Entry 001
Keywords > (automatically generated)Lindsay Castillo Kimiko Hawkins Ego Hinata Golden Chrysanthemum Kepler Ames Auxo Technocrat Alexon Oenoe Gunboat Curacao Manhattan Shikoku Freeport Nebula Dark Matter Cloud Robot Kishiro Farts Slave Valkyr Rheinland Kusari Liberty Bretonia Parents
FARTS!
Just wanted to make sure I'll surprise myself when I look back at the first journal entry and realize I yelled FARTS! at myself. I want this one to be an absolute burner of a journal.
Okay, so let me sum it up.
My parents insisted on me getting a home ship. In fact, they insisted on it being a gunboat or a frigate, but those ships are expensive. Yes, they gave me the money, but look at this baby I got instead. The ship vendor offered it to me at a discount - apparently the guy who ordered the construction of this ship got Lane Hacker'd and won't come to claim this ship any time soon. He said something about mania interrogation? Didn't want to ask, not my business.
Anyway, turns out the ship is... not in the best shape? When Gallia pushed into Cortez, the guys building this thing had to get creative, and I think THAT'S why the ship was on discount. The hull is rather thin, barely got the shields to work and half of the system functions aren't available right now. It's basically a flying wreck, but hey, at least from outside it looks absolutely smashing.
So, this is my new home now. I mean, I still have one on Curacao, but until the ship is in a perfect shape, I'll just stay on here, I guess? Will need to upgrade it the hard way, flying everywhere myself and check whether I can get the stuff I need. All by myself.
What I ended up doing yesterday was to just take her for a spin. I didn't even think of a name yet, so the neural net will identify this ship as me. I'm a big fat REGENT now. That's okay, though. At least people will know which pronouns to use.
Went straight for Liberty. Turns out you can't just moor at the fixtures and expect people to, you know, do what you want them to do. Instead, they added me to the schedule NEXT MONTH. What, do you really think I'd just stay at the fixture and pay docking fees in the meantime? No!
What I did instead was heading for Honshu, Kusari. Because, if they don't have the manpower to take care of things, I thought I could just get my own manpower. I don't like hiring people because of the inconveniences, at least for now, so I thought buying some service robots from Kishiro would do the trick. In the coming days, I'll spend a lot of time with setting them up. Some have pre-programmed protocols, like Janitor, Gunnery and Chef, but for more specific jobs, I need to teach them manually.
All in all, my first day in space was alright. The transit to Kusari was nice. I love Shikoku! Beautiful system, really. In fact, by the time I'm recording this, I'm here, at this freeport.
I met a few people in space. Most notably Kimiko Hawkins, a woman of both kusarian and bretonian descent that comes from Curacao, too. She lead me to this place. Sounds nice, has some pepper up her ass, though, and I'm afraid I'm not the kind of person she appreciates in general. You know, the kind of spoiled child that can throw around with money without ever having worked for it. She said something about her having been a slave, so I refrained from giving out any information about, well, what my parents do on Curacao.
Then there was a guy called Ego. Rheinland Valkyr with custom weaponry and shiny tools. I'm not sure whether he tried to sound badass or thoughtful, he simply didn't strike me as the type of person who is a burner at the party. Pessimistic nihilist? Maybe.
I've also met a Golden Chrysanthemum girl called Hinata. Wonderful way of speaking, always with a hint of poetry, but not in the cringe-inducing way. Kimiko, Ego and her had a conversation about politics and philosophy, and while I found it rather interesting to listen to, like a podcast, I didn't think I could have contributed any qualified contributions to the topics, so I just shut the trap and tried to get some of the robots working.
All of this happened at Ames in Kepler, by the way. The entire system is covered in a Dark Matter cloud. Looks very pretty, at least under the shroud of Ames' protective shielding. First wanted to stay there for the first night in space, but the cloud can have bad effects on people, apparently, so I asked Kimiko where she crashes.
There was also a gunboat of Auxo. The guy, Alexon, seemed pretty focused on his scientific job, but at least he told me a few things about Auxo, because, you know, I don't know shit about politics and groups outside of Cortez.
They talked about aliens and the things hidden in the Dark Matter cloud and everyone suddenly got cryptic and only hinted at things, which annoyed me. Like, if you know something, just say it. Whooo, I'm mystery man. I end sentences... with mysterious... emphasis...
And then the murders began...
No, just a joke, but I like to spice up my narration like this. I think that adds much to the dramatic impact. Anyway, I'll try to get more of the systems going, and then check a look at what's happening in space. The nebula surrounding this station is THICC, and sensors don't penetrate it. I guess, aside from the weird people I've seen walking through the hallways, this place is probably very secure.
