Let me tell you about my latest side hustle in the Settled Systems. It all started when I got a little tired of the constant grav-jumping and decided to stretch my legs in good old Cydonia on Mars. You know the place—dusty, cramped, and full of miners who've seen one too many rock formations. That's where I met Mitch. Oh, Mitch. The man, the myth, the... well, let's just say he's a guy with a very specific problem. Stuck in the residential area with dreams bigger than the Martian sky, he's a comic book fanatic whose heart belongs to the "Dragonstar Force." And because the universe has a funny sense of humor, it decided that I, a captain with a ship and a questionable sense of adventure, was the perfect galactic errand runner for his collection obsession.

How I Got Roped Into This

So there I was, just minding my own business, probably checking if the Trade Authority had any decent digipicks on sale. I wandered into the residential wing, and bam—there he was. Mitch Benjamin. He looked at me with the kind of desperate hope usually reserved for someone finding the last packet of synth-steak in the galley. We got to talking, and he laid it all out. The guy can't leave Cydonia. Something about permits, or maybe he just really hates spaceship food. Either way, he's grounded. His one desire? To complete his collection of first-edition Dragonstar Force comics. The initial print run was tiny, scattered across the Settled Systems, and he needed a pilot. My ship's name might as well have been flashing above my head. When I mentioned I had one, his eyes lit up like a supernova. "Could you...?" he asked. Reader, I said yes. What can I say, I'm a sucker for a quest with a clear shopping list.

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The First Fetch: A Simple Transaction

Mitch's instructions were, well, straightforward. He needed the first volume. To get it, I had to visit one of three specific merchants. He gave me the list:

Merchant Location My First Thought
Trade Authority The Well, New Atlantis "Back to the big city. Great."
Trade Authority Hope Town "At least the scenery is nice."
Clint's Collectibles Gagarin Landing "A specialist! Maybe he'll have a sale..."

I picked Hope Town. The vibe seemed chill. I landed, strolled over to the Trade Authority kiosk, and found the merchant, Fast Hoang. A quick chat later, I was browsing his "Notes" inventory. And there it was: Dragonstar Force, Vol. I. It wasn't even expensive! I slapped down some credits, the comic transferred to my inventory, and just like that, phase one was complete. Easy peasy.

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The Return & The Reward (Such As It Is)

I grav-jumped back to Mars, comic in hand. Mitch was waiting exactly where I'd left him. I handed over the precious first edition. You'd think I'd just delivered the lost Ark of the Covenant. He was over the moon—or, more accurately, over Mars. As a reward, he gave me three things:

  1. A handful of credits. Not enough for a new laser sight, but enough for a few med packs.

  2. A whopping 100 XP. Hey, every little bit counts on the way to the next level.

  3. And the pièce de résistance... his own ordinary, well-read copy of Dragonstar Force Vol. I. He said, "Now you can start your own collection!" I smiled, nodded, and subtly checked if it was worth anything on the galactic market (it wasn't). The quest log updated. Mission accomplished. Or so I thought.

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The Never-Ending Story: A Quest of 30 Parts

Here's the kicker, the part Mitch conveniently left out during our first heart-to-heart. Dragonstar Force isn't a trilogy. It's not even a dozen volumes. It's a thirty-volume series. THIRTY. And the Media Sponge quest? It's not a one-and-done. It's a loop. A glorious, repetitive, mind-numbing loop. The game doesn't let you buy them in bulk. Oh no. That would be too logical, too efficient for the settled systems.

The process is now my life:

  1. Talk to Mitch in Cydonia.

  2. Get sent to one of the same three merchants (The Well, Hope Town, or Gagarin).

  3. Buy the next volume from the 'Notes' section.

  4. Fly all the way back to Mars.

  5. Hand it over, get some credits, XP, and Mitch's used copy.

  6. Repeat. Repeat. REPEAT.

It's the galactic equivalent of being sent to the store for "one more thing" thirty times in a row. My ship's computer has started auto-plotting the course to Cydonia with a sigh in its synthetic voice. I've memorized the facial expressions of all three merchants. The guy at Clint's Collectibles now just nods and slides the latest volume across the counter before I even speak. We have an understanding.

The Verdict from the Trenches

Look, the Media Sponge quest is... something. It's not hard. It's not dangerous (unless you count the existential dread of repetitive tasks). It's a chill, low-stakes way to:

  • See some familiar locations.

  • Earn a steady, if small, stream of credits and XP.

  • Build a bizarrely complete collection of well-loved comic books.

But let's be real, it's a grind. It's the quest you do while listening to a podcast or waiting for your outpost resources to tick over. Mitch is a lovely guy, truly passionate, but after the tenth volume, our conversations have become a series of nods and grateful smiles. He's living his dream through me, one short interstellar flight at a time.

So if you're in Cydonia and a man with a dream about comic books flags you down, know what you're getting into. You're signing up for a marathon, not a sprint. Your reward is the journey, the credits, the XP, and the profound, soul-deep knowledge of every trade route between Mars and three specific shops. The Settled Systems are built on big dreams and small errands. This one just happens to involve thirty of them.