Mortal Immortals - Pods & Footprints in the Dust

The White Rabbit Syndrome and "Off With Their Heads!"

2011-04-10T00:46:00.002-04:00

After posting this in THE OLD TRUSTY FORUMS in the General Discussion thread - New EVE Online forums temporarily disabled - setup by CCP Navigator, I decided it should have been here in my blog, so, I plagiarized myself...

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I usually keep my arse out of whine-fests, troll parades, and general rock throwing, but this fiasco warrants grabbing my pitchfork and joining the mob if only because of the fact that after the two test runs of the new forums, they were released not only with HUGE, wide-open security problems, but little if any of the testers' feedback was heeded. I took part in the first test run (unfortunately I couldn't find enough time due to RL issues to help with the second) but when the forums opened, I could only find a miniscule few examples of the user feedback actually being used. Why bother with tests CCP, if our input is thrown out and disregarded along with the garbage?

It is becoming obvious that someone in upper management doesn't have a clue. They want their new toys - the way it was designed, regardless of flaws and lack of features - out the door and to hell with what the customer wants, needs, envisions, or finds lacking, and worse, to hell with the silly 'polished' idea. "Get it out so that we can move onto the next new toy and we'll finish fixing it later (maybe)", seems to be this person's (or persons') motto.

I actually have a lot of respect for most of the dev teams at CCP, and I applaud their apology and acknowledgement of the problem here as well as their dropping back and punting the old forums into service again. Many companies (no *cough* *S.O.E* *cough* names here) would have taken the stoic, we-know-best-and-you-couldn't-grasp-the-issues route by simply reopening the old forums with a message along the lines of "Due to technical issues, we will be using the old forums until further notice." and that would be that. I'm not implying that the web team should not be tarred-and-feathered for this MAJOR coding ineptitude they called a forum, but I seriously believe the issue began and ended in the top echelon of management. Something this bad quite frankly should not have happened, not even in the devs' worse nightmares. The issue HAD to be a time/deadline/personnel squeeze. Plain and simple.

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~~~Spyke

EVE: A Future Vision

2011-03-29T04:42:00.000-04:00

As most of you know by now if you're an EVE player, CCP released a new trailer - EVE: A Future Vision - at Fanfest. Being, IMHO, one of the most awesome EVE trailers released to date and opening the door to huge amounts of speculation, there have been many blogs, articles and discussions popping up about it in the last few days. I decided to take my time with it and take a good look at the trailer (viewed it well over two dozen times), analyze the content, and try to estimate when, if ever we could see something like this in New Eden.

For those of you who haven't seen the trailer yet (where have you been?!), here it is...

There are some HUGE implications in there that smack ya right in the face...

Viewing windows that you can actually see through to outside the station.
The avatar animation in both the station and on the surface is unbelievable.
Orbital bombardment of the planet surface, from EVE into Dust 514.
Holographic communication with Dust 514 players (and other EVE players?).
The readouts on the battle screen showing details of the ground battle.
Station combat!

Into that list we can add the less obvious, smaller features and the background details...

The instant comm device that he flips open and closed while viewing the fleet outside.
The graphics planetside of the orbital bombardment is awesome.
The ground combat looks intense as does all of the ground equipment and weapons.

Now that is one hugely aggressive vision for the future of the EVE universe! Just the implications of the station combat alone are enormous. This could mean missions found only in stations, Dust players commissioning EVE players as assassins and bounty hunters just as EVE players will commission Dust players to take regions of the planets. Just in EVE alone, this could add a whole new dimension to bounty hunting, sabotage, spying, and corporate espionage, as well as open up a whole new set of skills and new blueprints for handweapons.

The orbital bombardment could mean attacks on PI complexes, and if we EVE players can hit the planet players, I'd wager a guess that Dust players will have a way to hit ships in orbit. Now THAT would make ya think twice before establishing an orbit above an enemy's planetary territory!

The viewing windows, holographic images, and the avatar animation opens all kinds of possibilities for player-owned establishments and quarters. Holographic entertainment in nightspots and your quarters; direct, face-to-face communications with anyone in EVE or Dust; windows and ports anywhere; and the very real possibility of avatar/environment interaction - sitting on chairs, stools, and counches; using various small objects like the handheld comm, hand-weapons, mugs, personal items in your quarters; laying on your bed or couch; putting things on your table, shelf, display case - the possibilities are almost limitless.

