Eve Blog Banter #9: Why Won't You Die?

Welcome to the ninth installment of the EVE Blog Banter and its first contest, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by 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 here. Check out other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

"Last month Ga'len asked us which game mechanic we would most like to see added to EVE. This month Keith "WebMandrill" Nielson proposes to reverse the question and ask what may be a controversial question: Which game mechanic would you most like to see removed completelyfrom EVE and why? I can see this getting quite heated so lets keep it civil eh?"

Dying is easy. It's living that's hard.
Luke Spencer

Everything in the Eve universe that can kill you can die. A Titan is scaring the crap out of you? A huge NPC spawn from a level 5? A Rifter with a warp scrambler that's holding you down for that gang that's coming for your skin? POS guns? It's all killable in Eve. That's one of the beautiful parts of eve, anything that can kill you can itself be killed.

Well almost anything. Enter the Sentry Gun:

This almost never actually happens.

So that begs the question, why? It's an exception to the rule in eve, and it's also an integral part of living in low-sec. Most high sec dwellers don't even notice or care about sentry guns, but in low-sec, they protect the gates from the predilections of pirates. As soon as a non-criminal is fired upon by anyone, they spring to life and defend truth, justice, and the CONCORD way.

Anyone that runs is a pirate. Anyone that stands still is a well disciplined pirate.

So these sentry guns begin to thoroughly kick ass. They've got huge damage potential across all damage types, and are impossible to kill. In effect, it's a built in advantage for the non-criminals of the game on gates and stations. It can be used to lull people into a false sense of security at times, and at other times it's the tipping point in a battle.

So why not take away their indestructibility? It's at least worth talking about. What would be the advantages and disadvantages?

Pro: Making them destructible would make low-sec more interesting. We're not talking about making them easily killed, at least a battleship should be required to take them down. You could clear them out before an engagement to even things up for your side. In effect it makes things more interesting because it gives you a bunch of options for engagements. On average things stay the same because it takes a special effort to take them down, but eventually they'll respawn.

Cons: Pirates would be getting a boost from this, and a fair portion of the player base don't like pirates. It might make it easier to gate camp, but gate camping happens now.

In the end ask yourself this: Why shouldn't they be killable?

Beneath this mask there is more than machinery.

Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Turrek,

and ideas are bulletproof.

Oh. Totally didn't know. Sorry about that.

Please don't kill me.

Other Banters:

1. Diary of a Space Jockey, Blog Banter: BE GONE!
2. EVE Newb, (EVE) Remove You
3. Miner With Fangs, Blog Banter - It's the Scotch
4. The Eden Explorer, Blog Banter: The Map! The Map!
5. The Wandering Druid of Tranquility, "Beacons, beacons, beacons, beacons, beacons, mushroom, MUSHROOM!!!"
6. Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah, Kill the Rats
7. Mercspector @ EVE, Scotty
8. EVE's Weekend Warrior, EVE Blog Banter #9
9. A Merry Life and a Short One, Eve Blog Banter #9: Why Won't You Die?
10. Into the unknown with gun and camera, Blog Banter – The Hokey Cokey
11. The Flightless Geek, EVE Blog Banter #9: Remove a Game Mechanic
12. Sweet Little Bad Girl, Blog Banter 9: Who is Nibbling at My House?
13. One Man and His Spaceship, Blog Banter 9: What could you do without?
14. Life in Low Sec, EVE Blog Banter #9: Stop Tarnishing My Halo
15. Cle Demaari: Citizen, Blog Banter #9: Training for all my men!
16. A Mule in EVE, He who giveth, also taketh away?
17. Dense Veldspar, Blog Banter 9
18. Morphisat’s Blog, Blog Banter #9 – Randomness Be Gone !
19. Facepalm's Blog, EVE Blog Banter #9: What a new pilot could do without
20. Memoires of New Eden, You're Fired
21. Kyle Langdon's Journeys in EVE, EVE Blog Banter #9 Titans? What's a Titan?
22. Achernar, The gates! The gates are down!
23. Speed Fairy, EVE Blog Banter #9: Down with Downtime!
24. I am Keith Neilson, EVE Blog Banter #9-F**K Da Police
25. Ripe Lacunae, The UI… Where do I begin… (Eve Blog Banter #9)
26. Clown Punchers, EvE Blogs: What game mechanic would you get rid of?
27. Estel Arador Corp Services, You've got mail
28. Epic Slant, Let Mom and Pop Play: EVE Blog Banter #9
29. Deaf Plasma's EVE Musings, Blog Banter #9 - Removal of Anchoring Delay of POS modules
30. Podded Once Again, Blog Banter #9 - Do we really need to go AFK?
31. Postcards from EVE, 2009.07.02.00.29.06
32. Harbinger Zero, Blog Banter #9 – War Declarations & Sec Status
33. Warp Scrammed, Blog Banter 9 – Never Too Fast
34. Ecaf Ersa (EVE Mag), Can a Tractor Tractor a Can?
35. Thoughts from an Accidental Minmatar Revolutionary, EVE Blog Banter #9 - Aggression timers, WTs and Stargates
36. Mike Azariah, I don't put much stock in it...
37. Rettic's Log, Blog Banter: Overview Overload
38. A Sebiestor Scholar, [OOC] EVE Blog Banter #9: Slaves
39. Diary of a pod pilot, [OOC] EVE blog banter #9: Because of Falcon
40. Roc's Ramblings, Blog Banter #9 – Taking Things Slow
41. The Gaming-Griefer, EVE Sucks, But I Love It: The Memoir of a Masochist
42. Letrange's EVE Blog, Blog Banter #9: Bye Bye Learning Skills
43. Lyietfinvar, Remove that monopoly
44. Sceadugenga, Blog Banter #9
45. Industrialist with Teeth, EVE Blog Banter #9

