Obelisk Small

Obelisk Small

Thursday 29 July 2010

In between days

'Your toast now' i yelled at the screen that displayed part of the Ice field and the amount of ice present as floating chunks of blueish asteroids, turning and spining in a slow way as they did for centuries, maybe eons.

'Oh my god, it is coming straight at us! SHOOT IT... SHOOT IT NOW!' i screamed.

'Is everything alright boss?' Andy asked me as he walked into the command center.

'huh?, oh yeah... it must be the boredom of mining ice' i replied to him with a little awkward grin on my face as if i where a little kid, caught while talking to an imaginary friend.

2 days of mining ice took it's toll on all of us, bored to death, no longer having fun in playing poker with the crew and drinking whiskey.

'Unload the last batch of ice' i ordered to the crew, 'and prepare the shuttles'

'Are we abandoning the ship?' Andy asked after i gave the orders.
'No we dock up here and head back to our office in our shuttles to do something else' i told him, 'No need to take the ship back with us for now'

When we came back at the office, i barked out the orders to the crew to prepare our Hulk to do some "normal" mining as we where getting low on minerals for some of the projects that where underway.

'Which crystals to bring for this trip Sir?' Andy asked.
'Just leave the Omber crystals fitted, but load Veldspar, plagioclase and Scordite crystals into the cargo bay' i replied, 'We need to add a buffer to our pyerite and Mexallon stock'

Andy saluted and walked to the ships hangar to relay my orders and overlook the progress.

A bleeping sound signaled a message from the laboratories i had hired for inventing some ships so i turned to the computer and opened the communication channel with the laboratory.

'Your invention jobs are completed' a computerized voice said and i entered the code for delivery of the results.

'Job successfully completed, Blueprint delivered to your hangar' was the response and i was happy as always when inventing foreign technology that succeeded.

'Job successfully completed, Blueprint delivered to your hangar' was the second response.

'I should have visited the casino' i said out loud, '100% success rate is rare' and i had opened a can of cool beer.

'Seems the investment of 20 million isk paid off, with the profit i make on these six Mackinaws i can build the coming days' i thought while entering 4 new jobs for invention of more mackinaws, in the meantime hoping the success rate will be as high as these two.

Andy walked into the office to let me know that the Hulk has been prepared as ordered and was ready to undock, i turned off the computer and walked to the hangar with him.

The belt we arrived in was full of police so i opened a communication channel with the commanding officer and asked what had happened.

'Nothing much sir' the officer replied, 'some desperate pirate scum attacked a mining vessel in our jurisdiction'

He didn't had to tell more, as i knew what they did with these capsuleers that attacked without provocation or war declerations...

Looking at the wrecks i recognized the name of the aggressor, it was Ekoplex Vherokior, which was part of our alliance till two weeks ago.

'Poor smuck' i sighed while i was going through the wreckage to find perhaps anything usefull.

A handfull of Republic Fleet ammunition, a stripminer and a small amount of azure plagioclase was all there was left, which i left behind, and steered the ship to my unsuspected victims...

'Roids beware, lotrias is here!' i said and gave the orders to clear out all high end veldspar and scordite.

Monday 26 July 2010

Promotion ...

I was going through my assets to prepare new productions when i received a convo from non other then Ryan Masonary, CEO of The White Rabbits.

I had been talking about recruitment and perhaps getting the personnel manager roles to conduct interviews and accept new members to our corporation.

He asked me to meet him at the strip club in the lower sections of the station to discuss my request for promotion. I knew some of the girls down there, lovely creatures with heavenly bodies and moves that could even let an ice planet turn into a nice wetland, so i gladly accepted his proposal for the location.

When i arrived, Ryan took me to a table in the back where we had a bit more privacy, as if we where conducting business like our pirate brethren, instead of normal business activity. Even though i was happy my requests where looked at with serious intent, i could not suppress the idea that it was a shame i couldn't see the dancers properly.

After being served some drinks by a very nice looking waitress in topless outfit, we started talking about my request and the leaders their idea's and opinions on the matter.

'So you would like to become a recruiter for the corporation' Ryan said.

