Name: Carolyn Susan McArthur (Call her Carrie. Please, call her Carrie.) Age: 26 Nationality: Bretonian Home Planet: Leeds Occupation: Independent Trader Current Ship: Train
As a young girl, Carrie McArthur shared the dream of her parents and everyone else on Leeds: get the hell off that smog-choked pit before it killed her. After seeing her father fight to stay off the "short time", and lose, then seeing the dejection in his eyes as he set off for LD-14, she decided she couldn't take it any more, and vowed to get her parents and younger brother off Leeds and into a better life.
Upon arriving in Liberty, a helpful Junker took her under his wing and she was able to purchase a Mammoth transport. Her first run was, ironically enough, back to Leeds, specifically LD-14, hauling boron. It was then on to Cambridge, where she was awed by the near-pristine setting and resolved to move her family there. Then to Rheinland, then back to Cambridge. It was here where she had her first run-in with the man known only as Mon'Star. Her ship was destroyed, but she managed to make it back to planet Cambridge by the skin of her teeth where she purchased another (used) Mammoth and started again.
She hopes to eventually become embarrassingly rich and relocate her folks to Cambridge before Leeds chokes the life out of them completely.
She is currently missing, and the BPA and LPI are searching for her, however, both admit the chances against finding her are very high.
Today I decided to do an Alien Organism run from Freeport 10 to California Minor. Couple of small incidents, first in Tau-31. There was some Outcast waiting by the Leeds gate, demanded a million credits for passage. He followed me to Leeds, where, unfortunately for him, the Kusari navy had evidently made an incursion and the Bretonian armed forces were fighting them off. One of the sides probably made short work of him, or else he hightailed it back to Tau-31 before they could. Probably a rookie, nobody else would be so stupid as to try and tax people, alone, right next to a hostile Jump Gate... whatever.
Memo to self: Never, ever use the Leeds-Magellan hole again. I was ambushed by a bunch of Outcasts and Hackers in the nebula and just barely made it to Freeport 4 with my skin.
A bunch of Hackers jumped me in California, but I made it to the Trade Lane and picked up a decent profit on Cali Minor, minimum spoilage. Good day's work, the folks'll be on Cambridge in no time.
Set out from Cali Minor to do the LD-14 boron run. Minor glitch with the jump to New York, took about twice as long as it should have. Must have a word with Ageira one of these days...
Anyway, some idiot fired at me near Manhattan. Couple of shots, shield stopped them. Don't know what his beef was. Maybe he hit the fire button instead of the comm button, maybe he was just a moron with a thing against traders. Whatever it was, he gave up.
Beautiful run from Pittsburgh to the short time. Only a couple encounters with the Mollys, one near Southampton and one near LD-14 itself, but it was pretty much like a mosquito to an elephant.
Think I'll stay here a while, drop in on Dad. Not too long, though, I want to have kids someday...
Got to have a nice catch-up session with Dad. He says he's doing fine, but one look at him and I could see otherwise. He looks terrible. They don't call LD-14 the "short time" for nothing. I've got to get him out of there...
Another beautiful run, this time with Beryllium from Cardiff to the Ring. Rheinland has battleships everywhere these days, really don't want to contemplate why. The whole House has gone nuts with this Gottkanzler thing. I've seen the bloke on telly, he's not much to look at...
Anyway, though, was waylaid by Hessians twice in the Omegas. Bunch of them disrupted the Trade Lane in Omega-3, then a single Hessian did another disruption in Omega-7. Alone, the stupid git. I introduced him to the Walker Nebula up close and personal. Probably going to think twice before messing around with Trade lanes again.
Made it to the Ring, unloaded the beryllium then dashed over to Oder Shipyard and picked up my lovely shiny new Train. I'm going to miss the Mammoth, it has sentimental value, but the Train has more armour, more weapons, more storage space and, most importantly, can't be disrupted by plain old cruise disruptors. Well, so I've heard, anyway. Unfortunately, as I undocked from Oder, a whole bunch of Rheinland unlawfuls went ape on me and I had to re-dock with Oder before my lovely shiny new Train got blown into smithereens. Still, though, can't wait to start really using this puppy. This looks like the beginning of a beautiful friendship...
...Well, if the Rheinland unlawfuls don't kill me first... END LOG
Begin Log
Location: Planet Cambridge, Cambridge System
Really broke the LSNT (that's lovely shiny new train) in today. Started off hauling Engine Components to Cambridge. A Junker above planet New Berlin demanded I drop them, but I ignored him and continued on my merry way. What would he do with 3000 engine components, anyway?
Camera went on the fritz twice, in Stuttgart and Omega-3. Was picking up everything, but looked right through the LSNT's hull. Interesting glitch. Should look into that.
From Cambridge it was on to Manhattan with Luxury Food. Trade lanes were disrupted too many times to count - can't these people see I'm in a hurry?
Landed on Manhattan amidst a heated discussion between the LPI, the Navy and some poor jerk about diamonds, importation and the legality thereof. Kept claiming he'd bought them on Houston, but that ain't likely. Probably tried smuggling them in from Rheinland and got caught.
