Captain's Log: Somewhat Ironic Achievements
06 Jul 2021Pon Pon
So, I'm a double Elite now. Trade and exploration, though considering my consistent aversion to ship combat I'd say that should be fairly obvious. Fleet carrier aside, I guess that means that my next goal is to learn how to actually fly, instead of this piddling around on D-rated thrusters. Hah, fat chance. Triple Elite, at least for me, is a dream above even the fleet carrier. I became a pilot to get away from all the politics and fighting from my time in a mercenary group, and all the better for it.Anyways, enough digression. You might ask, what's the irony in my achievement? And, the keen readers among us might also be wondering what the other achievement is, considering my use of plurals in the title of this log. Well, it has to do with the very mission on which I achieved Elite exploration rank.
It was a mission like every other. Yeah, kind of a cliche way to start a story but that's just what it was. Take a load of quasi-legal passengers to the Sothis system, scan the tourist beacon above Sothis A 5, and Bob's your uncle. All systems were normal on the flight out of Robigo, and I made it to the planet without having to touch the stick. It was that smooth. And, the nav computer wasn't chugging along like it usually does--for whatever reason, today it was lightning fast and I got the FSD charging in record pace.
...yeah you might be able to guess what happened. Anyways, I aligned with the vector and was back in the Robigo system lickety split... It was then that I noticed: The nav hadn't updated with the data from Sirus Atmospherics' beacon. "Crap. Guess I gotta jump back out, eh? Well, no biggie. The tourists will just see this as a premium experience." That's what I thought, at least.
Turns out, it was a yes biggie. Too bad I only realised that when I was in Wredguia TH-U C16-18, 30 lightyears from Robigo with only a drop of fuel left in the tank. Ceos, the next nearest populated system, was also too far away to jump to, and of course I wouldn't have a fuel scoop when I'm 400 lightyears from Sol! Though, to be fair, the ship does have enough fuel left to make a round trip with a jump to spare. This mistake was completely on me, forgetting that the Sternherser has the bare minimum needed in terms of flight capability in order to maximise profits.
Anyways, I dropped out of supercruise near the main star of the system, then killed all non-essential modules. Thrusters aren't essential, right? With fuel consumption at a minimum, the next thing to do was encourage the tourists to take photos of the star. "We'll be cruising in system for a bit, so take advantage of the in-cabin refreshments. If you look to the starboard, you can see Wredugia TH-U C16-18 A, the main star of this system and a major thoroughfare on the route between Robigo and Sothis."
Excuses to the tourists as to why we were stopping aside--I have a reputation to uphold, ya know--I had a broadcast more important than the PA system that I needed to make. A call to the little-known group, who have advertisements in probably every station in the galaxy: The Fuel Rats. Yup, today's other achievement was my first, and hopefully last, time calling the Fuel Rats. I quickly sent out an SOS, hoping that things would be resolved before the tourists noticed anything funny. Well, praise the sun, the folks at the Fuel Rats responded to my SOS quickly, and jumped on getting a Rat out to my location. CMDR Roubledainbow was quick to get me three limpets, enough to make the jump straight to Robigo--I was worried, because the tourists would definitely notice a detour to Ceos for fuel, but thanks to CMDR Roubledainbow parting with more than a bare minimum of fuel those worries were unfounded. I had to shut down some systems while holding in a queue at Robigo Mines, but we made it back safe and sound without the tourists ever realizing we came this close to needing them in their escape pods.
Overall, a good service. Much more preferable to losing millions in contracts, rebuying a ship, and nearly asphyxiating. And there's the story of the last hour or so before I became an Elite explorer, and the mission that got me my Double Elite status. Not my finest hour, that's for sure.