Now as wonderful as this all looks and sounds, we aren't even close to this ultimate EVE scenario yet. Considering that Incarna will be released this summer, in stages, with little more than socializing abilities at first, and Dust 514 is at least one to two years away, this vision is probably three to five years into the future. Hopefully no more than that. But we may start to see some of the Incarna promise within the next two years since it would have to be nearly complete by the time Dust 514 rolls out.

One thing is for sure though, if CCP holds to this vision while continuing to fix and polish the existing EVE as they have begun to over the past few months, EVE is going to be THE MMO sandbox that everyone else TRIES to imitate and we EVE players can look to be enjoying our game for many more years. EVE will be in a class all by itself... the ultimate, all-encompassing SciFi Space-Game MMO!

~~~ Spyke

UPDATE 0n "Lock-out Looming for Many EVE Players" - UPDATED!!!

2011-03-22T03:21:00.020-04:00

~ New update info at the bottom ~

The new Dev blog by CCP Zulu - Shader Model 2.0 Support Discontinued April 5th - has finally shed some light on the issue of players possibly facing a lockout due to not being able to access the Character Creator that I blogged about on Sunday, February 27, 2011. Apparently Shader Model 3.0 IS the requirement for the Character Creator that has caused so many to have issues with the CC.

In the Dev Blog, it is also announced that the grace period for the CC has been extended for another few months and that they (CCP) are working with a graphics card company (as yet undisclosed) to secure a discount for us to upgrade our cards. Now THAT is something you won't see a gaming company do everyday! I was upset with the way CCP handled this issue with their silence but I think this balances the equation and then some. I'd like to say thank you to CCP for this effort and for giving us time to upgrade our systems to comply with the new minimum requirement.

On a side note here, the blog states that they estimate that approximately 9000 players have graphics cards with Shader Model 2.0. Personally, I suspect that the number is significantly higher. They claim that these systems are roughly eight years old but they aren't taking into consideration newer computers built by companies that used the older tech to build cost-effective systems. My laptop is a prime example. It's a Dell Inspiron with a 17" screen that is only a little over four years old yet the Intel chipset only supports Shader Model 2.0 I'd wager that there are a LOT of others out there in the same situation.

Anyway, even though the possible discount won't help me much (as I stated above, I'm on a laptop with an integrated graphics chip - no upgrade for me. It's new system build time!), those of you who are affected by this should keep a watch on the Dev Blogs and/or here on my blog. As soon as they announce who the graphics card company is that they are working the deal with, I'll post it.

Guess I'd better close this now and start shopping for parts for that new build which should have occurred over a year ago when my old system fried. I've procrastinated long enough (now I've just got to come up with the money O.o )...

UPDATE: On 03/26/2011, CCP sent out emails to everyone about the graphics cards deal...

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OUT WITH THE (VERY) OLD
IN WITH THE NEW... FOR 10% LESS!

As mentioned in CCP Zulu's latest devblog, to ease the transition for those that need to upgrade to the new minimum video requirements, EVGA, NVIDIA and CCP Games have banded together to offer a 10% discount on select model EVGA video cards supporting Shader Model 3.0, Shader Model 4.0 and even DirectX 11 for today's latest games!

{Your Charter's Name's} EXCLUSIVE EVGA DISCOUNT CODE
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Your exclusive discount code is valid until April 17th 2011 at the EVGA US online stores for 10% off of any of the following popular video cards:

EVGA GeForce GTX 550 Ti FPB

EVGA GeForce GTX 460

EVGA GeForce GTX 450

EVGA GeForce GTX 440

EVGA GeForce GTX 430

We want to thank you for being a part of the world's most incredible online universe. Visit the EVGA EVE Discount Page for more details and to order your blazing new video card with a 10% discount, courtesy of EVGA and CCP Games.

- The EVE Online Dev Team

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If you haven't seen yours, check the email you used for your account(s) or check your junk/spam folder.

