A little bit of Fiction

Abby looked out into the empty darkness, willing herself to be out there. But that was quite the impossibility as her only ship in the station was being upgraded with some good armour rigs. To the civilians passing behind her, she must seem so lost, so out of place. The station is not a place for a capsuleer, the pilots of New Eden, it was for the norms. She felt at the base of her skull, just under her flaming red pony tail. The small indents in the skin and the cold metallic disc protruding slightly out of her head only seemed to make her more self-conscious of how different she was from the people around her.

She hadn't always been that way. Not all that long ago she also had been a “civie”. The hustle and bustle of station life in those days were what she knew, what she had come to love about her life off the planet.

“You're new to coming into station, aren't you?” came a voice from beside her. Startled, she took a half step away from the man who had suddenly appeared. “Oh please, I don't bite, honest. Well, at least not in here. Out there,” the man nodded out the glass window before them toward the blackness, “out there is a different story.” The man finished his sentence with a little wink at Abby.

“And who might you be, sir?” Abby asked the man.

“Lord, I'm not that old, no need to be so formal. But to answer your question, my name-or I should say, what my friends call me- is Euc. Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Baxter.”

“Say what now?! How in the name of Jove do you know my name!?” Abby was more uncomfortable than she was angry, but she still wanted an answer.

“Whoops, well, cats out of the bag it would seem. Now, this will more than likely not make things any better, but the truth is that I've been watching you, Miss Baxter.”

“No, that really doesn't make this sound any better. In fact, I'd say it's a bit worse now. Do you REALLY know who I am?” Abby had gone from uncomfortable and slightly angry to scared and really pissed. It wasn't that he had suddenly shown up, she'd already waved that off as just a coincidence, it wasn't that he knew her name, he could have easily found it on the roster and looked up her information in the Concord database. What pissed her off and scared her was that in a station like this, out of her ship, she was completely defenceless, and she'd left herself completely vulnerable during her daydreaming.

The man turned to her, completely calm and even with a slight smile on his face. He lost a few more points in Abby's mind for that smile.

“You are Abby Baxter, 29 years of age, home planet Jita 4, capsuleer license JR-49-E3-3. Jita registered, 49^th in the the academy-out of what I can only assume to be 500, or so-signed for Et al., and this is your third month out. 15 kills (5 of which are pods), 3 losses, no pod deaths. Security status, well, it WAS -7.36, currently at .043.” the man leaned in slightly, motioning for Abby to do the same. “I also know that you have a 35 million ISK bounty on your head.” The pair straightened back up. The man, who called himself Euc, checked over his shoulder at the security office up the walkway. That's when she noticed the circular metal sticking off the back of his neck.

“You're a cap-!”

“SHH, not so loud!”

“You're a capsuleer too?”

“Indeed. But unlike you, I have a few...complications.”
“Compli-...like what?”

“Well, unlike you, my security status is still quite negative, enough so to make me a supposed hazard to the people of the station. I'm technically restricted to my pod.”

“How did you get here in the first place, you couldn't have made it here through Empire space.”

“Oh, no, clearly that would cause an unnecessary risk to me. I jump cloned, of course. But once I got here, I was 'Confined to my room during my stay, to ensure the safety of the people. Please pardon the inconvenience.'”

“Okay...so, I really shouldn't be talking to you, then. I mean, if they see us together when you get caught, I could be in serious trouble.”
“Well I'm hoping that this will not take so long as to allow me to be found missing.”

“And what, exactly, is 'this'?”

“'This' is a job offer.”

“Look, Euc, as you probably saw from my kill-mails, I work alone.”

“Yes yes, preying on week old capsuleers and the occasional hauler or mining barge whose pilot seems to have fallen asleep. But would you not like more? Would you not like to work towards bigger and better prey. And a seventy-five percent chance of popping something cruiser sized or bigger?”

“Yeah, but no one can guarantee those kind of odds. I mean, not every system has the idiots to allow something like that. How can you make such a claim?” Abby was intrigued but confused. During her time outside of Empire space, she'd only been able to kill anyone that was unlucky, or just plain stupid. To think about getting on multiple kills a day was just a little too much.

