EVE Blog Banter #4: I Don't Know.

Welcome to the forth installment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by yours truly. 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 here. Check out other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

This month's EVE Blog Banter comes to us from Manasi of A Mule in EvE. Manasi asks "How do we, EVE bloggers, adapt to changes as they are thrust upon us (speed changes, no more ghost training, all the Dev blogs, etc), or as our lives make playing the game different (more time, less time)?"

Of course we adapt. Of course we change. I mean, I haven't been around long enough for any real game changes to affect me. I'm sure it's a big deal to others but to someone new to the game like myself, I've yet to see any big game changes that really impact my play.

I've always flown small light ships, so the speed "nerf" was a boost to me. It didn't affect my playing style because I've always flown small light ships.

I'd already trained probing skills before the wormhole stuff came out. That might affect me later, but it isn't changing my plans for now.

Come to think of it, since I've only been around for one "expansion" I'm probably not the best person to answer this question. Ahh well, at least I can provide my readers with links to other people that can do a better job.

The question of how the time I'm available changes how I play the game is an interestingly simple one. I have therefore a simple explanation.

When I have more time to play, I play more. When I have less time to play I play less.

Good Day.

Other Writers:

• Attitude is Everything
• “If I could save time in a bottle….”
• The Game with the Thousand Faces
  
• [OOC] January’s Blog Banter
• New Ballgames, Same Home Team
  
• EVE Blog Banter #4: I Don't Know
• Adaptation
• CK’s Blog Banter #4
• Roll With the Punches
• Blog Banter 4: Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
  
• We, the EVE-bloggers
• Adapt or Die
• I'm in ur blogosphere, hijackin' ur Blog Banter (4)
• Blog Banter
• Opportunity or Burden?
• Mystic Pizza

The Rest Is Silence

Will you tell the folks back home I nearly made it,
Had offers but don't know which one to take,
Please don't tell 'em how you found me,
Don't tell 'em how you found me,
Gimme a break, give me a break.
Albert Hammond - It Never Rains In Southern California

Angel Creo-Mining Station - Gusandall

"Richard?" The pitch of the voice was high, but soft. The sound of the rushing water almost drowned out the voice. The two men were up to their waists in water. The first tapped the other on the shoulder again.

"What do ya want Barney?" The man turned around and looked down at the man following him.

"I was just thinking," Barney spoke over the water, "Maybe we could get out of here?"

"Oh yeah, they're just going to let us go," Richard turned around and started struggling to turn the valve again, "Give me a hand will ya?"

Barney stepped forward and grabbed the uppermost part of the lever, and the two of them slowly turned it. The water stopped flowing, and except for the drips from them and the pipe, the room was silent again.

"I wasn't talking about them letting us go Rich, I was talking about leaving,"

"So you were talking stupid. Glad we cleared that up," Richard began to trudge through the water towards the ladder.

"Rich, you and me got alot of freedom here. We could steal a ship and never look back."

"And you want me to give that up Barn? You'll get us both killed. Or worse. Now shut up and lets go," Richard started to climb the ladder and stopped before opening the hatch to look back down at Barney, "Look, you're my friend so trust me when I say this. I've seen better men than us try it and fail," Richard looked Barney in the eyes and pointed at him with one hand as he continued, "You said it. We've got alot of freedom here. We get caught running, we're stuck for good. Give it time, and maybe, just maybe we'll find an opening. Until then, stop talking about it,"

"Rich, this isn't where I want to be,"

"It ain't where any of us want to be, even them," Rich looked down at Barney and motioned him towards the ladder, "Come on,"

_______________________

"Barney!" The woman who yelled his name was clad in a miniskirt and a blouse that showed her bellybutton. He looked over and she ran to his table.

"Hey Trixie. How you been?"

"Pretty good now baby," She sat down in his lap and ran her hands through his hair.

"Heh, Good,"

The girl looked him in the eyes, "What'd you do today?"

"We had to lock down a water pipe on level fifty six," He grabbed her hand and brought it to his mouth, kissing it softly before looking back up at her, "This place is falling apart,"

Her expression turned stern for a moment, "This is my home as much as yours,"

"Yeah,"

"Oh god, not this again," She leaned back and rolled her eyes.

"Yes that again. I have a degree in molecular physics and they've got me working on pipes,"

"You're working on pipes because that's the best job they could find for you,"

"I'm working on pipes because the Cartel and Serpentis have no use for anyone that doesn't know drugs,"

"You know, you might want to lay off the 'woe is me' bullshit while you're talking to the doxy,"

"I'm sorry Trix,"

"So am I," She turned her head as someone walked into the bar, "Look babe, I gotta go to work, I'll meet you after. Your place this time," He nodded and she jumped up.

Barney looked into his drink before he cradled his face into his hands.

_______________________

Evati VII - Moon 1 Kaalakiota Corporation Warehouse - The 'By Jove' Bar and Restaurant

"What?" Hallan was looking over his maps again from his back office. His recently acquired bar gave him a bit of solace to conduct his business away from The Hub.

"We let them build it. They're working for us," Alfroren Karsteinn was talking to him from Balginia over comms.

"Why?"

"Because the only ones who can run a mining outpost in Minmatar low-sec space is the Cartel,"

"Look, whatever. I just need the coordinates,"

"Yeah. I'm uploading them now. What're ya going to do?"

"I'm gonna steal some shit, then run like I stole something,"

"Very, logical," Alfroren laughed and looked down at his keypad, "It's done man," He looked back up at Hallan, "Try not to kill anyone,"

"I always try," Hallan clicked off the comms before standing up and walking over to the wall of his office. He grabbed a pistol and held it up to the light. He'd recently come into a huge cache of Guristas firearms. They all bore the mark of Fatal and the Rabbit. He put the gun into his holster and hefted a huge rifle from the wall, "Never seem to manage it though,"

_______________________

Eight Years Ago - New Caldari Prime - Prime City - Mindclash Arena

"I can do this!" Barney was chuckling as he concentrated on the vision in front of him.

Hallan was taken aback for a moment and the zombies on his side of the field began to degrade. He steadied himself and closed his eyes. Suddenly in the middle of the field gravestones began to rise. From underneath them numerous zombies began to crawl out and onto the field. They advanced past Barney's tentacled monster defenders as he stood stunned and reached forward to grab him.

"Enough!" Came a computerized voice as the crowd that had gathered cheered.

The two participants climbed down from the playing field and met on a walkway along the arena.

"Thanks for the match," Hallan said reaching out his hand, "You put up one hell of a fight,"

"Hal, we both knew what was going to happen before we started. I'm glad you agreed to a match though," Barney reached out and shook Hallan's hand, "I'm going out for a meal. You wanna come? It's my treat,"

Hallan nodded and they walked off, with Barney patting Hallan on the back.

_______________________

"So you're going into Molecular Physics?" Hallan asked with a mouth full of food.

