COMMANDERS LOG - 20160119
19 Jan 20165parkyy
Been an interesting journey since I last had a chance to write in my logbook.Started a couple of days ago when I was heading to the RES. A ship popped up on the radar and shortly after I was talking with the pilot. His name was Dimitri, he was a rep from the Potriti Public Partners. Not sure exactly why he was hovering around the Kremainn system but he was offering me money so I didn’t care. He wanted me to run a simple courier mission back to Potriti for an easy 23k. The cargo was a small capsule of classified information. His ship just wasn’t prepared to fight off any pirates that may be waiting along the way. 2 jumps and I was at the dock delivery the cargo. Easy money for me and a good way to start the day.
This put me in the mood to go make some cash so I went back to the RES and targeted some wanted ships. It was going well for the first half hour or so until I got carried away and went after a wing of 2 Condas. This was a mistake that would prove to be pretty expensive and almost killed me. Canopy busted, hull down to 10% integrity and life support running out quickly. I was racing against the 5 minutes of air supply I had in the stock LS system. Thankfully I made it back to Wohler with 30 seconds to spare. Passing through the force field of the terminal the emergency air supply shut off and the cabin of the ship was depressurised to match the terminal. I could breathe again. That was scary and it’s the most beat up I’ve been in a while.
After this experience I needed to take some downtime from collecting bounty for a few days. Mostly to mend the ship but also to relax for a few days. I spent a day fixing up the Vulture until she was good as new. Now I at least had a ship but I still wasn’t fit for combat mentally. I needed something to fill my days with though. I opened up my comms device and checked the bulletin boards for some simple jobs. Nothing was peaking my interest so I figured I was gonna be spending the day at the bar…again.
It must’ve been around an hour or 2 later that I got a call from Fremlin. He had been running some jobs for the Federation in return for a small amount of cash but a large amount of rewards within the Fed. This seemed like a good way to spend some time. I had been putting off my duties to the Federation for long enough. The problem I had was that it was 98.76ly away and the Vulture currently had a range of 7 due to it’s size. I needed a plan.
I had 2 choices the way I saw it. Either buy a smaller ship like a MK3 Cobra and arm it a little to fight off any pirates. Or Upgrade the FSD in the Vulture to get it up to a 15ly range… I opted for option 1, at least in the beginning. 340k for a MK3 and I spent around 1mil on upgrades. It was ready to make the trip to Nanomam to visit the Federation headquarters. I headed out, first jump was a short one and I was in BD-01 3500 within minutes and lining up my next jump to Wat Yu. Everything was going well until I got interdicted by a MK4 Viper. Now, in the Vulture this fight would be over in a few minutes. In the Cobra this fight took around 15 minutes and I only just scraped through. I realised I had made a huge mistake in my choice earlier. Back to Kremainn.
As soon as I got back I sold the cobra and got all my money back. Time to buy that FSD for the Vulture. This would give me the range I needed. I also took this opportunity to remove some of the combat modifications and return the cargo racks. My mission was to run supplies for the Navy between Hahn Gateway in Nanomam to Gernsback Terminal in Groombridge 1618. It was only one jump between these stations so not a lot of opportunities for pirates to attack.
This was the first time I had ever been to Hahn, I wasn’t sure what I expected. Federation propaganda as far as the eye could see. Didn’t bother me much but I can see how some may be offended by it. The nearby earth like planet was a pleasant change of scenery over what I’ve been used to in Kremainn. I wasn’t here for the sightseeing though so I went straight to the Federal mission board.
The most cargo I was able to carry was 20 tons. The Federation wouldn’t trust most pilots with anymore. If they lost these supplies, that’s a large dent in the war efforts. I agreed to 20T and headed back to my ship. The Federation also limit the number of runs you can do to a single run every 30 minutes. I guessed this was to make sure scouts had time to clear out any enemy craft in the area. Since I was in the Vulture, I wasn’t worried about this anyway.
Five runs I completed throughout the day, it was boring and uneventful. It also cost me more than I made from it financially. On the plus side, I was now really in the good graces of the Federation. Mission accomplished!
A quick refuel stop and it was back home to Kremainn. A mix up with my guidance system sent me the long way home. This was tough since I didn’t have a large fuel tank. Two jumps in and I was almost out of fuel. I was desperate to find a star that I could scoop for fuel. Luckily I found one in LHS 464 and managed to get a full tank again. Only 2 more jumps and I’d be back at Wohler.
A couple more days R&R and I should be good to get back into collecting bounty. I need to replenish my cash flow after helping the Feds.
Safely back in Kremainn and low on fuel. Home sweet home. Time to hit the bar.
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