I've Adapted. Resistance is Futile.

The start of this month was not a good one for me PvP wise. The Loki I lost really p155ed me off and generally I was dying more than I was killing. Grrrrrrrrrr! My efficiency was under 50% for the month, not good at all. Sometimes when on a losing streak you should just give up and go for a pint! Trying to break that losing streak will probably only get you killed even more! In these cases - Stop. Think. Adapt. Don't Leeroy.

Anyway at the weekend (weekends for me are different days to those in the West, Sundays are a working day) my PvP has put me in a better "Eve mood". Most of it is due to two engagements I had.....

I'd gone afk a bit and came back to find I still had Drack logged on. I was about to log him off and do something else when I quickly checked local. I saw we had a single war target in system and thought I'd just give him a quick try. I undocked and warped my Hawk class Assault Ship to an open plex.... and there he was.... sat on the acceleration gate...... in a Megathron. My immediate worry was he might be a smart-bombing battleship. I mean why else would he be sat on a gate that he cannot activate with that fat-arsed BS. But a quick look at his hull showed he wasn't smartbomb fit, he was blaster fit! Phew! (Also not sure you can activate smart bombs when sat on top of an acceleration gate anyway).

I got onto comms looking for help but given the time it was very quiet. Luckily a member of SoTF was 'there' in more ways than one. He was not only on comms, but also in a Recon cloaked off the Mega also wondering what to do about it! As we discussed what we could do he warped off. We watched him go to a cluster in Nisuwa with several gates, so we each warped ourselves to a different gate to see which way he was going.

"He's not at these two gates."
"Odd he's not at this gate either."
"Mmmmm he's on D-scan to the station?"
"Warping to station, but he must be safed as he cannot dock at the station."
"HE IS AT THE STATION!"

We never thought he'd warp to station! Why would he? The Gallente Militia own Nisuwa and as a member of the Caldari Militia he won't be able to dock. I warp to the station at zero but he's still 40km off me as I'm the other side of the station having warped to a stargate first. I dock and instantly undock and now he's only 15km off me. I hit the afterburner and get point. He does nothing. The SoTF guy undocks a neuting Abbadon. The Mega does nothing for a while. I'm slamming rockets into him as the other guy neuts him down. Finally he launches a flight of EC-300 ECM drones and sets them on me. That is a major problem as I'm the one holding point and ECM drones generally work well on frigates which have lower scan strength than bigger ships. Thankfully my Hawk eats drones for breakfast with its stasis webifier and rockets. I keep the scram on the Mega whilst killing the drones with the web and rockets. As the last one pops he launches a fresh flight of EC-600's and starts to neut me. Another SoTF toon has undocked a gank Naga now that we are sure he's low on cap and as I'm popping his drones the Mega goes. I originally thought "Why didn't he neut me from the start as he could have warped off when I dropped point when capped out?". Then seeing the kill mail it was a NOS he had, not a neut.

He had a bit of a moan in local that for some reason he couldn't dock. At a wild stab in the dark, but you are new to Factional Warfare aren't you?

A couple of days later and I'm on early evening so I go sit on the outside of a plex in Hirri and wait on the acceleration gate. My plan is that in a Caldari owned system the squids that I get coming to the plex will be looking for a fight, not just running the plex down in speed-tanking ships with no guns. My first PvP "client" is an Incursus. I think its a solo kill but after he pops I see someone else had been fighting him since his last session change. Damn!

Next up is a Merlin. I get moaned at in local for flying a Thrasher. I'm used to being moaned at in local for flying a Falcon, but never a Thrasher before! Sorry for not being inside the plex with all the rat agro too! Should I swap to an Ibis as well? Mr Picky or what!

Then a Hookbill lands, but he immediately activates the gate on landing and warps into the Plex before I can get point. I'm spamming scanner to see what he does. He disappears just as a Cormorant enters my 200 million KM scan. Now, I love a threesome as much as the next guy, but can I acheive satisfaction with these two partners, a Cormorant and a Hookbill (assuming that the Hookbill bounces back)?

What the hell, its only a Thrasher and who dares, wins eh? The Cormorant lands and engages, as expected, the Hookbill is not far behind. Tracking disruptors are the name of the game in Factional Warfare currently and I'm utterly fed up with them. Those are what caused my "generalised dying" that I referred to at the start of this post. Squid double-teams of a destroyer for DPS and a frigate with TD's are fairly common through the war zone lately. Not sure if these are two people working together or single players that are dual-boxing two accounts. I'm not complaining, its legitimate tactics as far as I am concerned. This is Eve, if someone has a tactic that annoys the feck out of you, come up with a counter and go and MURDER THEM IN THE FACE!!!

This time, I'm prepared. I've changed my fitting. I've adpated to this new squid tactic.

This Thrasher is a test. I've armour tanked it allowing me to fit a tracking computer with tracking speed script in the mid that is usually holding a shield extender module. The Hookbills TD's are not having much effect on me thanks to the TC as I chew through the Cormorant. Thankfully the range we are at means his blasters are not having full effect on me whilst my projectile shells, with the better fall-off, are doing the job. The Cormorant pops and I swap to the Hookbill who goes down in short-order. I assume he thought the TD's would protect him having a much smaller sig radius than the Cormorant. May be he had effects turned off so he didn't see I had a tracking computer active. Or did he assume I was shield tanked and I was about to die as I was in low armour? Whatever he was thinking, he died thinking it.

I scooped the loot and had to GTFO of there before anyone else landed. My HUD was a mass of red. I was at 2% armour and many of my mods were sizzling from my overheating, particularly the autocannons which were particularly damaged.

I wait at a safe to get some shield back before limping back to Nisuwa to unload and more importantly repair. I am pretty sure that if I'd been in one of my other 3 clones I'd have died. Luckily I was in my "Armour tank and gun damage" clone which saved my ass.

But nice to see that there are some pilots in the Caldari miltia up for a fight!

Vengeance – Part 2

Its fan fiction Friday. If that made you groan out loud then why not head over to this post about Sindel's Angle Project. Can such a project work in a universe filled with mistrust? As I commented on that post, all I can say is that after meeting Sin in real life I found her to be a very generous person especially with copies of Templar One and licks for strangers!!

Vengeance – Part 2

"Right, Nutz and Sinner. You're up first, as you are the two junior officers, you have to go at the same time."
"Awwww Capt'n! Together?"
"You got five minutes and times a tickin'. Get on in there!"
A female scream.
"Oh? Well look at that, Sinner is a biter!"
Laughter followed by another scream.
"Oh and Nutz is having a go with his teeth too. Feckin’ weirdo’s!"
More laughter and cheers of encouragement followed by a woman's screams.
God please no!

The capsuleer woke with a start, he'd nodded off on the couch. He checked the time, 70 minutes until the meet. He shook the tiredness from his head and left his quarters, heading slowly up to the bar. One hour and four drinks later it was almost time for the meeting.

