Bittersweet
03 May 2021User308550
Today I had the honor of being promoted to the rank of Admiral in the Federal Naval Auxiliary. The promotional ceremony came with the usual flair. Politicians and Businessmen of all stripes were present, with everyone vying for my attention as if the fresh rank insignia somehow made me more capable of performing my duties than before. I don't care much for these formalities, I'd rather be back on the front dealing with pirate infestations or burning the systems of empires in return for credits.""How many credits?"" - You might ask. Depends on the classification of the system. Systems with no activity cost 7 million, low activity is 15, moderate is 25, heavy is 50, that's per day, all rated based on our effectiveness in reducing influence of course. As you can imagine, this leads to some pretty serious income and it should come as no surprise that these ceremonies cut into my bottom line. This brings me to another point...
Why do so many factions ignore our diplomatic cables only to come scrambling when their home begins burning? We didn't even bother sending anything to Independent Pilot's Guild, and have since reversed our policy, and yet nothing has changed with these other groups. No one cares who we are until they find themselves on the other end of our 400mm cannons, then they try to reason with us or insult us as if we share their values or care about the same things. This organization is nomadic in nature, we live where we please and occupy the highest halls of Federation territory and power. Even if our token home were wiped off the map entirely, it would not change that systems we're paid to burn, or systems we've decided to burn for free, would burn until the job is done.
The only way to deal with someone that feels no fear, that has nothing to lose, is to be stronger, smarter, faster, but how can you be these things without knowing the odds? How can you be these things without knowing how many you're up against? How can you be these things without knowing what spy's exist in your midst or what actions brought you to our attention in the first place? Sure, there's peace now, but are we the only ones that do this sort of work? I think not.
I passed on the IPG contract in the end, somewhat out of a sense of pity, somewhat out of a sense of disgust. I disagree that they're a threat, and I'd gain no pleasure from removing them from their systems. It's tedious time consuming work after all. This other contract on the other hand is paying roughly 1 billion per day on average... Now that's what I call a worthy hunt. Shame it will end soon...