Welcome to the eighth installment of the EVE Blog Banter , the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed here . Check out otherEVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

This month’s topic comes to us from me, Ga’len at The Wandering Druid of Tranquility.  He asks: “What new game mechanic or mechanics would you like to see created and brought into the EVE Online universe and how would this be incorporated into the current game universe?  Be specific and give details, this is not meant to be a ‘nerf this, boost my game play’ post like we see on the EVE forums.”

—

“Fire again!” I barked over the comm system of my Loki class Strategic cruiser, the Onslaught, my weapons teams complying with practiced discipline. A direct hit to their engine array, I smiled to myself from within my pod, satisfied. That ship wouldn’t be going anywhere now. I urged Aura to release the stasis webbifier, saving us capacitor, and zeroed in on the crippled ship. It’s velocity was nearing zero now with no engines. I kept the warp scrambler locked just in case. Next subsystem I would target would be their communications array, disabling them from calling for help. I probably should’ve done that first, but they had positioned themselves in such a way as to make their engines far too tempting. I cycled through until I locked on their comm array, then released a salvo of missles; another direct hit, this time for maximum damage. Their array sheared away from the ship gloriously. They were helpless before me.

I locked onto the with a focused transmission laser and hailed them. “This is Colonel Roc Wieler of the Tribal Liberation Force. You are suspect of pirating and have been disabled. If you surrender now, no harm will come to you and your crew; if you resist further, we will board your ship.” I waited patiently for their captain’s reply.

“We will never surrender to tyranny.” an angry voice hissed back at me. I closed the comm laser, and chose a boarding party to board the ship. We would have to disable their weapons systems before sending the assault shuttle across. 

By the time the boarding team had prepped and was ready for the incursion, the battlecruiser before us had been completely disabled, truly helpless before us.

I watched as the assault shuttle crossed the distance between us, thinking to myself, I hope most of them come back. They’re experienced, and I’d to have to replace them with rooks. Crews had gotten expensive lately; but to be fair, a skilled crew could make all the difference between life and death in the void. I had even purchased some upgraded crew quarters and training facilities for my staff, and it had paid off well, worth every isk invested.

The assault shuttle docked, and the boarding party advanced. 

—

• Targettable subsystems that adveserly affect a ship when destroyed.
• Hireable crews that grant bonuses to a ship based on expertise and experience.

Of course, like most people, I also want to see the following one day:

• Ambulation with PVP
• Ground vehicle PVP
• Atmospheric flight
• Planetary cities we can interact within.
• Moon and asteroid based POSes.

—

CrazyKinux’s Musing, EVE Blog Banter #8: Care for a little game of SecWars?
The Wandering Druid of Tranquility, Wow, that new thing is so shiny!!!
I am Keith Nielson, EVE Blog Banter #8 – Return of the Top Gun
Once More from the Beginning, 8th EVE Blog Banter May 2009 Edition
A merry life and a short one, EVE Blog Banter #8: In the Year of Our Awesome
Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah, Planets
Helicity Boson, Bantering the blog
Achernar, Unique adventures
Ecliptic Rift, OOC: EVE Blog Banter 8: Standings and secondary factions
The New Edener, EVE Blog Banter #8
Journey to New Eden, Eve Blog Banter #8: What new mechanic should be added to Eve?
Life, The Universe and Everything, Blog banter 8: mentorship
EVE Guru, EBB 8: Yarr! Prepare to be boarded!
The Ralpha Dogs, Greed Is Good, Greed Works
Rifter Drifter, Blog Banter 8: Strategic Gunnery
1. A Mule in EVE, Expanding EVE
2. Letrange’s EvE Blog, 8th Blog Banter
3. Roc’s Ramblings, Blog Banter #8
4. The Nude Nerd, Blog Banter #8
5. Scop’s Log, Blog Banter #8: “We’re caught in a tractor beam! It’s pulling us in!”
6. Speed Fairy, EVE Blog Banter #8: Charisma Tanking
7. Industrialist with Teeth, EVE Blog Banter #8: It’s Like Tetris for OCD People
8. Diary of a Pod Pilot, EVE blog banter #8: Killing in the name of
9. Talk Unfraid, Physical Communications
10. More to come…

As I draw ever closer to my 200th post, I just have to sit back in quiet gratitude to all of you. Since my first very posting, to over 16,000 Capsuleer users, to 3D artwork, music recordings, novel writing, and video production (coming 2010), you’ve all been incredibly valuable to me. Often I bask in your compliments, aiming to continue the high level of passion and detail I put into all my efforts; sometimes feeding on your critical feedback to zero in on areas of improvement. 