~~~ Spyke

Concurrent Skill Training

2011-03-21T04:33:00.001-04:00

The debate over whether or not training more than one character at a time on the same account should be a feature has been around since the beginning of EVE back in '03. Up until just this past year, most vets have been strongly opposed to any ideas or proposals which advocate more than one character training at a time. Most of the proposals and suggestions usually come from newbies to the game (I submitted one myself two years ago) and are usually shot down quickly with the likes of...

"If you want to train a second character at the same time, start a second account."

"No other game lets you do that, so why should EVE?"

"Training more than one character would make it too easy for botters and scammers to train alts for sale or as specialized ISK farmers."

This attitude seems to have changed somewhat for whatever reason. There is a proposal in the Assembly Hall forum - [Proposal] skill training for 2 characters on one account - that, even though it has only 25 supports so far, it has almost NO negative replies and of those that don't support it, the opposition isn't vehement while the arguments for it are good and sound. It is one of the first proposals that I've read that suggests paying for the privilege and it seems to have very few negative aspects to it.

I added my support to the proposal but with some changes and limitations proposed...

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I definitely agree that there should be some way to train more than one character on an account at the same time. The OP's suggestion is just as good as any I've read and has the advantage of both giving the players a wanted feature and putting more money in the CCP coffers. As far as this being a micro-transaction - HOGWASH. It's simply additional subscription fees. And since you still can only play with one character at a time, those who have two or more accounts so that they can play two or more characters simultaneously, would still keep those other accounts. I happen to have three accounts and I guarantee that I would be using this on all three accounts, at least to train a second character on each. The third would be as necessity dictated.

I would prefer though, that the price was a bit lower than a full sub price, and with the option of using PLEX as payment as well as the standard sub payment method...

Option #1 - Standard Payment Method (NOTE - Using this option you cannot use 3, 6, or 12 month plans except with only one character training and/or using PLEX for the others.):

1 Month/1 Character Training = $14.95
1 Month/2 Characters Training = $24.95
1 Month/3 Characters Training = $31.95

Option #2 - PLEX Payment Method (NOTE - Since PLEX costs more - #34.99/2 - than standard monthly subs, the benefit is seen in the training times):

1 PLEX applied to an account = Add 1 month sub time to account OR 1 month training on both 2nd & 3rd character OR 6 weeks training on 2nd character.
2 PLEX applied to an account = Add 2 months sub time to account OR Add 1 month sub time to account AND 1 month training on 2nd & 3rd character OR 2 months training on 2nd & 3rd character OR 3 months training on 2nd character.

In addition, training times would not be at the full 100% for all characters training...

1st Character always trains at 100%.
2nd character trains at 75%.
3rd character trains at 50%.

In the skill queue, you would designate the status of the character as 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. This could be changed and switched at any time so that no character is locked into a slower training rate.

