Finally she took a piece of pie from a waitress and brought it over to the table along with a fresh cup of coffee. “Good book?”

Mike grimaced and looked up from the comm. “Oh heyas, Dee, did you just get here?”

She bit back her immediate reply as she saw the bloodshot eyes. “When did you last sleep?”

“Um, yesterday? what time is it, no, the day before . . . . ” Mike shrugged and looked back at the comms. “I promised myself I would get through this and dammit, I will. Kry has given me some new responsibilities in the corp and I am still not sure what they are, just . . . ” His sentences trailed off like he lost the trains of thought in mid-word

She looked down at the pilot and smiled. He could be so friustrating and she knew she could try to force him to stop and finish when he was more alert but it was easier to help him finish the job then know that he would rest properly. “Fine, so tell me about the summit.”

“Well, from what I can see, it went better than it might have. Even the Goons worked.”

“They had to, seeing as they are seeing their world crumble around them.”

“Nah, ‘Goonwaffles with syrup’ will pick right up where the Goonswarm left off. There are few constants in this universe but idiocy and griefers are two very solid ones. But that is beside the point. They did get things done and that is what is important. My only regret in regards to the goons is that Helen did not manage to go.”

“So what did they decidee on, at this summit.”

Mike started to tick things off on his fingers as he listed the accomplishments of the CSM summit. “Now remember, not all of this is going to go through, but these are the things that were breought before the higher powers, the movers and shakers of New Eden. The first thing is that they may make the CSM term a full year with TWO trips to the summit. I think this would be good for continuity but bad in another way. It waoud better if they alternated the elections so there was an election every six months with a 1 year term. That way experience could be teamed with youthfull enthusiasm. There would be fresh blood at each meeting and some ‘old hands’. They also discussed the abolishment of term limits which might be a good or bad thing. I could see dynasties forming but then again, the continuity of a good team would be a very sad thing to see eliminated on the basis of ‘your time is up’”

“So you are for it or against it?”

“If they did the alternation, I think I would fall on the ‘for’ side, and I agree that term limits are an artificial construct that the political nature of the universe would self correct. The next thing they discussed was security, basically it came down to design better locks on the one side compared to teach people to remember to USE said locks in a proper manner on the other. There is not a perfect lock that a thief can’t get past if the owner is careless. Then they discussed the way problems at the stellar level are addressed and asked that fewer canned replies are used and research is done before a proble is treated as trivial. A higher profile of the people in power was requested on the comms and in mail contacts. THAT I am not so sure about because I have seen many a logical discussion degenerate into name calling and chanting. Mob mentality on the comms is common.”

“A mob has the IQ of the average of the members divided by the number of people in the mob.” Dee said.

“Heh, you are meaner than I am, I was just going to say they sink to the lowest common denominator. But it all comes down to expectations. If something is even mentioned then there are those who take it as a died in the wool promise and start howling if it is not delivered the next day. They discussed the shockwave events that have been causing massive fleet losses as ships fail to recalibrate coming outr of warp, but no answer was found at this meeting. Then they spent some time discussing the new plans for the tourneys to be held . . . ”

“Ever thought of going into one?” Dee asked curiously.

“The same way every young lad dreams of being a sports hero. Yeah. But I think it very very unlikely a corp or alliance such as ours would ever manage to field a team. It was interesting to hear the concepts batted about, though. How points will be tallied, teams chose, that sort of thing. Then came some issues on the background of the economic system which was mercifully brief and even then, over my head. Once they got to the next part . . . ” Mike whistled. “They want to make corp and alliance memberships open information.”

“Open? How is that a bad thing?”

“It means that all of the members of a corp will be trackable during a war and easier to hunt. Currently some effort or espionage is needed to get the complete membership list, this will make things far far easier for extortion attempts to be made in hisec. There is freedom of information to consider but I agree with the CSM that this might be going too far. The sad thing is that if they even try it all of the cats will be out of the bag and very hard to stuff back in again. The they discussed nullsec and asked that more mapping expedition s be sent out to try to find new routes into that territory.”

“Why?

“Right now the known paths are ‘chokepoints’ and often ‘camped’. It is too easy for a group to hold a vast amount of nullsec at the cost of effort in only a few systems. More maps and connections might ease that. As to why we want to go into nullsec there is talk of more research division moving their offices down there or maybe the planets in that regiuon (with the relaxed labour laws) will be more productive than their hisec cousins. Then they got onto warfare that is common to the low and nullsec space and discussed things like redesign of stations to keep people from docking as soon as a battle was going against them or allowing a captain to see the surrounding space before undocking. Discussion of current weapon designs, such as the silliness of having the close range weapons mounted on slower vessels. Things for the engineers to look to.”

