Blueprints acquired, back to the Bubble
20 Feb 2023Ember Lacson
Spent the last couple days in Synuefe EU-Q c21-10 scavenging for Guardian synthesis materials and blueprints. I now have eleven blueprints and a full stock of all Guardian mats, so it's off to Mbooni for those shard cannons. By the way, if you ever wondered how to cram two people into a DBX, well, one of them has to ride in the SRV. If you do this with a Scarab, one of you has to hoof it when you get planetside. But with a Scorpion, you have cozy seating for both people. Is it safe? Of course. The SRV bay is sealed and has enough of an atmosphere, and you have to get into the seat before you deploy anyway, so why not? It's not comfortable, but it means you get to take your girlfriend Sentinel hunting in a ship that doesn't have a copilot seat. We would have taken my Cobra, but the only utility mounts are ventral. You need dorsal mounts if you want to use point defense turrets. They're optional, but they make your life a million times easier. Now, there are two—and only two—small size ships that have both two seats in the cockpit and at least one dorsal utility mount: the Vulture and the Keelback. We could have taken my Vulture, but we would have had to reoutfit, and Nicole understood why I didn't want to do that. (It's all I feel like I've been doing for the past week.) And I don't own a Keelback, only a mothballed Type-6 that I haven't gotten around to selling. It was when I was trying to figure out if I had enough room for my Phantom to land close that Nicole suggested riding in the gunner seat of the SRV, so I thought it over for a moment and agreed that it was a good idea.
This was a really good thing for her to do. She's been dealing with a lot recently—family drama, tough times in our relationship, trepidation regarding her return to Dromi, anxiety about the war, and so on. And all those health issues she's been dealing with? They were because of all that stress. She needed to get behind the controls. She needed to blow some shit up for once instead of just riding around with me. I haven't seen her this happy in years. She was laughing. Cheering. Talking smack. My God, I love this woman. We rode around the site again and again, waiting for the underground fabricators to rebuild the Sentinels, then repeating the process. The only thing that stopped us was our eyes glazing over from fatigue. And Then we went back the next day for more. We ended up doing ten runs in all, and we both wanted more, but we agreed it was time to head back after that. We both slept like babies, and this morning, the test results she's been waiting for came in, and everything is good. It's amazing how physical and mental health are connected.
The current plan is for her to leave for Dromi on March 1st. That's one week from this Friday. I'll miss her something awful, but she needs this. I see that now more than ever. I could tell her to go now, but she needs to do this on her terms. If it takes her until March to be ready, then that's that.
My agenda for the next week is to get more AX combat in. I'll see if I can find a place where there are a lot of other CMDRs fighting instead of trying to go it alone with the local contract pilots. I also want to get a few pax runs in with my Python, and maybe grab some escape pods while I'm at it. Then, the last thing Nicole said she wants to do with me before she leaves is she wants to ride along on a solo Cyclops kill. We'll need to head out to Asterope to hunt the "normal" way, but if I can swing this, it means I'll finally be able to submit for my first rank in the AXI. When I asked her what would happen if I couldn't, she gave me a little peck on the cheek and said she would stay until I could, because she wouldn't miss that party for the world. So, as a present, I bought her an Imperial Eagle for her to play with in the meantime. She gets to outfit it however she wants, and I'll take her wherever she wants to hunt.
I'm really excited to see her start. She's going through a lot of the same feelings I did when I first started out. I'd spent my entire life protected aboard my home station, and all the CMDRs who had had negative experiences got to my head. Setting out on that journey was literally the best thing I've ever done for myself. And it's going to be good for her as well.
So, fellow CMDRs, take this as a call to action. There is nothing wrong with taking some time to change your scenery. Do something different. Blow off some steam. Wade in different waters. Taking care of your own mental health in this crisis is as important as keeping a sword sharp, a gun clean, and your ship integrity at 100%. The war will be there when you get back. There are dozens of CMDRs here to take up the slack. Let's take care of each other.
o7