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.