Lee's Diary - Pilot of The Narcotic

Lee's Diary - Pilot of The Narcotic - Printable Version

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Lee's Diary - Pilot of the Narcotic - Narcotic - 09-16-2012

Date: 16 September 819
System: Unknown
Location: At the end of the world.
Topic: New horizons

Maiden flight of the Narcotic.

Open space. That feeling of absolute freedom and independency. Once the magic of the infinite world has taken hold, it will never let go. Boundless vastness, amazing nebulas, gigantic planets and unexplored asteroid belts. The dangerous universe has everything to offer. Except for human society, which can only rarely be found in unknown space. The strongest fear is still the loneliness. Even for me, being a rather introverted man, are human relationships the most important thing ever. And my love, the only counterpart of me, my ginger beauty. Melosa. She's my girl, and we've sworn to stay together to bring light into the darkest corners of Sirius.

Exploration.

So it was Narcotics maiden flight. A beauty of a ship it is. Floating through space like a sailing buzzard. That ship is exactly, what I've been looking for. It serves my the main purpose of exploration better than any other ship could. And as luck would have it, I've read a transmission, concerning an exploration job at the Sirius borders, near Gallia. The object was just as easy: "Hunting for hitherto unknown anomalies, as fully formed jump holes or possible weakness in the space-time continuum that may be further investigated for exploitation as potential jump gate sites." So much about their task explanation.

"We are not alone."

This early morning, when I've just reached New York, I've meet some young alien by chance. Or was it the other way round, and he found me? I can't say it. It was clear, that this thing was a "Learning-One", since I felt its first weak mindshare ability, trying to get access to my mind. Driven by curiosity I tolerated it and showed devotion. I've seen different pictures appearing in front of me. On one of them, I've recognized me, standing on a beach next to a young girl. It seemed as the alien was using parts of my memory, since that image reminded me of my holiday trip at Planet Curacao, together with Melosa. Anyhow, the allotriomorphic creature, was showing great interest in my knowledge, by asking questions about friendship, family and love. I've granted its wish, and tried to respond to his questions. Hopefully, it helped to expand its understanding.
In the end, this was one of my most uncommon meetings with such called "Nomad". And I felt fairly happy about it.

The loveliness of outer space.

After a long journey, I found myself at the borders of Sirius, or at least, what my definition of "border" used to be. Whatever, I had business to do. So I moved across the borders, and made my first steps on mostly uncharted space, keeping my eyes wide open for any abnormalities.

Meanwhile I've heard a muted inner language, calling myself on a path to new horizons. By the power of my wishes, desires, passions and love.

Opening up new horizons.

Lee's Diary - Pilot of the Narcotic - Narcotic - 09-18-2012

Date: 18 September 819
System: Dauphine
Location: Deck 6, bedroom.
Topic: Gallia Exploration

Twenty-four hours, flying non-stop through Dauphine, searching for the needle in the haystack. And it was just less than a quarter of the system, that I've mapped. But I just had to explore the southern and eastern space anyways, and I've got to say, that I'm fairly satisfied, although I haven't found anything of much interest. At least nothing concerning my job. The environment there was breathtaking!

"Gallia, as beatiful as lonely."

Entering Gallia wasn't as difficult, as I've expected. I had visions of multiple navy patrols disrupting my engines and military outposts, as large as battleships. Nothing. Just a ludicrous minefield guarded by a few weapon platforms, nothing else. I was disappointed to be honest. But still, it couldn't have come any better for me. Comparable with a simple space walk, I jumped to Dauphine, my destination.

Docking at gallic lanes.

Finally. On my right side, an impressive gallic battleship was obstructing my to the east. Instead of taking the direct route to the south-east, where I had to discover space, I took the exotic trade lane two times to the Briancon Station, and behind... an impossibility! A cluster of five planets, squeezed together in the smallest of space. My nav map gave me a short explanation about that so-called "Privas Planetary Cluster":

Code:
The Privas planetary cluster is a rare astronomical phenomenon never before seen in Sirius. Five planets are located within the gravity well of each other, with one ring surrounding them all. Four of the planets are similar medium-sized gas giants, most probably sharing the same origin, whilst the fifth planet, Privas V, is a small moon that might have once been the core of another gas giant before its atmosphere was lost either to the gravity of the other worlds, or to a massive cataclysm of an unknown nature. All five planets share one rarified outer atmosphere comprised mainly of methane and inert gases.

Briancon near the Privas.

