Entry 1 - Location: Kepler-186f Orbital Debris Field

> Another day, another rust bucket. Scanned a real relic today, some old mining station clinging to the edge of the debris field. I swear you could hear the void crying through the comms static. It was supposed to be abandoned, but there were still some automated defense units online. Must’ve been programmed with the tenacity of a cockroach. I wasn't about to get up close and personal, so I had Wraith handle it. Let the balanced fighter carrier have some target practice. The station spat out three different drone variants, nasty little gun platforms. Wraith kept its distance, launching missile volley after missile volley, chipping away at them till they were nothing but scrap and smoke. Sentinel fighters also got in some practice. Managed to pick up a decent haul of old ore after all that. Not the high-grade stuff, just the cheap, low-yield kind. Still, it was something. Worth something to the right buyer, I hoped.

Entry 2 - Location: Cygnus Market Hub - Lower Levels

> Today was all about the grind. Sold off the ore I pulled from the Kepler-186f station. Nothing spectacular on the sale price, just a steady drip of credits into the coffers. The market was its usual chaotic self - a mix of desperate prospectors trying to pawn off their findings and slick-talking dealers looking to lowball everyone. Did some trading, bartered for a few replacement parts for the Wraith and some nutrient paste. Haggle, haggle, haggle - the same dance every time. I swear, sometimes I feel like I spend more time arguing with people than I do actually flying through space. Still, it all adds to the bottom line. I managed to turn a profit, however minor, so I suppose it was another successful day in the black.

Entry 3 - Location: Transit to Unknown System

> Finally got out of the Cygnus Hub. That place was starting to give me claustrophobia. I spent most of the day reviewing the scans I picked up at the old station. Turns out there were some faint energy signatures below the main mining level. I might have missed something. Time to head to an uncharted system, get away from the market chatter. The Wraith is tucked into the hangar, ready for anything. It's a good ship, dependable, and always brings me back. I'm starting to think I spend more time in its confines than my own personal quarters on the freighter. Hopefully, tomorrow brings something more exciting than low-grade ore or tiresome haggling.

Entry 4 - Near the Cygnus Reach

Another jump, another haul. Picked up a mixed lot from a derelict freighter drifting near the Cygnus Reach. Standard stuff, mostly: nutrient paste tubes, some old synth-leather boots, and a pile of what looked like obsolete data crystals. The usual space junk. Nothing that’ll net a fortune, but enough to keep the rust from eating into the Phoenix's hull. The manifest listed a “miscellaneous fauna sample” from a research station, packaged in a stasis pod. I'd marked it down as some kind of bio-waste for safe disposal. I should have known better than to expect anything simple from a station in that region of space.

Entry 5 - On Route to the Rigel Trade Hub

We finally popped that stasis pod in the cargo hold today. It felt…off. The hum was weird, like a suppressed electric guitar. Inside, nestled in a nutrient gel, was this thing. I'm struggling to describe it. It’s shaped kind of like a beetle, but with the spiky legs of a praying mantis. Its carapace is a shimmering obsidian, flecked with almost imperceptible golden bits. The few crew I have well… they about flipped their gaskets when they saw it. Lyra even brandished a wrench at it. They’re calling it a “bug” and “creepy”, and I can't disagree with the last part, not really, but I’ve seen worse things this far out, I know that. I didn't really know what to do with it, not when the crew looked so ready to toss into the nearest black hole. So I simply pushed it into the corner of the mess hall and forgot it for the day.

Entry 6 - Still Enroute

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Still on course for Rigel. The “bug”, as the crew insists on calling it, seems to have survived the rough handling. I'd swear it was watching me earlier today with those multifaceted eyes – unsettling. It didn’t seem to be doing anything at all, not even during dinner. With a sigh, I got tired of seeing it ignored, so I tossed some of my leftover protein paste scraps at it. The thing’s jaw-like mandibles unhinged and it snatched the food in a blink, then settled back down, as if nothing happened. After dinner, I decided to do something to keep it out of my hair. I started trying to teach it to respond to a simple hand clap. Just for a laugh. By the end of a cycle, that bug… thing… was raising one of its front legs when I clapped twice, and ducking its head when I clapped once. Smartest damned insect I’ve ever seen.

