Intergalactic Summit

J120442, ALXVP cargo terminal above planet IV, day 301

00. On spreadsheets

It is amazing how unreliable the public access databases are when it comes to Wormhole space. If we look at the data the popular galnet service provides us and search for J120442 IV there and compare them with the guide to the Origin system written by Saede Riordan, we'll find that the only numbers that (almost) match is the surface temperature (25 C vs 23 C average low). Even the orbit radius is some 0.4 AU off. But meh, who cares, when the star of Origin is listed on dotlan simultanеously as a K0 V (orange dwarf) with radius of about 117400 km, or about one-sixth standard, and as a "Sun K3 (Yellow Small)" one level above. So K0 or K3? And if it's "Yellow", then it probably should be G, not K?

Galnet spreadsheets are hard job, I know.

01. Cosmic garden

Arboria is a fascinating world, young, but yet terminally ill and will perish without our help. Now it teems with life, but in mere 150 to 200 million years, planet will kill itself and turn into a piece of barren, scorched rock under a thick and deadly atmosphere. Why so? The answer is runaway greenhouse effect.

The delicate balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in Arboria's atmosphere was from the beginning skewed towards carbon dioxide enough to keep the planet warm, even hot, at more than 2 AUs from the star. Arboria also has vast oceans which saturate the air with water vapor - and water vapor is no less effective at creating greenhouse efect than CO2. Plants store carbon from the atmosphere and produce oxygen, but if a global warming caused by evaporating oceans has already started, it will continue faster and faster until the world eventually becomes too hot to support life and liquid water. For human habitation, Arboria would become too hot in 10 to 15 million years; of course, local life'll adapt and survive for good 100 million years after that point, in some form, at least.

So where do we, the sentients, come into equation? Terraforming. Arboria needs no proper terraforming: it is already habitable - if you agree to wear gas mask and carry gun when outdoors at all times. But with relatively small investment in a network of atmospheric processors which can also extract such useful things as water and carbon from the air, we can save this world *and* make it comfortable for us while preserving most of the local wildlife. Relatively small - as in a few billion ISK, of course.

How much is water and carbon per unit in Jita? And... per freighter load?

...Bang! Business plan!

02. Untitled Entry

In these notes, i'll occasionally cover my experience traveling across Arboria with a survey and exploration team. And, because the diagnost says that hand painting is good for motorics, neural rehabilitation and whatnot, (I'm still quite brain-damaged person, after all), I'll also post pictures! I can't paint since death, though, so those'll be probably horrible. (the obligatory "hehe" goes here).

The hardest part, aside from painting, would be probably total lack of whiskey and Crash. It would be very unwise to get eaten by some facehugger long-limb of doom while drunk.

At least I'm used to the gas mask. After all, I spent my whole childhood wearing one.

I think I used to live in that wormhole system.

J120442, Indigo City, day 306

04. To trust a monster

Finding baseliner freelance employees is easy if the pay is good. Decent specialists might do the background checks to try to dig out something about you, but lots of people are desperate enough to just happily hop on board and ride into the unknown. Highsec is pretty safe, after all. One can serve for years on a missioner's Paladin, climb up the ranks and amass a small fortune by baseliner standards and never risk his life. But make a mistake and end up on a ship that's going into a 0.0 fleet battle, and you're a walking dead. Some ships might last for decades. Other ships of that same pilot, for minutes. It is always a gamble.

Tribal prejudices are a bad thing. The old Republic did its best to get rid of them. But still, they work. Cultural conditioning runs strong in most people raised within the system, and even outside of it, the genes often do their job amazingly well. You can't fool your own blood. Sooner or later it'll find unexpected ways to avenge itself.

And so, I go to Jita, and I take a lot of pills, and pretend that I am a perfectly sane, wealthy, educated, established person, and confirm it with my wallet, and talk to people. And I hire Brutors for security, Sebiestors for the research team and tech support and Vherokiors for accounting, supply and maintenance. And I never trust a Krusual as my mother told me, even if she once did.

I wonder what a bunch of passengers that signed up for an routine ride from Jita 4-4 to a frontier colony along with several thousand tonnes of cargo would say if they knew that the pilot of their hauler was stark raving mad. Probably nothing good, right. But they never knew.

The ramp closes, and we slowly take off as the systems still continue their checks. The station's force fields gently guide the immense hull of a Mammoth towards the undock corridor, but I don't see it. There is silent darkness, with only the check progress bar growing towards completion.

Then, there is an explosion of light, sound and motion, as the world flashes up with hundreds of ship signatures against the digitally brightened nebulae of the Forge. The ship rocks and starts to gain speed, aligning to warp to the bookmark. Someone shoots someone else on the undock, there is chaos and a rain of small debris hits the Mammoth's shields.

