Captain's Log: Billions in, billions to go
04 Jul 2021Pon Pon
Well, looks like I'm a tour bus driver now. Tour... ship driver? Whatever.So flying around in the Reichweite II, my DBX, I decided to take a jaunt out into the black, as I was doing a little while ago, and I came across a quaint little system called Robigo. Now, those of you who know where the money's at in the galaxy will probably recognize that name. Well, for those of you who haven't heard of it, the Robigo system is home to a major tourist hotspot, the Robigo Mines. Well, I had a Python kitted out for passenger missions already, since I was considering entering the tourism industry anyways, so I figured this would be a good way to get my feet wet, so to speak.
I technically do have experience transporting passengers from helping evacuate Donar's Oak after the Thargoid attacks in the Pleiades cluster a while back, but this has been my first time interacting with tourists. And, I gotta say, while they're not half as needy as those refugees, they get on my nerves just as much. Actually, probably more, since the refugees usually thanked me even if I took a while landing, but the tourists complain at pretty much everything I do. Especially if I scratch the paint. For example, after I got interdicted for the first and last time doing the Robigo run--I was distracted, sue me--a bunch of the tourists decided they wanted to leave... Except, their insurance or something wouldn't cover their expenses if they just walked off my ship, so instead they sat in their cabins despite me docking multiple times, and eventually ended up jettisoning my escape pods. Like, come on, those are expensive!
Well, gripes aside about a few bad encounters, my time as a tour pilot hasn't been so bad. I've gotten used to the whole schpiel about Sirius Atmospherics. "Something something terraforming installation" and all that. The tourists are having a good time, I guess, and I'm careful to make smooth landings since I decided to kit my Python with passenger capacity, not safety, in mind. Yeah, I'm running shieldless, but even when I got interdicted I managed to high wake out with a few percent of my hull intact.
I popped back into the bubble last week to run some errands, so with my spare time I also tried my hand at combat missions. Hired a wingman to fly my SLF and kitted a T10 with a whole bunch of point defence and turrets. That didn't work out too well for me. Let's just say: Thank god for insurance. I cut my losses early and decided to stick to tourism, though I still have yet to resell the ship I bought with the insurance money. There's been a war in Siki for a while, and high command of the Sidewinder Syndicate has been pushing members to fight for our side. I'm too far out, but all the news about Siki is making me think that maybe I could try my hand at combat fighting in wars for my squadron. Not that a half-billion credit flying coffin is necessarily the best for wars. I still don't know what I plan to do with my cutter yet, so maybe a combat build? We'll see.
In other news, I'm still running tourism in Robigo. It's a lot more relaxing than flying high-value cargo around, though to save on weight I think my Python isn't much more maneuverable than my Type-9. It's certainly just as slow. Anyhow, while I complain a lot, the interpersonal aspect of being a tourism pilot has also been filling my social needs lately. And, well, credits talk. I've saved just over 2 billion credits by this point, so despite me thinking I would probably never get one, a fleet carrier doesn't seem that far away anymore.
My current plan isn't much of a plan to be honest. I'm just trundling along, enjoying my time narrating the views and chatting with tourists between Robigo Mines and Sirius Atmospherics, and watching my credit balance rise. Once I get a fleet carrier, I think I'll take a break from sitting in the pilot's seat and let managers and staff handle all that work. Maybe I'll drop back planetside, or maybe I'll command from the bridge of my carrier, but either way I hope to take on more of a managerial role once I get enough credits. And I've learned that, if I put my mind to it, I can do what I thought impossible. Just a few months ago, CMDR Ritsy lit a fire under my butt, and I did what I thought I had given up on: Purchased the Imperial Cutter. So even though it still feels far away, and a lot of work, I know that I'll get that fleet carrier if I keep working hard at it! So yeah, back to work I guess. I'm not even halfway to my goal.