New Personal Developments in Gliese 868
21 Oct 2021Anthony Reeves
Hello, Commanders. At least those who may be reading this.It has been quite a few months since I last posted a logbook entry, but I suppose it's better late than never. A few significant things have happened since then. For one, my Vulture is doing a lot better... Well, it sort of is. I've managed to see the Dweller through some shady dealings (Much to the Federation's annoyance), and have been able to get its power distributor upgraded, and its performance has had a substantial improvement. However, due to the upgrades, the actual power capacity of the ship has been sacrificed in exchange for charge rate. Now it's running well over capacity, and it's a miracle all my combat essential modules can remain functional. Sadly, I haven't had any contact with any engineers that work with power plants, so I'll have to hold off on that for a little while.
But, in other news, I've done something a bit ambitious. I've gone and bought myself a Mamba. Shocking, I know. Usually a pilot in my position would be eyeing the Fer De Lance with some strange hunger, but I instead opted for its oddball brother. Most pilots I know of have some distaste for the Mamba, as compared to the FDL, it's simply just inferior for as appealing of a look the ship has. But now that my Vulture is nearing completion, a ship that performs well, but requires some extra care, I felt that the Mamba deserved better than what it got. It's a gorgeous ship with a (debatably) unique design, and seemed to just get the short end of the stick. So, of course, I took a quick jump over to Li Yong Rui space and bought the ship.
I decided to sell my Diamondback Explorer, as even compared to my old Asp Explorer (now also sold), it just wasn't for me, as it was unable to hold a large enough fuel scoop despite having impressive jump range. It's an excellent ship, but it was left gathering dust next to my Python. With the extra funds and a shockingly well stocked station, I was able to outfit the Mamba, almost fully. Outside of engineering, I had planned on giving it military grade armor plating, but even in discounted space, the price still rocked me. Now my funds are sitting right around 80 mil, which is a bit lower than what I'm now used to. I'll be spending a few days at the mines to remedy that. Platinum still pays surprisingly well.
Regardless, the Mamba was fully outfitted with everything except for military plating and a good paint job. It was named "Outta Time" by a friend of mine. The name is likely subject to change later, as the paint job I'm considering doesn't quite fit the name. Despite that, it's already performing better than I had hoped. The maneuverability is of course an issue, but its speed is second to none in my fleet. It's likely it won't be outclassed for some time.
With that, I suppose my current goals would be to begin engineering work on Outta Time and raising my credit balance back to a comfortable height. I've forgone any ideas of moving outside of the bubble for the moment, as it's largely inconvenient on many fronts. And that friend I mentioned? It appears he's receiving his pilot's license from the Pilot's Federation this Friday. I'll be looking forward to helping him out. He seems most interested in Trade at the moment, but we share a common interest in Mining, so I will have a partner to share in the riches once in a while. That's about all of the new developments. Thank you for taking the time to read. o7