Uh, I'm a pilot from Manhattan and have recently been employed by Interspace to cover short routes in New York.
This is my first entry to my Captain's Journal! I'm very excited. I've been training for 3 years how to fly the various Liberty model ships that I will encounter on this job, a sort of apprenticeship. I received my own vessel just this morning at 8am dock time, and was asked to deliver my first load of Boron to Norfolk within the hour... no time wasted. I proceeded to the departure point for my first live jump with a full 20 ton load of Boron.
Let me tell you about the departure point. It's very strange, something I don't think I will get used to, but who knows. Well, you're sitting in your ship, in line waiting to be shot out into space. All kinds of ships were in the line behind and ahead of me. Fighters, freighters, transports, and even battlecruisers. They haul your ship up to the launch with magnets that keep you suspended. You don't feel those. Once you're at the launch, your ship is thrown upright, you feel the gravity shift for a brief moment, tossing you back in your seat, then your ships auto-grav engages and it feels "normal again" except for the fact that the open blue sky is above you, and in the distance above you, like a giant tube, lie these rings to which you are quickly launched. I hope you'd stowed your lunch!
The magnetic drive system is switched on and you go from zero impulse to 80 instantaneously. As you pass through the 5 rings the sky above you changes color and the ground behind you fades away. Once you reach the final ring, the gate opens up and you are hurled into space at a full 80 impulse! The experience is quite exhilirating and not for the faint of heart. Many rigorous tests are undertaken on prospective pilots to ensure that their physical fitness and genetic make up can handle the stress of the magnetic drives, and the wear and tear of the artificial gravity system.
Well, it was quite exciting to see myself out there... in space, for the first time with my ship full of cargo and the massive universe open before me. Liberty space is very well explored and defined and nearly 2 years of my schooling were centered around navigation and patrol routing. I'm very familiar with all of Liberty space. Trade routes, though, are a different matter. At this point I am just employed to work for Interspace through a contract with Deep Space to run the Boron manufactured on Pittsburgh, from Manhattan up to Newark Station. From here, larger transport vessels will run the Boron to far away places, even as far as a planet system called Leeds.
This is it. I'm about to dock with Newark. I'll describe the space stations and my experience aboard them on my next entry.
I'm learning trade routes now as Interspace is sending me to Baltimore Shipyard, through a trade lane located offworld of Manhattan. I'm hauling Polymers that they will use in production there. From there I have a list of supplies to pick up and then a quick run to Fort Bush, a police base between planet Pittsburgh and the jump gate to the Colorado system.
The space stations! One can truly be inspired, get a sense of awe at the enormity and beauty of these grand space stations. They are big, and I mean BIG in every aspect of the word. Newark is a whole colony in itself, as is Ft. Bush. The other stations are run by various crews but people report to work out here on a daily basis by hopping a shuttle to either Trenton, Baltimore, Norfolk, or even a quick trip for a weeks worth of work on Pittsburgh, where Boron is manufactured.
Space is grand and open, and I can't wait to experience all of New York space.
Ha! That still sounds funny. Anyway, I wanted to let you know how days 2 and 3 of my employment went. On day two I made it back to the Interspace office in the morning on Manhattan and was asked to see the folks at the transportation department. Seems that travel arrangements had been over-booked for one of their liners and some passengers needed transport to Pittsburgh.
I nervously agreed. I had been cleared to run passengers, but this is, of course, my first run with them... I had to keep my DiscoveryXM turned down, and be all courteous and stuff. The run was uneventful. Two trade lane jumps, past Ft. Bush and on to Pittsburgh. Upon landing my next job was a quick Boron run, or so I thought... Turns out the cargo was to be directly shipped to Norfolk Shipyard, the other shipyard, down a trade lane I had not been through yet.
This also put me a very good distance from home, and I didn't have enough clock hours left in my day to make a run back to Manhattan. I did have just enough time to work a late shift for the Liberty Navy. Turns out that the Battleship Missouri, affectionately known as the Bat. Mo., was in need of pilots to deliver some of their reserver H-Fuel to their training academy known as West Point. It was one trade lane away and the run was quite nice. The beautiful white glow of the sun was to my right, and to the left was the dark blue to purple cloud known as the badlands; beautiful from a distance.
I grabbed one of the guest rooms on West Point for the evening. I'll save the receipts for Interspace.