The hum of the mining lasers thrummed throughout the hull of Erun's Retriever as they chewed their way through a sizable rock composed of Dark Ochre. He'd taken to mining more often after the last Neocom update had included a significant improvement on gravimetric triangulation. This allowed all capsuleer vessels to quickly find what were now being dubbed, "Ore Sites." The materials available from the asteroids in these Ore Sites had been a major boon to his production of sub-capital vessels and their accompanying modules and ammunition.
A flash in the corner of his eye drew Erun's attention to the ever present local window, two suspects had entered the Intaki system. Quickly ascertaining their security status, he began aligning his ship back to Intaki 5-5. Running a directional scan within 14 Astronomical Units of his position gave him the suspects' ship composition, a Rifter and a Griffin. A small gang, but more than capable of reducing his Retriever to dust. A mote in the distance off his starboard bow grew quickly into a Rifter 14 kilometers out. A thrill of panic ran through him as it started to target him before his warp drive kicked in, whisking him away to the safety of the Intaki Astral Mining Station.
Docking quickly, Erun had his pod transferred to the waiting Tuhvrakh, a Tristan he'd made ready for just such an occasion. Undocking just as quickly, he aligned and warped back to the ore site, cycling and then overheating his guns and electronic warfare modules in preparation for when he landed. And what luck! His opponent had moved closer to his bookmark allowing him to land within less than a kilometer. Tuhvrakh began targeting as soon as it landed, weapons deploying and e-war bringing the Rifter to a standstill. Erun's T2 Hobgoblins began working through the Rifter's shields a moment later. Alarms went off as his own shields were quickly evaporated by a hail of autocannon fire, followed by the ship shaking as the armor began to take hits. As the Rifter tried to break away it's own armor began to fail, the occasional shot getting through to the vulnerable superstructure beneath. Almost a third of Erun's 200mm armor plating had been ablated when the Rifter finally succumbed to the hail of fire from his own blasters and the almost mindless fury of his drones. Heaving a mental sigh of relief Erun halfheartedly attempted to grab the pod of his opponent before it slipped away. He was distracted however by the arrival of the Griffin he'd forgotten in his excitement! Staying at range it promptly shut down his targeting capabilities before it began firing on him. Fortunately Erun had yet to recall his drones, and sensing an attack on their creator had automatically streaked toward the Griffin before they began tearing through it's shields. It could only withstand a few seconds of the brutal assault before it wisely disengaged and followed pod of it's partner.
A sense of elation filled him as he realized he had just won his first real battle against another capsuleer! He posted his congratulations on a good fight into the local chat, a sentiment reciprocated by his opponents before both pilots left the Intaki system. He scooped out what he could salvage from the remains of the Rifter before heading to dock for some repairs. Tuhvrakh has lost almost two thirds of it's armor plating, and one of his drones had been damaged at some point in the battle. As Erun was decanted from his pod and toweling himself off, he realized he was shaking. Whether from fear or the remnants of the adrenalin from the battle, he was shaking like a leaf in the wind. Tossing his pod fluid soaked towel into the recycling system before he flopped into the now thoroughly worn couch. He'd taken to sleeping there instead of the provided bedding, which was obviously intended for some with a much smaller frame than his own. Noticing one of his more combat oriented contacts was awake he asked about the problem. This got him laughed at before they explained the feeling was normal, especially for the first such engagement. After ending the conversation he looked down at his still shaking hands before making a conscious effort to stop them. He felt an odd tightness in his chest before finally bursting into a fit of laughter that eventually exhausted him into an easy sleep...
Saturday, June 29, 2013
Friday, June 21, 2013
When Diplomacy Fails
A disgusted sigh escaped Erun's lips as he closed the comm on yet another unsuccessful attempt to ingratiate himself with the Reasearch and Development agents of the Amarr Empire... His standings with the theocratic hegemony had deteriorated so far in his assignments with the Gallente and Minmatar governments that even the lowest grade agents of the Amarr refused to even speak with him. His efforts in aiding the Sisters of EVE had cooled tensions to the point the the Amarrian Navy wouldn't shoot him on sight anymore, but he'd apparently been blacklisted in their research community. Looking out over his hangar he made up his mind and decided to pack it up and head home to Intaki. He'd spent the last week or so doing mundane tasks for the few Amarrian agents who would even speak to him, and it had been getting him nowhere quickly.
