A New Ship With Legs
12 Nov 2015Michael Darkmoor
3 June, 3301 While the Eagle was everything a Fighter Fan Boy could want in maneuverability, it was not very effective as a trader. The problem was that it did not have the legs to jump more than a few light years at a time. Moving stuff around typically requires some distance between supply and demand to make it profitable. Usually the longer trip, up to a certain point, the better the wage. Notwithstanding, there was the additional danger involved in traveling through unpatrolled systems to get somewhere. It was a very rare system indeed where one could find a market good enough to make a decent FSD unnecessary. So… with the practicality of it all, it was time to say goodbye to the feisty little ship.
I stripped the Eagle down and replaced all the basic modules I had bought her with and then found myself something with a bit more... of everything! The Cobra Mk III. Six times the cargo space of the ‘Winder, upgradable to class 4 for many of the ships systems and shields, and with most of the gear from the Eagle installed, fairly formidable. Viewing the available options, I made a list of what I needed to save up for so that I could make this ship all that it could be. Because of the credits from the bounties I'd collected over the last few days, I had enough for a couple of upgrades. I decided that after the generators, the first two improvements would be to the skin and shields. The military composite armor was expensive, as were the mid-range class 4 shield generator and power plant to run everything. It was worth every credit.
This ship would not be as easy to kill as the ‘Winder. Not as long as I could properly pilot her. That left me with just enough to pay up the insurance and to start filling the ship with cargo.
I continued to do the odd courier and shopping jobs listed on the bulletin boards, but now could do several of them at once. When someone was daft enough to interdict my ship, they had a big surprise coming… I rarely gave them mercy and the bounties I received for taking them out were very welcome indeed. If I couldn’t out-gun them… the ship’s top end and boost allowed me to out-run them instead.
The bonus? Filling the hold with additional cargo for the stations where I could pick up another job. Getting two or three times the actual price of material for a shopping job was nice, but fully utilizing cargo space maximized the earnings. I checked all the prices in each station visited to see what they needed most. If, while finishing up one of the other jobs, I happened to come across a reasonable deal for that item, in the hold it went for the next go 'round.
I actually got noticed by the Feds. They began to ask me to take some of their logistics contracts. Not that they really pay much, mind you... but if I am already going that way or have the space, dropping off a data packet or a few tons of cargo is pretty easy. They awarded me with rank in the federal system, which I did not really think of as very important at the moment, but it is good to have friends out here when you need them.
I hadn’t been paying much attention to the news feeds, but seeing something about the President’s ship missing got me to catch up on recent events. The last job I completed for the Feds ended with a message asking that I come to Sol for some mysterious purpose. The birth place of the race. Humanity’s Home System. And over 135 light years away! I couldn’t help but wonder if the message from the Feds and the missing president might be related in some small way… but then, I am not important at all in the greater galactic scheme of things, am I? Some coincidence, maybe? Or perhaps just my over-inflated sense of self-worth – Ha!
It was true though, I felt good! The galaxy had shown me how cruel it could be, and I had survived a little while longer in it… ending with my situation much improved. And now, to get “invited” to the home of humanity… The Coded System Permit was just waiting for me to use it. And I would, there was no doubt… It was just a matter of time!