Signals in the Void 5

("Signals in the Void" is my attempt at an in character fan fiction revolving around my adventures in exploration.)

Waiting for my crew to break into the station, I make slight adjustments now and again to keep within a decent range so that they can exchange tools and equipment easier.  The outer hatches always take a minute to cut through but soon enough they should be able to access the electronics of the station and begin override procedures.  This will allow quick access through the corridors and may even give them the layout and the ability to identify which areas of the station have been compromised. 

I see on one of the camera feeds a slight explosion of pressurized air come from the doors as my crew penetrates into the inner area.  From there it's only a few more minutes as they work an opening big enough for a person to enter and slip supplies through.  As one of the technicians slips in and begins the manual override on the inner doors they'll need to crack that open move over to a different area and get us a more secure and uncompromised docking area where we can set up a small base camp and offload the supplies they'll need for an extended stay or in case an emergency happens. 

When the inner door is cracked I send the rest of my mercs through and into the station to spread out and cover the area as my science teams move through the station.  Some think I'm crazy when I do this with old abandoned stations, but you never know who might be living here.  Pirates could have established several decks of living area and are perfectly willing to defend what is theirs.  So I find paying the extra fee for some mercenaries a small price to pay for keeping my experienced science teams alive and well.  I didn't pay and train them, just to replace them if something happens, that can get expensive real fast and unfortunately there are a lot of capsuleers which take that approach.  When one is immortal they tend to lose their touch with reality and forget that not everyone is like them.  Not having to replace people every time we do a job also instills a sense of loyalty and camaraderie among my crew which creates an efficient work environment. 

This is my first time operating with dust mercenaries so I'll see if they live up to their reputation.  They're a lot more expensive but if one of them dies I won't technically have to replace him, and he'll gain experience in the type of work that we do and be able to benefit my crew more effectively than a normal mercenary that dies and we have to train the rest on what went wrong.  I'm hoping we get a good chunk of ISK from this site to prove that my extra expenses are well worth it.  However this is not always the case.

I get a message from the lead team informing me that they have found a suitable location a little ways over.  Pulsing the engines I maneuver my Arbitrator in the indicated direction.  I pick up the maintenance hatch on my scanners and bring the ship into alignment for a quick ad-hoc dock and then offload the rest of the teams and supplies.  Though it is unnerving seeing the wrecks of these ships, I haven't picked up any signals that indicate something else is out here.  Heck I haven't even gotten a blip of anything on my scanners except for that first distress signal when I entered system.  Which of course my tech hasn't been able to clean up sufficiently to make anything of it.  I guess we'll just have to keep an eye out as I dock with the station.