Drifter incursions subside

The incursions by Drifters seem to be subsiding as the Amarr Navy emerges victorious in the defense of our territory. 

Now, the battle shifts from space to the laboratory, to Hedion University and so many other research facilities that will sift through the data and telemetry and try to obtain a way into the Drifter homeworlds. We are in a race with the other empires, and even with cursed pirate factions, to carve out a piece of Drifter space. All central powers think that it will succeed, and that it will be a good idea. I am not so sure.

Anyway, the fate of the counter-invasion is out of our hands for now. But LUMEN and its valiant capsuleers can rest in the assurance that we have done our duty to God and to the Empress. And that, in the end, is all that should really matter for a faithful capsuleer! 

The outcome will, as always, unfold according to God's unfathomable plan. Even if we do not understand it, even if what happens is not what we would want or hope ourselves, even if there is an impression that our work was for naught, all that does not matter: the faithful capsuleer finds peace in having done their part, and acceptance of what happens through the unwavering trust that things unfold according to God's will.

The New Understanding

Ever since I made a shuttle trip to Seclusion without informing the political officer of the Indagatrix, he has been accompanying me again on every ship I board, be it my trusty exploration vessel or other ships. The only break was after we went to the battle of Tabbetzur, which caused him a spot of nervous troubles. 

So, he has joined me on the rescue missions by which I have been supporting the Amarr Navy in its battle against the Drifter incursions. He has been on the crew of the Lumen Salvatrix, a salvaging Punisher-class ship, taking notes about the flight tactics of capsuleers that joined our fleet but were neutral to us. 

I think the uninterrupted stream of military stasis pods that has been passing through the Lumen Salvatrix are now once again making his nerves act up. They look so much like coffins... Also, there have been a couple of close calls where the Lumen Salvatrix was into hull. Perhaps this has caused mr. Firth to have nightmares of being in one of those emergency escape coffins himself. 

So, we now have a new Understanding. He will still always accompany me on the Indagatrix, but he does require that I inform him in advance (he emphasized the 'in advance' part) about every other trip I plan to make, in any kind of vessel. If it is not an exploration mission, he will make an informed decision whether to go along or not, depending on what is best for the eternal glory of the Empire. 

Today, in the absence of mr. Firth, the medical crew on the Lumen Salvatrix appeared much more relaxed.

Reflections on Fleet Command

I was very apprehensive about coordinating a fleet. There was no need: the quality of LUMEN pilots makes it actually not difficult at all. Mostly I warp the fleet about to wherever the next target location is, and make sure folks stay together somewhat during travel. Once on grid, the expertise of the individual pilots take over. 

Of course, I do not claim that these rescue fleets require the same capacity as real battle fleets such as those we face in Syndicate. But still, even though it is a small step, it is a step forward.

Sometimes I have to keep the pilots' zeal in check: they would take over from other rescuing fleets for example, claiming that we can be faster! But in the end, if multiple rescue workers run the same operation, they just end hindering each other. And if we sometimes have to wait for the next operation, well that is a good sign: our navy seems to need search-and-rescue operations less frequently than at the start of this conflict. We are defeating the drifter incursion.

Of course, it is not all joy and victory. The greatest dread of the fleet commander (well at least for an amateur) is losing ships. I lost two. My first loss was Dr. Larnoniette Marcelle Ellecon, a medical professional and pilot. An ideal combination of skills to have on a rescue mission, and I think that made her the primary target of the Drifters.

I fretted and felt guilt - should I have been more attentive, and warped her our or tried to save her in another way? Would she blame me? None of that! She simply reshipped and warped back and continued, apparently still happy to have me as fleet shepherd. She did not blame me at all. 

Let the expertise and forgiving nature of our pilots be an assurance to all those in LUMEN aspiring to lead a fleet out on some venture.

Angel cartel sabotage

A terrorist attack took place on one of Hedion University's research facilities. The Angels - nothing at all to do with Sefrim, quite the opposite! - have detonated a bomb at this temple of learning. Incapable of standing up to our navy, they target the innocent: students and physics professors.

Thank God the Ministry of Information are identifying the culprits and keeping us permanently safe from them. But this is not to work of a lone terror cell. The Angel Cartel as a whole is attempting to sabotage research on the telemetry we obtained through blood, sweat and tears fighting the Drifters. 

