These log entries are created in secret and aren't available to any other entity. Log - Ezrael Vertiga
It's time again to reflect about the events of the last month. Much happened, few good things, many bad things. About that entire Loyola story, she seems to be in a relationship with Eliza Valdez. of course she didn't bother telling me about it during our date on Corinth. With other words: Eliza was horribly mad at me, showing it with her typical super-cynic-ironic-sarcastic way as if she wanted to impress someone with that kind of humor. It's stupid, and so are those two Maltese girls, really. The less I have to deal with them, the better it is.
The video clips on the neural net have reached many people, including Elena Voigt. I had a meeting with her on Los Angeles, simply to talk about stuff, and she knew about my, as she named it, escapades. Elena herself looked like a wreck. She broke up with her generic Navy John, she lost her unborn child and Maren seems to have had fun sending the Wild after her, if not even herself. Before I told her to leave her alone, that is. I really hope Maren didn't do anything stupid again. I really hope.
The dinner with Elena reached a point where she accused me of being infected or a nomad supporter, which made any other interaction with her impossible. I proposed her to take her to the Apahanta, to show her the Auxesian scans on me and Maren. So we moved to Kappa, to the Apahanta and I showed it to her. It was a relief to her, obviously. For a short moment we were also able to talk about what happened to her and her child, but she suffered an emotional breakdown, a pretty dangerous one. I was about to call both Dr. Carr and Camillo, but I had things under control, it seemed. We didn't talk about it again, and I believe the only people who should would be therapists. I offered Elena to make use of Lindsay Camillo, our counselor, whenever she wants. Later, Elena stayed over night. I showed her Sombra's cartoon playlist and let it run during the entire night. Elena fell asleep after a bunch of honest laughs. Next day I showed her the Apahanta's hydroponics, and our apple tree. She liked it. She ate an apple of it for breakfast.
Together with Leon and her we moved back to the Colonies. It was Leon's last day on the Apahanta, he was done with all the repairs. The ship was ready to fight again. We took the gunboat and moved to Cortez, where Elena headed back to Liberty.
Leon.
Looks like one of my technicians wasn't really happy about him leaving. Annie Reese, our youngest crew member from Freeport 5. Elena and I found her and Leon in the hydroponics, enjoying popsicles they stole from the canteen. It looked pretty harmless, until we saw them at the airlocks, where she said goodbye in a very intimate way, tip-toeing to give him a breathtaking kiss. Elena and I talked to him about it, and it seemed like he didn't know what was happening either. It was cute, and it seemed to have boosted his ego again. Maybe it was what he needed, looking at all the horrible stuff happening to him in the last months. He's been happy now since he left the ship, got his job at the OSC workshop back and repairs all kinds of hovercrafts at the beach.
Meanwhile, Curacao seems quiet. There is a strong deflux of traffic. Less people come to visit, HOT GEARs profits are decreasing based on that, at least on Curacao. It was a rumor first. A rumor about Gallia having found the Magellan-Cortez connection. The Montezuma Rogues have turned silent. A few days later we got the confirmation. They are here.
Gallia has reached Cortez, and it is a matter of weeks now, instead of months. I'm currently preparing for the worst case scenario. Chairman Pines told Paige a while ago that Curacao may remain unharmed but under blockade. I really hope he is right with that. I don't want it to turn into another Leeds or Harris...
I have many brochures about houses on Planet Denver in Colorado, LPI seems to do a great job keeping the planet safe. I really don't know how this war will go on, maybe Gallia will even reach Colorado. Maybe Planet Stuttgart would be a better choice, or Planet Hamburg in Rheinland. They have a general problem with their unlawful populace there, but nothing like Gallia. Corsairs might be around every now and then. I don't know what's the lesser evil, to be honest. The next alternative would be Planet Honshu in Kusari. I don't speak a damn word in their language, and I know it's not really necessary as most people of Sirius can speak english, but it might be weird. To be fair, Honshu is my favourite, as there seems to be nothing that harms it in any way. Kishiro has a damn good reputation. New Tokyo would also be an alternative, seems pretty quiet around it, but I know about their weird civil war nobody cares about, and Gallia is only so far away.
