The elevator hummed softly

Raindrop

Location: an abandoned space station system unknown.

A sharp pain stunned his senses. His mind covered with a haze his body felt like it had slept a very long time. When he opened his eyes he saw nothing. Only after waving his hand right in front of him did he realise that he wasn't blind there was something missing but his mind couldn't quite grasp what it was he was missing. With his hands he explored the little tube he was laying in. Was it a tube? A cell? It would come to him. Just give it time.

When he found two handles on the sides of his head he grasped them tightly enjoying the stretch his body got from this movement. Almost at the same time there was a hissing noise and the clone pod slid open. He remembered it's a clone pod! "Ow my gawd." The stench of the labs penetrated his never used nostrils and caused him to inhale deep and cough in disgust. Slowly he stepped out and, while supporting himself on anything that was within reach, went to the computer desk next to the door of the lab. His memory was coming back he knew he was a clone. Named Raindrop. Something must have been terribly wrong. Normally clones woke up with instant memory from even the latest moments of the previous clone. Raindrop tried to search back in his memory and couldn't remember anything beyond his time on the planet growing up getting his basic licenses to fly a space ship and his first trip to the clone station to buy one.

His hands took hold of the sphere on the desk and as his hands connected with the computer he ordered the stations computer to do a search on station status. Like lightning he withdrew his hands, as the images projected on his retinas were full of humans. Dead humans everywhere. The station seems to have had a catastrophic failure of the main life support systems, cause unknown. Or rather impossible to be known, due to the limited functioning of the systems available. He quickly checked some screens for the date/time. A few days had past since the backup systems were activated. Life support for the Clone pods had only failed recently as he had discovered.

Red was the door that leads into the hallway. Studying the emergency plans showed that he could make it on foot to the ship hangars. Maybe he was lucky and not all taken by... or destroyed. He'd find out when he got there. Already more steady on his feet he set course to the hangars.

The big door had flashing lights surrounding it. Split in half this door would take a long time to open up. It should lead into the main hangar area and his best chance of getting out of this station would be to get hold of a ship. Any ship. Then he realised, as an official clone he would have instant access to a noob ship. And it would be a ship he could actually fly and be confident enough in, to head deeper into space. One last time he looked at the flashing light but then he walked off towards the start ship hand out location in the station. Not too far off from the main hangar he reached it without trouble although his legs were telling him he wasn't used to walking.

The office was open. He walked straight through and followed the sign "Ship handout". Stepping into the alcove he could hear the machines come into action and he felt his body fall back into something fluffy, "safe" he said. His body felt like fainting but he did mention to stay awake till he was in space in the Velator. Seems like yesterday. I wonder how many years have passed.

As his mind gave the order to warp to a safe-point he felt his body and mind slip into a deep sleep by sheer exhaustion. The last thing flashing through his mind was the memory of the stations imaging equipment, he hoped that he wouldn't dream of the terror in his sleep. He would be wrong.

Raindrop’s Imicus

He stood on top of the main control structure, looking to the left and right of his Executioner. Raindrop wondered where the nimble little ship got its name. With only 2 turrets on the outer side of the two engine modules there wasn’t much to fire with. This frigate class ship didn’t have much else to it. A control module, two engines and two turrets, not a very exciting combination. He noticed the cables and pipes in between the two engines leading to the control module, maybe some extra protection would be in order here. He’ll find out soon enough. Inside in the giant station dock the ship almost looked like a station transportation pod.

The flight deck was small but very efficient. He was almost tempted to think that it was a Gallentian ship.

Before all system checks were done, the previous owner came by to say goodbye to his ship. After the normal friendly chat he stood in the door way a minute or so. Odd the way some people get attached to a collection of metal.

A green light shone through the fresh air. Raindrop hit the switches to close all hatches, cut off all station services and he waited for a confirmation that his ship was no longer a secondary system of the station. “Right” he said, **current ship status doesn’t allow for a turn to the right** sounded through the speakers on the flight deck. Raindrop stood still for a few seconds as he remembered the voice system had to be tuned still. “Alright, not turn Right but Alright!” he said regaining his posture. “It’s time to leave this system and head on home.” Turning sharply, he slid into the pod. Quicker then usual, maybe to hear that voice again. **all systems ready and we have clearance to commence undocking** The station must have had trouble with it’s system as normally it would control the undocking and only release the ship when it’s clear of the perimeter. Raindrop snapped“We don’t get put out?” **automated undocking systems are currently unavailable for frigate class ships** “Well let’s hope I don’t break you in then. Or can you?” **I’m fully capable of executing an automated exit protocol** “By all means I’ll take over when it’s less likely to bump into something that has the back up of a few sentry guns.”

