My Past…

Things were great in the old days; we lived on the mid levels of the Minmatar Mining Corporation Outpost in Aldilur, Highsec Minmatar space. My father was a Capsuleer ore miner, a proud owner of a Retriever mining barge and between him and my brother in laws they supported our whole family; me, my mother, 2 sisters and 2 children, it was a family business by all accounts. My brother in laws, Jacq and Bail, worked on the barge as crew members and I often helped with odd jobs when they returned to station, times were good.

Minmatar Mining Corporation Outpost in Aldilur

Then the mineral price crash hit the region and Highsec ore became worthless, we were forced to move to a miserable Lowsec mining colony in Floseswin in search of better ore. The place wasn’t even a registered station. A group of structures embedded in several small asteroids crudely joined together made up the refinery and the habitat modules were anchored in the space nearby. The strain for survival soon took its toll, my father turned to the illegal use of boosters, drugs that enhanced his abilities to command the ship. He soon was hooked and became overtly aggressive and started taking risks and making mistakes.  One such day he refused to warp out when attacked by Angel Cartel pirates and went on the offensive with a few combat drones.  The shield hardener modules on the barge were no match for the pirate cruiser autocannons and within a minute they were down, allowing the white hot rounds to tear into the fragile armour and penetrate the hull, fires broke loose on the lower decks where my brothers were. An automated safety hatch crushed Jacq’s arm and Bail was blinded in one eye by a chemical fire before father eventually came to his senses, gave up and entered warp.

The family Retriever attacked by pirates

He lost his mind soon after, whether it was because of the drugs or not being able to be around us due to the massive guilt he must have been enduring, I guess we will never know. He disappeared one day later never to return or be heard of again, all he left was a sizable debt to an undesirable Amarrian booster dealer.

Jacq and Bail could no longer work on the ships and nor could I due to my age, so that just left me to earn the majority of the isk for the family as a low level refinery technician in the dark dusty depths of the colony, working all the hours I could just to provide food for the family and start to pay off my father’s drug dept. Time past slowly during the next year and then on my 21^st birthday my mother told me something that changed everything forever. She had kept money hidden from my father and now that I was the minimum age to start the intensive training and undergo the surgery for the necessary implants, she had arranged for me to study as a Capsuleer. Hoping that I will be carrying the same strong genetic traits as my father and not be another Mind Lock statistic, I set off to to Ammold Republic Military School to become a pod pilot with thoughts of returning to help pull the family out of debt and poverty set firmly in my mind.

I started off as a miner in Highsec once I graduated, piloting a Probe mining frigate managing a small crew that I got to know and trust. I then had my first “death” at the hands of an Arazu pilot in a Lowsec system soon after buying my first Rifter and taking a combat mission from an agent in the Republic Justice Department. I lost my crew and was absolutely devastated, this really woke me up to the realities of going it alone as a Capsuleer, so I joined a Corporation for added security and also with the hope that greater opportunities would arise enabling me to earn more money to send back to the family.

I lived in a Worm Hole for a short time where I started piloting my very own Retriever before eventually meeting an outcast Amarrian industrialist who I become good friends with. After working together to make some capital we started our own industrial Corp in Gallentean space. We were building all forms of ships and equipment at the production platforms we had setup in orbit of three of the moons in the Pulin System and sold everything on the market at the trade hub in Dodixie. We had over a 100 loyal staff including over 60 Capsuleer pilots, most of who mined in the local belts to contribute to our material stock.

A corp mining operation in Pulin

Cash flow was good and I was sending plenty of isk back home. The family seemed to being doing well, they had moved out of the colony to a nice safe station in Freatlidur and were out of debt according to all the mail transmissions I was getting from my mother on a regular basis. I soon moved to head our much needed security division when I realised I had a good natural ability when it came to dog fighting. With the help of a few other corp combat pilots, I successfully protected our mining fleets on numerous occasions, including an official concord sanctioned war, declared on us by a pirate corporation. I then was given the opportunity to put these skills to further use in the lawless systems of Nullsec and have the potential to earn massive amounts of isk that would set me and the family up for life. So after selling up most of my assets I made the move to the region of Catch.

It wasn’t long until this supposedly money making utopia was shattered and the alliance I was part of got caught up in a massive sovereignty war over the region I had started to call home. The fighting was relentless and took place around the clock, billions of isk in ships destroyed daily. I was fighting alongside Titans and Super Capitals, ships I’d only ever seen before on holo reels when I was a kid.

