Ghost (Fitting) in the Machine

We've been waiting for a version of EFT in client for what appears to be eleventy billion years. Last Fanfest they said they were looking at it. Now, we have a prototype on SiSi! Yay!

It's still early days. You have to go into the main menu, General Settings and activate the "Try New Fitting Window" in the Experimental Features section.

Wow! Nice!

I tried out an Officer fit Machariel because, why not!

15k alpha? Nice!

Apparently it's not intended to be as in-depth as EFT (other 3rd party fitting apps are available) but it is a nice and easy way of seeing if that fit will work on your toon.

I like the way you can filter all modules by not only type, but what will fit. Low on CPU and PG and just got a spare high slot? Mmmmmmm wonder what will fit there..... ah! Yeah, obviously not working fully yet as that heavy neut is not going to fit even though I am filtering.

You can see what skills you are lacking, overheat modules and see the difference that makes. 1414 DPS and 500hp/s by overheating on my Officer Mach!

Still some work to do, but as a general "I cannot be arsed to load up EFT but I want to try something to see if it works" it looks like its going to be bloody useful in-game.

CCP Karkur want's your feedback. Go give it a try and the forum thread is here!

Gallente PvP For Under 100m

Today CCP Seagull retweeted a request....

#tweetfleet Recommend me some Gallente PvP ships for < 100mill.

They need to be disposable and fun.

— Joseph Poser (@J_Poser) September 19, 2016

Made me think of my favorite Gallente PvP ship and and that's well under 100m. The Triple Neut Tristan! An 11m ISK (ish) bundle of fun. You can just imagine your opponent screaming in frustration as Eve's Bitching Betty moans "The Capacitor is Empty!"

It has no guns, favoring instead neuting the smeg out of your opponent and letting your drones rip them a new one.

High Slots
Small Unstable Power Fluctuator x 3

Mid Slots
Warp Scrambler II
Small Capacitor Booster II
1MN Y-S8 Compact Afterburner

Low Slots
Small Armor Repairer II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II

Rigs
Small Egress Port Maximizer I 2 x 2
Small Ancillary Current Router I

Drones
Hobgoblin II's.... lots of Hobgoblin II's

Basically you are not going to chase anything down in this. You need to catch them at short range. Sitting in the "warp in" of a faction war plex is ideal. If a kiting ship or anything that can keep outside the range of the neuts gets you then you are in trouble. Overheat your neuts and wait.

You can kill the kiters but you need to be careful. A Slicer is toast IF you catch him. With overheated web and scram I have been known to catch them before they get out of range.

I've also killed a Coercer before and even 200m ISK Daredevils. Comets are killable too providing they don't have a cap injector. They'll mince you if they do. Basically brawling frigates without cap injectors are your best prey. Just remember Minmatar guns generally don't need cap so will keep firing! However Slicers, a ship I do not like personally due to slow death by kite, are my favorite kill. It so satisfying to watch them making range. 4k, 6k, 8k.... speeds dropping.... 9k.... 9.5k..... 9k, 8k, 7k! YES! Gotchya!

It's not an easy ship to fly. You need to manage the overheat, the cap injector and your armour repper whilst making sure the target isn't getting away which occasionally needs some AB overheat if they are a decent pilot. However, it can be a very rewarding PvP boat!

The Assignment

Fiction Friday! Escape pod here.

Busy week and not had time for double proof read (which I usually miss loads on anyway), so apologies for eny mistaks. :/


The Assignment

Chapel watched the man walk into his office and approach. He stood extending a hand. The stranger smiled and took it.

"Mr Ganette?"

"Please call me Chapel. Take a seat and tell me what you need."

"Well Chapel. I represent the daughter of a local business tycoon. She's been taking over some of the plants and has had to close a few loss-making ones. This has made her very unpopular with some of the ex-employees."

"Death threats?"

"Several. She has been really spooked by them but we have an event scheduled at the Jaques Roden Opera House in three days time. I'd like to talk to you about additional protection for my employer. Will already have four protection staff but we'd like you to attend this higher risk evening. You come highly recommended."