Finding a safe home is pretty hard right now, really. I think the most likely solution would be to invest into another Corvo. A new Hoffnungsschimmer, to cover up the... disappearance of the old one. A new home ship to be able to move from A to B whenever I want. Making it nicely decorated inside, and all that. It's obviously more expensive than anything else, but mobile. It's not that I have a money issue, looking at how much profit we're making with HOT GEAR and Netspace Logistics and the other companies I invested into.
Or the other stuff I do. I've been roaming around with the Rovers, doing some jobs here and there, earning a few millions here and there. Some by disrupting torpedos and other warheads, some by selling smaller, let's say, loot. Turns out the Rovers were a pretty good investment, as they allow me to be at the right place at the right time without being in danger myself, with the ships operated from the distance, over neural net link. I've done some bookkeeping recently, and it looks like with all the income I'm back at over two billion credits. That's pretty damn nifty. Allows me to get more stuff for the Apahanta and more quality-of-life improvements, as for example another Corvo and some other investments.
But speaking of it.
There is a new conflict going on in the Omicrons. Zoners and Core have made peace with each other, finally. Order didn't like it. Corsairs didn't like it either. There has been a siege on a station Core and Zoners built together, Port Carthage. I used that opportunity to get in touch with the Core again, as well as to remind the Zoners I'm on their side.
It was a test. And an investment. The crew has been mostly evacuated to Livadia, leaving only the combat-approved people on the ship, as well as threehundred KSRs. We've taken a look at how effective we are in combat without risking too much. Sadly, at least in my case, this was recorded by Freeport 11, so everyone saw the Apahanta during their live feed.
It was the final battle for Port Carthage and the Apahanta didn't do bad at all. We got our few kills and then in the end the Corsairs and the Order overwhelmed us with their mighty fleet. We managed to cloak away, using the typical decoy deployment method. No crew casualties, just a few KSRs need to be replaced. The damage at the Apahanta itself was, I say, acceptable. We've headed for Livadia for repairs, the internal systems have been alright, just a matter of hull replacement and some secondary stuff. I personally know where my mistake was during that battle, as I tried to help the CoF ship to get out of their focus. Two corsair warships targeted us and we got the full load to the side.
I personally don't care about Port Carthage being destroyed now. I think the Core and the Zoners are pretty close to each other now again, the way it should be. Freeport 11 has been really lively recently. Reminded me of the days when I met Maren for the first time, drunk and in the arms of a lesbian corsair. Turns out the recent Freeport 11 administrator was Kyu Akibara, a former member of my crew during Core times, I believe he was the resource manager of the ship. Had only a short talk with him, offering my assistance. Sadly they forced him off the station when Order threatened to use NEMP warheads against freeports and Gran Canaria. Isn't that funny? If the Order used all those means to eliminate the Nomads, we'd probably be all fine by now. Although I really doubt a NEMP weapon could harm anything beyond the Omicron Iota gate.
The hull repairs are almost done. It's progressing rather slowly as we can't risk being seen at Livadia directly. So we're deep inside the nebula now and they sent two repair drones for the outer hull repairs, while the KSRs and the damage control team does the stuff from the other side. It's well coordinated, both my crew and the Livadians get along pretty well. I mean, we've been here for a year now.
As soon as we're done here, I'll return to Maren. I didn't see her in a while and that often means she did some horrible things out of boredom or helped Mittens to evolve into an intelligent cat. I still remember how she told me Mittens won at Scrabble against her. Maybe we can just have a few days of love with each other, without troubles.
These log entries are created in secret and aren't available to any other entity. Log - Ezrael Vertiga
I can't sleep right now. I tried, but I ended up rolling around in bed, which annoyed Maren, so I left the bed, put on some clothes and walked around. Cuddled with Mittens, then sat in a lounger at the pool, then walked around at the beach. Decided to go over to the beach bar, had a good laugh with some people there, a small drink, then walked around at the beach again when the girls started to show their interest and now I'm sitting in the Bishamon. I'd prefer to be on the Apahanta right now and do this, far away from any potential infectee that listens to me, but in the end, I don't really care anymore.
