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.