labyrinths

In the forums of the intergalactic summit (an inter-empire talking shop), prof.dr. Valate asked pertinent questions about the Drifter labyrinths. I can see where she is going with this: she is wondering if there is any similarity to the famous Takmahl labyrinth.

The question piqued my curiosity, so I analysed data from our LUMEN fleets, looking at several operations onder the command of governor Evelyn Arnoux or Ms. Tather Borg. This allows me to unequivocally confirm that the Drifter and Takmahl labyrinths are completely different.

The most obvious difference is the type of gate connecting different rooms of the labyrinth:

The Drifter labyrinth uses warp accelerators such as those commonly found among the Empires, derived from Jove technology (although some in the Republic claim they invented this). The Takmahl labyrinth uses small wormhole-like gates, of a type similar to those created by Talocan thermo-electric generators.

Another difference is the layout: the Takmahl labyrinth is set up in three-dimensional space, as shown by my own telemetry, in a roughly triangular form. The gates connecting the different rooms are placed in a planar octagon, with eight gates out of which only a fraction works.

In contrast, the Drifter labyrinth's gate are laid out in a square, with acceleration gates appearing to point in the four cardinal directions of the cluster's plane. There appear to be sixteen rooms, with possible connections as if they are laid out in a four by four square grid. Nevertheless, reports affirm that these structures are in higher-dimensional space, and actually lie on the sixteen corners of a four-dimensional tesseract.

I would have liked to perform my own telemetry on these labyrinths, but they no longer appear, it seems. Apparently, the Drifters are losing their grip on Sanctified Vidette. There have been other reports of changes occuring in that wormhole system. 

I am planning to return in order to investigate, now that the dust has somewhat settled.

Meeting the press

I took coffee in Bar Marlinea a couple of days ago. That is a bar not far from Gottin's Lamp, and it used to be a bustling place for capsuleers. Ms. Yubari worked there for a while as waitress! It has gotten a bit out of fashion of late but it still has excellent coffee and pastries. So, despite some bad memories of a kidnapping there, I still go from time to time. 

This time there was a capsuleer customer again, a rare occasion nowadays. Haven Alure is a former actress in Intaki cinema, who now does investigative journalism. We struck up conversation, and I made sure to point her to the most wholesome of news agencies, Amarr Certified News. She said she prefers to work freelance and sell her work to various news outlets. 

She also says that she is investigating the growing Angel Cartel influence in and around Mehatoor. At least that is what she claims, she also said she was taking a break. And she seemed interested to interview the arch-heretic capsuleer living here in Mehatoor, I warned her about him. 

I got a feeling that she is not telling me everything. Perhaps I am being paranoid, but anyway I urged her to thoroughly fact-check any rumors she might hear about LUMEN, at the very least with me.

House Renaud wedding

Yesterday was the wedding of lady Abigail Renaud and Celeste Etoile. They had a very nice and touching ceremony, and a reception afterwards at the Royal Sarum Imperial rose gardens. 

This is a wedding that has been a long time in the making. I remember lady Renaud telling me and Luna about the engagement with Celeste several years ago, I believe it was in the bar at Farthest Shore, on our research station in New Eden, with Eve gate in the backdrop. 

I met Celeste perhaps a bit before that. She is an expert in the anthropology of the heathen barbarians living at the rim of the cluster, and I consulted her about obtaining a letter of safe passage from the then-inhabitants of Deklein. Moreover, she has been using our library's services to find out more about her ancestry - this is a service often used by many of our capsuleers.

They have plans to try and acquire some property in Dam-Torsad. That is very difficult. Renting a place, or getting a (lifelong) leasehold is rather common, though the latter is still expensive. But land... every square meter is assigned to Holders or to the Imperial House, the only way is to inherit it or obtain it from a destitute Holder, after a lot of red tape and approval committees. But I guess, if they set their minds to it and have the right contacts, it is not impossible...

Good news from Providence

As the war against the Drifters is pushed into the wormhole homeworlds of these abominations, good news reaches us from another frontier, to the south-east of Amarr, in the marches of Providence. 

Paladin-Warden Kyle Saltz, sword marchal of the Curatores Veritates Alliance, announced that the invading barbarians calling themselves the Triumvirate have been successfully pushed back from the gates of the Empire. It is not the first attempt from these barbarian hordes to breach the defenses of Providence - and perhaps it will not be their last. But to me this particular victory cements the return to power of the Curatores Veritates Alliance in the marches of Providence.

It is good to see the likes of the Praetorians and the Curatores doing well recently. Despite periods of hardships they show their resilience and perseverance. I will hold a special mass of thanks at Gottin's Lamp's chapel for their recent successes.

Commissioning ceremony

This weekend we gathered in Sharhelund for a festive occasion. The Praetoria Imperialis Excubitoris  celebrated the commissioning of a new dreadnought flagship, TES Archangel of Majesty. 

The Praetorians are an old capsuleer organisation, I think they are even the oldest one still in existance. They are traditionalist warriors, with a strict code of conduct, and an unwavering dedication to the Empress. As a capsuleer organisation they have been honored and recognized by none other than Empress Jamyl!

The non-capsuleer praetorian guard itself goes back many millennia. They started out as a small elite unit assigned to the close personal protection of the Emperor or Empress. Sometimes one sees explanations that the "excubitor" suffix means "those out of the bed", i.e. (night) watchmen. However, historically the  meaning comes from the fact that they were housed in the exits to the inner chambers of the palace, the 'exkoubita'. In contrast with the more general palace guards known as "Scholae Palatinae", the Excubitores would stand guard not in the whole palace but just outside the imperial quarters - keeping a close watch, ready to be called in at any time.

But I digress...

It was a nice ceremony, with a marked speech by Paladin commander Arline Kley who recalled the life of a martyr, a young man who gave his life for his faith, showing fortitude and courage in the face of betrayal. There was also the presentation of a vial of prayer-ash, purified and consecrated at the Cathedral of Zakara the Martyr, destined for the reliquary of the new ship. A fitting relic for a ship that commemorates an exemplary martyr.

May this new ship invigorate PIE, and draw its gaze upwards, from planetary concerns and from the chapterhouse on Oris back up to the stars, where its destiny lies!

Too much isk

Truly, the vow that is the hardest to keep for a capsuleer is the vow of poverty. I have no problems with the vows of non-violence and chastity, but folks keep giving me donations. 

I am still figuring out how to return the 1.5 billion ISK from the Amarr Navy, and now I found out that I also received 4 billion isk from the Comitia Centuriana for my efforts against the Drifters. I am a friar, not a wildly overpriced mercenary! 

The four billion gift is already whittled down - apparently in this prize my efforts and those of ms. Stoner from our corporation were tallied up, for reasons unclear to me. After she took out her share based on her contributions during the crisis, I am still left with a 1.8 billion prize. In total I have now 3.3 billion ISK that I consider to be in excess given my vow of poverty. 

No doubt I will get more advertisements for battleships or expensive implant sets.