I believe it is somewhat after two in the morning now. Turned the lights off, otherwise the cockpit of this damn GMG gunship is way too shiny. Everything white, it's very unpleasing to the eye. The Cortez clusters are shining, it's a nice sight from here. I love this view. It is unique. There is no planet anywhere out there that has this beautiful night sky. A horrible shame this night sky might be filled with debris of warships in near future. Since Gallia is now in Cortez, things have changed on Curacao. Less visitors, less population. People are fleeing to Baden Baden and Liberty, some even up to Kusari and Rheinland. Orbital is keeping things under control here, even with less people around. It's not like there is a panic or a lack of supplies. Yet I wouldn't really like to see Gallia showing up here. A matter of time it is, sadly. I'm not sure if I am still up to defend the planet. They might take it as an invitation to bombard this world.
In fact, I met some gallic people in the last two months. I mean, I met a lot of them already in various situations, some even here on Curacao. I even had gallic women already, which was a funny experience because of the language barrier. Most interesting was however my encounter with the Marine Royale Gauloise. I guess I need to start a little way back to make sense of this.
All of this started with the Titanic, a Bustard-class carrier we found in Omicron Chi during drone recon. With certain efforts we pulled that abandoned ship out of the system, out of the nomads' nest. We brought it to Livadia for repairs and salvaging. There was a lot of interesting stuff on the ship. Plans for new battleship weapons we later produced in the workshop, a jump drive that caused the Titanic to land in Chi and doomsday weapons: NEMP torpedos. Investigating the circumstances and connections, we found out more about the Titanic, the former crew and everything.
The ship was about to deliver those things from a smuggling facility in Poole to a Vault station in the orbit of Planet Baltrum in Sigma-15. We found that smuggling base in Poole following the logs of the Titanic, explored that base. It was attacked days ago, abandoned and in critical condition. So we salvaged what we could, just to find more valuable stuff for the Apahanta. To a certain degree, I'm pretty much in love with how powerful the Apahanta now is. Upgraded cloaking device, jump drives, new weaponry and even weapons of mass destruction. Suddenly we have something that could make people think twice about attacking us.
I made a mistake when we left the smuggling station, though. I deleted the database of the station after having copied it to the Apahanta, but I didn't delete the security recordings of the time when the Apahanta was around the station. That lead to MRG contacting us. The first contact was a failure, since all I was confronted with was one threat after another, by a gallic general. Then later, I stumbled over this Core broadcast about a Vault station. It was pretty much what we expected to be the final destination of all the stuff that was supposed to be delivered to by the Titanic from the station in Poole. Very nice but welcomed coincidence. Knowing my... friends, Eliza Valdez and Enma Loyola, were in influental positions within the Core, I dared contacting them. In the end, we got an agreement. A trade, and a gamble.
Long story short, it turned out that Core, MRG and I had the solution to the puzzle about the Vault.
And so we cracked the Vault open. I had the key to it, the Talisman. A little ship that was in the hangar of the Titanic. It was the only ship able to enter the defensive perimeter of the Vault without getting shot at. Literally the key. So I found myself on the station, whitelisting MRG and Core to be able to dock with the Vault as well. I ended up with Core and MRG troopers left and right from me and we explored the station. It was... interesting. I met the new Supreme Guildkeeper Nathan Archos and some Gallic representants. Kept my mouth shut most of the time to not interfere with Core and Gallia in this very peculiar instance. Guess the Guildkeeper heard about my, let's say, achievements on Yaren during my time within the Core, so he didn't allow me to get closer to the nice female gallic captain. Bloated ego, of course, but very nice curves. Gallic women...
The Vault had some internal defense measures ready to deal with us, but the marines of MRG and Core took care of everything. Our main enemy was time, as the Vault was destabilizing. Some very dumb gallic person had the idea to use Valor combat tactics in miniature format, blasting open doors with explosives, making the entire station shiver. We only got to pilfer the stuff from one of the four giant storage bays, the others were rendered inaccessible when the station started to break apart, destroying the content of the storages in big explosions. Whatever was in there, it was very explosive.
The results of the operation were mainly positive. I believe I left a positive impression on MRG. And a very positive one on the Core. I have to admit, some of the Guildkeepers are very pragmatic. Nathan Archos seems to be reasonable, Martin McKinsey of APM was also only interested in cooperation and Guildkeeper Jack Daniels seemed slightly impressed by the entire story about the Apahanta. A cool guy. Obviously, not everyone was welcoming me like they did. I recently met Luke Shaw, a Mako Captain of the primary fleet. Apparently Luminary. He seemed to be well informed about the details of the defection, which makes me believe some of the people who fled during the staged attack by Auxesia made it alive to the Core. Which is... I didn't expect it. Either that or someone of my current crew is a mole. Horrible thought, but I have started an investigation on it.