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Those are my thoughts on this. This is a feature that I think is long past due in EVE and shouldn't be all that hard to implement. If this subject interests you (and it should if you play EVE), go read the proposal and support it or state your reasons against it. I'd like to know what you all think. You CAN leave comments here too folks. Just use the comment link below.

~~~ Spyke

A Base of Operations

2011-03-16T09:37:00.001-04:00

I recently had a conversation with my brother who had just started playing Lord of the Rings Online F2P (LOTRO), about the housing in that game. I think anyone who has played the game would agree that the housing in LOTRO leaves a lot to be desired (it sux). Some of the best housing implementations in MMOs have been in Ultima Online (UO) who basically broke the ground on this ‘fluff’ feature, Star Wars Galaxies (STG), and EverQuest II (EQ2), all of which had some really outstanding feature components but also had their share of drawbacks. Say what you will about SOE but they do know how to do housing in an MMO (and I believe, if my memory serves me correctly, that they've recently added housing to EQ as well).

I really liked the freestyle housing in EQ2. I used it as my base of operations, my place to get away from the grind, a place to regroup before setting off on my next set of quests and adventures, and I even held my guild meetings there at the request of the members because they loved the place (I spent a LOT of time, energy, and resources trying to make it awesome, and it paid-off). On the other hand, Turbine slapped the housing together in LOTRO because of an overwhelming player request and then basically ignored it besides adding more and more items for use in the limited hook system. Try as I did, my house was nothing more than a cookie-cutter copy of every other house of that size, with storage. It was nothing more than an oversized walk-in storage closet.

Many, if not most, MMOs today ignore this feature even though it has so much potential as a game feature. It gives the player a sense of being a part of the game’s world because you own a small piece of it. It is the single best way to establish immersion into the game’s universe. It also gives the devs a new source on which to base rewards and loot in the way of furnishings and accessories for the homes, and it establishes an often needed money-sink to help control rampant economies. Housing also tends to draw more casual players and RPGers into a game and is probably the single most requested fluff feature next to personal avatar customization.

With the introduction of the Captain’s Quarters and the upcoming Incarna, CCP is taking it’s first baby steps towards player housing in New Eden. In EVE up to this point, our ships were our homes but with Incarna, our characters will finally be walking in stations with full bodies instead of just a stagnant floating head portrait. There has been a lot of talk and speculation about what Incarna is going to entail… How will it affect the established gameplay? Will it be mandatory? Will there be combat &/or missions? Will it tie in at all with PI and eventually with Dust 514? Will it be nothing more than in-game socializing without any ‘meat’? All valid questions. But I haven’t seen much, if any, discussion on how the housing aspect is going to play out? Even when the CQ was unveiled the discussions focused mainly on its affect on docking and on its being mandatory, not on the housing itself.

The first thing that came to my mind as I read CCP Chiliad's dev blog - Looking Ahead: Captain's Quarters and the Road to Incarna - were, "will we have a CQ in every station?" That would be kinda weird, especially if we can customize them with mods and accessories. As a matter of fact, can we customize them? Will we be able to interact with the items within the CQ such as sit on the couch shown in front of the main screen or lie on the bed? Will we be able to add other pieces of furniture? Will there be smaller items that will be placeable and useable within the CQ like trophies, mementoes, military/corp/alliance decorations and insignia displayed on plaques, mugs, food and drink, holograms, skill books, blueprints, maps, clothing, ship models, etc., etc., etc. Will we be able to visit other players’ quarters to hold meetings, entertain, or just hang out to take a break from the grind?

If there are ports, will we be able to actually see what is happening outside the station within our view? Will there be functional market screens, maps to plot courses, an accessible database, corp screens, a PI screen, manufacturing & research screens? Will we have a comm (chat) to interact with others besides the normal chat?

Is the CQ going to be the ultimate housing or will there be more? Perhaps the CQ is just the housing allocated in each station for visiting pilots but there will be an option to purchase permanent quarters that would be uniquely our own, and the real customization will be happen here instead of in the standard CQs. If there is going to be additional housing to purchase, will there be different sizes, layouts, and locations within the stations? On how many stations will a player be able to have a personal quarters? Only one? One per system or constellation? Per region? Per empire? Or as many as you can afford? Will corporations and alliances be able to purchase headquarter and office complexes similar to the guild halls of other games?

CCP wants to make EVE the ultimate Sci-Fi space game – a complete, all-encompassing universe. Housing, if done right, can be a HUGE step towards reaching that goal. I’m hoping that they look at this as an essential part of Incarna and don’t slap in a standard set of rooms that have no real use and is nothing more than eye candy. When I need to unwind after that last roam, or need to gather myself before the upcoming big fleet battle; when I want to take a break from making ISK out in the roid belts, the moons, or the PI enterprise; when I want to plot my strategy with my closest buddies for the take-over of the empire; if I want to lay-low for awhile from my enemies but still have access to my personal empire however big or small; or simply want to take some time away from the turmoils of space and do a little customizing, I want to be able to dock my ship and go home for awhile. I want a base of operations.

What are your thoughts on this? I know a lot of EVE players couldn’t care less about this aspect of Incarna, nor about Incarna itself. But I suspect that there are just as many that do. I’d like to hear your thoughts on the matter, pro or con.

An Apology...

2011-03-14T05:40:00.002-04:00

I swore to myself and to you all that I would have a blog post up at least once per week but I have already missed that mark this past week. In truth, I've been sick as a dog (where did that expression come from anyway? o.O ) for the past four days. I've started the blog three times only to fall asleep or just couldn't stay focused due to the fever and throbbing headache. Sooo, I will post two or maybe even three this week and then stay on track. Stay tuned...

