Back to the Beginning

I've heard stories, or perhaps tellings, of the original wormhole that brought our ancestors to Eve long ago. It's always been in the back of my head that one day I would like to venture to this system, New Eden, to see the collapsed portal myself. Yesterday evening I finally got up the courage to fulfill that desire. Myself and my CEO were talking about how we never really have ventured into nullsec before. We'd both made a number of excursions now into lowsec but never so far as to go into nullsec. So we figured, why not now. Grabbing a couple of shuttles and throwing on some disguises we then discussed where we wanted to go. Nullsec was a pretty big place and we really had no idea what there was to see, or even if there was really anything of great interest to see there. So I brought up the idea of going to the New Eden system. I thought it was a nullsec system but I was wrong on that account. If I remember correctly now, it was a .3 security system. So it wasn't nullsec but all the same it would be an entertaining little journey.

Setting our nav computers to the destination system, we discovered we really weren't all that far from it. About 29 jumps. Okay, so to some that isn't close but when your traveling in a shuttle, it doesn't take long. For the most part, the journey was pretty uneventful. We did happen upon one rather large gate camp, perhaps 15 to 20 ships (beginning to love those pretty red blinky lights they make on my overview) but either they weren't even interested in bothering with a couple shuttles, which is a good possibility, or as i suspected, the shuttles were just a little too fast for them. A shuttle can uncloak after a gate jump and be in warp before most can even scan their overview to see what just appeared.

The only other interesting event was when we picked up a tail about 2 or 3 jumps away from New Eden. He had us a bit nervous as he was traveling in an interceptor. The interceptor is the only ship I really worry about given how fast it is and often times can go into warp after you but come out of warp before you. Anyways, at first we thought it was just coincidence that he kept showing up at the same gates but when he started showing up at the planets we would divert to before going to the gates, we knew he was following us. We still made our way to New Eden and were quick to make a safespot but didn't want to hang out too long with what appeared to be 5 or 6 people in system along with our stalker. So we snapped a couple photos of the collapsed wormhole (which I'll edit into this post at later time once i get around to uploading it from my camera) and high-tailed it back out.

At this point, I have to say, New Eden certainly is a place I suggest everyone at some point should go visit. It's really quite magnificent...if you can get over the strange feeling of nausea you feel when you're in the system. It's like everything around you is moving, like a slow moving liquid. And when in warp, instead of the pretty blue-ish tunnel you usually see surrounding you, it's replaced with a strange black swirl that's sort of hard to describe.

So anyways, with the interceptor still on our butts, we set a course back to our HQ system. We got two hops out from New Eden and finally got aggravated. I mean this guy just wasn't quitting. So we decided to throw him off a bit. I quickly jumped from planet to planet, creating some safespots while my CEO jumped to the next system and did the same. And then we waited. Eventually the guy piped up in local comm. He claimed he was actually unarmed and was just doing a little recon on active corporations in those systems. I laughed and asked him not to feel hurt when I told him I didn't trust a word of that. He got a little chuckle out of that himself. It ends up he actually was a pretty decent guy, another from an industrial corporation based in high sec. It makes sense I guess since I can't imagine someone hunting solo in low sec in an interceptor. But still, I wasn't about to go over and shake his hand. (at this point we knew he was sitting at the gate between the system i was in and the system my CEO was in.) Anyways, we chatted a few more moments, said the usual parting "fly safe", and he moved on. My CEO confirmed he jumped into his system and shortly after into the next. I then jumped myself into the system where my CEO sat in a safe spot and we waited for some time to make sure the interceptor pilot had left.

In the meantime, we made a decision. Our original goal was to venture into nullsec and since we still had some time left, figured why not still go. So we did a quick search with the computers map system and found the nearest 0.0 system, locked it into our nav computers and headed out. Now maybe I'm wrong, but I was actually surprised to see the nearest 0.0 system we could find was like 20 some hops away. No matter, again being in shuttles, it didn't take long.

There was one rather nervous moment when we jumped into the first nullsec system. Sitting there was two ships gate camping, and a very short distance away, a warp disruption field. We quickly warped to a planet than made a beeline for the next gate. Once in the next system and realizing there was absolutely nothing to see, we decided it was time to dock and get some sleep. But unfortunately, after checking the map, without going WAY out of our way to get back to high sec to safely dock, the only way back was past that gate camp. Two ships were at the gate, but there was certainly more in the system. We talked it over for a moment and figured what the hell. We were both in clone disguises ((alts for the unenlightened)), both flying shuttles, and neither one really caring if we lost both our ships and our clone's lives. Shoot. If anything it would have just made getting back to HQ a LOT faster.

