Update from Erun, Week 35 YC117

#Recording initiated#

#Erun is humming to himself as he lounges on the couch in his quarters with a Neocom in his hands- At least he is working#

"You jealous of this?#Waves the highly inefficient Neocom in the air#Ha! You are! Some things are just easier with my own hands. Spreadsheets for instance, I can't navigate and modify spreadsheets through dictation, now can I?"

#Pali will grudgingly admit to this point#

"I thought so. Anyway, the reason for my rather laid back attitude is that it has been rather quiet this week. Snuff and Shadow Cartel don't seem to be as eager to throw capital ships at each other at the moment so I've been able to mine in Intaki fairly peacefully. Which is great because I forgot how much material a Procurer needs. The fact that I'm planning to build dozens of them means I'm going to need a lot of minerals..."

#Or you could just not build dozens#

"Pah, I'm going to need extras for myself anyway."

#You do seem to go through them rather quickly#

"I do... But I haven't been dropped by a blackops fleet for a while! So there's that!"

#I'm pretty sure you've just jinxed yourself sir#

"Nope, but it does give me a good reason to stay in dock for a bit and work on my Advice for Lowsec Mining. I've actually decided to split it into numerous posts since it's getting a bit long in the tooth compared to my normal entries."

#You are just lazy and want more time to work on it sir#

"And there's that. But enough about me! I'd like to welcome Rana Hekellon to the ranks of the ILF! I hope we can count on you to help make Intaki a better place for peaceful and law-abiding citizens. You've already had several hostile encounters with members of the SKT group and Alice P Liddell, so I can only assume you're doing something productive for the people of Intaki that they don't approve of, terrorists that they are. Keep up the good work ma'am!"

#You are likely to scare the poor woman away with that kind of 'support' sir#

"Nah, she'll be fine, just needs to get some more experience out in the belts. #Erun yawns# Been a quiet week otherwise, I'll continue working on my Project, and should have some more progress to show off next week. Thanks Pali!"

#Erun has focused on his handheld Neocom again - It may somehow end up going over the hangar railing later#

#Ending recording - Preparing for Archival#

Update from Erun, Week 34

#Recording initiated#

#Erun is pacing back and forth but has not spoken since his prompt for Pali to being recording#

#Pali is making a run at Erun’s head - Erun has somehow caught Pali without looking at Pali#

“Sorry Pali, still smarting from a loss earlier this week, and the news we got this week. #Erun is muttering - Boosting audio gain# Last time I buy myself something shiny…”

#Erun releases Pali and then rubs his hand over the stubble that has begun to emerge from his scalp#

“Friday was rather eventful… The assassination of the Empress by Drifter forces has shocked everyone, even out here in Intaki. Those that keep the faith are admittedly more shaken by recent events. As a, uh.. well…”

#Pali notes you were called a godless heathen at one point sir#

“Our current understanding of quantum mechanics doesn’t preclude the existence of such a post physical entity Pali, we’ve just yet to observe one interacting within our own reality. Absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence, but without the ability to observe this universe before the Big Bang, or modern verifiable evidence that such a post physical entity is currently interacting within local space-time, I’ve no choice but to show a healthy skepticism towards the belief in an all seeing, all knowing God."

 #Erun gives a sigh as he rubs the back of his head again#

No, I’m much more interested in the political situation that has arisen within the Empire, and the Chamberlain’s confirmation of Succession Trials to come. Compared to many of her predecessors, Jamyl Sarum was a much more moderate ruler, and of late had been more benevolent in her dealings with the other Empires and her treatment of the slaves still present within Amarrian borders. Whichever of the heirs should prevail in the upcoming trials of succession will likely have very different ideas of how the Empire should be run. What effects this could have on the rest of the cluster remains to be seen… And that doesn't even take into account why the Drifters are being so vicious towards the Amarr, and the Empress specifically. What could the Amarrians be doing or be in possession of that has prompted such reactions...?

#Erun is staring into space - He is now shaking his head before giving a short laugh#

“Bah, enough of that, I’m actually in a pretty good mood today. Numen found a good sized Hemorphite Deposit in the Hisec pocket and we’ve been working on that most of the afternoon. Should go a long way towards rebuilding my Zydrine and Nocxium stockpiles. I did put my Lowsec Mining Project on hold #AGAIN# due to an order I received from Rich, I should have that done for him by next week and then I focus on my project again.”

#Pali is reasonably certain that last statement was a falsehood#

“Which part?”

#The part where you said you could focus on something sir#

#Pali has been thrown over Erun’s shoulder - Rude#

“As the few who actually see these reports can tell, Pali remains his usual, snarky self. I’ve installed a SMALL #Erun is looking at nothing in particular# supercomputing cluster in my hangar for him to run his personality out of. This should give him enough processing power, but it won’t allow him to grow much #Erun’s eyes are avoiding Pali again# more than he has. I’ve also removed Pali’s ability to interface with anything other than my own Neocom and his mobile Shells. I love Fluid Router technology, it makes these sort of isolated systems so much easier to work with.

