Antimatter bombs

I insisted on another stakeout, to see if the Bhaalgorn had changed its routine since we last came. Perhaps our visit raised an alarm and they changed their routine? Or perhaps the Blood Sommelier was laying out a trap - I had to be sure before venturing back into that horrible place. So we kept watch, day and night.

Meanwhile we have a suitcase antimatter bomb with us in the Indigatrix. When antimatter touches regular matter, it recombines with it, annihilating, and releasing all of its mass as pure energy. Detonating an antimatter bomb is easy. Just release the antimatter. The hard part is to prevent it from detonating, and that is what all the machinery in the suitcase is constantly doing, with triple redundancy safeties. Right up to the point where we want it to explode.

One gram of antimatter annihilating one gram of matter equates to forty kilotons of TNT, enough to flatten a medium-sized city. The bomb we carry with us carries a grain of antimatter of twelve and a half grams, suspended in a magnetic bottle and the highest vacuum achievable. Its release will destroy everything inside the blood cellar, ionizing it by the blast and gamma rays, and most likely the entire structure will explode.

Understandably, there is some nervousness among the crew about waiting days with this thing in our cargo hold. However, now after a few days I am happy that the Bhaalgorn's routine hasn't changed, and I could bring them the good news.

We're bringing the bomb in tomorrow.

The art of the deal

I received a mail from "sommelier2120@anonymous.net". I have no idea how that creature found my galnet mail address.

Well, it is listed on the website of our chapel, so it is not particularly difficult to find.

I know it belongs to that weird creature at the blood cellar, I recognize its peculiar way of speaking:

"Dearest sir, this is your sommelier, who had the doubleplus pleasure of meeting your optimal exaltedness recently at our shop!" 

It calls itself a sommelier though wine is not its business. Probably it knows the MIO is scanning these mails, so it is cautious.

"Rumors of your interest in the special vintage" - I was not interested in Luna's blood - "have spread." 

The bloody thing must have spread the rumors itself. 

"Other collectors are scrambling doublespeed, in particular the one from Mekhios. This pushes up the price to higher levels, sadly doubleminus I need to inform your exaltedness that it now sells at 1.3 billion per fluid ounce. And only 3/4 of the bottle is left for sale. Please act with doubleplus haste!!!

Tripleplus devoted to your pleasure, I remain at your service.

PS. Sideplus of whiskey-infused free Maleto vintage still included in offer! Doubleplus pairing with steak tartare!"

My first (self-defense) impulse was to report the mail to the MIO as heretic, abusive, fraudulent, phishing. But after a few seconds thought, I realized this could be exactly the opportunity I was looking for to bring the suitcase antimatter bomb into the blood cellar. I answered:

"Dear Sommelier. With great pleasure I can inform you that I have collected all the necessary funds. Please reserve what is left of the bottle for me. I will be at the shop as soon as I can."

It answered almost immediately.

"Quadrupleplus happy, sir, elated, sir, truly, elated! Sir, your best and most exlusive property ever, sir! For you to enjoy! We will celebrate with some carbonated sparkly Mikal Vektor on the house! I am positively thrilling with doubleplus exciment to see your exaltedness again! Client of the year, already, doubleplus certain!"

Of course it is happy. Half a liter of Luna blood comes at 20 billion. But that actually helps me: so much cash (even in plex) has to be brought in a big suitcase. My suitcase will carry something else.

The Tour

This weekend I am back in Amarr to give a history tour to corp members (and outsiders with good standing) who want to learn more about the Empire. We have enough peregrinans and interested legionnaires. For more experienced members it is a pilgrimage to the holy sites, and it is good to go on this pilgrimage from time to time, to keep in mind both the glorious heights and the despondent depths in our recent history. A story of ingenuity, exploring, but also setbacks and overcoming the evil that we face. 

And for new capsuleers, with the ink still drying on their fresh license, it is also a safe introduction in basic fleet maneuvers and commands. They can make mistakes and correct, there is no rush and no enemy.

I feel I should do the tour more often than once or twice a year, and perhaps advertise it a bit better - for example in career agent systems. It is an excellent way to spread the faith amongst capsuleers, and to tip their interest into joining us. 

As I was thinking about this last night, I had another inspiration to spread the faith. With the excess ISK I make and cannot keep due to my vow of poverty, I can donate simple frigates to Mike Azariah's "magic school bus" project, and make sure every donated ship contains copies of the Pax Amarria. These would be for the Amarr career systems of course. I will contact mr. Azariah to see if he can agree with this.