We're heading beyond the known space, please fasten your seat belts.

Amarr - Jita - Rens - Eram, day 308

Have you noticed that they finally stopped broadcasting the local temple services on internal comms in the Amarr hub station? That outworldly howling each evening is gone. I wonder why. Rumors among the non-Amarr contract personnel are that the Empress is sick.

05. The crew gathers

As the expedition takes shape, I spend time investigating the background of the primary employees I'd have to deal with down on Arboria. Those are an interesting bunch. Well, I guess, it takes a certain degree of madness to go on a wormhole adventure on a jungle planet owned by a band of anarchist capsuleers. I found out that Alexylva Paradox is a brand that attracts... unordinary people.

* * *

- Osagar Orgah. Personal bodyguard. Intra-station security. Transportation security.

Freedman. Born in Hilaban in the elite slave pens of lord Namaled. 10th generation of the palace guard selection program. Training progressed successfully until at age 15 a genetic disease common for this breed started to manifest itself. Vision seriously impaired on both eyes, implanting dismissed as not cost effective. Relegated to weapon and equipment maintenance duties. At age 26 freed as per empress Jamyl's edict.

Free, but almost blind, Osagar found his way to the Republic. Luckily, a Vherokior businessman recognized his pedigree and upbringing as a valuable asset and sponsored for him a set of basic ocular implants and entry into the Republic Military School for further combat training. For three years or so, Osagar served as a guard and enforcer for his benefactor, and often, as a mercenary on the businessman's behalf, until about an year ago he finally amassed an ungodly amount of money to pay his debt. Soon after, I hired him.

Loyal as a slaver hound. Behaves strangely around the true Amarrians. The fact that his new "owner" is of Minmatar blood probably still short-circuits something in his indoctrination from time to time. Occasional remarks make me think that he believes in some sort of a God, but it doesn't look like the orthodox Amarrian God. I won't be terribly surprised if he's a covert Sabik. Trying to talk with this guy is like to have a chat with a piece of veldspar. But he has other redeeming qualities.

* * *

- Ithera Daan. Expedition camp security. Dropship pilot.

Born in the Mordu controlled patch of nullsec to a family of Deteis colonists who fled there from the State two generations ago for some obscure reason, Ithera made a brief career as an atmospheric craft pilot, participating in local skirmishes with the Guristas. Eventually, she was assigned to a strike force that headed towards an undisclosed corporate target in Black Rise. Unfortunately, the opposition hired a capsuleer to solve the problem. The ship that carried Ithera's detachment was shot down and she ended up as a survivor in a wreck, then as a mercenary in Tama militia ground forces, and, eventually, on the job market in Jita with no intentions of going back to nullsec.

She's badass and efficient with almost paranoid attention to detail. I like that combo. If the simulator scores reflect her real skill, that's the pilot I can trust to pull my ass out of the fire if things in the jungle go to hell in a handbasket. Also, she can snipe, and that's a bonus.

* * *

- Elaine Weisur. Local expert.

Elaine is a former slave, one of those who were liberated on Arboria when the system changed hands. She spent several years on the planet as a part of the original colonization effort and survived against both local wildlife and the overwhelmingly male population of the slave compound. She's a local celebrity of sorts; if she were a character from a Gallente hologame, she'd certainly be a "Ranger" - complete with camo paint on the face, skimpy leather clothing, an oversized magical bow and an animal companion.

Fiery, foul-mouthed and armed to the teeth, this is a girl not to mess with.

I tried to do some research on her origins, but first attempts failed, and I can't be bothered to dig deeper. This one I trust. To some degree, of course.

* * *

More to come in the next batch.

Now I vaguely remember seeing a headline in the Scope news that "Theology Council press release dispels rumors of Empress Jamyl I ill health" or something like that, but I didn't read the press release itself. Being a blasphemous heathen and whatnot, I have little interest in the internal politics of the Empire, simplу because that's none of my business. Rumors are probably just that, rumors.

In time of war the truth is so valuable that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.

Because of the preliminary reports of strange Sleeper activity in wormhole space that are trickling into public areas of Galnet (do a search for the "Sentinel Hive" if you wish to go into details), I am putting the planetology studies on Arboria on hold for the time being. Whatever assets and hired personnel that were already ferried into Origin will be stationed in the settlement of Satyria and in the Indigo city.

Painting plants and alien animals is better left for less... eventful times.

Also, I cleaned up a bit my own drop-fueled ravings in this thread, I'm really trying to quit this stuff.