DISTANT WORLDS 2 - DAY 6 - A MINER DISTRACTION
18 Jan 2019Zak Starfall
Galactic stardate 18JAN3305Was a struggle to leave Black Treasure this morning, it was such a beautiful system, and will be a highlight of the trip (one of many hopefully). But we had places to go and people to see - namely Omega Mining and their service crews there. Star Reaper had developed the odd rattle or two on this first leg, and I wanted to get her checked out before we headed deeper into black.
Rolled into Omega this morning, it was only a short 6 jumps, and surprised how quiet the system was despite the majority of the DW2 fleet having already reached this waypoint. Even Omega mining base was relatively quiet, although there was a steady stream of ships heading in and out, as we approached and requested docking.
We got assigned a landing pad near the entrance, and followed a T-10 in, being careful not to accidentally ram them as we followed. Only a few days out in the black, and my spatial awareness in traffic has already lost it's edge! Once docked, I left Cathy to do a stock check on provisions and supplies, while I went to track down the Omega service crew, and book Star Reaper in for a once over.
Well, good news and bad news.
Unsurprisingly, the base is inundated with exploration craft wanting a service, so the earliest they can look at Star Reaper is in 3 days, so looks like we're hanging around here for a while.
That's the bad news. Good news is, there's currently an ongoing operation to mine materials for a new star port way out at Sag A*, and the payouts would potentially cover the service costs on Star Reaper.
That's why Omega base is so quiet... everyone's out busting 'roids open!
The even better news is that Omega Mining run a rental mining fleet, so rather than strip and refit Star Reaper, I can just hire out an Omega T-6 on a short-term lease.
Sounds like a plan!
Took an hour or two to sort the paperwork, but I'm now sitting in a T-6 mining vessel having just spent a few hours mining and getting a feel for the craft.
Boy, this takes me back! My first serious exploration craft way back in 3302 was a T-6. Well, when I say exploration craft, she was my only ship at that time so got refitted for whatever I needed to do, except combat (I may have been naive back then, but I wasn't stupid!). She did 30ly in exploration fit, and helped me discover my first undiscovered system, HIP 4486, with my old pal Liam Krylov (wonder where he is these days?), and my first ELWs. Those were the days, simpler days, with none of this engineering nonsense to worry about, and 30ly seemed a great jump range back then. Try and sell a ship with 30ly now and you cant even give it away! Kids these days don't appreciate what they've got!!!
Downside is this T-6 is a base model with no fancy extras. In fact, she's only got the default Lakon factory fit-out, meaning I only have 12ly jump range, and she's nearly as slow as a T-9. We had to borrow the power distributor from Star Reaper to even get the two mining lasers to run consistently. Still, she does the job, Omega base is orbiting slap bang in the middle of a mineable ring, plus I'd forgotten how great the cockpit view was - perfect for chilling and mining for a day or two.
o7