New Blood
28 Nov 2020Valanga
My attention is now being split away from my new day job of hauling crap into Federal jurisdiction to feed a corporatist war machine's power-fantasy. And while I need the money from that, I couldn't be happier with the nature of the distraction.An old friend of mine from academia actually enrolled himself in the Pilots' Federation's New Pilot Initiative last week! He just got in touch with me today to announce to me that he had completed his basic and he now had a Sidewinder Mk I and a dream to his name. It's been months since we last talked, and I really didn't expect him to jump headfirst into something like this - he's not flown a jump-capable craft in his life - but as it turns out, it's been in the back of his mind for a while. What's more, he's expressed interest in my line of work with the Seven Keys Alliance doing research and archaeological work. So, I've welcomed him with open arms into the ranks of my now-growing squadron.
Welcome to The Macho Gang, CMDR Fraudfish. Delighted to take to the black with you.
He's still pretty iffy on the functions of his ship, but who wasn't at this point in their pilot career? Honestly, I'm rather impressed at how quickly he's picking up on controlling his 6 degrees of freedom. That's not to say he's perfect, or even too many steps above brainless - I had to walk him through dealing with station authorities after he got fined for accidentally boosting his Sidewinder straight into me. No hull damage, but it was definitely jarring and unexpected. I had a good laugh. He, on the other hand, was downright panicking as his little Sidey flew uncontrollably into and past me.
This is a really fun experience for me. I don't think I've ever gotten to teach someone the ropes of space flight like this... and I kinda like it! There is a certain mystique to the vastness of space you feel when your frame shift drive can only pull 7 lightyears in a single hyperspace jump and you barely know how to make it do that. A truly humbling shift in perceptive when you finally realize just how big space is. It makes you feel really small in the grand scheme of the universe. And I get to enjoy a front-row seat to someone experiencing all of these complex feelings at once.
Maybe I should be a teacher someday. I seem to be alright at it.
I helped him get some money through some contract work and we got him out of that flying pizza box and into an Adder - a decent step-up, and a bit of a throwback for me. After all, the first time I ever touched a flightstick was in an Adder...
I'm excited to see him grow. And I'm excited to have another pal among my ranks. He's going to make a great wingmate on expeditions, I can already tell.
That's pretty much all I have to report on today. I woke up, hit some Onionhead, talked to a few CMDRs for a while, ran a few shiploads of cargo in that god-forsaken Type-9, and then this all happened.
Val out.