"Looks like you could do with another drink" the bar tender said.

He simply slid his glass forward so the barman could fill it.

"Wanna talk about it?"

The caspuleer stayed silent.

"Have it your way." The barman simply topped up the glass and walked back down the bar.

The capsuleer shifted in his bar stool and looked around the establishment. He felt that he didn't belonged here. A few other caspuleers were seated at the various tables and booths. A couple of women were working the room which was normal for the capsuleer bars in hi-sec. Were there was money and power, they'd be close. Both of them had already tried it on with him, he'd been kind enough and politely said he wasn't interested. This bar was too pretentious for him, too expensive and too false. Just like the women here. The sooner he could get out of there the better.

 
"Evening!" a tall man took the bar stool next to him. The capsuleer just stared ahead.

"What did you find out?" he finally asked.

"Very little I'm afraid." replied the tall man "That datapad you gave me belonged to a low ranking officer. I wasn't able to retrieve anything more than what I've already given you before. It's all decrypted, same fee as last time." The man slid an envelope across the bar to the capsuleer who did the same.

"What you need is...."

"Yes, I know, a Captain's datapad. I'm working on it. They tend not to make it off the ship in time."

And with that the capsuleer picked up the envelope and left the bar via the lift. He arrived on the security deck a few seconds later. He crossed the deck un-challenged, the security scanner automatically detecting he was a capsuleer. Whilst it was unusual for capsuleers to want to access the lower decks, it was their choice. Generally on stations there were no lifts that went all the way up from the bottom to the top. The top decks, reserved for the corporate elite and the capsuleers, were usually physically sealed off from the rest of the station. There was too much danger of someone hacking the lift controls. To get from one area to the other you needed to physically cross a security checkpoint on foot and use a separate lift that served the upper decks. Security, bio and weapons scanners, remote DNA checks and lots of armed guards ensured that nobody accessed the top decks that shouldn't.

He finally reached the other side of the security station and entered the opposing lift. He selected a bottom deck and hit the door closed button.

This time he was in the lift for several minutes as it descended hundreds of decks. Finally the door opened onto a busy promenade. The capsuleer felt more at home instantly. He exited the lift, his hand going up to the back of his neck instinctively to check his high-collar on his jacket was hiding his top spinal interface socket from view.

The air down here in the bowels of the station was stale compared to the triple filtered, oxygen enriched air of the upper decks. There were different smells. Oils, leaking coolants, burning electrics, various aromas from the small food shacks that were haphazardly constructed against the walls of dark alleys. There was more litter, the walls were unpainted and left dull grey, and the people, well they were a different class all together. He walked down the promenade passing all manner of shops and establishments. Some sold second-hand drone parts that looked more like junk shops, others were seedy bars with the resident drunks slumped unconscious over the tables.

This is where he felt at home. He finally reached his destination. A small brightly painted door in a dimly lit alley just off the main promenade. A holographic sign above the door simply said "Girls" in a variety of changing colours.

The capsuleer entered and surveyed the room. It was quiet as it was still early evening. A few men were sat around watching a Gallente woman in high heels and a tiny thong dance around the pole on the stage. A few of them had dancers sat with them in the booths that lined the walls. No doubt trying to persuade them to pay for a private dance. He sat in a booth towards the back of the room and watched the show. A waitress came over and took his drink order. The song finished and a small, pathetic round of applause echoed around the mostly empty room. The dancer grabbed her discarded clothes that lay scattered around the stage and left to be replaced by a Matari woman in a tiny fishnet dress, high-heels and very little else.

The capsuleer's drink arrived as the Gallente woman who had been on stage entered the bar though a side door marked "Staff Only". It was the usual practice. Stage show, freshen up, change into something slightly less revealing and then onto the floor to work the customers. He watched her scan the room like a predator. Looking for the best opportunity. She would be discounting those regulars she knew didn't pay well or weren't up for a night of partying, she'd be looking for the ones that were smartly dressed and looked like they had money. The capsuleer compared her actions to his kind in a large fleet engagement. She was the same as the primary target caller who has only a few seconds to assess the scene and choose the best target. He saw her eyes flash his way and then move on. He was looking her way so she knew he was interested. Within a few seconds she'd swept the entire room and made her choice. She walked up to his booth.

"Hi" she said as she approached. She stopped and stood at the booth waiting to see his reaction. As soon as he smiled at her she slipped into the booth next to him without invitation "My names Trina." she held out her hand.

"Hi Trina." he said taking her hand in a gentle shake. He didn’t offer his name, but that was no issue to her, in fact it was the usual way.

"Not seen you here before. First time?" she slid up close so her leg was pressing against his. Her perfume filled his nostrils.

"I've been here before, but it was a few months ago. I travel." he replied.

"Ah. I've only been here a few weeks." she took his hand and placed it on her thigh near the lace tops of her stockings.

"Would you like a private dance?"

"Yes I would." was his reply.

"Just the one dance?"

"Let's have a VIP room for an hour, and see how we get along."

With that she smiled knowing she had made the right choice. A man with money who wanted to party here and maybe back at his place. She stood up, taking him by the hand and led him towards the VIP rooms.

He needed to forget again.

-o0o-

Gantor watched his aide leave the office and close the door behind him. When the door was fully closed he pulled out a bottle of whiskey from his desk and poured a glass. He didn't like this one bit. He downed the drink and walked to the window and stared out into space.

This was the third similar report in the last 10 weeks. A capsuleer taking down one of their ships wasn't news. It happened thousands of times a day throughout the cluster. But a capsuleer that searched the wreckage for the highest ranking surviving officer and captured them alive, now that was worrying.

It was always the same MO. The Guristas ship would be destroyed, the capsuleer's ship was fitted with some sort of modified tractor beam that could scan for life pods. He'd find the pod with the highest ranking officer, pull it into his ship and warp off. Only the escape pod with the highest ranking surviving officer was taken. The rest of the pods were left for the Sisters or a search and rescue team as was the norm with capsuleers.

None of the crew that had been taken by him, which was usually three to five per escape pod, had been in contact. Were they dead? Were they being held against their will? If the egger had turned them into the authorities he'd have known about it. He had done something with them. But what and why? It made no sense.

The surviving officers of the doomed Cormorant that he had interviewed that day could shed no light on it. Who was this capsuleer and why did he want to take his officers alive?

He had no clues, no leads and no idea where this egger would strike next. And that scared him.

-o0o-

Tell us a Story CCP!

Eve Online is set in an amazing universe. It is any sci-fi geeks ideal game. A massive persistent world set in the distant future where there are no character classes or professions and you have freedom to do what you want. We have spaceships, starbases, warp drivers, tractor beams and lasers.... lots and lots of lasers! The graphics are beautiful, the ships well designed (well, except for the new Vagabond) and the whole game just oozes sci-fi.

