Lolion Reglo's Captains log

Eva glanced up at the monitor that shown too brightly for how early she had just woken up. The light, glaring at her eyes sending waves of pain into her brain. She sat up in her chair and focus on the screen trying to make sense of why it had flickered on all of a sudden when she was trying to sleep. The scan she had been doing for an entire week had just finished and had come up empty again. Not a single job for a communications and electronics engineer in the entire Forge region. She sank down again onto the desk, a silent tear escaping her eye.

She had just graduated from her school and was looking for a job among the freelances and Capsuleers in space, looking to make a name for herself as a top notch electronics wiz but sadly with technology the way it was today being more and more user friendly the demand for such a position had been filled everywhere. In fact she had chosen this field of study because it was her father’s ambition in life to develop such technology and she wanted to continue his work. But with no need for people on ships anymore to run the com links between ships she was looking more and more at being stuck at a beginners desk job for a scientist than hands on work in the field.

She started he search again promising herself that if nothing came up, she would give up her search. She slowly fell back asleep as her computer searched the stations mainframe for any leads. Her computer poured over the typical areas you would see a job posting but being desperate she had hacked into several secure connections to monitor those data streams for any hints at future jobs or tips on leads she could follow.

An alarm went off. Panicking Eva sat up and looked at her screen. She was being traced and had been found sitting on one of the secure lines she hacked. She quickly countered the trace and shut down her connections to avoid being caught by the station police. Letting out a sigh she slumped down onto her desk again, completely lost to despair.

Several hours later she woke up to sun shining into her room through the filtered windows of the station. She squinted again this time looking for the clock to see what time it really was. Before she found the clock on the wall she noticed a hit on her search before she terminated her connection. Lost in the panic and confusion of the events of last night she failed to notice that she had actually found a job posting. To boot it was for a well known Capsuleer on the station too, a Lolion Reglo she read. She reconnected her connection to the station careful to make sure she wasn’t being traced again and started the search again. A few minutes later the same job posting popped up again on her list to her surprise.

Dumbstruck she stared at the listing th8inking it was some sort of error that no one could be looking for such a position at this day and age. It was a basic communications officer position aboard a cruiser, but he was looking for heavy experience in the field. Eva thought to herself for a second, trying to decide if it was worth going for such a small time position. She continued to read the request for a few more minutes and when she noticed the salary of the position her jaw dropped. Six figures, a full six figures to whoever could fill the position. On a cruiser communications officer? Something wasn’t adding up to her. But being curious as she was she decided to hack the stream it was posted on to see if she could dig up more on the posting. A few minutes later she had hacked the stream and was disappointed at what she found. No dirt, no more information than what was posted except a message. She read it over a few times and quickly followed its directions. Soon she packed up her bag and a few other pieces of necessary equipment that she knew she would need and left her room.

She took out her data pad and re read the message again over and over, trying to gather her nerves.
“If you can read this, you have the necessary qualities I am looking for this job. You are curious, intuitive and have the skills with computers and communications I am looking for. Don’t be tempted though, this is as far as I will let you go into my network without being traced and subsequently charged with cyber crimes. If you are interested in the job I posted, meet me at my office an hour after you read this message. I look forward to meeting you.
Lolion Reglo”
It was almost as if he knew who she was and what she was looking for. It scared her to think that she could be walking into some kind of trap but her curiosity about this job pushed her to find more out about it. She put away her data pad after memorizing the address and started out across the station for the office district to meet this, Lolion Reglo.

