Intergalactic Summit

This is a followup from last night's rescue of militants near a border crossing. The pilot was contacted and asked about it with the following response with my second request underneath.

Re: 2nd request
From: USS Hauler
To: Ston Momaki
INBOX
hi. not sure what type of militants they were. and yes i jettisoned them leaving the region i was in.

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2nd request
From: Ston Momaki
Sent: 2012.01.08 23:38
To: USS Hauler,

Dear Mr. Hauler,
My name is Ston Momaki of the Disciples of Ston. On routine patrols, we rescued 40 militants and 1 slaver hound from a jet can registered in your name. We are wondering the reason that they were there. Jettisoned? Survived and attack? If you could please give us your account of the event, we would appreciate it. Thanks? We would also like the identity of the militants so we know what to do with them.
Ston
(2nd request)

This leaves us with few answers other than that they were jettisoned on purpose and that the pilot did not know anything about the militants. We have found this group of militants to be very combative and aggressive, so it has been difficult to find out anything about them. If anyone has any information about recent movement of NGO militants, please let us know. We are not sure what to do with this group. They seem to resent that they were rescued. This is strange and we have not encountered this before. We are hoping that they will tell us who they are and where they were going.

Re: why
From: LongEyeleashes
Sent: 2012.01.09 11:50
To: Manwe Todako,

They dont need me anymore.

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why
From: Manwe Todako
Sent: 2012.01.09 01:36
To: LongEyeleashes,

Why did you jettison 72 slaves to die in the cold of space?

We are no closer to discovering the identity of the Militants we rescued the other day. They have not let us know who they are and they continue an aggressive and defiant posture whenever we ask. They are being well cared for in temporary holding. We are considering taking them to our detention facility in Korama where we have security trained for the purpose. We would like to ask the IGS community about militant movements in the area where we rescuedthem, but we cannot compromise the security of our M-Centers, especially now. We have a hunch who they might be and our medical team is working on determining their race of origin. Once we know who they are not, we can come closer to figuring our who they are.

Coming back from our trip to Ealur a rescue of 36 people was conducted. It was a special occasion to have three of our Elders on board when the rescue was performed and to have them personally welcome them on board and accompany them back the the Center.

Wall of Shame

freenkcz 36 lives

THE TRIP TO EALUR VI


Our trip to Ealur was more delightful than words can describe. The eight of us: Galdius, Feanor, Verin, Bowman and May Cotton, Halfred and Bell Greenhand, and myself, enjoyed the journey and the time spent surveying Ealur VI. Watching the Ealur react to seeing their planet of origin was moving and deeply emotional. Tears were shed by all. At times like this, I hate being stuck in my pod.

The planet is a sight to behold. It has a very short year and a short day. One can physically observe the speed of rotation as it is quite rapid relative to many habitable planets. The land masses are proportionally large compared to the seas. In fact, the oceans are surrounded by land instead of the land surrounded by oceans. The climate is beautiful, temperate and pleasant. The vegetation is lush and life of all kinds is abundant. To our surprise, capsuleers have done very little exploitation of the planet. There are a few colonies, but not many.

We contacted the only station in the system to communicate our presence and what we were doing. We were glad to hear that the one and only station in the system is Gallente (Aliastra Corp). They welcomed us with open arms. Here is where it gets interesting. The folks at Aliastra were very taken with the Ealur. The Cottons and the Greenhands conducted themselves in the most urbane manner. They literally captivated the hearts of the management of the Aliastra station. The station requested to host the two Ealur couples for as long as they wished to stay in their station. The Cottons and Greenhands agreed to stay on there for the time being. This trip turned out better than we could have possibly planned. It seems quite appropriate since the Gallente have been historically, the only ones who have ever shown interest in the Ealur and their plight under the oppression of slavery.

Station management indicated that they would try to arrange a visit planetside on Ealur VI for their guests during their stay. We hope very much that this happens. The Cottons and Greenhands have also indicated that they are willing to receive limited visitors and guests at the station. Aliastra will handle all security and safety issues during their stay.

The four of us returned to Center #1 with a sense that the work we do is worthwhile, worth the risks and is the right thing to do.

This rescue operation almost ended in disaster. Usually, when former slaves are rescued, there is general order and understanding of what is happening. This mixture of people created several moments of chaos aboard the ship. During that time, one of my crew members was attacked by a slaver with a small weapon. Other crew members quickly subdued the man and confiscated the device. There were a few minutes of general pandemonium until the crew convinced everyone that it was a rescue operation and that everyone would be just fine. Back at Center #3, things settled down. I am back on patrol, and the Center administration is trying to sort things out. The confiscated device is being sent to Center #1 where we have electronics experts to figure out what it is. I have contacted the pilot responsible for the death can to try an get information on just why this odd combination of people ended up dumped in space. I have my hunches, but I would like to hear what she has to say.

Wall of Shame:

VladaRus 5 slavers, 6 slaver hounds, 21 former slaves, 10 Tourists.

