The 6 Month Update
04 Jul 2020Kissamies
Wow, over 6 months have passed since I last wrote about my doings. It's not that anything haven't happened, quite the contrary. Things have been very hectic at times. I just haven't had the energy to write about it for some reason. Therefore I must bring you up to speed month per month.January
After all the faction "cat herding" at the end of last year, I decided it was time to take it easier. Finished up the Assault Ship Build, increased our dominance in BD+55 570, Kagudi and Momus Reach and generally was winding down operations and planning a trip to Colonia.
February
Preparations were complete and I was ready to leave when I noticed something strange going on in Yimakuapa. Workers for Momus Reach for Equality retreated and got instantly replaced by Pikum Public Group. Initially this seemed like good news because we inherited all the assets, but then we discovered that the PPG was backed by a group of commanders, the Pikum Paltry Pilots. When questioned of their intentions, they told us that they intend to take the system over. This wouldn't do and the war was on, a shadow war without direct fighting between commanders as we agreed. We opposed them fiercely, but it quickly became clear that they had more active commanders. I started to ask for help from any allies I could think of. It seemed grim at first, but slowly people were starting to show up. Muro Independents, Nujakka Inc., many individual commanders from various factions and especially Armada from Beetrix. I am very grateful to them all.
March
The Yimakuapa war was still on, but the tide started to turn as our allies became more active and we figured out the best tactics to counter the Pikums. Also some less active Aseveljet noted our activity and joined in. We even gained a few new pilots from other parts of our community. Eventually Pikums admitted defeat and sued for peace. It never reached a shooting war between factions. We had some talks afterwards and are now in fairly good terms. I like to think I introduced them to more diplomatic way of doing things and the wider community. They have a bit of a language barrier, but they do fine job communicating when they want to.
Emboldened by all this success, we decided to try expanding to KUI 11 from BD+55 570. We also did a lot of wing missions to fund our new commanders. Source and return mostly.
April
The expansion went to the Zelada instead, but this was a fine secondary target. It is a system with a lot of history and it is in good position for us to futher expand into Antal territory. Rest of the month was mostly taking the system over station by station and maintaining status quo on other systems.
May
Final station, Port Zelada was taken with some assistance from Armada. Cheers again, mates. Suprisingly it wasn't the controlling station of the system despite being the innermost one and orbiting an Earthlike. Local Utopian overseer was very happy for us removing a Democracy from his jurisdiction. I built a mining Type 7 Arkanoid in anticipation for the carriers and then finally left for Colonia. I moved my Federal Dropship and Assault ship there so I have all the Federal piggies in the Colonia fleet. Filled in some Codex entries on the way.
June
I came back from Colonia to be in time to purchase a Carrier. Named it Commodore Tramiel in honor of Jack Tramiel. Moved my carrier fleet over and build a Cobra Mk.III Starglider to be a shuttle and local explorer. I participated in the new LTD gold rush and earned enough to keep my carrier running for years. Then I moved it to support a war in Hel to retake Williams Silo. Very handy. Rest of the month is mostly spent shopping cheap tritium and setting faction in order. I also formally joined the Utopians.
The political upheaval the introduction of carriers somehow caused lead to unwanted expansion from Yimakuapa to LP 353-74. As it is an uninteresting system and our policy is to not take over any more LYR systems, we'll be ignoring it. Later on, the PPG also accidentally expanded there, but I think they have discovered an use for it. I wish them good luck.
The Present
With my preparations once again finished, I docked with Commodore Tramiel and departed to the Cat's Paw Sector, which I intend to map extensively. I have done expeditions to the area before - I have long ago completely charted the nebula itself - but now I have a base on my own in the area and can stay much longer. Bigger crew, less space madness, less getting to each other's nerves. The journey was 12 jumps. I experimented with various methods of travel, sometimes scouting ahead, sometimes sending the carrier to jump ahead and catching it, and sometimes just jumping with the carrier. It certainly breaks the monotony.
I arrived at Cat's Paw Sector OI-T c3-51, the T Tauri star that has a planet that already has managed to develop a biosphere despite being just over 200 million years old. Life never ceases to amaze. I switched to the Cobra and started charting out the surrounding systems. Seems like I'm not the only one who thinks Cat's Paw Nebula is an interesting destination. It's as suitable distance away for Professor Palin's requirement. I have seen many other carriers pass through already and one that appears to be intended to be stationed permanently: CMDR TrapperQ's Cat's Cradle. I myself intend to stay for a few months, or at least leave my carrier there even if I have to personally return to the Bubble. Feel free to visit both of us.
I hope I can muster more frequent log entries in the future. These stories are worth telling.
