Week 7 YC118, "Thoughts on Thoughts"

#Recording initiated#

#Erun is lounging on the couch in his quarters, datapad in hand - The sounds of heavy industrial machinery can be heard echoing from the doorway behind him#

#I take it this means your Thanatos is done then sir?#

"Yup, should be about a week while final assembly and systems checks are completed. I'm working on building some crew dossiers for it at the moment. I may be able to control most of the ship systems from my pod, but periodic maintenance and repair still require the work of several hundred human hands."

#You speak as though you no longer count yourself among that number sir#

“Can I really, truthfully call myself human still Pali? Some capsuleers have a term for the normal folks, 'baseliner', as if we have somehow been elevated above them, mere mortals that they are. #Erun shakes his head# Such an attitude has always seemed, well, elitist. Only certain genetic, physical, and psychological traits in combination separate me from the hardworking folks behind me who build my ships and keep them spaceworthy. Of the trillions, trillions, of people living in this galaxy there are less than a million active capsuleers. As much as we like to hold ourselves apart from the masses, we are still beholden to the people who maintain our clones, ships, and the basic necessities of a space faring society."

#Been holding that in for a while sir?#

"Yeah, sorry. It's one if the things that just drives me crazy about a lot of my kind. We're often so oblivious to the multitudes that we take for granted every day. It's why I try to take a personal hand in the building of everything I have out here. I want the people who work for me to know that I'm still, you know, a person, and not some aloof demigod as many would style themselves."

#Isn't that dangerous though sir?#

"Oh sure, there's always the chance that some mishap or willful act of aggression will destroy my current body. I made quite a few enemies in the Amarr Empire in my time working for the Sisters. My stance against slavery stems both from my upbringing in the core of Federation, as well as my disgust that an entire people would use religion of all things to justify it. I freed slaves or bought contracts to do the same a lot while I was out there, and that tends to make one unpopular with the more conservative Holders. I don't worry as much as I used to though, I've created backup copies of my consciousness after each of my latest poddings. I'm already in a facility that I trust to handle my mind, I just have them record the pattern used to make my current clone and have it sent to secure offsite storage."

#Sir! That is-#

"Not technically illegal so long as no two copies of my mind ever exist simultaneously. Recent advances in battlefield cloning have made this very appealing to capsuleers like myself who aren't content to spend every waking moment ensconced within the relative safety of a pod. In the event that my current body is somehow terminated, the backup of my mind would be used to instantiate a new clone. Sure there would be some loss of continuity, but every clone soldier goes through the same process, repeatedly, of simply not being, for a period of time."

#You seem to have put a lot of thought into this sir#

"Sure I did! The universe has seemingly gifted me with functional immortality, who am I to waste such a thing! There are still so many mysteries to be observed in the reality we find ourselves in. Places to explore, sciences to discover, I mean we've yet to even encounter an intelligence of non-human origins. I want to be there when that happens! I want to keep learning, and experiencing, and growing as a conscientious being, would could possibly be more human than that!"

#I believe you've successfully disproved your initial argument sir#

"Huh, I suppose I have, sorry for the rambling Pali. I'd actually intended for today's post to just be a quick update on my progress."

#These recordings are for your benefit, not mine sir. If you intend to do as you say, these may be the only way for you to remember your formative years. Your admittedly large head is only capable of storing a few petabytes of material naturally, and cybernetic enhancements will only take you so much further#

"That's true Pali, I figure I'll need to store a certain amount of my memories every century or so. I think what I'd like to do is store entire libraries of knowledge and only access them when I need them. Like my knowledge of Talocan and Yan Jung technologies, how often do I use those on a day to day basis? I'd have those stored externally and only call them up when I needed them. So, I would know I still knew those things, I just wouldn't know what those things are, if that makes sense?"

#Sure thing sir. Did you want to end this soon? I'm reasonably certain that a few of your readers have gone glassy eyed at this point#

"Bah, streams of consciousness are always fun! But yeah, this went on for way longer than I intended, thanks Pali."

#Sure thing sir#

#Recording ended - Archiving#

Week 6 YC118, "Predatory Procurer"

#Recording initiated#

#Erun seems unable to hold himself still, he is rocking back and forth and humming while seemingly typing in midair#

#Have you been hitting the Caffpow again sir?#

"Nah, too much sugar, most of my clones have a pancreatic defect I've yet to sequence out. Really need to work on my bioengineering studies so I can what's wrong with my insulin production. But I digress! The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity, both for myself and the ILF as a whole, so I have a lot of material to cover."

