[log] [Initialising....]

Crackling.....the screen flickers intermittently
"....maybe if you reconfigure that...yeah, push that in there. No, IN, you're pulling it out..."
Static and white noise. Then a rolling, blurry mix of purple and green
"..YES! We have visual! "
With a fizzle the screen returns to static
"No, no, no, no, no. Whatever you just did, undo it."
Abruptly, an image. A young-ish human female. Porcelain skinned, dark purple hair. Green shirt opened flatteringly. She looks into the screen, her face too close as though she's looking through it.
"A-ha! There we go. If nothing else, I'll be able to talk to myself into the early hours. After all, what's a captain without a captain's log, eh?"
She pulls back looking satisfied and then turns to someone off screen..
"Why are you looking so offended? Well obviously I can talk to you...."

With a crackle, the screen jolts back to black. 

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[Initialising Log. OK]

An unknown period of time, probably a few hours. The young woman is back, with grime on her face and clothes looking tired but not exhausted. She relaxes into the chair. Somewhere in the background there are inaudible raised voices.
"They're arguing again. Incredible..."
She looks into the screen and points a finger.
"Make a note. Make sure your droid gets on with the rest of the crew before you procure them. Otherwise, your life is hell."
Relaxing back into the chair, she runs her hand through her hair, ruffling it up.
"Anyway, I'd better get started with this. Hello there. I'm Seren Undercroft, I'm the captain of this ship, for better or worse. This is the first log using this new datacorder. It looks like we lost the old log during the attack which is probably for the best...."
From somewhere off-screen, the male synthetic voice murmurs something.
"Hmm? What's that? No, not because it's incriminating...". She turns towards the screen to make the point. "Not because it's incriminating!"
"Wait a moment. What's that? Why am I introducing myself? Because I have to feel like I'm talking to someone otherwise I'd feel like I was going mad. Why am I explaining myself to you? I'm the captain. Go and make yourself useful".
She turns back to the screen, this time with a more definite sense of purpose.

"It's been a hectic few weeks. We've recently secured a licence to trade on the planet Araxes. Not just any old licence either. This one lets us trade spice too. SPICE! A handful of this spice can buy a house on some worlds. A decent house at that. So, like so many before me, we're coming here to make our fortune but if it were that easy everyone would be here. So let's fill you in on what's going down....."

"Going down...that's a bad choice of words really. A few days ago, we were caught up in a orbital conflict between the United Systems Directorate and the Myrmidon Order. We think a Myrmidon cruiser got a direct hit, well whatever happened it was enough for us to make planetfall. We barely got the engines restarted in time. A minute later and they'd have been picking up wreckage for months. We hit a sand dune just outside of Al Raqis, Araxes's capital city. If we'd hit the city or the refinery, there would have been massive casualties. Anyway, it's hard securing replacement parts especially when the Myridions are blockading trade routes. We fixed the thrusters but we can't use the hyperspace engines without a navigational computer and that is toasted. Spare parts are few and far between in this part of space. Pretty much everything is. It didn't help matters that the Constable seemed to be checking out the Persephone. She was flown by the Magenta Corporation for a little while. They ain't exactly the most law-abiding folks but I tried to cleanse the ship of all incrimiating info as best I could. Still, it's something else to worry about. "

"We moved the ship on thruster power to the new colony in the south. I figured we'd fit in and in the hustle and bustle people would just assume we're with them. I want to lie low until things have calmed down. The Constable put a call out for brave traders willing to break the blockade. Normally I'd jump at the chance but with the ship in this state of disrepair, it'd be a suicide mission."

"Okay, well I'm going off to the bar. People on this planet definitely have their priorities right. Not a drop of water on the planet but there's always alcohol!"

[Terminating]