Ready....Set.....CRAP!!

"Begin recording...."

*the tapping of a holo pad can be heard as she punches in various numbers and figures*

"So I've run into a conundrum..."

*A sigh as she seems to be contemplating the results of her entries*

"Frankly.... as is obvious, there's a lot about living in nullsec that is going to take some getting used to. Logistics is ENTIRELY different than what you find in Empire. Need a ship? Sit down at any terminal and within moments, you can generally find it and usually not too far away. Of course, depending on how far your willing to travel, you'll have lots of options to get it for a competitive price. You don't have to concern yourself with having someone else get it and move it for you. You want it, just hop in a shuttle, or even just your pod if your bold enough and go get it yourself. But living on the edge of the universe takes just a bit more effort and foresight.

"So it was asked of me yesterday what ships I had. Or rather what ships I intended to have transported out to my new corp's base of operations....

"Thing is...I don't really have any ships. Okay...actually I have a hanger full of ships. Just none that I can utilize well. Take the Megathron for instance. In my opinion, I'm really only skilled enough to use it for agent missions at this time. In that beast, with the support skills I already have, there isn't a single level 4 mission I can't solo. Besides that, I have and can fly the Ishtar and the Deimos, though still lacking the ability to use t2 heavy drones, sentries and worse....t2 medium hybrid turrets. In other words, I'm not able to fully utilize it's capabilities in my opinion. So that basically leaves my cov-ops and my assault frigs, both of which i do have the skill training to utilize well.

"So okay, some may say, 'your a combat pilot! why are you lacking so bad in gunnery skills?!' To which my answer is and always will be, what good are using the tricked out blasters or railguns if you can't target far enough away? or fit the modules that'll keep you alive to fire off more than your first round? In other words, I've been so focused on training all the skills I believe to be necessary support skills, that I've put my gunnery skills to the side just a bit. Reason for this is that after I get my support skills to the level I'm happy with, I intend to have the doc's do a neural remap of my learning implants. This will drastically change my ability to train my skills in gunnery and drones at a very fast pace. So not only will I catch up with my peers in their gunnery skills, but will fly by them while already having all the needed support skills.

"Sure, there will be lots of support skills that I won't have maxed out. But after doing the numbers, I only have about 30 more days left of training with my current attributes before I'm able to use pretty much every t2 module under the stars besides industrial stuff such as T2 mining lasers, capitol ship stuff and of course those in the category of weapon systems. After the neural remap...it won't take too long to get those weapons though. So sure, I may lack a bit in other support skills, skills that don't give you access to better tech but instead just give bonuses to those modules, but that I don't mind. That will come with time. Call me odd if you will, but to me its just the idea of being able to use em.

"I have deviated a bit though. My old friend, and corpmate once again, Prom, can be quite persuasive. The bastard..."

*laughing lightly she continues*

"Basically, I only have 9 days of training to use t2 heavies. This will be quite useful for ratting in 0.0 as well as fleet engagements so as I said, with a little persuasion from Prom, I decided to go ahead and finish it. With my T1 medium and large guns, I won't be of major use in fleet engagements really, but it will at least put me up a step and....well....make me feel at least a little better equipped.

"Once I get that, it'll be back to the support skills again. It's hard for me to deviate away from something once I got my mind set to it. I mean, maybe it's not the right path to take in my training but ah well. Only about 30 days left and it won't matter anyways.

"End recording."

Children and Snakes

Region: Aridia
Constellation: Ombil
Solar System: Balas
Planet: Balas I - Moon 11
Station: Inherent Implants Biotech Production

"Begin recording"

*momentary pause*

"Few things to report today...

"First I'll start off with that I lost another Ishkur. This one to a force recon that I never saw coming. I was running a small anomaly in a dead end system, saw the pilot appear on the local communications channel, kept my eye on the scanner...but somehow, I never even saw his probes. Really don't know how he located me, but I'm of the opinion my scanner was experiencing technical difficulties. Either way, he was a corp mate of another pilot I'd shot down earlier that day in a Rifter. Found the Rifter sitting idly at a planet and was able to warp in right on top of him. His friend in a Megathron came to help but was far too late. Seems the Amarrian force recon pilot came for revenge of his comrade...