The Ugly

God's not on our side because he hates idiots also.
The Man With No Name - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

I've given up on trying factional warfare. It seems that the Gallente are as set in their ways as they can possibly be. They've decided that stupidity is the way to go.

That said, I've still gotta get my security status up.

I've joined a small but growing 0.0 alliance and will shortly be ratting again. It should go faster this time.

There's a bit of bad news here though, and unfortunately it comes in a short post. I'll be switching my update schedule to once a week, preferably on Wednesday. I've taken on a couple of other writing projects that're taking up some of my time. Hope you keep tuning in.

Good Day

Book 'Em

The only men that speak aloud for future times to hear.
E.S. Barrett

Hallan walked down the promenade of the station with his hand on his gun. The Guristas Gauss Pistol made him feel safer out here in Syndicate. Sarah was back in the Hangar, trying to find them a new ship.

Hallan passed by a bar, looked in and smiled. A group of normal pilots were drinking heavily and singing. He kept walking, as he had to be somewhere.

He finally arrived at his destination and pushed a button next to the door. It slid open with a small rush of air and he stepped inside. The light inside was a bit brighter than the outside, with a blue tint, and he closed his eyes for a moment as they adjusted.

He looked around after that, and found the desk he was looking for. There was a line. He fell in behind some gruff looking fellow with a slight tinge of body odor. Hallan closed his eyes and chuckled.

"Next," Came a voice from in front of the smelly man, and he stepped forward.

Hallan watched the man produce his data card from some pocket, almost wondering where it'd come from. Perhaps that non-space between universes, where only pain and agony and data cards exist in solid form, maybe..."

"Next," Came a voice from in front of him, and Hallan stepped forward as the other man walked to his left. Hallan produced his own data card and handed it to the lady behind the desk. He noticed her glasses first, and then her wrinkled hands. He imagined her to be seventy, and she seemed to enjoy the power she held.

"It seems you owe us some money Mr. Turrek," She said in a high pitched voice.

"Yes ma'am, I'd like to pay it," Before he even spoke she was sliding his card through another slot.

"Your fee's paid, please enjoy the library,"

Heh, No?

I got ransomed tonight. Got stuck on a roid while orbiting a battleship out in Syndicate, Ishtar warps in, scrams me, and brings me down. Then he tries his hand at a little piracy, before taking me into structure.

that guy > 35mil pay
Hallan Turrek > Yawn.
that guy > 10
that guy > 9
that guy > 8
that guy > 7
Hallan Turrek > I believe I said yawn.

