Ever since I left Kusari and started working in Liberty and Rheinland, I've always found that the differences between people are interesting - and easily exploited. Find one person you need as an ally, and then find their worst enemy. You use that worst enemy as a tool to make the first person your friend. It works everywhere, in every house. It works in the Omicrons too. I guess there are some things that are just human nature. Good thing I know that, because I intend to take full advantage.

I finally got the jump drive mounted on the fleet's liner ship this past week. It works like a charm, though the jumps into New York are still a bit shaky and imprecise. I'm going to see about tweaking the drive to make it a bit more reliable. Every jump into Omicron Delta, though. Those are things of beauty. Not ever more than 25 kilometers from Nauru, ready to offload all the poor slaves that Deep Space Engineering is selling me at Pittsburgh. These people need to grow a pair. If I ever let myself be taken in like these poor schmucks, I'd have the decency to commit suicide before letting someone put me to work against my will.

Core continues to be on time with all their payments, as do the rich snobs in Manhattan who love these Nomad rocks. I've thought of finding some scientist to see if these things have any actual use, but so far everyone I know seems to be content to just use them as display pieces. Whatever. They pay all the same, so who cares. But, speaking of Nauru, I had some Order punk today shooting at me outside Nauru. Outside a Core base, an Order pilot dares to shoot at me. At first, he tries to bitch about my slaves. Then, he complains about my artifacts. These Order guys are just never freaking happy! Needless to say, I decided to just dock at Nauru and wait for Core to come deal with them, rather than be bothered. Core boys are just so much nicer...especially when you have a trade visa.

I think the most recent interesting thing though was my encounter with a young LSF agent in Liberty. He caught me leaving Pittsburgh with slaves. I was a complete bitch to him in the moment, even though he was kind of cute. Even flirting and offering some of the slave girls to him didn't dissuade him, though, and he ended up collecting his 10 million credit fine. Then he sent me a receipt for giving it back to me, just to be a little brat, I think. That's alright. He amused me, and that's rare for me nowadays. I offered to have a drink with him. Maybe I'll take some time to relax, at least for a little bit, before getting back to the trading grind.

Until next time, diary, screw you.

Life as the Mistress Smuggler of Sirius will never, ever get boring, Diary. Remember that LSF agent I told you about, the kinda cute one who fined me then returned it? He accepted my offer for a drink. I can't wait to see what the LSF is made of nowadays. And I have a feeling that poor boy needs some fun in his life. Fun I will be happy to offer.

I also ran into this very sweet trader yesterday by the name of Danny. I almost stopped talking to him when I found his hold full of that awful Rheinbier - blech. So disgusting. Thankfully, though, he was open to listening to the virtues of Kusari sake instead. It's a much better product. I told him he should get some from the Golden Dragon Casino, since they have the best sake in Sirius. He seemed genuinely interested, and I noticed his comm frequency pinging out from Kusari about an hour later. I love it when someone takes my advice. These random encounters are so much fun!

The damnest thing happened though right after talking to Danny. There was a Maltese warship floating around Manhattan. I mean, it was within 10K of the planet, with Liberty Navy vessels shooting the hell out of it. Now, don't get me wrong. I love the Maltese people. They make love like rock stars and can do cardamine like it is nobody's business. But there's clearly an issue if they are bringing warships into Liberty. Manhattan is a long way from Malta. Something is seriously going on, and I want to find out what it is. I'm going to have Akira, my beloved XO, put some of our feelers out on it. If the Maltese have decided they've got some beef with Liberty, it might behoove me to give up the slaves and artifacts for a while, and start hauling munitions and arms. There's nothing better than war to improve a girl's profit margins, after all.