Chapel nodded. He could guess at the vague information the man was providing. He obviously worked for Venelles Aimemer heir to the Aimemer Heavy Metals company. It had been big news a few weeks ago that she had been promoted to Chief Operating Officer and quickly ordered the closure of two planetside smelting foundries. The local areas were already struggling economically and had caused uproar with the unions. The event at the opera house was the biggest event of the week. A charity gala organised by the mayor to try and bring much needed investment into the city. A lot of big players from both locally and within the Federation would be there. That meant security would be tight making his job easier.

"I can visit the site earlier to check the arrangements and scout for any weaknesses. Meet your Client and travel to the venue and provide protection during the event and then escort her back. It'll be 15 thousand Fed-Creds and your existing guys will need to know I am in charge."

The man looked uncomfortable.

"That is rather expensive Mr Ganette." he replied using a formal address again.

"That's actually very reasonable as I've taken into account the opera house will be under heavy security."

"I must say Mr Ganette, I'd never heard of you before today when I was asked to come and see you. I did some research on the GalNet and found hardly any references to you or your company. No adverts, no info-sites, nothing. All I have is this."

He held up a small black plastic rectangle. A miniature holoprojector built into the thin card projected the name of the company, CG Security, as well as the office address. It was all very low key.

"That's because I do not advertise or promote. The only way people hear about me is from previous Clients who will pass on one of those cards. If you would like a more, shall we say self-promoting security firm, I can point you in their direction."

Chapel reached into a draw and pulled out some cards and slid them over the desk. He quickly pulled on back and tossed it into the bin.

"Sorry, Black Sun Securities was seized by the Federal Government last week. However either of those other two can provide you with some very well produced feature holos on their services."

"You are not a very good salesman Mr Ganette."

"What would you like me to say? I could do like the others do, tell you how I was elite military, may be the Black Eagles? I was working for Mordu's Legion and lead the planetside operations at the Pike's Landing incident? I was a secret CONCORD operative? 61 confirmed kills? 97? Over 100? I could tell you anything and I would love to see you verify anything. I assume someone your Client trusts gave them the card and the recommendation. Surely that is better than anything I could make up that is always impossible to corroborate?"

The man smiled.

"I'll see you in three days Mr Ganette."

-o0o-

It was nearly midnight when they stepped out of the Opera house. The evening had been uneventful. They had walked through security with no problem. Chapel had been in earlier to register himself as personal protection and declare his weapons. As he had stepped through the security scanners in his black-tie ensemble upon arrival, the AI had detected all three weapons, a Duvolle Laboratories blaster in a shoulder holster, an Allotek Industries compact rail-pistol in an ankle holster and a nova knife strapped to the other ankle. As registered weapons the scanner simply returned a green light. The cocktails had been busy and a nightmare to keep track of his client. The opera itself was relatively easy. They had a box giving an excellent view of the show. A dramatic retelling of the fate of Nouvelle Rouvenor. The mayor had spared no expense in getting some of the best performers and hologram specialists in for the show. Now he only had another 30 minutes before he could return to his wife and kids.

His client walked ahead, the four body guards forming a loose circle around her as they walked down the marble steps through the crowds leaving the venue. Outside and in the crowd was certainly the most risky part.

"Venelles Aimemer!" the scream caused a hush to descend over the bustling crowd. Chapel saw the man nearly 100 metres away running at full speed carrying an assault rifle. The crowd parted trying to distance themselves from the charging armed man. The four body guards quickly moved in front of Venelles and drew their weapons. Time slowed for Chapel. It was his gift. The ability to appraise such a situation in fractions of a second. This wasn't right. The gunman could have easily kept the weapon concealed and closed to kill-range before drawing the weapon. Why the scream and do the dramatic charge giving the security plenty of time to react. He looked at Venelles. She had her back to him. The backless gown was pure green Gallente satin and cut low enough to see the rise of her buttocks. Looking at her naked and exposed back Chapel realised what was happening. He drew his weapon and span around back towards the opera house. The man with the shotgun was only a couple of feet behind. A look of surprise crossed his face as the blaster pistol lined up dead-centre with his chest he realised he'd been made and started to raise the shotgun. The report from Chapel's weapon as it fired was surprisingly small. The hole it made in he gunman's chest wasn't. Chapel span back around to see the man with the assault rifle turning and fleeing. He was the distraction.

