Converting for love

It is an interesting conundrum. What if someone wants to convert to our religion not because the fire of faith has taken hold of them, but out of love - love for a person that does find faith important? Is that a reason good enough? Should they be allowed the conversion rite if they are not convinced to their core of our creed?

I have given it some thought, and I think it should be allowed. God has many ways to call people to Him, and certainly the path that starts with love for another person is not a bad one to begin the journey of faith.

There is historical precedent, too. Back when Assimia was still a patchwork of pagan kingdoms, a mighty king fell in love with a common girl called Riasan. He was impressed by her beauty and wisdom and kindness. She was of the faith, and through her prayers and devout life, she succeeded in converting her husband the king. This did not happen overnight, and I can imagine that the king's heart was not quite convinced of Riasan's religion at first, and he may have converted (and converted his subjects as well) out of love for his wife. This shows that love is a fertile soil in which the seed of faith, once planted, can grow and flourish!

Miniature of queen Riasan in prayer

It is to be noted that Saint Riasan is nowadays invoked against sudden death and iniquitous husbands. I am not sure where the sudden death part comes from, but she has indeed proven that she is able to change a husband for the better.

(( ooc picture attribution: St. Clothilde from Gallica Digital Library, available under the digital ID btv1b84472995/f53 ))

Aguard

I was surprised by the news from the Federation today. The Federation, once an enemy, have steadily moved more towards a friendly relation. The Pashanai accords, brokered by house Kor-Azor, enacted a new era of (perhaps tense) peace between the Federation and our Empire. 

LUMEN has played a role in these thawing relations. We have opened an embassy, well before even the Pashanai accords, on Luminaire, in order to bring the Empire and the Federation closer, be it merely at the level of our capsuleer engagements. On the overall scale of things this is perhaps a small role, but still I believe it to be an important component of our improved relations. It was one of many moves that prepared the way towards Pashanai.

So to hear today that the leader of the Federation, President Celes Aguard, has been deposed from office, is shocking. 

I realise Presidents are nothing like an Empress, they are not chosen by God but by the people, people with all their sins and imperfections and callous judgments and selfish desires. They do not reflect the divine, they merely reflect the basest common denominator of wants. But still - presidents are imbued with authority. I do not know what will happen now, there are no heirs in their system, there is no Shathol'Syn, no divine guidance. Most likely they will again poll their people, who have no training nor guidance in selecting good leaders...

May the next President prove to be a reliable partner for the Empire and may he or she continue to follow the path of peace and collaboration.

Preparing for Seclusion

I am heading out to LUMEN's wormhole system of Seclusion this weekend. There is a naming celebration for the planets, as we are encouraging new industry and investment on those resource-rich worlds. 

Astronomers had named them Seclusion I, Seclusion II, and so on - scientific names. They will now be named after virtues, somewhat corresponding to the type of planets. So there will be a contest where people can represent virtues through poetry, clothing, dance, song, or any sort of performance. I will be on the jury for this. 

Mr. Firth very much approves of such celebrations, proclaiming them to be virtuous in their own right. But that is not his only motivation to join me to Seclusion, despite his strong dislike of wormholes (or, indeed, of any type of space that is not high-sec by concord standards).

We will also inspect a Talocan frigate that was retrieved by Baron Redwolfe's exploration fleets. It has been towed to station, and remains there, sealed and ready to be investigated. I will be bringing a team of engineers from our Gottin's Lamp headquarters to help us breach the hull or access parts of the ship that might still be closed off. Perhaps I should also bring one of these neural lace implants in case we need to hack a systems. Special drilling equipment, small scanning probes, a force field enclosure... the Indagatrix's cargo bay is filling up quickly. 

Preparations are indeed needed - this is much like opening an ancient tomb. Also this is not without danger! The Talocan possessed knowledge and skill far beyond what we have. However, the high risk comes with a high potential for reward as well. And even though prudence is a virtue, so is fortitude!

Mining permits and jobs

The mining permit is false. We found it in the Interbus shuttle that crashed on the asteroid where my old monastery is. 

