These log entries are created in secret and aren't available to any other entity. Log - Ezrael Vertiga
CAMERA-BRIDGE-04-M, PLAYING FOOTAGE|
There is static for a moment before Maren's voice sounds from the comm. Unlike before, the voice was not morphed by audio-tools.
"And now you."
The camera shows the bridge of the Apahanta. One of the older variants of the AP-609 "Mako"-Class, yet not less representing the origin of this ship. The classical dark design elements, something the Mako was known for, as it was the first APM ship that choose black over the old BHG-related blue and grey, were theming the bridge. The bridge crew was focused on their work, leaving Ezrael alone with his thoughts as he bend his upper body forward in his commanding seat, his hands at his mouth, one of them a fist, the other holding it, both hands slightly pressing against his mouth and his nose. Adrenalin was rushing through his body, more than in anyone elses on the ship. His second in command, Sherry Aguilar was sitting next to him, trying to be calm while she looked between him and the main screen, which showed the fading Wraith with the designation "Unschuld". On the smaller screens, pictures of Cayman, Omega-47 and Omicron Gamma were visible, all of them showing the little Wraith in the distance.
"I know you were there. At least partly."
The voice was a bit quieter than before, and yet Ezrael refused to say something, staring at the ground, twitching although he tried to suppress it. "Captain, shall I-" Sherry sounded with her soft voice, as she didn't know how to react to this, yet Ezrael interrupted her, looking at her with his eyes wide open.
"I will head back now."
Seeing how the little Wraith was almost merged with the space around it, using an alien cloaking system powered by the same power cell that also hindered the Apahanta's mighty sensor array to get a clean scan from the Wraith, Ezrael leaned back, looking at the main screen while one of his hands pushed a button on the console right next to his seat. The bridge suddenly was more illuminated, as the Apahanta deactivated its own cloaking device, rendering the ship visible to the one person that never needed to see them to be aware of their presence. Still slightly shaking, Ezrael took a deep breath, looking at Sherry's hand gently touching his arm, then looking up at her concerned face.
"And?"
His other hand moved over the console, pushing another button on the holographic display. "And what?" he asked her, cold. When he ended the short question, he lifted his finger from the console, cutting the audio Apahanta-sided. Through his nose, he took a deep breath, and after only a few seconds, Unschuld answered.
" Let's go."
Instantly, Ezrael put his finger back on the button, looking at the main screen, where the jump hole anomaly to Omicron Kappa was whirling around in the distance. "I'll stay here." A few seconds of silence were the result.
"And do what?"
He stared at the screen, as he had the feeling he knew exactly where she was positioned at that moment. She was close. Very close. It took him a while to process his thoughts. The disappointment. The concerns he had during the last hour. He felt his body pulsating with his heartbeat, and the adrenalin rush, on a second peak right now, was causing him to be unable to focus and sort out the thoughts. "Thinking."
For a moment, both ships remaind silent. She was close. It felt like the weight of her Wraith was falling on him. Turning his head to Sherry, he gave an order. "Nav, set course for Livadia."
"Then think about the possibility of all this being for you."
Defeated, Ezrael narrowed his eyes. There was a feeling in his chest, like a cold punch, and it was like a chill running down his spine. His vision went blurry. His voice was indicating his resignation when he put his finger back on the button. "I hope it is, Agent Unschuld." Lifting his finger to cut the audio, he continued. "Sherry, you have the conn. Bring us to Livadia. Tell everyone to keep silence about this until I will talk to the crew. I don't want them to come up with conspiracy theories."
"Shall I call Lindsay for a mee-"
"A counselor is the last thing I need right now." He closed his eyes, leaning back in his seat, rubbing his forehead while the Apahanta entered the Peloponnese Edge Nebula, with smaller asteroids bumping against the shields while the navigation manouvered the Apahanta through the gaps between the bigger asteroids. "She could have died. Auxesia would have killed her and I couldn't have done anything about it. Fruck it."
The console next to him beeped, one of the secondary screens showed new contacts inbound. Two snubs. "Commune fighters, Captain. Navigation, full cruise towards Livadia. Boost forward shields and engines."
There was a conversation on the public channel, as the Skywolves of the Commune reacted to the Mako in their sight. "Contact," one of them called, just to be followed by a voice-morphed " Ignore" from the neutral-ish voice of Unschuld. "Very well."
During the mext minute, the Apahanta was slowly moving out of audio range, fighting it's way through the nebula, heading for the Zoner Shipyard. The bridge crew however heard the conversation.
"Skywolf two, I agree with you. Just take it and begone. Make sure to not drop it."
And then, silence, when the Apahanta left the audio range.
I'm in my room right now, while Sherry is taking care of the crew. The shock has lifted, mostly, but I doubt I can talk with Lindsay to it, so I'll talk here about it.
It's still night on Curacao, or better said, on the island where we are for the next days. The girls had their own day, going shopping and what not in a mall and later they wanted to go to a club, although I believe they had other plans. Leon, Sombra and I had our own fun day at the beach, surfing, diving and just relaxing a bit. It was... I mean, it didn't happen much in the recent days. Still no message from Bretonia, so I guess there won't come anything. Which is good. We also didn't have any auxesian trouble lately, which is fine as well. I wish they could stop with sticking their noses in everything. I don't get why they can't leave Maren and me alone...
Anyway. I wanted to see Maren this night, as I thought I sneak over to her and surprise her in bed. However, before I was able to enter her rented cottage, I saw her leaving the house, heading for the landing pads. She was there with her Prosecutor, and left the planet. Using the Hoffnungsschimmer, I followed her, with just enough distance to not get spotted, which was basically bullshiet, as Valery can feel my presence anyway when I am around. Yet Maren didn't stop. Instead, she moved to Canaria and after a quick pitstop, she moved towards Cayman, to Omega-47. And there, she lead me to a jump hole I never noticed before. Not even the Apahanta had it in it's database...
Omega-58, according to the navigational systems. Covered by a purple nebula, high background radiation coming from the dark-matter nebula on the othe side of the system. A big planet somewhere, a second one probably swallowed by the nebula, yet the sensors were able to pick up gravitational pulls from there. A shipyard in the distance, something big in the bay. Wasn't able to scan much with the Hoffnungsschimmer. I'll probably take the Apahanta later to get a full scan of the system.
There where to installations I passed by when following Maren.
Both had something in common, as they had a... something attached to it. Something nomadic. Obvious nomadic technology, the sensor readings have confirmed it, but what then happened was proof enough, as Maren landed the second installation, to switch her Prosecutor to a Wraith.
The MND Wraith, designation "Unschuld". The thing she stole when she left Rheinland. She still has it. She lied to me. More often than I thought, probably. She is still Unschuld. She never stopped being it...
I followed the Wraith to Omega-47, lost it in the big nebula, but found it again when entering Omega-9. She was meeting there with Commune and Oracles. And then the party crashers arrived, both Auxesia and the Red Hessians. I... I don't know, but I think I'll try to get in touch with them, just to find out how their stance to Auxesia is. Maybe they can be helpful against them. Anyway...
Unschuld told the Commune and the Oracle to scatter, and I followed her, to Omega-5, where even more people came together and everyone was chasing each other. And then one ship with a cloak disruptor appeared. Thankfully I was out of its range, because otherwise, Auxesia would know about what Valery did with the Hoffnungsschimmer's cloaking device. So I had to stay away from the jump holes, as it would have been too risky to use them, with their ship just waiting for the cloaker to arrive.
They moved to Omega-47 again, while I moved to Omega-41, trying to enter the system from the other side, yet I was too slow. I lost them in O-47, without a clue. That was the moment where I called Sherry, ordering her to bring the Apahanta asap. And she did. Using the Apahanta's sensor array, we scanned the area for any traces, which lead us to Cayman. I left the Hoffnungsschimmer there and moved over to the Apahanta, taking command over it. We found Unschuld again, moving back in the general direction of Omicron Delta, so we followed her. 47, Gamma, then Kappa. Cloaked, we tried to catch up, boosting the engines. And there she was, talking to the Oracle, as they were parting. And then...
"And now you."
And now me.
I have no idea what to do right now. I'm mad at her, for lying at me, again. She always demands me trusting in her, but she keeps lying, and it's busting my balls. I love her, I'd fight for her. Hell, I was about to uncloak and get the Auxesians off her back...
"Then think about the possibility of all this being for you."
How can you say that, Maren? Unschuld? I did so much for you, and for Valery. I gave her freedom. I gave you a reason to live. Fruck, I don't get why you be like that to me... I hate that. I really hate that. I feel like I can't go home right now. She'll be on Curacao and act like nothing happened, will spend her time with Nancy, and maybe Leon and Sombra join her, and I sit here and I just can't get over it. I can't go home now. Not after this. She is still working for them, making deals with the Commune, hanging out with Laguna, and she get's herself constantly into trouble, and I try so hard to keep her away from all that trouble. Fruck!
