Another day, another new recruit wanting to join my group of roughnecks i sometimes call crew, but more often just damned dogs or filthy rats, especially after loosing another poker match.
It was about a month ago that the new recruit applied for the job of third engineer with a speciality on afterburners and jumpdrives. That day, an impressed 'boy' stood before my desk while i was insulting some shithead through the comms channel for being late with deliveries.
After the 'conversation' ended, i turned my gaze upon the recruit and he tried to avoid my piercing looks by looking a little bit past me, a little bit cowering which i like in the men and women that serve as my crew.
'So, i see you have some experience with engines and the likes' i barked at him, still angry from my discussions earlier.
'Yes Sir' He replied formal, hoping to be as humble as he could.
'What about Jump Drives and calibrating them?' i then asked in a milder tone.
'Sir, i am not sure what you mean with this question, Sir!' he said.
'Are you stupid boy?' i barked.
Suddenly i remembered scenes from long ago, where I stood on the same place as he was, before the desk of my first captain and mentor.
Fresh out of school, i had some promissing skills and expertise when i got contacted through a friend by some shady organisation. Not excatly knowing who they where or what they did, i was ordered to show up on some interview in a system i forgot the name of, but which was defenatly out of Concord's jurisdiction.
I entered the room and none other then Kosakami himself was sitting behind the desk.
'What about your Corporation Management skills?' Kosakami asked me.
'I do not really understand your question Sir!' i countered.
'I am not yet a member of a Corporation'
'Are you stupid boy?' he barked at me, and explained his question with a harsh look on his face.
Years passed since then and the corporation Kosakami talked about is the supporting backbone of the Guristas Associates, industrialists and engineers working with the same mindset and cary the name of the Rabbit with pride.
'Sir' the ensign said
'Is everything allright?'
I snapped back in the presence and told him what i wanted from him and offered him the job if he could fullfill it.
Now, weeks later, i am gratefull i took him in as he helped me finallising my studies to be able to fly a Jump Freighter.
I have to wait a couple more days before the papers and permissions are finalised, but that should not spoil the fun i will have when i'm able to jump vast distances through the galaxy.
Obelisk Small
Monday 30 August 2010
Sunday 29 August 2010
I like my coffee.... Black!
Hanging around in my office i received a special signal from the comms.
Looking at it without real interest as it normaly signals someone online i know, i watched and my eyes grew wide.
The name showing up was not one i was expecting to see, but rather a totally unexpected name.
I jumped from the chair and immediately started conversation with this person i knew for a long time, and have not seen in over 6 months.
'Is it really you?' i carefully said to her.
'Yes it is me.' was the short but firm response i knew so good.
Not yet totally accepting it as the truth it slowly sank into my mind that it was really her.
Black, smooth like silk and still could hit you like a ten ton hammer when you didn't expect it...
Her name is Koffie Black, the most dark and deadliest of Rabbits ever had returned in her ship with a new edge ready to take on everything on her path.
Koffie black returned and killed two unsuspected victims already today, and the numbers will surely rise in the time to come.
And i alway's liked my coffee.... well Black ....
Looking at it without real interest as it normaly signals someone online i know, i watched and my eyes grew wide.
The name showing up was not one i was expecting to see, but rather a totally unexpected name.
I jumped from the chair and immediately started conversation with this person i knew for a long time, and have not seen in over 6 months.
'Is it really you?' i carefully said to her.
'Yes it is me.' was the short but firm response i knew so good.
Not yet totally accepting it as the truth it slowly sank into my mind that it was really her.
Black, smooth like silk and still could hit you like a ten ton hammer when you didn't expect it...
Her name is Koffie Black, the most dark and deadliest of Rabbits ever had returned in her ship with a new edge ready to take on everything on her path.
Koffie black returned and killed two unsuspected victims already today, and the numbers will surely rise in the time to come.
And i alway's liked my coffee.... well Black ....
Thursday 26 August 2010
Going back to Yarr?
I was hanging at the bar as i usually do when a few business deals have going as they should be.... profitable!
After a few jugs of Rum i noticed a familiar face entering the bar and coming straight at me so i turned to the direction she was coming from and looked straight in the deep blue eyes of my good friend Ashmira.
She just returned in her favorite ship an Onyx with a big smile on her face and a twinkle in her eyes, telling me she did more then taking the Heavy Interdictor out for a spin.
'You have been a bad girl' i said to her while she planted herself on a seat next to me and ordered a new jug of rum for me and herself.
'How can you tell?' Ashmira asked me with an even wider grin on her face.
'Well, its either some killing or sex that makes you look like that.' i replied and poured the rum into our glasses.
