In My Darkness

I could taste the blood in my mouth. I’m not sure if it was that or the pounding in my head that had awoken me…but I wish I hadn’t…

I could hear someone speaking, but the words sounded muffled in my ears. I tried to speak, to ask the person who they were, to ask where I was, but instead nearly choked on the blood. I could see what appeared to be a distant light, a faint patch amidst the darkness that encompassed my vision. I tried to move towards it, but found my body unresponsive. The sheer effort of my attempt nearly causing me to vomit in pain. I’d never felt agony this intense. Every last centimeter of my flesh, raw and burned. The movement grinding my shattered bones together beneath the tenderized meat that was my flesh.

Through it all, a woman’s voice soon became clearer. “…and you must forget your previous life. No longer are you Mikolan. No longer will be you be the man you once were. For you have a higher calling. You will achieve many things in the quest to bring justice to those who have discriminated against us, who have enslaved both the bodies and the minds of our people.”

There was a long pause, long enough to where I thought for a moment she had left me.

“But first Mikolan… First you must be tested. First you must learn the meaning of liberty.”

After what seemed an eternity, the pain subsided slightly. With gritted teeth, I tried once more, the cold cement beneath me offering little comfort. I could see movement within the light and attempted once more to call out. This time, my voice echoing within my head like a raspy toad. The effort was again more than I could endure, sending me into a coughing fit. My convulsions tearing through my body, sparking every last nerve in torrential agony.

And as my vision started to fade, as the peaceful darkness began to descend, I saw a face, the face of an angel and her words echoed in my head.

“It is only through suffering….that we truly value our freedom…”

---

Six months.

That was the best I could do in an estimation of my time spent here. Six months of daily torture and repetitive virtual reality “lessons”. Six months of shivering naked in my cement cell, the rats being my only companions. I even had a name for my two regulars. Willow and Willa. No, I didn’t really know their actual genders but they always seem to come around at the same time so it just seemed fitting to think of them as a couple. Willow was the dark one with the half chewed ear. I blamed Willa for the ear but she insisted it was his dumb ex-girlfriend from before they met. Willa on the other hand was as cute as a bell with her light colored fur and big dumbo ears. She was also the boldest and would often scurry up my leg and just sit there watching me. Don’t cross her though as I and Willow learned the hard way. She packed a nasty bite.

When my tormentors would bring me back from my daily “cleansing” sessions, my body raw and soar, my head pounding from the assault on my implants, it was these two which would greet me, making sure I was okay. And in turn for their companionship, I would share the meager bits of food given to me. It was, I think, roughly the third month that Willa first spoke to me. I just never figured for a rat to be capable of speech but sure enough, she sat on my thigh as she often did and we had the most pleasant of conversations. She didn’t really say much, mostly just listened to me ramble. And ramble I did. I would talk about all sorts of things, from my years as a child growing up on Kulheim in the Pator system, to my early days as a pod pilot, learning the ropes of my industrial trade.

Willow, on the other hand, never spoke much either and probably best he didn’t. He turned out to be the worst grump, always moaning and groaning about something. Where Willa was the light, Willow was the darkness, the negative one, the one that sort of became the symbol of my hate for my current situation. But I was thankful for him either way. Not once did he ever leave me, even when I would vent my anger upon him.

I look back on it now and yes, I realize I probably had lost my mind. Talking rats? But my talking rats were the only things that kept me from giving up entirely, from banging my head against my cell wall until my brains oozed and my blood had left me. By the time I was finally freed from that cell, my life was all I had left. My life…and my talking rats.

---

“What is your name?”

“Amarok.”

“What is your vocation?”

“Industrialist, serving in the role of miner, hauler, builder, and eventually inventor.”

“And where are you from?”

“Region Tash Murkon, constellation Tsemshatel, system Moutid, planet II”

“What is your race?”

“I am of the Amarrian Empire.”

“Who do you claim allegiance to?”

“God and the Empire.”

“But who do you serve? What is your true purpose.”

A flicker of a grin crosses the man’s lips.

“I am the Eyes of Matar.”

The Body Thief

Carpe Pod is back up and running!

