Encapsulated

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

18 January YC 121

“This time I want you to manufacture two Civilian Afterburners, Vladimir. They will be used to fit corvettes for new capsuleers like you. Here is the blueprint. You will need 128 units of tritanium for this job. It’s up to you how you get them, but I see you are eager to try out your new mining frigate,” here Kokseri gave me a wink and laughed. I managed a polite smile which implied I agreed with him without actually committing to any particular course of action.

Continue reading “One and a Half Afterburners”

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

18 January YC 121

After lunch I returned to the agent’s office. He met me with a frown, “Where have you been? I expected you at 12:00.”

I looked at the clock; it was 12:07.

“Er… I didn’t know the mission was that urgent, Kokseri,” said I wondering why the asteroids could not wait for seven more minutes. Continue reading “Finer Things”

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

18 January YC 121

My next course was Industry so it was time to say good-bye to the War Academy. I boarded the capsule and gave the station crew a command to load it to my new Heron.

“Aura, darling,” said I, “get us to the nearest Industry Career Agent.”

“Autopilot disabled. Waypoint reached,” answered Aura imitating autopilot’s voice.

“What do you mean, ‘waypoint reached’?”

“Congratulations, Captain. You have safely arrived to the location of Industry Career Agent Kokseri Velen.”

“But… but why is he here, in the War Academy?” I asked a question which meant to be rhetoric.

“Dunno. Maybe he is training combat Venture pilots. Why don’t you ask him yourself?” Continue reading “Making Mountains of Molehills”

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”