Being reminded of the day of the defection was weird. Suddenly, all the pictures were there again. I believe certain impressions are starting to nag on me, and maybe it is why I have problems to sleep recently. I can't really talk with Maren about it, because I never really told her what happened on the Apahanta during the defection. I only told Elena, and I made her believe I made that story up to scare her.
...
Long story short: I am good with the Core again. We're currently negotiating about the new treaty of cooperation. Having to deal with Cordelia Lyell is always rather exhausting. Petulant burocrat. Sadly also a very influental person with excellent combat skills. War granny. The Apahanta is upgraded and ready to defend itself from any foe. Which would be, right now, only the Lane Hackers, and passively both Order and Corsairs. I think I need to stay out of the war with Gallia, now that they have reached Cortez. Any escalation of that war could result on a bombardement of my homeworld. That is the last thing I want to see happen. Curacao has a good protective atmosphere, sucking up most artillery shots before they could reach populated landmasses, but I really don't want to know whether Gallia has alternative weaponry ready for those cases. Like cruisers with planetary bombardement cannons or some bullcrap like that.
Right now, I try to lay low. I know who I can ask for help if needed. Turns out the Forlorn Hope likes me more than I expected. Apparently I left a good impression with them, so they asked me whether I was interested in taking care of one of their research ships, the Athena. I have no idea what to do with that ship, I surely won't use it as new home ship. If anything, I believe the Apahanta is my new home, looking at how much time I spent on her the last months. Feels like I totally neglected Maren and Nancy, to be honest. I spent a nice night with Nancy in a hotel, simply because I didn't think I could bear Maren during that time. Nancy didn't ask uncomfortable questions. I often thought about her recently. We didn't make much progress with her chips, which is a problem. I really want her to be healthy again, because anything else will result in her not being able to have a happy living. A good start would be the removal of the 404 chip in her head. Right now, she's a walking surveilance camera, and I can't have her around like that. Neither can Leon. It kills their relationship.
I need to find a solution.
Maren and I, we're really in a weird relationship. I thought about her past when I was talking with James el Harady during our game of chess. And I realized she has nothing. Apart from me and Valery, she has nothing. No parents anymore, no job, no dreams she can work towards. Apart from whatever Valery is trying to make her do. I think Maren is even more unstable than I thought, which makes me wonder how this will turn out in the end. I think if I was to break up with her, she would turn her back to mankind and just become a Wild in a more literal sense. She is a ticking bomb, I feel. And me having been more on the Apahanta instead of at her side probably didn't make it any better. So I decided to stick with her for a longer time. The entire time from christmas to New Year's Eve, I was was with her without any interruption. Sherry handled the Apahanta, Paige Hot Gear, Sombra kept a low profile and celebrated with us instead of smuggling and in the end, we had a few very nice days without much trouble, all on Curacao. Maren, me, Leon, Nancy, Sombra, and of course, Mittens.
825 will hopefully make things easier for us. I'm a bit concerned about Elena as well. After her having had a miscarriage, she seemed to be mentally damaged. I had her with me for a night on the Apahanta, without anything sexual, just to talk with her, watching cartoons and have her calm down in a secured environment. Didn't hear much from her since then, apart from a short meeting at Glendalough, when I got the keys for the Athena of the Forlorn Hope. Poor girl.
I'm tired. There has been so much happening lately. Met some new people. Battlegroup Harmony, a group of Libertonian Separatists. I don't think they trust me, really, but I heard they trust Sombra, which struck me by surprise. Looks like she was more active as smuggler than I knew, which is something I should talk about with her soon. I don't want her to get into trouble. That battlegroup however might be interesting. If there is any chance of supporting them without Maren knowing it, I should try it. They sounded promising in terms of fighting infectees.
But those are stories for other days, really. All I want now is a few days of rest. A few days of relaxation with Maren, maybe with Sombra and Nancy as well. I want to spend time with my friends. With Leon, too. The Apahanta won't run away. Sherry is doing a great job. I'll think of something to reward her as well. It's weird how many people are suddenly playing a bigger role in my life, really. Two years ago, all I cared for were Leon and Sombra, and where the next party would be.
