Sleuthing

I have had no success in finding the Antiquarian. I feel like an unlucky private detective... 

I asked around in the AIR station in Manifest, but new capsuleer pilots are strangely tight-lipped. Was I equally untalkative when I was fresh out of Hedion University's capsuleer academy? I do remember it was all very overwhelming - but I put that down to the fact that I have been living on an asteroid monastery before my piloting days. Now I see that being overwhelmed and uncertain is more general than I thought.

Anyway, the Antiquarian is not someone you would forget, should you meet him. He has a fairly expressive face, somewhat more round than the average Amarrian, and wears a strange cybernetic monocle. It looks antique but no doubt has modern sensors in it. His face is strongly scarred, giving a stern and resolute impression. He definitely looks as if he is a very tough negotiator and will always get the better part of the deal. On the few scarce pictures of him, he wears a warm padded leather coat, which makes me think he was raised on an ice planet.

I did get some confirmation that he has been parading around, orbiting the station in strange ships, but not offering anything for sale. He might have been heading towards Haven. I will look for Amarr agents of Imperial corporations that I have good standings with, and see if they can help me locate him.

But perhaps this will have to wait a bit...  While I was away, a crisis is brewing in Mehatoor. The dark clouds of an Angel insurgency are once again amassing on the horizon. They are bringing their corruption already to Raa, at our doorstep. If their tentacles reach into Mehatoor over the next few days, this may hamper the virtuous works done to fulfil the Empress' vision of the Blessed Exchange. Many of the goals to be reached need to take place in and around Mehatoor, but brigands on the road make this more difficult. As before, LUMEN will step up to restore order, but we will need all pilots...

Completed AIR station

After a slight delay - I completed my contributions to perform remote repairs in the warzone and this took more time than I thought - I finally proceeded to Manifest. I traded the Augoror repair ship back to folks in the militia, and made my way to Exordium via shuttle.

The AIR trade station has been completed! No more scaffolding and welding bots. Compare today's view with that of just over a month ago:

It must be one of the very few large building projects that I have ever known to finish in time. It must have been way over budget then. There is a sort of Heisenberg relation for major infrastructure works - if you reduce the time it takes, the budget grows, or vice versa. 

Unfortunately, the station's interior is just as cramped as it was, despite the fact that also there the scaffolding has been removed:

Well, it is all relative, of course. But in Amarr stations there is definitely more sense of open space and solemnity. Among the various corporations that opened offices, I did not find the antiquarians. But that is not to be expected, a reclusive collector such as him would not advertise. I will start my search in earnest tomorrow.

Epikouria Chronicles XIII

It is always nice to run into old friends in space! I noticed Isidorus Orissus in local as he was doing anti-piracy patrols in Sifilar - he is making his contribution to the efforts for the Blessed Exchange. 

Sansha pirates roam the asteroid belts there, and they can be quite tough, even bringing battleships to harass mining fleets. So, I saw an opportunity to help Isidorus via logi support. I used the Inquisitor-class hull that we have at the ready in Mehatoor. It is nimble enough that large Sansha ships cannot track it with their guns. 

Isidorus is a leading member of Publius Cornelius Felix's colonists, who moved from our own wormhole holdings in Seclusion to Epikouria. In fact, he is Publius' right hand man, his main lieutenant. 

The only news that I have been getting lately is from brother Hugo, and of course this is colored by his interpretation. It is nice to be able to get a view from the "top", so to speak, in stead of the "lower" layers of the colonists. This is not meant in any derogatory way - especially since in his organisation, Publius does not have a fixed or hereditary hierarchy. In stead, he uses the very Caldari concept of merit. This is a bit worrisome, but I think it will be viewed favorably by the Originals in Epikouria.

Isidorus does not have a reputation of being a chatterbox, and he was indeed focused more on combat than being verbose. Nevertheless he conveyed the message that the colonists are doing fine. They have spread to various other systems in Anoikis. And, following the call of the Empress, they have been working hard to contribute to the Blessed Exchange. He has shared some internal confidential memo with me, showing their dedication to the cause.

((ooc info: As this was marked 'for authorised eyes only', Theo would set viewing permissions to LUMEN officers and above exclusively: adept rank, praefecti and upwards - for others this is not IC knowledge!))