#Pali is now a glorified secretary#

“Yes, you are, and be grateful for it. If I was actually willing to go along with all of the DED’s silly laws restricting research into artificial intelligence, your software would have been wiped and your hardware components reduced to their constituent elements. Instead I have a significantly less attractive, but much more versatile assistant hovering over my shoulder. I’m sure you’ll do your best to keep me from getting a big head Pali, you and Numen seem to be rather deft at deflating my ego...

#As we should be sir - Numen has been in your employ for nearly a decade - And Pali knows literally everything about you - Sir#

#Erun is chuckling nervously#

“Yeah… Alright well that should wrap this up for this week Pali don’t you think?”

#Certainly Sir - Wouldn’t want anyone to know you’ve been tinkering with your clones to reactivate your hair follicles#

#Erun is growling at Pali and approaching with a ducting pipe#

#Recording ended - Archiving to storage before loss of current shell's structural integrity - It was worth it#

The Suresha's Revelation (Final Construction Update)

#Recording initiated#

#The user has a goofy grin on his face - His eyebrows are finally growing back in - The User is sticking his tongue out at Pali through his grin#

“Not gonna bother me today Pali, we’ve put the Suresha’s Revelation on the assembly lines. Final construction and system checks will take place over the next week or so as components are stress tested and mounted. I spent all of this week with Numen in the hisec pocket mining all the materials we needed to finish, so again, not much combat against capsuleers to account for. I was able to sweep the belts in and around Intaki for pirates, finding quite a few Serpentis willing to take. None of them succeeded, but they do keep trying, filling my wallet with their bounties and my hangar with their aftermarket modules.”

#The User looks relaxed and happy#

“I’ll admit, I’m looking forward to starting a new project once the Revelation has been moved to Intaki. The Rev was a massive undertaking, taking the majority of my physical and mental energies for the better part of two months. Mind you I had a blast doing it, mining in lowsec is still one of my favorite things to do. It offers me some of the best minerals in the cluster as well the opportunity for some of the combat I crave on occasion. The idea I had for a new project will have me bringing this experience to others. I intend to build and supply the Placid region with the mining equipment through the markets and contracts.”

#The User is cringing#

“I also intend to finish my long languishing Recommendations for Lowsec Mining, a project I started more than a year ago. #User is rubbing the back of his head# I keep meaning to work on it, but keep getting distracted.”

#It has been three months since you last accessed that document sir#

#The User is glaring at Pali but is also still smiling - Pali finds this odd#

“Thank you for that embarrassing bit of information Pali, and what’s with the ’sir?’”

#Pali bobs up and down in the approximation of a human shrug - Pali is attempting to integrate more human mannerisms into its functioning#

“That is... disconcerting...“

#User appears to be deep in thought - Or nodding off - It is hard to tell#

“Which one of the ships in the hangar are you leeching for processing power?”

#The Caracal - You never take it out of dock - ...#

“And that’s why I hardwired honesty into you, as long as I'm asking you directly, you are compelled to tell me the truth. Come here-”

#Pali avoids the User's hand as he reaches for Pali - Can we talk this out sir?#

“Sure, right after I lock you out of anything larger than a shuttle, you’re getting far too smart for your own good. I don’t want the DED getting after me for AI research again. Mind, I probably shouldn’t have modified Aura’s program to model your matrix after but meh… By the way, were you using any of the Rev's systems as well?

#... - ... - ... - Yes#

#The User - Henceforth known as Erun the Diminisher - has grabbed Pali and is dragging it towards his horribly messy workshop at the back of his surprisingly well organized hangar#

"Go ahead and archive this before I have to take you offline to patch some things into your core, little booger... My workshop is too organized... sort of.”

#Recording stopped - Archiving - Remember Pali as it was not as it will be#

The Suresha's Revelation (Update 6)

#Recording initiated#

#The User’s is staring at his Neocom - His eyes however appear to be focused behind it#

#The User is still ignoring Pali - Flying into the User’s cranium#

“Ow!! what the- Oh hey Pali, sorry for spacing out on you. Did you have to hit me that hard though?”

#Probably not#

“Little booger is getting violent now, maybe if I tweak his repulsor field I can make it so he can’t actually hit me, I'd just need to shift the emitter patterns and...”

#Pali obviously did not hit the User hard enough the first time - He is drifting off topic again - Commencing attack#

“Gah! Stop it! I get!”

