[NEW ERA] Personal Log #102 - 30 NOV 3310
30 Nov 2024Kaparov
Starting DISCOVERY.LOG...[OK] Started DISCOVERY.LOG.
Connecting to PATRON'S FAVOR:BLACKBOX...
[OK] Connected to PATRON'S FAVOR:BLACKBOX.
Writing to CMDR.KAPAROV.102...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mornin'. Afternoon? I'm reporting in today from Li Qing Jao station, Sol System, and the whole sector's in red alert following the big move of Cocijo. Stations? Settlements? Complete shambles. Talkin', you know, people packed in like sardines looking for a way out of the tin. Not to mention the queues; 'Condas and space whales parked out for a mile or more from the mail slot, each of'em looking to make some quick creds from the panic.
Some quants've done the numbers before any of us needed to: looks like we've got a week of delivering hunker-down supplies and ferryin' refugees before the last Titan touches down. It's more honest work than I'm used to. I'd be lyin' if I said it wasn't at least a little grounding to deal with normal people again.
For once it's not just casualty estimates at a holo-term, discussed by projections of suits who aren't even there. The 'Goids, maybe just because they're so different than us, got a real way of making you feel like a hero. The people's gratuitous thanks as you direct them to their seat, more so.
What am I doing out here, then.. well. Easier to take a step back and say that, after my last entry, I took some time to think. Reflect. Spoke to some of my squaddies about the 'Goids and how we'd seen them prior. Back in the day we'd thought we could make peaceful contact with'em, which.. it's crazy think, now, to even let the thought take momentary hold.. Puts you in the same boat as those cultists and pacifists- the ones who were wiped out when Taranis first spun in.
What we decided was that, despite all of our biases, there's no good in letting these people sweat for the next week; I even reached out to my father to hear his perspective, an Imperial one, and he agreed: "a Commander always has the power to take away from this galaxy. It's a rare time when one can find absolution in an emergency like this."
Can't say he was wrong, either. When we were out mining barnacles or patching up stations half a decade ago? Profit taking. Work. Interesting, fun maybe, but still work. Same with Jaques Station and the whole-ass founding of Colonia. If anything, that escape maneuver was more cowardice than heroism. Laid it out under the guise of making something new, exploring the unknown, "one giant leap for mankind," but what'd it really do? Put money in a lotta people's pockets. Threw up rocks from hither to dither. Mmm..
...
So the old man did me a solid, extended an olive branch, I guess, for all these Feds who're about to get a run for their holdings: the man granted me a Cutter for "wherever it'll do the most good." Frankly, it's a hell of a step up from the Courier II.
So I've been seeing to it that the Courier II's stripped down and decommissioned for awhile. She did well in the old station runs, even has the scars to prove it, but I've done some number crunching on my own and the Cutter's going to outpace the 'Conda by at least a hundred meters a second. Crams in more bodies, too. Smack down some ECM and you've even got a whole lot less screamin' if the FSD gets jammed up..
...
You hear those alarms..? I'm thinkin' that's about it for this entry. Plan's to move a few thousand people over the next few hours, see if my brain can handle a patrol or two with the local AX goons, and.. fuck. I should taxi back to Low Station to see how the rest of Rasa's doin' in my absence. I'm sure they've heard about all this but, well, with how little the OSLM stations like broadcasting GalNet news? Guess it's possible they've missed out, whole-ass.
To commemorate, I've snapped a drone shot of the Patron's Favor and pinned it to the log. If this is one of my last flights, well.. guess she wasn't fast enough, pops.
Kaparov out.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
File upload (PATRON_FAVOR.shipID) detected...
1 MB of 3.84 MB -- About 1 seconds
2.57 MB of 3.84 MB -- About 1 seconds
3.83 MB of 3.84 MB -- About 0 seconds
[OK] File upload complete.
[OK] Written to CMDR.KAPAROV.102.
Opening telecomms to SOL:LI QING JAO...
Disconnecting from PATRON'S FAVOR:BLACKBOX...
[OK] Telecomms connected to SOL:LI QING JAO.
[OK] Disconnected from PATRON'S FAVOR:BLACKBOX.
Stopping DISCOVERY.LOG...
[OK] Stopped DISCOVERY.LOG.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------