Rieleph, the “medical” worm hole miner.
ARG Zunztu > Rieleph so tell me, how long have you been here and where do you live? If you like i can go with you as you travel.
Rieleph > In Abudban? like half a year now. I moved here when my friends convinced me to board my capsule again, after long stay planet side. Now I am stationary, mining ore for our friends Dock Workers, got to respect those people who build ships we fly, right?
ARG Zunztu > Ha-ha yes, big companies there. You mentioned something before, about med pods? got into an accident? what was that about?
Rieleph > ARG Zunztu You were reborn to the capsule about a decade ago, right?
ARG Zunztu > Yes, I am what they say and old timer here.
Rieleph > So you remember the times when you needed to pay for medical clone upgrade, or you lost your skills when you were podded?
ARG Zunztu > It was about the same time when paying insurance was worth it. Yes, I remember.
Rieleph > Back in the day when Damage Control was something you needed to turn on…
ARG Zunztu > That’s history mate! where are you taking us? lead on!
Rieleph > So, I was happily living in a wormhole, managing planetary industry just, just when concord lifted a ban on capsuleer contact with planet surface. Back when the Primae was THE last big thing, you know. And, as it happens in wormholes, I got podded. I woke up in a Lowsec station.
ARG Zunztu > Yes, Primae was brand new and everyone wanted one.
I still have one! – He shouted in excitement.
Rieleph > But, I woke in a station, naked and alone, with an empty wallet. Everything I got was tied in the industry, in a wormhole. And, like the idiot I was, I decided to fly back home, get some stuff to sell and pay for medical clone upgrade.
Something made me recall my first years as a capsuleer. Getting your ship destroyed, rushing in to save whatever you can, most of the time I’ll fly alone and the sense of urgency when you lose something made me remember those times. He know them too, and was about to share what I think happened to most of the old capsuleers in New Eden.
Rieleph > I should have just asked corpmates for money!
ARG Zunztu > Would have probably been a better option yes.
Rieleph > I was transporting like years’ worth of skills in my dumb, uninsured head. Never again, and never before, have I done something that stupid, and I did missions in Amamake…
Grief, we all have some, we all share some of it.
ARG Zunztu > now that you mentioned it, you have got to update your clones to the amount of information in our head chips back in the day, yeah you brought back memories mate.
Rieleph > I got home, I packed up some stuff to sell… Clone still not upgraded, able to hold like a month or two in its head and I left safety of our POS… dumbest ■■■■ ever.
ARG Zunztu > oh, not more, no, please no… you made it back with your stuff?
Rieleph > Of course not, died in a gate camp, pod included. And I no longer had the skill to scan back entrance to our worm hole or ISK to buy a probe launcher. Got dropped from the corporation, not for the loss of skill or ISK, but for how dumb I was. Hard, but hardly unfair.
Rieleph > went planet side for years, I lost everything even my first Zephyr and Primae. My corpmates… My planetary colonies… memorabilia…
Back to the ground… I can only imagine just how much he hated himself, being a capsuleer, the envy of millions of people across the universe just to get taken care off two times in a short period. I had my misfortunes, but I cannot recall any memory this cruel, this bad, not one that could scar me this deep.
ARG Zunztu > Medical pods, clones upgrades, you got a history with them.
Rieleph > I do. And a salty one.
ARG Zunztu > And how long has been since you recovered?
Rieleph > 157 days since I’m flying again and about 100 days since I went back to the wormhole space. But WH no longer feels like home to me…
There it is again, those happy memories from worm hole space being soggy by an aftermath of probably a few hours. We all have a space that no longer feels home to us, but not many of us have an entire portion of the universe making us remember of better times long ago. This must be hard to endure.
ARG Zunztu > So, just to recap, you started ages ago, made a life for yourself in the wormhole space. All in all, was good, but never upgraded your clones because living that after means almost no contact with medical facilities. Got destroyed once, in the heat of the moment decided that the best thing to do was run for home, managed to get there, and when you tried to come back to low/high sec space got camped, lost all even the skills to go back to Worm Hole Space and your teammates ejected you out to the coldness of space.
I did upgrade my clones! Once! I failed to do this just once! – He shouted again trough the comm speaker, fisting his console.
ARG Zunztu > Man, those guys weren’t real buddies, someone should have escorted you.
Rieleph > That’s about right. Quite probably they would if I wasn’t that dumb and actually asked them to.
ARG Zunztu > Well with the new medical pods half your problem is solved, but for our readers what would you like to add, to those that may fall prey of the pirates of New Eden?
Rieleph > Remember your basic training: Never fly with something you are not OK with losing. This no longer include your skills, but, say, implants.
ARG Zunztu > I was about to add that…
I think my encounter with Rieleph brought back memories from my first steps in the universe. How harsh and brutal can become everything, fast. Too fast. If you are reading this, remember the first law ever taught to you:
“DO NOT FLY WHAT YOU CANNOT AFFORD TO LOSE”
Until next time, Zun.