A few hours later, and some Rogue gunboat decides to interrupt the lane from Manhattan to Fort Bush. At first I thought he wasn't after me, but a Samura train instead that was in the lane with me. But, either his cojones were bigger than I suspected, or his weapons officer is a terrible shot. Hit me with a cruise disruptor, and I was having none of that. The Samura train and I ran him off, and then an LSF agent showed up and started shooting at him too. We ran him off into the Jersey Debris Field without much effort, the three of us working together. Huh. Me working with Samura and the LSF? Who the hell would have ever thought that would happen!? Thank goodness we were in between Manhattan and Pittsburgh, and hadn't picked up the next slave load yet.

Last, but certainly not least, we finally figured out why our jumps into New York were so far off. There was a miscalibration in one of the...you know what, never mind. I wasn't really listening to my engineer when he explained it to me. I always space out when he goes overly technical. Point is, the damn thing works now, and we can get ourselves within 20K of Manhattan on every jump without any risk. It's a beautiful thing, and it's definitely increased our pace moving artifacts into the city. The profits just keep getting bigger, and I just can't stop having fun. It's only going to get better from here.

Until next time, diary, screw you.

These Liberty Navy guys just won't give up. Two of them were floating around Manhattan today when I dropped off a load of artifacts. Apparently, they weren't really paying attention, because they didn't manage to grab a certified scan of my cargo hold before I docked. When I undocked - with an empty hold of course - they harassed me in front of the planet. Called me "scum." Me?! Can you imagine such a thing, Diary? No, me neither. They also tried to get me to reveal who my buyer was on Manhattan. Not a chance in hell!

So they call me names, tell me that my "people" are guilty of six or seven reports in the Liberty Navy database. They're referring to THP, of course. You know, I am more than happy to take advantage of the resources that those boys offer, but if wearing their...oh, who the hell am I kidding? It just makes things more interesting and more fun. The best part of the whole affair? The Liberty Navy boys didn't bother following me to Pittsburgh, so I was able to pick up my slaves and jump right back over to Omicron Delta without a single issue!

I am not a fan of losing profit, and sitting there listening to a senior Navy officer try to instruct his two cronies on how to properly transmit cargo manifest data so that they could fine me was just hilarious. Akira, my beloved XO, was struggling not to laugh over the comm. I can't say I blame him. It was funny to listen to, and I enjoyed it immensely. Maybe I should offer to teach at West Point. "How to Catch a Smuggler 101." Clearly, these boys could use some serious help in their efforts.

That's alright, though. Profiteering continues unabated. Brought in another 150 million or so today. Thank heaven I didn't stay on Honshu.

Until next time, diary, screw you.

These freaking cops. I swear. Liberty Police, Inc., is the most asinine corporation in existence. I ran into an Officer Lance yesterday, and he is the most ridiculous man I have ever met. I can't wait until my time with Agent Tracer starts paying dividends, and I can be done worrying about Liberty law enforcement. For now, however, I had to deal with this man's crap twice over the past two days. It's ridiculous! The delays are costing me a fortune, and it's just a mess. The first time he escorts me to Sugarland and tries to detain me, even though I have nothing illegal in my hold! Of course I got out, because I hadn't done anything wrong, but...ugh!

And he tried to deny me access to all of Liberty space! Can you imagine such a thing! What a joke. That's never going to happen.

The second incident with the man was today. It didn't start with him, though. Some random Guardian-class vessel stopped me in the middle of a trade lane, and called me out for a cargo hold full of artifacts. I admit, I had them at the time...but it was on a legitimate work order. At least, as far as they were concerned. And then John Lance shows up again, and escorts me to One Police Plaza! Thankfully, these morons don't pay very close attention when escorting someone, so the cargo conveniently found its way out an airlock on the way there. With the cargo gone, there was nothing to stop me. Can't detain someone without evidence. So, I'm out again.

I do love the challenge of escaping law enforcement. It's rather entertaining. I've decided to upgrade our jump drive to a faster model, so we can move around more quickly. Things are heating up, and there seem to be more cops around every day. They need to be evaded. Money needs to be made. I will not let anything or anyone stop me.

Until next time, diary, screw you.