Right now we share something, you and I.

The first home, the first love, of every spacer to pilot a ship, every bounty hunter and pirate, every miner and salvager, every trade-lane merchant, every explorer. We all know her name, and her name is Olisar.

Think about it. All it takes is a mention of Port Olisar, and you can remember the first time you walked out onto a landing pad, can't you? The first time you looked up and saw those big rings slowly turning, with the red and tan bands of Crusader behind them.

You can remember talking to Tessa. Back when the jump to an Interstellar Cartography probe was a long one, and she always had a kind word for you, and a distress beacon to investigate.

You can remember the first time you dared to leave your ship floating, and maneuver your way into the heart of a communications array, or maybe the depressurized coffin of Covalex's shipping hub. You can remember the relief of being done in there, and the comfort of returning to the vast and vacant black.

There were shootouts at Grim HEX. There were dogfights at Kareah. A madman built a temple out of vending machines, and died for his cause.

And then there was the first time you saw the spark and flare of -atmosphere-, blooming into orange flame as you closed in on the surface of Daymar. Suddenly, the ship you were so comfortable piloting in space had something resisting it, and you had to use the stick and throttle to fight against wind and drag. Gear down. You walked away from it, so the old rule stood - it was a good landing.

And now there's a shortcut to the Nyx system, where you can share a drink with Miles and look up at a symbol meant to defy Messer tyranny, poorly lit in the lobby of a forgotten mine. And there's Hurston, and Microtech, and the promise of returning to Arc Corp, right there on the map. And there's a lot more stars on the horizon. Waiting.

If you're anything like me, you're looking forward to the the glass needles and stunning vistas of Terra and the core worlds, maybe - or imagining what cultural exchanges you can make beyond the Perry Line, now that the Xi'an are loosening restrictions on travel in their systems. Maybe you're eager to sip from the slomaddon and conclude a trade deal in Banu space - or you're itching, like so many others, to get all the way to Armitage and make the pitchfork on your hull mean even more.

Some days it'll be a real challenge to look out and see those faraway stars, and to realize that yes, one day you'll get there. It'll take months, maybe years of work. Things will surely change along the way, to the point where you and your crew -- hell, even the ship you're in -- aren't remotely the same as they were when you started out. But right now, everyone's in the place they'll look back to, at the end.

Right now we share something, you and I. No matter where we've all been, no matter where we all go. Right now, we have Port Olisar. We're home.

I'll see you out there.

-Billy Hyde

*In-game image by Mr_Hasgaha