So we hopped back in system. At first we were going to make a beeline for the gate and just see if we could make it through but at the last moment, I made the suggestion we warp to the same planet we'd gone to when we'd first arrived, seen as we knew that would put us at a heading that wouldn't intersect with their field. Sure enough after warping from the planet to the gate, it bypassed the field. Actually, it was somewhat comical as it seemed they had set up a second field and we warped in right between the two fields and immediately jumped.

So all in all it really turned out to be quite an interesting evening and certainly something we'll be doing again soon. Who knows. If you see a fleet of gallante shuttles (our shuttles of choice) flying through a system near you, say hello. It just may be me and my companions in disguise out for a little exploratory stroll.

-ML-

A Little R & R

So I've been enjoying a little vacation planetside in a small dead end system called Mahtista. Few people even know of the place, and of those that do, few even give much thought to it. I personally love those types of systems as i can generally do my mining in peace. Take for instance this place. Few places within empire space can boast only having no more than 4 or 5 pilots in system even at the busiest times. There are no corporate stations to be found within the system so thus the reason for so few people ever visiting it. As for planets, there's only one planet with a stable enough atmosphere to sustain life. Without much resources though, the planet still is left to be ignored.

But on that planet, I have a few friends that have chosen to live out an existance and it is these people whom I have come to visit. Just for a few days. It's always fun to go and visit old friends. Especially close ones you haven't seen in what seems like forever. But soon, I will be returning to the usual daily life so no worries there.

-ML-

Stepping out of my Norm

So as the title suggests, that's what I spent a good bit of this weekend doing. I'm a miner. Pure and simple. I recently finished training for the skill to fly a Retriever, a beautiful mining ship built to handle strip miners. And let me tell you it kicks some butt. Generally, with my Osprey and it's 3 t2 mining lasers, I was pulling in about1.5 to 2mil per hour of mining. Probably would be more if it wasn't for the occasional trips I have to make back to station, come out in my hauler, a Hoarder that can carry just a little over 12,000 m3, haul back what I've mined and get back out there in my Osprey again. But with the Retriever, I can pull in roughly about 4.5mil worth of material in only a half hour. Stack on top of that me finishing the skill training for the Mammoth. So now I can mine more, for a longer time, and well.....yeah, it's definitly filling the pocket book a lot faster and making me more capable of expanding my abilities to support my entertainment and the corporation.

But that's not what this entry is about. This is about me stepping out my that normality for me and into the so-called unknown for this simple little miner.

This weekend I received an invitation from a member of our alliance's military division. They had a small fleet already building up and we're looking for anybody and everybody willing to mount some guns and head into low-sec to hunt pirates. At first I was a little hesitant. When you spend most of your time training skills for mining, the aspect of turning killer can be a bit daunting. Yes, I know. I've assisted in the killing of can tippers in the past but to me that still seems....different. And yes, I've been on that mission op into low sec but again, fighting rogue drones versus living breathing...thinking...pirates, is a bit more nerve racking for me. But what the hell. I didn't buy two jump clones for nothing. So with that in mind, i threw together a Griffon frigate and headed out to meet them. By the time I caught up, they were already in low sec. Though there is always a risk of gate camps, I figured in my frigate I should be okay as I can generally go into warp before they even start a targeting sequence. Fortunately I ran into nothing of the sort and was soon caught up with the fleet in a safespot.

I always heard hunting in low sec could get boring, with waits that can sometimes take hours before catching any prey but I guess it never really sank in until this weekend. After a few hours of not really finding anything noteworthy or chasing dead ends, we finally decided that our best tanker, and I guess hardest hitter, would set up in an asteroid belt pretending to be killing rats. Surprisingly it seems we should have done that sooner. He was sitting in the belt for no more than perhaps 5 mins when suddenly a ship, a force recon, decloaked a short distance from his position. Both ships quickly locked onto each other and the order was given for us to move in. What we hadn't quite prepared for was the distance we were from his location. Our pilot was nearly freaking out as it appeared the recon ship was going to destroy him before we could get there. But it seems just in the nik of time, we dropped out of warp, right on top of the recon. Immediantly, we all locked onto him, scrammed and webbed him and layed into him with every available weapon we had. It was only a short time before his ship went up in a pretty red ball of fire. I think our pilot who had acted as bait couldn't breathe a heavier sigh of relief. We let the pod go as we're not full blooded killers and see no purpose in podding. Unless of course he's got a decent bounty on his head.

