Moving

Moved to a new host and URL for my blog. Enjoy!

http://dibblebill.blogspot.com

Return to Serenity

Ammold

Sveipar Constellation

Heimatar Region

The lone strategic cruiser coasted through space. Even though it was surrounded by a toxic field of gases, radiation, and debris, the pilot didn’t worry. William looked around using the camera drone at the greenish haze. Great rolling clouds and swirling masses washed over the ship, shaking it slightly, but the shielding held. He was at home here. The audio dampening of the pod brought the hull stresses to him as soft groans, almost like the ship was singing to him. William closed his eyes, listening to the sounds. Another deadly wave washed over the ship, its shield boosters compensating easily.

“I’ll miss you…” Amanda’s face floated to the top of his mind in the silence. Not even a day out and he missed her like hell. He would sigh if the embryonic fluid allowed him to. Love was never easy for him. The camera drone focused on a piece of debris before spinning in a wide, lazy arc again. The acceleration gate was within activation range, but he didn’t want to go just yet. There was a similar site in the Metropolis region, he’d rather be there. Some derelict fortress in the upper atmosphere of a planet. The perpetual storms there soothed his soul. Other images floated past as he relaxed among the deadly clouds. His parents, his sibling… The corpse… He repressed the memories, hoping to find less painful ones. Memories of his leaving the State for the Empire, then the Republic rolled past, the long journeys… He was such a young pilot back then… William shivered in the pod, feeling alone for the hundredth time in the last three months. He couldn’t connect even with his lover anymore. It was if nothing was fulfilling to him anymore, not even fighting for the freedom of a people.

Storms and patterns. Natural chaos. He took comfort in the mayhem around his ship, knowing that natural order still set things  right in some places. He paused one more moment then activated the acceleration gate. The agent was probably wondering if he’d died out here.

A Bad Omen

Amamake System

Heimatar Region

Yiraas steered his Omen-class cruiser toward the three Angel Cartel criminals. Their small, fast ships began accelerating, dodging the asteroids with ease. The first shots blasted from their artillery guns, glancing off the golden-hulled cruiser’s shields. He fired the first blast of lasers from its turrets, and one of the frigates vaporized. Hull fragments scattered. Two drones launched from the Omen, streaking for the second frigate even as he had the guns begin tracking it. Within moments, the remaining pirates had been dispatched. The Amarrian checked his overview. Nothing here yet… Except… There was a wreck labeled “Domination Outlaw” listed here, and it hadn’t been looted. The Angel Commanders were almost always sacked.. Their gear was superior to even Tech II on occasion. The Omen accelerated ponderously towards it, drones slowly moving back towards him. Just as they were reaching docking range, a contact appeared. The frigate began to blink red and he received a warp scrambling notification. He must be mad! Yiraas thought as his drones automatically engaged the threat.

***

“Thirty kilometers and closing.” The cloaked Manticore moved straight for the Omen, settling into a comfortable orbit. “Twenty-five.” William checked the fleet roster. “You ready, Adamus?”

“Affirmative.” William eased into the last five kilometers and waited until the ship’s drones were as far from him, but still deployed, as possible.

“Die, slaver.” He decloaked the specialized ship, engaging his afterburner and locking onto the Omen immediately. A notification warned him of his now criminal status, but he ignored it. The warp disruptor caught the Omen in its grip, disabling the ship’s warp abilities while a target painted tagged the ship for his computers. He keyed the torpedoes to fire even as the Omen’s drones lanced straight towards him. They deftly dodged the Juggernaut Torpedoes, chasing his little ship down. William paid no attention to them, his attention focused on the cruiser. The torpedoes struck the small ship, shattering its shields instantly. He could sense the pilot’s fear and panic as a second volley streaked out.

