Hail, Comrades,

Today my goal was simple: Acquire oil. However, the process was rather complex and intertwined four separate factions including our own.

Under orders to take the Social Credit, we disembarked from Omega-52 and made our way to Tau-23. The Orkney jump hole was located there and the best bet would be to head through Council space, not Royals. Once in Tau-23, we scoped out traders to recruit to our cause. A sizable force of Colonials interrogating a Blood Dragon was present.



Seeing as we are not hostile with them, I decided to let them go about their business and patiently wait for them to finish. The Dragon skedaddled and I was left to speak to the Colonials. As we dithered about, trying to come up with a plan to get the oil, a Council trade ship coasted by. Quick to act, the Colonials sprung forward and stopped it for me.



The captain was very polite, eager to help me with my task if we had compensated him for his time. The Colonials were willing to exchange ship components for the oil. Very helpful and noble of them. A fleet returned, escorting the trade ship.



As the trade agreements were settled and the area pacified, the Maquis escort contacted me and told them about the Maquis strife. I did not record the conversation, due to the fact that I can sum it up: They hate the king, they wish for weapons, and that they kill people to make a point. That's really dissuading, but I think they warrant our help. But that is not for me to decide.

What I gained during the en devour:

Commissar, I am proud to report that the Operation I was tasked with was completed with resounding success. The ship held up through our travels, and so did the men, each pulling double or even triple shifts until the job was completed. We have successfully docked in Omega 52 just now and I have assigned all crew twenty-four hours rest for their actions.

I have obtained the intelligence mandated, as well as 33 tonnes of Iridium incidentally obtained from the Kansas fields, along with 6 undamaged Nomad specimens and 2 Neural Nodes from their gunship-sized vessels all are in storage on the Kerimov and await transfer to other vessels. The Nomad biomatter was taken care of by myself personally after we moored, and you can rest assured that there is no danger to be had. Still, I will remain awake until it is transferred to the Velebit, due to the precautions we all must take.

I could write more, but I believe that I won't.
I will now upload the images and any notes I might have concerning the gates.





The first gate we made for was the anomaly within Omega 58. This, being one of the more dangerous legs of the trip, was elected to be made first due to the fact that we would only become more fatigued and thus less combat effective over time. Any Wilde patrols in the system were successfully evaded with relative ease. The Kerimov was oddly undisturbed during the time we scanned the gate and gravitational flux in the centre of its mass. Such data on a forming gate will prove invaluable to understand how the more... "mature," shall we say... gates work.






The second gates the Kerimov catalogued was the well-documented formation in Omicron Minor.
Scans were taken from both sides, and nothing out of the ordinary occured while doing so. Results were quite satisfactory, as both gates are dated but still functioning and open to spacecraft, providing a perfect environment in which to explore the structure and workings of the gate. The Order has already made decades of research into this structure, and they were quite glad to share -most- of their files on it with us.






Then we steered course into Omicron Delta and then to the infamous Omicron Iota. The men were on edge, but this leg of the journey, as certainly the most dangerous, had to be taken before we became any more worn. As soon as we transited the jumphole, we came under heavy fire from a stationary installation orbiting the gravity flux. We managed to move out of its range without sustaining any permanent damage. It should be noted that the structure projected a disruptor field that prevented use of cruise engines or inertial compensation.

Order agents informed us that we would find a gate to the north-north-east, near the gravity well of a planet. We were able to locate the signature of a nebula-cloaked planet in that general direction, and we immediately made for it. Transit across the system was uneventful, though I felt some definite... disturbing undercurrents in the mindwaves. We found the gate, protected by two similar disruption/weapons installations, and scanned it as we powered straight toward it, hoping the shields would hold long enough for us to move through the gate. They didn't, however, and we too some hull damage, which was repaired by technicians within the hour.
The next gate took us into a complete scanner blank... though I will note here (I said nothing to my crew) that the Nomad city was within just a few kilometres of us. We scanned and jumped through just as our jump systems were recharged, despite the curiosity of the crew as to where we were. I knew, and I did not want to compromise morale by telling them just how dangerous our location was. We were undetected, and I wished for it to remain that way...
This next gate did, in fact, not bring us back to our previous location, but linked to another system, designated as Omicron 99. Examinations of our data resolved that these gates operate in a one-way triangle, and you can reach any of the three locations in at most two jumps from any gate. We came under fire from a nearby Nomad Hive, but the shields held long enough for us to sufficiently catalogue the gate and retreat.






We moved north-west, acting on Order intelligence, to a jumphole. This took us to a similarly desolate system in the strange pink nebulae, known as Omicron 90. A jumphole in the south of the barren area brough us to Omicron Alpha. Due to the inherent danger of this system, we moved to passive sensor mode and ran "silent and deep," as they used to say. This procedure was followed through Tau 23, 29, Baffin, and Coronado - many potential enemies live in this very stretch of space, and everyone was on edge during the entire trip.

Ben Warner's information concerning the location of a supposedly defunct gate in Coronado led us right to it. He was correct in what he said, though a medical diagnosis of the body within the nearby wreck was impossible to make due to the time elapsed since the first discovery of the wreck at the gate. The gate was sucessfully scanned, and its "inactive" or "defucnt" status information will most interesting to compare to the more active gates. Perhaps we can actually learn just how these work.






The last gate on our records was.... quite well known to me.
I need say little else.

It is the formation in Kansas. We made it to the area while avoiding any of the "Neo Terran Front" members who are said to populate the system. Scans were made extensively of it and its partially destroyed structure. This is a unique gate in that we get to see part of its internal workings. I'm hoping that this, coupled with the Coronado gate, and the other working gates, might give us a good deal of insight as to the gates. I believe that it should, in any case. The rest is up to our researchers.






While in Omicron Minor, we encountered and terminated two Nomad "gunboat" codenamed class entities and six Nomad "assassin" codenamed entities. Complete Neural Nodes were harvested from the "gunboat" entities and six Nomads were recovered from the "assassin" entities. Various energy cysts that appear to be analogous to munitions for the Nomads were also recovered. I am eagerly awaiting the research into these - perhaps we can devise an energy-based "missile" on the principles of these weapons, or form effective countermeasures against them.

The Operation was a resounding success, I am proud to report.
Command of the Kerimov has been relinquished, and research materials await dissemination to their appropriate end holders. I will watch over the Nomad material until it reaches the Velebit.

Hail, Comrades,

Operation OIL'S WELL is turning out beautifully. Fearing that my assignment would be arduous and rather violent, I sought out a very handy acquaintance to assist me.



Comrade Luka, or Nate for short, assisted in a rather beneficial and surprising way. He had not yet been awarded an unscrupulous reputation in Bretonia, allowing him free-range of almost any station as long as he behaved. During idle chatter, he informed me that he was able to go about like this.

Almost instantly, I ordered him to fetch me a scientist by any means, preferably in a gentle non frisking manner. After a few minutes he quickly returned, a scientist sitting in his cargo hold with all his equipment necessary for his work.



The Credit has a space cleared for Doctor Finneus Blog. He has a doctorate in all forms of geological stuff that I have no clue about, so that must make him an expert if I have no clue what he's talking about, yes?



He is now working aboard the Credit as we run him home. Where exactly do you want him dropped off?