Respite

Amalea had arrived and spent most of her time in Maya's quarters, as I'm sure they had lots to catch up on. I spent my time running some missions for the owners of the station we were staying in, with hopes to lower the mineral tax for refining here. I've been stockpiling my ore for that reason, but again I hear of more changes to the whole refining and industry systems from the subspace network coming next month. Not sure how I can swing two Plexes this month for the Nao sisters to keep mining with me. Perhaps I will solo it for a while if they don't mind sitting a month out.

Maya's license is dwindling down to it's last couple of days just as she trained up some PI skills. She hadn't deployed anything on any planets yet, probably because of her uncertain future, but I am unsure about letting go of my Orca pilot. I was thinking of flying solo for a bit, perhaps be more involved with corporate fleets, but bad luck seems to follow me again and we were wardecced. Now I'm contemplating jumping back to my private corp, which the management don't seem to mind in this new corporation. It's nice to be a part of a group that doesn't force you to fight if you don't want to, but it still feels a bit wrong. I should at least try.

My sister said she was training to do some manufacturing along with her station trading, but she chose to move to Jita again to trade while she waited for her training to finish. She thinks she can find a station close to the trade hub to manufacture in, but I have my doubts. We all have to learn somewhere, I suppose.

I had the chat after that confirmed my fears. With me having to pay to rescue Amalea, Maya did not want to have me to rush to find the ISK to pay for her PLEX, and opted to let her license expire and contract over my orca and other assets. She was fine to just stay in station with Amalea, or maybe even fly with her on her ships, something I've never considered before. It reminded me of the inside of my Freighter and the concept that our ships are crewed, and I wondered why that wasn't something I contemplated more often. It felt like it wasn't a big deal to me. I'm sure the crew get's compensated somehow. I don't pay them, but maybe the government does? Or perhaps it's a part of the price of the ship? Again, I oddly do not think of it to be important now.

Again Amalea is not speaking to me. I don't think she realized I was in the room when she called Maya right after she woke up. I'm not sure of what it means, but she only seems to talk to Maya. Maybe she's using her internal comms to talk to her while still in the same room, a sort of private conversation. I don't know why though, it's not like they can't trust me at this point.

There seems to be some arguing at times. We normally hang out in someone's Captain's quarters or in the station bar. We normally sit in an isolation booth but when I get up to get drinks, they start chatting feverishly when I clear the field and can't hear, abruptly stopping again when I returned. I played along with the guise of ignorance, making them think that I didn't notice their behavior, but eventually my patience started to wear thin. I caught a glimpse of the true nature of their secrecy when a Gallentian Exotic Dancer entered the bar and began setting up a small stage to work on that caught my attention. When my gaze finally returned to my companions, I was met with expressions of disgust from Maya, and what seemed like hurt from Amalea. No wait. That was raging jealousy. I've seen that before...

How the hell was I supposed to know?!

"What?" I asked, fearing the worst. I had somewhat of a read on what was going on, but I was running on so little information, this situation could go either way. The uncertainty worried me.

"Enjoying the 'view'?" Maya asked sarcastically. I glance over at the Dancer. A couple of Amarrian pilots got up and left in disgust as she began dancing to music he assumed was playing in the bar, but they couldn't hear because of the isolation booth. Apparently, the innocent glance was a mistake, because Amalea looked away from me with a spiteful look and Maya became more annoyed.

"View?" I reply sounding uncertain. I knew perfectly well what she meant, but again, lack of information and whatnot.

"You like Exotic Dancers, Sain?" Maya asked, the venom thick in her voice. I felt like I was in trouble, but not sure why.

"Sure. They're alright." I reply, taking a sip of my drink. I paused then added, "Do you like Male Exotic Dancers? Maybe they'll have some in next week." There was a brief pause and her face flushed red for a moment, then she composed herself. I thought I saw a brief smirk from Amalea, but she quickly went back to the hurt expression from before.

"We're talking about you here, not me." she snapped.

"We are? What for?" I retorted.

"Why are you looking at other women?" she demanded. Amalea remained silent.

"Other? Other than you?" I ask, "What are you talking about? Why can't I look?" I paused and leaned closer as if trying to let only her hear, regardless of the isolation booth, "Are you interested in me? I had no idea."

Again she turned bright red and turned to Amalea with confusion on her face. I could hear their hushed whispers plainly.