After that, things got a good bit busier as we took down 3 other ships, a caracal, an arbitrator, and another caracal and on the following day a hulk, but that was only cuz we got bored and tired looking for something to kill and he just happened to be the first we came across before we intended to disband and head home.

But something is bothering me just slightly. Why is it that i don't feel the least bit bad about the kills. I mean, reality is that not all of those were pirates. Especially the hulk. He was there to mine and in that way was no different than me. But yet, i feel no ounce of regret in helping to destroying his ship. In fact, I almost wanted to scream "Yarr!" over the local comms as we warped in for the kill. Just call it pent up frustration perhaps?

Anyways, I know my dps was certainly not much in helping to take down any of these kills. But I'm not a combat pilot and instead prefer using ECM's to assist those who are. I can't confirm it but perhaps me breaking the recon's lock is what saved my fleet mate. And that to me is just as important as laying down dps. Actually, truth be known... after warping in, I'd at first forgotten to even activate my guns as i was focused on getting my ecm's up and running....oops. Just don't tell that to my fleet mates. hehe.

-ML-

Making Irregular Out of Regular

So there's one thing that most who truly know me, know not to ever let happen....that being to let me get bored. Strange things happen when I do. Sometimes by my own hand...other times, well....I'm just lucky that way I guess. (Insert my big grin right here.)

Since I last made entry, there really hasn't been much in the way of ops or battles or anything else of that sort. I made a new friend, who I promptly accepted into the corporation. She's a newer pilot but I suspect has a lot of potential, especially in the area of security and defense. A bit of a firebrand if you ask me...though I guess that's why she got the nickname Starfire. I'm really not much of a combat person myself so I've directed her to ask any questions she has towards our combat director but at the same time, I fully intend to keep up on her training and perhaps take her under my wing in the way of supplying whatever it is she needs to become the great pilot I feel her to be capable of.

Otherwise, we've added a few other new members to our ranks. Some are fresh out of the academy, others have been around perhaps as long as our directors have. This is good as I almost prefer to keep the newer members as newer pilots. Or at least newer than myself or the other directors and our CEO. Eventually, when we have sufficient time under our belts not to be considered so much as noob ship pilots, then perhaps we could consider older pilots than ourselves.

Otherwise, I've been busying myself by trying out other career options. For instance, I was reading the journal of another pod pilot who spoke of his friend towing garbage around for a living so the other day i randomly entered garbage into the market terminal. Low and behold, you really CAN buy garbage! And better yet, there were people willing to buy it for twice the amount I could buy it at. So for perhaps an hour or two, I hopped around the systems towing garbage in my hauler. Made a few million isk. Not bad eh?

Then the other day I decided to go for a spin in my salvager, a cormorant destroyer fitted for salvaging missions for the other folks in my alliance. Hopping around the local asteroid belts, I picked up a fair amount of wrecks that miners had left behind, to include a few cans partially filled with ore. Now some may say me taking the ore would make me a can tipper but I would argue that as I originally left the cans alone and after seeing them there 30 to 45 minutes later, still unattended and the listed owner being in another belt mining, I figured it to be abandoned. Better me, a fellow miner to have the ore than some true flipper. So after doing that for perhaps an hour, with a combination of the loot, the small amount of ore left in the can, and the parts I was able to salvage from the wrecks, I brought in roughly another 3 to 4 mil. People really should learn to clean up after themselves! I may just have to make a career out of this. Who knows how much I could make looting and salvaging in lowsec! ....if I could avoid the pirates that is....

So yeah...just if you have any more trash laying around, just call me! Your regular Eve garbage man!

-ML-

When a stream becomes Niagra Falls

So I realize it's been awhile since last I made an entry. To say these past couple weeks have been hectic would be an understatement. Fortunately it's starting to settle back down but not into the previous routines.

