It was during one of my first flights upon getting my Eagle up and running again. It cost me some blood, sweat and tears, but she's flying once again. The cloaking device was more or less pristine, even after having been in storage for so long. I came across a pretty interesting guy called Kris. He seems to be quite the passionate person that cares a lot about those he holds dear. Speaking of, there's Amsel. Apparently it's a security android that has formed a (more or less) friendly relationship with him. They constantly mock each other but it's quite obvious that they do care more than they let on. We observed the IMG and Bretonian Navy duke it out over a bunch of rocks during our first meeting.

Kris felt obligated to show me the place that he usually works at. I've not quite understood how that all goes together. He told me that he's hireable for essentially anything, and yet he claims to specifically work at one of Freeport 1's biodomes. It doesn't really matter, but I'll ask him about it next time. Apparently he was part of the Technocrats in his past, I didn't take him as the type to follow their ideals. It felt like he enjoyed to brag about the different kinds of augmentations that he has, or rather had. His tone changed when he compared past with present, with most of his 'tools' being either outdated, burned out or barely holding together.

We had to make our way through Outcast infested territory, too. I thought I could avoid these monsters until the day I die, but it seems I was mistaken. We weren't caught, luckily, but being back at this forsaken place turned my guts upside down. It's impossible to eat as much as I wanted to puke at the time. I'll tell Kris about my past eventually, but there's a time for everything.

Freeport 1 ... one of the many Zoner installations that used to be layovers for the Oracles. I barely remembered it from the last time we visited it, but they still greet everyone with open arms there. I've never seen one of those biodomes from the inside, but Kris offered me the opportunity to try some real grown vegetables there for a change, I'm looking forward to that.

This is where I'll leave it for now, but I'm sure there's more to write down soon.

It was an awkward conversation at first, as I was in the middle of mocking Kris when she arrived. It turned even more weird when we introduced ourselves, as she claimed to have been a Nomad hunter who only put her profession aside temporarily, given some sort of personal vendetta against someone. She rememberd the Oracles from the very first second, which wasn't exactly a good sign given her past. However as luck would have it, she's the type to ask questions first and shoot second, or at least she was in this case.

We went over various topics, until a Liberty Navy Captain rolled up from out of nowhere. His presence was quickly followed by a Rogue, which then caused a gunboat to appear, which eventually lead to a seemingly well known Outcast capitalship to appear. I don't recall the name of its captain, but both Kris and Tia knew about her. Not to mention that I decided to take my leave when they lingered around and had a pleasant chat with Kris. I'd rather chew on a grenade than indulge in an Outcast's presence.

Long story short, it ended up with Tia and myself on yet another lanetrip. We seemed to share opinions about their kind which got us off on a good path. It was inevitable that her and I would have to clear the air about our views on the light. What could have been destined to end in a fight, ended up being a thoughtful exchange of ideals, experiences and metaphors. A strongheaded personality like her wouldn't listen to a preacher, so I adjusted my approach. There was a constant balance between finding common ground, being the senseless slaughter of life on both sides, and challenging her views on why this war was even started. Our exchange proved to me that Liberty's government would never willingly admit that the Nomads acted in self defense as a response to the excavations that were being done on planet Manhattan.

Despite her past, Tia continued to listen to my points with an open mind. It's a far cry from how I remember these kinds of conversations to go way back in the day. Perhaps not everything has changed for the worse, eh? In any case, I'll attach audio recordings of our conversation below, in case it'll be useful in the future.