Day 4

Well I have finished a good chunk of my training plan to be able to pilot a cruiser. I am currently studying level IV frigates. Should only take me another day and a half to gain the necessary skill points. I have already purchased the Caldari Cruiser skill book in preperation to start the next leg of my training.

After some consideration, I have decided to accept the invite from the generous stranger to apply for membership in his corporation. I figure that even though I may not last all that long out in the vastness of space, it is always nice to have friends around to help. I always enjoy making new friends.

I ran a few more missions for my agent today and apparently word is spreading around Spacelane Patrol HQ, because I got an email from an agent in the Unpas system asking me to assist her with an urgent issue.

It was just a routine mining operation, but I agreed to help just the same. I'm glad I did accept the mission as I was able to take out a few more pirates in that system. They will not be bothering anyone else anytime soon.

I did have a few close calls today. Had to warp out of battle a couple times to get my ship repaired. The first time I almost didn't make it because I was distracted by an interesting looking piece of debris and didn't realize that my shields were completely gone and only about a quarter of my aromor was left. I almost didn't have enough time to fire up the warp drive, but luckily it kicked in just in time for a fatal missle blow to land. That was a tense situation watching that missle fly over my head.

The second time around I wasn't taking any chances! I had my eyes glued to my ship's instruments watching for any signs of losing the fight. The pirates were slowly eating through my shields while I was hammering away at them with my railguns and missles when, out of nowhere, this pirate sneaks in a powerful missle hit. The damage from the impact complete drained all my shields and half my armor! In a panic I almost didn't get a destination set for my warp drive and by the time it kicked in I only had about 2/3's of my hull left.

That was the most exciting 5000 ISK I have ever spent! Luckily the repairs didnt really cost all that much and I hadn't spent it on other weapons and upgrades for my Merlin or pending cruiser.

I guess the lesson I learned is that even though pirates are fairly unintelligent, they still get in lucky shots and it's always best to leave and come back better prepared than risk losing the ship.

It's time once again to head back to the station and call it a day. I'm going to continue my studies and hope tomorrow is yet another exciting day taking out pirates.