The other thing that has been quite surprising in my journey thus far is the “celebrity” status that I slowly seem to be building; sometimes it’s shout outs in local, other times it shot ats in local, but I also get many emails directly, and Sam and I both are getting plenty of kudos on the Capsuleer forums for our efforts there. I can’t wait until Fanfest; I’m trying to put together some special promotion stuff for Roc, but we’ll see if time and money allow.

So today, as a special treat, I’m going to share some of the more interesting pieces of fan mail I’ve received over the last several months.

And as always, thanks for believing.

—

I just wanted to quickly say thanks for all you do, but I gotta ask, how do you keep up with it all? iphone, music, wallpapers, writing, it’s kinda crazy. Where do you find the time? – 11th hour

Clones. Lots of clones.

Seriously though, I need to set a few things straight. Capsuleer was PyjamaSam’s baby from the start; I simply wanted to contribute in any way I could. Turned out to be a good move on both our parts, but most of the heavy lifting is still done by Sam (though I am learning XCode as quickly as possible). As for the rest, I do possess a finite amount of energy though an unlimited amount of passion. The only way I accomplish anything is from the neverending support of a few wonderful people close to me. They know who they are, and they know how much I appreciate them above all others.

I have your Bio CD sample, and have thought about buying your CD, but the online samples never work. Is it available by digital download anywhere?

Cafepress sucks in this regard. They don’t let you do samples, yet it sits there on your page. What’s up with that? I’m glad you like the sample, and I assure you the rest of the CD is of the same high quality. You can even read some reviews:

PSYCHEDIVER

WAYPOINT REACHED

My next CD, “One Night of Roc”, has finished recording, and is now in post-production. It was recorded live and will be available this summer both as a physical CD and as a digital download via iTunes! The Bio CD will potentially be re-released as a digital download as well if there is enough interest.

Whatever happend to the Rocalicious calendar? I kept checking your store but never saw it! – Hot N Heavy

Well, that’s the problem with taking on too many things sometimes; the mind is willing, but things just get in the way. By the time I had the free schedule to pursue the calendar, it was already March of this year. So instead, I’ve been working on it slowly over the course of this year and hopefully will something sexy for the ladies for next year! Of course, knowing my luck, CCP will release Ambulation before then, and my calendar will be obsolete.

Love your blog, and you’re a very talented artist. I’m confused though. Roc is a Colonel in the Tribal Liberation Force, but he is also an aspiring musician? It just doesn’t seem to gel, and I have a hard time figuring out how your personal storyline works. Are you from the future recollecting about the past? Are you in the present? Are you the real you sometimes too? It’s hard to tell when you’re slipping in and out of character and past/present/future self. I hope you can make it more clear in the future so my brain stops hurting. – Dazed

Yes. Hope that clears things up for you.

Hi Roc. Long time lurker, first time sending a fan mail, lolz! I really love your stories with Mynxee, but when are you two finally gonna hook up and do the nasty? I mean, anticipation is good for only so long! We wants to see the sexy! – Needa Life

Mynxee and I are always working on collaborative ideas together. Sometimes, they pan out, sometimes they don’t. We’re working on something pretty interesting to us right now, and if it works out, our readers will be the first to know. Besides, you’re making too many assumptions about our relationship. Who says we haven’t done the “nasty” already and we just don’t kiss and tell?

Do you even PLAY the game anymore? You never login. How am I supposed to pod the “Hero of the Republic” if he has no balls to even leave a station? – Not Wensley

Oh puhlease Wens. Everytime I login and ask if you’re ready, you cry how you’re on the other side of the galaxy somewhere and it would take too long to get to me. Heard of jump clones there, ya yarrin bastard? Get yourself to Dal, and we’ll duke it out. Nuff said.

Self-professed Roc fanboi here! I love your Bio CD and can’t wait for One Night of Roc. I follow your career on every blog you’re mentioned, read your E-ON articles, even read your Eve-mag.com interview! I’ve bought most of the stuff you sell on your store, but was upset when I saw the “Property of Roc” thong panties are only available for women! Any chance you can sell a men’s version? – Viking Steve

Well Steve, a little creepy/cyber stalkerish that you track me, but um, thanks for being such an enthusiastic fan? And about the man panties, seriously, WTF?