~~~ Spyke

The Blacksheep Pilots of EVE

2011-03-06T19:21:00.001-05:00

“To be successful in EVE, and the only way to have fun, is to join a corporation as soon as possible.”

“If you're a newbie to the game, you'll want to join a corporation straight away.”

“EVE is not a solo game. There is no soloing at all. YOU DO NOT SOLO! Conquering the universe is best done in groups.”

Sound familiar? In nearly any forum or chat discussion, guide for newbies, or review, invariably you will find something similar to the above statements. The general consensus in the EVE community is that you do not solo, and if you do, you will be owned at every turn, never learn how to play the game ‘properly’, and generally just have a terrible time. I wonder how many gamers who prefer solo play just looked elsewhere for their gaming enjoyment based on this type of misleading ‘gospel advise’.

EVE can in fact be played solo. There. I said it. I’ll probably be hunted down as a heretic and sold to Amarrian slavers, but this lie had to be exposed. I play EVE solo and have done so since day one, two years ago. With my crew of nine characters I enjoy the same things as every corp member does… I play the market, I research and manufacture, I mine roids, I run missions, I do contracts (both sides), I rat, I haul & smuggle, I go bounty hunting, I engage in piracy of nearly every kind, I explore, I run a PI enterprise, I scan-down anomalies, I experiment with various ship fittings, I PvE and PvP, I engage in conversations in chat channels, and I even join gangs on occasion for roams and other activities, and I plan on eventually joining in on some of the Incursion fights and maybe doing some faction warfare in the future. And one of my characters, the one whom you see on this blog, is nearing the day when he’ll enter his first wormhole. And all of this is solo.

I’ve set up two personal corporations whose members are my characters and my brother’s (who has been on hiatus for the past eight months but pops in once in awhile for a few days). Eventually, I may start taking applications and actually let others join me, but it’s not absolutely necessary since I’m having a lot of fun right now. I’ve always been a solo-type player in every MMO I’ve played. Usually after a year or two though, I’ll form a guild (only ever joined one and regretted it) and enjoy that aspect of the game too. But EVE is a bit different in this respect. You CAN enjoy everything in the game without EVER being a member of a corporation. You can even find the occasional huge fleet battle that accepts help from outsiders, especially if you already know someone in that corp.

Playing solo though is not for the faint-hearted. It can be tough at times. You have to play smart and keep a low profile. Actually, by posting this blog article, I'm taking a risk in that if the wrong people see it and realize that I'm a loner, I could be in trouble. If you play nonchalantly or just plain crazy and antagonize the wrong people, you’re liable to get wardec’d (if you've set up your own personal corp as I have) or anger someone enough to have entire corporations (or alliances) hunting you. You have to be on your toes at all times because you have no backup to come to your rescue. But even if you become the hunted, you can survive and have fun by viewing it as an additional challenge that few get to experience. That’s what makes EVE so unique in the gaming world even among the games that claim to be sandboxes. In EVE, ANYTHING is possible! There is nothing set in stone, besides the rules that govern the game mechanics themselves. If you want it bad enough and have the guts, time, and imagination to put your ideas into motion, there is nothing in EVE that you can’t do. That holds true especially for the solo player.

