The Stormclaw Journal

[thisDerius]

This is the most fun I’ve had in years, and I didn’t even have to kill anyone.

I was on my way to Kusari when I stumbled upon something—or rather, someone—interesting in Galileo. An Oracle-tagged vessel. Yeah, the Oracles. The same cult that once worshipped the Nomads and tried to spread their so-called divine teachings across Sirius. That was a blast from the past.

But this one was different.

Her name was Diana Rivera. Not Ana, not DeeDee—no nicknames. Just Diana. She wasn’t alone either. Alongside her, in their own ship---a Falchion was a man named Kris and his companion android, traveling together in a single ship. Our conversation started off casual, but it quickly became something else—something I hadn’t expected. It had been a long time since I talked to an Oracle without gunfire following shortly after.

Then we were interrupted.

An Outcast.

Fiorella de Marco of the Golden Cross Cartel.

For a moment, I thought she might open fire on us immediately—Outcasts tend to have their fingers on the trigger, ready to shoot first and ask questions never. But she didn’t. She just… stood there, watching, calculating. That’s when I knew something was off. The Golden Cross isn't exactly known for restraint. I need to find a way to warn Liberty while staying in the shadows. Something about this doesn’t sit right with me.

Diana shared something personal with me—she avoids Outcasts for a reason. She was once their slave. So, instead of sticking around, she took me into Kusari, then through the Taus, and eventually into Bretonia. The conversation we had along the way was... intriguing. She believes the war against the Nomads is needless bloodshed, that it’s a fight that serves no real purpose beyond slaughter on both sides.

She thinks it should be stopped—not by erasing a species, but by finding another way.

I’ve heard this argument before, but hearing it from an Oracle made me pause. If it were as easy as she claimed, then why haven’t we found that path yet? People exploit the Nomads for power and profit, while others dedicate their lives to wiping them out completely. I belong to the latter group, and I’m not ashamed of it. But Diana wasn’t preaching. She wasn’t trying to convince me. She was just… talking. Open-minded, thoughtful, and surprisingly reasonable.

I’ll admit, I enjoyed the conversation.

Eventually, we met back up with Kris, and the three of us made our way to Leeds. I needed to pay my respects to the fallen—the ones who had no choice but to die in a war they didn’t ask for. It’s a ritual I keep. A pointless one, maybe, but one that lets me pretend, if only for a moment, that the dead can find peace. Because we, the living, never do.

Then, I had a crazy idea.

I convinced Kris and Diana to follow me into Earhart. Of course, the only way to get there was through Thuringia, a Rheinland black site system. They hesitated—who wouldn’t? But curiosity killed the cat, and in this case, two of them. So they followed me.

Everything was fine. Until we hit Omega-58.

Nav maps went offline. The system's interference made sure of that. Flying blind isn’t ideal, but I’ve been through that hellhole enough times to know my way around without instruments. Problem was, the pulsar blocked our direct route into Thuringia, meaning we had to take the inter-system jump hole instead. That part was easy. The hard part?

The Dark Matter Storm.

We barely made it out alive. Our ships held together, but only just. One wrong move and we’d have been atomized before we even knew what hit us.

Then came the Suhl Anomaly in Thuringia. That thing devours ships like they’re nothing. One miscalculation, one moment of hesitation, and you’re gone. But with careful planning and slow, steady flying, we made it through. Eventually, we found ourselves in Earhart.

That place never changes. No matter how many times I go there, it always finds a way to surprise me.

I was about to take Diana and Kris on a tour of the system when we ran into something unexpected—a Nomad Vagrant.

Psyche.

I’ve had my fair share of encounters with Nomads, and every time, it’s a gamble. I tried talking to it, testing the waters. It offered me something—knowledge. I declined, politely. My brain turning into liquid isn’t exactly on my to-do list.

The conversation was short-lived.

A Corsair fleet warped into the system, guns hot. They saw us and didn’t hesitate. We hightailed it out of there, barely escaping with our lives. We managed to reach Omicron Theta, then Omicron Gamma, and finally landed at Livadia.

And now, here I am. Sitting in my ship, typing this out before I head to the bar for that drink I owe Diana. After everything we went through today, I think we earned it.

Let’s just hope this is the end of today’s madness. And let’s hope that drink is a good one.