Dateline - Lembava: Security Forces of Li Yong-Rui reported sighting the wreckage of Type 10 Defender registered under the power's banner to Commander Robert the Stroober. Witnesses state they last saw the heavily armed gunship steaming toward a low-res site, apparently with mission orders to hunt down pirates wanted by several area system authorities.

In 3304, Commander Stroober was originally discovered in the wreckage of a mysterious ship of unknown origin by a Federation Expedition. He was rescued and nursed back to health in the bubble where he went on to become a successful trader and explorer. The wreckage of his strange vessel was impounded by the Federation Navy and remains a closely guarded secret.

He was reported to have been working on his combat rating when his ship disappeared from scanners 3 day ago. A Long-Rui spokesperson said that, although the wreckage of the Lakon warship, "Yellow Cake" was mostly accounted for, no bodies have been recovered.

Commander Stroober has been officially listed as missing by authorities. A close associate of Stroober's. Captain Heronimus Rico said, "That stinks, he owed me money!"

Federal Navy investigators have taken over the case from local security and ask that if anyone has any information as to the whereabouts of Robert the Stroober, please contact their offices on Ising Dock in the 109 Piscium system: Stroober's port of record.

Dateline 109 PISCIUM - S.S. Pilgrim's Progress has successfully returned to Ising Dock from the Distant Worlds Expedition to Beagle Point. The commander of the Anaconda-class vessel, Roober the Stroober had nothing but praise, "In spite of the dangers inherent to long distance space travel the ship and crew performed admirably and beyond expectations. Congratulations to everyone on board and best wishes for the future whether aboard ship or on other up-coming assignments." While the crew readies itself for much deserved shore leave and future orders, the 576-ton ship has been ordered by the Pilot's Federation to be re-outfitted for combat in the ongoing fight against the Thargoid threat.

For the crew of Pilgrim's Progress, the Distant Worlds expedition is now over. Having made it safely back to Explorer's Anchorage and cashed in the data, everyone is now enjoying the hospitality of the newest facilities near Sagittarius A.

Some are touring the local systems, some are getting reacquainted with the joys of Lavian brandy, and others are catching rides home having completed their tour aboard ship. Best of luck to all!

The ship itself has been dry-docked to undergo much needed repair and restoration. Almost 90,000 light years of travel will takes its toll on even the heartiest of vessels.

Next stop for 2TK-DW? It's back to the shipyards in 109 Piscium where she is scheduled for a refit and recommission as a combat vessel to help in the fight against the on-going Thargoid threat. The crew is excited about the change. Most are ready to move on from exploration.

What a noble pursuit after an honorable conclusion to such a memorable voyage of discovery.

To all the new friends we met, and the allies we made - o7's and o9's all around! Light Speed Commanders!

Roober the Stroober | Commanding Officer | 2TK-DW "Pilgrim's Progess"

Made it.

Hmmm.

Guess I'll head home now.

Roober the Stroober | Commanding Officer | 2TK-DW "Pilgrim's Progress"

If Emergency drops-outs sent up flares, yesterday’s route towards Goliath’s Rest would have lit up the galaxy like a Christmas tree (If you’re wondering what a Christmas tree is, check old Earth (Sol) history, about 1,300 years ago. I came across some old writings and found it quite fascinating.). Maybe my eyes are getting old, maybe my controls need calibrating, maybe I’m losing my touch as a pilot (That would be pretty bad this far from civilization.); but when it came to Neutron boosts, I almost screwed the pooch on more than a few of them.

It was either an emergency drop-out, or I could hang out in the jet cone long enough to get a blue tan and…

…no supercharge.

After pulling some rabbits out of my hat, and almost burning out an AFMU with repair work, I finally made it to Waypoint 8 where I could spend a little time relaxing and participating in the SRV antics that my fellow commanders are so fond of.

If Colonia was my destination of choice after Beagle Point, it is my destination of necessity now. Please don’t tell me what my ship integrity is at the moment.

At least the feeling of being followed is gone.

For now…

Roober the Stroober | Commanding Officer | 2TK-DW "Pilgrim's Progress"

Well, here I am out past Sagittarius A, swapping time between seeing the sights with some fellow commanders, and actually exploring undiscovered parts of the galaxy for myself instead of surveying R2R routes for other companies.

I should digress a little to explain that being over 25k light years from the bubble ended up being a necessity...

Remember a few entries back where it seemed as though I was being watched? Well, as it turns out I was right. Apparently, the Federation are experimenting with more than just the recently discovered Guardian technology that everyone has been buzzing about. They're still trying to figure out how some of the systems on my old ship work. By old ship, I mean the one they found me in; mangled and mostly dead, only to scoop it up and cart it off to some super-secret facility so they could study it and, I guess, make use of it (You can read all the details in my previous entries.).

Long story short, I just finish my check ride in my new Anaconda when I'm approached by a couple of goons who say they need to "have a word with me about some tech I apparently have developed." Naturally I told them I had no clue what they were talking about and, in truth, I don't! My memory of that ship and that life seems nowhere near resurfacing any time soon. Also naturally, they didn't buy it.

The next few moments were such a blur. All I remember was seeing one goon pointing a pistol at me, and the other saying I was going to cooperate for the good of the Federation. The next thing I know, both are on the ground holding their knees, writhing around in pain, and I'm dismantling the guy's gun and scattering the parts in trash cans, drain ports, and every other place I can find as I'm running back to the hangar bay.

A quick systems check found the "Pilgrim's Progress" in the same shiny, new condition I had just left it in earlier that day. I made a hasty departure request, slipped through the mail slot at slightly higher a velocity than allowed, and made the jump to the first bookmarked system in my nav panel. Fortunately, it was my tech broker friend who, having no love for the federation himself, had my 'conda ready for the DW2 expedition in record time. I made a couple more stops to stock up on supplies and made my way to WP1 where I was easily lost in the 6000+ ships that launched for the galactic core.