'I cant keep secrets from you, can i?' she said with a light voice which could make you doubt she was able to be a ferocious killer at times.
'But you are right, i have been out tonight with some of your fellow rabbits.'
'And we encountered some wannabee pirates flying under the banner "Back to Yarr"'
'So i take it went alright then, else you would have come to me for another ship wouldn't you?' i said, now smiling myself almost as much as Ashmira did.
'Yeah, we managed to kill their bait ship, a nice command ship and some poor smuck which had his second ship blown up within the hour' she giggled.
'It was a good engagement, and i did not receive any penalties from Concord because they where outlaws, which made it even better!'
'Very nice, sometimes i ache to join up with the fleet and destroy some ships myself...' i told her and immediately thought about the consequences it would have for me.
'Nah, just build your stuff and sell it Lotrias' Ashmira said, 'That's what you do best, and leave the nasty stuff to the others.' and gave me a hard punch on the shoulder.
'Yeah you are right about that i guess' and rubbed my shoulder... she could give a good punch...
'Before i forget, i have build you your Legion hull and will soon start on the subsystems' i said after a short silence where we contemplated over our own thoughts.
'Oh that is great, but it will take me a little longer before i can fly it, so take your time' she said, while hugging me for the good news.
'I have to study a bit more on the new weaponry and the ship itself, and as you know, i have been occupied by other things at the moment...
'Yeah, you have been sending some people back to Yarr' i joked.
The rest of the evening we talked about the killed Absolution, abaddon and hurricane, as well as the battleships and cruisers that fled from the fight with their tails between the legs and other stuff.
After a few jugs of Rum i noticed a familiar face entering the bar and coming straight at me so i turned to the direction she was coming from and looked straight in the deep blue eyes of my good friend Ashmira.
She just returned in her favorite ship an Onyx with a big smile on her face and a twinkle in her eyes, telling me she did more then taking the Heavy Interdictor out for a spin.
'You have been a bad girl' i said to her while she planted herself on a seat next to me and ordered a new jug of rum for me and herself.
'How can you tell?' Ashmira asked me with an even wider grin on her face.
'Well, its either some killing or sex that makes you look like that.' i replied and poured the rum into our glasses.
'I cant keep secrets from you, can i?' she said with a light voice which could make you doubt she was able to be a ferocious killer at times.
'But you are right, i have been out tonight with some of your fellow rabbits.'
'And we encountered some wannabee pirates flying under the banner "Back to Yarr"'
'So i take it went alright then, else you would have come to me for another ship wouldn't you?' i said, now smiling myself almost as much as Ashmira did.
'Yeah, we managed to kill their bait ship, a nice command ship and some poor smuck which had his second ship blown up within the hour' she giggled.
'It was a good engagement, and i did not receive any penalties from Concord because they where outlaws, which made it even better!'
'Very nice, sometimes i ache to join up with the fleet and destroy some ships myself...' i told her and immediately thought about the consequences it would have for me.
'Nah, just build your stuff and sell it Lotrias' Ashmira said, 'That's what you do best, and leave the nasty stuff to the others.' and gave me a hard punch on the shoulder.
'Yeah you are right about that i guess' and rubbed my shoulder... she could give a good punch...
'Before i forget, i have build you your Legion hull and will soon start on the subsystems' i said after a short silence where we contemplated over our own thoughts.
'Oh that is great, but it will take me a little longer before i can fly it, so take your time' she said, while hugging me for the good news.
'I have to study a bit more on the new weaponry and the ship itself, and as you know, i have been occupied by other things at the moment...
'Yeah, you have been sending some people back to Yarr' i joked.
The rest of the evening we talked about the killed Absolution, abaddon and hurricane, as well as the battleships and cruisers that fled from the fight with their tails between the legs and other stuff.
Friday 20 August 2010
Memories....
As i was caught up in the daily slumber of mining, manufacturing and inventions i noticed i drifted off occasionally to past memories i have about an old endeavor we as White Rabbits had undertaken a couple of months ago.
Going through my notes, after another moment of flashes going through my mind, i dug up some files that i had written back then in the weeks that we occupied an unknown system in wormhole space.
As always memories are mostly better then the experience at the time and was surprised that in fact my memories where still pretty accurate of the events back then without the golden edge one tend to put on them.
'Oh My God...' i softly whispered when we entered an Exceptional Core Deposit asteroid field for the first time, almost having my jaw dropping to the floor.
The field stretched out tens of kilometers with large asteroids smashed together by unspeakable forces showing innards of rock and crystals alike.
Heat of the impacts had laced asteroids with strings and patches of glas like structures that lit up by the faint glow of the distant sun.
Turning the ship to a large Arkanor asteroid, the lights of the ship made ghostly shadows across the surface while making the precious metals vissable for the naked eye.
