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-