  
Before Incarna, before the summer of unrest, before "the 20%", before 2012, we were treated to regular Eve Chronicles. These short-short-stories expanded the Eve universe and gave us glimpses into the lives of others who lived and died in this cluster of stars we call New Eden. Surprisingly, they were rarely about the capsuleers, preferring to focus on the more, erm, mortal(?) people of New Eden. They were great reads and much loved. You can find them here along with the short stories (generally longer than Chronicles) and scientific articles.

Since the end of 2011 we've not had regular Chronicles, we only see them when CCP has something to promote. I did like the one just before player owned customs offices came into the game, that was a great way of explaining the change. But compared to what we used to get, they are a rarity these days.

Some within the #tweetfleet have been trying to address this and get CCP to start expanding the background story again. The view many of us have is that CCP now leave this to the players. We don't want this. We want CCP canon, something that we know means something. Yes we players can write the fiction, but, and saying this from a geeky fan-boy who does write fan fiction, it really means nothing as it is not from CCP.

I am sure these stories are not as easy to create as they look within CCP. First you need someone who is excellent at fictional writing and knows the game and universe inside out. Then you have to be sure the facts are right. Geeks are notorious for spotting continuity errors and the like. Everything needs to tie into what has been written before. You cannot just say the capsuleer controls the ship in silence during an epic space battle as we know from "The Jovian Wet-Grave" that the Jove put sound synthesisers into the pods to create computer generated sound-effects as the first capsuleers didn't like the silence. You need to double check all the facts otherwise you'll get people like the nerd from Galaxy Quest piping up!

Eve Online has some truely amazingly creative fans and players. I enjoy reading others Fan Fiction. But, we cannot rely on player fiction to expand the Eve Universe. Look here, let's be a bit silly and take it to the extreme:-

The shuttle docked at the Caldari Providence Directorate headquarters station. The armed guards rushed to the docking bay wondering how an unarmed shuttle had destroyed the huge fleet guarding the most defended station in the cluster. The pilot was already out of the ship and walking towards them when they reached the hanger doors and took up defensive positions. They realised they were doomed as soon as they saw him, for it was none other than the Chuck Norris of New Eden, Loren Gallen. In that moment they realised how the fleet had been destroyed and they too were doomed. They raised their plasma rifles in a futile effort to slow him. Loren pulled a large kipper from his belt and batted the incoming plasma bolts away harmlessly as he advanced towards them, whistling the theme tune of Walker:Texas Ranger.

Tibus Heth sat in his office staring at the massive blast-doors that protected him. He was afraid. He heard two thuds on the other side of the door, no doubt his elite bodyguards being taken down. He held his breath. Suddenly the doors flew into the room with a crash as Loren roundhouse kicked them in. There would be no state funeral for Heth. An open coffin is not an option after you have been sliced in two from scalp to groin by Loren wielding a large kipper.

Following Heth's fishy death, the dismantlement of the Caldari State was fast with the Federation giving large portions away to the Capsuleers who had fought for the Federation. Drackarn got particularly lucky and received the station at Jita 4-4 where he decreed that the SCC could "sod off" and he kept all sales taxes and contract broker fee's for himself. He took the CEO's apartment on the top deck of Jita 4-4 and gave it his personal touch!

OK, OK, I took it to the real extreme there, but I think I made my point. Fiction on a personal level about your own character, friends and corp is less likely to have issues similar to that above, but many of us want New Eden scale stories.

I'm in Faction War. The Chronicles gave plenty of back story to them. The Chronicles didn't drive the player actions, the player actions drove the Chronicles. A great Chronicle could have been been wrote about the Amarr being on the brink last month with only having control of two systems before they pushed the Matari back. A mahoosively missed opportunity. That would have been an epic chronicle!

How is Tibus Heth these days? He's still got "Miners Disease" right? What's Roden, the Empress and Maleautu Shakor up to? Yes I could write on these subjects but I won't as these NPC's need their story telling by CCP. Anyone who's read my fiction will know that I'd not be able to resist having the Empress in stockings, suspenders and high heels before you can say "girl-on-girlEmpress".

So come on CCP, bring back the Chronicles (and no, not just one before the winter expansion and then another just before the DUST514 launch). Expand the story, expand the Eve Universe, expand the game!

Please?

Surviving Fleet Battles Using the Character Creator

Did you know that when creating your character you are defining how long your character may last in a decent sized fleet battle?

 

Seriously!

 

What are you going on about Drack? Attributes don't mean Jack in this game!

Yes, you are right. The bloodline, background etc mean nothing in a game where you can change your attributes and any character can train any skill and use any item in game. It's not like other MMOG's where a Wizard with high strength and low intelligence is going to be about as useful as tits on a kipper. I'm not talking attributes here.

 

 

What are you talking about then?

I'm talking about how the character creator defines when you get primaried?

 

Eh? You saying FC's take out the ugly toons first?

No, but that would be fairly funny!

 

 

So the good looking toons?

No, that is just silly.

 

 

So WHAT?

The thing that defines how long you last in fleet battles is nothing to do with your race, bloodline or the look of your Avatar.

 

It is your name.

 

Imagine you have the following enemy fleet sorted by ship type. Let's go for a good old fashioned BC slug-fest with no support.

 

Bob Zeberdy - Drake

Eric Cartman - Drake

Inara Sexeh - Drake

Reet One - Drake

Zurberdee Boing - Drake

Aaron Aardvark - Hurricane

Marcus - Hurricane

Zzzzz Sleepy - Hurricane

Jammy Boogar - Scorpion

 

Who would primary? Not a difficult question, Jammy Boogar gets called primary as you want that Scorpion off field. Next? Well here is where naming becomes important. You'll leave the Drakes to last, you want to take down the high DPS/low tanks first. That means those Hurricanes. So which one do you chose? Assuming range is not an issue, most FC's will go down the list alphabetically.

 

Sorry Aaron Aardvark but you ****ed up big style when you chose that name. Unless you are flying something tanky, you are going to be called primary more often than you would like. Zurberdee, you'll be the very last to be called due to the ship that you are flying and your name.

 

I like flying high DPS/low tank ships, but I need to stop that. As a 'D' I'm usually within the first few to get primaried.

 

 

At the weekend we had a T3 armour gang out. I was in my brand new Loki. Dual 1600 plate, faction EANM, specific hardeners, DCU. It was as tanked as an armour Loki can be without spending silly ISK. And it died quickly. I've thought about how it went down and I don't think I could have done anything better.

 

1. The entire enemy fleet start to yellow box me.

2. Even though I'm not primary yet I broadcast for reps as I know I'm secondary or tertiary. Therefore I give the Guardians warning to get me locked.

3. I overheat my bottom rack so get the 20% overheat bonus on the two active hardeners.

4. I move the camera angle and double click straight up so I'm flying parallel to the enemy fleet and have transversal.

 

The current primary goes down and I'm next. Thankfully the long cycle time on their big guns mean that from initially locking me when I was called secondary to actually being hit, I had time to do all the above. Their first volley takes me to low shield. I'm assuming only a few fired and the others are awaiting their 1400mm guns to cycle (the enemy fleet was mostly Maelstroms and Tempest). Next volley takes me into structure. The Guardians are repping me but I can see it is not going to be enough to keep me up. The third volley puts me into my pod.