“I work for a Corporation run by pirate capsuleers. I'm sure you've heard of New Eden Renegades.” After providing the corporation name, Euc gave a smile from ear to ear.

Abby perked at the name of the corporation. New Eden Renegades, a rag-tag group of pilots who had too much fun doing what they love. They're philosophy was 'This can only end well'. Frigates, cruisers, the occasional battlecruiser, and skill. This comprised the NER. Most of the pilots had at one point been a member of Hellfleet, another pirate group. NER was supposed to be the best of Hellfleet, and while it was fairly new in existence, had already achieved a fantastic amount of kills.

“You work for them? Like, seriously?”

“Indeed. Also, sorry about your Moa, I'm willing to partially compensate the loss.”

“What are you...” Abby thought back to the day she lost her Caldari cruiser class Moa. Thought back to the kill-mail she got from the fight. Tried to remember the name of the pilot. 'E..Eu...Eucleides!' “Holy shit, that was you!?”

“Indeed. Now, if you can walk, I can talk, seeing as how I should probably get back to my quarters.”

“Uh, yeah, I've nothing better to do until the rigs are installed.”

“Good! Shall we,” he motioned toward an elevator down the walkway, in the opposite direction of the security station.

Abby took the time to finally look at the man she had just met. He was tall, bald and wrinkly, like her grandfather had been last she saw him on Jita 4. But unlike her grandfather, this man, as old as he might look, carried himself upright, was quite muscular for his apparent age, and spoke with a hidden dignity, a sense of self higher than many of the civilians on the station would dare to dream of. He was Amarrian, but acted nothing like one. He was polite, humble, and his gesture of compensation for her loss had caught her completely off-guard. Amarrians were known to be, well, to put it simply, dicks. They were stand-offish, prissy, money hoarding bastards with a God complex. Everything they did was for the faith. Civil rights was unheard of within the Amarr Empire, as was seen when they enslaved the Minmatar for years. This man, this pirate, had none of that. He was friendly, too polite for his own good, and Abby doubted that anything he did was by the will of any God. But the tricky thing about the situation, Amarrians, by nature, hated everyone, and this concerned Abby as to how Euc could be as he is, considering his background.

“So, shouldn't you be detailing how God chose me or that I'm a sinner and should be punished or something?”

“Hahaha, no no no. I lost my faith when I became a capsuleer. You become such an independent that you realise that you really don't need the Empire anymore. And no, I don't hate Minmatar. In fact, I have a good friend who is a Brutor. She's a capsuleer as well, but she mines, makes ISK and will give me a portion from time to time. Heh, I've even got a nice ol' Minny battlecruiser waiting for me at home once we're done.”

“Okay, say for a minute I believe you and say yes to your offer, what do I get?”

“The satisfaction of blowing ships up and the respect of your mates, like me.”

“That's it,” Abby asked, a little disappointed, and it came out that way.

“If you want a steady salary for your combat, go join a mercenary corporation. All of us at NER are self-sufficient. We all have industrial friends that help us out with ISK. Maybe it's time for you to make friends too, or get one of your friends from home to come join you up here.”

“No, no, my friends and family kind of hate me for leaving them. Capsuleers are looked down on in my city. Hell, we're in space and we're looked down on by all these people.”
“True, true. Well, then I suggest that if you DO accept the offer, you make friends with some of those sweet, innocent, high security industrialists. Anyway, this is my stop, I look forward to your answer, I will give you some time to think about it.”

As Euc disappeared into a dark, narrow passageway, Abby looked around confused. She had been so lost in conversation that she hadn't been paying attention to where she had gone. Suddenly a disembodied head appeared out of the dark passageway, “You'll want to go back that way,” he nodded back down the hall to Abby's right, “take care now. Hope to see you soon. Oh, and try to message me before you leave here, we'll let you know where we're at, and you can go straight there if you feel like it.” With that, he put on his big, cheesy grin-which looked quite awkward on an Amarrian-and disappeared back into the darkness in front of her. Abby doubted that the gap housed any quarters, it was probably vents and machinery of some sort.