"Let's start with what's happening in the ILF! The corp has recently adopted a more open stance towards recruiting, which has resulted in a bunch of new folks joining the cause. Welcome to all of our new Liberators! After much discussion, the ILF has also made the choice to operate under Not Blue Shoot It, or NBSI, rules of engagement. ILF pilots will continue to investigate possible targets before engaging, but obvious signs of aggression or aggressive tendencies will be responded to in kind. Pilots and organizations seeking positive standing with the ILF should contact the Suresha, Sakaane Eionell, or the Mahesha, Bataav. Or you could just, you know, join us!"

"As for me, well I've been keeping busy myself the last few weeks. Numen and I have gathered just about all the material I need to finish my Thanatos, it's mostly just the rarer minerals that I need now. This has led to me returning to mining in losec, which while considerably more dangerous, is where the Zydrine and Megacyte that are readily available. I've been accosted several times the last few days by what seem to be pirates new to the area. As a result my Procurer has racked up five kills. Here, I had my camera drones snap a shot of the hull after the latest bout. I think my station crew is having as much fun applying these chevrons as I do looking at them!"

#That grin is a bit feral sir#

"Oh, come on! This barge has persevered through a lot of dangerous work, I think I deserve to relish in it a little!"

#As you will sir#

"I have to say, I'm looking forward to getting back out there and hitting the belts some more. What I'm really hoping for though is a decent wormhole to Anoikis, my material acquisition would go so much faster if I had access to some Bistot or eve some Arkonor... Most of the ones I've been finding lately have all led to various regions of New Eden, interesting, but not terribly useful in most cases... Although, maybe if the next one leads into null I could take the Endurance out for some ninja mining... Yeah...and"

#I'm ending the recording as Erun has become lost in his own thoughts, not difficult I assure you all#

#Distantly# I heard that Pali!"

#Recording ended - Archiving#

The Third Year

#Recording initiated#

#You seem in a much better mood today sir?#

"It isn't nearly as solemn as the 9th was, I can celebrate with a bit more enthusiasm. Today happens to be the third anniversary of my joining the Intaki Liberation Front."

#Congratulations sir#

"Thanks Pali, a lot has happened in the last three years. I've made a lot of new friends in Placid and lost some old ones to combat fatigue. I've become proficient enough in my own combat efforts that I know when to pick and choose my fights, though lately I haven't been seeking them out as often as I once did, instead focusing more on my industrial efforts. Of which I have considerably ramped up since leaving hisec to live full time in lowsec. Several capital ships and hundreds of subcaps have been built with the materials I've gathered from the area. But I think I'm most proud of the fact that I've been honored with the position of Isha-Dravya, or Leader of Commerce. Ever since, I've been doing my level best to live up to the honor, helping out our new recruits whenever I can. Providing advice and guidance whenever I can, as well as material support and mining/combat boosts for mining fleets. And I've been brainstorming ideas for more things that I can do to help engage our newer members, I'll hopefully be coordinating with Leisel in the coming weeks as I work on fleshing out some of my more solid ideas."

#I'm sure she'll be ecstatic to have you nagging her after your contribution to the first mission she set up#

"I know right? I'm sure we can come up with some great ideas, and maybe even some long term or continual basis work for our more industrial minded corp members."

#Sigh - Sure sir#

"Oh and my time with the ILF has also set a personal milestone. As of today I have been a Liberator for 1095 days, officially longer than I've been with any other organization since I became a capsuleer. I plan on being with the ILF for as long as they'll have me, hopefully a long time to come, as I intend to stay useful to the cause in any way I can. To a productive future and and an independent Intaki!"

#Ending Recording - Archiving#

Remembering Reschard V

#Recording initiated#

#You seem sad today sir?#

"A bit yeah, do you have records on the Reschard V Incident Pali"

#One moment sir - I'm sorry sir#

"It's alright Pali, but I'll explain for those who don't know."

"Ten years ago today a great calamity took place on the once temperate Intaki colony of Reschard V. I had yet to even begin my training to become a capsuleer when I received the missive from my parents. It was only moments later that I started seeing the Scope and other news outlets relaying the devastation. The entire planet had been wracked by massive explosions, resulting in an extinction level event. A once peaceful and vibrant agricultural colony reduced to a hellishly flooded barren rock. Concord investigation would show an Avatar-Class Titan had been in the vicinity during the incident, and it's 'Judgment' Doomsday weapon the likely cause of the explosions. But no individual culprit has ever been found, or stepped forward to claim responsibility. The Sisters of Eve and others did their best to save who and what they could despite pirate interference, but in the end, only 1 in 50,000 was estimated to have survived. When rescue vessels were finally able to land later that year, due to the abatement of the massive storms covering the planet, less than 2,000 people were rescued from cave systems all over the planet." 

"I lost several distant cousins on Reschard V, though not any I had much contact with. Others we knew on station had lost whole branches of their family. We held a memorial on station the year after the incident, and I'm told every year after I left to train as a capsuleer, they would do the same. With a solemn pride I join the ILF in their own remembrance on the tenth anniversary of this senseless tragedy."

