Out of Pod Experience

Thor Eljer walks into the bar wondering what sort of beverages this joint serves.

Let's toast to Mizhir.

Can I have some sparkly wine please ?

“So,” she continued, “when your picnic lunch arrived, I figured I’d help out a friend, which I knew would be working, at setting it up and adding a romantic touch to it.”

“Uh….” Was all he could say.

“You are welcome. Now, can we get back to work with a little less griping?” She asked with a tone of mock sincerity.

His only response was a good natured laugh over the comms.

---

“Well,” Mav asked, “How do I look?”

Laudenum started but quickly smiled to cover her shock. ‘He looks so much like his brother’ the thought made her heart skip and sink in the same moment. “Handsome.” She said simply.”Very handsome.” She moved to walk around him, straightening little creases and stopped to look him in the eyes. “Ish is lucky. I hope you both have a great time.”

He reached out and drew her into a brotherly hug. As they separated, he looked her in the eyes and noticed a tear forming. “Thanks, mom.” He quipped; a comment designed to lighten the mood.

She smiled and withdrew from the embrace and swatted him lightly on the arm. “I have a couple more things for you.” She had moved so naturally he barely noticed her wiping the tear from her cheek.

Mav spoke quietly, “Laud, you didn’t have to…”

She glanced over her shoulder. “Right now, my dating is done vicariously thought you.” Her smile turned impish. “Don’t ruin my good time.” She said with a wink.

Laud rummaged through a storage container in the back of her quarters. He had just enough time to roll his eyes when something small and metallic was lobbed over her shoulder. Mav snatched the item out of mid air and opened his hand to reveal a cred stick. A quick check on the balance revealed that not only had she not used any of his isk, but the balance was significantly larger.

“Wait, boss…” He stammered.

“SHUSH!” she commanded and returned to her burrowing. After a few impatient moments, she stood and presented him with two items.

“What, “ he said with a raised eyebrow, “are these?”

Laud handed the first package to him. “This is a wonderful flower. It’s been in stasis for the trip to prevent wilting. You will give this to her as a gift.”

Mav raised his eyebrow again, this time in a look of skepticism and feeling very much like an awkward teenager. He carefully opened the box, taking measures not to disrupt the stasis field inside. Even through the field’s haze, he could see it was beautiful. It appeared to be pink changing to white at the outside edges.

“Um…what kind of message will this…” He started, but halted at Laudenum’s scowl. Her glare said ‘Don’t ruin this for me’ and he held his hands up, resigned.

The second package was a bit heavier and Mav carefully set the box with the flower on the desk. He opened the second box and inside were two bottles; both slightly dusty, faded and covered with miter. He pulled one of the bottles from the box and lightly brushed the dust from the label. “I’m sorry, but I’m not familiar with this.”

“This took some research but I knew someone who it and I had had someone that owed me a favor that would deliver it. This is a very old Chanounian wine from Amarr. I’ve been told it’s everything that the Amarrians are not. Light, fruity and very well aged.” She smiled as he carefully returned it to the box.

Mav turned serious and looked at Laudenum. “Thank you, M.”

“All I have to say is IF she isn’t impressed…” Laud left the balance unspoken.

He carefully gathered the items and went to the door. “Wish me luck.” He said with a grin and slipped out the door.

“Luck.” She whispered and hugged herself tightly.

---

Mav knocked on the door to Ishtanchuk’s quarters in the Greater Fool Bar. The din of the capsuleer crowd was just starting to amplify when Mav heard Ish’s “One moment, Mavrick.” From inside. He waited patiently outside the door allowing the activity of the bar patrons to distract him as he stood. The door opened and Mav’s breath caught in his throat. Even dressed casually, Ishtanchuk was lovely. She wore pants of a durable material that hugged her hips but were loose in the legs for ease of movement. Under a matching tailored jacket, she wore a light colored blouse that sat in contrast to her naturally tanned skin.

“So, we finally get around to our second date?” She asked smiling.

