mikeazariah

Kaye was dropping off some of her knitting at the medical facility when she heard the sales pitch.

“Ya wanna fly? Really fly? Not like those poddies, wrapped in goo and so ‘connected to the ship’ that they don’t hold controls, don’t feel the thrill.”

She slowed and stood by the doorway labelled ‘Terminal Ward, Paliative only’.

The recruiter wore a flight jacket from a previous era with playing cards splayed across the back. “Ya ya, you could lie here. Be a drag on your family incomes and watch the scenery out the window over there.”

She looked at the window facing the blank wall of another wing of the hospital.

“But I mean going up there. Controls under your hands, flying in a wing of fighter bombers against ships that would blacken the sky if they ever came here. Hitting back at the universe that put you in this room. A chance to be something, to do something or . . . you can lie here, and wait to die.” He paused. “The Aces and Eights are hiring right now. you sign with us and we pick up your medical costs right off the bat. We get you into simulators and train you with pay and then you get to fly. Out there you are the light in the darkness. You are in control and you are earning cash above an beyond covering your medical bills. It is your last chance to not be a debt load on your families, a memory of someone wasting to a skeleton in a hospital bed. Fly the fighter bombers . . . come with me and be one of the Aces and Eights”

The recruiter stepped back and looked across the ward then moved in to hand out forms and take down names. Kaye watched as he quietly encouraged and reasssured hesitent men and women into signing up for their last jobs. He even approached her. “How about it missy? Ready for a life among the stars?”

Kaye swept her hair back to show the plug at the base of her skull. “Ever feel like a vulture? Doing this job?”

“No ma’am. Docs say I got about another 5 months to live. I been out there flying and I want others to get the same chance I did. They pay me a commision for each one I bring in but hell, I’d do it for free. Weren’t no sales pitch, it were the truth. Give the choice between dying in a bed or in a cockpit it is a no brainer. No offense intended, but is the flying a pod what you expected? Or were you hoping for a a yoke in your hands and a throttle at your feet? Leaning into a turn and lighting the afterburners to scream towards a target? We FLY, missy, you command.”

Kaye nodded. “You are right, and I apologise for the question. One day I may fly a carrier and I hope I can have people who care as much about what they do as you.”

*****

Flash Fiction Friday submission

Jiorj scrambled the crew to the hanger desk and selected only a skeleton crew for the OUCH mission. “We are going into lowsec as a scout for the fleet. Scouts are . . . a high risk as we will be often on the outskirts and the first hint of something going wrong. We are the canary in the coal mine. So I want men and women who know the risks up front. If you are not willing to go today you will still be on my rosters, no shame, no recriminations. Oh, and this does count as hazardous duty, whether we see action or not, pay will be modified accordingly.”

They loaded up and transfered to the rally point where they switched to a new smaller ship, a Rifter. ‘I didn’t know we could shoot those . . . ” One of the weapons bay techs muttered as light missiles were transfered aboard.

“Not sure we can.” The other replied as they saw that the ‘LOAD’ light was not on.” (It was partway into the mission when the light did flicker then glow and they sighed knowing they could now shoot all weapons if push came to shove.)

They launched and were surrounded by other vessels, big and small, all glowing on the hud with the soft purple of fleet. The Rifter lept forward and raced about the near space first orbitting one then another ship as Jiorj got the feel for the small nimble vessel. Black Claw called for the chatter to stop and then began identifyine what ships he had to work with. Ships that could cloak were given systems to scout and sit in and were sent off. Bombers and probers vanished from the crowd around the station and then Black turned his attention to the smaller ships. Each was givena system to go to and they all warped off starting at the same gate but then spreading out to cover the systems along a general path and all the adjacent ones.

Jiorj called up a map and looked to see where ships were being assigned. Operational security meant that nobody was asking (or being told) where the station was going to be raised. But the maps showed the flow of the fleet into lowsec had a direction, a form, and a purpose. He didn’t know the exact system they were going to end in but he could see a direction from the fleet chatter and assignments. He was assigned to a chokepoint system beyond which no other ships were sent so he knew he was not on the main path but guarding the flanks. He listened as general orders were issued for the outriders to make safe spots and hold positions 200 km off of the gates.

