Formation Mining

Good bye Mr. Spodroid, good bye...

Killing the Belt

We're close to killing the entire asteroid belt. Getting it done is what it is called. Great teamwork to keep pushing through this. Well over 1,700,000 m3 of raw ore has been harvested. Here's some action shots with the last of the Spodumain going down in a ring of fire.

 

Hedbergite Blues

Taking down the sharks teeth.....

HulksAGettin It During Hulkagedeon

Humping Arkonor at an undisclosed location....

Loving it Again

Finally back into a good rhythm with the wormhole. We're getting good sites and making some ISK again. I have just about recovered from my stupid loses. At least I'm still flying and the sky is clear at the moment. Of course out here that can change in a heartbeat.

I want to get down and work with the Alliance more but I just can't seem to make it down. Too much ISK being made here. We've got a good crew and the new leadership distribution has so far worked out very well.

I've also broken into researching blue prints. Not really into it but haven't put much into learning it really. The new lab is at least letting me explore the subject a bit. What else you gonna do way out here on the edge.

Out on the Rim

Makeover

New character generator is an awesome upgrade. Check out the before and after...
Before....

After....

 Either way, I'm still Caldari through and through.

Eve Giveth... Eve Taketh... Amen

This really hurts to log. I lost the replacement Bustard, Replacement Buzzard, Replacement Hangar Array AND the Replacement Ship Maintenance Array. This time in.... wait for it............. Hi Sec.

"How?", you ask, through tear soaked eyes, gasping for breath and unable to keep any semblance of a straight face.

You see, I was coming up on this gate and went to jump. Just before I jumped I had been moving my fittings around for better access to them through the F keys. You see, I had just bought and fitted this ship. I mean, JUST bought and fitted this ship. Another Titanic voyage. Anyway, I went to activate the jump [insert brain lapse here] but instead clicked the icon to activate my ECM burst disruptor. I clicked 'Yes' on the warning window that popped up thinking it was asking me to confirm my jump to low-sec."

*stops to take another sip of whiskey*
*continues*

Too late I realized it was not a window asking me to confirm my jump through the gate but a message asking me did i want to activate an illegal weapon in hi security space. Needless to say the gate guns opened up on me and I was toast before I could warp to a planet in hopes of evading Concord. What a week, what a week it has been.

So, I take a moment of silence and say...

"We are gathered here today to commit Lance Ducatillon, once again, in his pod to space; ship to ashes, clone to pod, clone to clone. Eve giveth and Eve taketh, amen."

...cue hysterical, gut busting, eye watering, tear inducing laughter. I will not be mentioning this episode to anyone beyond this blog. Comments that you may feel prudent to express may be posted in the comments of this log.

Do to the jarring around my brain incurred during the transfer to the escape pod, I have been diagnosed with selective amnesia and will unlikely recall any of this incident. I am posting it hear as official record of the event. Unfortunately, I am told this amnesia will most likely last the rest of my life.

Broken Rudder

For a few weeks now I've been flying around in my ship like the rudder has been broken. I've been adrift, without focus and that is not the Caldari way. Losing my ship was the wake-up call I needed, it's time to go behind enemy lines.

About That Wormhole Run... Damn Space Peckers

 Another stupid Lance trick led to the following. Yet another notch on lost ships list... well actually several more notches.

2011.01.02 17:59:00

Victim: Lance Ducatillon
Corp: Inner Sphere Industries
Alliance: Apocalypse Now.
Faction: Unknown
Destroyed: Bustard
System: Zahefeus
Security: 0.2
Damage Taken: 8258

Destroyed items:

Medium Cargohold Optimization I
Improved Cloaking Device II
Ship Maintenance Array (Cargo)
Medium Low Friction Nozzle Joints I
Hulk (Cargo)
Expanded Cargohold II, Qty: 3

Dropped items:

ECM - Multispectral Jammer II
Buzzard (Cargo)
Magnetic Scattering Amplifier II
Corporate Hangar Array (Cargo)
Expanded Cargohold II, Qty: 2
10MN MicroWarpdrive I
Giant Secure Container (Cargo)
   Veldspar Mining Crystal I, Qty: 3 (In Container)
   Omber Mining Crystal I, Qty: 3 (In Container)
   Survey Scanner II (In Container)
   Magnetic Scattering Amplifier II, Qty: 2 (In Container)
   1MN Afterburner I (In Container)
   Scordite Mining Crystal I, Qty: 3 (In Container)
   Strontium Clathrates, Qty: 6 (In Container)
   Kernite Mining Crystal I, Qty: 3 (In Container)
   Nitrogen Isotopes, Qty: 1688 (In Container)
   Vespa I, Qty: 4 (In Container)
   Invulnerability Field I (In Container)
   Cap Recharger II, Qty: 2 (In Container)
   Medium Warp Core Optimizer I, Qty: 2 (In Container)
   Plagioclase Mining Crystal I, Qty: 3 (In Container)
   Signal Amplifier II (In Container)
   Heavy Water, Qty: 281 (In Container)
   Small Shield Extender II (In Container)
   Small Gravity Capacitor Upgrade I, Qty: 2 (In Container)
   ECM - Multispectral Jammer II (In Container)
   Pyroxeres Mining Crystal I, Qty: 3 (In Container)
   Covert Ops Cloaking Device II, Qty: 2 (In Container)
   Liquid Ozone, Qty: 141 (In Container)
   Expanded Probe Launcher I (In Container)
   Infiltrator I (In Container)
   Jaspet Mining Crystal I, Qty: 3 (In Container)
   Co-Processor II (In Container)
   Modulated Strip Miner II, Qty: 3 (In Container)
   Mining Laser Upgrade I, Qty: 2 (In Container)

