" Resurgence "
(Bumper-sized 'return to EVE' diary edition)
New fashions, new ships, new faces - new challenges. These were new times that my family had found ourselves returning to in New Eden after taking a break from capsuleer life for a little over three months. We'd spent this time planetside, in mourning after the death of our mother, family Grand Matron. For those who aren't aware, we hail from a very remote region of Achur where locals adhere to a strict tradition of matriarchy. Women are supreme in our culture and age gives seniority. Thus when our mother passed after a long illness it was kinda a big deal. Nighthawk Exploration, my family's corporation, fell dark and my personal assetts in Isogen 5 were put on ice.
Since returning to New Eden my life had been a whirlwind, both in space and within my personal life. I spent a while thinking about all the things that had transpired since our return, sitting in my Barghest in lowsec, orbiting a wormhole at 500m while waiting for Foedus' word to jump through. Suddenly Barghest™ was becoming a thing, and while many people laughed at my pancake ship initially, it had eventually gained both the amusement and respect of most of my colleagues, not least corp diplomat, director, FC and dear friend Foedus Latro.
Content Creation trained to lvl 5 - Foedus Latro
Erica's POS-mate, Iso5 director, diplo and all around beautiful human being.
"Ok Dusette, jump jump, warp to Foedus, warp to Foedus." Came his call over comms. "Wow, this corp name 'Master-Baiters', I hope you have a micro-jump drive fitted Dusette!"
I did have a MJD, not that I'd end up needing to use it though, as I landed on grid there was no local-spike to be seen.
Foedus had found a Buzzard running a data-site in lowsec and had specifically called me to come help kill it with my Barghest, nobody else was permitted to come, because Foedus is an artist and had a very stylish plan. This Master-Baiter was about to meet a very classy death indeed.
"Scram Buzzard" Came Foedus' call over comms just as I landed on grid, around 30+ kilometres from the hostile. Not a problem for me as I can point out to around 40k with Suddenly Barghest™ and lob faction missiles close to 100. "I've neutted it dry for you Dusette" came the call as Aeon Latro's Bhaalgorn also landed, quickly draining the little frigate of it's escape juice.
"Buzzard's pointed. Buzzard's dying" I stated over comms as, in the name of Bob, I began to give a holy sermon to the locals bearing witness to the horror unfolding before their Empire-loving eyes.
All of the girls and I, including Candi, had spent an enormous amount of time recently in Empire space stations, trying on new clothes and working long hours to perfect new galnet portraits. I was sure that Candi's losses were somehow Bob showing his anger for doing so, but like always my little yellow assistant took the bullet for all of us, wiping our slate clean with the god of Anoikis. Now with her new suit, and her new title, Candi felt invincible and was determined never to get suicide ganked again or lose another Proteus.
I smiled, rolling my eyes as I remember Candi's recent losses. Just then she stepped over to me to set my steamy hot mug of coffee on the table before me with her trademark cheeky-smile. I took a sip and continued thinking back over the past month or two since my family and I had returned to New Eden. I'd faced a few losses too, like Candi did, but I'd also been part of some great victories on the battlefield. Most recently was two encounters with residents of nullsec, a place to which our home system is often connected. My little Achuran mind began to drift back ..
I'd woken one morning, jumped into my capsule and onto corporate comms to discover my colleagues in an adjoining nullsec system harassing some of the local residents. I'd recently told the story of what happened next to some friends on the Galnet forums ....
Listen space-ladies ... birth control is a thing, you know? In anycase despite feeling betrayed I was left with some solace that if he complained about his sex-life prior to marriage then things certainly wouldn't be improving after it. In which case when he starts to get that itch again, and he will, he can consider "New Eden's most beautiful woman" off his booty-call list. Permanently ...
Much like Candi's highsec welpings though, even my heartbreak came with a silver lining. Within a week I was contacted by a lovely pilot I'd met more than a year earlier at the Jita riots. Badel Jramodarr, a tall, heavy-set Brutor with an intimidating appearence yet gentle and warm nature. Brave too, as I found after we got talking he invited me out on a little 'date' of sorts. A former slave who'd escaped his captors, Badel wanted to show me a special place called The Labyrinth, where he once used it's gates to escape and confuse his former Amarrian tormentors. I was blown away, to say the least ... a place of spectacular beauty, such a sweet and genuine gesture, unlike what I'd become accustomed to. To me it was a sign of positive things to come and one could be forgiven for thinking I was rapidly falling for my new friend ...
Badel's Cheetah orbits Erica's Tengu in 'The Labyrinth' (Pic by Badel)
Meanwhile, back on the job, the bloodbaths continued. No space-bloodbath is truly complete though unless it involves capital ships, and thanks to some nullseccers we one day found ourselves exiting into, we would soon find such a bath waiting for us to swim in. Babylon 5 and it's training wing Babylon 4 Academy seemed like a lively bunch. Late one evening I was alone in corp with only Jack and Amthala for company. Jack had spotted some of the Babylon pilots poking their noses into our hole and so Amthala was dispatched to investigate. She discovered two tech 1 class frigates on the outside of our hole. I joined Amthala in null and we proceed to murder both pilots. We remained in system, hoping for another small fight perhaps, when Suddenly 'Blob' ...
10 v 2 wasn't the best odds, so we both bailed. Unfortunately Amthala was tackled on the inside of our hole and killed. I'd managed to escape though, so in a way it was still Op Success. Soon afterward we both headed to bed, licking our wounds and vowing to exact revenge on these Bobless motherfuckers the next day. And we would have it ...
Waking the next morning, I boarded my capsule and joined corporate comms. The Babylon pilots had been seen lurking around our hole ever still, and so several of us ventured out into null to show these guys that it's generally not a good idea to piss us of. When it comes to revenge killings and space-trolling no ship quite fills the role like Dishonor Falcon. Payback time - I shipped up and our gang jumped out into null, determined to murder the first thing we saw...
Which as it happened was this guy ...
I guess by this stage he was getting really mad because it seemed he began calling up all his friends who, in true nullsec fashion, began to arrive one-by-one like chunks of meat hurling themselves into a finely sharpened grinder...
The rain of Dishonor continued as they kept throwing stuff at us, including a Tengu and numerous frigates, most of whom sadly managed to escape. Murdering the domis was fun though and we were beginning to feel much better about Amthala's death the night before. We were almost ready to pack up, repair modules and head home when ..... Suddenly Thanatos.
I hadn't expected them to take Foedus's request to "bring a carrier" seriously, but it seems these Babylon pilots are super-serious people. Someone undocked a Thanny and warped it right to us on the gate. The results would be almost as predictable as Jack's sudden arrival on grid. By this stage though my poor Falcon was being primaried by all the things, warping around in armor and taking serious damage from the Thanatos. I quickly jumped on comms and summoned my sister Dani with her Tengu 'Adulterous' while jumping back into Atlas myself to reship to my own Tengu the 'Lusty Wench' as we proceeded to scamble all the things.
The Thanatos soon realised the error in his ways and jumped the gate, too slow though for my sister Dani who followed with another pilot and resumed tackle. I arrived soon after in my own Tengu, followed by Issere Woloch in her Naglfar who proceeded to head-shot the Thanny, it dying in a glorious ball of flame that not even the partially-fit Drake who came to save it could prevent. Our mighty blob of ten had murdered all the things, returning home satisfied that we'd revenged Amthala's Gnosis loss from the night before. With the Thanny down, and a date with Badel later that evening, my family's return to New Eden was already looking bright indeed.