7th fleet ombudsman

It is outrageous that such an horrid installation as the Blood Cellar can exist in Imperial space with impunity!

I warped straight to the 7th Fleet's local headquarters in Naga. There is a public relations office there on Naga IV. I ignored the obligation to book an appointment months in advance, and stormed in. Capsuleer status helped, and I was able to see the head ombudsman, Tribunus Colonel Vleckson.

I explained to him what we found, and provided coordinates for a 7th fleet strike fleet to destroy the site.

Tribunus Colonel Vleckson sighed. He looked tired, and looked at the window. His eyes expressed an undisguised desire to escape through that window, which he might have done if he had had more time before I barged in, regardless of the fact that we were on the second floor.

"Our focus is on Blood Raider forward operating bases, and on active raiding parties. There are just... so many of them", he said in a depressed voice. "We do not have the means to go after every threat so we have to prioritize to clear and present dangers. A passive site like the blood cellar is not high enough of a priority. Please contact your... contacts to get us better funding for the outer worlds' fleets so we can expand our actions."

This was clearly a longer speech than he had any energy for, so he sat down on his chair.

I insisted. "Surely there is something you can still do? A single Bhaalgorn should not be a problem? Quick ops?"

Vleckson shook his head. "Sorry, no. And don't you go asking the Khanid Royal Navy, either. They patrol here too, from time to time, keeping a claim alive from the Kingdom to take over the Fabai constellation under their protection. But they don't put in the means either, they go after big wins for propaganda. Showing off. Your blood bank thingy won't do it."

After a pause, to get his internal battery back up to 1% charge, he shifted in his seat and added, "but perhaps you capsuleer folks can do it yourself?"

Somewhat offended, I answered "I do not carry offensive weaponry on the Indigatrix, and corp members are busy with other things, fighting the Republic and the Angel Cartel in the warzone! We are not the ones assigned to keep law and order in this sector, Tribunus Colonel!"

After a long, pained moment, Vleckson said "Well, here's what I can do. I can get you a suitcase antimatter bomb. The structure may be shielded from the outside, but if you can get the antimatter bomb into that sphere, and detonate it from the inside, I'm sure that will destroy it. Or at least spoil the blood collection."

Seeing as no fleet was coming to help me, I agreed. Vleckson nodded and said the suitcase antimatter bomb would be delivered to the Indigatrix within the hour. I signed off on some forms in triplicate, and that was it.

Queen bee nectar

The half-man-half-droid creature squints its eyes, and scans me. It is not suspicious, it just wants to find out who its client is. It seems to completely trust the Bhaalgorn patrolling the site to screen any visitors and keep out unwanted persons. 

It says "Oooh, sir, a capsuleer, sir, what an optimal pleasure." The human torso swivels on its five-legged base plate to look at Idesbald. "Please let your slave lower its weapon". I signal Idesbald to lower his plasma rifle and he reluctantly obeys. He shifts his free hand to a grenade, I think he might have primed it as a dead man's switch.

The creature, having completed its scan of me, says "Sir! One from the Societas, sir! Doubleplus honor for me, I did not know they have collectors there. So, so, so pleased to serve and advise you, sir, so pleased, thrilled, absolutely. Begging you, sir, who is your fancy, sir?"

I am somewhat stunned and answer "What do you mean?"

"Do you have someone in particular whose blood you are interested in, sir? We have quite a collection here, tasters are on the house for doubleplus capsuleers as yourself, sir!"

I remain silent, still stunned.

The human torso swivels around again while its base remains stationary. The creature then scuttles around to a terminal. "Oh, sir, I found just the thing for you! We have a Lunarisse Aspenstar of the fall of YC 119, such a good year, sir, so good, optimal doubleplus!" 

A cubbyhole far away to my upper left lights up. A small spiderbot scoots up to the cubbyhole and stands at the ready to retrieve the bottle of blood.

"She was caught by one of our Ashimmu cruisers, while she was mining in Nadohman. Ah, it is so exclusive, truly one of the best bloods you'll find anywhere. Pride of the collection. A collector from Mekhios said they got into a trance by it sir, a doubleplus trance, by just a few drops, he couldn't afford more."