The best and most beautifull kind of minerals where almost dripping out of the slowly turning rocks that probably have existed since the first millenia the system had been created.
'Intruder alert' the computer suddenly signaled, and i got pulled out of the aphrodisiac I and my crew where in while looking at these untouched riches in front of us.
'Jason, what do we have on scanner?' i yelled, and my communications officer yelled back that he did not know.
'Then put a visual on screen for crying out loud' i barked back while the first missile hit our shields with extreme force.
Jason transferred a video feed to the main screen and something out of a capsuleer's nightmare was shown to us, but this was real.
'What the fuck is that?' i said 'And what the hell is it shooting with?'
The aggressor looked a little bit like the drones we had encountered so many times before, a little bit bigger then a frigate perhaps but hitting us like a battleship sized vessel, but very alien and different then anything we had seen before.
By the time we came to our senses, our combat support ships had begun engaging these alien dronelike ships and where capable of dispatching them without any losses to our side.
To out surprise, the vessels seemed to be unmanned and where wired with an Artificial Intelligent unlike anything we had seen before, in many ways looking more alive then machinery in its actions.
Perhaps we will never know the origin of these 'sleepers' as they seem to awaken when entering important parts of 'their' space, but we do know there are plenty of them out there, and we will encounter them sooner or later again when we push forward into their domain.
After this flashback, i was sure i wanted to go back there again in the not so distance future.
Back to the vast open space unclaimed by any race or faction, lying ready for us Rabbits to come and take the ripe sweet fruits that these cold and dark places offered...
Going through my notes, after another moment of flashes going through my mind, i dug up some files that i had written back then in the weeks that we occupied an unknown system in wormhole space.
As always memories are mostly better then the experience at the time and was surprised that in fact my memories where still pretty accurate of the events back then without the golden edge one tend to put on them.
'Oh My God...' i softly whispered when we entered an Exceptional Core Deposit asteroid field for the first time, almost having my jaw dropping to the floor.
The field stretched out tens of kilometers with large asteroids smashed together by unspeakable forces showing innards of rock and crystals alike.
Heat of the impacts had laced asteroids with strings and patches of glas like structures that lit up by the faint glow of the distant sun.
Turning the ship to a large Arkanor asteroid, the lights of the ship made ghostly shadows across the surface while making the precious metals vissable for the naked eye.
The best and most beautifull kind of minerals where almost dripping out of the slowly turning rocks that probably have existed since the first millenia the system had been created.
'Intruder alert' the computer suddenly signaled, and i got pulled out of the aphrodisiac I and my crew where in while looking at these untouched riches in front of us.
'Jason, what do we have on scanner?' i yelled, and my communications officer yelled back that he did not know.
'Then put a visual on screen for crying out loud' i barked back while the first missile hit our shields with extreme force.
Jason transferred a video feed to the main screen and something out of a capsuleer's nightmare was shown to us, but this was real.
'What the fuck is that?' i said 'And what the hell is it shooting with?'
The aggressor looked a little bit like the drones we had encountered so many times before, a little bit bigger then a frigate perhaps but hitting us like a battleship sized vessel, but very alien and different then anything we had seen before.
By the time we came to our senses, our combat support ships had begun engaging these alien dronelike ships and where capable of dispatching them without any losses to our side.
To out surprise, the vessels seemed to be unmanned and where wired with an Artificial Intelligent unlike anything we had seen before, in many ways looking more alive then machinery in its actions.
Perhaps we will never know the origin of these 'sleepers' as they seem to awaken when entering important parts of 'their' space, but we do know there are plenty of them out there, and we will encounter them sooner or later again when we push forward into their domain.
After this flashback, i was sure i wanted to go back there again in the not so distance future.
Back to the vast open space unclaimed by any race or faction, lying ready for us Rabbits to come and take the ripe sweet fruits that these cold and dark places offered...
Wednesday 4 August 2010
Enemies of the ship
'Oh please, put be back in my ship' i moaned.
'Why did i ever wanted to try this myself?' i asked myself as i went through the configuration of routers and servers.
A loud noise signaled that the errors where still present after altering routines and reconfiguration of the firewall.
'Bloody hell, get going you total piece of shit!' i shouted while kicking the mobile container next to me.
A couple of hours i've had been working on these problems already and the last part was as stubborn as i can be at times and wouldn't budge.
Unable to get the interfaces working i sat back and decided to call in some specialist support to solve this and go sit at the bar till they are done.
Software or hardware failures kept me from accessing the computers in the ships, barring me from any work i had to do still.
'Hopefully tonight i will be able to get in my ships again and bust some roids' i said to myself while i walked towards the bar, leaving the professionals behind to fix this invisible enemy of my ships...
