Taking Newton's Gambit
15 Mar 2020Flambard Quinceteth
It's my anniversary today. One whole year since I left Earth for Dromi, and finally started towards that silly dream of becoming a pilot.Sometimes I feel like I've been running away from home my whole life; I chose a college as far away as I could, chose a university even further, and started a career that'd keep me moving as much as possible. My family were disappointed, of course. Remember my dad ranting at me, exasperated: "What's the point of a Master's in Electrical Engineering if you're just going to go and lug cargo for a living!". But I enjoyed it, for what it was. Intercontinental transport isn't especially luxurious or inspiring, but I got to travel around, and it fulfilled my wanderlust.
You might wonder why I never just went straight into piloting. The skies always filled me with an incredible awe, but with that... honestly, it just god damn terrified me. I know the Pilots' Federation provides bio-flashing as part of your license, but even so - all I could picture was going out there and either crashing and burning or getting stranded and suffocating, and I didn't want to die, even if it is temporary. But, eventually, I just got tired of it all. The Road stopped amazing me; Earth felt like home and the skies felt familiar, and I can't stand that. It felt like there was nowhere left to run anymore, and the idea of space just got a whole lot less daunting. "Fuck it", I thought. "Time to go." And so that's what I did! Sold off all I owned, booked passage on this battered old T7 heading to Mawson Dock, and set out on my way.
All of a sudden, I felt like a kid again. I remembered why I spent my life on the Road; leaving just feels so damn good. We took a fairly circuitous route out, but I wasn't in a hurry. Every spaceport was a breath of fresh air, and the first time we made an approach onto a new planet.... holy shit, what an experience. Stepping out onto a new world will honestly never get old. Eventually we get to Mawson Dock, mind, and I got myself signed up.
First six months was basically all theory. Pretty basic stuff, honestly, and I did well with it. But once we had to actually get in the ships and put that into practice... woof, that did not go well. Thank god they suped up the shields something fierce, or I'd be on my hundredth life by now! It took me a long while to even get basic control and, though I managed to get my license yesterday, I still have a lot of trouble maintaining stable control. I just can't quite get my head into the right space; you've got six axes of motion and a completely unreliable vector. So many times I felt like I was heading straight, only to realise I was thrusting vertically towards the god damn station walls!
But hell, it's good enough. Per the PFA's suggestion, I took on some basic trading missions between the location systems for a while to get my bearings. Seems I can't quite leave the Road behind me, even way out here! I can't land worth a damn, and I'm surprised they didn't just ferry me in themselves or shoot me out the sky, in truth. On the plus side, I quickly got a lot better at regaining control of my ship, given how many times I bundled out the station mailslots ass first and spinning wildly.
But this wasn't where I wanted to be. I wanted to get out there and experience all that the galaxy has for me, and to do that, I knew I'd need to get kitted out proper. Even today, I love my Sidewinder even if it is a clunky piece of shit, but the Sprite just wasn't gonna help me get where I need. I chatted with a trader at... I can't even remember the port's name, but she said that if you want to get yourself outfitted, you'd need to get to Ray's Gateway, way out in Diaguandri.
So that's exactly what I've done.
I ran a few more trade runs for cash, got myself a second-hand Hauler and spent what I could improving its jump, and we headed on out. One of the PFA instructors recommended I do some data gathering for Universal Cartographics on my way to Diaguandri, as it can be a decent way to get some upfront cash. Meandering through space, exploring new worlds, and getting paid at the end? Sounded like a deal to me! And, by the time I finally got to Ray Gateway, I'd banked over 50m in exploration data!
Additionally, Felicity Farseer herself reached out to me! I read all about her over the past year; she's absolutely insane, and does some crazy shit with engineering. I've fiddled about inside all my ships so far to see what could be done, but I'll be damned if I can figure out how to get more from them in the way she did. She was pretty upfront about what she wanted from me mind; said if I wanted her expertise, it won't be free and it won't be easy. I've got myself an Asp Explorer - same as her - and have kitted it out for deep space exploration and planetary material excavation, and will be taking it out into the black soon.
Alright, well. I've been talking some now. Before I sign off, I'll say I met some fine folk near Ray's, and met up with a group called Newton's Gambit. They've got some great pilots there, and they really helped me work on my fine ship control. CMDR Sanderling also took me down on a canyon run - "hooning", they call it - and... well, I'll be damned if I can figure out how they do what they do, but I know I still have a long way to go before I can really call myself a pilot.
Flambard out.