A quick thought sent a substantial severance package to the small crew of the Cormorant destroyer he'd cobbled together for his work, as well as an order for the vessel itself to be mothballed for potential future use. Another thought sent the random bits and bobs he'd collected to the station's reprocessing facilities. He'd take the resulting higher end materials like megacyte and zydrine, with him back to Intaki. The piles of low end materials comprising of tritanium and pyerite were simply too large to fit in the Ishkur Assault frigate he would be flying home, so they were quickly shortsold on the market. All of these preparations were completed while Erun was reintegrated with his pod and inserted into Sura K'Yevpeyshaara. The name of his Ishkur was a MCI translation of the ancient Gallentean god of storms who gave the ship it's name. A curious reminder of Erun's interest in cultures both ancient and modern.
Final preparations were completed and after being given the all clear the ship navigated it's way out the bottom of the station before aligning itself on the outgoing gate to the Cleyd system. There would be a short hop through lowsec to get his adrenalin going before the long trip back to Intaki sovereignty. The warp drive came online and the beautifully crafted golden facade of the cathedral-like station shrank to nothing behind him as Erun's thoughts turned to some no less serious, but perhaps happier news. He'd received notification that Suresha Saxon Hawke had resigned his post as CEO and elevated Sakaane Eionell to fill his place. Already the corp channel was filling with ideas on how to celebrate the new Suresha's well deserved promotion, ranging from fireworks and laser shows, to a race through the Viriette constellation in her honor. Mentally grinning to himself, Erun could only laugh at the likely fun and interesting times ahead.
A quick thought sent a substantial severance package to the small crew of the Cormorant destroyer he'd cobbled together for his work, as well as an order for the vessel itself to be mothballed for potential future use. Another thought sent the random bits and bobs he'd collected to the station's reprocessing facilities. He'd take the resulting higher end materials like megacyte and zydrine, with him back to Intaki. The piles of low end materials comprising of tritanium and pyerite were simply too large to fit in the Ishkur Assault frigate he would be flying home, so they were quickly shortsold on the market. All of these preparations were completed while Erun was reintegrated with his pod and inserted into Sura K'Yevpeyshaara. The name of his Ishkur was a MCI translation of the ancient Gallentean god of storms who gave the ship it's name. A curious reminder of Erun's interest in cultures both ancient and modern.
Final preparations were completed and after being given the all clear the ship navigated it's way out the bottom of the station before aligning itself on the outgoing gate to the Cleyd system. There would be a short hop through lowsec to get his adrenalin going before the long trip back to Intaki sovereignty. The warp drive came online and the beautifully crafted golden facade of the cathedral-like station shrank to nothing behind him as Erun's thoughts turned to some no less serious, but perhaps happier news. He'd received notification that Suresha Saxon Hawke had resigned his post as CEO and elevated Sakaane Eionell to fill his place. Already the corp channel was filling with ideas on how to celebrate the new Suresha's well deserved promotion, ranging from fireworks and laser shows, to a race through the Viriette constellation in her honor. Mentally grinning to himself, Erun could only laugh at the likely fun and interesting times ahead.
Monday, March 18, 2013
Flying High
Erun relaxed on the sofa of his quarters as he accessed his Neocom through his cranial implants. Besides augmenting his already above baseline mental abilities, the implants allowed him to access the fluid router network operated and maintained by CONCORD. The ever-present Local, Corp, and Alliance communications channels were open to him, as well as those run separately by the Intaki Liberation Front and the Intaki Prosperity Initiative. All was quiet at the moment, one of his corpmates , Anais, had retired for the day after helping him harvest several clouds worth of material. The material in question, Viridian Mykoserocin, was formed in the intense pressures of asteroids and moons, and was useful in the manufacturing of numerous electronics and weapons.