“You honestly find this interesting, don’t you.” She asked, playing with a strand of her hair.

“It all IS interesting Dee. This is how the world works and we are getting a ‘peek behind the curtains’. This is the sort of thing MORE people should be interested in, but they aren’t. They just complain how they wish things were better, fail to vote during elections . . . passive whiners.” Mike shrugged. “Someone has to care, not just during the election, but the rest of the time as well.”

“Someone like you.”

“And you, it is not just the pilots that are effected. Charity events, how time is allocated in the big research projects . . .decisions that were made there have bearing on how all the lives in New Eden progress. Just because you try to ignore it does not mean that the world will ‘go away’”

“I never said that.”

Mike sighed. “I know, you do care enough to put up with me rambling on about this and that, one of the reasons I love you I suppose. But the meetings then went on to discuss the ideas that the CSM itself was bringing to the table. Thinsg like Black ops ships and battle recorders . . . um, is something wrong?”

She was staring at him intently as he yawned and blinked at her. “No, no, continue. The sooner you finish the sooner you can c . . . go to bed.”

Mike nodded sleepily. Well from there the ideas were layed out on the” another yawn, “table and discussed. Bookmark improvements, insurance frauds, suicides . . . all were presented for consideration. In the end I think the most imp[ortant thing done was the growth.” He rubbed his eyes and blinked at Dee. “The CSM is coming into its own, they are starting to be treated like stakeholders in all of this, not just representatives of the whiny masses. For all our bickering, squabbling . . . ” another yawn, ” . . tching about this and that we are beginning to be heard. I got word they even broughtin the media in to witness this.”

“That is important?”

“Things done in the light last longer . . . are truer. That is why we talk of a black market, shady deals . . . when they shine a light on what is done . . . um, what?”

She was tugging on his arm, almost lifting him from the table. “You do not know when to shut up . . . come on, time for bed.”

“bed sounds nice, I could do with forty winks”

She lead him from the diner and down the walkway. The rest of the patrons watched grinning.

“Hey, isn’t the docking bay to the right?” The customer was idly cuffed on the back of the head by the waitress.

“Matter of fact, it is.”

*******************************************************

The writeup by the devs is up and available, I just went for a short summary.

with some opinion, of course.

from what I hear, PC GAMER was invited to send a reporter. That is an issue I am looking forward to.

m

“Your fly is open.” Came her laconic reply.

His hands swiftly flew to find that he was being lied to, again. “Why do you always do that?”

“Why do you always fall for it? You are fine. Now remember, slow down the speech, let them absorb what you are saying. We KNOW half of them are bought and paid for by the godlings but you still have a chance to sway the AGM. If they understand what you are saying. So. Slow. Down.”

“I don’t pay you enough, do I?” He smiled and ran his hand through thinning hair.

“No, but I will give myself a raise later.” His secretary brushed an imaginary piece of lint off of his shoulders and looked down at him. He was a stumpy little man, almost as wide as he was tall. He had been raised on a heavy world and it showed. His reflexes were always quick but each action he made was done made with exaggerated care and delicacy. What he lacked in height he more than made up for in personal presence. His smile and the booming voice were well know to the planetary media and to the larger audience of the Union as a whole.

He nodded to the escort and they headed out of his offices into the tunnel leading to the senate chambers. Two guards ahead, two behind, footsteps echoed off of rough hewn rock. “Did I ever tell you . . . ”

“That you were part of the crew that dug this section of tunnel? Every damn time we walk here.” She smiled tolerantly. “But go ahead, don’t let me force you to break tradition.”

“I was thinking about the work crews back then. Small planetary level Union, I was fresh out of the trainees pool and anxious to show my stuff. Came bloody close to carving my own foot off with the lase. ”

“Couldn’t have that happen, I’m not sure we’d find you if you were any shorter.” One of the guards following quipped.

The short man pointed a finger back at the comedian. “Keep it up and I will go back to making public appearances on big open stages.”

The guard laughed. “Only you would threaten to die to ‘teach someone a lesson’ Ok, ok, no more short jokes, not even the one with the bartender and you playing a tiny piano.” The laughter filled the tunnel as they proceeded the short distance to the assembly hall.