Mavrick gave her a sheepish grin. “Yea, I’m sorry about the delay. I’m hoping this will make it up to you.”

Ish took the package that he had offered to her and carefully opened the wrapping. She opened the box within the wrapping with a light touch and a gasp. The stasis field within dropped away revealing the bloom, it’s light clean fragrance temporarily filling the hall and displacing the normal scents of the bar. Ish delicately withdrew the flower and inhaled deeply.

“I love these. I remember fields of them when I was young.” She said with a wistful innocent look. “Where did you get it?” She asked. “To my knowledge, they’re only native to a few worlds in Khanid.”

Mav smiled and said, “I have connections.”

She eyed him mischievously and took another deep inhalation. Mav carefully took the flower from her hand and gently placed it above her left ear, weaving some of her hair to hold the bloom in place. When he finished, he stepped back and looked at his handiwork with a smile. He held out his arm and asked “Shall we?”

The temperature control was catching up nicely and Mavrick slid out from under the blanket. “The idea of doing this actually made me a little homesick. It reminds me of a secluded little lakeside park that I used to frequent with friends.” Mavrick drank the last of the wine in his glass. Ish set her glass off to the side and gently pushed Mavrick onto his back. With the blanket still draped around her shoulders, she stretched on top of him, covering his body with the blanket and her own. She crossed her arms on his chest and rested her chin, looking into Mav’s eyes.

“Did you ever bring a girlfriend to this lakeside park?” She asked.

Mav smiled shyly. “Yes.”

"Enough", said Mavrick after a while, his voice broken, "enough, now just turn around". Ishtanchuk obeyed, still on all fours, and waited as Mavrick closed in and removed her panties.

"Slow now... give me time", said Ishtanchuk as Mavrick's fingers moved up along the inside of her thighs. "Give me time..:"
"I'll give you all the time you need, my precious", said Mavrick, rubbing and caressing until Ishtanchuk looked over her shoulder and nodded:
"Now...", she whispered, and then Mavrick moved in, slowly and carefully, deeper and deeper as Ishtanchuk breathed heavily and gave him way.

---

Wasn't she warm? Yes she was, she packed an amazing amount of body heat in her small frame. There was no need for a blanket as Ishtanchuk's soft body was over Mavrick, apparently still if wasn't for the soft squeezing going on out of sight. "Don't pull out", she had said, and that led to some complicated manoeuvres as they rolled and inverted their positions so Mavrick stopped crushing her.

"Dear ancestors", thought Mavrick, "Why has taken so long? Who could imagine that the enemy could be like this? What if I never...?"

Ishtanchuk moved on him, rising her torso so he could appreciate the lovely sight of her bosom. The planet outside of the observation cupola kept turning, and then the room was struck by a orange beam. Mavrick gasped as the momentarily dawn lighted Ishtanchuk's silhouette, from the dark hair to the hips and around the curve of her bosom. And then the orange was gone and sunlight dazzled the couple as Mavrick stretched to reach for his pad and dim the glass.

As the lighting was back to a bearable amount and his eyes adapted, Mavrick looked again at Ishtanchuk. She was standing on her knees, comfortably sitting by his flanks as her hips where almost as wide as Mavrick's. Now Mavrick could appreciate her skin colour and how it was uniform, with no suntan marks.

"I should ask how do you sunbath, Ish. I think I could do it too, as my skin is turning pale from all the time I spend inside a pod"
"Poor Mavrick, you work too much..." she said, leaning forward and kissing his forehead as his gaze sunk in the depths of her cleavage.
"With a purpose... I always work with a purpose", said Mavrick, rising his hands. He caressed Ishtanchuk, moving his hands up and down of her silken body, tantalized by the reaction of her nipples. Then Mavrick slid his gaze along her body, and was shocked to see what he hadn't seen before. Scattered along her belly and chest, there where three scars, glowing red against the tan skin, and he immediately recognized them as exit gunshot wounds.

"Ishtanchuk! What's that? They shot your body too!?", asked Mavrick.