He got the message that time and finished me off. I was glad to be rid of the Harpy, it's a fine ship, but damn slow at this job. I'm not sure how I intend to go forward, but a frigate sized ship is not ideal for this by a damn sight. Thinking of training for an Ishtar, but that will take a while. I'll figure something out, in the mean time:

Good Day.

Between Shots

We'll be singing

When were winning
We'll be singing

I get knocked down
But I get up again
You're never going to
Keep me down
Chumba Wumba - Tubthumping

"Ugh," Sarah was seated to the right of Hallan in the cockpit, her disgust was evident with whatever she was seeing on the screen in front of her.

"What's up?" Hallan asked, looking over.

"We lost,"

"What do you mean we lost?"

"I mean we fucking lost, Heth's having a ceremony and everything,"

Hallan played with his controls for a minute, firing off a final barrage of plasma at the fleeing Serpentis ship, "There is no winning and no losing from how I see it," he said as it exploded.

"Tell that to the squids," She retorted.

"Don't call 'em that,"

"I'll call them whatever I want Hal, I've been fighting them for years while you did whatever the fuck you wanted to do,"

"Nice," He shot back with disdain.

Sarah looked over at Hallan and frowned, "Look, I'm sorry. I know you want to do good," She reached over and grabbed his shoulder, "You're a good pilot,"

"I'm spotting three battleships and two elite frigates," He said, ignoring her.

Sarah pushed a button and pulled back on a lever, "Activating microwarp drive and shield booster, helm and guns are yours,"

"Thanks," He paused as he began to fire and turned to Sarah, "There is nothing in this universe we can't take back. Learned that the hard way. They won't win until we give up,"

What Cannot Be Stolen

Hope you forgive me for my first non-eve related post. I have at least one regular reader who lives in Iran. This is mainly for you. The rest of you may find it interesting and useful as well.

Most of you've probably seen this.

I'll be sticking with the green background for a few days, with the ad at the top for a while.

Freedom will never die.

Good luck guys.

Better Look Out

Children wake up,
Hold your mistake up,
Before they turn the summer into dust.
Arcade Fire - Wake Up

"Mr. Turrek?" A female's voice called from the hall outside Hallan's cell.

"Ahh, Sarah?" He said barely raising his head.

"Do you mind if I come in?" She said while deactivating the forcefield.

"Not at all,"

Doctor Peyroux was wearing more sensible clothing today, a pair of black pants along with a white blouse and white jacket. The jacket was long and reached her knees. She sat down in the chair and crossed her legs, "Lets pick up where you left off yesterday," she began.

"Ahh well, about that. I kinda led you on," Hallan sat up and flung his legs over the side of the bed.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that's the end of the story, effectively,"

"How can that be the end of the story?" She asked, putting a rather strong emphasis on the word that.

"You see, when I missed meeting Pashir the next day, he came looking for me. He picked me up in the desert the day after that. I was pretty badly hurt, and he took me to the hospital. The hospital patched me up and turned me over to Oasis's CONCORD Commander,"

"What happened to your shuttle?" She asked cocking her head to the side.

"Probably sabotage, didn't have the time to find out who. I missed out on my contact regardless,"

Suddenly a voice came from outside his door, "It's gotten alot more complicated than that," The CONCORD Commander walked into the cell with Hallan, flanked by both of his guards, "Ma'am," He said facing the Doctor, "I just got a call from the University of Caile. Imagine my surprise when they said they'd finally found a suitable psychiatrist to send our way,"

Sarah stood up and chuckled to herself. She walked towards the Commander with her head hung low, and then instantly moved her hands from her side to his throat, with a knife suddenly in her hand that even Hallan had missed, "Drop your stuns, both of you," She said to the two guards.

Both threw their pistols to the ground.

Hallan scrambled across the floor and picked both of them up, being sure to give her the time to tell him not to. He pointed one at the Commander as Sarah stepped back towards him. She took the other one and also pointed it at the Commander.

"This is going on your record," He sputtered out to the two of them.