"You said you told him!" Maya whispered.

"I said I was going to! When the time was right!" Amalea whispered back. I leaned back and lifted my glass again to drink my eyebrow raising as I looked the two over, pretending not to notice the Dancer's top go flying across the room to land comically on another Gallentian's head. The silent cheers and whistling were a mild distraction as patrons clapped and waved but Sain sat calmly thanking his luck that the girls had their backs to the stage and their view obstructed from the now topless dancer.

"Tell me what?" I asked, setting my empty glass on the table. Maya seemed embarrassed now and the redness on her face hadn't completely gone away.

"I thought....well....aw crap." She sighed, hanging her head in her hands.

"What?" I ask again. It was starting to annoy me now. What the hell were they talking about?

"I like you Sain." Amalea suddenly spat, forcefully it seemed, and with her eyes closed. She kept them closed for a while, wincing, as if anticipating a blow of some kind. I felt a little surge of adrenaline rush through my chest and stopped staring at her. She dared to peek at me and seemed to relax slightly as she saw me sort of freeze in my seat, staring down in my glass at rapidly melting ice. The gyrating motions of the sinful display of flesh on the stage went unnoticed to me as did the rest of the room. I was only brought back to the table by Maya's words.

"Sain, say something!" she demanded. I looked up and opened my mouth, yet nothing came out. I oddly wished there was a skill book I could inject that gave me the ability to deal with something like this, but something like romance wasn't in mind for the capsuleer program.

"I...I...." One letter came out. Nice. It's a start at least.

"Are you okay?" Maya asked, "She needs to hear more than that."

"But why?" I finally said, "We've known each other for less than a month by your point of view. You barely, if ever, talk to me. I know nothing about you besides what Maya says about you. Did you just not talk to me because you were shy?" Amalea turned a deep shade of red and nodded.

"Y-Yes." she squeaked.

"Why are you shy around me? You're acting like a teenager. Haven't you had a boyfriend before?" I ask. She shook her head.

"N-No." she muttered. Maya was looking angry again. What the hell did I say wrong now?

"Sain, Amalea grew up on a backwater world in the Gallente Empire. A planet in low security space." Maya said.

"Maya, you're Caldari and she's Gallente, how are you sisters?" I ask. It's been something I've wondered for a while but I assumed it was like my sister and I. Osiph was Gallente and I was Caldari. It's an odd pairing, since Caldari and Gallente are supposedly at war. I've heard it's more of a 'relative peace', which is why men from all factions can sit here in this bar and partake in the common pleasures of life.

"Getting off topic here, Sain. I was saying that she didn't have the opportunity to meet another boy let alone date. There was segregation and the men and women were separated for everything. It was for population control."

"So you've never met a male before me?" I asked surprised. Maya sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"My family adopted her as a young child and raised her in space on stations. She has Androphobia because of the guards on her planet and we even had to request an all female staff to do the procedure to become a capsuleer. She was hoping that being in a capsule would help isolate her from other people enough to handle at least talking to a male over ships communications. She was planning on becoming a sort of pod hermit."

"So she's been afraid of men all this time?" I asked.

"It hasn't been long. Amalea turned nineteen about six months ago." she said, "When she became a capsuleer.

"So I've been the very first man that she's had any contact with?" I ask. I wasn't sure to be flattered or insulted at this point. Amalea had folded her arms on the table and buried her face in them, but I could see her ears were bright pink. She was probably embarrassed beyond belief. It was oddly refreshing to realize that such things as this were important to people in such a harsh and brutal universe. Wars are fought, lives are lost, factions were gaining and losing sovereignty over space. Ships were build, sold, bought and destroyed. Most people's focus are on their wallets and the almighty ISK, yet human nature prevails after all this time and things like romance and teenage lust remain.

Now, I don't claim to be an expert in this, but taking into consideration the situation I was unsure of the girl's feelings. I felt I needed to be responsible about this as it was a delicate situation from what Maya said she came from. Yet, the heavy silence in their booth hung like a suffocating blanket over them and he had to say something.

"Amalea, I think I know how you think you feel, but I think you're not experienced enough to know if that feeling is love." I said.

"Like! I said like, not love!" she exclaimed without moving. A finger meagerly raised in the air to make her point.

"I know what you meant." I said, "I'm not declining you, but I think you really need to think about what you are feeling and understand it a bit better."