I could put some in the wallet for the skillbook programme - it should be a good time to advertise this again. Or perhaps a donation to the New Eden writing contest can be in order? Or perhaps simply hand out ships to the poor?

Science for humanity

Should Amarr share its findings from the Drifter wormhole with the rest of the universe?

The Servant Sisters of Eve and the Arataka Research Council discussed this during a conference in Jita, polling many capsuleers. They claim that yes, the factions occupying the Drifter wormholes should share their findings with all, because Science thrives best through collaboration. Science is a joint human endeavour to understand creation and obtain true knowledge for all. 

Sed contra, scripture in the Code of Demeanor teaches us that "Pure Thought is the Instigator of Sin".

I answer that putting knowledge for the sake of knowledge first, without moral considerations, is a grave error (one that I have committed in the past, confessed to and did penance for). In the present case, intellectual collaborations with those that seek to destroy humanity, such as the Triglavians, or those that only look for their own profit and power, such as the pirate factions, will definitely not lead to a betterment of all humanity. They will either give humanity's enemies weapons to destroy us, or be kept by the pirate factions for their self-interest.

Nevertheless, it can not be denied that collaborations do accelerate research, and pooling of findings allow to complete the picture faster. So, my own preference would be that the four remaining Concord signatories, the core Empires, work together as they did in the past to cope with the Sansha and Triglavian threats. Together, they control four of the five Drifter wormholes (EDENCOM being already a collaboration between the Empires), and this should give them an edge.

So, the refutation of the argument given by ARC and the Sisters is that sharing knowledge with any of those non-Empire factions will not help humanity. The Triglavians are not to be trusted, let them battle their mortal enemy in the Redoubt. They can hardly be called human! As for the Society of Conscious Thought, my feeling is that they no longer represent the Jove -the fifth Concord signatory- but merely their own interests, and in that respect they are not much different from other pirate factions. The Sisters? Just like the Society of Conscious Thought, they keep their research to themselves, so they should not expect us to do differently. 

The seeds of faith

About two years ago, I was exploring in Feythabolis, following up on a lead about a possible offshoot of the Talocan civilization in that region. Among the bewildering array of short-lived barbarian kingdoms, one stood out: the Zerg. They were hospitable enough to give me docking rights in their stations for my archaeological expedition. 

Being a friar, I shared my enthousiasm about the Amarr faith, and cautiously attempted some proselytizing. Most Zerg thought I was crazy, whereas in all honesty their own religion sounded to me far more crazy. They believe that all of reality is some sort of simulation ran by Gods who live on a volcanic island, led by a chief deity called Hilmar, which, I pointed out to them, is a system in Kador (perhaps the home of their Gods? It does not have a lava planet, though). 

They were rather adamant about their beliefs and I did not hold high hopes for their conversion to the true faith. Nevertheless, through my friends at the Theology Council, I arranged for missionaries to be brought over, as I had permission to build a small chapel in one of their stations in P8-BKO. After returning back to the Empire, my focus shifted back to my own quest and I paid no more attention to this.

So, you can imagine my delight when I found out yesterday that the seed that was planted bore fruit! I heard that ms. Tather Borg -one of our fleet commanders- had been contacted by the Zerg for a joint operation agaist the Drifters. That they send an official delegation to the Empire and contribute voluntaries in the Drifter crusade, is such an important step towards full recognition by the Empire! I will thank and praise God today for this unforeseen development and pray that they may ultimately join us in full communion in the faith! 

Magnetars

Having investigated the wormholes of Sanctified Vidette, I spent some time now studying its star, a so-called magnetar.

If you ever played with iron filings and magnets as a child, you will have an intuitive picture of magnetic field lines, and magnetic flux. When the field lines are densely packed and close together, the magnetic flux density is high, and the magnetic field is strong. 

Changing the flux density over time is what generates an electromotive force and a current in a dynamo. However, this also implies that when a material is unable to sustain voltage differences, it is not able to change the flux density. So, in a good conductor, the magnetic flux is "frozen". An example of an excellent conductor is a stellar plasma: magnetic flux lines are frozen in the plasma and dragged along with it; sometimes leading to outbursts known as stellar flares.

Now, when a large star with a relatively strong magnetic field collapses, this collapse also drags the magnetic field lines along, squeezing them and leading to very high flux densities. This is the principle of an EMP smartbomb: and imploding plasma concentrates the electromagnetic energy which is then violently released. Except in some stars, that release does not take place, and the magnetic flux remains trapped. The resulting celestial object has a gigantic magnetic field at its surface, far surpassing what we can routinely make and experience. That is basically what a magnetar is.

Magnetars affect our ship's systems, in particular weapons. Some energy gets leeched off the field, making weapons deal far more damage. But at the same time, the field fluctuations make tracking and targeting harder. Sanctified Vidette has these effects up to a level that is compatible with class-2 magnetar systems (just as for the static wormholes it is also compatible with class-2 wormhole physics).

Unshielded life close to a magnetar is impossible - chemistry is altered since the electronic energy levels of the atoms are out of whack. Exposed to the field strengths near a magnetar, the magnetic shift of the atomic orbitals is comparable to the splitting between the energies of the orbitals at zero magnetic field. Atoms would make completely different types of molecular bonds, dealing a death blow to living organisms at the molecular level. 

That is however not the cause of the shattering of the planets in Sanctified Vidette. Solids still form and aggregate into orbital bodies, also around magnetars. The shattering that these planets underwent happened much more recently, as can be concluded from the debris field. Our scientists assume that it was caused by the Seyllin incident. In turn this means Sanctified Vidette must have been close to one or more control hubs in the Talocan wormhole network. 

Perhaps it will lead us one day to the fabled control hub system in Anoikis, the mirror system to W477-P in our own cluster!

Sanctified Vidette wormholes study

I have been gathering data on the wormholes in Sanctified Vidette for a few days now, cloaked and camping inside the system. I am slightly grumpy about the Amarr research station there not letting me dock and rest up - but I assume they will have their reasons. 

Camping out in the cold of deep safes, the nomad way of life, does not feel very reassuring to me. Certainly in the absense of a cloaking technician and the rest of the crew, I am worried when I go to sleep. Will all the systems stay running smoothly? Will I wake up here, or in a my medical clone in Gottin's Lamp? Anyway, for now, it went smoothly. 

I found that there are 60-66 wormholes present in the system at any given time. Of those, always six lead to other wormhole systems, and all the others are K162 exits of a V928 wormhole leading from the Eve cluster into Sanctified Vidette. The six connections to Anoikis are all entrances, they are static wormhole connections leading to each of the six classes of wormhole systems: 

Sanctified Vidette static wormholes

These type of connections are usually observed as originating in class 2 wormhole systems, so there must be some characteristics of class 2 shared by the Sanctified Vidette system. 

The other wormholes connect to systems with a Jove observatory. I found that on average,

• 24%  lead to highsec systems
• 16%  lead to lowsec systems
• 60%  lead to nullsec systems

There is quite a spread, day to day, on these numbers, giving a variance of 5% in these numbers. Now, if we look at the distribution of Jove observatory systems in the cluster, we see that 64% are in nullsec, 16% are in lowsec, and 21% are in highsec. 