Walking the Worlds Awhile

I've been walking the worlds a little as of late, spending time with the family through the holidays. My crew has been managing the ships in the meantime and keeping business going but overall it's been a quiet month. I have been able to catch up on my studying and spent some time at the War Academy honing some new skills.

We're currently en-route with a Bustard load of WH supplies. The hole activity is dying down a bit but I'm putting a new system of hangars in place to help increase security in the wormhole for tech 2 and 3 ships.

The new upgraded controls I have had installed in my bridges are taking some getting used to but are working out well. All ships have been updated with a wider high definition display and integrated control keypad for more efficiency. It's our maiden voyage with the system out of testing mode and we're headed to our first low sec trip with it installed. Let's see how it goes.

Oh Trinity, Trinity, wherefore art thou Trinity

I guess I just didn't have what it takes. I walked into her life a little over a year ago and watched her from afar. And then she was gone. Oh, I'd run into her occasionally, you know, around Jita, sometimes outside the War Academy in Onnamon. Just passing glances and often nothing for months at a time.

This time she walked right into my life. POW, there she was. We hit it off great and I was sure she was going to join up with us. She was talking about how she needed to make some ISK and I of course offered her a great position on the board of directors. She could manage the hi-sec mining operations and be rich.

It seems though that someone else had other plans for her. He sweeps in when I turned my back ever so slightly and stole her away to the dark side. Promises of money and riches beyond her dreams I bet is what he offered her. He must have bewitched her and he certainly betrayed me. First he would not join me on my quest and then he steals her away! All after I reached out my hand and offered him safe haven.

Oh Trinity, Trinity, wherefore art thou Trinity....

*curtain closes and the night grows silent, and dark.

The Mighty Hulk Falleth

Strike up another one for Eve. I had this one coming though as I was rather stupid. We were mining the belt on our first night back in the hole with a Hulk and an Osprey with a Badger hauling when he wasn't watching the WH that went to another wormhole. Sure enough we catch a ship leaving the hole and red alert back to the POS and my crew and I hopped into the bomber.

I sent the intruder a message along the lines of hey we saw you what do you want or are you just passing through? He then replies, was looking for some PvP and saw you guys in your mining ships. The hole is about to close so i won't be bothering you again.

Well, I did watch the hole for a little bit as we went back to mining. I missed him coming back in and he warp scrammed me in my Hulk and blew it to smitherens. As I'm out here in my space suit washing the windows all I can think is I had this one coming to me.

Home Sweet Home

We've successfully inserted our team into Zaniverse for Operation Money Maker. It's a training run for the noobs, nothing like on the job training for breaking them in. The hole has been really active in gas production for a change so we'll see if we hit the lottery with the right combination of gases. Our new production plan of weapons and probes still remains to be proven but we'll see how it goes.

The crew seem at home again and fell right back into the rhythm, let's hope the skies stay clear and the seas calm.

Gate Watching

We're setup 204 km off a low sec gate all cloaked up observing traffic for a group making local deliveries. I left the bridge for a few moments to perform a bio elimination process and of course this put my first officer in charge.

A few moments later I return to find my bridge crew frozen almost stiff and my first officer whispering commands for everyone to keep calm. "What the hell is going on here?", I bark.

I am immediately shushed by the first officer. "That's Shhhhh, Sir number one, or will it soon be number 2?" I remind her and follow-up with, "Now I asked you a question, what in the gorram hell is going on here?".

"Sir", says my first officer, still in a whisper, "We have 4 pirate vessels sitting on all 4 sides of us each of which is within 3,000m." Anything that passes within 2000 meters of us will cause us to decloak. If these pirates see us, we're dead.

A brief glance at the sensor panel told me all I needed to know. "So, why the hell are you whispering? Sound doesn't travel in space, they can't hear us. Helm, 90 degree down angle and full speed ahead. Our cloak is holding and we have enough room to duck under and out of them."

Immediately the crew sprang to life and we managed to get enough distance between us and the pirates to take a breath and start watching them. Had they known we were there we would be dead now. The crew, with the exception of my incompetent first officer, handled things really well.

I just don't know what to do with her, my first officer that is. I'll have to spend some extra time getting her to remain cool and collected under fire. Some one on one drills will help her a lot most likely, she is new to being a command officer.