What a phenomenon. However, I've rented a room at Briacon Station and stayed for a night. Next day will be a long one for sure and my crew, Melosa and me had to rest. The next day, my navigator showed me a few examples of routes, we could take, to cover the largest possible area in less time. After picking one, which seemed to be reasonable for me, we launched from the bay, filled with supplies and fuel.

Our exploration route for Dauphine.

Estimated time to reach waypoint #7: 20 hours. More than I've expected. Maybe it was because of several asteroid fields we're going to pass. The hours passed by slowly as hell. I nearly went nuts. There was absolutely nothing to see, most of the time. At least, nothing, which my eyes could have seen. But I remained patient.

Panorama from the systems edge.

Soon, we came upon a space graveyard in one of the asteroid fields. Mainly police vessels whose pilots might got killed by pirates or unlawfuls. Fortunately I hadn't the pleasure to face one of those. But in the end, I've looted quite some stuff from those wrecks. They might come in handy as extra income. Hour for hour, minute for minute, we cruised through asteroid fields, nebulas and scrapyards, when we finally found something uncommon. A jumphole. At once, I've checked the nav map, for its up-to-dateness. And unfortunately, it was already listed as connection between Dauphine and Provence. Well, better than nothing. I'm pretty sure, that my search will continue there. But not this day. I'm almost feeling like a rusty wreck, after sitting the whole day, watching rocks and scrap. So we decided to stay in open space for the night. After writing this entry, I gave our bed a hug and even before Melosa could have given me a good-night kiss, I felt asleep.

"Wrecks, I really do feel like one now."

Lee's Diary - Pilot of the Narcotic - Narcotic - 09-22-2012

Date: 22 September 819
System: Provence
Location: Monte Carlo Freeport
Topic: Gallia Exploration #2

I've spent almost four days in Dauphine, exploring the systems borders, when I decided to move along. I returned to that Jumphole, which I've discovered the first day, and jumped to Provence.

"Oh wonderful Provence."

There arrived, we found ourselves in a beatiful large blue nebula comprised of methane and water ice. It was called the "Mer Mediterainee". It was the most beatiful nebula, that I've seen yet. But also one of the most dangerous. That's because I've nearly ran into Planet Nice, which was completely hidden in the nebula. Even when I was right besides it, like 100 meters away from the planets atmosphere, I wasn't able to see the large gas giant. That was close. Anyhow, my navigator provided me his route of waypoints, which covered almost the whole system. I knew, that we won't make this in a day, but it was necessary, so we won't miss something of importance for our research.

[Image: provence_navmap_zpse14cf9b3.jpg]

Our waypoints for the exploration tour.

The first waypoint lead us deeper into the Mer. The nebula showed us a fantastic spectacle when the cloud shapes changed form under the gravitational influence of the systems suns and planets. Unfortunatley, that was all we've seen. We've scanned the whole eastern part of the nebula, and found nothing.

[Image: provence_cannes_zps498606e9.jpg]

Cannes Resort Station, living in luxury.

Finally, when the Narcotic broke through the borders of the Mer, a jumphole got visible on our left. But it was already listed under "Auvergne Jumphole". When we reached the very north-east of Provence, we took a quick look into the "Esterel Nebula", a wisp of the Mer Mediterainee.

From there, we moved forward right into the "Luberon Asteroid Field", consisting of rock and ice asteroids. Nothing special there. But I've heard, that young spacepilots use it as racing track sometimes. They're coming from the "Cannes Resort Station", which I've seen when I left the Esterel for a short time.

[Image: provence_exploration_zpsca03f42c.jpg]

"Like sailing in the sea."

Afterwards, I circled "Planet Avignon" with its large moon "Cavaillon". That planet is one of the most well-known sights in the Provence. Maybe it's because of the cyan color it has. After that turn, I explored the thin "Maures Nebula" and went straight to Cannes, taking a small break at Planet Marseille, a great place to live at I have to admit.

[Image: provence_marseille_zps5468bcab.jpg]

Planet Marseille.

Being near Cannes, I noticed the Battleship Arles above it. It is the flagship of the Provence defensive fleet, tasked to defend Marseille and surrounding systems from pirate attacks. Back to Cannes, which is said to be a popular resort with some of the top officials of the monarchy. It has a high presence of VIP guests from the Royal administration. That resort seemed to be one of the most expensive and luxurious resorts in Gallic space.

From there, I launched the Narcotic and made my way into the "Camargue Dust Field", where I've just found light asteroids and space dust, being cought in the gravitational pull of the nearby planet Marseille.

[Image: provence_monte_carlo_zps024f4ffe.jpg]

The one and only Freeport in whole Gallia.