Anais was also helping Erun become more familiar with the nuances of combat with other capsuleers. He had quickly learned that combat against other pilots was very different than combat against the numerous pirate factions, and even the well-trained navies of the four empires. The empire navies, and to an extent the pirate flotillas all followed general doctrines that allowed their tactics to become predictable. This could not be said of capsuleers, who by the nature of their existence are unpredictable and constantly evolving their tactics and strategies. Anais' first lesson had been to teach Erun how to take advantage of an enemies' speed and turn it against them.
This "Kite and Tackle" technique assumed the user was in a fairly nimble vessel, usually a frigate or destroyer, which suited Erun just fine as they were his preferred size of vessel. The technique required the user burn away from their target, then once the target was following them, turn and burn back toward them in order to get in close. This technique was best used by craft utilizing blasters and autocannon which were most effective up close and personal. Erun and Anais had taken out an Atron class frigate and a Stabber class cruiser to run their exercises, which had gone very well.
A notification from his Neocom roused Erun from his musings on the day, he'd received a message from a recent client. Specifically the one who had bought all the gas he'd mined that day. The client was interested in setting up a more direct transaction of materials than the more publicly browsed markets maintained and moderated by the Secure Commerce Commission. Erun's right eyebrow went up as he ran a shallow background check on his prospective client. He'd always heard about the "underground" drug production cartels, but he'd never actually been in contact with one of their agents before. Besides being useful in legal production practices, Viridian Mykoserocin was also used in the manufacturing of the borderline legal Synth Drop Booster, a drug cocktail that that improved the users ability to track objects in space. Erun had never indulged himself but he had heard horror stories from the capital ship pilots while in nullsec, about stronger variants that had horrible side effects.
Erun shrugged before sending off a positive response to his new client, pleased to have found another source of reliable income. Erun didn't have any moral quandaries with selling his gas, the drugs produced by the cartels were not intended for public consumption, being specifically tailored for capsuleer use. The additional income would supplement what he was getting from his factories based in and around the Intaki solar system. These were geared toward the production of products necessary for the maintenance of Pilot Owned Structures like robotics and coolant. This income would do a great deal to alleviate Erun's worries about combat against other capsuleers. The replacement of ships, and getting more costly, clones, had always been the limiting factor for Erun when it came to combat. Hopefully now he'd be able to get in the thick of things without having to worry about whether he would be able to replace the ship he was flying in...
Anais was also helping Erun become more familiar with the nuances of combat with other capsuleers. He had quickly learned that combat against other pilots was very different than combat against the numerous pirate factions, and even the well-trained navies of the four empires. The empire navies, and to an extent the pirate flotillas all followed general doctrines that allowed their tactics to become predictable. This could not be said of capsuleers, who by the nature of their existence are unpredictable and constantly evolving their tactics and strategies. Anais' first lesson had been to teach Erun how to take advantage of an enemies' speed and turn it against them.
This "Kite and Tackle" technique assumed the user was in a fairly nimble vessel, usually a frigate or destroyer, which suited Erun just fine as they were his preferred size of vessel. The technique required the user burn away from their target, then once the target was following them, turn and burn back toward them in order to get in close. This technique was best used by craft utilizing blasters and autocannon which were most effective up close and personal. Erun and Anais had taken out an Atron class frigate and a Stabber class cruiser to run their exercises, which had gone very well.
A notification from his Neocom roused Erun from his musings on the day, he'd received a message from a recent client. Specifically the one who had bought all the gas he'd mined that day. The client was interested in setting up a more direct transaction of materials than the more publicly browsed markets maintained and moderated by the Secure Commerce Commission. Erun's right eyebrow went up as he ran a shallow background check on his prospective client. He'd always heard about the "underground" drug production cartels, but he'd never actually been in contact with one of their agents before. Besides being useful in legal production practices, Viridian Mykoserocin was also used in the manufacturing of the borderline legal Synth Drop Booster, a drug cocktail that that improved the users ability to track objects in space. Erun had never indulged himself but he had heard horror stories from the capital ship pilots while in nullsec, about stronger variants that had horrible side effects.
