Commander's Log - Commander Ren "Ash" Ashfield

[noldunar]

30.07.3301 - Lave Cluster - Commander Ashfield

The civil war in Kuwemargl didn't last long so I made my way back to Jameson Memorial and from there on into the Lave cluster. The famous region of space around the Lave system, which used to be the system where all rookie pilots started their career back in the days.

Before I headed over there, however, I bought another Cobra MK III in Jameson Memorial and fitted it out as a light and fast combat ship that is able to do light cargo runs.

So now I have three Cobra MK III vessels. One rather heavy stealth fighter without shields but tough hull, one super light and super fast smuggling vessel that can carry 40 tonns of cargo and one super light and super fast smuggling and combat multi-role vessel. That reminds me, I got a message from my insurance company. The need me to complete the registration of my vessels by giving them callsigns.

Ok, so let's think about it for a minute. Where is the registration form? Ok, here we go:

Stealth Cobra: "Darkwing"
Smuggling Cobra: "Shadow Lady"
Fast Combat Cobra: "Icingdeath"

And for the other vessels:

Low-Budget Combat Workhorse Viper: "Rapier"
A-Rated Combat Viper: "Erzengel" as a tribute to my German ancestors from ancient earth. The ship features the German flag from the old German nation of Earth as well.
Diamondback Scout Multi-Role Fighter: "Gunslinger"

So after the paperwork was done and after I arrived in the Lave cluster I checked the bulletin boards for some missions. To my delight, a Delicate Delivery was available for 180K. I was supposed to smuggle 10 tonnes of Imperial Slaves to an outpost. I thought it to be easy money but after I arrived I realized it was a military outpost, crawling with security ships. Great! I came in rather hot and promptly got scanned and fined for 38,000 credits for carrying illegal goods. So that left me with around 150K in profit after I deducted my fine. I really like space stations better as smuggling destinations. You can keep your distance and plan your approach much better than with outposts. Have to remember that for next time.

To test the combat cababilities of the "Icingdeath" I then accepted a LL mission. A kill contract for pirates in the Anarchy system of Uszaa. While in supercruise in Uszaa I spotted a wanted Cobra MK III. The pilot was ranked "Deadly" and I interdicted him. I was in for a surprise: The ship was outfitted with beam laser turrets! So the firing arc of the enemy ship was very wide and I had to use "boom n zoom" tactics to quickly get out of his firing arc, wearing him down with every pass. Thanks to my modifications I can boost with 453 m/s so that was not a problem. After an intense fight I collected a bounty of 41K and could check of one kill from the list.

After I collected my mission payment, I called it a day.

Time to see if they know how to make a Chai Latte in this region of space.

Ashfield out.

 

[noldunar]

04.08.3301 - Laukan System - Commander Ashfield

I have left the rough and wild region of space that is the Lave cluster to head for imperial space with the intention of building up a reputation there in order to be eligible to buy an Imperial Courier.

After a week in the Lave region I must sadly admit that it is indeed or has become a rough and lawless region of space. In addition to the normal space scum you would find in such an area you have fellow Pilot's Federation commanders that seem to be out for blood. More than anywhere else I was interdicted and shot at for no apparent reason, without any warning or communication. I was able to survive, however, by keeping calm and using the correct "procedure" as I like to call it.

First of all, start with the right ship!

You have to make a decision: Do you want to engage in combat with other Pilot's Federation commanders or not?

If your answer to this question is “yes” then you have to build the toughest and most specialized combat vessel you can think of. Shields have to be top notch and you have to stock up on shield cell batteries and boosters.

If your answer to this question is “no” then you have to build the fastest, stealthiest, sneakiest and nimble ship you can with appropriate defensive equipment like chaffs and heat sinks.

I decided I wanted to go the fast and nimble route. Obviously the best choice therefore is the Cobra MK III, as it really is the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy.

So I fitted my Cobra (or one of them, as I really like this ship and have a few) according to my needs: A-class thrusters, A-class power distributor, downsized A3 power plant which gives 12MW power at only 2.5 tonnes weight and an undersized fuel tank. I went the extreme route and downsized it to 4 tonnes, which turned out to be sufficient for populated areas but not enought for longer journeys, as I had to find out the hard way, but more on that later. Every other component was D-rated to save weight. For weapons I chose class 2 multi-cannons and class 1 burst lasers. The end result was a highly maneuverable craft, capable of boosting 453 with ease in very short intervalls.

OOC: Here the loadout of the “Icingdeath”

http://coriolis.io/outfit/cobra_mk_iii/03A4A4D3D3A3D2C272712120004033548690101.Iw1-kA==.CwBhrSvGSA==

Second, keep your eyes open for trouble!