It took a while, and a long tour along all sorts of instances, from the Amarr Civil Services and the Ducia Foundry to the Amarr Trade Registry. No-one recognizes this type permit, and there are no records that any mining permit has been granted. That is to be expected, as the land of a monastery is sacrosanct. 

I was told that most likely this is some sort of "permit" handed out by racketeers, who let miners in regular asteroid belts pay in order not to be attacked. After they pay and get the permit, they get attacked anyway. Probably the shuttle was some sort of automated escape pod which left the ship without any occupant.

In other mining related news, I have heard that the arch-heretic has announced his own freelance mining jobs, asking capsuleers to mine asteroids in Gamis and Zorozih, hoping to find the Ametat and Avetat on some rock. Firing mining lasers at relics expresses a total lack of respect for these delicate and holy items. In the case of the Ametat and Avetat - relics of such inconceivable power - it will probably result in the destruction of the mining craft. 

However, I do not worry too much, I cannot imagine that the Gamis asteroid belts are where these holiest of artefacts are. The belts in those system are too heavily mined and exploited for such a find to have gone unnoticed. The outer layers of moons and asteroids - where the deposits of the last few ten thousand years would be - must have been scraped off them already a while ago. 

Epikouria Chronicles VIII

Another handwritten missive was waiting for me, from Brother Hugo, reporting on the wormhole colony started by Publius.

Brother Hugo's plans to visit the Original's capital have taken an interesting turn. As it happens, an intercultural fair is going to take place at the Free Trade Friendship Zone - the designated area on Renaissance (planet VI) where Starborn and Originals can freely mix. 

Both groups are very cautious with strangers. It is said of wormhole dwellers in general that they are somewhat paranoid, and it seems that at least the Starborn are no exception to this. The first step to trust each other is to get to know each other better, and that is the goal of this two-week long event, organized jointly by the Starborn and the Origin Colonial Authority (I think it is the Original's equivalent of the Empress' Privy Council).

There will be different pavilions devoted to the various cultures, beliefs, and habits present among the Starborn and the Originals. Brother Hugo and his companions made it their task to construct a pavilion showcasing the Amarrian faith. 

Their plan is to build a pop-up church. 

They do not have the means to build a pavilion like that, but they have held a charity drive and went around the Ardishapur quarter in Ouranos station with a collection box. Their congregation gave generously, and contributed not only in terms of money, but also objects to display. Brother Hugo is very proud of a large oil-on-canvas painting depicting Empress Catiz. 

Also people not of the faith contributed items, as the brothers are well liked on most of the station. They got an old statue of Heideran VII, which had been used somewhat blasphemously as a mannequin in a high-end boutique for official ceremonial attire. Brother Hugo plans to repaint it with gold paint and put in on display along with copies of the Pax Amarria.

It may have been one of the first letters that gave me a sense that Brother Hugo is in a good mood and positively energized!

Links to keep track of the letters of Brother Hugo:
I. First Contact
II. Diplomatic Talks 
III. Refugee crisis
IV. Setting up a new home station
V. Epikouria under siege
VI. Prince Seraghis visit

VII. A suspicion of heresy

Second wreck

A message reached me from Baron Redwolfe, who is currently in Seclusion. Besides the shuttle from Interbus that we salvaged here at the Monastery, it appears that there's now a second salvaged spacecraft that is brought to my attention! Baron's Odysseus explorer found a Talocan wreck. 

image courtesy of Baron Redwolfe

He writes:

I have come across a perculiar item that you may wish to investigate more. I am unsure if you have obtained one or not. I have encountered in a sleeper data chace, a one Talocan Derelict Frigate. I had the teams in Seclusion II tow it back to be investigated. We have not opened it in case there is anything of danger inside. We await information from you if we should proceed with opening it or not.

I told him to be careful about nanites, and I am eager to go see this for myself. From the image it does look Talocan in nature, but closer inspection is needed to see if it is not some sort of replica.

Troubling salvage

We have searched through the remnants of the crashed Interbus shuttle, and found only a few items of interest. One is an Interbus public communications display of some safety instructions featuring a demon of sorts, and the other is a mining permit:

This document caused quite a stir among my brothers, and even the Abbot who struck me as an even-tempered man is in panic. They fear that someone wants to start mining on the very asteroid where the monastery is located. Needless to say this would be a huge disruption of the peace and quiet that is needed for transcribing scripture, prayers and meditation.