In a future blog, I’ll be posting a guide for the solo player of EVE. Noob or Vet, if you want to try something really new in the way of adventure and challenge, try soloing in the EVE universe. It is not only possible, it’s fun, and there’s just simply nothing like it in today’s MMO gaming world.

~~~ Spyke

Lock-out Looming for Many EVE Players

2011-02-27T16:03:00.001-05:00

With the end of February drawing near, many EVE players may be facing the inability to enter the game we all love so much...

Back in January, the Incursions expansion launched with the inclusion of the much anticipated new Character Creator, the forerunner of Incarna. Love it or hate it, the Character Creator is on the leading edge of technology and has no equal in the gaming world. Even though it launched with a limited amount of hair styles and colors, skin tones, accessories, and clothing for the characters, and its fair share of bugs, CCP has indicated that there will be more in the coming months and has worked on correcting many of the problems. Players have even been given opportunities to redo their portraits if they weren't happy with the first attempts. But there is one problem that CCP has been all but silent on...

Many players are completely unable to access the Character Creator. When attempting to load the CC, the loading indicator advances to the end of the bar and freezes, and the Character Creator window remains black and empty. Over the past weeks since the launch, many suggestions and workarounds have been posted in numerous threads in the forums and CCP Support has replied to petitions with possible solutions as well but for most of us (yep, I'm one of the unlucky cusses) none of these 'fixes' has worked.

CCP has quietly acknowledged the existence of the problem in one line of the Known Issues for Incursions 1.1.0 shortly after launch but has otherwise shown no indication that they are investigating the issue, much less working on a fix. The fact that there is a wide spectrum of system configurations affected by this seems to indicate that the problem is not in the end-users' graphics abilities but rather something in the coding. And unlike the SSE Issue which was explained and players were given a heads-up (albeit a short one), there has been no explanation nor a revised set of system requirements for EVE or the Character Creator. It must therefore be assumed that since CCP has been so silent on this, that whatever the cause is, it cannot be changed and is in all probability necessary for the upcoming Incarna.

Which brings us back to the looming lock-out... The Character Creator launched with the caveat that players would have a month grace period in which to create their new avatars. During that time, their portrait in-game, in the forums, and in EVE Gate, would be the blank 'mystery' avatar since the old portraits were removed with the launch. At the end of that grace period, players who have not created their new avatar will not be able to log-in without going through the Character Creator. They will be locked out! The thirty days has already passed since launch but we must assume that the end of the grace period is drawing near and the announcement could come any day now. This is going to affect a much larger portion of the EVE community than did the SSE requirement upgrade.

Even if you aren't affected by this or if you are one of those who can access the Character Creator but are still having issues within it, or even if you just don't want to use the CC on principal, I'm asking you to go to my post (posted under my other account's main character - Rhok Relztem) in the Assembly Hall forums - [Proposal] Character Creator option - use randomly generated portrait - and add your support. The tl;dr version is a proposal to add an option for using a randomly generated portrait relevant to your character's race, bloodline, and gender without entering the Character Creator, and a warning that this option will expire with the launch of Incarna, but until that launch, the player will have one redo available to create their own full avatar. Locking players out of the game for a feature that has no affect on game play currently is not fair to anyone, especially since there has been no set requirements for using that feature and it is the ONLY feature that these players cannot access. In all cases, the game itself runs just fine on their systems.

We could really use your support.

Footprints in the Dust

2011-02-20T23:55:00.001-05:00

The following short story was my submission to Starfleet Comm's Inspired By Images Of Eve Competition #2 contest last summer. It has been revised to a closer rendition of my original story which I had had to shorten to meet the contest guidelines. As you can see, the title of the story is the foundation of the title of my blog, and since both the story and my blog deal with Spaceships as well as the looming Incarna expansion and the future Dust 514, I figured this would be an appropriate first post for the launch of Mortal Immortals. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Any critiques and comments would be greatly appreciated and welcome.

I was beginning to feel ill.

