Corporate Frontier: HIP 13644
31 Oct 2020OmegaPaladin
After a week of mining low temperature diamonds and tritium for my contact in Arima, I got a tip that the real money was in Painite. Some systems were paying ridiculous amounts for this stuff, even compared to platinum and other group 8 metals. The reddish gemstone was nothing compared to an actual ruby, but I guess the market did not account for taste. Some prospectors had struck a ludicrous orbital deposit of in rings of a gas giant orbiting GCRV 1568. The place was swarming with ore carriers and you'd almost expect even the police to be carrying mining lasers.Now, I just needed a proper mining ship. I had been eyeing the Keelback for a while - the flying brick had a nice set of hardpoints and plenty of room. Now, there was just the small matter of getting a good price. Enter the Sirius Corporation. Li's systems offered a pretty great deal - direct from the manufacturer discounts on ships and modules. Not even the Elites got a deal like that. On the way to GCRV 1568. there was a system owned by Sirius on the way - HIP 13644. The system was fairly recently colonized, and had its own mining rush.
As I dropped out of high wake over the system's primary, I rapidly became familiar with the system's other side. Outside the gleaming corporate stations patrolled by Sirius Security agents and the sleek black ships of the Dark Wheel, there was a thriving black market and more pirates than you could imagine. If I had credits for every pirate out of my cargo and making me weave through their interdiction, I could buy a Python. It was not so much difficult as annoyance, but I could see why they were busy. This was a company town on the frontier, with pricing based on your connections. I imagine if the Sirius or Dark Wheel recruiters passed you over, you were just about screwed.
Davis Gateway lived up to the hype - a sleek and heavily remodeled Coriolis station. I was able to get a comfortable apartment, although with only a simulated view. More importantly, it was well patrolled by security, so I could relax in gravity with too much trouble. After a visit to the local dealership, I left at the helm of the Klondike, named for a precious metal mining boom in ancient Earth history - someplace icy, if I recall it right. I hired a Dark Wheel contractor to ship the Indigo back to ZTA, which was also an investment in earning their good graces. I needed to be on their good side if I wanted to keep my ship safe out here. My ship would be running without shields, with the lasers straining the capacitor already, but that went along with most starter mining vessels. The ship's interior was equally spartan. Eventually, I would have a fully kitted out ship with ample quarters, but not after I put in the time using this ship.
It was time to get to work.