"You see, it is capsuleer blood, like yours, but blood of a leader, and quite a killer herself. Doubleplus killer. Queen bee nectar, truly. That's what makes it so expensive, sir, one of the most expensive bottles we have. Can't give you a taster unfortunately, as it goes at a billion ISK for one fluid ounce. But, sir, well worth the price for a true connoisseur as yourself!"

Idesbald says "Time's up bro T, we need to go." 

A bit less than fifteen minutes already passed since the Bhaalgorn warped off, it will be back soon, so I say to the creature "Eh, I'll be back. Need to check my bank account."

As we make out way out, the creature shouts back "Goodbye sir! Doubleplus happy to meet you sir, hope to see you again soon, the Lunarisse vintage is waiting for you, kept in optimal conditions!" It raises its voice as we make it to the airlock "I'll throw in a bottle of Ishta Maleto blood for free on concluding the sale! It's got a high alcohol percentage Thukker whiskey! Aged on oak barrel! Single malt!"

Inside the wreck

We made our move as soon as the Bhaalgorn warped away today. 

We moved in for a close inspection of the wreck, close enough that we are uncloaked. The only part that may still have any archaeological remains of any value was a steel plated sphere, at least hundred meter in diameter, and nestled in the front part of the wreck. I assumed it would have housed essential systems and perhaps historical records, as it was built to be sturdy, a hard nut buried inside the hull of the colony ship. 

It has a hatch, and we were able to dock with it. It was surprisingly easy to latch on and dock with. In retrospect that should have been a first red flag.

The hatch led to an airlock, manually operated. I entered the airlock, together with my cloak technician (and avid weapons collector) Idesbald, who was armed with a plasma rifle and EMP grenades. After we closed the outer door, the airlock quickly pressurized with a breathable atmosphere, so we could take off our suit helmets. The inner door unlocked. 

Inside was nothing I could have imagined. 

The sphere has been stripped of whatever used to be inside of it, and refurbished with modern technology. The airlock opened to a ledge leading to a platform, suspended in the very center of the sphere. As one moves along the ledge closer to the center, the sides of the sphere recede, and the further along, the deeper the fall to the curved floor. 

The sphere's walls are lined with what appears to be vials of blood, some are the size of a test tube, others the size of a wine bottle. They have worn labels. There must be millions here, each in their own cubbyhole. The temperature is cool, and the air has the moisture of a cave.

On the platform, there is a creature with the upper body of a man, mounted on some sort of base with five mechanical insect legs. It swiveled around and scurried towards us, greeting me in particular: "Welcome collector, to the blood cellar."

Stakeout

I returned to the site where I found the wreck of the colony ship. It is still patrolled by the Bhaalgorn. 

Surely that ship can not stay around in this forlorn deepsafe forever? A Bhaalgorn is too expensive a battleship to use for a tedious patrol duty of a historical site. And even the Blood Raiders must give their crew some shore leave, and send in replacements. 

I decided on a stakeout, to find out if there is a pattern in their patrols.

The crew again grumbles, now about how boring it is to just sit around cloaked and maintain a surveillance. I had to remind them we have plenty of entertainment on board, so those who are not on shift can relax. There's a small ship library with a nearly complete collection of "The Lives of the Saints", and plenty of ACN documentary holoreels to accompany that.

Our patience paid off. Each day right before 11am, the Bhaalgorn warps off, and returns about twenty minutes later. I have no idea where it goes. On some days, there will be a small patrol vessel like a Cruor taking its place, but not always. This does not seem to affect the duration of the Bhaalgorn's absence.

Scanning

I have been going around in the systems around Anath and unfortunately I have not found anything remarkable yet. 

Nullsechnayas and Goonswarm are up and about, but here is a good tip for an explorer: use combat probes instead of scanner probes. They will still allow you to scan down all anomalies just as well if you have a bit of scan skills trained up, but they have the advantage of scaring off everyone else.

Not all ships are quite as good to fit combat probe launchers (the Astero struggles), but the Anathema is wonderfully equipped to do so. 

That being said - there were only relatively new sites on scan, as well as wormholes and gas sites. Perhaps in the next few days, something interesting will come up. Something warranting a strong Society of Conscious Throught presence.

wrecked colony ship

I resumed my search in the Fabai constellation. Several abandoned Jove observation posts are around - along with the presence of Genolution this adds to my suspicion that the Jove have or had a special interest to this constellation.