The drones, meanwhile, had begun to dig into his own shields. No matter, two could not harm him. The second trio of deadly warheads struck the Omen, a shockwave of debris and energy exploding out from their impact point. The stricken cruiser’s engine nacelle shattered, spewing hot gasses from the gaping hole. The pilot hailed him on a private channel, but he ignored it. A second Manticore-class stealth bomber decloaked and fired its own torpedoes, and the Omen’s armor plummeted to zero. William smiled, but it was the sort of smile a shark would give prey as it was about to devour it. One more volley of torpedoes struck the cruiser, splitting it in half. The explosion temporarily blinded him but he was already swinging off on a new course in case neutrals came to intervene. He wouldn’t kill the capsule. The other bomber, piloted by Adamus, cloaked. William wasted no time, warping to a planet. He cloaked his ship mid-flight, and waited.

After fifteen minutes of banter and talk, both pilots were notified of the expiration of their global criminal state. William wasted no time, aligning to the Auga stargate. The ship, equipped with a highly specialized cloaking device, accelerated and warped, never once having to reveal its position. As the massive structure grew in the camera drone’s eye, his ship finally decloaked. The small frigate jumped on contact, Adamus landing just behind and following. Cloaking as soon as the ship came through, William warped again, not hesitating. Moments later, the invisible threat landed fifty kilometers from the Kourmonen stargate. There was a single Vengeance present, with several allied militia warships firing on it. He held his position, debating whether or not he should fire. Fuck it, William thought, and decloaked. The assault ship was seventy kilometers away. His torpedoes could travel fifty. The target painter could hit at this distance, though. The red laser marked the ship, increasing the signature radius. As the small ship weathered the damage pouring in from allies, a second war contact deaccelerated from warp. The Harbinger battlecruiser opened fire, its lasers smashing into an adjacent cruiser. The cruiser visibly bounced under the impact, losing its orbit. William changed targets immediately, firing torpedoes at the ship only thirty kilometers away. He didn’t notice the two new contacts, interceptors, streak straight towards his ship until the Manticore’s shields suddenly buckled and collapsed around it. The small ship’s armor was comparatively weak, the Ares interceptor’s blasters punching holes immediately. William cursed silently, punching out even before the ship was reduced to debris, the capsule flinging itself straight out and away.

A Question of Loyalty

Out of Character Note: I’ve decided to start writing in the third person so that I may add more depth to my postings. It is also difficult to write multiple posts that ask for a second, or third viewpoint without getting boring or repetitive.

The man, chained to the pipes on the wall, cowered in fear. His State uniform was tattered and ruined, the ranks and medals ripped from their fastenings and crushed on the floor. The uniform-clad capsuleer, a Deteis man and a blood brother, pulled on one black glove slowly, not gloving the other hand. “Do you know what your crime was, captain?” Asked William, his face a grim mask of determination. The captain of the battleship, a State-owned Ravenhull, shook his head, too terrified to speak. “Are you aware of the business that the ships you were guarding were involved in?” No response. William moved slowly foward, twirling a curved combat knife in one hand. “Shall I start with the fingers?” The captain spat on his shoes.

“You’re a traitor to your people, a despicable swine!” This only made William smile.

“A traitor? We should not support slavery, and yet I see your fleet  guarding a slave outpost. Slavery is hardly becoming of a stunning meritocracy of our own,” He said, testing the knife’s point on a finger. He smiled when the barest touch drew a small bead of blood that traveled down the shining edge. William gloved that hand after dabbing the blood off. “You know, what I am going to do to you is nothing compared to what your allies have done to an entire race. Tell me, what is your name?”

“What’s it matter? I die anyway, do I not.”

“Maybe.” William was nearly face to face with the pilot now. He grabbed man roughly by the hair and yanked his head back, knife mere millimeters from the throat. “But then, that’d be too easy, wouldn’t it?” He released the man, drinking in his fear.  “I won’t kill you. It would be dishonourable to kill a bound man.”

“What would you know of honour, traitor?” He jerked against the handcuffs holding him to the pipes. This drew a wider smile to William’s lips. He stood up to his full height and cracked his back.

