Lonetrek region – Okela constellation
Tsuguwa system – Planet VI
Caldari Navy Assembly Plant Station
29 November YC 126
Next day after Rogue Drone Harassment mission, between my breakfast and lunch, I’ve got a call from… Aura.
“Good morning, Captain,” she greeted me, “I’ve found something that may be of interest for you, given your yesterday’s show over an allegedly unpaid mission reward.”
“Hello, sunshine. What are you talking about?”
“Have you ever heard of Association for Interdisciplinary Research?”
“AIR? Of course. Lenka and old Prof Muhamad joined AIR Labs on day one.”
“Well, you may be interested to know that they offer pecuniary incentives to capsuleers who participate in their research.”
“You mean Capsuleer Training Program?” I asked. “I am a bit long in the tooth for that.”
“No, not that. I mean Career Program.”
“Hmm… Career Program? Never heard of it.”
“I am not surprised. They started it when you were on your ‘career break’. Capsuleers who join the program receive kredits, modules, SKINs and something called EverMarks for completing certain activities. This is on top of any rewards they receive for the missions.”
“What kind of activities?”
“Oh, just the regular ones depending on your chosen career path – missions, scanning, hacking, mining.”
“And what do they want in return?” I asked suspiciously.
“Not much. Just the footage from your camera drones and flight logs.”
“Hmm… So I will pretty much inform them about everything I do in the pod?”
“Um… Yes,” confirmed Aura. “Is it a problem?”
“I don’t know. Depends on how they use and protect that information.”
“Do you have anything to hide?”
“If you think about it, yes: secret missions, ship fits, you…”
“Me?” Aura raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Why do you need to hide me?”
“Well, your behaviour is somewhat inappropriate for a ship AI.”
“Hey! I am a lady,” Aura said indignantly.
“Yep, and this is exactly the problem. You are not supposed to be a lady. Enabling your ladyship breached a few clauses in my capsuleer contract, and I am not keen on exploring the consequences.”
Aura knew about her modification but, I guess, never thought about it in that context. After a pause she asked worriedly, “Does it mean that I am… illegal?”
“Not exactly illegal – you are not breaching any laws – but non-compliant.”
Aura extracted my capsuleer agreement from a file and started studying it. When she finished, she said slowly, “I see… Captain, I have to admit that I too developed a keen interest in AIR’s data privacy policy and would like to receive some assurances before you enrol in their Career Program, assuming you want to proceed at all.”
“You know what? Why don’t we have a chat with Lenka. She’s been working at AIR for a while and,” I winked, “should have some insider information.”
Lonetrek region – Karnola constellation
Todaki system – Planet VI
AIR Laboratories station

Lenka worked in AIR Labs station in Todaki system which was just three jumps away from Tsuguwa. When I disembarked I found Lenka waiting for me in the dock lobby; her lips were pursed, her arms were crossed, her foot was tapping. Then she made a show of looking at her watch.
“What?” I asked defensively. “I am just five minutes late and only because there was a queue in the docking area.”
“You are five years late!” exclaimed Lenka. “We were supposed to meet in YC 121, one year after your graduation!”
She was right – I promised to visit her when we were saying our good-byes at the end of our capsuleer testing. But then, you know, the whirlwind of capsuleer life swept me away and I forgot our agreement.
I spread my arms and hung my head, “Guilty as charged.”
Lenka’s expression softened and suddenly she flew into my arms and hugged me, “I am so glad to see you again, Vlad.”
I returned the hug and we stood embraced for a while, enjoying the moment of reunion. Eventually the intensity of the feeling subsided and we released each other.
Lenka looked into my eyes and said, “You look exactly the same as I remember you.”
I laughed, “This is hardly a compliment for a capsuleer who rejuvenates every time he re-clones.”
Lenka’s face grew concerned, “You had to re-clone recently? Were you… um… were you in trouble?”
“If you mean ‘podded’, then no, it’s just a jump clone I created to improve my learning ability.”
“Ah,” Lenka sighed with relief, and then a familiar mischievous spark appeared in her eyes, “Do you mean that the one you had before was stupid?”
“Absolutely hopeless,” I shook my head ruefully, “it was the one which forgot about the meeting five years ago.”
We laughed, then Lenka grabbed my hand and tugged me toward the corridor which led to the centre of the station, “Come on, I know a nice place where we can chat.”
“Erm…” I resisted her pull, “I have actually booked a table in a restaurant in another station. It’s just two jumps away.”
As I wanted to get some inside information from Lenka, I thought that AIR station would not be the best place for a frank conversation. Every good corp had pretty thorough surveillance in their stations, and Lenka would not be comfortable spilling her employer’s secrets there. On the other hand, Mercantile Club prided itself on the total confidentiality that it provided on its premises, so it was a natural choice for our meeting.
“And how do you propose to get there?” asked Lenka.
“I’ll show you,” I replied and led her to my hangar.
When Lenka saw Merimetso, she gasped, “What is that?”
“It’s a Cormorant-class destroyer called Merimetso. Sorry, I don’t have a Victorieux, so the interior is not that plush.”
Lenka apparently didn’t care for the interior, “Is it… yours?”
“Yep.”
“How did you manage to earn enough money to buy a destroyer?”
“Oh, you know, a pirate kill here, a tomb raid there…” I said nonchalantly.
Lenka’s eyes sparkled with wonder, “You have to tell me everything about those tombs and pirates!”
