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.

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.