Fiction; Venom's Bite

After nagging long enough my dear friend Venom Orchid has written a little story for me. Hopefully this wont be the last and maybe, just maybe we will work together on some more fiction!

This story is set about 1.5 years ago, just before I joined the Bastards, just before my CDM with Venom Orchid.

Enjoy!;

-=o0o=-

Life has become predictable in our little pocket of space. For over a year the Hellcats have lived with the Bastards in Evati, all but picking the bones clean off anyone thinking of entering our space. We own this area, even if we don’t want to claim it. We are pirates, we don’t settle down in front of nice cozy fires. We settle down with bottles of booze and other people’s belongings.

“Mynx, I’m bored.”

“Knock it off kid or I’ll kick it out of you, you know I hate that talk. You make your life as you will.” Mynx, as the Hellcats stern leader, had a booming emphatic voice when she needed to get a point across.

“Come on luv, don’t take that tone with me, you know what I’m talking about.” Being a new Director, I was starting to feel greater concern for the girls in our corp.

“Yea, I do, it’s been coming for a while.”

“It has and it hurts to think about it but we need to spread our wings or risk losing ourselves.” For some time we had been discussing if we should leave our brothers, The Bastards, and make a solo name for ourselves in another system.

I thought to myself, what if we break off from the Bastards and that kills us, stay and die or leave and die....fuck.

Mynx motioned for the bar owner to send us another bottle of red wine we donated to his cause, having earlier lifted it from a transport ship coming into Evati. He sold it and made a profit, so long as we were given as much as we wanted on the house. We drank most of what we brought him.

As Mynx was pouring the red gurgling liquid into our glasses, someone caught my attention as they entered the bar. My gaze was locked as Mynx looked up and back to see what I was looking at.

“Who’s that?” Mynx mused with a wry smile.

“Fuck, that pilot won’t leave me alone, everywhere I go, he shows up.”

“What do you mean,” Mynx asked, “He’s hot as hell.”

“No, he’s not bugging me for sex like the rest of the slags in this place. He wants to fight me. He showed up in system a few days ago and started hunting me, of course, I hunted back but when I found him, he didn’t fire on me. He hailed me and made me an offer, something about me being known, and he wants a fight, a quest he is on or something, its bullshit, I don’t trust him.”

“Uh huh, and why are you staring at him if he’s so bad?”

“I’m what?’ My face turned three times redder than my tribal tattoo's on my face.

“Ha! I knew it, why don’t you just fuck him instead, you know it’s what you’d rather do.”

“Fuck you Mynx.”

While she and I were arguing I took my eyes of him for a second, enough time for him to slither up to us at the bar.

“Ladies...,” Nashh said with a grin.

You have got to be kidding me, why the fuck can’t you leave me alone?

“Nashh, this is my boss Mynxee, have you met?”

“No, I have not had the pleasure, but I hope to soon.”

Myx’s eyes rolled in her head, being Hellcats and women we have to fight off this shit daily. Instead of answering she got up from the bar and swayed away from us, both of us watching her as she left.

“You two must have an interesting relationship,” Nashh mused.

“Fuck off, what she and I have is none of your concern. You still following me around?”

“Come on Venom, just one fight, with rules you can live with.”

Nashh grabbed our bottle and poured more red wine into my glass, looking up, he flashed me a smile.

“Damn it, fine, Rifters with a point; I don’t want your skinny ass getting away from me.”

Shit, did I just say ‘skinny ass getting away from me’? Get a grip Venom, he’s a guy, remember.

Again I blush and Nashh notices. He sits back on the barstool, and I can see he’s full of inked skin and a toned chest. It’s no secret that I prefer women to men sexually. In flight, I would rather be with men, save Mynx and a few other Hellcats. So, why am I suddenly attracted to this guy?

Fuck, fuck, fuck; enough.

“Tomorrow, come find me, and we can have your little fight.”

Nashh looks at me squarely, “What, you’re leaving so soon, I thought we were starting to have fun?”

“Piss off, this room is full of prostitutes, and I’m not one of em.”

Ramblings #15 Venom Orchid Art

I made this drawing last week but I wasnt sure if Venom thought it to be too personal to post. Anyways, long story short she likes it and said I can post it;

This is done with a HB pencil and a touch of charcoal. I really liked doing this picture and it only took about 30 minutes.