With your anti-pirate bias, your love of faction warfare, your work on Capsuleer, and overall passion for Eve, I was surprised to find you didn’t run for CSM. Any reason you didn’t? And any chance you will in the future? – Nervous Zombie

I enjoy politics when it’s fun for my rants and stories. When a game becomes real work, well, that’s a line I don’t cross. Ironic, I know, considering all the efforts I make surrounding the game, but I guess I do that because it’s not “demanded” work, if you know what I mean. Sam and I answer to each other on Capsuleer, sure, but we’re both pretty easy going, and self motivating. 

As for the future? Does anyone know what the future holds in store for Roc? Well, the upcoming “Path to Freedom” novel does. Perhaps I’ll have to give a snippet from it to my users sometime in the near future.

Hey Roc,

my name is Hanna (22), I come from Germany how do you like me so far?
I’m about to write you a fan letter, so listen and repeat. OK then, listening suffices.

I hope my English is good enough to understand, I just had a beer, cause alcohol improves my foreign lenguage skills just to be on the safe side. But it actually doesn’t matter, don’t worry, I’m not gonna say anything interesting. By the way, fair warning, cause if words fail me, then they positively run in terror from my bad grammar. But chocking noises are serious comments as well, right? No, seriously – in that case I try other ways of expression: taking pictures of flowers, juggling axes, fire twirling with socks stuffed with coconuts, taming wild horses, making human sculptures

(I thought that’s funny at least in my head).

Well, instead of learning I always do any crap in the internet that’s basically how I found your website. Meanwhile four days had past and I can’t stop reading. I just can’t. When I had time to be online as from the evenings, I did nothing but reading your blog since the last three nights. And when I had a look at the clock again, it was already too late to go to bed early – and besides, sleeping at night is way too mainstream, don’t you think?

So I made three nights of it. Result the next days I was so overtired that I wasn’t able to focus on anything. I had to turn down the radio to back into a parking space (granted, I always have to do that),

PS: Have a good one! In Germany, it’s 2.00 a.m. and I have to catch up on some sleep now.

Simply, wow. You are now of my favourite top three people of all time! Thank you Hanna!

ISENAN SYSTEM – GALLENTE SPACE
FEDERAL INTELLIGENCE OFFICE TESTING FACILITIES

 Dozens of workers scurried around the floating O-ring shaped apparatus, hurredly triple-checking their assigned systems, verifying everything was ready to go. Every calculation had to be exact to avoid cataclysmic failure. 

Dr. Jesse Pervect stood shock still, his arms wrapped around himself, a nervous habit he had developed in childhood, and watched all the various sensor screens, mentally ticking off successful algorithms and settings. His team of Quantum physicists and astrophysicists had been assigned with the task of stabilizing a wormhole, a feat similar in theory to that of creating a jump gate. Jesse had worked on the construction of many gates, the manipulation of artificial gravity, light and magnetism while balancing the right distribution of matter versus energy and monitoring the topology of space/time almost second nature to him. Billions of exacting calculations all processed by cutting edge artifical intelligence units, monitored by well paid engineers, stargates were one of the greatest accomplishments in recent New Eden history.

Creating artifical temporal distortions was one thing; manipulating unstable naturally occuring phenomenom was quite something different.

For months they had been working around the clock at this project, and Jesse was excited that it had final come to this stage of testing. If they could stabilize one of these “Sleeper” wormholes, the Gallente Federation would have steady access to some of the greatest technological discoveries ever seen! It was terribly exciting, and Jesse was thrilled to be leading this scientific team.

His counterpart didn’t share the same enthusiasm about the project. Genus had been around the universe too long to believe that when given the chance, the absolute worst would always happen. He had worked in private security, served in the military, contracted as a merc, and countless other thankless brutal jobs over the years, but it had served him well; he finally was in a position of power in his life. 

To him, this project reeked of stupidity, trying to stabilize a wormhole with enemies of still unknown capacity; it was foolish. The Sleepers were too much of a risk in their own space; who knew what they would do in normal space? He had kept abreast of expeditions digging deeper and deeper into wormhole space; some as far as “Class 7”. “Class 9” was the deepest and most deadly type of wormhole space, though he hadn’t heard of anyone who had gone in that deep and survived.

