First Steps

Finally have my pilot’s licence from the Pilots Federation. I’ve loaned a basic Sidewinder from Trevithick Dock in the LHS 3447 system, just while I build up some credits.

My first outing was a simple ‘speak with our contact’ mission via the LHS 3447 Academy for Novitiate Pilots. An easy 10,000 credits. After that I traveled to nearby station, Russell Ring, who had outfitting options available. Spent 4,500 credits on a standard docking computer. Should make my cargo runs a little quicker and easier. I’m planning to use the station as a little base of operations while I build up some credits. It’s got everything I need for now: decent outfitting options and a shipyard.

I ran a few courier missions for local factions and used those profits to upgrade my rented FSD drive to a 2C model – just to add a little extra juice (increased jump distance) for cargo missions. A quick succession of promotions from the Pilots Federation got me upto the ‘Peddler’ trade rank, which should allow me to charge a little extra for my services.

I’m close to 100,000 credits now, plus a couple of ship mods. Not bad going for my first day of freelancing.

The plan now is to get my head down, graft out some courier/cargo runs, and save up for my own ship. I’ve been eyeing the Cobra MkIII and Viper MkIV ships, which shouldn’t take me too long to save for. They’ll offer me far superior fuel and cargo capacity, not to mention better shielding and more hardpoints and internals.

I’ve been using Alpha Orbital’s ship comparison tool to weigh things up. I’m leaning towards an MkIV at this point, [just to try something different, the Cobra MkIII is great value for new pilots] but there’s time to mull it over. Once I’ve bought my new ship I’ll be ready for a change of pace – I’m planning to take it out on a little exploration holiday, see what else is out there for me.

Commander McCarter