I don't know if they are willing to chase me across the Milky Way for what they think I know, but I'm keeping my head on a swivel for now...

Roober the Stroober | Commanding Officer | 2TK-DW "Pilgrim's Progress"

It was difficult to hide my excitement as the tech broker escorted me into the large hangar bay. She had called me that morning to let me know that outfitting, testing, and certification has been completed on my latest purchase. The Guardian weaponry had hit a couple of snags in the certification phase and it ended up costing a little more than I had expected but, I wanted to minimize my risk by having something on board I knew could make big holes in ships quickly, and those plasma chargers fit the bill.

"Have you had any experience fighting with those GPC's?" the tech broker asked.

My smile was a purposeful mix of acknowledgment and mystery, "Yea, I've burn a few ships down with those." Her face paled slightly and I made reassuring eye contact with her, "They all had it coming..."

The truth was, the Skunkworks Vulture I had been flying for my "off-books" friends had two of them. They did take a little getting used to. After all, fixed weapons required the most skill, but reaped the most rewards. My new Anaconda, on the other hand, would need a couple more to help me even out the fact that it was a lot bigger, and slower.

"Are you ready for your check-ride commander," she said with a smile. She was obviously proud of her work and was almost giddy at the thought of seeing her latest build in action.

"Of course!" I replied, "Let's get to it!"

I spent the rest of the afternoon with the broker, starting with an exterior walk-around. At 155 meters in length, and over 30 meters tall, it took a good hour just to complete the inspection of the exterior. It was hard to stop smiling at the galvanized copper coating on the hull. Not so boring to look at but not so gaudy as to attract unwanted attention.

The ship had been transferred by the shipyard directly to the technology broker's dry dock to undergo the outfitting I had requested. During that time I studied all of the systems that would be added to the already standardized flight control system. The Pilot's Federation had made a good call with the FCS design, so it only took a minimum of study to familiarize myself with the flight characteristics. She was a lot bigger, and a lot heavier than anything I had ever flown before.

We finally made our way to the bridge and began our pre-launch checklist. The broker sat at the engineering console while I took the command chair and strapped in.

"Okay," she breathed into her headset, the perky voice was now all business as we prepared to lift off. "Docking Release protocols are pretty standard, as is negotiating traffic control. For now though, let's take a minute to talk about getting this thing through the mail slot."

The station had cleared us for departure and we were number 1 for the slot. Maneuvering a 500 ton ship with just your thumb looks easy, but compensation for the delay between command and action is annoying when you're use to rolls quick enough to snap your neck if the inertial dampener in your suit fails. We lined up on the slot and nudged the throttle forward...

Roober the Stroober | Commanding Officer | 2TK-DW "Pilgrim's Progress"

The story will continue however, I have decided to finally join the 34th century and enter my logs into the video archive. The first log can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G9q0TAtV_E . It starts out kinda slow as I get use to the new tech, but hang in there! Thanks...

The day had finally come.

I had just returned from my survey of the rift and my client had filled my pockets with cash. So, I completed my arrangements with Ising Dock for long-term storage of my little survey fleet, and went shopping!

Shipyard sales guys have a knack for spotting commanders with fat stacks and are ready to drop a big chunk of it on the latest and greatest. Even though you are most likely an Elite pilot by the time you walk into the "large" ship showroom, they still try their best to outfit you with all kinds of crap you don't need.

The poor little guy at FD hangar never saw me coming...

"Hello, and welcome to Faulcon Delacy! We have a 10% off special running this week," piped the little fat guy bounding across the large hangar bay. His flight suit looked like it had never touched a pilot's chair. Trust me, they are easy to spot after a trip to the rift and back.

I looked him straight in the eye. He froze, as if not sure about what was going to happen next. I had learned that it saves a lot of useless banter to "open negotiations" this way.

"Anaconda. Slick. 20 light year range, No goodies," I fired off the list as if I were an admiral speaking to a cadet.

"Uhh," the salesman stammered as if trying to get back on script, "we ha-ve a fine selection of..."

"I know you do my man," I softened just a little. I didn't want the guy having to clean out his elite-wannabe flight suit this early in the morning. "I'm just someone who knows exactly what he wants. And, I'll make sure I throw a tidy little bonus your way if you can get it to me in two weeks."

He saw the bone I just threw him and bit hard, " How 'tidy' are we talking commander?"

Two weeks later I was on my way to the tech broker a couple of systems over. I had worked hard surveying and cataloging Guardian tech for my client. Now, it was time for them to share the love...

Roober the Stroober | Commanding Officer | 2TK-DW "Pilgrim's Progress"

When you hear those words, "That was close!", a few light years from home, you're just glad there are good commanders close by to pick up your escape pod and get you to a near-by facility. When you hear those words and you are 20,000 light years from home, you get a little nervous.

There is, however, another kind of close call that I have had to deal with a while back. Hence, the reason I have not submitted any logs since the middle of 3304.

"Roober, you've regained your memory and had to search out some big, meaningful thing," you may ask?

I wish.

Nope, the memories are still as elusive as ever but, to be honest, I was so busy moving on with my new life that they just became less and less important - until September.

I had just returned from a solo expedition out in the rift. It was quiet and uneventful - the way I usually like them. I mean, what's not to like about getting paid tens of millions of credits to ride around and scan stuff right? Especially when it keeps you on the down low. The client doesn't say a lot, and I don't ask a lot. they just wanted data on certain routes plotted to Base Camp and back and I was all too happy to oblige. Little did I know that I was being watched all along.

Too be continued...

Roober the Stroober | Commanding Officer | 03-ASX "Pilgrim 5"