No, it wasn’t due to the information I had received earlier nor was it from the large amount of alcohol I'd consumed over the last two hours. The out-of-pod effect was rearing its ugly head. I should have headed for my ship much earlier but I was really quite enjoying myself and the alcohol was muting my inner alarms. Sitting next to me at the table was the manager of this rather dark establishment. Dra'Gon Dagger, or DeeDee to her friends, was an attractive, petite and rather fragile looking woman which was a serious misconception made by many a troublemaker. DeeDee was studying my face as I looked up from my glass of Snake Bite, the Den’s signature drink. “Ron, are you alright? You don’t look so good. Maybe you should come up to my room and lie down for awhile.” There was a hint of something other than concern in that suggestion. I swear by Eve’s Gate that I was never more tempted. It had been a LONG time. But that damned head alarm was going off again despite the alcohol. Shifting my gaze toward her, I noticed that the squirrelly little man who'd been standing behind her at the bar was gone. “Naw, I’m fine DeeDee.” Tossing down the last of my drink, “One too many of these I guess” was my half-truthful reply. “I’d better be getting back to the ship though. The new fitting should be finished and the skipper doesn’t like sitting in dock any longer than he has to.”

I couldn’t tell her that I was the skipper. Not many were aware of the fact that new drugs being researched and tested were allowing pod pilots to leave their ships. When that bit of news is broadcast, it’ll send shockwaves throughout New Eden. I'd volunteered to test the new drugs but was warned that if I spilled-the-beans, permadeath would be my reward. I had no doubt that these brainiacs who'd made it possible for me to leave my pod after all of these years could also see to it that I was never vat-born again. I kept my mouth shut. To those here in the cantina and elsewhere, I was Ron Brock, errandboy for Jon’Do Smith. The cantina, known as The Adder’s Den, was owned by one BlackIce Adder, a personal friend and corpmate, who claims he bought it because of its name. To be fair, that probably did factor-in, but its bad reputation as a hangout for social misfits of every sort was more likely the deciding factor in the purchase. It's now our primary location for the flow of out-of-log information. BlackIce himself is one sinister Ni-Kunni border runner. Friend or not, it’s best to keep one eye on him at all times and never, EVER let him get behind you, especially now that he too can leave his pod.

For that matter, most of the corporation can. Xi set it up for us. Xi Dra’Gaan, a Vherokior Mystic, is our corp leader. If there is profit to be made and it’s in any way illegal, Xi knows about it. He’s a great leader and one heluva pilot, and without a doubt, the scariest person I've ever known... and I don’t scare easily. Behind that handsome, suave smile lurks the coldest, most calculating, bloodless being in existence if you ask me. He's the source of those inner alarms. Dra'Gon Dagger is Xi Dra’Gaan’s daughter. She was born just after he'd become a pod pilot unbeknownst to him. Learning of her existence recently through his network of spies, he vowed to one day, face to face, tell her who he was. After locating her planetside a few systems out from Rens, he'd orchestrated the purchase of the Den and her hiring as its manager in order to keep an eye on her as well as to ensure her safety from the Amarrian slave traders operating in that sector. Xi truly cares about her, loves her possibly, if he is capable of that. As such, she may be his only true weakness. That was part of the intel that I had received through my own small but efficient spy network. I filed that tidbit away for now. It may come in handy someday.

I pushed my chair back and stood up. My legs felt rubbery and I was beginning to get that disconnected feeling. The drugs were wearing off. I was pushing the limits and knew it was time to get my keester back into the pod as quickly as possible. “I've enjoyed this DeeDee. Maybe next trip I'll have more time.” “I’d like that Ron.” she said as I held her hand a bit longer than a casual handshake would merit. I was playing with fire. A run-in with a CONCORD fleet would've been safer. I’d have to give this a lot more thought before returning.

I took stock of the patrons scattered around the usually busy cantina as I moved toward the exit. If not for the walking-warp, as we volunteers christened it, I would've been more alarmed that there were so few. Sitting in a corner were three men holding a hushed conversation. One of them glanced at me and quickly looked away, muttering something. The discussion came to an abrupt end as each suddenly found his drink extremely interesting. “Deal going down” I thought. Near the observation port, a man and woman were intently watching something outside the station. They too shot a quick glance at me as I made my way to the door. The only other customer, sitting at the bar, was a traditionalist Brutor judging by the cut of his clothes. He kept looking towards the open door. “Waiting for someone” was my mental assessment. My instincts were really messed up…

