COMMANDER’S LOG
CMDR: JT Clarke (MostlyAwol)
Date: 3312-06-20
System: COL 285 Sector ZL-K B22-2
Vessel: Kestrel Mk II – Name not set.

The Kestrel Mk II arrived today.

Still not sure if this was a smart decision or just the kind of decision that sounds smart until I am a smear across the side of a Coriolis station. Nova has already suggested the second one is most likely.

The issue with the Kestrel was never getting one. The issue was getting one I could trust. It is a Core Dynamics ship, and after everything with the 77-44a signals, I am not letting anything with Core Dynamics firmware anywhere near Nova or my systems if I can help it.

That is where Melisie Mercer came in. Oh yeah, she is working for me now. Long story.

It just so happens she had recently finished a job for Core Dynamics and somehow walked away with a few bare-bones Kestrel Mk II hulls as part of her payment. No combat firmware and no Core Dynamics flight control packages. Just the base Pilot Federation software and enough systems installed to prove the ship was not a decorative paperweight.

So I took one. Well, she gave me one.

The first few hours were spent checking the remaining firmware, stripping what I did not like, and replacing it with custom packages I could actually inspect. Black-market firmware can be dangerous, but Nova’s done a deep dive of the code and believes it’s safe, or at least safe enough. It seems they forgo a lot of safety margins.

She called this “watching Clarke build his own obituary with extra steps.”

Fair.

After that came the real work, I engineered the core internals, which made the ship better in every measurable way and worse in every personal safety way. The Kestrel was already sharp on the controls. After the engineering work, it became faster, harder to settle, and much easier to overcorrect.

Upgrades completed so far:

• Replaced both Class 1 weapons with long-range beam lasers with thermal vent to help with heat.
• Engineered the core internal modules for combat.
• Installed a fuel scoop.
• Installed a Guardian FSD Booster.
• Ran basic firmware checks after each major change.

Took it out against a few pirates in the home system once everything looked stable.

The Kestrel did well. I did mostly fine. That damn asteroid came up quick on me. Thankfully, the Kestrel can move just as fast.

The beams worked better than expected, especially with the thermal vents. Heat stayed manageable as long as I kept pressure on the target. Also, the included plasma shock accelerators are nasty; they chew up ships quickly when I manage to hit with them. The ship turns hard, accelerates harder, and does not forgive sloppy flying. I clipped some wreckage once and came closer to a rock than I want written down in any official report.

Nova has already started a list called “probable objects Clarke will hit first.”

The current top three are asteroid, station wall, and my own pride.

For now, the Kestrel is combat-ready.

I am not. That is going to take more time, and it needs a name.