The assembly hall of the Great Union of Miners and Engineers was a pastiche of old and new. Each seat was either filled by a person or a hologramic image of the representative. Since this was the AGM (annual general meeting) very few seats were not occupied, in one way or another. Glowing images accounted for about 2/3’s of the seating but many took long trips to be here face to face for the various political dealings that are best not trusted to communication nets. Here, strikes were decided. Here, the artificial limits on rarer ores were set. Here much of the background dealings that affected all of New Edens industrial base were made.

“Ladies, gentlemen, and of course, MINERS!” The chairman of the AGM brought the house to its feet as cheers filled the hall. “I could spend some time telling you President Roanokes history . . . but he has told it all to us a hundred times over.” Laughter as the delegates returned to their seats. “I could tell you how he has fought for safety for our people, better wages and brought us from the brink of dissolution to the present state of power . . . but you know all that as well. So I will tell you what you want to hear. I give you the one, the only, Roanoke!”

The President stepped up and with an abashed grin shortened the microphone down to his own level. “Damn it. Now I cannot tell any stories about myself without you lot shouting me down. Who let that guy become the chairman anyhow?”

“You did” The chairman shouted, laughing from the wings.

“Hrrmf, musta been drinking.” He grumbled into the mic. “A lot going on right now, and a lot more in the wings, folks, I ain’t one to sugarcoat and I am not going to spend time talking about the past . . . or the present . . . but about our future. Right now decisions are being made at the high levels of the Securities and Trade Commisions of all the races. If they have their way we will be looking back at NOW as a golden age. Right now things could be better, but I doubt that they will be if we sit back and let the future run right over our rights, our homes, and our childrens heritage. RIGHT NOW . . .” His arms flew up as he started to stomp across the stage. “Right now we are looking at a massive change in the way mines can be bought and sold and it will change our homes and lifestyles forever. RIGHT NOW those decisions are being made without us having any say what so ever in them.” he paused and his voice dropped to a stage whisper “right now they are trading and negotiating away our futures . . . and our childrens futures. The road they are starting down? There will be no turning back.”

The hall was unusually quiet. He had them, now it was time to turn them into something more than a passive audience. “We are miners. Whether we ride the plasma scoops, float in the clouds of a gas giant, or burrow ‘neath the rock, we all are miners. Up until now we have had to deal with corporations that followed the laws set by the S&T’s and we were able to deal fairly with them. Oh, I will admit there have been strikes and walkouts, but they were solid folk, like ourselves. But that is coming to an end. In a few months, unless we do something about it, ownership of planetary mining will shift over to ‘Capsuleers’ Those petty godlings . . . these so-called immortals who do not deign to walk the planets anymore, who hold life in such low regard that they will throw away the lives of a thousand crew members over the possession of a moon. Over the right to claim sovereignity over a system. Now we are about to see them allowed to claim planets for their own.”

Murmurs filled the room as this news (though it was not news to all involved) filtered in. Roanoke waited for the room to quiet before continuing, hearing his secretary in his earbud urging him to ‘keep it slow’. He took a deep breath and looked out at some of the faces he knew, both friends and enemies. Then he started again, softly but building power, trying to convince his people of the danger approaching. “Isk. That is what motivates these homeless nomads. They have no roots, no homes save whatever ship they happen to be in, at the time. They buy and sell their loyalties working for ‘agents’ who may send them to do any number of acts that would have a person outlawed in a blind instant if they were caught doing them on a planet. Piracy, violence, getting the job done at ANY cost. at. any. cost.” He looked out, meeting eyes. “Soon we will be that cost. They will see us as tools and a means to their goals. We are not people to that sort . . . just entries on a spread sheet.”

“Fear-mongering” Shouted a voice from the hall. “You just want us all afraid so we will stay your little sheep and re-elect you.”

A wolfish smile grew on Roanokes face “Oh I want you afraid. All of you should be very afraid.” The hall lit with a data sheet projected on the main screen. “Afraid that the wheels are already in motion. That delegates such as yourself are now accepting payments from the lobbyists of the godlings. Five million isk? Was that the price of your soul, Hannity? I remember respecting you once. Even when we disagreed I knew you had your peoples best interests in mind. But now . . . this. Simmons, you settled for 3 million? Should have spoken to Hannity. Do you want me to go on? My people have been researching and watching for months. Do you all REALLY want to know how deep the rot is?”