 

Looking at the other guys to die, they primaried the Loki's and went alphabetically as can be expected. Their other choices where Guardians (heavily armour tanked, small sig radius and already chained up) or the other T3's. Legions and Proteus' have a mean armour tank so no wonder the enemy FC called the Loki's.

 

And we went down in order. BandWidth was primary at 18:00, I was secondary at 18:11 and guess what, yes, alphabetically we were the first two Loki's at that time. If Ammon had joined earlier instead of when I was back in station I'd have survived (our fleet warped off after I went down). So really my loss is all Ammon's fault for not being there :o).

 

If only New Eden had a name changing service. I'd rename to Zurtar Zucker in an instant! Then again I suppose it could be worse, I could be called 1sh0t1b33r, right mate?

 

Vengeance - Part 1

It's fan fiction Friday! Not your thing? Try reading this great idea from Rixx Javix.

-o0o-

"No, I don't have that sort of ISK. Please not my family! Let them go! I'll get the money somehow!"
"Capsule shields down! Armour plating failing. Structural damage detected......"
"NO! NO! NO!"
Two women, screaming in terror together. Then silence.
"Capsule breached detected, activating neural scanner....."

As the gravaton smartbomb went off blinding his vision, the capsuleer woke in a cold-sweat. Terror was etched across his face as he sat up quickly taking in his surroundings. He was in bed, safely in his quarters on the station, it was that nightmare, again.

The soft-skinned Minmatar woman stirred slightly next to him in her sleep. He eased carefully out of the bunk trying not to wake her and went to the sink.

He activated the tap with a wave of his hand and held his shaking hands under the water. He splashed the cold water on his face and walked over to the table. He sat down on the sofa and picked up his datapad keying in a sequence of codes. The hologram of the Harpy class Assault Frigate that was being projected melted away and was replaced with a floating human head.

"Hello sir. How are you?"

"I had another nightmare."

"About that day?" the AI construct asked.

"Yes."

"It has been eighteen months. One would have expected some reduction in the frequency of occurrences. However, whilst our medical technology is advanced, there are still areas of the human brain we cannot fully explain. Have you reconsidered the procedure?"

"What? Pause my consciousness mid-clone jump and simply remove that day from my memories? No!"

"Sir. Your behaviour since that day is showing classic signs of post-traumatic stress disorder and an unhealthy fascination with the perpetrators. I can detect elevated aggression in your voice each time you have one of the nightmares and my scanners also detect a female in your bed. Her biometric readings indicate she is a different woman from the one from last night?"

"Oh fantastic! I have a holographic AI therapist-construct preaching morality to me? Did the Amarr write you? Will you quote some scripture for me next? Thou shall not pick up exotic dancers on-board space stations? Is that in the book?"

"Sir, it is another sign that you are performing actions out of character following the incident. Some signs are more obvious than others, may I point out the switch from mining barge training to combat vessel and weaponry training. Also having a different woman in your bed every night indicates that....."

"They help me forget.... for a while." he said sadly.

"Sir, I can strongly recommend that......"

The capsuleer deactivated the counselling program with the push of a button. The head melted away and was replaced by the holographic projection of the Harpy. The capsuleer stood up and surveyed his quarters. The woman was still in his bed sleeping. He decided to leave Trinny there, or was it Chantel? He couldn't even remember her name.

He turned to the ship gantry and grabbed his waiting bag and walked out onto the gantry naked. He placed the bag in the small hold of the capsule, keyed in the activation codes and stood with his back to the open capsule. He heard the mechanics start up and sensed their approach. Long snake-like arms reached out, slowly approaching him. Connections were made to the sockets up his spinal column, finally the deep connection at the base of his neck was made and his world went black just as he felt his feet lift from the deck.

Suddenly there was light. He was seeing via his camera drones as the pod moved over to the Assault Frigate and docked deep in its belly. In the blink of an eye the capsuleer became at one with the ship. He sensed every part of her, it was as if the ship was an extension of his own body. Undocking requests were processed and within a minute the small combat vessel was in space.

He aligned the ship to the stargate and activated the warp drive. The station disappeared behind him as the vessel was propelled at the speed of light towards the distant target stargate.

Less than a minute later a different stargate, light years away in a distant solar system suddenly came alive. A brilliant flash of light illuminated the immense metallic construction and the Harpy appeared through an artificial wormhole. The capsuleer checked the local channel. It was empty of other capsuleers. He aligned the ship to one of the asteroid belts and activated the warp drive.

-o0o-

"Anyways, then I flipped her over. She says she doesn't do that so I says..... look babes, I'm a Guristas captain and....."

"Sir, we have an AF on close-range scan."

The captain of the Cormorant class destroyer stopped his story.

"Battle-stations."

The bridge crew, who had been listening to the Captain's story intently, quickly turned back to their consoles. The lighting on the bridge dimmed and turned red as the crew prepared for combat. The Guristas pirate faction was one of the more militaristic pirate factions and they expected their bridge officers to behave as such.

The Harpy dropped out of warp 30km from the destroyer. Warnings went off immediately as threat indicators showed the assault frigate was obtaining a target lock on the destroyer.

"Get us aligned. Call command for back up. That's a fracking egger!" the captain ordered.

The bridge went silent. An assault ship was usually no match for a destroyer whose sole purpose was to eliminate ships with frigate sized hulls like the Harpy. The seven light rail-guns could easily track and destroy a small vessel such as a frigate. But an assault ship piloted by a capsuleer was different. They didn't stand a chance.

"Any backup close?" asked the captain.

"No sir, we're on our own!"

"OK. I don't feel like dying today. Get us out of....."

A shrill alarm went off.

"Sir, he's got a scram on us"

"Shit that was fast! Fire! All guns fire! Try and make some range."

The battle was short. The neutron blasters of the Harpy tore the destroyer to pieces in three volleys. The captain ordered the ship abandoned after the first volley wiped out their shields and severely damaged the armour plating. Thanks to the early evacuation 80% of the crew had made it to the escape pods when the third and final volley struck. Anti-matter charges penetrated deep into the structure of the destroyer, annihilating the reactor and destroying the vessel from the inside out.

The assault frigate slowly manoeuvred into the wreckage field left by the exploding destroyer as one of the doomed destroyer's officers watched from an escape pod.

"What's he doing?" asked a female technician who was sat down with her back against the wall of the escape pod.

"I don't know. He's not looting and he's not salvaging. He's got some sort of strange turret emitting a beam going through the wreckage. It's like nothing I've ever seen. It looks like he's scanning for something. The beam is heading...."

The five people in the small escape pod were knocked of their feet as the escape pod lurked.