Word is that the Cartel fears getting pushed back in the race to invade the Drifter homeworlds. I do not quite believe that: through their alliance with the Deathless, these pirates should already have access to all the Jove technology they need to stage an incursion in the Drifter home systems. 

I believe their real focus is to keep us from dismantling the organisation of the Deathless. Once we control the skies over the Drifter homeworlds, we might be able to crack the defenses of Zarzakh too.

Amarr Never Sleeps

The efforts of the faithful are relentless. The fleet operations have been going on nearly continuously, with one commander taking the place of another commander when the latter needs to rest and recover. It has been a privilige to do my part in these rotations!

At some point, we had the Drifters almost completely gone from highsec Amarr, their only presence being in lowsec, or systems made lawless by other pirate incursions. 

Truly, the faith is not a flash of light, but a constant burning fire. Whereas our competitors may have outperformed us at the onset, with short-term profit in mind, I am confident that our slow but constant burn will outpace them at the end. 

However, we must not keep out of sight that the true race here is the battle against the Drifters, rather than other Concord signatories. Now more than ever it is clear beyond any doubt that they do not feel any compassion or empathy towards other life-forms. 

If they treat us as insects, it is time we let them feel that we can sting.

Uncharacteristic impulse

I do not know what came over me.

When I was ready to resume the search and rescue operations, and my communications officer told me no fleet was available for me to join, I exclaimed, "Well, then we will form a fleet ourselves."

As one, the crew turned and looked at me. Mr. Firth stared too, with open mouth. I understand their surprise: I have never led any fleet. Any real fleet that is - I think being a tour guide for a bunch of shuttles doing a pilgrimage to the Mekhios monument does not really count as fleet command in the eyes of my crew. Also, they all know I am a listener, not a commander! 

Perhaps it was the atrocities of the Drifters, or seeing Luna's pain for her wounded son, but somehow I shrugged off my concerns, and asked the comms officer to set up a fleet advert to the faithful. That is also something new and hence somewhat confusing to me. I do not want to end up enlisting enemies of the Empire by accident, or broadcasting a call to arms to Triglavians.

Gaun Arel, selfless and courageous as always, was the first to join this fleet. As much as Luna, Aria and Ishta are my unwavering guardian angels during explorations planetside and in stations, Gaun has been my guardian angel for risky missions out in space. The noble paladin can be counted on to look out for me while I do my thing in space. 

We were joined by mr. Lafisques too. He has been helping with search and rescue missions near Amarr, even though he sends his telemetry results to the Society of Conscious Thought rather than the Empire. I do not mind, I like him, and the SoCT is not an enemy of the empire - even though I do find their activities suspicious. 

A more pressing moral question presented itself when a local mercenary by the name of Tiax Atram asked whether the could join our fleet. My political officer mr. Firth gave me the green light. Even though mr. Atram is only in it for the money, his actions will help the Empire. And it will help the MIO to better document him and his flight tactics. Mr. Atram proved to be a reliable squad member.

Divine providence brought paladin commander Arline Kley to our fleet right about at the time when I was getting tired from the nervous tension caused by this first fleet command. I was happy to hand over command to this battle-hardened and most formidable leader. 

Directix Deilyx

I continued to assist in search and rescue operations in systems with a Drifter incursion, glad that a capsuleer who disavowed the use of violence finally has a meaningful way to contribute in such events.

Bringing back navy personnel home, rescuing them from their escape pods, is a meaningful task. But it is not until someone close is affected that this really hits home hard. One person rescued - not by me though, but by fellow rescue workers - is an (adopted) son of our Directrix. Asad's ship was shot down near Mishi, where Luna has family roots.

In order to care for her son, she is reducing her duties for the Societas and the Khimi Harar alliance for a few months. This news unsettled me, I have been taking her enduring guidance for granted. But then, it is not the first break for family reasons that Luna has had to take; she did not have much fortune in these matters lately. 

The new Directix for the time being will be lady Thea van Deilyx. I do not know her as well as I do Luna, but I am confident that Viscountess Deilyx will be able to lead the alliance with a firm hand in these trying times. 

We have held a service at Gottin's Lamp's chapel with prayers for Luna and her family, followed by prayers for God to bless our new Directix, and grant her success and wisdom guiding the Societas and the alliance. 

