21 - Re-Awakening - Part 5

It was the stench that pricked her nostrils which brought Sandrielle back from her unconsciousness. Metal, wet with blood and sweat, urine and excrement. A smell of fear and death. She remembered it like all the other things from her time with the Hive. Memories that were etched into her mind forever, no matter how much she had meditated, conditioned herself and tried to forget. A past that had followed her at every step she took along the path of her life until this moment when it seemed like she had come full circle. Quietly she resigned herself to that realization.

As she opened her eyes, Sandrielle saw what she had expected. It was a cell, four by six meters, without any facilities whatsoever except one: Weapons. There they were, hung from the wall. Knives and clubs of various design, all close combat weapons. They wanted this to be personal. No killing at arm's length. Sandrielle knew that game, and so she looked around in the dimly lit room to see who her opponent would be.

When she located him huddled in one corner with his arms hugging his legs and his head buried between his knees she could not help but chuckle grimly. 'You really thought you'd get a reward for delivering me, didn't you?' the Gallente woman said while she got up and began to stretch her limbs.

Mikkai Aluvetti jerked his head up to look at her. His grimy face still showed the curved pathways tears had dug through the stains on his features and his blond hair was scorched in many places.

'You greedy Caldari moron.' Sandrielle said as she went through her routine of breathing and conditioning exercises, preparing herself for what had to be done here. 'The Hive does not even have any ISK. What they need they either steal or build themselves.' She shook her head after pausing to look at the pathetic figure the Caldari trader had become. 'They have never paid any ransom or any reward to anyone. The only thing you can get from them is weapons fire and death.'

'B... but .. I .. I had a contract with them.' Aluvetti protested with a quivering voice.

'Not worth the quantum states it's encoded in.' Sandrielle replied dryly and resumed her exercise routine. She found that the effect of the drugs Aluvetti had given her had worn off. Her body, mind and senses were fully recovered apart from a burning thirst that made her tongue feel dry and swollen in her mouth.

It would be over quickly.

'They destroyed my ship and killed my crew.' Aluvetti wailed at her. 'What will they do with us now?'

'With you?' Sandrielle completed her routine and lowered her arms, exhaling slowly. 'They will do nothing with you.' she said while she approached the wall with the assorted weapons and examined them to choose a suitable blade.

'I don't understand.' the Caldari shook his head in confusion and fear dilated the pupils of his blue eyes when he saw Sandrielle take a combat knife from it's place on the wall.

The dark haired Gallente woman turned to face her opponent and looked at him dispassionately. 'It's a selection procedure, you see.' she began to explain. 'There comes a point when each Hive child is locked up together with another. Someone they hate. They are given no food, no water, nothing. You will stay in the cell together until both of you die from thirst or one kills the other.' Sandrielle approached Aluvetti slowly and weighed the blade in her hand. 'If one survives, that child is kept in there for another day.' Sandrielle pressed her lips together and her expression darkened with the memory of past ordeals. 'You would be surprised how easy it is to drink human blood if it's the only thing you get to drink. Some even eat the flesh of their fellow prisoner.'

Aluvetti began to push himself up from the ground, trembling and his back against the wall. 'You mean? Wait! Can't we find some other way?!' he screamed in panic.

Sandrielle did not react to the question. 'The one who survives goes to the next round.' she said 'In the next round you get locked up with the one person you have the strongest personal bond with.'

Then, with two quick steps and a single thrust of the knife she ended the life of Mikkai Aluvetti. By angling the blade upward from it's entrypoint at his throat she made sure that the cold metal would sever the spinal cord at the base of his skull. She was sure that he did not feel much while his eyes glazed over.

She had never liked the man, and he had betrayed her, but he did not deserve to suffer needlessly here.

Sandrielle remembered how much she hated the briny, metallic taste of blood.

At least this time they would not have anyone available for the second round of the game.