These log entries are created in secret and aren't available to any other entity. Log - Ezrael Vertiga
Joshua Hunt, you little piece of crap.
A few hours ago, we moved to Freeport 11, simply to refuel. The ACV-Predator was there together with a cruiser of the Blood Dragons. Nodoka was there as well, the administrator of the freeport. We had a little talk and it appears the Commune is about to attack Freeport 11 together with that nomad group called Vagrants. I still don't know anything about them. I also don't know why the Commune wants to attack Freeport 11. What does it get from that? I think everyone can agree on the fact that whenever Jared Nomak shows up, things are going down the road. I remember how we met him in Chester and Dublin. Without Maren, it would have turned out bad for us, encircled by destroyers and bombers. Back then, he was on our side, thanks to Maren and Valery.
Then I made a... mistake. When I interfered and saved Elena from this creep of the Commune, Bassam Hussaini. I mean, I was there as Operative Red, and I'm pretty sure they don't know it was me. But I can't rely on that. Maren was so incredibly angry at me for having saved Elena, she and Valery found clear words for what would happen if I would ever dare to interfere again.
Joshua Hunt, or Endurance, or Leviathan, he was there and asked me, infront of Nodoka, whether I was there to defend Freeport 11 from the Commune. From Nomad-Supporters. What else was I supposed to say than yes? If I had come up with any excuse, it would have increased the suspicion on me again. I tried to talk myself out to at least not being forced to use the Apahanta, but that sly fuck mentioned possible battleships showing up, either Maltese or Nomads.
The plan right now is to keep at least on Rover at Freeport 11. I don't want to involve the Apahanta. Other than Auxesia, I can't afford that kind of asset to be risked for something like that. Last time it was for the benefit of returning to neutrality with the Core. It worked out and that at the cost of me almost dying. This time, it is different. We can simply avoid it. A rover will be enough. Intercepting missiles and torpedos without showing a face or color.
Hunt is also spreading rumors about Sapphire Raven's death. He got me for a moment. I was seriously shocked. Then, on a private channel, he told me the truth. It was once again a lie for the sake of manipulation. God damn, whatever the guy touches will realize it was a mistake to get touched by him. I really should avoid him at all cost next time. He smiles at you, says something, and only if you have nothing to hide, you can return the smile without a worry.
Right now we're in Omega-11. The sun is turning the entire system into a hellfire, and that is just good enough to have us disappear from the sensors. I'm not sure what my next move is. One rover at Freeport 11, yeah. Enma is back in action, Eliza as well. I talked to them and instantly started to regret it. They are up to something. Some weird power plays. I'll stay out of it this time and just watch, like the way I am supposed to, at least in Valery's opinion.
Maren is a bit secretive lately. I don't know what she is doing all day. She claims she isn't doing much at all, but I'm pretty sure that is what she wants me to believe. Told Sombra to frequently visit her to prevent her from doing something else, and Sombra likes Maren so much she doesn't even acknowledge it when Maren is annoyed by her. To a certain degree it's funny. On the other hand I feel bad for exposing Sombra to such a dangerous person. Maren is a ticking bomb. A liar. I do understand why she is cooperating with Valery without much regret. They both have a very bad opinion on mankind. I thought about it very much lately. Maren is a very, very, very sad, lonely and corrupted person. I wish I could help her, but the circumstances force me to be at many places at the same time.
Nancy and Leon leaving Curacao for a vacation on Baden Baden, which is nice. Doctor Carr mentioned she made many tests regarding the removal of all the artificial stuff in her body. Chips, bombs. Didn't get to tell Nancy about her progress but if she continues her tests like that, I'm pretty sure we'll be able to remove the chips out of her body. She'll be free then. At last.
These log entries are created in secret and aren't available to any other entity. Log - Ezrael Vertiga
I made a good amount of cash wish selling the blueprints of the advanced weaponry we got from the Titanic and the venting smuggler facility in Poole. Admiral Richard of the Crayter Military seemed to like it and even permitted me to walk around on Sabah. Pretty cool.