Venelles turned around and stared at the body of the second gunman. A pool of blood was spreading from under his body. In the night light it was almost black against the white marble. Chapel took his jacket off and draped it over the woman's shoulders. He knew shock was likely to set in. He guided her in silence towards the waiting car.

-o0o-

It was nearly 4am when he got home. The police obviously needed a full statement but it was just a formality. 200 witnesses had seen the event. He entered his home office and opened the safe placing his weapons inside and securing it. Wearily he headed up the stairs and quietly opened the bedroom door not to wake his wife.  As the door opened he saw the curtains were not drawn and there was enough light from the street to show the bed was empty. Not just empty, it was still made. He quickly moved to his son's room and found the same. Next his daughter. No one was there.

"Awel!" he called out. No answer. 

Retrieving his datapad from his pocket he called her. The connection failed immediately. He tried again. Same result. Calls never failed unless there was a fault with the datapad, or it had been purposely damaged. The doorbell rang making him jump. He ran down the stairs two at a time and flung the door open and found two uniformed cops.

"Whats happened?" he asked urgently.

"Mr Ganette please note we are both wearing body cams and this feed is being monitored. If you try anything at all your family will die."

It took Chapel a second to process the information.

"You're not cops are you?"

"Please come with us. All will be explained."

Chapel stared into the small camera affixed to the first cops breast pocket. He knew he had no choice. He followed them in silence to the vehicle and got in the back. Leaving the upscale suburbs they entered a nearby industrial area. There they met with a standard black car which they changed into. An unseen third party emerging from the shadows to drive the cop car away. Another half hour took them deeper into the city. Soon they were approaching Enfer District. That area was infamous as a no-go area for police. A slum where people went to hide and the police avoided unless they had armoured vehicles and a full SWAT team. Chapel gazed out of the window. He knew it was pointless talking to these men. They were the muscle and probably knew only slightly more than he did at the minute. He was sure he'd soon meet their boss. He spotted groups of women on the street corners. PVC boots with silver stilettos leaving a small gap of lace stocking top and blotchy white skin below their lycra mini skirts. They all turned when they saw the car approach, flaunting their wares. He saw gangs of tattooed men lurking in dark alleys. Slaver hounds rummaged through bins for scraps competing with emancipated people dressed in rags. It was hell.

They pulled up outside an abandoned hotel. The windows were boarded up and the sandstone frontage was crumbing. One of the men opened the door and Chapel was directed to the front door. Inside, the hotel was even worse. Wrecked tables and chairs, smashed fountains and decorations plus grafitti in all colours over the walls. He noted at least a dozen cameras, almost hidden to the untrained eye. At the lift Chapel began to worry. What state would the workings be in? With a 'ping' the lift doors opened and he was surprised to see a modern and clean lift interior. He stepped in and the two men followed him. Here the cameras were more obvious.

The lift stopped at the top floor and the doors slid open into a smart foyer. Two huge men stood there is suits. Chapel could see the bulge of their guns under the ill fitting outfits. One opened the main door and gestured for him to enter. Nobody followed. The corridor was lined with plush carpet and art hung on the walls. He passed the first bedroom and saw two women passed out on the huge double bed. Almost naked, they still wore scraps of lingerie and high heels. A range of drug paraphernalia was stacked on the bedside tables. The next room also had the door slightly ajar, it had the appearance of an industrial server room. Stacks of computers and cables made it look like an assault course. A spotty man looked up as he passed. The guy looked no older than 21. Finally he entered the main living area. A huge room overlooking the low-rise district. Chapel automatically identified four cameras. A man was sat on the sofa between two stunning women. He smiled as Chapel entered.