"Yeah," Barney said, sipping his Quafe, "I figure I'll do a nice six year stint with the Academy, then head out and find a job,"

"Head out?"

"Yeah, NCP is a horrible place to find a job in any kind of research,"

"Where ya going to go?" Hallan looked out the window and into the street, which was, as it always was, locked with traffic.

"Probably Alliance space, the Capsuleer corps pay very generously,"

"You sure that's safe?"

"Of course it's safe,"

Hallan grabbed his bookbag and stood up from the booth, "I appreciate the meal Barney, If ya want to go another round, you know my number,"

"No problem Hal,"

_______________________

Now - Angel Creo-Mining Station - Gusandall

The alarms outside the room made it hard to hear anything but the beat of his own heart. Barney looked dumbfounded at the commander as he spoke.

"Just do it!" The commander was screaming at Barney now. He hated it when the commander screamed. He put up his hands to protect his face as the man hit him between the shoulders with the butt of the rifle, "Get to docking bay five and shoot that fucker,"

Barney fell to the floor as the commander threw the rifle down beside him. He reached over and picked it up. He stood up and looked at the commander. The commander stopped and they looked at each other.

"Just go," The commander started, "The guards outside will come in at even the--"

Barney fired the rifle twice into the Commanders chest. He let out a wheeze and slumped onto his desk. Barney stepped against the wall beside the door just as it slid open and both guards rushed in. Barney kicked the second guard that came in into the first, and unloaded a clip into both of them before he ran out the door. He loaded another clip into his rifle and began to run down the halls.

The alarms already blared loudly as he sprinted through the deserted halls. He made his way to the fourth level, where his own quarters resided. The door wouldn't open. He banged his rifle against it but it wouldn't open. He wondered silently if Trixie was alright, but right now he had to get himself safe.

He turned around and saw a familiar face.

"Hallan?" Barney's eyes lit up with suprise.

"Barney Mullen?" Hallan raised his eyebrow.

"We have to find some kind of way out of here," Barney said banging on the door again.

"I gotta go," Hallan turned around.

"Wait," Barney called after him, "How'd they get you too?"

"They didn't, Man. I just stole something valuable and now I gotta leave. If you wanna come with me, I suggest you hurry," Hallan broke into a sprint as Barney followed after him.

Docking bay five had twenty or so guards stationed to guard the ship he'd brought in. As Hallan ran around the corner, half of them turned around to look in his direction. His assault rifle came alive and the men fell jittering to the floor.

He ran past their bodies and keyed a code into the door. It opened with a hiss and Barney came from around the corner. Hallan looked behind him and smiled for a moment before gunfire erupted behind Barney, and he fell to the ground.

Hallan quickly jumped inside the ship airlock as his old friend crawled in his direction leaving a bloody trail as he did so. Hallan keyed another code into the door and it hissed shut. He turned to his ship's door, put in another code and as it opened he hopped inside. He hit the pad on the other side and that door closed too.

Hallan looked through the two windows, sighed and ran to his pod. He hopped in, jacked in, engaged his engines and broke away from the docking clamps which had him locked down. The airlock and part of the docking bay stayed attached to his ship as he engaged warp to the Republic Justice Tribunal station. He turned his cameras behind him once to see the bodies flailing in the darkness before looking back out into the stars.

OOC: The Bastards Vs. KIA Alliance: Video and Links

Thought this deserved it's own post. Congratulations again to my Corpmates on such a nice win.

For some details:

KIA Alliance fielded: 7 Ishtars and 1 Vigil
Everything Died.

The Bastards. fielded: 3 Abaddons, 1 Scorpion, 1 Scimitar, 1 Celestis and 2 Griffins.
They lost 1 Celestis and 1 Griffin.



There are a few blog posts about it as well.

A Mule in Eve

Dense Veldspar

Flashfresh--The Pirate

Letrange's EVE Blog

Life in Low Sec

Sweet Little Bad Girl

Mahn AlNouhm has done a wonderful write up from his perspective as a participant, and it deserves a good read:

the Eagle : the Cold : a Darkness

It's also his first piracy blog post, so show him some traffic please.

Good Day.

It Sure Is Smokey In Here

East bound and down, loaded up and truckin'
We gonna do what they say can't be done
We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there
I'm east bound just watch ol' Bandit run
Jerry Reed - East Bound and Down

OOC: I'd like to congratulate The Bastards on a convincing win against KIA in the Sixth Alliance Tournament.

I'd be lying if I said this was unexpected. This is the Bastards.

IC: The first round of the Alliance tournament was held today. The majority of the Bastards were in the Hub drinking and celebrating. I stopped in to offer my congratulations and noticed a decided lack of Hellcats. I brought up Mynxee on corp comms and she let me know she was out on a roam with Venom, one of her new recruits. I offered my Rifter as support and she accepted. I went down to my hangar and happily undocked.

I was thoroughly enjoying myself as I warped from gate to gate, quickly making up the fourteen jumps between me and them. By the time I arrived they'd only moved on one system, so I followed them and joined their fleet.

We were a motely crew, two rifters and a republic fleet firetail. Agile and quick, we roamed from system to system, looking for targets.

Most of the systems were rather devoid of life, but I managed to scan down a Drake. I warped in on him a hundred kilometers away, and signaled to Mynxee that if she warped to the gate, and then to me at a hundred, she'd be on top of him. She followed the directions, but as she came out of warp, we discovered the Drake was aligned. He disappeared into a warp bubble before anyone could get a lock.

Disappointed, we moved into the next system. The Drake followed us oddly, and I managed to scan him down again. Mynxee warped in first this time, and I followed quickly afterwards. She pointed him and Venom came in guns firing. The Drake pilot was a bit smarter this time and his friends came to his aid. We were suddenly set upon by quite a few ships. I was already taking heavy damage from the Drake, and I died rather quickly. Everyone else got out, fortunately.

So I began to trek back to Evati, telling the girls to continue on. I'd catch up.

It seems the whole world of Eve is abuzz with love for the Bastards today though, as more than a couple of people offered a congratulations to me for our teams win today along the way. I wish I could've been a part of it.

It wasn't too long that I got back out there, covering the thirty-two jumps in no time. One thing can be said about the power of the small squad, it doesn't take much time to get back into the fight.

We began to warp from gate to gate checking for targets. I had a rough location on a Thrasher, who happened to be in line with an Amarr military complex. A Phobos showed up on scan too, but I wagered he was in one of the belts behind the complex. Turns out I was wrong, and I went completely silent on comms as I emerged from warp on a Phobos.

Heavy Interdictors are always an annoying pain in the ass, moreso when you don't have a gate cloak to give time to figure your situation out. In hindsight I could've tried to activate the gate, but in practice I started to warp to a safe I had just set up. This required me to come to a full stop, turn around, and then gain enough speed to enter warp.

A Phobos has a hell of a locking time, let me tell you. So I was pointed rather quickly. I engaged my damage control, armor repair, and afterburner. He was only seven thousand meters away, and I made a decision to head towards the Phobos to buy myself the time to figure out my situation.