Once he got the clear signal from the station he pressed the camera drone button and waited to get a good view of the ships exterior in space.

As the camera drone launched he let it circle around the ship slowly taking in all curves of the plates and checking the engine exhausts, he wondered what that side would look like once it lit up. “We’re on our way to Raineilles, lay in the quickest course and let’s see what this baby can do.” In his imagination he could hear the Amarrian female voice take a breath before replying. **Course is laid in, destination Raineilles, expected arrival time 6 minutes.** Raindrop blinked “6 minutes?” As his question traveled through the air in search of a microphone, the little ship shook once as if it was shaking it’s tail and was in warp. Completely taken by the view on the nimble frigate, he turned the camera to take a look at the engines. Raindrop didn’t consciously notice the first 2 jumps. His jaw was on his knees and the only thing on his mind was ‘Strapped between two rockets in a cradle’.

At Raineilles he took the ship to the training grounds provided by the pirates there at planet VII. He has no trouble anymore figuring out why this ship was named an Executioner. It is swift small and nimble with deadly accuracy. “I don’t think I’ll ever sell you baby” The computer took a little longer than normal to reply, either because of the pirates being targeted or.. **That is exactly what the previous owner stated after the first action experience**, Raindrop let go of his senses for a moment he could have sworn a girlfriend from the past was with him. He shook his head and focussed again, he was enjoying himself.

Raindrop’s Executioner

The flight deck was small but very efficient. He was almost tempted to think that it was a Gallentian ship.

Once he got the clear signal from the station he pressed the camera drone button and waited to get a good view of the ships exterior in space.

Raindrop’s pirate encounter

It had been an uneventful few days for Raindrop, traveling through the constellation picking up minerals and ore that people had sold him after putting in a regional buy order.

He gave a sigh of relief into the respirator inside his pod, which now smelt faintly of grease and ozone. He slowly brought his ship about and engaged his 5 afterburners and made a burn for the station. Keeping an eye on the range he saw a ship undock and his threat alarms started Beeping madly. “Of all the moments!” he said, and his heart beat sunk back down to a comfortable low as his ship docked a few seconds later. “Not a moment too soon old metal Nelly” Raindrop said, as his rough hand petted the controls and the ship slid into dock, the pod opened up and he stepped out onto the flight deck. “Anything special happening here Omn?” The computer took a moment as it requested the information from the station’s system and, taking too long for comfort. The answer came in a hard, cold and emotionless tone. “The station has a standing evacuation order for all civilians, all station systems operational or standing by”. Raindrop thought about his last visit to a CIV-EVA station. He walked around to the side of the pod and opened the weapons locker, and took out a small stun pistol, “No surprises this time” he muttered to himself as he put the pistol in the inside of his jacket, and walked out the hatch and down the walkway, closing the ship up as he went.

His first destination was the hangar he rented in the station. “It should be full to the roof with ore by now” he thought. He inserted his security key and typed in his password, and brought up the access logs. Seeing nothing untoward, Raindrop proceeded to the station service office on the other side of the docking assembly to arrange the loading of his ship.

The station had the feel of a gigantic ship, complete with it’s own factories, urban area’s and schools, all abandoned except the core personnel keeping it “alive”. The offices seemed to be deserted but had a few lights on inside. He grabbed a cup of quaffee from the vending machine in the hallway and approached the counter. A pair of dark blue eyes stared over the top and he slammed his cup on the counter sending a couple of drops of the delicious drink flying out.

“Will you watch out!” Allesia had seen enough of those traders to know they’d use anything to get close to her. She moved her chair back a couple of feet and rose to her full length dwarfing the trader. Her training and breeding had produced a very efficient body and mind, she felt comfortable in almost any situation. “Picking up or dropping off?”. She saw the rough trader who apparently didn’t know what a shower was, straighten his back thinking he had important business to take care off. “I’ll be picking up and heading off”, “And I’m in a hurry” the trader added as if she cared. “We have more important things going on at the moment but I’m sure we can squeeze you in after a couple of hours.”

