CMDR Eldrich Thames Logbook, entry #6, February 17, 3303
17 Feb 2017Eldrich Thames
Knowledge is power, indeed!
After outlining my plans of just retribution against EGP & Kokojina Conservatives in my previous log entry - plans involving large sums of Credits and obtaining the clearance from the Federal Navy to pilot one of their Corvettes - I did a bit of research on the current state of the starship and parts market. Turns out you can buy and outfit your vessel at Shinrarta at a 10% discount, provided you've earned the right to go there first by virtue of reaching the Elite rank in one of the four professional categories officially recognized by the Pilot's Federation.
That's really nice indeed! and the fact that last night I was promoted to Tycoon trader means I'm only one step away - more like a huge leap, actually - from joining the exalted ranks of the Elite pilots, a feat few Commanders in the history of the Pilots Federation have achieved to date.
But later on I learned that Sirius Gov - the governmental branch of Sirius Corp, the largest, most powerful corporate entity in the history of Mankind - offers 15% discounts on ships and parts bought at systems administered by them. These discounts are open to everyone, not just those who are on Sirius Gov's payroll.
It's important to mention that Sirius Gov, and its parent company Sirius Corp, are headed by Li Yong-Rui, one of the Galaxy's so-called "Powers". I guess that if being the CEO of the biggest, baddest corporate juggernaut in the known universe, capable of fielding its own goddamn navy, and that among its myriad business concerns they have a quasi-monopoly in the energy and starship propulsion sectors, doesn't qualify you to be one of the Powers of the Galaxy, then nothing will!
This also means that by being one of the Galaxy's most powerful individuals, Li is basically at odds with every other Power in the Bubble - their weekly gains and losses are even the subject of a weekly program on Galnet News called "Powerplay". In other words Li Yong-Rui is one of the rivals of - you guessed it! - Yuri Grom and his EGP.
the enemy of my enemy... *chuckle*
If you want to power-save even more, you can buy your weapons at systems under the influence of Federation President Zachary Hudson - literally the Arsenal of Democracy! - and buy hull reinforcement upgrades at those paying homage to Alliance Prime Minister Edmund Mahon. In both cases discounts reach a whopping 20%! Again, these savings are available to all pilots regardless of affiliation.
So, in light of this new information, my roadmap to the Corvette has had an update: Reaching Elite now isn't an issue at all (it's still something I'll keep working hard on, though, because fame and glory and all that), but I still need a lot of money - around 700 million Credits - to buy and outfit the ship, plus another 35 million for a rebuy in case things go wonderfully bad. As I like to always have enough money for two ship rebuys at least (because things can go wonderfully shitty at times), then we are talking of 770 million Creds.
463 million already sitting in my Bank of Zaonce account, 307 million more to go! It's a good thing Greedy Mamba is up to this task!
I also have the feeling that Li, Zack, Ed and me will become great friends pretty soon!
CMDR Thames signing out!