Erun shrugged before sending off a positive response to his new client, pleased to have found another source of reliable income. Erun didn't have any moral quandaries with selling his gas, the drugs produced by the cartels were not intended for public consumption, being specifically tailored for capsuleer use. The additional income would supplement what he was getting from his factories based in and around the Intaki solar system. These were geared toward the production of products necessary for the maintenance of Pilot Owned Structures like robotics and coolant. This income would do a great deal to alleviate Erun's worries about combat against other capsuleers. The replacement of ships, and getting more costly, clones, had always been the limiting factor for Erun when it came to combat. Hopefully now he'd be able to get in the thick of things without having to worry about whether he would be able to replace the ship he was flying in...
Monday, March 4, 2013
Some New Homes, Are Also Old Ones...
Erun used the large holoscreen to gaze upon the verdant blue and green planet below him. The equatorial oceans were too hot to support anything more complex than thermophile bacteria, therefore most life tended to cluster around the more temperate polar regions. The polar regions also supported the human population of the planet, with towns and villages nestled in the mountains and valleys. They were a stoic people; calm in their demeanor, collected in their thoughts. They were also his people. Though not born on the planet of his ancestors, Erun had traveled far to return to a place he had oft only visited earlier in his career. His wanderings had finally led him back to areas of space where he had first started his life as an immortal capsuleer.
Having born witness to, and participated in, the endless and often pointless wars that raged in nullsec, he was eager to do something worthwhile once again. Out there he had been nothing but a cog in the massive war machine of a major alliance. Even then he was only occasionally able to fly with the fleets due to his inability to fly nullsec fleet doctrines consisting of primarily Amarrian and Matari battleship designs. Now that he was out he was free to fly the ships he knew and loved best, the nimble but deadly frigates and destroyers of the Gallente and Caldari. It was one of these that had brought him here, a newly fitted Condor-class frigate that had allowed him to bypass the meager gatecamps that had impeded his path to lowsec.
In it's hold had been the blueprints he needed to start up mining and production in this mostly lawless area of space. Blueprints for the production of Tech 1 vessels and and the modules that went with them. Combat vessels with the incumbent railguns and blasters, rocket and light missile launchers, and all the defensive and electronic warfare modules that go with them. He was also going to start production on the new Venture-class mining frigate recently developed by Outer Ring Excavations. He'd experimented with the nimble but highly effective mining vessel while out in nullsec and was eager to see what it could in lowsec environs.
Turning away from the holoscreen Erun walked to the couch before draping himself upon it. The quarters provided by the station were spartan but cozy, something he hoped to improve on over the coming weeks and months. Shutting down his Neocom, he pulled up some of the information and procedures used by his new corp before slowly drifting to sleep with a blue-green marble filling his minds eye...
His new home...
Intaki...
Having born witness to, and participated in, the endless and often pointless wars that raged in nullsec, he was eager to do something worthwhile once again. Out there he had been nothing but a cog in the massive war machine of a major alliance. Even then he was only occasionally able to fly with the fleets due to his inability to fly nullsec fleet doctrines consisting of primarily Amarrian and Matari battleship designs. Now that he was out he was free to fly the ships he knew and loved best, the nimble but deadly frigates and destroyers of the Gallente and Caldari. It was one of these that had brought him here, a newly fitted Condor-class frigate that had allowed him to bypass the meager gatecamps that had impeded his path to lowsec.
In it's hold had been the blueprints he needed to start up mining and production in this mostly lawless area of space. Blueprints for the production of Tech 1 vessels and and the modules that went with them. Combat vessels with the incumbent railguns and blasters, rocket and light missile launchers, and all the defensive and electronic warfare modules that go with them. He was also going to start production on the new Venture-class mining frigate recently developed by Outer Ring Excavations. He'd experimented with the nimble but highly effective mining vessel while out in nullsec and was eager to see what it could in lowsec environs.