The paper is a weird thing. It seems that someone just states that from now on they own the land and can mine it, and the locals have nothing to say about it. I am not even sure to which land it refers to. Who could have issued such a permit? 

They do not think that the Ducia Foundry would do such a thing - Ducia is the main mining corporation in the constellation. But even if this is not issued by Ducia, then still it might be from some other organisation, perhaps a start-up, that seeks to drill into the asteroid. This is not even an asteroid that is valuable for its minerals - it is all basic regolith and silicate!

I promised the Abbot I would go and find out more about this, my first stop will be the Ducia corporation.

Salvage operation

It has been a while since I made a spacewalk outside of the pod.  

With the ice storms subsiding now that the season is over, we ventured out on the asteroid's surface. The Monastery itself has artificial gravity inside, but once you leave though the airlock, this quickly dissipates. Moving away from the installation, the gravity reduces until you barely feel it is there. 

The jagged horizon encloses you, and its curvature is clearly visible since the rock is not that big - the perspectives seem all wrong. The surface is frozen, but it is not like usual ice or snow, it is much more dilute, powdery and fluffy, and walking is awkward. We took out a large salvage vehicle, which looks more like a big cage on spikey wheels - traction control is difficult even on the usual regolith of the asteroid. There is no real sense of speed, as you have with planetary vehicles, or perhaps there is some feeling but it betrays you. 

Everything is very very quiet - the rock does not have any atmosphere.

We moved to the sunny side and crossing the from the darker to the lighter region is a brutal attack on the senses. Even the combination of the helmet's adaptive visor and vision implants has a difficult task to find a setting that does not blind you with light, nor with darkness. The white cover is thicker here - the ice particles are carried by the solar wind so the side that is more exposed to the star is more thickly covered.

We made it to the crashes shuttle without any problems, and started with checking that there are indeed no life signs. There would not be ones, since an entire side of the shuttle is missing. We did not find a corpse, whatever happened to the pilot of the shuttle - or perhaps it was on autopilot - is a mystery until we read out the navigation computer, or what is left of it.

We removed whatever pieces and parts we could - lifting even big masses does not require much effort in this weak gravity. But the work is slow, and clumsy, as you are most of the time moving yourself in stead of the mass when you try to push or pull, there is little grip. In the end most pieces were removed, and the crash site is left relatively clean. 

Now the task of sifting through the salvage to find out more about it begins.

Snow storm disruptions

I have had pleasant discussions with the new abbot, who presented me with a gift, a hand-written copy of the Book of Reclaiming. We talked about how being a capsuleer brings additional duties and obligations. 

The discussion turned to the current metaliminal ice storms, and how the monastery had been hit hard by the winds carrying ice particulates that sweep the system. Nearby shipping lanes are also disrupted, and many Interbus travelers have been stranded over the end-of-year holidays. 

It is not just here, but going over the maps, I saw that the Araz constellation seems to be a focal point for the storms this year:

In particular, the Araz "pentagram" systems are hit by strong storms. Could some link between the Drifter system asteroid and the Aphi labyrinth asteroid be attracting these phenomena?

Anyway, that was not the point that the abbot really wanted to make. He got to the question that he wanted to ask only after a while - apparently an interbus shuttle has crashed on the far side of the asteroid. There seem to be no life signs on board, just material damage. Since the monks do not have much experience with spacewalks, or walks on the exterior of an asteroid, the abbot asked me to lead a small expedition to walk over to that side and check out the wreckage, and clear up the site.

Storms are predicted to quiet down tomorrow, so that is when we will go.

Copy demons

It is strange to see my old monastery covered in what appears to be snow. Given that it is an asteroid monastery, and not on a comet.

However, the system has had a metaliminal storm bringing ice particles, that collected on the odd potato-shaped rock on which the monastery is located; most of the monastery is underground but there are some structures outside, including a shuttle port, facing the cold vacuum of space. These structure now sport a nice wintery scene, looking as if the monks can come bursting out on its surface to roll a snow puppet or start a snowball fight any time.

