March 8, 3308, Hyldeptu at Schroeder Gateway, aboard Awaite Pawana (Orca)

Why do I have to learn the limits of my new starships by taking unplanned trips into deep space in an escape pod?!? After returning from my long exploration trip, I purchased a new Anaconda. I Christened her TFS Auxilium Manus. I have outfitted her with a long-term eye toward very long range distressed craft rescue, repair, and salvage with a short-term set of add-on modules for general mission runs around the bubble. I joined up with The Fatherhood Squadron with plans to join them on a long-range expedition. I signed up for a stolen art recovery mission for them. I got in a tangle with the pirates stealing said art and handled myself OK in the first encounter. Then on the way back with the recovered art I got interdicted and whooped. My 'Conda was destroyed; very disappointing. Since then I completed a terrorist take down task. I'll take her out on some more shakedown cruises before my expedition and work on outfitting her and practicing long-range travel and rescue.

Meanwhile, I am back in Awaite Pawana and preparing to visit my family. Although I'm sure my dad would enjoy tooling around in an Anaconda, my Mom might find the Orca's appearance more soothing when she is contemplating her 'little boy's' travels in deep space. I'll bring plenty of pictures of my more pointy craft to show Dad how I handle the harder aspects of getting around in the galaxy. I am very proud to be coming back home after a bit more than a year as a billionaire even though I've been a bit banged up in the journey. The Awaite Pawana is freshly painted, interior detailed, galley and bar well stocked, and she's fitted out with my best passenger cabins. She will show well.

Well it is time to undock and make the short trip to Sol!

March 5, 3308, Smojue JX-L d7-47 adrift aboard Awaite Pawana (Orca)

Had you asked me where I'd be today when I was heading out of the Pilots Federation District with my license, I likely would've replied that I'd be hauling cargo and protecting trade routes from pirate scoundrels. Today I am literally light years away from that pursuit. I did not predict the pull that exploring the stars and planets outside of the bubble would have on me. I have enjoyed and profited most from exploring. I'm heading back to the bubble for a bit and plan to visit Sol this month. Also, I have a billion, with a 'B', credits that I'm eager to spend on my next craft. Perhaps after that, I will be ready to head out again.

-- CMDR Alfred T. Mahan

March 2, 3308, Flyiedge DM-Y B20-7 on A 2, aboard Awaite Pawana (Orca)

It has been too long since my last journal entry. As I approach my first anniversary of earning my pilot's license, I've become a bit reflective. Since my last journal entry, I've done a lot. I purchased an Orca and set her up for passenger tours. What else would I do with an Orca. Well it turns out she is a very, very nice way to get around our galaxy as a pilot. More on that in a bit. After a few pax runs in the bubble to shakedown my Orca, Awaite Pawana, I decided to take a big jump. I picked up a couple of touring groups to take to Sag A. For my very first truly long haul, I did well. I got the happy tourists to the center of the galaxy in style with sight-seeing along the way. On such a long journey I gained a lot of competence and confidence handling the big Orca. Horribly, on my return journey I slammed into a planet with a too fast landing approach and ejected us all onto a remote planet well outside of typical travel lanes. I had logged our intended movement and the insurance and rescue package I keep paid up, got our pods recovered eventually.

Alone in the center of the galaxy in a rebuilt Orca, I decided I'd take some time to explore on my way back to the bubble instead of picking up more passengers. It turns out that the Orca is a very comfortable way to fly and explore even on your own. She stays remarkably cool and handles hyperspace speeds well. She is a little on ungainly flying around planet surfaces. I trashed an Orca while flying inverted to watch my flight over a particularly large crater. I did not notice my altitude loss caused by the topside, vertical thrusters not holding up weight of the ship. I tumbled across the face of the planet and since I was off of my posted planned track by a bit it took longer for rescue. I am now more disciplined about keeping my position of intended movement more up to date with the insurance office. Well at least I am more often inclined to do it.

