I guess you can go home again

[LadyPhoenix]

A week on Curacao taught me that the place is a tourist trap unless you've got a ton of money. Maybe I'll come back sometime when I've got more. I got into a scuffle with some Rogues in Cortez on the way back home but they got the bad end of it and now I had five of them in my hold. I knew LPI had a standing bounty of 10,000 credits for each one, so I stopped by San Diego border station on the way back. ACAB but money is money so I'd deal. On my way to process the transaction though, I got a tip that they were paying 45,000 a pop over in the Pennsylvania system so I turned around and headed back to the ship. It would be a pain in rear to fly all the way there but the extra 175,000 credits would be worth it.

On Harrisburg Station I turned in the Rogues and collected the bounty, then grabbed some drill bits and mining machinery because I knew they'd fetch a good price on Pittsburgh. Which was ironically in the New York system. Whoever named that planet really screwed up but I guess they didn't know there would be a Pennsylvania system later on. After I got planetside on Pittsburgh I sold all the equipment and then hit the bar for a drink. They didn't have Rheinbeir here so I went with a vodka cranberry. After a couple minutes I felt multiple sets of eyes on me. Ah yes. The bar full of greasy mechanics and minors can't help but stare at the only woman in the place. Sorry, boys. I'm not interested. But I did get a good tip while I was there. Apparently there was good money to be had hauling gravity field stabilizers from Colorado to Texas. Ugh, Texas. But at least it was Austin depot. I wouldn't have to actually go planetside on Houston.

On Pueblo station I did indeed find gravity field stabilizers, for 5000 credits each. The trade rep assured me I'd double my money on the other end, though, so I loaded up my ship with as many as I could afford. I asked him if there was something the station needed that I could bring back on the return trip. "If you're willing to hop over into Bering, DSE is rebuilding the jump gate to Hamburg and they generate a bunch of data packs that we need."

I'd heard of Ageira's infamous "white boxes" before. You had to work for them to be able to purchase or haul them. I had to ask if that was the case here. "Don't you have to work for Ageira to haul something like that?"

"Sure don't," the trade rep replied. "Just don't try and sell them to a third party unless you want to face their army of lawyers."

I knew there had to be a catch but if the money was as good as he was saying there was no reason to try and screw them over. I didn't relish going back to Texas but maybe I'd go say hi to Amy. I did kind of miss her. And this route had to be better than running bits of this and that between California and New York.