In Loving Memory of Cheetara

When you're weary, feeling small,
When tears are in your eyes, I will dry them all;
I'm on your side. When times get rough
And friends just can't be found,
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.

When you're down and out,
When you're on the street,
When evening falls so hard
I will comfort you.
I'll take your part.
When darkness comes
And pain is all around,
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.

Sail on silvergirl,
Sail on by.
Your time has come to shine.
All your dreams are on their way.
See how they shine.
If you need a friend
I'm sailing right behind.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind.

~~*****~***~*****~~

More that a Frigate. More than a hull and modules with no tank but stealth. Metal and wires and electronics, these where not your soul. They call you TechII, I called you friend. Against the revenges of hostile cruel wspace you kept me safe and warm in your embrace. New Eden is just a little dark now without your cloaked shimmer, we both looked forward to Oceanus, now I must face it without you. May you skies forever more be Rokh and Smartbomb
free.

Important to remember - Capsulteers are Mean.

Readers, last night I lost a dear friend. We have been together so long that I am finding it hard to even admit that she has passed on. It is hard to find the words to express the depth of this loss. We have been through so much together and to have her ripped away from me so violently, well readers it has left me with questions. Why did I make it and she didn't, how could someone so causally and cruelly rip someone so precious away form another?

Readers, last night on my way home from Jita a low sec gate disco turned ugly and my precious Cheetara what gone, I landed on the gate and she was gone! I was suddenly in my pod with only 25% hull. She wasn't fancy, she wasn't high class like some other ships, but she was mine. I have literally had her with me since I came back to New Eden. My lose cannot be measured in isk this time my readers, she was not a ship was a friend, only an hour earlier we had ninjaed a relic sight together. She was so sexy in that cloak getting right up on those cans and hacking them then warping off before sleepers or the site runner could realized we where there. Our gains weren't worth the risks but it was fun, we laughed and sighed panting at our ss and went back two more times. I thought nothing could take her from me... I thought I would never need to say good bye.

We knew that the run to Jita to sell our loot was risky, but the night had been one of adrenaline and high risk already. This part of the night seemed so trivial as to be laughable, there is a low sec leg that saved us 10 jump. We dressed down taking only what was needed, cloak, mwd, cargo mods (in case I found a good deal.) We got there without trouble, sold everything for about 5 million  hardly worth the trip. I'd left a Large Shield Extender II in the hanger there the last time because of space issues in my hauler, I'd literally filled it up with other things the time before, not even 10m3  to spare, so I left that behind. Last night we were running bare bones, just in case, though I thought we would be safe I mean I saw the disco camp and made it through on the way there, I knew where on the gate they were... but they where having their party right on the gate when we showed up on the way back, and I lost my dear Cheetara. One minute we were in warp to 0 on the gate, next she is gone and I only have my pod a head ache and the taste of cooper in my mouth.

I've tried to move on, dear readers, but it isn't the same. I have her twin sister in my hanger, she can wear all the same outfits. She can play all the same games, make the same moves, but dear readers, she is not my lost Cheetara. I say again my readers, she IS not.

I ask you readers that we all observe a moment of silence for a fallen friend and faithful companion. I should never have taken her back there, we should have take the time to go around, enjoyed the evening together on a leisurely stroll though so many lovely high sec neighborhoods, rather than take that stinking urine stained low sec back alley.

CHEETARA NO, What have I done!!! I will avenge you, I will try to find some way, I promise... although maybe I'll just be happy I made it with my pod and head full of implants, Cheetara would want that for me after all.

Oh by the way readers, last night I went into a C1 and while scanning down sites I found a relic site with a Stratios pew-pewing the sleepers. I snuck in and hacked the cans and looted some of the wrecks before he noticed me. I got about 5 million out of it. It was a fun bit of ninjaing and worth the risk from a fun standpoint. Had I been in my Bandersnatch II (or maybe it XXI I cannot remember anymore) I might have tried to jump him. But readers I thought that the time it would take to go back get my BC and get back would have been too long and I would have lost the Stratios totally. So I think I am starting to get this wspace thing.

An update on the 7th Fit

Well dear readers, I'm calling it a win. 

True I lost a hurricane and a hound, but I pulled 108m isk out of that C1 before was jumped and viciously brutalized. And I want you to know readers, I bare those callous heartless thugs no ill will, no malice, just the promise of violence should we meet again in w-space, but violence without malice! 