I found the wreckage of a rather large colony ship. You can see it in the picture below, along with a Blood Raider Bhaalgorn patrolling the area.

Not much remains of its hull - it appears to have been smacked sideways by an asteroid. Scans do not reveal much of interest is left to investigate, apart from the shielded front of the ship. This front part appears to have a spherical pressurized module in it. There is an open hatch in its center. Whomever was there after it shipwrecked apparently went out. 

Unfortunately the presence of the Blood Raider patrol makes it impossible for me to explore the wreck in more detail.

Conflict in Haimeh

My exploration had to be put on hold a bit due to an insurgency in Haimeh. I have not followed the local politics much, but as far as I understand it, an agent provocateur operated within the ranks of Zaraevahr. This agent fomented revolt in the Haimeh mining stations linked to the GF company, a large holding that does a bit of everything from mining to military-industrial production and even mercenary work.

Prince Seraghis mounted a punitive expedition to stamp down the rebellion, but it did not help. On the contrary, the mining company assembled an impressive fleet to protect their assets. Also Prince called on his vassals and on LUMEN capsuleers to form a fleet. As I am in the region enjoying Prince's hospitality, I joined, in a logistics role compatible with my vows. 

The two fleets converged on Haimeh.

And then a miracle took place. God granted us the very best of outcomes: peace without bloodshed! High-level battlefield diplomacy was able to avert open war and defused the conflict. The agent provocateur was unmasked and is on the run now, to be hunted down both by Seraghis' forces and by GF company security contractors. 

My guess is that, when they catch the agent, thorough interrogation will reveal this to be a Blood Raider plot. They have the most to gain from destabilizing the region. Moreover, they recently took a firm blow when Zaraevahr located and destroyed the Blood Raider's forward operating base in Mishi. As they can not win by force, they tried -and almost succeeded- by subterfuge.

First exploration of Anath

I orbited both Anath IV (the temperate planet) and Anath V (Luna's home world, a storm planet). Both planets's night side seemed very dark, so there is not much more settlement than some early colonists. They respond to hails, I will visit the colony on Anath V in the next days.

I also tried to talk to the locals in space. I may have offended a Dracarys pilot called DarkSkip0. I misread and called him Dark Slip. He did not answer my queries about the relations between NullSechnaya and Dracarys and warped out.

Apart from that, I scanned down a relic site. It turned out to be blood raider, unsurprisingly for this area. There were no remarkable finds. I am back to the Genolution station orbiting Naxa X, moon 16. It sort of looks like a Gallente station from the docking bays, but its overall layout looks quite strange, showing the imprint of the Jovians all right.

A new destination

Awaiting my friends' help with the biodroid, I am continuing my exploration in Aridia. It could take a while for them to assemble a team, and even longer to actually get to the abandoned station and help me implant the controller device in the droid.

Meanwhile, I have set my sights on Anath in the Fabai constellation. I have been there once, brought by the Directrix who spent her youth there, in a domed colony on a storm world in this system. Unfortunately it was sacked by the Blood Raiders, who killed our Directrix's parents...

To this day, she keeps a colonist's storm world garden as one of the exhibits in her famous "Gardens of the Empire" display, and it is based on her parent's home. I am keen to get more time to explore this planet, and to see how it moved on after being ravaged by Blood Raider attacks - even if it does not lie directly on the Blood route to Delve.

Anath does not have any space station where I can dock the Indigatrix, but neighboring Naga has one. A Genolution Biotech Production facility. It offers "DNA therapy", I'm sure they'll explain that to me. Genolution also produces implants, skins, tactical goggles, and combat suits. But, most of all, they are known for their outstanding cloning facilities. 

They were a former Jovian Directorate organization and are now operated by Jovian associates: the Society of Conscious Thought. They have... four stations in the Fabai constellation, but no other stations anywhere in Aridia. Or anywhere even remotely near.

What the heck are the post-jovians doing here in this outback? Why do they focus on this constellation?

The advice of friends

I have been accepting my friends' call for caution on the biodroid. Not to go at it alone.

Aria's warnings, and Prince Seraghis' - who knows Aridia like the back of his hand. Most likely, they will come with me on an expedition to capture the droid. This will guarantee success!

Meanwhile, as we await the mounting of an expedition and crew, I might do some light exploring down the line in Aridia - down the blood raider trail that is.