"You don't scare me," She said softly, "And his security status is not going to be any worse for wear, I imagine,"

She motioned for Hallan to move towards the door. All three of the CONCORD officers moved towards them at once, Hallan fired at the Commander, while Sarah dropped the one on their left. Hallan's gun fired once more before the other guard got more than a foot farther.

"Very good," The woman said with a smile, "I can see why they wanted you,"

"Who wanted me?" He said with a raised eyebrow as they both exited the cell.

"Probably not a good idea to talk about it now," She added as she activated the cell's forcefield.

_______________________________

"You know you're not a bad shot yourself," He said as they boarded the Harpy.

"Flattery? I knew I liked you," She said, climbing on board behind him.

"I'm serious, you knocked that guy in the head from fifty feet,"

"It's a gift,"

"From who?"

"The Gallente Military," She said quietly.

"Why would the Gallente be interested in me?" Hallan was legitimately confused, he'd never once contacted the Gallente, and had only mentioned his interest to a few people in passing.

"Because the Minmatar aren't. Thank your friend Alfroren," She hit the latch button for the door and it shut.

Hallan looked around the ship, it was an old design, not built for capsuleers, that meant at least two crew members. He climbed the narrow staircase just behind the woman and both of them arrived in the cockpit. He looked at the controls lovingly, "This ship's a thing of beauty,"

"This ship is your new ride,"

"Couldn't get a capsule piloted one out here?"

"Couldn't spare the capsuleer, and besides, I'm supposed to keep an eye on you,"

"Oh? Where are we going then?"

"We're going to get your security status up the old fashioned way,"

Hallan closed his eyes and covered his face with his left hand, "Syndicate?"

"Syndicate,"

"God damn it," He said with a pause, "You're lucky you're hot,"

Wherein I Criticize Other Bloggers #1

So, you've got a hell of a female charactor. She's smart, quick, strong, and no slouch in a fight. Only, your main charactor is male. What to do. What to do. Oh I know, lets have her get captured.

This is a common trope in fiction. You'll see it time and time again.

It's overused and annoying really. It allows non-interesting charactor development of the male charactor at the expense of a female one. I also plays into the "females can't be equal" concept that prevails on the psyche of so many male writers.

That isn't to say that a female charactor losing a fight or not being as good as a male charactor is inherently bad writing, it's not. But if you take an otherwise competent female charactor and make her be suddenly captured so your male charactor can rescue her, you've fallen into the trap. Bonus points if you don't even describe exactly what happened. Double points if your charactor is the only one who can rescue her.

It's very tempting, but try not to.

Oh, and given that Roc's a pretty good writer, I'm going to sit back and see how he develops his story before I go making any final judgments.

Good day.

Karaoke Corner #5: Shooting at These Rats All Day

So I'm running on empty right now, at the end of 26 hours of being awake. Given that, you'll forgive this transgression:



Lyrics are on the video, click through to check them out.

I had intended to try that again, after hearing some of the flaws in the recording, but my roommate just got home. I try not to subject people to my singing whenever possible, so you're stuck with the 2nd attempt(ironic no?).

See you on Monday.

Edit: As requested, here's a downloadable version(much higher quality audio, by the by): Click me!

A Different Approach

Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So... get on your way.
Dr. Seuss

"How long until they're done?" Hallan stood next to his shuttle in the darkness.

"Another minute sir," The inspector said with a huff, "It's standard procedure for those with negative CONCORD security status,"

"You said that already," Hallan shot back. The two men who were bumping around inside appeared at the hatch and stepped down onto the landing pad.

"Alright Mister Turrek, if you'll just sign here," The inspector handed Hallan a clipboard with a pen. Hallan scribbled down his signature and handed it back, "You can be on your way sir,"

Hallan climbed up into his shuttle and shut the door. He threw his bags and sword down next to the door. He settled into the cockpit and began to warm up the engines. He'd needed to be at the rendezvous ten minutes ago. He pulled back on a lever and the shuttle began to lift off.

______________________

Hallan looked at the ground and muttered, "Where is he?"

The shuttle'd been hanging in the air over the site for more than an hour. Surely being fifteen minutes late hadn't ended the deal. He sighed and turned his ship back towards Oasis City. He dialed the engine power up and noticed immediately the ship had failed to accelerate. Something rocked his ship as he began to run a diagnostic. He pulled up on his controls but got no response. Suddenly the shuttle lurched forward at full speed.