Lolion awoke the next morning feeling refreshed for once and ready to see what awaited his attention today. He sat up in bed stretching listening to the news cast that was reading his morning news to him. He yawned and got dressed hoping the crowd wasn’t going to be too huge for his request for ships crew today. He noticed as he was getting dressed that the news corporation that he gave the info to had conveniently posted the story on their front page, though he mused he would have to bitch at them for not giving him the headline. Lolion grabbed his data pad off the desk in his cabin and headed off his ship. His Tengu was still parked at the station along with the shuttle he had returned in. It was all the remained of his fleet of ships that he had amassed over the past few months, and soon he would be taking the new ship out for some test runs. But first he needed a crew for this new cruiser of his.
The Tengu was a completely new ship sprung on New Eden in the last few months by the Caldari ship designers after the discovery and reverse engineering of technology found in the wormholes. The “Sleeper” technology as it was called was so far advanced from the current level that they classified it as a completely new technology level. The “Tech III” cruisers as they were more commonly referred to were however prohibitively expensive to regular Capsuleers. The technology cost upwards of 10 billion ISK for a fully fitted out cruiser with the other subsystems that could be interchanged depending on the pilot’s desire. Lolion with the help of a few associates had managed to come across one for a lower than normal price of course and he was one of the first to get one.
Lolion left his hangar and was immediately confronted by a group of people he had never seen before. “Sir, I’ve heard your looking for a full crew for your ships, My name is” “I don’t care who you are and your only annoying me in trying to gain brownie points or a shot at joining my crew outside of the directions I asked people to follow.” Lolion interrupted the man already regretting his method of disseminating the recruitment information. “Now if you want to tell me your name I can make sure yours is removed from the list?… hmmm?” Lolion bore his stare into the mans eyes and he whimpered off followed by the other few people who were with him looking to do the same thing.
Thankfully he wasn’t harassed until he got to his office door and found a similar group. Lolion decided to get a chuckle out of today at least and walked forward. “I have a loaded pistol and if anyone in this group so much as asks me about the positions I’m offering they’ll be getting a bullet to the head, now scram” he said watching the group disperse faster than he anticipated. He knew it was wrong to do things like that but all the same it brightened his day.
Lolion walked into his office and noticed Naomi still typing away looking a bit disheveled as well. “Naomi go home and get some sleep” Lolion said seeing the bags under her eyes. “Ill take care of it from here.” A look of relief washed over her and she closed down her computer. “In fact take the next few days off, I’ve got a lot of files to review” he added on moving over to the small kitchen where a pot of coffee was sitting. He waited till she had left the office before he moved to his desk. He locked his door and unplugged his office phone which had been ringing since he entered.
Lolion took out his data pad and linked it to his desk computer and ran a special program he had developed earlier to sort through the standardized resumes and forms people typically used when they applied for jobs. He had developed this as a way of speeding up the process of finding people for jobs and it came in handy now more than ever with the sheer amount of people who applied to work with him. The number of applications was easily in 6 digits and slowly climbing every second. Lolion uploaded the program and configured it to forward applicants who meet his qualifications to be forwarded to his data pad. With that he left his office and went out to enjoy a nice large breakfast. Before he went down to the surface to speak with a local CEO.

Lolion stretched as he stood up from his desk at the end of the day.  He had a nice long chat with Valerius Livius after finishing with Tibiaus and his plan for studying the wormholes.  Lolion actually liked both ideas for a change, not only helping this Amarrian supply runner out in Caldari space but also the exploration gig with Tibiaus.  The plan called for the constant surveillance of wormholes in select systems of their choice in all ranges of secure space and the even more dangerous unsecured systems.  They needed to figure out if the wormholes had some sort of pattern to them so that they could be predicted or if they just randomly appeared as CONCORD and all the other governments were saying.  He knew they lied about practically anything and everything anyway so word from them was never solid.

Ever since the first reports from CONCORD came out on the wormholes information Lolion found had been lacking.  He had found them on his scanners before and even ventured into them on occasion to feed his curiosity, only to find disturbing, things, on the other side and leaving as quickly as he entered.  He never talked about the sleepers to any other pilots but that’s what everyone was referring to them as.  HE had heard stories of their unimaginable power and ability to adapt to fire power that had been brought to bear on them.  It scared Lolion to think that he would be facing such an enemy now just to feed his damn curiosity.

Lolion shut down his office computer and headed for the door when he got a message from Valerius again.  He glanced at the message and raised an eyebrow at it.  He walked out of the room and looked over to his secretary’s desk.  She was typing away completing more reports and Lolion watched her for a minute.  She worked effortlessly moving her fingers across the display screens and the holokeyboard so efficiently he hated to have to do what he knew had to be done.

“Naomi, who else do you work for?” Lolion asked calmly leaning against a wall opposite of where she was sitting.  Still typing away she glanced up at Lolion, a look of fear in her eyes.  “I asked a simple question, and I want a straight answer” Lolion had his eyes shut and started a slight twitch in his forehead hopping to give the impression that he was getting annoyed quickly.  The ruse worked and Naomi panicked.  She broke down into tears, stammering apology after apology to him.  Lolion was caught off guard by this turn of events and had at least expected somewhat of a fight to get the information he wanted out of her before she cracked like this.

Lolion walked over and placed his data pad on her desk showing a hologram of her meeting secretly with a station news reporter.  “There is a nice sound clip that goes with it that proves you’ve been talking with them” Lolion added as he turned his back to her. Still playing the trap he had for her.  She sniffed and watched the hologram go through the entire conversation.  “How much did they pay you?” Lolion asked turning to look at her and keeping a straight face best he could.  “They gave me a small bonus of 500 I.S.K.” She was able to say beginning to pull herself together, “that and my regular salary as a reporter”.  Lolion smirked and began to laugh.  Naomi looked confused at the change she was watching in his face.  “What so funny sir?”  “I should have guessed anyone with that kind of typing skills is probably a reporter, because I haven’t even seen secretaries that type like there is a deadline in a few hours before.”  He chuckled.