"Sain, what are you expecting from this?" Maya asked suspiciously, "She just said she likes you. She didn't say she wanted a relationship or anything. Why are you making this out to be a sort of confession of love?" A sort of panic washed over me as I realized I may have just read the situation a little wrong. Maybe she just wanted me to know that even with her condition, I've become a male she can trust and like. As a friend. Yeah, that makes more sense...

"Right. You're right. Sorry. I must have thought wrong." I stammered, sipping the melted ice water in my glass. I felt something land in my hair and I slowly lowered my glass to see the entire bar staring at me and laughing. The Dancer on the stage was waving at me and blowing kisses. I reach up to remove the object from my head and the girls at my table laughed as I held up the Dancers thong.

Fun night.

Sleeping Beauty

After the night that I had given the money to Maya, I hadn't heard from her until the next day when she showed up for work and we both attended a massive mining fleet run by the corporation. I was stunned at the amount of ore we brought in. At one point, I think there were twenty six pilots in fleet, all in the one belt which we ate through in about twenty minutes, moving onto the next. I've never been able to clear a field before, or seen it done.

More changes have been released from the governments around New Eden. Much needed and wanted changes to barges were of most interest to me, especially the range boost on the Hulk. Now, one can sit in the center of a belt where you usually warp in to 0m and reach all the asteroids in the belt, assuming you have an Orca pilot with perfect boots. There was a slight increase in yield as well which made it possible for me to clear a belt ourselves without having to split the spoils with others, with a little help.

The day after the big mining operation, Maya had finally spent the money on a PLEX and was on comms most of the day with CONCORD to reinstate her sister's license. The PLEX disappeared and I happened to knock on her door just as it was done. We both held our breath as we watched the communication hail to her hesitate for a very long time, displaying the word "Connecting..." across Maya's Neocom. She almost cried when her sister's face appeared on the screen, or her portrait rather, and her contagious yawn rushed from the speakers.

"Good Morning." she yawned, "Did I fall asleep? I'm sorry what time is it?"

"Amalea? Are you alright?" Maya asked, tears streaming down her face.

"Sure. No pirates in the ice fields." she said, "Wait, where's all the ice? Did other people mine it out while I was asleep? This isn't good."

"Amalea, It's so good to hear your voice!" Maya sobbed. I smiled, granted it was the first time I heard her sister's voice myself.

"Maya, what's wrong? You're acting like you haven't seen me in months!" she asked, confused, "You guys still in Egyfe? I'm docking now. Are you alright?"

"Amalea, we need to talk. " she said, wiping her eyes, "We're down around Dodixie. We've moved and joined a new corporation. It has been a while."

"What?" she gasped, "Aura, what's the date?" Sain heard the familiar AI's voice in the background and then silence.

"Amalea? You still there?" Maya asked.

"Almost four months?! I've been asleep for four months?!!!" she yelled, "How can this happen? My logs show I've been undocked for four months!"

"Yes." Maya said.

"W-what? H-How can this happen?" she stammered.

"We think your Pilot's license expired while you were ice mining. We've only now been able to save enough for an extra PLEX for you."

"You did that? For me?" she asked.


"Of course! You're my sister!" she cried.

"But you could never make enough ISK for a PLEX on your salary. How did you...?"

"Sain paid for it." she said, "It took a while, but he arranged for this to happen."

"Sain Darkwing? Our boss?" she asked, "I can't believe it. I owe him so much. Please give him my thanks. He really saved my life there. All because of my stupid mistake."

"I will. Now please move down here and mine with us. I want to see you." Maya said.

"Give me a day or so to get rid of some things. There's a lot of ore and ice up here in my hangars I need to get rid of. I have an industrial somewhere. Maybe I can fit this Retriever and that Covetor that Sain loaned me in there. I assume he would want them back.

"Sure. I can't wait to see you. Have a safe trip and call me whenever you need to." Maya said.

"Sure thing, sis. Amalea out."

Comms went dark and Maya stood staring into the blank screen for a moment until I moved from over her shoulder to sit on her couch.

"Sain, Thank you so much." she said, lowering her Neocom.

"No problem. I'm happy for you both." I replied, "I'm glad too."

"Thanks."

"Yeah, I get my ship back. And I totally forgot I had loaned her a Covetor. That's a bonus to get that back as well." I said with a devious smile.