With the latest technologies, Jiorj knew, safe spots were almost misnamed. But they were easy enough to make and he swiftly dropped three in system before returning to position off of the gate and watched, listening to the rest of fleet chatter. A gate camp was set along the first choice of paths but Black had alternative routes and the fleet confirmed that it was safer and proceeded. The POS was loaded and once the path had been confirmed the escorts ran out ahead, cloaked, and one watched the back door as the outriders continually updated Black as to traffic and populations on the side paths. The industrial carrying the large station slowly moved through the systems and settle, the construction began while all the guards watched and waited. When it was up a cheer went through the channels and the decision was made to continue the operation and make the station ‘fully operational’. Launchers and bays were loaded into the cargo vessel, the pilot Voltron, fretted, knowing that a mistake now could cost in excess of half a billion isk. The outriders were brought together as a fast response guard force and shadowed the load from the base to the station. It took long hours of stress and constant vigilance . . . this was not mining.

The fleet was amused when one ‘orange’ they were watching passed the ghost watchers in a Drake and returned a while later in his Pod. A few enemies who listed as ‘Red’ were seen here and there but they probably never had a clue as to the value of targest that smoothly went past them, an empress with her palace guards. Each step the ships moved a Black ordered, each in formation and reporting on the occupants of systems. They were his eyes and ears, his fingers across a dozen systems.

The station was built and armed, the ships returned to the rally point and then dispersed with a heartfelt thanks from their fleet commander. Back on the hanger deck the day ended where it had begun. Jiorj thanked his crew and assured them that they would be paid the full bonus in spite of the fact that not a single shot had been fired. He then returned to his studies as he continued to try to become a more usefull member of the OUCH team.

**********

Lessons

If the way is clear, you go for it. Strike with the whole set up if you think you can do it in one op.

Just because nothing happens does not mean we were bored. Watching and counting and scanning is a function of fleet as well

Use multiple channels so the chatter does not fill the operational commands, split the local off to the side so it is ALWAYS visible.

The more operational security you have, the less chance of a surprise ambush courtesy of some spy within the ranks.

If it is a one station system then lining the ‘guests’ up with local will let you see how many are out in space and how many are sleeping it off.

. . . and so we won’t be making drinks out of THAT anymore.

As I was saying earlier, Captain Jiorj is an OK guy but you can see the changes already. He just got augmented to be an egger and already he is acting all funny. He raced through training courses that would have taken a normal pilot far far longer to learn. Would you believe he has already finished all of the Career choices the the Republic Military offers? But he came down to tell the crew that we were shifting systems he looked more frazzled than celebrating.

We loaded up a destroyer and filled the cargo bay with fittings and such before heading out into space. He left behind a hanger with at least half a dozen ships in it. I asked him before we left what he planned on doing with them and he looked off into the distance and told me we would come back for them someday or he would donate them to the tribe so the next young pilot would have materials to work with. I got a glance at the accounts and he is sending home 10% of his earnings in tithe. Can you believe that? Now he is talking about sending ships home as well.

But like I was saying, he is getting different. It is almost like he is uncomfortable outside of that goo he flies in. It started when he took one of those training missons that involved him flying a ship full of explosives into a pirate base. He left all of us behind in the bay and flew it solo. When he came back in the small life pod he just looked at us, lined up in the hanger and shook his head before goin to report a successful mission. We had to add some crew to man the destroyer. If we move up to the battlecruisers we will have to bring some more kids up from the surface or else hire here in the station.

I dreamed of becoming a capsuleer like him, but now that I see the changes I wonder if the price is worth it. What is he losing, to gain those stars?

I will write again after we settle in a new system and I know what is going on.

Your Son

Nikolai

I hope this message finds you all well. I have enclosed my tithe to defray the awesome debt I owe you all in helping me achieve the dream of becoming a capsuleer. The crew and I are well and safe and have found gainful employment at every turn. The Rebublic military school has been very efficient at training and supplying me with more ships, lessons and isk to make me a better pilot. At their suggestion I looked for a corporation that would help me even further and I think I have found one. The corp has alloowed me to monitor their communications while I complete the Republic courses and I learn much, just listening in.

I have, in the space of a dozen hours, accumulated 7 ships uncluding an industrial I am learning to fly as well as the Rifter. To think, the model that one hung above my bed when i was a child now sits in a hanger awaiting me. I am well and should be getting back to training as they are now teaching me the intricacies of scanning for anomolies and artifacts. I have completed the Basic Military course as well as the Business introduction. I am currently studying Exploration and Industry. Once I have completed those two then I will finish with Advanced Military and then be ready to join my new corp, Open University of Celestial Hardship (OUCH).

I will write again when I have accumulated more isk to send home or there is news beyond what I have told you so far.