“What would I know? I know that you claim a meritocracy is the best system and then you support an entity whose claim to power requires family ties and slaves. I know that our history, brother, is one of sorrow, pain, and losing our home, and yet the State sponsors acts of genocide and slavery through the Amarr Empire. But you wouldn’t mind, would you, as long as you benefitted directly?” The captain glowered as William knelt by his face, not even attempting to strike the capsuleer. “Tell me. Who is the traitor? The man who betrays his personal ideals and the freedoms of others for his own gain,” He said while slowly grinding one of the man’s feet with a booted foot, “Or the man who renounces a State that sponsors such tragedies in order that he can fight for the freedom of all?” William stopped and held the knife up, smiling. The captain whimpered, fearing for his life. His captor turned to him and smiled wickedly, tossing the knife idly for a few moments before sheathing it. His smile faded. “We’re in the engineering sectors of a Minmatar mining station. You’ll be found eventually. I won’t be responsible for what they do to you, traitor.” The captain looked at the floor, wishing horrible fates at the receding footsteps.

Win Some, Lose Some…

I’d guessed it would happen. There were numorous small Amarr patrol fleets roaming the low security space in Heimatar, but I’d decided to risk my second strategic cruiser. The Tengu’s hull gleamed in the green-lit system. I landed on a stargate, Minmatar design, and jumped my ship into Kourmonen. Just then, a bit of intel came in from the Militia channels. A pair of Amarr piloted battlecrusiers, a Hurricane and a Harbinger, were camping in Huola. I didn’t hesitate, even with my fleet scattered across four systems. I set a warp to the stargate to Huola, and jumped through on contact.

Sure enough, both ships were sitting at the gate within jump range. I decloaked, aligning my hull to the Harbinger and engaging my afterburner, but I didn’t have time to even lock as both jumped through into Kourmonen. “They’ve jumped. Everyone, get ready to engage.” I burned to the gate, engaging its controls once I was in range. My sensors focused just in time to catch the Harbinger accelerating into the distance. Moments later, again from Militia, I picked up a S.O.S. from a friendly Blackbird. My ship was already in warp before I was able to respond to him. Seconds later, the gate began to grow in the camera drone’s display, my ship landing mere kilometers from the Harbinger. Not even a moment later, the Blackbird crusier both were firing on exploded spectacularly.

I was on autopilot now. The Harbinger was the first target, being my natural damage weakness, and as soon as I had target lock, I engaged the warp disruptor, burning out and away to try and orbit, yellow lasers streaking across the shields. Their levels dipped rapidly, but I’d built this particular ship to have a massive buffer of hit points. Even before he could fire again, the shield was recharging lost strength. A second blast struck my Tengu, rattling the hull with its force, dropping them further, and the pattering of projectile munitions exploded across my ship as the Hurricane joined in. My response was instant. My ship’s launchers began to cycle, throwing salvo after salvo at the Harbinger. The ship, like most Amarr ships, was an armor tank. The shield systems buckled quickly to my superior firepower, and my warheads began to dig deeply into the battlecruiser’s armor.

I hadn’t noticed the fleet comms chatter, but just then, cruisers began to drop out of warp around us. They also began to fire on the Harbinger, which recalled its drones and disengaged its lasers. Desparate that he didn’t get away, I set a course to ram him. The ship’s armor dropped rapidly, as tough as it was, unable to take this amount of damage. Mere moments before my Tengu slammed into it, the ship’s hull finally gave way, a final volley of missiles piercing its heart, turning it into a glorious, burning ball of twisted metal. The Hurricane, still here, was not far from me now.

Not stopping to think, I engaged both my warp disruptor and missile launchers. This battlecruiser’s armor levels were dropping at a rate far higher than the previous target’s. It took only seconds for his ship to succumb, the saw-toothed wedge mangled and useless. “Both targets eliminated.” His escape pod was almost instantly scrambled and destroyed before anyone could respond by one of our interceptors. I stopped my ship, making sure I was well within jump range of the stargate. The icons on the overview changed to empty for both wrecks, then vanished altogether as the fleet’s scavengers salvaged them. Satisfied, I activated the gate. “Jump into Auga, rally at the Republic Fleet station.” I aligned my ship as I spoke, entering warp and emerging a minute later over the station. A few more ships arrived, then the main group. Most docked, but a few remained with me.