I replaced and slightly upgraded my Hound-dog and Bandersnatch! And readers, I still have 2.5m isk left over, that is a surplus not a deficit. In my books that is a solid win. So I shall not hang my head and mope. Bandersnatch is back and flying again, a bit slower now and I admittedly have had to reset my radio presets, seat height and other adjustment; but that is all incidental, My fuzzy dice are gone, and I am not sure how to rectify that without blood, but still it wasn't a total loss, I have that new ship smell again. I am also still down the ammo and MTU and Mobile Depot but those are incidentals also and would have eventually been lost to me anyway, so they don't count. And besides readers, what good is a Noctis if all it does is sit in my hanger because I am using my salvage drones and MTU all the time to cleanup as I go? Sure in w-space fast and quick is the way to go, and I really don't want to risk an asset like my Hoover, at least not until I have a corporation or group of like-minded individuals to help protect it.

So, that is that readers. I won hurrah for me.

And now a public service announcement for the NESPCD 

Capsulteers, remember to get your drones spay and neutered. It is easy and inexpensive and will help to cut down on an epidemic scaled out breaks of rogue drone hives and feral drone packs. Not only are these a health and safety hazard they often result in the slaughter of many innocent and potentially rehabilitate drones. Your corporate agents and Concord aren't to be blamed for sending capsulteers to slaughter colonies and hives of these machines, originally the ones to blame are you, the capsulteers who lost a drone here or there carelessly warping away without recalling or bm'ing the location so you could return and pick them back up. Your poor lost drones wander without purpose or directing, eventually falling in with a "bad crowd," getting graffittied up to look more street and then going to some cut rate drone hacker to have its subroutines rerouted to numb the pain of your betrayal. They find another feral drone and get her replicating and suddenly you have new a hive forming, and none of this would have happened if you had been a responsible drone owner and had your drones spay or neutered before hand. A spay or neutered drone cannot cause or produce replications.

Paid for by the New Eden Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Drones.

Bob is good.

Our Bob is an awesome Bob, much more awesome than some other Bobs out there.

So dear readers, with only the loot I'd taken from that C1 and with one million in the bank, I make my way to Jita tonight. "Here I go to Jita, Jita. I want to make my life all betta', beda'."

By Rens I was up 31.5 million. Now I don't mean to brag dear readers, or say that I am more blessed by Bod than others because he prefers my cakes to what ever it is the others they call their sacrifices. But I think it's obvious what Bob prefers, don't you? Needless to say readers, by Jita my account balance skyrocketed to just under 110 million isk. Over 100 million in isk. The nanofibers were my big winner on this trip (netting me about 70 million alone), but I must say the T2 and faction drones that I found just floating lost and alone while looking for other capsulteers in w-space helped my totals considerable also. Plus I cannot stand to see the poor defenseless drones left alone and scared to suffer what ever fate awaits them because their former owners couldn't take care of them. Honestly readers, the local shelters are packed with abandoned or unwanted drones. You should adopt some, sometimes capsulteers invest in expensive breeds of these wonderful pets and then just leave them without a care to fend for themselves out in the vast oceans of space. Its a crime, really it is. No wonder there are some many packs of feral drones wondering w-space making it unsafe.

Well now readers, I am a lazy seller when it comes to the market. I know I could maybe increase my returns by at lest another quarter, but I just don't waste my time with sell orders. It doesn't appeal to me. Trader PvPers you win against me, it is almost unfair. I know I should follow my favorite Kilrathi saying and "fight back, there is no honor in slaughter!" But meh, The most I do is I set up a small spreadsheet that tracks my loot and the highest buy orders and quantities in the hubs and plan a run to Jita, stopping off  here or there along the way. If my sheet says something will sell higher there I stop and off load it, so I had an idea that I would come close to 100 million isk this trip.