Turning away from the holoscreen Erun walked to the couch before draping himself upon it. The quarters provided by the station were spartan but cozy, something he hoped to improve on over the coming weeks and months. Shutting down his Neocom, he pulled up some of the information and procedures used by his new corp before slowly drifting to sleep with a blue-green marble filling his minds eye...
His new home...
Intaki...
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Complacency
"Docking request accepted"
This was announced by Erun's on-board AI as his Myrmidon-class battle-cruiser was given a berth and towed into the small station. He was docking up to rearm and resupply after spending the last few days hunting Guristas pirates for the local 'blued' alliance. Finding ammunition had been becoming an issue as most of the ships being used by the alliance in the area were battleships or larger. He'd managed to track down a small order for a few thousand rounds of thorium based plasma charges, and while they didn't pack as much punch as his normal antimatter rounds they did provide greater range as well as reduced containment costs from his capacitor. The actual purchase and loading of the rounds required relatively little of his attention and proceeded with little hassle or fanfare. His thoughts were focused on designing an efficient fitting for a Dominix-class battleship, as he'd made enough over the last few days from bounties to buy and fit the hull that was his go-to vessel owing to his drone control skills. Weapons loadouts, defenses, power supplies, drone complements, all flashed through his mind as he requested and was granted permission to undock. He subconsciously plotted a direct course to the nearby alliance jumpbridge, a structure which functioned as capsuleer controlled stargate, usually to provide shortcuts within their sovereign space. Numbers danced in his mind as it wrestled with idea of reducing overall damage resistance in order to boost the amount of damage his drones could bring to bear.
Suddenly alerts started flashing over the fitting projections as well as surprised yells rang out over comms from the skeleton crew as the ship's warp drive abruptly shut down and the inertial dampers struggled to kick in. The warp tunnel collapsed around him and Erun swore as numerous hostile vessels were detected all on approach vectors and locking on to him. He'd been caught in a warp bubble! He frantically programmed the engines to burn away from the center of the warp disrupting field, knowing he'd never be able to get a targeting resolution on such a small object in time. Numerous projectiles and high intensity light began to impact and wash over the shields and then quickly the armor as the ambushing ships opened fire. A nearby electronic warfare cruiser began bombarding his ship with conflicting sensor and telemetry data, rendering him unable to get firing resolutions or even give his drones targeting vectors. Resigning himself to the loss of his ship and it's small skeleton crew he broadcast the order to abandon ship as the armor began to fail and the damage control module's valency generators struggled to hold the hull in one piece. Numerous lifeboats ejected from the disintegrating vessel before it finally ruptured, releasing his pod in the process. Erun desperately tried to reach the edge of the debilitating warp field but his pod was quickly snared in a webifying field and then warp scrambled. Heaving a mental sigh of frustration at losing yet another clone he felt intense heat, then cold, and then...
This was announced by Erun's on-board AI as his Myrmidon-class battle-cruiser was given a berth and towed into the small station. He was docking up to rearm and resupply after spending the last few days hunting Guristas pirates for the local 'blued' alliance. Finding ammunition had been becoming an issue as most of the ships being used by the alliance in the area were battleships or larger. He'd managed to track down a small order for a few thousand rounds of thorium based plasma charges, and while they didn't pack as much punch as his normal antimatter rounds they did provide greater range as well as reduced containment costs from his capacitor. The actual purchase and loading of the rounds required relatively little of his attention and proceeded with little hassle or fanfare. His thoughts were focused on designing an efficient fitting for a Dominix-class battleship, as he'd made enough over the last few days from bounties to buy and fit the hull that was his go-to vessel owing to his drone control skills. Weapons loadouts, defenses, power supplies, drone complements, all flashed through his mind as he requested and was granted permission to undock. He subconsciously plotted a direct course to the nearby alliance jumpbridge, a structure which functioned as capsuleer controlled stargate, usually to provide shortcuts within their sovereign space. Numbers danced in his mind as it wrestled with idea of reducing overall damage resistance in order to boost the amount of damage his drones could bring to bear.