Jiorj

Welcome to the fourteenth installment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by none other than me, CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed to crazykinux@gmail.com. Check out other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

The first banter of 2010 comes to us from the EVE Blog Father, in which I ask the following: As we begin another year in New Eden, ask yourselves “What Now?” What will I attempt next? What haven’t I done so far in EVE? Was it out fear, funds, or knowledge? Have I always wanted to start my own corporation, but have never dared doing so? Is there a fledging mercenary waiting to come out of its shell? Or maybe an Industrialist? What steps and objectives will I set myself to accomplish in order to reach my ultimate goal for this year? EVE is what you make of it. So, what is it going to be for you?

There was a sale, over Christmas, Steam sold copies of Eve for 5 dollars. How could I resist? I have not yet activated the second account because I was waiting for a reson to do so. Then this banter came along. Ah, a reason.

I was talking with Black Claw about OUCH and asking if he had any minimum requirements for entry. He told me that there were NONE. We got to talking and I told him about George Plimpton. For those of you who don’t know Gearge was a writer who didn’t just observe sports . . . he got right into the thick of things and did what he was writing about. He sparred with Sugar Ray Leonard, pitched against National league batters at an AllStar game. In the NFL he played for both the Lions and the Colts in preseason games. He trained as a goalie in the NHL with the Boston Bruins. Tennis, highwire circus, professional bridge, golf. He wrote about them with authority because he did them, maybe not excellently but he got in there and did them.

He was there when Bobby Kennedy was killed and he helped wrestle Sirhan Sirhan to the ground . . .

he did things, and he wrote.

So there it is. I don’t want this to be done with an experienced character who has their own biases and previous skills. I am going to start over learning and stepping out of my familiar paths. Quite a few people try to do a blog from the beginning. The backlog of failed or discountinued ones is daunting. But whe I start to faulter, slack off, I have two things I have to do before I can quit. One is think of Gearge, the other is ask if maybe it is time to move on and try something else. Learn a new think, skill a new set of skills.

I will start with the tutorial and then apply to OUCH. After that? Well this is not choose my adventure for me but if you have an opening in something I haven’t written about . . . let me know. I will not reveal trade secrets or sensetive information if I can help it. But I will come around, hat in hand, asking you if you are willing to have someone tag along . . . tackle, mine, learn . . . and then write about it. If you are a nullsec corp or colonizing a wormhole . . . industrial or pirate gate campers. I am not asking for a long term committment but a chance to experience as much of Eve as I can . . . and share it with other players.

Expect the first post in two weeks.

Drop me a line if you think you could give a very low sp character some experiences.

List of Participants:

“Let’s say this is you. A small corp making a living downing hi-sec POS’s. In your travels you encounter this. A defenceless POS owned by a very famous Eve personality. You make a choice. You decide to be the bad-guy and go after that famous POS.”
If ever a small example of the butterfly effect video was brought to life this might be it.

Epimithius09 (hence forth called Epi) is the leader of the Concord Preservation and Recovery corp (.CPR.). Their corp documents proclaim them to be fighting an ecoguerrilla war against abandoned and offline POS’s that pollute lunar landscapes all across New Eden. For the most part, that is what they have been, a small alt corp eking out a hisec living bringing down the occasional player owned station.

Then there is Chribba. Veldspar ‘God’ who is famous for his honesty and reliability, not to mention his massive holdings such as a hisec mining Dread. (Yes Virginia, there IS a mining Dread). He does not shoot anything except rocks. He does not pvp. He is the host of many eve services on and offline including eve-search, eve offline, eve agents, and Chribbas third party service. He is known to all veteran Eve players, and his services are used by many every day of the year.

Epi sees Chribbas POS and decides it is too damn tempting. He (and his corp) war dec Chribba. In Epis words . . . “Why did we war dec Chribba? Because he had some POS’s that would be easy to kill and make us a nice profit. Also, because it would be fun. Did I know who Chribba was before I placed the war dec? Yes I did. Did this influence my decision? Yes it did. Normally I won’t war dec an alliance as it is too expensive to do. I made an exception here as it was Chribba.”

Chribba takes up the story from there. Asked how he reacted when he saw the wardec. “Pulse rose from 80 to 180, I’m not a pvp person so I was starting to wonder how long I’d have to hide in station I have been randomly decced before but nothing of the serious kind, small 1-member corps.” Chribba decided to post that this war looked serious in the Crime and Punishment thread of Eve forums. I asked if the result was what he had been hoping for. “tbh I didn’t know what I had hoped for, my general insight was more to just let them destroy the towers, wait for the war to end and resume previous life The C&P was more of a notice from my side since it felt like they was actually going to do it compared to the other random 1-man deccs but to my surprise people joined in big numbers and for that I am very thankful, and while still scary for me (even though sitting cloaked watching) it was good for for most based on what I heard.” Chribba in turn referred me to Jonny 101 ” I do suggest you talk to Jonny 101, he was one of the major organizers (on his own) and pretty much ran the show while I was sitting cloaked.” So from one source to the next, I moved on.

