Chapter 1 "Old Enemies" "Yes, yes, I see it. Give me a few cycles to finish up this one over here. Till then make yourself useful and start cleaning up this mess." Garrett toggled the settings that brought thier cargo containers floating around the belt into vivid highlight on his display. Still giddy from finding a Semi-Rare Jaspet in an otherwise unremarkable field of Veldspar. Sydney was right, his sister always was, this area had been good to them. 3 days of mining without seeing another soul had allowed them to carve out a good bit of ore to fill thier holds. But it was all veldspar... cheap, dirty, veldspar. But it was everywhere and it was always needed. The Jaspet he found a few minutes ago may be one tenth the size of the smallest Veld in the belt, but it was worth more than the whole system. Yanking his mind back to work he manuvered his Sigil around the end of the belt and approached the first of thier cans. "Tainers Alpha and Beta locked Sis, tractoring now." Sydney gave her little brothers ship a glance on her display to make sure he was doing his job safely. He had come a long way from the kid last year who towed a can straight through a powerful beam from her stripminer. Wasting a whole days work was not worth what he called, "A pretty cool explosion." Yes, there he was, just outside her targeting range. Without a lock on him she would have to use the plain old video to monitor the glint of his engines in the shadows of the moon sized asteroids. "Cycle complete." her Aura interface informed. "While you take those two in to the station, I will go get your pretty sparkle. I sure am glad I found it." Sydney teased. "What do you mean, "You foun..." Garrett's comeback was cut off as he jumped into warp to the station on the other side of the large system. Station... HA, Sydney thought to herself as she steered out of the belt to find a good angle on the Jaspet. It was just a warehouse floating in space that used to be on a prime travel route through the region. But that was in thier fathers day. Gates change, and so does technology. The Pair of stripmining lasers she Carried on her mining barge pulled in more ore in a few cycles, than her father and Grandfathers ships did in a few days. 3rd Generation Miners, "smelter rats", always covered in dust from working on the ships and equipment that kept thier family fed. Not like the other kids, always clean, with glistening implants to help them learn faster. "Heh, let them try to use any of that out here." She mused to herself. A flash of a ship coming out of warp at the other end of the belt caught her eye, "Took you long enough. If you grab those other two cans, I will haul this one in myself." Checking her scanner once more jsut ot be sure that she would have room for all the ore, Sydney didn't see what slammed into her ship causing it to rock violently. A second missile made a thunderous slap on her shields as she frantically shut down her miners to save power. "Blood Raiders Sis!" Garrett frantically tried to warn his sister as a 3rd missile sped toward her. "No shit? What was your first clue?" Sydney spouted back through clenched teeth as a 3rd and final chunk of her shields were slapped off of her barges gauges. "Gar, I'm in trouble, I can't get my warp drive to work!" "There's two of them Syd! One has a scrambler!" "Get out of here! I will try to eject and get back in my pod...." Another slap on the hull of her ship and she could feel armor plates peel away, the connection through the pod making it feel like her own skin peeling off after a sunburn. There they were, both in range now, 2 Blood Raiders, ...and a sigil? "GARRETT! What the hell are you doing? I said get out of here!" But she knew it was too late, the power readings for his small hauler spiked and a brilliant shaft of flame shot from the engines as he used the afterburners, his ship leaping ahead his speed nearly doubled! As his ship dove from above at the nearest blood raider her world seemed to slow down till every second was an eternity. "No, not again!" The Raiders had taken almost her entire family. "Please not again!" The two ships came together and seemed to mold into one as they crumpled, the frigate being almost swallowed by the bulk of the cargo hauler. With a blinding roar, the 2 ships disappeared from her scanner and were replaced by icons representing debris. "Garrett! GARRETT!" Sydney was so fixed on the explsion she didn't even notice the missiles hitting her ship tearing great chunks out of her armor anymore. "Hull Breach Immenent. Attention, Hull Breach Immenent." Aura