As I passed under five thousand kilometers his medium autocannons found me impossible to track, and I looked ahead of me to see a planet. I aligned and waited. As I passed back into his gun's range, I began to take some heavy damage. I was not optimistic about my chances. He was following, however slowly, and I wasn't making the ground that I needed too.

Around twenty kilometers, the Thrasher came out of warp. He may've been neutral as it seemed he engaged the gate into the Amarr plex. Shortly thereafter though, two Huggins came out of warp. I was now twenty eight kilometers away, and I'd passed out the range of the Phobos's guns. I hit twenty nine kilometers and two Ishtars came out of warp.

The warm glow of webification surrounded my ship, as the Huggins began their work. I cursed loudly but though my speed was decreasing, I had enough momentum to coast out of the Phobos's warp disruption range. As the point fell off my ship, I hit the warp button, seeing ten sentry drones deploy just as my afterburner deactivated for warp.

I broke through comms at this point, screaming almost unintelligibly "Eleven Percent Structure!".

I've always heard, "You don't want to see your own obituary". I've always said "Yes you do, cause if you see it, you're not dead,". Next time your ship is on fire, remember that.

After a quick repair, I was back in space, no worse for wear. We wandered for a couple more system, finding a fan along the way. Venom did a fairly good write up of that encounter, so I suggest you go check out her commnet logs.

Good Day

Killswitch: Chapter One

Chapter List:
Prologue

Meeting the Man

There are two kinds of people in this world, those that are gonna die, and those that are me.
Cruikias Mondet, Minmatar Racing Champion.

After a much quieter second leg, Hallan finally arrived in 6NJ8-V. Venal. The home of the Guristas pirates. He checked the system beacons and found two stations, he recognized the one the instructions had mentioned and engaged warp.

He came out of the warp bubble quickly, and angled his ship for docking.

Hallan Turrek then effortlessly glided his Rifter into the Guristas Logistics Support station, just like he'd done hundreds of thousands of times in the past. This time though the hangars were devoid of crew. He wasn't sure what that meant. He slowly lowered his Rifter onto a landing pad and felt his ship clang as it held his ship down.

"I'm grounded?" He thought from inside his pod, "Oh this ain't normal,"

"We ain't normal, get out of the pod," A voice boomed inside his head.

_______________________

Hallan Turrek was being led by several armed men through the station corridors. It looked as though it hadn't been cleaned in years, the normally shiny interior of the Caldari station was stained with a puke green hue. One of the men grabbed him by the arm and shoved him against a door. The door opened and he was kicked inside. He flew into the room and came down on his knees.

Hallan looked up to see a man sitting behind a desk, who reached forward to turn on a lamp on his desk. Hallan stood up and looked in the man's eyes.

"Sit down," The man said it plainly, without the hint of command in his voice.

"I'm good," Hallan said, dusting off his coat.

"You know, you remind me of a guy who used to work for me, went by the name Zippo," The man behind the desk leaned back and put his boots up in front of him.

"That's a funny name," Hallan said, looking up.

"They're all funny names. Thing is, he had a real problem with authority. Give the guy an order, he'd find some way to shove it up your ass. It's how I ended up with him. One day, 'bout eight years ago I tell this guy before a job, 'Make sure you bring a backup detonator.'

"I mean, Zippo was a professional demo guy. He could make a light show like you wouldn't believe. This was important though, so I felt like saying it. He didn't like it, but he shut up about it. We get to the bank, we break into the vault--"

"Where at?"

"What are you a fucking cop? It's a vault. We break into the vault, we rig up the charges, and it doesn't go off. So I tell him to break out the extra detonator. And he tells me, he didn't bring 'em,"

"So what'd you do?"

"I shot that prick and used mine,"

"What?" Hallan raised an eyebrow.

The man behind the desk threw his feet to the floor and leaned forward into the light, "I told you to fucking sit down,"

Hallan looked around for a moment, laughed softly, and sat down in the chair across from the man.

"Now, who are you?" The man asked, picking up a pen on his desk.

"I'm Hallan Turrek,"

"That's what you're going with, 'I'm Hallan Turrek?'" The man let a half smile cross his face and it quickly faded away.

"That's my name,"

"I know your name jackass. You think I'd let you in this room... you think I'd let you on this station if I didn't know your ident code, what you wear to bed, what you had for breakfast this morning, and who your mom and dad were fucking last night?"

"My Dad's dead,"

"And your Mom's a prude. Let's not get distracted," the man twirled the pen quickly between his fingers, but focused his eyes on Hallan, "Do you at least know who I am?"

"You're Jira..."

"No, that's wrong. We don't play by those rules here. I'm Fatal,"

"Ok,"

"Who are you?"

Hallan stopped for a moment and looked up, "I-I'm Jack,"

"Now we're getting somewhere,"

"I'm here to work for you,"

"I know that,"

"I can be useful," Hallan leaned onto the table as he spoke.

"If you weren't useful you'd have never made it here,"

"What do you need me to do?"

"I need you to prove to me that I can trust you,"

"How do I do that?"

"You tell me,"

"I've been killing miners, traders, and anti-pirates for months now. I've been stealing from and killing the Cartel on a regular basis," Hallan stopped speaking for a moment as Fatal's pen fell to the table.

"Yeah, the Cartel. They fucking hate you. And I hate them. But I don't really see where killing and stealing from thieves is supposed to get you currency in this exchange," Hallan shifted uncomfortably in his seat as Fatal spoke, "You know the difference between you and me and the cartel?"

"The rules?"

"Not where I was going with that, but I like how you think. You and me? Style. Them? Profit,"

"I try both when I can," Hallan said with a chuckle.

"Me too man, me too," Fatal stared at Hallan intently for a moment and sighed, "Listen, I can't really be sure Concord wouldn't send somebody like you down here to fuck with me, or to spy on me. So here's what we're going to do. Concord's got a nice blockade set up at a stargate we'd been using for smuggling into Empire.

"It's pretty obvious we can't use the gate again, but since you just fell in my lap, I've got an idea. Go find Orvyllerier Allerande on the promenade. He'll get you the coords for the stargate. Go there. Kill them. All of them. Talk to Orvy when you're done.

"If this works out, you report to Orvy from now on. You don't want to see me again. It means something bad is about to happen. I'm letting you know because if that time comes, there's nothing you can do about it,"

Hallan nodded and stood up. He extended his hand and the man shook it. Hallan turned around and walked out the door. Hallan realized the guards were gone and as the door closed behind him, he shivered.

The One Where I Lose 70 Million

Dealin' cards with the old men in the club car
Penny a point, ain't no one keepin' score
Pass the paper bag that holds the bottle
And feel the wheels rumblin' neath the floor
Alro Guthrie - City of New Orleans

Jorge Belda, Mynxee, Myself, Sarvic and another unnamed patron sat at a table in the Hub, the Bastards favorite haunt. I leaned back and pushed another pile of chips into the center of the table. The rest of the players looked around a bit and put down their hands in turn, except the man I didn't know, who was sitting directly across from me, next to Mynxee and Sarvic.