As I have roamed, I have visited Colonia and sought out many different celestial bodies and interesting nebulae to explore. It has been enjoyable and profitable. I have found that what I've thought of as "the black" is much more populated than I thought initially. I'm still frightfully lonely. The strain of the travel got to be too much for me and so I settled down for a long hibernation period to rest. It beats narcotics. I've put on some pounds on this journey, the well-equipped galley, full bar, and ample food storage capacity of the Awaite Pawana can lead to big meals for just me.

Now, as the title of this entry suggests, I'm heading home. I'm way overdue to visit my family on Earth and I have plenty to share. I've set a course for Sol with a few inhabited systems as way points on the way back to the bubble. I am looking forward to seeing friends and my family again. I am most excited to see Earth's night sky and that old familiar perspective, now that I've visited many of those stars and seen them from so many different perspectives!

--CDR A.T. Mahan

Stepped outside on Flyiedge DM-Y B20-7 A 2, A 3 pictured in background

April 16, 3307, Hyldeptu at Schroeder Gateway, aboard Ense Petit Placidam (Alliance Chieftain)

After a week of working on missions for the Diamond Frogs with a focus on mercenary, assassination, and bounty hunting missions, I have fallen in love with my Chieftain. I trust Ense Petit Placidam to get me to the fight and back home safely. I'm still learning no doubt! Since my last log I have had two more trips to the insurance office to buy back Chieftains. Both trips were from a conflict zone near Rabastyane 3. In an early fight there I pushed my luck against a bigger opponent and Ense Petit Placidam and I were not prepped for it. I still had some tweaking to do on her outfitting and I had a lot to learn about fighting in a conflict zone. As I got more comfortable and successful I took on an Anaconda that quickly dispatched me with corrosive weapons mods and a I did not help myself by ramming his craft either! CMDR Slung Blade had my number and eliminated me quickly. With that expensive tuition paid, I continued to work the mission until it was finished and I feel much more comfortable in the cockpit. An anti-piracy mission in LP 532-81 for the Hutton Orbital Truckers seemed like a cake walk now in comparison. I am using bi-weave shields, lots of hull and module reinforcement, gimballed pulse lasers on my medium and small hardpoints, and gimballed multi-cannons on my large hard points. The fixed plasma and railguns did not serve me well in the combat zone. Perhaps with more aiming and timing practice. On my utility slots I'm running with a point defense and ECM on top and shield boosters in back. I find the ECM helps out a lot in a multi-contact fight and the point defense particularly strong against mines and has helped with incoming missile attacks as well.

-- CMDR A. T. Mahan

My Pilot's Federation combat rank is up to Novice now. I'll come back to fighting soon. For now, I'm getting back into Audacibus Coeptis to participate in a station building mission. I will be hauling building supplies into Harma. I have contemplated buying a Type-9 Heavy for this work. However, after talking to some other pilots and looking at the news, I'm going to stick to my Asp Explorer in cargo running mode. I'll keep her setup for speed and capacity with good shields and heat sinks. Audacibus Coeptis served me really well on the medicines flying missions because I was able to trade easily from stations further away than the bulk of pilots were flying and that gave me favorable trade rates in addition to the rewards offered for the work. Also, when she is set up to run she can do a good job of avoiding interdiction and if the bad guys ever do pull us in we can usually throw out heatsinks and gear up for a jump before we get harmed. Usually when I'm running in this mode my cargo is worth much more than any bounties I could possibly get from tangling with pirates.

April 9, 3307, 63 G. Capricorni at Skvortsov Orbital, aboard Ense Petit Placidam (Alliance Chieftain)

I made it back safely from my exploration run and sold a bit over 38 million credits of data. I got credit for discovering and mapping WREGOE GH-U C3-0 A 4. I added to my first mapped list as well. This trip has bumped up my Pilot's Federation rank to Ranger.

Overall, my load out for Audacibus Coeptis worked really well for this trip. With the 5D power plant I am likely hauling around too much for what I need and will try trimming that down to a 4D plant with a 3D coupler. I will also need to bring along more synthesizing materials for heat sinks.