I am delighted that Publius and his fellow colonists are fully devoted to the Blessed Exchange, but I am also somewhat worried about their focus on "technological innovation". This part at least seems to agree with brother Hugo's claims of transhumanist tinkering with minds and bodies. But, overall, the picture I am getting is much more positive than what brother Hugo relays to me, and gives me confidence that Publius and his companions are still strong in the Faith!

Exordium antiques

The Antiquarian is in Exordium. Well, he was spotted there a little while ago. As a famous collector he was happy he could show off his most prized old-timer ships and drones under the cover of heightened CONCORD regulations: in Exordium, piracy among capsuleers is suppressed.

If anyone has obtained clues that can point to the location of the Avetat and Ametat, it will be him. I do not know yet what kind of person he is, or if he would even be willing to cooperate on such an important quest. So, the first step would be to meet up! 

I will travel to Exordium again to see if he is still there. Perhaps he has set up an antiques shop in Manifest!

Slave influx

Once again there is an infernal ruckus coming from the arch-heretic Nauplius' hangar. This time it is not a new offshoot of his sedevacantist movement, like the Promissae Matris cult with their chants. I made some inquiries, and it turns out that he has created a freelance job to purchase a million slaves!

These kind of jobs are offered specifically to capsuleer pilots. Often they are contracts to deliver stuff at a certain location. In this case, slaves to Mehatoor. 

The sudden influx of one million slaves has caused not only overcrowding and station-wide malfunctions of the waste disposal system, but it is also a cause of great worry in veteran pilots of the Societas. They remember a time when the arch-heretic sacrificed a million slaves to the blood god (a deity in the heresy that he was adhering to at the time), I think by blowing up the freighter that carried them. 

It has also caused some distress in ms. Yubari. She was working on composing a prayer, as part of her conversion to our faith, and now her prayer is a supplication that these slaves may be treated well and not harmed.

Personally, I am surprised that the freelance job was concluded so quickly. I wonder how many contributors there have been to this, and how many pilots consider going into the slave trade. Perhaps this is only a stunt to attract more people into slave trade and into a more violent sort of reclamation and there will be no repeat of the massacre that took place? 

Industry

Industry is another area that I have never ventured into. We have outstanding captains of industry in LUMEN. There are veterans of the "Bounding Bunny Brigade" for example, but also folks like Drabar Corinnine who builds large ships and the most beautiful freighters. And of course there is Dranghoul's company "Long and Short" which is supplying all sorts of ships in Mehatoor. 

From time to time I get nice glossy advertisements of golden ships sold by Long and Short. Very tastefully done, much nicer than the pushy ads from the Federation or the violent ones from the Republic. 

As I want do as much as I can to follow the Empress' call to action for the Blessed Exchange, I have tried my hand at building Dragoon class ships and Infiltrator drones. It is very hectic at the Navy Anchorage in Mehatoor - it is a new station, large and expansive, with plenty of hangars and a vast industrial district. No need to set up factories yourself, all you need to do is bring some blueprints and the necessary building materials, and then have it be picked up at your hangar and brought to a factory in the industrial part. You pay for the factory, and after a while receive the fabricated goods back in your hangar. It goes much more smoothly than I expected!

To make things even easier, alliance contracts are up with the blueprints and the materials required to help push forward the Blessed Exchange campaign.

Now I still need to figure out where these Dragoons are actually needed...

A better match

Even though it was more adventurous than expected, I am glad I have completed my part for the mining contribution to the Blessed Exchange. I prefer to leave the harvesting of ore to professional miners, who have the know-how and the proper tools and a love for ores and minerals.

Another way to push the goals of the Empire has presented itself. This time it is right up my alley, as they say: hacking relic or data sites. The sites are in low-sec regions, and luckily the sites are the regular ones that do not have incessant waves of republic security service frigates homing in for a kill. 

Although Concord offers no protection in low-sec parts of the Empire, many systems are relatively empty of pilots. And if you see pilots in system, check whether they are mining, or are in a slow battlecruiser or battleship. If you remain attentive, you can elope those rather easily in a nimble magnate, should they decide to warp to you. 