Titan, super caps and support waiting for orders

Hundreds of ships moving in swarms, explosions lighting up the sky nonstop, no matter where I moved my camera drones to, thousands of mortal crew members perishing every minute whilst the immortal Capsuleers awakened in fresh new cloned bodies at nearby stations ready to jump into another ship with a new crew to do it all over again. These were dark days for all and the non capsuleer losses were horrendous.

Massive battle during the fight for Catch

The Latent Ansible Gravitation (L.A.G.) that plagued the region during these massive battles took its toll on me, losing ships every day, I started to get mentally ill due to all the clone jumps and “Deaths” I was going through, losing control of the ship, blacking out, paranoia, etc, not to mention the effect it was all having on my once bulging wallet. We were then finally pushed out of Catch. With the corp slowly disbanding and myself shipless and exhausted I made the trip in my pod back to see my family for the first time in nearly a year.

Once back in Minmatar space I made my way to the Sebiestor tribe Bureau Station in Freatlidur. But instead of a momentous family reunion, I was merely greeted at the dock by Ben a good friend of the family. My heart felt like it had been ripped out when he told me what had truly happened. My mother had actually borrowed the huge amount of money required to send me to school, from an Amarrian drug dealer called Zek, the same scum bag  that had been the catalyst for ruining our lives in the first place. The isk I had been sending was barely enough to cover the ridiculously high interest he kept piling on top of the dept. To make the situation even worse the whole system was now under the control and locked down by the Amarrian Militia making everyone at the colony refuges. My mother didn’t want me to come back and try something foolish and end up getting killed or imprisoned, so did not give anyone my mail details, she just told Ben I would be coming back to the station in Freatlidur, so he based himself there. Ben told me that all was not lost though as Zek had ties to the Militia and apparently could ensure that my family would be released for a fee. He obviously knew I was a Capsuleer and presumed I had plenty of isk, but after fleeing Nullsec, I was well and truely broke.

The Amarrian drug dealer, Zek

I joined a Mercenary Academy within days who gave the promise of making money quickly. I got issued a stealth bomber and was assigned to a well paid contract that would pay off Zek once and for all. I was once again back in Nullsec, in the Impass region this time. I had been stuck in my pod for nearly 2 weeks without docking, but after overheating my microwarp drive during a retreat from a system, I was forced to dock my Hound to repair at a deserted back system station. A holo feed that was playing on a screen in the docking area caught my eye and I couldn’t believe what I read, the words slowly streaming across the bottom of the screen. During a Militia skirmish in Floseswin an Amarrian Industrial ship was destroyed by the Amarrians themselves not long after leaving the small mining colony based there. I ordered the crew to leave the ship and arranged for them to be picked up by a Corp mate. I undocked, flew 50km off the station and self destructed both my ship and then my pod to get back to Empire space instantly by reawakening in my fresh clone in the Rens system, not far from Floseswin. The system was now back in Minmatar hands, but when finally reaching the Colony, I found it completely deserted.

It came out a few days later in a report from Scope during an interview of a defected Amarrian Militia member that all the habitat modules at the colony were raided prior to the event and everyone; men, women and children, were forcibly injected with Vitoxin, a toxic material that is fatal unless the recipient is constantly given the antidote, Vitoc. This was and in some cases still is a common method used by the Amarr to control their slaves. They were all then herded onto the industrial ship like cattle and it was routed for Amarr. During a Minmatar rescue attempt on the vessel that very nearly ended in success, an Amarrian Armageddon class battleship opened fire on the industrial and destroyed it, then proceeded to also destroyed any remains of the ship and the wreckage. This was in the hope to avoid any political backlash by covering up the transportation of hundreds of refugees all dosed up on Vitoc destined undoubtedly for Amarr’s slave market. The Empire denied the allegations and merely laughing them off claiming they were just spiteful lies coming from a traitorous, disloyal Amarrian who had promotion turned down once too many times. This “traitor” was never heard of again, nor was the incident.

The industrial exploding, viewed from a Minmatar Militia vessel

A few weeks later, I joined the Minmatar Militia Corporation/Agency; T.R.I.A.D, a proud corporation steeped in history going back to mid-YC 105, whose proactive role in the Milita has shaped the Minmatar Republic’s past and indeed is shaping its future though extensive campaigns against the Amarr and their allies.

I now live on the edge of the Amarr/Minmatar border zone. These journals are the story of my journey to avenge my family and friends and our fight as a Republic against the evil Amarr Empire.