The spreadsheets flipped faster and faster then blinked out, in the sudden darkness Roanoake was lit by a single spot. The rising roars of outrage died out as he held up his hands. “I have done the math. IF all of the buyouts I have tracked and accounted for keep true to their new masters, this battle is over before it has begun. I am sorry . . . we may have already lost. If nothing else, the godlings can do the math. They understand that to hobble us now will save them so much more in the future.” His hands dropped to his side. “I am making a motion to the floor that we hold a ballot right now. It is a confidence ballot. If I lose, I will no longer be your president . . . and know that it is the will of the Union not to fight the future that looms before us. But if I win . . . I know some of you still retain enough of your souls to be able to fight back . . . and I will lead you in that fight to the end of my days, for I know that it is unlikely I will live through the chaos that is to come.”

His hands became fists as he looked up to the roof of the hall. “I will fight the tyrants who would rape our worlds, make us pawns in their great games between the stars. Let them do their conflicts up there, where there are no children on the battlefield. Let them make war in the quiet of space. But for the sake of us all, for the sake of generations yet to come . . . please, do not bring them down here, into the dust and toil of our lives. You know it is true, if we try to stand against them, or if they disagree on ownership we will see their wars come to our homes. Mercenaries on our streets enforcing the wills of whatever Lord and Master has laid claim to what was once ours. Vote. Vote from the respect you hold for the people you represent. Vote for the future of those people, for your very planets. . . or vote from your bank balances. Sell your people for the thirty pieces of silver. Vote . . . now”

Backstage his guard whispered to the secretary. “Now is when our real work is going to start.”

********************

This is an entry into Silver nights fiction contest

http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=1277113

m

“You . . . you . . . Cat, you!” She slumped. “Where have you been?”

“Um, out and about? Mainly working for this agent who sends me after pirates.”

“You do know we had a war on?”

Mike smiled. “I haven’t been far.” He tapped his comm padd and two ship schematics filled the space between them. Another touch of the controls brought the smaller one to the fore. “I have been scouting about in my bomber, keeping an eye on things.” A touch hilighted the larger. “And I slapped this together in case we needed to be a bit more convincing.” The Megathron rotated slowly in the space. “I call it the Big Rifter.”

“Good, as long as you are not still naming ships after me.”

Mike chuckled. “No, I even changed the name of the Kry Baby. But now the war is over and I hardly saw hide nor hair of the enemy. They get tired of looking at our POS?”

“You have NO IDEA how many hours I spent manning the guns waiting for them to start something.” She growled. “I had a cot set up in the POS so if something started while I was asleep . . . ”

“You sleep? While ‘roids still wander the belts?”

She growled and shook a fist at him. “They interrupted my mining. I am just glad we took the battle back to them and ended it once and for all.”

“Yeah, I been meaning to ask about that. The other folks who joined us and helped out. Not that I object but who the hell were they?”

“I was wondering that myself. I was there when one of them met up with Smeg and I think they know each other from some previous encounter . . . but neither said much beyond basic war conversations. But I am sure there was a lot that wasn’t being said.”

“What, like something out of the movies? ‘We even yet?’ or maybe ‘I’m your father, Luke?’” Mike laughed. “You have the most interesting imagination, that sort of stuff never happens in real life.”

“Well there was something going on . . . I’m just sayin.”

Mike waved it off. “So I am almost ready, been studying like a demon.”

She smiled. “Soon the belts will be cleared so much faster. I might even be able to free up a bait hulk I had for the last ‘event’ that you can borrow till you have one of your own.”

“Bait hulk? You took one out during Hulkageddon?”

Kry primped her hair for a moment. “A Queen must keep up appearances, even in the face of adversity.”

Mike facepalmed and shook his head. “Queen of the Carebears, hunting gankers, manning the guns to defend a POS. I swear, Sab is a bad influence on you.”

She looked down her nose at Mike. “No, he was the jaws of the trap that the hulk was bait for.”

“I stand corrected, you are a bad influence on him.”

“Damn right.” She sniffed imperiously then they both started laughing. “Oh, I need you to man the recruitment channel, tonight. I will be busy.”

“Me? I don’t know anything about recruiting. I . . . I might blow it.”

“Easy there, ya wimp. You talk to them, sound them out. Let them know we are mining, industralists, missioneers. Casual as we can get and only ask for a sense of humor and a love of old comedies. We have little tournaments, the occassional low and nullsec roam, wormhole explorations, and mining ops, as the mood takes us. How hard is that to tell someone?”

Mike muttered. “Sounds easy when you say it.”

“This from a man who made speeches and ran for CSM? You are being lazy! Now find me some recruits or I will put you in charge of POS fueling for a month.”

“Yes ma’am.”

*****************************

Lessons

You can play Eve solo . . . but it will wear thin, fast. People make the difference. We have one of the most vibrant communities in gaming and whatever you are looking for, there is a group here, for you. You should get out of the npc corps as soon as possible unless you are in them for a reason (like avoiding wardecs).