So, to within the error bar, the observed numbers are compatible with the hypothesis that, when one of the V928's expire, a new one pops up, drawn from a uniform probability distribution among all Jove observatory systems.

So, for example, since there are 37 Jove observatory systems in Domain (out of a total of 1026 in all the cluster), the probability to that any given connection leads to Domain is expected to be 37/1026=3.61%. A simple statistics calculation then shows that one needs to scan 19 holes in order to have a 50% probability that at least one of them leads to Domain (or 44 holes to have a 80% probability of at least one going to Domain). The short table below gives these results for some other regions (red indicating that the number is over the 60 connections present, so that it is less likely than 50%, resp. 80% to get a connection to that region at any given time).

Rather than going by region, one could also look at distance from Amarr - there are about 50 Jove systems within 7 jumps from Amarr. To get 80% chance of finding at least one of such connections, a scout will need to scan about half of the wormhole signatures in system. That feels about right with my experience of the last week.

Destruction and extraction

Getting into Sanctified Vidette is easy enough, especially with filaments. Without them one has to search for an entrance, and that can be quite a challenge as there are many possibilities and not that many connections. But all in all, with some scouting, and patience for any potential Drifter guardians to leave, this poses no problem.

Getting out turns out to be much more of a challenge! When going back along a V928 to known space, I found the Drifter guardians of the gate waiting just outside, ready to pounce. I tried to stay cloaked and wait it out. But unfortunately, I was decloaked, and locked surprisingly quickly for battleships. I immediately took heavy fire from the Drifter battleships - the Indagatrix did not stand a chance.

I found myself in my pod, and hastened to a nearby station, boarded a corvette, and with anxiety in my heart headed back for a search and rescue for the crew. After so many rescue missions lately, I was well trained. Still, I feared the worst, given the ferocity and speed of the attack - after locking they only needed a single shot. This would not have left the crew any time to get in safety. The only hope I had is that as a precaution for the danger on this mission they were wearing suits that might buy them a bit of time in space, if they survive the destruction of the ship...

I was back in a matter of minutes, and the battleships had already left. I rushed to the wreck! The slow corvette seemed to take ages to cross the eighty or so kilometers separating me from it. 

I despaired! I could already see on the sensors that Mr. Firth's statis pod had not survived, nor any of the crew escape pods...

Then I picked up a faint signal, from a mobile depot within the wreckage, not yet deployed. I had this in the cargo bay, to be able to refit while in Sanctified Vidette, and it had survived the destruction of the ship. When deployed these depots have space for a maintenance crew, and somehow the ship's crew had not only survived but also managed to access a safety hatch on the undeployed structure, and taken refuge there. It is a desperate measure, offering them protection only for a short time, but hope kept them alive long enough for me to find them.

We were in Unel, in the Agiesseson constellation, and first aid was given to the crew in the Chemal Tech Factory station in system (which is also where I got the corvette). This is a factory, so they have good medical facilities to treat trauma wounds. No questions were asked, the improvement of relations with the Federation is a blessing. Nevertheless we did not mention Mr. Firth's occupation, he again pretended to be a warp core mechanic, even though his knowledge of warped spacetime physics is limited.

After praising and thanking God for the survival of the crew, I brought everyone back to Amarr. My insurance manager initiated the standard procedure to buy a new ship - goodbye Indagatrix IV, welcome Indagatrix V. 

Mr. Firth is taking another sick leave to recuperate, and has given me permission to continue exploration of Sanctified Vidette on my own. Mr. Levular Damus, my cloak technician, is blaming himself for the decloaking incident, and needs a bit of time to think things over. The rest of the crew was willing to return back to duty, but I think that for now I will fly the Indagatrix V without crew when exploring Sanctified Vidette. I will be slower, but travel with less worries.

Jove observatory systems

Jove observatories are structures that once were cloaked. We do not really know their purpose, but it is widely believed that the Jove used them to spy on us. Some say they were preparing an attack, others that they were merely acting defensively. Then there are some that say we are not the target for these structures, but the Drifters are, as each system where a wormhole connections to their systems can appear has an observatory. Whatever it was, the structures are now defunct, and sometimes visited by Drifter scrutinizers, the autothysian lancers. 

We are now seeing stronger Drifter activity in these systems, especially caches of Sleeper and Drifter artifacts, in containers that can be hacked. So, the Drifters must have been doing some counter-intelligence on the Jove (and perhaps also us). Now, decyphering their cloaking through what we learned from the Deathless technology, we can find and dismantle these relic sites.

In order to find them more easily, and to find wormhole entrances to Vidette, I have mapped out these systems and bookmarked them for navigation.

All in all, many systems close to Amarr have one of these observatories. The bookmark folder is there for all LUMEN members to use, simply contact me.

V928 type wormholes

Sanctified Vidette is connected to known space through spontaneously appearing wormholes, of a type that has been designated by the code V928. These wormholes are unstable, and dissipate after approximately 16 hours. 

Battleships can pass through the V928 holes, as they permit anything with a mass lower than 375 000 ton to traverse. However, the wormhole is easily reduced by mass passing through: if the accumulated mass of ships is more than a critical amount, the wormhole dissipates. This critical mass lies somewhere between 675 000 and 825 000 ton. So, with a smaller ship and a battleship jumping back and forth once, it can be "rolled", that is forcibly dissipated.

Colonists of wormhole space use this rolling to keep their Anoikis space sealed off. The fewer wormhole connections there are, the smaller is the probability that unwanted visitors will come through. However, that strategy is not possible for Sanctified Vidette: there are at any time just too many wormhole connections to known space, easily over fifty.

Another peculiarity which makes "hole control" (as the Anoikis colonists call it) impossible is that the wormhole entrances (the V928 spacetime anomaly) appear on our side, whereas the wormhole exit (the K162 type of spacetime rift) is in Sanctified Vidette. So, the passage opens from outside Sanctified Vidette towards it. 

But perhaps the most intriguing property of these V928 wormholes is that they only appear in systems that have a Jove observatory. This has led to much speculation about the link between the Jove observatories and these wormholes. Did the Jove place their observatories in systems where they knew these connections appear - to observe not us, but their Sleeper cousins, garnering reciprocal attention by authotisian lancers? Or was it the other way around, are the Jove observatories somehow guiding these wormholes to spawn in certain systems?

On the one hand, it would seem that since the Jove observatories no longer function, the wormholes do not need them in order to be generated. On the other hand, the destruction of this infrastructure seems recent, and perhaps their ancient effect on spacetime still lingers. 

A clue can no doubt be found in that the V928 wormhole we see now is always surrounded by a Sleeper structure, either generating it or temporarily stabilizing it:

These structures are of Sleeper architecture, rather than Jove. They appear and vanish along with the V928 wormhole - probably merely shifting between the locations where there are Jove observatories. 