The pilots were exchanging friendly banter when it happened. For the past two or three minutes, the prevalent color tag had been a purple star, or a purple fleet icon. All at once, the pilot listing was overwhelmed by orange stars. “All ships dock, all ships dock!” A few didn’t. I wasn’t sure what they were thinking, but ignored them, maneuvering myself behind the station, relative to the Auga stargate. It wasn’t even moments later when the first ship arrived. The Drake battlecruiser landed next to a Stabber and a Scimitar, locking onto all teh ships present. I wasn’t even going to try to assist. It opened fire on the Scimitar, slamming waves of missiles into the smaller ship’s hull. Within seconds, the entire overview lit up with flashing orange as roughly twenty ships landed on the station. Three Falcon recons and a Blackbird targeted me and engaged their ECM modules, while another few ships deployed a cloud of ECM drones. They wanted to be sure I couldn’t fight back. I didn’t engage, instead choosing to sit in place within my nook on the station. The Scimitar exploded in a few seconds, and the Stabber didn’t escape either. That left… Me. The ships crowding the station began to light up with yellow, then red brackets as lasers, projectile weapons, and hybrid turrets pounded against my ship’s shields, which held admirably against the lethal onslaught. A few smaller ships began to try to get ramming positions to knock me out of place. The first hit, knocking me a little out of place, then the second. I docked my ship. Can’t win them all… Wasn’t planning to lose a few billion ISK for a suicide battle.

Blitzkrieg

It was all a bit of luck, really. Rens, my location, was rather close to a front I’d never even considered. Now I did, though. I was in Odatrik, heading to Jark, the first system in the Ammatar Mandate’s sovereignty. A group of three destroyers, Coercer class, and a Punisher had engaged Amanda, and then engaged and destroyed a friendly Hugginn. I growled softly in my throat at the thought of them attacking her ship. My Tengu seemed to growl in response, almost, its hull glinting in the light of the system’s star. It was probably just stress sounds from the warp. “Jump in.” Now, Amanda, my CEO, was my bait. SHe was waiting on the gate in her Omen, and now jumping into Jark. Her voice came over the fleet communications channel.

“They’re still here. They are locking… Engaging…” I swore quietly, waiting the last ten AU until I landed. “I’m shooting back.” My ship began to shake with the decceleration as the gate rushed into view. I didn’t hesitate, jumping the gate as soon as I landed.

Five golden hulls. The largest was Amanda’s. The others…. The overview was flashing an angry orange for them, and I decloaked my ship, bringing its formidable defenses online. The afterburner pushed the ship into a sprint, leaping foward as the targeting systems caught on to the first Coercer. My missile tubes fired the first flight of scourge missiles, the deadly payloads being delivered near instantly at only twenty kilometers. The hull of the ship disintegrated under the first blast, the explosions ripping the golden laserboat into pieces. “One down,” I said calmly.

Before the explosion even finished, I was firing the next blast at the Punisher frigate, already too busy dodging violet lasers from Amanda’s cruiser to notice me. They struck its armor heavily, tearing craters in its previously unmarred hull. The second blast struck the spine of the ship, cracking it in half with ease. “Two.” I wasn’t timing the kills, only locking my warp disruptor on another destroyer. The other Coercer pilot fled as my missiles began to rend the ship’s hull. Again, only two shots were required as my cruiser glided in like a lethal bird. The second struck just aft of the ship’s prongs, and its remains continued the ship’s trajectory, ricocheting off of the stargate’s surface. I tried to lock down the capsule, but narrowly missed it. Breathing a little harder than normal, I finally slowed, checking the kill logs. One and a half minutes was all I’d needed. “Targets eliminated.”

What Not to Fly to Survive

Amazing how far technology had come in the last year. It was so easy to change the life and direction of an entire corporation with the click of a button innocently labeled “Enlist in Militia.” I swallowed the doubt and activated it, now that Amanda had finally relented to my pressures. It wasn’t just for me that I wanted it, I certainly was craving actual combat, but I truly felt that unless she started taking risks, she’d never be prepared for actual combat. The message was posted to the corporate bulletin board immediately. Beyond Our Sins is now a member of the Minmatar Republic, fighting could begin with the opposing faction in twenty-four hours. After logging myself out of the terminal, I left the militia office, and noted the lack of a line waiting to join. At first, the swarms had massed to join the cause of freedom. Now, only a few new pilots were to be found among the veterans. I’d dabbled in it on multiple occasions, but this time it was real. I silently made my way to the hangars of the station, trying to ignore the rusting, decaying structures I could see through the station’s viewports. Something about Matar stations always put me off. I couldn’t wait to get back to the comfort of the green-hulled Navy Issue Comet.