Ramblings #14 Hellcats Art

I started doodling this picture at work with a blue biro. Clearly with Hellcats on the brain as I didn't intent to draw anything in particular but this came out. Its obviously unfinished but I think I'll leave it at this. I like it, I hope you do...

Celebrity Death Match #6 Venom Orchid

Venom Orchid – Blogstar and Hellcats Meany (17th August 2009)

On the last day of my holiday I decided to fly a Kestrel to Evati. I fitted the Frigate the day before, having thought about it long and hard. Evati is the notorious home system of the infamous Hellcats and Bastard pirates. I made the 20 jump trip in preparation for a fight I was hoping to get with the scoundrel Venom Orchid, a Hellcat I have seen online a lot over the last week or so.

About two jumps from my destination I started to have doubts about my fitting, however there was little I could do about it anymore. I had decided to put some rigs on the frigate. The rigs where cheap, especially as I build them myself, however this did limit the options of changing the setup. There is only one way of finding out I figured and on route through the low security systems I tried to find a suitable target, preferable a Rifter as that is the likely ship Venom would be flying.

I jumped through the last gate on my route and hey presto! A pirate Rifter about 15 clicks from the gate! The opportunity was to good to be true and I decided to engage. My systems locked on to the Rifter rapidly and rockets followed a straight trajectory to the pirates’ frigate. The setup I had chosen involved ECM jamming instead of shields and the Phase Inversion ECM worked very well. The target ship was unable to get a lock on me and was by now taking serious damage from my Faction armaments. He was forced to warp off and I considered it a victory. Brilliant! My setup works! I quickly docked before any of his friend turned up.

Safely docked I decided to look into the pirates details and.. o dear.. it was a Bastard. Mon Palae the Bastard pirate. Mmm, I thought, interesting, maybe he would like to spar a bit more. Full of confidence in my new ship I quickly invited him to a conversation and requested to tussle it out a bit more. He agreed and invited me to come to Planet 3. I had to be a little careful as I had not prepared for a battle other than the fight with Venom. I carry expensive implants and it would be silly to lose them. I was confident however and mid warp made the decision that if he would warp off again close to me being victorious, I would refit and replace the Webber for a Disrupter. The fight ensued and didn’t quite work out the way I expected and within 20 seconds Mon Palae had ruined my dream and my ship named ‘Venom Orchids Doom’. It had turned out to be my doom instead. (I think I burned out my ECM array)

I quickly docked as my pod would not be safe from the Bastard because no 1 vs 1 rules had been agreed. We chatted briefly and I explained my intentions in his home system and the name of my ship. Mon Palae is obviously a friend of Venom but gladly he understood and over the next hour or so we chatted about Kestrel fittings.

Venom Orchid had in the meantime logged on I we talked about the ‘accident’ that had just occurred to the ship spelling her doom. She (after chuckling at me) agreed to fight me whenever she is free next, perhaps later that day.

I managed to get a new vessel prepared and was keen to fight the Bastard pirate again to see if my new fitting would work better. I had opted for not one but two ECM modules to see if I could perma-jam him whilst destroying his ship. I did not rig the ship as I actually had to purchase the modules this time.
We agreed to fight under the standard 1 vs 1 rules and again we met up at a planet in Evati. I warped in on him with 20 kilometres of space between us. Before I fired a single rocket I activated the first ECM module. The gap between us closed rapidly and with about 12 kilometres to go I started firing both sets of launchers. The ECM module had by now reached the half way point of its first cycle and I hastily activated the second. My head was pounding, and I felt a little stressed hoping that now my setup would work. His shield parted with the rest of his ship and his armour was laid bare. Tunnel vision set in as I tried to remain at some distance from his clearly faster frigate. His armour reached the halfway mark and I overheated all my racks to push that little bit harder at this crucial stage. My red hot launchers briefly stopped firing as there where no rockets for ten seconds to feed them. I stopped overloading as I feared I may lose the modules before the fight had been decided.

What? I started to receive damage! And not a little either, the two active ECM’s failed to get a lock for 2 cycles each and Mon Palaes auto-cannons shredded through my unprotected ship like as if it wasn’t even there. The fight had swung in his favour in the space of 10 seconds and dramatically altered the outcome.

My ship lay in tatters. My pod gently bobbed up and down in the vacuum of space.

‘Back to the drawing board’, I said, a little disappointed in the fights result. I had started so well. Mon Palae kindly traded me back my dropped ammo and modules after repairing them. We talked a bit more about Frigate battles and his help has been appreciated. Again, if you read this; thanks for your time.

