Family Ties

Again I've been detained to the confines of a station due to a war. It's been a few days, then I hear word from Concord that yet another alliance has declared war against ours. So that's two alliances that want to kill us, for money I suppose.

It's much better than the alliance I was in before. There's nothing at all wrong with the people or the alliance itself. They were great to fly with and very helpful, yet they drew a lot of attention and seemed to be at war constantly. Here it's only once every few weeks. One of the higher ups in our alliance has offered to transfer people who do not want to fight in the war to a temporary corp so we can continue to mine in peace, spare for the odd harassment of CODE checking to see if we have a mining license.

I've only heard of CODE since coming to this side of Dodixie. I've heard of people buying mining permits but never knew why or what for. Seeing a few 'agents' in local prattling on about ridding New Eden of inactive mining operations was a little overzealous, yet they require you to purchase a mining license for ten million ISK per year to mine in peace. Otherwise, you are a target for a suicide attack even in high sec. The price is not the issue, but rather the principal is. This alliance seems more like a cult when I research them. I just avoid these 'agents' when they appear in local and keep quiet.

Amalea seems to be distance, which is odd, I think. Maya returned from her trip to Hek but hasn't contacted me much in the past few days. She has been holed up in her quarters and I don't really want to press the matter to ask what's going on. Amalea seems to be buzzing around as if looking for something. She spent a few hours a day in Maya's room, but other than that in her own quarters seemingly very busy.

I frequented the station's bar wherever I seemed to be. Today was in Croleur, which I came to in my blockade runner, a cloaked Crane. I came here to research some Blueprints for manufacturing, but now I was waiting at the bar for them to finish, drinking a stout Gallentian Ale of some kind. I just asked for whatever was on tap.

As I stared into the amber liquid of my beer, I felt an arm lay across my shoulders and a warm breath on my neck.

"Hello, Stranger." Amalea sat next to me and oddly, Maya next to her. She seemed distracted with her thoughts and mindlessly ordered the same drink as me.

"What are you two doing here?"

"We were in the neighborhood." she casually stated, sliding her arm off me. She waved the bartender for a drink for herself.

"You tracked me down." I said flatly.

"No, we followed you." She said, "There's a difference. It sounds less creepy the way I say it."

"How?"

"We snuck aboard your Crane." she said, "The crew kept quiet about it. Did you know that capsules put this breather on you if you get out in your ship? We had to wear one while on board."

"I had to wear one. You seemed fine." Maya corrected. This piqued my interest. Why was this? Maybe because her clone was newer than theirs?

"Anyway here we are." she said, leaving it at that.

"Why?" I pressed. Amalea sighed.

"I haven't given up, you know. I found out some things about you." she said accusingly.

"This again? Why must you pry?"

"I'm just curious, Sain. Your past can't be that bad. You aren't a bad person." she stated.

"I could have been." I said, taking a drink, "You don't know."

"Which is why I'm looking to find out."

"So you can better decide to trust me now?" I ask. I do want to know why this woman is digging so hard. I'm wondering why Maya is letting her.

"No." she said, "I'm just interested in knowing more about you."

"There's not much to tell."

"Were you a pirate?"

"No."

"A mercenary? An assassin?" she pressed.

"No!"

"A criminal of any kind?"

"What? No!"

"Amalea, leave him alone." Maya interrupted her last rapid fire question silencing her sister, "I think you should stop tormenting him about his past. If he doesn't want to say, then let him be."

"How do you trust him so much if he hides an obvious shady past?" Amalea protested, "Aren't you curious?"

"Sure, but I respect his privacy." Maya said, "I came here with you tonight because you said he was going to tell us about his past. You didn't say you were going to pry it out of him."

Their eyes were directed towards the door and I kept my gaze on my glass, not really caring who it was. The girls finally went silent and I was thankful for the brief moment of silence. Another Gallentian woman took the seat to my left but still I didn't move.

"Sain?" She spoke, her voice soft and sultry.

"Osiph." I simply replied. Only one woman wore that scent.

"Who are you?" Amalea asked, sounding a tad rude but I knew she didn't mean it.

"I suppose you could say, I'm Sain's 'shady past'" Osiph replied, raising her hand to the bartender, "I'll have what he's having."

There was an awkward silence and you could hear the beer being poured from across the room. I kept my eyes glued to my drink, my expression neutral.

"Why are you here? I thought you were in Jita." I finally ask.

"You said you had a blueprint for me. You know the Medium Antimatter Charge BPO?" she asked, "You researched one to be the best quality and said I could have one."

"Oh, right." I said, reaching into my jacket. I pulled out the BPO Cartridge and slid it across the bar under my left arm to her.

"You aren't even going to say hello?" she asked, sounding hurt, "No hugs this time?"

"I'm sorry, a blueprint isn't the only reason why you came here." I said, finally turning to look at her. She was leaning back against the bar with her leg crossed over her knee, wearing a Women's 'Structure' dress, with her neckline worn low as usual. She had an odd sneer on her face that made me worry.