Hallan continued to pull on the controls as the ground approached.

______________________

Now

"And then?" Sarah had put aside her notes and was listening intently.

"I believe our session is over Doctor," Hallan nodded and laid himself back down on his bed.

"I'd still like to know what happens next,"

"Next time,"

"Fair enough. I'll see you tomorrow then,"

"Can I ask you a question Sarah?"

"Sure,"

"How come you don't already know how I came to be arrested?"

The Doctor cocked her head to the side and smiled, "Next time,"

No Law's Man

You'all can go to hell. I am going to Texas.
Davy Crockett

Continued from Prologue Part 2.

A Week Ago

"Your landing clearance is granted. Descend now," The monotone traffic controller's voice came through the shuttle's speakers.

Hallan tugged at the controls and began to enter the atmosphere of Sotrenzur Six or Shiwakusei as it's current inhabitants had named it. The nearly worldwide desert filled Hallan's view screen, as his eyes attempted to adjust to the light.

Sitting in a cockpit wasn't new to him, but he'd grown so accustomed to capsules that he'd needed some time to adjust. Given his tight schedule, he didn't expect to have that time in the near future. Still his contact had already paid well for the delivery of this shuttle, and Hallan had no intentions of angering his contact if the man could really do what he said.

The shuttle finally reached the docking port and he activated his landing gear. He imagined that with any luck that he'd never need to set foot in the shuttle again as he dialed the engine power back. He grabbed his bag from behind him. He threw his sword over his shoulder while holding its strap with his right hand. He put his left hand over the gun on his hip for a moment before reaching for the door control.

The spaceport was busy. He adjusted the hood on his cloak as he walked into the sunlight. He looked up to see that one sun was directly overhead, while another was obscured behind him by his ship. As he walked out of it's shade, he saw both of his shadows appear on the ground.

"Hallan Turrek. Welcome to the Oasis," Two men were walking towards him and Hallan put his bag on the ground.

"Pashir! My friend!" Hallan smiled delightedly at one of the men. Hallan and Pashir came together in a hug as the other man picked up Hallan's bag.

"It's been too long," The man continued as they hugged.

"Yes it has," Hallan said, before they parted.

_____________

"When I first heard you were coming to visit Shiwakusei, I knew I had to be there to meet you," Pashir took a sip from a white porcelain cup.

"It's been a while since I've visited Oasis," Hallan said, also drinking from a similar cup, "Hora Tea?"

"Of course,"

"I've always found it amazing that something that tastes this good is the color of shit,"

"The Hora Herb is naturally brown in color. You know why,"

"You guys're lucky most of the insect life here are herbivores,"

"After spotting a swarm of Bolan Flies a few weeks ago, I understand perfectly your point," Pashir paused to sip his tea before continuing, "What brings you to Oasis anyhow?"

"I'm looking for a guy called Clem Lokan,"

"Minmatar?"

"Brutor. He's supposed to be my contact with Concord,"

"Salia couldn't believe it when I told her you were going legit. The Minmatar are going to help you get back into Concord's good graces?"

"Sort of. I mean they sent me here, you know, to talk with Lokan. He was supposed to contact me," Hallan looked down at his right wrist for a moment as he spoke.

"My whisking you away interrupt your plans?"

"Oh no," Hallan held up his wrist, "He's got my personal contact number, if he sent a message, I'd get it here,"

"So we have some time to talk about old times?" Pashir settled further into his chair and sat his cup on his chest.

"Sounds like. So, you and Salia finally tied the knot? How'd she rope you into that?"

"Rope me? Are you insane? Have you seen Salia?"

"Good point," Hallan chuckled as his communicator beeped, "Ahh, looks like we'll have to cut this short,"

"Salia was looking forward to seeing you again Hallan,"

"I'll be back tomorrow. You have my word," Hallan reached his hand out and looked into Pashir's eyes.

Pashir nodded, then took Hallan's hand and shook it.

Here We Go Again

Every time I try to talk to you
I get tongue-tied
Turns out, everything I say to you
Comes out wrong and never comes out right
Santana and Chad Kroeger- Why Don't You and I

Continued from Prologue Part 1.

