Intergalactic Summit

Thank you, everyone, for your contributions. The stories have been a lot of fun to read as well as being very enlightening - a useful forewarning. My own story can barely qualify for a story, however - all I have to warn you of is a single action and a litany of its consequences. I suffered a near-fatal discontinuity during a routine neural remap procedure a little over four years ago. I didn't wake up from the procedure, which had destroyed several areas of my brain and introduced some very serious nonconformities otherwise.

I spent the better part of two years in a coma, and a great deal of time beyond that learning to walk, speak, and think again. To date I still have anteriograde and retrograde amnesia, speech pathologies, mild narcolepsy, difficulties understanding speech and vision, and other symptoms. My eternal gratitude is to Lai Dai, who reconstructed my brain at great expense; I consider it a very deep honour that they now employ me, and I am able to pay them back in some small way for their generosity.

So, less a story than a warning. Treat your neural remap providers with great respect, and only use the very best!

A dying art, I'm afraid.

A few weeks ago, I was ministering in Caldari space. I met a gorgeous woman deep in their territory, at a bar in New Caldari. To make a long story short, we had a thoroughly invigorating theological and philosophical debate, she took me back to her station apartments for a more thorough investigation, she saw to my spiritual growth and I introduced her to the concept of the second coming of the Amarr. One of my more entertaining trips into Corporate space, whose brandy I must say I have become partial to since. It does stir up such entertaining memories.

The point was that after some hours of her company, the apartments opened. Apparently, we had been so vigorous in our examination that she had failed to mention that she was affianced. To a freighter pilot formerly of the Navy. I have to say, standing exposed as we both were, he did not seem quite interested in our attempts to rationalize the situation to him. Instead, he drew a pistol and aimed it at me.

Well, if the Lord had asked me a moment later if I remembered the sins and triumphs of my life, I would have been able to very accurately recall them. Standing near nothing but their closet, I jumped in and shut the door.

People sometimes wonder why I believe in God and the intervention of the divine. I think, in the end, I've simply seen miracles of the universe and I've not rationally explained them. In the end, I suppose it is entirely possible, given the myriad factors involved, that a Caldari man an empty a high-caliber pistol into a closet and not hit the rather tall and, if I may say so, muscular man within. But what are the odds? Clearly, I had a higher purpose to attend, or I wouldn't have even made the local news report as a man shot during a jealous lover's quarrel.

I distinctly remember wood splintering and a round grazing my temple. One passed between my legs and one I could have sworn I felt in the palm of my hand. As the pistol went empty, the room went quiet. All I could hear was his angry breathing, and then the poor girl's whimpering.

It was almost worth the experience to step out of the closet and look at the shock on their faces. For a few seconds, I must have radiated the awe of the Lord.

At least, I did until he reached for his second magazine.

I shoved him back as hard as I could over the bed. He dropped the magazine, but not the pistol. Deciding that God's blessings only go so far to saving a man from a scorned lover, I grabbed the magazine, ran outside, threw it down the hall, and ran in the opposite direction towards the station hangar. In the end, I suppose I wasn't sure if he would try to chase me barehanded, but as I rounded a corner at the end of the hall, a bullet ricocheted off the bulkhead above. I suppose he had no desire to face me barehanded.

Given the circumstances, I suppose I cannot blame the deck guards for not jumping in at the time. To see a naked Amarrian rounding bends, being hotly pursued by a Caldari freighter with a navy issue pistol, in turn being chased by his stunning and naked fiancee is probably uncommon. However, after a few minutes, we did have a trail of station guards joining the train. It was some miracle that I made it to the hanger.

For once, I was glad to have left my clothes behind. I hate swiftly docking and having to worry about disrobing or docking while clothed. The former is frustrating and the latter feels repulsive. It was rather nice to be able to simply jump in and close the pod. I would have felt better during the sequencing procedure if I had not been able to hear the bullets bouncing off the pod.

When I could see through the pod's sensors, I was nearly in my interceptor. The station guards had tackled my pursuer, but also seemed somewhat intent on stopping me from leaving.

Perhaps someone better versed on Caldari law could explain to me what might have happened. Either way, I did see that angel at the doorway, who, being behind the guards now, waved me off the station in a rather emphatic way. I took, from her cues, that I did not want to stick around to learn the intricacies of whatever laws I had just broken. Thankfully, word had not gotten to the station manager of who I was yet, so I managed to undock before they had clamped my frigate or scrambled a chase squadron.

I flew hard and fast to get out of that station, system, and constellation. I have no intention of fighting Caldari Navy officers. All credit to them, if I had stayed in-system, I'm fairly sure they would have found me.

I've had words with the woman since, though I've never thought it worth directly mentioning and questioning her about. It rather spoils the mood of it all. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who saw the hand of God that day protecting me. She may not be a servant of God yet, but she is absolutely a believer, having witnessed that.

I take a different lesson from the affair. Yes, I do believe I was saved by the hand of the Lord that day.

I also believe that there is a time to gather up your pride and run for your life. There is no glory in flaunting the will of the divine in the face of an angry Caldari.