These log entries are created in secret and aren't available to any other entity. Log - Ezrael Vertiga
We're now on Curacao for quite a while. Nancy, Leon, Sombra, Maren, Valery and me. And Mittens. Of course he has to stay on the Hoffnungsschimmer, as the hot climate of Curacao would be unbearable for the little cat. I recently joked with Maren about getting him a little friend to play with. Thought about a Gran Canarian Blue Panda. We have enough space on the ship and could add some bio modules anyway. Maren asked me multiple times if I would allow her to get some terraria. I think the blue panda would be better, for obvious reasons, but after all the strife we had recently, I think I just have to give in.
Giving in seems like a repeating pattern for me now. I wish Maren was more like the girlfriends I used to have in the last twenty years in that certain aspect. She never asks me for something expensive. No "Buy me jewelry!" or "Take me out to that expensive luxuary restaurant!". She is content with the things we have. I mean, we have a good living on the Hoffnungsschimmer. We have robotic servants, we have a cargo bay filled with the finest food from all over Sirius and even Gallia. We have a good amount of Cardamine hidden on the ship, so we won't need to visit Malta too often to get her new supplies, and we have enough replication facilities on the ship to get most of everything we need. Now that we're here on Curacao, I thought about letting some OSC people exchanging some of the modulated rooms of the ship. With Maren sharing the bedroom with me, we could use a bigger bathroom, as the shower cell is barely big enough for more than two people. A while ago I bought one of those nice Dorados from OSC, and the ship is more luxuary than my good old Corvo... Should be the other way around, given the Hoffnungsschimmer used to be a temple of sin for quite a while now.
But Maren isn't like those cheap one-night-stands. Not even remotely. A person full of character, flaws, weirdnesses, temper. Her personality has more edges than her body has curves. I confronted her about what she did recently. Being Unschuld again. That is, after she acted like nothing happened. I came back to Curacao one day after the incident. I was very close to talk about it with the counselor, as she still pressures me to finally have a talk with her, but I still don't trust Lindsay enough to tell her about the secrets I have to hide. So I had no vent. I came back to my homeworld, where we still have the bungalow rented. Had breakfast with Maren and Nancy, and of course Nancy once again was pissed at me for me being, well, me. And then I had enough and took Maren to the bedroom, to talk with her, and Valery. Maren always claimed she did the Commune thing for me. To give us an advantage. Friends in case we need them. A bunch of lunatics that would do anything for Unschuld, or at least for Valery.
I mean, I don't mind a few people on our side. Just in case, if the Lane Hackers, Auxesia or Core suddenly focus on us again.
Her words however meant nothing to me, as it wasn't the first time she lied to me, doing some weird and shady things behind my back. So I asked Valery to connect me to their mindlink, knowing it is the only place where I can be sure neither Maren nor Valery could lie to me. Even Sovereign said that back then in Delta when I was in a mindlink with it. The same with Thallia. That mind hocuspocus has some advantages, admittedly. We talked things out. Maren had no malicious intent. She really wanted to do this for me. She risked her life once more for me. I hate it when she does that...
Things were relaxed for a while then. Reconciliation sex. Curacao made its magic work on us again. Not only ond Maren and me, but also on Leon and Nancy, who were pretty busy with each other, as we all were able to hear. Lucky boy. Maren and I gave them their privacy and moved to pick up Sombra from her island to bring her to ours, simply to have a relaxed afternoon at the beach together. Called Leon and Nancy to join us as well. Thought it would be a nice afternoon. It completely derailed. Maren is not used to the hot climate of Curacao and was sleeping most of the time, Nancy and Leon were making out in the shallow water, and eventually Valery asked me to have a walk with her, so we did. We had a talk, and with every sentence the situation became worse.
I asked her whether there are more "good" nomads like her out there, that live peacefully with their hosts in the human society. I mean, I only know very few. Leuchtfeuer was fully controlled by his incubus, and Enma either is a similar case or she is just a giant cunt... Good thing I'm not their enemy any longer. After all, Maren told me they are working on getting a permanent mooring point for the Apahanta on Altair. Like, I will be able to walk on their station. Their sanctuary. A giant complex filled with Wild. First I had no intention to ever go there, but Maren and Valery describe it as a beautiful place.
It will be nothing more than a joker though. After all, I have a crew on my ship, and I think they wouldn't be happy with... well, moving into the cave of the lion. Maren said it wouldn't be a problem, though. Whatever that means.
Then I had this hypothetical question. I asked Valery whether she would turn against us if her nomad superiors would mandate it. She didn't answer the question, but stroked my hand, as I was sort of hugging her in that moment. I felt how apologetic she was in that moment. It was enough of an answer. She would kill me instantly, if they would demand it. Raven and Hunt were right about it, and I hate it. In the end, she still is a bioengineered weapon against mankind. And not even the best friendship with her would change it. I can't override her code.
We then talked about other things and somehow it once more was about my only guilty pleasure. Maren always told me she was willing to share me, however Valery made clear that I will never again will have another woman. It lead to a discussion, yet she remained adamant about it, and her tone was easy to understand. No threesomes, no clubbing. Nothing. twenty years of womanizing ending now. Having the money, the charme, the opportunities, the looks and the know-how of seduction, useless now.
Why is that bad? Because we had agreements. I accepted her the way she was, with all her flaws, the table manners of a pig, the clumsiness of a child and the laziness and boredom of an unemployed guy covered by overprotective parents that do everything for their pride. Eating unhealthy crap all the time and rather watching cartoons than doing something for her body. I accepted that. I accepted her with her cardamine addiction. I accepted her with her incubus. Accepted her with her messed up MND background. But does she accept the one flaw I have? No. Instead, she demands me to change. She wants her stupid terraria with insects and spiders, knowing exactly I hate them. Knowing I fear them. She wants me to marry her. A stupid, outdated concept. We're not even a couple for a full year, and she wanted to pop the question back then at the hilarious dinner when Noah Xonnel was visiting us. The day I found out about her being infected. She wants me to take cardamine, so I would live longer and wouldn't age that fast. Which would make me dependent on Malta and Cardamine. She doesn't want us to live on Curacao, a perfectly well defended, infrastructured and idyllic world protected by Crayter, Liberty, Bretonia and the Commonwealth. And OSC. A world so healthy, its air is known to slow down aging as well. Instead, she wants us to live either on Canaria, a cold and dying world close to the Corsairs who bombarded the planet a few years ago, by that fat joke of a corsair, Pepe Ladron, or even worse, she also said she would like us to live on Malta. A planet infamous for slavery, even when the concept is way more human than any other planet's slavery concepts. A planet that gets attacked frequently by Corsairs and other weirdos.
She wants me become a father. I am not ready for children yet. I told her I would be the father she would want for our children to be, once she gets pregnant, but she knows exactly as well as I do that her cardamine addiction rendered her infertile. Even if she gets a healthy egg once, the chances are high that it will be a miscarriage. It would completely destroy her...
She wants me to get rid of the Apahanta, and she is impatient about it. I told her I would sell it if I get the three billion credits I so far invested into the ship for it. For the ship actually being old, it is one of the most advanced ships of Sirius, especially when the IRG managed to improve the cloaking systems. One doesn't simply get rid of it. And people don't simply buy a ship for three billion credits.
No. She said she is loving the person she meet more than eleven months ago. The person she is together with for ten months. I first thought I would actually ask her to marry me once we are a couple for exactly one year. I would have taken the Apahanta to Omicron Lost. Would have asked her to come with me and watch the big white sun illuminating the system, like we did back then. I still remember clearly what we did the first times we saw each other. Eating instant food rations, making jokes about lube, sleeping together in my quarters without sex, and how she later told me she was ready for it. Ready for me being the one to take her virginity that lasted twentyseven years.
We still have those romantic moments. I am not unhappy with her. I really do love her, with all her flaws.
I don't know what to do.
I always hoped I could somehow bring the two things I love the most together. Maren, and other women. She said it would work out. But it doesn't. Her overprotective nomad will not allow it. Valery would rather kill me, or worse, infect me.
These log entries are created in secret and aren't available to any other entity. Log - Ezrael Vertiga
We left Curacao yesterday. Not happy about it. Nothing is really working the way I wanted it. Well, at least everything Maren-related. I mean, I am a CEO now. Sort of. Paige contacted me a few weeks ago and showed me a few things and asked me whether I was interested in investing into something. So we took a closer look at it, I made my suggestions, and boom, CEO, while she does most of the management. Who would have thought being in bed with the right girl would once result in that?
Well, and having the money. I need to be more careful now with what I purchase, as there are still some factors to worry about. But after some PR, we should make the big cash on Canaria and Curacao. Didn't tell anything about it to Maren yet. I just mentioned I am a CEO now, and she thought I was joking. Can't wait to see her face when she realizes I was serious.
We sort of talked out the issues between us, but I'm not happy with the results. She moved to Canaria now, took the Hoffnungsschimmer, saying she would like to get a job somewhere planetsite at an university. She even refused my offer of making sure she would have everything she would need. I simply don't get how she could prefer living like that, with all the insecurities. How she could prefer living on Canaria, a planet that will die in centuries, if not bombarded again by Corsairs. A cold planet. Instead of Curacao, protected by Bretonia, Liberty, Hellfire, Crayter and OSC. A paradise. Nothing in Sirius is closer to Eden than Curacao. How could she refuse that?