#Ending recording - Archiving#

Week 3 YC118 "Mistakes were made”

#Recording initiated#

“So the first week of the new year was a bit off for me, most of the corp was planetside spending time with family so I had a lot of time to myself. #Never a good thing sir# Shush, my own family has never been terribly religious, a simple chat with my mother to reassure her that I was still technically alive is usually enough. She of course laughed at my current lack of hair, having never liked when I grow anything longer than a few millimeters. The younger of my sisters finds my lack of eyebrows almost as amusing as you do Pali. I'll let you recount the loss of my latest clone, I'll be on the couch brainstorming for some new projects.

#With pleasure sir#

#Playback initiated#

“Um… Pali the wormhole is gone”

#Yes sir, it would seem to have collapsed since we passed through#

“But it was still stable when we came through! The gravitational sensors said it would last most of the day!”

#Current readings would seem to indicate that it was destabilized by the passage of a vessel several orders of magnitude larger than the Ishkur sir#

“... Well that sucks, now how will I get this Frostline loot home... Are you getting anything in the Local EM bands?”

#Local subspace communications are offline, Anoikis sir#

“You think anyone would be listening in system?”

#Unlikely sir, a vessel large enough to destabilize the wormhole we used would not wish to attract undue attention#

“I'm going to try anyway.”

#As you will sir - Several minutes pass with no reply#

#Erun gives a mental sigh# “Alright Pali, prepare to scuttle the ship.”

#Sir?#

“There's only one way to get my consciousness home now, I'll need to self destruct my pod. #Sir!# It's alright Pali, I've had to do it before, though I'm not ashamed to admit that it's a very unpleasant experience. You should be fine, your systems are tied into my Neocom, I'll reestablish contact once the new clone body is flashed with my memory patterns.”

#Very well sir - Capsule ejected - Self-destruct countdown initiated - Two minutes to pod breach#

“Still wish they hadn't made the countdown so long, two whole minutes, really? Anyone contemplating terminating their clone doesn't need that much time to reconsider do they?”

#Sir, is this really the best time for this discussion?#

“Probably not, but it passes the time. So glad I don't bring any crew with me when I go wormhole diving, just for this reason.” #10 seconds sir# “See you in a bit Pali!”

#Recording interrupted - Ending Playback#

#Erun is still on the couch fiddling with a datapad#

“So yeah that was fun. Is it sad that I actually have a folder dedicated to the implants I keep having to replace? #Yes# Meh, I call it being prepared. #If you say so sir# What’s worse is that I lost another Ishkur not even a few hours later. I found a Frostline site on the outskirts of Intaki that looked promising. Unfortunately local pirate Nuke Cave also became aware of the site when he entered system nearby. I’ll admit, my new Ishkur put up a good fight, but against Daredevil flown by an experienced pilot like Nuke, it just wasn’t enough. I was able to get my pod out though, and Nuke and I exchanged GF’s in local. I don’t harbor as much ill will towards Nuke as other pirates really, he’s always been more interested in testing his mettle against other pilots than just creating chaos and terror. Still doesn’t mean I enjoy getting my ships blown up though…”

#Did you have any other blunders to report sir?#

#Erun is glaring at Pali - Please don't throw the datapad at Pali# “I won't. And no, that’s all for now Pali, as always you’ll be the first to know.”

#Recording ended - Archiving#

Week 50 YC117 "Solar Winds, Cold Breezes"

#Recording initiated#

#Erun is waving for Pali to come closer#

"You know I couldn't say anything even if I wanted to Erun, contracts like the one Arkombine took are always covered by some very gnarly non-disclosure agreements. And anything else I told you would just be hearsay."

 #Pouting# "So nothing then Phalad? You can't give me anything?"

"Sorry bud, you'll just need to catch the Scope broadcasts like everyone else."

"Bah, alright then. Good luck out there sir."

"Ha! Don't need luck when I've got my Lai Dai Flux Repair Tool. Later Erun!"

 #Erun closes the comm connection with a sigh#

"Hey Pali, sorry for not recording anything last week, everything has been a little hectic since ORE was reclaimed from the Serpentis by a joint strike force of Mordu's and Arkombine mercenaries. They've since been folded into the new Upwell Consortium led by ORE's former owner Yani Sar Arteu. Now these folks are looking to help design some truly massive structures strictly for capsuleer use, so I assume they wanted some industrial backing for these projects."