That was over a week ago. Today, our journeys had brought the militia fleet to Auga. The enemy fleet today had finally been located in Dal, just one jump out of our current location. I undocked the Scorpion, the chatter from the fleet channels filling my head. The battleship was slow and awkward, its already minimal speed further reduced by three meters of armor plating and several trimark armor pumps. The battleship was engineered to be durable while maintaining the medium power slots for my ECM equipment. The rest of the fleet was alongside my ship as it emerged into the depths of space. I checked the settings on the overview, then double checked the visuals on the ships around me. One was a Thanatos carrier. A fellow freedom fighter, but not in the fleet. Somewhere, I vaguely heard the order for a fleet warp. I swore to myself, and mashed the stop command for my ship, but it was to no avail. Having aligned to the gate, I warped with the rest of the fleet. I already knew what would happen when we landed. Being one of the most decisive forces on a battlefield, electronics warfare ships such as the Scorpion were usually designated primary targets quickly. Before we were even deccelerating, I began to prepare the ship for its destruction, selecting my exit point and ordering the crew to be on standby for evacuation.

The overview began to fill with flashing orange targets, as I’d predicted. I hadn’t finished fully deccelerating yet when I cut on the ship’s sensor booster and damage control, targeting a Maelstrom, Brutix, Abaddon, and Drake. The instant my systems confirmed a lock, I began an ECM cycle on each. Two immediately showed a jamming cycle, but the Abaddon locked me back. The Abaddon was probably the most dangerous of the group, so I quickly engaged a second ECM, a multispectral jammer this time, on the formidable foe, while I began to unleash a torrent of torpedoes at the Maelstrom. The thermal-based Inferno torpedoes struck the side of the ship’s hull, each one impacting just after the last. Blossoms of fire engulfed the battleship’s broadside, ripping through its shield defenses along with blistering support from the other battleships in the fleet. Immediately, as I knew I would, I drew fire from multiple surrounding ships. The shields on the Scorpion dissipated quickly under the onslaught, but once they hit armor, the rate of damage decreased substantially. The blasters and missiles drew massive craters on the reinforced plating of the ship, while I struggled to keep my own offensive systems functioning. From the edge of the battle, a ship I assumed to be a Basilisk or Scimitar began to transfer shields to me, while another transferred armor. I watched the readouts climb back up, only to be beaten down by enemy fire. I began to target another ship, the Maelstrom and Abaddon finally fallen, but for some reason, my systems weren’t responding. I could only guess as to the cause, but the visual lag from my ship’s inputs, as well as the nonresponsive controls, were not good. Even the damage rates being registered stalled. I frantically tried to target a new enemy, before leaning back and waiting. The battle seemed to be on a loop, my camera drone malfunctioning horribly, when the ship’s defenses plummeted, showing severe hull damage. I frantically began to try and warp the slow machine out, but it was to no avail. It took mere seconds for the armored behemoth’s final defense to crumble, as my capsule fired out as if from a cannon. Not wasting any time for even the systems to finalize their feeds, I warped from the combat site, not staying to see who won. For me, the fight was over and I wasn’t risking my clone.

The Next Step

Out of Character: I would also like to celebrate the completion of my second EVE music video.

The Tengu strategic cruiser. I had been working for three months to purchase all of the parts and fly the damned ship, and here it was. I didn’t like the flat gray armor plating as much as the black hull plates of my old Nighthawk command ship, but the smaller vessel was many times more lethal. I watched as the technicians lowered a modified Dread Guristas Invulnerability Field into place, while elsewhere, someone made sure the hull had been fitted together properly. The ship’s total cost had run me about three billion ISK, not an amount I’d want to pay again anytime soon. I examined the specifications of the ship, and its abilities, as described by my datapad. The last of the modules was installed, a Pith B-Type Large Shield Booster. Unlike almost any other ship, it could permanently and sustainably run the demanding device. I sighed and pointed at a technician. “Get the ship ready.” I disappeared from the hangar.