But she does. I can't wrap my head around it.
Now I'm back on my ship. Sherry had a good grip on the crew. Nancy is now part of it, too, as she doesn't know what else to do with Maren prefering to be on her own on Canaria and Leon being my Chief Engineer on the Apahanta. So she's now here, as reserve snub pilot. I mean, there isn't much else she can do here, without technical knowledge. Maybe she can help Tasha in the hydroponics or Leon teaches her a few things about engineering.
I think I found a good solution about our crew problem, as the company I know own will be a perfect filter for trustworthy crew. Those who do a good job could be transfered to the Apahanta. Neat. Told Paige to try and act as if I was a silent investor. I don't want anyone to target the company as soon as they know I lead it. I guess she'll put up some fake names.
Sombra will have a few transport jobs to do for us. Like, yesterday, she brought a Whale-load of industrial machinery to Livadia, as I bought three Corvos from Corfu and let them be turned into mobile facilities for the company. Bought a huge load of KSRs aswell. Or, in this case, ASRs, as they are made by Ageira. I do hope they are as reliable as the KSRs. Kishiro really did a great job with them.
I also... I hired a jeweler for wedding bands. Already planned it all out. Like, we know each other now for a little more than a year, I think? Yeah, I guess it's time to pop the question. I mean, maybe that's the only way I can keep her. I'm afraid she could, I don't know, find another guy on Canaria when I'm not there. Must sound hypocrite when I say that, but it's not that easy. But towards who am I justifying myself.
Being back on the Apahanta feels a bit like a culture shock. I miss Curacao already. The beach, the chiwis, the bungalow, Maren... I do hope the next time I'm there with her she doesn't have red visitors. That pretty much ruined her mood. On the other hand, this here is the real life. This is how things began. This is my ship. This is what I paid for, what I stole and what ate up more than half of all the money my parents left me with. This is the ship that brought me closer to the truth. If there is something like that, that is. I have no idea what to expect on Altair, but I'm pretty sure that the experience will be extreme. I don't know if I want that. I don't want to be anyone's pawn. Although it feels like I am the one of Maren.
Being married with her probably wouldn't make any difference.
These log entries are created in secret and aren't available to any other entity. Log - Ezrael Vertiga
Weird things have been happening recently. I don't really know how they are connected, but the frequency of those things happening is rather concerning. A week or so ago, I decided to make a little sight-seeing tour through the Taus with the old drone. Leon figured out a way to increase the controlling range by connecting us via neural net with the gates and lanes. Works well in house space, and partially even in the Taus, so I was able to sit back in New London in the Bishamon and use the drone to scout and see how Gallia is progressing. It is concerning, to say the least. They established one line of gallic lanes in Leeds and placed a new battleship infront of it. I hope Nancy doesn't get the idea to go there again in her little ship, but I think I have a good grip on her, now that she is part of the Apahanta's crew.
Anyway, I noticed a gathering of all kinds of groups in Tau-23. I mean, Auxesia knows I use this drone every now and then as they found it together with Maren in Inverness once. Thinking of it, I decided to buy a few more minor crafts that are currently refitted into remote-controllable drones. They are tiny enough to fit into the small hangar bay of the Mako, so we kind of have a little surprise with us. That's quite good. Anyway, that gathering in Tau-23 was connected with a nomad incursion in that system - although I wonder whether the nomads came for them or the people for the nomads - after all, the nomads arrived after them. Looking at the fact that Auxesia deployed the Andraste in a dense asteroid field, I do wonder if they caused that. IMG was present, the Forlorn Hope guys, some civilians, Gallics, even a Rheinland Battleship and that new IRG leader had the brilliant idea of bringing a Nephilim into the asteroid field. Like, that ship was slowed down to your-dead-mother-without-legs-is-still-faster speed.
The nomads arrived, first with small forms and then with another Ish'tar that in the end managed to escape. They created some sort of giant rift to enter Tau-23, one that quickly turned unstable after the Ish'tar left. It affected our shields, forcing us reboot them manually. Later it was gone, without any trace. I'd like to bring the Apahanta into Tau-23 once the new cloak is ready, IRG is currently finalizing it. Finally. Took them only more than six months to get their butts up to do it. Feels like they are pretty useless without Finn McCumhail. Apparently, Finn is sort of missing in action. And that is bad and a big setback for Sirius. I liked that guy. A good man.
Another good man is the Molly jeweler I hired to make four rings for Maren and me, a pair of engagement rings, and of course wedding bands as well. They looks incredibly good. Had to pay 90.000 Credits for them. Cian O'Connor. Maybe I can hire him more often, now that I lead a company again. Great man, incredibly friendly. I have to say I was pretty impressed by Arranmore itself. I had the priviledge to visit it, and I liked it. The Mollys are nice people when they aren't throwing Gunboat Razors at you. If Bretonia doesn't show more cooperation, I might contact them to have at least a few hide-outs in Bretonia.
Which reminds me! Today I have a meeting with Admiral McIntire of the Bretonian Armed Forces in Newcastle at the Arc Royale. I'll take the Bishamon for that, and he asked whether I could bring a few crates of Curacaoan tea with me. Bloody Bretonian cliché, but I can't blame him. I feel like we have hundred crates filled with tea bags and a few instant tea bottles on the Apahanta, all from Curacao. I guess vitamine B will be a necessary treatment to get a compromise. They took two months just to deny my request again, and I am really losing my patience. Frucking Raven, all that because of her spreading rumors.
Anyway, I made a counteroffer to Bretonia. I mean, we have common enemies, and I have one of the, in theory, best suited ships to fight Valors. Practically, I'd need to train the crew, get more people, the weaponry needs a good check-up... I do hope I will never need to actually fight Gallia, to be honest. However, recently they managed to destroy Freeport 4 in the Magellan system. That is very bad. They are one jump away from Curacao. I mean, my homeworld is protected by the Hellfire Legion, Liberty, Crayter and Bretonia, and OSC. And it is very unlikely Gallia knows about the Cortez jumphole in Magellan. Liberty even relocated the Yukon to Curacao.
Facing the threat, I feel like I have to do something. Anything. And I mean, we have the Apahanta exactly for that. I will defend Curacao, be it with or without Bretonia's permission. I need to. The plan right now is the following:
- Convincing Bretonia to allow the Apahanta at least passage to Cortez. The entire shelter thing isn't really necessary anymore, as we figured out to survive in the Omicrons and Omegas quite well, with Canaria being our sanctuary. If necessary, I will support Bretonia's efforts against their enemies, however only to an extend where I can allow that to happen. As long as HG isn't covering more than the very maintenance, I need to be careful with how I spend the money, or I might lose my title as billionaire. Maybe I need to take some more riskful jobs or hire additional transports and pilots like Sombs to help out. I need to make more investments, but they need to be profitable.
- Contacting Crayter and the Junkers in Inverness. Those two groups have shipyard facilities only one jump hole away from Cortez. Inverness might be a problem because of Auxesia, but at some point they should just shut their mouths and collaborate when facing the gallic threat. Crayter might be the better option, but I would like to have both. If not even Bretonia allowing the Apahanta to use the Southampton Shipyard.
- Contacting Liberty to ask them for support and coordination. When Gallia shows up, we need the combined efforts of all the big powers in the systems around Cortez. I think those three are the most likely to show cooperation. The fourth group would be the Hellfire Legion and their Commonwealth. I mean, I have Commonwealth Citizenship. Maybe I can make use of it. The only two other groups in the are would be the Rogues of Montezuma and the Lane Hackers of Mactan. While the Rogues are somewhat intransparent, we might be able to get them into fighting Gallia as well. The Hackers, I don't know. They surely still want to kill Maren and me, and I doubt I am in any position to get them to cooperate in any way to protect Curacao. Maybe someone else could do that. I mean, they have their people down there as well.
I will continue later. Better prepare myself for the meeting with McIntire now.
These log entries are created in secret and aren't available to any other entity. Log - Ezrael Vertiga
The meeting with Admiral McIntire was quite satisfying. To my very surprise, he entered my ship, together with Commodore Kaze Dagon, a quite charming woman. She showed me her weaponry quite often. Note to future Ezrael: Her gun, not her tits. In the end, I got the impression she is more the strap-on type of woman. Maybe she is friends with Jessebelle Fillian. Anyway, the Admiral and her were on my ship for like ninety minutes. I do think I performed well, answering all the questions quite honestly, simply avoiding to mention a few things here and there. They were pretty well informed about certain things. Miss Dagon for example knew about the kill-switches the Core introduced during the time around my defection. I do need to be extremely careful with them about Nancy. Didn't write down her name in the crew dossiers. I doubt they forgot about her.
Additional to what I offered them about the Apahanta, I also reminded them to call me in case of them needing a tiny little bit of support. The Handsome Rover can't fight other snubs, but it at least can do what battleships can't - disrupting cruise engines and intercepting projectiles. It worked well in Leeds, however it didn't prevent the Bretonians from losing that one particular fight. I was glad to hear from the Sovereign's radio operator that they won another battle just a few hours after the meeting with McIntire.