We devote ourselves to copying scriptures by hand here, following in the steps of Saint Aloysius, our patron saint. This is goes on day and night without interruption. The scriptorium lies deeply in the asteroid, and is protected by relics and ringed by side-altars where always one of the monks is praying. This protection is needed to avert the copy demons, believed to besiege the monastery. 

Nowadays, it is easy to copy a text flawlessly electronically. But back in ancient times, it was believed that demons try to secretly corrupt faith by altering words, whispering errors of translation, or distracting monks who would skip a word. A single error, faithfully recopied over centuries, can bend doctrine and hollow out faith from within. Hence the protective prayers, and the presence of a hierarchy of scriptors, lectors and correctors.

I shared a simple meal with my brothers after my arrival, and they asked me hundreds of questions about my travels and about capsuleers and their organizations. I felt exhausted. They have kindly offered me to sleep in my old cell! 

A visit home

I have been asked by the new Abbot of my former monastic order if I could pay them a visit. 

It has been a little over four years now that my guide and friend, the former Abbot Bavo passed away. That was the last time I went to the asteroid monastery where I spent a good sixty years of my life. So, a visit is long overdue, and it will feel good to see my old brothers again! 

Also, I am curious about the new Abbot. Even though he is not my direct superior as I am no longer part of a monastic order and have become a friar rather than a monk, the order and the asteroid monastery is still very dear to my heart.

Tradition of gift-giving

Coordinated by Maerrin and "Happy", our fervent organisers of social events, we have held our secret gifts celebration. 

I have already attended those before, and it is a nice yearly tradition taking shape in LUMEN. Each participant gets a designated receiver of gifts, and we have to come up with a suitable gift for that person. To guide us, the person can only submit a riddle beforehand. Similarly, also you can compose a riddle about what you like or like to do in the cluster, in order to guide your secret giver.

We then get together in celebration, amid seasonal drinks and a nicely decorate pine tree, and one by one give and receive. Some gifts turn out to be poems composed specially for the occasion, or even performance art on the evening itself (we had an act both scary and heart-warming), and very often special items or ships fitted in unique way. 

It takes a bit of time and effort to organize, so I am very grateful to organizers. It boosts an already high morale, and creates new bonds between people!

Summary YC127 part 3

Hypothesis 3 - Alien abduction. With the Jove as the prime suspects. They are known to roam the stars searching for powerful artefacts, that they might consider remnants of races even more ancient than they, and that they certainly consider dangerous in the hands of fledgling young civilizations. They would confiscate such artefacts. So, the hypothesis is that the Ametat and Avetat, certainly powerful enough to be on their radar, would have been confiscated.

This hypothesis - in a slightly altered version - is favored by the Goner sect, as explained to me by the reclusive brother Sarachem who is flying sub-warp to eve gate in a corvette. The goners told me that the Ametat and Avetat are hidden along with the relic that they seek, the Anticipator device that opens Eve gate, and kept in an unspecified asteroid belt in Jovian space. 

There is enough additional evidence that at least under the Jovian Directorate of the third empire, there were specific Jovian agencies in charge of searching for and retrieving powerful artefacts. Over the years, I have tried to gain access to Jovian space, and even talked to some capsuleers who managed to get there. However, they seem to have returned with a certain madness - perhaps an exponent of the Jovian disease. 

Linked to this are the various Jovian offshoot that have not disappeared from the cluster. It is widely assumed that the Sleepers in wormhole space also represent part of Jovian culture. So, with no access to Jovian regions, perhaps a way can be found via Anoikis to reach it, or at least to gain more information about the Jovians. 

Again, as with the Takmahl, there is a tantalising link to the ancient Talocan as well - it is this ancient race which engineered the wormhole network of Anoikis (somewhat broken after the Seyllin incident). These Talocan (and their stalactites) seem to be a common denominator, so it is with a resolve to learn more about them that I plan to continue my search in the coming year, and that I conclude the current status update on my quest.

