Commander Altsain had been quite content helping Gold Life Inc in HIP 28193 strengthen its ties to the Federation, when an interesting communication came over the Galnet news service. Los Chupacabras, whom the commander has done much work for in the past, had announced that they were going to be holding a music festival in LFT 926, just a stone’s throw from Shinrarta Dezhra.

Now, the commander was a bit confused by this, as Los Chupacabras had always seemed a bit of a po-faced group, but the Jailhouse Rock and Blues Music Festival was something she could certainly get behind.

All Los Chupacabras needed was a some beer, liqour, and tobacco… plus a few narcotics to be used purely for recreational purposes.

Upon arriving at LFT 926, in the dedicated Cutter hauler I Iz A Duval, one thing became immediately apparent – all of the items Los Chupacabras were asking for were actually illegal in this system.

That meant a great deal of money was to be made and, in any case, it could not really be rock music if everything was completely legal, right?

After doing some scouting, the commander determined that the Lugger system, just on the other side of Shinrarta Dezhra, and a mere three jumps from LFT 926, would be the perfect pick up point for all four commodities that Los Chupacabras were willing to pay top Credit for.

However, carrying more than 700 tons of narcotics was always going to attract attention from exactly the wrong type of party-goer, and the I Iz A Duval was dogged by pirates along the return journey (not a problem for a ship that can simply boost away, then jump). Getting into the Meredith City station was more of a challenge…

The trick is to line up on the station’s entrance while in supercruise, then head in at full tilt (but not boosting if you are in a Cutter, the inertia will cause issues – a Type-9 is slow enough to get away with it though), before allowing the docking computer to take over once inside. In a big ship this can provide a bit of a white knuckle ride, but it gets better with practice as the commander demonstrates here.

It did not take her long to figure out that Meredith City is a manufacturer of reactive armour and non-lethal weapons, the latter of which could be bought dirt cheap and sold for a pretty penny at Stackpole City in Lugger.

The flight to Lugger and the return trip took the commander about 12 minutes, give or take, and so nearly 5 trips and hour could be done – this netted her the best part of MCr40 per hour, and this was before the bonuses Los Chupacabras had promised to pay out at the end of the fund-raising event.

A nice, tidy sum, and all for the best of causes! Best of all, it is easily duplicated by any Cutter or Type-9 (and can be beaten if the ships are flown without a shield generator, though the commander does not recommend that), and a nicely outfitted Python could do a sizeable fraction.

To date, Commander Altsain has hauled nearly 5,000 tons of narcotics. She thinks this will be a hell of a music festival…