There are always a pair of structures, consisting of four Sleeper thermo-electric converters connected via Sleeper multiplex forwarders to a central sleeper linkage. The forwarders are massive data routers, and the converters are power sources. While fully Sleeper technology, this is in fact based on older Talocan static gates, that also have four thermo-electric power arrays in the same quadrupole arrangement creating an acceleration gate:

It supports the idea that the Jove (and their Sleeper and Drifter cousins) based much of their wormhole technology on that of the Talocan - just as we are basing ours from them. No doubt the reclamation of Sanctified Vidette will cause a massive advancement in our capacities for spatiotemporal manipulation!

Reclamation of Sanctified Vidette

Under the guidance of our most beloved Empress Catiz, Conqueress of the Void and Avenger of Safizon, the Amarr Navy has begun the reclaiming of Sanctified Vidette, one of the Drifter homeworlds. Our alliance is joyfully joining these efforts, with LUMEN fleets going up and devoted pilots impatient to pierce the dark night of the Drifters with cleansing light.

Drifters, utter perversions of life, found their origin in the Jove civilization that I have been studying more intensely recently. I hope that in the wake of the reclaiming of Sanctified Vidette, we may engage in a thorough exploration of this Jovian wormhole preserve!

My interest stems from a theory that the Jove were jealous of the power of the Ametat and Avetat and stole them, using the excuse that these powerful gifts from the Sefrim should be kept in (their own) safe hands rather than with people they deemed primitive and violent [1]. The Jove, blind to Amarr's holy destiny, deprived us from the power that is rightfully ours. 

So, with the call for capsuleers to help secure our beachhead in Sanctified Vidette, it appears that my own interests in finding the relics, and the interests of the Amarr Navy intersect again. I plan to contribute in ways suitable for me: through intelligence gathering and logistics where I can. I will start with mapping and charting so others may conveniently find their way into Sanctified Vidette.

[1] A particular lead in this investigation points to an agency that during the Jovian Directorate was known as the "Lost and Found Section Unit", set up to search and secure advanced technology that somehow had strayed into the hands of barbarians. I suspect that this Jove agency is the right place to start the search for lost relics.

A special offer

I received a mysterious message, promising me a very special deal, for me only. I had to meet up with someone in one of the many hangars of Mehatoor's 24th Imperial Crusade station, any weekday between 9:00-12:00 or 13:00-17:00. 

The office hours should have been a hint that this was not about a covert operation for the MIO, not a meeting with an informant or a whistleblower, nor - God forbid - an offer of romance. 

My curiosity was piqued nevertheless, so I went.

It turned out to be a Nestor hull battleship salesman.

I have no idea how these marketeers figured out that I have a lot of ISK from the Navy, or that I am an explorer. That the Ministry is listening in on our electronic devices is fine and for the better, but that private companies are listening in or gathering all that information, that is scandalous! 

It is a fine ship, though. 

The salesman gave me a tour, explaining that it is perfect for exploration and rescue missions, sturdy enough to withstand the occasional rogue drone or pirate that hides out in archaeological space sites. It has quarantine bays, top-notch medical facilities on board, laboratories, all state-of-the-art and looking amazing. And it will be mine for the prize of little over a billion isk (isn't that convenient, it is about the amount I received from the Navy), and just for me he would throw in special fittings and an entertainment center for the crew during long voyages.

I was tempted, but I resisted the temptation. The vow of poverty still allows me to keep a few ships, but no more than needed for my quest. I think that such an expensive vessel is not needed at this point, and would be stretching the vow. So, I thanked the salesperson and left.

And next, I will be checking the privacy settings on my Galnet browser.

Refund procedure

-continued from yesterday's log-

Vleckson’s gaze turned from the horizon of his sea of troubles towards me. He had to refocus for a bit before he recognized me.

He made a close but wrong guess. “Ave, brother Theophilus.”  He did not answer my inquiry as to his well-being, probably because the answer was too painful to him even to formulate. He came straight to the point, “What can I do for you?”

I explained that I wanted to return the large sums that I received for merely doing my duty in the fight against the Drifters.

He asked about my invoice, and I confessed I did not have one. Vleckson looked out across his sea again, straight through me. A wind began to blow, choppy waves appeared in front of his mind’s eye. After a while counting the waves, he concluded “It can’t be done. If you had sent us an invoice for your services, you could now send us a credit memo to cancel the invoice, but”,  he continued in an accusing voice, “you received the payment without an invoice. So, you can’t make a credit memo.”  

His eyes glazed over, indicating that as far as he was concerned the matter was closed now.

“Can’t I simply donate the money back to the Navy?”

It seemed as if these words never reached tribunus colonel Vleckson. Perhaps I was shouting against the wind that had risen on his sea. Or perhaps giving back a gift was considered too much of an insult to the Navy to even suggest? Might it have been inappropriate to imply that the Navy had relied much on the paid help of capsuleers?

“Of course, we would not have accepted an invoice without having first sent to you a proper order voucher – you would need to put the order voucher number on your invoice for it to be valid. And we would not have sent you an order voucher if you had never sent us a pricing offer for your services in the first place, to be compared with at least four comparable offers and to be selected by the committee of appropriations as the best offer. And in turn that would only have been possible if you had registered to become a certified supplier.”

The effort of explaining this seemed to have completely exhausted tribunus colonel Vleckson. He closed his eyes, looking sad and a bit forlorn. After a long while – I dared not disturb him – he said, somewhat decidedly, “No. Best approach for you is to file an offer for your past services to the OIT… the Navy’s Office of Intertemporal Trade and hope that it gets, eh, that it got selected. Retroactively. But frankly, it is a stretch, your offer for your past services for such a large sum would have been considered too expensive.”

Vleckson then picked up a random complaint form from the large stack on his desk and pretended to read it. I did not want to torture the poor chap any longer, and returned, feeling defeated.

Office of the ombudsman

Since my calls and online complaint forms about returning the massive monetary reward have gone unanswered, I went in person to the office of the ombudsman of the 24th Imperial Crusade. To be honest, I was also kind of looking forward to seeing tribunus colonel Vleckson again.

The receptionist told me "TC Vleckson is not in today, please come back another day."

“But I see him sitting right there,” I said, pointing at Vleckson.

I could see him sitting behind a stately desk somewhat further away. The office of the ombudsman has an open-office policy, with no barriers between the reception desk and the various workstations. In the State, some corporations do that to symbolize the so-called transparent nature of their business. In the Empire, of course, it symbolizes the fact that nothing can remain hidden from God, and even less can remain hidden from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The receptionist improvised, “... That’s an optical illusion.”

I took a closer look at tribunus colonel Vleckson. He was looking straight ahead at the wall, in the general direction where Vard would be in the Mehatorian sky at this time of day. He was not really looking at anything in the room, his gaze was more that of a battered and bruised Northman of old, staring across a dark grey sea at some eternal storm brewing on the horizon.

“That’s not a holo”, I answered.