A Change of Scenery

The money mark to buy that life saving PLEX was rapidly approaching and Maya seemed to be more determined than ever to hit that mark, although I don't really show her my wallet so she trusts me to tell her when the time has come. It's close, but I'm looking beyond it.

While I don't doubt that her sister Amalea will be rescued by it, I've started pondering my future once again, and decided to stop following in Sisyphus' footsteps, not really getting ahead. I've decided a change in scenery is in order. I've been reading other people's logs, and one that struck my interest was one called "The Eve Industrialist" run by a leader in Manu Fortuis corporation. I thought a change of pace was in order so I applied and was accepted, so now I've begun the process of moving to their home constellation, leaving behind the Metropolis Region and start trading in a more active trade hub of Dodixie.

It took some doing, but I discovered there was a way to put my fitted ships in a freighter, by contracting them to Maya and having her put them in a shipping container by means of a courier contract back to me to move. This worked well so I could move everything in one trip. There was a process to it, however. I had to collect all planetary materials sitting on all my planets then abandon the installations, I had to try and sell what I couldn't take, then cancel sell orders to pick up the things I couldn't sell to take with me, and I had to gather up all my assets in the area to one location for the trek down to Sinq Laison.

I packed everything in my Freighter, with little room to spare and Maya packed her Orca full as well and we started out. Maya arrived much sooner than me since the freighter was so slow, but we made it in the trade hub at Dodixie safely and I began offloading things to sell on the new market. I stood on my catwalk of the new Captain's quarters as I watched cargo containers float back and forth from my Charon above me. Maya was leaning against the rail behind me. Her arms folded and she stared at me unsure of my actions and seeming a little accusatory.

"You sure about this?" she asked, "I did take a risk following you here."

"This will be much better. It's a smaller Alliance and they don't get war decced as much as the old one." I replied.

"We left Amalea back in Egyfe! Can we still even rescue her?" she asked, "Are you even thinking about that?" The last part hurt. I am a Capsuleer, but I'm not entirely heartless.

"Of course I am!" I said, "You do know that because I liquidated alot of items to move here I now have enough for a PLEX? And the PLEX's here are cheaper than Hek! I've thought about it. Don't worry." I let my voice hold a little hurt at the end and she noticed, her head bowing as she felt regret for her words.

"I'm sorry. You just rarely tell me about your plans. I'm not sure what to think anymore."

"You sound like you don't trust me." I snapped, "Am I not supporting you so that you can have the life you want?"

"I'm sorry, Sain! But I'm scared for my sister. I hear nothing from you and have no idea of your intentions! What the hell am I supposed to think?!" she yelled.

"A little faith would be nice." I mutter, turning to stride past her towards the Captain's quarters. I pick up my Neocom and transfer the money for a PLEX into Maya's account, something I've never done before. It left me with mere thousands of ISK in my wallet. She pulled out her own Neocom and saw the money, but remained silent for a moment. I dropped onto the couch and sighed, rubbing my face with my hands, "Look. There's the money. Go buy a PLEX for your sister and see if she comes back. Tell her I'm sorry for what happened and that she can come down here to join us if she wants."

"S-Sain.....I...." She muttered. It was an expression of disbelief and regret again, but she had no choice but to accept it. "I thank you. I suppose this "Player" being did not pull through for us. I admit, I was hoping another miracle would happen from him, but I guess I was wrong."

"On the contrary, Maya." I spoke up, a small smile on my face, "I think he has helped us in more ways that you know." I swiped at the hologram of my Charon on the coffee table, "I haven't paid for, or used a PLEX since I became a capsuleer. My license is always valid as long as I want to be one."

"You've never used a PLEX?" she asked, "Why do we have to use them then?"

"Not sure." I replied, "But for some reason, I don't need them. I think "The Player" is doing something to keep my license active. Maybe it can only support one of us at a time."

"So if you're kept active, then you can make ISK to pay for the rest of us." she said, "I wonder if other pilots are like this?"

"Perhaps."

Decisions

I was taken to see the cargo hold of a Freighter from the inside. It boggled my mind to see the sheer space compared to my tiny body as I stood in the massive room. The cargo capacity was only a figure to me before. A number on an info sheet about the ship. The crew was very nice and accommodating to me. I even forgot I was wearing a side arm after only a few minutes of being there. I saw more than a few crew members tweaking various things and I thought of the things I could do with a mere thought while these people did it manually.