Ish looked down to him, casually rocking her hips and increasing the pace of the squeezes.

"This is a secret. A secret I've shared with you, now that you've seen me naked. A secret you must keep as nobody else knows it. Not even Indahmawar."
"A secret? And what's the secret?"
"We can talk about that later. Now, I need that your less than little friend wakes up. I want you again"
"And that's all?"
"That's what I need now. That's what I can share now. That's... it's complicated. But if you want me, even with a sliver of your heart, take me now."
"So someone hurt you?"
"I did hurt myself. And now I need you. Your attentions. Your friendship. This set up... and your sex. All you can spend with me"
"If that's... " started Mavrick, looking into her burning eyes, "if that's what you want, you'll get it. But I don't compromise about later... you can not just go away from here and call it a day"
"That's not what I want. We'll meet again. We can talk as much as you or me want. But now, let's take advantage, now that you're reacting..."

Mavrick looked again at her, wishing to throw away all the complicated thoughts and focus on the sensations as he bloomed inside Ishtanchuk, feeling her moves, and gathering a primal drive to just possess her again. Then Ishtanchuk rocked her hips again, sliding up and down, and Mavrick took her waist and started leading her, setting the pace rather than let her pick it. If that was what she wanted, he was not behind in wanting it too. Not even seeing how she had four wound shots in her back instead of three distracted him, as he was determined to let her test his limits, confident that she would be up to a surprise... as all in all, what could that delicate Khanid flower stand compared to Brutor sturdiness...?

---

Dressed up after a shower, obviously exhausted but willing to talk, Ishtanchuk closed her eyes as Mavrick watched her. He was sitting on the turf again, and Ishtanchuk had stretched by him so her head rested on his lap. Ishtanchuk had wrapped her hair with a towel, since the attempts to not wet her hair had gone wrong. At the shower, she had gathered her hair in her hands and allowed Mavrick to wash her with his bare hands, until she joked about the soap's scent and "smelling like a true Brutor blue collar". Mavrick burst in laughter and Ish followed, dropping her hair on her wet shoulders and back. That had lead to more hilarity and contact in the small enclosure of the shower, and the shower was interrupted until they finished messing up each other with the last remnants of their passion.

Matilda Cecilia Fock exited the bathroom, after finishing the lengthy process of readying for a new day. Shower, drying up hair, hairdoing, make up, dresing, undressing, trying a different outfit, again and again; often she would need three and more attempts to find something suit to how she was feeling that day.

The appartment she shared with her sister Cecilia Matilda Fock wouldn't be luxurious not even by Minmatarr standards; a cheap condo with two rooms in a massive Gallentean builiding. The floor where they lived was made by endless corridors lined with doors whose only disctinictve mark where the trinkets hanged outside by the neighbors. The Gallente had a whole industry of cheap stuff to customize the doors and pretend that the interior was as cool as the decoration outside...

Matidad entered the kitchen, and frowned when she saw Cecilia already having breakfast. Although she was wearing different clothes than yesterday, nobody would had noticed but Matilda, who knew how conservative and unimaginative was her older sister unless she was chasing a man... and sometimes not even then.

"You... you started breakfast without me? You know hate it cold!", said Matilda.
"Good morning to you too, Mats", said Cecilia between two bites.
"I can't believe it, I told you it was only five minutes while I showered!", rambled Matilda, and then proceeded to explain lengthily why she disliked cold food... how they hadn't been raised to dismiss food even if it was barely edible... how inconsiderate was Cecilia for that and many other reasons...
"What little warmth was left, it's been lost now that you've spent more time complaining than dressing up, Mats", said Cecilia when she finished her dish, sipping some of the watered coffee she favored in the morning.
"Ceci, you're... you're... why did you distract me? Look at those sausages... I'm sure they're frozen by now!"
"Will you have breakfast? We have an appointment today, in just 50 minutes"
"50 minutes? Darn you and your clock!"
"Share the love, spread the word", said Cecilia, smirking.
"Oh, you, you... Hmph. Share the word, spread the love", answered Matilda.