I have two rescues to report, one of which contained non-slave passengers again. Two such occurrences so close together is somewhat rare. We are trying to get information from the pilots involved but have unsuccessful so far. The First rescue was of 87 former slaves. The second is listed below. We are interviewing those rescued to see if there is any connection between them or if they were all just paying passage with the pilot who dumped them. We are now more careful to check slavers for the inflicter device.

Wall of Shame

Scopey Gauntlet 87 lives
Monroe Ishikela 10 Marines, 3 Slavers, 4 Slaver Hounds, 38 former slaves

I almost missed this bit:



I don't much care for the militants, but I can give the hound a home. I maintain a good and proper slaver kennel at Agil IV, maybe you've heard of it? Lots of jumping room.

Notes
1/14
Deal was struck with Silas Vitalia on 1/14 at 20:55 hours. 400,000 slaves transferred now former slaves. IGS postings cease until 1/28 21:00 hours. Whatever else can be said of this woman, her motives, her beliefs; we say, “Thank you on behalf of 400,000 former slaves who are now free.” We don’t know if you ever intended this, but you are heroine to us and to these.

Weeks ago we purchased a Mammoth. We have wanted to outfit a vessel capable of transporting larger numbers of passengers and to fit it just for that puspose. Stripping 30% of its armor, adding observation decks, converting cargo to passenger births, restaurants, recreation areas, worship facilities, medical decks, meeting areas, bars and lounges, etc, we have created a sort of space liner. We chose the Mammoth for its ten break-away habitable segments for survival in case of attack. The engineering segment in the far stern can be separated and cleared before any explosion. Our designers have fitted this vessel with the maximum amount of open observation and large, spacious areas most of which are located in the front one third of the bow. We are Christening the Vessel "Freedom Liner." Even with expanded passenger space, we will need many, many trips to complete the transportation. Our goals is to make this trip something the newly freed men, women, boys, girls and families look forward to. Our route will be a safe one and the cruises we make, leisurely.

Received temporary facility use from Khanid Transport CEO, Edooba Agh. Being Ni-Kunni, he was a bit more amiable than if we would had to have dealt with the Khanid. Ni-Kunni seem to be just a bit more down to earth than some under the Amarr umbrella. We appreciate his flexibility at this time.

The Cottons and the Greenhands have worked their magic with the folks at Aliastra. Edaine, also having joined Aliastra since departing DSTON, has been working with them to arrange the conversion of a large portion of the facility in Ealur for our use as the largest Matriculation Center in our history. The Cottons and the Greenhands will administrate this Center with the help of the good folks at Aliastra.

Many passengers will also become part of our already established Centers due to the generous help of our Corporate sponsor. That location and corporation shall remain unnamed for security reasons and to protect those who have helped us so much. Few can appreciate how many people have taken such risks.

I have been in contact with Edaine Numenor and though he is no longer a part of DSTON and left the corporation before our agreement with Vitalia was made, he has agreed to the silence as if he were still a member of DSTON. We appreciate his solidarity with us during this time.

I received word today 1/14 that all operations of M-Center #2 have been transferred from Edaine Numenor to Ston Momaki per our agreement. No changes will be felt as the Elders run the day to day affairs of the Center. We will miss Edaine's regular patrols, though.

The first several thousand Matriculants who arrive at Ealur will be those with skills and expertise to set up and prepare community infrastructure for the thousands more who will arrive later. Aliastra is bringing in additional station personal to help with the project. The Cottons and Greenhands are overseeing the design and services of the new community. Aliastra is providing medical staff and equipment for the Center population. The station is large enough to handle many times more population than we are bringing. In some ways, this population will be a lighter burden than the typical Gallente civilian population. Eventually, there will be a training and employment service established by Aliastra for those who want to go that direction. We have offers from several others to assist as well.

Windows; we take them for granted. Many of the freed slaves have extensive space travel experience. You would be surprised how many of them who do have never look out a spacecraft window. They have spent their service in engine rooms or other less pleasant areas on board ships and never looked out at the heavens they were traveling through. Many have not even looked out a station window to see the ships coming and going and the moons and planet they orbit. The Freedom Liner has many windows, observation decks, windowed restaurants and bars, windowed meditation rooms, etc. Passengers have gasped and expressed sounds similar to crowds watching fireworks as were zip past planets and suns at warp. We orbited the Aliastra station before docking on the first journey so the passengers could see this mammoth beauty. The station has three massive units with a smaller fourth unit all connected with spoke-like structures. We sent a camera drone far out so the passengers could see the scale of the station compared to the Freedom Liner. Impressive, even to us who have seen it again and again. This is to say nothing of the view of Khanid Prime V against the nebula; spectacular!

1/15
Brought more passengers to Center #3. Ston had asked a favor while I was in the area. He had “acquired” certain pharmaceuticals that our research chemists have been looking to obtain. He asked that I use one of our cloaked vessels to retrieve it from one of our secure containers as these particular ‘medicines” are illegal. Our Medical Chemists are looking for a way to mute a combination of Frentix and Blue pill for patients in extreme, traumatic pain. These experimental samples will help this research along tremendously.