Raindrop watched the Calderi woman, as she towered over him and droned out the next delay of his trip. It’s not like he hadn’t had enough trouble in this system. He remembered the last time he jumped into the system and escaped a quick trip to the cloning facility due to good luck. His hand gripped the cup tightly at the thought.

“Alright I’ll wait let me know when you’ve got someone to man the loading facility.” Raindrop turned on his heels, and walked out to roam around a little and if possible get in touch with his agent to find out what was going on.

“Yes Raindrop what is it?” his agent seemed a little agitated, Raindrop lift his shoulders and didn’t care this agent didn’t have a good track record. “Do you know anything about what happened here in Reblier? The locals don’t give me any information and I got a yellow one when I was docking and another ship was coming out.” He saw his agent sit back taking in the old familiar pose of ignorance. ‘Not again’ he thought ‘Don’t tell me I’m stuck in a hard place again!’. “Raindrop, my dear er.. trader, you’re stuck in a hard place there, I’d almost say that it’s second nature”, Raindrop interrupted “Get to the point plz Badgegi I don’t have all day”. A flare of light shot through Badgegi’s eyes but it sank to wherever it came from faster then It shot up, ‘typical’ thought Raindrop. “Ok Raindrop you’re impatient as usual like all traders. Reblier got taken over by pirates they claim the right to ask toll and that triggered the evacuation of the system that’s all.” The screen zapped to it’s black standby state.

Raindrop took a look at the flight deck. “Omn what is the status of the loading procedure are they done yet?” “Please state one question at a time” Raindrop sat up and checked for himself thinking it’s time to upgrade his Omn to the newer version.

Flicking through the systems everything seemed to be in good shape, he double-checked all systems himself even though it took a few extra hours, he would have no more surprises. He switched on the 3d map viewer and the flight deck fillet up with the 3d map of the known universe, his eyes were drawn to the black information holes, and they seemed to take in more space every time he got an update. The alliances must have been closing their space, some of the larger ones seemed to be missing along with their stars.

Refocusing on Reblier he brought up the necessary bookmarks. “No more surprises”. Swiftly he jumped up with a grin, softly touched the flight deck “We’ll be on our way in a few Omn, get all systems online and crank up the power output it’ll be hot”, there was a silence as the autopilot and ship’s computer calculated what should be done. Raindrop walked back into the pod cabin and slid inside the pod. The pod closed up around him and a small vibration was noticeable as the pod systems connected his up links. He knew his ship was ready for whatever would come. And right after that moment his link with the ship was established and he saw what he knew already.

The stations docking systems undocked the ship and took it out into space, he casually received the warning from the docking system, knowing it wasn’t allowed to exit station with the power output cranked up as he had told the ship to do. But he was in a hurry and possibly in danger. There would be no more surprises.

The course was laid in, and Raindrop launched the camera drone immediately, he saw the stations launch doors close behind him and he checked around his ship, all clear. “I wonder what they have in store Omn, only one way to find out.” He turned his ship to his first bm and hit the warp switch, the ship didn’t need a minute to respond or even heat up. It warped instantly.

Coming out of warp at his safe spot he waited and lined his ship up using his afterburners, ignoring the warning from Omn telling him the current rate of change speed was more than the design specification allowed for. The minutes felt like hours, Raindrop checked the local communication channels and waited. Then violently splashing through the communication channels came the message. **Pay us! If you don’t you’ll loose your ship!** This was the decoy he needed. The ships engines roared to power, and the capacitor went down a few notches as the power was being pumped into space causing his ship to warp. The ride through warp seemed to last for ever. His ship decelerated and as the Jump gate came in sight he checked the direct surroundings and almost cheered, as there was no one at the gate. He kept an eye on the local communications and saw they had begun shooting the poor sod at the other end of the system. He cut his autopilot and approached the gate coming to a full stop on top of it. He knew he liked trouble too much to stay out of this. He switched on his ships communications beacon and started to transmit. “HA! What the heck are you guys up to?” at the same time he scanned the system and did a background check on the people he found. He regretted his action already. **We charge toll in this system you will have to pay up or loose your ship** The 7 pirates that he had identified were a little too much for Raindrop he switched on his auto pilot and jumped to the next system.