“Well now what do I do,” Abby posed to herself. She had been planning on going back to the system she was based out of for her piracy and going back to sitting around, waiting for those few who were unfortunate enough to get caught. But now she wasn't so sure, would she give up her lone wolf reputation at 'home' and go meet people and have more fun killing many a ship, or would she stay, keep her rep and stay the unfriendly pirate she had been for the past month? She decided to go back to the docking area and think about it over night. By that time, the rig modifications would be complete and she would be able to leave at a moments notice. She came out of the cold, dank hallway into the main thoroughfare. She was getting hungry but her only ISK was digital, and since she was a capsuleer, she was not allotted a credit disc due to her temporary time on the station.

When she got back to her quarters, she laid down on her bed. Her pod casing perched on the wall across from her. She started drifting to sleep as she laid there, thinking about the past few hours. She thought of the mysterious pirate, the offer to join him and his friends. The realisation that these people had also destroyed her ship once before. She'd think more about it as she dreamt. She was certain she'd have an answer in the morning. She looked at the clock on the wall to her left, 02:00. Not a bad bed time for such a strange day.

So, this is just a little something I did for my fiction writing class. I'm hoping to expand it, like, a lot. Next saturday I'll ACTUALLY be in game for a bit, so that'll be fun. Later!

Blog Banter 21: Low Sec and you

The UI told me it would take 5 seconds to target the small craft that had just undocked, not knowing what awaited the newly licensed capsuleer.

“That's not nearly fast enough,” I yelled at the computer. In such a small craft as a frigate/newb ship, the recent undockee could easily warp to a gate and jump out of system before my Battlecruiser class Hurricane could lock it up. However, whether it was due to lag or player error, the frigate just continued to soar away from the undock area lazily. By that time the innocent young character had been locked and scrammed. In a Hurricane, or most Battlecruiser class ships really, it takes but a few volleys to take out a frig. I chose to savour the moment, my first-but not nearly my last-solo kill in low-sec. I waited a moment, the dual webs and the scram humming over the speakers; interspersed with the sound of sentry gun fire gleaming off my ship. My armour was down to about 75% now so I decided to align to a safe and begin the destruction of the little ship in my grasp, a Velator I believe. Aura so nicely informed me, as well as a little pop up notification, that my security status had been lowered. Heh, that wasn't nearly low enough. Surprisingly I got the pod and my Security status fell another fair chunk as the capsuleer was sent home and their frozen corpse was left outside the station. Now at this point I was becoming annoyed with the sentry guns, who were still pelting me for quite a bit and had succeeded in getting me to about 30% armour. I warped off, and proceeded to 'belt-hop' looking for more action, as my GCC ticked down.

I write to you now because a question has been posed, by numerous people, as to what lowsec is good for, and how can we make it better.

I have had my fair share of time within Eve. I've been a missioner, in an Alliance that was allied with Kenny, shot my fair share of Minny militiamen(been blown up by them too, run NPC protection for my industrialt's old corps' Mining ops, and done more missioning.

With missioning, the initial rush when you enter an area and your overview fills with red, begins to die off after you run "Ruin their morale" Level 3 a half dozen times and the closest level 4 is 12 or more jumps away, you start getting bored with life. Though, when I was using my friend's account I almost cost him an Abaddon on a Level 4, damn the little frigs that warp disrupt you >.<.

Null sec alliances are fun, organised(somewhat) and can-in some instances-kick a lot of ass. But during my time in GBC I had no useful skills and even less as far as PvP ships go. I went on corp roams that usually resulted in little to no action or major gank-dom. The major action my corp saw was some of us got to fight for 49-U. There was also the time that the incoming enemy ships warped to the same planet we had randomly chosen only moments before. That was a quick fight and 95% of the fleet was popped. Though we were able to disable the cyno that had been lit, I believe. The downside to nullsec is that it is either too cluttered, or too damn empty. Plus I'm pretty sure that I have membership to half a dozen forums now.

