I received the engineering report today, they said that my ship hasn't been taken care of in years, the hull was intact however it was a civilian ship and they cannot guarantee hull integrity with all the multiple gun impacts that a smuggler go through during a mission, also, they said that the auto navigation & docking in lanes electronics were failing and would need a reset often when not working properly, which I already knew.
Because KKJ needed supplies, I discussed with the engineer in chief to take responsibility of my own ship and fly in it. He said as I came from New Tokyo to here, I might be able to handle things, however, the ship will have another supervision by the end of the upcoming mission.
The contract was to Deliver 3400 Plasmonics Metamaterials to Kinkaku-Ji
The flight was tedious, I knew that Kusari border guards were known to be tough but I did not expect them to breach my shield multiple times and shake my hull. I hit my head when a pulse landed right on the cockpit, I had a concussion from the impact as I didn't have my helmet. So I turned away my ship and set it on cruise to the closest jump hole. I then used that time to find use of my first aid, glad that I used to bandage a lot of my chrysanthemum daughters during their escape from the police.
After bandaging myself, it was time to keep going, the shots stopped only when I arrived to Bretonia, god I wonder what happened there but everything was a wreckage ! I don't recall Bretonia to be like this when I visited it being younger. Once docked in Dublin, I had the engineer take a look at my ship and he asked me to stay some days because the hull was cracked.
I obviously refused. Kusari forces have spies everywhere and I cannot trust anyone, so I accepted to spend one night there while they quickfix at least the bridge, they told me it should hold for my trip back but I had to be extra careful.
Knowing where the most dangerous intersections were, I avoided them and beside some small hits it was easy, I am not that old after all ! Then, I went to Kinkaku-Ji and unloaded my cargo. I think I lost some of my cargo during the way with the breach that was left in the cargo area of the ship, so I quickly hopped back to Dublin and got the remaining 75 that slipped off the breach, if only you saw the face of the engineer when he saw me coming back.
I am now heading back safely to Ainu, I cherish all the life in that small base. I consider myself very lucky to live long enough to see all those girls with the bravery I never had at their age.
In short, it was tough, but no enemy ships encountered. Mission accomplished.