I thought it would be best to return to my Captain's Quarters the same way I came in, stripping my clothes once more to get in the pod, only to dock at the catwalk a moment later to disembark again. I decided that it would be a good idea to not tell anyone what I was doing and it was made sure the rest of the crew knew not to speak of it. Their existence was kept secret for a reason and I'd rather not be caught knowing it by the wrong people. This is something that will rest in the back of my mind and plague me.

Sitting on my couch I hung my head in my hands and sighed. I saw it when I came in, and it threw me into depression once more. I raised my head and stared at the screen in front of me. War. Again. What the Hell? It was the same people as before. A corp for hire to wardec others I suppose. Another two weeks of no mining, loss in profits, and probably wont make another PLEX again to rescue Amalea. Maya still wasn't talking to me.

Then a new comms channel started blinking...

"Hey, Sain! Long time!" It was Chadrick. His Amarrian face filled the screen on the wall.

"Yeah. What's up?"

"Look, about that help I offered. You know, to mine with your friend." he began.

"Out with it, Chad."

"I priced them there barges and the're real pricey, see?" he said, wringing his hands. The expected day had arrived.

"You want one of mine?" I asked, "I don't have a spare. You do know why I asked you to help right?"

"Your friend went missin' when her licence ran out, right?" he asked, "Yeah, so?"

"She was flying my spare at the time." I said, "And I need the money to save for a PLEX to find her."

"Can't you mine now?" he asked, "Isn't that war over?"

"Another just started." I huffed, "I'm stuck in Hek in my freighter."

"Ah that's shitty, man." he said, "Look, I'm not that good at minin' anyhow. I can only fly the starter barge too."

Then it clicked. It made sense. I wanted to stay in my corp because of the community and resources it brought, but could not use them here. I was no combat pilot, which is what was needed now. And knowing what I know now, I couldn't fight knowing all my ships were crewed.

"Chad. I have an idea."

"Shoot."

"We switch places." I said, "You agree to join my corporation and help in the war, I go back to my private corp and then I can help them by hauling with my Charon. What do you think?"

"I get to shoot people instead of staring at rocks?! I'm in!" he said with relief.

He cut off and I made some calls. My CEO was fine with the swap if I can still help. He marked my private corp as friendly, then called up my sister Osiph to get me back in my own corp. She wanted to hand me the CEO role again, but I refused, since she was doing a great job of it anyway.

When I warped into the belt Maya was working on and pulled my Hulk up beside her Mackinaw, there was a sizeable pause as I assume she was trying to figure out if I was daft before she read my corp ticker again.

"What did you do?!" she asked over comms.

"I fixed it. Let's mine. We need to save your sister."

"Right." She responded after a pause. I expected the silent treatment was over.

Spring Cleaning

It's funny how people you consider friends act like the total opposite at times. I haven't heard from Chadrick Belefonte since he messaged me and said he would help me mine. Haven't seen him, no e-mail, no trace he till exists. Still, now that the wardec is over, we are pulling in ore again and my wallet is increasing once more, but it's slow work.

I've also decided to go back and clean out some of my hangars in Libold. I found an old Mammoth floating in the Caldari station left unfitted and alot of random modules and whatnots. I threw it all in the Mammoth and flew it to Aldrat, selling the stuff and the ship in the Eve University's Headquarters, hoping some new capsuleers would buy my stuff instead of trekking the 5 or so jumps to Hek for cheaper. I really need to try this more often. Taking advantage of other people's laziness.

Coming back to the Caldari Libold station, I inquire about the darkened Vexor in the far corner of my hangar and I'm told it's mine, so I dock my pod in it and have a look. It was then that the memory of it's purchase returns. I fit it for fighting other pilots, for some odd reason, having a dual Stasis Webifiers, a Warp Scrambler, Afterburner, some Drone Damage amplifiers, Medium Railguns (Already loaded too with Antimatter charges) , and here's the kicker, 3 light drones. An Amarr, a Gallente and a Minmitar drone. What the hell was I thinking?

I started to undock to drag the thing to Aldrat to see if someone would take it off my hands. Maybe just put all of it on contract or something. But as I arrive in Aldrat and see my Blackbird on my asset list, docked in another station, I realized that during war, the only ship I have that can help in any meaningful manner is that ECM ship. So instead of selling it, I bought some proper drones for it and tucked the ship in beside my Blackbird to collect dust until needed in another war.