Sure, it would be profitable beyond imagination if the government pulled it off, but when had he ever believed in government? It was a power grab, plain and simple. The Federation needed an edge in the war desperately, and desperation often made for reckless decisions. 

He looked at the display screen to his left at the small holographic image of Dr. Pervect; the man was obnoxious and carried a foul body odour Genus was convinced Pervect wasn’t even aware of. Genus had his fleet positioned and ready for the worst. 

“We’re ready here, Pervect.” He said, the doctor nodding. 

Dr. Pervect scurried about, doing last minute checks, then finally called his highest level research assistant to his side. “DNA imprint on my mark.” he said, both he and his assitant readying their thumbs on the countdown timer.

“Mark.”

They both pressed their thumbs gently on the synchronized starting panels, the system verifying success and beginning the two minute timer.

A gentle hum started throughout the O-Ring as it two slightly smaller O shaped rings, hinged on the static outer structure, began building up speed, rotating around each other rapidly. Eventually they would hit critical momentum, and then be infused with heavy matter to create the desired distortion field. With some AI assisted manual adjustments, they should be able to project a large enough field to envelope the wormhole and stabilize it indefinitely through the creation of perpetual energy.

90 seconds showed on the timer as everyone nervously awaited their potential triumph, and potential failure.

60 seconds and the main O-Ring began to vibrate, the inner rings moving too fast for the human eye to follow.

30 seconds and they had achieved optimal speed. Dr. Pervect began injecting heavy matter into the equation, the AI assisting to exacting measurements and flow.

15 seconds and blue energy could be seen from the center of the O-Ring, growing in circumference as expected.

0 seconds and everyone held their breath, waiting.

Dr. Pervect checked all systems once more; success. They had created self sustaining energy. The O-ring could run indefinitely. He continued running diagnostics against the wormhole anomaly, and signalled Genus to proceed with his portion of the experiment.

Genus moved a portion of his fleet into position, keeping some of his dreadnoughts in seige mode on this side of the wormhole as a safety precaution.

Slowly, some eight Gallente made, Dominix class battleships entered the wormhole. Of all his research, remote repping Domis seemed to have been the most effective agains the Sleepers to date, not that they were planning on engaging any today.

As the battleships disappeared into wormhole space, Genus checked his readings of the wormhole. It’s mass remained constant; it wasn’t collapsing. The damn fool doctor had done it. 

He shook his head in disbelief and checked the readings again. No change; stable wormhole. Unfreakingreal, he thought to himself.

“2IC, what’s your status?” Genus commed his commander inside the wormhole. Typically, the Sleepers were passive, hence their name, only coming to “life” to defend their territories, and defend them viciously. He wasn’t too worried about the squad of battleships he had sent in.

There was no response. He checked the signal and tried again.

“2IC, I need your status, now.” Genus growled into the comm. When on response was forthcoming, he commed Dr. Pervect. “Pervect, I’m not getting a response from my team. Is the O-ring generating some type of interference to our systems?” he asked.

“If it was, would you be talking to me now?” Dr. Pervect replied smugly. Genus hated that little bastard; he hated all brainiacs really. In the natural order, he would eat little shits like that for breakfast, not that he ate shit at all, it was just a metaphor, albeit a piss poor one.

He urged his own ship towards the anomaly, not wanting to break the dreads out of seige mode just yet. He felt confident enough that taking a peek wasn’t a reckless risk. Slowly, he approached the wormhole, when he saw the first ship coming through from the other side.

A sleek, dark Sleeper battleship emerged, opening fire immediately. 

“Evasive pattern Echo 2!” Genus barked, his ship’s crew sending the vessel into a slow roll away from the Sleeper ship. “All portside weapons batteries, open fire!” 

Genus grabbed hold of something as the Sleeper ship sideswiped his ship, bumping in uncontrollably out of the way.

“Dreadnoughts 1 – 6, tear that thing apart!” Genus screamed, the consequences of losing this engagement railing through his mind. He did NOT want to be the man written in history as responsible for unleashing the Sleepers into normal space. No way in hell.

“Pervect! Shut the O-ring down! Abort!” he yelled through the comm with the scientist.

Jesee and his teams were a flurry of activity, adrenaline and fear pumping through them all. They were not fighters, they were men and women of science and knowledge; this was not their forte. 