Yep, that’s right. I’m back. Though for those of you trying to figure out who this guy is, I once went by the name of Mikolan. I was a Minmatar of the Sebastior tribe until about a year ago when I was approached by some diplomats and asked to do a very special mission that has changed my identity forever.

Cloning technology is a very scary thing when you think about it. Especially when you consider what has transpired with me. We all think of our clones as an extension of ourselves. This clone is me. It’s not really me until I say it is me or certain circumstances (such as being podded) make it me. But until then, it is a clone of me and nobody can be me, except me…or so I’d think. Does that make sense?

Fact is, until that clone is activated, until your knowledge and memories are injected into that clone, it’s not you! It’s not me! And the scary part is that we entrust all those unknown med-techs with copies of ourselves. Sure, no brain activity is present until it’s injected and activated but have you ever considered the possibility that someone might actually steal your clone and become you? Or they could at least become a physical copy of you just with a different personality and memories? And what happens when “you” are deviated upon death? What happens if your thoughts and memories are corrupted or worse destroyed and never reach your new body? What happens if someone takes your clones without your knowledge and you try to jump to that body? There are so many questions, so many chances for error, that it’s really quite scary.

We are fearless. We move about through new Eden, boldly calling ourselves demi-gods and acting as though nothing can touch us. We mercilessly attack and destroy each others ships and pods with little regards to the thousands of mortal lives that perish in our wake. We walk around in “special” sections of the station, almost completely cut off from the rest of the New Eden population. Why? So we’ll never have look upon the thousands of innocent faces whose lives we will possibly cut short. So we can go on casually toying with their lives and not have to be given the moral dilemma that crewman Joe has a wife and 2 kids and has signed onto the crew roster because a few weeks pay will feed his starving family for years.

But then one day reality strikes us. We don’t see it coming. We can’t see it coming. In fact, we don’t even know it happens. Quite simply, we just cease to exist. Our memories, our thoughts, our personalities…everything we are is frozen, locked down deep in the heart of some super computer. And nobody even notices. One day we are flying casually through empire, feeling nice and cozy in the depths of our pod goo. Next we know, a small fleet of ships drops out of warp right on top of us and before even Concord can respond, lock us, scram us, pop our ship and finally, introduce us to the vacuum that is space. The pod systems work flawlessly of course, taking a snapshot of our brains in that searing and blinding moment, barely micro-seconds before we “die”. Only this time….we don’t wake up. Our death was planned. The suicide gank was actually the final chapter of a much grander theft. The theft…of a body.

And in your last moments, in a solar system far away, I, formerly known as Mikolan Lutrova, lay strapped to a chair. The same sort of mechanisms plugged into your brain, in your pod, are also plugged into mine on this simple gurney bed. I lay there waiting, knowing what is to come. I’ve been through it before, but never like this. I too, as a pod pilot, have died a few times previously. It’s an experience you never forget. Yet, never has any of my deaths been planned such as this…never had I the time to anticipate the upcoming death experience. And for me, in essence, it really was to be perma death as well. For as you die, your essence is rerouted into stasis, your soul shoved into some unknown database storage.

And as you die in your pod, so do I on my table.

I am the body thief. And now….I am Amarok Tonrar.

The Turtle Beats the Rabbits

Past few days have been for the most part uneventful. I think the most entertainment I had was flying my cov-ops 30 jumps through 0.0 to meet up with a corp mate. He was wanting to get his Dominix class battleship out of the w-system...but the only exit they were finding was deep in AAA territory. So I hopped in the trusty frigate, Dare U2 Blink, and headed out. It was around 65 jumps from my nearest clone and again, roughly 30 of that through nullsec. I had no problems getting to him and fortunately, most of the trip was quiet. We really had no confrontations up until the last system, HED-GP. This is the last 0.0 system in the Catch region before you jump straight into high security space in the Khanid region. As expected, it was a very busy, and very heavily camped system.

My corpmate however was already feeling a bit frisky. He was bored out of his mind in the w-system and really wanted out so it had been either pod himself, make a suicide run through nullsec in his battleship, or chance the possibility of actually making it all the way to empire with me scouting. Given he'd almost gone with one of the first two choices, he didn't really care too much if he lost his ship. And then again, he was given the nickname "Leroy" by the corp directors....