And in the end, I followed my last waypoint, leading me to the "Monte Carlo Freeport", which is located on the very edge of the Mer, orbiting Planet Istres, a small-sized gas world, which presents a great view for the Freeport guests eyes.

It says, that: "Travelers from all around Gallia come here to get almost unrestricted access to Nox and whatever other forbidden substances (and activites) they are willing to try out." Man, I almost fell in love with that Freeport. I decided to take some rest there for a few days, gather new strength and visit the famous casinos and nightclubs there. That's exactly what I'll do. I've done enough work at first. It's time for some entertainment!

[Image: provence_docking_zpsaf995906.jpg]

Docking procedure at Monte Carlo.

Lee's Diary - Pilot of the Narcotic - Narcotic - 09-30-2012

Date: 29 September 819
System: Unknown
Location: Narcotic, Storage Deck.
Topic: Between nightmare and reality.

Seven days. And I still can't believe, that I'm not dreaming. Everything started when I decided to enter el Mer Mediterainee in Provence, once more in hope to find something. And we entered the gates of hell itself. I've been pretty sure, that there wasn't any warnings of incoming Ion Storms when I've left the Freeport, but to not much avail now.

So we found ourselves in the middle of an enormous Ion Storm. I've never seen such terrifying natural phenomenon before. From one second to the other, all our systems went offline. The communication, navigation, and weapon systems were broken. Fortunately, my engineers managed to get the ship machines running mechanically. Still, I had to find an exit out of this disaster.

Since the monitoring system have refused the service, too. We had to navigate the ship manually. Which was a pain. Your eyes weren't able to see anything out there. Just blue thick clouds. What a sweaty affair it was... We could have blindly ran into a planet's atmosphere or large asteroid field. But we were lucky. After a while, we had visual contact to an unknown jumphole. Well, we had no clue, if that jumphole already existed in the gallic database. It could have been the Corse jumphole for example. But our navigation system were, as already said, dead. So I had to decide whether to stay in the deadly storm, or hope, that this unknown jumphole is stable. Intuitively, I controled the ship into the jumphole's center.

Suddenly I got blinded by a bright white light. My eyes felt like they were pushed through my brain... stunning pain. That was all I remembered, when I fell over and fainted.

I felt, like I've been asleep for years, when I woke up on the medical deck. Silence. The engines weren't running. No talking noise on the corridors. Deathly quiet. "Is this real?" I've asked myself. I had no proof for that. My legs hurted when I walked towards the door to the corridor. I had a nervous feeling when I left the room. Traces of blood. On the ground. At the walls. Human cadavers. Remnant of a furious battle. I've almost puked on the floor, when I abruptly heard strong human voices, coming down from the floor. I pushed my body at a wall into the shadow and listened. "The ship is ours, sir. We've jailed the survivors on deck 4 in the large common room." Two men in green uniforms went by right in front my nose. I cut the breathing. "No sight of the ship's captain, sir. No rescue capsules are missing aswell. We'll find him sooner or later. Let's find the cloaking device and finish our mission."

When those two shapes in military uniforms passed by. I sneaked off to the Storage deck nearby. Where I'm hiding now, trying to figure out a plan. Whatever their business is, why are they interested in my malfunction cloaking device? Hopefully, this entry won't be my last one...

"Please, let it be just a nightmare!"

RE: Lee's Diary - Pilot of the Narcotic - Narcotic - 10-12-2012

Date: 12 October 819
System: Tau-117
Location: Narcotic, Navigation room.
Topic: Game of cat and mouse.

Almost two weeks, and we're still searching for an exit of this terrifying system. Our reserves are being depleted. Oxygen, water and food is getting rare. My remaining crew members have reached the end of their mental tether. There's only little hope of finding a way out.

Hopelessness.

It all started, when we got into that mystical Ion Storm in Provence. I must have fell into a comatose state when we entered that unknown jumphole. But all that doesn't matter now. Fact is, that my ship got engaged by some military force. I could have sworn, that they we're rheinland soldiers. But somehow, I felt an aura, simliar to the mindshare near them. Quite confusing.

But I had a plan. I knew, that they kept my crew imprisoned on deck four in the common room. The video monitoring system confirmed that they were trapped inside. No guards inside. Perfect. Being well-protected by a oxygen mask and heavy armed, primarily I took the ladders to the machine room where I quickly located the oxygen controls for the Narcotic. I've locked the doors to the common room, and turned down the oxygen for the whole ship, except for said common room.

Inside the machine room.