"Ah! My Gannet so please you could accept my invitation. Please note the cameras are being monitored and my men have orders should you get within three feet of me so please, for your families sake, keep your distance."

Chapel looked around and knew he needed to be careful. He needed to buy some time and find out what was going on. He sat in a chair a safe distance from the man.

"I am Zonelle Vemere. Perhaps you've heard of me?" the man smiled.

Chapel nodded. This was bad news. Zonelle was the head of the biggest crime family in the city. It was also by far the most notorious. If half the stories were true, Zonelle was a sadist without equal. To cross him didn't mean just a horrible death for yourself, it also meant a similar fate for family, friends and even in some cases co-workers. He had a fearsome reputation.

"Good. That will save me explaining what will happen to your family if you don't do what I want."

Chapel sat their and didn't respond. His mind wandered briefly to some of the stories he'd heard and suppressed a shudder.

"I need a sit down and a chat with System Governor Sonnibel Aulloi. Obviously he's not going to be keen to accept any invite with those scandalous lies told about me so that's where you come in. I want Governor Aulloi sat in that chair in 72 hours. If he's not, then the Succubus of Matar has a party with your wife, son and lovely daughter."

It was worse than Chapel had thought. An impossible mission and Zonelle's chief enforcer holding his family. The Succubus of Matar was the aliases of a woman called Ulkka. A Matari who specialised in dealing out Zonelle's worst retributions.

"You want me to kidnap the Governor the system? Impossible. He resides on a Citadel in orbit, perhaps the most heavily defended installation there is for light years."

"Oh Colonel! I'm sure a man of your talents can find a way. After the Caille incident this should be a walk in the park."

Using his old military rank and that he'd been involved in a specific highly classified black-ops mission, Zonelle had showed he knew a lot more about him than he would have thought.

"Chapel, can I call you Chapel? Look, its very easy. Go collect the Governor, deliver him here in 72 hours and you and your family can go free. Now if you would excuse me, I need to discuss a few matters with my associates here."

He placed a hand on each of the girl's knees who responded with a giggle. The two gorillas from the foyer appeared at the end of the corridor.

"Good luck!" Zonelle called out as Chapel left.

Chapel picture the installation in his mind. This was going to be difficult.

To be continued....

New Destroyer for November?

Most of us will have got the bulk email from CCP regarding the November expansion. Industrial arrays - check.

Fleet boosts - check. Free limited access with alpha clones - check. Plus some free stuffz for those who maintain their account until then. Including:-

• The Gnosis exploration battlecruiser
• The curious Apotheosis shuttle
• A new SKIN designed for the Gnosis
• A special edition armor suit and goggles set
• Rumors from the shipyards indicate a new ship is about to be unveiled.

Of course "about to be unveiled" to Eve Online players actually means "Now we've said this someone will data mine through the test servers and find it".

Some believe they have. Both imgur and Reddit have shown these images of a Society of Conscious Thought destroyer - The Sunesis. Of course SoCT gave us the Gnosis previously, so they have form for handing out their Jove-lite ships for free.

Its description also reads like the Gnosis in that it needs minimal skills, in fact for the Sunesis it states "Since it has no skill needs, any capsuleer can pilot it".

I love destroyers so looking forward to seeing that this one can do.

The Corporation

Fiction Friday! Escape pod here!

The Corporation

She looked at her datapad which lay next to the vivid green cocktail on the booth's table. Just over nine million and nine hundred thousand ISK. Tomorrow she would break ten million.

"Ten million" she muttered under her breath as she took a drink.

Interstellar Kredits where trading at a rate of about one to twelve local credits on her Federation homeworld. Ten million was a lot, one hundred and twenty million was more money than one could spend in a lifetime back home. That sum had taken her just under a week to make and she'd hardly done any real work for it. A few hours here and there. She could retire now or continue. She had forever.