I am obviously aware at this point that Venom Orchid will have read the killmails produced by her fellow pirate and knows my intended fitting style. I ponder the rest of the afternoon on what to do and whether I should change the ECM’s to weapon disrupters and lose the mwd for an afterburner. I gave up in the end and decided on the setup I was to fly into battle. Appropriately I named it ‘Sorry Venom ;-)’ for I was sure it would annoy the hell out of her.

About 5 hrs later and I spotted Venom logged off, I presumed to make her way home from work. When I looked next to me in the Evati station not long after, she was there. I didn’t waste any time and convo’d her immediately, as by now it was 2 am on my side of the planet.

She didn’t take long in getting a ship ready and we agreed the by now standard rules of 1 vs 1; no eggs to be broken, no warping off and thus to the death! Venoms Rifter screamed from the undock point and jetted to a safe spot. As soon as she arrived and got in position I got the green light to warp to her. I did so straight away. My sleepy eyes opened a bit further as soon as my warp drive activated and my heart sped up. I tried to remain focused on the fight about to ensue. The fight I had prepared and waited for all day, knowing it could be over very quickly.

With both sets of rocket launchers and the first of 3 ECM’s primed I anticipated the warp bubbles collapse… Lock! Rockets didn’t need any further encouragement and propelled themselves at speed to her spacecraft. Half her shield crumbled by the time the first ECM reached about a third of its first cycle and I activated the second. Her shield now gone, I remained calm and activated the third ECM. Initially I intended to keep some distance but her faster and more agile ship was hugging me closely. Her armour nearly broke and I overheated everything I could. Knowing now I was to win this fight with not having received any damage I zoomed out the view and prepared a screen shot.

As I did so my rockets started to fall short and exploded before they even came close, as she had by now created a gap between us. My weapons unlocked and deactivated. The fight would normally have been over at this stage as in a pvp scenario she would have warped to safety. I quickly turned around my ship to create an even bigger gap, big enough to make a 150 k fleet warp to her, but it was not necessary. She had already turned back and so did I. Like a lamb to the slaughter I believe she accepted her fate. Honouring the ‘fight to the death’ she granted me the killmail.


We discussed my fitting briefly and both chuckled. Three ECM modules just for her. The victory was mine but I felt like a coward. This is not how I wanted to win. I had her perma-jammed from the start. We agreed it was an interesting experience and we should tango again sometime.

I offered to trade back her dropped items however she offered for me to keep them and I will. A trophy one might say.

It has been a long day and with some losses in the afternoon and a late night, but again it has been worth the buzz! Thanks again to Venom Orchid and I hope to share space with you again someday…



Related links/posts;
Venom Orchids version of events; http://www.venomsbite.com/2009/08/18/binary-duel-ship-log-8-17-09/
Hellcats Kilboard; http://hellcats.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=4015896

Bastards Killboard #1 Mon Palae; http://www.the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=11941

Bastards Killboard #2 Mon Palae; http://www.the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=11942

Celebrity Death Match Killboard; http://818-k.eve-tools.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=10

Celebrity Death Match #3 Mynxee

Mynxee - Infamous Hellcats CEO (19th July 2009)

During a fruitless 2 hour roam with some militia pilots I noticed her name. Lit up in bright green, her picture stared at me, then vanished. I hear the fleet commander mumbling in the background warp so and so… but I was no longer listening. The fleet around me split up and warped in different directions whilst I debated what to say to her. A minute passed before I realised I was alone hanging in enemy held space and decided to drop from fleet and park up my Raven Battleship.

‘Hello Mynxee’ I said after she had answered my communications request. ‘Hi how are you?’ she replied. I felt strangely comfortable, strange as I hold the legendary Mynxee in high regard; clearly a very skilled pilot and doing great work for the Eve community through her blogs, I could be a fan. No nerves this time though as I asked the question I convo’d her for; a fight. She accepted straight away by asking what ship type I would like to fly, I explained that I prefer to fly larger ships but am aware she most likely flies the smaller faster ships. Mynxee was willing to fight in Battlecruisers but her suitable ships were too far out to safely bring through the space now full of roaming militia fleets. Neither was I interested to make the same journey the other direction as activity in the area was bustling and I probably wouldn’t make it the full 17 jumps. Mynxee offered to clone jump herself to my direction if we could tussle it out in Cruisers, a most generous offer from her, to waste the 24 hour wait before she would be able to use the clone jump facilities again, so I gladly accepted.