"He's pulling us in?" stated another officer. They couldn't believe it. Nobody had ever heard of a capsuleer looking to take survivors from a battle. In fact all capsuleer craft had their sensors set not to show non-capsuleer escape pods. After a battle the eggers just left any normal escape pods for the Sisters of Eve or the factions search and rescue teams to recover at some point. They never involved themselves.

-o0o-

Back on the station the capsuleer had showered and now was taking a hover platform over to the Harpy. He checked his side arm and watched the ship grow larger as he approached. He rarely set foot inside his ship unless it was inside his pod. However, he needed to do this in person, not as some holographic projection.

It took him 10 minutes to reach the cargo hold. When he got there the five survivors were kneeling on the deck with their hands tied behind their backs. Three armed guards stood watching.

The capsuleer eyed them carefully as he approached. Three men, two women of which one of each were officers. As per his instructions they had placed the captives in order of rank. The highest ranking officer was a tall skinny man with sharp features.

"Ah I assume you are the capsuleer who destroyed our vessel" said the senior officer looking up as the capsuleer approached.

"My name is......"

The capsuleer punched him square in the face. There was a sickening crunch as his nose broke and blood sprayed onto the grey deck plates. One of the women screamed, the capsuleer didn't know which one, he was concentrating on the senior officer. The force of the punch had knocked the officer onto his back. The capsuleer pulled him back to his knees and searched him. He pulled out a small datapad from the stunned officers jacket and cut the binders holding the man’s hands.

"OK, log onto your system. Tell me where I can find these people." he held out his own datapad which listed seven names, along with aliases.

"Are you insane?" The officer asked holding his nose as blood dripped from his face.

The capsuleer simply walked down the line and stood in front of the lowest ranked pirate. He drew his side arm and shot him in one fluid motion. His body slumped to the deck as the two women screamed together. He walked back the officer and held out the list of names again.

"OK, four more times left to ask you the same question. Don't think I won't. As far as I'm concerned all you damn pirates can burn in hell. Tell me where I can find these people."

"I don't have access to personnel files. I cannot just look up where they are stationed!" the officer protested.

The capsuleer walked down the line to the man kneeling next to his dead comrade. The women started to beg for him to stop. He drew his pistol for a second time and shot the man at point-blank range. He returned to the officer.

"I know you cannot access personnel files. But you can access the intel and confirmed kills sections of the Guristas servers. You can tell me roughly the area they are in currently."

"No….. I cannot...... I…….." the capsuleer turned and started walking back down the line "No. Stop" he paused "I don't have access to that area. Honest. Look I want to help....." the capsuleer continued down the line and stopped at the next crew member. The female technician who was sobbing uncontrollably. With no emotion he took his gun and shot her. He returned back to the head of the line.

"Two chances left. I hope you are not going to make me do this all over again. This ship doesn’t fire free ammo you know! It costs to kill your kind!" The male officer fumbled with his datapad. The female officer next to him had stopped screaming when he'd shot the other woman next to her. She was now just staring straight ahead in shock muttering "No!" repeatedly.

"Black Rise region! They are all somewhere in the Black Rise region."

The capsuleer took the datapad and confirmed the information. Several of the people he was interested in had been noted on recent kills.

"Thank you." he turned to the guards.

"Revive those three and ship them all out to the facility." the capsuleer said as he turned and left the cargo bay.

The senior Guristas officer took a moment to realise that his crew members were not dead, he'd had the blaster set on stun!

There and Back Again; An Ex-Capsuleers’ Tale (Guest Post)

There are a few people I can blame for being where I am today in an Eve sense. First off is Gaz, Craig didn't help and then Pete and Kaz really cemented my fate. However, one of those four is 100% to blame for the existence of this blog, Kaz. As well as being a party to my transition from carebear to PvP'r she got me started on Blogging. Her old Eve blog and member of the Eve Blog Pack at that time, Where the Frack is My Ship?, inspired me to start my own and she gave me oodles of advice and some nice long emails giving me the do's and don'ts of Blogging. It was a sad day last year when she went on an extended Eve break. But now..... she's baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! Not wanting to restart WTFiMS, just yet (dooooo iiiiiiiit Kazzy), she asked if she could do a guest post here. Not a problem for the lady with the sexiest voice in Eve (Sorry Sindel) :o)

 

*

 

There and back again; An ex-capsuleers’ tale.

 

Hello. My name is Eelis Kiy and I’m an Eve Online quitter.

 

It was not always so. I’d been flying about in Eve since 2006 with the bulk of my activity (FacWar/PvP/Corp Directory stuff) taking place between 2009 – 2011. But by early 2011 a mix of game mechanic complaints, in-game politics and real life drama finally led me to hang up my space boots and unsubscribe.

 

The break has been liberating. My house has never been so tidy, my liver so alcohol free and my brain so stimulated by the huge pile of books I’ve finally gotten round to reading. In addition I’ve been able to go off and try other games without feeling like I was letting down my Eve corp-mates.

 

Warhammer Online was fabulous fun. I met some great people here (and a big shout out to my fav gaming couple Lordic and Lordicca!). But there was something in the player attitude that constantly irked me. The alliance I was part of had a good  PvP reputation but, unless 1 or 2 key warband leaders were online, people refused to use voice comms or even follow simple PvP common sense. In addition the game was going through a huge lull in development and with the release of a few new gaming titles the player base plummeted.

 

So next I tried SWTOR. The PvE really was fantastic and full of impressive, unique features. However both the game itself and much of the player base sucked utterly in attitude towards PvP. Players didn’t want to think out of the box or around a challenge. If something was too hard then it was clearly “broken”. There was an abundance of moaning and very little interest in putting skills and tactics together with team work to overcome difficult scenarios. And if anyone suggested such things on the forum they were buried under a mountain of “how dare you suggest that PvP should not be 100% equal and completely balanced at all times…!”  To make things worse the devs seemed to actually pander to such defeatist attitudes.

 

I found myself constantly at odds with the other players around me, including most of my own guild mates. “…well in Eve Online we would HTFU and find a way around it…” became a common phrase for me and although my guild mates (many of them old gaming friends) were too polite to go ahead and say it I’ve no doubt they were thinking “well why don’t you sod off back to Eve then?”.

 

I began to realise that I was now an Eve player who no longer played Eve. I had the attitude and the expectations, but no game to go with it. Never again would punky pixel hair, cute Dwarves or a pet tauntaun be enough to satisfy my gaming needs. Was there no other MMO out there with Eve’s gutsy attitude? Well perhaps there is but I stopped looking. This is mostly because the Steam sale started and I developed an addiction to Plants Vs Zombies.

By this point back in Eve Online many things had changed, especially in Factional Warfare which was an area of great interest to me.  So I decided, albeit somewhat reluctantly, to give Eve another go.  I went back for about 2 weeks, then I left again. I can’t believe I am going to admit this to the world but… it was just too hard. There. I said it.