Several hours and systems later:

**Who do you think you are?** Raindrop looked up he just entered warp again to go to the next station. Almost stumbling to find the communications screen he saw it was a pirate from Reblier that contacted him “Sweepsgirl”. **You must be one of those dumbasses in a brand-new battleship that thinks he can’t be owned.** Straightening himself he replied, “No I have no Battleship, No I’m not a dumbass and no I’m not easy. I’m a trader and proud of it.” **Then you must be an idiot, you will pay next time** “We’ll see” **You will pay next time or loose your ship** “Yeah ok we’ll see about that”

A week had passed and Raindrop was yet again busy collecting minerals and ore, forgetting all about the incident in Reblier. His Regional buy orders making him a busy man all the time, moving and loading and unloading in what seemed to be an endless chain of hauling. While checking his wallet he shouted “Gotcha”. He pulled up the communications console and send a message: “Dear Sweepsgirl I’ve noticed that you are a regular customer getting money from me in exchange for ore and minerals. I’m sorry to say that I will have to stop my services in Reblier because the cost of going there is too high. I will for that reason cancel my buy orders regionally. And make sure I won’t put in any buy orders in Reblier.”

Her reply didn’t take more than a day to arrive **We will not shoot you as long as you keep your buy orders open**

Raindrop smiled and sat back thinking, “Who needs a battle ship?”

Raindrop’s Potato

The elevator hummed softly. "Ugly potato." Raindrop whispered softly but in his mind it was as loud as a backfire in the double drive unit of his Iteron mark V. The doors slid open, he kept his focus on the floor and followed the guide stick. Not trained in the use of the guide stick it was hard to feel the small variances in temperature that lead towards to programmed designation. He was concentrated on the stick and consciously kept his mind from the incredibly large hangar bay and construction area. The destination administration office couldn't be missed right in the middle of the huge wall that towered on one side of the hangar. Not that this could be called a hangar, this really was a spaceport.
As he walked into the office he went to the c&C desk (claim and Construct), which wasn’t done too often, most people went to the R&r desk to get Repairs or recycle "stuff". Malcolm smiled and took a seat in the waiting area, smooth leather and a smell of fresh flowers that filled the room. They know how to spoil the clients with money. All artificial of course livestock was too valuable to be used for seats, as a trader Raindrop knew that all too well.

The assistant, that came to take him to the clerk was an interesting specimen. He'd quickly get his paper work done and the result of his decision a couple of months ago would be seen. He was all smiles walking behind the attractive assistant thinking he should ask her if there was a good place to go drink something and sleep as he's bound to be in station for a few days.

The office was roomy and light worthy of every hard earned isk that was flowing through it. The clerk introduced himself as Mister Tiotuk, as he stated the senior clerk in charge of large orders from important customers. "heh" Raindrop thought about the large quantities of minerals that he has been selling here. He found out where that was going. "Are you interested in the bonus deals we have for equipment Sir?" Tiotuk knew how to get more out of a deal, very aware of the large provider of minerals that was sitting in front of him. "No I'll be fine I've got enough equipment stashed waiting for the R&r department or a ship of mine. I take it I'll be able to fit everything on without delays when I have it?" "Yes Sir" Tiotuk bend his head slightly in respect of the trader that had so much success "It will be ready in a day and then it'll be all yours to fit anything on it Sir. Have you brought the signed contract so we can proceed with Construction?" Raindrop handed him the papers that he read 10 times before putting his thumb to it. They got looked over and slid into the rectangular hole that was in the middle of the desk. "Will you be looking for a place to stay Sir?" "No thanks I'll find my own place" Raindrop had already shifted his mind to other important things.

With a yawn, a mug of Quaffee and stiff muscles Raindrop arrived on the pilot level. The day and a half had passed quickly but he hadn't gotten enough rest. The call from Construction got him out of the trance that he was in. No hard goodbye's for him, his mind was already focused on the most important thing on the station. "An UGLY potato" He took care in articulating the second word making sure that everyone in the hallway heard it. Some people smiled, clearly pilots knowing what he was talking about. "Raindrop! How the heck are ya? What's this about a potato?" "If you'd give me a chance to answer your questions Thunderstorm you'd find out heh. I'm fine man and yes I'll be flying one but mainly to safeguard the stuff since Empire space isn't what it used to be." Thunderstorm. Also known as TT, is a beginning frigate pilot hoping to graduate to cruisers soon. A Fast pilot always on the look out for the enemy. Raindrop smiled and nodded as he walked along the gateway towards the boarding platform. Thunderstorm clearly wanted to ask about the potato but he didn't get a chance. This part was off limits to all except Roden personnel and pilots of the ships laying in waiting.