I can't stress the importance of that enough. Pilot Federation members are identified by a unique transponder signal, so keep your eyes on the scanner and look for Pilot Federation contacts. Stay away from them by all means. Don't let them get behind you, even if that means you have to deviate from your course. If somebody tries to get behind you, circle around, try to face him, do whatever it takes to keep him off your tail, even if that means you have to cruise longer to reach your destination or overshoot your destination. Stay away from the beaten path. Don't supercruise directly towards your target, take a detour. Always travel with 4 pips to engines and 2 pips to shields.

Third, if trouble finds you, keep calm!

Don't fight the interdiction! The battle hardened veterans have top notch interdictors, you will probably not win this fight. It will only cause your FSD to shut down and cool for a longer period of time. Instead, reduce your speed and submit to the inderdiction.

Fourth, get the hell out of there!

As soon as you have control, boost as often as your distributor allows while using chaffs. Try to go as straight as possible to increase distance but use your thrusters to wiggle up or down, left or right a little to avoid as much fire as possible. Do not attempt to supercruise away, depending on the ship that interdicted you it will take to long to charge the drive. Select a hyperspace destination and engage your hyperdrive.

So using this procedure I survived in the Lave cluster and was able to complete my contracts most of the time. I was not so lucky on my journey.

While on route to imperial space I refilled my fuel tank after every jump and didn't check the route my navcom had plotted for me. The route led me through a region of brown dwarf stars and before I knew it I was stranded without fuel, only one jump away from civilization!

But thank the heavens for the Fuel Rats!

I broadcasted an emergency signal on their GALNET frequency and made contact with their dispatcher. After stating my situation and transmitting my coordinates it took them only a few minutes to get two Rats to my location. They saved my neck and filled my tank, they didn't even want anything in return. I am thankful and could continue my journey.

I arrived in HR 6565 and am now working in the area around this system to improve my standing with the local imperal factions, hoping to get a mission with a promotion opportunity.

Ashfield out.

 

[Futuristic Kung Fu]

Are you the same Ashfield as in Isinona's latest video?

 

[noldunar]

Are you the same Ashfield as in Isinona's latest video?

Yes, that would be me

I follow his vids too and really like them, so it was a great experience to bump into him.

- - - Updated - - -

01.09.3301 - Cemiess - Commander Ashfield

I have been pretty busy the last couple of weeks. I made my way further into imperial space and have set up a temporary base in the Cemiess system. After working for imperial factions almost exclusively the last couple of weeks I finally got the opportunity to advance my imperial rank to Master. All I had to do was assist in an imperial navy black ops to take out smugglers in the neighboring Vequess system, which of course I did. But I am far from becoming an Emperor loving politics guy, I did it because I wanted to get my hands on one of the fairly new Imperial Courier ships.

I have to admit, that ship is really amazing. I invested around 10 million credits into it to upgrade all important internals to A-specifications. For a ship of this size it has formidable shields. After fitting three A shield boosters and an A3 generator I got the shield strength up to 535 MJ, according to my ship computer's diagnostic system.

So I took the ship out for a spin, did some mercenary work in conflict zones, and then parked it in a spacedock and went back to my Cobra MK III. I know, it sounds crazy, but somehow those Faulcon DeLacy ships grew on me, the Cobra as well as the Viper. There is just something about them...the engines, the sound, the speed, I don't know what. On paper the Courier is the superior ship but sometimes it is just not about statistics. Even though the Cobra has week shields, it's speed has saved my skin on several occassions. I think I just wanted the Courier just to have it. Almost like a trophy that you keep and show off on special occassions. I will probably come back to it someday, but for the moment it is still Cobra MK III for me.

Regarding business, the area around Cemiess is bustling with activity at the moment. The imperial ISS has put the call out for exploration data and a lot of Pilot Federation members are in Cemiess right now, selling exploration data to Universal Cartographics on behalf of the ISS. I contributed a few reports as well but I am not an explorer by heart. Anyhow, my contribution should suffice to earn me a nice paycheck, once the operation is complete. Until then I will stay in the area and continue to do freelance work for different factions. There are a lot of Delicate Deliveries to and from Cemiess on offer, as well as the occasional Legitimate Liquidations. As my multi-purpose Cobra can carry 16 tonnes of cargo I am often able to take two to three DD contracts to the same station in the neighboring Vequess system at once, which nets me a nice profit.

I have no idea where to go next, so I will stay a little while and then go wherever my jobs take me.

Ashfield out.

 

[Futuristic Kung Fu]

Yes, that would be me

I follow his vids too and really like them, so it was a great experience to bump into him.

- - - Updated - - -

01.09.3301 - Cemiess - Commander Ashfield

I have been pretty busy the last couple of weeks. I made my way further into imperial space and have set up a temporary base in the Cemiess system. After working for imperial factions almost exclusively the last couple of weeks I finally got the opportunity to advance my imperial rank to Master. All I had to do was assist in an imperial navy black ops to take out smugglers in the neighboring Vequess system, which of course I did. But I am far from becoming an Emperor loving politics guy, I did it because I wanted to get my hands on one of the fairly new Imperial Courier ships.