That was after my days with Victoria. Sombra arranged a meeting between me and Admiral Victoria Knight of Battlegroup Harmony. A deal about us being able to salvage highly valuable military scrap in Bering and in return they would get blueprints for three weapons of their choice. However, this went a bit different than expected. I went there for personal negotiations with her. And after around two hours I was in bed with her. I guess I made a friend there in Bering. This might come in handy at some point, as from what I know they are working with the Lane Hackers and the Unioners, both groups nobody would shed a tear about if they vanished. Although, there might be a certain hope for the Lane Hackers.
I stumbled over this tournament in the Tau-44 system when flying around the Seductive Rover. Some kind of festival with Blood Dragons, Hogosha, Unione Corse and some random people. I met Lothiar Dupont there, one of my friends from racing events. I completely forgot he was part of this gallic corsican syndicate or what they are. It was nice seeing him again, and it reminded me to contact Paige to have her do another bigger event for HOT GEAR.
More importantly however was a conversation I had with John Silverstone, the creepy stalker guy who annoys women all over Sirius, and a friend of the Lane Hackers. It is confirmed now. I believe he either wanted to bait me in saying something stupid or he just believes it, calling me an infectee every now and then. He also mentioned that I should contact the Lane Hacker Professor Provocateur Nicole Hunter about solving our little hassle. I might actually try that, because what do I have to lose? After all, they have been proven wrong by Auxesia anyway. The question is how to approach the topic in first place. "Hi Professor Hunter, can we please be friends again?" Might be worth a try, but they probably will ask for things in return.
This reminds me, Sherry found this new system in Kusari while using one of the Rovers. Pretty cool, actually. Sadly, we weren't the first. There were Zoners called "The Pioneers" and a giant asteroid inhabitated by "The Defilers". The former are just peaceful people who want to live in that system, US-V as we call it, and the latter are probably the guys who ran the Vault and the Vented Smuggling Facility in Poole. Maybe even the Titanic. They know about the Apahanta. Which is bad. I eevesdropped on some of their conversations. They are working with the Blood Dragons and the Lane Hackers, while the Pioneers seem to have received support by the Kusari Naval Forces. They somehow brought a battleship into the system.
So, there is a little problem now. The Defilers want the Apahanta, and they are in touch with the Lane Hackers. So much for that. I doubt the Hackers would drop hostilities now. It's more likely that they will try and help the Defilers on getting their stuff back. We're currently laying low because of that. We'll keep the Rovers on this and try to find out more.
Those Defilers are highly dangerous. They seem to have a connection to the Cultists somehow, maybe they raided one of their Carriers or something. They are in possession of advanced technologies, and other than the rest of Sirius, they seem to be able to bring capital ships to US-V. We now have multiple recordings of them and their ships. I guess it's only a matter of time until Auxesia shows up and is like "Hello, this is the technology police!" or something. I just hope they don't ally with the Defilers as well.
This happened as well. The Cultists openly attacked Cortez, firing Nightmare torpedos at the Yukon and Curacao's orbital defense grid. The warheads didn't reach the planet's surface, thanks to OSC's planetary defense turrets. It was damn close, though. It didn't take much time until the combined forces of Crayter, Liberty, Bretonia and Hellfire arrived, and together with the Apahanta we were able to beat the Cultists. Maren was there, too, in the end even sneaking weapons from the battlefield. Always surprising, the little weirdo.
A bit earlier we were fighting the Cultists in the Omicrons, in Omicron Sigma at the black hole.
Those things are incredibly dangerous and we need to find out more about them. I don't want them to attack Curacao ever again. Not even the Nomads were that bold. Any clue on them could be helpful. Maybe even Auxesia...
But now other things. Leon and Nancy are about to come to the Apahanta, and Maren will be there as well. I didn't tell Nancy yet, but we are now able to remove the chips and the bomb in her body. Dr. Carr was doing nothing else than training for that, over and over again, and she said there is a 90% chance that she will be able to do it without any problems. Which is probably the best bet we have, considering even Thallia wasn't able to do anything about it, or Valery.