Johnny continues the story. “Chribba was attacked, I organised the defence in a shiny ship from his pos, Exalted, Noir and Duty showed up bravely, joined by Repo to guared it in the TZ . Pirates and mercenaries band together in defence of Veldspar. Giving Chribba their services free of charge, the unprecedented event that the cnp pirate community banded together behind these mercs to aid Chribba. Special mention of timaios and Erichk Knaar as the heroes of the day. If anything, I’ve taken this further than Chribba wanted but I like my overkill and people were eager to defend him. Truly it was a cooperation between some of eve’s most respected mercenaries and the cnp community. The battle was short, we had about 50 people repping the pos. Several got shot and so went to change to combat ships, but Erichk Knaar got back first in his rokh. He began opening fire on the enemy, who all shot back at him, Noir’s own gang was remote repairing him and I, and the other FC’s ordered our people to remote shield transfer Erichk as well. This might seem like neutral repping but that is in fact wrong EVERY person boosting erich was flagged to the enemy who were in a pathetic fleet of about 5 very poorly fitted battleships. The fight was no great tactical victory, merely an example. What happens when you’re up against the combined forces of some of eve’s most respected mercenaries, the CnP community and Chribba’s good vibrations. Any one of the four corporations I mentioned above could have soloed this with ease but we want to show the eve community that we hold Chribba highly and time he spends combat fitting pos’s is time he isn’t using making us services.”

This was so impressive that even the offending POS attackers admired the effort. Nara Wolf: “I personally have no issues with Chribba or most of the parties involved. Those of you who banded together in the defense of Chribba without descending into pettiness and hate, bravo, seeing the community work together like that was awesome. The sight of all those Pospreys was awe inspiring, I hope you all had fun blowing us up. We knew what we were doing and don’t mind the wardecs or the smack-talk, just keep in mind it’s a game and enjoy yourselves, I know I will.”

Was this impressive? Hells yes. To see groups of mercs stand for something more than profit was inspiring in and of itself. But I started this with the quote from the Butterfly Effect. It does not stop with the POS defence, no no no. Now the forces that banded together under Chribbas banner have started to go after other corps and alliances. If an alt was in CPR that is reason enough for them to dec whatever corp or alliance the ‘main’ lives in. Jonny 101 has spent 5250 mill of his own cash and 250 mill of donated to wardec the Privateer alliance. Sys-k has dropped IMM since they held another character common to Epi. (Or so it is claimed by the FoC [Forces of Chribba].)

Has this ended? No, In Eve very few things end. The sand shifts and the tides change but there will always be the historical moment when the forces of Crime and Punishment stepped up to defend a pacifist. By Jonny’s measure “Bottom of the barrel “pvp” corp attacks Chribba. The elite of eve’s mercenary community and the worst pirates in the game band together to curbstomp them into the stone-age.”

I asked Epi if this was true. “No. We failed to take down two of the POS but we got one POS. Additionally business will continue there are more POS out there to be removed and they will be taken down. Business will continue as usual : )” When asked if he could go back in time, would he do it again he replied “Of course it was fun and we got a POS out of it : )” Epi had nothing but good things to say about Noir and Chribba and even the pilot who bagged him. He plans on continuing the good work of his corp although he will not repeat the wardec on Chribba ” If he left it offline I might try it it again. But its quite expensive so only if i could do it and get something out of it. This dec showed that he pays attention to war decs so we probably wouldn’t be able to kills a pos before he could defend it.”

In related news another corp had picked up the cause of the War on Chribba and the forces of good are not so swift to leap to the defense seeing the threat as distant and inconsequential. Chribba may not feel the same way about that . . . he did, however mint and give medals to all who participated in the first war. I managed to get something even better, an autographed photo of Chribba for my own corpmate, Mechanoid Kryten that reads “To te Carebear Queen /Chribba” in his best handwriting.

The best thing about Eve is the ability to set your own win parameters. Each side of the above war feels that they won. In my opinion, they all did. Each played the game they wanted to play and interacted with other folks. Each was kind enough to allow me the time to ask 10 questions (a self imposed limit) and I quoted from those interviews for this report. If there is some issue or aspect of Eve you think would make a good story for the Tribune please contact the editors or leave a comment below and we will see if it can be done.