***

Shisei Kanioota had an advantage that none of the other Awakened Industries capsuleers had. He was neither a wanted pirate, nor a disgraced military officer prosecuted by his own government and the enemy alike. He did not have to hide from powerful capsuleer alliances or the secret agents of the Amarr Empire. Certainly, as a Caldari he would not receive the warmest welcome in Gallente space, neither would he have any corporate privileges in the State itself after he resigned from Ishukone Corporation. Of course, it was also not quite clear whether the Minmatar Republic and the Amarr Empire would stand down and cease hunting the capsuleers of Awakened industries, but Shisei was still officially a Caldari citizen, and as such he was reasonably safe under the regulations of corporate sovereignty.

Another of his advantages was, that – as a former corporate prospector, explorer and engineer – he had good contacts with the House of Records. All interactions between the State's megacorporations and third parties were collected by that governmental body, and since Shisei Kanioota had interacted with foreign powers a lot in his line of work, he had contributed large quantities of information to the Caldari State's vast datastores.

In general, access to the House of Records was restricted to citizens with corporate affiliation, but Information Analyst Aikano as more than happy to bypass regulations when it came to his old friend Shisei Kanioota. After all, the amount of information on wormhole phenomena that the State could get it's hands on was limited. Certainly after the defection of Hilen Tukoss who took some of the most experienced explorers and scientists in the field with him when he left the Caldari State.

Therefore Aikano accepted gladly when Shisei Kanioota had suggested a meeting on the space station of the House of Records orbiting Oniteseru's second moon. The nature of the information exchange Kanioota was looking for disturbed him slightly though.

'Why is it that you are interested in The Hive, Kanioota?' the gray-haired Information Analyst asked the man sitting across from him in the spacious main assembly area of station level thirty-six. 'I hope you are not planning to do any business with them, because that would not only be pointless but also deadly.'

Shisei smiled ever so slightly and shook his clean-shaven head. 'No worries Analyst Aikano.' he comforted the older man. 'It is only, that we recently encountered a Hive battlefleet which attempted an incursion into a nearby wormhole system. They proved to be formidable opponents and I would like us to know more about them in case we ever encounter them again.'

'I understand.' Aikano nodded and the creases drawn onto his aged face by his worried expression vanished. 'As you know, The Hive is an alliance of capsuleers residing in the border regions of New Eden, beyond settled space.' The old Civire official activated his portable neocom to access the available datastores for background information. 'Unlike most of the other capsuleer Alliances, they do not lay claim to any systems according to the Yulai Convention, but that is not the only thing that makes them special. They are unique among the capsuleer alliances in their way of recruiting.'

Shisei raised an eyebrow. 'In which way?'

'The Hive does not accept trained capsuleers from outside their ranks, rather they train all their pilots themselves from a young age. They regularly conduct raids on ships and colonies for resources. One of the objectives of those raids is to capture small children. We do not know the details, but it is assumed that The Hive conditions those children through a process of brutal brainwashing and dehumanization to make them into members of uncompromising loyalty. Once they have a subject processed, they turn them into capsuleers.'

'They have the facilities to create capsuleers themselves?' Shisei asked with surprise. The technology to integrate a capsule control system with a human body and nervous system was not only highly restricted but also notoriously costly and difficult to set up. Only the largest corporations and government bodies among the nations of New Eden could boast such facilities.

Aikano nodded. 'Despite not engaging in any trade, The Hive is very rich in resources. They have industry on a scale that equals and even surpasses some of the Caldari megacorporations. All of their facilities are mobile, based on capital ships that form the backbone of their fleets. Because the Hive members are so absolutely dedicated to their collective, the amount of personal effort each and every one of them commits to the community is quite staggering.'

The elderly Caldari paused. 'It is rather impressive actually.' he added with an undertone that sounded almost jealous.

'So where do they originally come from?' Shisei asked.

'We are not sure. Their symbol – the ebailla swarm insect native to Orvolle VI – suggests a Gallente or Intaki origin. The ebailla has migrated all over New Eden aboard ships, though and is now found on many worlds, so that is only speculation. Some say, that the highly militaristic nature of their organization derives from the Caldari State, others speculate that the strict hierarchy and fanatical devotion to the collective might have it's roots in Amarr culture.' Aikano shrugged. 'All we know is, that they appeared seemingly out of nowhere about two decades ago and began raiding outlying colonies indiscriminately.'

Shisei furrowed his brow in thought. 'Has any capsuleer ever left The Hive?' he wondered.