Basically, my corporation has gone through a complete revamping. It started with a major theft in our young corporation. We're not sure still of the reasons it happened but the one who did it was caught red handed and after repeatedly denying he was responsible, was eventually fired. In my opinion, i would've fired him the very day it happened but the CEO was a little more lax about it then I. Of course this theft caused a lot of upset in the ranks and people began considering leaving the corp, perhaps joining with another corp from our alliance. I can't say I blame them. It seemed nearly every other day, our young CEO was changing the way things were being run. And it also seemed he knew little of the actual corporation assets control computers. For instance, this theft could have been avoided if necessary precautions were made and a more thorough knowledge of the corporation control was held by said CEO. Anyways, I still think he's a good guy, he was just lacking in the necessary knowledge needed to be a good CEO.

After that, came the 7 day war.

A pirate corporation, consisting of 8 heavily experienced combat pilots, declared war on our alliance. I'm not sure why or even why the war ended when it did but given my new position, which I'll explain in a moment, I'll soon be finding out from the Alliance leader.

But let me admit to you in saying these guys were brutal. I wasn't available for the one major engagement we had with them but as i understand it, it wasn't pretty. We lost a few too many ships, only to take out a handful of their tech II drones. The only enemy ship we nearly destroyed, barely escaped by docking in the station the battle took place outside of. After that it was mostly us just stockpiling gear, ships and ammo, sneaking it past them as they camped outside of our HQ.

Rumor says they withdrew their war dec because they became aware of how much we were amassing within the station right under their noses....but I'm not entirely sure. Our objective was to annihilate them to no end by throwing wave after wave of small inexpensive frigates at their battlecruisers and battleships, locking them in place, while our larger ships sat at a distance, pounding them with torpedoes and electronic warfare equipment.

So while their small, 8 man corporation sat there camping our HQ, making no money and getting only a handful of foolish or suicidal pilots that would undock, our large, roughly 150 man alliance, was amassing weapons and ammo and gear and continuing to build our bank accounts...again, right under their noses. The day was set to make the assault on them but 2 days before it was to take place, we received notice that they were withdrawing. Again, I'm still not entirely sure why. We did receive a message saying something about they were impressed that we had actually fought back. Something about they underestimated us a tad in thinking we were pure carebears with no teeth. A compliment or an insult I'm not entirely sure really.

Anyways, shortly after the war ended, our CEO stepped down. In fact, he left the corp completely for a couple days there. I'm not entirely sure what all his reasons were but he turned over control of the corp to his XO. I guess after talking to a few people in the corp, this newly promoted CEO came to me and offered me the position of being his XO. I was a little hesitant at first. I mean...me? A young pilot such as myself being the XO of a quickly growing corporation? It was a little overwhelming at first and I was slow to respond but eventually I accepted. In the following days, we discussed what path to take with the corp and more specifically who we felt could be trusted as directors.

So after appointing people to the necessary positions, rearranging the command structure and the corp assets, I think we have created a stronger, more controlled (though still fun) corporation that will last long into the future. Or so I hope at least...

-ML-

Ambushed!

Been a little slow getting a chance to sit down and write about the past weekends events but sometimes paperwork can be just a little overwhelming and prevents me from making my own personal logs about my experiences. Either way, this past weekend certainly was interesting.

A summons was sent out a few days prior to the weekend alerting the alliance that a mission had been given that would take us into the low security sectors near to our headquarters. I was a little hesitant about answering the call myself, given my lack of training in combat. However, the desire for something a bit more exciting than my usual humdrum activity in the mining business was too hard to pass up. I figured it'd also be good experience for myself and some of the other younger pilots in my corp to get a feel for a high level mission in lowsec so i mustered as many of my corpmates as I could and we set out to meet up with the rest of the alliance at a station one jump away from the mission location in lowsec. Once the troops from all the alliance corporations were formed up at the station, the call was given by the fleet commander to move out. In a large assortment of ships ranging from small rifters to the massive rokh we undocked from the station and set course into lowsec, our scout flying ahead to make sure the area was clear.

There was a slight problem at first, being a pilot that was recently ejected from the alliance due to the discovery that he had gotten himself involved in piracy. Our alliance stands firmly against pirates, going so far in fact as to have a team dedicated soley to the purpose of hunting down any pirates that dare to enter our home system and an adjacent system where we tend to go for our mining. The pilot was of course angered by his dismissal and we were a bit concerned about him possibly being a problem but determination drove us and we made for the gate anyways. By the time we reached it however, he had already moved on. That didn't mean he wouldn't still be a problem but to what extent we didn't know and chose to carry on with the mission as planned.