"That's fifteen million," He said raising his eyebrow.

"I'm glad you can count, I'd hate for you to not know how much I'm taking from you," I quipped with a chuckle. Mynxee couldn't contain her giggle and his face turned red.

"I'm in," He said with a huff.

"Call," I flipped my hand down, "Full house,"

"Crap," he muttered, throwing his hand down, showing the two pair he'd been betting on.

The man flagged down a waitress and whispered in her ear, softly patting her behind as he leaned back down to the table. She glared in his direction and started walking to the bar. She pointed in our direction as the Bartender looked up and nodded to the man sitting across from me.

"Good hand Hallan," Jorge Belda said before taking the cards for another deal. Before he dealt the hand, the waitress dumped a load of chips onto the table next to the man.

"Lets play for real this time," He said with a chuckle.

_______________________________

I hadn't fared well after that, and after losing seventy million isk I was feeling the hurt. I stood up and began to leave the table but the man grabbed my sleeve as I passed. He was obviously drunk.

"There's that little matter of the Rifter you threw in that last pot," He stood up and looked into my eyes, "I wanna see it."

"You a pod pilot?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, or I'd already have one of those rinky dink things," the waitress from earlier passed by to give Sarvic his drink as the guy pointed in her direction and spit out, "I'll be back in a few for you sweet cheeks,"

I looked over at Mynxee who had a mix of amusement and irritation on her face and mouthed "Sweet Cheeks?!". She shrugged and laughed, and I looked up at the gambler again.

"Lets go get you that ship,"
_______________________________

"It looks like Bruzen shit," The man was leaning against the frame of the door as he observed one of the many Joker's Wilds that was sitting assembled in my hanger.

"So do you, but I had the good sense not to mention it," I said with a chuckle, interrupting him before he could complain, "How's about we take it for a spin?"

"Yeah sure, where do I ride?" He almost fell over as he wobbled towards the ship.

"Oh you know, anywhere," I said with a smile, before climbing aboard myself.

You know, he never did make it back for that date with the waitress.

Killswitch: Prologue

A Path Through The Cold

Run, Run as fast as you can. You can't catch me I'm the Gingerbread Man.
The Gingerbread Man - Traditional Gallente Fairy Tale

The Aces Wild jumped through the gate, and very loudly landed on the other side. The gate induced cloaking laid a veil over the ship as it's pilot surveyed the situation. Hallan Turrek's mind raced inside his pod.

A mobile warp disruption bubble and an Arazu laid between him and the next gate. He slowly turned his camera drones to view his surroundings and noticed a few asteroid belts behind the gate. He told his navigation computer to warp in it's direction, and it quickly did so, shrugging off the cloak as it entered warp.

He landed on three Angel Cartel Battleships and three more Angel Cartel Frigates. Hallan turned his ship around and selected the planet that the next gate orbited and engaged warp again. The Cartel hadn't even managed to target him. That was for the best he imagined, the Cartel would pay a high price for his head.

He opened his navigation menu and created a bookmark just before landing. He then stared at the scene before him in disbelief as he realized he'd been pulled into a warp bubble orbiting the planet. He engaged his prototype cloaking device and began to burn his way out of it. No ships were waiting for him, and he figured he had cloaked before they got a fix on his location as none arrived. When he emerged from the bubble, he engaged his warp to the bookmark he'd created. The Aces Wild shook as it came out of warp again and shimmered softly before disappearing again in the dark night.

Hallan's directional scanner showed five small bubbles surrounding the gate accompanied by a single large bubble and a Caldari Navy Raven. Imagining that support could be on it's way any moment, Hallan dropped cloak again and engaged his warp drive. The Rifter sparkled in the starlight as Hallan's heart began to beat faster. He came out of warp inside a warp disruption bubble, pointed his ship in a direction and engaged his cloak. He was twenty eight kilometers away from the gate. He watched as the Raven headed in his direction. He'd cloaked fast enough to avoid a target lock, but not fast enough to avoid detection.

Hallan cursed mentally as the Raven passed four kilometers from his ship. The cloak would malfunction if anything came within two kilometers and Hallan knew it. Suddenly the Raven released a full load of Ogre's that began an orbit. The drones were regularly coming within three kilometers of his ship. Hallan selected the gate, and readied his microwarp drive. He turned the camera to see a web of warrior one in the direction he was flying. He changed his trajectory and headed towards the gate. He zoomed his camera out and saw that a huge web of warrior one's surrounded the gate. These guys were good.

Suddenly the Arazu came out of warp within five kilometers. So these two were working together. It released it's own load of Hobgoblin two's and began to perform an orbit around the Raven. It inched closer.

"Arazu's don't usually carry warp scramblers," he thought "That Raven would take to long to lock me if it carried a scrambler,"

The Gisti-B type microwarp drive he'd stolen from the Cartel had netted him nothing but trouble from them in the past, but today, he imagined it could save him. If he was right, there was nothing these guys could do about it. The gate was now twenty six kilometers away and his reduced speed while cloaked made that a long wait. The Arazu worried him though, and he decided to stick to plan A until it became prudent to make a run for it.

Then the cloud of Hobgoblin's disappeared into the Arazu's holds. It stopped in space for just a fraction of a moment before warping away. Hallan smiled inwardly and decloaked. He activated the microwarp drive and headed for the gate.

He was faster than the Raven by a long shot. It's lock hadn't even resolved by the time Hallan signaled for gate activation.

His smile melted away as he realized that another bubble awaited him on the other side of that gate.

It was unattended but Hallan knew the Raven was lumbering back to the gate while the Arazu was likely in warp to the gate as well. This system was full of capusleers and his name was probably plastered across all of the local intel channels. Hallan decided to take all available precautions.

He warped to a belt and cloaked. He was thankful the next gate was in scan range. No activity on the scan. He warped in, activated the gate and landed in an empty system.

"That's better," he thought, before engaging warp.

OOC: Drifting Through

A little less conversation, a little more action please
All this aggravation ain't satisfactioning me
A little more bite and a little less bark
A little less fight and a little more spark
Close your mouth and open up your heart and baby satisfy me
Satisfy me baby
Elvis Presley - A Little Less Conversation

Sometimes something funny just falls into your lap. I was roaming towards Vitrauze, looking for Radar sites when I passed a gatecamp consisting of a Cerb, a Phobos, and a Blackbird. Like I normally do when I hit a gatecamp, I hit the warp button and as soon as my cap went down for the warp, hit the cloak. No problem, easy getaway, but then the smack starts up in local. I've blogged about smack before, but this was pretty funny so I thought I'd put it up.