'Not according to the records we have. It goes even further than that. In all cases we have observed, they rather self-destruct their capsules than risk capture.' Aikano said.

'Do you think it is a possibility for a Hive capsuleer to break the conditioning?'

Aikano shrugged slightly. 'Even if that would happen, the M.O. based on all intelligence we have on The Hive suggests that they would either kill a defector or at least try to retrieve them for re-integration into the collective.'

The Civire Information Analyst paused with a worried frown. 'You look concerned Kanioota. What is it.?'

'I might have a case on my hands that would create a precedence in that context.' Shisei replied with a subdued voice.

OOC Entry 87 - The War of Asakai

-- Credit goes to Ali Aras of CSM8 and recently co-host of Declarations of War for providing the title of this post.

About a year ago I bet a corpmate with the challenge that by the time of the next summer expansion (this one 2013) the Goons will be destroyed.

Not as an entity in EVE, not even necessarily as a sov-holding alliance but as the major power player they have been in the past years.

Well, the jury is still out, but admittedly the Goonswarm Federation and the CFC have never come closer to being actually threatened in their existence-as-they-know-it than they are now.

The danger that they might actually be facing a foe that can successfully beat them back or even beat them completely has never been more real since the days of the Great War.

I have been out of the loop for some time, and many things have happened which lead to this. Back in the day when I made my bet, I could not know about the Moon Material Rebalance that would come with Odyssey and how it would reshuffle the deck of nullsec politics.

What I did base my prediction on was purely two things:

1. Eventually there will come a time when the Goons will piss of more people than they can make friends with.
2. There will be a time when a critical mass of players will be fed up with playing European Union in nullsec.

In fact, in retrospect, it almost happened like I assumed it would when Montolio - until recently leader of Test Alliance Please Ignore - tried to pick a fight with the CFC.

He ended up being declared crazy for wanting to do that and decided that RL is more rewarding than being called a loony in EVE for your efforts.

Then the moon rebalancing happened and suddenly the story had changed.

The OTEC cartel, which had guaranteed peace and prosperity for it's members, was no more than an attempt to monopolize 5mm screws while there are also 6mm and 4mm ones that do the job just as well. Sure Technetium would still be valuable, but certainly not the single bottleneck in production that it once was.

Promptly The Mittani declared the CFC "destitute" (I just love the dramatic choice of words this man has) and while he would not vilify TEST, he did declare that it was them who sat on the richest store of Moon Materials in the game and therefore they had to be invaded.

All of a sudden a sov-war had turned from "a tedious and unnecessary grind" into "economic survival." The suggestion of a major war - a suggestion that had lead to Montolio's deconstruction - had become the cause of The Mittani.

Why?


The truth about the RMT Empire

Ha! I got you with this sensationalist heading, didn't I?

Of course I am not one of the tinfoil-hat crowd who think that the CFC leadership are impersonating Scrooge McDuck and swim in RMT money.

What I am aware of is the fact that a large number of the CFC playerbase maintain multiple accounts which are supported by PLEX that they are able to finance in-game because of the prosperous and secure position they have. What I do know is that the GSF had offered free skillbooks and carriers to anyone who would train for them. What I know is, that they have created an in-game lifestyle for themselves as a collective which can only be supported by a massive income stream.

The very real and actual threat to GSF and the CFC is not having to drop sov and go sleep in a cardboard box in NPC nullsec or lose RMT income. The economic threat they are facing is not being able to pay for the in-game equivalent of their plasma TV, five bedroom villa, three cars and holiday bungalow on the Seychelles anymore.

Tomorrow they might actually have to work for their ISK like every pubbie.

Imagine that.

The Mittani is nothing if not a leader who is aware of the needs of his constituency and what it takes to keep them satisfied. He can't afford to have the Goons in a position where they have to give up their perks. More importantly, he can't afford to have his allies reconsider the value of being allied to him.

Don't forget, many of the CFC are people who once were enemies of the Goons. Former members of the Northern Coalition who were ground to pieces and sued for peace with a more powerful enemy to be given a second lease of life.


There is no BoB

There is a persistent meme saying that Goons have become the new Band of Brothers. Of course that is not actually true. The organizational principles and diplomatic approach of GSF are very different from the old BoB Empire.