Jumping into lowsec, we quickly made our way to the acceleration gate, the entry point where we would begin our attack on the drone base located at the other end in deadspace. Our suicide dummy jumped in, gave us a report of the situation and after first sending in the larger vessels to aggro the drones defenses, the remainder of us followed. That, by the way, was a mistake we would end up paying for. Warping into the area, my eyes grew wide at the vast amount of drones already engaging the larger ships. Missiles and gunfire lighting up the darkness of space in one explosion after another. Quickly I gathered my senses, looked through my targeting list and selected the closest nearby fighter equivelant in size to the rifter i was flying. I quickly powered up my cannons, locked the drone into my targeting crosshairs and pushed the throttle to max. Immediantly, a sentry gun locked onto me but our support ship sent me more than enough shield boost to make its attacks nearly unnoticable. Being small and quick, it was my job, like the others who flew in the smaller ships to take out the small drone fighters as the larger ships would have difficulty fighting such nimble vessels. In the meantime, they focused their firepower on the larger, slower moving drones, picking them off one by one while us frigates did the same to the smaller drones. The battle was going quite well, having yet to lose a single ship when our singular mistake came to bite us full force in the ass.

A note and warning to those who take on missions of this nature in areas of lowsec. Always leave a man behind at the entry gate to watch your backs. We really should've known better but on this day, the thought didn't even cross our minds. As they say, hindsight is always 20/20.

Anyways, as i was saying, we were doing quite well with nearly two thirds of the enemy drones having been neutralized. I was focused myself on a particular drone that was really aggravating the hell out of me in his ability to avoid my projectile cannon's punches when suddenly my radar screen lit up with blinking red lights like christmas come early. "what the..." i stammered. Glancing out of my cockpit windows, the looming forms of numerous battlecruisers and battleships filled the darkness of space before me. Pirates! Not one or two but somewhere in the vicinity of 6 or 7 large ships had just warped in, weapons at the ready. Quickly my mind sifted through this turn of events and I realized that there was nothing I could do to help. Against such a force, I would find myself detached from my ship and possibly my body in a very quick manner so I did the only thing I could think of doing. It seems the fleet commander was in full agreement as well. With us already having the aggro of the drone enemy, there was no chance we would survive a fight against both forces. Tucking our tales between our legs, we all turned and fled...except the rokh. Well...he turned to do so but a ship of that size takes some time to make that happen. Just after I hit the button, shooting myself into warp, I heard the news over the com. The pirates had laid down a Cynosural Field, thus preventing our poor rokh pilot from being able to escape. Surprisingly, he held his own for quite some time up until the arrival of the pirates motherships. Against such a massive force of both drones and pirates, it was only a matter of time. Fortunately for our pilot, he managed to eject from his ship just before it blew and rushed to escape the resulting shockwave of destruction.

Regrouping at the station, we licked our wounds, patted each other on the back for having escaped so narrowly and made our way back to headquarters.

So should we have stayed and fought? Should we have done our best to protect our rokh pilot and his ship and most likely lose our own? After a long discussion about the events it was determined we had all done the only feasible thing there was to do. Run. If we had stayed, it would likely have only been worse. But hey, at least we were blessed with the knowledge that the pirates felt the need to bring in such a large force to tackle what was otherwise a pretty small fleet in terms of firepower. Hopefully soon though, even those tables will turn.

Before I sign off though....one last thought that was shared amongst the fleet. Given the ejection of the pirate from our ranks, there is the possibilty that the massive pirate fleet that ambushed us might have been tipped off by this rogue pilot. I mean....could these pirates really have assembled a fleet of that magnitude so quickly without a previous heads-up? Maybe....but the question still remains....

-ML-

First Corporation Kill

Today was my corporation's first confirmed kill!

As I've said before, my corporation is a young corporation. Most of our pilots are young in the sense of their pilots license and very little experience is shared amongst us going up against real pilots instead of the pesky little suicide pilots of the local Gurista pirates. What's commonly referred to as rats, Guristas attempt to harass the miners, throwing themselves at our ships, knowing themselves to be ill equipped to defeat most anybody. But today, today we went up against a real pilot, one whose had proper training and access to the equipment necessary to take down other pilots.