The other thing you can do is join a chat channel other than the ones forced on you by the default settings. This is where you readers come in. What are the ‘other chat’ channels that you hang out in aside from your own corp private ones? I will collect a few of these, play chat-whack-a-mole for a few sessions and bring it back here to a future blog post.

m

I was/am amazed at all the evespaces that looks so neat, so orderly.

Honest, this is what mine looks like . . .

Evespace or paper exposion?

m

“Huh.” He had known that it would be a very long haul to get to the point where the locals would trust him enough to allow him to install clone copies. He had made the long flight from the one clone center where he started his career, once, and was prepared to do so again, when the need arose. But this corp message told of an alternative path. If he joined Estel Arador Corp Services then he could swiftly have a liaison who would expidite the making of jump clones in the local systems.

Jiorj looked into the suggestion and found it to be true but he was very very loathe to leave the corp in the middle of a war. In the end he went to speak directly to Black Claw.

“I know that making the Jump Clones is a good idea but I do not want to presenty as being a coward or a quitter.”

Black Claws image smiled. “Jiorj, I do not think that is something I could easily be lead to think. You have told me why you are going and that you will return, that is good enough for me and if anyone asks, I will tell them what you are up to. You may want to shuttle a few ships why you are flying under the ‘new flag’ and the enemy cannot fire on you. We will be here when you get back.”

Jiorj thanked the leader of the School and logged off, sighed, and commenced the leaving of OUCH to make his clones. The process and searchig for apprpriate bases took a pair of days and he was soon back in OUCH laughing at the message he had received while on leave. . .

Hello! I have noticed that you have resigned from OUCH, as short as your term with them was, I would like to sympathize myself for your losses, as well as congratulate you for what could have been, the best decision you have ever, and will ever make during your time spent in eve.

Before this can be forwarded to anyone else in OUCH with misconceptions, I would like you to understand that I am completely sincere when I say that I sympathize towards your losses. I personally would not have stayed in a corp for so long with a CEO who holds his ego in higher regards then his members and their well being, and for that I salute you.

Fly Safe!

-dxrom

[06:58:49] Cellest Grendal > just thought you would be taking the heart beat of the corp and it’s members in consideration

[07:00:01] Black Claw > I don’t do what the corp wants. The corp does what I want. If they don’t like it, they’re free to leave. Most of them share my vision

“The thing is”, Jiorj mused softly to himself, “We do. Black Claw created a place to learn, to teach, to grow into more competent pilots by actually going out and doing things. We do share his vision, and his decisions are his to make as he is the founder of the school. He has let those who want to go, go. Those who have stayed do so on the belief that what we are fighting for is NOT a bit of territorry. It is making a stand against . . .against . . .against whatever the hell you want to call the opposition.” (Some of the terms he had used in corp chat were less than proper)

A School that had been created to help pilots learn to deal with adversity. This is the group that the enemy thought would pay a billion to end a simple wardec. Jiorj laughed. Perhaps it would be better if we asked them to set a class schedule. If they were going to become part of the curriculum at least they would have the decency to post classtimes. The laughter grew as he opened the comms and prepared for a nullsec roam, the class for the evening was in session . . . with the enemy huddling in it little hisec station camps wondering where all of that targets went.

*************************
Lessons

If you are making wardecs in a hisec bid for what amounts to extortion be sure you research your target first.
Spelling counts when making extortion and so does grammer. People lend more credence to somoene who doesn’t stutter, slur, or grunt.
If you are going to use quotes to try to damn someone, make it something out of context that doesn’t make them look like who they normally are.

j

“Brothers, sisters, gather round if you will.” He waited while they moved closer. Many were faces from his village but there were faces missing and new ones in their places. He sighed. “As you know, we are at war. This has made space even more dangerous than it has been in the past. I do my best to keep us safe but ships . . . and lives have been lost.”

“Why are we fighting, sir?”

“I have made inquiries into that and the best I can tell is that the enemy seem to be what is commonly called griefers. This is not about money, territory, or honour. They hunt us because they think they can.”

“People are dying . . . sir the losses on our side in pure isk . . . ”

“Yes, I know. I am managing to keep us in the positive right now and am trying to get better at flying the frigates we take out. Our leaders are looking into ways to help us and they think they have come upon a solution. We will be moving our base of operations, soon. The griefers only go where they feel sure of having the advantage. They camp outside of stations waiting for someone to exit but it they are thenselves threatened they hide within the station until the danger goes away. So we are going to make the danger more omnipresent. We are moving into lowsec.”

