Flieger, grüß' mir die Sonne, grüß' mir die Sterne und grüß' mir den Mond. Dein Leben, das ist ein Schweben, durch die Ferne, die keiner bewohnt! - Hans Albers, F.P.1 antwortet nicht (Adaptation in the 80s: Extrabreit)

Wednesday 10 December 2014

Simple life of a freelancer

Frontier has now confirmed that there won´t be a wipe of your achievements anymore. Space life can now really start, I guess!

Serebrov Station, Yakabugai system. I already have a name here with some independend trading, mainly with metals and industrial stuff like superconductors. Right now, the bulletin board offers some supply contracts about food stuff, outsourced from some local authorities, which I do not bother about. I just know where I can get that stuff from and that´s why I am their man of the hour and that´s a good start as any. No sense to sit in a station bar being undecided of all the options on what to do.

As my Lakon Type 6 leaves the parking site, I curse my mindless eagerness. I could have speculated a bit with bringing some commodities for sale to Ackerman Market. But like this, the thing is pretty straightforward; load some grain, some coffee, some fish in Ackerman Market, and for synergies, accept some hauling contracts to Levi-Montalcini City in Yakabugai.

Back in Yakabugai, I am interdicted but I am sure that pilot does not know what he is himself getting into. I have a pair of brand new burst lasers installed, and, man, I know how to use them. The novice Cobra popping in behind me desperately circles but never gets to shoot at me; it is over rather quickly. Datalinks acknowlede a voucher of 6840 CR (I wonder how this slug of a pilot ever accumulated this sum).

I dock in Serebrov again, have to realize that the contracts´ small print determinded Levi-Montalcini City as place of delivery, so relaunch and head there. I heeded my lesson and filled my remaining cargo hold with superconductors. Unfortunately, the stocks over there are rating them tonight as medium demand, so my profits are only half of what they could be. My next routine trade route to Aristotle Gateway fares a bit better; I load from a high supply of Gallium, which sells at high demand over there. I throw in a retour with a load with high supply stocks of tantalum, but this again is rated only medium demand.

Having spent a while around, I have already gained some reputation, which has been officially acknowledged by the Pilots´ Federation as a "Merchant". The local authorities also seem to start to take note of my butt. Yakabugai Exchange is the faction which operates Levi-Montalcini City, and datalinks have just updated my rating with them as "friendly". Well, thank you! My counterpart partners at Aristotle Gateway are from the Allied Yakabugai Liberty Party, and they are still more catious with me, leaving my rating at "neutral".

I start noting a particularity about the contracts as offered on the various bulletin boards. Yakabugai Exchange maintains an official allied status with the Federation. They want food, and, worse, it seems as a charity. At least, it is frequently requested on the bulletin board. The Allied Yakabugai Liberty Party in Aristotle Gateway, on the other hand, seem to be up to something. They want weapons and stuff, and they say they pay nicely for it. Right now, I do not feel ready to step on anybodies´ toes, I mean more than I already did from a more "lively" past, involving some misplaced commodities and some misunderstandings of their origins. I always assumed, spoils to the victor when I disposed of some targets with a bounty on their ass.

Right now, and after some more trade runs and some unfortunate interdictors being greeted by burst lasers, (which makes me overall 1,7 million Credits rich), I think it is time to sniff around a bit more about the political power games in this part of the galaxy.

For example, I wonder, where could I make a business of those perma high supply stocks of computer components? Conversely, this systems seems to be a bit short on some high tech, like progenitor cells or semi-conductors. A high tech system with 19 mio population is 15,74 ly out there, LTT 7548. There might be some profit! But in order to reach this systems, I need a better frameshift drive. Mine makes only 12,65 (8,55 ly fully laden). I know from tech specs, the class A4 FSD would make 27,25 (18,41 ly fully laden), with a luxury price tag of 1,6 million Credits attached to it. This would leave me a bit too cash starved, since I still need some capital from my current 1,7 million of cash in order to actually buy commodities.

A Class B4 drive would be considerably cheaper, but only achieve 22,11 (15,07 ly fully laden). So, I go for the B4 one. I also know the neighbouring system, Eravate, rather well, and I know that Russel Ring has a trader who offers some. I again fly with an empty cargo hold and curse myself for not being a bit more present on the market. Every flight with an empty cargo hold is a lost opportunity.

The B4 drive has just enough juice to propel an empty Type 6 over to LTT 7548. There are three stations in this system and Boltzman Gateway is the closest with 1000 ls out. Not too convenient; time is cash and open long distances make you easy prey for the wolves out there. As it had to happen, a wolf which actually is an Eagle wants some spoils. My burst lasers tell him, no, and the Eagle dissipates, leaving his bounty voucher with me.

Boltzman Gateway´s shipyard has a rich prodict line. It has an Orca (48 mio), a Python (57 mio), a Dropship... all Fed ships (which exempts the Imperial Clipper, of course). Good to know! Some day, I will own you all! The commodity marked here is a bit diluted, though. Some high supplies which could be of interest (i.e. those whith a potential high profit span), but no real corresponding high demand. I think I should extend my datalink collection to the two other stations in LTT 7548.

But not tonight anymore. Logging out for some healthy sleep.


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