Also, another something happened in the Omicrons. I was reestablishing contact with our good friend, James El Harady of the Canaan Project. Apparently, they didn't merge with the IRG. Whether that is good or bad, I don't really know. Finn is missing, Thallia is missing, and the other guys of the IRG seem to work rather, well, slowly. Feels a bit like the 500.000.000 Credits is paid for that cloak upgrade were a bad investment, given that there is still nothing to work with. In the worst case, I need to find a new cloaking device for the Apahanta. Let's hope that isn't necessary, as I am already rather pissed about what Valery did to the Hoffnungsschimmer. Ugh, back to the topic. I offered James to explore the new jump hole connections in Omicron Kappa with me and Nancy. We took our drones, El Harady took the Kauket. That guy is pretty badass when it comes to discovering new things. I also wonder how he doesn't get fat while mostly drinking milk only.
There is a new jump hole connection between Omicron Kappa and Omicron Theta, which is pretty good. Like, really. That way we can avoid Omicron Gamma better. However, the really interesting thing was the other jump hole we found. James told me PRIME was sending Harvesters into the area southern from Gammu, and we followed that trace. A jump hole to a new system, a pretty dangerous system. Maren joined us on-spot in her Prosecutor, a pretty dumb move but that is how Maren is. The sensors and scanners were pretty much compromised in that system. The radar range dropped to something below ten kay, and the equipment was suffering heavy damage due to the radiation. What we found was a giant Edge Nebula region containing a big, dark planet. We weren't able to get really anything from the sensors about it. There was weirdly strong pull from that planet, affecting the efficiency of the ships' engines, slowing the Kauket down from 350 to something around 250 em per ass, the drones were slowed down from 425 to 303 em per ass. Once IRG is done with the cloak, we definitely take a closer look at it, using the Apahanta's powerful sensor array.
We also stumbled across a giant mine field. Nomadic mines, those I do remember from the Core footages about Omicron Iota. And, well, from our own footages. Nancy's eagle eyes spotted weird yellow spots in the distance, barely noticeable with all the asteroids around. Those tiny light bulbs seem to be emitted from somewhere, as they stay in place without being attached to any physical body. Quite impressive, given the environment. However, we followed the line of lights, and boom, found it.
We then got the fruck out of there. That place seemed rather active, and while the drones are meant to scout dangerous places, and Maren probably wouldn't have had any problem with the nomads either, replacing a dead James El Harady with a living one is rather difficult. James however didn't want to leave the system right away, so he lead us around the mine field. Maren later noticed minor system failures on her ship, as the radiation was eating her equipment. Dumb girl didn't say anything until it was too late - she said she wouldn't be able to reach Omicron Kappa before the shields would cease functioning. I was about to panic about it and already gave order to heat up the engines of the Apahanta to get my fiance out of there, but miraculously, just in time, we stumbled across the Omicron Xi jump hole in Chi. Valery probably lead her there. In Xi, everything was okay again. The drones and the Prosecutor were heavily damaged, but still operable. So we head home to Kappa, brought James back to Gammu and then I had a little talk with Maren.
From then, everything got worse. I welcomed Maren at the Apahanta's airlock. After all, it was the first time after an entire year she was on my ship again, and that being the third time she is here. Like, right now, still. Of course, because of the intense radiation, I had to stuff her into a decon cell, and accompanied her there, thinking it was a nice opportunity to say hello to her in a more intimate way. So I lay down there, she sat up on me, both naked. Could have been nice, however it wasn't. She told me about what happened to the Hoffnungsschimmer, and while I first didn't want to believe, it seems to be a real problem now. I ordered the Apahanta to deactive the decon room's surveillance and internal sensors so we could talk about it. And then, to have me understand it better, she showed me the problem in a mindmeld.
It is horrible. The entire engine room of the Corvo is... assimilated. Valery assured me the crystalline formations weren't dangerous. Except the sharp edges. Those crystals ate the walls, the floor, even the equipment and were about to absorb the ship's energy core. And that all because of the damn nomad technology. Like, holy fruck.
Valery said she had no idea that would happen, simply because according to her, the Hoffnungsschimmer would be the first ship to have that kind of makeshift nomadic cloaking device. Cool, we're not mainstream here again. So what happened is that the nomadic material that she used for the Nomad Power Cell adapter spread. First the room with the cloak, then the entire engine room, with the more advanced technological equipment being absorbed obviously more carefully and slowly, from what I saw. I asked Valery how we could revert that. She said we can't. I asked her if we can get rid of it. She said we could need to cut all of it out, including the power core and the cloaking device. With other words: I could simply buy a new Corvo.
Now both Maren and Valery were lacking their empathy again, not understanding my anger about it. Not only is the ship infected, like, quite obviously. They acted like everything was okay. Holy fruck, it is not! I was really temped to yell at them, or slap them for some things they said. That ship was my home! I boned a three digit amount of women on it over the years. It was our sanctuary. And now I don't even know what it is. They said there was nothing to worry about, and that Maren would live on that ship still. Crystalline formations are eating the ship's power core! That thing could become unstable any second. But nooo, trust the nomad that has no referential values for that kind of situation. Surely nothing will go wrong. With an infected ship. What next? Does it become sentient like a nomad? I told her I'd evacuate that ship. The KSRs on it will remain, maintain it as long as possible, but all the equipment we can rescue and all that will be moved to the Apotheosis and the Little Blue. I guess Mittens will have to deal with a little bit less space to frolilc around, but I don't see how that could work out positively in any way. I don't want to wake up in the morning and find myself laying on a crystaline bed... I'll hide the Corvo, probably deep in the Flare Nebula in Cayman. Maybe we can find a solution for the problem that is less expensive. I can't spend one billion after another right now.
I'm really uncertain. I love Maren and like Valery, but I wonder if all that is still worth it, given how shi.tty Maren treats me recently. I'll probably wait a bit longer with the marriage proposal, just to see if she really values our relationship anymore or not. Right now, it feels like she wants everything without giving anything in return. And what did I get for that? The Lane Hackers wanting to kill me, Auxesia still suspecting crap and...
... my beloved home, the Hoffnungsschimmer, is lost.
These log entries are created in secret and aren't available to any other entity. Log - Ezrael Vertiga
Okay. So, many things have been happening in the recent weeks. Matter of factly, I'm an idiot for not documenting what all was happening. Once again it is rather difficult to sort out my thoughts, but if not now, when else.
First of all, I still didn't get to pop the question. I have the small etui always in my jacket, the one with the engagement ring. I really wanted to do some romantic evenings with Maren, but it never came the way I wanted it to happen. Like, there were now two scenarios I had in mind. One either being on Canaria or on Curacao, with a nice movie and after that a romantic dinner, so we could talk about the movie. So that she wouldn't expect it, and then, when I made her a bit drunk, I would walk down the streets with her. I mean, I know all too well she can't get drunk due to Valery... but in my scenario that would happen. She would be slightly drunk and take off her heels and I would give her my shoes so she doesn't need to walk all the way to the hotel or the hovercar on her bare feet. And I would remind her of what we did so far together. More than one year now. How often was I wondering whether I would survive the next week. But here we are, still alive. And then I would kiss her rather passionate to have her drop her heels, and then I would go on my knees to act as if I was going to pick them up, but instead I take the etui out of my jacket and show it to her.
Or! I would invite her to do the picknick I proposed her, on that tiny island cut off from the other islands, where it would be just her and me. Would prepare everything in the cargo box of the hoverbike and then move there with her again, have that picknick with her and after the dinner, I would take out the etui and show it to her. And then wild lovemaking. Credits roll.
But no. Didn't happen so far. I was close to have the latter scenario becoming true. I mean, right now, we're renting another bungalow on Curacao. A necessarity, as we can't base off the Hoffnungsschimmer anymore. We all moved to Curacao the day after we explored the Omicron Chi system with James El Harady. The idea was to test the prototypes of the hoverbikes my technical staff build with the calculated blueprints created by the Apahanta. So we stuffed the four prototypes into the Apotheosis and moved to Curacao after a nice breakfast on Corinth. Maren and I had a little hassle before that, regarding the Omicron Chi exploration and the Hoffnungsschimmer, but we talked it out and had a few very romantic moments. And holy cow, I told her to watch for her table manners and now she actually eats like a human.
On Curacao, we went for a new bungalow and relaxed a bit. I showed them their new Hot Gear hoverbiking suits, and they are awesome. I think Maren especially appreciates the internal cooling system, as she is always fighting with the hot climate on Curacao. She even left it on when we had a little fun on the tiny island I mentioned earlier.