repeated without emotion. But sydney did not care, she simply stared at the darkening ball of fire that was once a ship. "Syd? Syd! Run damn it Syd RUN!" A pod beacon appeared on the display in front of her eyes, and then her siblings name overlayed with a flicker onto the pod. "Oh thank the stars! Ya, Ya ok im going." Sydney yanked herself back to her ship and the task at had instantly with the realization that her brothers Pod had survived. Now she needed to make sure she didn't waste the chance to get away that he had given her. "You better run too little bother. Warping." "Right behind you... of all the dirty, I can't get out!" Sydney heard her brother but it took a few seconds to realize what he was saying, then she noticed that she hadn't entered warp either. "Warp drive disrupted." Aura intoned. The remaining Blood Raider sat between the two of them, appearing to try to decide which to finish off first, bluish disruptor beams eminating from 2 scrambler dishes on its hull. Slowly the Raider turned toward the pod, pointing directly at it. "Oh, god. Syd, Syd, ... I don't wanna die." Sydney closed her eyes in silent prayer, wishing this evil to go away. She felt, rather than heard a large Clap, followed by 2 more, and less than a second later a great explosion rocked her barge. "Wait a minute, Pods don't explode!" She said to nobody in particular. "Nope, but Raiders go boom pretty good. Are you two ok? Can I be of any assistance?" This new voice in the channel, had a swagger to the accent, not speaking with the dialect of a proper Ammarian, or even a Caldari... the screen finally flickered to life and a young woman with an assortment of Tattos on her face came into view, a Minmatar woman. "Yes, this is Sydney Lostkey, we are alright, thank you for your assistance..." "Vixtoria Jaxson, but you can call me Vixie." "Wow, I thought we were done for. That was a beautiful bit of shooting." Garrett's pod circled the newly arrived Frigate, like a child in a toystore as he spoke. "Wow, a Wolf class, I have only read about these. You are one fantastic pilot, just one shot to kill that Raider. Thanks alot... Vixie was it?" "You're welcome love, and yep everyone calls me Vixie, but you can call me anytime." "I'm sorry to be in a rush but I have an impending hull breach here, and I would like to get in for repairs." Sydney interrupted, as her ship powered up for the warp to the docking bay she toggled the gang commands she rarely used to force Garrett's Pod into warp as well. 5 seconds later they were in warp side by side heading across the starsystem. "That was unnecessary Syd." "Hey little brother, I just want to make sure we are both safe." "I know, I know. But wasn't she spectacular?" "Well for a Minmatar she was certainly, friendly." Sydney gave her little brothers ship a glance on her display to make sure he was doing his job safely. He had come a long way from the kid last year who towed a can straight through a powerful beam from her stripminer. Wasting a whole days work was not worth what he called, "A pretty cool explosion." Yes, there he was, just outside her targeting range. Without a lock on him she would have to use the plain old video to monitor the glint of his engines in the shadows of the moon sized asteroids. "Cycle complete." her Aura interface informed. "While you take those two in to the station, I will go get your pretty sparkle. I sure am glad I found it." Sydney teased. "What do you mean, "You foun..." Garrett's comeback was cut off as he jumped into warp to the station on the other side of the large system. Station... HA, Sydney thought to herself as she steered out of the belt to find a good angle on the Jaspet. It was just a warehouse floating in space that used to be on a prime travel route through the region. But that was in thier fathers day. Gates change, and so does technology. The Pair of stripmining lasers she Carried on her mining barge pulled in more ore in a few cycles, than her father and Grandfathers ships did in a few days/ Third Generation Miners, "smelter rats", always covered in dust from working on the ships and equipment that kept thier family fed. Not like the other kids, always clean, with glistening implants to help them learn faster. "Heh, let them try to use any of that out here." She mused to herself. A flash of a ship coming out of warp at the other end of the belt caught her eye, "Took you long enough. If you grab those other two cans, I will haul this batch in myself." Checking her scanner once more jsut ot be sure that she would have room for all the ore in her hold, Sydney