Readers, by now I think you know me well enough to know that I do not have that dark part of the human soul that is required to be able to  sell the brighter happier bits to an Anti-Bob in order to Plex every weekend, and make other scream "my ship! Why Bob, why! Those supplies where for the orphans! Those poor mutant orphan freaks will never get another chance at to hunt for the colorful and deadly Bobsmas eggs delivered and hidden like landmines by Old Saint Andta Claws during the Reign of Deers, the Great Red Slayer!" I care about the orphans of Eve, and want them to find the eggs that do not hiss or tick menacingly. Does this make me a bad capsulteer? Inferior in skills and style to those depraved monsters that would see the return of INFOD and the Church, I say thee nay. Isk is merely a matrix by which we may keep score. I accept that I am not in the top percentiles, or even the top bottom percentiles of capsulteers. Many younger pilots make much more than me on a trial account. BUT as a solo pilot I know my income is limited to what I can handle alone, and I put a greater percentage of my personal wealth on the line than others in larger corporations and alliances. I know dear readers, that I will lose, often and more... and often more than I can afford, but somehow I say afloat. I make just enough to replace what I have lost and maybe upgrade a bit. I am able to indulge in some expensive habits aswell, (Quafe Zero how can I not keep a case or two in my hanger to enjoy after I find my hands and toes no longer feel like they fit quite right in that new clone I find myself in.) And for all this I am content.

All I am saying is dear readers is that Bob watches out for the soloist it seems, and he keeps us flying. Fly safe or fly dangerous... just don't forget that I fly scared.

Fit the Seventh - Bob giveth and Bob rippith away in violent fire and pain

[You Ain't nothin but a , Hound]
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Co-Processor II

Phased Muon Sensor Disruptor I, Targeting Range Dampening Script
Phased Muon Sensor Disruptor I, Targeting Range Dampening Script
Limited 1MN Microwarpdrive I

Covert Ops Cloaking Device II
Prototype 'Arbalest' Torpedo Launcher, Nova Torpedo
Prototype 'Arbalest' Torpedo Launcher, Nova Torpedo
Prototype 'Arbalest' Torpedo Launcher, Nova Torpedo
Expanded Probe Launcher I (off-line)

Small Bay Loading Accelerator I
Small Bay Loading Accelerator I

450x Nova Torpedo
8x Sisters Combat Scanner Probe
Mobile Depot

~~*****~***~*****~~

Last night, dear readers, I  found a lovely Wrabbit-Hole. It was full of luminous glory and no one I could see. Half an hour of scanning found me every POS and anomaly. I noted location and makeup for each. Ships sat docked but no one seemed to be about, I scanned I checked, I set warp away bm. All was ready. I was ready, so away I jumped to get my Bandersnatch.

All was fire and isk, readers. My sacrifice to Bob was the first spawn's top wreck, destroyed unlooted and unsalvaged, and there was also a cake. If you are interested in this ancient Minmatar recipe it is very simple, and quite healthy too. You take one Quafe, whatever flavor you like, I use Zero because it seems to be Bob's favorite; one unit of wheat, ground in to a fine powder; one unit of dairy product, I prefer to get it fresh, but the freeze dried is just as good in a pinch; mix the ingredients together well using a Khumaak and place all into a jetcan and cook at the sun. Make sure to use Inferno Missiles or phases plasma, laser or hybrids will only char the cake leaving a carbony aftertaste.

Happily, readers, did I cleared sites for almost two hours! My cargo wasn't nearly full and I had about 70 million in blue loot and nanoribbons. Though I am sure you know, that higher class holes yield much more and faster than a lowly C1, but in all it beats mission running hands down. And readers, I was doing it, I was soloing a hole all by myself. Watching my d-scan and ready to jump at a moments notice. I took my loot back to my station in k-space because I had other things requiring my attention, but planned to return afterwards.

Two hours passed and I was back in EVE. I when back to the same hole, checked it briefly, no activity is seemed.  But while cleaning up my first sites wrecks, only worth a miserly 7 million, I suddenly noticed was jump by a Stratios with ogre II's and trinity tackle and Nemesis as back up.

Now readers, you know me, I own my mistakes. I am not one to cast blame and cry that i was caught unfairly, or subject crippling lag, such terrible awful lag slowing my ability to react! I was caught with two of my guns offline and the Ogres ripped up my poor Bandersnatch. 

Now my day started with me earning enough to replace my poor BC, but, dear readers, I am sad to admit that I wasn't satisfied. Fire burnt within my heart and the blood of my Matari ancestors demanded vengeance. Back I raced in my pod to grab another ship. My hound-dog I thought would do the job. In it, I rushed back silent and sure. To my wreck I jumped. I had hurt the Stratios earlier and he'd needed to repair, I had hit his hull before he finished mine. I jumped in too close though, and as I landed so did the Stratios, with his insta-lock he grabbed my Bandersnatch's defiled wreck pulling it unwittingly into my hound-dog. Suddenly there I sit dear reader, in my glass cannon, no time to lock and fire, though I tried. I was soon in my pod and running. At my wormhole back home sat a camp of his mates, but I had bm'ed off far enough to see them before they could come for me and I kept moving. They should have bubbled the hole, but they didn't. I survived. 

