Summer Heat

I don't know why they make me do it. They know that I would much rather be among my friends and alliance mates in null-sec. What is the point of a capsuleer having a 'holiday' anyway? Its not like we can't do anything we want, whenever we want.

The tall Khanid woman sighs and looks exasperated. The long hallway extends off in both directions from the section of the wall she is leaning on. Opposite her is a long, high, window overlooking the tantalizing vista of a deep blue oceanic world


OK I guess I'm a sucker for guilt trips. When I get a call from my stupid holder mother I don't know why I didn't just hang up straight away. Nostalgia I expect. But then came the "We haven't seen you for years" and "Your father really misses you". My father was furious when I left the navy so I doubt he is that keen to see me. Anyway now I am stuck, I promised and so on, having to go 30 stupid jumps for a week at a country getaway in the Amarr core worlds. I already know I'm going to hate it. I never had much patience with politics to start with and when you add religion into the mix I find it unbearable. A father in the navy and a mother the heiress of a powerful holder has jaded me a bit I suppose. My cynical side tends to show more when I try to put up with them.

Sweeping her long, black hair behind her ear she began to stalk down the hall


As for my brother, well, I suppose he should add some entertainment into the week. His music business is thriving in Federation. The last interview with him on the scope had been hilarious, all those Gallente girls throwing themselves at him in the street. The corp had had a good giggle in the POS bar over that one. I suppose there is some irony in there somewhere. The son of a strictly religious Amarr family, held in high standing in the Kingdom, becoming a popular, well known, club artist. Oh well. I know my parents will hate the fact he has done well in music and not turned into the nice little politician they had hoped.

She snorts in laughter


Nice politician. Right

Reaching the end of the corridor, she tapped the control pad by the door. It slowly crept open revealing the echoing vastness of an Amarr hanger. Huge crimson drapes fluttering in the breeze from the air scrubbers obscured the end of the hall. Floating in an anti-grav field the sleek curves of the Coercer class destroyer took up nearly a full kilometre of the hanger.  She stops for a moment to admire the way the light reflects as the huge spotlights move up and down the ship

 I know the crew will be watching me approach from the veiwports. I like my crew. Good people. Not many of them as I can't fly anything big enough to need more than about 15 people. Thankfully none of the Amarr are particularly fanatical any more, null-sec having changed their perspective a bit, so I don't have to put up with being called a 'traitor to the faith' any more. That last guy had pissed me off so much I eventually left him at the nearest Guristas outpost. Lets see him convert them.

A large gantry extends down from the centre of the ship down to the hanger floor. She approached and began to climb


Once I arrive I will be cut off from my ship, crew and friends for a full week. And I will have to actually talk to my family. I don't know how I'm going to survive.

Entering the ship she paused, surveyed the assembled crew members and began to frown


"All right you lot, where's Denna gone?"

Denna was my flight deck commander, a kind of surrogate captain taking orders directly from me and passing them onto the crew. She was the second most important person on the ship, a solid, dependable sebeistor woman, wise beyond her mere 20 years, who always seemed to know the best thing to do. She had never wanted to be a capsuleer though, for some reason she seemed to think the responsibility of being a virtual god was too much to handle. This had surprised me.

Tattooed and fierce in appearance she had annoyed the hell out of my parents the one time they had met her, simply because she was a Minmatar. They didn't seem to think that she was the proper kind of company for their precious daughter. I couldn't care less what they think. She had been with me a long time, ever since I found her curled up and scared in the hold of my freshly stolen navy destroyer. She was just 16 at the time, and I was only 3 years older. I wasn't planning on a crew member that early in my escape from parental tyranny but I wouldn't turn down such an obvious talent. However she was wary of me to start with and it was only when I got her a proper crew member's license that she began to be open with me. The license made it impossible for the Empire to claim her as their property. A capsuleer is above such things. I trusted her more than anyone else on the ship.

"She said something about checking over the heat sinks. Apparently they were playing up earlier so she and Mikhail went to have a look." reported Junior Software Engineer Davidson. He was a Deitis, a Caldari citizen. Unusual on a Amarr ship but he had proven himself adept in Amarr software engineering after he had hacked into the Holder database at my request. I'd needed some money at the time so I scraped a few million isk of every holder except the actual Imperial heirs. The theft had made Imperial news broadcasts and the holders were still arguing about who had done it.

As the Chief Weapon engineer, Mikhail was also important in the crew. I wondered why he had seen the need to go with Denna. He knows full well she is at least as competent at weapons systems as he is. Maybe the Gallente lad had just gone to tease her a bit. His playful behaviour and pranks had almost caused trouble but I always stepped in before someone got hurt. I admit I have a bit of a soft-spot for him.

"Well as soon as any of you see her make sure she knows she is needed on the flight deck. We're gonna be travelling for a bit. 30 jumps then a weeks leave at the end of it for you lot and a weeks break with my family for me"

Joy

"Where we going captain?" asked Rebbecca, a new addition to the crew and still full of the bubbly enthusiasm  some of the older hands now lacked. A Khanid girl like me she was pleasant to talk to and always eager to please. Trained as a psychologist by the Amarr Medical Core she had been recruited after some of the crew started going stir crazy away from family and friends. People just need to talk to someone sometimes, and she was damn easy to get along with. However the eager young girl had what was probably the murkiest past of all of us. She had told us very little, but I had done some research and I had my suspicions. Professional psychologists don't just turn up in guristas space with nothing but a well used laser pistol and a fake ID.

"Amarr. The core worlds themselves" I replied, not exactly full of enthusiasm.

Her comms unit began to chirp


"Hello? Yeah. You what!? Where do you need me? OK be there as soon as possible. Goodbye."

She stands looking stunned for a moment, then collects herself and begins to hurriedly head for the pod bay

"Captain? You gonna make us guess what happened?" Rebbecca asked

"We're gonna have to make a small detour......"

(OOC: This started as an in-character attempt to explain I was going on holiday. As you can see I got a bit carried away. I didn't mean to start a story, but it seems to have happened anyway. Looks like I'm gonna have some fun thinking of how to carry on with it now. It also ended up much, much longer than I expected, at 1,356 words and I will try to keep posts shorter from now on. Cya in a week or so!

Fly safe)