Mike tossed his pad on the table top and turned it o silent as Dierdre joined him. “Ah, you are just what I need, some tranquility and common sense.”

She looked down at the notes he had been making. “Another CSM meeting?”

He nodded. “Each one adds something, both to the universe and to my impressions of the people who were elected . . . and not elected.”

“Not elected? How would the meetings alter . . . oh, the alternative representatives. But they only come into play when someone fails to make a meeting, or must leave early.”

“Yup yup, and so far Helen Highwater has had a chance to speak and vote at every meeting, and has not missed that duty nor, may I add, done a bad job of it. On the other hand, the Elected Representative Trzzblat has failed to show up for another meeting. Those people who voted for that one would have been better served voting for Helen. But in the end it turns out to be the same thing. In spite of that, this meeting went better, and differently.”

“I thought the meetings were set in format, how can one go differently?” She nodded her thanks to the waitress who delivered their drinks. Neither had bothered ordering as they came to this cafe so often it was a given what they would have and the staff did not bother even asking, anymore.

“Well, it seemed smoother and also longer. Smoother because Zastrow also was absent for more than half the meeting. With two goons gone the discussion seemed more . . .efficient.”

“Isn’t Helen a Goon?”

He nodded. “Helen is, but if the fleet starts noticing how reasonable and well thought things have been going they may ban and kick, out of general principles.” He grinned. “Or maybe there is more than one type of Goon and Goon agenda.”

“So what did they talk about?” She asked, smiling at Mike in a way that made him flush slightly.

“um . . .let me see.” He fumbled his notes and flushed deeper as she dimpled at his obvious discomfort. “They have asked that more confirmation steps be implemented in the creation of Alliances. That there be color coding set into mining laser crystals. That a calender system be set up for corporations to schedule more efficiently. They also discussed the concept of censorship in the matter of public discussions. This one was a bit closer to my heart as I have been vaguely threatened while writing for the tribune.”

“Threats are trying to control the news from below. Censorship usually implies it comes from above.” She corrected him.

“Yeah, well trying to skew information from either end is not quite right. Although I suppose what I choose to say and write about is also biased in its own way . . . aaargh . . .anyhow they are taking that up with the major networks to at least slow down the cutting of open discussions.” He looked down at his notes. They also decided the EOS needs some fine tuning and that battle recorders could and should be mountable for large fleet engagements. They decided that Fighters should be tracked in killmails and that destroyers are in dire need of re-tasking and re-assessment. Nobody is quite sure WHAT they are to be used for right now.”

She nodded. “Most of the ones I see come and go are either fitted for small salvage operations . . . or gink?”

“Gank. Out to kiill and be killed in highsec. That got brought up as well but it was one of the issues that proved that the council is growing and adapting. Instead of just voting yes/no now they are thinking deeper and further ahead. They will send smaller groups off to rework proposals and bring them back at future meetings. Suicide ganks, the ability to import export standings, and price ceilings were set as too vague but not bad ideas and so they were not dismissed out of hand but tabled for more work before the vote would be made. They agreed on the general concept of capsulleer security needs to be tightened but did not try to get too deep into the specifics of how.”

“Know what is good, what is bad, and what is not ready to be judged. Book of Issha”

Mike blinked. “Pardon me?”

She looked at him straight on and said. “Finish what you are saying . . . we have time for this later.”

Mike paused for a moment before nodding. “Like I said . . . they took four hours to do this but very little of it was waste time. The alternates T’Amber and Helen did excellent work. It was a near run thing to even make quorum but with alternates like that it is working out fine for the council as a whole. Personalities and motivations are beginning to show through. Krovin is most likely to vote against changes but I think he mainly is worried about the changes being unbalancing to the stabilities that currently exist. Song Li is a very reasonable person who is always trying to make the little things better. He has they eye for the details of things. Teadaze brings a lot of experience to the table and still manages not to be distracted from whatever question is at hand. Elvenlord is excellent at keeping things flowing and on track with very little lost time. Zod isn’t noisy but his comments are usually straight to the point and he stepped forward to help rework some ideas showing he does not have to be loud to be proud.”

“What about Sokratesz?”

Mike scratched his head. I don’t know. Haven’t got a handle on that one, yet. Zastrow showed up in time for 5 issues and I think he was too tired or hung over to be much of a nuisance. Trzz-whatever is a no show. Alekseyev is impressing me the more I learn about him and his organization, NOIR.”

“How so?”

“Just little things are beginning to add up to a better image of him than I had, initially. Turns out sometimes you do have to toss the first impression and be willing to look deeper . . . who knew?”