Anyway...jumping into HED, I initially saw a Crow interceptor as well as a Rook on my overview. Fortunately, the bubble nearby was set up to snare anybody that escaped the camp at the high sec gate, so I was well out of its reach. I shoved the ships engines into gear and hit the cloak before aligning to a planet and punching the warp to 0 button. Not the smartest thing I realize but I was in a jump clone, in a ship I'd bought with full expectation of losing and little care for my own life. As I exited warp at the planet, I was a tad shocked to see I'd landed right at the edge of another warp bubble. These guys certainly weren't playing any games! It's fortunate my cloak held, because it was only a second after I exited warp, the crow exited about 4km off my starboard. Seems I'd aligned perhaps a bit too soon and given away my direction. Ah well. I burned away from the bubble and warped back to the safe spot I'd created immediately after entering warp from the gate.

From this point, it became a waiting game. For some time, my corp mate sat in the emptiness of space at his own safe spot a short distance away from the gate in the other system. In the meantime, I spammed the scanner, keeping an eye on any ships coming and going at the gate from my side. The system was fairly small so it hadn't taken me long to realize the situation we were in.

Sitting at the gate to high sec were about 20 interceptors and a handful of slightly heavier hitters. This was going to be difficult. Trying to get a battleship through the gate and into warp before the interceptors could arrive and lock him down....oye vay! The timing had to be just right. Believe it or not that moment came when I believe someone else somehow got past their camp and they'd all rushed to the gate I was sitting near to, hoping to catch their prey. Whether they killed it or not I don't know or if that wasn't the case, why they'd come rushing to the gate in the first place I just don't know. Either way, they all lingered at the gate for a bit before they finally one by one went back to their original camp. At this point, all I could pick up on my own scanner was the Rook and one interceptor towards the direction of the gate. This time, I decided to move in for a closer look and warped in to the gate at 100km cloaked. Surprisingly, all that was actually there was the rook! The interceptor must be sitting just off grid somewhere....but it appeared to be just the window we needed.

Quickly, I punched the comm button and ordered my mate into action. "Go! Now! Now! Now," I nearly screamed into the comm, knowing this might be his best chance. Within moments he was jumping in, immediately breaking gate cloak to align for a warp out. Of course, only a moment after his arrival, the interceptor appeared but he was too far and too late. Before it could get a scram on him, my mate was in warp, his ship disappearing into the distance. The interceptor immediately gave chase and I don't know how my corp mate did it but after going to a planet himself, he was able to turn his ship about and get back into warp barely half a second before the interceptor landed at his location.

So with nerves still on fire, I took a moment to calm myself and him as well before making my way to the exit gate for part two. It seemed luck was still on our side though. Amongst all the wreckage the interceptor wolf pack had created (and believe me there was a lot of it), not a single warp bubble was still in place. To top it all off, the pack of interceptors had moved off for some reason or other, leaving the entire gate clear! Once again, I urged my companion into warp and within moments he landed at the gate, quickly activating it and with a poof of light, he was free.

So....strike one up for good scouting on my part, good reaction time on my battleship flying corp mate, a little bit of luck or.... well...possibly just some horrible AAA interceptor pilots.

-ML-

Empty Space

Throughout the past week or two, my corpmates who have already made the move to this wormhole system and been mining the gas clouds as well as asteroid belts have begun to take notice of what they began to think a potential problem. As time went on, and they continued to mine out the various sites found via probing, the amount of "dots" found with the probes were lessening. Blame it on a lack of forethought on our part as well as the simple fact none of us really pay much attention to the forum discussions, we never really considered that a w-system could depleted of all it's resources. It was simply assumed that more would be consistently found with each day's passing.

It seems however, we were wrong.