Entry 7 - Approaching Rigel

We’ll be at Rigel in a few more cycles. The crew still give the bug a wide berth, but they’ve started peeking at it when they think I’m not looking. I’ve been spending time with it, teaching it a few more tricks. It now comes to me when I whistle, can roll over, and even catch small objects thrown through the air. It's unnervingly quick. I’m starting to wonder just what kind of research station birthed this little creature. As for selling it, well, I know those high-end collectors on Rigel would pay a fortune for something this unique, but I’m not sure I want to. I’m already making a decent profit from standard trades and this thing is entertaining. Besides... it feels… well, almost like I have something worth caring about after all these years. The Phoenix feels a little less empty with it around. Guess the “miscellaneous fauna sample” will be staying with me for a little while at least.

A few cycles have passed.

Entry 1 - Sector Gamma-Nine

The starfield outside the viewport felt particularly bleak tonight. Maybe it was the residual stress of dealing with those Grolak smugglers, or maybe it was just the recycled synth-meal. Either way, I’m glad to be back on the Phoenix. Made a decent profit today offloading that shipment of bioluminescent fungi. Traded them for some rare gravity-weave fabrics; should fetch a good price on Xylos. I hope. Blackie was restless during the transfer, scuttling around the cargo hold, clicking his mandibles. He seems to dislike the vibrations of the transport beams.

Entry 2 - Sector Gamma-Nine

I swear, Blackie is as good as a tracking device. He always finds the best hiding spots around the ship. He’s faster than I remember too. I was trying to clean the nutrient paste residue from the galley this afternoon, and he zipped past, a blur of obsidian chitin, snagging a stray protein stick before I could even blink. He's got a knack for finding the things I'd rather he didn't. He’s nearly the size of a medium sized Terran dog now, which is… unsettling. He’s not just crawling, either. He actually moves, like some sort of multi-legged predator. This little beetle I picked up for free from some cargo statis pod, is turning out to be something else entirely. I'm still calling him Blackie though, for lack of a better name. I know, I know, not exactly inspired, but it was the first thing that came to mind, he was so… black.

Entry 3 - Sector Gamma-Nine

Another day, another few trades. This time it was some crystalline fuel rods, swapped them for a couple of containers of Grolak-grade stim-spice. The spice is a risky cargo, but it fetches a price that makes the trouble worth it. Blackie didn't seem bothered by the spice containers, which I thought was odd. He usually reacts to anything new brought into the hold. He's been spending more time in the engine room lately, which I'm not thrilled about. Can't have a giant beetle chewing on coolant pipes. I spent most of the cycle checking the systems and trying to figure out why the coolant lines keep developing the random scorch marks on the outside of the pipes.. And trying to figure out how Blackie was getting into the engine room. Anyway… I picked up the latest data packet from my contact on the comm-channel. Looks like they want me to discreetly transport a crate of… well, they didn’t specify what exactly, only that it’s highly sensitive and I need to take the long way around the Korvan Nebula. Coordinates to the pickup are attached. Seems like a straightforward delivery. I hope so, after the Grolak smuggling incident of last week I need an easy payday.

Entry 4 - Sector Gamma-Nine

My internal sensors registered a minor increase in stress levels as I prepared for the pickup. My contact didn’t specify what I’d be carrying, just that it was important. That alone always makes me nervous. I hate mystery crates. Blackie was more restless than usual, his carapace clicking loudly whenever I moved in the hold. I hope it wasn't just the ship's temperature fluctuation I was feeling, the air around Blackie sometimes gets oddly warm, like a heat haze. I still can't believe what a huge... beetle he's become. Honestly looks like it crawled out of the depths of a forgotten nightmare.

I need to get those pickup coordinates plugged into the nav system, and maybe check the ship's defenses. Just in case.