Money was no stranger to her. She'd been born into a wealthy family. Her father owned a foundry making starship components on Gallente Prime. He'd sent her to an expensive private school where she'd excelled. As a straight "A" student she'd been accepted at the top university. It was there, during her first semester, that'd she been walking down the corridor and felt a little light headed. Next thing she knew she was waking up in a med-bay with her concerned parents by her side. Apparently she had a rare generic disorder. It had been dormant but had woken up. Whilst serious, it was nothing that couldn't be fixed with money. The medicine of New Eden was so advanced that they could grow you an exact replica of your body, minus any defects, and transfer you consciousness into it. Thankfully a simple course of gene enhancement would cure her. After the doctor had explained there was nothing to worry about he dropped the real bombshell. She recalled his voice as she lay in the bed worried, despite his reassurances.

"This genetic sequence you have, it is very rare, however it is more common in those who are also what is known as 'capsule-compatible'. With your permission we'd like to run some more tests for this."

She knew exactly what that meant. She might be one in the a fraction of a percent of the population who could use the Jovian technology known as a hydrostatic capsule to control a starship. An immortal spaceship captain able to link their mind with machine and cheat death.

The training was long and hard. Her father had paid a small fortune for it but she knew at this rate she'd be able to pay him back and more. Ten million ISK was a huge sum for her but she had only been a capsuleer a week. An experienced capsuleer could make ten times that in a day.

She looked around the bar. It was quiet. The few capsuleers that were there were sat on their own. Busy with multiple datapads, ignoring the world around them. She felt lonely. They had been warned about it in training. Capsuleers tended to be aloof, superior and most of all utterly untrusting of anyone. She put her datapad away and picked up the menu. It burst into life as she lifted it from the table. A suggestion for a vodka and Quafe jumped up in a 3D hologramatic advert which she dismissed with a swipe of a finger. She cycled through the drinks starting with the Matari ales, on to fine Amarrian wines and then Gallente and Caldari spirits. Following the food section there were the recreational boosters. From Matari smokeleaf to Gallente chill-pills. Another swipe of her finger brought up the girls. From almost every corner of the cluster, girls for hire by the hour or for longer. Another swipe of her finger and the men appeared. She paused a moment and put the menu back down only to pick it up a moment later. She needed something but wasn't sure what. This new life was so confusing.

Her fresh drink appeared a little while later delivered by a small automated drone. She looked up at the podium dancers, swaying to the music even when nobody was really paying attention. A Matari guy caught her eye. All muscles and oiled skin. She shook her head. Not tonight.

-o0o-

"Ah and I was just thinking about my favorite capsuleer!" Javenins stated as the comms-link opened. The Agent was sat at his desk as he looked into the holo camera.

"Got anything for me?" she asked. The Agent on the other end was looking at a computer simulation of her. She was in her capsule in the belly of a Catalyst class Gallente destroyer.

"I always have something for you! Do you want the official long winded mission briefing or the short one?"

"Short." she replied inwardly smiling.

"Pirate nest next door in Cat. Clear out the defense fleet. Report back."

The holographic representation of her nodded and she disconnected the communications link, aligning her ship to the distant stargate. The full briefing and details of the mission had been transferred so she could refer to it if needed but it sounded simple enough. The starfield blurred as the warp core generated the depleted vacuum around the ship and propelled it to speeds faster than light. In her pod she felt nothing, the incredible speeds to her meant nothing safely inside her hydrostatic capsule. The ship dropped out of warp a few seconds later, coasting to a stop 2000m from the massive stargate which allowed the relatively small ship the ability to jump interstellar. Linking with the controls she activated the jump systems and generated a small artificial wormhole. It swallowed the craft and spat it back out several light years away.

Wasting no time she accessed the coordinates Javenins had sent and activated the warp drive. In space terms, it was a short hop. A few seconds to cover the millions of kilometers to the isolated base. As the ship dropped from warp her overview filled with hostile contacts. Serpentis pirates in various frigate sized ships. With her body linked to her ship she could actually feel the 125mm railguns on her ship track the first one she'd selected for destruction. Before the pirates had time to react the antimatter rounds were propelled at speed from each her eight guns. The first pirate vessel exploded in flames.