Suddenly alerts started flashing over the fitting projections as well as surprised yells rang out over comms from the skeleton crew as the ship's warp drive abruptly shut down and the inertial dampers struggled to kick in. The warp tunnel collapsed around him and Erun swore as numerous hostile vessels were detected all on approach vectors and locking on to him. He'd been caught in a warp bubble! He frantically programmed the engines to burn away from the center of the warp disrupting field, knowing he'd never be able to get a targeting resolution on such a small object in time. Numerous projectiles and high intensity light began to impact and wash over the shields and then quickly the armor as the ambushing ships opened fire. A nearby electronic warfare cruiser began bombarding his ship with conflicting sensor and telemetry data, rendering him unable to get firing resolutions or even give his drones targeting vectors. Resigning himself to the loss of his ship and it's small skeleton crew he broadcast the order to abandon ship as the armor began to fail and the damage control module's valency generators struggled to hold the hull in one piece. Numerous lifeboats ejected from the disintegrating vessel before it finally ruptured, releasing his pod in the process. Erun desperately tried to reach the edge of the debilitating warp field but his pod was quickly snared in a webifying field and then warp scrambled. Heaving a mental sigh of frustration at losing yet another clone he felt intense heat, then cold, and then...
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Reawakening
Erun slowly reemerged from his sleep as his capsule registered signs of an impending mindlock in his psycho/physiological monitoring. Quickly, but efficiently he ran through the procedures to decant from the womb-analogue of his pod. Once he had emerged and cleaned off the the sustaining fluid he ordered the spiciest food available from the commissary unit in his quarters before he started some some basic calisthenics. Odd to some, non-capsuleers mostly, Erun's actions served the important function of reaffirming his humanity. During the initial screening for his capsuleer status he had been found to be susceptible to mind-locking over very long periods of time. Not enough to prevent him from becoming a capsuleer, but it meant he could not participate in long term assignments like covert observations or wormhole exploration, both of which could last for months before a pilot was able to leave their pod.
First observed in the earliest days after the Caldari were given capsule technology by the enigmatic Jove, mind-locking was a state where the pilot permanently disassociated their mind from their physical body. Removing the "locked" individual from their pod would invariably render them catatonic as they could no longer function within their own bodies. Improvements in the capsule technology and conditioning techniques had virtually eliminated the phenomenon, but there were still a few who still remained vulnerable. These few must remain vigilant, as with their minds no longer attached to their bodies would not survive the cloning process, rendering bound to their pod and essentially mortal. Having turned off his Neocom connections, a month passed before Erun's implants woke him enough to set the next skill to be trained before he returned to his slumber. His training for the Elite Cartography Certification had been planned to take more than 45 days so he'd planned a period of somnolence to aid in his processing and retention of information.
Stopping his calisthenics as he heard the commissary beeping, Erun pulled his food - curry as it had turned out - before flopping on the couch and reactivating his Neocom. Having been out of the loop for a month he'd expected a massive amount of information to assault him, but there were surprisingly few, consisting mostly of a couple Calls To Arms (CTA's) from Nulli Secunda but otherwise very little. Bringing up his comm channels he found his new CEO skpopatoe3 active and struck up a conversation. Half an hour later found him on a 74 jump journey through null-security space to his new home in the north of New Eden.
Monday, February 27, 2012
High Gain, Higher Loss
Erun sank into the couch in his Minmatar styled quarters with a relaxed sigh. He tossed his feet over the armrest as he sprawled out with his head cushioned with the pillows he had taken from the rarely used bed in the corner. He stretched his body and twisted around, eliciting numerous pops from his spine before settling back into the cushions. Recent studies in long term clone health had indicated that the lengthy periods of weightless inactivity in pods had similar effects to long term exposure to zero and micro gravity environments. Erun's childhood gymnastic, and later full contact sport conditioning had left him in pretty good shape but recently his love of the often heavy food available in Minmatar stations had caused his current clone to put on weight. So for the last few weeks had been performing resistance calisthenics every time he had decanted from his pod.