Now I start posting sell orders on the market for my various wares and quickly run out of market order slots, only getting half my stuff up. I also hauled a load of minerals to Hek, which has to sit there now until someone buys something from me and opens up some market slots. Maybe I should add trading training to my list of things to do.

On another note, Maya is still not talking to me. We mine together fine, but it's gone back to the way things used to be when we first started this, like she doesn't trust me anymore. She stayed back in Hardbako while I took the Charon to Hek. I now sit in my Captain's quarters and stare at the large display before me, my mind wandering off.

I glanced around the room, noticing the door that never opens and my mind went off again about what could be on the other side. I tried opening it several times and get a message saying something about the air not being suitable for capsuleer use or something, like it's contaminated. I have been to other parts of the station, like the Bar or Market, Militia offices, Medical, Repair shops, even Bounty offices, but there's this door in every Captain's quarters that I've been in that will not open no matter what I did. I heard there was a passkey blueprint floating around that supposedly opens it, but the materials on it don't even exist, and it turned out to be a hoax among capsuleers.

I turned away from it and spun the holographic Charon on my coffee table and then brought up the ship information out of sheer boredom. It listed the cargo capacity, shield, armor, and hull strength and resistances, speed, agility, and every other feature the massive freighter had to offer.

At the bottom, was something called "Cross-capsule Variant ".

This is something that piqued my interest. I've never noticed this before. I clicked the attribute and read about what this was. As a capsuleer, to pilot a ship you are confined to your capsule so you can control it and if something should happen to destroy your ship, the capsule is ejected to save your life. Furthermore, if your capsule should be breached, it was designed to end your current life before you were killed by explosion or the vacuum of space and you wake up in a new clone. That's supposedly how capsules work. There was no getting out of your pod unless you were in a station. A Cross-capsule Variant ship had a capsule gantry that allowed the capsuleer to exit their capsule while inside a ship. I've been out of my capsule on Mining Barges before, so I suppose those are Cross-capsule Variants as well, but they were small enough for me to pilot manually alone. I wondered about something bigger...

I glanced over my shoulder to see my un-named Charon floating in the Hangar past the catwalk railing and my mind wandered once more. Moments later, I was back in my pod and entered my freighter, my senses expanding, leaving the confines of my body to encompass the entire ship. This is what I'm used to. I've switched ships many times before, I searched my control for some form of reference to this Cross Capsule feature, and I found it buried deep in the controls used to leave the ship. I hesitated for a moment before activating it not knowing what I would find, then my existence shrunk down once more to be jammed back into my own head, but the pod did not open like when docking with the station or in a Mining Barge. The ship was still docked in the station, yet my connection to the ship was severed and I found myself floating in darkness and pod goo. It was like the Capsile had just powered off. I reached out to touch the walls and banged on them as best I could, but nothing happened.

At first...

I suddenly felt gravity. The pod lurched from it's docking clamps and turned clockwise. Then the liquid inside quickly drained away and a breather was placed over my mouth. A sort of dark mask stuck to my skin and I trusted it to be needed. I leaned forward, rising out of the seat in the bottom of the capsule and put my ear to the hull, trying to listen. There was a flash of light as the hatch suddenly opened and I was blasted with humid air. I fell, stumbling out on to a smooth metal floor as the compartment containing my station clothes opened beside me. I composed myself and stood up, coming eye to eye with a young girl barely in her teens holding a screen in her hands and staring wide eyed at me. I assumed it was because I was still naked, but when I stood up, she screamed and ran from the room, leaving me rather confused.

I quickly dressed and equipped a Parapistol to my belt as I started to explore the inside of my ship.

I left the large room the capsule was now in and read the label on the door as I exited, "Bridge" it read. It was a rather large room with the capsule directly in the middle of it, like the bridge of a barge. I continued on the dimly lit hallways, my boots rattling the now metal grated floors. Hearing footsteps ahead I grip my pistol and duck behind a girder to hide. I watched as two men in uniform run past into the bridge in a panic and the young girl from before casually walked past, trying to look over their shoulders to see what they find. I listened as best I could.

"What do you mean it's open? It's never open!"

"Look! It's open!" the other replied.

"And you said a man came out?" One man asked the girl, "Wearing a mask?"

"Yes." she replied, "And naked..."