The receptionist then used the administrative-nuclear option. He told me that I have to file a request online by installing some application and register to make a login and then book an appointment using another calendar app to check for free dates, for which I also have to register and then link that calendar app with their own app. I might receive a confirmation mail at the end. Or not.

Instead, I just walked over to Vleckson, and greeted him from a distance, “Ave tribunus colonel! Long time no see, how are you?”

-to be continued-

Tribunus Colonel Vleckson

Tribunus colonel Vleckson is a man who likes nothing more than to be left alone. 

He might have become a hermit, were it not for the fact that hermits are supposed to experience the severing of their worldly ties as a sacrifice, and that would not have been the case for Vleckson.

After many years of distinguished service, he requested to be posted to a quiet office job in a quiet backwater station. He got his wish, he thought, as 7th Fleet ombudsman in the far-away province of Aridia. 

Unfortunately, the constellation he was assigned to turned out to be a hotbed of Blooder activity. That is where I first met him. 

After that, he requested another mutation, again asking for a quiet backwater system. But the ways of the Navy are unpredictable. He got reassigned very recently to the post of ombudsman of the 24th Imperial Crusade at the war headquarters in Mehatoor. That is arguably one of the least quiet and relaxed posts there exist, certainly if one takes into consideration that also complaints about capsuleers would end up on his desk.

I, on the other hand, was quite happy to hear that the good old chap was now working in Mehatoor’s 24th Imperial Crusade station, just a short walk away from Gottin’s Lamp, LUMEN’s headquarters. This appears to me as divine providence, making it easy for me to visit him and ask how I can return the 1.5 billion ISK payment that I never asked for, nor deserve.

Training new pilots

No-one at the Amarr Navy seems to know how I should return the ISK that I received. Holocalls get forwarded from one department to another, only to loop around back to the first. I have filled in and sent some query forms, and opened "tickets" in helpdesks. Patience.

Among the various people that my call was forwarded to in sequency, there was also a chaplain. He pointed out to me that the received reward would not negate the goodness of the deeds, since the deeds were performed without expectation, or even knowledge of the reward. Yet he conceded that this reward would be in conflict with my vow of poverty.

This made me reflect also on other good that came from the recent events in the Drifter crisis. Maybe as important to our alliance than the particular outcome and the lives saved, is that fervently doing our duty has resulted in a lot of fleet experience for many members. It forged new bonds of comradeship in battle, and trained new pilots to operate in fleets. 

This experience will no doubt be useful in the future of this conflict. I hope it can be sustained even now that the urgency has diminished somewhat, with ad-hoc fleets forming as they did during the height of the crisis. 

Reward negates goodness

Children learn at a tender age that if you are doing the good thing because you expect a reward, that does not count - it is not true goodness. Acts of true goodness remain hidden. They are no longer truly good when they are advertised and announced in public in expectation of rewards in money or fame. Public acts of goodness exist, like organized charity, and are very worthwhile, but many theologians would argue that these acts are not 'purely' good exactly because of their public nature. Some say that the purest acts of goodness are those that remain hidden even from the person doing good.

I was stunned when I checked my bank account over the weekend.

An additional 1.5 billion ISK has appeared on my account! I nearly fell from my chair. The bank confirmed that it is not an error: the Amarr Navy has paid me this scandalously huge sum of ISK for my rescue efforts over the past couple of weeks! 

For simply doing my duty, I should not be paid. In fact, this payment precludes any goodness of the acts of rescuing that I did. And even worse, this goes directly against my vow of poverty, one of the three vows I took to follow the vision given to me by saint Tal-Romon that set me upon my quest.

Clearly, I cannot keep this fortune. 

I will contact the Amarr Navy to find out how to best return this fortune.

A strange gift

Waiting for me in a neatly wrapped gift crate at the Emperor Family Academy station in Amarr, was some apparel. It gets handed out to those who help against the Drifter incursions.

When I opened it, at first glance I thought this was some sort of Drifter jogging pants. Not just pants - perhaps a full pajama set then? But the clothes were too hard and uncomfortable for that, and had some sort of neck brace. Closer inspection of the note that accompanied this gift revealed them to be general-use body suits that Drifters wear. "Plugsuits" they seem to be called, though it is not clear what they should be plugged in to, there is no electrical cord.

Why would I ever want to wear that? My monk's gown suits me perfectly, very handy pockets. Inner pockets in the sleeves as well, quite handy for notes when one is lecturing or speeching. Perhaps the plugsuit can be worn to do penance, as some form of self-flagellation? 

I talked to some other corp members, it seems to be a gift that many who participated in the rescue missions received. Some suggested that it might be useful for undercover operations during the invasion. 

In such a suit, and blessed by natural baldness and a pale demeanor, I might indeed blend in with the Drifters. 

Let us pray it will never come to that...

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...

Ribbon

Tradition calls for LUMEN pilots to be bedecked by medals, ribbons, stars and badges commemorating our  participation in various (in)famous battles. But of course also baseliners get decorations (be it not from our Directrix). 

The Ministry of Internal Order commended mr. Firth for his bravery obtaining information in the heat of battle in Tabbetzur. The ministry appreciated the samples of the jump gate disrupting gas, but much more than that, they were happy with the proof that the Republic fleet in Tabbetzur was focusing their efforts on obtaining connection harmonics rather than on saving their own people. This footage will be a great weapon in the propaganda war, to be contrasted with how Amarr navy dreads are busy saving monks from Drifter torture! 

The little ribbon that is now attached to his uniform has reinvigorated mr. Firth. More than proving past bravery, I think it will instill future bravery. And increase ambition.

Wonders of the enemy homeworld

With mr. Firth on sick leave for his frayed nerves, I took the liberty to join an exploratory ARC fleet into a Drifter home system. The fleet's mission was firstly to see if any of the "connection harmonics" might have been captured by Drifters and still could be found in their battleships in their home, and secondly to see if there are any new types of anomalies in the system.

My role was to scan down the signatures in the system, something that the Indagatrix does well. It was my first excursion into a Drifter wormhole. Even though I have seen and read about them, seeing it by one's own 'eyes' or ship scanners is a different thing. 

The most awe-inspiring site is the location where Tyrannos Tekton is operating on a vast debris field. It seems to be incapsulated in some sort of spacetime distortion bubble, that creates a dome of light and curtain clouds above and below. The debris are remnants of some megastructure, and electric discharges can be seen between them. 

There was a vast number of wormholes in the system, well over fifty. It took a little while before they were all triangulated. These link to systems in our cluster that have a Jove observatory, and are created artificially. In addition there are some other anomalies. Among them structures that might have been jump gates of some sort, like this one:

The ring now contains a violent, untraversable wormhole. As the Drifters meddle more and more with space and time in their systems to create paths into our worlds, rifts like this might proliferate, and end up engulfing their entire system... Perhaps to find ways of undoing such damage, they have research facilities on ultrahigh-energy physics, using an array of accelerator rings hundreds of kilometers long, one feeding the next, in a pulse that traverses them.

