There's something to be said for being your own boss - A month into my new home I'm getting annoyed with the local residents now.  The increase in ISK isn't really worth the hassle of dealing with getting spammed from the Alliance Command with constant reminders, and somewhat hostile ones at that, on making sure you have ships available to defend the constellation with.  Enough is enough.  I pack up my things and beat a hasty exit back to the crowded spacelanes of the Empires to restart up my own corporation again.

I head firstly to the Jita system to go to the market place and sell off my unwanted junk and take the opportunity to radio over to CONCORD's Yulai bases and forward the details of my new corporation to them for their ratification and what not.

I get word that my long time friend, Dossie Kielle, has also declared she has had enough and has set up her own corporation with the help of Mei Starkiller, with plans to extend into an alliance in the near future.  I make a note to keep track of her and will think about joining her alliance should one ever materialize.

While I'm in Jita, I take the opportunity to pick up the Marauders skill book, now only having less than a week before I can being training of it.  A little later than I had wanted to be training it, but Drone Interfacing V was a worthwhile diversion.  While I'm there I take a quick look around my assets scattered over empire and spot The Kielle II, my Abbadon class battleship, in the Gicodel system.  Purchasing a few modifications for the ship, I set off to the system to resume missioning with the Sisters of EVE until I decide what I wish to do with myself.

I stared at the datapad again.  The same old shit and a different day, pirates have set up a repair base, go destroy it.  Or pirates are attacking our miners, go destroy them.  Or go give these to this person at that station.  I was getting fed up of it.  I became a capsuleer to make something bigger of herself, not to become some lapdog of the State, Federation or Empire.  I was thankful that they employed my services, if only for me to get myself established with a regular income source while I trained for larger ships.  Now, just a month after leaving The White Rabbits and going freelance, I was already wanting something new.  Something different. 

After destroying the latest pirate repair station that's threatening the world as we know it, I head to the bar to unwind and drown her sorrows in the finest Amarrian wines that I can get.  She heads toward her regular table and get annoyed to see the back of someone sitting at her table.  Looking around and seeing no other free tables, she walks up and asks if she can take a seat.  The figure turns around and grins, "I wondered when you'd get here!".  It was Mei Starkiller, last I'd heard of her, she was still working at the Black Rabbits plundering the spacelanes and ridding the world of stupid people who use the autopilot.

I relax a bit upon seeing the somewhat friendly face, slide into the booth as Mei slides over some drink toward me.  I look at it, it's not my usual drink, but seeing she has the same looking concoction in her glass and it's half gone, I assume it can't be too bad and take a swig.  "It's some new cocktail from the Federation, packs quite a punch." she informs me and I can tell she's right.  Already I can feel my implants working to combat the effects that the alcohol is taking upon my system.

I ask Mei what she's doing this far out from her usual haunt and she looks at me before replying "Looking for you silly...  I heard you left The White Rabbits again."  I glance over at the rest of the bar, taking in what's going on before taking another sip of the cocktail and confirm to her that I had indeed left them and had been freelance for over a month now.  Enquiring how I was liking it, I let spill about how I'm feeling and that I need a new challenge in my life, something to break the monotony of the routine, all the while Mei just listening and nodding.

After I finish, Mei finishes her drink and signals to the bar for another round then looks back at me, "You thought about rejoining another corporation?"  I let her know that I had, but it's hard finding the right people and she agrees.  She proceeds to tell me about some corporation called The Disciples of Night and all the benefits.  After a while of listening to her, I interrupt her to ask why she's trying to get me to join them, she's a black rabbit after all and she informs me that she left them only a few weeks back to join this corporation and is scouting out all the members and ex-members of The Rabbits who were the best in the corporation to get them to try and join The Disciples.

I think about it as she starts on again about the corporation and the ex-rabbit members that she's persuaded to join and I interrupt her telling her no.  It will just be the same as ever, running stupid missions for one of the empires as a lapdog, no different to what I'm doing now.  She laughs.  I look at her quite annoyed by her outburst and once she calms herself down she looks at me, "When have you ever known me to do something for an empire?  This corporation isn't based in empire space."

