New Faces
09 Nov 2019ParkTyGreen
Tiberius Captain’s Log - 8th of November 3305I feel like I’m in a new ship practically every day. The ship, inside and out, and the crew, are changing. With regards to the crew, unfortunately Buck had to be dismissed due to a civil war on his home planet, and he was drafted into one of the armies. We gave him a proper farewell, and for a day at least the ship felt very empty without his... interesting... guitar playing. Hopefully all goes well for him. As for the ship, she’s been completely refitted with a new Power Distributor, and I’m loving the new freedom I have with what power I allocate. The weapons are much more deadly now, and with all power to engines, the ship can now boost indefinitely. It’s so liberating. Also, the Tiberius has been coated in a fresh, professionally done paint scheme, the design called ‘White Pharaoh.’ Sloane also asked to get some new decor for the kitchen and dinner area, so now we have a few more plants to make the place feel lively. But now we’re short one crew mate, and the performance of the ship is showing. Without Buck keeping the engines purring smooth, matinence costs have skyrocketed as well.
In other news, I heard reports of Guardian tech for sale in ZZ Piscium, so promptly set off. In addition, Sloane informed me there was somebody he knew there, a young woman named Kaylyn Dean, going by the street-name ‘Cobra.’ I asked about her and he said she recently had twins, and as such, street crime and petty theft allegedly weren’t cutting it, and that she might have been willing to take up a post on the Tiberius in order to support her family. Let’s just say I nearly had one more scar than before by the time Sloane tracked her down and we’d tried to meet her in some dusty corridor deep in the station. Jumped me with a small knife and demanded to know why we’d been trailing her. Took a minute for her to realise Sloane was with me. Even then, had to convince her I wasn’t coercing him or holding him hostage or something. Couldn’t make heads or tails as to whether she was trustworthy or not. But we’d got to talking in a nearby bar, and after a series of questions such as “What is your experience piloting SLFs, any ship crewing experience,” etc. Didn’t tell her why we’d tracked her down at first, but it didn’t take more than a single question for her to perceive that I was trying to recruit her. Or at least see if it was worthwhile to. Through our talks, I learned she fought in the war for lugh (one is heard of just as I was finishing up my pilots federation training.) Said she’s had a hard time after and had serious issues from what she saw, and one thing leads to another while she was in a bad mental state and she’s got two mouths to feed and no cash.
Needless to say, the only question she asked about my hiring was how much the pay was. After that, we had a crew of three once more. But we’re still short an engineer, and I doubt anyone will know the workings of the ship as well as Buck did. Regardless, here’s hoping.
Back to the Guardian tech, the initial reason for coming to the white dwarf shithole ZZ Piscium, turns out I couldn’t afford a single thing. Even all that data I collected at the guardian ruins all those years ago during the New Worlds expedition wasn’t enough. Not even close to enough. Looks like we’re going to have a long trip ahead of us in the future. Those guardian weapons are really tempting.
Having a known criminal aboard didn’t really go over well with the authorities. Back in the ship, barely after we’d shown Kaylyn around, I recieved an urgent message from the chief of security for the station, warning us to turn Kaylyn over or face consequences. Didn’t take much discussion to decide to get the hell out of the station. A minute later a bounty of 5,000 cr was placed on our heads. I jumped the Tiberius to a nearby system, outside the bounty’s jurisdiction. Also, it happened to be perfect Bounty hunting grounds. In the ring system just outside Haise Horizons, Kaylyn proved herself as a highly competent pilot. She single handed my halved the hull integrity of an Anaconda awe we’re after. I’m happy with how everything’s been running, excluding the bounty of course. We’re going to need to do something about her criminal record. But first things first, I need some cash. Running the ship has gotten expensive and not only that but crew wages for Kaylyn will be eating away even more (she negotiated a higher pay than I’d offered). All things considered, it seems she’s been settling into the ship well. Although, it’s barely been a day with her onboard and some chalk-on-blackboard ‘alternative’ music from Aldebaran or somewhere trashy has been blasting through the insides of the ship already. I’ve contemplated jettisoning the media player, but decided against it because perhaps simply ordering her to turn the volume down is a more sensible option.
So anyways, heard news of a Generation ship with an actually surviving crew somewhere on the rim, and there’s talk of good rewards from bounties and the community goal. Maybe I’ll set a course there tomorrow, once I get back some money.
But the ship seems to never be free of god-awful music.
Hoping the next crew we pick up won’t have similar tastes in music.