 

Taking time out to puke the Rahkgoul Plague onto passers-by and play with pea shooting plants had turned my gaming brain into mush and that first day logged back into New Eden was very painful.

 

The interface was all “messed up” and  I couldn’t find the tabs I wanted. I couldn’t remember how to sort out my overview or turn off brackets. My fits and ships were out of date. My drunken lol-pvp! corp was now in a self-created hard-core PvP alliance with fleet doctrines and high expectations. On top of that the majority of my gear was in a system the corp had long ago moved out of. I’d forgotten all the trade tricks I previously used to generate income. Old corp enemies were now current corp allies. AND worst of all, every time I minimised a window it bloody disappeared WHERE ARE ALL MY SODDING MINIMISED WINDOWS FOR &%@! SAKE?... I think you get the idea.

 

Eve had moved on but I was stuck in 2011. The game may well have been much better than the one I had originally quit but I just couldn’t be bothered to get to grips with it all over again. So yeah, I had a hissy fit and un-subbed, again. I was happy to leave Eve behind for good now. In fact I was starting to move away from online gaming altogether.

 

Yes, maybe I missed it a little bit. I’d always loved being a gamer and it had been a part of my life for the past 8 years. I love chatting to interesting people from all over the world, of all ages and from different walks of life.  I love murdering people in the face or dying in a terrible ball of fire whilst trying. I love those funny drunken nights on voice comms and all the in-jokes and forum banter. I love chilling solo whilst exploring interesting virtual worlds. But most of all, I adore staring in the face of absolute defeat, against a superior rival who knows they have you and then, against all odds and alongside a corp of talent and teamwork, pulling off that incredible victory which is still talked about years later. Sure, I loved gaming, and I loved Eve. But it was time to say goodbye.

 

Sadly for me there was one factor I hadn’t counted on, and that was my other-half getting back into the game.

 

For those that don’t know, my partner also plays MMO's. We don’t always play together but it is a hobby we’ve both shared an interest in since we first got together many moons ago. During my Eve hiatus, Rashmika Clavain (his Eve name) joined (or re-joined if you want to be technical about it) my old corp, Shadows of the Federation, and started having a ball. This was not good.

 

Whilst I tried to chill out at home, watching TV, playing The Sims (don’t judge me), reading my mountain of books and attempting an online Mandarin course, I now had to put up with the constant background distraction of my beloved bashing the crap out of his keyboard, chattering loudly on fleet-comms (to my former corp-mates!) as well as constant tales of Eve Online victories and epic fails that he felt the need to impress on me. Feel free to PM him in-game and ask what happened to his Kronos, he loves to share that story…

 

It was pretty irritating. I starting nagging, moaning, and giving him all those womanly “annoyed” looks that chaps don’t actually notice.

 

It slowly dawned on me that my worst nightmare was coming true. I just couldn’t believe that I, Eelis Kiy - MMO addict for the past 8 years, Eve bitter vet and former game blogger, beloved corp, guild and kinship member of 7 past MMORPGs and all round drunken voice coms entertainer - was becoming a gaming widow.

 

The final straw came after a particularly annoying evening of Rashmika loudly Eve-PvPing the night away whilst I was tried to chillax with my new book. I gave up and went to bed only to be woken up an hour later by my phone bleeping at me with a “new email” alert. When I checked to see which asshat had emailed me at midnight I saw that CCP had trolled my inbox with a “come back to eve for £20!!” offer.

AAAHHHHHHHRRRRGGGEEEEEEEEEE GO AWAY EVE ONLINE I FRIGGIN HATE YOU.

 

So yes. I took up the offer. And this time, hopefully, I will stay a little bit longer than 2 weeks.

 

The difference now is that I’m coming back with a better attitude. I am coming back because I miss the game and my corp mates and not because I cannot find an Eve replacement. I’ve had the break I needed, the game has improved and I’m now far enough away from the past corp dramas to be involved in such issues again. In addition, this time around I have my other half on hand to (verbally) slap me when I have a hissy fit as well as help me get up to speed with all the game changes (so yeah, minimised windows totally go to the left now!). I have a lot of work to do, particularly with my out of date hanger. But I’m getting there.

Starting Eve Online for the very first time is hard work. But to come back after a long break, when you’ve forgotten so much and have no ignorance about how terrible you now are, is a very high hurdle to jump. But this time I know I’m on the way over it. And this time around I can’t help feeling like I am back where I belong.

 

o/

Space Elevator Music and "DUST514? Meh!"

Hilmar Tweeted yesterday about a space elevator. You can also find the picture on the Facebook pages of Eve-O and DUST514 now.... or here.....

My initial, and fairly random, thought was - what sort of elevator music do you get in a space elevator? Then I got thinking about the Family Guy parody of A New Hope where they have an elevator version of the Imperial March playing in the lift in the Death Star as Han, Luke and Chewie are heading to the detention level.

No? You're right, probably isn't appropriate for Eve. So I suggested on Twitter that the space elevator should be playing Beneath the Asteroids covered in an elevator music style. @Heimdall_EVEO picked up on this tweet in A BIG WAY. So ladies and gentlemen, follow this link for the elevator version of the classic Eve background music!

Obviously this all links into DUST514 which is getting more and more attention. But not from me....

I'm not really gripped by DUST514. I've not played the beta, and I'm not really bothered about playing the beta. I gave my Fanfest code away. It was even available to play at Fanfest, but I didn't bother. It's a FPS and whilst I do play FPS's, I do it very casually. Boot up the XBox, play a couple of games of domination on Call of Duty, switch off the XBox.

Now don't get me wrong, I want DUST to succeed. Success for DUST is success for CCP which in turn is success for Eve. I just really struggle to see where the player base is going to come from. How will DUST compete with Battle Field, Call of Duty and the many others that litter this over-populated genre? Yes it's going to be free to download, but is that a good thing, or a bad thing? The phrase "Triple A" was mentioned so many times at Fanfest in reference to DUST I think The Mittani was playing the "Triple A" drinking game where he took a shot every time someone mentioned that phrase. It would explain the alliance panel session! But let me ask you, what in life is AAA grade AND free? We all know what CCP are doing, but will the "It is free therefore it cannot be that good" mentality affect player numbers?

Is DUST just going to be full of Eve players bringing a whole new meaning to the phrase "dual boxing"? Will your average FPS player on the Playstation network be put off by the depth and customisation in DUST when they are used to equipping a big gun, a small gun or launcher, an explodey thing, a flash or smoke grenade and an equipment thingy and that is it. The anticipated new players that Eve will get crossing over from DUST on the PS3, will they stick around or will the majority of them be "insta-gratification" types who will be put off by the long-haul of Eve character development. That is a lot of questions with very few answers until the game is released.

Personally, I'm awaiting the full game's release and feedback from the player-base before I try it. If the feedback is positive then may be I'll get a PS3 ("Honey, I've bought you a Blu-Ray player so you can watch your chick-flicks in high definition.") based on the reviews. We will see.