I have to admit, that ship is really amazing. I invested around 10 million credits into it to upgrade all important internals to A-specifications. For a ship of this size it has formidable shields. After fitting three A shield boosters and an A3 generator I got the shield strength up to 535 MJ, according to my ship computer's diagnostic system.

So I took the ship out for a spin, did some mercenary work in conflict zones, and then parked it in a spacedock and went back to my Cobra MK III. I know, it sounds crazy, but somehow those Faulcon DeLacy ships grew on me, the Cobra as well as the Viper. There is just something about them...the engines, the sound, the speed, I don't know what. On paper the Courier is the superior ship but sometimes it is just not about statistics. Even though the Cobra has week shields, it's speed has saved my skin on several occassions. I think I just wanted the Courier just to have it. Almost like a trophy that you keep and show off on special occassions. I will probably come back to it someday, but for the moment it is still Cobra MK III for me.

Regarding business, the area around Cemiess is bustling with activity at the moment. The imperial ISS has put the call out for exploration data and a lot of Pilot Federation members are in Cemiess right now, selling exploration data to Universal Cartographics on behalf of the ISS. I contributed a few reports as well but I am not an explorer by heart. Anyhow, my contribution should suffice to earn me a nice paycheck, once the operation is complete. Until then I will stay in the area and continue to do freelance work for different factions. There are a lot of Delicate Deliveries to and from Cemiess on offer, as well as the occasional Legitimate Liquidations. As my multi-purpose Cobra can carry 16 tonnes of cargo I am often able to take two to three DD contracts to the same station in the neighboring Vequess system at once, which nets me a nice profit.

I have no idea where to go next, so I will stay a little while and then go wherever my jobs take me.

Ashfield out.

I delivered a message to get Baron rank!

 

[noldunar]

08.09.3301 - Yembo system - Commander Ashfield

I really like working as an independent freelancer, however, even if the pay has always been good, I was thinking about a somewhat more “formal” employment lately. As fate would have it, an advertisement from an interstellar corporation named Elysium Corporation caught my attention.

According to the advertisement “Elysium Corp. is one of the leading companies operating this side of the Galaxy, trading in commodities from chemicals and consumer items to metals, minerals and technology. We even have our own mining fleet, and numerous very experienced explorers collecting and selling cartographic data.”

That didn't sound to bad, but since trading was never really my thing I conducted a little more research to see if there was something more on offer I might be interested in. It turns out that Elysium also has a security services departement and also provides consultant and other services to other corporate entities. So I figured I got nothing to lose and applied for a job at Elysium Corporation.

Since the area around Cemiess has gotten somewhat quieter as the ISS completed it's operation I packed my things together and left imperial space to go to the Yembo system to interview at Elysium Corporation, which has it's corporate HQ in Yembo.

The interview went pretty smooth. After the usual background check and resume review I was hired and became a corporate employee. I was provided with some basic information about the company and it's different departements to make up my mind about a future assignment to one of the departements.

One departement caught my attention: Clandestine Operations

From the departement description:
“Elysium Corporation always does it's best to advise our clients and business partners about the right course of action which is in our and their best interest.
However, sometimes alternative means of persuasion are needed to give certain entities a nudge into the right direction.
Also, some government regulations require the use of alternative and innovative delivery and distribution methods and sometimes some form of creative aquisition is required to aquire certain items. All these operations are carried out by the members of the Clandestine Operations departement in a reliable, professional and discrete manner.
If you are not sombedoy who needs to hug the spotlight, if you like to keep a low profile and rather work in the background, the Clandestine Operations departement might by something for you. Please consult our departement recruitement representative for further details.”

Given my past experience in Delicate Deliveries, Reliable Retrievals and Legitimate Liquidations this sounded like it was the departement for me, so I requested to be assigned to that departement. My request was approved and I am now awaiting my first assignment as member of the Clandestine Operations departement.

