Lolion Reglo's Captains log

Lolion stood in front of a pane of glass. It was a simple container, about his height and could easily fit someone inside it. He watched a body floating inside of it, surrounded by an ambiotic fluid keeping it alive. He walked away from his clone satisfied with its quality and made his way out of the clone storage room back into a hall leading out of the cloning section of the station. He walked down the corridors of the medical wing pondering what he still needed to accomplish. As much as he disliked Logistics and moving his gear around he did enjoy traveling through space and finishing tasks he set himself up to do.

“Sir I would like to inform you that your new clone is prepped and ready to go here and we look forward to doing business with you regularly now.” A scrawny old man was walking along side Lolion as he made his way back to his new clone. “No implants correct?” Lolion asked making sure his specifications were met. “Yes sir, we copied your clone level and added the requested modifications to your appearance as requested, though personally I don’t know why you would want to keep your scars. They seem fairly unsightly if you…” Lolion glared at him. “Never mind sir, I was merely rambling about my views is all, I apologize.” The man quickly stammered recoiling in fear at Lolion.

Lolion was always annoyed by the staff at the clone facilities. They always treated him like he would bite their heads off if they displeased him. “Good then I’ll be seeing the quality of your clones are soon enough.” Lolion mentioned walking out of the clinic away from the man. He was going to be traveling dangerous space, and couldn’t use his current body with his implants. He had too much invested in bionics and neuroscience to run the risk of losing this clone. “One last run out of null sec and I’ll be safe” he thought to himself as he rounded a corner heading towards his hangar again.

Along the way he had his data pad out and was dictating objectives for his crew to accomplish while he was away. After several minutes he completed his list and arrived at the hangar doors. Swiping his finger to verify his identity he entered and moved over to some lockers near the door he entered. He placed his gear inside one and locked it with a code for him to retrieve upon his return. He moved to the awaiting shuttle and boarded setting his course for Perimeter and the rest of his fleet.

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Upon reaching Perimeter he disembarked and headed again to the cloning facilities. He was directed to a back room where empty cases were kept for just a desire. Clone jumping after all took a lot of mental skill and wasn’t a favored way of travel for Capsuleers. That didn’t stop Lolion however. He laid himself down and let the sockets on his back connect with the system. He was disconnected from his body and instantly shot across the universe all the way back to I-MGAB.

In an instant he was aware of his body again. He had done this a few times before but never got used to the sensation of ripping his mind and then waking up in a new body. Being revived was similar but not as intense, at least you died that way. Lolion was aware of the fluid in his case. Still connected to the case itself he didn’t need to breathe as it was doing it for him he knew what was to come though. He felt the case drain of the fluid, slowly his body slid limply down till it was on the floor of the case. The door slid open and as it did the sockets detached. Instantly Lolion felt everything, a wave of sensations all over his body. The surfaces felt cold to the touch and the hum of the machines that he had heard before now were practically roaring a twisted serenade, causing his ears to ring.

Feeling the urge to vomit he threw up violently and coughed up the remaining fluid that was in his lungs. They had been supplying him with oxygen until he had been disconnected but now he didn’t need it. Having finished coughing up what he thought was his actual lungs Lolion slowly stood up trying not to fall over after the shock to his system. He made his way over to a wall where a robe was hanging waiting for him. As soon as he had put it on a nurse walked into the room with a data pad and a scanner. “You know, after such a destabilizing trip they shouldn’t send beautiful women in to the room. The patients could faint from lack of blood to the brain.” Lolion said winking to the nurse. She smiled and put the scanner up to his arm.

Lolion felt a sharp prick as the nurse took a sample of blood. “Payback for the comment maybe?” Lolion winced at the second prick as he was injected with something. “What was that for?” he asked curious this time. The nurse looked at him. “We took the blood sample to make sure everything is in order and the shot was to update the clone against current diseases going around the station. It’s easier to administer the shot after the clone is activated than before. Body takes it better and there aren’t any nasty side effects. You’ll also have to try harder than that if you want a date with me, I’ve heard that line before, though thank you.” She smiled again and left the room. Lolion chuckled as he chalked another loss up on his mental score board.

Leaving the clone room he made his way down the hallway only to be stopped again by the doctor he had talked to before. “Back so soon sir?” He asked trying to keep pace with Lolion who had picked up his stride. Lolion stopped. And turned towards the doctor. “Look, I just clone jumped, I’m a little disoriented right now and I’m not looking for an ass kissing. If I wanted that id go find one of the many whores this station probably has and ask her for one. Besides I just don’t favor men anyway. So please, leave me alone for once?”

