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.