Khan Nightstalker > good hold on the cloak. we almost got u lol. u lil dick
Hallan Turrek > Dad?
Shindo Kanh > Gay?
Khan Nightstalker > u call my daddy bitch
PoopMafia > fag!!!!!!!!
Hallan Turrek > Oooh, good. I'm going to have fun with this.
PoopMafia > i call you daddy after i fuck you in the ass like i do to my real dad homo
Hallan Turrek > Does he cry like you do?
Khan Nightstalker > cry???? lol ur in a cheater
Khan Nightstalker > run and hide lil man
PoopMafia > sometimes but im gonna rip you open motherfucker
Hallan Turrek > I was just curious, I hear alot of anger here. I like it, go to your angry place.
Hallan Turrek > Maybe, just maybe, you'll find some skill there.
PoopMafia > then make you clean me off when im done with you ... get ready for a dick covered in shit cum and blood
Hallan Turrek > This is starting to sound like an aristocrats joke.
Khan Nightstalker > lol i love it when frigs talk smack
Hallan Turrek > Those are pretty good.
Khan Nightstalker > thats hard core
Hallan Turrek > No, hardcore is trying to provoke smack talk because you guys think you're good at it. That's so awesome.
Hallan Turrek > Would you like a gold star?
Shindo Kanh > Gay?
Khan Nightstalker > gay?
Hallan Turrek > Are you?
PoopMafia > GAY!?
Khan Nightstalker > y u interested?
Shindo Kanh > 8=======D ~ ~
Hallan Turrek > I wasn't going to say anything, but you guys definitely sound like you are.
PoopMafia > mmmmmmm
Shindo Kanh > omgosh my feeelingth
Khan Nightstalker > ye good one
Hallan Turrek > Well, I know a good bar in Evati you guys should check out.
Hallan Turrek > Lots of chicks, might cure your homosexual problem.
Khan Nightstalker > i got a good bar for u
Hallan Turrek > Do tell.
Hallan Turrek > Don't leave me hanging. Get it? Hanging?
Khan Nightstalker > dont act like u dont know...... done talkin to a frig pilot. run.... and hide
Hallan Turrek > Ahh you guys are funny.
Hallan Turrek > Let me know if you guys ever develop some skill.
Hallan Turrek > Or if you get any better at this whole "smack talk" thing.
Hallan Turrek > I could offer up some lessons if you really need 'em. I mean I know you need 'em, but if you want 'em.
Hallan Turrek > Then again, I guess you learned your lesson already.
I petition CCP about the local chatter.
Khan Nightstalker > shoo fly
Hallan Turrek > Knew I could get you to talk again.
Shindo Kanh > you remind me of this dude that just got his pos smashed
Khan Nightstalker > well done now shoo ur clogging local with ur gayness
Khan Nightstalker > lol prob one of his alts
Khan Nightstalker > u know how ppl have noob alts
Khan Nightstalker > he prob one of them
* Hallan Turrek laughs
Hallan Turrek > Oh god, I'm just going to let you guys keep talking.
Hallan Turrek > This is hilarious.
Khan Nightstalker > wow good smack. i really am learning...... -.-
Shindo Kanh > great punctuation anyway
Hallan Turrek > Damn it, you were entertaining me with your stupidity. Keep going.
Khan Nightstalker > Hallan Turrek > This is hilarious. He repeated this about a hundred times in local interspersed among the remaining conversation.
Khan Nightstalker > awesome smack talk hero
Hallan Turrek > There we go. High quality stuff that.
Hallan Turrek > Keep going.
Shindo Kanh > wtf r u doing anyway?
PoopMafia > your momma told me to keep goin when i fucked here in the eye socket last night
Hallan Turrek > Well, I was just passing through. Then I decided to have some fun.
Hallan Turrek > Did you keep going then? I mean it sounds like you have a thing for dead women.
Setec > lol....wtf
PoopMafia > tell your mom to get her brain matter off the end of my dick. that skull fuck was good but i need to be clean
PoopMafia > im going to fuck
Hallan Turrek > Your sister?
PoopMafia > u
Khan Nightstalker > Hallan Turrek > This is hilarious.
Hallan Turrek > You are wise to heed my words.
PoopMafia > gay gay gay gay gay
Shindo Kanh > Gay?
Shindo Kanh > Gay?
Hallan Turrek > You are?
Shindo Kanh > Gay?
Hallan Turrek > You said that already.
PoopMafia > im gonna cut your intestines out and use them as a jump rope
Khan Nightstalker > Hallan Turrek > This is hilarious.
Khan Nightstalker > lol
Hallan Turrek > Oh my god, that's great.
Khan Nightstalker > nice smack hallan!! O'Doyle rules!
Hallan Turrek > I'm just going to listen to you guys all day.
PoopMafia > then i gonna cut your tung out and wipe my ass with it
Khan Nightstalker > im learning by the second
PoopMafia > PoopMafia > then i gonna cut your tung out and wipe my ass with it
Khan Nightstalker > Khan Nightstalker > Khan Nightstalker > im not racist, i own a colour TV He repeated this as well about a hundred times in local interspersed among the remaining conversation.
Hallan Turrek > I never said I was going to teach you how to smack well, I said you needed to know. It's kinda funny just watching you guys.
PoopMafia > gay?!
PoopMafia > dooooodieeeeeee
Hallan Turrek > Khan, I gotta admit your shiny decorations are so cute.
PoopMafia > your a stinky butt plug hallan
Hallan Turrek gasps
Hallan Turrek > I... I never knew.
PoopMafia > hallan an butt plug sittin in a tree k i s s i n g firs comes love then comes marriage then the butt plugs leaves for a tighter asshole U GAY
CCP Responds To Petition. Local Goes Quiet at the exact same time.
Hallan Turrek > I'm sorry, did I break your concentration? I didn't mean to do that. Please, continue. You were saying something about your being stupid.
Hallan Turrek > Oh, you were finished?
Hallan Turrek > Well, allow me to retort.
Hallan Turrek > Good day. Have fun with your gatecamp.
* Hallan Turrek tips his hat

Then they left, with no further words.

Till The Firing Stops

Just because I'm losing
Doesn't mean I'm lost
Doesn't mean I'll stop
Doesn't mean I will cross
Coldplay - Lost!

"Connection to Probe Lost"

I looked over the system map, it was gone. No signal at all. I traveled to planet five, and it really was gone. Oh well. I put another probe out and began another round of scanning.

"Connection to Probe Lost"

Another one just disappeared. Ok, that's out of the ordinary. I'm willing to blame a malfunction for one, but two in such a short time is unheard of. Most weapons systems won't even lock a probe, so I was left wondering who was doing this and how.

"Hey Mynxee," My corps comms were lively tonight, but I cut through with a question, "You ever had a probe just disappear?".

"No," Came her reply, "You're probably experiencing a glitch,"

"Connection to Probe Lost"

"No, uh, the only probe I have left now is the one I dropped between planets. All of the ones at the planetary orbit points are gone," I was still trying to figure this out.