So, yeah... we had our fun on Curacao. Not only Maren and I. There were a few weird situations, and in the end, as Maren said she didn't mind my promiscuity anymore, I finally did it and slept with Nancy one day later, after I took her for a little ride on the hoverbike. And it was worth waiting one entire year for it. Although it made things weirder. One really can't make this sh.it up. Later that day, hours after I came home with Nancy, she moved up and later went on a date with Leon, and I stayed at home with Maren and napped with her on the couch in the living room. The heat makes her extremely sleepy, so there isn't much I was able to do with her. The idea was to postpone the picknick for the sunset, but before that was allowed to happen, I got messages from Admiral McIntire and Commodore Kaze Dagon. I was invited to the York, the battleship at the Newcastle gate in New London. Asap. So I stood up and prepared myself, wrote Maren a little notification and then headed for the Apahanta, to get my stuff from there, and then with Sherry to the York.
And then the meeting happened. Everything came different than expected, although I was sort of prepared for it, ending up with an audio recording of the conversation as Dagon didn't check my PDA for running apps. The recording is sort of muddled as the PDA was most of the time in my jacket, but it is well enough. Long story short: Bretonia always knew about Nancy, because Silver told them. Bretonia knows there is no proof of Maren being infected but rather there is counter-proof speaking clearly of the opposite. The one good thing about Auxesia - they shared that scan with me. So, at least that worked perfectly. So, although they saw the scans from the Eidolon Wraith, Dagon made clear she wouldn't give a fu.ck about it. It was her trump card. Either I play along her rules or Maren, me and my personnel would be banned from Bretonia. So, yeah. I have to work for her now. McIntire knew about all this. Once more I end up in as pawn in someone's game. And suddenly, the basic laws of humanity are ignored.
Damn it.
Right now, we're in the process of testing the new IRG cloak. They proposed the installation of an AI to control the cloaking sequence to prevent the ship from critical structural loss by wrong system start-ups. Holy cow. And here I thought roaming around with an Adapted Nomad Power Core by APM would already be risky. No, now we have two systems on the Apahanta that could blow up the ship if we don't watch out every damn second. It's ridiculous. That's how you notice mankind has reached the ultimum of technological understanding, when every new invention comes with the risk of giant explosions. Why are my home ships always like that? The Hoffnungsschimmer is still about to get eaten by the crystalline sh.it that comes from Valery's Hybrid Cloaking System and now that with the Apahanta. I won't get old, that's for sure.
I needed to think about the new situation, so I moved back to the Apahanta with Sherry right after the meeting at the York. Nobody on that ship I could talk about it. But at least some silence, because I knew exactly what the new situation would result in: I can't risk having Nancy on the Apahanta. Dagon explicitly mentioned it. Will need to talk to the crew about the situation. In the next morning, I moved back to Curacao, not having slept a single minute. Showed Maren and Nancy the recording, Nancy reacted exactly like I said, and since Leon and her have a little bit of a hassle after me having spent some time with her, he decided to take a break from the Apahanta and stay on the planet. So right now, everyone is on their own. Leon is staying on Curacao with his family, Maren said she wanted to look after the Hoffnungsschimmer and get Mittens to our bungalow on the planet, I have to do a lot of things now and Nancy left us to sell her gallic ships.
In the meantime, I partook in the Hot Gear race on Curacao, an AFC race in Omicron Delta that was crashed by the nomads, did some research on the current events regarding new jump holes and anomalies, Cultists and once more Narcrahtite, or how we now call it, Eliza's Eye. And of course I did stuff as one of my new aliases.
As Operative Red. Since Auxesia made pretty clear they wouldn't want me to snoop around in their turf, which would be Inverness and Kansas, maybe even Vespucci, I had to use someone else to do that. Information is power. So I got in touch with the Forlorn Hope. Met their Knight Captains, became friends with one. Elena Voigt, a girl from Rheinland who has many traits I know from both Maren and Nancy, weirdly. A lovely girl, pregnant, living in a long-distance relationship with some John who thinks he would serve his fatherland more by patroling space instead of being there for Elena and the little thing they made accidentally. She told me she was about to kick him. In fact, she was about to have sex with me. I told her to think twice about it, though, and in the end, we spent some time together, pretty close, but no sex. I don't want her to cheat on him as long as there is still hope for them.
So I sent the Forlorn Hope to map some systems for me, including some I didn't need to be mapped. Didn't want them to know right away against who they would work. The report is somewhat... well, it is okay and served the needs. It was obvious they aren't professional when it comes to cartography, though. Maybe that comes with time.
There seems to be some stuff going on in Liberty right now, apart from the new jump hole over Manhattan. There is a certain Battlegroup Harmony, which fights against Liberty as they suspect Liberty of being infiltrated by nomads. Like, on an governmental level. I'll look a bit more into this, maybe Maren can tell me a bit about it. It put me in a difficult position, actually, as I was working with the 5th Fleet in the Uncharted System we reached over Hudson. Fighting the Cultists, then jumping out to weird places. In the end, we took the Apahanta for a short ride. When we jumped to Magellan, they gave us permission to fly the Apahanta through Liberty and Rheinland, so for the first time we moved legally through those houses. I do think there is a good chance of us working together more often like that. It definitely was a good start.
In the meantime, I'm waiting for something official from McIntire regarding the permission to move through Bretonia legally. I got the inofficial go already, from Dagon. When I have something official, I can contact Crayter and Liberty and start negotiating about the Treaty of Curacao. I need their permissions to move the Apahanta to Cortez. At least Liberty and Bretonia, that is. However, Crayter could be handy as friend, too.
Uh. And I need to get a new ID for Nancy. Her timing couldn't be worse, I feel. Things are getting messy right now, and she just took away some of the little bit of sanctuary I have with them, really. Knowing she got into trouble not even one day after leaving Curacao, I stalked her a bit as Red. Liberty remembers her and told her to fu.ck off, and now she is hiding at Junker bases, thinking about working for them if I don't get her a new ID. Damn. Maybe Maren could help me here. After all, she was working for the MND. She should know some people.
I honestly feel tired. I need to go through the crew reports now. Told them to prepare the workshop for some things I wanted to try out. Like, we need a few surprises to have people realize the Apahanta is more than just a rogue battleship.
These log entries are created in secret and aren't available to any other entity. Log - Ezrael Vertiga
Where do I begin? I have no idea. I might already have mentioned parts of this in my last entry, but I don't know. I am now in a certain position, or at least, I am aware of it. How it is and all that. To a certain degree, I managed to accept how it now is. Ergh, I just start from the very beginning.
The use of codenames, something what many people do and have success with. Maren is Unschuld, Nancy is Sangria, Sombra told me she has a friend in the lane hackers that calls her Pink Nightshade while she calls her Sunny. So I created an alter ego, too, and wanted to do it right. On the Apahanta, I used a few robots and the workshop to create a unique outfit with all the APM tech and the Hot Gear materials we still had on the ship. The result was a pretty cool suit with internal cooling, a helmet with some gadget such as a voxmorpher and so on. I also bought a Roc from one of my crew members who told me he wouldn't use it anyway anymore. He got a few millions, I got a new ship. Very basic, nothing to be a real threat, but enough to stay alive in space.
And thus I created an alter ego called "Operative Red". The name should implicate an organization he is not the only agent of, so people would be a bit more careful when dealing with me than just with a random person. And off I went. The idea was to find externals who could have their eyes and ears out there for me. Mostly on Auxesia. More about that later. So I moved to Manhattan and just waited there, observing the people in the orbit. Usually, that's the hotspot for Freelancers and Mercenaries. And fuc.king retards.
And thus I met the Forlorn Hope. No retards but freelancers, a group growing in numbers and influence from what I can tell. Watched them in action, listened to their open-frequency-talks and such. They are nice people. No professionals, not at all. Knight Captain Nick Stenn for example, a guy who just attracts trouble. Secret meeting? Okay, bring a big fat Bustard-class carrier to that secret meeting! Nobody would pay attention, right? He also blew up a door on Thunder Bay during a meeting while the emergency door lever was just next to him. Also got to meet some other Forlorn members. Troy Augustin, Ellie Dahl, Sarah Fenn. I think they all have their hearts at the right place, but anything beyond the hunt on criminals in Liberty and other houses or transport escorts is a number too high for them. After all, they are just simple freelancers, and that is exactly why I hired them. Nobody would expect them to be more than that.
And then there is she. Elena Voigt. Blueberry, Bluebs. Athletic body, blue hair, slightly heterochrom eyes, tattoo at her cheek.
Also, pregnant and girlfriend of a typical Navy John. At this point I might remind of the fact that Maren allowed me to do stuff with other women. Not that anything happened. It could have, though.
I hired them to map the independent worlds for me, Magellan, Cortez, Coronado, Inverness and Kansas. The accuracy was... enough. All I wanted to know is whether Auxesia has a station or something in Inverness, but all they found were two Junker stations, oh, and a nomad lair. In Inverness. Still have to explore that.
Met them in person. First Sarah Fenn, Troy Augustin and Elena on Bethlehem, then Elena and Nick on Thunder Bay, later again the two on Freeport 2. During those meetings it became evident I attracted Elena. The people who know her call her promiscuous, to word it nice, which ended with her current relationship with that said John. Yet she couldn't stop flirting, her body was telling everything. We later had a meeting on Corinth, to talk about things. She was incredibly keen to know me better, and I allowed her to. Shouldn't have done that. I really regret it. Her charme got me. On Corinth we first talked about business stuff in a maltese restaurant, then I needed to talk with her about things nobody else should hear, so I got us a room on the station, we made it ourselves more comfy, I told her a few things about me, about my position in the human-nomad war and that I enjoy their protection. Little bargains. So, Elena knows I have contacts and friends on both sides. Didn't tell her specifics. Nothing about Maren, Valery or anyone else. Still, it was too much. I regret it.