'Well yeah' i replied, 'As i feel we do not have any active acquisition at the moment for the corp'

Ryan nodded in recognition and replied 'What about becoming a full director in the corporation instead?'

'Are you serious?' i stuttered, 'what you offer is huge and i am not sure that i will be the right man for that as i have no real experience in leading roles.'

'We have always trusted you, and you do not take crap from anyone' Ryan said with a smile.

I turned around and looked straight through the crowd and swirling girls while i was thinking about the offer. A few moments later, which felt like an eternity for me, i turned back to look at Ryan and gave him my answer.

'I will gladly accept the offer Ryan' i said to him, 'But... i have little experience so do not expect too much from me at the start.'

'That is ok Lotrias' he replied and called the waitress for another round of booze.

At the end of the night, i was pleased that the leadership had faith in me, i've gotten a lapdance from one of my favorite girls at the club, and Ryan paid the bill which had gotten longer then expected.

Friday 23 July 2010

Omber, missions and study ...

It's been a couple of days i had time to sit down and record my logs.

Study kept me occupied for a couple of days and all i could do in between was
scanning down some anomalies in the systems we call home now.

I got some offers from my contacts in Amo to do some easy work for them and make some isk which i gladly accepted as i could use the Isk and more then that, the standings with their corporation so i would have to pay less when i needed their services at the station i occupied now.

It must have been fatigue as i scanned down a cosmic signature and said to myself that it was another crappy salvage complex not worth the troubles of visiting after i scanned it down.

'Signal Strength 100%, Large Omber Field Detected' the computer said after the last cycle and i got a puzzled look on my face. 'A Magnetometric signature with the name of known gravimetric site?' and i look once more on my re-calibrated scanner and saw it really was a hidden belt, and not some ancient graveyard of long lost ships and debris.

I warped back to my station and ordered the crew to prepare the Hulk for a run into an unknown asteroid field and after i got the report that all repairs where done, the modules running at 100% efficiency we undocked from the station and warped into the omber field.

'Turn on the shields and launch the drones' i immediately shouted as a handful of hostile pirates turned and had their targeting systems locking on to us.

'Come on, get a lock on these ships' i barked while the first damage on our shields started showing, but i knew this ship could handle everything these rats would throw at us.

Once the targets got a lock from our targeting system, the drones homed in on these Sansha Nation pilots and took them out in a rather short fight... 'Never send mice to do a mans job' i smiled.

After we dealt with the hostile ships i walked to the window and looked outside.
'What a magnificent view this is' i said in amazement while i took in the sight of the belt that resembled a small planet almost totally cut out and only existed out of strings and branches.

In between these strings and branches of twisted rock, the lights of my ship and the sun showed shimmering rocks with veins of gold and silver that seemed to glow up like blood veins on an amarrian caterpillar i once saw during a visit on Amarr Prime.

Even though i was not the only one that had found the hidden belt of asteroids, my crew and I managed to take a big chunk out of the available ore that will resupply the diminishing amount of minerals that is used in producing the ships needed for the alliance.

Back in the office, i was going through the lists of ore and minerals that had been acquired when i received a conversation request of someone i did not know. After accepting the call, i had a short conversation where he asked if the White Rabbits was open for recruitment which i had to acknowledge positive.

'We are indeed in search for more dedicated members in the corporation' i replied on his question.

'If you like you can hang around in our public comms channel called The White Rabbits' i said, 'or look at our board.'

'Well, i think i might do that' he said and was ending the conversation.

'Don't you want the address?' i quickly said before he could terminate the conversation, 'This link will send you to our alliance board!' and transferred the link to him.

I hope we might meet again, but then in a nice mining fleet or more adventurous as the discovery of a wormhole and bringing out the riches it might offer.

Monday 19 July 2010

The end of death and destruction

Strange visions passed by as i looked over the names of mighty fine ships that have
been destroyed the past one and a half week.

Mackinaw's, Hulks, covetors, Orca's and even the more basic mining ships fell prey to the onslaught called Hulkageddon III.

I looked again and summed up the numbers in my head,

'1719 Exhummers, 717 Mining barges, 29 Industrial Command ships and 303 fellow miners
that lost more then their ship, their body and implants as well.'