Headed for Colorado, as I'd heard you could pick up Optronics cheap there. The first trader I visited on Denver offered me slaves, of all the blooming cheek. Bought my Optronics from someone else and reported the first guy to the LPI. Can't stand slave traders.
Some LPI jock by the California gate was shooting at Gateway ships for "clogging up the gate", would you believe. I have a good mind to report him, too. Honestly, if this is the professional courtesy the LPI teaches its officers, they have another thing coming.
California was annoying, to say the least. I got stuck for like half an hour sitting right in front of the perfectly active Magellan gate I-don't-know-why, with Hackers shooting at me. I got irritated and shot the Hackers down, then docked (finally) with the gate and proceeded to Magellan.
Decided to take a minor detour in New London to check out a jump hole my nav map had marked as leading to "Poole". Yeah. Turns out the BPA don't take kindly to people barging into Poole unannounced. I made it back through the hole before I got my tight little buttocks shot off, and decided to stop mucking around and unload the sodding Optronics already.
I'll stop here on Cambridge for a while - breathing the air here is nice. Just hope I'll get enough scratch so that the folks can enjoy it as much as I am.
Begin Log - UPDATE
Location: Planet Nuremberg, Munich System
Did a Beryllium run to the Ring. Got stuck in Freistadt for about an hour when my LSNT jammed in the docking bay. Managed to get free eventually, though the whole thing was rather annoying to say the least.
After unloading the Beryllium, decided to check out whether Munich was all it was cracked up to be. Certainly pretty, to say the least. Spotted a Jump Hole marked Halle on the nav map, but that whole Poole thing has taught me not to stick my big nose in where it doesn't belong, at least for now. Got stuck again on Inglestoldt or whatever Republican calls that base of theirs above Nuremberg, but got free quickly and headed down to the planet for some R&R.
Bloody cold down here, I'll tell you. Infocard says the tropics are deadly or something, I dunno. All I know is I'm freezing my backside. Best crank up the heating...
Begin Log
Location: Planet Denver, Colorado System
Honestly, I really annoy myself sometimes. I said yesterday I'd stop sticking my big nose through exciting new Jump Holes, and what do I do today? Check out Halle. Predictably, the Rheinland police drove me out before I could have too much of a look, so it was back to Munich with my tail between my legs.
Turns out Boron sells way cheaper on Holstein than in Liberty, so I did a run back to Leeds. The camera did its invisibility trick again. What's causing that? Usually happens after exiting Jump Gates... hmmm...
Made it to Leeds and unloaded the boron, then left LD-14 before I could run into Dad. I really don't want to see more of what that place is doing to him.
Did it again in Cambridge. I was mucking around with the nav map and noticed a patrol path convergence in one of the ice clouds, so went to check it out, nosey parker that I am. Turns out it was a Jump Hole to Omega-5, and I blundered into a fight between Hessians and Corsairs. Got out before they turned on me. On the way back, I ran into a wreck in the ice cloud which turned out to contain twenty bars of gold. Not worth the time, really, but I sold them on Cambridge anyway and picked up a load of luxury food to take to Denver.
Rather weird trip through New York: a bloke said he could only see five pilots in the whole system, which was patently not true. Went on about something called a "Discovery channel"; wasn't that an old Earth TV network or something before the war? Remember hearing about it somewhere...
Anyway, I sold the luxury food for a nice profit on Denver. I'll stay here a while to put my feet up after that marathon run.
"All the news that's fit for you. This is the Colony News Service."
"To Bretonia now, and the parents of missing trader Carolyn McArthur today pleaded for their daughter's return."
An image of a man, obviously weak from radiation sickness, and a woman appear on screen. "Carolyn, please contact us. We're worried. We just want to know you're alright. Please?"
The newsreader reappears. "Miss McArthur was last sighted landing on planet Denver, in the Colorado system, fifteen days ago. Her Train sits abandoned and empty on the Denver launchpad. Its last log entry details her arrival on Denver from Cambridge." An image of the ship appears, with an inset photograph of Carrie's face. "The Bretonian and Liberty police request any sightings of Miss McArthur be reported immediately, so she can be returned to her family. Now to sport, and the Leeds Smoggers today lost an epic jet-cricket match to the New London Cockneys 44-37..."
"All the news that's fit for you. This is the Colony News Service."
"...which could surely spell the end of mankind as we know it. Now to the case of missing Bretonian trader Carolyn McArthur, and today the LPI and BPA have announced the chances of finding her are slim to none."
The image switches to a press conference with a senior LPI and a senior BPA officer. "As of today, we are calling off the active search for Miss McArthur. She has not been found in the 24 days she has been missing, we have had no reports, and we feel police resources in both nations may be better spent in other areas," the LPI officer says.
The newsreader reappears. "This statement has met with public outcry in both Liberty and Bretonia, with Carolyn's family in particular demanding more be done."
Carrie's parents appear. "Our daughter is still out there," says her father, "and we are shocked that neither the LPI nor the BPA has seen hide nor hair of her in more than three weeks."
The newsreader again. "The investigation has been hampered by poor-quality images of Miss McArthur distributed to the media, as well as Liberty Police, Inc.'s refusal to allow the Bretonia Police Authority to assist in searching Liberty space. The hotline remains open, and the public are encouraged to report any sightings to either the LPI or BPA as quickly as they can."
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