"Easy ISK!" she thought to herself as she locked up the next pirate.

-o0o-

Looking at the data pad she'd broke into eight figures. Nearly 11 million ISK. She liked Javenins but knew that she was a low level agent and only gave out the poor paying missions. She needed to cement her reputation before she could access any higher-level agents. She'd also need a better ship. Currently destroyers were the best ship available to her. She'd need a battleship and then she'd be making millions per mission, not every few days. If only she knew how to fly one. However she was training. Information was being constantly uploaded into her brain through her implants. It was a slow process but still faster and better than classrooms and burying your face in a datapad and physically reading and learning. Then again in a classroom there were other people. Fellow students to laugh and joke with. Friends.

She downed her drink and picked up the menu. Selecting another drink she skipped through to the back and glanced once again at the companions. There to pleasure her and make her happy in exchange for a fistful of credits. She put the menu back down without making any further selections. It just seemed wrong. She could leave the capsuleer decks and find a club with normal people. She might even meet someone who wasn't just nice to her because that's what she was paying them for. The voice of her instructor crept into her thoughts.

"Be careful with mixing with the norms. You will be immortal if you complete this course. You won't age unless you want to. You can stay young forever. There is nothing worse than watching the one you love wither and die. Do yourself a favour. Stick to your own kind."

Another drink arrived and she took a healthy swig. She'd only been a capsuleer just over a week. She must not get too down. Things would improve when she really found her feet. Glancing around she tried to work out the other capsuleers stories. There were a few in but all keeping themselves to themselves. There were two capsuleer agents in this station. Both in the security division. The one she used had level 1 clearance. The other was level 4. One of the highest and only gave out the best, high-paying missions. It would be a long time before they would deal with her. There was little else in this station to attract capsuleers so the others in the bar were likely either running mission for one of those two agents or traders, making their money stocking the local market with what mission-runners needed such as ammo. Nobody looked up, nobody made eye contact.

"Stick to your own kind?" she muttered "Egomaniacs who don't trust anyone?"

She picked up the menu again but skipped passed the drinks and the boosters. She just got onto the section with the men when she flicked back. Down in the bottom left corner someone had caught her eye. She opened the profile. The woman was stunning. Caldari with sharp features and silky black hair. Something about her was... she couldn't put a word to it. She'd messed about in school. At the all-girls boarding school they all did but it had never gone really far. She knew she liked men. However this woman stirred something in her. She scrolled down hoping to see an absence of the little pink symbol meaning the decision would be made for her. However it was there next to the blue icon. This woman saw both men and women.

Sighing she put the menu down before picking it back up again. She downed the last of her drink as the next one arrived. This has to be the last one she thought. The Gallente Prime Sunrise cocktail was a vivid green and orange mix. She sipped this one slowly.

"Hello, I'm Isunmaa." the female voice made her jump a few minutes later. There stood next to her booth was the Caldari woman. She was dressed in short lace dress which showed her vivid red underwear below. Her heels looked like some kind of Matari weapon but had obviously made no sound when walking.

"Hi." she croaked back, her throat dry.

"Want to go up now or sit a while?" Isunmaa asked. Her voice soothing and seductive.

"Please join me." she said realising that she really didn't need to offer a polite invitation to someone she'd just paid 2000 credits for.

Isunmaa slid into the booth opposite her smiling. The drone scurried over with a small bottle of water. Obviously pre-programmed and knowing what to bring if she sat down.

"So what are you? A week old? Two?" Isunmaa asked.

"Just over a week. Am I that obvious?" she asked nervously.

"No, its your skin." Isunmaa reached over and stroked her arm "So soft, I love fresh clones. I've been around enough capsuleers to spot a new clone. Plus you seem a little nervous so unlikely someone who has just been podded and is in a fresh clone that way. Therefore I go for newbie."

"Yes, this is all rather new to me." she replied.

"Even me?"

"Especially you!"

"You've never.....?"