Gasps and mutters filled the hanger as this news was absorbed.

“If this was a true war then the enemy would follow us. But if this is all about easy kills then these people will become hunted by the stronger inhabitants of our new base area. By going where it is dangerous we will, in effect, even out the playing field.”

“But not into nullsec, right? I have heard that is getting worse lately. The Providence region . . . ”

“THAT is ENOUGH of that.” Jiorj paused and let the echoes in the hanger dissipate. “Ahem. Do you know what the deadliest weapon in a war is? I will give you a clue, it cannot be mounted on a ship. Information. What we know and do not know is the difference between living and dying. What we say and think influences our knowledge. If we think all is lost then it is. If we worry about tomorrow and dread suiting up for the next flight we might as well retire now.”

Jiorj pointed up to the higher reaches of the hanger. “There are podpilots on the channels bemoaning how foolish this war is and how they plan on ’sitting this one out in Jita’.” Jiorj spat on the deck. “THIS for anyone who would think to leave his comrades behind and ’sit out’ a war. THIS for someone who would pollute the comms with defeatist talk. We are here to do a job and we will not ’sit it out’ nor will we leave OUCH while the war still runs. Cowards are as common as cockroaches and when light from the fires of war shine you see them scuttling away in the same fashion. Our people did not raise us to run home when the going got tough.”

He stopped and looked about at the assembled crew. “As for Providence. I am sure you have been following the news as much as I have. It seems this is the season for leaders to be suicidal and to take many people with them. Goonswarm is no more. CVA struck a cowardly blow in their ‘holy cause’ and failed. They were then rapped over the nose sharply by their neighbors. I do not know if you have read the most recent offer of peace and its refusal but for me, it beggars my imagination. How they could refuse the return of thier station and an offer of peace after it has been clearly proven that the alternative will be their destruction . . . ” Jiorj shook his head. “Madness.”

“I could never have predicted what those people would do, but I know what I am going to do . . . what WE are going to do if you are still with me. I have ships being made as we speak, some we will fly, others will support our losses. Many of them will be lost in this war, and some lives will go with them. I never fly to die but I hav eyet to shirk my duties. Black Claw has suggested that I might lead a Roam.”

“You sir? But . . . ”

“Yeah, my reaction was about the same. But I have been watching and learning from the other fleet commanders and I hope I have learned from both the successes and the losses. To fail to have done so would be spitting on the sacrifices and the losses we bore for those lessons. We will be going into nullsec, looking for targets. The trick will always be to tell the targets from the bait. We have lost ships to mistakes in that identification procedure. I will be taking us out to the edge of Providence if we can get that far and I expect the best we can get from all of you. I am not going to ‘fly till we die’ because I owe you better than that.”

Jiorj looked out at the worried faces and continued. “Now I expect that the enemy will be haunting the hisec passages looking for us to be making supply runs. One of our jobs will be to supply our fellow pilots.”

“At a profit?”

“Have I done otherwise? We will not be wartime profiteers but Black does not mind if I make a percentage. I have done my research, my homework and I know what is being used and will be moving those job lots to the top of the factory queue.” His comm chimed and he frowned, looking down at it. “There’s the, pack up people we are on the MOVE.”

“Where sir?”

Another voice from the crowd scornfully answered. “Ya ain’t heard of operational security? We will find out when we gets there.”

Jiorj smiled. “Actually we have a choice of destinations and Black is not too worried about spies anymore. OUCH is not hiding and is accepting new students again. We can go to losec or nullsec.” His smiles turned wolfish. “Guess where we are headed.”

A quiet voice from the back said, “We are so dead.”

**************

Lessons:

One nay sayer in a corp can kill more pilots than a battleship station-camping your home base
Realistic is nice, but most pessimists claim they are ‘just being realistic’
“And thereore those skilled in war avoid the enemy when his spirit is keen and attack him when it is sluggish and his soldiers homesick. This is control of the moral factor” Sun Tsu

“So they do not attack the corp of the instructors but, rather, us. That makes no sense.”

The answer was easy . . . griefers do not attack competent enemies, they try to pad their killboards up with easy kills of relatively inexperienced players.

Withint ten minutes of the war going live Jiorj was a member of a fleet in home space hunting for war targets. A LOT of new ships followed them from system to system and were swiftly tagged as ’spies’ as they kept pace with the fleet until it decided that the enemy did not want a standuyp fight but more easy pickings. So the fleet went into 0.0 and were not followed to continue the normal routine of nullsec training (and dying, oh this time was a doozy of a fleet wipe to a cynoed fleet who arrived just for them . . . fantastic experience.)