"Either way, when the recon appeared, I tried to run again. I'd just finished clearing the site of its defenses and was checking wreckages for anything of value. When he appeared, I quickly engaged the ship to warp out, but forgot my afterburner was still engaged. When accelerating for warp, it takes a lot longer to reach that 75% of top speed to get into warp, given your higher max speed allowed by the AB. Suffice it to say, he had his disruptor on me long before I could reach full speed. I still tried to burn away but my AB versus his MWD prevented that from happening. By the time I gave up and turned to engage, it was of course far too late as I was now under the fire of both him and his companion in a Myrimidon.

"Yet another moment that could have easily been avoided... Either way, I was not upset in the least about it and offered a congratulatory 'gf' in local. The Myrimidon pilot was the same pilot that had tried to get me before in the Mega and was cordial in response. The recon pilot however was a complete moron, feeling the need to be completely rude from the start because I'd tried to run instead of fight. I mean seriously...a less than one year old frig pilot against a 6 year old recon pilot (in terms of pilots license) AND a myrmidon?? Give me a break.

"Anyways... I'd considered going back just the harass/annoy the hell out of the guy since he wanted to claim it was 'their' space and be a fucking rectal ranger about the whole thing... but frankly, I'd rather be flying and combating against adult pilots rather than undisciplined children."

*slight laughter*

"Can you tell I'm a little wound up about it still?"

*clears her throat*

"So...moving on. I purchased a new ship and decided to travel into the deepest parts of lowsec. Taking a long look at the maps, it's my opinion that the region, Aridia, seems to have the most low sec systems than any other. In fact, it almost appears the entire region is made up of low sec with just a few spots of high sec here and there. So that's where I am now.

"I did a bit of recon yesterday evening and I think I've found me a few good spots to hunt. One system seems to be chocked full of industrialists. If I can catch em right, I just might be able to snag me a few good kills before they gang up and force me out. Which won't be any concern given my last bit of info to enter.

"And that bit would be I am now a member of Silver Snake Enterprises, part of the alliance, Systematic Chaos! Yep, my app went through and I logged on the aura network this morning just long enough to see the 'welcome package' in my inbox. Basically a butt load of files to go through. Not that I care. I mean, this will be my first nullsec corp and I'm quite excited about it. I've had my moments in nullsec but to actually live there... Again, very exciting to me.

"Some say nullsec isn't what it's cracked up to be. Others say its WAY better than empire. I say to each their own and the only way to form a real opinion is to actually go there yourself. So who knows, maybe eventually I'll return to empire. But for now, definitely excited to give life in 0.0 a try.

"End Recording."

Always a Bigger Fish

“Begin recording…”

*Long pause followed by an audible sigh*

“Log file 07.21.111.

“Sometimes I just don’t know when to consider something a victory or a loss…..*the sound of something banging can be heard repeatedly* “…stupid!…stupid!…stupid!….”

*finally silence can be heard again for a long moment before being followed by another sigh*

“I made a critical mistake today. Perhaps it would have resulted in the same end result…but upon further investigation, I don’t think it would have... Either way, no matter what the end result would have been, I made the unwise choice…

“I was sitting in Orfrold, a 0.2 system in the Metropolis region. I had just barely missed catching a pilot with a bad security standing and had instead ended up being engaged in a rather interesting conversation with him. His name was Gorkus Dante and it seems he was giving up his pirating ways, having decided to join the Minimatar militias in their fight against the Amarr scum, like his father before him.