Once Nancy is treated, Dr. Carr will take a look at Maren's body. This is a rather big leap of faith, because she doesn't know Maren is infected. The full body scan will reveal the incubus to her, and then I'll need to convince her that everything is alright. I'm pretty sure it will be alright, since my crew trusts me, but still, it's a big step. Sombra and Leon know Valery, Nancy knows her, even Thallia knew about her, so Adrianna might just take it easy as well. That incubus is on our side. It's our protection from the Nomads. They won't harm us as long as Maren and Valery are with us. She will need to accept that.
These log entries are created in secret and aren't available to any other entity. Log - Ezrael Vertiga
I have a bit of time to think right now. We're currently at Livadia again. There was a Cultist VS-0074 attacking Omega-3, close to Sprague. We got the distress call and jumped there, using the Freeport 1 Jump Coordinates we got from Brandon Wright of the IRG. The Carrier Drone was already fighting two Bretonian Battleships and a CPW Destroyer when we joined, trying to keep the battle away from Sprague. This time however they did things we weren't prepared for, as for example kamikaze-ramming the Apahanta and firing Nightmare Torpedos at closest range at us, damaging themselves but also ripping a hole into the left outer hull of the Apahanta.
We had to pull out before the fight was over, but the Bretonians won. John Silverstone smuggled some stuff from the battlefield and managed to piss off the former Freeport 11 administrator, Nodoka Hanamura. She and a few others provided torpedo interception to support us.
The Apahanta was not prepared for this fight and we need to reconfigure our weaponry. After selling technology blueprints to Harmony and Crayter, I gave order to produce some turrets of all kinds of weapons we can use on the Apahanta, which will hopefully allow us to prepare ourselves better for fights we choose to enter. Currently we're having:
What we don't have mounted on the Apahanta is stored at Livadia at our rented area. Being friends with the Livadians is incredibly helpful, and I can't thank Finn McCool enough for making this possible. Without this support, we'd been fucked the very moment we left the Core.
Talking about the stuff stored on Livadia, this reminds me of the military salvage Vic- Victoria Knight of Battlegroup Harmony allowed us to pilfer from Bering. So much stuff!
Leon said there is a lot of useful stuff, and all that from just three days of salvaging. It will take a while to analyze all of this, reverse-engineer things if possible and look what can still be used. He mentioned that the heavy armor plating of those Rheinland warships could be useful to upgrade our own armor, however that would be extremely expensive.
Right now however our technicians and engineers, around 200 KSRs and the Livadians are busy repairing the Apahanta's outer hull. Sherry is managing everything while I spread some positive energies within the crew. We took a heavy beating and the crew's morale reflected it. So I took the lemons and made lemonade from it, throwing a little party at the canteen. Wine, food from Curacao, a motivational speech and a bit of shoulderpatting. I think it worked well. I guess having Sombra there was helpful, too, at least to me. I asked her to come to Livadia with a cargo hold filled with repair materials and other stuff. When VS-0074 and the Apahanta collided, a lot of things fell all over the place. Furniture, people, everything. The Hydroponics are at 100% again, though, and our apple tree is unharmed, thankfully.
During all that time I didn't know Nancy was still on the ship. She remained in Leon's room and decided to take a walk when we fought VS-0074. Boom, she hit her head against a wall. Found her, brought her to medical, Dr. Carr took care of her, then of me, healing my ouchies as well. My head still hurts a bit, but at least it is nothing bad. No concussion or whatever.
Seeing Nancy and Leon taking care of each other, I had to smile. They were so much more honest about each other than Maren and I am. I sent Maren a transmission about what happened and she didn't seem to care about it that much. Didn't even follow the invitation to come here, which then lead me to spend time with Sombs while she was here. I can imagine why Maren doesn't care anymore. Either she was busy doing Wild-stuff or she is pissed at me for jumping into a fight.
I think I need to explain this to her. We went through so much and I won't let her give up on me just because she doesn't like me being what I was when she met me the first time. So I will take her out for a dinner on Curacao tomorrow in the evening. Will tell her to put on a nice dress, and I might even wear... some dumb smoking, because she likes it when men do that. A nice dinner at some expensive restaurant, nice violin music in the background, and then I take her to the hotel and we continue our work on a baby. Some romantic evening with her. Treating that moonface like a princess. A clumsy, sassy, lazy, infected princess.
These log entries are created in secret and aren't available to any other entity. Log - Ezrael Vertiga
I just sent Maren a comm telling her to prepare for a nice dinner.