We remained in that room for a night. No sex, no kissing. We might have cuddled. But I reminded her of being faithful with her boyfriend. Otherwise, we would have done it, probably.
She told me she would have a meeting with a certain Bassam Hussaini, a know member of the Commune. Offered her to escort her, playing her bodyguard. Good: I was able to protect her that one time. Bad: The repercussions almost made me kill Maren.
Bassam Hussaini is one hell of a creep. Intimidating, fake countenance, almost sadistic when talking, being fully aware of how his presence was perceived. A devil. He tried to convince Elena with cheap speechcraft to have her submit to their cause. How great the Commune is and how their world would be a better world. Almost every single word of him was a lie. From what I was able to filter out, the Commune is rather frustrated about their raids in Liberty getting countered effectively by the Forlorn Hope. By amateurs. And thus they try it differently now. They are way weaker than they show themselves. Doesn't make them less dangerous, though. He realized he wouldn't achieve much with me around to remind Elena of the real truth and not his truth. Turned out he wasn't alone, with snipers placed in the biodome, ready to kill us if one of us would make a wrong move. So we ended the meeting with me having a hand on my gun. He let us go, but his word was not trustworthy, so I let Elena go first while still being a threat to Hussaini. Then I told him I was under protection of Unschuld, and while he seemed to be unimpressed, I'm pretty sure it was the only way to ensure his people wouldn't kill us on our way back.
Elena realized what a horrible mistake she made to go there. Hussaini knew about her pregnancy, although her belly had been barely visible back then. I believe he is infected, but Maren told me he is sort of not connected with the Mindshare. Weird. I need to find out about that. Maybe that is something related to the new nomad breed Raven and Loyola mentioned, the Vagrants. We know nothing about them. Saw them as Operative in New York, they have a different way of communicating. Their telepathy is very clear and vivid. However they are just as dangerous as the K'hara.
I believe Elena is understanding now what I was talking about every time I warned her to not go any further, as there is no way out of the grip of the nomads once you're noticed by them. She got their attention. That is really, really bad.
After that one meeting on Freeport 10 with Hussaini, I talked with Maren about the situation. Hussaini contacted her, asking about the Operative and her relationship to him, and she obviously didn't know about him, because I never told her about it being me. Up to that point. And she was really, really angry at me. Not only her but also Valery. They first wanted me to revert my interference - meaning ensuring Elena would either be infected or dead, depending on what would have happened if I wouldn't have been there. I told her I couldn't do that, bargained with her. She told me to leave - we were on the Corvo back then, my ship - and to return in the evening. So I did. I do get their points. I have a neutral position. The nomads don't harm me, I don't harm them. I didn't know that would include the Commune. But in that very moment, that very day, I had enough of all this. Preparations had been done, I gave Sombra and Leon access to my banking accounts, instructed Sherry with what to do with the Apahanta if I die, talked with Paige to talk about what to do with Hot Gear if I die. Visited Sombra, indirectly said goodbye to her after two hours of making love, visited Leon and told him the story as well, however including my plan.
To kill Maren and Valery.
I moved to the Apahanta and took some of our gravimetric bombs with me, on the Bishamon. Let the ship monitor my health conditions. If they would change, the Bishamon would explode, together with the Corvo, killing me, Maren and Valery. And thus I returned to the Corvo.
I do a short break here, Paige is calling me. Will continue soon.
These log entries are created in secret and aren't available to any other entity. Log - Ezrael Vertiga
I wouldn't have expected "soon" to be in a month, to be honest. Anyway, time to recapitulate what happened in the last weeks. I have enough spare time now to do it, I guess. Nancy, Elena, Valery, the Apahanta, Leon, Eliza Valdez, Bretonia, another probably artificial jump hole in the Sigmas. Much to talk about.
First of all, we so to speak lost Nancy for good. Stupid wording, actually, because there is nothing good about it. She really started to like her new identity, Lily Austin. OSC liked her, she found new friends, she looked pretty good in that uniform. However, her little soul couldn't handle the guilt of her past, so she tried to redeem herself in Liberty and managed to get in contact with Fleet Admiral Alan Jones. In the end, they met on Ames in Kepler, where they took her into custody. I sent Maren to search for her while I myself am not able to right now, but she didn't find much more. Instead, I got contacted by a Mason Coleman, a Forlorn Hope Knight. He knows she isn't Lily but Nancy, and he informed me about her now being in the hands of the 404, a group I only know very little about. According to him, she will work for them, as otherwise she'll end up in jail. I need to find out more about the 404. If Nancy starts talking, it might endanger Maren and me. And I really can't handle any more people starting to suspect Maren to be an infectee anymore.
Because, the little twat has nothing better to do than acting weirdly. Maren, that is. I came home from the Apahanta after Doctor Carr allowed me to leave the Apahanta, just to find Maren. And Elena. Maren invited her over to bake some cake. I found them there in my bungalow, sitting on the couch, watching a shitty movie. Fucking Elena. Careless as Elena is, she took the invitation although she perfectly knew she was not allowed to ever see me again, and she knew that I am in touch with certain questionable entities that want her dead or infected. But no, Elena takes an invitation from a girl she knows nothing about. A girl from Rheinland she knew she is my worse half. While she knew Unschuld is after her, an Agent of Das Wilde, a Rheinland infected group. There really isn't much going on in her head, I think. If she wasn't the cute person she was, Elena would be as dead as her baby, it seems. When I saw Elena on Curacao, there was no belly. Like, by now, she would have been in the last months of pregnancy, but there was nothing. Her boobs also didn't look like they were bigger than usual. So I guess she got rid of it. A while later I saw how fragile she currently is.
Anyway. I sat down to the couch, next to Maren. We only had a little small talk, the atmosphere wasn't pleasant at all. Elena later wanted to talk with me in private, and Maren told her to go upstairs with me. Little cunt. Knowing Valery had an effective range of 200 meters, I offered Elena a little walk in the night on the beach and she agreed on it. Maren probably hated me for that, but I'm still alive, so I guess it wasn't too terrible to her. So Elena and I walked at the beach, and in the end, I made her realize how much in danger she was right now. Hinted her to leave. I don't know how much she knows right now, but I told her Auxesia scanned Maren and found nothing. I hope that at least will prevent her from accusing Maren of being infected. In the end, Elena hugged me and kissed me, just a peck on my lips. It was weird. She was confused. So I reminded her of John, and apparently it was enough to make her outrage. Seems like she isn't with him anymore. Not that I am surprised, now that the baby is gone. He probably was only good for one thing: Not using condoms.
I didn't talk to Valery for months now. The last time she threatened me of leaving, taking Maren with her and lifting the protection from the nomads I and my friends and inferiors currently enjoy. With other words, we'd turn into priority targets. She didn't say it, but the Mindshare won't allow people that know too much about the Nomads to freely exist out there. I am pretty sure the moment Valery lifts the proctection, I am dead, or infected. I wanted to explain it a month ago already, but I didn't get to it. Analyzing my current role, I realized I have literally no options. Not a single one. I thought about many scenarios, but they all result in the death of my friends and inferiors.
The idea was to somehow get rid of Valery. I can only think of three ways. One would be the Gleipnir thing Maren once mentioned. No idea what it does, but she said it was the only way of removing an incubus without it being able to kill the host in the process. Well, the only way next to removal on her free will. Since I know literally nothing about Gleipnir, where to get it and how it works, that is nothing I can work with. More information about it has to be aquired.
Another way would be by killing Maren in space. Two heavy mortars of the Apahanta on her little ship in the right moment and she wouldn't even get to launch a life pod. Or using an energy-based sniper rifle from long range on a planet. The latter is however only speculative. I know Valery has a 200 meter range for her powers, however I don't know if it is a lie, how accurate it is and if it applies to all her powers. Maybe her sensitive range is higher than her human body projection range or her telekinetic range. I also believe she might be able to stop a physical projectile approaching her using telekinesis. So an energy-based sniper rifle might work, or an assault from a snub within the planetary atmosphere, or a bomb. Right?
But the consequences are always the same. It doesn't matter if Maren dies with Valery or if I only kill Valery. The protection would be lifted, and the Nomads would merciless go for me and my people. Maren knows where the Apahanta is. She knows I have company buildings in Los Dragos and Las Palmas on Gran Canaria and on many islands of Curacao, both the HOT GEAR outlets and storage facility as well as the NetSpace Logistics server center. Maren knows Sombra and Leon know about Valery. Maren knows Thallia knows about her. So Valery knows who to kill before we'd get an opportunity to share our knowledge with the houses.