I take this in slowly, then ask where it's based.  "Deklein," she replies, "it's part of the Northern Coalition."  Already, my neural implants are connecting to the GalNet Mapping network to show me the Deklein region and it's proximity to where I'm based.  Mei goes on some more about the area and the more she talks the more interesting this sounds.  No rules, roving squads of Guristas battleships in the mining fields, the constant threat of hostiles coming into blow the shit out of you.

I tell her to forward me the details of where to apply, I'm in.  She grins then stands taking the final swig of her drink and tells me that she'll be in touch, then leaves.  I sit back and take a drink.  This could be that change that I've been looking for.  I'd better start packing I guess.  I stand and get ready to leave for my quarters when I realise that Mei had left without paying her share of the tab, the bitch.

I read over the dispatch notice confirming correct receipt of all my ships then start the slow process of re-assembling my fleet.  I'm excited to get out and get into space and patrol the local belts and see what's stirring and who my mega-beam lasers can put an end to.

Finishing up on my Abaddon battleship, The Kielle, I receive a message from it's namesake, Dossie Kielle.  It seems she is up in the system and offers to show me around the constellation.  Entering my pod and interfacing with the ships systems, I radio  over to the docking crew and the Scotty (Ships Computer Translocation Tracking System) to get permission and a route to leave the station.

Arriving in space, I'm greeted by a ping with co-ordinates to meet Dossie so I warp to them.  Landing on the site, my sensors light up and flood my senses with the location, velocities, and tracking projections for a whole host of ships.  It would seem that, as always, Dossie is in, or is causing trouble - most likely the latter.

I open the laser banks, and fire the port lasers into the closest Guristas battleships, the electromagnetic interference playing havoc with the ships shielding systems and draining their power level as Dossie fires a friendly hello over comms.  She informs me that the system is rife with Guristas installations and she's enjoying herself clearing them out.

We get to chatting as we make short work of the current battle group, obliterating them in plenty of time before their reinforcements arrive and we start on them.  Dossie is in her newest Gila class cruiser, a wonderful ship with an awesome tank that she likes to test to it's limits and beyond.  A quick scan of the ship reveals that it's the same hull she had the last time we met and so I tease here that it's got to be the longest she's had the same hull for.

Soon the site is empty barr our two ships and a whole host of wreckage of the ships we've destroyed.  My bank transmission reveals that I've just received payment of several million isk for destroying the ships and keeping the threat down.  Dossie explains to me how to hunt down the installations using my ships computer and I pick it up quickly.  Finding the next site, I follow her in warp and land to find another set of Gurista's awaiting their death.  I open fire and we start blowing up the ships faster than they can be replaced by reinforcements and making idle conversation and catching up while we destroy everything in range.

Soon the evening draws to a close and I could use a rest, I start a course back to the station and while in warp I check the bank feed.  Almost fourteen million isk for just a few hours work!  I could get used to this!

I confirm the order to my station crews located throughout empire, "Ready every vessel for travel and market."  My docking controllers stare at me in disbelief.  After two years of service with the majority of them, following me through five major upheavals across the empire, I'm dismissing the lot of them barr a select skeleton selection.

I've decided that I'm going to make a radical lifestyle change and move to the deepest reaches of New Eden where, apparently, untold riches await those brave enough to seek them.  In order that I fully concentrate on the new lifestyle and don't get tempted to fall back into the empire way of life without giving null-sec a fair try, I'm selling all my assets in the three empires so that I have nothing to be in Empire for other than shuttling to the school systems for skills, and purchasing ships and modules then sending them to be packaged for transport to my new home base.

After a lot of research, I decided to get in touch with a industrial corporation called The Disciples of Night, part of the Defi4nt alliance and the Northern Coalition.  I already have a small fleet awaiting my arrival within the corporation's null-sec home station and I'm now ordering the rest of the fleet to be assembled for inspection and processing appropriately. 

