Month: January 2019

The Forge Region – Anttanen Constellation
Uitra System – Planet VI, Moon 4
State War Academy Station

16 January YC 121

In my previous post I forgot to mention a curious change of my standings. Completion of the course seemed to be a big deal as I saw some major movements in my relationships with various factions. For example, my standing with State War Academy increased by 0.5 to 0.81 which is a blaster shot away from access to the Academy’s level 2 agents. Caldari, Amarr and their subsidiaries had predictably made positive albeit small changes to my standings. Was surprised to see Joves getting friendly with me; I thought they would disapprove of nosy explorers. And totally unexpectedly, my biggest fan after the Academy was, guess who, Mordu’s Legion! The only explanation I could think of was that Muryia Mordu was still a big supporter of Caldari military cadre, being a former Caldari officer himself.

The cheers were counterbalanced by heckles. Gallente-Minmatar block informed me of their mild disapproval of my association with the Caldari State’s military school. Sansha’s Nation obviously objected to free-thinking individuals. But the biggest decrease of standings, -0.21, was made by Blood Raiders Covenant. Was it something I said when I visited their station?

Continue reading “Exploration Skills”

The Forge Region – Anttanen Constellation
Uitra System

14 January YC 121

In a training video where some guy demonstrated how to scan cosmic signatures everything looked so easy. You just needed to centre your constellation of probes on the apparent location of the signature, analyse, and repeat until you got 100% signal strength. In practice, manipulation of the probes in 3D space was a finicky business. If centring was less than perfect you could end up with a weaker signal strength than on the previous attempt. It took quite a few scans and quite a lot of curses before I finally got a solid reading and a warp location.

Continue reading “Scan. Warp. Hack.”

The Forge Region – Anttanen Constellation
Uitra System – Planet VI, Moon 4
State War Academy Station

12 January YC 121

I called the new frigate Chabo; somehow it felt appropriate. I should have been excited about having a new ship but I wasn’t. A Bantam was only good in fleets and I was not going to join one any time soon. Anyway, it’ll do for training.

“What do you think about our new friend Chabo, Aura?” asked I while the capsule was being loaded into the frigate.

“Squishy, uncomfortable. Can we get back into Ampuhaukka?”

“Don’t know. They gave us this ship for reason. I just hope we won’t find this reason the hard way.”

“Very encouraging,” grumbled Aura.

Continue reading “A Visit to a Museum”

The Forge Region – Anttanen Constellation
Uitra System – Planet VI, Moon 4
State War Academy Station

12 January YC 121

After finishing my part in Seeker Investigation I was given a choice of four career agents: Business, Exploration, Industry and Military. I planned to try them all but started with Exploration because it had a hint of mystery and also because Gerhardt once told me it would suit my programming background. The career agent called Chigas Ovoken was located in Uitra system which was five jumps away from Itamo. Although Uitro was a hi-sec system I decided to fly there in a fully-fitted Merlin, you know, just in case.

Chigas had a serious look and a constant frown on his face which, as I soon found out, concealed an amicable nature.

“So you want to learn about Exploration? Then you are in the right place,” he shook my hand. “Although I can’t say the same about myself. I don’t know why someone thought it was a bright idea to organise Exploration courses in War Academy; we have no Exploration specialists here. Last time I mentioned a Core Probe Launcher to a flight instructor, he asked me what type of missile it was firing,” here Chigas rolled his eyes. Continue reading “The Exploration of Space”

The Forge Region – Ruomo Constellation
Itamo System – Planet VI, Moon 6
Science and Trade Institute School Station

10 January YC 121

“Annukka, what’s going on?” asked I walking in her office. “First, Sisters tease the Seekers without letting anyone know, then their ships get attacked and killed, and then, after I’ve safeguarded their station, they refuse to talk to me. We are on the same side! Why do they withhold information?”

Annuka shrugged, “I’ve told you, it was a renegade faction of SOE that was attacked. The Sisters leadership is not keen to air their dirty laundry in public, and the rogue members are not inclined to talk to anyone, now that their plot has been exposed. I don’t know if they are going to share their knowledge about Seekers with us or CONCORD. We need to continue the investigation.”

I sighed, “That’s frustrating. But you are right, we have to carry on. How can I help?”

“You can’t.” Continue reading “Her Favourite Capsuleer”

The Forge Region – Ruomo Constellation
Itamo System – Planet VI, Moon 6
Science and Trade Institute School Station

10 January YC 121

I’d been working with Annukka for a few weeks and thought it was about time to get to know her a little bit better, so I invited her for a lunch. By way of icebreaker, we started chatting about work matters.

“Tell me, Annukka,” said I, “is this Seeker investigation going anywhere? I’ve been running missions for CONCORD for quite a while but I have no clue whether my efforts were any help.” Continue reading “Madness or Genius?”

The Forge Region – Ruomo Constellation
Itamo System

7 January YC 121

Unfortunately, the VIP transfer service I received from Caldari Navy was only one way; once the emergency was over I had to use public transport. It would take the better part of the day to return to my hotel and, as I thought of it, the idea of continuing the vacation seemed less and less attractive. Also, my involuntary return to active duty made me realise how much I liked and missed the thrill of the capsuleer life. If I didn’t have time to go fishing today, I thought, I could still run another mission. So, I called Annukka again, and for the first time in many weeks was disappointed by her reply – there were no available missions that day. With all my plans ruined I returned to my station apartment and spent the rest of the day catching up on capsuleer news and browsing corporate recruitment ads.

8 January YC 121

Next day things returned to their hectic norm. While I was finishing my breakfast and pondering if I was still in a holiday mode and whether a glass of stout was an appropriate start of the day, I got a call from Annukka. Continue reading “The Dreaming Stones”

The Forge Region – Ruomo Constellation
Itamo System – Planet IV
Nugoeihuvi Golden Dragon Hotel

7 January YC 121

The first days of the new year I spent planetside – caught up with a few friends, visited my favourite pubs, discovered a few new ones – you know, dolce far niente, as an ancient poet said. After months of training and weeks of running missions, it was quite a liberating experience – I had no plans, no deadlines, and I could afford staying at any place as long as I wished. Then came a day when I fully realised the meaning of the saying “with great power comes great responsibility”. On the morning of 7 January YC 121 while I was thinking whether I wanted to go fishing or to simply stay in the hotel and watch the newest holovids, I got a call from Annukka. Continue reading “Battle in the Ruins”

The Forge Region – Kimotoro Constellation
Jita System – Planet IV, Moon 4
Caldari Navy Assembly Plant Station

31 December YC 120

On this New Year Eve I went to Jita trade hub to watch the fireworks. It was still midday EST, but the festivities had already started. I positioned Yatagarasu a few clicks away from the station undock point and watched in awe the explosions of colours and lights – I never thought that fireworks in space could be so spectacular. While I was gazing at the extravaganza I took more than a hundred photos which I wanted to share with you. After returning home I decided to publish only the best photographs here but then had hard time culling them – all of them looked so beautiful. In the end I only managed to get them down to twenty nine. Too hard, thought I, next year I’ll simply take a video.