Jewels In The Sky
25 Mar 2021Elkyri
MacKenzie Relay, Cemiess3307.03.24
MacKenzie Relay is beautiful. It was not at all what I expected when the port directory listed its economy as 'refinery.' I expected something more industrial looking. It's not that at all. Instead it's glass-enclosed parkways in the brightly-lit docking bay lined with palm trees and a habitat ring filled with lush green farms and orchards. And to top it off, the station orbits a lovely planet named Jade. If you catch the timing just right the station is smack-dab centered between Jade and its moon, an earth-like planet named Emerald. That position can make trying to stay clear of the gravity wells on final approach a bit of a challenge but the view is worth the effort.
Running medical supplies for victims of the Nine Martyrs bombing is what took me into MacKenzie. Many of the independent pilots making the runs are in large ships. No problem on the delivery end as MacKenzie is a standard orbis station but they are forced to make long hauls trying to find sources for the medical supplies we need. I think Yalena is giving me a bit of an advantage there as she is able to put down on a small outpost only one jump away that has more than a hundred thousand canisters of meds in inventory. The makes quick, short turnarounds the order of the day. Or shall I say "days" as it's still a work in progress.
The demand market on the outpost makes the backhaul interesting -- a hold full of medical supplies on one leg and a mixed bag of liquid oxygen, insulating membranes, superconductors, and miscellaneous metals on the return trip. Not a lot of profit there but I can't help it -- it's the trader in me unwilling to fly with an empty hold. Fortunately the automated cargo handling system and standardized containers have the loading time on a mixed manifest no more trouble -- or time -- than a full hold of a single commodity. There is a trick to working the station's commodity board to find the right small lots to stack for a bit of profit. It's not a secret technique but one often overlooked by pilots using the 'net looking only for high-profit runs. The problem there is the 'net will report "none available" on the hop if the profits aren't high enough but even a small profit is better than running empty. Well, at least that's my take on it.
I got caught up on GalNet waiting for the crew at the outpost to get the hopper loaded with cannisters of medical supplies to run into Yalena's hold. Frankly, the news has me a little concerned for Carlos. I might be fretting over nothing but I'm wondering what he's gotten himself into ... and if he even knows it. It's this comment here by Aaron Whyte quoted by Vox Galactica that has me concerned:
“I understand it’s human nature to seek a villain, but we should remember that the Neo-Marlinist cause has sound political foundations. The Empire suppressed all republican movements for centuries, imprisoning and executing far more people than those who died in the ‘Nine Martyrs’.”
Maybe I'm reading too much into it but I wonder if Carlos hasn't attached himself to an NMLA sympathizer. I hope I'm wrong and that I'm worrying about nothing but that may have some connection to Whyte's effort to recruit Carlos seemingly out of the blue.
The delegations at the summit all rushed home after the Nine Martyrs bombing so I expect Carlos is back in The Colonies somewhere. I wonder how hard he will be to track down. Something tells me the ACT is keeping tabs on him but I don't expect they'll share that information with me.