Ah, how I'd like to see how close they can get to the ultimate scale where the quantum foam coarsens spacetime itself! To be allowed to design and perform experiments on such a machine! Clearly, the core empires want to invade the Drifter worlds not merely to punish the Drifters, but also to reap the benefits of their science and technology.

As for the fleet - it did not find anything new happening in the Drifter world, nor did it find any of those harmonics. 

Actually that is not a bad outcome as far as I am concerned: if the fleet had retrieved some and not brought them all to the MIO, I would surely have gotten some insistent questions.

Tabbetzur battle report

Yesterday the Indagatrix left early in the day to an undisclosed location, at the request of the ship's political officer mr. Ivan Firth. I was not allowed to write about it until after the operation.

Mr. Firth's superiors had suggested that he ask me to go "do a bit of exploration in Tabbetzur in the rebel provinces, on March 6th in the early evening". There were reports that the Republic fleet would be doing a major operation there and then. There was a lot at stake: possible access to the Deathless' mysterious Jovian "Warden" megastructure in Zarzakh. In addition, an unusual amount of large wormhole connections to Amarrian space were reported from Tabbetzur, and the Empire is always wary of another Minmatar elder fleet type sneak attack.

Mr. Firth was definitely not happy about this, I got the impression that he even hoped I would refuse. I did not. He suggested we might just watch the wormholes in Amarr space, in order to avoid his brand new MIO emergency stasis pod being retrieved (with him inside) by Republic forces in case the Indagatrix would be taken down. 

I did not completely succeed to reassure him, as was evident when he showed up for the operation wearing a disguise: he was dressed as a warp engine mechanic. Or rather, as he imagined warp engine mechanics were dressed, I do not think they spill that much engine oil on a coverall factory uniform with "mechanic" printed over it. 

We had no troubles traveling through the lawless rebel provinces, but when we arrived in Offikatlin at the gate to Tabbetzur, we found that it was closed, not by traffic control, but by an act of sabotage.

The green-blue cloud surrounding the gate, and the typical lightning strikes suggested this was the Drifter's doing. They had been active for a while in Tabbetzur, just as they are in other incursion systems, but it was the first time I have seen them disrupt a jump gate. I took telemetry and a cloud gas sample as mr. Firth monitored my progress from a terminal close to the exit leading to his escape pod.

Republic engineers were able to bring the gate back on-line, and we were able to sneak past a capsuleer pirate blockade into the system. I made several deep-space safes, and mr. Firth suggested that we stick to these deep space locations and restrict ourselves to remote probing of the situation. He was following the progress of my scanning on his datapad, this time from the close vicinity of his escape pod. 

The probes found that a large Republic fleet of dreadnoughts jumped into the system using a cynosural field, in stead of using the camped jump gates. Rather than attacking the drifters, the Republic fleet took aim to a research structure of the Deathless. The structure evidently emitted signals linked to the Warden structure in Zarzakh. So, the Republic's goal was indeed to capture materials or data from the Deathless circle, rather than to liberate their people from Drifter torture. Righteously infuriated about this betrayal of the "we come for our people" slogan, hundreds of capsuleers spontaneously attacked the dreadnought fleet in indignation. Of course, the Indagatrix on its secret mission could not take part in that. 

I decided to take a closer look at the battle and the Warden research station, despite fierce protest from Mr. Firth. This he conveyed to me from inside his escape pod, where he had pre-emptively taken place, convinced as he was of our imminent demise. It was indeed not easy even to go look at the situation, as the entire area surrounding the Warden research station had debris or asteroids that uncloaked the Indagatrix the moment she warped in. Also, no matter how far off grid a nearby bookmark was placed, the ship always landed in the middle of the fray. 

We had to warp in from a certain direction, take data snapshots, and immediately warp back out after landing, relying on the inertial stabilizers to give us enough agility to escape in time and on a warp core stabilizer as a last-ditch resort. What we witnessed using this strategy, was a shocking four-way fight that lasted roughly an hour. 

The capsuleers were battling the Minmatar dreadnought fleet, and (more often) each other. A large Drifter fleet warped in, about fifty vessels including a dozen battleships. They attacked the Minmatar fleet and the Deathless ships that tried to protect their structure against the onslaught of the Republic dreads. Deathless circle, Republic fleet, Drifters, and independent capsuleers, in the end everyone was shooting everyone. 

The Republic fleet did achieve its aim, as lancers were able to take down the Warden research station (one blow that pierces through one of the station's structures is shown above). But it came at a great loss, the Republic fleet itself was destroyed. The Drifters warped off, as capsuleers scavenged the wrecks while still at each other's throats. 

Who knows what data (and loot) they could recover from the wrecks - the field was too hot for us to try and get Warden data. But in the end, I wonder whether this will really have been worth all the bloodshed and loss of life...

We remained in the system, sitting out events in a deepspace safe, before a final scan and then making our way back to Offikatlin and then to Amarr. 

Mr. Firth has taken up a few days of sick leave.

Night terror

I had a scare last night. 

I usually do not sleep very deeply, and often wake up briefly during the night, almost immediately returning to slumber. This time, in just such a confused moment between sleep and wakefulness, I saw a ghost. As I squinted to see it better, it seemed it was an apparition of Saint Jamyl. Her faint outline seemed to hover in the room, with a drifter-green glow. 

I am afraid I screamed rather loudly.

The adrenalin shock woke me up immediately. Then, with palpitating heart, I remembered the glow-in-the-dark figurine that I bought. I may have uttered some curses that I will have to mention during next confession.

This morning I brought the figurine back to the merchant; I do not want to keep this weird idol any more. I was just in time, he was packing up shop, moving his business to Safizon. 

Indeed, it was revealed by fleet commander DutchGunner that the retrieved female corpse is now in Safizon, not Mehatoor. It also appears that the corpse may have been identified, and it definitely is not the Empress. The merchant does not believe it. "So why bring'er to Saffie then? Is just where she should be restin', it is, seeing as they offed her there", he said. 

He continued on a rather angry rant, complaining about the "extremely anti-business attitude of LUMEN". He considers himself a captain of industry in the trade in sacred paraphernalia, which he felt was singled out by LUMEN leadership in a recent memo sent to their personnel. 

Also, he told me there are no take-backs on sales, especially not for the phosphorescent figurine as he sold it at a rebate. He suggested that for a bit of extra pay I could swap it for a rivet from the Empress' Abaddon (with a certificate of authenticity), but this time I stood firm and refused the offer. So, I still have the glow-in-the-dark Jamyl. 

I do not want to put it back in my room, and I think it is too frivolous for the Chapel, so I will put it on a shelf in the bar at Gottin's Lamp.

Tetrimon monastery under threat

Adding insult to injury, the Drifters initiated a hostile incursion into Thebeka a few days ago. Thebeka is the system where the main Tetrimon fortress monastery is located. The greenish nebula that accompanies their incursions cast a sickly pale on one of the most beautiful space monasteries. 

