Sinking In

Breathe in, breathe out... breathe in, breathe out. "I hate this part!" Valarissa thought as the amniotic gel came flowing up over her face.The cool viscous liquid slid over her skin like stepping into a vat of gelatin. It sent shivers down her spine. As the controls came online, the pod lit up, a tone signaling the connection had been completed. She opened her eyes and was greeted by a plethora of screens showing her every part of her ship. It was a frigate class vessel, so she was alone. Nobody else was needed to run the ship systems, it could all be controlled from within the sanctity of her pod.

As strange as it was, Valarissa felt at home in the quickly warming gel. It was where she felt most alive. She had grown up in the major Gallente systems, her parents, idealists and revolutionaries, brought her into the world believing that a world of truth and justice were not ideals, they were goals. Something that could be attained. As she sat in her pod bringing systems online, Val though back to those days.

Her parents vehemently opposed the Amarrian Empire slave trades, and the relative inaction by all the major governments and CONCORD to do anything about the trade. She remembered waiting, sitting on the steps of consulates, in the reception halls of embassies, and emissary dormitory hallways, waiting for her parents. Nothing ever changed.

The sound of the Incursus Ion thrusters firing up pierced straight through the pod, it was one of the only sounds she could hear from the outside world in that pod. The ship lurched as it began to undock from the station.

She grew up, constantly waiting for things to change, for wrongs to be righted. For the people to get their due. She believed what her parents had told her. Even though things never changed, from her perspective, they never grew worse either. She would have taken up the fight. She would have begun lobbying important governmental offices to hear the cries of the people through her voice. But then the violence started. War came to her system, the Caldari State Navy pushed into the system and began an open siege on her homeworld. Fire rained down from the sky, and for the first time, things changed.

The ferrying systems detatched and suddenly Valarissa found herself floating. All lurching and friction stopped. There was just grace. In her ship, in her mind. It was all so perfect.

Her parents died in a barrage and by some miracle she was spared. She had nowhere to turn to and immediately submitted herself to the Gallentean Federation Naval forces. The first change she had seen in her life had been caused by way, and they were for the worse. She intended to do everything in her power to put a stop to it all. Her marks far surpassed those of her peers and she was quickly elevated to an officer position on a cruiser. Her capsuleer saw in her the ability to command quickly and efficiently when in the heat of battle and suggested she be considered for capsuleer training. In a matter of weeks, she was prepping to become a capsuleer in the Federation Navy.

She pushed the ship as hard as it could go and engaged the afterburners feeling the inertia tug at her ever so slightly. She loved that feeling. The speed, the rush. It was everything she lived for. It was movement, it was grace and it was action.

Her training completed, she was given her first set of orders. They were simple. Embark on a roam into Caldari space to engage in a covert ops attack on a Caldari station to limit supply and increase the price of goods created and sold by a nearby Gallente station. It was about money. The stations population was in the millions, many of whom were civillians and would die in the attack. Had it not been for the threat of court marshalling and death, she would have flat-out refused on the spot. This was not the type of change she wanted to bring to the universe. She did not want to be a puppet in the schemes of a government who cared more about money and who let the cries of their people fall on deaf ears.

Her voice comms clicked on as the friendly voices of her fleet flowed into the pod. "Alright, we'll be doing a guerilla style roam into Siseide. Set destinations and warp to the Arnher gate."

While out with the navy frigate fleet, she broke off instead of following the rest of the fleet through a warp gate, jamming on the thrusters and engaging her warp drive. "I can't do this... not like this! I won't be used like this!" She jumped from gate to gate putting as much distance between herself and her home system as possible. When her heart finally stopped beating into her ears, she brought up her navigation system. She was in Evati according to the computer. "Low sec huh?... I guess they wouldn't bother coming all the way out here." She pulled her ship into a nearby station, disembarked from her frigate and walked into the bar. After ordering a few drinks she looked around and noticed everyone staring at her. "What are you all looking at!?"

"Hey Val, why don't you scout ahead for us on this one?" the familiar voice floated into her pod. "Ummm, you sure Mynx? I'm a little new to all of this scouting business... but sure, I'll give it a shot."

A woman approached her, "You're new here aren't you?" Val looked at her. "Yeah I'm new, what gives?" The woman smirked, "Well I was just wondering why someone would bring a Navy ship to a pirate station, I assume you have a story, because you're alone, and you don't look stupid. I'm Mynx by the way."

Val jumped through the gate, smiling to herself. She had run from the only home she had known and ended up in lowsec space with naught but a wing, a prayer, and her wits about her. She found the family she was hoping for, and the purpose she needed. "I've got an Iteron Mark III on scan... looks like they're shipping raw goods. Want me to tackle?" A voice chimed in, "Go ahead, we're jumping through now."

Val would use the only means she knew to bring change, and she would use it as SHE chose. As an outlaw, as a pirate.

As a Hellcat.