Lolion felt better and walked off leaving the doctor flabbergasted where he stood. Having reached the locker room in the facility he walked over to his and put on some of his clothes he had set aside for such an occasion. Finally happy to be his own clothes again he set out to the hangars once more. Along the way he stopped in for a drink to settle his stomach down and ease his frayed nerves from the jump. The alcohol hit his system immediately and he remembered that he had a new body, of which his old tolerance was gone. Grinning satisfactorily and buzzed now he made it to his hangar, grabbed the gear he had left and boarded one of his shuttles for Esa.

The thick windows of the Caldari station kept the cold clammy hands of deep space at bay from the habitants as they went along their merry way. From this window you could see the bright yellow star of the solar system glowing off in the far distance. Below the view of the window Lolion knew the planet the station orbited around was sitting there, molten and still forming its surface. Of course this window was huge being that it was the main focal piece of the room Lolion stayed in that night after he had be dragged away from a wild night of partying and drinking with Jack and the rest of the corporation members who were on the station. He felt he could easily get accustomed to life on this station after all if he could look forward to wild nights like this every once in awhile.

Lolion eyed the stars winking at him through the window as he lay there in the comfortable sheets of his bed pondering what all he would have to explore on the station today. He needed to download the schematics for the station to study them and its best routes to take to places, as well as keep tabs on his new crew and their activities for the week leave that he gave them after the near death experience. He wondered how well Cyrus and Eva were holding up as they were the ones who really saw what happened on the bridge yesterday.

He slid out of bed doing his best not to disturb the guest he had that night for some after hours fun and got dressed in his station clothes. The sockets on his back were painfully cold this morning with the cooler temperatures of the room. There were some downsides to having exposed metal to the air after all he remembered again as he quickly put on his shirt. He donned a comfortable pair of pants and moved towards the dresser for the rest of his effects. “Up so early? Come back to bed and tease me again hun.” the lady using the sheets to cover herself as she walked over to Lolion. “Sadly I have work I need to attend to so I need to be going.” He said hiding a hint of annoyance at her desire to lounge around all day. “Not to mention I actually need to find a place to stay on this station as a hotel won’t last me very long, so perhaps we will meet again sometime on the station.” Lolion hoped this would kill any more conversation as he finished strapping on his holsters for his handguns.

The woman pouted and moved for her clothes and began putting them on. That was the last Lolion would see of her he hoped. She was a cute girl and all but wasn’t his type at all. He left the hotel room and headed down the hall out into the crowded hotel lobby. A receptionist waved him over to the counter after she had seen him come out, obviously waiting for him to wake up. “Mr. Reglo, I just wanted to thank you for choosing us to host you for the night and as a special thank you the room is on us. We appreciate the business that you and your friends bring us every time you come around these parts.” She said bowing and then moving on to the next guest behind him.

Lolion never did get used to the attention of being a pod pilot and now being on this station more so than ever he was starting to feel the heat and pressure of the position he was in. Their corporation had recently purchased the station floating in the I-MGAB solar system and even though it was in a null sec region of space the crowds and patrons of the station weren’t your typical outlaws or pirates. This was one of the few open stations that Lolion knew of that people could come out here to live a life free of nation control. What really got to him however was the fact that being a part of the corporation that owns the station means he pretty much had the same if not more fame and glamour on this station as his old one. The thought irked him and he considered probably taking a leaf out of the Amarr books and buying a robe to disguise himself with.

Regardless of how well people knew him he decided to head out and explore what remained of the station he hadn’t seen yet. Preferring to lose himself in the crowd instead of the socially exclusive upper levels of the mezzanine he walked among the bazaar looking at the goods for sale. While he browsed for any new trinkets he could occupy himself with on long space voyages he sent a message out to his crew informing them of his decision to give them a week’s leave with pay so they could find residence on the station and plant some roots. As much as Lolion didn’t like attention he did like this station. It had everything he could want or need. All the old amenities Perimeter offered but with oddly enough an even better selection. Being cut off from the rest of the Nations had forced the local market here to improvise and adapt to sell what was in demand.

