Year Day 1117: Venad – Adar/Hinterworlds (0402 A221621-B Ni Po Na 324 Im M0V M6D)
Is this thing working? OK, it looks like it.
Guess I need to edit that out when I’m done. Someone remind me to do that.
Anyway, this is Derek Kodai, the Captain and owner of the Far Trader Phan…. the Far Trader Grayswandir. And this is my first log entry.
Well, it’s the Grayswandir now. It used to be called the Phantasmal Hope. But… that was Captain Martin’s ship. She decided that after 40 years, she had spent enough time jumping around the Imperium and wanted to retire while she could still enjoy the money she had made during those years.
Ha. Just kidding. All the money Captain Martin had made was in this ship. Or, at least it was until I bought it from her. Well, I guess the bank bought it from her, then I bought the loan from the bank. So it’s mine now, as long as I keep the payments up.
Which… I should be able to do, right? Captain Martin was able to. And I’ve been on the ship longer than anyone except her. So I should know how to do that, right?
Oh yeah. Anna. Not Captain Martin. Anna. She told me to call her that now. No one on board called her Anna. Well, except Jacobs. And he left with her.
By the way, does anyone know an Engineer? I kinda need to find one.
But yeah. Cap… Anna decided that she had gotten tired of Travelling. Especially after hearing the latest news from Core. So she wanted to sell the ship.
Me? I’ve been aboard for over 20 years. This ship is more-or-less the only home I’ve ever had. I’ve lived here longer than anywhere else, ever. I know it better than anywhere else in the Imperium. Or outside of it, for that matter.
I could have waited to see who bought it and then offered to work for them. I’ve only been the 1st officer here for a couple of months, only since I passed my Pilot’s exam, but I know the ship. Better than anyone.
Well, except for Jacobs. And Captain Anna. But they left. Retired.
Then I thought, “Hey, I can do this!” So I talked to the bank. Then I talked to the Captain. And now I own a starship.
OK, the loan to a starship. But still…
I renamed it the Grayswandir. That’s the name of a sword from an old Terran book I used to read a lot. Yeah, I know, naming a Free Trader after a sword. Laughable, right? “Watch out, we have a laser and a sandcaster!” Still, I’ve always liked the name, and I didn’t want it to be Captain Anna’s ship anymore. So I renamed it.
I could tell she was a bit unhappy when I told her, but she smiled and said she liked the name. She signed the papers and left without looking back. I guess… I guess it’s hard to give up something you’ve given so much of your life to.
Kinda the same reason I bought it.
But… the Grayswandir is mine now. I’ve spent most of the day moving my stuff from my old quarters and into the Captain’s cabin. It isn’t that much more space, but unless you’ve spent a lot of time on starships, you don’t know how much those extra few cubic meters are worth.
I’ve gone ahead and put the ‘Swan into airdock for maintenance. May as well make sure we’re in good shape before setting out again. It would be embarrassing to have a failure on my first Jump. In the meantime, the rest of the crew is taking their downtime leave.
Tomorrow I need to start figuring out what I’m going to do for crew. Do’rex will probably be happy as our Pilot, and Saahna seems content to be the Gunner/Security. Unless she decides we’re too quiet for an ex-Marine.
I don’t know about Varan. He’s been a decent Steward, but I know that isn’t what he wants to be doing forever. Though I have no idea what he does want to do. Well, besides trying to party as much as he can while in-system. And even there, I spend half my time as his wingman. Just like I spend half my time backing him up as Steward.
Well, he’d better get that part figured out fairly quickly. I’ve got way too many more responsibilities now.
We’re all scheduled to meet in Startown tomorrow; some place called the Galloping Garan. Normally, we would have our post-landing meeting on the day we touched down, but with Anna leaving and me buying the ship, it’s been almost a week since we last saw each other.
Anyway, I’ve moved. So I need to pack my downbag for the week and get off the ship myself. Before starport operations shuts off the life support or something. I’ll keep the computer link up so I can keep recording these logs.
Derek Kodai, Captain of the Grayswandir, out.