Journal Entry No. 10

10/28/YC116

I walked in to the maid cafe Woof Woof Paradise. Despite it being full of many young and attractive females, even some lolis, the restaurant was generally not bustling with business. It made enough to survive and make some profit, but not much more. This was simply due to the fact that most capsuleers would rather have exotic dancers or prostitutes in their cargohold, and would not like to go to a cafe that was not also a brothel.
"Hello, and welcome to Woof Woof Paradise, Master! I am Asaji-wan, I will be your waitress for this evening!" Asaji bowed to me and showed me to a table. "I'll give you a moment to look at the menu desu-wan!" She said and left.
I was slightly disappointed I did not get my favorite maid this time, Isuzu-wan. However, as she was the most popular waitress, each customer did not get her very often.
I waited for a moment for my bud Captain Lockheed to show up. I'd hoped that he'd show up without a fight, but I was wrong. Apparently some things are never meant to be. I hear a distant crash, some yelling, and then of course one would assume a fight ensued.
A moment later, it stops, and Captain walks into Woof Woof Paradise proudly with new bruises on him. He sits down and picks up the menu. I sternly ask him, "Did you get into another fight?"
He nonchalantly replies without putting down his menu, "What's it to you? They were wealthy businessmen trying to scam newbies!"
"Dammit, Captain, you can't keep getting into fights like this! You're inside a station, if you die here, you die permanently!"
"Hey, my entire memories and personalities 6.28 TB or so I believe, have already been archived on my pod. Even if I were to die, they could just revive me."
"That only happens when you die inside the pod! You can actually die outside of it!"
"Well what the hell am I supposed to do, just let them scam those innocent newcomers?"
I shook my head. "Ugh, just look, Captain. If you die, it's game over. There's no coming back. Sometimes you just have to grit your teeth and move on."
Captain began to say something, but was interrupted by Asaji trotting up to our table. "May I take your order-wan?" She asked.
I closed my menu and handed it to her. "Yes, I'll just have a cup of coffee."
Captain leaned back in his chair, supporting his head with his hands. "I'll have a Triple Deluxe Spicy Jalapeno Whopper along with some Cola-Coke." Asaji nodded, wrote the order down on her notepad, and left.
"Anyways, what'd you call me here for, anyways?"
"Well, I'd like to switch careers. I'd like to become a missioner." I decided to abstain the fact as to why I was doing so.
"Alright, sounds great. Just get your skills up a bit and I'll take you along on some missions; I'd suggest Sisters of Eve, as their Loyalty Point store is pretty great along with the missions themselves and location."
Isuzu-wan trotted up to our table and handed Captain his meal. "Here is your Howler Deluxe-wan!" She then turned to me and puffed up her cheeks. "Takashiiii!! What happened to your promise to visit at least once a week-wan?"
"A-ah, I was stuck in wormhole space trying to sell an unoccupied wormhole."
"Well, did it sell-wan?"
"Ah... well... I ditched it. It was taking too long to sell. I left it to visit you."
"No way... You mean you didn't learn the secret art of the Takmahl cyber kick?"
I could barely keep up with Isuzu-wan's fantasies. "What happened to the other maid, Asaji-wan?"
"What, you mean you don't like me-wan?" Isuzu-wan began to cry.
"N-no, I didn't mean it like that!"
"Haha, got ya!" Isuzu-wan stopped crying and laughed. "I just mastered this technique! I call it the 'Yurt' Mobile Tear Generator-wan, capable of making even the bravest man's willpower fall in an instant-wan! Anyways, here is your coffee-wan. I better go before that Doberman yells at me for slacking off-desu!" She scuttled off elsewhere.
Captain frowned. "Do you and... Isuzu have a thing going or something?"
I laughed. "Nah, she fantasizes like that to all her customers. That's why she's everyone's favorite maid. I'm a regular enough that she will try to say hi even if she isn't my waitress for the evening."
"Ah. Anyways, if you're that stuck on disobeying the empires, I suggest you do missions for Sisters of Eve here in highsec. Then once you have decent skills, you can move down to Null Sec and do missions for the Sisters, among other pirate factions."
"Right on. Thanks again, Captain."
Captain finished chewing a bite of his Howler burger, and said with a slightly full mouth, "Anytime, bro. I figure you won't get into a ship capable of Level 4's for a while, but when you do, or even a good Level 3 ship, then maybe we could fleet up sometime and do some missions together, eh?"
I grinned. "Sounds like a plan."

Journal Entry No. 9

10/10/YC116

Wow, it's been too long since I've written here in my Captain's Log.

Nearly a month has passed since that fateful day. The day I failed to rescue Miss Makise. Less than a month has passed, and yet I've lamented her death for an eternity. Maybe several eternities.

Why? Why didn't CONCORD intervene? Aren't they supposed to be the police of the star cluster? The police of New Eden? It's not as if this took place in NullSec, or even LowSec. This took place in High-Security space. It even happened next to a planetary Customs Office, no less. There's no way CONCORD could have not known about what happened.

What if CONCORD played a role in this...? What then? Even the ones I thought I could trust with absolute certainty can't be trusted.

They're Jovian in origin, someone once told me. It wasn't until just now that it struck me. Jovian origin...?
...Oh, damn. It's worse than I thought. CONCORD has infested every single High-Security system there is. Every square inch of Empire space is inhabited by CONCORD. They must be waiting for the perfect moment to strike, I thought. The perfect moment... to strike? Why not now? Their technology is way more advanced than our own. Even their semi-diplomatic cargo scanners can see through the supposedly cargo-scan impenetrable capsuleer ships.

...They must be waiting for something to happen. But what? And why? Why is it so important?

I felt that familiar buzz; it was wearing off. I popped some more tabs into my mouth. I wouldn't be sane if it weren't for these things holding me back. I'd reasoned with myself.

A thought popped into my head. What if... What if it wasn't that the Makise had been killed, but that I was too late, and the transfer had already taken place? If CONCORD was involved, it was entirely possible that they could have modified the kill report to appear such that there was an "exotic dancer" destroyed and killed in the wreck, when in reality she wasn't on there at all at the time of the kill report?

Oh well, I thought. I yawned, and when I woke up, I felt refreshed and content with life as it was.