Log File #1

Wow. I really can'€™t believe it. I mean, it'€™s incredible!
All right, here'€™s what happened. Ben and I were flying around the Southampton Debris Field in our good old CSVs, dodging around the scrap, when suddenly, we find a preeeeetty big wreck. And it wasn'€™t some wreck! It was a Salvager! I mean, that as such is no big deal. Dozens of them must be floating around the debris field. But this one'€¦ was still in working order!

So, Ben and I flew around the thing for a bit, checking whether it was worth salvaging and then selling for scrap. But hell, it actually looked brand new! Well, as brand new as a Salvager can look, I guess. So, I contacted Henry to help us tow the thing back to Trafalgar. Thank god he has that CSFreighter. Soon as we got the thing connected to one of the mooring points, we docked to the station and got over to the airlock. Ben had gone totally bananas and Henry was shivering in anticipation. Probably because neither of them had ever been on anything bigger than a freighter. Well, neither had I, but it seemed I was the only one who wasn'€™t going totally nuts. No wonder, with all the possible radiation leaks, evacuated sections, overloaded reactors, and so on.

Anyway, I finally got them to put on some rad-suits, even though they were arguing against it. No idea why. After minutes of bickering from Ben, who had gotten lost in his suit, we ventured on board.

God, it was incredible! There was crap everywhere! Pieces of armor plating, toppled-over consoles, and even some of the blastdoors were deformed! The bridge was a real mess though. Looked like someone had set of a det-pack in there. Henry thinks he found some dried blood in a corner, but I'€™m sure he was just seeing things
But, and this is what made Ben almost faint, the craft was in perfect working shape. The reactors were running at one hundred percent and the maneuvering thrusters had more than enough fuel in '€˜em. Sure, it needed some repairs, but that'€™s nothing three motivated Junkers can'€™t handle. But the way Henry and Benny were bouncing around with joy, I decided to first do a test flight, before getting down to the hard labor.

And by god, it was wonderful! I'€™ve never flown a ship of its size, but I sure know why those old men in the bar always tell stories of their Salvagers now. Several thousand tons of welded-together junk flying through a field of yet more junk! Ben had a great time knocking smaller wrecks aside with the hydraulic claws attached to the ship'€™s front, and Henry went off to explore the rest of the thing'€™s insides.

Too bad the ship didn'€™t have any weapons mounted. I heard that most Salvagers can mount military grade armaments! Can'€™t wait to get a hold on some of those. But for now, we'€™ll have to repair about a dozen hull breaches, two leaks in the main plasma conduit, and several wrecked doors, computer terminals, and some stuff I'€™ve never even heard of'€¦

Jeez, this'€™ll be great!

Hey, Ben! Hand me the welder!

Yes, my master!

Ben Owen stumbled over a pile of scrapped armor plating as he bounced over to his older brother, Lloyd.

Ah, ****!

Lloyd sighed, climbed down from the platform he standing on becide the Salvager, and picked up the welder Ben had dropped. Indifferently, he returned to his work place and continued fixing a small communications antenna on the craft's hull.

Jeez, thanks for the help, Lloyd.

Lloyd nodded a sarcastic "you're welcome" at him and put on a pair of black safety goggles. Ben snorted, got up, gave him the finger, and walked back out of the DSMB.

From a dark corner in the stuffed sphere, Henry laughed.

Be nice to your brother, man. After all, he helped you find this wreck.

Lloyd snorted. He almost blew it up three times already, too, he thought to himself as sparks erupted from the heated alloy he was welding to the rest of the rusty, pockmarked hull.

---

The DSMB - Deployable Ship-Maintenance Bubble - is a rather handy tool, constructed by the Junkers on Trafalgar. Essentially, it is a steel cocoon which can be deployed from the station and envelope sections of ships too large to fit into a hangar. It attaches itself to the hull similar to the way a human's mouth attaches itself to a piece of bread. Without biting off of course.
The inside of the DSMB is then pressurized so that personnel can enter and work on repairs of the ship-section within.
Pretty neat, aye?

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Log File #2

We did it. We got the Salvager repaired... well at least more repaired than before. We got most of the leaks fixed, the main plasma conduit got patched up, and the bridge is actually usable again. Ben and Henry are really tired from the work, and so am I, actually. I just hope this thing will actually hold together for a while.

Tomorrow we want to fly around New London for a bit to test the ship. I decided to call it the Profitable Business... on the hope of us making some money with it. But I really don't feel like scavenging wrecks all day. I wan't to see something else in my hold than just scrap metal.

Also, we got our hands on four GT-31 gunboat turrets, one AF-X8 anti-fighter missile launcher, and a M4-TT multi spectrum beam emitter. Good thing I'm friends with Jack. He gave them to me for free... well, I'll have to pay him some time, but not directly.

So, we also got those mounted, but we didn't get the chance to test 'em yet. Another thing to do tomorrow.

God, I'd better get some sleep. Working on the Business for two days straight really got be exhausted.