S.L.S. Crew Log, 4/25/3302 - The War Machine Rolls On
25 Apr 2016Ardos Hammur
Begin Entry4/25/3302 - 18:19
P.P.V. Razorback - Aft Terminal 01
Usr: Cmdr Ardos
After months at the controls of the Damocles I have to admit it is nice to sit in another chair for a little while. Then again, I am so used to my ship that the Razorback is taking some getting used to. Even a weekend of maneuvers with the 1st HS fleet couldn't iron out all the wrinkles but I should be sorted out after the final leg of exercises with 1E fleet this week.
It didn't feel right to go but the crew of the Damocles assured me they could handle the move from Mars to Magnus just fine. It's a shame we have to uproot now, I had hoped that the operational transition from Mars High to Magnus Gateway might take another year or so but following our debriefing from the Pleiades missions we were left with orders to move our last remaining ships and gear to our new home and settle in to or new HQ. I just read the Beacon Newsletter, Lanier is calling the move "bittersweet" but I can't help but be more bitter than anything. Mars has been home my whole life. I've seen a thousand stars but Sol is mine. I can't help but feel like a pouting child who didn't get his way but the move felt way too eager. I get the corps need to distance themselves from the cradle of humanity and the ongoing show of strength between the Feds and the Imperials but I don't agree with uprooting. Either way, the ships have been moved now and when I return from my round of training exercises with the escort fleets I'll have a new bed in a new place.
Meanwhile, I'm at Aristotle Gateway following a weekend of pirate hunting with the Heavy Security fleet in Ross 780. The crew of the Razorback is a lot less chatty than the Damocles, very off putting since I've opened up to those guys so much. This is definitely a business trip. With HS operations winding down, we are off to meet with the new pilots of 1E fleet who just came off of a no-fire training camp. No official details yet but it sounds like we have a similar agreement with the next systems government that we had here in Ross where we work in cooperation with local security to take a swing at local pirates. It's a nice bit of exposure for the escort fleets, there a lot of people who apply after we show up and clean up the shipping lanes. Doesn't hurt the transport fleets either, lots of old cowboys like to get back into the black when they know they have some well trained guns watching the flock.
It's been three months since I last flew combat sorties for the company, not sure why I allowed myself to let it be that long. There is a familiar rush at each interdiction or with each Nav run-in. It's that feeling of muscle memory coming back like an old friend gone too long. Two of the 4 guys on this ship were just transferred to HS last week having worked 1E previously. Dobson is the youngest of them and sat co-pilot with me on a sortie our first day. As we engaged a wing of three Cobras I could see the color in his face drain on his screen, 1E doesn't often engage as the aggressor so it had to be a shock to the system. After a few more rounds of interdictions he seemed to be right at home but it didn't keep him from playing 20 questions with me when we docked for the day. Maneuvering questions, why I elected to not use the flight assist systems, how did I fight the G's of a hard lateral bank on top of the G's from thrust, why did I elect to tank damage on a head on fight rather than chasing the target? Most of this felt like common knowledge but it made me think back to my first days with the Navy and learning those exact things all those years ago. World of difference between these kids flying now and joining young versus the older guys like me who earned their wings in the fires of battle. Either way, I'll be talking to Escort fleet supervisor Fitz about him, no way that kid should have made HS without more hours logged.
Times are changing everywhere though. Another note on the Beacon letter and Galnet was the 'tuning of the war machine'. Can't help but feel like these training sorties might become the norm for me again. Things are tense everywhere, S.L.S. knows it too and barred the ST fleet from aiding the Empire on a very profitable project. There's a tell there, people who've been around the company since we were Sol Logistics can see it plain as day. Lines are being drawn and people are choosing what side of history they want to be on. Everyone will have to choose eventually, just a matter of when now.
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