After much deliberation, I decide that the vast majority of the possession will be sold or melted down where it's more economically viable to do so.  I get left with my Abaddon battleship - The Kielle, a Vexor cruiser - Vexed, and a Myrmidon battlecruiser which was freshly bought and yet to be registered.  A small selection out of the vast array I had, but more than enough for me to establish a good foothold and start getting my cut of the wealth that the systems have to offer.

On arriving with the last of the ships at the drop of point where they will be prepared for transport, I receive a message on my NeoCOM from the corp CEO confirming a debt that a friend owed me and after confirming the amount, notified me that payment was incoming to the value of the outstanding debt and sure enough a few seconds later, I receive notification that my wallet has received a deposit of two hundred and fifty million kredits.

Docking the last ship, I order their packaging and re-set course to Amarr to pick up two extra presents to myself.  A new Hulk exhumer and a Bustard deep-space transport.  I figure that they will help me exploit the reports I've received of high-value asteroids and construct my own ammunitions and modules should I require anything that I can't get easily supplied or go through large quantities of items.

I'm more excited about my future than I have been in a long time and I hope that this move pays off for me, otherwise I'll find myself back in empire with no assets of worth to my name and having to rebuild my empire from scratch.  It can be done, but it's a lot of hassle.

I sit in the bridge of my newest addition to the fleet, The Kielle, an Abaddon Class battleship.  Listening to the capacitors of the laser banks hum then screech as they discharge their energy toward the Hulk Class exhumer.  My maiden flight and my agent asks me to go take care of a rogue miner who is poaching off Imperial Navy mining fields.  Seemed like a good opportunity to test the weapon systems on something a little more exciting than a few rogue rats within the main asteroid belts of the system.

The ships sensors advise that the hull will be compromised in the next volley and the hull will implode leaving a smouldering wreck and I can return and collect my payment for not a lot of work.  Sure enough, the next volley from the starboard bank of eight Mega Beam lasers melts the hull of the stricken mining vessel, causing the ship to explosively decompress.  Just as the ship explodes, the reinforcements arrive that were supposed to save the mining barge.

Opening fire upon The Kielle, I quickly scan the three vessels.  Three Abaddon class vessels like my own, this should prove interesting.  I wonder if they know how much more powerful the ships become when there's a capsuleer present in the core of the ship.  I order the laser crystals to be switched from multifrequency crystals to ultraviolet to put my lasers in optimal before opening fire on the lead vessel.  Three volleys and it's shields are torn apart and mine are barely past 75% integrity, Amarrian ships were never all that great with their shielding systems, and sure enough once the shields are gone, the armor plating of the Abaddon soaks up a lot more of the lasers energy, but not enough for my laser banks not to be causing some catastrophic damage and breaches across the hull.

The ships fall quickly and as the last falls, some more ships arrive.  Two Armageddons, an Apocalypse and another Abaddon, my targeting systems already detecting an incoming lock while making one of my own.  The laser relays strain, breaking in the circuits to charge up the lasers capacitors, never before having been under a load for so long.  My systems are satisfied that they are holding out well however as the attacking ships start to fall to the power of the lasers.

Destroying the last of the ships, I'm surprised that my sensors show another squad warping in.  Either these people are foolhardy or stupid and I'm betting on the latter.  Two Apocalypse and Abaddon class battleships, again I target the lead ship and open the laser banks.  This squadron was clearly a little more prepared, my systems showing a higher damage incoming my repair systems start to struggle as the attackers come into their optimal range and already have had taking a pounding from the previous two groups.  I closely watch the status of the armor systems as the lasers tear through the ships.  The four manage to get my armor down to 20% in the time it takes me to destroy two of their ships and start on the third, their damage output having falling below the threshold where my repair systems can't keep up, so slowly the nanobots get the integrity of the armor plates back up to 100%.

With the fireball that is the destruction of the final of the four ships, I check my scanners to see if there's anyone else who still hasn't got the message that the Imperial Navy doesn't take kindly to poachers.  Satisfied the area is secure I head back to my agent to report a job well done, if I say so myself.