He gave orders to his people which were quickly followed, but the system readouts weren’t matching up to what he expected; the O-ring wouldn’t deactivate. 

He hollered for his assistant, and they thumbed their DNA ID into the emergency override and shutdown panel. No response. The O-ring was self-sustaining and would not be shut down. Genus was going to love this, Jesse thought to himself.

“Well doctor,” Genus said without a hint of emotion, “I’m sorry to hear that, truly. But I have my orders. In anticipation of this type of failure, I’ve been ordered to destroy the O-ring.” Genus said, another explosion shaking his ship. He could see Dr. Pervect go pale, even through the holographic image.

“But my people…” Dr. Pervect stammered. To his credit, the first words out of his mouth weren’t about his own mortality; the smug little man had finally gained a bit of respect from Genus.

“Again, I’m truly sorry doctor. Genus out.” He switched off the comm.

The Sleeper ship was slowly holding its own against his ships, but Genus knew he could tip the scales in his favour.

“Dreads 7 – 12, target and destroy that O-ring!” he shouted into fleet comms.

Within moments, the O-ring exploded brilliantly, propelling debris in all directions. The Sleeper ship was closest to the O-ring, receiving the brunt of its accelerated shrapnel in its hull.

“All ships, fire!” Genus screamed.

The Sleeper ship finally fell, the wormhole soon collapsing behind it. It was over.

—

Genus stood before his employers.

“After reviewing your report on Incident D44-978C-002, we concur with your recommendation. While the tempation of reward is quite high, the risk of unleashing the Sleepers into known space is too risky a price for the Federation to ever pay.

As such, all research to date on this project will be sealed permanently, and it will be entered into the records that no such research will be legally allowed again under penalty of death within the Federation.

We thank you for your service above and beyond what was expected, and have thusly deposited a significant bonus into your account. That is all.”

SISEIDE SYSTEM
HEIMATAR REGION
SAFESPOT NEAR G5 YELLOW SUN

The sleek Gallente shuttle docked silently into the berth of the Tribal Justice, my flagship for the Tribal Liberation Force. I stood on deck as the shuttle descended, landing gently on its struts, and began its post-flight shutdown. I admired the curves of the vessel; she looked to do well in atmosphere. 

A newly promoted squad of elite marines stood behind me, three to a side, at perfect attention. I noticed Daul Halwick amongst them; he had come far very quickly since our chance meeting not too long ago. The kid was sharp minded, able bodied, loyal, and took initiative. I could see on his heavy suit that he was 2IC of this squad; impressive.
 

A hiss from the Gallente shuttle drew all our attention as the boarding ramp lowered, barely making any noise whatsoever as it connected with the metal deck. Two men walked down the ramp.

The first was a thin Gallente with a soft face and dark brown wavy hair. He was young, but that was misleading. Luminaire General Val Erian was a well decorated man, having nearly 2000 successful wartime kills to date. We had worked together previously, but it wasn’t often anymore the Minmatar and Gallente undertook co-operative initiatives. To be blunt and honest, we were near a point of desperation in trying to defend our territories, yet still were doing better than the Gallente; the Caldari had literally crushed them. 

The second man down the ramp was someone I knew only slightly better, though we had shared several mutual friends. He was only slightly shorter than me, which meant he was short, and very slight of frame. His sunken cheeks made him look malnourished, but there was a fire in his dark eyes. He looked around, taking in every detail of his surroundings, his distrust as a one-time pirate still showing through. Hallan had been through a lot lately; and I’d wager it had taken all of his skills and strength of character to come this far.

“Luminaire General Erian, Federation Minuteman Turrek, welcome aboard; I am so very pleased you could come.” I began, trying to make this pompous formality sound sincere. It was one of the things I was learning to dread the most, not being able to just say what’s on your mind, but going through the proper motions of respect until the moment eventually arose when both parties could finally just get to the point. Even then words were guarded, and vague resolutions offered, but it was the way these things went. It made me miss the days when I could just sit with a pint at a pub with another capsuleer and chat. 

Erian offered his hand as he finished his descent down the boarding ramp of the shuttle, and enthusiastically took mine. “Matar Colonel Wieler, the pleasure is indeed mine. You look slightly less than brooding today, good news in your little part of the universe?” Val’s smile was genuine, but the subtle digs at me didn’t go unnoticed. It was another part of the game I had chosen to play, and one that tested my very finite patience.