You see dear readers, this tail of woe is not because of cursed lag, but one of deeper and darker stuff. The human heart is seems is a terrible place full of greed. I should have been satisfied  with what i had, but instead my losses ended up greater than my gains. Bob has shown me the errors of my ways yet again, readers, dear readers, I was blinded and wrong. But now I know, Now I see. There is but one truth, I must be more vigilant against the darkness. I must burn all I see just as the wheat that I so loving add to my cakes so to must I mix the blood of those I see white their own ashes so to purge their greed from them... Or at least that is the lesson I think Bob wanted to teach me, readers, so pray you see me before I see you next time.

A message to you.

Dearest Reader, this is a letter to you. You are pleased I know, you always secretly wanted to be the topic of a blog post and now you are.

I am writing this blog for you, and so I must let you know that this blog and Justice Shallow, myself, are trying to find our voice. It isn't easy to write in verse every post, harder still to write in really good bad verse, to stagger the thought flow and make the reader, you, wince with my pain. But you keep ready anyway. Why? You are my friends, or enemies, I really cannot tell from here, you all have such a vaguely human shapes it is hard to tell really.

Bare with me, help me to know when you hear one you like. I hear so many so often I should  be able  to pick one.

Fit the sixth - Praise Bob

[Banersnatch, Hurricane]

Damage Control II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Tracking Enhancer II
Tracking Enhancer II

Experimental 10MN Microwarpdrive I
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Large Shield Extender II
Relic Analyzer I

425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
Improved Cloaking Device II

Medium Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I

1x Warrior II
5x Salvage Drones

Mobile Depot
Mobile Tractor Unit
Medium Armor Repairer II
Large Shield Booster II
Large Shield Extender II
2x Salvager II
'Arbalest' Heavy Missile Launcher
500x Nova Heavy Missiles
10,000x Republic Fleet EMP M
(No Sacrifice for Bob! Whatever was I thinking)

~~*****~***~*****~~

I, dear reader, must apologize. It has been so long you must have thought me dead, or at there least infected with maladies to numerous to survive. Neither is the case reader, I yet live unaffected. My absence  was not truly voluntary, life it seem has been tag teaming with fate to make difficult  my time spent in EVE.

Late last night I was able to creep back though. I scanned  and found in my home system a C1. I ventured in for some recon and found many sites to run to my liking.

I prepared my Hurricane, Bandersnatch, and jumped in. Direct to the first site I flew, it was a relic site so the hardest first I thought. Sleeper went pop wave after wave, only once did I jump away on the final wave to let my cap restore from their neuting of me. Through all this I had my MTU gathering the wreck with a BM so I could just away then straight to it if the need raised. Always I watch D-scan and my PvP overview for others, nothing at all was seen. I quickly salvaged the wrecks with my drones and my salvagers (more savings, more doing that's the power of the Mobile Depot,) And I turn my attention to the relic cans. Now in the past these have lead to my dark demise, I cannot count the ships or pods that low-sec has claimed from this action, and you have already read of my misfortunes in w-space during such attempts (unnamed Tengu and Logi how I loath your surprise attack! My fist I shake at you for vexing me!) But this night I was lucky, not a blip or peep, all was silent as sheep. Three cans for me to loot.

Then as I opened the final can, tragedy most foul, my cargo hold was full. I had brought too much with me and the hour was already late, and my day starts so early... I admit, dear reader, even now as I scribe my woes to you my eyes droop and my head nods. The phone from my hand nearly drops. I knew then and accept now that that would be my only site that night, my only trip to and from. Forgive me Bob, I forgot to appease you! But in his wisdom and mercy he let me take my keep. In His loving way he reminded my who gives, and requires blood so that we may receive, 30m3 of Republic Fleet EMP was jettisoned and sacrificed in electrical fire from their brother.

So my loot was blue and plentiful, though not overly grand (it was a C1 after all) and the lose equaled the gain. Last night I was reborn and must continue to dive into w-space. Sink or float in that ocean of stars I will never know, but with luck and Bob maybe one day, dear readers, I will find a way to leave k-space behind and bloody myself upon the shores of the unknown.