Faction warfare. Interesting, sometimes fun, but for the most part, annoying as hell. My corp stationed in lowsec a little ways from Amarr solar system. Little did we know that, for the most part, lowsec faction warfare consists of meals either running away never to be seen or heard from again, or being blobbed by groups twice our size. Got sick of that real fast.

With the mining, I made, well, my alt made a lot of ISK and I started gathering ships of various types to mission or mine in. But then we got griefed by some members of...either the Minmatar or Amarr militia, and the corp moved way far away. At this point I had to stop playing anyway because I was starting college. I came back 9 months later to mission and be super carebeary again, and made a fair amount passively running missions in my Drake. Again, that got boring kind of quick.

And so, this past summer, I fought alongside a group that know what they're doing and actually like it. This group is Hellfleet. After joining them, I found that I still lacked in the area of good pvp ships, and what larger ships I had were not fit to their best ability. I had fun and killed a lot. I died a few times, yes, but mostly to sentry fire in smaller ships. However, during my time there, I noticed a few things.

Lowsec, unless it is a well known/travelled, prosperous area, is typically dead silent. (No duh, it's space, of course there's no noise) You shhh, y'hear? A number of the kills I got in on were newer characters, mostly alts, who shouldn't have been venturing to low sec yet. Our home system had a number of belts, some nice mission agents, and a ship graveyard. The first kill I got with my Sentinel was on a Coercer in the Graveyard. The player was maybe a month old at best. Another time we caught a Domi running a mission, and another time a Megathron mining in a belt. I caught a few guys, even tried a ransom on one, who were ratting the NPCs. But you don't get nearly enough by ratting, and running the Gravesite or a mission has more risk than reward. What can be done to make it so that pirates like myself can get plenty of targets-and maybe make ISK somehow-but at the same time, pull in others but keep them safe, or create the illusion of being safe. Basically, how do we fix lowsec.

Personally, I couldn't tell you specifics. I wasn't down there nearly long enough to give the BEST opinion on the subject, but after reading blogs of corpmates, of former corp members cough Mynxee cough and of other pirates. I think I can give at least AN opinion on the subject.

What can be done? Well, here's what I believe:

GCC and Sentries: We need to fix GCC in some way, shape, or form. It's too long, and far too limiting from a pirate perspective. Once you are rewarded (or punished, depending on your point of view) with GCC, you must either have a God-like tank to be able to continue to hold out for extended periods of time. Or you need to have enough EHP to last another 30 seconds or a minute without engaging some one in order to dock and fix your shit.

Now, what if a Corp or Alliance chose a lowsec station as their Headquarters, and bought offices in said station. Perhaps a benefit of paying for the use of the station could be that members of that Corp or Alliance would be afforded special perks. Such perks could be lowered GCC times and little to no Sentry gun interference. Outside of that stations view, at another station or asteroid belt, your GCC might stay the normal 15 minutes and sentries would still shoot at you; but around that station you call home, engagement would have lessened repercussions. Though your security status might still go down like normal. But what pirate doesn't strive for -10?

Eve Online: Corruption was proposed years back and has features that would work perfectly for a more intricate version of the above. Basically Corruption has the idea of being able to pay off Concord in some way to nullify engagement repercussions. It goes even further with an option of having a teeter-totter system. Teeter-totter in that depending on numbers, bribes, or some way, the engagement would have different effects. If the system were more positive, then pirates would have more problems after engaging some one. If the system were more negative, then carebears could be in more danger.

ISK: Due to the fact that the majority of lowsec inhabitants have security statuses lower than -3, they are fairly restricted in the amount that they can do in Empire, if they can even get in. Of course, a number of them have alts that make the ISK that allows them to continue their PvP habit. But couldn't there be a way for lowsec itself to have some sort of economy? I can't say a lot on this subject since I've never really been into Eve's economics. However, I would say that implementing something limited to lowsec only, that can boost the economy and perhaps help generate ISK for lowsec-ers.

