Loving you gently... with blasters.

Val stood grinning as she showered the suspension fluid off of her. It had been a long time since she had laid into any one with blasters, let alone with her comrades. It was a refreshing change of pace from the hours of studying she had grown so used to. For whatever reason, she couldn't find the time or motivation to jump into a pod and bring some good old fashioned pain. But tonight was different, and she felt invigorated.

She toweled off thinking about the kills, the banter on comms, and the thrill of just being back in the pod hunting other capsuleers. She had grown weary of trying to play nice with CONCORD by taking down members of the notorious pirate groups, which was all she had been doing whenever she DID jump into a pod. But tonight, she was back in her element. Back on the wrong side of the law, where her heart pumped faster, and her mind raced with the exhilaration of knowing that she was ruining someone's day; upsetting the status quo.

This reminded her why she was alive in the first place. But more important than the piracy... were the pirates. She had forgotten what it was like to fly with her comrades, to have stories to tell. Tonight proved to have one story in particular that would be with her for the rest of her life.

She smiled as she made her way to her bunk. She felt at home again. The piracy, the camaraderie... she had forgotten about it. But now she remembered... vividly.

(Thanks to all those who flew with me on my first roam in a very long time. It felt great to be back in my element. And that Archon story is epic.)

PS: (Due to some cajoling on behalf of a fellow capsuleer, I have been pushed to relate exactly what happened with "that Archon story")

Her mind flashed back to just before the roam came to a close. She had been scouting for her fellows when she warped in on the Vitrauze gate in Onne. Her ship's overview flashed furiously identifying enemies on-screen. A brief flash of anxiety took hold as she jumped through to Vitrauze, completely unhurt. She relayed the information on voice comms about the massive blob that was at the gate. As she collected her thoughts again, her commlink buzzed back. "It looks like they're fighting each other... We should totally ninja ourselves onto that killmail." Val laughed, it was obviously sheer lunacy... and she loved the idea. She prepped her ship's navigation systems to do an about face and jump back into Onne. Upon bouncing back into Onne, she warped off to a nearby planet trying to get into a better position to attack the Archon that was under siege. She spun her Enyo around and warped back to the gate. Her muscles tensed as her ships targeting computers blipped to life. She fired off a volley of shots from her blasters, barely scratching the behemoth's armor. "That should do it," she smirked. She re-focused on the nearby gate and proceeded to attempt a jump into Vitrauze.

In all her planning and studying, she forgot a very important fact. Gate operators don't like recent aggressors using their lovely technologies.

Her ship's warning sensors blared as her hull was torn asunder. She just sat in her pod grinning as it whizzed off. It was a stupid mistake to say the least. Her comms were ablaze with people bantering. Apparently the Archon wasn't as dead as we figured it was. We whipped up some ideas about collaborating with our typical enemy to bring this ship down.

After a few minutes of diplomatic failure, a new plan was hatched. As the details of the plan unfolded, Val couldn't help but laugh. It was brilliant. Soon she was listening to the logistics unfold. A cyno was dropped in the middle of all the fighting and a few moments later, our very own Archon arrived on the scene. The pirates besieging the Archon scattered, stupefied by the new threat. Local was filled with the desperate cries of a lone pirate telling everyone to hold fast, but to no avail. With a few glib jibes , the Archon pilot left system, laughing all the way.

Point in fact, never turn down help from a group of pirates, it may end up poorly for your own endeavors.