"Not really. I went to an all girls school, but never went really far. You know what its like...." her voice trailed off when she realised this companion probably didn't attend an exclusive all-girls boarding school.

Isunmaa smiled. "Don't worry. I'll take care of you."

-o0o-

The following night she was back in the bar again. She looked at her datapad again. Nearly 12 million now. The knowledge to control four drones at once was slowly being uploaded into her brain. She was thinking about cruisers now. The Vexor was a good choice she'd heard. A drone boat with the ability to swap differing types of attack drone depending on the need at the time. The Thorax class cruiser dealt more raw damage but at close range and had difficulty with smaller targets. The Vexor was far more flexible. It would be another week before she could fly one though.

"Hi. Do you mind if I join you?" a male voice asked.

She look up to find an Amarrian man stood there with two drinks.

"Sure" she replied and motioned for the man to sit.

"I'm Milley. It's not fun is it?" the man said as he pushed a Gallente Sunrise cocktail towards her.

"What isn't?"

"Doing this on your own? I assume you are flying for Javenins Angelle at the Fed Navy office? Running her low-paying security missions. Ending up here most nights. A bar with no soul. Just odd capsuleers keeping themselves to themselves."

She nodded as Milley spoke. At the same time she appraised the man. He looked to be a capsuleer. The clothing, the way he carried himself. They all indicated to her capsuleer.

"Yes. Its a bit of a lonely experience but we were warned about that in training weren't we?"

"Yes we were." Milley agreed confirming to her he was indeed another capsuleer. "However it doesn't need to be like this. There are alternatives you are not properly told about. Your first agents, the trainers, I bet they told you to get involved with the Federal Defense Union right?"

She nodded. The initial agents who held her hand through the final stages of training had indeed encouraged her to join the fight against the Caldari. However she was reluctant. Capsuleers had access to all the Empires as long as you'd not done too much to mark yourself as an enemy to them. Enlsiting in the Federal Defencse Union would soon have her marked as an enemy of the Caldari State cutting her off from Jita, the commerical hub of New Eden's capsuleer community.

"I represent a capsuleer corporation. We are a family of over nine thousand capsuleers. We can offer you training, ships and most of all a home. People like you."

"Why?"

"We are always on the look out for good pilots. Our corporation is affiliated with another capsuleer corporation. Perhaps you've head of them? Pandemic Legion."

She nodded. PL was one of the most famous capsuleer corporation. Only the previous week they'd destroyed one of the first Keepstar class citadels of a rival corporation.

The Amarrian picked up his datapad and swiped a finger. A message was transferred to her own datapad.

"I just swiped you our details. Think about it. What are you making? A million a day?"

"About that." she confirmed.

"You can get that plus fifty percent more in CONCORD bounties for one single kill where we are based and we'll give you the ship to do it for free to get you started. Of course nothing in this life is free. Our tax rate is ten percent. We'll also be keeping an eye on you to see if you have what it takes to move up the ranks, may be even transfer to the main corp one day. We'll also expect you to fight for us. The Legion has some of the best pilots in the Cluster but the Horde has the numbers. All the information is there if you want to join us. Trust me, its a better life out there. Enjoy the drink."

With that the man stood and left.

She looked at the message. It indeed offered training and ships to get her started. A tempting offer.

-o0o-

She looked at the command button. 'Terminate Clone' appeared to be such a harsh term suddenly. Of course there was no physical button. It was a visual representation in the meld between her mind and the machine. She'd spent two more days thinking about it and finally put her application in. It had been accepted straight away so she needed to leave the relative safety of hi-sec space and head out to null-sec. The easiest way was to set her medical clone to the Keepstar class citadel that was to be her new home and self-terminate her clone here. That would set into motion the automated transfer of her consciousness. Her brain-state would be scanned and sent the dozens of light years to her new home. It sounded simple but the fact remained she had to terminate herself.