For the past couple days, after the defeat of Marcus, another can flipper decided it seemed, with the death of Marcus, to set up shop in his stead. Three of us were victims of his thefts, him swooping in at the helm of a badger class ship, swiping the oar from our cans before quickly warping back out. And if attacked, he would return in a cruiser, the Caracal, to wreak destruction for what he deemed stupidity. But it was him who turned out to be the less intelligent one.

After being harrassed nearly all day by this pest, it was decided it was time for him to be freed of his ship and to feel the cold void of space. Hopping in my rifter, I powered up my systems and set out. I won't deny, it was a horrible ship to fly against the caracal but determination drove me to take the chances. At my side, I had two fellow corp mates, one in another rifter and the other in a destroyer. Also joining us were some alliance mates. It was really the alliance mates who we were expecting to make the attack and kill but in the end, it was my own corporation who sealed his fate. Also joining us, and becoming our latest member was a young miner, perhaps about the same age as myself, flying his own cruiser, an osprey. The osprey was by no means equipped for combat though, instead bearing perhaps a missle launcher and numerous mining lasers. I don't think he intended to get involved in the battle but after having made the mistake of shooting this flipper before and in turn getting himself shot down when the pirate returned in his caracal, he was more than willing to help in playing bait.

While our alliance mates set up in one belt, their warships floating a short distance from their own bate, we set our corp mate up in another belt. Under the rules of Concorde, unless the pilot whose can was robbed was a part of your own corporation, you were not allowed to open fire else face Concorde's wrath. So with two bates, two corporations out on the hunt, I'd say we definitly raised the chances of us catching this nuisance. And sure enough, it happened. Flying in, in his normal fashion, the badger moved to take the can. The comm came alive as Prof, our newest member called out, notifying us the prey had taken his bait. Quickly we turned to warp in. My two wingmen arrived just in time to see the flipper warp out but after getting a few shots off at him, we knew he would return. What he didn't know was that we were armed and that more of us than the couple he saw were warping in after he'd left. So when he returned, just as we knew he would in his Caracal, the fight was on.

I locked my targeting computer on him and opened fire just as my corp mates did. Our shields and firepower were seriously outmatched by the shear strength and fire of his ship but determination and numbers turned evened our odds. With our enemy having a warp disrupter, my chances of keeping my ship were even slimmer. So in the end, when the fog of war cleared, yes, I lost my rifter as well as one my corpmates losing his rifter, but along side our wrecks was the wreck of a Caracal. The loss of two Rifters versus the loss of a Caracal? I'll take that!

Yep. Today was a good day for my corporation!

-ML-

Who Am I

I wake up everyday, most often at my home but nearly just as often in strange places far from the station I call home. But then again....is that even home? I mean...where I grew up and where I trained for my pilot's license just seems so far from here now. Nearly 30 system jumps away. I am a Minmatar and of this I am proud. But here I find myself now calling Caldari space as home. So is it really home?

Bah, now it just sounds as though I'm being a big sap. Frankly, I'm happy with where I'm at now. Only a few weeks old in terms of being a pilot but already feeling as though I've begun to establish a small name for myself. Flying about in my small Probe Frigate back in Minmatar space, my commlink had come alive with that small blinking white light, notifying me I had mail. Reading it, I learned it came from the CEO of a small, budding corporation who was looking for new solid pilots to join his corp and help to build it into something great. At first I was hesitant. I mean, this was the first offer I had received since I'd undocked from the station for my very first trip out behind the controls of a ship. But at the same time, being so new myself, it was tempting to join a new corporation and be one of the original members of what could be something great.

So after much pondering, I made the necessary steps and turned in my application to this young corp. At first, yes, it was small. maybe no more than 10 members. But already in perhaps the three or four weeks I've been a part of it, we have developed by leaps and bounds. We are also now a part of a fast growing alliance who seems to have a great plan set out for themselves and just as our corporation was fairly new so too is this Alliance. So as my corporation and the Alliance grows, so too will I and I look full-heartedly towards the future and the grand possibilities I see coming for us.

-ML-

One Less Can Flipper!

Today was a glorious day for my alliance. I know I wrote my first entry just earlier today but the excitement of the day just has me too excited not to goad about it for at least a bit and as this wasn't just any flipper, it makes it that much sweeter.