Summary YC127 part 2

Hypothesis 2: According to this theory, the Ametat and Avetat were absconded by the Sani Sabik at the start of our era of space exploration. The Sani Sabik cultists had infiltrated our institutions but were forced to flee during the purges of emperor Queron I, the Iron-Fisted. They took to space in cryoships and started the Takmahl Empire in the Araz constellation. Ilash Toth tried to get the relics back, but failed. The Takmahl Empire grew powerful, but collapsed suddenly after a few centuries, taking the relics with it to its grave.

I have reported before on the mounting evidence pointing to this hypothesis, which was also investigated by prof. Bathana, Luna's archaeologist father. More evidence was found during my explorations of Gamis, but I cannot report on those due to an agreement with the Ministry of Internal Order. 

The main question to answer is what happened to the relics after the collapse of the Takmahl empire. I have found strong indications -contrary to common belief- that the Takmahl could reach further out that their own constellation of Araz. Two years ago, I started looking into the "Blood highway" connecting the Takmahl heartlands to Delve, through Aridia. Some current-day Blood Raiders consider themselves heir to the Takmahl, and it is clear that Takmahl artefacts are highly prized among them. Indeed, I found a functioning biodrone in an abandoned Blood Raider station in Aridia two years ago. 

Again, it appears that prof. Bathana near the end of his life was also tracking the Blood highway, as he went to Anath, a system at the edge of the Empire. That is where I will need to pick up the trail next year. 

This year I have also been investigating the link between the Takmahl and the Talocan - this far more powerful and far more ancient race that also influenced the Jove. Most recently, I have been intrigued by the realization that the holy rock at the center of the Takmahl labyrinth may be linked to the Talocan rock formations in other parts of the cluster and in wormhole space. I am thinking that these rocks held some religious significance for them, that was passed on to the Takmahl and perhaps even the Drifters. There is more to these stalactite rocks than meets the eye - could they house internal structures or hiding places? That is the second lead I need to follow up.

Summary YC127 part 1

Hypothesis 1 : the Ametat and Avetat stayed with us much longer than we nowadays assume. They were held for safekeeping by the Council of Apostles and the Speakers of Truth. These institutions, at first meant to advise the Emperor, transformed into forces that would keep the Emperors and the Holders in check. Finally, the Council would try to usurp the God-given power of the Emperor. When Heideran V attempted to restore Imperial power, civil war known as the Moral Reforms ensued. As the Council of Apostles faced defeat, the Order of Saint Tetrimon was charged with keeping the relics - symbolizing the Imperial power - out of the hands of the Emperor, and hid them.

This hypothesis is corroborated by historical records showing beyond doubt that Grand Master Tetrimon IV smuggled out all sorts of relics for safekeeping at the end of the civil war. Little is known about these relics from the time before the Moral Reforms, as scripture has been reworked heavily by Heideran V and the Theology Council that he created after the civil war. However, the Tetrimon are supposed to still have copies of the original versions of scripture, those versions that were tainted by the heresy of the Council of Apostles but that also contained historical clues. 

Over the years, I tried in vain to access these records at their ancient headquarters, the fortress of Teakh Tak-Teakh on Ibani VI, planet of the singing ice, and also at their new space monastery in Thebeka. However, they keep their records very private - afraid of being found heretical, I think. Many of their writings seem to advocate shifting power to commoners and leaving the Emperor with less than absolute power, in contradiction of scripture, Book I 1:14 or Book of Reclaiming 3:21. So, it is not surprising they restrict access. I was stuck.

This year however, I made headway! God's providence brought Baron Redwolfe's legacy to the Societas. Trough his ancestry, he is linked to the Tetrimon - today he leads a related order called the Tetrimon Order of Saint Jamyl. He has uncovered on his holdings an ancient monastery of Khanid paladin knights, where there is a library that holds copies of texts and scrolls by the Order of Saint Tetrimon. I found the Vita Magistrorum Magnorum of Tetrimon IV, which led me to find one of the hiding places of ancient relics, deep inside the forbidden city of Mezagorm. Unfortunately, these were not the relics of Ametat and Avetat, but still we recovered important lost relics of the legion of Ves-Udor. 