"I did come here to see you." she said, sounding offended, "And to see if there was anything useful you wanted to part with that I could ship back to Jita for you."

"Ah, the other shoe drops..." I sigh.

"Well that's what I had wanted, but now I  seemed to have walked into an interesting conversation." She said, her sneer returning, "You two want to know about Sain's past?"

"Yes." Amalea nearly shouted, "How do you know Sain?"

"I'm his sister." she simply said.

"You don't look related. For one, He's Caldari and you're Gallente. Are you like Maya and I? Did your parents adopt you too?" Amalea asked, her question rambling on.

"No, I've never met our parents." Osiph said, "The reason we are now siblings is all Sain's doing."

"What happened?" Amalea asked, leaning forward. Her arm suddenly shot out to grab the bar as she nearly slipped off the bar stool.

"That is a very good story. The one you're probably looking to hear." Osiph teased.

"One that will have to wait for another night." I said standing up. I tapped my Neocom on the counter again to pay for everyone's drinks and turned to leave the bar.

"You aren't going to stay for the story?" Osiph called after me.

"I know what happens." I said, "And I doubt I can stop you from telling it to them, can I?" She sneered again and slowly shook her head. I quickly left before she started.

Shady Secrets

I'm finally doing level four missions for CreoDron, and I expected them to be, well, different. Level three's had a decent amount of drone resistance as I mined, but so far the level four drones aren't much different, when they are around...

Now, the biggest difference is the ore amount, which went up considerably. The only way to stay sane while doing these new missions is to fly a Mackinaw, equipped with a Micro Warp Drive. It seems every time I land in a dead space pocket with the ore, its near 50km away and I have to slow-boat towards it, wait forever to fill the ore hold, warp back to station, offload, then warp back to the same point as before, another 50km off the rock. Not sure why warping to the bookmarked rock at 0 still puts me there, but that was just one of the annoyances of it.

Another is gas mining. I know regular gas mining is done in low, null or wormhole space, but some agents have you huffing the stuff in high sec too. I knew they would come up which is why I brought my venture along for it, yet it mines so slowly, it made me kind of miss ice mining. Level fours are better money, but not by much. I hear combat level fours can out pay even high sec mining, but again I'm not there yet because I know I will lose ships and the sight of being scrambled still gets my adrenaline pumping, but not in a good way.

That reminds me, the meeting with Amalea happened a few nights ago at the same bar as before. It went a lot like I expected. We shared an isolation booth once more even when the place was deserted. I think the bartender was grateful at least that we did. She prattled on and on about various things, barely taking a breath to spew her words as I sat quietly and nursed a drink. I oddly listened to every word as her thoughts flowed from her like an eruption on a lava planet. She spoke of conspiracies, religion, elitism among capsuleers and even her favorite foods. I learned more about that woman that night than I knew about my own mother. It was only when I suddenly realized she had stopped talking for several minutes now did I notice she had done so, I glance over to see her face a bright pink and her eyes locked on the ice in her glass.

"I'm sorry. I'm ranting again. Maya has told me not to do that." she said, "Am I annoying you?

"No. It's fine." I reply.

"It's just that, well, you're not really saying anything. Maya tells me it's all business with you. Have you ever tried taking a break and relaxing a bit?" she asks.

"Relax?" I ponder, taking another sip. The drink was diluted to the point of sipping the ice water now. I set the empty glass on the smooth glass table, "I'm not that hardcore. I do relax all the time. I even have fun from time to time."

"But you never talk about yourself. Not to Maya at least." she said, "Do you have a shady past you're ashamed of? Any dirty secrets?" A sneer formed on her face and our eyes met. The question definitely wasn't a joke.

"None that are any of your business." I said, equally as snide, and she took it as half serious, just as I meant.

"So there is something." She said, leaning forward to stare at me. Her low cut shirt distracted me for a moment, and my eyes quickly redirected back to hers. She continued to stare, as if afraid to miss a subtle nuance that would shed light on my shadowy past. There was nothing she would see. Of that I was sure.

"Maybe not." I say, "Maybe I'm leading you to believe there's something when there is not for fun.

"So this is one of those rare times you have fun?" she asked, leaning back again, "Or is it a double fake?"

Crap.

"What do you mean?" I ask as the waitress places another drink for us both. She waited until the waitress left the isolation field.

"I think you have a shady past, but you want to make me think you're messing with me, when really you aren't and I'm right about you." she said crossing her arms, "The problem is, I'm not sure. I suppose that's how you want to keep it, right? You want to keep me guessing."

"What's the point anyway? Is it that interesting to find out about my past? Will it make a difference?" I ask. I was getting tired of the interrogation and didn't like this kind of attention. I sighed heavily and she spoke again.

"Sain, who is Chadrick Belefonte?" she asked. What hasn't Maya told her about me?

"A friend." I reply.

"Why are you friends with an Amarrian with low sec status?" she asked, "From what I hear, he sounds kind of shady."

"Because he is." I flatly said, "He hasn't told me what he did to catch the attention of Concord, but it wasn't anything too bad. I think he killed a venture capsuleer in low sec once to see what it was like to kill."

