Year 8, Day 167Upgrade!

I made a special trip to a ship computer dealer I know in Centrality sector, and I've upgraded the Holonet connections on the Narner II to allow me to keep a less-localized edition of this hyperspace journal. I also now have continual access to the excellent Citadel Station Database, which makes for excellent reading.

As for recent goings-on, what can I say? The Techno Union is doing great, with eager customers lined up for months to come. We've had some trouble with employees maintaining an interest in the business, which I suppose is understandable. The turmoil in the rest of the Galaxy probably seems more interesting to the young ones, and the lazy ones probably wouldn't be happy anywhere.

I recently reëstablished contact with an old friend of my father's, Dr. Nolain Rockport, an Ithorian who used to do a holonet advice show years ago. More recently he's been doing time in some Imperial prison for... how shall I put it? "Extreme ecological activism," let's say. He's joined up with the Techno Union to pick back up as a medical doctor, though his experience with environmental issues is proving useful for mineral prospecting. (He's quite adamant about CIS mining affiliates adopting ecologically-friendly standards, which seems to me like an excellent selling point!)

Year 8, Day 175Approaching Orus Sector

It occurs to me, I haven't made a journal entry in so long, there's no explanation of why I'm suddenly talking about the Techno Union instead of the Corporate Alliance!

It was determined by the leadership of the Trade Federation that the CA wasn't really living up to its stated purpose as a trade and transport company, and that it would be better for the Confederacy of Independent Systems in general if the TF absorbed the Corporate Alliance's assets, and sold off the company shell to someone who might be interested in taking it in a new direction. That person was Rand Axim, the founder of the excellent Galactic Gaming Corporation.

Most of the staff of the Corporate Alliance split up and transferred to sibling companies in the CIS, such as the fledgling MedTech Industries or the Commerce Guild mining company. Several of us moved over to the Techno Union, the ship production arm of the CIS.

Let's face it, I always liked trading in starships. Now I get to help build them! It's pretty exciting. Not to mention, I got to maintain my position as Director of Logistics after the transfer. So the work is mostly the same, about half of my team from the CA is intact, and I got a pretty good pay raise.

I'm currently on board my spruced up & refurbished darling, the Narner II, en route to Tatooine to pick up an employee named Tay Kwan, who spent several months on leave attending to personal business. After that, we're heading back to Vinsoth, for another test like the one a couple of years ago. Hopefully this one will be a little better organized, and more profitable.

Year 8, Day 185 - Vinsoth Orbit / Vinsoth / Glythe Sector

It's hard to believe it's only been two years since my pater dropped me off on Tatooine. I've done so much with since working with the Confederacy, my apprenticeship seems like a lifetime ago.

Tay seemed like a nice enough guy, though I have to admit, there were times I got a little creeped out. Maybe I've just spent too much time in hyperspace, but something about his huge, leering grin seemed unnatural, even for a Nautolan. And the severed ear he sometimes played with was downright barbaric. I'm not ashamed to admit I locked my cabin door at night.

Now I'm on board another fancy capital ship, some kind of customized Carrack cruiser. There's a whole gang of fellow Confederates here, all lining up to take this test. And just like last year, we're all waiting on the test administrator to acknowledge us and get this show on the road.

People seem to be getting restless, though. We've been here a few days, and several fistfights have broken out down in the ship's lounge. The first aid station has been doling out bandages, stimpacks, and bacta-tabs practically every couple of hours.

You'd think that being a Director would lend me some degree of protection from aggressive deckhands, but it turns out that once you pour enough liquor into a Dug, it doesn't much matter who is in front of him when he starts kicking those big hind legs. Lucky for me, I've seen my fair share of pugilism in my time, and given even odds, I can hold my own. I think I laid him down gently enough. He's probably back at work, and doesn't remember a thing.

It might be crude of me to admit this, but a little action like that was exactly what I needed to pass these boring hours.

Year 8, Day 189Valrar, Glythe sector

As expected, the test proved to be of limited effectiveness in gauging people's effectiveness in contributing to the success of the Confederacy. I'm not sure what they hope to find with these intermittant pollings of attitudes & aptitudes. But I have a weird suspicioun about the guy administering the test. He was wearing robes, but not the kind you normally see on Trade Federation bigwigs. Hrm...

I've returned to the Techno Union's home system of Valrar, and I'm moving around some building materials for a big satellite construction job. Not very exciting, but it's nice to be doing some dirty work again.

Also, I've picked up a co-pilot. A couple of days ago I was getting dinner at one of the small shops in Technopolis' starport (Jurj's Spike & Grill, one of the best dives in town), and had to share a table with a Selkath fellow named Shiv Ryen. He's been lurking around the starport for a few days after a falling out with his last captain, and hasn't had much luck finding a new crew to join. I've needed someone to help out with the Narner II for a while, so he got a jump up on his resume from midshipman to co-pilot!