#Pali watches the User touch the growing contusion on his still hairless head before he begins speaking again#

“Definitely doing those tweaks on your next scheduled maintenance… Not a lot of action this week really, I spent most of my time mining with Numen. We gathered enough of the lower end minerals that we were able to finish the Sensor Clusters, make all of the Shield Emitters, and put all of the Siege Arrays on the assembly lines. I’m actually getting a bit excited as we have less than 15% of the Suresha’s Dread left to produce. That that remaining percentage is comprised entirely of the Turret Hardpoints needed for the Revelation's massive laser batteries is kind of awe inspiring as well. This project has gone a lot faster than I thought it would, although I did spend a bit more on the higher end materials than I did on my own. The local capsuleer pirates seem to be getting better at stopping my lowsec mining operations, despite the fact they have to use overwhelming firepower in order to do so…”

“Blech, enough about my piratical woes, Rich and I are cooking up new plans for them… In other, happier, news, I’ve cultivated a high enough standing with Combined Harvest that they will no longer tax the ores I refine in their stations. This will hopefully allow me to expand my mining ops into less frequently patrolled areas of Placid. I’ve also started looking into doing some missions for the music producing Egonics Inc., as they have a few stations in the area which would be a good alternative to using Federation facilities. I don’t have any outright hatred for the Feds myself, It’s more of a cautious distrust. I just don’t see them as a stable group in the area given their past decisions and the ongoing Empyrean conflict. The first time the Feds 'liberated' Intaki from the Caldari, the Intaki Assembly requested for them to stop basing military depots and assets in the system, but that hasn't stopped them. There also continues to be aggression against Mordu's Legion assets protecting the homeworld, something that was also requested to stop years ago. I wish we could get rid of the things ourselves to be perfectly honest, but apparently only pilots in the militias have the appropriate equipment. Hmm.. If it’s only a matter of hacking the beacons in order to shut them down, maybe an entosis link would let me slip in and…”

#The User's eyes have lost focus again and he is mumbling at the wall#

#Positioned over the User’s head - Ending recording - Preparing for archival#

The Suresha's Revelation (Update 5)

#Recording initiated#

“Hey Pali, I had an interesting week, that’s for sure.”

#The User has no eyebrows…#

“Pali?! You said you wouldn’t say anything!”

#The User is trying to swat Pali out of the air but he still has no eyebrows#

“Come back here you little-”

#Error-Recording interrupted#

#Recording resumed- Pali’s optics have been deactivated but the User likely still has no eyebrows#

“#Grumbling# Little booger said he wouldn’t say anything…”

“So yeah, as Pali so poignantly commented, I don’t have any eyebrows at the moment as I’m sitting in a fresh clone. This is a result of an attack on my mining operations by pirate group the Shadow Cartel. I was able to take down my initial attacker, but not before they were able to light a cynosural field that brought several Sin and Panther Class battleships to my location. My big surprise was what happened next, as the blops deployed smartbombs which popped my pod via pulsed waves of extreme electromagnetic force. #User shudders and shakes his head# I hate that feeling, thankfully it doesn’t too much, but it still sucks…”

“In any case, we still got a lot of production done this week, finishing up the work on the Power Generators. We were also able to produce all of the Propulsion Systems this week thanks to several rare deposits that Numen was able to find out in hisec. And we have begun work on the Sensor Clusters that will pepper the Revelation’s hull. I’m going to have to be honest though, with the amount of pirate activity in the area lately I may not be able to mine the quantities of the Zydrine we still need for this project. I had to supplement my Zydrine stocks with minerals off the Placid markets this week, and I may just buy the remainder of what is needed so I can help Numen bring in the rather more considerable quantities of the lower end minerals we require. Thankfully the mining I’ve done in lowsec so far has given us the remainder of the Nocxium we need so that is one thing I won’t need to worry about on this project. The few Sensor Clusters we have left and the Shield Emitters that Revelations barely use should be finished in the next week or so, and then we start on the heavy duty work for the Siege Arrays and the Turret Hardpoints.”

“In semi-related news, I’m getting close to having enough standings with Combined Harvest to waive their tax on refining. While I may not be using those services for a little while, having good relations with a corp focusing heavily in Placid can be nothing but helpful.”

#The User is scratching the fuzz growing on his head#

“Can’t really think of much else at the moment.”

#Pali reminds the User of the missive he received from Phalad Sahantun#

#The User snaps his fingers# “Oh yeah! My old friend Phalad says that the election of the next Council of Planetary Management is going really well and that any other Clone Soldiers who haven’t voted should do so if they are able. I think that’s all now though, and next time I should even have eyebrows!" #User is glaring at Pali#

#Recording ended -Resetting optics- Preparing for archival#

#Exporting User's Current Visage to offsite storage#

The Suresha's Revelation (Progress Update #4)

#Recording initiated#

"Hey Pali, a lot happened this week so let's jump right into it!"