"So, what's a girl like you doing in a place like this?" Hallan leaned on his arm as he faced the Doctor.

"Never get tired of hearing that line," The psychiatrist smirked as she typed something on her datapad, "Why does the station commander hate you though?"

"I killed his brother," The woman shifted in her seat as he said that, and a slight frown crossed her face. Hallan studied her face for the first time as he continued, "Technically I didn't do it. It was me and a bunch of my friends. But I uh, don't think he's drawing much of a distinction,"

She had long brown hair, and her eyes were the color of pearl. He wasn't sure if it was natural or artificial, but it gave her an otherworldly glow. Her choice of a short skirt and tight business vest only served to accentuate her assets. He imagined what reaction she would receive if she went through a crowded cell block in the prison section instead of detention. Swinging those hips above those long smooth legs and below her perfect waist.

"This was when you were a pirate?" She asked, almost startling him.

"Yeah," He paused, "Uh, truth is that with the number of people I've killed, it's a pretty common occurrence for me to run into some dick who's the first cousin's husband of some idiot from my days as a pirate,"

"You didn't think to check before you docked up here?"

"I didn't have time," Hallan laid on his back again.

"Really? Why?"

"It's a long story,"

"Then I'm here for a long time," She uncrossed her legs, and then recrossed them the other way as she shifted back in her seat.

"We'll go from the top then Dr. Peyroux. Or can I call you Sarah?"

"Sarah's fine,"

"Yes you are," Hallan chuckled and Peyroux rolled her eyes as he continued, "I gave up piracy for good a week ago. You'd think there'd be some sort of karmic balance to the decision, but time after time this shit's coming back to bite me in the ass,"

"I don't believe in Karma," she said, interrupting him.

"Neither do I, but hey, a man can dream,"

Continued in Chapter 1.

Sensor Ship

Hoping to have one of these up every weekend. We'll see how it goes. Click the image to see the comic.

OOC: Update - June 2009

We're back here again.

How's things going for me? I'm apparently taking a break from playing for a bit. I got bored as hell ratting up my sec status, but I know it has to be done. So I'm just waiting till I get the urge to get back to playing so I can kill it with boredom again.

I had originally intended to do factional warfare after I could enter 1.0 space again, but I don't think that was meant to be. I had sincerely looked forward to winning back some territory for the Gallente Federation, but apparently if you can't be on after downtime you're wasting your time. That leaves me with missioning as a goal right now, though not a very interesting one.

I'm sure you've heard from everywhere that the blog community is exploding right now. I'm trying to stay on the edge of it all. I put up an advertisement over at "Poglogs" in exchange for an ad here. There's alot of content out there for you to see, and I hope to bring you back here time after time.

Lets do some links(has anyone figured out by now that I only link people who're linking or talking about me? I hope it makes up for my almost never commenting on other people's blogs.):

Shae says goodbye.
Roc says hello.
Mynxee says solo.

Read 'em and weep.

Good Day.

Driving

The real contest is always between what you've done and what you're capable of doing. You measure yourself against yourself and nobody else.
Geoffrey Gaberino

So, who's up for a contest? Not one of those penny contest where you win ten million isk as a top prize, but a real one. One prize, one hundred million isk. Interested?

I thought so.

First of all, lets cover the eligibility. Only those people who follow my blog are eligible. If you have to make a new blogger account just to do it, you'll have to do that. If you're already following, leave a comment on this post with your ingame name and you're in the running. Specific instructions here: Followers of this blog who leave a comment on this post with their ingame name are eligible. No one else will be.

Now, how will I determine the prize winner? I'll be randomly selecting the winner from the list of eligible participants.

When will I determine the prize winner? Here's the tough part for you guys. In order for the prize to be available, my traffic has to go up. Here are the indicators I'll be watching:

1. At least 70 followers.
2. Average visit of 200 on a day I post. That is to say, I'll average a Monday, Tuesday, and Friday visitor total. That's visitors, not hits.
3. 500 visitors to this post.
4. The posts at the end of this one must get 100 visitors.
   