After browsing the markets for as long as his mind would allow he just decided to walk around to get a feel for the place. This was after all a Caldari designed station and the decor was simplistic as always keeping in line with the Caldara’s minimalistic taste. But the true hidden part of Caldari culture that was missing from their style was their determination for knowledge. The Endless pursuit of higher knowledge and the edge it gave them in life was what drove them to create stations like this one with large research facilities to facilitate their boundless appetite for knowledge. Lolion decided to go see what slots were open and boarded an empty lift to the lower levels. The lift slowed to a halt and the doors opened revealing rooms upon glass rooms of white laboratories and computers lined up, each its own separate entity controlled by some of the companies on the station. These weren’t what Lolion came to look for however. On every station there were specific laboratories that catered just to pod pilots and their needs. Huge facilities with several hundred people working on a single project, some with huge machines Lolion couldn’t even being to think of pronouncing. He was sure there was a particle collider somewhere on the station though. He always thought that was cool.

Lolion soon found a few and linked up his data pad for their schedules. He forwarded the information to Tibiaus and instructed him to begin with the other side projects he had for him while they were on the station to keep him busy and to also earn his keep on his payroll. Satisfied with this area of the station, he moved back for the lifts that brought him down and headed off to his hangar to view his ships currently here on station. After several transit rides later he came upon the Hangar entrance he had come though the night before. Upon heading through the heavy blast doors he entered the main hall of the hangars.

The vast stretch of space where several ships should have been was bare. It wasn’t until Lolion looked at his data pad and checked his asset locations that he realized what was next on his list. All of his ships were tethered to Esa still, having moved his fleet from Perimeter to Esa the months before. Now he realized that all of the ships he would be using in this new area of operations he would have to move again, one by one. The only difference this time was the threat of losing his life or the life of his crew because he was traveling through null sec. He hated it. No matter how hard he tried something always needed moved or some sort of logistics needed managed. Eyeing the empty space a bit more he saw a few shuttles he had bought before still sitting half assembled sitting on the bay floor. He turned to a dock worker and told him to get every one of them ready to fly. He was going to need them all.

Lolion slowly stood up after Eva and Cyrus had run from the bridge. He hoped this first run wouldn’t scare them to fly the ship again. From what he saw of how they ran the Bridge they actually had done better than he had expected. Thomas walked into the bridge in a slow saunter obviously having something to say. “Don’t you dare bring that up.” Lolion said pointing to him. “What? The bet? Now why would I do such a thing?” He grinned putting both his hands in his pockets.

They both broke out laughing. “Fine I owe you a fucking drink but its not top shelf, only because half the bet only happened. Geez you’d think these damn Sansha would get the idea that we own this space already.” Lolion said looking out the bridge window showcasing the stations steel sub structure. “Either case this is our new home for several months now so might as well disembark and see what it has to offer.”

Both of them climbed aboard the cargo lift to get off so they could talk with the maintenance crew currently working to repair the armor damage. The lift reached the hangar floor and both of them stepped off turning almost immediately to take a look at the hull. Burns and marks could be found all along the armor where the Sansha’s guns and missiles had struck. “Well if I didn’t know any better you could probably resell this if you didn’t like it any more as a brand new Minmatar ship” Thomas said chuckling at the damage. Lolion wasn’t laughing though. He knew how much damage he took and knew it was only a matter of seconds that saved his life and his crews.

“How much for the repairs?” Lolion asked a foreman holding a clipboard looking on as his team welded new armor plate onto the hull. “For a holder? Wouldn’t even dream of charging you!” he said seemingly shocked that he would even have been asked. “Non sense, since when do repairs cost nothing in these parts?” Lolion asked confused at the generosity of the station. “Since we joined a space holding alliance and own a station.” A voice said from behind Lolion. He spun around and saw Jack walking towards them dressed casual as always wearing a blue and white t-shirt and denim blue jeans.

“What do you mean?” Lolion asked growing more curious and worried. “Don’t tell me were famous here because we own this station, I was hoping to finally find so god damned peace out here.” “Afraid so Lolion, anyway what kind of ship do you have here? This one of them new Tech III’s?” Jack asked looking up at the hull. “Yeah but I need to study it a bit more before I take it out again, the systems are close to older ship styles but with its modular… your not listening to me are you?” Lolion asked after seeing that jack was talking with a repair guy. “Huh? Oh I could care less what all it has, besides I just saved your ass I think you owe me a drink.” Jack said crossing his arms in amusement. “Besides did you see my new ship? I’ve been itching to get he dust off of it ever since I brought it out here and this was the perfect opportunity!” He was grinning from ear to ear. Lolion looked terse. “I was wondering how you came across a ship like that, I’m going to assume Navy issue? Because of the colors?” “Yeah, won it off an Amarrian Navy Commander, poor bastard was so drunk it would have been a crime to not to take it off his hands.” He laughed.

