Pomp and Circumstance
19 Feb 2020Rex-Cramer
I poked my head into the office and with a big smile told Kayley, "They're in"."Seriously, already" she said disbelieving?
"Yep, both are in the hangers", closing papers and turn-over in 15 minutes", I told her. "See you down there"?
"Uhhh, hell yes", she quipped.
It had been a long road here. I'd done plenty of work for The Empire in days past. As a courier in that god-awful Adder making peanuts but getting known in imperial circles when I was still considered young. Those early days had brought in a few missions from the Navy and those missions brought me some official titles. Long before they had added up to anything I had gone on to make my own company and then went to work out in Colonia. Only recently did I put in the time and effort to get official recognition back here in the Bubble. It was slow going and then the Thargoids attacked in Witch Head. That was the rocket engine I hitched onto which brought me here, to the closing on two Imperial Cutters when I was awarded the title of 'Duke'. By heading out to fight the Thargoids and participating in the evacuation of civilians from the stations there I had catapulted my rank in a few short weeks beyond what had taken me years to accomplish otherwise. It was not easy work. With 250 scouts killed and 11 interceptors, I'm hardly a hero of the battles but the missions offered by The Empire for these and rescues were the fast-track to prominence.
Kayley met me at the hangers entrance and we rode the tube to the large hanger housing the currently most expensive of the two Cutters, "Horosha" (Wanderer in Japanese), our new flag-ship exploratory miner. It's paintwork is subdued in military sand and I'm hopeful that makes it harder to visually track in the fog and dust of the rings. In some ways it actually is a compromise from "Narada", it's Anaconda predecessor. A little less jump range and less overall open slots but it has the virtue of being a beautiful vessel to highlight our work in The Empire and it can be configured to hold as much as 512T of cargo in a short-range mining configuration making it an attractive upgrade despite it's greater bulk and shorter legs.
The signing took about 30 minutes. No financing was needed so we were paying direct credits and so title belonged to us. The whole time we were signing, Kayley was bouncing her legs like a kid waiting for Christmas. Finally we were finished and the dealer asked, would you like a quick tour. Kayley's grin stretched from ear to ear. "Oh, I don't know, we're a bit busy these days", I said with a wry grin to the dealer. Kayley pushed me sideways and blurted out "He's full of crap. Yes, yes, we'd love to take a tour". The dealer flashed just a hint of a grin but held his grave imperial composure and said simply, "Very well, please follow me". With that we were soon walking up the stairs into the belly of this glorious bird.
Horosha - Our flagship long-range mining vessel
I'd recalled my first step onto the bridge of the Anaconda. It was angular, serious, spartan and all business. I little rough and ready but nice. This was altogether different. Rounded, lush, bathed in blueish light. Every inch of it screamed luxury. Gutamaya knew how to make it feel like you were sitting down into a well-deserved leather couch. That this was where you belonged all along. It was breathtaking. The Clipper was similar but this was just an order of magnitude more expansive.
From there we looked around at the remainder of the ship inspecting the installed modules. The 8C fuel scoop was a wonder unto itself. It pulled in hydrogen at a rate that was just almost unimaginable. The cargo bay was a cavern. The rest were familiar to us. The refinery and prospector and collector limpet controls. The quarters for the ship's crew lived up to the standards of the bridge. A person could make a home in space here and never feel cramped or uncomfortable. At the end, we shook hands with the dealer and he parted with, "Good fortune to you".
Our second Cutter, "Norikuru" (A Mountain in Japan), is still in progress. The hull and some minor core modules are purchased and it will use some components from the Anaconda like the power plant and distributor. Painted in Tactical White it's a gleaming beauty as well meant to convey to our clients that their goods are going to reach the destination without concern. It will be heavily shielded and armed. More than a match for any attacking pirate vessel and perfectly capable of escape if ganged up on.
Norikura - Our new bulk cargo vessel
It's a little sad to de-commission the "Narada" and our T-9 "Sasquatch" but we're moving forward and want to project the success of our business.
CMDR R. Cramer
Aboard Horosha