One hour later, I dared to sneak to deck four. On my way there, I've seen several dead bodies of those creatures. Some of them appeared to be half human, half alien. But who am I to judge that. Nevertheless, they seemed to be as dead as a doornail. Quite contrary to my crew, who made great eyes, when they saw me, entering the room. Suprisingly, nothing showed up on our scanners, when we reactivated them. Is this going to be another trap?

However, there's much to do. A lot of tellings are need to be done. We're short on time, and our supplies are running low. But I'm convinced, that we'll find an exit sooner or later. Although the last isn't an option.

RE: Lee's Diary - Pilot of the Narcotic - Narcotic - 10-30-2012

Date: 30 October 819
System: Tau-29
Location: Freeport 6, rented room.
Topic: Last-minute rescue.

Now that was an adventure. I wasn't sure, if I would have ever found an exit, out of that "system of doom". Day 39 started like any other previous day. Frequently changing the ship's position in that large asteroid field, to avoid any patrols of those weird beings. We were really running low on supplies. And yesterday my last surviving engineer went suicide, driven by the daily pressure which pulls my crews hope down into a lake of desperation. Besides, we were suffering several random attacks by lucky patrols. In the last days, our cruise systems got critically hit, which made it even worse to find any hint, on how to get out of there. Our situatuin was hopeless. None of our system wide emergency calls got answered.

[Image: Freelancer2012-10-3015-00-00-34.jpg]

Under attack.

Until this day. We were just busy with a bunch of those agressors, when suddendly a large vessel uncloaked next to us. Cruiser class. One, that I've never seen before in my lifetime. It wasn't human nor organic. Which left the only explanation, that it was controled by an artificial intelligence. First we thought that it was another evil trap of that unknown force. But when it engaged our enemies, and started talking to us, the hope was finally back.

[Image: Freelancer2012-10-3015-28-23-53.jpg]

Last-minute rescue.

It was a quite helpful AI unit. Named; "Occam Razor", carrying an identification tag of the "Haimen Alliance". It so happened, that it was exploring "Wild systems" - whatever that is. But still, it was unbelieveable, that he found me just in time. I got told, that we found ourselfes in "Tau-117", and that there's a jumphole, which leads us to Newcastle. Furthermore, its calculations said, that my chance of survival was under 0.01 percent. Incredible.

Somehow, Melosa, my love, didn't trust that robot. I wasn't sure, if she had bad experiences with AI units, but her saying: "How can you put all our lifes into that false brains, made of tin cans and scrap metal, hands?!" made clear, that she had a specific dislike towards robots. Anyways, I had no other choice. It knew an exit to Newcastle. And I'd have trusted anyone, just to get out of this nightmare, before more men die.

[Image: Freelancer2012-10-3015-41-20-34.jpg]

Passing Newcastle.

No sooner said than done. It lead us to Newcastle, Scarborough Station, where I did some major repairs, such as fixing the shield systems, which went offline during the last fight. And of course refilling our supplies. Driven by curiosity, I checked for my defect cloaking device, those creatures were talking about. It appeared like they were trying to repair it. I've found some weird tools I've never seen before, as well as a broken sphere, which reminds me of these "Derelict Nomad Artifacts" I used to sell to researchers when I was still running my equipment store. Whatever, apparently they didn't manage to finish the repair, and must have disabled that alien power source, before they died.

Anyhow, since I didn't felt save on corporation bases, the Haimen unit and I went for Freeport 6 in the Taus, where we were able to have a private talk. It offered us so-called "augmentations" and other automated systems for my ship... and myself! Si, for my human body. Technical improvements on organic lifeforms. Sounds sick, but useful together. Melosa almost freaked out when she saw my eyes glittering.

"Dare you, hun. I won't ******* touch a ***** with ********* robot parts, which are ******* *** ***** ******, comprende?. I'd more be willing to ****** **** a ******* alien, into its ******* ******* and **** the **** out of this ************!" She shouted.

That's why I love her. She always finds the correct words to describe her feelings. But still, I found that Occam Razor's offer quite attractive, and I'm surely going to think about it. If not for myself, but my ship, or even partly for my crew. And in return, he asked for an examination of the Narcotic. Should be a fair deal in my opinion. I'll better have slept on it for a night. I just can't wait for it, to finally sleep undisturbed. Although. There's nothing better to have a raging women... stop. I'll better keep my thoughts for myself.

RE: Lee's Diary - Pilot of the Narcotic - Narcotic - 07-01-2013

Date: 1 July 820
System: Omicron Kappa
Location: Planet Gammu, landing bay.
Topic: A good thing takes time!

