Belligerence
04 Jul 2019Tan Bin Phan Nguyen
It has been 3 days since my last entry. It may as well have been a week.On the first day, my colleagues and I established a new faction in the Nemehi system: Arbor Caelum Internal Defense. We immediately began supportive actions. Personally, I performed the humble service of tourist caddie. Trucking folks to nearby beacons and back, it didn't take long to get tiring.
On the second day, ACID came into an untenable dispute with the corporation Nemehi Bridge Services. Both factions began preparations for civil war. On both sides of the conflict, ships were brought out of mothball, last minute build tweaks were completed.
On the third day, the battle began.
We're at the end of that third day now and I'm sitting in my cabin looking up at the slowly turning Stephenson Orbital. Besides all of this action, I have been speaking with potential recruits, training new pilots, managing squadron rosters, considering potential coalitions and support pledges, and I can't get that damned cable to stay in the bezel above my canopy. It's been a bit hectic lately, let's just say that.
But because of all of the above, I also feel a sense of enormous pride yet at the same time I feel incredibly humbled. Two dozen commanders have now turned up to pledge their support and engagement, and all of them have surpassed the call of duty. When me and my handful of compatriots conceived of this venture we could never have expected a result like this. The fact that these people have heard the call and come to join us in our efforts is moving beyond words. I cannot thank them enough, though I do it as often as I can.
We started Arbor Caelum to foster a community of growth, support and betterment.
That dream began to grow with our membership, and now we are making our home in a system of our own.
As an aside, earlier Tot and I were cleaning up a freshly vacated combat zone outside Nemehi B 4 when a small wing of unaffiliated commanders drifted through. I saw the eagle first, piloted by a Harmless commander. Then the second eagle, also Harmless. Finally a Cobra MkIII came out of the black and hailed us. All three of them were dwarfed by my Gravitas Shortfall and Tot's K2. I welcomed them to Nemehi, already feeling my sense of ownership of the place. After long silence he returned my greeting and told us he was searching for pirates.
Pirates! In a combat zone!
Obviously he hasn't met very many pirates. Most pirates won't be caught dead fighting for a cause.
We kindly directed him to locate nearby resource extraction sites, and off they went.
I hope they managed to find a fish of the right size.
It's nearly time to assess our progress in this grim civil war. It's a dirty business and I'm not particularly fond of it. But in the interest of the growth and support infrastructure that my people will require, it is only right that ACID operate with a little more freedom within Nemehi. In order to create the degree of security I would like us to have, we have a long and arduous climb ahead of us, here.
Audeamus, we say to ourselves.