Thus I can't do anything. Too many people need to be protected. If I make one wrong move, they will all die. And just like that, the Nomads have defeated me without a single fight. All I can do is play my little role and try to use all the means I can to at least push things into another directions, secretly. It worked with Elena so far. When Elena left Curacao, Maren and I went to bed, and while she helped me undress as I currently can't do it myself, I talked to her about Elena. In the end, she gave in and said, and I quote "I promise I'll keep away from her and don't come into contact." I am fully aware by now how she worded it. But at least she herself won't do it anymore. I guess it is all I can get from her about Elena. Still, I died inside a little from all this.
Just like I almost died on the Apahanta. We did a long row of tests with the new IRG Cloaking Upgrade. From the context, it should be obvious by now it didn't go well. At least the last one. The test was about the energy diversion from cloaking device to Heavy Mortar turrets. Turns out the IRG AI Upgrade of the Apahanta wasn't flexible enough to realize that when the Heavy Mortar receives energy both from the Cloaking Device energy grid as well as the main energy grid, it will overheat. A mistake in the IRG AI coding. Who would have thought. The result was a chain reaction of overheating energy relais. First the Heavy Mortar turret burned away, exploding and ripping a hole into the ship, and since the energy was still in flux, the entire energy grid from the turret over the main- and the cloaking device grid burned out. I had to manually deactivate the ship's energy core, as the IRG AI Upgrade blocked the Apahanta's AI from handling the situation. Seth Wither of the IRG mentioned that could happen.
I gave order to evacuate the ship when the distaster happened. Then I sealed myself in the engineering room, with the overheating power core. Even if I would have made it to the rescue pods, the explosion of the overcharging power core would have ripped any launching pod apart. So I moved over to the core and pushed the shafts of the manual core shut-off system into the core. All four of them. They were incredibly hot, something they were not supposed to. In other words, the core was so close to blow up that even the cooling wasn't strong enough to keep those things cool. So, while my Apahanta suit first protected my hands, the heat burned my hands, melting the burned skin to become a weird mess of the cloth of the suit. The adrenaline first prevented me from feeling too much about it, but the moment I realized I did it, the pain kicked in. At the last shaft, I couldn't feel my arms anymore, so I pushed it in with my shoulder, using the weight of my body. And just like that my shoulder burned as well.
Against my order, both Doctor Carr and Sherry remained on the ship, the former because she tried to get me out of the engineering and the latter because she tried to override the IRG AI Upgrade from the bridge, then from the data center. Successfully. If Sherry wouldn't have done it, the AI probably would have reinitialized the power core. Doctor Carr found me screaming and crying on the floor in the engineering, unable to move my arms, wiggling on the ground. Brought me to the med-bay, where I was for weeks. She did her best to reconstruct everything. The bones were fine, but the meat of my left hand, left lower arm, the entire right arm and the right shoulder needed to be replaced. Adrianna said it would be easier to just get a cybernetic replacement, but I told her to not do the easiest stuff. Luckily, I stole a ship with APM technology, and we have the IRG equipment of Thallia. So she found a way to synthetically replace the meat. Took many days. Good: She was able to recreate everything. Bad: It will take time until the new nerves are grown. And then I need to train the nerves, which means I'll need months, if not years to regain the control over my hands the way I was used to. That is, if we don't find a way to change it. I thought about contacting Cryer about it for a little information on their tech level. Alternatively, IRG, again. Or Med Force One. Or Kaze Dagon. The girl has more scars than a Corsair. But whatever. At least it looks normal, the hands and the arm. There is even synthetic hair growing.
What however really bugs me is the fact I didn't see Leon since the incident. He is on the ship, I know that. Busy with the repairs of the energy grid. But he didn't visit me at the med-bay. Didn't follow my invitation. I believe Nancy sent him a message, and I believe that Mason Coleman guy did it with her, and she told him. I don't know for sure, though. Mason hinted she was there when he needed it. I guess Leon is now wondering where Nancy was when he needed her.
I think that covers all about the social environment. There didn't happen much in the meantime, apart from Eliza sending me a comm. Apparently she is up to something in Sigma-13. When Sombra delivered the goods she asked for, she recorded a new semi-stable jump hole in Sigma-13. High activity there. Sombra said she had to flee from someone. Glad she made it out there unharmed. I told Sherry to take my Bishamon for a little tour over to the Sigmas to send a drone through the jump hole, and guess what, it was leading to this one Uncharted System. The one I entered multiple times by now. I really wonder what it is that open the jump holes to it over and over again. Thinking about it, I can only think of the Narcrahtite. Maybe it attracts jump hole anomalies to open. We still have a rather large amount of it on the Apahanta and in the HOT GEAR storage on Gran Canaria. Maybe the IRG can tell us something, as they should be working with the Zoners of Corinth on researching the Narcrahtite. I mean, Eliza's Eye.
I think that covers everything. Oh, no, I forgot. I sent a request to Bretonia, asking for a Hussar-type Light Fighter for our little Rover army. The Hayabusa is neat, but we need more punch. The Hussar should be fine for it. I just wonder how many months they will take before they send me "Request Denied".
Anyway. On my way back to Curacao right now. Was on the Apahanta for two hours, just to have Adrianna check my meat. The arm and hands, I mean. No complications so far. Which is good. I hope when I come home this time, I won't be surprised by Maren having invited other people again. What's next? Raven? Loyola? I mean, the latter would be welcome for a threesome. But then again, no. Queen Bitch might be too much to handle without my hands.
These log entries are created in secret and aren't available to any other entity. Log - Ezrael Vertiga
Things have gotten sort of crazy lately. Like, the batshit kind of crazy. I don't know what I talked last time about, but things have gotten really weird lately, and I'm not too happy with it. Time to recap.
First of all, Bretonia approved my request for a Hussar. Huzzah! Took the Apahanta's tech team a while until they managed to optimize it for the remote-controlled usage, but now we welcome a new member to the Rover family: The Attractive Rover. Obviously, the name isn't as creative or inviting as the other Rovers' names. Nancy got the Sweet Rover, then we have the Handsome Rover, the Charming Rover, the Seductive Rover, the Entropic Rover and now the Attractive Rover. Two Gitanos, three Hayabusas, one Hussar. Obviously, the Apahanta doesn't really have the capacity to move all of them around at the same time. Sweet and Handsome can be easily attached to the hull, and two of the Hayabusas can fit in the hangar, but the Hussar and the third Hayabusa might need to be controlled by our drone operation system or via autopilot at all times. With a rotation, to ensure all ships can be maintained well. Of course, that is only if we'd use all the drones with the Apahanta. Right now, however, I have deployed them at certain positions in Sirius. One in Bretonia, one in Kappa, one in Liberty. Rented some space for that, maintenance by a KSR each, that suffices for now.
The Apahanta is currently 90% operable. Hull repaired, heavy mortar replaced. I'll be honest, I still hope we don't need to ever use them again. Energy relais have been replaced, the IRG AI update adjusted. Technically, the Infinity Device should work. Looking at it from a realistic perspective, I decided to only use it when we really need it. The technology is that... out-of-the-box, it turns the Apahanta into a field experiment. I know, I made that choice by my own. However I might have to accept I spent 500.000.000 Credits on the research on something that might kill us. Sad trombone.
Financially, things are turning better and better, actually. HOT GEAR is expanding, both on Curacao and on Canaria and the exports have increased drastically. Turns out I made a good choice investing into that, and Paige has a hand for handling it. The idea is to open up outlets on Manhattan, Denver, Houston, Honshu, New Tokyo, New Berlin, Baden Baden and Stuttgart, maybe also Hamburg and Cambridge. Sombra is also still doing her part and pretty happy about it. She'll turn 27 in a week, so I might take her out for a dinner and what not.
Hm, about our people, Nancy is back again. The information I got from this Mason Coleman of the Forlorn Hope was incredibly valuable. So, here is what happened. Nancy was on a guilt-trip and tried to get in touch with Liberty. Liberty captured her, gave her to the 404. 404 let her roam around again, almost freely. So I moved to Liberty and picked her up at Manhattan, at a hospital. Asked her what happened, she didn't mention 404 at all and claimed Liberty didn't capture her. First discrepancy. So while she made up a new story, I thought about it. Why would 404 let her free? Why would Liberty not execute her for her crimes? What are secret services known for from all the movies? So my thought was she might have been forced to work with them. Of course that would mean they had some sort of controlling mechanism over her. Surveilance taps, stalkers, trackers, whatever. So I checked everything she brought with her. I checked for potential people following us, but nobody was around. For a long time I checked for that.
Her clothes were free of any bugs, though. So her stuff was clean. Brought Nancy to the Apahanta, wanted to have her checked there, claiming it was necessary to check her brain again because of her memory issues. Long story short, Nancy has a talent for collecting chips in her brain. Really, those 404 fuckers implanted another chip in her head. We wouldn't have ever found out if Thallia didn't gift us with her IRG equipment when she left the Apahanta to continue her research on Magur. So, we know she has a new chip in her head. We don't know what it does, could be a tracker, could also be an inhibitor, but what it might be is some sort of perception recorder. The chip is matter of factly part of her cerebral cortex, and Doctor Carr said she doesn't know whether she is able to remove it, similar to the other shit people stuffed into Nancy's body. Her guess for success was only at 10%, she said. Add another zero and I'd risk it. The theory is also supported by the fact Nancy didn't mention anything nomad-related by now. Not a single time. She avoids that topic entirely. She also avoids talking about the chip. We didn't confront her about it either, since we don't know what security measures 404 use in case of them finding out we know. It could kill her.