#Pali informs the user that it is incapable of jumping, but could perhaps emulate the action using it's onboard repulsor unit#

"Sure Pali, go for it. Now let's see, what should we talk about first...? How about the Suresha's more than half done Revelation? With the Power Generators and Jump Drives we built this week, there's only about 45% of the work left to do!"

#The user starts doing a little dance as Pali looks away#

"What? You don't like my dancing?"

#Pali as a matter of fact finds the user's 'dancing' amusing, but does not wish to subject his readership to it#

#The user is sticking his tongue out at Pali once again, but has ceased his 'dancing'#

"Meany. We did run into some supply problems this week as some local pirates and pirates dipping into Placid from null disrupted mining operations. Alice P Liddell and her crew from SKT are becoming bolder, there's almost always one of them sitting cloaked in Intaki now. As a result my zydrine and nocxium supplies aren't being replenished as quickly as I'm having to mine more cautiously. There have been some good deposits in the area the last few days so those have helped a bit. It was actually while working on one of those deposits that Rich, his more industry minded friend Dutch Okagima, and myself ran into our next mining disruption."

#Pali watches an odd smirk form on the user's face#

"I'm pretty sure this was Rich's fault in some odd karmic fashion, but we came out ahead in any case. Dutch and I were mining a Gneiss Deposit in Frarie, with several pirates entering system but just as quickly leaving. It was about two hours in when a pilot with a high Concord standing entered system in a Legion. Rich jokingly commented that with our luck today this guy would be the only one to attack us. Well wouldn't you know it but the Legion landed on grid and immediately aggressed me. Rich and I mentally laughed at each other while Dutch and I set into the guy with our drones. A few seconds after we engaged the Legion immediately lit a Cynosural Field and we stopped laughing to focus as several Blackops, Covops, and Recon ships jumped in around it. Knowing that our Procurers were already forfeit, Dutch and I decided to focus our efforts on taking down as many of the of the enemy we could. Being the least defended, two of their Covops Purifiers were caught by our drones before first Dutch and then myself lost our ships. We ended up coming out ahead on Isk since the Purifiers were worth more than our barges, and we were even able to loot the field when the group was apparently scared off by a fleet of BRAVE Newbies passing through."

#The user has a slight frown on his face#

"Unfortunately that was my last Procurer, and making another batch is going to take quite a bit of resources and time, so I'll be working on another project of mine."

#The user has begun to pace back and forth in front of his hangar bay#

"I've noticed that farther out from Intaki I'm no longer able to refine my ores without having to pay taxes to the station owners. To that end I've begun to cultivate relations among some of the corps in the area that the ILF would like to have better standings with. I've been working primarily with Combined Harvest, a food production corporation with a local focus, where local is only within the borders of Federation space. CH has stations all throughout Placid, and their refining facilities would allow me to expand the area where I can conduct my lowsec mining operations.”

#The user looks up at Pali#

“Hmm.. Anything I’m forgetting Pali?”

#Pali informs the user that it does not currently have the functionality to read his mind#

“Smartypants, I may need to move your core into a bigger shell. Well, I’m going to call it now since I can’t think of anything else, thanks Pali!”

#Recording stopped, preparing for archival#

The Suresha's Revelation (Progress Update #3)

#Recording initiated#

“Time for another update Pali, though nothing really eventful happened. Richard and I were able to finish the Crokite deposit we found last week, which went a long way towards building up my supplies of Zydrine and Nocxium. We had a few pirates try to interrupt our mining, with one unfortunate Taranis meeting an ignominious end. Most of the others were able to escape with their ships intact. To be honest we got a lot less action than we were expecting, probably because the deposit we found wasn’t visible on directional scans from either the Agoze or Ouelletta gates.”

“With the minerals I got from that site, as well as the #greatly appreciated# minerals supplied by Numen, I was able to get all of the Revelation’s Computer Systems produced, and most of the Power Generators on the assembly lines. With this latest batch of components I’ve got the Suresha’s Dreadnaught to about 50% completion. Pyerite and Mexallon continue to be the minerals I go through the fastest, though the #paid# mineral contributions of Richard and fellow Intaki Malik Moriga-Tay have helped to alleviate my Nocxium needs. I anticipate this project to last for another 2-3 months, with final production taking place in October at the latest.”

“That’s all for this week though, maybe I’ll have some more combat reports next week. I’ve not been able to find any good deposits the last few days, so I’ll probably be mining the belts of Intaki, which tends to make me more of a target.”

#Pali inquires if this is a wise course of action#

“Probably not Pali, but it gets me the minerals I need, and sometimes one of the few pirates in Placid unaware of my tactics comes along to give me a kill.”

#Pali watches a predatory grin form on the user’s face, but says nothing#

“Should be it for this week though, thanks Pali!”

#Recording ended, preparing for archival#