Entry 127

The Void calls to me again. It’s a siren song, but not of despair – not this time. It’s a song of expanding hulls, of faster drives, of more efficient cargo bays. Did you know there’s this… thing? back in the pre-Collapse days they called it “greed.” An odd, simplistic term, really. Here in the Stellar Collective, we have a more elegant, albeit colder, label: Expansionary Obsession. It’s the unyielding urge to accumulate – in our case, ships. They say it’s rooted in our genetic memory of the resource wars, a primal fear of scarcity.

I swear, I almost can’t stop myself from browsing the Holo-Net. Another nimble scout vessel – the ‘Whisperwind’ series - just went on the market. Its quantum entanglement comm array alone… I could justify it for survey missions. And then the new ‘Leviathan’ class bulk hauler, with those integrated grav-plating bays that can carry… well, let's just say a lot. A lot. I could boost my trade routes massively!

But the logistics… the damn logistics. That’s what my core processor keeps screaming at me. It's a cold, hard fact that the euphoria of acquiring a new ship quickly fades when the reality of its maintenance hits. Every vessel needs its yearly core alignment, its plasma conduits inspected for degradation, its weapon systems calibrated by a specialist technician who charges in stellar credits that would make a pre-Collapse king blush.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Then there's the supply chain – fuel refining, component replacement, the endless cycle of restocking. And the crew. Finding capable spacers who are not just space-pirates is getting harder and harder. And the points defence! There's no point in having a fleet if it attracts pirates with those fancy new railgun arrays. Each ship has to have its own countermeasures, and those often require dedicated power cores and engineering bays that only add more weight. The engines too. I just got lucky with the "Wraith" class warp drive from the last fleet upgrade; those things are expensive and do not just plug into any old ship.

And so here I sit, staring at the schematics of the ‘Whisperwind’ and the ‘Leviathan’ with a knot in my stomach. I need them. They would be such assets. But I have to remember the weight of the past, the cost of Expansionary Obsession, the way our forebearers overextended themselves, and how the Collective was almost shattered by the ensuing resource strain. The trap of acquisition is a seductive one, and I know I can easily fall into the black hole of needing more and more and more.

I must do better. Today, at least, I will not expand. I will focus on the five vessels I already control and make them as efficient as possible. Perhaps, tomorrow the feeling will subside.

…or perhaps I'll just take a quick look at the second-hand market. Just to be sure I'm not missing out on anything.