30th September 3263

  I had no intention of ending up in Exiool, but we did nonetheless in the process of escaping from an Imperial Explorer in Aackess. Exiool is another system unfortunate enough to be under the Imperial dictatorial rule. It's also quite a safe system - we were now not far from Achenar. We sold the cargo we picked up during our abortive attempt to get to Solo's Grave in Aackess, and made a tidy profit. I decided that the 1MW beam laser wasn't a big enough gun, and traded off three shield generators for the new gun and its associated cooler. However, this reduced our available cargo space from 15t to 11t. It didn't prove a big deal in the end, and the bigger gun gave more satisfactory results when dealing with a multiple Harris attack.

  We went to Cooke Station to do our business. Once again, typical Imperial rules prevailed; there was a curfew, station administration is highly officious and bureaucratic, but nevertheless, free trade is encouraged and flourishes. There was even a couple of decent places to eat on the station (no doubt to attract more trade), but we did get funny looks from the locals. Imperial citizens are some of the most insular and xenophobic people that I've met during my travels.