“I feel for him. His passion to join his fellow brethren in their fight was strong and I wish him all the best. As I told him, I can’t deny having considered doing it myself from time to time. Seems the Gallante militias are seriously lacking given the cataclysmic loss a short time back. But as I also told him, my eyes right now are set on nullsec. Maybe if and when that flame is squelched, maybe then I’ll return to help my own people. With me…ya never know…

*a small laugh*

“Anyways, I’m getting sidetracked…

“As I was sitting there chatting with him and browsing through some of the local gossip on the Scope network, I noticed two ships appear on the scanner. Both were Punisher class frigates, Amarr frigates. I watched them for a bit, checking and seeing that both their pilots’ license being quite new. In short order, I found them ratting in a belt and warped in at 100km out just to see what they were up to. It became clear immediately they were ratting… together. After having warped in, I turned the ship about, heading the exact opposite direction and switched on the afterburner. I watched local for a bit, first thoughts being this to be a trap. Finally, after much consideration, and once my ship was far enough out, I gauged the distance they were to the belts central beacon and turned the ship once more and immediately put it into warp. I figured, two pilots with that little experience, surely I could take them quick enough even if they were bait. If they weren’t bait, maybe they just didn’t consider me a threat given my positive sec status. Either way, given my lack of targets in the 50 or so jumps I’d made over the past few days, I figured why not.

“Suprisingly, when I’d warped back to the belt, I’d hit it just perfect. It easily put me well within scram and blaster range. Unleashing the drones, I set to work on the first Punisher…

*Long pause*

“Something felt…. odd…. about the whole occurrence but my focus was on killing em quickly and getting the hell out. I knew without question that whatever didn’t get destroyed when they went down would be worthless to me, so I wasn’t concerned about hanging out too long. I was there for blood and blood alone.

“The first ship went down quite fast and I quickly turned my attention to the second. It too went down rather fast. And that’s when I made my very critical mistake….

“Still basking in my revelry over having down my first two ships solo, I hadn’t even noticed the Vexor class cruiser, flown by Zeasier of The Bastards pirate corp, warp in. Didn’t even notice him closing on me. I was so lost in my excitement, I failed to realize I was still being targeted and even worse, failed to realize I was taking damage. So that was stupidity number one…

“By the time it did dawn on me, the Vexor was well within range, his drones already ripping away at my armor. Here was where I made mistake number two…

“I was scrammed of course. And of course there was no way I was going to get enough distance to escape it before my ship collapsed under the combined fire of his turrets and drones. But stupid me continued in my attempt to flee when instead I should have turned and engaged. A Vexor is a deadly foe against any frigate, even an Ishkur like the one I flew, but not impossible. If I had turned to engage, I might have won. I’m not experienced enough in one on one combat to say with absolute surety, but I believe I could have. I’d barely taken any damage from the two frigs and had nearly 2 full fleets of T2 hobgoblins and T2 warrior drones still at my disposal. As it was though, I’d panicked. I’d made a horrible decision of recalling the drones and attempting to burn away in order to leave…. And as a result, I lost the ship….

“Do I feel bad about it? Frankly, no. I don’t.

“After doing a bit of research, I’m pretty confident in my belief that at least one of those Punishers was bait for the Vexor. I can’t say that for sure, but gut feeling, and a few clues, points in that direction. Is that an excuse for losing the ship? No. I should not have lost the Ishkur. Complete lack of combat experience is what cost me the ship. I certainly have a good skill set imprinted in my brain to pilot the assault frigate well. Sure, there’s always more training that will make me even better but as I stand now, skill wise, I’m a very competent pilot. Where I lack is in experience, in my actual combat experience.

“If I’d been paying more attention. If I’d not got so caught up in the moment of having made my first solo kills. If I’d turned to fight instead of turning to run…. Lots of ‘ifs’. Point is, I’d let my excitement get the better of me and having lost my cool, I’d made irrational, and slow decisions.

“But again, do I feel bad about it? Still the answer is no.

“I learned a number of lessons with this engagement. All of which I know will help me grow. I made mistakes that next time I swear will not happen again. But of course….I’m sure I’ll be awakened to even more lessons in the future.

"Either way, as they say in the local comms chatter…. ‘GF’ and ‘fly sa…. Wait…..never mind that crap…..

