Scarlet Letters, 18 March YC 112

Personal Log, Svetlana Scarlet
Captain, Buzzard-Class Frigate Lonely Hunter
Location Unknown, Locus J110108

I have spent the last four days surveying the system I entered through the last wormhole, which has proven to be extremely intriguing, at least from an astronomical point of view.  The eighth planet is unusual in that its orbit is wildly out of alignment with the rest of the system, but despite being more than 18 AU from the system's primary, it appears to have liquid water and at least primitive life.


It seems likely that this is not an entirely natural course of events, but if this is the work of the Sleepers, they were far more advanced that anyone has even tried to suggest.  It's possible the planet is a captured body; that would account for its orbit, at least, but how the planet's surface can be warm enough to have liquid water this far out -- or why anyone would terraform a planet so far from the primary star -- is a puzzle that I don't think I have the astronomical knowledge to figure out.


Unfortunately, the rest of the system does not offer a great many clues.  From repeated intensive scans of the system, the Sleeper presence appears to be limited, what one would expect in a system at the edge of their sphere of influence.  Resources are in abundant supply, especially of the more common ores and fullerene gases, but I have only found a few outposts and what might have once been some sort of resource harvesting operation.  The Sleeper drones still patrolling these ruins made a closer inspection rather impossible for my ship, unfortunately.  I toyed with the thought of attempting to make some sort of contact, but every attempt to do so I have heard about has ended in violence.  While I have fought Sleeper drones before with great success, doing so in an unarmed and lightly shielded frigate will probably bring a swift end to my explorations.


I thought that perhaps a survey of the other planets in the system might turn up some information, but aside from an extremely geologically active "lava world," none of them offered anything particularly unusual.  The lava world did not appear to be the result of a massive kinetic impact; if it had, it's possible that it could have been related to the eighth planet's orbit.  Nor does the proto-garden world appear to have any sort of artificial structures; I detected no energy signatures or other signs of civilization, at least in the recent past.


Is it possible that this planet was terraformed by a race who lived here before the Sleepers?  I still don't understand why this world, and not one of the ones closer to the system's primary, where solar energy would be in a far more abundant supply.  Unfortunately, my knowledge of astronomy and planetology is somewhat limited, so I suspect I will not be able to unravel this mystery.  I've recorded my findings and will forward them on to Dr. Ikkola in Uchoshi the next time I can link with a comm buoy.

Speaking of that, I've been unable to find a suitable new wormhole to move on to yet; so far, the only wormholes I can find have led into high-security Federation space, which, to be sure, is not a place I think I would be particularly welcome.  Until I can find a more suitable way out, I appear to be stuck here.  I actually made contact with another pilot who maintains a space platform in the system today, and spoke to him for a bit.  While he was suspicious at me at first -- he seemed to think I had attacked his platform for some reason, which I assured him was quite impossible -- I think I managed to convince him I'm not a threat.  Still, his worry seems justified; it looks like a pilot from the Cry Havoc. alliance, who are rather notorious for their capital ship-busting exploits, has also taken up residence here.  Hopefully I'll be able to move on soon.


As for where I will head, I don't know.  It seems like wormhole space may be a bit limiting; I'm somewhat constrained in what I can actually do here, as Sleeper activity seems to be much higher and wormhole availability much lower than what I had originally anticipated.  Part of me longs to return to combat fleets, but my heart is not with what the Reserve is doing these days, and joining the State Protectorate -- I don't know.  I regret supporting the war effort of an incompetent madman like Heth as much as I did before, and cannot bring myself to do so again, even as the Federation draws ever closer to our borders.

I have considered going to Intaki to assist with Ishukone's efforts there; returning to the fold of my parent corporation alongside Mordu's Legion, who I spent so much time in 5ZXX-K with years ago, is a tempting thought, and I have long felt that the Intaki deserved better than what the Federation had given them after our secession.  Unfortunately, I fear that my presence would not help the pro-Intaki forces there; no doubt the FDU would take a decorated Caldari combat pilot assisting as a sign that they were nothing more than Caldari puppets.  It is unfortunate that the Federals have such a black and white view, but I cannot say I would feel differently in their place.  I do not want to damage the strides Ishukone is making in the system, nor do I want to encourage the kind of brutality the Federation showed our people during the last war.  Already I see them slipping towards that kind of unreserved malice, and I admit I am frightened -- not for myself, but for the people caught in the middle; I have no doubt Heth would retaliate in kind, and we would end up with barren and burned-out worlds the length of the border zone.

I am also considering joining Eve University; I've always had great respect for their work, and I think my experience might be of some service.  It is too soon to make a decision however, and if I do join another capsuleer organization, I want it to be for at least a respectable length of time, several months at the least.  We shall see.  For now, I need to find a safe path out of this wormhole to continue my explorations.