She reached out and laid her hand on his. “Sometime, though. The first impression is just fine.”

Mike was rescued by the arrival of their food as he had no idea what to say to that.

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

Lessons

The old communication protocols that the CSM has had in place work just fine when a good hand is at the helm.

These folks are working hard (some of them) Drop them a line in game to say thanks, they deserve it. After all, some few of you elected them.
They are coming up on the deadline for what they will take to Iceland. If you have some axe you want them to grind, get to it, Assembly hall forums.

She had just finished a small shopping trip to the surface of the planet and was returning to the station when she remembered that he comm was turned off because of transport regulations. Tapping it to the active mode brought a steady stream of messages and new items.

A new target

He was some famous person she had never heard of.

They had successfully recovered a small station (her heart sang at the news of a cleaner system)

War war war war war.

It seemed the famous person had friends. Like denizens of the deep of some ancient sea leviathans of mercenary and pirate organizations surfaced to strike at CPR. The battle for the other stations had turned ugly, fast. A news article called the defenders of the station brave and altruistic heroes. A second tap called up some news footage of the battle. How is one brave in a fleet of more than 50 against 6 specialized “station removal vessels”.

“The same type who think orbital bombardment to destroy a forest could be called ‘hunting wild game’.” She ran through the messages and was glad to see that all of the clones of her fellow corporation mates had been successfully used.

Returning to the news she saw a list of corporation messages that showed that there had been a spy within their midst. “To be expected, in this day and age, I suppose.” Interviews with some of the participants made her laugh delightedly.

“Usually it is the eco-conscious who are type cast as the wild eyed radicals.” She murmured to herself. “Why Ms. Wolf is the epitome of calm and rational next to those Neanderthals proclaiming this to be a great victory. And look, awww, they even made medals for themselves. I bet they were quite proud of gold stars on their spelling tests when they were young as well.”

She keyed entry into the Sigil and transferred the news broadcasts to the big screen so she could make out more of the details. She watched the ‘battle’ twice and took notes the second time. Then she went to her personal mails and tsked at the large number from people she had never heard of.

They had joined an alliance? Wars and combat standings flooded across her screen as combat status had changed a dozen times in the few days that she had been gone. “One small trip and it all comes apart.”

Then the more important mails came to the front. Most had the code tag “situation”. She created a new folder and slotted all of them to one side and then read them chronologically. “Oh! Yes that makes sense. Hmmm.”

Again, she was impressed in the maturity of her corporations well measured responses and the joining of the alliance had not been a full time plan but just a method to bleed the ‘brave defenders’ where it hurt, in their wallets. None of them had continued the war declarations past the minimum time. “Give till it is about to hurt, eh heroes?”

She quickly sent a message to the CEO and smiled as she reset her plans to open and dust all the ventilation ducts of her ships in the station. Then there was that lovely afghan blanket she had been planning to start soon. “The nice thing about children is that they have such very short attention spans.”

The situation was in disarray but she agreed with the CEO’s evaluation of the long term effects. He recruiter had warned her that there would be dangers involved as people realized what CPR was doing and now that the prediction had come true she was not about to run away. It had gotten messy . . . but with time, and a little help things would slowly become tidier than before.

She smiled and triple checks the power feeds to her ship and then proceeded to make some orders for yarn. Things would be quiet until the next shiny thing distracted the children and then they could return to creating order in systems of New Eden.

As she smiled a Hulk slowly floated past her docking bay and into space, the industrial lighting glinting off of its massive sides and gleaming as the Strip Miners caught the light.

Yes, something would distract the children soon enough.

Kaye was sighing soflty as she checked messages to see what new task the local agent had set her when the CPR channel lit. Destination Irnin IX. Target: a Large POS that showed all the signs of abandonment. Former owners were Lunar Logistics but they had shown no response to the warnings that CPR’s CEO had filed with Concord.

She double checked the board and reconfirmed her flight plan with the local control before pointing her small destroyer towards the new adventure. The passage was only a few jumps away before she was joining a handfull of pilots is shooting the very large station and admiring its attendent facilities. Advanced labs, mobile labs, cruise and torpedo batteries, all sitting out in the open with no forcefield to show the station was occupied.

She tsked and slotted into an exact orbit to maximize the output of her small vessels lasers. It was only a few minutes before she was asked why she was still flying such a small ship.

“I am saving for the battleship and cannot afford the side purchases if I am ever to get into one. I was hoping the fees garnered from the cleansing of this would speed it up a bit.”