Cecilia exited the kitchen to the living room and turned on the TV set to watch any information gathered by their pads as they slept. She knew that Matilda would have her breakfast and would feel bad about her outfit so she would change it again... but Cecilia had cheated her. The appointment was later than she said, as she accounted for Matilda's habits. Living on a tight budget had some downsides, and one was Matilda's attitude. She was born while their mother Ms. Fock was in a good streak, and had enjoyed a standard of living higher than Cecilia... also had helped that Matilda's father would send money each now and then, and that extra windfall would mean small luxuries for both sisters. Ms. Fock always tried her best to treat her daughters equally. It would had been a great surprise for her to learn that they both had been born with the appropiate genes to become capsuleers, and the appropiate attitude to become members of the Ashtantan cult, an ancient religion which in the last century had been evicted from Amarran territory and prosecuted there until almost extinction.

The Fock sisters traversed the city from the outskirts to downtwon, and entered a discrete old building which hosted mostly law firms. Concealed as a trade company, the local office of the cult occupied almost half of a floor for free, thanks to the husband of one of their agents. Although some agents were male, most of the cult was composed by women, since the cult praised the figure of Ashtant, a female goddess which was the source of all other divine and had created love as the driving force behind life in the universe. The cult was suposed to have arrived New Eden straight from Earth, and scholars who knew of it tended to agree that it had originated well before the collapse of the Eve gate since the cult appeared to be older than any other religion, including the Amarran faith.

The Fock sisters entered the office and moved past the public areas, entering a small locker room where they took out their clothes and dressed with the cult habit; a long tunic with a hooded cloak, made of thick fabric which hided almost completely their feminine curves. As low rank members, they looked almost asexuate in the habit. Then the sisters entered a second room, with a few chairs so they could wait until they where called inside of the Mother's office. The Focks waited silenly until the door opened and they heard the voice of Mother Guinessa.

"Come in, my daughters, Cecilia and Matilda"
The sisters entered, Matilda calmly letting Cecilia go first and take a seat. Behind a desk of an outdated design, Mother Guinessia smiled at the sisters and greeted them:

"Cecilia, Matilda, I am pleased to see you. Share the love and spread the word, my loves"
"We are pleased to meet you, Mother; shall we share the word and spread the love"

Mother Guinessia was the higher ranked member in the city, responsible for the office and the project assigned to the Focks. As such high rank oficer, she was dressed in a thin dress, made of many layers of graphene and strengthened with carbon monofilaments; the dress was electrified so its gazelike transparency was veiled by iridiscence, and the looser pieces of it moved on their own accord, driven by the electric currents of the body as they interacted to computer elements embedded in the dress. It was a very ancient design, an ages past Gallentean fashion, and the way in which it hinted the well aged body of mother Guinessa was what the cult appreciated of those dresses. The higher the rank, the more revealing was the habit of a cult member, as reflection of the wearer's higher achievements in spreading Ashtant's word and love among mankind. The contrast wth the Fock's dull garments was notorious, but neither of the three women worried with it.

(to be continued)

Yiole Gionglao left her personal pad on a ledger and watched as a Robo-Aide stored it with her clothes. Then she walked to the pod platform and removed the robe covering her nude body. Stepping on the platform, she entered the vessel hanging from the pod and leaned her back on the connector pannel. The proximity of her plugs tirggered the connection sequence and the connectors plugged themselves, moving as robotic tendrils. As usual, Yiole's gaze blurred as the pod began feding her brain with data so she could begin the fill sequence. Then the vessel closed and hydrostatic fluid fileld it.

Yiole sensed the warm liquid covering her legs, quickly filling the vessel as it reached her navel and continued rising. When buoyancy removed the weight from her bosom, Yiole thought about inhaling the liquid and that triggered a small subroutine in her perception implant. That was a Gallentean luxury which blocked the insctintive and annoying reaction to drowning as the pod fluid filled the lungs. Then the fluid reached above Yiole's head and the pod began closing, bending its armor flaps on the vessel as it was transported to the inside of the pod.