Carebears: How do we pull in more prey-I mean, players-from their “safe zones”. Well, it should be shiny and valuable. Minerals/ore that is typically found in null sec, and have it in random belts? Probable belts? Or probable belts that require a specific key entry acceleration gate-could be done similarly for missions(?)-in order to protect the miners somewhat. To be honest I don't think I can say much as far as this goes. My carebear experience is limited to Empire space mining and missioning. The biggest threats I've faced in that respect are rats and a lack of tank, can flippers, or the ever fun disco-Battleship. Most people would hire protection in this situation, but what if you could hire NPC pirates for protection? Have a bunch of powerful Gurristas Battleships flying around you. Or pay off what Concord might be around to spawn Sentries that follow you around? Plenty of options I can't think of at the moment, others will have their own ideas.

Overall safety/General rules: Basic rule of Eve, no matter where you are, don't fly what you can't afford to lose. If you go to lowsec, be prepared for the worst, hope for the best. If you go there expecting to make ISK, also expect that you could lose more than you make. Lowsec is not a matter of how LONG you've played, but of how WELL you've played. Three years experience means nothing if you can't counter a month old player attacking in a Cruiser or Frigate. If you mine or mission, be aligned to a safe spot, planet or gate. If you pirate, always have safe spots, and I would go so far to suggest playing a little conservatively. If your target is your size or bigger, you may have to use surprise to gain an advantage.

To sum up, there are things that COULD be done to lowsec, but there is a possibility to make a living in lowsec how it is. Stealing from Dane Cook, lowsec is like the friend everyone hates.

If you're a carebear, it's dangerous, but possible to thrive. If you're a pirate, it's harder, but with a little help it is also possible to thrive.

That's all I've got. Fly safe -or don't- and kill lots.

Eucleides

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Will Turner: You cheated.
Jack Sparrow: Pirate.

Been a while, been fun

Ok, so, back to school time has come, and my pilot's license has expired. Once the semester ends-so, around midDecember, I might be able to get a month long license. Otherwise, Ligand and I are stuck in station. It was a great time flying with the pirate group Hellfleet, hopefully I'm not dropped from corp, but I understand if they do drop me. As long as I stay blue to them, that's all I can hope for. I, funnily enough, only got down to -7.4 during my time in the Hounds. And at one time I had a 40 mil ISK bounty on my head. I ended up either having glitchy controls, or my computer was just so outdated that I missed something, either way, I ended up getting podded right outside a station, such bullshit is what it is. I hadn't been outside station long enough for the guy to get a lock, and yet he did, and then the station/my pod wouldn't warp or dock. I'm not sure, but it's the past, though I do need to get new implants. No they aren't +5's but even the +3's or what ever they are help.
No matter.
The biggest irony of this whole situation is that I can now fly a Minny and possibly Caldari Battlecruiser better than I can a Battle cruiser of my own race. And I am even able to use the Tech 2 guns used mostly by the Minnies. Projectile! I have the ability of using T2 medium Auto's. WTF!? While my laser skills suck Gal balls *shudders*...the gallente, never flying one of their ships, ever. However, one of my corp mates, Eviwyn, she flies a MEAN drake. Think I might try to get a good drake going. Plus maybe get some more supporting skills for battleships, Amarr, Caldari, and Minmatar. Battleships are too much fun to fly, but expensive as hell. And Ligand doesn't make enough money to support my PvP habit, this much I've learned. She needs to get into a hulk, quick. But that'll take a while, which is not what i want.
So, until then, good luck, Kill lots, have fun.
-Euc