Entry 002
Keywords > (automatically generated)Lindsay Castillo Victoria Blake Marc Remington Ego Yamato|Aoi Dayvon Bennet Asshole Rebecca Edwards Kassandra Sunny Wrecker Junker Salvager Shikoku Hokkaido New Tokyo Galileo Colorado New York Manhattan Newark Kusari Liberty Orbital Navy Aliens Dinner Pasta Flirt
Okay.
Okay.
Uhm.
Today was a day. I'm not sure where to start. I almost died.
Almost, as in, there was a chance that it could have occured by the hands of someone.
Context: Victoria - we're friends now - uhm, she bought herself a civilian ship. A locust. Then she asked whether we want to do something together, so I asked her to fly to Hokkaido with me. Kimiko had recommended it, so I wanted to check it out. We moved via Galileo, which I still consider more dangerous than Kepler, simply because of the lack of stations at the second node. We stumped over Ego, and I hired him on the fly.
- 5.000.000 Credits
Marc texted me, so I hired him, too. And I figured, with Victoria buying a ship, she needed some cash, too, so. three escorts.
- 5.000.000 Credits - 5.000.000 Credits
Anyway, we had a good time for a while. Shikoku is absolutely beautiful. Stunning in any way. Like a painting, the sun and the nebulae. Even the planets. Deshima, what a monument. Even that Freeport is cozy.
New Tokyo was rather bland in comparison, but still an eye candy. There was a Renzu Liner. Awesome, really.
Then, Hokkaido. Wow! The sight when you enter the system from New Toyko? A bubble in the nebula, yet the sun so strong, shining right through the thick gas pockets. Stunning! The Kusarian Battleship at the Tau-53 gate? Intimidating, so much more impressive than the Overlords of Liberty. I do think Shikoku is still my favourite.
Ego made us take a detour to Kyushu, and I can say I'm no longer a jump hole virgin. Jupp, it happened. We took the jump hole from Hokkaido to Kyushu and it was crazy. To be honest, I felt like the ship was falling apart. Fun times. From Kyushu, through the pretty nebula, we moved via jump hole to Shikoku. Another few minutes of a nice flight. We moved over to Fuchu, and from there to the Galileo gate. And there we met someone who chased us.
A kusarian Chimaera hit me with a disruptor at the gate. I felt incredibly uncomfortable. There was something incredibly scary about them. Callsign Yamato|Aoi. The way they spoke was... uh. I can't describe it. My heart was beating wildly, my hands were shaking and I felt cold. They said they were only interested in Ego, so they gave us the choice - stay and fight and die, or abandon Ego. Ego did not want to explain the situation but sent us away. Marc said we could have had a chance if we had stuck together.
I have no combat experience, and the ship does not have the capacities to fight anything. Even if it was in a good shape, really. I felt bad for leaving Ego behind, but I was the one who hired him, not the other way around. It was his job to do everything he can to keep me safe. Let's try to be reasonable. Playing hero wouldn't have resulted in anything good.
Trying to calm down, I wired his money as we moved through Galileo. Then I wired Marc's and Victoria's payments. We moved to Manhattan, and Victoria proposed to have a dinner. I think she wanted a private one, but I invited Marc, too. And later Ego.
Right, Ego survived. His ship was in an absolute shitty shape, burning, leaking, barely able to do anything. We escorted him to Newark, and I paid for the repairs of his ship.
- 6.000.000 Credits
Which was... dumb. They came aboard, I felt embarrassed to show them my ship in the current state, and I let the robots prepare pasta. Ego left after like a minute, saying he isn't the social kind of man. Marc tried to ship me with Victoria, and some asshole of the Fifth Fleet ruined everything by demanding Victoria to leave my ship and get back to duty. All in all, the day felt like... it could have been better in many ways.
Victoria now has access to my ship. I told VAL to prepare a room for her, so she can crash here. It's a bit weird. She is very forward, and I think if I hadn't told her that I don't look for anything other than FRIENDS, she would probably ride my face right now. Not the most unpleasant thought, but, uhm, I'm not looking for that kind of sports right now.
Space is entertaining, to say the least, but I feel a LOT more mortal right now. And I hope that I'll never see Yamato again. I guess I won't fly to Shikoku any time soon, and super not on my own. Ego seems to be a reliable asset, though. I'll definitely hire him again. He might not be the most charming person, but reliable. That's important.
Lastly, I just met a mute woman named Kassandra and a pervert called Rebecca Edwards. They talked about family, lovers and sex and made me uncomfortable enough to have me start counting prime numbers again to calm down. The last time I did that was when Gallia was in Cortez. Old habits. Sunny might be useful for taking a look at my ship. Repairs, upgrades, who knows.
I'm really tired. I hope Victoria doesn't try anything funny when she's here. I really don't want more drama.
< Lindsay
not even a week in space and I went through almost all emotions