Five minutes later…

The walls of the hangar rushed past, my ship accelerating out and into open space. The Tengu’s systems responded more fluidly than anything else. My head was reeling, though. The amount of sensory input from the ship’s internal and external readouts was staggering, something I wasn’t used to. It felt as if the ship was an extension of my body, reacting to my thoughts and reflexes. It banked left… Right… Dived… Ascended… I’d already accepted a mission from an agent in Gelfiven, and I plotted a warp to the location.I activated the afterburner, burning away from the station at a cool six hundred meters per second, and executed a graceful arc to align to my mission. The acceleration and maneuvering of the ship were faster than other vehicles I usually flew. I landed without incident, and engaged the shield hardeners and boosters. As expected, capacitor levels plummeted for a few moments, then leveled out around thirty eight percent. Satisfied, I activated the acceleration gate.

I’d run this mission a dozen times before. The Angel Cartel was fond of repeating the same mistake- a single large mass of ships distributed throughout a single deadspace pocket. Previously, with my Raven Navy Issue and Cerberus ships, I’d have to carefully pick and choose targets. This time… I decided to anger every battleship I could. Already, several were targeting and firing on me. My shield registered minimal damage, repaired quickly by my booster. I cautiously picked out ships from the groups that hadn’t locked on, and fired a flight of scourge missiles at them one at a time. The missiles struck shields, alerting their captains to my presence and angering the swarms. Precisely what I wanted. I paused in anticipation, artillery shells arcing gracefully for my ship followed by volleys of missiles and torpedoes. Such a hit would normally decimate my defenses… For a scant moment, I was blinded, visual sensors overwhelmed by the glare of the explosions. I squinted against it, monitoring the shields. For a few seconds they blinked down to ninety five percent, then boosted to one hundred again. Another volley. Ninety two, one hundred. I began to return fire, the ship’s heavily boosted launchers hurling salvo after salvo of Scourge kinetic missiles. The smaller ships succumbed quickly as an onslaught of Scourge heavy missiles smashed their hulls into pieces. Some, the destroyers, exploded instantly. The battlecruisers followed soon after, their meager shield tanks no match for the rate of fire and damage on my missiles. Reload. Now, the true test.

The Angel Cartel heavy assault ships had approached long ago, orbiting at twenty kilometers. To a missile pilot like myself, it was as good as zero meters. I fired the first volleys of missiles with a cold, hardened precision. It took only about five seconds for them to make their devastating impact, splashing across the shields of the heavily tanked ships. It didn’t kill the ship as anticipated, but after only two to three salvo’s, the ship’s shields crumbled. The armor melted off in great furroughs, the kinetic impact smashing through and into the ship’s internal structure. For a few moments, it spewed oxygen and cargo into space before exploding spectacularly. The other two followed shortly thereafter. I mentally compared the ammo I’d expended against the ammo my old Raven Navy Issue would use… This was cheaper. My next targets were the Machariel-class battleships. Crewed ships, nowhere near the power of a capsuleer’s ships, they were simple kills. They neither fled nor offered substantial defense, my missiles crushing two for every reload cycle. It took only minutes to decimate the entire fleet. I checked in with the mission objective… Completed.

Second Video

I’ve completed my second EVE music video. Taken from missions, battles, and a big fight, its set to Iced Earth’s “Red Baron/Blue Max,” a metal song about… The Red Baron. Hope you enjoy.

A Day at the Office

The industrial director would need access to the station, defenses, blueprints… Combat director needed permission to this… Junior directors… Setting up corporate titles and roles wasn’t my idea of a fun day, but it had to be done. Business was business, and as a director myself, I had certain obligations. The evemail icon on my datapad blinked, and I checked it, annoyed. Nothing important, just an office bill for an office in a system I’d never been to or heard of. I really had to talk to Amanda about these redundant offices. I tapped a few more buttons on my Neocom, sighed, and placed it on the desk before me. I rubbed my temples, leaning back in the cold metal chair. Corporate paperwork was a true nightmare. If there was a hell, this had to have come from it. While I was staring at a light in the aging office’s ceiling, I heard the outer door open and shut. It was either an applicant, or my CEO. If it was the latter… I heard a chair scoot, and her little giggle. If it had been an applicant, we weren’t accepting… Yet.