“Well you have a choice” he said to her turning more serious now.  “You can quit this job, because you failed to mention you were acting as a spy for your news group and I will oust you to the news group saying I figured out their plan and you lose your job.”  He paused watching the terror spread across her face “Or, I will still tell the news group you were found out, but I keep you on here as my personal secretary and you act as a Public Relations liaison for me between your News group and my organization. Therefore they still keep their source, you still keep your paycheck from both of us, and yes ill make sure they pay you for the info you give them, and your news group gets the exclusive news every group has been trying to get from me for the last three months.”

Naomi’s jaw dropped, but she quickly recovered from the huge shock.  “You see I hate rats, but I also hate filling positions and honestly I commend you for having the guile to land this position in the first place, I could use someone like you.”  “But I don’t understand, why keep me if you know I lied to you” She asked still stunned at the offer.  “The way I see it, it was inevitable that a news group was going to infiltrate my corp and spill news out regardless of if I wanted them to or not, This way I at least have a say in what gets published and not to mention the other news groups should quit calling so damn much now that your group got the exclusive source.  So in other words I’m killing two birds with one stone” Lolion smirked again “Also since I’m such a nice guy and probably more forgiving than I should be I’m helping you out as a way of saying, don’t fuck this up again, and don’t go behind me either.”  She swallowed a bit but then smirked as well, “Yes Mr. Reglo, Thank you.” “Well I’m off to go sleep now, but as a punishment I need you to stay over a bit and tell your group something for me.  Explain what has happened and tell them to put out a help wanted add for a ship crew.  The details are in that last message I sent you and I expect that out in the morning data stream, if they give you any problems tell them to call me directly, alright?”

Naomi nodded and began typing away again with even more vigor now than she had before.  Lolion smiled a brief smile then headed out of his office to go get some sleep for once.

Lolion awoke a few hours later to the sound of someone opening his office door.  Lolion panicked and shot up gripping his pistol in its holster as a young secretary walked through the door.  “Naomi?” Lolion asked watching the woman stop in the middle of the doorway in shock “Mr. Reglo, what are you doing in the office so early, did you sleep here?” she asked quickly entering the office so the door would shut and no one could peer in.  Relieved it was just his secretary he relaxed and took his hand off his pistol and rubbed his eyes.  “Got in last night.” Lolion said as he yawned, stretching as he stood up.  “How has business been since I took off?”  She rolled her eyes and rubbed her head, Lolion knew Naomi had to have dealt with a lot of things while he was gone.  “I swear Mr. Reglo I don’t know what you did to get all this attention but it’s about as bad as one of those Gallente holoreel stars” she said walking over to her desk and setting down her bag.

“I avoided any commitments you told me you didn’t want to make and only took the calls from those who you advised me too.  So far you only have one person to meet this week and that’s a man named… Valerius Livius the III.” She said checking the calendar that was showing on the desk surface.  He said he wanted to meet you today but I scheduled him for tomorrow when you said you’d be in, but if you’re willing I can call him and” Lolion cut her off.  “I’ll see him tomorrow” he said sighing.  “I need a break from all that I’ve been doing these past few days.  I’ve never heard of him so I’m sure he is just another start up looking for money or advise, which I am currently out of right now.”  He sat down again and stretched out of the couch trying to find a comfortable position he could sit in.

“What all have you been doing lately sir?” Naomi asked starting on a few documents on his display at her desk.  “I’ve been fitting all of my ships for use on top of moving them all to my new operational area.” He said trying to be as cryptic as possible.  Thankful Naomi seemed happy with that answer and didn’t push the issue.  Lolion was still uneasy about her but she was the only one who applied who was genuinely interested in the job instead of him.  He did suspect her of different motives and didn’t trust her yet.  He had her running trivial documents and keeping his schedule for him instead of the things he would typically have his secretary do.  His old one couldn’t take the pressure of the news and fans Lolion had gathered since he took part in that last fight of his.

Lolion stood up and headed to the door out of the office hoping to find a bar that he could hide in and kick back a drink or three.  He walked along the side corridors and found himself in front of a café he had been to before.  Being that it was still early morning none of the bars closest to him were open, so he decided to grab a coffee instead.  He entered the café checking to make sure he wasn’t followed and the relax a little.  He ordered his coffee and a few minutes later he was walking through the stations again sipping on his synthetic coffee.