She remembered my name from a kill mail registered by her Hellcats associate Shae Tiann. ‘Yeah’ I grinned ‘that was a good fight’. Knowing she had seen the kill mail and thus my fitting, I expected she would think I would fly the same or similar setup, therefore making the decision to fit Capacitor Neutralisers or comparable devices to her Stabber. This was the reason for me to break out my fitting tool to come up with an alternative setup, a passive one. I explained to Mynxee I required a little time to gather the modules for my Caracal but our communications channel stayed quiet. As quick as I could muster I continued setting up the ship I thought would give me a chance of winning, including rigs that my business partner had built for me.

An annoyed Mynxee returned in the communications channel explaining she had been caught at a gate and the blob that took her ship also took her pod. ‘O’ I muttered, thinking the fight would not happen now, ‘are you ok?’, ‘yeah’ she replied ‘it’s not an issue I had a clone stored nearby’. (For anyone lucky enough to ever kill Mynxee remember her corpse sells for around 100 million isk in Jita). As Mynxee had no other ships but her Wolf in the area we both agreed to continue the fight with the ships we had strapped ourselves into.

By now I had my ship fitted, rigged and ready to roll, naming it ‘The Mynxee Killer’ for good luck. To my annoyance I did not have any T2 ammo for my launchers and had to make do with faction ammo, I didn’t want to keep her waiting any longer so I set off and made the 4 jumps to the agreed system. On my way there she invited me to join the Hellcats Ventrillo channel, I gladly accepted and did so immediately…

She spoke softly, clear and strangely soothing. Until now I had not understood the big deal other pilots had made about Mynxee’s voice. Yes she does sound seductive and sexy without meaning to, but her voice also exudes confidence and venomous danger. Imagine Kaa the snake in a space ship with lots of guns.

Shaking my head to clear it, I stayed the course and upon arrival in Amamake we formed up a fleet. Unfortunately I had to close voice communications as I had by now received visitors in real life and I did not expect them to appreciate a conversation about space ships. I still had one ear for my headset and hoped secretly she wouldn’t stop speaking.

‘Ready?’ she asked, ‘yes, warping to you now’ I replied. There she was, the infamous Mynxee on my head up display, waiting… As my engines slowed from the warp, I prepared myself… ‘Target locked’ my systems confirmed to me just after I had activated my launchers. My 2 tiny drones left their bay and zoomed straight to the Wolf already making good speed in my direction. Missiles leaving the T2 launchers at great speed crashed into her Attack Frigate. Steadily they started eating away at her shield and then halfway through her armour when I feel blood rushing to my head… I desperately try to hold my excitement as I begin to think I have the upper hand… her armour disappears and hull begins to show when my shields finally give in, her hull begins to crumble but my armour is non existent as her overheating autocannons cut through me, like a hot laser through butter… with a large vicious explosion my Caracal erupts into smoke and fragments…

Damn! So close! ‘12% hull remaining’ she confirms to me. I sigh and warp to the closest station. We talked briefly about overheating, a skill I have not trained, but she assures me that that was the deciding factor in this fight. I make a mental note to buy the book as soon as possible and study it well.

It was a very enjoyable scrap, however expensive the loss. The rush I got from the entire experience is what makes me fly pixelated space ships in the first place. I clearly would have felt even better if I’d won but perhaps this opportunity comes along again sometime…

Mynxee left me to get back to work as she was scheduled to be a banker for EOH poker. Another brilliant EVE side game I have been spending too much isk on since she has got me addicted to it… damn you Mynxee!

Related links/posts;
(still no luck with linking stuff in the text)
Mynxees version of events; http://lifeinlowsec.blogspot.com/2009/07/that-was-hot.html
Hellcats Kill board; http://hellcats.griefwatch.net/?p=details&kill=1225
EOH Poker; http://www.eohpoker.com/

Celebrity Death Match #1 Shae Tiann

Shae Tiann - Famous Hellcats Pirate (23rd June 2009 – 24th June 2009)

Going around restocking some of my ships around the Amamake Solar system I saw some heckling and cheering of a pilot in local. On closer investigation I realised what the fuss was all about, it were fans cheering and wolf-whistling for Shae Tian an EVE celebrity pod pilot from the epic Hellcats. Without to much thought I clicked ‘start conversation’ and to my surprise she immediately returned the convo. ‘Hi’ I stuttered… ‘hi, you ok?’ she replied in a friendly tone of typing… ‘yeah’ I managed and politely asked if she was busy or maybe had time to fight me in a 1 vs 1. Again startling me she replied that regrettable she was very busy, catching up on all the Hellcats Corporations paperwork and was station bound for the rest of the day. However she said she would certainly make time for me another day and for me not to hesitate to convo her again. I thanked her and closed comms, saving her details in my address book immediately…