For Empress and for Amarr

Perhaps it was the sight of that ghostly asteroid and its prison rock yesterday that kept me thinking and worrying all night about the poor monks that the Drifters see fit to use in their vile experiments.

I felt the need to do more that mere covert surveying, so I resolved to join one of LUMEN's anti-Drifter fleets again. I signed up for search-and-rescue missions: due to my vow of non-violence I cannot take part in offensive operations.

The Indagatrix is not really suitable for that - our fitting experts suggested a punisher-class hull with armor repairers, capacitor stabilization, and a lot of salvaging equipment. It was not too difficult to procure one in Amarr, and I named it Lumen Salvatrix - the redeeming light. 

The final hurdle: my political officer. To my surprise he was not against this type of mission, although he clearly prefers covert monitoring operations. But he is worried (as am I) that pirate factions and Triglavians are getting ahead in the arms race that this war has turned into. Amarr dropping behind reflects badly on our beloved Empress, so we need all (capsuleer) hands on deck to respond to this situation. Even the search-and-rescue missions contribute to our progress in the race, and are therefore doubly valuable.

I was pleased to join a fleet led by commander Tather Borg and graced by the presence of Paladin Arline Kley, one of the fiercest warriors I know, and Albion Areculus and Vindica Irvam. The fleet was very dynamic: various pilots joined and left over the duration of the operations. At one point, fleet command was carried over to Maerrin so operations could continue while Ms. Borg took the necessary rest. I note with gladness that we also received kind help from non-Amarr pilots. Mr. Lafisques, a pacifist who keeps the good of entire mankind front and central, lent a hand during our rescue missions.

The depths of evil of our adversaries were revealed: they attacked rescue workers! Thank God their attacks were ineffective due to the expertise of our fitting engineers and the superiority of Amarr armor.

Knowing I have done my part today, and tired from the work of salvaging stasis pods, I will definitely sleep better tonight.

Pareidolia

Humans are primed -by evolution- to recognize faces and facial expressions. It is a useful trait to quickly see another face and interpret whether it is friendly or not. As a result, we tend to see them often also in inanimate objects, even if there is no face. This effect is called "pareidolia".

Indeed, there are many stories of people seeing the face of a famous saint appear on toast bread.

Now, I do not believe that randomly burned pieces of toast convey heavenly messages, but you have to admit that the asteroid below does look as if it has two dark eyes staring right at you (and a very knobbly head, and tentacles). 

They are not happy eyes.

The asteroid in question is located in a Drifter wormhole, where there is little reason for happiness. Of course, the pareidolia here is caused by the effect of light falling on the rock, but still, I found it an ominous sight. More evil is what the monstrous shape seems to hold in front of its tentacles:

It is a colony of sorts. Not a sleeper colony, those look very different. This one looks more suited for regular human habitation, like a regular asteroid colony. It has windowed towers sticking out from both poles of the round asteroid. Very likely it is a prison colony, given the fact that it is surrounded by four defensive Drifter sentries. There are many other unanswered questions about this, for example why this was placed near the large, unhappy looking asteroid, but not built on the larger one. 

Mr. Firth allowed me to share these pictures, as long as I do not reveal the precise location, while we find out more about it.

A new arms race

I have again done mr. Ivan Firth a favor, doing some exploration for the Ministry of Internal Order.

This is not sustainable - they treat me like an unpaid mission worker! 

Anyway, this secret mission -mostly mapping- has again been in the context of the war against the Drifters, which itself is an escalation of Drifter violence caused by the Deathless' capture of Jovian technology. Initial victories in repelling the Drifter incursions have emboldened not only our Empire, but all four core powers and even pirate factions. There is a real hunger for new Jovian technology, and even whispers of a full-scale incursion into their home worlds. 

There is a real belief that we can pull it off, and avenge the death of Empress Jamyl. But this hubris worries me, one should not forget that it is Jovian technology that we would be pitted against. And even if we do capture some shiny new toy, who knows what will happen when we push the big red button on it? The logic is that we need to participate in this race for new weapons, lest our enemies capture it first.

But, in my opinion, arms races are never good. It would be better to discuss disarmament, or a ban on such technology, enforced by Concord.

The previous race, to obtain what turned out to be a shipcaster device, came at a high cost: Republic interference in the testing of a stellar harvester in Turnur ended in disaster...