The Asp Ex captain's quarters, galley, and head held up well through this 5 night journey. I felt a little campy coming back in after spending so much time in my flight suit. I was not out long enough to run low on fresh ingredients or the like. I really enjoyed running about on planet surfaces and will do more of that soon.

I dropped some change on an Alliance Chieftain and have been giving her a good shakedown. I purchased her on Fulton City in Sigma Geminorum. I outfitted her with Mil Grade hull plates there and then shipped her to our home port Schroeder Gateway in Hyldeptu. Before shipping her, I took her out for a quick test drive. Very snappy roll, pitch, and surprisingly quick yaw compared to the Asp Explorer. With her factory FSD she could not plot a jump course to Hyldeptu. Upgrading the drive seems to have taken care of that problem. I've had no trouble getting around in the bubble so far. After about a week with a big mouthed fuel scoop, I have had to get used to thinking about refueling stops again. Ense Petit Placidam is outfitted to tank and gun and she still gets around pretty well. I only had 4B thrusters available at Schroeder Gateway. I will upgrade those at a discount station after a few more shakedown missions. I've been running missions for the Diamond Frogs. I'm still only rated as Mostly Aimless by the Pilot's Federation. I definitely feel like I swing above that weight with my new Chieftain.

In shopping for my hunter/mercenary/assassin ship, I asked around and got a lot of opinions. I looked hard at a Fed Drop Ship, Alliance Challenger, and Krait Phantom. The Chieftain seems to fit my fighting style. She does very well even when she is outnumbered and can disable enemies quickly, while taking a punch from the other wing members. I am certainly not the most adept dog fighter out there. I can find my targets though and I like the maneuverability I get from the Chieftain.

--CDR A. T. Mahan

April 5, 3307, Outotz KY-I d9-1 adrift, aboard Audacibus Coeptis (Asp Explorer)

More exploring in Sanguineous Rim today. I dropped in on some planets to pick up some materials in my SRV. I set down extra-hard in one spot and then accidentally switched off flight assist and commenced rolling Audacibus Coeptis around on the surface like a pig in mud. I royally screwed up my hull. I thought that my trip would be over. Very fortunately for me there was a fleet carrier only 111 ly away. I visited Painite Zebinion owned by CMDR HollandTF in the Outotz HD-J d9-3 system. Repairs and restock were double the bubble pricing and I gladly paid the tariff. It has saved me from limping home.

I have plenty of new materials gathered including the stuff I need to goose my FSD if I need to make a particularly long jump. Since synthesizing my first heat sinks, I have also refueled the SRV and I'm going to need to make up some ammo for her as well.

I took some selfies at sunset on the surface of Outotz JF-U c17-0 1 when I thought I'd have to turn back home. I harvested some Polonium there at volcanic vents at geo-poi 4.

Resting here before continuing a little further into Sanguineous Rim.

--CDR A. T. Mahan

April 3, 3307, Outotz OE-H d10-7 adrift, aboard Audacibus Coeptis (Asp Explorer)

I've done it! I have left the Inner Orion Spur. It has been a little difficult to find a path to jump this far. I've made it and it feels good. Audacibus Coeptis is in good health. Other then the dent in her hull from setting down too hard back on COL 285 Sector WL-P B21-3 A 1 and a little heat damage to her Docking Computer and Power Drive that I haven't repaired yet. I've been generally able to avoid damage in this run and I'm getting better at scooping different star types. I did need to synthesize some heat sinks and that'll probably be the resource that turns me around on this trip. I'll need to stock up on raw materials better before I set out next time.

I'll spend this rest period in Outotz OE-H d10-7. I've mapped a terraformable water world here. I can head straight out after waking and go deeper into the Sanguineous Rim. I'll likely turn around tomorrow and head back to base. I'm pretty set on buying that Alliance Chieftain and running some missions for the Golden Frogs with it.

