Humble Beginnings
20 Feb 2023Rob Crank
The Sidewinder MK1My Sidewinder "Daddy" MK1, I look at it in what may very well be the last look I give it for a very long time.
A ship name that started almost as a joke, given to a vessel that was anything but that.
My first ship, my... training wheels, if we want to call it like that.
Be as it may, it's the ship that allowed me to take my first few steps in Space, starting it all.
Pretty much the weakest and most basic vessel one could drag out of a planet's orbit, I grabbed it and ventured out to... to what, exactly?
Things back home weren't bad, I didn't have problems with anyone, I wasn't in danger, I didn't need to escape, so why did someone like me pick up a ship, decided to leave the life he built up until then and set out to explore space?
If you ask me ten times, I'll give you ten different answers.
Maybe it was out of boredom and the need to find something new that rekindled that fire in my life, or maybe I just wanted to "find myself", my dimension, that place we fit perfectly in and where we truly belong.
Could it be a sudden adventurous spirit? Or wanting to leave a mark in history by discovering a new planet?
Your guess is as good as mine.
What I know is that one day I got up, grabbed some credits, got myself the cheapest Sidewinder I could find and bolted out of my planet.
The Struggle
So here I was, confused, excited, a few thousands credits poorer, on my ship with no idea what to do.
Don't get me wrong now, it's not like I went out without the slightest hint of a plan, but I also knew it wouldn't be easy.
First and foremost, all I knew about the ship was the basic piloting you learn while training, nothing more complex and definitely nothing fancy.
That means I was kinda limited in the things I could do to earn myself back some of the credits I spent for the ship, and to sustain myself.
Luckily, I knew how things work when you're a Space dweller; no matter where you go, there's always someone that could use your services, whether it's an innocent data transport from planet to planet, or a... let's just say "more ambiguous" transport request.
So that's what I started doing; I jumped from base to base, picking up and conducting short, easy transport requests to earn back the first few thousand credits, which to my huge surprise started rolling in way faster than I expected.
Did Space work always pay so much? I basically repaid what I spent to get myself the Sidewinder with the first mission, earning a small extra too.
Now, it wasn't all perfect.
Courier missions, as they're called, are nice and easy. They allowed me to always have enough to pay for food, fuel, ship repairs and any other expense you could think of, while living out in Space, but that's as far as they went, especially with that ship's capabilities.
You see, I could've kept on driving around to deliver data, but after tasting the very basics of what's available to you as a Commander, I wanted more.
I started picking up cargo delivery missions, which paid a little more, but to be honest the Sidewinder's cargo bay is... lackluster.
Now that was the first real issue, out of a bunch I started having pretty much from day one.
Other things, like my severe lack of driving and landing skills, my little understanding of how to follow a planet's orbit well enough to do a correct and quick descent on its surface and similar issues, could all be fixed by just going on in my daily life and slowly learning them, which is what I did.
But the ship's cargo bay's space? You can't fix that. Well, unless you want to spend a few thousands credits to outfit your ship differently, but let's be honest, I wasn't about to do that, considering my still severe lack of funds.
So I did what most other Commanders would do in my place; I went to a shipyard, took a look at what other ships they were selling, set my heart on one of them and started working my ass off to be able to buy it.
Hard Times
I came out of that shipyard with a mission, and boy did I go through with it.
Every mission that could physically be done with my small Sidewinder, I picked up and did it, which meant starting to get some more interesting ones.
And ALSO meant the first few failed ones.
Was I supposed to know how to pick up a Black Box from Space, on my first time? Well, maybe yes, before accepting the mission, but as I said, I was picking up everything my small ship could do, even if I "myself" had no idea how to do it.
Oh, and about that Black Box, I crashed into it and destroyed it, sorry!
What about that other Black Box mission?
Good luck finding it while randomly roaming on a Planet, how was I supposed to know I needed something called... Detailed Surface Scanner?
So you get the idea, not all missions were a success, but I still slowly managed to gain more and more credits.
The Turning Point
And then it came, the mission that did it.
One thing I didn't say yet, is that some of those missions I started picking up after deciding on my next vessel, were goods retrieval missions.
I would find someone that needed a particular type of commodity, in a quantity that could fit in my cargo bay, and then I would search the market, buy it somewhere close by, or that sold it for dirt cheap, and bring it back to that initial someone.