“YARR!!!!”

Valuable Cargo and a Suicidal Run

Region: The Forge
Constellation: Kimotoro
Solar System: Jita
Planet: Jita IV - Moon 6
Station: Caldari Provisions


Selina smiled as she stood watching from the station hanger's viewing deck. Below, she could see the hanger crew working to unload the 'cargo' from giant Megathron's cargo bay. Even now, safely docked in her usual station hanger here in Jita, she still couldn't believe just how easy it was to get her ship out of Solitude and back into main empire. They had encountered not a single thread of opposition in the roughly 15 or so jumps through lowsec. Not that she was complaining. She laughed again as her thoughts went back to the look her maintenance chief had given when she'd told him her intentions back in Octanneve. Sometimes she just wished she had a camera implant.
___________________________________________

Region: Solitude
Constellation: Elose
Solar System: Octanneve
Planet: Octanneve III - High Orbit
Station: Duvolle Laboratories Factory


"You want what?!?!"

"I want you to strip the Megathron of all its current modules. If the ship is attacked by anything of significant threat, our chances will be slim we'll make it out anyways," Selina said, shrugging. "And besides, at this point I could care less honestly if I lose her. I just want out of Octanneve. Out of Solitude."

Taldak, her maintenance chief, looked again at the list he held in his hands, his mind still in numb shock.

Lows:
1600mm Reinforced Nanofiber Plates I
Damage Control I
Large Armor Repair I
Energized Basic Adaptive Nano Plating
Armor Explosive Hardener I
Warp Core Stabilizer I
Warp Core Stabilizer I

Mids:
100mn Microwarp Drive I
Cap Recharger I
Cap Recharger I

Highs:
-empty-

He recognized all the gear on the list. It was all cheap junk they'd salvaged from the wrecks of the various missions they'd been running for the local Gallante Customs agents. Most of it was, for the most part, worthless junk in terms of gear for a battleship. But to think she actually intended to use it?? And furthermore...no weapons of any sort?! Slowly he looked back up at her. Surely this pod pilot had truly lost her mind. He knew she was crazy before, but now she must have really lost it.

"Miss Selina, I..."

"Look Tal, nobody but me will be on this ship when it undocks. I'm flying this one solo. I mean, I have absolutely no intentions of engaging anyone during this trip and in fact will be running or avoiding contact at all costs. So I say again, if the ship gets blown....oh well. The insurance I have on this thing will be enough, with some left over, to buy a new one anyways." She gave him her puppy eyes. "Besides, it might turn out to be a fun little adventure."

Taldok bit his lower lip in thought as he stared at her than just smirked, shaking his head. "You really are insane," he playfully mused.

She beamed at his words. "Yeah. I know. Fun, isn't it?"

"Oye vay...," he said before laughing. "Alright. We'll get her fixed up and ready in no time. Obviously shouldn't be too hard or take too long."

Selina laughed once more before turning to head off towards the pilot's lounge when a thought struck her. Glancing over her shoulder, she gave a devilish grin.

"Oh. And Tal. Do me one other favor?"

"Sure. What's that?"

"Know that package labeled 'A Lot of Money' we've had sittin in the hanger collecting dust?"

He nodded, a grin spreading across his own face to which she gave a wink.

"Yeah....throw that in the cargo hold will ya?"

"Will do Miss," he said laughing as he watched her leave. "Will do."

Killin Time is Killin Me

Region: Solitude
Constellation: Elose
Solar System: Octanneve
Planet: Octanneve III - High Orbit
Station: Duvolle Laboratories Factory

Selina sat on her cot with her back against the wall, twiddling her thumbs....literally. She'd spent the past weekend running missions for her 3 agents, trading off to the others when the currently given one didn't suite her. No way was she going to digress to being an errand bitch. "'Pick me up some smokes. Get me dancers for a wedding. Transport the janitors. Take out our garbage,'" she mocked in a quiet mumble. Even then, what missions she did take nearly bored her to tears. Throw the right resistance plates on and there wasn't a mission task she couldn't do in a solo Megathron battleship. All the faction ships were so predictable, it was pathetic. In fact, it was only a few hours ago that she'd just returned from single handedly tanking the incoming fire of 5 other Megathrons while instapopping the incoming frigates. Cruisers took a few extra shots but what she didn't kill before getting too close for her 425mm Prototype I Gauss Guns to hit....her lowly tech 1 drones finished off instead.

