Captain's Log 8:00AM Eastern Galactic Time Entry One Antares. The word itself is enough to send shivers down the spine of most Hylotl missionaries. Lawless, mob ruled. It is my goal to change that. The sector, for all of its shortcomings, has quite a lot of mineral supply. I have stumbled upon an abandoned mining station on some horribly cold planet, and I intend to make it my own. I have people who will loan me the money, so long as this place does end up turning a profit. I intend it to. The planet itself is a desolate crag, but rich in coal, oil and -- most interestingly -- erchius crystals. The priority is to get the large mining drill and the two liquid pumps running again, so that I can start pulling said crystals out of the ground. END LOG ONE
Captain's Log 9:00AM Eastern Galactic Time Entry Two Well, that was easy. It seems this place was not evacuated as a result of equipment failure -- the two pumps worked just fine, and I was able to find a Hylotl engineer on the radio to repair the large drill. All the storage is still properly sealed, though it'll take some tricky electrical work to get the rest of the facility running. As it stands, though, I should run a tidy profit -- with everything running, so long as nothing breaks, I should be able to produce a profit of about 3500 pixels per month. 500 of that is going into the emergency fund and 2000 to general maintenance and repairs on the facility and my ship, leaving me with 1000 pixels per week, or 52000 per year. With two workers running the pumps (Paid 500 pixels a week each, and with costs of living provided) and an engineer on the big drill (1000 pixels a week), I should be able to boost that to 5000 a week in net profit, or 260000 pixels per year. Anything that my contacts won't buy can get sold here in Antares for a less steady supply of pixels. Meanwhile, I have to give over all the crystals that the station already had stored to the Hylotl who fixed the drill. Things should work out. END LOG TWO
Captain's Log 6:00PM Eastern Galactic Time Entry Three Employees: Ava Baha -- Human engineer. 1000 pixels per week. Sprocket -- Floran security. Keep on a short leash. 750 pixels per week. O'Malley -- Human. General maintenance, on call for serious issues. 500 pixels per week. Slyff White -- Human miner. 500 pixels per week. Incomes (Weekly): 7000 pixels Expenses (Weekly): - 500 pixels: Emergency fund - 1250 pixels: General maintenance, food purchases, etc. - 2750 pixels: Salaries Net (Weekly): 2500 pixels As it turns out, my assumptions in the last entry were a bit off -- in fact, they were off nearly by half. I still have need of one more miner, which with luck should boost production to 3500 pixels per week net. I also needed to hire security and maintenance, something I didn't account for -- obviously the security provides me nothing but peace of mind, but at least the costs of paying someone to keep the place clean and the electronics running decreases costs of general maintenance so as to essentially pay for himself. Prices are also crazy high for erchius -- even selling in bulk and with lower prices than the outposts, a full tank costs a good fifteen thousand pixels. That would be good for me, except that few people in Antares have that many pixels (Ape knows how they fuel their ships) and the costs of transporting what gets bought out-of-sector means a much more narrow profit margin outside Antares. Perhaps if I expanded my operation I could drive prices down even lower, but it's a fine line to tread. END LOG THREE
Captain's Log 7:30PM Eastern Galactic Time Entry Four I've hired a certain Glitch named Brikkfist as our second miner, and finally all positions are filled. Weekly net income is now 3500 pixels, or 182,000 per year at current erchius prices. Not bad at all, I'd say. With any luck I'll manage to make a few good sales in-sector and expand the operation soon enough. END LOG FOUR
Captain's Log 8:20PM Eastern Galactic Time Entry Five I'm worried that my security, Sprocket, has been neglecting her work to play mayor of some colony that will be forgotten in a week. If she can manage to do that and still perform a full shift every day, then more power to her. Otherwise, my reasons for hesitating to hire Florans come back to me. There is no discipline. If I were smart I would find some human or Glitch to do the job better for fewer pixels. Or I might cut the security job entirely; my miners and engineers are loyal enough, and the facility is private. I'd be better off storing security footage on my ship and blasting through it at twenty times speed every evening before I go to sleep. END LOG FIVE
Captain's Log 6:00 Eastern Galactic Time Entry Six + 3500 pixels Total: 3500 pixels The first weekly profits are coming in, and it feels good. With any luck it won't be long until I can expand the operation. END LOG SIX
Captain's Log 6:40 Eastern Galactic Time Entry Seven + 5000 pixels Total: 8500 pixels Finally made an in-sector sale. Half a tank, too, so not shabby. Come the end of the week I should be able to expand the operation. END LOG SEVEN
Captain's Log 3:30 Eastern Galactic Time Entry Eight I've been out of Antares for quite some time, making sure that my current avenues of income are not about to turn into former avenues of income. Luckily, there is always need for fuel. Because I have no immediately achievable goals, I've decided to hold off on attempting to expand the drilling operation. END LOG EIGHT
Captain's Log 5:30 Eastern Galactic Time Entry Nine It's been a while since I've updated this log. Truthfully, little has happened. The mining outpost is still operational and profitable. I am considering the possibility of selling off the considerable stockpile I've built up to some faction or another. Aside from that, I recently bought a rifle and a pistol, for self-defense. They brought back memories I'd have preferred to leave alone, but the weight feels comforting in my hands. END LOG NINE