He didn’t know what they did to the coffee but the real stuff always tasted better though the caffeine was doing wonders for his mood and his senses.  He felt refreshed after he drained the rest of it and browsed the shops in the thoroughfare he was walking along.  The atmosphere was alive and at least in a crowd this big he was able to blend easier.  Lolion stopped on occasion to check the merchandise at some of the stores that interested him more but today he found himself standing in front of a bookstore with a very interesting pamphlet in front of him.

It was discussing worm holes and what was known about them to date.  Lolion picked up a copy and flipped through it scanning over the information trying to decide if it had any relevant information in it he didn’t know already.  “Getting interested in worm holes sir” Said a man behind Lolion.  Lolion turned around quickly shutting the book and saw a shorter Caldarian in a white coat standing before him holding a data pad and checking something.  “I guess you could say that” Lolion replied back to stranger “Why do you know much about them?”  “I know more than the normal person but so far I haven’t been able to study them too closely because of the general fear that people have towards them, they think its dooms day coming  to end life as we know it” He said looking up to Lolion and extending his hand.  “My name is Tibiaus Synth, I’m a scientist stuck on this station”

Lolion looked at him for a minute debating if he should shake his hand, or just turn around and leave.  “Pleasure to have met you Tibiaus” Lolion said as he grasped His hand.  Lolion turned to the register and paid for the pamphlet and began to walk away, ignoring the fact that he was definitely being followed now.  Tibiaus chased after Lolion through the thick crowd much to Lolion’s annoyance.  Lolion did his best to move through the crowd himself but no matter how many twists and turns Tibiaus seemed to follow.  Lolion moved towards the exit towards his office again knowing he would at least be able to lose him with the several shortcuts he knew and used several times to avoid reporters when he had been spotted.

Over the next half hour Lolion did his best to take as many confusing  twists and turns, shortcuts and secret passages he knew to lose this new stalker of his.  Eventually he lost sight of Tibiaus behind him and gave him the final slip.  Free at last he headed back towards his office again to collect his things and move to a station he was less known at.  Lolion was tired of being noticed all the time and hounded for his help or advise.  He turned to walk down the corridor to his office when he suddenly slammed into someone going the other way.

Lolion looked straight at Tibiaus again and realized he never had truly lost him.  Furious, Lolion grabbed Tibiaus by the collar and dragged him to his office  and oddly enough Tibiaus didn’t protest at all.  Lolion opened the door and threw Tibiaus in hoping he would hit something and get knocked out while Lolion left the station.  He was thankful Naomi was out of the office as he locked the door making sure it was sealed so no one could hear anything.  Tibiaus was in the middle of the floor when Lolion turned back around.  Tibiaus slowly lifted himself up off the floor and found himself face to face with Lolion’s pistol.  “Is there a reason why you planted me with a tracking device and followed me all the way back here?” Lolion asked the now trembling scientist calmly trying not to just kill him on the spot.

Tibiaus breathed in and then began to talk “I knew you were a pilot of very high regard on this station and I was going to ask to see if you could help me with my research.  The tracking device was a last resort or just in case if I had lost you in a crowd as you tried to do today with me, your reputation at dodging interviews precedes you Mr. Reglo.”  He smirked and then quickly dropped it when Lolion pulled back the hammer.  I knew you had already done some of the exploration of wormhole space and had helped some scientists along with their research and studies and I was banking on perhaps you would be interested in a more thorough study of the things yourself either for profit or just to feed your own curiosity, or at least I was hoping that was the case.”  Lolion stood silent, considering all that the scientist just said.  “The tracking device is in your right coat pocket, and I must say your path through the gardens is quite the ingenious  route to lose people through.” Tibiaus said trying to break the silence.  Lolion reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny disk no bigger than a stamp but light as a flower petal.

Lolion looked at the device for a minute studying the circuitry and technology of it.  He didn’t see any logos or any identifying features on it but marveled still at how light it actually was.  “I designed it so that you could slip it into some ones pocket and they wouldn’t notice it.” Tibiaus said seeing the intrigue in Lolion’s eyes.  “You created this” Lolion asked lowering his pistol and holstering it again taking a closer look at the device.  Yes I did, I’ve been doing random research and study since I’ve been on this station looking for a respectable pilot to partner with on my worm hole research.  I have a whole data pad full of designs and research on different things over the past few weeks alone that I…” “You said partner with?” Lolion interrupted looking up from the disk at Tibiaus with a studying glare.  “Yes, I was looking to strike some sort of deal with a pilot to share information and help me study these anomalies and maybe make some money off of it all.  The technology that could be gained from this is tremendous”  Tibiaus said relaxing a bit more now that the pistol was out of his face.  Lolion smirked and pointed to his office, “Why don’t you come in and have a seat and we can discuss this partnership you had in mind”.