The Tetrimon fortress monastery

The Drifters are known to torture monks during their incursions, to find the breaking points of their will and faith. Baron Redwolfe could not let this happen in the Tetrimon's space headquarters! He mustered a fleet, and I was happy to be able to assist as an Augoror pilot. Not for salvage and rescue missions, but to provide capacitor transfer to our navy's Bane dreadnaught. With its lancer weapon it is more than capable to destroy the Drifter's "Destructive Scrutinizer" structure performing the inhumane experiments.

A destroyed Destructive Scrutinizer with a monastery in the backdrop 

I noticed that some veteran fleet members felt unease, some even showing a nervous twitch, at the prospect of going into battle in Thebeka. Years ago (I was still at my own asteroid monastery, unaware of worldly affairs) a Blood Raider chemical attack on Thebeka III provoked a slave uprising, and the counter-insurgency operation turned into a bloody conflict with many capsuleer parties involved in shifting alliances.  

This time I am happy to report that things went rather smoothly. The main Tetrimon monastery was never under any real threat, as it is protected by the mighty Order of Saint Tetrimon fleet. Smaller tributary monasteries were under attack, but these attacks were foiled by the LUMEN forces, and the incursion was ended.

Glow-in-the-dark saints

Our Directrix issued a formal statement to confirm that the remains of Saint Jamyl are not in LUMEN's medbay at our Mehatoor headquarters.

It was necessary - the situation was rapidly growing out of control. 

In front of the entrance to Gottin's Lamp, people deposited flowers and votive candles, and the sheer amount of these memorial gifts has been making it difficult to enter the Lamp. Even walking past it along the main hallway is problematic because many passersby stop, to look at the huge piles of flowers and take a moment to pray. Station maintenance complained about the potential fire hazard of a votive candle blaze fueled by dried flowers, but they have not removed these tokens of devotion out of fear of a public backlash. 

I was amazed to see how quickly souvenir stores and stalls popped up around the Lamp, selling flowers and prayer cards and candles with Empress Jamyl's image, and even glow-in-the-dark figurines of the Saint, miniature versions of her statue in the Mekhios graveyard.

Anyway Luna's statement seems to have had the desired effect on most of the locals. The steady stream of flowers has slowed down to a trickle over the course of the day, and maintenance crews are finally considering cleaning up the place, be it under the cover of night.

The pop-up souvenir store merchants are not too happy. I spoke with one of them, and he said he would still wait it out a bit. Luna's message has brought the rumor to the attention of a much broader audience, well beyond Mehatoor or the Kisana constellation, and he is counting on conspiracy theory pilgrims to interpret any denial as a cover-up. 

PS. These merchants are really good at their job. I do not quite remember how he talked me into it, but at the moment it felt as if I was doing a really good deal and a good deed, and now I regret having bought a glow-in-the-dark saint Jamyl statuette. 

Vigil for a nonexistent relic

Aria confirmed publicly that a female corpse was retrieved by the ARC/LUMEN fleet fighting the Drifters in their wormhole lair yesterday. The folk who earlier showed me their self-recorded holo of the salvage operation gave me a "See? Told you!" look. 

This news has put the rumor mill in overdrive. A growing number of baseliners whisper that the body of Saint Jamyl was taken to LUMEN's headquarters and is kept at Gottin's Lamp medbay, and that her holy remains are intact and are resting there.

Some people are demanding to visit the relic, despite my vehement assertion that we most certainly do not have the holy imperial remains in the medbay. Luna would have told me, I am sure. I mean, I cannot imagine that something so momentous would be kept secret from LUMEN's chaplain?

My denials do not help: in several locations where baseliners can come closest to Gottin's Lamp (it is mostly a capsuleer facility), they are now holding prayer vigils. Little shrines are popping up here and there in Mehatoor's 24th Imperial Crusade station. 

I had to ask folks to respect the serene atmosphere of the Chapel while holding their vigils there. I will allow silent prayers, but not loud worship of relics that are not even present. Worshippers are gathered around the overflowing candle racks, and most pray to the absent relic of the Empress for either personal help or for a swift end to the Drifter crisis. But some -growing in number- seem to believing that her Second Resurrection is near, and are praying for that. The more extreme even believe that Empress Jamyl is merely in stasis and that the medbay's doctors will revive her soon. 

Short of organising medbay tours I do not know how to convince them otherwise. And probably even tours would not stop them from fabricating another wishful fable...

New rumors

Once again I find myself trying to calm down some non-capsuleer station workers in the Lamp's congregation, baseliners who are riled up by weird rumors circulating among them. Often they do their jobs unseen by the capsuleers, going in and out of ships as crew members, maintenance teams, cargo or warehouse workers, sanitary workers, and so on. 

These rumors get stranger when there is a conflict, as now with the Drifters, and tend to become  mingled with conspiracy theories old and new. 

The story that circulates now is that the latest combat fleet that entered the Drifter home system in Anoikis has retrieved the corpse of the late Empress Jamyl in one of the battleships of a high-ranking Drifter officer that was also present at the fatal attack in Safizon. The baseliners continued in hushed voices to claim that this will lead to the second resurrection of the beloved Empress Jamyl, and will bring about a new era of peace in the Cluster.

They showed me a little bit of secretly taken footage of a female corpse being transported from the Drifter wreck to the vessel of the Arataka Research Consortium commander, clearly after an intense battle with Drifters. The corpse is not of a drifter female, but looks like a regular human corpse, perhaps capsuleer.

There is no way to find out whether the footage is real, but the man (and his friends) swear by the honesty of his nephew's dentist's sister-in-law's cousin, who serves on one of the LUMEN ships that was part of the fleet, and who took the footage. Even if it is real, there is no reason why this corpse would be who they think she is. I told them to stop spreading these rumors, turn in the footage to the MIO, and reflect on how unlikely this all is. 

Monk holes

I have returned to Neyi, to the ancient library of the monastery of the Tetrimon Order of Saint Jamyl. Baron Redwolfe speculates that bookshelf LXXIII may have been removed in old times by looters, but I wonder why they would have taken one specific entire bookshelf, rather than just ransack the place. 

Now, while they are not of much economic worth, the books that I am looking for are of historical importance. They describe a delicate part in the history of the Order of Saint Tetrimon. During the Moral Reforms, the order fought on the side of the rebellious Council of Apostles, against the Emperor. It is in this period that Grand Master Tetrimon IV is rumored to have hidden precious relics to keep them from falling in the hands of the Emperor. Two potential hiding places have previously come to my attention: the temple of God's Assuring Whisper, current location unknown, and the space city of Mezagorm, currently forbidden terrain.

However, if this library holds any lost records of that period, they could provide more clues as to the hiding place for these relics!

I find it suspicious that would be exactly these books that have gone missing. Perhaps they were moved to protect them or their contents? But then hopefully they were not moved very far, that would have been unwise in dangerous times. 

Some places, often monasteries, had "monk holes". These were ingeniously concealed hidden places built into the walls, where monks could flee to protect themselves during persecution or ransacking by, say, Blood Raiders. They were sometimes very cleverly disguised, for example a fake sewer. Such hiding places would be useful to hide books that the Tetrimon would not want to fall into the hands of Imperial troops.