“I needed to get out of the station anyway, between the job and the wife I needed that little excursion, so thanks.” “We’ll I’m happy to oblige but next time lets not make it in a ship that cost me a fortune to get.” The three of them began walking towards the station entrance. Jack pulled a data chip out from a pocket and handed it to Lolion. “Here’s the data I picked up on what you requested by the way, seems they have been picking up only a little bit. But I’m sure with this new ship of yours you’ll be able to pick up some more.” Lolion took the chip and plugged it into his data pad. An image of the current system showed up and several dots appeared at random locations. “Yes I think this will help, thanks again.” He said putting the Data pad away. “Now I know I’m thirsty, and I owe you both drinks so beer is on me this time I guess.” All three of them laughed as they boarded a lift for the main level of the station.

The engines of the Navy apocalypse burned blue as Jack received clearance from the station to undock and leave the station. The plasma died away as the ship began slowly moving towards the mouth, towed by the stations harbor drones. The slow process was making him anxious to get out there and start killing Sansha but as much as he asked Scotty would never allow him to use his main engines to exit faster. Least not until he had passed the containment field which would serve as a backstop for the back blast. A few seconds later he was clear and with the aid of the station was accelerated to over 700 meter per seconds. Glad to be out of docking jurisdiction he was free from his wife’s worry and nagging at least until he returned from this mission. It made him happy the station still had the automated feature to undock than dealing with her.

The Tengu came out of warp at the fourth asteroid belt in the system, finally letting himself breath out Lolion called down to engineering for a damage report. “Shields at 34% and slowly climbing, we almost hit the threshold but Cyrus got us out of there in time.” Teodoro said. “She is holding up fine but anything more than that and we won’t last long.” Lolion nodded Just then 2 ships uncloaked less than 5 kilometers away from the Tengu. “2 ships just targeted us and we’re jammed!” Eva yelled her hands moving furious over the display in front of her. “Thomas take off those safeties you’ve got targets, Lolion said bringing up his own display to get information on the two ships. “They’re cloaker freaks but they should pop fast enough to… they’re not firing.” Lolion said confused at their inaction. “Cyrus set a course for the next belt, Eva get jack on an open channel tell him our location, this is where he needs to be now.

Jack waited patiently for Lolion’s signal telling him where he was at and within a few minutes he received a hail from him. It was a quick message. Only containing a grid coordinates and a note saying hurry here. Inputting the coordinates into his computer he aligned and initiated warp when the drives warmed up enough. He opened a link with Lolion’s Tengu to see how he was fairing. “SHIT am I glad to see you!” Lolion yelled. There wasn’t a video with this message but just the audio link. I’m getting hit hard and my shields are about to give way. Come in firing I almost have the tacklers destroyed. Rest are for you if you want their bounties.

Lolion was sitting in his chair with a headset on talking to Jack. The lights were red now not the usual white light. All power had been diverted to the shields to try and hold them till jack got there. Lolion watched the status bars on the enemy ships slowly drop as his guns took out their shields, then armor and tore into their hulls. There was one tackler ship left in the immediate space just as the first ships of the gate camp were starting to appear. Damn it jack my shields are still stable but I need you here now… I won’t last long against those battleships.

Jack’s Apocalypse finally appeared in the asteroid belt, gleaming reddish gold with the sun. Lolion was thankful he finally had his backup here. “Target these ships I’m sending you. They have me warp jammed and I just killed the last one that had us webbed. After that you’re free to kill what you like.” Jack targeted the ships with his mind as he received that data and trained his lasers on them. He felt that capacitors drain as the lasers locked onto their targets began charging to fire. Cutting through space several arcs of energy tore into the frigates Lolion had pin pointed. the massive power from his battleships lasers tore through the shields, armor and hull of the ships leaving a massive scar in the ship’s hull. A few more directed blasts yielded a heap of scrap floating in the spot where there was once a frigate. Jack bookmarked the location to come back to salvage the wrecks for any nice loot that might be on board.

Suddenly a shockwave drew his attention. A cruise missile had struck his port side and jack was relieved that the shields had taken the brunt of the impact. The battleships had started to target him leaving the Tengu more time to get out while it still could. Jack loaded his x-ray crystals into his lasers and began targeting the battleships in the area.

