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Editorial Adurnis Photo: LexMoloch

e commanders are by necessi-
ty professionals when it comes
Wto patience. The final frontier
demands patience from us in travers-
ing, exploring, and making a living in it.
For every commander, from a trader re-
peating the same semi-profitable loop,
to a miner firing limpet after limpet
to find low-temperature diamonds, a
bounty hunter trawling through scores
of low-skill marks, or an explorer doing
the old honk’n’scoop, there are no easy
fixes, no fast solutions. Engineering a
ship to our exacting specifications, for example, is a process that can take
days, or weeks. For all the miraculous acceleration of our lives brought about
by the frame shift drive, our galaxy is still incomprehensibly vast.

This isn’t just true of the individual courses of our careers. We must also be
patient with long-standing institutions such as the Pilots’ Federation (PF),
that regulate the capabilities of our vessels and our interactions with each
other. While we all recognise that the PF provides vital and important base
foundations for our work, we at times find ourselves disheartened by the
slow and difficult process of innovation. For all that space travel is an awe-
inspiring experience, it can be difficult to wait for new services and major
milestones.

In recent months, we’ve asked our readers to be patient with us too, as we
switch to a quarterly schedule. We know it can be hard to wait for something
heavily anticipated, but as commanders we know that the wait can be part
of what makes the end result worth it. As producers of this magazine, we
make it our purpose to fulfil your expectations as best we can. Who knows?
Perhaps, if we wait long enough, one day we’ll find there’s enough to write
about to let us return to a monthly schedule. For now, though, patience is a
useful virtue.