CMDR Eldrich Thames logbook, entry #12, March 16, 3303
16 Mar 2017Eldrich Thames
This Dweller guy really values his privacy!
His private workshop, Black Hide, is located in planet Wyrd A 2 and is well-hidden. Without the clearance codes provided by him, I would've never found it!
Once I docked at his base of operations, I could see why he takes his privacy seriously. You will only see more pirates and assorted scum in a hazardous RES. But The Dweller and his people have set up strict rules for visitors, and breaking them means immediate expulsion from the base, your docking privileges permanently revoked.
This, and the fact that The Dweller is one of the galaxy's best starship engineers, makes everybody behave in a more-or-less civil fashion.
As for the engineer himself, I never met the guy in person. We had a conversation via holocomms upon arrival, and indicated that all materials required for his jobs must be provided by the pilot; he also emphasized that all work requests shall be issued to his staff, and that once a job is completed there are no guarantees and no refunds, no exceptions.
The Dweller is a top specialist in Power Distributors and Pulse Lasers, but for newcomers like me he only offered the most basic modifications. Once I've earned his trust he would give me access to the best of his work. I decided to enhance Greedy Mamba's distro's charging capacity, at the expense of total capacitor charge, and also enhance my three pulses so they were a bit more power-efficient (so I might fit a smaller power plant and save a bit of weight).
The Dweller's staff, half of which are heavily modified robots, dismounted the lasers and distro from my ship, and took them to the engineer's private workshop. The only way for me to check on his progress was via a comm window. He showed me the results of his tinkering, warning me that his craft is more art than actual science, and thus two jobs are never the same. In any case he produced really great results with my modules, and I was satisfied. The changes were made and my stuff was installed back in my ship.
(image credit: NASA, ESA, AURA/Caltech, Palomar Observatory http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2004/20/image/a/)
While I waited for the jobs to be done, me and my crew went to the lounge. It was a nice place to have a drink and get to know my mates better, considering the kind of clientele that frequents Black Hide. But while my crew and me where relaxing I met another pilot who also participated in the latest Freedom Run, and also got invited by The Dweller. She told me she had heard from other top-notch engineers that specialize in other modules, and was planning to earn their interest by going to Maia, right in the heart of the Pleiades, to buy some Meta-Alloys. You know, the stuff these alien things known as "Barnacles" drop when shot.
"I need a ton of the stuff to bring back to Farseer's place in Deciat. That's her entry fee.", the pilot remarked.
Once Greedy Mamba was ready to depart I left to head back to Kokojina. I decided to outfit my Python for an explorer role. I took some modules from my Corvette - fuel scoop, heat sinks and one of her AFMUs - then went back to LFT 424 to buy the rest of the gear - discovery scanner and detailed surface scanner.
My crew would stay at Ali Ring to take care of Gipsy Danger while I headed out towards Maia. With my current configuration it would take twenty hops to get there.
But the journey has been worthwhile so far. Sadly, even the smallest space rocks in those systems are accounted for, so no first discoveries for me this time. But the last third of my route has been the most enjoyable so far, with lots of interesting stars and planets - water worlds, gas giants and worlds drowned in seas of molten rock, some of them viable candidates for terraforming. I also got another invitation, this time from some gal named Elvira Martuuk.
It has been a great experience so far, being the first time I leave the Bubble and all that! But stopping at each system to scan everything (I must admit I am a completionist; I love to scan even the asteroid belt clusters even if they are worth nothing!) is quite tiring. So I decided to land at HIP 17704 4 E, a ringed satellite of brown dwarf HIP 17704 4. This system is only two jumps from Maia, and it provides a quite nice view of the nebula (and the rings).
Within sight of my goal I decide to hit my bunk and get a good night's rest.
CMDR Thames signing out!