22-1/25 Mostly transport duties occupying my time. I made the mistake of thinking that there was intelligent life on the Summit Com Channel, instead I found only arrogant hubris. Expecting to find a minimum of intellectually potty trained people, I found only those who still need to clean the crap out of their intellectual diapers.

The discussion began with an attempt to free the word “supernatural” from the bonds of religion which have hijacked the word for millennia. My attempt to do so was met with ridicule. If anyone of any level of intelligence ever reads this, I hope you will appreciate my small attempt to explain what I had hoped to accomplish. It is sad that capsuleers generally are so very afraid of the humility that science requires of us, so much so that when faced with the unknown, they cry, “metaphysics, philosophy, theology…” No, science only flourishes when the unknown is embraced. What else drives science forward?

Several thousand years ago, it was discovered that the full blown relativistic theory of gravity and a fully developed quantum mechanics, point particle theory were unable to be unified as they stood. String theory was developed, augmenting the standard point particle theories that had dominated physics. It did a fair job of reconciling the two but to this day, no one knows if this “quantum gravitational string theory” is really “the” theory that describes reality in our universe. In spite of that, we daily depend on technologies that assume the existence of the unkown, including string particles (in particular, harmonic gravitons) and the multiple dimensions that String and M- mathematical theories demand.

Second point: We commonly accept that the universe is expanding and that this expansion is accelerating. The matter in this universe is not little bits and pieces flying apart as it were, but rather in strands or webs held together by gravity as they spread out. Two problems: 1. There is not enough energy in the universe to account for its accelerated expansion. 2. There is not enough matter/mass in the universe to account for the web like structure that is evident. Scientists, not theologians, not philosophers have postulated to things to account for this. 1. Dark energy: this “exists” to fuel the accelerating expansion of the universe. 2. Dark matter: this “exist’ to bind the matter of the universe together in its web-like structure.

Here is the amazing thing; the technologies that capsuleers use every day were developed using the assumption that these “dark” things really exist. In other words, we daily depend on the unknown for what we routinely use. Scientist use the word “dark” because they cannot observe or even detect either dark energy or dark matter, only the effect they have on what can be observed or detected. Right now these things are, practically speaking, outside of nature but not reality necessarily. They do not adhere to the laws of nature as they been defined and accepted. In fact, string theory postulates the possibility of alternate “natures.”

Finally, when space-time becomes infinitely curved as it does in a singularity and space itself curves inward faster than the speed of light, the laws of physics are suspended and both time and space as we know it cease to exist at that point. Scientists who are rather humbled by this reality have no problem acknowledging this “outside of nature” reality. However, try talking about it on The Summit and they will call you an idiot. The saddest part is that this sort of arrogant hubris comes from some that should know better.

1/26
This morning, I passed that sort of “wall.” The population left in Khanid Prime has dropped below 100,000. We are now past ¾ done with the transport. The Khanid station will become increasingly lonely and the Ealur station increasingly bustling. As it should be.

I have instituted a daily science quiz on the Summit just for fun. Today’s question was,”What do you call an object that is smaller than its Schwarzchild radius?” Each daily question will have something to do with technology or experiences common to capsuleers. Answer? A black hole of course. Questions will be repeated two or three times daily if I am around. Discussion today was fun.

1/27
It was recommended to me by one of the moderators of the Summit to ask Cardinal Graelyn before proceeding with the Quiz. He affirmed the plan and also suggested that I provide a “fact of the day” to go along with the science quiz. This I am happy to do.

I had a most delightful discussion after this morning’s quiz question with a very intelligent pilot. Today’s question was; “Black holes are black because what is collapsing faster than the speed of light?” I was immediately corrected by the always eminent supreme professor, doctor of Sansha wizardry, that collapse was a misleading term. It is frequently used within the Physics community, but there are those who love to nitpick. So let me rephrase, Black holes are black because what is curving inward toward the center of mass faster than the speed of light? Answer? Space-Time.

The fact of the day was, The smallest measurable unit in physics is the Planck unit and it measure, 1.616199(97)×10−35 meters.

We are beginning to see light at the end of the long tunnel of transporting 400,000 former slaves from Khanid Prime to Ealur. Bowman and May Cotton, and Halfred and Bell Greenhand along with the Aliastra people have been fantastic. Kudos also to Khanid transport for not once pressuring us regarding our continued presence on their station. We are grateful.

WALL OF SHAME
Below is the Wall of Shame for the last two weeks of rescue patrols. Since Manwe has been busy doing passenger transport the whole time, I have been in charge of rescue ops. Edaine also helped for a few patrols even though he is no longer a member of DSTON.

Loki137 44 former slaves, 5 slavers
Mass Metroi 48 lives
Schmied 6 slaves,
Malceth 24
dr korte 5 slavers, 7 hounds, 50 former slaves
Ashling Arcwright 50 lives
Vaner Frost 43 lives
Davide Primo 20 former Elite slaves
cuttlebug 10 lives
Kirynn Rank'sku 50 lives
WhighazWifBluntz Death 10 Former Elite slaves, 4 slaver, 8 hounds, 81 former slaves
Drakonovich 5 slaver, 1 hound, 39 former slaves
Countess Markievicz 20 lives