I don't have the link at the current moment while I write this but a discussion was brought up in the forum by a member of another corporation who stated the same thing we were just beginning to discover. Just like the mechanics of the exploration sites in k-space, once the harvestable sites in a system have been depleted, that's it. There is no more. At least not until they, by chance, cycle back around to our system after they've been depleted elsewhere in another w-space system. Given the number of w-systems, and ultimately, the true lack of people willing to venture into systems of the same class as the one we're currently in, I think it's acceptable to say that we may have and been fighting for what will soon be in essence, an empty pocket of w-space.

So we're starting to contemplate the question, "What do we do now?" Do we maintain our POS in this system and simply use it as a base of operations for the other endeavors we intended to use the system for? Do we maintain the POS and harvest any other w-systems that randomly link up to our own? (Which by the way does seem to happen quite regularly in this system. In fact, one of our latest exits involved probing/traveling through 2 other w-systems just to get back to k-space.) Do we pack up, leave and give up on the whole w-space harvesting and instead return to our previous medial tasks of mission running and high sec mining? Or do we gather together the isk we've made from this initial endeavor and invest it in the ships and gear to become basically a roaming nomadic corporation. Moving from one w-system to the next, depleting the resources as we go.

In theory, this last option is a very good possibility. We have the capabilities, equipment and means to make this possible, it's just a question of should we. In fact, I'd be curious to know what other people's thoughts are on what it would take to become such a corporation.

At present, my corporation currently maintains a few carriers, a few Orcas, and a Rorqual as well as having the ability to utilize dreadnoughts, though I don't believe we own any at present as we've never seen the need for them....and I doubt will ever see the need for it in w-space. So with those ships and the necessary support vessels in mind, I think it's feasibly possible. The most difficult aspect would be getting the harvested materials out of the wormhole as we would have no real loading platform to dump all the stuff in a freighter with us. However, I'm still learning about the capabilities of cap ships so feel free to correct me on anything I say here. The other larger aspect would be having these ships in a null security space with little in the way of protection. There would be no POS shield for the Rorqual or Orcas to hide behind when faced with venturous pirates. We could theoretically bring a small POS tower along with us as we go, but the time it takes to set up and break down might nullify the logistical use of such a venture.

So with that in mind, it does seem to be perhaps a lot of effort....nearly too much. But such a critic would have to take into account the amount of isk that can be made from one good quality system such as the one we've nearly depleted. I mean, seriously, I'm talking in the billions here. However, other systems may only net perhaps a couple hundred mil.

Some other people would argue, "the risk is too great versus the rewards." I can't disagree on that more. Though "smarter", these sleepers are still just "rats". They're not invincible. It just takes the right setups and the right tactics as it would with any other mission targets offered by the numerous agents out there. It's just a bit different than what most have become accustomed to after so many years of dealing with the same crap over and over again. Basically, it's the PVE'ers turn to adapt or die.

So anyways, as we come close to the end of all harvestable resources within the w-system, our time to make a decision comes nearer as well. Being the low man on the totem pole, I really can only wait and see.

-ML-

Politics and War

In light of the war my corporation is undergoing over the wormhole system and the continuously ongoing war between the nullsec alliances, the empire faction wars and any other current corporate wars in Eve, at any given time, one can't help but think about the political arena that surrounds the Eve universe.

I've always been one that takes little interest in politics. The aspect of coalitions, alliances, and such were never something I thought I'd be all that interested in when I first became a pod pilot. All I wanted to do was make lots of isk and blow stuff up. As long as there was a place for me to do that, I thought I would be content to just live my life out in Eve, caring little for what transpired beyond my own personal concerns. For the first few months, I was completely naive to just how much politics plays a role in Eve. However, that mentality at some nonspecific point, did a complete 180.

I've now realized that in Eve, there really is no real possibility of ignoring politics. Even if you make no attempt to be actively involved in such things, it will eventually force you to be so. I suppose one way to avoid such things is by staying within the empire corporations, never joining one of the hundreds of independent corporations that attempt to stake there claim in the universe but the possibility of truly getting ahead in anything will be seriously hindered. It's almost a necessity to become involved if one is wanting to survive and thrive in this universe.