I mean, I am bound to her anyway. If I'd leave her, they would come and either kill us, or even worse, infect us. But despite all of that, I do love her. So maybe it is time to propose to her.
These log entries are created in secret and aren't available to any other entity. Log - Ezrael Vertiga
Repairs are finished. I feel a bit exhausted, to be honest, but I guess a quick shower, a shake and an apple or two will help. I need to look perfect for Maren.
Sombra is still here, she'll fly the same route back to Curacao as I will, and Leon will fly with us as well. I didn't tell them yet that I'll propose to Maren tonight. It's... I mean, I can imagine their reactions. Sombs will probably not like it but she knew it would happen at some point, and Leon might not like it because of the entire alien stuff. But I do love her.
I really do.
...
For very rare occasions, I have this damn smoking here. I was hoping I'd never need to put it on. I just did and looked into the mirror. It doesn't look that bad, but I still feel uncomfortable, so I took it off and put back on my Apahanta suit. I'll switch clothes later anyway, so Sombs and Leon don't see me like that. To be honest, I'm quite excited. Maren doesn't expect it at all and I just hope she-
*An alarm sound is audible in the recording.*
What the...
*An announcement, spoken by Commander Sherry Aguilar, can be heard.*
Captain, VS-0074 has been sighted in Omicron Delta, close to Freeport 11. It is attacking the freeport and the Zoners are sending a distress signal. Do we fly there?
...
Fuck! Apahanta, red alert! I'll be on the bridge in a second. Sherry, undock us, let them charge up the jump drive and the cloak!
Roger, Captain!
*Sirens began to play the red alert sound everywhere on the ship.*
Hell was loose in Omicron Delta. Not one but four VS-0074 Carriers of the Cult of Technology attacked the system. One was disabled by the combined efforts of Order, Zoners and other brave defenders, but the other three heavy beam carriers shot down one ship after another.
Heavy Trebuchet fire, red beams, explosions and discharges, missiles and torpedos, it was impossible to target anything with a clear focus while the deadly rays cut through the outer hull of the Apahanta. Making a turn, the battleship received a broadside hit of multiple crimson antimatter bombs, burning through the shields and ripping a hole into the little warship. Quakes everywhere and the internal structure was decreasing. Energy relais exploding in the walls, causing metal panels to be flung around, even on the bridge. "Charge the jump drives for an emergency jump!! Get us out of here!!" Ezrael yelled, looking at one of his bridge officers who lay on the ground, catapulted away from her console by an impact.
White lights started to dance around the ship, slightly distorted and deformed whenever a red beam cut the ship. Barely able to dodge more and more incomming trebuchet fire, which every time it hit the Apahanta caused another great quake that hindered the crew from operating their consoles. The ship started to drift uncontrolled along the Kiribati Ice Needle Field, getting hit by another beam.
Ezrael found himself on the floor, feeling awkward as he tried to grasp what just happened. There was smoke and fire and a weird pull. Sounds were soft, overtoned by a high-pitched whistle. Vision was blurry. Something had happened. "EMERGENCY JUMP! NOW!!"
The pain was kicking in and he wanted to yell in agony, but he didn't manage to bring out a single sound. Was he even breathing? He didn't know. Before he even realized what was happening, one of the most merciful functions of the human body took over - he lost his consciousness instantly.
These log entries are created in secret and aren't available to any other entity. Log - Ezrael Vertiga
And with this the odyssey ends. We're back in Sirius, and that only thanks to the Nomads, or more precisely, their gates. We just arrived in Omicron Chi at the very, very outer border of the system. The sensors do work here, but the closer we get to the center of the system, the more intense radiation and asteroid clusters will become. I just saw a huge amount of transmissions aimed at me, more coming in each time we get a quick connection with the neural net, but I guess we get the full connection only when we leave Omicron Chi.
It'll take an hour or so, then we'll be where we have marked the jump hole to Omicron Kappa. I just hope it is still there. At least we can reliably orientate ourselves thanks to the three suns of Omicron Chi. It was easy to figure out where exactly we are.
So, I just sent a message to Maren. Apparently, while we have had only fifty days passing, in Sirius it was more than two months, according to the neural net. Maren was missing me for two months. People must have given up the search a month ago. I hope Maren is still there. And glad to see me.
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