Lolion checked the status of his ship one more time. He had taken armor damage but his shields were now holding solid now that the battleships had shifted their fire onto Jack’s ship. “Eva how is our warp core doing?” “After that last ship got killed our warp drive has been coming back online. We’ll have warp in 30 seconds.” Eva said pulling up a diagnostic of their warp drive. Lolion looked at Cyrus. “Align us towards the station in this system. And put in an emergency docking order. Well need cover as we enter so also let them know they need to have the station guns online and on full alert. We might bring along company with us if the Sansha aren’t happy with targeting my friend here.

Lolion got on the communications line again. “Jack, we just got warp back up and are bugging out. Rest are yours if you want them but I have a feeling soon as I get out of here they’ll leave as well.” Lolion said to Jack through his headset. “Right then, I’ll follow you in once you get there. You’ll have to give me a tour of this new ship of yours anyway.” He replied, the sound of missiles explosions heard in the background. Cyrus aligned for the station and initiated the warp appearing a few minutes later in front of a Caldari Outpost. “Never have I been so glad to be entering a station before in my life” Lolion said under his breath, drawing confused looks from Cyrus and Eva. “Dock us and let’s get off this ship and to a bar, I need a drink” Cyrus let the harbor drones take over and in less than a minute they were in the station safe and sound.

The ship was bathed in darkness but still glowed a bright gold. Jack had managed to procure this mighty vessel from an Amarr Navy Captain in a game of poker. The Amarrian Navy Apocalypse was the most powerful ship Jack had in his Arsenal. “And now was the perfect time to use it” he thought to himself as he readied a message to his crew scrambling them to their post. Waiting for the signal from his ship that he could begin boarding it he went over the last message received from Lolion. His situation was looking bleak now that he understood he wasn’t fit to fight off an entire legion of Sansha ship. He felt like an ass for belittling him now but put that aside. He picked up his data pad again and sent another order to his crew telling them to double time the preparations.

Several tense minutes passed on the bridge as the ship glided to a halt in front of the last jump gate. Lolion debated jumping through knowing full well there would probably be a gate camp on the other side from the Sansha pirates in the system. Word travels fast among their organization. Watching their ships warp into the asteroid belts seeking vengeance for fallen comrades after taking them out for the bounties on their heads was proof of this enough. It was a very lucrative career going after CONCORD bounties but as he sat there in a new tech III cruiser he wished he had some beefier shields, especially when he knew Sansha would be pulling out all the stops to try and get this technology.

“Jump through, might as well hear what the piper is playing than wait for them to come and find us later.” Lolion said rubbing his brow getting off the sweat that was beginning to form. Two battleship class ships and a frigate came onto the overview right as Cyrus initiated the jump to the final system. “Here is to hoping Jack is faster than he said he would be.”

Jack entered the docking room and prepared to board his pod. Once ready he moved over to the socket hanging in mid air awaiting him to enter his pod again. He allowed the giant socket to connect to his back losing all control of his limbs as he felt several clicks locking it in place. It pulled him up into the pod itself and with a sickening feeling watched as it sealed off and started filling with the ambiotic fluid needed to sustain him while there. It was at least body temperature as it filled his throat and then lungs, providing him with rich life giving oxygen.

The ship lay dormant in a temporary cloaking field after having just jumped through the star gate. Lolion sat in his chair as if any slight movement by him would remove his cloak. The ship scanners were picking up several signatures of battleships, cruisers and frigates awaiting them circling the gate awaiting their arrival. “Don’t move the controls one bit Cyrus, keep the cloak as long as we can.”

The hangar cranes of the station slowly lifted the pod from its birth and began placing it in the Navy Apocalypse. Fitting named the golden chariot of death Jack was hoping this name would strike enough fear into the enemies while also sounding just plain bad ass. Once he left the pod touch into the ships hold he felt the connections between the ship and the pod connect. Seeing the space around him through the eyes of his camera drones he watched as the station dropped its mooring lines and the ship floated freely of its own power now, having just disconnected from the stations power network. He sent out a message to all crew preparing them for combat, activating all defensive armaments and weapon systems.

Sitting patiently in the bridge Lolion anxiously looked on his scanners for any sign of Jacks ship coming to bail his ass out. “10 seconds till cloak fails” Eva said out loud bringing Lolion back to his senses. “Cyrus when cloak disengages align to the closest asteroid belt to our trajectory and do your damn best to warp us there.” “5 seconds” “Eva, when you start getting targeted take priority on the frigates, they’re most likely tacklers, do your best to pin point which ones are jamming us so Tom can focus his fire on them.” “Cloak disengaged, were being targeted.” Eva said as the sound of warning tones began going off alerting them to several volleys of missiles headed their way. “Here goes nothing” Lolion thought to himself as the ships warp drives kicked in.