-- A. T. Mahan

April 2, 3307, HIP 50687 adrift, aboard Audacibus Coeptis (Asp Explorer)

HIP 50687 is my approximately halfway waypoint on my way to the Inner Orion Spur's edge. When I got there, I immediately knew it was where I was going to stop for my rest period. It is a very large system with 67 bodies around two stars. There are a lot of interesting planets here and all but two are unmapped. I'll get busy mapping these now. It might take me hours to do. Based on what I learn from my mapping efforts, this might be a great place to set up a mining colony run out of a carrier.

Well these planets, rings, and moons are not going to map themselves, time to boot up and get going.

-- CDR A. T. Mahan

April 1, 3307, Wregoe YN-G b40-0 adrift, aboard Audacibus Coeptis (Asp Explorer)

I continued my work for the Golden Frogs and it went well. I did run into CDR Bryan Lee in an Anaconda while running narcotics and it did not go well for Audacibus Coeptis and me. I got a few shots off and as much as I love my Asp Explorer it is not built for toe-to-toe battles and I was too heavy to outrun the Anaconda. That seventh trip to the insurance office since I've left the Pilots' Federation space would've been hard to avoid.

That said, it was a very profitable string of runs for me. I ran some seek and destroy missions and a lot of high priority freight. My credit account is now over 240 million. This will go into my new ship fund. Right now I'm leaning toward making my next vessel an Alliance Chieftain.

I started this wake period in my nominal home system of Hyldeptu. I changed Audacibus Coeptis to her light-weight, long-jump, exploring load out. Maybe it was my imagination, but I could've sworn she was purring. We lit off to Pirni, dropped our hard points and shields and started off to first land on the first planet that I mapped and then continue in the general direction of Spica with the goal of going further. We have. This journey has brought some more exploring firsts: Wregoe EP-E B41-0 is now the first full system that I have surfaced mapped. The system was discovered by CMDR Zack Hawkings. I also mapped my first gas giant, Wregoe YN-G B40-0 B 5. This will also be my first rest period spent in deep space. After weeks in the chaos of the relief effort and the crowded systems surrounding Frog, the isolation and long jumps of deep space are very welcome. It'll take some getting used to. I'll button everything up and hide to avoid any unexpected surprises.

I won't stay here in Wregoe YN-G b40-0 for much longer. Just taking a short break. On this journey I hope to officially make it out of the Inner Orion Spur for the first time. It will take me more than a 1000 ly from Sol. Time to get going again.

-- CDR A. T. Mahan

March 30, 3307, Potriti at Hartsfield Plant, aboard Audacibus Coeptis (Asp Explorer)

While running smuggling and hi-pri freight for the Golden Frogs, Audacibus Coeptis was dissolved around me by pirates. Twice I was evicted from my Asp by pirates that pulled me out of super cruise while I was using the FSS with cargo in my hold. A third time by a pirate that was particularly bent on preventing me from getting medicines to my destination. She did not get the cargo, I was empty at the time. I looked to beef up security and found I was running without shields turned on! I had deactivated them to experiment with silent running. I've added checking systems to my pre-flight routine. That was a costly mistake. With shields on I thought I would fair better against the pirate hunting me on my multi-trip medicine run. Thus, my fourth trip to the insurance office. I'm lucky to have been rescued quickly in all four cases. I also experienced ship loss again while doing activities outside of my primary mission. I'll need to be more cautious while I'm inside the bubble. I was in a particularly hot area when I got mugged.

I have added a shield booster and switched out turret beams for gimballed pulse lasers in my medium hard points. This should make me a harder target still.

Aside from those losses, I'm running pretty well. I'm a Petty Officer in the Federal Navy after doing some special tasks for them. My account is up over 100 million credits and I have a stack of modules for Audacibus Coeptis stored away. I'm also sitting on four ships. I don't know if I'll ever sell Originale Itinere or Viam Sub Rosa out of nostalgia. My still yet-to-be christened Type-6 Transport is not eligible for resale since she is a tax-free gift for doing rescue work. I'm wondering what I'll do with her. When I figure that out, she'll get a name and outfitted for the task.

--CDR ATM