These dark days in mining history are passed now and business will be as usual, where we can sit in the belts again with mind boggling nebula's and star fields as a background in our command centers.

'I am glad to slip into my trusted hulk again without too much fear of constant suicide roams' i thought, 'These missions are beginning to become a bit tedious
after so long...'

'Well they are not as boring as moving millions m3 in modules and other assets' i thought, 'but blowing up ships and the constant encounters with Sansha's Nation members put a strain on the ship and it's crew'.

'Lets get back to producing again and put a temporary end to this time of death and destruction' i said.

'Andy' i shouted to my second in command, 'order the crew to prepare the hulk and restock the crystals, make sure all the repairs are done and get of your fat ass!'

'We are going to bust some belts once more ...'

All i heard after these orders was an 'Aye Sir' and feet running off towards the
crew's quarters.

It's good to be the boss i thought....

Friday 16 July 2010

Smelly like an Ox

'Oh my god... What IS that smell?' i shouted through the small room we called mess.
The long trip in the freighter was beginning to take it's toll and the end was no where
in sight as we where only half way through the route.

Myself and the crew where getting irritated a bit and playing poker all the time
did not ease the trip much.

'Must be the cargo we took in at the Usi station Sir' one of my longer serving
crew members said.

'Nah, you are crazy' i snarled 'we smell our bloody selfs!'
'Blast that fricking Gallente researcher for not making an Ion shower in this flying cube!'

'I really hope our destination has proper showers and some very skilled masseuses' i sighed.
'Else we join up with our fellow rabbits and kill some poor smucks with our smell alone ...'
'You're stench deals the final blow Andy' i grinned and walked back to the command center to see which system we just passed and how long we had in front of us.

'Its just that things like this are part of being a successful industrialist' i muttered, 'Else i would not have taken this order and fly through a total of 52 systems in a flying brick'

I sat down in the captains chair, and hoped that we might see some new colleagues soon to join our corporation for fame and fortune... and a little bit less traveling for myself.

Wednesday 14 July 2010

Hulkageddon III

'Almost a week it is going on now' I said to my good friend Ashmira.

'What?' She replied, immediately followed by a big smile...
'Oh yeah, Hulkageddon III' she said right after.

'Almost 2000 ships have been destroyed already' i replied and Ashmira nodded.

'It is not a total bad thing is it not?' she said after a short silence.

'Of course not!' i countered, 'This is a great time of opportunities for us.'
'Just think of it, all these ships have to be replaced sooner or later'
'and who do you think can fill these orders?' i told her, while emptying my glass.

'I guess you, Lotrias' Ashmira smiled, and passed me the bottle of good
spirits.

'Well, not all of it of course, but maybe some poor buyer comes to me for a new shiny Orca or other ship' i said while pouring me another drink.

'Even though prices are pretty competitive at the moment for them, there is room for profit.'

At a sudden, the monitor flashed signaling the sale of another Orca and Lotrias smiled.

'Did you manage to start the production of the Thanatos order?' Ashmira asked after we had a few laughs

'Yeah i did actually' i replied, 'It is running now and will be completed soon.'
'Another hotshot will be happy to fly it into battle, and hopefully will have some moments of glory before he places another order'

The night got long, and we talked a lot about things to come and ships to build...

Monday 12 July 2010

A Tough Week at the Office.

'This past week has been hard on me' i sighed while I started
unloading the production slots into my station hangars.

They looked very vacant now after i had moved millions of cubic
meters worth of modules, ships and other stuff i had lying around
to the new home system of our corporation.

'This thanatos is the last one i build in this station' i thought
and entered the command to release another batch of finished
components.

Almost finished now, i started to think about the glorious battles
it might face when it's ready to fly.

'Let these combat pilots think they are the hotshots' i almost yelled
while looking at the list of things i had invented the past years here
in The Citadel Region, 'I know better, as they can not fly when there
is none to produce their bloody ships and modules.'

My list existed of Carriers, Industrial Capital Ships, Tech 2, Tech 3
and loads of modules and ammunition.

'Let them dream of glorious battles, I dream of making the tools for them!'