Lave Station, Lave, 14-Feb-3200

On the way in, I have one of the most bizarre experiences I've experienced in all my days of flying. Some worm of a pirate tries to take me out, and on his first pass, cuts it way too close. Mercifully, I'm the larger ship, so I survive the collision taking hits to about 45% of the hull. He, naturally, goes boom-boom. I honestly thought they trained people before putting them in flying machines, you know. I know I had to be. Fortunately, no-one else comes close to scratching the paintwork of my ship, and the hull damage, although extensive, affected no systems and no cargo.

The second strange event is more disturbing. I arrive at Lave, sneaking past customs successfully, and go looking for Edwards. He is absolutely nowhere to be found. Can't find him, can't find his secretary, can't find his warehousemen. There's no-one from the firm anywhere to be seen; and obviously, asking around would look suspicious.

To avoid attracting the gentle attentions of the Directorate's external security department, I go into the normal routine. Read the bulletin boards, go to the market, have a gander at the shipyard, you know. Habit is a good thing and in this instance, profitable, too. There's a chap on the bulletin boards who is simply desperate for robots, and willing to pay twice the market price for them, no questions asked. I ask no questions and take ¢5179.6 profit for my 4 tons of robots.

The shipyard repairs the damage to my ship for ¢1820. The cheek of that incompetent rat! At least I have the satisfaction of knowing that I'm still in the galaxy, I suppose.

I re-fuel the ship, take a flying trip and return the next day, but Edwards still isn't around. Unwilling to hang around any long than necessary, I pay ¢2036.0 for 20t of animal meat and set a course for Zaonce. I want my scanner, radar mapper and laser cooling booster back!