Since my "enlightenment", I've begun to take more and more notice in what's happening beyond the borders of empire space. The battles over sovereignty in nullsec, the espionage and corporate infiltrations, all the offensive and defensive moves on the chessboard....it's all really begun to intrigue me to no end. My corporation at one point talked about eventually staking their own claim in nullsec. Whether it be aligning with one of the major alliances or attempting to make our own name was still in the air of unsureties but it was a goal either way. Now, with the appearance of wormholes and the possibility of basically "owning" a wormhole system, the corporate directives have changed.

So why am I bringing this up? Well to be honest, this wormhole move has left me wondering. Is this something I really want to get involved in? Is this the direction where I want my career in Eve to go? For awhile now, from when I first really started getting interested in nullsec politics, I started to sort of dream of getting involved. I figured best method was to find a good corporation that would eventually make the move as a whole to nullsec and find myself riding along with, ready and willing to join in on the action and entertainment.

My first corporation was, and forgive me for saying this to any that read this and were in it, but we were a complete noob corporation. Every single one of us, from the CEO and down, were fresh out of the academy. We knew little about what it took to make a good, strong corporation and were far from having the resources to do it. So we joined an alliance. At first I thought this was great but as time went on, I began to see the holes the alliance had, the too soft mentality, and the lack of real skill in combat ops. And then some events happened from which the alliance started falling apart. By then, if you've followed my writings, I had become the XO of my corporation which put me in a better position to see just how things were working....and it was then I realized they weren't working at all. So when a fellow alliance mate told me of another corporation he was intending to join and what they offered, what their abilities were and all....well..I was quick to hop on the bus and join up.

So now I'm in my second real corporation and things have been great. We were growing steadily, were running numerous ops that would impress most empire based corporations, and showed a lot of promise for what I was beginning to make my ultimate goal. Living in nullsec. However, the appearance of wormholes changed all that.

In a few ways, w-space isn't all that different than nullsec. There is no Concord. There is lots of minerals and gases to be harvested with big rats to go up against. Though there is no actual sovereignty by the books, corporations and alliances can still basically stake their claim. Take for instance my current corporation who has placed a POS at nearly every moon in system (excluding of course the moon where our intruding POS owners set up at). We have in essence, secured the system as our own and have the ability to maintain that. Only thing lacking is some sort of beacon or something to make that aspect known to any who randomly venture in.

The question is, is this what I really want? Do I really want to live in a place that is essentially cut off from the rest of Eve? A place where, once the intruders are eradicated, there will likely be no politics, no real war, little chance of ever experiencing the grand, epic battles between capitol ships? Possibly never having the chance of seeing my first Titan? (A sight I've been craving to see since nearly day one...though hopefully not right before I die. hehe)

The other question is, if I were to decide to leave this corp, to continue on with my journey to eventually live in nullsec, at what level should I be before I consider myself ready? What level should I be before others would consider me? How do I find a corporation that is already based in nullsec without actually venturing out into their territories unannounced? A lot of people say, "check the forums." Well I don't think those people have been on the forums lately. Most of what you see is Empire corporations claiming to have 0.0 access. 0.0 access?? I don't even need to be in a corporation to "access" nullsec. And I don't want just "access". I want to live in nullsec. The other corporations I see demand you to have at least like 10mil skillpoints (which I don't have even after like 5 or 6 months of being a pod pilot) or know somebody personally from outside of the pod (aka, real life, of which i don't know anybody). So is there no place for me there yet?

For now, I'll just keep trudging on. Pulling my agent missions, hacking and salvaging the hidden sights, mining the high sec ores, maybe venture into the wormhole space my corporation has claimed and make a few iskies. But someday....hopefully sooner than later....someday the local channels of nullsec will see a new face flying around...and that face will bear the name of Mikolan Lutrova.

-ML-

Giving 'em The Squeeze

The battle over the wormhole system has been a rather quiet one. It appears there is still one other pilot, their corporate CEO, left in system and as of now, he seems fixated on remaining. Understandable I suppose since they have a fairly decent sized POS still in system. But with our continued efforts, at this point I'd say he'd be better off just cutting his losses and if able to find a way out that we haven't found already, get out...otherwise, the other, quicker method would suffice too. >:) What ships he flies is still not entirely sure as all we ever see him in is a Falcon.