"This is bad. A capsuleer shouldn't be walking around his own ship. Especially with the crew." he said.

"Why not?" the girl replied.

"Because he could die." he answered, "He's not a Mercenary that has internal implants for the cloning technology. He needs to be in his capsule for him to be able to wake up in a clone if he dies. Besides, the air here is contaminated for him. The air is for us planet born Humans and isn't clean enough for capsuleer clones to breathe like in the other section of the station."

"She did say he was wearing a mask." the other man said, "Maybe it was a feature of the capsule."

"The main question is, where is he now?"

"Maybe he's hiding." The young girl said.

"Why would a man unafraid of death be hiding from his own crew on his own ship?" the lead man scoffed, "He's our boss for crying out loud."

"Actually, sir." the other man interjected, "I heard that most capsuleers don't even know there are crew on their ships. They think it's only them piloting it and no one else."

"What?"

"This information censoring is intentional. Otherwise, capsuleers may think twice about bringing ships into battle. Sometimes, suicide missions are normal among them and they won't think twice about killing themselves because they know they will come back. If they knew they had crew on board, well, some may hesitate." he explained, "Even Mr. Darkwing has hesitated to bring out his ships during wars."

I couldn't take it any more. I had to talk to these people. I holstered my pistol and walked out from behind the bulkhead I was standing behind. My boots on grating caught the group's attention. I pretended to be inspecting something on the ceiling. Casually, I rapped my knuckles on the door frame,

"So this is what the inside looks like." I said, "You seem to keep a nicely running crew."

War, What is it good for?

Absolutely nothing.

That's pretty much what I had left after buying a PLEX to keep Maya flying in the Orca. I usually keep my finances secret from others and she was happy to see her license time extended, but she seemed determined to get right back out and help mine. I was agreeing with her. The wars are over and my Hulk once again graces the belts, noming the roids as it were.

But there's something I'm missing. I don't think I'm doing this right. I hear of others supporting alot more than one pilot on their income and do it easily every month. There has to be more to it than just mining. I think I need to get involved a bit more in other aspects of industry. Not just me, but Maya too. I need to start looking into something to manufacture and rethink some of my planetary installations. I also need to ask Maya to start training the skills necessary for her to have colonies of her own to pull in just that much more ISK. I hear on the subspace network that some significant changes to Industry are coming to stations and Empires are soon allowing POS's to be put up without need for standings. I haven't heard if they still require charters, but we will see. Those changes aren't happening for a while, but in the meantime, I hear some new ships will become available and some current ships are getting redesigned.

One of them I am looking forward to. I haven't flown Caldari ships besides my Charon in a while, the Moa is one I used to own but sold because I just didn't like the look of it. It's odd to dislike a ship just because of it's appearance, but when your view of the universe is locked to a camera drone buzzing around your ship, it's something you're always looking at in space. The new design for the Moa is sleek and for once, symmetrical.

I am thinking of buying a BPO and getting it researched for when the changes come out and people would be looking to buy them. Might just start training my cruiser skills and Medium Hybrid turret skills to fly one myself, when I'm not mining.

Like I mentioned, two wars ended last night, yet I've been in the belts for the past few days. The Alliance rules for wars do not prohibit mining or missioning during wars, but state only that we have to do it in the home constellation and to watch local for war targets. That's what I did. I was starting to go stir crazy in station and found a fairly low population system near Aldrat to mine in. I made sure to look up info on every pilot in local, and I even used my D-Scan for once to see what they were flying. It was fairly comfortable when all I saw was other Orcas and Hulks but I became wary when cruisers and battleships appeared. I kept telling myself they were just missioning, but I was paranoid that they were all spies out to get me. I've been told its not the wrong mentality to have in this universe, but it's no way to live. Once the war was over, I felt like I could finally relax and I happily cleared out my watch list, then got to work with even Mining drones out.

"Sain, come in." Maya's voice came over comms finally yesterday after a long time of silence since the war ended.

"Go ahead." I replied.

"I've been meaning to ask, and it's not that I'm ungrateful, because I am, but..." she said, then stopped.

"Yes?"

