Over the past week, the Alliance has been putting out a call for pilots to aid in the construction of a new space station, sited between the core systems and the California Nebula – many commanders responded, Commander Altsain among them.

The call was twofold. First an awful lot of minerals are needed in constructing a space station, and these could not be purchased and transported – they needed to be mined. Second, with that many minerals flowing through a system, piracy was inevitable, so more commanders would be needed to ‘shield’ the miners from unwanted attention.

Commander Altsain (after finding out that mining was required, not hauling) took to the central system for the station building effort, LP 128-32, in the Ironwing, as well as purchasing the Antimony Sun.

There were a few trials and tribulations involved in mining, as Commander Altsain scoured the ring systems of LP 128-32 for Osmium and Samarium, but soon settled into things, and was soon bringing back decent hauls of 60-90 tons of the materials. However, there was a feeling that more could be done.

After listening to other commanders on Bulychev Hub, Commander Altsain decided to take the Antimony Sun further afield, and jumped to a nearby system, Furuhjelm, to explore its ring systems.

And hit a fair motherlode.

Osmium and Samarium were almost falling out of spinning rocks – and so was the ultra-valuable Painite (a type of gemstone much sought after by the nobility of the Empire). It was not long before Commander Altsain was returning to Bulychev Hub with the Antimony Sun’s cavernous 192 ton cargo packed to the rim with Osmium, Samarium and Painite, regularly bringing in MCr3-6 per trip.

Well worth doing!

The Ironwing, brought along to hunt down pirates, was faring less well.

Commander Altsain’s main hunting territory was the nav beacon of LP 128-32 and while there were a lot of pirates, few were particularly skilled. It seemed as though every Mostly Harmless yahoo with a Sidewinder and a pulse laser was trying their luck.

However, Commander Altsain diligently kept the skies clear, before responding to a call of duty for the Federation to engage in a little commerce raiding in LHS 336, a couple of hundred light years away.

The commerce raiding resulted in Commander Altsain gaining a hefty bounty, and this followed the Ironwing across the LP 128-32 system. All of a sudden, bounty hunters were intercepting the Ironwing on its way to the nav point, and more were waiting for the ship there. The final result was an ambush involving at least six other ships, led by an Imperial Clipper.

Commander Altsain was blown out of the cockpit of the Ironwing and was fairly fuming on the way to Bulychev Hub after being picked up by a rescue ship (though, to be fair, the work of the Antimony Sun more than paid for the rebuy of the all new Ironwing).

Things went a lot better from then on. With the bounty now dormant, Commander Altsain was free to sweep the system for pirates once more, making a small but convincing start to gaining combat rank Dangerous.

Along the way, the LP 128-32 Corporation overseeing the construction project also commissioned Commander Altsain to complete a few jobs on the side, including ending the reign of a notorious pirate lord who had been gathering strength in a nearby system, and ending the ramblings of Hillary Vaux, a religious fanatic who had become distinctly ‘unpleasant’.

So, what was the final tally after the Alliance announced this gargantuan undertaking was complete?

The Ironwing’s pirate hunting had amassed MCr10.8 in bounties, putting Commander Altsain among the top 25% of all commanders also hunting pirates in the system.

For mining, however, Commander Altsain brought in 1,192 tons of necessary minerals, ascending to the top 10% of all commanders who had taken part.

As well as contributing to the construction of a new space station, along the way Commander Altsain developed a couple of new manoeuvres in the Fer-De-Lance which will no doubt come in handy later and, more importantly, has learned a brand new skill – mining (effectively). The little more than MCr100 earned during this expedition will come in handy too.

Still, it is a big galaxy and there are always new things to do. Commander Altsain’s journey with Cosmic Flipper Tours will continue…