Hellfleet

So, I'm now a member of the somewhat well known pirate group known as HellFleet. Consisting of HellCats (you all know Mynxee), and HellHounds. There are a couple other smaller corps in the alliance, but I'm not sure what they do. Anyway, I've been having a LOT of fun with them and their friends Devious Decorum. We went on a...1-3 hour, 30-man roam Sunday, afternoon. We didn't find much to kill. And what we did find either warped out, or docked up when the gang hit system. I got onto 1 or two of the KM's. Couldn't do much in my crucifier and Omen. But with that Domi kill, that was just fine. What I have learned so far is that I cannot fit ships to save my life. Which is actually what you want to do, save your life. I will be refitting it. I also have learned that a BC is something you really need to have in order to do well in lowsec. It can take some hits from the sentry guns without dying as quick as frigs and cruisers do. It's really a debate between the Prophecy or the Hurricane. I've already flown the Prophecy before, and it was okay, but I would really like to try out the Hurricane. That'll take me 2 days to train to get into it. Then who knows how much longer to get the correct modules. Medium Projectiles. Shield or Armour tank. Drones I really don't need to worry about atm. I just got Minny Drone Spec Saturday, so I'll train that up as well. I have already lost about 1 whole point off my sec status. Soon I might need to have Ligand come down with supplies, or rat so I can go up.

Speaking of Ligand. She has started doing the Planetary Interaction option. She was hesitant at first since there are people on the Temperate planets, but decided it was best when she saw how much she could make fairly quickly. Though she has yet to sell anything, I think it will earn her enough. What's great is that she has not given up her mining either. My aspirations for pvp brought us both down to less than 10 mil. and she keeps having to spend a little here and there as hidden charges for PI. But I'm sure that the benefit outweighs the cost. Need to be able to afford the 'cane before I can fly it. :P

Well that's the latest. I will see you all in game, later!

*Face->Palm*

Ok folks, well that was short lived. With my summer class in full swing and my job starting next week, I've realized that joining Helljumpers, which ended up joining Dead Terrorists alliance, was really a bad idea. It's too much work right now to have to register for 3 different KB's and a couple different forums. And then the different TeamSpeak channels to sign up for (I much prefer vent, to be honest). Coordinating ops that I can make, plus I can't fly all that well of ships, can't even use T2 turrets yet. Though I think I might try to get into a rifter, so, having t2 autocannons would be a good idea. Anyway, this is basically a shout out to any low-sec corps willing to take in a 7mil SP character for a little bit. I'd sure appreciate it.

Oh, i forgot, I can use a Sentinel now, ewar ftw!

It's been a while since my last post, and I know no one really reads my blog, but I thought I'd update anyway.

So, I'm now a part of my old corp Helljumpers [ODST]. They're a null sec corp fighting the NC, so I believe that's Morsus Mihi, CVA, old Goons. Hopefully that's true. I'd rather not be fighting SC, [-A-], Agony, etc. :-/

Well we'll be joining an Alliance called Blast. Supposedly we're in the Fountain region. It'll be nice to get in on some kills. Planning on doing some frigate support first. I actually don't like guns, I'm more a missile guy, but I also like ewar, love it. So i'm putting together some ships that nos/neut, and tracking disrupt. XD this is gonna be a LOT of fun. Can't wait.

Shinies!

So, I was watching videos of pirates/griefers. And there was a group who caught my eye. A few members of Project Nemesis[pr0ns] have been posting videos of their activities. And I must say, DAMN! These guys seem like a lot of fun. Since I haven't flown in a while, I haven't been able to keep track of my skills and ships I can fly, but after talking with one of the members, BossDrum, it seems that I need to get a fair amount of skills down first. And I'm starting with my Learning skills, everything takes forever cuz I decided not to train those long ago. Then I'm debating between HAC/HAS and Recon. Both seem like a lot of fun, though Ewar has always had a special place in my heart, considering I lost my bbird the one time in FW. :'(
Anyway, not only do I have to get into HACs or Recons, but I must be able to do Remote Rep Battleships and not have any morals. If I end up with these guys, my life will be VERY bi-polar. Protector by day, griefer by night. :-/

So, a bit of a Blogger faux-pas, perhaps, but I feel like I should tell y'all who I am.
My name is Ken, I'm a student in the midwest United States. Currently I'm in between Biochemistry and Criminal Justice as my major. I don't play during the school year because my...*sigh* this sounds pathetic since I'm 20...because my parents run my finances. And they DO check my checking account statements online from time-to-time, so I don't want to piss them off and lose my primary method of college payment. It's not like I would play all that often anyway. I would love to just be able to have skills training in the background as I wrote essays or did projects or whatever. I plan to return in...let's see, it's the 11th of April, so...1 month from now.
Well, that's about it for now. I'll try to get something in later this month, but things are starting to pile up. Oh and I just found a podcast that started up after a long Hiatus. The Drone Bay is a lot of fun and y'all should listen to it.