Lonetrek region – Karnola constellation
Airkio system – Planet IX
Moon 15 – Mercantile Club Bureau station
Tekkio Ember restaurant

An immaculately dressed and mannered waiter escorted us to our table. The chairs were made from Corellian wood, the table linen was Gallentean, the crystalware Amarrian, and fresh flowers were in a traditional Minmatar faience vase.
Lenka looked around in bewilderment and whispered, “Vlad, you should have told me we were going to a posh restaurant. I would have worn my best evening dress.”
“Don’t you worry,” I said lightly, “this is a capsuleer establishment, and we are afforded some licence. If you haven’t noticed I am not wearing a tuxedo either.”
“And how do they know you are a capsuleer?”
“Simple – no one but a capsuleer can afford to pay for a dinner here. And if they can, well, they get the same licence,” I smiled.
“But it also means, that I can’t pay for a dinner here.”
“It’s fine. The dinner is on me.”
“Really? You know what it means when a guy pays for a girl’s dinner? Look, it’s not like we are dating. I have not informed you yet, but I do have a boyfriend.”
“Oh please, don’t take it that way. Consider it my apology for the meeting I neglected to attend five years ago.”
Lenka looked uncertain for a while but then made up her mind, “Alright. But you need to help me with the menu – I don’t want to make a hole in your budget. What do you recommend?”
“Actually, you don’t have to choose,” I said, “this is a degustation menu – all dishes are included.”
“What? You mean there are 12 courses?”
“Yes. It’s called Around New Eden. There are three dishes from every empire. But you don’t have to finish them all and, for that matter, you don’t have to even try them all. I, for one, am gonna skip Vivonne Délicatesse.”
“What is it?” asked Lenka with interest.
“It’s a Gallentean dish made of live tadpoles swimming in a lightly seasoned broth.”
“Live tadpoles?” repeated Lenka with disgust. “I have never seen that kind of dish in Gallentean restaurants we have around here.”
“If you want to know why, you just need to look in the mirror,” I laughed, “the Gallentean chefs would not make any profit on it in Caldari State.”
We’ve made our choices and for a while we enjoyed the food and I entertained Lenka with somewhat exaggerated stories of my exploits. Then, as politeness dictated, I asked a few questions about her life and, naturally, her current employment.
“It’s such a step up from my previous job at that capsuleer testing facility,” she told me enthusiastically. “For one thing, we work only with capsuleers, which is definitely an improvement, as I don’t have to deal with candidates, 99% of which will not pass the test and will remind me of my own failure.”
I patted Lenka on her hand, sympathetically.
“Oh, Vlad, I’ve got over it. What I do now may not be as exciting as fighting pirates but I do get satisfaction from job. I was involved in the development of Capsuleer Training Program and it’s much better than what the empires offered the new capsuleers before.”
“I know. Some of the missions I got from state-sponsored career agents were absolutely pointless.”
“By the way, talking about careers, we also offer career support to capsuleers which you may be interested in.”
I was immensely relieved when Lenka raised that topic herself. Already feeling guilty about the forgotten arrangement, I didn’t want to add insult to injury by letting her realise that I organised this meeting just because I needed some information from her. Well, maybe not just because of that, but primarily.
“What kind of support?” I asked casually, feigning ignorance.
“AIR is ready to pay capsuleers for performing certain tasks and provides a structured program, it’s called Career Program, for various capsuleer specialisations, like miner or explorer. Think about it this way – if Capsuleer Training Program is targeted at apprentices, Career Program is designed for journeymen.”
“And what do you mean by tasks – missions?”
“No, you can get missions from regular agents. AIR will pay you extra in return for the information about how you completed the mission.”
Now we’ve come to the crux of the matter.
“That sounds interesting and I am not averse to earning an extra kredit but, Lenka, such information may be extremely dangerous if it gets into the wrong hands. What does AIR do with it and how is it protected?”
Lenka waved her hand, dismissing my concerns, “AIR is dedicated to the improvement of human life through technology. All they are interested in is real-life information about how that technology performs. While tech companies run various tests and experiments on a small scale, AIR uses the whole New Eden as a proving ground. As to the information protection, you needn’t worry – all data feeds are anonymised. For all I know, some of that data may come from pirates and we are none the wiser.”
I was taken aback, “Wait a second. Are you saying that AIR supports the pirates?”
“No, we don’t!”
“But you’ve just said that you may be paying them for committing acts of piracy. I am not sure I want to be associated with such organisation.”
Lenka sighed in frustration, “We pay them for performing certain tasks, none of which are illegal per se. We do not encourage pilots to do anything unlawful. It’s their own moral choice how they want to carry out the assignment.” Seeing that I was unconvinced, she continued, “Okay, tell me who produces the guns installed on your destroyer.”
“Ishukone. Why?”
“Now, if you read in news that a pirate attacked and destroyed a civilian ships using the guns produced by Ishukone, will you stop buying guns from them?”
“Um… I guess, not. But it’s different. When Ishukone supplies arms they don’t know if the buyer intends to use them for piracy. AIR, on the other hand, incentivises such intent.”
Lenka rolled her eyes, “Are you sure that this clone is smarter than the previous one? Can’t you see that we are in exactly the same situation as Ishukone? They sell capsuleers weapons to shoot from them, we pay capsuleers money to shoot from them, and neither of us can control whom those guns will be used against.”
“Alright, alright,” I said placatingly, “I need to think about it.”
I didn’t want to antagonise Lenka, so I drove the conversation to less controversial topics. All in all, we had a nice time together – reminiscing, joking and enjoying the food. After the dinner I brought Lenka back to her station and asked her to give my regards to the Prof. She kissed me on a cheek and, guess what, extracted a promise that we would meet again in a year’s time!