"I'll load up a ship and come over to take a look," She offered.

"Yeah, that'd be fine. There's a radar site in here, and a combat plex," I paused for a moment, "Maybe someone is smartbombing them,"

"It's possible," I heard her say as I warped to a hit.

_______

I'd narrowed down the combat complex by the time she showed up in system. She'd also enlisted the help of another corpmate of mine, BravoFox. He sat in a well heeled combat ship on the other side of the gate. If we encountered any trouble, he'd be ready.

I knew a Prophecy was wandering around, and while Mynxee laid some probes at the planets, I began to set some up off of the planets. My new probes went untouched but it wasn't long before Mynxee spoke on voice comms.

"He's here, he's approaching the probe. He just smartbombed it," she paused for a moment, "He just left,"

So that's it.

"My systems are glitching out," I lied in local, "My probes are just dissapearing,"

Mynxee and myself began to probe for the radar complex. I imagined it was worth quite alot of money for the trouble this guy was causing to keep others away. She eventually got a hit, while BravoFox chased the Prophecy into a station. I warped to her location and the two of us dropped Sift probes to narrow the location down.

In moments we had it.

The smartbomber must've noticed our activity, because he became irate at this point. He told us he already had the location and he'd alert the Angel Cartel to our presence. Bravo assured us he was still stuck inside the station. I called up the station manager as I got a Caracal from Evati, and it very shortly suffered a communication shutdown. Moments later the Prophecy pilot was hurtling out of the station, but it was too late. I landed on the complex just as the Cartel began to mobilize to move their base.

Cartel bases are pretty mobile, but they couldn't do anything with my missiles raining on them.

As Mynxee watched cloaked, soon nothing was left but us, debris, and the Cartel computer systems.

I slowly extracted everything of value from the site while our new friend pleaded with us to leave it alone. We're pirates, he said, wouldn't it make sense to let others find it and then kill them?

He must've been getting paid well for protection of the base, and I was happy to remove his cashflow. Thirty-Five Million isk later, our little pirate fleet moved back to Evati.

He cursed us the entire way.

Good Day.

Make it your life

If I could be inside her light
I would steal enough to make my way into the night
And if I could be inside her light I might just find I'd be alright
Train - She's On Fire

Jaxxon's comms went silent, Amamake did that to a person. The Curse was a hundred and fifty kilometers out. I kicked on my microwarp drive and began to burn in his direction. I called out the situation to my wingman and he began to warp in my direction. As he did, I saw a Brutix hurtle past me and land at the warp in point. I quickly turned, informing Jaxxon as I did so, and warped away. My Caracal and his Lachesis could almost certainly take the Curse, but not with the Brutix supporting it.

He unfortunately warped in alongside the Brutix, who nailed him down and began to burn his shields away. I offered to return but my wingman said he thought he could get away.

Nope, the Brutix was too fast, he's going to go down.

I initiated my warp drive in his direction and let him know I was on my way. I'd give it something to think about, and maybe give my wingman a chance to get away. I was warned off. No need, I was told, to lose two ships.

"Dude, I'm already in warp," came my reply.

I came down on the Brutix and opened up with scrambler and missiles. His armor was holding steady and I just wasn't fast enough to help the Lachesis. The Brutix turned his attention to me and I aligned to leave. It's massive tank easily held up to my damage, and it was slowly scorching my shields away. Shields dropped, armor melted, and the ship began to develop huge holes. I hit the warp button and to my amazement his point had failed. I entered the warp bubble and laughed. My Caracal was at fifty one percent structure.

I streaked like a comet to the Brutor Tribe Bureau.

Good Day.

The Horror

You don't understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am.
Marlon Brando - On The Waterfront

Why in the hell do you care? Is there something you're not sharing? Something about your ship, your implants, or your statistics that's important to you?

Give it up.

I don't understand people who don't just live in low-sec, but make their living there and are afraid to die. What in the hell is wrong with you? Did you miss the memo about being a pirate? You don't have to care.

I go on roams with people that refuse to engage, I hear people talk about how they don't wanna lose their ships. Those of you that talk like that, think like that, or work like that are idiots. You forget yourselves.

What do you hope to achieve? You fly with pirates, you give the finger to the law. You laugh in the face of danger. You achieve greatness.

I swear to you, that isn't going to happen while you are cowering inside a station, no matter how expensive your ship is.

Put away your insecurities, put away your fears, put away your misguided notions of profit, put away everything. Become primal. There are primordial instincts. Bring that to the table. You can be that person. Know where you are. Know where they are. Use all your skills.

If money is an issue, fly only what you can afford to lose. When it's all said and done, just have fun.

Glory follows.

Hard to Capture

Homicide's illegal and death is the penalty
What justifies the homicide, when he dies?
In his own iniquity
Wu Tang Clan - Da Mystery of Chessboxin'

I've been pirating for months now, and I've come to a conclusion: I like to kill people. I know I've gone into detail on this before but it's more true than I let on. I really enjoy sending people back to the clone vats. I really enjoy making a ship explode. My first reaction upon jumping a target is not to ask for a ransom, it's to kill them.

This can be problematic for a pirate. It comes with the territory that I should be ransoming people. Getting folks to give me money to go free. I've had a couple of successful ransoms. Nothing spectacular. Maybe forty million total, including group work. We killed a drake today, then we podded the guy. We asked for a ransom and he didn't answer. Turned out he had nice implants in that clone. Sucks to be him.

I don't know why, but I seem to attract kills from people who just won't pay me. Sometimes they won't even talk to me. They probably think they're doing their friends a favor, making themselves less of a target next time. Making me less likely to attack them or their buds in the future. They fail to understand a very important point. I like killing people.

Over the last couple of weeks I've turned my first profit as a pirate. I'm up about a hundred million now compared to a couple of weeks ago. I'm pretty happy about that. Profit in piracy can be an elusive thing. A lot of folks have alternate methods of cash generation. I have one at my disposal right now, in that I can find hidden computer systems. The various pirate factions have alot of hidden bases out there.

The one site I did with a partner yielded about fifty million. Twenty five of that went to me, and has helped me on the way to sustainability. Hopefully this is the solution I've been searching for.

I dunno if piracy will remain a profitable venture for me, but I do know this:

I love my job.

Good Day.

The Winds Hit Heavy

Well, if you go when the snowflakes storm,

When the rivers freeze and summer ends,
Please see if she's wearing a coat so warm,
To keep her from the howlin' winds.
Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash - The Girl From North Country

I had quite alot of fun last night with comet projectors along with a few members of my alliance. It's a novelty I know, but it's fun to fling them around this time of year. Celebration day may be past, but it's never to late to have some fun with your friends.


That said, I went on quite a long roam with Mynxee and MatarRae. Matar's a new Hellcat that's been wandering around Evati for the last few days with Mynxee. I gotta hand it to Mynx, she tends to bring in some good pilots.