There was no darkness inside the pod; the connection was full once the armor flaps closed and the interface showed how everything was ready for insertion. Yiole didn't sense anything as the pod was locked on a transport cart and speeded through a series of tunnels until it surfaced again and was itnroduced unceremoniously inside her chosen ship; a Atron class frigate.

The ship was fitted to act as scout and fast transport, and Yiole had christened it as "Slow Lady, Fast Ship" after certain game she enjoyed practicing; one which made her boyfriend Random McNally smirk when he learned the name of the ship.

As the Slow Lady was transported to the launch tube, Yiole checked the local communications for the presence of potential hazards... specifically pilots in her red list. But nobody known was out and the system was relatively quiet. Once in space, the ships's scanner updated with all public notifications available. Yiole waited for the scan to finish and read the results: there were two interesting anomalies in the system.

Maybe two years ago, the last massive ice fields had been exausted, and in order to prevent furher overexplotation, onboard scanners and probes had been disabled to detect ice unless it had been cleared officialy with a anomaly navitation point. Those navigation points would show up only when there was no other available and 4 hours had passed since emptying a ice anomaly; capsuleers quickly adapted to that and noting when a anomaly vanished to predict when another would be released publicly had become a part of the routine to ice miners.

The scanner picked two navpoints labeled with a random 3 letter+3 digits code: FJD-417 and WTY-455. Yiole warped the Slow Lady to the nearest one and began scanning it, probing the ice asteroids as she cruised to the far end of the belt. Other ships had begun warping to the belt, and Yiole looked for Orcas and freighters, signs of large scale operations. None was visible yet, although there were four miner ships digging ice close to the entry point.

Then Yiole warped to the second anomaly and she noticed a small fleet with a freighter, a Orca and no less than eight Skiff class exhumers. Then as she scanned the belt, a second fleet warped in, and Yiole smirked. Better to forget about that belt...

After a short warp back to WTY-455, Yiole opened the comms line and messaged Ishtanchuk Fazmarai:

"Two anomalies available. FJD is being swept by at least two fleets, will mark WTY for you. See you soon!"
"OK Yiole, moving in. Cya", was the answer. Then Yiole scanned the asteroids to find the larger one and moved in slowly, orbiting it at half impulse.

"Here we are, here we are... wish they made these things two seaters...", she thought, and kept one eye on the outside as she began thinking of Random. Then her smoochy thoughts weaved a path bypassing the connection, linking enough to her own brain as to trigger the appropiate responses to her imagination and memory. Shortly after, a smile appeared on the face of the apparently inanimated body linked to the Jove machine; and the Jove would be shocked to learn that the pod link couldn't keep mankind away from their favorite private game.

(to be continued)

(continues)

"Well, you look good in that dress... and the others before too", said Cecilia Matilda Fock as her sister Matilda Cecilia displayed her latest acquisitons. Matilda was builidng a wardrobe with money from Ishtanchuk Fazmarai, with clothes conceived both for commoners and the more expensive and exclusive clothing for capsuleers.
"I think i will keep this one too... don't you think red suits me well?"
"Yes, it suits you well. Also makes your boobs look larger than they are, and your ass too... it's perfect for you", said Cecilia, but her sarcasm was lost since Matilda was exultant and couldn't wait to try another dress.
"Yes I guess that is useful too... now le tme show yout he yellow one, ti is gorgoeus!"
"Mkay..."

As matilda mobed into he bedroom, Cecilia checked her pad, and it pinged inmediately. Cecilia looked at the signal and saw that it was a call from Ishtanchuk Fazmarai, and said:

"Oh? Ishtanchuk, is that you?"
"Yes. there's some ice here, do you want to join us?"
"Well, of course! Just give me a minute.. or two... and I'll be there"

Cecilia stored her pad and walked to he door of Matilda's bedroom, and said:

"Matida, I've got business to do. Ice mining with Ishtanchuk. See you later!"
"Oh, can't you wait...? I have almost finished with this sleeve..."
"Laters, Mats!"