Only giving birth can be harder than installing this very special AI on the Narcotic. It took me months to program, adjust and initialize this tin can on my ship. And the fact that the final steps, I had planned another few months for already, were done in just one day - today - made me quite suspicious. Just to be sure, I contacted Occam Razor to give it a quick view.

In the end, if everything will indeed work out as planned, this Shodan will be the key to fullfil my dreams. Humanity's dreams. Exploration and Research are the future! Eventhough, on the dark side - it'll be capable of causing havoc and terror when in the wrong hands. The Narcotic had a long way to what it is now. And for me, it's a great responsibility to pilot it. Always for the good.

Gammu - Shodans birthplace.

RE: Lee's Diary - Pilot of the Narcotic - Narcotic - 07-02-2013

Date: 2 July 820
System: Omicron Alpha
Location: Planet Malta, landing bay.
Topic: Past memories.

Home sweet home. If just the memories would be as sweet. Every time I step on the soft ground of Malta - the bitter link with my cardamine addiction catches me. Six years, and still I haven't found a satisfying solution for an alternative drug to compensate the addiction. Even the the experiment of Professor Campbell didn't free me from it. Today, I had this very special moment where I swore to myself, that I'll try everything - and won't rest - until I'll defeated it for good. Cryer shall be my last hope. I'll have to put all my trust into them.

Furthermore - given that Cryer's DNA repair will work - I've planned to upgrade The Narcotic a very last time. It really needed a full repair and ship part exchange anyways. It almost hit the 300 days mark already. The Narcotic has made many steps, and this will be its last. From a simple Sabre, to a Camara freighter class, Borderworld transport - in the times I had my shop running - followed by the Democritus then this Cutlass bomber, my loved Scimitar, now the Zoner prototype gunboat which did cost me over two billions production costs. And finally; it'll be heavier, larger, stronger and better than ever. It'll be a "one-of-its-kind-boat" of which only children dream of. It'll not just be a simple upgrade of my current boat, but something completely new by the looks of it.

Together with the freedom I shall have, I will put all my savings into this last investment. There's nothing to lose for me when the DNA test will fail anyways. So I see it as wise decision. However, for me it was clear where "The Narcotic" will get her final dress. The very same place where it was born - Valetta Shipyard.

For this special request, I did even contact the Council of Dons, in order to get their approval of having The Narcotic remaining an Outcast vessel - at least from the outside. Anyways. Malta. Feels good to take a deep breath of maltese air.

Landing bay on Malta at sunset.

RE: Lee's Diary - Pilot of the Narcotic - Narcotic - 07-04-2013

Date: 4 July 820
System: Omicron Alpha
Location: Civilian port
Topic: Putting all my eggs in one basket.

So I'm waiting here for my taxi which might possibly be the last flight I'll have in my life. And this view on Malta could be the last one aswell. Or this kiss. I'm glad that Melosa did not try to change my mind about it. And I'm even happier that she comes along with me. I could never imagine how terrible it must be for her.

One does think completely different when knowing that one might die soon. Everything appears to be so intensive. Every word so loud and clear. And every heartbeat shakes your whole body. Think positive she said. I will do!

At least some good news I have - well, the fact that Cryer agreed to do the test with me are good news aswell - however, Martino Perez, the Administrator of the Ghosts of Ragriz himself did grant me permit to upgrade "The Narcotic" at Valetta to whose shipyard I'll have full access to.

I've told told Shodan to monitor the Narcotic construction's progress and to inform me about important decisions. I've also given the AI access to the ship part and construction plans registry of Valetta, and ordered it to design the ship on the basis of the vessels developed and built by the outcasts.

So... it's time to say goodbye to Malta. Only destiny knows if it'll be the last time.

RE: Lee's Diary - Pilot of The Narcotic - Narcotic - 07-07-2013

Date: 7 July 820
System: Omicron Alpha
Location: Valetta Shipyard, control room.
Topic: Silent take over.

"Lee, how can you just entrust the Narcotic to this AI?" - Melosa asked me a several times during our flight to Atka Research Station. She almost passed her paranoia on to me. But I remained confident. After all, machines are perfect - they were man-made in order to help them - not to exploit one's trust. An artificial intelligence does always take care for the very best of its creator. That's the idea behind it. Of course the knowledge of a machine being superior over humans leaves an unpleasant feeling. However, we started relying on them already long ago. The present wouldn't work without them anymore. They became essential.

In the end, I don't regret giving Shodan access to Valetta's database with the restriction of solely using informations for the Narcotic's planned upgrade. It simply can't rebel against its orders. It's programmed to not do so. Of that I'm sure.

Hacking - Shodan totally in her element.