some of the ships half its size. I still don't feel that it'll hold for very long in the face of a serious and committed assault but the defence should be good enough in most cases, especially if combined with other allies. I lost a few tons of cargo to hatchbreaker limpets but managed to recover all but 1t of Tranquil Tea.
Yesterday I took a long walk through the gardens and bio-domes in the station. This will be the last time I see vegetation and breathe some good air before the next major port at Skaudai CH-B d14-34 in two weeks. After the walk I visited The Steel Ingot, one of the many establishments here serving fermented vegetable matter to hardened space-dogs. I recognised a few faces from the Distant Worlds 2 expedition. The next 24hrs will see things come to a head and I'll get my first proper view of the convoy.