I managed to get my own fool self caught at a gate. For the first time ever I got caught aligning my Rifter. All night the ship'd been sluggish in response to my commands. I'll never know what was wrong with it because a few interceptors made spare parts out of the damn thing. Mynxee and Matar were kind enough to wait for me to get into a new ship and we continued on.

Unfortunately the interceptors decided to follow our little roam a bit further down the pipe, and I suggested we divert from the normal path. We did so and lost the tail. We were wandering a bit in another branch of low-sec for a while before we returned to the pipe. We went into Amamake and for about ten minutes could not find a target. Not even a trap to spring. We decided to move on.

Sadly for us Matar had to head back about halfway to our next waypoint, but Mynxee and myself continued on. We continue into Vitrauze. I used to live there for a short time, and Mynxee had based the Hellcats there at one point, so we reminiced with the locals a bit while Mynxee sorted some inventory.

So far the only targets available had been to elusive to nail down. After arriving in Old Man Star we were surprised to find that hadn't changed. We flew around a bit but couldn't find anything. We decided to head up to Tama, a place I've visited on more than one occasion, before returning to Evati. Along the way Mynxee spotted a target.

"I've got a Kestrel and Catalyst in a Minmatar Installation," she said as I was about to activate the next gate.

I turned my ship back around and met her at the entrance gate. She engaged the gate and I did as well, but it took me a bit longer to get through. As I landed I saw the Kestrel warp away. The Catalyst however had decided to test his chances and Mynxee's Rifter sped in his direction. I did my best to catch up. She started to engage and as I closed I saw both of them going down fast. Mynxee's ship went up in a orange flare as I reached the target, already at half structure.

He popped before he even got a shot off, and I hammered the pod with all my ordinance even before Mynxee managed to yell on comms, "Pod him!" I scooped the loot from both wrecks and waited out my Global Criminal Countdown, as Mynxee mentioned she had some ships in Tama to replace her Rifter with.

In Tama we accosted the locals and threw out a few hellos. Mynxee managed to convince another pirate in the area to come down to Evati with us. They hopped into Stabbers and I hit the gate in my Rifter. We sped through high and low sec even past Rancer, which at the time was empty of the Smartbombing battleships I normally expect. I did take note of the Crielere labs along the way.


I have no doubts that if they were not Research Outposts, the two stations would be firing at each other daily.

Back in Evati I wasn't sure what to do. I'd had a pretty full day already, but I was interested in the fleet that seemed to be forming around Mynxee. I have to give the girl some credit, if you want a fleet organized, she's the best one to get it done. Not many people can tell her no.

With quite a little fleet under our belts we decided to set out. Somehow I got voted as the squad commander and I set our destination as Katugumur. Mean Coalition's home.

The trip was rather uneventful but the Katugumur gate was camped by a Deimos, Abbadon, and Hurricane. We all broke the gatecamp and formed up in the system. After a bit of hunting and chasing shadows Mynx volunteered to be bait. She took her new Rifter into a belt and began to shoot. I had the rest of the fleet align to her and we waited. True to form, the Deimos and Hurricane jumped in to kill her. The rest of the fleet were on them in moments, and I managed to warp to the wrong belt. I called the Deimos as primary without even being in the battle and the fighting commenced. As I arrived I started shooting the Deimos, who was at about half shields.

I asked if anyone had a point on the Hurricane and someone volunteered to do it. The Hurricane was pointed and the Deimos began to melt. Someone said they were removing point for the pod and I told everyone else to burn for the Hurricane as soon as the Deimos popped. The Deimos pod managed to warp out as the pointer accidentally moved out of range, but we continued to engage the Hurricane who soon too met his fate. I designated looters and had everyone else warp out. It was a quick affair, which was to be expected when in enemy territory.

The trip back to Evati was mostly uneventful, with a few ships trying to chase us down. We could've taken them as a group but I wasn't taking chances. Eventually they stopped pursuit and we made it back to Evati with loot in hold and everyone else intact.

Then we had another snowball fight.

Good Day.

I've Done a Lot of Foolish Things

Like a fool I went and stayed too long
Now I'm wondering if your love's still strong
Ooh baby
Here I am, signed, sealed delivered I'm yours
Then that time I went and said good-bye
Now I'm back and not ashamed to cry
Ooh baby
Here I am, signed, sealed delivered
I'm yours
Here I am baby
Stevie Wonder - Signed, Sealed, Delivered

My quest probes literally blanketed the system. The same pilot stared back at me in local as he had for the last twenty minutes. He was probably getting a bit impatient, waiting for me to find the site. Every crack was plugged, every gap covered. It was only a matter of time.

A hit. Finally. I warped to the signal and dropped a comb probe. Another hit, this time ten thousand kilometers from the site. I warped again and dropped a sift probe. In a few moments I was warping into the site at a hundred clicks while cloaked. I bookmarked the location and headed back to Evati.

I've got a Drake outfitted for just such a purpose, with code breakers to break into the Angel Cartel computer systems I'd found.

I warped my Drake into the site a few minutes later and began to destroy the Cartel pilots. I kept a three sixty degree scan going for a while as the initial guards exploded. I broke into the first can and took it's contents. Before I could move on to the second one, another wave came in. Once it was destroyed another came. As I fought. I managed to hack into three different sub-systems in the Cartel base.

Then, on my scanner I saw a spook probe. Time to go. I warped out and turned my cloak on. I cursed as my drones didn't make it back to me in time.

I waited for over twenty minutes before going back for my drones, as I knew the spook probe would only last that long.

A few minutes later, after checking the gate, I was out and on my way to Evati.

For a short time I was the hunted, and given my knowledge of hunting, I was able to escape as soon as danger reared it's ugly head.

Despite the fact that I missed out on what could've been nice loot, I had fun.

Good Day.

Till You All Just Disappear

Boiling heat

Summer stench
'neath the black
The sky looks dead
Call my name
Through the cream
And I'll hear you
Scream again
Sound Garden - Black Hole Sun

Pirate fleets are always quite a sight to behold. Flash, Shae, Mynxee, Sarge, Jed, and myself along with a huge group of Bastards and assorted other pirates went on a rampage through null and low sec space. By the time we were done we'd even streaked a path across high sec. It was an ultimately fun and productive roam.

I woke up and jacked into the corp comm channel while enjoying a morning drink. I was amazed to find massive amounts of people online and the plans for a roam being discussed. I hopped into my Rifter in anticipation, but after looking at the fleet I decided to try something a bit different and got into my Caracal.

We headed towards the first null sec gate and encountered a couple of ships. They made a couple of really poor choices and became the first victims of the night.

The first null sec gate itself was then clear but we had some fun with a few ships that warped in at a range that left them exposed. A Taranis was tackled and I managed to take it into half structure before it warped away, despite a Falcon's presence. I switched to the Falcon but it managed a jam cycle finally and I cursed. The rest of the ships managed to escape. The rest of the fleet held position and we began to move again.