The very next day, my birthday in earth life, I logged on to move some more gear around when in the bottom of my display her name came up in bright poison green. I stopped for a minute, heart pounding. Should I? Why not I thought, she said herself I can contact her anytime…

Again she was extremely pleasant to speak to and that calmed me down. We quickly agreed to meet in Kourmonen and fight in Cruiser Class vessels after I made her aware I don’t really fly Frigate sized ships and only fly Caldari (not great for pvp). Not having a Cruiser in that system I let her know I had to make a few jumps to collect a Caracal and she patiently set herself up in a safe spot. The only Caracal I had fitted was an old PVE fit with rigs however I did not care much for losing it, aptly naming it ‘Fodder’. On route back to Kourmonen I felt the need to ask my CEO for permission to fight a 1 vs 1 however the disappointing answer came back that the Caldari Independent Navy Reserve does not allow pre-arranged fights. My heart sank. I continued my course however and the 4 jump trek gave me enough time to explain to Shae Tian that his was to remain a little secret as my CEO Ladel Teravada is ruthless and would surely kick me from the Corp for insubordination if he’d find out. I was dead set on having this fight so I continued my course when over the communications channel the rules were set out; no warping off and we fight to the death, however no pod-killing was allowed…

Still buzzing from excitement I arrived in the agreed Solar system and after a fleet was made up I warped straight to her… my heart now pounding and blood rushing to my head I couldn’t wait to exit warp...there she was…quickly I adjusted my view as light from a nearby sun gleamed of her Thorax hull… ‘Ready?’ she asked but in my excitement I had already instructed my targeting system to lock her... ‘oops, yes’ I muttered, feeling my cheeks go red from embarrassment... never mind I thought, press on… My weapon systems and invulnerability fields already activated…Faction missiles spewing rapidly from their assault launchers (many weeks of missile skills seem to finally be paying off)… one after the other hitting her Thorax Cruiser before she had even fired a shot… launch drones! I commanded myself… 2 small Caldari T2 drones buzzed out of their hold making their way to the target ship quickly, locking it and doing their best in adding to my damage per second output… the great feeling of a possible victory came over me as her shield melted faster than I expected. With my shields now at half strength I was forced to initiate the Shield Booster knowing that they would only last a limited time… meanwhile I tried desperately to keep Shae at some distance as she was hurting me badly at this close range. Her armour was certainly not as fragile as her shields had been and only small amounts of damage came through the tough plates. Moments later, with both our shields gone and our armour in smithereens it was going to be a close battle. ‘O dear’ I managed to splutter in our fleet channel, just before my screen slowed down and for a second I was not sure who had won…until the plumes of smoke from a small but violent explosion clearly came from the remnants of my ship and not hers. ‘Close’ I said, ‘very close’ she replied. ‘For a second I thought I could win’ I sheepishly uttered, ‘so did I’ was her reply, putting a big smile on my face. Checking out her ship it proved how close it was indeed; 4% hull remaining and thick plumes of smoke bellowing from the warp drive…

We agreed to meet up in a nearby station where she kindly returned my dropped gear and drones. We talked briefly after the fight about flying rigged Caracals and I explained I would have rigged any Cruiser to fight her anyway, just to give myself a better chance. Yes it was an expensive loss but worth every penny. Shae Tian generously presented me with an exotic dancer and some spiced wine for my birthday. Laughing out loud and having had a great time I thanked her for coming out and fighting me.

Although the fight was supposed to be kept under wraps she kindly wrote about me in her next blog and of course my CEO has been notified by CONCORD over the loss of my ship, however to date I have not been reprimanded for my actions.

Still on a high from the excitement I quickly grabbed my I-pod touch and accessed the Capsuleer application, my favourite. Scanning through the blogs picking out some names of Eve celebrities to add to my address book and fight in a 1 vs 1 if they’d let me…

Related links/posts;
(until I figure out how HTML works)
Shae Tianns version of events; http://sweetlilbadgirl.blogspot.com/2009/06/overload.html
Hellcats Kill board; http://hellcats.griefwatch.net/?p=details&kill=1069