Her heart sang as she heard more than one member of her new corp offer the loan of a battlecruiser for the purposes of this shoot. She accepted the contract from the man who had recruited her and made a quick jump to the Amarr homeworld to climb into a brand new Harbinger and swiftly outfit it for low cost and all damage. It was not made to go fast it was made to bring damage to a target.

Her return and aquisition of a new orbit was quick and the long process of the removal of a large POS ensued. Some pilots would set their ships on automatic and engage in other hobbies. Kaye spent the afternoon scrubbing the decks and polishing all the trim of the new boat before setting before the command console and knitting. She was working on a sweater and the click of the needles was in rhythm with the thrum of the lasers banks as they steadily burned into the Caldari Control Tower.

One pilot laughed as he realized he had brought poor drones for this mission, another had left his extra crystals behind. Pilots came and went as agents and other emergencies might keep them from the full looooong session but there was a steady core that kept the beams of light raining down on the target and slowly the shields fell.

Time passed as the ball of yarn was used up at almost the same rate as the shields of the station. The body of the sweater took shape and Kaye smiled quietly as she dimmed the lights in the control room and let the laser fire of a handfull of ships light the room with a flicker and flash as though she was back sitting in front of a fireplace in her parents cabin on some distant shore.

It took several hours for the shields to finally fail and there were congratulatory message between the pilots when it was obvious that they were now completely down and all damage was peeling back the armor. Siona was calm and kept people on the up to date and on task. Nara and the Funky Monkey were also steady companions. The armor was swept aside in less than an hour.

Hull damage began to show and everyone perked up. Kaye was now working on a sleeve and the knitting needles kept the pace as the armor peeled away. They ALL were caught off guard when the solar flare hit. Ships were pounded as they spun far from the anchored tower, systems shut down from the massive electromagnetic shock. Reboots were agonizingly slow as Kaye fought to bring systems back online. The fear that the POS might be brought repairing itself, that it might be somehow healed by this massive surge made her hands sweat as she reconnected and swung the Harbinger around to head back for the abandoned station. Communications came on as one after another of her fellow pilots managed to bring their beleaguered systems back and also warped back to see what the changes were.

The station had changed and some of the armor had returned but not enough to dim the spirits of the CPR and Kaye almost laughed as she locked onto the station once more. The fire schedule was swiftly back on target and the armor once again burned away and the hull started to smolder. Compared to the hours and hours it had taken to down the shields of the large station the last half hour in which the structure crumbled and melted was a nice finale.

The end of the station was vindication for the effort done by the corporation. Industrial ships moved in to clean up the mess left behind. Each module was unanchored and loaded into bays for sale at the Amarr homeworld. Kaye knew that some of the corporation was very open about why they were doing this . . . the isk. Others were here to admire the size of the explosion when the station finally blew. She was here to put order into a small piece of the universe.

The money didn’t hurt either.

She spent a few days ordering her accounts and cleaning the tubes of the lasers that had served them so well. Then she sewed off the end of the sweater and tried it on. It fit perfectly and she lowered the temperature of the ship a few degrees so she would have more reason to wear it on a regular basis.

She was as happy as a clean ship and a new pink sweater would allow.

Lessons

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

POS shoots take a very long time

Nothing is worse than being through the shields and armor and then the server does an unannounced shut down. Heart pounding as you try to get back on fearing the POS will be once again full shields.

BOOOMS are nice and almost worth the time spent.

I can switch users in VISTA and come back to eve still online and the lasers still shooting.

kaye

Head reeling from the party Mike barely made it back his ship. He collapsed onto a bunk and lost all connection with the real world. The problem was that his mind had not yet gone to sleep and oh, the dream he had.

—————————————–

The Lord of all the Elves sat in his white trimmed red suit and glared down at the representatives before him. “No, you are not allowed to have wishes. We fulfill them for children all across the universe. Do you know how much trouble there would be if we started granting our own?”

“But sir, ever since the last round of contract negotiations . . . ”

“I knew it was a mistake, letting you lot go union. Very well. But keep it snappy, this is a busy time of the year for me.”

The elves shuffled about till one stepped forward. “I know it’s been asked for, before. But can we please have the people in charge take another look at Logos for Alliances. All the little people like to have something to belong to and sometimes the logo is all they have. ”

The Elven Lord looked about and saw all the other elves nodding and made a small note. “I will ask, again. But no promises. What else?”

“Well, I thought that it would be nice if we could trade naughty and nice lists, to save time and space. As it is each one of us must maintain their own naughty list . . . ”

Another voice at the back piped up. “No! What about kids who are only naughty in one elves’ eyes? IF he shared his opinion then the poor thing would get coal from any of us or all of us.”