Year 8, Day 199hyperspace / Glythe sector

I'm on my way to Vinsoth to deliver a pilot to his ship, and hopefully get the Logistics department revitalized after the disruption of the recent CIS testing. After that, I've got a tip about some A-24's I can pick up pretty much for nothing. The profits from reselling them would probably pay off the remainder of the balance on my W-23... which I have recently been informed is in the shipyard now! Almost time to start looking for a freelance pilot to help me out with Harbright Station.

Now for a weird story.

Recently I took a couple of days R&R on a backwater planet, far away from business and paperwork. While there, I heard some local rumours about a splinter sect of The Way that had recently opened what they called the Museum of Creation. Intrigued by the notion that a religious cult had somehow delved into the mysteries of the moments after the birch of the Galaxy, I decided to have a look.

I booked a seat on an overloaded ground transport that would take me from the relative swankiness of the capital city to the absolute-middle-of-nowhere. I think the name of the place, translated into standard Galactic, was something like "The Mountain of Rock in a Land of Blood and Darkness". Charming, no?

When I got to the museum, I discovered it had essentially nothing to do with actual knowledge or understanding; rather, it was an extrapolation of some of the most extreme and atavistic doctrines of The Way, interpreted as if they had the same validity as laboratory data. That is, their Creator made the Galaxy (as they've always claimed), but here are some myths dressed up as science to make you think it's true.

They claim that all sentients, the "children of the Creator", have existed since the Galaxy was moments old, despite the fact that the early universe was hot, tight, and toxic to anything resembling life. Although scientists from a hundred planets have found overwhelming evidence supporting the standard theory of the beginning, these Creationists insist sentients are the entire point of creation, and that we've been around in pretty much exactly our current forms since the first photon sparked to life. They even had the unmitigated gall to depict people of various races dancing and playing with quarklets and subnutrinos! There's absolutely no way such a thing could happen! But it's plastered all over their advertisements, just to lure children into this nonsense.

All in all, it was depressing, unilluminating, and a waste of time and money. I learned nothing, except that there are more than enough suckers out there.

Year 8, Day 244hyperspace / Glythe sector

It's the beginning of a new era!

Well, a new era for me, anyway. I've just boarded my shiny, new W-23 Star Hauler, Unfettered, and I am en route to Amorris to pick up the first load of raw materials for use building Harbright Station on Godhin. This plan has been in the works for almost a year now, but because it's a purely personal endeavor, progress has been slow. I'm really excited to finally be closing in on a serious development project!

In other news, the past month has been taken up with integrating the recently-acquired Starsign Shipyards with the Techno Union, as a joint starship production enterprise under the umbrella name Confederated Shipyards. Starsign brings with them the super-fast YT-510 design, which may be a wretched freighter, but is an excellent courier transport, blockade runner, and race winner. Also, we'll now be building the monstrous YV-666 capital warship—a pretty hot item! We've seen lots of interest in this ship, and we don't even have the infrastructure in place to begin building them. Once they're coming off the line, though, we'll be sitting pretty on the pile of profits.

Time to inspect the Unfettered, and become familiar with its nooks and crannies. I plan to use this ship a lot, so I'll need to know every inch of her.

Year 8, Day 298Hyperspace

I've flown a few supply runs to Harbright Station with the Unfettered, and that ship is a dream. Getting a W-23 Star Hauler was about the best move I could have made. The cargo capacity is perfect for what I can afford on my salary, and it's hyperdrive is fast enough to get my out to Trax sector in a reasonable amount of time. The only thing that could be better is if I had a personal assistance to fly the thing for me!

The city is coming along well with some initial residences in place, and a small-but-bustling business sector. The main commercial district is zoned, but construction has not started yet, and I've heard nothing from the local government about their plans to build subsidized residential skytowers. Oh, well. I've gone unmolested by their agents, which is more than I could ever say of those snakes in The 12 Colonies.

Dr. Nolain Rockport and I are currently on board the TU Crusader, the YT-1210 he uses for his mineral prospecting project. We're heading Sullust to pick up a new Gallofree for the Techno Union. Despite the number of heavy haulers the company already has in use, every new one continues to be a relief. There's a lot of work to be done, and it never seems like we have quite enough resources to run at 100%. After I get this ship, though, we're that much closer!

In other news, Hilem Ordo has been promoted to CEO of Starsign Shipyards, the Techno Union's sibling ship production company in the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Since Hilem was serving as Vice President of the Techno Union, his promotion left a vacuum in the upper echelons. Guess who's the new VP? Yours truly. Maybe with my new salary I'll be able to afford that personal assistant!....