Okay, so there had been a couple of harrowing moments. But the reason was really more of being just because she'd gotten so bored in doing the missions, she'd make silly mistakes like going out with the completely wrong resistances fitted to the ship.

So....if that is so boring, one might ask why not go hunt for targets in lowsec. Well she had......and found absolutely nothing as usual. With most of her ships pretty much stuck in Solitude, cut off by a large swathe of low sec from the more populated areas often referred to out here as 'Main Empire', she was a bit hard pressed to just leave them everything behind. But that meant having little offered little in the way of lowsec hunting without traveling a good distance. In fact...as time wore on, the temptation to make what might be a suicidal run from Solitude to Main Empire in her battleships grew with each passing day. Fit the things with warp core stabs, a nice passive tank and well....maybe some drones and.....well....just go. Ship is insured so if by chance it goes poof, oh well. Minor loss really. Most of the expensive modules, such as the gauss guns mentioned earlier, can be packaged and transported separately, in smaller faster ships. Maybe throw some of the cheap junk in the battleship cargo holds just to mock anyone that might by chance actually destroy the ship.

Still twiddling her thumbs, she muled the thought over in her head. Finally, setting her jaw, she pushed herself off the cot and activated her comm, paging her newest assistant. "Miriam."

"Yes miss?"

"Wake the maintenance crew. I've got some work for them."

When to Fight and When to Run

Region: Aridia
Constellation: Anama
Solar System: Zayi
Planet: Zayi X - Moon 7
Station: Pend Insurance Investment Bank

Helping her climb out of the capsule, Selina's personal attendants quickly threw a blanket over her naked body. Slowly, they guided her unstable form to a nearby cot within the room and guided her down. She shivered uncontrollably, her teeth clattering noisily against each other. The attendants knew though that her trembling had nothing to do with the temperature in the room. In fact, they were nearly all shaken up pretty badly by the very recent event. So close had they all come to death, that any man or woman who didn't carry a desire for it trembled now as their beloved pilot did. To see her so shaken now, even with the knowledge that she would in essence live on, being cloned back at their homebase while they were permanently erased from existance....it made them love her even more. It was a reminder that she was just as human as they with real thoughts and real emotions. That she did care for the lives of her crew and ship.

It had all happened so quickly. The blare of the warning sirens. The sudden jolting of the ship and the deafening sounds of impact as missile after missile had smashed against the armor of the Thorax cruiser, comically named Flying Dildo, tearing chunks away with each strike. The automated computer voice called out over the corridor speakers, "All hands. Battlestations. All hands. Battlestations."

What was hoped to be a leisurely cruise back to homebase after visiting the place where it all started. The birthplace of all that was Eve. The solar system known as New Eden. In an instant, the cruise had turned from one of leisure to a desperate fight for survival.

The ship's crew captain entered the logistics deck in a flurry.

"Status report. Now!"

"We're under attack sir," exclaimed the navigations officer in wide eyed fear.

"Well no shit we're under attack you twit! Now damnit, can somebody with half a brain cell tell me what's going on?!"

Immediantly, the ordinance officer stood to attention even as the ship rocked under the impact of yet another missile. "Sir! We got two bogies inbound! A heavy interdictor, ship class Onyx, and a command ship, class Nighthawk!"

The captain's knees nearly buckled at the news. Immediantly he knew they were no match for the two attackers. Their chances against one of those two were slim. To be confronted with both?

"Pilot status?"

"I'm fine captain." came the computerized voice of the pilot encased within her capsule below the very deck they stood on. "Prepare all hands for combat."