#Erun has begun pacing#

"I've reached out to my contacts out in 4C-B7X, and so far they've all been rather pleased with the transition back to Yani's control. I'm pretty sure the Serpentis were far more interested in ORE's proprietary gas mining technology than anything else, and their theft of more ORE tech as they were evicted lends credence to that fact.Mordu's Command has released a statement that they have the locations of many of the Serpentis who made off with their assets, and have released those locations for capsuleers to find and destroy. They are being really cool about it too and letting us keep anything we find on the Serps as a reward. So far I've been able to recover, well, a few bottles of Ultra Quafe."

#And clothes sir#

"Yeah, I think the Suresha plans to gather up all the Serpentis uniforms we've been collecting and having them made into a solar sail. At least that's what she told us after the last batch she found. #Shrugs and grins# I'll be perfectly honest, I've been taking on these, Frostline Targets as they've been labelled, in my Procurers between mining sessions. Even got my first killmark applied on one of them the other night, that little chevron but a big old smile on my face."

#Frowns# "And then some of the fine folks from the maintenance crew decided it would be a good idea to take it out of dock to make sure the mark would stay applied under extreme conditions. You know what these geniuses did? They flew my Procurer into the corona of the Intaki star! Haven't seen them, or my ship, since!"

#About that sir#

"Did it actually re-emerge? I was catching intermittent signals from it before I went to bed that night, never enough to resolve a warpable signature though..."

#It was found sir yes - By a local pirate gang#

#Erun is scowling at Pali#

"You said that just a little too gleefully there bud. Anything you need to clear out of your cache?"

#No sir Pali is operating optimally - Unlike your Procurer#

"Meanie. I have shiny new toys to play with anyway! I managed to get some successful invention done over the last few days, which has let me put into production some of the new ORE ships and modules. The new Endurance Expedition Frigate is simply amazing, even more so when coupled with the newly developed ice mining turrets. I was able to mine more than 40 Thousand cubic meters of ice in about an hour, with very little interruption thanks to the Endurance's ability to move unimpeded while cloaked. Should make gathering the materials for my new project a lot easier..."

#You just like mining in dangerous situations sir - Your projects as you call them are just an excuse#

"Well sure they are! But that doesn't mean I can't build things after stuff has been blown up!"

#Pali is ending the recording now sir#

"You do that Pali, I have more projects #feral grin# to work on."

#Pali would sigh if it were possible - Ending recording and archiving#

Week 47 YC117 "Mining is Expensive"

#Recording initiated#

#Erun is softly grumbling to himself as he putters around his hangar#

#Pali told you that restricting your Procurer use to Wormhole mining and fleet ops would be more fiscally responsible#

#Noncommittal grunting noise#

#You have no one to blame but yourself for these losses sir#

"Gah! I know that but it still stings every time, you know, aside from the horrible burning and exploding bits. I wouldn't even be so mad if I had just been able to take one or two of them down with me. But no! I am attacked by a combat battlecruiser with a suspiciously powerful tank that cost Zilpin Rana her Vexor, and a fleet of no less than seven faction or T3 cruisers flown by our next door neighbors SNUFF."

#Erun throws his hands in the air and begins pacing in a circle#

"I'll probably take your advice and do my lowsec mining in Ventures to keep my overhead costs down. I don't mind losing the Procurers now and then as long as I can destroy pirate ships worth more than their production costs, but that just hasn't been happening the last few weeks."

"In more positive news, I have been practicing some advanced hauling techniques in simulations, so I should be able to start bulk movement of minerals again. I've been using my Viator almost exclusively for my hauling for a while now and I'm starting to get a good bit more material than I'd like built up in the hisec pocket."

#Erun scratches his beard a bit before grinning#

"I have also, been getting messages from new pilots, referrals from some of the locals in the Placid, asking for advice on how to mine safely in lowsec. I'll admit, I'm not the most risk averse miner in the cluster, but I've been recommending they stick to the Venture for it's versatility and relative cost. A well fit Venture can speed and signature tank the Serpentis in the area pretty well, and their drones are often more than enough to deal with the smaller vessels that patrol the belts."

#Erun rubs his eyes with the heels of his palms#

#Will that be all then sir? - You still have several hundred thousand cubic meters of materials to retrieve tonite#

"Yeah... It's nice to be able to move things in volume again though... Oh and can you update my Neocom portrait for me?

#Really sir? You look like a vagrant#

"I know! #Grinning# "I love looking a little scruffy in them, lends to the 'working man' image I try to live up to."

#As you wish sir - Pali is sure the the Suresha loves having her Commerce leader looking like he just walked in from the wilds"

#Erun blanches#

"You think I should be wearing like a suit or something?"

#Or something#

"Lemme go see if I have something nicer stashed in my quarters, I think I still have that jacket..."

#So sorry sir but Pali has already sent of your current portrait and now his photoreceptors seem to be on the fritz#

"On the fri... come here and take my picture again you little booger!"

#Pali evades Erun's flailing arms#

#Recording ended - Archiving#