Commander's Log: Julian Date 2928462.994
04 Oct 2019Urania Minora
Pretty easy to tell when the ship is getting back into GalNet range. I haven't seen the "New Messages" indicator light for the past month. Despite what the Pilots Federation says, GalNet does NOT reach every corner of the galaxy....
Figured I'd set Annie down on a nearby moon, and check up on messages. I have to say, she's been holding up VERY well on this trip around the Milky Way.
A few emergency stops have banged up the power plant a little, sitting at 85% integrity. Not bad, but not good either. The AFM units have taken care of most everything else.
Did a short excursion with the SRV, but DAMN it's COLD.
Even with the heat set to maximum, it was barely tolerable, and the SRV did NOT like running in ambient temperature of 127k.
Probably a good idea to sleep in the engine room tonight. First I'm going to warm up with a little Kentucky Bourbon (Yay Sol Permit!) and catch up on messages.
Might as well start with a note from a close friend from grad school....
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[New Message]
Subject: Hey There!
Sender: Dr. E. Arroway, PhD
"Minora,
I heard you've been exploring the outer edges of the galaxy, and managed to get published. Congrats!
Just finished presenting my thesis to the committee, and the Science and Flight Academy awarded my PhD.
Thought I'd drop you a line and express my most sincere gratitude for all your help while we were in grad school together.
Currently I'm taking a much needed break, and am flying around the bubble doing a little of everything.
When you get back, be careful about the new Rockforth Fertilizer. It's a scam. I lost about ten million credits.
Turns out I bought, and then resold a few hundred tons of counterfeit product.
Not a fun start to THAT day being out at Dav's Hope in my BRAND NEW Dolphin without so much as a credit to my name for fuel home, or even insurance deductibles.
Yeah.... they traced the shipment to me, and zeroed out my bank account. Surprised they didn't eject me out of the Dolphin so they could take that too.
*SIGH* You and I always did have a singular talent for getting in trouble....
Sometimes though, we need a good, swift kick in the ass to take a big leap forward. I managed to turn in some exploration data at the nearest starport, and had enough money to equip a small mining ship.
I'm the proud owner of a sleek exploration Dolphin, and a really, really nice mining Python. I've attached a "multi-crew" invite to this message, so you can pop in and visit my ship.
Lastly, I took some of the funds (I'm sitting at close to 1 billion net worth, thanks to a lot of the tips and pointers you sent me), and started a research and exploration squadron.
Pretty sure you and I won't have to beg for funding ever again. We might even be able to commission us a few mega ships or some remote asteroid bases.
Would be nice to set up some optical telescopes, and some large radio arrays on the other side of Sgr A*, wouldn't it?
Let's meet up when you get back to civilization. We have a lot to discuss.
Cheers,
Ellie
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