How to achieve this, I leave to you. Link me in your blog, tell your corpmates, find a reason to link me in the Eve forums. You've got a fair chance to win a hundred million isk.

Oh, and to sweeten the pot, I'll throw in a million isk for every eligible participant if we reach the goal. Driving traffic my way has never been so profitable.

The contest is over on August 2nd. Either I win(and no one gets paid) or you win.

The stuff I hope new readers enjoy enough to come back for:

The Quick and the Dead
It Ain't Suicide If You Live
Trouble Can't Find Me
In the Year of Our Awesome
Let the Glory Out

You have two months. Drive.

Shade

Shit, you wanna get hauled off to jail?
Eminem & Dr. Dre - Guilty Conscience

This is Prologue Part 1.

Prologue Part 2.
Chapter 1.

"Ensign, give him a half dose of Pertaphedrin," The Concord Commander looked at his subordinate with just a hint of disdain.

The small room they stood in was made of metal that was the color of wet stone. The entrance to the room was wide, but completely lined with a glowing humming bar that looked like pearl. Across the hall was another room identical to the one in which they sat. The hall itself was carpeted in an ashen color. The bed on which their subject sat was small and close to the ground, with a simple lump on the left side for a pillow. It looked dusty.

"Sir," The ensign said as he searched the cart he'd brought with him for the medicine, "The recommended starting dose is ten percent and a increment of ten until the full dosage is reached,"

"You're worried about him dying? He's a sociopath that wouldn't blink an eye if he killed both of us. Give him the truth serum, that's an order," The commander stared at his subordinate hard as he spoke.

The ensign reached into his case and pulled out a syringe. He placed it softly into a container, and drew out a small amount of a liquid. He injected the chemical into the suspect and leaned back.

"You feel that?" The Commander grabbed the suspect's head by the jaw, "Feel that stuff snaking it's way through your veins? Feels like slime running through you. Now," He paused and started tapping his index finger on the suspect's forehead, "Now it's making it's way into that sick head of yours. Lets try this again. What is your name?"

"My name is Hallan Turrek,"

"And why did you come here?"

"I'm here seeking general amnesty as outlined in section 4 of the latest passed law of the Concord Assembly,"

The Commander lost his composure for a moment and shot a look at his ensign, "He's lying again," The commanded almost shouted, "Triple the dose,"

"Sir," The ensign started, "I can't do that,"

"Fine, go sit in your quarters then. Expect a transfer to someone who's willing to put up with your wishy-washy bullshit," The commander pointed to the guard standing across the hall, who walked forward and pushed some buttons on the other side of the door. A visible field appeared for a moment and then disappeared again. The bars lining the entrance stopped glowing. The Ensign walked to the cell door and looked back.

The Commander was drawing some more of the chemical into a new syringe, he then grabbed Hallan's arm and injected him. Another voice came through the doorway.

"Commander, I'm Dr. Sarah Peyroux," The woman said softly.

"I'm busy," He shot back.

"Sir, you requested a court Psychologist to ascertain the suspect's commitment to his rehabilitation,"

"I also specifically remember telling your superior he could take his time sending someone,"

"We find that law officers that give those kinds of orders are not the kind of officers we'd like left alone with suspects for very long," She turned to the Ensign standing at the door, "Is that Pertaphedrin?"

"Yes Ma'am," The Ensign replied.

"What's the current dosage level?"

"One Hundred and Fifty Percent, per the commander's orders,"

The commander stood up and looked at the pair as the Doctor began to speak to him, "Sir, step away from the patient,"

"And if I do not?" He said with a grin.

"You know," She said with no emotion in her voice.

"Fine, have fun with him,"

"Thank you sir,"

The Commander and Ensign exited the cell with the medicine cart. Hallan was laying down on the bed shivering.

"Th-th-thank y-you," He said while blinking his eyes, "Why can't I uh, can't see,"

"Side effect of the overdose, it'll slowly go away over the next few days. The speech problems should go away by tomorrow,"

"G-g-great,"

"How about I get you some blankets and we can have our first session tomorrow,"

"S-s-s-sounds g-g-ood,"

"Guards," She said in an even but loud tone.

Continued in Prologue Part 2.