didn't see what slammed into her ship causing it to rock violently. A second missile made a thunderous slap on her shields as she frantically shut down her miners to save power. "Blood Raiders Sis!" Garrett frantically tried to warn his sister as a third missile sped toward her. "No shit? What was your first clue?" Sydney spouted back through clenched teeth as a 3rd and final chunk of her shields were slapped off of her barges gauges. "Garrett, I'm in trouble, I can't get my warp drive to work!" "There's two of them Syd! One has a scrambler!" "Get out of here! I will try to eject and get back in my pod...." Another slap on the hull of her ship and she could feel armor plates peel away, the connection through the pod making it feel like her own skin peeling off after a sunburn. There they were, both in range now, two Blood Raider Frigates, ...and a sigil? "GARRETT! What the hell are you doing? I said get out of here!" But she knew it was too late, the power readings for his small hauler spiked and a brilliant shaft of flame shot from the engines as he used the afterburners, his ship leaping ahead his speed nearly doubled! As his ship dove from above at the nearest blood raider her world seemed to slow down till every second was an eternity. "No, not again!" The Raiders had taken almost her entire family. "Please not again!" The two ships came together and seemed to mold into one as they crumpled, the frigate being almost swallowed by the bulk of the cargo hauler. With a blinding roar, the two ships disappeared from her scanner and were replaced by icons representing debris. "Garrett! GARRETT!" Sydney was so fixed on the explsion she didn't even notice the missiles hitting her ship tearing great chunks out of her armor anymore. "Hull Breach Immenent. Attention, Hull Breach Immenent." Aura repeated without emotion. But sydney did not care, she simply stared at the darkening ball of fire that was once a ship. "Syd? Syd! Run damn it Syd RUN!" A pod beacon appeared on the display in front of her eyes, and then her siblings name overlayed with a flicker onto the pod. "Oh thank the stars! Ya, Ya ok im going." Sydney yanked herself back to her ship and the task at had instantly with the realization that her brothers Pod had survived. Now she needed to make sure she didn't waste the chance to get away that he had given her. "You better run too little bother. Warping." "Right behind you... of all the dirty, I can't get out!" Sydney heard her brother but it took a few seconds to realize what he was saying, then she noticed that she hadn't entered warp either. "Warp drive disrupted." Aura intoned. The remaining Blood Raider sat between the two of them, appearing to try to decide which to finish off first, bluish disruptor beams eminating from 2 scrambler dishes on its hull. Slowly the Raider turned toward the pod, pointing directly at it. "Oh, god. Syd, Syd, ... I don't wanna die." Sydney closed her eyes in silent prayer, wishing this evil to go away. She felt, rather than heard a large Clap, followed by 2 more, and less than a second later a great explosion rocked her barge. "Wait a minute, Pods don't explode!" She said to nobody in particular. "Nope, but Raiders go boom pretty good. Are you two ok? Can I be of any assistance?" This new voice in the channel, had a swagger to the accent, not speaking with the dialect of a proper Ammarian, or even a Caldari... the screen finally flickered to life and a young woman with an assortment of Tattos on her face came into view, a Minmatar woman. "Yes, this is Sydney Lostkey, we are alright, thank you for your assistance..." "Vixtoria Jaxson, but you can call me Vixie." "Wow, I thought we were done for. That was a beautiful bit of shooting." Garrett's pod circled the newly arrived Frigate, like a child in a toystore as he spoke. "Wow, a Wolf class, I have only read about these. You are one fantastic pilot, just one shot to kill that Raider. Thanks alot... Vixie was it?" "You're welcome love, and yep everyone calls me Vixie, but you can call me anytime." "I'm sorry to be in a rush but I have an impending hull breach here, and I would like to get in for repairs." Sydney interrupted, as her ship powered up for the warp to the docking bay she toggled the gang commands she rarely used to force Garrett's Pod into warp as well. 5 seconds later they were in warp side by side heading across the starsystem. "That was unnecessary Syd." "Hey little brother, I just want to make sure we are both safe." "I know, I know. But wasn't she spectacular?" "Well for a Minmatar she was certainly, friendly."