Ravenous

The capsuleer took stock of his ship. As the head of his Alliance, he was not used to having advice given to him. At least, not quite so bluntly.

There were a few things he had learned during his time as the head of the operation. Not the least of which was that the capsuleer giving the advice was almost always right. And, not the least, just quite how utterly frustrating that was.

While it was true that she had indeed built the hull and had called in favors within the Caldari State to upgrade it to full milspec, this did not reduce the sense of frustration at the impropriety of her behavior. At all.

She was, after all, as much an Achura as he was. And there were ways to do things and ways not to, as she would have very well been aware.

Quiet and restrained? He snorted. About as quiet and restrained as a 7 Gev quad laser.

Shaking his head, he sent the change orders though. The automated systems in the Sukuuvestaa station in conjunction with his own experienced engineering crew oversaw the installation of new equipment, hull modifications and twin missile guidance computers.

Despite his top tier predictive analysis software, it wasn’t until he sent the schematics to a trusted friend that he really sat up and took notice.

Singular comms response was this: “F#*k! That thing does more damage than a Marauder… and it can re purpose in flight to hit small targets too…”.

Assigning a considerable portion of available CPU cycles, the capsuleer prioritized a complete strategic and tactical breakdown of the new configuration, then sat back to consider the wider implications.

Yes, the defenses are a little thin. Yes,  it is not as perhaps tactically as flexible as one might like, but, in non-technical terms, holy sh*t, what it hit tended to disintegrate.

It was about this point when his comm channel pinged. The very Achura he had received the information from was waiting for a response.

He’d have given real ISK to know how she always managed to ping at just the right (or wrong) time, but suspected her specialized implants were giving a slight edge in chaos theory and application, leaving him ever so slightly vulnerable in the social/communication engagement envelope.

That, or she knew him too damn well. Certainly she was dangerous, but her threat levels had remained consistent in all the years he had known her.

A quandary for another time, but one perhaps initiated more to his advantage he thought, and logged a mnemonic date stamp for review/action at an expected low point of biometric functionality of the capsuleer.

Comm channel opened.

“Well”? She enquired.

He paused for a moment regretting that he had not already assigned higher conscious control of his micro expressions.

“The configuration appears to be fit for purpose” he replied.

“Fit for purpose”? And she arched an eyebrow at him.

“Yes. Fit for purpose”.

There was a pause as she stared at him unblinking. Utterly in control, millimeter perfect.

“Oh, enough already” he growled. “It’s fucking brilliant”.

“Good” she replied as the corner of her mouth twitched slightly upwards.

“This ship represents a considerable investment in time and ISK. Please be careful where you point it”.

“Duly noted” he replied, as the twitch at the corner of her mouth threatened to evolve into an actual smile.

“It would also be appreciated if you stopped losing drones with such regularity. Four this week alone? That is… inefficient.

It is humbly suggested that you review your combat algorithms, most specifically flight patterns and threat analysis”.

“Also, parking”.

The head of the alliance was about to splutter out a response when she bowed, said “Băozhòng” and cleared comms.

The capsuleer willed his blood pressure down the 30 point spike the conversation had brought on, sighed and initiated a meta search for the latest in combat programs.

He may the the head of the alliance he thought to himself, but he’d be damned if she’d catch him out with another of her unasked for, terrifyingly accurate, performance reviews.

Reviewing the progress of the build he sent a multicast.

“All crew be advised full recall. Repeat – full recall. Expected shakedown 25:53. Combat readiness by 26:30. On your way people”.

He gritted his teeth as he initiated the capsule entry sequence, and  wondered if the pod goo would actually steam when it hit his skin.

Parking indeed…