I'm not sure why he doesn't just leave though. I mean, they obviously don't have any sort of substantial force to even come and aid them. They obviously are pure carebears through and through given when attacked, all they did was beg to befriend us and work together with us. With our presence in system and them not having the capability of dealing with us, as well as having the knowledge by now that we will attack them at any given chance, they have no ability to harvest any of the system's gases, asteroids, or Sleeper sites. With us constantly camping the wormholes as well, they have effectively cut off any ability for them to bring in or out goods as well. So as time goes on, we slowly pick them apart, bit by bit. And it won't be much longer before they'll be totally eradicated.

In fact, yesterday, we actually attacked the POS. It seems this intruding corporation is lacking a bit in proper POS management. Although the POS appeared to be online, not once did it shoot back at us or even target. By the end of the evening yesterday, we had destroyed a few of the web stasis towers, all the warp scramblers, and all of the missile and weapons turrets. We've already sent word to them to leave the w-system or else but as of yet had not received any word back in return. We've also noticed a number of their pilots leaving their corp. Glancing at the public sections of their forums, seems they're going through some internal corporate turmoil. Not sure exactly what's going on with that but it's obviously poor timing when they're POS is being slowly eradicated.

From this point, we're considering whether or not blast our way through the POS shield or just leave it till it runs out of fuel. Problem with waiting is that we have no idea how much fuel the damn thing has so it could be months upon months before it finally runs out. So we're considering just bringing in more cap ships to deal with it. We'll see..

So I think at this point, anybody following this might be curious as to why this system seems to be so important. I think we pretty much have all the stats on this system accounted for and will do a posting of it either later tonight or tomorrow. Let's just say that the resists and targeting systems of our ships are so unbelievably effected, with the right setups, just a few handful of battleships could easily protect this system against any force not properly prepared to come in. Yes, the sleeper's here are top of the line. We've already lost a few good ships to their immense strength. However, the rewards are phenomenal. Already the amount of goods we've harvested from this system is somewhere in the billions and it continuously replenishes itself. For instance, a few guys ran a magnometric site Saturday and from that site alone, raked in nearly one billion. (Although in the process, I believe they lost two Nighthawks. Like I said...the Sleepers here are vicious)

Oh, and yes, I am actually speaking of this from outside the wormhole. I did some thinking and came to the conclusion that I'm not really financially prepared enough yet to make the move myself. Yes, I'll be making a ton as well once I get there myself....but moving into w-space isn't the cheapest endeavor. One of those situations where it takes money to make money. For instance, I need to build a small fleet of ships to bring with me in the event of losing one here and there whether from Sleepers or from intruders. This includes all the riggings, the modules (including gas cloud harvesters which aren't cheap), and the ammo. Also need to help pay for the fuel for the jump freighter to get from Jita to wherever the wormhole entrance happens to be. So I've decided to wait a bit more before going in myself to build up my wallet and assets. Hopefully it won't take me too long.

-ML-

Is There Honor In War?

Back in 1998, I joined the United States Marine Corps where I served four years serving my country in defending it's right, freedoms, and beliefs....and well as fighting for the freedom of others (i.e., Iraq). The core values, a part of their creed, is honor, courage, and commitment. Those things are ingraned in you from the moment you put your feet on the yellow footprints when you arrive at basic training. To break any one of those three values can bring drastic punishment.

The reason I say all this is to sort of convince you that I truly know a thing or two about war. I know the tactics, the horrors, the order amongst the chaos. I know what it's like to make difficult decisions that on any other day, in any other place, you would be appalled to even consider the possibility of doing such a thing.

Let me also say that I don't give a damn what anybody says. War is war. There is no rules. There's no such thing as fighting honorably. There are certain rules of engagement, created by lofty beauricratics in there comfy little homes far from the frontlines. Far from the blood and horrors and sweat. But these rules must be abided by and so we do....but in the areas the rules don't prevent us, it's open game.

As it is in life, so it is in Eve.

Last nights events I was unfortunately not a part of as I had some business to attend to back in Solitude. My plan was not to head out to the wormhole until probably this weekend. Now I almost wish I hadn't just so I could get in on the "fun" that transpired last night. So without seeing it first hand, forgive me if I error in a few of the details.