For the past few weeks, us poor miners have been haunted by the presence of a pirate named Marcus. I won't give his last name out of respect for him as he gave us respect for podding him when all was said and done.

Anyways....as I was saying, this particular pirate has been harrassing us constantly, warping in quickly in his apocalypse to swipe the hard earned oar from our cans before warping out, his warp signature fading quickly behind him. And fast he was! Most times he would be there and gone before you could even put a call out for help. So a few days ago it was discussed amongst the Alliance and a decision was made. Marcus had to die.

For three days we hunted him. We had a rough schedule of his appearances. spies out everywhere to keep a lookout for his movements, and even a cloaked ship that stalked him for a bit, eventually discovering one of the two safespots he used where he would stash his stolen goods until he could return later with a hauler for pickup. This past saturday we made an attempt to catch him in the act, but unfortunately ran into a bump. As a corporation, all is well in catching a thief. But unfortunately Concord, the ruling military presence in all of Eve highsec, does not allow for us to openly attack him as an alliance unless acts of aggression have been made against all of the corporatons within the alliance. Given our task force was a conglomeration of the various corporations, this meant that only a select few would be allowed to fire upon him when he flipped the can, else face the wrath of Concord.

So that day was his day. After snatching the good from the can, we warped in on him but with with only a couple people able to retaliate, he was safe. And he knew it. For quite a bit of time he just circled the can, taunting us, perhaps hoping we would make the deadly mistake of opening fire on him first. But we refrained, instead just trailing behind him, more than willing to let him know we were onto him....that no longer would his actions be tolerated. Eventually of course, he warped out and we called it a night. Our day would come we all knew as we chuckled later over the communications link.

Today was that day.

The bait was set. We set ourselves up at a safespot a short distance away and waited. This time we were prepared. This time we would use the minimal loopholes that existed within the laws of Concord.

Grabbing my hauler, I stood by myself a short distance away at one of the nearby stations, ready to hop in when given the go while the rest of the fleet stood by in a another safespot a short hop out from the belt. Sure enough, Marcus took the bait. Warping in, he swiped the oar from the can and given he was in a ship not capable of carrying all the ore, he dropped his own can, tranferring the remainder from our bait can into his before warping out, possibly to get his own hauler. We fouled though. The fighters jumped in too soon, making him well aware we were present, ready for him to slip. In his usual lightning speed, he was gone but we already knew he was cocky. He knew the laws of Concord and believed himself to have the upperhand like our last encounter. Waiting for the all clear, I warped into the belt with my hauler and quickly moved to take back from his can what he'd stolen from us, but only taking a portion. Quickly I warped back out, knowing it wouldn't be long before he arrived again.

Sure enough, he returned a number of times. Though knowing us to be close by, he kept himself at a safe distance of 100km, giving himself the opportunity to study the situation without actually being close enough for any to warp in and engage. What happened afterwards was a bit of blur with the rush of it all so forgive me if my details get a little skewed.

I remember at some point him warping in about 30km out and actually destroying his own can. It had me a bit on edge hearing the gunfire as I and a couple others were now sitting there stationary in our rifters.

Alas, again, I don't remember the exact details but something was done on his part now to which our main task force now had the redlight. What ended up being his last run, he warped in again at a mere 20km. I'm not sure what he was thinking by now but quickly our fighters turned to engage. Blasts of laser fire streaked across the sky, drones released from both him and our own ships, armor repairers engaged. The fight was on! Given I had no redlight by rules of concord, I could not engage myself but instead did my best to try and bump his large ship with my tiny rifter in hopes of at least slowing any possibilty of him moving to warp out without actually engaging him and bringing concord into the fray.

I'll give him credit. Even with such a powerful force bearing down on him, he stood his ground, tanking the repeated blasts of gunfire. But his fate was sealed...and he eventually knew it. In one last act of defiance, he activated his self destruct sequence. So maybe it was not a pure kill but it was a kill nonetheless and as we watched his ship light up in a glorious ball of fire, the comm channel lit up with the cheers of my alliance mates.

I watched in blissful glee as his pod narrowly escaped the ensuing destruction. He seemed to pause for a short moment, perhaps waving goodbye to his trusty steed before warping off into the unknown.

