Indecision

The past week has been rather exciting. I've been spending a lot of time aboard the Victory. I remember my last summer cruise as a cadet aboard this ship. That's when I met Kendar Zek, and though I wasn't exactly a race enthusiast at the time, I believe my short time with the crew ultimately laid the foundation for where I am today. I would've laughed if anyone had told me at the time that someday I'd be her captain. Nevertheless, here I am, taking a much keener interest in all things Venture than I ever did back then.

I've learned a great deal in the ship's racing museum about VRT and our old rivals. There's quite a bit of Dragonstar memorabilia, no doubt collected during Mr. Zek's engagement to Kayleigh Jamieson. I think some of it is not so much about commemorating the sport as much as celebrating a friend, and I wonder if many people were really meant to see it. For now, I don't think I'll be opening the ship for public viewing, though I may invite special guests to check out the unfinished work of a fellow whose shoes I feel less fit to fill every day.

The refit is going slowly. I wrestled with the idea of making any modifications whatsoever. Takashi was Mr. Zek's best friend and partner in racing, and he didn't change a thing while the ship was in his care. Of course, he didn't fly it, either, as far as I know. The cloaking device, smartbombs, and ECM burst systems give me the impression that Mr. Zek might have intended to risk the ship outside of CONCORD's jurisdiction. I have no such intention, so I've got her stripped down to basics until I figure out how best to dress her up again.

We staged up in Stacmon to wait for the starting location for the Placid race. As it happened, we were in the right system and simply had to change stations. A reporter from Racing Insider magazine dropped by to speak with us, so Takashi and I took a few minutes to answer her questions. Apparently, we're on the cover of this month's issue. I don't know if I'm prepared to be a celebrity. I certainly don't do anything exciting. Perhaps no one needs to know just how much of my job involves spreadsheets and flowcharts.

The track layout threw us off balance with something new: a nullsec route. To my knowledge, no one at Venture had ever planned for it. I've gone through some old logs since the race, and everyone always seemed reasonably certain that nullsec was off limits during a race. Perhaps it's time to throw away the old book and write a new one. In the heat of the moment, Takashi asked me to make the decision whether to take the plunge or reroute, and from the tranquility of my docked ship, I dropped the ball. Any decision would have been fine. I could've said to take the long route to avoid risking the fleet or take the short route for the best odds against the clock, and the team would've instantly complied. Instead, I said, "You're the captain, Tak. It's your call."

To be fair, Takashi is the captain, and it is his call. His call, however, was to ask me to make the call from my God's-eye perch, and my indecisiveness led to indecisiveness on the track. I have no doubt that my waffling cost Takashi first place. In the future, I'll simply have to make quick decisions and live with the results.

On the whole, Lady Luck conspired to hand us some solid finishes, but she's a fickle mistress, and I don't really want to rely on her too much going forward.