Basically, a number of corp mates were in the process of moving gear into the wormhole space. Seems an entrance had opened up only 10 jumps away from Jita. I'd like to pause a moment here and tell you that although it was a low sec system, the low sec system connected to the high sec systems surrounding Jita. Why does that matter? Because this same wormhole space can and does open fairly regularly deep in 0.0 space. So it was an opportunity that definitly needed to be taken advantage of.

Seems our unwanted neighbors felt the same. However, it seems the intelligence level of their corporation is a bit lacking.

As we're moving gear through, a Buzzard class covert ops appears at the wormhole. It sort of catches the group unawares but with the Buzzard now in k-space, his wereabouts become a bit easier to track. Quickly the w-space team scrambles their pilots.

This isn't just any buzzard. This Buzzard just happens to be piloted by what we believe to be their strongest and most skilled prober. It was this pilot who showed up in the w-space first and this very same pilot who'd been there pretty much ever since. The possibility of him being out and about, and even better outside of the wormhole, was an opportunity that just couldn't be missed.

So quickly a cov-ops killer was thrown together along with a few other ships piloted by the various members in the wormhole space, to include a drone boat and the freighter being forced to rush back from a nearby station in k-space where he was offloading salvage and ore while loading needed supplies and gear for our w-space operation. For awhile, the pilot stayed in the k-system that contained the wormhole but after a bit, left system headed to other parts of space. From there on, it became a sort of race to see who would arrive first, the buzzard pilot in attempt to return back to the w-system or our freighter pilot.

Unfortunately, our freighter pilot was far from being ready and even once he was under way.....well....I'm sure most are aware how getting anywhere quickly, just doesn't happen in a freighter. So as expected, it was the buzzard pilot who returned first. Unfortunate for him...we we're ready. Cloaked just outside the wormhole, our scout gave the news the pilot had arrived just as he passed through the wormhole. On the other side, he found his worse nightmare.

Drones swarmed everywhere. A giant warp disruption bubble in place. And even worse, a ship yielding smart bombs. Obviously the pilot couldn't stay in one place for long as the smartbombing ship orbited the area. So far he'd remained unscathed, sitting here cloaked, but if he waited too long, the bombs might be in range.. So with little thought and like a scared rabbit, he bolted, throwing his afterburners in full gear and jamming the cloak command only to be alerted of drones within the safe 2000m distance. Like angry bees, the drones swarmed his ship and made very short work of it. And to solidify the matter, and perhaps slow any attempt at returning, we were quick to dispatch the pod as well, sending him on his merry way back to the clone vat.

*Note: At this point I'd like to make note that wormhole space seems to cause a few anomolies in the killboards. One, the KB is unable to recognize the wormhole system, thus the mail having to be changed to a known system, in this case we just chose Jita. Second, the buzzard was fitted with sisters probe launchers and a large amount of sister core probes which do not appear as it seems they are not registered in the killboards inventory and thus does not show up when viewed*

Finally the freighter arrived. It was surprisingly able to jump through the wormhole without collapsing it. Quickly the goods were offloaded, more ore and salvaged loaded up to be taken and sold and off it went. Just as expected, as it exited, the wormhole immediantly collapsed behind it. Now it was just a matter of seeing how many were still left in system...and more specifically, how many probers they had in system. And as the night played out, we've learned it might very likely be possible we have already successfully broken their operations.

About an hour had gone by when scanners picked up movement within the enemy POS. A pod was moving about though what he was up to it wasn't sure until suddenly, one of our members received a communication request. Seems the pilot was requesting assistance from one of our members to leave the w-space. Claimed he wanted no part in the affairs but was incapable of finding a way out himself. Several offers were made to him including him offlining their POS but all offers by our member were for the most part ignored. After some time had passed, it was decided that one of our pilots open a line with the stranded pilot and see if he could tempt him instead.