Software errors.
'Why did i ever wanted to try this myself?' i asked myself as i went through the configuration of routers and servers.
A loud noise signaled that the errors where still present after altering routines and reconfiguration of the firewall.
'Bloody hell, get going you total piece of shit!' i shouted while kicking the mobile container next to me.
A couple of hours i've had been working on these problems already and the last part was as stubborn as i can be at times and wouldn't budge.
Unable to get the interfaces working i sat back and decided to call in some specialist support to solve this and go sit at the bar till they are done.
Software or hardware failures kept me from accessing the computers in the ships, barring me from any work i had to do still.
'Hopefully tonight i will be able to get in my ships again and bust some roids' i said to myself while i walked towards the bar, leaving the professionals behind to fix this invisible enemy of my ships...
Software errors.
Monday 2 August 2010
Moar Ore!
'It has been a good weekend for mineral acquisition' i said to Feywithe.
'Yeah the asteroid belts need days of recovery after our visits.' Feywithe replied.
Almost one belt on Friday, 1 on Saturday and nearly 3 full belts on Sunday had been stripped clean, up to the last piece of Ore by our mining fleet.
Most of us where now hanging at the bar in our station, tired but content with this display of mining power.
'So what are the total numbers after refining all the ore?' i asked Feywithe
Feywithe picked up his ePad and cycled through a couple of reports to find the report of the refining facilities.
'Well let me see, when we add the totals of each day we will have aquired the following amount of minerals' and Fey summed up the amounts,
32.590.355 Tritanium
8.155.947 pyerite
2.459.118 Mexallon
706.048 Isogen
62 Nocxium
9 Zydrine
22 Megacyte
'Holy cow oreman' i laughed, 'where did these scraps come from?'
'Reprocessed modules from some sansha scum we killed' Fey replied with a big smile.
'Well, the totals are impressive' i acknowledged, 'even better then some of the operations we had in the past!'
'Yeah, and more will follow' Fey said with firm determination in her voice.
'Well i understand active recruitment for aspirant miners, as well as full grown professionals, will start soon.' i said out of the blue.
'Is that so?' Feywithe said with a hint of surprise.
'I do not think that the current system we are in can support larger fleets' he immediately said after.
'Yes, we need a better system with better ore yields to sustain a bigger fleet' i replied.
'What about the locals miners of that new system?' Ashmira asked while she walked to us, showing a mild sway in her walk showing the effects of the spirits she had consumed already.
'If they want to get ore, they either join The White Rabbits, or move to somewhere else!' i barked through the bar and raised my glass.
Heads turned around to look at me while i shouted to everyone that wanted it to hear,
'Join us or begone, there is no place for other miners then The White Rabbits!'
Followed by cheers and hooray's from my fellow rabbits.
'Yeah the asteroid belts need days of recovery after our visits.' Feywithe replied.
Almost one belt on Friday, 1 on Saturday and nearly 3 full belts on Sunday had been stripped clean, up to the last piece of Ore by our mining fleet.
Most of us where now hanging at the bar in our station, tired but content with this display of mining power.
'So what are the total numbers after refining all the ore?' i asked Feywithe
Feywithe picked up his ePad and cycled through a couple of reports to find the report of the refining facilities.
'Well let me see, when we add the totals of each day we will have aquired the following amount of minerals' and Fey summed up the amounts,
32.590.355 Tritanium
8.155.947 pyerite
2.459.118 Mexallon
706.048 Isogen
62 Nocxium
9 Zydrine
22 Megacyte
'Holy cow oreman' i laughed, 'where did these scraps come from?'
'Reprocessed modules from some sansha scum we killed' Fey replied with a big smile.
'Well, the totals are impressive' i acknowledged, 'even better then some of the operations we had in the past!'
'Yeah, and more will follow' Fey said with firm determination in her voice.
'Well i understand active recruitment for aspirant miners, as well as full grown professionals, will start soon.' i said out of the blue.
'Is that so?' Feywithe said with a hint of surprise.
'I do not think that the current system we are in can support larger fleets' he immediately said after.
'Yes, we need a better system with better ore yields to sustain a bigger fleet' i replied.
'What about the locals miners of that new system?' Ashmira asked while she walked to us, showing a mild sway in her walk showing the effects of the spirits she had consumed already.
'If they want to get ore, they either join The White Rabbits, or move to somewhere else!' i barked through the bar and raised my glass.
Heads turned around to look at me while i shouted to everyone that wanted it to hear,
'Join us or begone, there is no place for other miners then The White Rabbits!'
Followed by cheers and hooray's from my fellow rabbits.
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.
'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.
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