I did not use the Indagatrix, because in my experience it disturbs any mining fleet that would be present too much. They are afraid of the Anathema-class ship's ability to activate a covert cynosural field, and will often reship to scare the covert frigate away. A good old Magnate-class ship does not cause them as much anxiety, and is a more than capable exploration vessel. So, I sold the Pioneer mining ship - may it be used by a new pilot to get more Raspite for the Empire - and with the proceeds I bought a exploration-fitted Magnate.

I had no trouble completing the hacking assignment: as slow as I am at mining, at scanning and hacking I am fast. 

The Empress' champion

Whoever claims mining is boring, is wrong.

I have been mining raspite in fleets offering boosts and compression. Our very own alliance pilots (including Lunarisse) regularly offer these services in their orcas or porpoise-class ships to all present. I have also been helped by Brother Grimoire - of galnet streaming fame - and a kind pilot who goes by the name of Fury Bastaria. 

During one of those fleets, while I was peacefully mining raspite in my pioneer, minmatar terrorists struck. None other than one of the founders of the terrorist organisation Electus Matari decided to assault random miners. Det Resprox picked pilots who had recently enlisted in the Amarr Militia and who had not yet resigned from their soldiering. That made them legitimate targets for the terrorist in his Navy Thrasher.

He overplayed his hand though, by staying too long, hovering like a bird of prey hundreds of kilometers off the asteroid belt. None other than a true hero of the Empire came to our aid: Lord Kelon Darklight, recipient of the Cross of the Sacred Throne Order! He is one of those elite pilots that make little girls swoon and grown men tremble...

He was Empress Catiz's champion during the Succession Trials. This is a battle to determine the new Emperor or Empress, after the previous one left the Golden Throne. Each Royal House picks a champion (in old days could even be an Heir) to fight. Through the outcome God shows us who the successor to the Throne has to be. Ten years ago, Lord Kelon and his retainers defeated his opponents and ushered in the current era of the Empire.

Next time you go to the Emperor Family Academy station in Amarr, perhaps on a shopping visit, take a look at the four Avatar-class titans outside the station. One of these titans is named after Lord Kelon Darklight.

It was this living legend that came to the miners' rescue. Of course, Det Resprox was no match for House Tash-Murkon's champion - the terrorist was soundly defeated. 

So, yes, in conclusion, mining turns out not to be boring at all.

Out of my comfort zone

Mining. 

I have never done it before, although I learnt the theory in capsuleer training. It is simply not something I needed - not for my quest, and not for money as I have more than enough to pursue my quest.

But now the Empress calls for faithful capsuleers to mine raspite. And so, for the first time since capsuleer training, I mined. I got myself a pioneer class ship, and had to fast-track learning mining destroyers for that. 

It is very different from the Indagatrix. The ship is cheaper and dirtier. The ore dust goes everywhere, I think I will still find it in my monk's gown and in my living quarters for months to come. 

Mr. Firth declined to come along, claiming there is probably nothing I can do wrong while mining in bulwark systems. I wanted to run the pioneer without crew, but there is a mining crew union that insists on taking on crewmembers to help with managing the mining hold. 

-to be continued-

Call to action

We are all called to action by the Empress - to contibute in any way we can, within the boundaries of ones abilities, to the great goal of the Empire.

I had hoped for research assignments, but in stead I found heavily guarded and criminalized intel sites, combat missions for agents of the Empire, and mining. None of which I am any good at.

At least for the combat missions, I figured out a plan. I had only done level IV hauling missions before, so I turned to my good friend Gaun Arel, who has helped me often in the past when force was needed. He kindly agreed, always a paladin looking for a righteous quest. 

We met up in Dresi, and I did have some trouble finding an agent that was working today. They are all overworked from having too many faithful capsuleers take up missions all at once. But in the end, with a bit of insistance, a tired mrs. Dahyaron Lahara, agent for the Emperor Family, agreed to give me a level IV security assignment. 

The Indagatrix is not suitable for this, but during last year's "secret santa" someone gave me a tanky Stratios-class cruiser with armor repair systems, both in-ship and remote. 

The Stratios managed to tank the incoming fire using its armor repairer, and by moving relatively fast and staying far enough from the pirates. Gaun was clearly well trained for this sort of missions. The light of justice shone bright from large battleship lasers and his Paladin-class marauder melted the pirates without even a scratch on his armor. It was a sight to behold! 

Mrs. Lahara was pleased with the outcome, and I was pleased to have contributed to our common goal today.