Okay, activity log time. Let's do this. Where to start? We all received new orders from President Gunsmith that our contracts with outside agencies were taking... more time to fill than he would have liked, and he encouraged those of us with capable transports to venture out and secure resources for Elysium's expansion project. Of course I'm ungodly slow to the party, so by the time I got the ship ready and checked the manifests, there weren't too many items we still needed. Let's see...
"20K PlasFoam Conduits", that's 4 trips to Kyushu. No problem, I know those jumps through the Taus easy enough. Templar radioed me and told me I was crazy for going that route as opposed to the safer trip through the lanes of Liberty, but I really disdain that route. The Taus have been relatively quiet lately anyway. On my second or third trip I did meet a Kusari Imperial Navy pilot who casually inquired as to my errand. I pretty much just left him with a "hello" and nothing more as I jumped the Silver Lining up to cruise speed. Had no other encounters during those 4 hauls. Deliver 20K PlasFoam Conduits - check.
"36K High-Performance Alloys", oh geez, that's like 7 trips up to Scarborough in Newcastle. Not the most fun route. I'd almost rather fly into a neutron star. Oh well, work is work! After just one or two trips I got a message on the general DSM comm from Captain Lourens Van Burick of the Nightingale. He was all up in arms over an apparent lack of Reinforced Alloy deliveries lately. Can't say I blame him. They are pretty damn important, and I can't remember the last time I brought any back myself. Thankfully I was already headed to Bretonia anyway, so I punched in a slight navigation modification and diverted to Trafalgar. Most of our team prefers to pick up in New London, but the Junkers in Trafalgar are a more entertaining crowd than the stiffs in New London. Not to mention they pour much stiffer drinks! Emergency delivery of 29K Reinforced Alloys - check.
Setting off once again on my route for High-Performance Alloys, on my way through Magellan I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being watched. Then I got a screaming notification from the ship's computer: "Incoming missile!". Goddamnit, I hate being right all the time. Nearly broke my neck being pulled out of cruise speed that fast. I checked the scanners and saw my assaulter: a Lane Hacker. Great. "What are you doing?" He asked. I told him "I'm playing the piano, what's it look like?" I don't think he appreciated my sarcasm, but I wasn't interested in conversation. Time is money in my profession and this guy was annoying. I asked him straightforward how much I could pay him to go away. At first he gave some stupid remark about how I couldn't just buy my way out of all of my problems. Great, I came across the only "righteous" pirate in all of Sirius. Stupid. I'm thinking "I have no cargo you idiot, you're either going to take my money or blow me up. Either way, get on with it." As I suspected, he eventually did ask for money (go figure, right?), but it was only one million credits. Hah! Chump change. I'd have paid him five times that before I even started to complain. I made the transaction and told him to go space himself, then I made the jump to Manchester to continue my route.
A couple hours later, on my final run to Scarborough I'm again flying through Magellan in the last lane to Manchester. Suddenly at the second-to-last lane ring I'm forced out of the lane. Another damn Lane Hacker! This guy's name was LH-Jaws. It was more memorable than the last guy's name. I fired the cruise engine, but he interdicts me. "Fine" I thought, I'm not far from the gate, let's see what happens. I kept the engine running at about 80 and crept toward the gate. This guy is even more nonchalant than the last one. He says "Fancy a chat?" At this point I'm just laughing. "Time is money, so you better chat fast" was my reply. I didn't even see his response, because by then I'd made it to the Manchester gate. With the right positioning and a quick punch of the coordinates, I jumped through the gate and left the Hacker behind. I knew now I'd have to be quick because I was pretty certain he was going to follow me as soon as he figured out I'd gotten ahead of him. As soon as I came out of the gate I punched it for the trade lane. Success! The lane activated just as I picked up the Hacker coming out of the gate behind me. "I've got you now buddy" I'm thinking to myself and laughing out loud to no one in particular. He followed me through the next couple of lanes, past Sheffield and on toward Birmingham. As I took the last lane toward the New London Gate, all I could manage to laugh out over the comm was "Too slow, Hacker!" That was the last I saw of him. I think someone ran him down a little later back in Magellan. That's the chatter I overheard while I was loading up the last of the alloys at Scarborough. The way home was clear and uneventful. Deliver 36K High-Performance Alloys - check.
Hell of a day. Think I'll get a drink and some sleep back at Elysium.