The following day showed the strategy of the attackers in more detail as they camped Berta station and popped any of the OUCH members who came out. This was treated as another lesson and a breakout was successfully organized. Since then the opposition has pulled back and only seems willing to engage when nthey have the massive advantage. This is the right thing for them to do as it is an Eve truism that fair fights do NOT exist. Thr trick is to make sure you are on the winning side.

Jiorj listened to the more experienced members of the corp and waited for the right moment to make a last run into Berta and out again. Bases of operations shifted as the corp start to spread out denying the opportunity of camping one station for easy kills. Space is large and the lessons that may be learned, endless.

j

Place your army in deadly peril, and it will survive; plunge it into desperate straits, and it will come off in safety.
For it is precisely when a force has fallen into harm’s way that is capable of striking a blow for victory.

In OUCH we do not ask you to attend lectures, we do not tell you to read or inject knowledge. You will learn in the doing. Sometimes you will fail and the lesson will be hammered home even more, if you have the ability to learn from your mistakes. We have found that lessons you learn in the doing are FAR more apt to stick with you than lessons learned any other way.

Jiorj slid into the rifter pod and activated systems. A fleet was heading out and he planned on being with it. A pair of jumps and he was in orbit with almost a dozen other ships. Cro was the named FC even though there were more experinced pilots in the roam. He had lost a fleet earlier and was looking to redeem himself in a more successful run. Jiorj was happy to be greeted in a familiar way and smiled as they all sympathized with his slow comm systems. He was first to volunteer to take point and soon he and another pilot were springing ahead of the main fleet as they swept through lowsec and into 0.0

It did not take long. Outbreak patrols were still about. Cro bemoaned the fact that Outbreak had decimated his earlier command and the ships they flew were far and above those of this small fleet of tech 1 frigates. He tried to avoid contact but Outbreak was more than willing to give chase. The scouts had trouble keeping ahead of the fleet as the orders to warp/jump came fast and furious with a vagabond always just a hair behind them. “He is the one who got Me!” Cro exclaimed as the Vaga was visible just as the fleet leaped to the next system.

Again and again the systems changed and the long range showed that the Vagabond was not alone. The next system was called and questioned as some with maps wondered if it might be . . . . it was . . . a dead end.

The more senior pilot offered to take over and command was swiftly passed across. Keeves took up the challenge and the cornered fleet turned to face their pursuit. Jiorj wondered what went through the Outbreak pilots mind as he warped into the system to see the swarm of small vessels racing at it. Points were called and other electronic warfare worked its arcane ways on both his engines and his targetting systems. Then the fire began. Unable to return fire he was slowed to 21 m/s and could not escape. His compatriots arrived to lend assistance only to have their own targetting systems jammed and locked down and become but spectators to the demise of the 100 million isk vessel. Little frigates worth less than a 100th of the target swooped and soared as Keeves kept them on target and monitored the rest of the space about them. The Vagabond silently exploded followed in very short order by the pod of the pilot. No quarter was given and now the other Outbreak members realized that they had become prey.

Before the next hour was up a Megathron battleship had also fallen to the rejuvenated team. Keeves himself would alternate between lavish praise and scornfull derision as he commented on the fleets actions. He would NOT, for all his scorn, leave a ship behind and even fell while acting as the rearguard of a retreat. He directed a pair of killings of ‘old friends’ who were acting as cyno pilots and his giggles were infectious.

When Jiorj finally docked the vessel he had started with back in the hanger he breathed a sigh of relief and opened a file to make notes of the few things he had picked up on this trip.

LESSONS

A roam is motion. To stay in one place is to invite a planned and deadly attack upon yourself. Move or die.

You wait for commands to do anything up to and including engaging. Failure to do so can earn you (at least) the honour of being declared the next primary target.

Be carefull, when hunting, that you are sure you will be able to survive what you catch.

j

“I have been moving about, to keep them from getting too solid a fix on me and tossing bookmarks to some members of the alliance who have too little space experience to be able to last long against a determined enemy. Our corporation, on the otherhand, has spent a lot of time being ready for if and when the worst happens. The POS will yield no riches for the enemy and we aim to make this costly for them in big and small ways. We deny them targets yet always are on the move. I would tell you more of the preparations but security of fellow pilots prevents me from doing so.