"Why buy another PLEX for me?" she asked, "You could have sent it to Amalea. You could have rescued her from wherever she is." I knew this question was coming. Why did I choose to not save her sister and give her the time instead so we can make money over saving a life. It might come down to the way capsuleers view life opposed to normal Humans, not really valuing the life of a capsuleer because of the cloning technology, or the varying levels of greed they have, but in my mind, her sister was safe, just....out of reach. As if she was isolated from the hell we call New Eden in a place she could never be touched by pirates or gankers out for the modules on her ship. She was new at being a capsuleer and had never died since becoming one, and Sain felt like she needed to be protected until she gained more experience, like her sister Maya has. He realized he had left her words hanging between his Hulk and her Orca as they gently float between the asteroids. Sain found himself staring at rocks.

"We make more money together than I could alone. More than if Amalea and I worked together because her skills aren't high enough." he said. It sounded like the answer a greedy, ISK hungry capsuleer would say, but the fact was that he wasn't sure himself exactly what the reason was.

"You did it because you wanted to make more money?" She asked, her words shaky over comms. She sounded upset as she should be, but there was more to this than she knew as well. Extending her time was a part of my general plan to get enough isk to save her sister. With an Orca in the field to increase ore yield, shorter PI schedules bringing in more resources, and my own sister Osiph in Dodixie training manufacturing skills to help with money, it would be a combination of all sources to fund the second PLEX for Amalea.

"We need money now, Maya. We need it to save your sister." he said.

"You had the money. You had the PLEX in your hands!" she stopped and gasped, "I had it in my hands! This is my fault! I could have used it for her!"

"No, no. Maya, you mustn't think that way. Trust me I have a plan." I tried to reassure her, but I could hear her sobbing over comms. I've never heard her cry before.....Ever. There was a long pause and during mining procedures, I get a warning before my eyes.

"Maya, the Fleet Hangar is full. Can you move the ore to the Ore Bay?" I ask. There was no response on comms as the connection was cut. The Fleet Hanger suddenly emptied and I was able to put more in. She still seemed mad, but I swear I will make things right. I'm hoping "The Player" will come through for us in the end and help, if it even exists.

The Woes of War

Again we've been targeted by war, and after two weeks, the enemy has racked up enough damages to extend the war by another two weeks. Not to mention, a second corp has declared war as well, meaning more targets to shoot at me.

This has taken a huge hit to my income, and I have a full Charon sitting in my hangar, ready to haul ore to Aldrat for refining. Yet I dare not take it out during war. I won't even mine both from fear of losing my barge and causing even more money to be added to the damages of our war report. Maya has gone to try and be productive in Egyfe to see if she can get some ice and mine in the area when the ice belts run dry. She seems to be getting a little annoyed with me, or rather, the situation and knows that with me unable to mine means no money for a PLEX. Her own license was also running out and we both had hopes to make enough for a spare to somehow apply to her sister's license and rescue her from wherever she had disappeared to when her's ran out in a belt.

This time was a little different for the war though. I actually tried to get involved. I trained a doctrine fit for a Blackbird, an ECM cruiser used for jamming sensors of the enemy. I sat in an Aldrat station and actually joined coms for a while, waiting to be called out to start jamming the enemy, but they ended up running away and not taking out bait. It was going to be the first real fight I've been in, and it just didn't happen.

Another friend of mine had heard that my corp was constantly getting war decced and contacted me recently. It was short e-mails back and forth, but he actually offered to train himself for a Retriever or Covetor to help Maya mine. A corp member of Darkwing Inc. I believe Osiph must have let him in.

Chadrick Belefonte. A rather sophisticated name for an Amarrian, like he had some nobility in his blood. I've known him for a long time, but rarely kept in touch, each time under friendly circumstances. Although I do recall loaning him money for new ships a few times and not seeing a single ISK in return...

He says he's mostly mission running now, a bit of exploration on the side, but for some reason he did have a rather significant dip in his security status in the past, so I was always wary of the man.

"Chadrick Belefonte?" Maya had to repeat it to make sure she had it right. I stood on the catwalk of my captain's quarters and stared up at my Blackbird hovering in the Hangar above me, Maya on comms through my internal implants.

"Yes. Have you met?" I asked, an odd sneer on my face.

"No. Can he be trusted?" she replied, voice full of uncertainty.

"No, but cut him some slack, would you. He's a friend."

"You keep odd company, Sain." she said, "When will he be here?"

"He hasn't finished training for a barge yet." I said, "Then he has to get one..."

"You make it sound like you're expecting a favor from him."

"Is it that obvious?"