The captain spun his head in surprise towards the pilot status monitors, the closest connection they had at present with the capsuleer besides her voice over the speakers. "Prepare for what?!"

"You heard me captain. The Onyx has us scrammed and ONLY the Onyx is attacking. We jump back through the gate and you can be assured that command ship will follow along with possibly what was a third attacker we passed at the gate. So we have two options, engage now against the Onyx, a cruiser sized vessel in hopes of breaking free, or jump through and be faced with a battlecruiser sized vessel and a second possible bogey. Personally, with the neuts, I like my odds against that cruiser."

The captain nodded. It really didn't matter whether he agreed or not. What Selina said, went without question. Immediantly he turned. "All hands, prepare for combat! Deploy drones. Cycle the blasters, prepare to active neutralizers as soon as we're in range!"

Standing behind it, grasping the rear of his command chair, he watched out the thick windows as the ship rocketed towards the Onyx, blasters now spitting bolts of federation anti-matter against the powerful shields of the Onyx. Just as instructed, once range was achieved, the neutralizers kicked on, reaching out to grasp the Caldari vessel with its viscious assault. Immediantly the crew braced themselves as the hulls of the two ships slammed into each other. Immediantly, the ship pivoted about as Selina guided the vessel to align towards a random celestial. Having opened fire, she knew the stargates would not allow her to pass but right now, anywhere even in system was better than here. Seconds passed. Seconds that felt like hours as they waited breathlessly in hopes of a break. As the ship entered structure, warning sirens going off as sections of the ship were torn open, exposing areas of the ship to the vacuum of space, each man felt the claws of death reaching out to them. Each one watched their lives spin before their eyes as often does before one passes to the next life. And when the space outside them suddenly began to stretch in the usual sign of entering warp, not a breath could be heard.

It took them all a moment to realize what had just happened. To realize that the swirling lights they now saw were not the blur of death, but rather the blur of warp space. They had made it. Their ship had broken free of the Onyx's grip, catapulting them away from their near doom. They had left their drones behind... but the loss of computer controlled scraps of metal versus living flesh and blood.... It was a loss they were more than willing to accept.

They were of course not out of the fire yet. In essence bouncing off the celestial, they entered warp once more, guiding them to a safe spot they'd made along their path of escape. It was unknown if their attackers had probes but it would at least be some form of safety until they could once again pass through the gates. They all knew as well the two attackers were not leaving any time soon either given they'd both opened fire on their ship.

Soon, the armor had been nearly restored and the standard amount of time had passed. Quickly, Selina urged the damaged ship into warp once more, bolting for their exit stargate. As soon as the ship was through, she turned the ship towards the nearest station and urged it quickly into warp. Just in time, the stargate faded away into the distance just as they saw the local comm list screen grow with the entrance of their two attackers. Run, and try to get ahead and away? Or dock up and wait for them to leave? Selina chose the latter. One brush with death was enough for one night.

Sitting in the station now, recovering from their near death experience, the comm screen lit up with the face of one of her attackers:

Aiden Emmagan > ;)
Selina Starfire > :) gj btw earlier. nearly had me
Aiden Emmagan > ;)
Aiden Emmagan > okay you pay aiden emmagan bounty on the head (roughly 36mil) and we let you fly :)
Selina Starfire > LOL, or i just call it a night and go to bed like i should be doin. :P
Aiden Emmagan > tz tz :/
Selina Starfire > while leaving my char logged in just to annoy ya :P
Aiden Emmagan > ;)
KingSmash > gn8 ;) fly save

Pay a ransom?? Were they serious?? They had their chance and they lost it. They screwed up. And yet they still believed she would pay a ransom now that she was safely docked?! "Psht.... move along and find someone with a little less intelligence, with a little less patience and a little more fear boys," she thought to herself with amusement as she finally rose from the cot and offered to buy all the crew a round or two down at the station bar and maybe catch a flick or somethin while they were at it. Sides, they prolly had some time to kill...