However, they have become some things that BoB once were.

They have become a seemingly unbeatable and unassailable powerstructure. They have become rich and powerful beyond the dreams of most other EVE players. Also, and there is the main factor, they have developed a level of self-righteousness and smugness that was so characteristic of the old BoB Empire.

I personally identify The Mittani himself as the main culprit behind this last and newest attribute of the Goons and their allies in the CFC.

This man has - very skillfully - constructed a narrative that has lead the GSF from being a collective of tongue-in-cheek trolls and iconoclasts into a new era of being a well-established community supported by a bureaucracy which rivals some small RL states in effectiveness and organization.

That would not be a problem in itself if it wouldn't have remained coupled with the rampaging adolescent offensiveness the Goons have made their calling card since their first appearance.

You can be a cheerfully destructive agent of chaos or you can be a sinister overlord, trying to be both at the same time will spread you thin, especially if there is someone who challenges you at one of those roles.


The Dawn of the (new) Iconoclast

Enter TEST. A large collective that now is what Goons once were: A mayhem loving chaotic mess of trolls, griefers, blobbers, scammers and general fun-loving-criminals in it for the lulz.

Compared to them the Goons began to appear about as inspiring as a European Council meeting when compared to Occupy Wallstreet.

The Mittani himself has used words to the effect of "we will take the fun out of their game" (sue me if i didn't get every single word right). This says very clearly how much the Goons have been divorced from what they once were. (Anybody remember Darius Johnson's line "We don't want to destroy the game, want to destroy your game" Quite a different approach.)

While The Mittani would do everything to keep his "ducks in a row" TEST basically just flipped it to the HBC and kissed the idea of big coalition metagaming goodbye.

Now this bunch of crazies is under attack by the most powerful coalition in the game. Interestingly enough, we see EVE history repeating itself. All kinds of entities come to the aid of TEST, not because they love them so much, but because they support their irreverent attitude which has become a staple of EVE gameplay; which - ironically enough - has been established by the Goons (among others).

They want to see the big power of the CFC tremble, maybe even feel fear for their existence. Just like once people allied themselves with the Goons just to bring BoB down.

Of course this alliance is a loose one, and entities like Black Legion are just as happy to blow up TEST ships as they are to blow up CFC ships, but one thing is for sure: This is a moment for another great experiment in EVE.

The last time the question was whether the Northern Coalition can be brought down. Before that it was the Empire of BoB.

Now the question is, can the Goons and the CFC be brought to a fall?

I personally have only one fear in all of this: I fear that there might be a stalemate and a peace that re-establishes the boring distribution of power in nullsec.

Every other outcome can only be more dynamic than what we have seen in the past years.

Right now it is.

I hope it stays that way.

OOC Entry 86 - It's not like you need to know, but ...

... for the time being I have decided to not play EVE.

... or any computer games for that matter.

What my recent experience has brought home to me is that our lives are just so short and the thread we are spinning through time can be snapped at the most unexpected moments. Of course I sort-of intellectually processed that before. It even sunk deep to an emotional level when I faced possible death in a warzone. Still, nothing of the sort prepares you for the moment it actually happens that you come within a hair's breadth to actually dying.

So, life turned into a thing too precious to me right now to squander behind a computer screen.
 
I am telling myself that there well be plenty of time to do that when I am old and infirm, but while I am still young (ha! pushing 40) and able bodied (as in completely atrophied after months of inactivity forced upon me) I should be doing something more active with my life.

So I decided to get pregnant, have some children and settle down in a nice countryside home.

.
.
.

Ok I am just kidding. I have decided quite some time ago that motherhood is not my thing.

I did decide that I want to fully focus on my physical recovery and then go see some stuff in this world. Beautiful things and exciting things that are not made of pixels or part of an escapist fantasy.

I do want to continue writing stories though, because I enjoy the experience and can do it in my own time. Recently I re-read all of the stuff I wrote to get back into the mindset again, and I started writing a sequel already.

You can expect it up here soon.

It will be my lifeline to EVE Online, and who knows, maybe one day that lifeline will reel me back in.

Until then, I hope you continue reading and fly creatively.