Want to know what's available in scarce quantities, pays a lot and can be found for cheap with enough effort? Palladium.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not proud of what I did. That certain someone was the leader of a faction promoting dictatorship on the Cleve Hub, in the Eravate System, and I'm sure that Palladium was needed for all but the nicest reasons.
But I needed credits and he needed Palladium, so he was offering credits and I offered to fetch it for him.
And hell was he offering a lot of credits. I'm not gonna go into the transaction's details, but let's just say that payment alone would've been enough to buy my next ship AND some nice extras for it, even if this was the only mission I ever did.
So I accepted it, and off I was, looking for Palladium. How hard can it be to find four tons of Palladium, right?
Wrong.
I didn't realize it at the time, but I just set myself up on a wild goose chase, because it turns out Palladium is very rare, at least around here, and finding it is quite a hassle, especially if you're trying to get it for cheap.
Sure, there were places selling it for nearly 50.000 Credits per ton, but I wasn't about to spend 200.000 Credits to help some dictator's supporter faction.
Not to mention, that was over half the amount of Credits I needed for my next vessel!
So I did the next best thing, I started searching the market for the cheapest Palladium around, and found a couple different places selling it for as cheap as 4700 Credits per ton, see the difference?
Mind you, I had to jump to two different stations to buy it, because those cheap places had 1 Palladium ton, and the other had just 2.
I was still missing one, and I swear I looked around everywhere, but the closest I could find was on a remote System I'd never been to before, WAY further than any traveling I'd done at that point.
I traveled, I reached the place, I cursed the moment I decided to accept that mission, and you know what?
They showed me a non-negotiable 48.000 Credits price for a single ton of Palladium.
At that point I just wanted to get it over with; I was so tired, angry, annoyed and running low on time for the delivery, that I just took it and bolted away with my ship while flipping them the finger, hopefully they saw it.
One long, boring trip back and there I was, unloading the 4 Palladium to the guy without asking questions.
Expenses: around 62.000 Credits
Earnings: enough to afford my new ship!
New Beginnings
I didn't waste a moment, the next thing I did was plot a route to the first shipyard that was selling it, and get myself a new vessel.
A Cobra MK3!
I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it, and even more once I saw the specs.
Can you imagine it can hold 18 tons in the cargo bay, compared to the 4 tons of the Sidewinder?
Not to mention, pretty much EVERYTHING on this ship is an upgrade. It finally feels like I'm making some progress in this endeavor.
Also, I obviously didn't know what to do with the Sidewinder, and they were kind enough to offer me free indefinite parking for it, nice!
I immediately went out and took some bigger missions with it, no data courier or similar stuff.
A couple Black Box retrievals, which allowed me to gain a nice cushion for any fuel or repair costs, and the first big cargo mission: 16 tons of Gold.
As you can see, I started making good use of the bigger cargo bay right from the start, and to nobody's surprise, bigger amounts of Credits started rolling in.
For example, those 16 tons of Gold I delivered, earned me the first Million.
I still have fresh in my memory spending those few thousands Credits I had, to get myself the Sidewinder, and now I was there, sitting around with a Million Credits to my name.
So here I am now, rich, happier and ever more excited for what's to come in the future.
Although... bigger ship and bigger name also means bigger troubles.
Let's just say I'm getting more and more "ambiguous" requests now that my name has been going around for a bit, and while I won't go into details for obvious reasons, some of those missions I should probably refuse.
But lately I've been feeling kinda greedy; why stop here, if I can have more?
I was happy back home, then I left it and felt happier. I was happy with my Sidewinder, then I bought the Cobra and felt happier.
Why shouldn't I aim for more?
So a transport here and there, a planetary visit to some remote laboratory, some unofficial diplomatic work in Space... I've been busy.
Final Thoughts
This brings me to right now.
Writing this logbook entry while I came back to take a look at my trusty Sidewinder.
I didn't think I would make it this far, on the first day everything seemed so difficult, there was so much to learn that it was impossible not to feel overwhelmed and lose a bit of that initial excitement.
But I powered through it, I made some mistakes and learned from them, and now I've got the feeling I can finally call myself a proper Commander.
New missions are always available, new systems are always out there to be discovered, there's always something bigger and more important than what you just did, people are slowly learning my name and remembering my face, this feels like an adventure I wanna be part of.
What's in store for me?
- Commander Rob Crank
Cobra MK III ID-RO-18C
Aboard the Cleve Hub, Eravate Star System