Sinking deeper into the cushions Erun closed his eyes and pulled up his Neocom interface in order to contact his current agent. She welcomed him joyfully, correctly anticipating and then recording another successfully completed mission for her logs. After his payment was wired to his account he tiredly wished here a good night before closing down the channel. Her commission for the missions he completed ranged from 1 to 10 ISK each but at current exchange rates she could be a non-capsuleer millionaire by the end of the week, even if she wasn't already, so he found her good mood easily understandable. He noticed his wallet flashing again, indicating he had received the last of his approved bounties for the night, further increasing his current balance in excess of a billion ISK. Soon he would be able to buy and fit a Proteus Strategic Cruiser, something he'd been looking forward to since seeing the sleek modular vessels for the first time in space. He planned on using his for low sec exploration, something he enjoyed but couldn't do very often given the Helios Covert Op frigates' poor combat ability. His only reason for not buying one before now was his personal rule of being able to replace anything he bought, something he'd be able to do within the next few months if his current missions were any indication.
His last task of the night was to pull one of the packaged Tech 2 Ogre's he had brought from his lowsec production plant out of storage and have it assigned to his - expensive, but well worth it - Navy Issue Dominix. He'd lost one of his older units when it exceeded it's control range, disallowing him to recall it or issue it any commands at all. Erun had checked the trajectory, hurtling directly into the flight path of a Mordus Mammoth more than 100 klicks away, and assumed the poor thing had finally gone mad. The drone had likely been with him against numerous other Mordus fleets, and knowing their habit of shifting fire to nearby drones had simply found a loophole in it's coding enabling it to label a ramming maneuver as a valid combat tactic. This blatant abuse of the drones' assigned "Aggressive" combat stance had worried him.
Erun frowned to himself at this thought as he pulled up the display of his implants and the skill they were currently imprinting in his cortex; Electronic Warfare Drone Interfacing. His current path to mastery on this skill would enable him to use the latest gen high gain transceivers for drone control, as the e-war drones required both better encrypted and higher powered signals to be used in combat situations. The new equipment had the added effect of increasing the effective range in which he could maintain control of the drones in his flights, hopefully enabling him to notice another runaway, at least until he could go back into the Ogre's programming and alleviate this and numerous other worrying quirks his drones had been picking up. His continued research into drone programming had been bringing him increasing covert scrutiny from Concord, whom he had correctly believed were worried he was attempting to circumvent Directive Omega-1-5. He'd read the Code Aria reports of course, and found disturbing parallels in his own research. He had begun receiving veiled messages indicating that his research had headed into dangerous territory, eventually leading to a low-key confrontation when he reemerged into Concord patrolled space on a supply run.
His first accident had occurred many months ago in Low sec, thankfully away from the prying eyes of Concord, but some of the techs had obviously been unable to keep their observations to themselves. He had been scared out of his mind when one of the techs frantically opened a channel to him with a message;
"Sir, we just picked this out of Ogre #4's subroutines...! It's been on a repeating loop and it's core temp is rising!"
*01010111010010000100000101010100001000000100000101001101001000000100100100111111*
*WHAT AM I?*
Erun had paled as he instantly translated the binary sequence with his implants and told the techs to evacuate the drone bay.
"Sir?"
"Just do it, now!"
The Techs had all rushed for the exits before he jettisoned the entire bay into space in a prefab container, which was then quickly vaporized with a blast from the 425 rails only recently installed on the Dominix. His panic subsiding Erun had docked in his home station in lowsec before coming up with a plan. He had given all of the drone techs a small fortune before letting them go with lifetime NDA's that would have made a Caldari lawyer red in the face. The drones had always had anger and sadness issues but they'd never really given much though to their own existence before. He had shut down all of his production facilities within lowsec in order to focus exclusively on the problem of the drones' self-consuming rage in their programming. This seemed to appease his minders, as they seemed aware he had never made an effort to produce construction or repair drones. His combat drones had no ability to reproduce or even self-repair (though he had considered it) and were therefore unable to become a threat unless he was actively building them himself.
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