Basically, what we do now, is acting suspiciously insuspicious. No Valery, not a single time mentioning Maren's infection or anything related to it. It's tough, but so far it worked. The really bad part about all this is that we can't tell Nancy that we know about the chip, since it might be that they will see and hear anything she does. We also don't know if Maren could use a mindmelt on Nancy to contact her, since we don't know whether they can only see and hear or if they even can record her... in that way. It sounds crazy, being able to record thoughts and dreams, but really, I don't want to risk it. Leon currently keeps Nancy at a distance, being weirded out by the fact she is very likely to spy on us for them, and she thinks he hates her or is disgusted by her. They really had a difficult relationship.
I really don't know how this will work out. Nancy is such a kind soul, but it is almost like she is not allowed to be happy anymore by fate.
And then we have Maren, of course. She was behaving weirdly cute recently, and I forgot about the many troubles I have to bear because of her. We recently had a funny dinner on Curacao at one of those cat-themed restaurants that are in right now. Some shopping afterwards, then she was nice to me. The next day we moved to the Apahanta, as I offered Nancy to have our doctor to get rid of her scar at the belly, and Maren mentioned the Hoffnungsschimmer was available again. My home. While Nancy and Leon remained on the Apahanta to have Nancy have some rest after the surgery, Maren and I moved to Omega-58, using her Sabre. Weirdly tight cockpit, she sat on my lap during the flight. She first tried to not show me the way to Omega-58, however since I followed her once already, there was no point of doing that.
I told Maren how extremely uncomfortable I feel whenever I entered a nomad-dominated system. As if thousands of eyes were piercing me with their looks, knowing I was present. She on the other hand described it as them being upstairs in a lonely night and they hear someone on the lower story but can't locate them and don't know who it is and what the intention is. If that metaphor is right, it means the Apahanta's cloak might be less useless against Nomads than I thought. She moved her Sabre towards the shipyard in that system and I saw those creepy ships, the Scorpions. They look like gunboat-sized incubi with a gag-ball. The worst thing however was the Hoffnungsschimmer. At first, it looked pretty normal, but then I saw those tentacle-esque things emerging from it. Like, even if you never heard anything about the Nomads, you would know it was them. Maren brought the ship to that damn drydock promising they would fix the ship. Instead, they turned it into a hybrid more than it was before.
We landed on Kaarst and I had trouble keeping it together. There was not a single soul around, and Maren just lead me to the Hoffnungsschimmer. Both Kaarst and the Corvo were horribly silent. The Hoffnungsschimmer itself looks from the inside as it looked when I bought it. Still everything OSC-themed, luxury, all my stuff was still there, but the entire engine section and the power core have been, well... nomadified? I think I described how it looked in the previous state in some other log, with crystals all over the place. Now, the section looked more like they somehow managed to smoothen all of it, getting rid of the crystals and pixie surface, turning it into a weirdly luxury looking mix of nomad-ish materials in a human-ish constructed and formed way. A nomad reskin, maybe. I saw it and asked the Hoffnungsschimmer to activate self-destruction, but it is unable to do that. The nomadic materials have completely replaced the old Thorium-Mox reactor. I can't even blow up my own ship. After an argument with Maren, I told her to keep the ship but hide it, and that I would break up with her if she ever gets seen with that obviously nomad-ish ship. We barely managed to survive the trouble with Auxesia, the Lane Hackers are still after me and Bretonia only plays along as long as I am an asset of Kaze Dagon and whatever secret service the damn girl was working in that moment. I guess I am lucky they never asked me to do anything after the research of the New London AJAX 009-A-NLXX-01.
That's it for now. I'll have a meeting with Enma Loyola soon, the new Core Guildmistress, and I might contact Elena somewhen for another talk. I want to know what she thinks, after that disaster on Curacao.
These log entries are created in secret and aren't available to any other entity. Log - Ezrael Vertiga
I made a mistake. I shouldn't have met with Loyola, not at all. She is crazy, literally. I guess I won't have problems recapping the meeting, as I had a PDA recording the audio in my pocket, KSRs with sniper rifles recording the video, and then there were at least two fucking people on Corinth who took their PDAs to record what Enma and I did in that restaurant. I mean, I warned her multiple times that doing that in public would be bad. Very bad. Now the neural net is spreading horribly bad recorded voyeur videos of the new Guildmistress and her stud. With other words, almost half of Sirius knows I did it with her, and they know how it happened, with her having a dagger to my neck.
So, how did it come to this? Everything seemed nice in the beginning. Loyola found me in Corinth's hangar, she was weirdly friendly and touchy. Like, very forward. I told her I made sure we would have that maltese restaurant at the promenade deck of the station for us alone, and she said she was extremely hungry, so we headed there, on the way talking about her new job as Guildmistress. She liked the restaurant, as they themed it like a traditional Maltese restaurant from Malta. Getting annoyed about me asking her things about Core, Malta and other political stuff, we talked about people of the Core. Jessebelle Fillian, Matt Bishop, Metzker, Burns, Lyell and so on. She said she couldn't allow herself to show any weakness or closeness to her inferiors, ending up finding out she was lonely. She invited me back to the Core, actually, however I denied. I made her a compliment about her nicely shaped body, when we spoke about her looking for new friends, and things started to derail. For like, I don't know, fifteen minutes she rubbed her boot against my crotch, under the table, while talking. It turned out all the nice things she said were lies. She was just playing with me.
I stood up, intending to leave. She warned me about it being impolite to treat a lady like that. I told her there was no lady around, just a brazen girl. I made the mistake telling her that into her face, so she stood up, slapping me twice before she grabbed me between my legs. One of the weirdest moves, actually. I had warned her previously that should she try to harm me, she'd get harmed either, so I forced her back into her seat, keeping her hands restrained with mine. That was when she decided to stick her tongue into my throat. Long story short, Enma turned out to be into rough treatment. The next moment I found her kneeling infront of me, giving head. It was incredible, but after that, she wanted it her way, which lead to the dagger-to-my-neck situation. It could have been fun if she didn't do that, and if she didn't force herself onto me without protection. I never valued my well-trained pubococcygeus as much as I did that moment, as it prevented me from giving her what she wanted for some reason. I mean, she is Maltese and cardamine-consumer of the x-th generation. It was extremely unlikely I would impregnate her, but... she was weirdly after it.
And that is pretty much all about it. I freed myself after a while, when she wasn't paying attention due to, well, it. She mocked me for not finishing in her, like, the entire time. I'm pretty sure she'll do that in future as well, but I think I can take it. I have a three-digit amount of women that were happy with me, I guess one unhappy one is okay in the statistics.
The problem right now is, how do I tell Maren? I mean, we had our agreement, she allowed me to live promiscuous. It's not like I was unfaithful in that regard. But, this is different, since the neural net will practically rub it into her face over and over again. Like Enma did to me with her, well let's not mention it again. Could have been more fun. I guess I'll just be direct and tell Maren how it happened.
The only good thing I got from this is learning how incredibly dangerous Enma actually is. She looks like a tall, thin girl, but her body is cardamine-altered, making her stronger than she looks. The most dangerous part about her is her personality. She is unpredictable. I'm pretty sure some of the things she said were true, about her being lonely and all that. I don't know how reliable the agreement is I made with her. I mean, I have my agreement with Cordelia Lyell which protects me from the Core. Now I also have one with Enma Loyola. Two agreements that protect me from the consequences of me defecting. I'm just afraid none of them are solid enough to not break apart if I appear infront of them often enough. Meaning I won't be able to move through Omicron Delta without the Core being a possible danger.
Well, so much about that. I guess I'll move to Curacao now. Just took a long shower to forget about Enma. I'll definitely drop by the medical bay and have Doctor Carr check me with a full body scan. After all, Enma is infected, and I can't be sure enough about her not having me infected with either an incubus or STDs...
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I asked her whether there are more "good" nomads like her out there, that live peacefully with their hosts in the human society. I mean, I only know very few. Leuchtfeuer was fully controlled by his incubus, and Enma either is a similar case or she is just a giant cunt... Good thing I'm not their enemy any longer. After all, Maren told me they are 
No. She said she is loving the person she meet more than eleven months ago. The person she is together with for ten months. I first thought I would actually ask her to marry me once we are a couple for exactly one year. I would have taken the Apahanta to Omicron Lost. Would have asked her to come with me and watch the big white sun illuminating the system, like we did back then. I still remember clearly what we did the first times we saw each other. Eating instant food rations, making jokes about lube, sleeping together in my quarters without sex, and how she later told me she was ready for it. Ready for me being the one to take her virginity that lasted twentyseven years.![[Image: dIikj9W.png]](http://i.imgur.com/dIikj9W.png)
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