Granted, I was not able to be a part of the actually killing of this regular nusance but i feel proud to have been a part of this task force and even more so proud to claim this Alliance as my own.

Today was a glorious day indeed.

-ML-

Waking Up

I drifted into consciousness from a rather fitful sleep. Sitting up on the edge of my bed, I looked about in the dimness of the little bunk room, the only light coming from the small nightlight sitting atop the desk a couple feet from where I'd slept. Even spending the vast amounts of time that I did now in the dark void of space, I'd grown accustomed to always sleeping with a nightlight. My little bit of creature comfort against the dangers that lay beyond the walls of where I slept. The life I'd chosen was a dangerous one. Perhaps the most dangerous occupation in all of Eve. Fighter pilots and pirates, and everyone else involved in the conflict, considered their occupations to be the most dangerous, but I feel I could seriously argue that point.

I am a miner. I hop in my pod every day, link into the ship and head out into the vastness of space in search of the best asteroid fields I could find. The goal being to bring in the best monetary return for the long hours of what many feel to be a very boring profession. Simple as that you may first think.

Simple? Perhaps. Boring? I think not.

Every sensible pod pilot knows one fact that remains above all others. If you're not docked, you're not safe.

Okay....sure...but why is a miner's life the most dangerous occupation of all? Well, unlike the warriors and pirates out there roaming the depths of space, with their big guns and powerful shields and MWRs and everything else, we roam about in ships carrying nearly nothing but mining lasers and big cargo holds. We find quiet little fields with nothing but asteroids hoping to blast away for as long as we can stand, occasionally towing our hard work back to a nearby station for refining and eventual sales to the various manufacturers that rely upon people like us for the minerals we bring in. However, just when your getting all settled in, kicking back to read a book perhaps or reconfigure for the thousandth time your mp3 music lists.....BAM! Your ship gets rocked by the very recognizable blast of a detonating missile from an attacking ship. Maybe you'll get lucky. Maybe they won't have a scrambler. Maybe you'll be able to warp to a safe spot or a nearby station to dock. Maybe they just want your ore and will willingly let you go for a small price. And then again.....most likely not. You can do nothing but hope and pray that help will arrive soon. And that you'll survive till they do. Sure...you can stay in high sec and enjoy the comforts of knowing Concord is always nearby, standing by, ready with a myriad of ships to come to your rescue. But if you want the really good stuff, if you want that ore that will sell for 10x the amount you'd get over the lowly veldspar that so many already mine....you gotta go where concord isn't. You gotta go to lowsec. You gotta go where lawlessness rules. A place where it's kill or be killed.

But for me....not yet. Soon...but not yet.

I stood from the bunk, gathered my belongings and headed for the docking bays. It was quiet in the halls, most still being fast asleep. As I walked, I checked my skill training log, noting the time left for the completion of my information download. Hmm....maybe i should switch it to another, shorter one? No. Patience. That's what my fellow corp mates and alliance mates taught me. So that's what I'll do. Currently I'm training Analytical Mind to level 4. A long process but supposably one that will help speed up the training for the myriad of other skills I plan to train eventually. I laugh to myself. So many plans. So MUCH time...

I paused at the entrance to the docking bay and smiled proudly (as I always did) at the crouching form of the Osprey. My Osprey. The lowliest of cruisers perhaps in the sense of combat, but the best the cruisers had to offer for both protection and more importantly to me, mining yield. Dozens of crewman milled about preparing the ships mining lasers for me. The day before I had it retrofitted for combat purposes, providing cover for a couple corp mates being harrassed by an annoying can flipper, but today it was my turn to hit the fields. There was money to be made in dem dar hills! I climbed aboard and immediantly went to my pod, plugging its wires into the plugs in my body. Think Matrix for all you greater newbs who know nothing of the life of a pod pilot.

Checking the evemail system, i read over the couple that were left in my alliance box as well as in the corporate box. Nothing too grand or of notable interest today. Yep. Today looked to be like another full day of mining. I then checked the systems over quickly, sent the request to control to undock, took a deep breath and as control gave me clearance, i was already enroute for the bay doors, ready to once again head out into the vastness of space. Pirates, can flippers, or just plain nusances, I was ready. Hope you are ready for me too. You can kill me as often as you wish...or leave me in peace to mine. But like it or not, I am here to stay.

-ML-