But how could CCP get me more interested?

Orbital Bombardment
Yes this feature is still being developed. Current thinking is that you'll park a BS or destroyer in orbit with a "orbital bombardment computer thingy" module, activate that and fire. But will that be it? Bit boring TBH for us in space isn't it? I want to see the fruits of my labours! I want to see mahoosive fire-balls with DUST-Bunnies flying through the air, flailing their arms and screaming for their mummy! I want EXPLOSIONS! Can this be done? Could be have some form of graphical representation of the carnage we are causing below? Or are we just going to be left with a view of our projectiles streaking towards the planet and the thought that even mining allows you to see your shot actually hit something? Ooooooo killmails please?

Atmospheric Fighters
Now this is probably far too much of a technical challenge, but what if Eve Online pilots could enter the battlefield? A carrier would need to be parked at the planet where the fight is kicking off. It could enter a sort of "siege" type cycle allowing the following to happen and making that carrier vulnerable at the same time. A capsuleer approaches the carrier, stores his current ship and swaps it for a Atmospheric Fighter. Swapping ships in this way leads to like an undocking session change, one minute you are in space, next you are flying just above the battleground. Obviously you can shoot at the DUST-Bunnies down below, but the issue is that the Dust-Bunnies can shoot back at you. Think surface-to-air launchers in COD. The big problem for capsuleers being that pods cannot fly in the atmosphere so if they hit you, you are going to plummet to earth and end up like Humpty Dumpty! Insta-podding! I'm also thinking proper piloted ships, not the "click and go" we have in Eve. Think the Wing Commander series, especially WCIII - The Heart of the Tiger which had atmospheric flying missions. Like I said, the technical challenge to have a PC player flying a fighter above a battle zone on the PS3 is probably insurmountable. But if it was possible, how cool would that be?

Lore
A lot of Eve players are here for the Sci-Fi. The lore, the background the technobabble. Spaceships, warp drivers, lasers! We love that shit! We used to get regular chronicles expanding the Eve universe and delving into the lore, background and history. Now they are only occasional and only when there is something to promote like a fresh expansion. If CCP were firing out more chronicles, pulling me deeper in, it might get me more interested. These days CCP appear to rely on the players to do this, but it's not the same. Anyone can write some crappy fan-fiction. What we want is excellent CCP canon. We want reference material, interesting tales involving the Eve universe, stories which are not just which null-sec alliance has kicked another null-sec alliance in the balls. We want geeky stuffz! Yes I read Templar One thanks to the lovely Sindel Pellion, but I want more! MOAR I SAY! MOAR! CCP give me DUST514 material that expands on the Eve-O universe and I will get sucked into DUST514 more, I promise!

Now in the above I use terms such as "I" and "me". Obviously I'm using this term loosely to describe a much wider base of Eve obsessed Sci-Fi geeks who are "meh" about DUST. Surely I cannot be the only one!

I wish I was more interested in DUST519, but as it stands at the minute, I'm just meh. May be nearly the launch date they'll be something to prick my interest.

Blog Banter 39 - I'm Like the Gypsy Band!

"Some say a man's home is his castle. For others it is wherever they lay their hat. The concept is just as nebulous in the New Eden sandbox. 

In EVE Online, what does the concept of "home" mean to you?"

Home in Eve for me has been many, many different places for me. It all started a long time ago, in a solar system far, far, away.......

Poinen V, Internal Security Assembly Plant.
This was my first home. I was a noob, I was a carebear, I didn't have a clue. Whilst the Caldari State pretty much hates me, Internal Security still likes me due to the hundreds of missions I grinded as a solo player. FEAR MY CARACAL O'DOOM!

Gicodel, Sisters of Eve Bureau
This was my first true home when an old mate said he played Eve too and invited me over to join the corp he was in. It was very much "carebear as usual" but now with the Sisters of Eve. I was lucky as running storyline missions for the Caldari meant my Gallente standings were -4.8. Thankfully this was when you were either shoot on sight in the Empire (-5 standing or worse) or were not (-4.99999 standing or better). I was soon loved by the Frogs.

Villore, Federal Defence Union Logistics Support.
Now this corp I joined was a carebear corp, but they had one weekend a month in Faction War for PvP'ing. I tried it, I died. Horribly. After a few goes I'd just go AFK on FW weekends and did something else. However, after about 6 months of hiding under a rock when anyone said PvP, I thought I'd give it another go. This time it clicked and I loved it. In spring of 2009 when there was a choice to merge with the well known FW corp Shadows of the Federation, and I was one of the big supporters. We merged and moved to Villore which was the hi-sec staging area for the Gallente Militia.

Nennamalia, Wiyrkkomi Peace Corps Assembly Plant
As the tide turned against the Caladri who at that time owned the entire war zone, it became more and more difficult to find targets. The front line had been pushed back from the Gallente's doorstep further into low-sec, so we moved. My first low-sec home! The screenshot is a bit sick due to the current incursion

Nisuwa, State Protectorate Logistics Support
Now if I had to pick one system to call home of all these, it would be Nisuwa. A big pirate alliance decided to move into Nennamalia and we needed to move out. At that time we couldn't compete with them. So we moved further into the war zone and only three jumps from the enemies high-sec staging system at the time!

Road Trips
We had a number of road trips to various low-sec and null-sec locations. However I don't count them home any more than a hotel when I go on holiday.

2DWM-2, Z'ha'dum
We got an invitation to join R.A.G.E. as part of the NC. We moved to null-sec, and we even spunked 17bn to build our own outpost! If you get the connection with the station name, then you are a real Sci-Fi geek! However null-sec blob warfare wasn't for us so we moved back to Nisuwa and sold the outpost at a loss a few months later. However, we didn't mind..... as a few weeks after we left a LOT of angry Russians came stomping through and took the system.

   

Kamela V, 24th Imperial Crusade Logistics Support
Was it Kamela or was it Sosala? These Amarr stations all look the same to me! This was a short home when we tried the doomed alliance with Wolfsbrigade. We dropped faction war and headed to their area and went pirate for a while. That didn't work out due to WBR being serious and having short, medium and long term goals and business plans and we having..... drink!

Nisuwa, State Protectorate Logistics Support
So it was back to Nisuwa and back to our roots in Faction War. There were road trips, but Nisuwa was always our main base.

Nennamalia, Wiyrkkomi Peace Corps Assembly Plant
In July I left SoTF as they were getting serious and having short, medium and long term goals and business plans (mmmmm deja vu) and joined QCATS. So basically I have gone full circle. After three years living outside of hi-sec in various places, I'm back to where I started.

The Future Home
There is talk of a possible move, and I cannot believe the location suggested......

Conclusion
So the blog banter asked what does the concept of 'home' in Eve mean to me. As you can see from the above it doesn't much. Home is where I am "permanently" based from. However, as you can see there is very little permanent about my homes. May be that is the way of low-sec PvP. You move around looking for the fights. I guess I'm nothing more than a Gypsy! May be if QCATS doesn't work out I should join this lot purely due to their AT X advert....