The Understanding under pressure

The last exploration vessel that I lost was during my time traveling through the barbarian lands, en route to to the Zerg in Feythabolis, a people that appear open to the message of God. That happened now well over a year ago, before mr. Firth was assigned to the Indagatrix. However, since then I did lose a number ships during alliance operations and operations mandated by the Empress.

My political officer mr. Ivan Firth is well aware of this, and we have an "understanding". He is not particularly keen to end up in an emergency escape pod in space, and I am already more than grateful enough if he advises me only in the Indagatrix, my trusted exploration vessel. 

So, he stayed in the docked Anathema while I was off to do my part in the fight against the Drifters yesterday. After the fleet operations, I have made a trip to Seclusion, to see how the renovation and enlargement of the the Chapel of St. Vasrayi is going. I may have brought people along that were not quite cleared for travel, but I did so in good conscience.

Of course, mr. Firth found out about this and was not pleased at all. I understand he is displeased, but honestly, there was no need for shouting or frothing-at-the-mouth kind of anger. I think he overreacts, probably because he is worried about upholding the severitas that comes with his new rank after his recent promotion. 

Anyway, until further notice he will be joining me also in my (non-exploration) operations in fleet.

Anti-Drifter Operations

Today I heeded the call to action from our beloved Empress and joined a search and rescue fleet led by Baron Redwolfe. Due to my vow of non-violence I avoid laser weapons or other damage dealing ship modules. So, I do not often join small combat fleets - I tried a bit, without success, in an Inquisitor, during the pirate uprising in Mehatoor. Remote repairs, that is a role I have from time to time filled in fleets for Khimi Harar. 

This time, it was different: salvaging wrecks on a battleground where our fleet beat the drifters, to find escape pods, and bring those stranded inside back home to Amarr. That certainly is a task I can and I am proud to do. 

The Drifter incursion in the Empire hopped one system from Yooh to Jeshideh; it had previously hopped over to Yooh from Hostakoh next-door. Seeing this pattern, our Caldari baseliners working at Gottin's Lamp are getting nervous: in the State, the Drifters are in Ikuchi, just one system away from Jita. What will happen when the Drifters decided to take a stab at Jita, and paralyze the main trade hub of the cluster? 

Some capsuleers have expressed excitement about that, or glee, but to many the prospect of disrupted trade routes are reminiscent of all bad things that happened with the fall of Niarja during the Triglavian war. A looming cluster-wide economic recession would be bad for everyone - except the Drifters. And, if they can poke at Jita in the State, then even our home world, our chosen Amarr, might be on their list... I do not want to think about it too much...

Travel permit

Bringing Libby to Seclusion station may be more difficult than I anticipating. She is willing to go, perhaps even eager to get out of Mehatoor. But transporting her in the Indagatrix gets a hard no from my political officer, the recently promoted mr. Firth. 

Not unless I can present proper papers from her Holder that she is to be transferred to Seclusion. In itself this is a very reasonable measure to prevent slaves from running away. But I do feel that mr. Firth should trust me a bit more. 

I am not sure if ms. Yubari's signature on a form would be legal - due to her condition, and probably also to her not being legally allowed to even own slaves. And of course, I cannot ask the heretic to sign a form, even considering that is ridiculous.

I seem to be stuck on this.

Rescued slaves

A crisis like the Drifter incursions can bring out the very best in people - but unfortunately also the worst.

This became clear over the weekend, as I saw a sudden influx of traumatized slaves into the Lamp's medbay. The heretic leader of the Sedevacantists had attempted to sacrifice these slaves to the Drifters, by dumping them in mobile depots in space. The idea was to have the Drifters experiment on them rather than on monks. While the saving of innocent monks is a good intention, the means are horrific.

A LUMEN fleet, commanded by Maria Daphiti, went to save these poor souls from a certain death, be it from a Drifter attack or by neglect and hunger alone in the depths of space. Sadly, not all could be saved, it was too late for some. Those that survived were brought back to Mehatoor. Mr. Ché Biko - a diplomat connected to a pacifist faction within the Federation, if I recall correctly - offered assistance by dispatching trauma experts.

That is very kind, but it is also very Gallente to forget about the healing of the soul. Abuse not only causes psychological trauma, it can also lead to a crisis of faith. I made sure to visit and comfort the escapees spiritually.

The commotion in the Medbay had a very detrimental impact on Libby, herself a former slave and victim of the heretic. Her fears that the heretic would come and take her back are again paralysing her. I will discuss with her my plans to have her transferred to St. Vasrayi's chapel Seclusion. Despite several attempts, I think it is clear that she cannot function in Mehatoor due to the presence of the heretic in the same system.

Simulacra

Again, there are worrisome developments on the Drifter crisis. Pilots (among them Michael Minate who reported it publicly) have found simulated baseliners. Vast amounts of data to create a copy of one particular person! Additionally, fragments of what appear to be images of an invasion plan have been found. 

Others have been asking why the Drifters experiment on us, exposing helpless monks to radiation and testing their limits. They are rightly expecting the Drifters to already have more than enough accurate information on our physiology. What they might not know accurately are our cultural habits, our psychology - different from empire to empire, for which they would have to redo their experiments in each of the four powers. 

Putting it all together, I think they plan to build a simulacrum - a copy of an existing person, to inhabit and behave in a manner that does not raise suspicion. They need the information on our behavior to make these simulacra blend in. 

This could be to create a spokesperson, or a negotiator to talk to us - if so it would be a first real attempt at conversation. The more probable explanation is that they want to infiltrate our ranks, replace people in crucial positions with their puppets, to help their invasion. 

I have discussed it with mr. Firth, who assures me that the MIO is having the situation under control and that I should not worry. I do worry nevertheless, and insisted that we devise a secret passphrase and commit it to memory, to be able to make sure that we haven't been replaced by Drifter simulacra.

PS. I need to warn Baron Redwolfe to be watchful for simulated pilots infiltrating his fleets. Oh, I also should not forget to ask him about the missing bookshelf LXXIII in his Order's library.

More celebrations

Today there was another party - a more private one this time, not Empire wide, just on board of the Indagatrix! 

Mr. Ivan Firth passed the promotion exam and thus met the final requirement for his promotion along the ranks of the MIO. I think he skipped a few rungs, thanks to our explorations and bringing back interesting artefacts. I do not know what these ranks or nomenclatures imply, but he is now Itinerant Frumentarius First class. He's got a new uniform too. 

It would be logical for him to now have more choice in his assignments and be able to do other things than look after a curious friar exploring about. So I think it is by his own volition that he stays on as political officer of the Indagatrix. 

He's arranged for an escape pod of his own, a new MIO type pod. It is, he says, safer and better equipped than the life support backup unit I had installed a while ago in the cargo bay. It will take up much less space, and has proven its worth in the recent Drifter crisis, where more than ever before search and rescue missions were successful.