A Brutix was tackled and taken down along the way, melting beneath the onslaught of our fleet.

We began to dodge in and out of null sec, finally catching a small fleet on a gate. The Huginn, Myrmidon and Tempest were left alone by their already scant backup to meet their fates. We had alot of fun spoiling their day.

A couple of people were being chased by a Vagabond while trying to get to us. We saw him on a gate and the entire fleet warped towards him. As we were about to land we heard on comms that he'd agressed, and the gate crew wouldn't let him through. Laughs were had at his expense as twenty ships came out of warp in unison and quickly destroyed him.

We finally dived headfirst into null-sec and began to make our way across Red Alliance, Goonfleet, and Intrepid Crossing space among others. We cut a path through The Great Wildlands and a few other pirate controlled systems as well, finding a Goonfleet base along the way that was unprotected. After destroying a few frigates and stealing some things off a Badger Mk II, we left it and continued on

We managed to nail down a Typhoon before we left null sec, and we emerged unscathed(save a Rifter loss by someone other than me).

We emerged in Konora and intel told us we might find a target on a station. A few folks had already decided to leave before we'd resurfaced, and took the opportunity to do so. We still managed to hurt a Taranis who made a couple of bad dance moves outside of the station. I was almost pleased to hear "I missed, someone else get him," as my missiles struck and the poor Inty exploded. I so seldomly get be the last to fire at a ship.

Myself, Mynxee, and a few other fleet members decided at this point to break what had turned into a Thanatos, Nidhogger, Raven, Claymore, and Purifier. We even heard tale of a Heavy Interdictor as we undocked and broke for high sec. We'd all taken alternate routes, and a few folks ran into trouble in null sec, while the high/low route was entirely clear. Everyone made it back in one piece except for Sarge.

You hear about pod malfunctions sometimes, and I've yet to have it happen to me. But basically it's when your pod blanks your brain and transmits the data away without your pod ever being breached. Sarge had this happen to him and his Tempest died afterwards. We were mostly happy to have him back, but he's likely going to sue the cloning company for the damages.

I had fun, I'd do it again.

Good Day.

Can You Hear the Scream?

Move over, dad, 'cause I'm a double dipper!
Upside down on the zip-zip-zipper
1,2,1,2,3, I′ve got a ticket so ride with me
Mary go down on the merry-go-round
All is fair on the fair ground
Love go slow, love go fast
Licorice twist gonna whip your ass.
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Roller Coaster of Love(Remix)

When I first decided to work for the Minmatar and resign my Caldari commission, it was pretty apparent I couldn't stick around in the Caldari Navy. I had to find another corporation, and the very first Corp I joined was called Da Miner Elites.

Most of our business was terrestrial in origin. Those who'd started the corp were pod pilots who mined under the watchful eye of Concord. The terrestrial business was actually more of a telecoms company and the name never did fit it. Given the expansive nature of the corp by the time I'd joined, the name was changed to Lost Connection.

As a part of LoCon I helped lead the way in Brutor tribe relations. I'd been working for them for such a long time already, and I enjoyed helping the cause of freedom. We slowly turned our company into a powerful friend to the Brutor and never looked back. Eventually we learned that subsidiaries would be needed to operate on more robust level, and we formed an alliance. It wasn't too long after that, that I formed Good Arms Incorporated, which still exists today.

Given my new freedom, and because of alot of the infighting I saw among the Minmatar during the time I worked with them, I had decided to strike out on my own.

Sometimes I still find my old corpmates and talk about old times, yesterday being one of those occasions.

The Bastards were all drunk in the station, and I was cruising between the stars in my Rifter. I checked my old protocols for LoCon's voice comms, and upon finding they hadn't yet been revoked, I logged in.

I was greeted with friends and strangers, and it wasn't long before my old high-sec friends began to ask about my criminal exploits.

You already know, if you read this, about most of what I've done and am doing. They were surprised and amazed that I was still at it out here. They wondered how I could make any money at it.

Someone offered that he was planning to learn the life of the Criminal as soon as he could fly an Astarte. I mentioned that he was, with all due respect, out of his god damned mind. To anyone who wished to learn piracy, I had a simple suggestion. Bring a bunch of frigates. Loads of them.

A metric shit ton of them.

The guy scoffed, scoffed, at me. At the very least he'd bring a battleship. I told him to tell me when and where, please.

Most of the others were pretty seriously considering what I had to say. One even offered to come out to Evati and go for a roam. Given that most of the corp's missioners are Caldari, he was forced to take the worst of the four combat frigates. The Kestrel works perfectly against the Angel Cartel, but against pod pilots, they're a bit more difficult to use properly.

I didn't care, I've used them before and they are alot of fun. He asked me where I intended to take him on his first trip with a real pirate. I set course for Amamake and told him he'd see when we got there.

We arrived in Amamake and I took us to my central scan point. From there we chased a few ghosts until I noticed a Rifter. After a bit of chasing I figured he was warping to each belt around each planet. Once he headed to planet four, I took the last belt and my wing man took the first belt. We worked towards the middle and my wing man found the target first. He pointed and engaged. The Rifter wasn't very damaged as I showed and burned in his direction. I set up an orbit at around three clicks and let loose with my new Barrage ammo.

The target melted slowly, his armor tank unable to withstand our hammering and he exploded. I tried to get the pod but the pilot was quick on his feet and warped it out. I scooped the loot, pleased to see tech two loot inside and warped back to my central scan. He'd carried five thousand barrage of his own, so I asked if I could have that and gave the modules over to my wing man. He agreed, we aligned to a belt and I kept scanning.

Suddenly a Taranis came up on scan. Interceptor. Properly built that thing could kill both of us. I decided it was worth my time and headed for a closer scan, dragging my wing man with me. Before I was even out of warp I knew the target's location. I said very clearly and calmly on comms "This guy is going to kill us," and initated warp for the squad. He protested vainly as his ship entered the bubble.

We came out of warp five clicks away from the Taranis and before I could even lock he got eleven clicks away. I cursed and headed his way. He then did something both suicidal and unexpected for any Inty pilot. He began to approach me. As he fell back under ten clicks, I threw on a web then, as he fell under seven, on came my scram.

A drone boat, with insane speed that is unable to move is a dead one, and his 'ceptor dropped way faster than his Rifter had. I heard a cheer from my wing man and we scooped some more tech two loot.

I know the fellow has picked up on and now reads this log, so I'd like to make a point. Use a disruptor, not a scram and use your drones next time.

At that point we decided to head to our respective homes, he took a shortcut through Osoggur, as Amamake isn't far away from the home of Lost Connection.

I know that these folks are at odds with Mean Corp as well, so I'm encouraging them to take frigate swarms out and have some fun. One day maybe I'll see them out here in force. For now, I'll be content with showing them a bit of the fun I see every day.

Good Day.