P.S. On the subject of recruitment my old corp, Shadows of the Federation, are recruiting and asked if I'd give them a shout-out. Whilst they have got a bit too serious these days for my play-style, if you are looking for some awesome fleets of awesomeness, amazing FC's, cap fights including supers and general top-of-the-line PvP then they might be the guys for you. Think one of the top PvP corps in game with extra alcohol - https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=147437&find=unread

Others on this Blog Banter:-
http://lowseclifestyle.blogspot.com/2012/08/somewhere-i-belong.html
http://smallshipsftw.wordpress.com/

Vengeance – Prologue

I’ve been giving the fan fiction a bit of a rest over the last few weeks with only a single post since the Ripper. The Jita Ripper series was a fair amount of work and I wanted a bit of a creative rest (not saying if that’s for me or the readers!). Anyway, I’ve been writing a new series, this time with a capsuleer as the main character. Hope you enjoy.

Oh, and I wonder, has anyone else tried to write dialogue for a pirate faction in Eve and ended up with them all sounding like Mr Gibbs from Pirates of the Caribbean? No? Just me then? Glad I rewrote those parts with the “G’aaaarrrrrrr” turned down from 11 then!

If fan fiction isn't your thing, I'd recommend this rather good article on the problems with faction war at  http://themittani.com/features/dissection-game-system-faction-warfare 

Vengeance – Prologue

Danmat trudged down the street in the rain. It was dark and the sulphur in the atmosphere, which the rain brought down to street level, made the place smell like bad eggs. However, even though the volcanic activity on this planet made the air and water smell, it was still better to him than the recycled and filtered air on a space station.

He’d spent the day trying to fix a Condor class frigate with a dodgy plasma injector. It hadn’t been going well and he’d worked late into the night to finish the job. Still being in his first month on the job, he needed to impress, especially in this economy. He was slowly moving up from junior technician to starship engineer. This new position had required him to move from his home town to the big city. The small starport back home just didn’t have the jobs at this level.

His new apartment was relatively cheap. Mostly because it was away from any public transport terminals. He’d got off the metro 15 minutes ago and it was still a good 30 minutes walk. Tonight he was trying a different way home. The city of Messian on Amo III was hardly the centre of the cluster, but it was his new home. Most of the shops and businesses along the street were shut at this time. The area was rougher than he would have liked so quickened his pace. One bar a bit further down looked open and he thought a quick drink might do him good.

As he approached the bar he saw the name. “Mortal”.

Inside the bar was quiet, very quiet. However, it was tastefully decorated and appeared to be much higher-class than he’d have expect for this area. He went up to the bar and perched on a bar stool. The barman wandered over.

“Welcome. What can I get you?”

“Double vodka and Quaffe please. Bit quiet tonight?”

The barman started preparing the drink.

“Yeah, usually is in the week. However, I kinda like it like that. Picks up at the weekend but never gets too busy.”

A stunningly gorgeous Gallente woman appeared from a door leading up to the side of the bar. Danmat did a double take. Everything about her, the make-up, dress, shoes and hair all screamed something to him. The nicest way he could put it is that she looked like she belonged in the area. If he had to label her, ‘Dancer’ would have been the nicest way he could think of describing her look, and he wasn’t think ballet! Still despite that appearance he couldn’t deny she was very attractive in a ‘filthy-gorgeous’ kind of way.

“Sweetie. We’re running low on Brutor Brain Basher” referring to the infamous Marati ale “Can you make sure you order some in time for the next shipment from Hek.”

The barman smiled and nodded and she disappeared.

“Wife?” asked Danmat.

“Yes. Ten years and still going strong.” replied the barman who was placing the bottle of vodka back on the top shelf. As he stretched, Danmat noticed scaring on the back of his neck. Putting two and two together he thought he’d see what the reaction would be.

“So, you used to be a capsuleer?” Danmat asked nonchalantly.

The barmans eye’s narrowed and he turned around. Danmat was completely unaware that he was discreetly reaching under the counter for a concealed plasma rifle.

“What makes you say that?”

Danmat sipped his drink.

“That is a good drink! Well this bar is hardly in the central business district, but the furnishings and materials are top notch. You spent a lot of money renovating this place, and you’ll never make that back given the location and the customers you’ll likely get around here. You appear to have money to throw around. Usually that means ISK and not local credits. The name of the bar is ‘Mortal’, you have a trophy wife and the scaring on your neck indicates you had the interface implants removed. How am I doing?” Danmat grinned. He always liked playing at detective.

The capsuleer released his grip on the rifle still concealed under the bar. He was pretty sure he was not one of them. Even if he was, he rifle was still close and the internal security system in this bar was on a par with any Governmental secure location.

“Very observant. You a cop?”

“Me? No!” Danmat laughed “ I work down at the maintenance bay at the Eastern starport. Just got an apartment over in the Doolar district. Only problem is it’s a 45 minute walk from the nearest metro station to the block.”

The barman already knew this. A concealed DNA scanner in the door was linked to the planetary governors secure database. A connection that cost him a small fortune in bribes and payments to hackers. Whilst Danmat had been speaking, the barman had been looking at the screen on the till. As well as the price of the vodka and Quaffe, it listed everything he needed to know about Danmat. He was born and raised on this planet, rarely travelling and had only been into space a handful of times and never out of the solar system. He wasn’t the threat he feared. Or was it the threat he used to fear? It had been so long the barman didn’t even know himself anymore.

“Well kid, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone.”

“Sure, to be honest I’m not sure who I could tell. I’m pretty new to the area.”

Danmat scanned the bar a bit more. He noticed a holo-picture behind the bar showing two woman. He guessed one was in her 40’s and the other late-teens or early 20’s.

“Family?” he nodded at the picture. The barman turned to look, when he faced Danmat again he looked sad.

“My first wife and daughter. They…. They are not with us anymore.”

Danmat looked at the ex-capsuleer and now barman. There was something in his eyes. A mix of great pain and greater anger.

“Are they the reason you are here?”

“Yes. They are the reason I chose the path of a lowly bar owner now and not an immortal. Their ghosts and the Guristas pirates are why I am here today.”

“Want to talk about it?” Danmat asked.

The barman paused.

“You know what kid. It has been fifteen years since their deaths set off that chain of events.” The barman grabbed a whisky glass and poured himself a good measure. “In all those years I’ve never spoken about what happened. Always a bit worried those damn pirates might not have appreciated what I did and come looking for me. So I’ve kept quiet and told nobody.”

“Not even to the wife?”

“Especially not the wife. What the hell, if you are a pirate they are recruiting them young these days. It all began over in Black Rise, however at the time of the……. ‘incident’ there was nothing I could do. I was a miner, nothing more, nothing less. It took me 18 months to train what I needed to train. It was then that things got, shall we say interesting…….”