Spring Break

So, as I said in my last post, I'm still a school kid. Right now I'm on spring break, really would like to play right now, but, still not a good idea. I'll be be on Eve in the summer though. :D
And, looking forward to this! Moa carnage! Thinking I might try Ouch Alliance for some PvP experience. Then, if I can, I'll try for Hellhounds maybe. I've recently become fascinated with Mynxee's blog, http://lifeinlowsec.blogspot.com/ . She and her gang of gals seem to be having way more fun than I thought low-sec pirates could. I'd be glad just to talk to them in-game. We shall see though. It's been around a year since I last did PvP. And with that being FW, I'm not really sure about this, gonna be different, that's for sure. For now I'm content with watching youtube vids, reading pirate blogs, and dev blogs. see you folks in-game in a few months. Not sure when the next post will be.

Looking ahead, with some detail in the past

“What the hell is this thing?!” I yell out to the hanger coordinator, Scotty.

“Your ship, what did you think?”

“Well I most definitely didn't expect this lump of metal.”

“This is a new model, so be nice! It's called a Moa.”

“A what-a?”

“Moa.” The answer was curt, annoyed.

“The hell's a Moa?”
“Big flightless bird, we have a couple in the zoo if you wanna see 'em. Real awkward looking.”

“Cap'n,” said a member of the crew, “this thing looks like a...hell I've no idea what it looks like.”

I turned around to the crew and smiled. “Yeah, I know what you mean. It looks like hell, but hey, we'll be kickin' some ass with this thing in no time.”

A round of cheers and general laughter met my ears. 'Just a few more months. That's all.' I thought. 'School can't keep me on this damn barge any more than that. I'll be done with classes for a period of time and I'll get to go fly this hunk of junk around.'

“Alright folks, let's go get some drinks before I have to go back and write those damned essays.” I exclaimed.

I laughed to myself about the bi-polar life I was starting. Training to become a police officer during the school year, but during the summer, instead of the same ol' boring missions, they all ended up melting together, I would be trying out something new. Pirating. I felt relieved that the school wouldn't be checking my sec status at the beginning of the next school year.

We arrived at the bar in time for happy hour. I bought a round of shots for the crew, all 20 of them. My bill was pretty big and I used the last bits of money to pay for it. So I called it a night and headed back to my place in the school area of the station.

I met up with my friend Ligand. It's always funny hanging out with her, considering the history. She was Minmatar, I was Amarrian, my people had once held hers in slavery. She didn't hold a grudge, she didn't against anyone. You could pop her ship and she'd start up a convo asking why but never being accusatory. We were kind of more than just friends, but had to keep it a low profile because of the race issue. We were both at school, learning how to uphold the laws. During the summers she ran around doing hauling jobs and mining like there was no tomorrow. She didn't necessarily like that I was going to try my hand at piracy, but as long as I stayed in low-sec for it, she didn't mind. “Low-sec miners deserve to pop,” she would say. She took care of all our expenses. I'd sold my “mine-ageddon” to help get the money for her mining barge and it's modules. She, in turn, had accumulated over 130 mil ISK. And where was I, with 5 mil ISK. She gave me money, since she was the one that made the most, and she didn't expect anything back, ever. I'd give her the majority of whatever I made doing missions, keeping enough to buy more missiles.

“You know,” she had once commented, “you're just full of ironies.”

“Hmm?”

“You're an Amarrian, dating a Minmatar, and you like flying Caldari ships, using Gallente drones.”

We both burst into laughter.

I had two classes in the afternoon, I decided it would be worth it to just hit the sack with Ligand and go to the gym in the morning, I'd work on the essays before class.