“Nothing noteworthy, sir. Besides, with how busy you must’ve been lately against the Caldari, I wouldn’t want to distract you with our recent good fortune.” I smirked as the General’s mask of expression was momentarily lost revealing a snide and condescending response before he could recover. It was satisfying to know I could hold wits with those far more experienced in this arena than I.

“I believe you know Minuteman Turrek.” Val Erian directed attention to Hallan. “I shook Hallan’s hand firmly; it truly was good to see him, given some of the tragedies that had befallen him of late. “Good to see you, Hallan. The uniform looks good on you.” I smiled broadly.

Hallan had been part of the Bastards Pirate Alliance based in Evati until recently. I had tried to work from within their organization earlier this year, trying to utilize their unique position in Minmatar space to open a “back door” into Amarr space. It hadn’t gone entirely well, but there were at least a few whom were impacted by my time there.

Hallan had been faced with the decision we all come to eventually as capsuleers, “Can I live with the moral consequences of my actions?” For Hallan, the answer had finally become no. 

He had left the pirate organization and enlisted in the Federal Defence Union, his experiences and proficiences already working in his favour. I was sure he would enjoy the new path he had chosen for his life, and be rewarded in more ways than he had probably considered.

“Gentlemen, if you would please come with me.” I said, ushering them forward. The marines turned on their heels as one, escorting our guests to an antechamber near by.

After some refreshments and compulsary small talk, I finally requested the presence of Hallan alone, whilst an aide give Luminaire General Erian a tour of the Tribal Justice.

Once alone, we spoke freely.

“Hallan, I’m sorry for what happened to you. I had nothing to do with it.” I began.

“Yeah, I know Roc, but it happened because of your damned crusade. Course, it’s a moot point now that I’m fighting the good fight I guess.” Hallan said, somewhat introspectively.

“Still, I just wanted to say it personally so there is no bad blood between us. And I need your help.” 

Hallan was shocked, but quickly replied. “No.” 

He knew what I needed to ask of him. He knew I was going to ask for intelligence on the Bastards. He knew I wanted information on their day to day business, their trading partner, their hunting grounds, their defensive codes, everything. I knew I wouldn’t get it through force or intimidation, so I needed to appeal to his sense of right and wrong.

“Hallan, please. I can’t in touch with Mynxee.” I said in quiet tones.

“And why would she want to talk to you right now anyway?” Hallan retorted, volume behind his voice. “You’re hunting down pirates Roc! And last time I checked, she’s a pirate! See the issue?” 

Hallan was irate. I couldn’t blame him, but it wasn’t like that. I kept justifying it to myself; it was the only way I could live with my own moral consquences for the actions I had chosen.

“What did you think would happen? That she’d give it up? Come and be swept into your arms and pop out a brood of little Rocs? Wake up, man. You’re not that blind!” Hallan was on a good rant and I let him finish uninterrupted.

“You’ll be lucky if you she ever talks to you again! Until I reformed I was ready to shoot you on sight, despite our friendship. You’re flagged now Roc; every pirate in the Republic will be gunning for you.”

He paused and I waited. Then I waited some more just to be sure.

“You done?” I asked calmly.

Hallan shook his head in the affirmative and I continued.

“It’s not that she isn’t simply not returning my calls, Hallan. She’s disappeared completely. Shae can’t find her, Venom, none of the Hellcats I talk with. I don’t know what’s happened, and that doesn’t sit well with me in any way. As you said, I can’t really get very far looking into this on my own, and I need to know. I need to know she’s ok, even if she’s just going out of her way to ignore me. I can live with that. I have no choice. Just let me know she’s ok, alright? Can you do that for me?”

There was passion in my plea, genuine heartfelt concern for Mynxee. And how couldn’t there be after all her and I had shared?

Hallan contemplated my words, taking his time to respond. “Alright, Roc. I’ll look into it. But no details. All you get to know is if she’s ok. Nothing more. And don’t pull strings to ask me anymore favours alright? Our two militias work together, but you’ve got a lot to prove to me before I trust you personally.”

I nodded once, then stood, signalling to an aide that our meeting was over.

Val had almost finished his tour of the ship, so the timing was perfect. We went through the formalized gestures of farewell, and my shoulders sagged in relief once the Gallente shuttle had departed.

The last few days had been very trying, and I was exhausted.