[ 2009.03.27 01:15:57 ] Lambda Minion > sorry
[ 2009.03.27 01:15:59 ] Promephius > hi again
[ 2009.03.27 01:16:00 ] Lambda Minion > desinc
[ 2009.03.27 01:16:14 ] Lambda Minion > desync to be right
[ 2009.03.27 01:16:37 ] Promephius > Well I have a offer......... I have a exit for you
[ 2009.03.27 01:16:55 ] Promephius > 25 million isk and Ill fleet you and get you out... if you dont mind going through low sec
[ 2009.03.27 01:17:47 ] Lambda Minion > I do not mind.
[ 2009.03.27 01:18:04 ] Promephius > you do not mind?
[ 2009.03.27 01:18:20 ] Lambda Minion > minute
[ 2009.03.27 01:18:44 ] Promephius > i feel sorry for you but it has to cost you
[ 2009.03.27 01:18:44 ] Lambda Minion > exit to tush murcone is gone?
[ 2009.03.27 01:19:07 ] Promephius > I have another exit .... I cannot tell you where
[ 2009.03.27 01:19:20 ] Lambda Minion > sure. I understand
[ 2009.03.27 01:19:34 ] Promephius > so do we have a deal?
[ 2009.03.27 01:20:04 ] Promephius > I do sympathise
[ 2009.03.27 01:20:13 ] Promephius > I think its a bit hard what my guys have done to you
[ 2009.03.27 01:20:25 ] Lambda Minion > no really
[ 2009.03.27 01:20:38 ] Lambda Minion > I understand this rush of... what?
[ 2009.03.27 01:20:48 ] Lambda Minion > money, feeling you won?
[ 2009.03.27 01:21:07 ] Promephius > if you want out of the worm hole I want isk to give you the location
[ 2009.03.27 01:21:26 ] Lambda Minion > I allready sent them
[ 2009.03.27 01:21:29 ] Lambda Minion > check
[ 2009.03.27 01:22:03 ] Promephius > one second
[ 2009.03.27 01:22:56 ] Promephius > safe to warp to me
[ 2009.03.27 01:23:07 ] Lambda Minion > 0km?
[ 2009.03.27 01:23:11 ] Promephius > yes
[ 2009.03.27 01:23:19 ] Lambda Minion > in warp

Little did this pilot realize until it was too late....but he had just voluntarily warped to our own POS. Needless to say, he didn't last long. Now, we are a so-called carebear corporation, so we couldn't be totally evil, so yes, we did provide him a way out. Via the clone vat express! Hey...Prom never said that the way out wasn't a wormhole...

Now some of you may be screaming "Foul! He paid the ransom! You give a bad name to piracy with what you did!" However, before you get your feathers ruffled too much, I want you consider a few points on this.

One, we are not pirates. We do not fly around killing anything that moves and attempting to make our isk over the loss of other's. The only time you should be concerned with our presence is if you are a neutral and we meet you in nullsec, we do live by the common NBSI rule. As for lowsec, we live by the NRDS rules of engagement unless of course engaged first.

Two, though no official war was declared, we were in essence at war with this group. Yes, they have tried to open diplomatic relations with us and attempt to get blue settings between us, but this was one particular occasion when the request was quickly denied. He knew this. I mean....come'on. We just killed one of his corp mates!

Three, if we had simply offered to show him the way out, would he have been so willing to be tricked into thinking we'd safely escort him out? By demanding payment, it was a method of getting him to believe our intentions, though harsh, were to help him leave. Yes, consideration has been made to give him back the money...but looking at his ship fittings and the stuff in his cargo hold, we're lead to believe he wasn't in any serious need of the isk. Plus the entire incident will be a good lesson for him for future endeavors.

Fourth and final point. We could not truly show him the way out. What if his intentions were of trickery as well? What if, after we showed him a pathway in and out, he relayed this to his corpmates and we would quickly find ourselves back to square one. Sure, we could have theoretically closed that one behind him as well, but that would require a lot of danger and time we were not willing to spare.

So is the war over? Have we completely cleared the area of their corporation? Only time will tell as we can not be sure yet that someone isn't still present, just offline. Hopefully in the next few days we'll know and we'll also continue keeping an eye on their POS. An entire POS going offline when the fuel runs out? Yummy!

-ML-