Lee's Diary - Pilot of The Narcotic

[Narcotic]

Date: 23 August 819
System: Conorado
Location: Barrier Gate Station, in my room.
Topic: Pilot without a ship

The other morning, I gave the construction hangar of my new friend a visit. When entering the hangar at D1/17, I've witnessed how they were finishing their last job. It wasn't clear, for whom that frigate was going to belong, but it could have been some other Freelancer, or even some unlawful pirate, smuggler or whatever. Thinking about who owns that ship, brought me to the question, what my occupation is currently. Am I a fugitive? Deformed by a failed experiment of a wanted professor. Getting himself a new ship, built by top secret plans. I have to say, that I don't have a good feeling with that. But who should care about a simple Freelancer, flying an unknown ship, whose building plans he has found somewhere? I don't even know, if that ship ever got produced by someone. Hopefully, I won't get any problems with it. I really don't feel like being hunted by some organisation, accusing me as spy or thief.
However, the finalising frigate was almost finished, and I was satisfied with that.

The construction hangar at D1-17.

After introducing me to his design engineers and several builders, he led me to his office, where we discussed the details. Given the fact, that I had those two billion SC to spent, I've choosen the best equipment available. Here's a small list of its main gear:

Weapons:
> 6x Basic Gunboat Turret
> 1x EMP-7 Gunboat Pulse Cannon
> 1x Gunboat "Battle Razor" Tachyon-Antimatter Cannon
Combat Systems:
> CM-5 Heavy Countermeasure Dropper
External Equipment:
> Gunboat Graviton Shield
> Cheetah Thruster
> Cloaking Device
Internal Equipment:
> Battleship Scanner
> Capital Ship Armor Upgrade Mk VIII
Cargo bay:
> 80 - 130 units
Powercore:
> Maximum efficiency: 75%
> Power output: 450,000 u
> Power recharge: 45000

I've been good with his proposal. The explanation for the small free use cargo bay is, that the superior hull is heavy as hell, which makes up for the best protection, you can get. Besides it, most of the high-end equipment took a lot of space. And to reduce fuel costs, engine size, and to increase the agility of the ship in total, it would have been counterproductive, to have a large cargo bay. Not to mention the upgraded cloaking device, which'll take quite some cargo space, too. On the other hand, I had more space to fill all the empty rooms, which offers more luxuriousness. On that individual part, I'll get my hands on, once the ship will be ready for its maiden flight.

But on the question, why the powercore has a maximum efficiency of just 75% and not 100%, he asked me to follow him to the powercell hanger at LB-3. Amazed by the beatifulness of those powercells, he told me, that the most difficult part of building spacecrafts is, to find the matching powercells. The creation of those powercell is a very time-consuming and dangerous process, which is done by professionals of official ship construction organisations. And when building individual ships, you have to test, which powercell fit the ship itself. Only products, right from treadmills can offer a 100% functionality. He assured me, that those 75% is the best I can get. He adivsed me of the powercell, he uses for my beauty, are bought from a random Junker, who salvaged them in the deep Omicron Worlds. And I should be thankful, that he utilizes them for me.

LB-3, The powercell hangar.

After a fast guidance, everything was discussed. The hardpoint lights, the paint, the main interior layout and thousands of other small individual setups. In memories of my old ship, whose parts were reused in the new construction, I'll keep the shipname; "The Narcotic".

Being tired and happy at the same time, I entered the living sector on the West Wing, and searched for my rooms keycard. I've never mentioned, that I've bought a comfortable room on Barrier Gate. It was in 815 AS, about a year after I left Malta. I felt better when traveling Sirius, that I'm having a place, which I can call "home" after all...
It's nothing special, but it reaches its aim quiet well. And best of all is, that it's a perfect hideout, where I can spend a few weeks without getting harassed by someone. And it also has the practical benefit, that I can keep an eye on my ships progress, since the hangar is just a quick walk away from my room. And who knows, how long it takes to build such a special ship? And for the time being, until it'll be finished, I could call myself a pilot without a ship!

"Home, sweet home #2."