“Hey, Amanda, have you worked out those wallet divisions yet?” I called from my small alcove. I sighed and got out of the chair, walking over to the door. What a dump, these Minmatar offices. She was in the corner, in her usual casual slacks and a low-cut, short-sleeved black shirt, reading something on her datapad. Her long, black hair hid her f ace. It brought back memories of Zelda… I still liked her, a lot, even if the last time we had met had been awkward and quiet. She’d hardly said anything at all to me and left without a goodbye. Sometimes, I just had to learn to let go. I watched her for a minute, and rubbed my tired eyes. The lights in here were turned down, as we didn’t really need them, so her face was entirely lit by the glow of her datapad. “Hey, Amanda.”

“Hrm?” Her voice was light and cheerful, her smile worry free. How I envied her and her ability to live without concern.

“Have you finished those wallet revisions?”

“Oh! Not yet, sorry.” She smiled. “Have you finished the roles?”

“I can’t until you finalize the wallet and hangars,” I growled, a touch of irritation edging into my voice. She stood up and set her pad on the desk next to her, and walked up to me. I knew she’d noticed the new tone in my voice. I towered over the small Khanid woman, both in stature and physical strength, yet she knew I wouldn’t lift my hand inviolence against her. Knew me too well, she did.

“And I told you, I’ll finish when I can. I just got back from a lengthy planetside trip, and I don’t feel like working yet.” She smiled and blinked. I said nothing, and turned back to my office, closing the door. I had things to do. She spoke as I was about to leave the headquarters. “You know, you take everything too seriously.” I stopped cold, something ticking in the back of my head, wondering if she was right. “You never smile, you never have fun, and you are pure business when you’re here. I thought we were friends.”

“We are. I haven’t given up on this yet, have I?” I didn’t turn around. I didn’t want to face her. I’d always said I was a man who preferred direct confrontation to evasion, but somehow I always wanted to do nothing but avoid trouble.

“So you don’t think we’ll succeed?”

“I never said that. I just stated a fact.” I kept my voice level and emotionless, not wanting her to know her comment had gotten to me. I balled my hands up into fists, to keep them from shaking. I hated being called out. Soft footsteps approached me from behind, and a pair of arms encircled me in a soft hug, trapping my own to my side. I said nothing, just stared at the exit for a moment, thinking. I felt her rub her head against my back in a motion of what I assumed to be either affection or comfort, and wondered what was the appropriate reciprocation in such a situation. Finally reaching a solution, and trying to fight my own warring emotions of anger, sorrow, and thankfulness, I loosened her grip and turned around, returning the embrace and resting my chin on the top of her head. “Thanks… I needed that. Sometimes things just get a little hard for me.”

“I know,” She whispered. We stood this way for a few minutes, before she spoke again. “Why don’t you ever smile anymore? You were so happy when I first met you.”

“I thought I met someone special to me then, but she left. My corporation fell apart. My old friends want to kill me. What do I have left to smile about?”

“You have a new corporation to start again with.”

“Merely fulfilling promise I made a long time ago,” I said flatly, thinking somewhere in my head that she was right. “I told you I’d help you, and I am.” There was silence again. My eyes roamed the room, looking everywhere but down at the small person holding me to the spot. I was afraid to look into her eyes, see that I’d hurt her like I hurt everyone else I cared about. “Is that anything to smile about?”

“You have me.” The words I wanted and didn’t want to hear. A single tear forced its way into my eye, and slid down my cheek on a silvery trail, glinting in the light of her datapad on the table. I fought back another, but her hand reached up and wiped it off before I could turn away. “Not all your old friends want to kill you.” I said nothing, choosing to stare at a point beyond the far wall. She looked up, I could tell by the movement of her body, and planted a soft peck on my chin. “Take care of yourself… Take a break and stop blaming yourself for everything.” But I couldn’t. Because I knew it was my fault.