I walked past the bar and through the door at which point all hell broke loose. Time slowed to a crawl not unlike those first few seconds of jumping to warp. Down the corridor to my right with his back to me stood the squirrelly little man speaking on a comm. Pinned against the wall was my informant who had a mixed look of anger and fear on his face. Behind me the hiss of smallarms fire erupted in tandem with a string of curses from DeeDee. Before me, on the other side of the corridor, a man stepped from the shadows and fired a pocket-hybrid at someone to my left, spun and fired a second shot. A neat round hole appeared through the head of the ‘squirrel’ leaving my informant looking dumbfounded and about to wet himself. Half turning to attempt a dive behind the bar, I was tackled by the Brutor just as a beam from inside the cantina scorched the opposite wall of the corridor where the squirrel-ventilator had been a second earlier. He now appeared in the doorway and fired two more shots. All was quiet.

“Nice to make your acquaintance Jon” the Brutor said as he stood and offered me his hand. He knew who I was. “I’m So’Lar Wynde” he flatly stated. “I believe you know my associate.” The man in the doorway turned and removed his hood. “Hello Jon” smirked Shaddak Da’Khan. Now I was the one with the dumbfounded expression. Shad had strong ties to Blackice although being a Khanid Cyber Knight, he was more law-abiding, or at least he appeared to be. In truth, he was a bounty hunter and hired assassin for his corporation. So’Lar was presumeably of the same ilk. Their legitimate corporation – our ally by silent agreement – apparently had drug testers within their ranks too.

“No time to waste. We gotta move.” With that Shad started down the corridor towards the hangars. A glance behind showed So’Lar disappearing into the cantina. “She’s fine Jon. That gal can hold her own” he said with his characteristic smirk. As we passed the little man with the big hole in his head, I noticed that my informant was nowhere to be seen. Poor fellow was probably already on a ship headed for Empire Space. Shad motioned toward the man lying on the floor, “He and his partner back there were moles planted here by your boss to keep an eye on the Den and... it’s contents. About an hour ago, word went out on the subcomm that there was a 5,000,000,000.00 ISK bounty on your head. The info included your location and the fact that you were out-of-pod inside the station. With that kind of coin offered and the fact that you weren’t in a ship... the three low-lifes in the bar were dust-eaters and the couple were station-hopping hired guns. Shame about them. They were pretty good.” The smirk again. “Outside are a dozen or so ships, maybe more by now. Guess who they’re waiting for?”

I had a pretty good idea. I wasn’t that drunk. Nor did I miss the significance of the dust-eaters being here. That confirmed the other part of the intel that I had received. With the planets now open to industry from space, corporations and rich pod pilots have begun quiet negotiations with factions of the dust-eaters, despite being both feared and hated by the planet-huggers, in attempts to sieze control of planets and even entire systems. The three dustmercs' presence here indicated that some were already being employed for other uses too.

Outside my hangar, Shad handed me a small vial. “Drink this. It’s the latest for combating the walking-warp.” With that he took off at a jog toward his hangar just as So’Lar shot past towards his and yelled to me “give us five ticks then follow us out!” Over his shoulder Shad shouted, “Good luck Jon! Compliments of Adder!” I had a lot of questions as I scrambled into my pod and downed the new drug, but there was no time.

Behind me I could hear the shouts of station security. The station comm was blaring at me to abort my launch even as I began bringing my systems online. The drug and the jell-filled pod worked wonders and within seconds the fog was lifting from my mind. An extension of myself now, my Taranis began feeding data to me and accepting my thought commands. As I brought my weapons online the station shook under the nearly simultaneous blasts of two ships’ weapons and afterburners. I ticked off five and let loose a single burst from my newly installed Shadow Blaster and hit the microwarp a thought later, shooting through the debris of the door and leaving a badly burnt hangar behind me.

The view in front of me was utter chaos. Shad’s Crusader and So’Lar’s Wolf had exited the station with guns blazing on the unsuspecting collection of pirates, bounty hunters, and fortune seeking pilots of every profession. Unaware of what had transpired inside, they were anticipating a lone, unsuspecting pilot and an easy kill. Before most could even react, five frigates of various classes had been destroyed or disabled and a scrammed Cormorant was in serious trouble. Some of the hopeful ‘killers’ were trying their best to get to the nearest stargate while others were busy trying to figure out what in New Eden was going on.

A Drake opened fire on Shad and So'Lar. I locked my Shadow Railguns on him and fired, drawing his attention and seconds later both went to warp. I wasn’t far behind. My fast little Taranis was gone in a heartbeat. I was safe for now thanks to my friends, but I had to somehow straighten this mess out with Xi… and with DeeDee. Pilots were about to have the freedom to leave their pods and there were footprints in the dust. New Eden was on the verge of monumental changes that would reshape both its political structures and the empires themselves. This was no time to be flying alone with a large bounty on my head. I set the Taranis' autopilot for my hidden base - an abandoned wreck in deepspace that I had discovered just a few months earlier. I needed a drink.