While these were not what I was looking for, it does give me confidence that I am on the right track. There is still a lot more to uncover in the Vita, and I will pursue this further in the next year.

Reflecting on the past year

The days of the Yoiul celebrations and the turning of the year inspire people to look back and reflect upon the year that passed.

As the veterans of the Societas know well, I have received long ago a quest to fulfil. It was given to me by Saint Tal-Romon, who visited me in a vision when I was still a monk cloistered in an asteroid monastery. The mission I have been given is seemingly impossible, and has been attempted by countless people before me: to find and return the most holy relics of the Empire, the lost Ametat and Avetat, the sceptre and crown given by the Sefrim to the first emperor, Amash-Akura. 

It is no coincidence that God led me to join the Imperial Society of the Sceptre and Crown, our Societas whose full name is indeed "Societas Imperialis Sceptri Coronaeque".

Over the years I have been able to formulate several hypotheses of what happened to these relics, and I am following up leads on each of those, along a winding path. Over the coming days, I will review each of those leads in turn and log my progress report for them.

-to be continued-

Epikouria Chronicles VII

Brother Hugo's latest letter reveals that business is going about as usual in the Epikouria colony. Industry seems to have expanded, as do anti-piracy efforts against the ever-present roaming bands of wormhole miscreants. Mostly, folks have settled in and gotten into a comfortable routine in Publius' colony. 

Mining and resource extraction are booming after trade and sovereignty agreements were finalized with the Originals. In exchange for unfettered access to the bountiful deposits on the planets of Epikouria, system-wide space security as well as regular connections and transport to trade hubs are provided by the Starborn. Diplomatic missions and embassies have been established on most planets, and the Originals have a diplomatic mission on Ouranos, the main station and space-home of the Starborn. 

Stories about the Originals trickle down to the Ardishapur quarter in the lower decks. Although the Originals keep their own personnel inside their diplomatic zone, folks working in the station do see these foreigners going about, and stare. Although many of the Originals appear human, some are heavily augmented, and there are even cyborgs and biodroids. There is talk about sentient AI's walking among them. All in all, they seem to be a extremely heterogeneous group, exploring the limits of what they can do with their bodies and infomorphs.

Brother Hugo is collecting evidence of all sorts of heresies among the Originals. There are signs that some of them are Sani Sabik cultists. Of course, sentient AIs are also forbidden - by all four empires. And he has also found some proof, he writes, that the Originals flaunt the cloning laws, and allow the use of multiple clones simultaneously by a single person. He writes, "The more we get to know them, the more horrors and heresies we uncover". 

To find out more, Brother Hugo plans to go with some of his companions to planet VI. That is the home world of the Originals, which they call "Renaissance". It hosts their capital, "Foundation City" and has the largest population of all the planets in the system. Publius' colonists, such as the good brother, cannot just go about anywhere freely on the Original's home world, but there is a 220 square kilometer area designated for meeting, trading and cultural exchange. It is called the "Free Trade Friendship Zone", and has a spaceport where shuttles from the colonists can land. Brother Hugo has filed for a permit to visit.

Links to keep track of the letters of Brother Hugo:
I. First Contact
II. Diplomatic Talks 
III. Refugee crisis
IV. Setting up a new home station
V. Epikouria under siege
VI. Prince Seraghis visit

Writing awards night

This weekend the awards ceremony took place, in which books and works of capsuleers are honored. It is always interesting to see what we should get for the library - although one has to be extra careful to screen for heretical writings.

To my delight some fellow researchers were present. Dr. Fritte Cornelius, with whom I recently collaborated on a project in Sanctified Vidette, and Ninavask of the Syenose Accord, who sold me a Talocan life support unit during the rare items fair. 

We got into an interesting discussion on extracting energy from celestials for spacetime engineering, and I do hope we get to collaborate on that topic as well. Science knows no borders, but sometimes I fear we work in a bubble in each of our four core empires. Events such as the award ceremony bring us together,  and are wonderful occasions to forge new plans for joint projects.

Also, Fritte got an award for some of his earlier scientific work, well deserved! 