"To see what it was like to kill? Why do you associate with someone like that?"

"I don't normally. He's just someone from my 'shady' past that I knew. He won't leave me alone after what happened."

"And that was?"

"One of my 'dirty secrets'." I reply, sliding out of the booth. I finished my drink and placed the glass on the table, then paid for our drinks with a tap of my neocom at the bar as I walked past.

Releasing Pressure

The Nao sisters kept to themselves for the past while. After the last embarrassing display in the bar, I thought of it as a welcome pause to gather my thoughts. There was nothing wrong really, I just felt it was nice to have a while to compose myself.

Amalea was sitting on time and decided to help me mine but I was looking to get in good relations with a corporation around here to refine with that wouldn't take a large bite out of my refining yield. I hated doing security missions for people. They were fine to do, but I felt like it didn't increase my standings fast enough and I wasn't good at them, as most of my training was industry oriented. I used to grind mining missions for the Minmitar Mining Corporation back in the Aldrat area, and I liked doing them because I was good at it. I decided to do the same in this area, finding a lot of stations belonging to CreoDron and agents offering mining missions to increase standing. I started to haul in odd types of ore for them, wondering why the hell they would want the stuff if it was sub par for refining, but I don't ask questions and get paid. The missions became more and more risky, with rogue drones attacking as I mine, yet my own drones dispatched them fine.

I'm at the point where I'm nearing level four missions, which I have done for MMC and I recall having to use a combat ship to clear an area before I mine. I may have to go back to my corp's HQ to pick up my Thorax. I'm not sure I want to risk a Hulk. But after the level 4's, It shouldn't take long to hit a point with CreoDron where they stop taking a cut of my refined ore. Soon.

Again my eyes turn to manufacturing. I know the stations in the area are nearly wide open and Dodixie is only a few jumps away. It's ideal to build here, yet there are no research or copying facilities nearby. However, it's just in a few short days that I get access to our Alliance's POS so I can start researching blueprints there.

Amalea and I are mining in the same system, she in a belt and I in deadspace pockets on missions. She has moved up to fly my Mackinaw and is nearing T2 Mining Upgrade modules, however, the time left on her license is again running short.

The amount of raw ore Amalea is contracting me is a decent amount and it keeps coming, yet with less than 4 days on her license, I fear she may run out of time in a belt like before and be lost. With her in one system and me in another missioning, I was surprised to see her contacting me via video.

"Sain, you haven't said anything to me since that night at the bar." She said. Connected to the inside of my pod, her image seemed to float before my face, only signals to stimulate my mind to think so. I watch my drones take out another rather large rogue drone as I orbit a Pyroxeres type of rock called Augumene.

"Sorry." I reply. I had no reason to ignore her, but I found it hard to think of something to say.

"Look, maybe you got the wrong idea about what I said." She explained, "Maya told you about me, right?"

"Yes. But what is it about me that makes me alright to talk to?" I asked.

"Trust, mostly." She said, "And Maya told me many, many things about you."

"She has?" I ask, "Like what?"

"She told me you are scared of losing ships." she said. My face dropped and I felt embarrassed.

"What?" I ask, sounding defeated.

"No, no. Not like in a bad way. I understand most capsuleers wouldn't think twice about it, but I can tell you care about the welfare of your ships and crews." she said.

"My crew? You think about the regular people on your ship as well?" I ask, "Most capsuleers don't even realize they're there."

"Of course I do! And I think it's very thoughtful that you do as well! They're people too! I'm really offended that most capsuleers are such elitists that they don't even care for their own life or the lives of their crew!" she said, "It's like we're disconnected from the universe around us, in our own little bubble of society that is isolated from regular people."

"You think so?" I ask, hanging on every word. I initiate warp to return to the station my agent lived in.

"Yes, and there are other things I'm wondering about. Like who pays for your License every month? Maya tells me you haven't had to pay a credit for your time."

"I don't." I affirm.

"I really do believe this being called 'The Player' is helping you. I'm not sure why though. Perhaps it's this god that the Amarrians worship. Or something else." She rambled. All this time of not talking to me seemed to be like opening a high pressure valve and letting go the steam. It comes out in an avalanche

"You believe in 'The Player?'" I ask.

"It explains so many things." She said. There was a long pause, then she quickly spat, "We should go out."

"What?"

"Tonight, at the bar. Meet me there to talk. It's fun." she quickly said as if she were distracted by something. Probably targeting another rock or managing mining drones.

"Um, alright." I reply, unsure of what just happened.

"Ok. See you then." she quickly said then the line disconnected, leaving me perplexed. Now that I was docked, I handed in the ore and completed the mission, then exited my pod to walk to my quarters. I meant to call Maya to ask about Amalea's behaviour, but I was surprised to see she had caught a ride to Hek on a freighter. She left an email saying she had to see her boyfriend and that she would be back, leaving her sister in my care. I blinked a few times and re-read the message a few times, not sure what was going on. Now that the silence had been broken with Amalea, I just hoped I wouldn't regret it.