In the meantime I have wandered a bit off of my beaten path in hopes of keeping upkeep costs at bay. I am venturing into lower security systems and even considering a trip to CVA space in nullsec. No, I am not turing to a life of crime but hunting serpentis and angels in their home territory. I have completed training to be able to fly a vagabond but the war has put a crimp in my plans. To top it all off . . . .”

Mike was trying very hard to keep from yelling. “What do you mean, gone?”

“Yer whole operating system for the ships, bookmarks, overview settings, the works, sir. Not there, gone.” The comp tech was sweating slightly as this was not a hisec safe job posting but one where some of the poidders would kill you just because you happened to be in their way in the corridor. “I looked to your backups but . . . .”

“They were gone as well?”

The tech nodded nervously. “We can rebuild your database so you can undock in a few hours, sir. Till then I recommend ya sit tight and take a day off.”

“I do not WANT a day off. But, I suppose.” Mike slumped a bit. “I have little choice in the matter. Look I know this is not your fault, do what you can and if it is done in a timely manner then I will double your fee. While you are working on it I will make a list of all the files that will need to be rebuilt. Comm me when you are done, alright?”

The tech scurried off and Mike sat down and opened a new file.

Settings: . . . .

Lessons:

You would think losing the settings once wopuld teach me, but no. So this time I am goint o talk about intial settings for the overview.

First step is deciding what sort of things that you do: Each task should have its own tab.

My #1 tab is always labelled ‘All’ and it shows everything. It is usefull to find things need for a mission that you normally don’t want to see.

If you work in fleet ops then a fleet tab that removes useless rocks like planets, moons asteroid belts and also removes your fellow fleet members so you do not have one of those horribly misnamed ‘friendly fire’ incidents.

I have one tab labelled travel that shows ONLY stargates and bases. That way I can warp long distances without scrolling through a cluttered overview. VERY usefull when making a run through dangerous territories.

Miners may have alternative settings so they can find the best rocks. I will be talking to the Carebear Queen herself and asking more obout that in the near future (she wants me in a Hulk beofre she will deign to train)

I might also recommend the Goonfleet (remember them? They used to be a corp that had power and sov) video that shows how to set the overviews in a well done step by step process.

I will not tell you THE WAY to set your tabs because you play a different Eve from me. I can just advise you to learn to do so.

The other parts will be in a Jiorj post to come soon.

mike

Jiorj looked once more at the letter that was set on the desk before returning to his inventory manifest. Blueprints. He had taken the corps recommended build for small ships and gone shopping, not for the items but for the means to build the items. The first few he had set up had already paid for themselves and were now turning out a profit. So he had gone out and bought more until he was now almost at the point where he had the complete fitted ship in original blueprints with unlimited runs.

Of course that only showed him that he was lacking in other skills. His ability to supervise a shop floor or work in the market with sharks showed he was still a neophyte. But he watched what others did, took notes, and learned, slowly he learned.

It was like the Wolf Pack Prometheus had taken them on. It was also something that was a learning experience. Prometheus was a teacher who firmly understood that the best lessons are learned first hand. The pack of rifters would move from high to low and then into null-sec. Open channel communications allowed the students to see how the scouts were placed and moved and the types of reports that were expected of them. Jiorj had been on two roams with prom and lost a ship in a masterfully executed ambush of their pack when they had settled in to camp a gate. The squad of T2 Frigates had torn through the rifters showing that the ‘wolves’ were still just ‘puppies’.

The second roam had also ended with quite a few losses though Jiorj and his ship had miraculously survived, though more by luck than by skill. They had focussed on a tempest that was ratting in 0.0 and started to try to scan down the target when in reality they were the target. All warped to the tempest only to be met by a typhoon with smartbombs. Jiorj had been scanning a nearby belt and was not present for the jump and so missed the destruction. He made a solo run through a half dozen systems to return to the base in highsec and was thankful for the experiences he was gaining as that passage held far far less dread for him than it would have half a month earlier.

The lessons and experiences were beginning to show

His comm chimed. [A bursary in your name has arrived from OUCH. It is sub-labelled "Scout"] He looked to his balance on his padd and did a double take. This was enough to purchase the cloaking skill . . . he might be more useful on the next pack roam! He quickly checked the market and found a decent vendor for the lessons and was soon plugged into the skill trainer, learning about signuature interuption, interference and spoofing.

and the education continued . . .

*********

Lessons

Anyone who cannot learn from deaths needs to find a different place to play than nullsec
The bloggers who say dying is a freeing experience are right. i need some more deaths to get totally immune but OUCH is doing a lot to make this carebear less afraid to go into the dark parts of the forest

J