The first prize in the academic category went to a book about ground crews, by Kirin Freir. It is a very useful manuscript that mixes business advice and human resource wisdom, putting it all together in a pedagogical primer. I have been reading through it and it has got me thinking. I have a crew on board of  the Indigatrix, of course, but not really a ground crew in our Mehatoor home. I just use the services that the station provides. However, mr. Freir's book convinced me of the usefulness to hire dedicated personnel for that purpose. I will put up an advert on Mehatoor's hangar message boards.

The first prize in proze and poetry was actually poetry, by someone with the pen name Dark Magni. Although very evocative and dynamic, the poem is indeed somewhat dark. It leaves space open for one's own interpretation. Could the character who flew "on his path grim" be an emissary from above, pushing us to fight on and do our duty? Or is it a commander running away from the fray, or perhaps someone scolding us for having failed? I will have to re-read it to savour the different layers of the poem.

The Conflux Stalactite

It is not that obvious to find the Drifter homes that are not monitored by the Empire. Conflux Eyrie is controlled by the State, and since our alliance cooled down they are not that forthcoming with information. 

I did not receive a direct answer to my request about the location of an entrance wormhole. Mr. Firth took some notes and looked annoyed, even though he says this is to be expected. Nevertheless, on our own we did find an entrance, and proceeded to scan down the system and investigate.

What I found there is deeply disturbing.

Contrary to what I saw in Sanctified Vidette, there are plenty of bands of roaming Drifters in Conflux Eyrie. We located the stalactite asteroid, and when I went over to scan it down for detailed telemetry, I found a host of Drifter ships at the small station at its foot.

They appeared to be interacting with the disabled sentry guns around the abandoned station (or colony, or prison, who knows what it used to be). Luckily, the Indagatrix was cloaked and I could observe undetected. Several battleships and many cruisers were present:

And then it happened. The entire stalactite asteroid seemed to phase, or rather, to be enveloped by some sort of Drifter overshield shimmer,

They must be drawing energy from this rock, interacting with it, using it in some way that the sensors on the Indagatrix could not make out. I have not seen this before in the other stalactite asteroids. Does it contain some hitherto unknown ore, providing a kind of radiation they can use? Are these rocks more than just ancient relics of a bygone Talocan religion? Is this really a rock, or could it be some camouflaged mothership or station?

After the "powering-up", some sort of entrance tunnel lit up, in the middle of the rock:

At this point, I am not allowed to share anything else since mr. Firth wants our full report with telemetry to stay under wraps as it gets sent to the Ministry. But let there be no doubt - the Drifters are far from vanquished in the systems that we have conquered. The Empire may have a firmer grip on Sanctified Vidette than the State on their hole, but the Drifters are up to something.

This has strengthened my conviction that I need to revisit the Takmahl Stalactite asteroid. I also want to keep a closer look on the Conflux Eyrie artefact, and perhaps try to enter the asteroid via that tunnel. I could not approach it too closely with the Drifter fleet patrolling it - any accidental uncloaking of the Indagatrix would mean its immediate demise at the hands of the nearby Apollo Tyrannos. Finally, I also need to figure out what sites the other Drifter homeworlds still hold, perhaps there are more of those asteroids or related objects.

Stalactite asteroids

Something at the edge of my memory kept nagging me, and kept me from sleep. Something I had seen in a Drifter home system. Unable to catch sleep, I started looking through the image database of the Indagatrix. Drowsy browsing goes slowly but in the end I found the corresponding log, and the monstruous rock formation I saw during the Drifter war.

Compare the Drifter rock (left) to the Takmahl holy rock (right): 

There is to me a striking resemblance. The asteroid singled out by the Drifters for special treatment (with a station in the small round rock just before), and the rock at the center of the Takmahl are both "stalactite asteroids". They have spikey protrusions pointing to melting and resolidification in a strong uniaxial field. This strengthens my conviction that these particular types of stalactite asteroids held a particular significance for the Talocan, as this ancient race is the only common link between Drifters and Takmahl!

I have to find this rock back - it was not in Vidette, but in Conflux Eyrie according to the logs. And I also have to head back to the Takmahl, for better scans and probing of their asteroid. 

But first I have to catch up on sleep.