 

[SongMinKi]

08. 10. 3301 Imperial Naval Registration: Captain. Song

Orders came down today from Vice Admiral Somersby to retrieve an Imperial black box from Federation territory. I'm not quite sure why I was asked to do it, an Anaconda class light cruiser is not discreet, not nimble. Normally this type of thing would be relegated to either the black ops division of the navy, namely either -redacted- or to private freelancers for deniability. I don't exactly have the time to retrieve a black box either. Sitting on the command chair a name came across my thought. Ashfield. While I already contacted him to enlist him for his combat proficiency, I also knew that he engaged in certain... Questionable delivery services. I had always overlooked it as i found his usefulness to outweigh the consequences of his deliveries by a long shot. Perhaps his skills can be put into use for the Empire. A quick search revealed that he had recently came under the employ of the Elysium corp in the C.O dept. That cheeky told me he wasn't ready for commitment. I chuckled for a bit and realized that he chose a department that was quite fitting for his skillset. I suppose one can never venture too far off what they do best. Instead of contacting him privately, I decided to attempt to remain discreet and instead sent a job listing to my contacts at Elysium. I made sure to ask for Ashfield personally, after all, they do owe me a lot of favours for turning a blind eye for the kind of things they do. I purposely only hid my tracks half way, so that if Ashfield really wanted to see where the job came from, he would find me. Perhaps then I could persuade him to put his skills to use for the Empire for good.

 

[Ben Ryder]

Hello Commanders. Ben Ryder from Antal's Utopian chaps saying hi.

 

[noldunar]

04.11.3301 - Yembo System - Commander Ashfield

It has been a while since I had time for a log entry. A lot has happened in the last few weeks. Elysium Corporation's strategy for the Yembo system has paid off and they took control of the biggest starport in the system, establishing themselves firmly as a business entity. Suddenly things got busy for me as a member of the departement that does not exist: Clandestine Operations.

Writing this log and reflecting on my past acitivities makes me realize what really has become of me. What life and work as a former freelance pilot and now corporate employee can change one into. I am a corporate hitman now, a paid criminal, an assassin. Nothing more. I became blind to moral and conscience but the scary thing about it is that I can live with it. I have blood on my hands. I assassinated unwanted employees, I killed innocent traders in neighboring systems to influence the market and create business opportunities for Elysium. I smuggled slaves and drugs and I was just recently asked to kill system authority ships to create a diversion so that other nefarious businesses can be concluded unnoticed and secure.

But why can I live with it? What has happened? Well, I don't know for sure but my best guess is that it has something to do with the fact that everybody does it. Legitimate governments put out contracts for assassinations. Big corporations smuggle slaves and other goods across the galaxy. If you are branded a criminal or not mostly depends on who is asking and where you are at the moment.

I picked up experimental chemicals from the wreckage of destroyed ships. Of ships that have been sabotaged by the corporation to get the goods. Everything is measured in credits per hour, not lives. If somebody has something you want you take it. It's as simple as that.

Working for Elysium has not made me a better person but most certainly a richer one. Not necessarily because the pay so well, as a matter of fact the pay is moderate at best, but because they opened my mind for other job opportunities that I never considered before.

So last week I had enough funds to aquire a beautiful Imperial Clipper and outfit it to my liking with mostly A-rated equipment. A real beauty. I outfitted her with a multi-role specification, allowing me to fight, smuggle, salvage and haul at the same time. I will put her to good use for Elysium.

Ashfield out

 

[noldunar]

11.11.3301 - Yembo System - Commander Ashfield

I was assigned another “contract termination” mission from Clandestine Operations at Elysium. That is a fancy way of saying “go kill this guy that we no longer want as an employee”. Apparently some brass didn't meet his quota again or whatever but since they always have good contracts and are well compensated it is cheaper to just make sure that they don't come back from a business trip. I have recently started to build a small fleet of ships at our corporate headquarters. The pride of the fleet is of course my beautiful Imperial Clipper but she is in good company, together with an A-rated Viper, an A-rated Imperial Courier, an A-rated Diamondback Scout and an A-rated Cobra MK III. For this lethal purpose I decided to take the Diamondback Scout for a spin.

The contract details I was given suggested that my target could possibly be found in the Valda System, so this is where I went.Sure enough, immediately after I arrived in-system my scanners picked up a luxury line Orca cruiser. The standard vessel that is assigned to the lower to mid-level executives at Elysium. Traveling with my target was a wing of two Sidewinder escorts.

I had a nasty surprise in store though: Clandestine Operations fitted my ship with a shield disruptor that allowed me to collapse the shields of the Orca vessel. It only works on corporate vessels, apparently Elysium builds a little back door mechanism into it's vessels to deal with unwanted or uncooperative assets. So sure enough, as soon as I was in range the shields of the Orca collapsed and I unleashed hell in the form of a combined multi-cannon and laser assault.

It didn't take long for the Orca to blow but long enough for security to arrive at the scene. I had no intention of sticking around and slugging it out with the cops so I selected a hyperspace destination and charged the FSD while boosting as often as my A3 power distributor would allow.

To cover my tracks I didn't jump right back to Yembo but to Wonneriti instead, just in case somebody was following me or scanning my wake.

Just to be sure I din't jump right on to Yembo. Instead, I made a little sweep through the Hazardous Resource Extraction site located in the rings of Wonneriti 8.

When I finally returned to Naddaddour Terminal the departement was already informed of my success and compensated me accordingly.

Ashfield out