Cecilia rushed stot he transportation system as she new that time was of he essence for mining ice. Each minute would mean more ships incoming, drilling more and more ice, with the chance that some large fleet also moved in and began sweeping ice right under their noses. Cecilia already had develoepd competitiveness and damned every minute it took her to move to a CQ, board a pod and launch her latest acquisiton, a Hulk class exhumer.

The enormous ship, 500 meters long and equipped with three harvesters, made CEcilia very proud. Acquring the skills needed to fly that sophisticate ship had been a long way, and yet she knew that Hulks had a terrible fame. Many pilots would equip them to produce as much ice as possible regardless of oher considerations, and that had made Hulks a favorite prey for murdeorus capsuleers. But Cecilia had the advantage of being assisted (and equipped) by a veteran pilot, and her Hulk had been fitted to be as resilient as possible... hopefully enough to be skipped by agressors.

Cecilia's Hulk was ejected into space and she activated the shield defenses inmediately, along with the damage control system which improved the resistance of shields, armor and structure. Cecilia then warped away to a spot previously marked by Ishtnahcuk, one which allowed to leave the vicinity of the station as soon as possible. After landing at the safe spot, cecilia just ordered the navigation system to warp to the position of Yiole Gionglao, and the ship aligned and warped in a seemingly random direction. Ice anomalies could be discovered anywhere, and it wasn't unsual that a ship had to make a U turn to warp after undocking.

Cecilia saw the belt coming to to her faster than light; actually was just a illusion so her brain could aprehend what was impossible to see. The virtual representation of the belt, as real for Cecilia as her senses could tell, slowed down and Cecilia landed on the "grid". Such "grid" was he local referecne system around the gravity center of the complex, and was shared by all the navigation computers in the area.

Yiole's ship had moved away since Cecilia had stared warp, and she ordered her Hulk to keep the distance with the Mackinaw class exhumer being flown by Yiole. As Ishtanchuk's Orca, the exhumer had been fitted for maximum resitance to damage, and Cecilia had listened with eyes wide open and a shiver down her spine the stories on how Yiole had survived to two attempts to kill her ship...

As the ship moved into position, Yiole's Mackinaw would stay around 500 meters behind Ishtanhcuk's Orca, and Cecilia's Hulk another 1,000 meters behind Yiole. This way, botth exhumers could access the transport range of Ishtanchuk's fleet hold, allowing them to unload ice as their own holds fillled. That was specially relevant for the Hulk, since its hold could fit a bit more than 8,000 m3 of material, and the harvesters would drill 3,000 m3 in each cycle.

"Hello girls!", waved Cecilia as she looked for the iceberg being drilled by Yiole.
"Hi Cecilia, welcome to the fun", said Yiole.
"Hi, ice queen.. I'm pleased to chase your ass again"
"Hur hur, brownie" answered Yiole.
"Welcome aboard the Pwetty Fleet, Cecilia. Watch out for hostiles" was Ishtanchuk's welcome.

Cecilia fired her harvesters and the turrets started working on the ice, following a cycle which would end with 917 tons of ice moved into the ship; so much ice that would make a cube 10 x 10 x 10 meters, or 1,000 cubic meters. And it would take less than 100 seconds for each turrret to dig that from the iceberg and transfer it into the hold... capsuleers' machines had an inmense power.

Cecilia watched over the local and fleet comms channels, as Ishtanchuk and Yiole waved other pilots and talked to each other; Cecilia was still relatively new and hadn't much acquietances in the system. She also watched the cotnact list, commonly known as "overview", and coutned the shispa nd icebergs in the local grid. She could see another Orca and a few minign shps, both of the simplest barge classes and also many advanced exhumers. Skiffs, the toughest of exhumers, were a usual sight and Cecilia recalled that the system was known for being violently policed by a gang calling themselves "the CODE". But so far, Cecilia hadn't seen any of them...

(to be continued)

I'll take a nothing, please.

Oh, could I use a drink right now!