She had already died before but not by her own hand. The final lesson at the academy was death. A new clone had been grown including all the required augmentations and implants needed to be a full capsuleer. She remembered walking into the med-bay that day with the other graduates. Laying down on the bed in the flimsy gown. Having the neural scanner placed on her head and being injected with a paralytic to keep her still. Then the fatal injection. Her memory was sketchy. As soon as her heart stopped the neural scanner would have taken a snapshot of her brain-state, scrambling it in the process. The image then was transferred and burnt into the new clone. She remembered vividly waking up in that new clone. The muscles ached and her eyes stung. Sound appeared distorted and her lungs burnt with fire. After a few hours she felt incredible.

"Frack it!" she thought to herself and pressed the button in her mind.

Everything went black.

Then white.

She gasped in the crisp air and opened her eyes. The bright light stung them so she snapped them shut.

"Easy egger. Take your time." A female voice sounded next to her.

She slowly opened her eyes allowing them to become acustom to the light. She was in a medical bay, laying inside a clone revival unit or CRU for short.

"Vitals looking good. You can sit up." the medical technician stated draping a sheet over her naked body.

The woman ran a scanner over her body and checked the readings.

"You're fine. There are some clothes and a new datapad on the side. The datapad is set to direct you to the quarters assigned to you. You then need to contact one of the NBI's to get your starter package."

"NBI?" she asked confused.

"Sorry. New Bean Initiative, what they call the system for you fresh capsuleers. They have a care package for you. Its a few ships and a collection of capsuleer skill books. There are details on the datapad on how to maximise your skill queue and what to do next. I'll leave you to get changed."

The woman walked over to another CRU that was starting to open.

She stared at the pile of clothes and the datapad wondering if she had done the right thing.

60 Million ISK and Loving It

I'm rich! I've broken the 60m ISK barrier!

I cannot believe I'm so happy about 60m ISK on my new toon. On my other accounts I have billions. Literally billions of ISK. From a full successful years of Pod and Planet fiction entries and my preference for frigate and destroyer PvP I'm not poor. Yet here I am on my 4th account enjoying blapping rat battleships in a Catalyst going "whoop whoop!" everytime I hear "Skill Training Complete". I could log on Drack and transfer a cheeky billion to my new toon without a second thought, but I'm not going to. I'm enjoying life as a new bro. I'm almost ready to jump into a cruiser and I've added Interceptors to my skill plan as recommended in the official corp skill plan.

Its really wierd and I cannot explain why its got me so hooked again on the game.

I've even started to even look at PvP even though I've only just broken the million SP barrier yet. Not 1v1 obviously, but when in the standing fleet and someone calls for help I'm trying to lend a hand. Although my ratting Catalyst with AB and no tackle isn't the most helpful thing! A Vexor will probably be more useful but no point buying one right now as Drones IV and V aren't going to be done for a few days.

When I created this new toon three weeks ago I had no idea it would reinvigorate me so much. My main can fly every combat sub-cap in the game. He's got Amarr and Gallente carriers at five and Gallente Dreadnought at five. He can also fly Caldari carriers and dreads. My second account can buzz around in jump freighters and maxed out command ships. Even my 3rd account is a pretty maxed out Archon/Revelation/Logi pilot. Yet here I am, in a T1 fit catalyst shooting rats and occasionally dying to another player when I've not kept my eyes on local enough.

And I'm really enjoying it. Comms is really active with a couple of hundred online the same time as me (even in my crap GMT +4 TZ) as opposed to a couple I'm used to for the last few years. OK, sometimes I'm cringing as I realise there is a reason stereotypical nerds are portrayed with no social skills, but heyho! Reminds me of Fanfest!

At the end of last week I watched local as one of these neuts came to our ratting/new bro system and promptly got kerbstompted. What followed as a 10 minute rant in local by this six year old toon about being blobbed. Yes, a six year vet of the game thought it would be l33t to come to the starter system for a new-bro friendly corp and get some quality PvP. I kid you not, this guy moaned on for an entire 10 minutes that we "blobbed" him and we should all be ashamed of ourselves.

Ooooo.... I can fly a Caracal now......