Ideas and compromises were offered and discussed but in the end little Song Li’s idea was shot down and the Elvenlord made no note to pass on. “Next?” He demanded, looking at his watch.

“Me! Zod, sir. Black Ops, the sleigh is getting no love for being fast and invisible and capable and we need it and its kind to get some love.” An elf to the side chirped.

“I agree, and so should you all.” He looked out to the assembly who all nodded and he made another note. “Now Teadazy here also has a simple one, faction war standings need fixing as the neaughty and nice lists are getting mixed up due to an accounting error. All in favor? Passed. Now this is how a meeting should go, we may get out on time after all. Faction spawning . . . any discussion? No? All in favor? Passed. Bloody thing needs to be made more even, nuff said. Now, sentries . . . um, Soccer ates?”

“Me, sir. Sokratesz. Some of the advanced stationary sentries need to be upgraded or the others downgraded so they are more racialy specific.”

Voices all over the room piped up to disagree with using nerfs or buffs for devices that already pwned. While Elvenlord and others agreed with the proposal in the end the majority overruled it and no note was made. Then they moved on to docking games and again, everyone had to have his or her say. In the end it was agreed that docking games were no fun and needed something to make them playable. Though no firm suggestion as what that fix would be they did have another note made. ECM was brought up and shot down in short order as few wanted to open a can of unbalanced worms

“Sir? Some of the goony elves are wandering off, should we wait for them?” One of the assistants pointed out.

“I gotta go poop!” Yelled one as he wandered off.

Elvenlord closed his eyes and shook his head. Several replies to that were available and none would make the process go any faster so he held his tongue and signalled one of the assistant goony elves to step up to take the open place.

“Now, what is this about Titans?”

“Sir, people keep bumping them and they get moved too far from jump bridges.”

“Biggest, baddest ship and it is being bumped around? What do you propose?”

“Just widen the sphere of influence for the jump bridges so the Titans are less crowded.”

The dissenting voices were few and the note was made. The next two proposals involving directional scanning and logistics warp speed were swiftly acclaimed good ideas and joined the growing list. Then a few elves dragged a dead horse through the assembly before presenting the concept of totally changing how POS’s were constructed, looked and the call for color matching counter tops in the washrooms. The color matching managed to win over the most negative nellies and it was also added to the list.

Then came one of the big issues (other than the dead horse). The ability to share bookmarks. Every elf wanted his or her say on this one and most were amazed that anyone had an opposing opinion. Little Korvin (who had also voted against the Titan fix) thought the bookmark system should be left alone but he was shouted down by the rest of the elves and the note was made to allow the shariung of bookmarks and perhaps even the ability to save and store them. This was followed by a pair of proposals that the elves should be able to keep track of their friends, even when they are being sneaky, so they don’t bump into each other and the idea that communications within large groups could stand a few subtle improvements.

They were down to the last issue and Elvenlord had given up looking at his watch as he was fairly sure the clocked was ignoring the passage of time and he had been here for months, now. “Self destruct?” He asked, hoping for a simple presentation and vote.

No. It was broken into parts and the parts were broken into subparts and each was voted on as there were so many parts that the parties of the first part found that parting with ships was partly self inflicted and did not want to be party to the party of the second part who wanted part shares in the part of the kill mail. This at the end of a session was partly too much for some and the partitioning of the idea into smaller parts only served to partially paralyse the parties involved. In the end the parts passed were that self destruct should revoke insurance, generate a killmail, and the timing should be dependent on the ship size.

Some elves wanted to continue on other concepts while others were begging for permission to leave as they had gone on for a very long time. Common sense won out and the meeting broke up as little elves vanished to where elves go when not in meetings, some to make toys, some to daringly dance darkly for donations, some to perform in plays by a man named Will. One slim one stayed behind staring out into space and then tunred and asked. “Is this what you were expecting, Mike?”

——————————–

“Gaaagh” He sat bolt upright and banged his head on a bulkhead. “Ow!”

The dream was horrible and had been so real, so long, so very very long.

“Next time, I will not chase zombies with ale. I will not throw away the eggs and just drink the nog. next time . . . i . . . grzzzzzmff” his snores soon filled the room again.

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

Lessons

Some issues are easy and some you marvel that anyone would vote against them at all.

Just because an issue makes it to the list does not mean anything will happen. But it does mean it will be taken to CCP where ‘Top Men will be working on it’

Teadaze is still the god of communications and those of you who voted for him should be congratulated on your good judgement.

mike