Made it to Ames where I hooked up with DeathAdder, who kindly escorted me in to Nome and got me set up. He was called away shortly after, so after some time checking the place out, I headed out alone.
It wasn't long before I hooked up with another comrade in arms, Stiletto and we camped out in New York, near the Colorado gate, keeping an eye on things. We were engaged without warning by a bounty hunter who's Ship ID I didn't manage to get. I was too busy trying to distract him while Stiletto did the hard work and brought him down.
Sometime later, back in Kepler, I went to the assistance of a fellow Juvenile who was engaged by another bountry hunter. It was there I discovered that growing up on Pittsburgh gave me glaring insufficient preperation for life as a combat pilot, something I intend to rectify as soon as possible.
There was one high point to the day, this time in Colorado, we came across yet another bounty hunter, ship ident XxL-fighter, this one with a hold full of our comrades. We persuaded him to release them into our custody and swiftly returned them to Ouray. However, when we resumed our partrol, the bounty hunter once again had Xeno pilots in his hold. This time he fled the scene when challenged.
During this time, we'd heard a pirate issuing rather brusque and abrupt demands. On investigation, this turned out to be an Outcast sabre, ship ident EAS. As we approached, he demanded 'tax' from us. We demurred and I shortly thereafter found my shields gone. The Outcast then said we'd "Die!" and attacked full force. My Starblazer was no match for a surprise attack by a fully kitted Sabre.
All in all, my first day in the Serpentis wing turned out to be an eventful one.