And there she was. No you don't call a vegetable a he or a she. Or at least not a potato. It was bigger then he expected. Raindrop was used to big ships but mostly long and narrow and not tall at all. "Like staring against a wall", "Yes sir it's quite large when it comes to concentrated surface." Mister Tiotuk seemed to have a knack for stating the obvious. "I'd like to offer you the official keys to your new ship Raindrop Sir." "Thanks I'll destroy those ASAP." Raindrop accepted the plastic cards, called keys, with the code that they hold granting access to the ship only once.
Standing on the edge of the platform he looked at the side of the ship and all of its ugly shapes. Smiling he rubbed one of the plastic cards across his data-belt and the side entrance of his potato opened up. "I'll make it a crispy potato soon Tiotuk". "Excuse me sir, potato?" Raindrop stepped back and the door of the entrance slit in place. The ship surrounding him and a friendly hum welcomed him.

It's strange but new things always sound, feel and drive better then any patched up old timer, even if the efficiency numbers were equal. Raindrop took the elevator to the flight deck and realised that it was probably the air that was really fresh, making new ships a special thing. The flight deck was huge compared to anything he'd ever seen. All of the systems were running and operational as it should be in a new ship. Still one can never be sure so Raindrop started to check the flight deck but broke off half way smiling wide as he spotted the entrance to the pod. Buried inside the thick layer of "padding" he'd be safe no matter what and it was just too much of an attraction to not jump into it and be really connected to this, his new ship.

'beep' Raindrop chuckled and reached for the plastic key cards, swiping it past the electronics and tried again to connect to the ship. There was no problem now. He sank away in diagrams and system checks. It wasn't till after the original undocking time that he got a page from Tiotuk "Raindrop Sir with all due respect you're too late would you please undock so we can use the spot Sir?" "Eh yeah sure Tiotuk sorry to have been in the way too long it's a lot to check and double check." Tiotuk looked as if he was going to mention the obvious again but he didn't. "I'll be taking it out now then Tiotuk see you next time." "Hope you enjoy her Raindrop sir." Tiotuk stressed the her in his sentence but Raindrop left it where it was. In the middle.

The station's undocking service was quick and swift clearly used to handling 60mill isk under one button. Raindrop wasn't yet as the camera drone left the ship he steered it clear of the station first setting an automated orbit at 50km to get used to the look and feel of the ship. Taking no risks he waited till the ship was aligned with his supply station before ordering his ship to break orbit and warp to the supply station. The instant warp was fluid-like. Smoother then any ship he'd flown so far. "Let's make you crispy".

Alentene VI-6 Roden Shipyards.

Eager wasn't the right word. 1 Billion isk. Not something you see floating everyday. Especially knowing you own it. LittleAngel breathed deeply and stepped back from the Viewscreen next to the ship berth.

It had been prepared for the arrival of the Obelisk. Crew and mechanics were scurrying all over the platform clearing it from debry and tools. As LittleAngel turned to face the ship entering the station he got a nice view of all windows looking out onto this berth. Noone seemed to notice. It wasn't exactly the first freighter to dock here. But this one would be stationed here permanently. Thankfully this expensive asset was in good hands. Maybe too good. But Raindrop's argument that he simply had the most time on record flying freighters was right on and final. Besides there were always other things to do. On screen the picture changed into a graphical representation of Raindrop. He'd remain inside his pod as the ship was needed asap for bussiness.

"Hi 'boss' how's bussiness?" Raindrop's smug sounding intention couldn't be disquised by the electronic representation. "Hi Rain i've been waiting for hours here when will you be ready to start pickup rounds?"

The denial or rather refusal to recognise the pilot's skills in piloting the beast through empire was harsh but fair. Nothing was missed by LittleAngel. And everything had it's price. The silence that followed was payment of another sort.

"Ummm what was that? We should be ready to undock in a minute, they are unloading the garbage i brought along." "Garbage?" LittleAngel's hairs on the back of his neck rose and around him employees concentrated on their jobs. Or tried to think of excuses to be busy somewhere else. "You did what?" "Well see here i have my own isk and i thought i could make some nice isk."

LittleAngel squinted his eyes the screen showed an unmoved Raindrop. It was hard to see through this old time trader and he did surpricing things at times. But not all good.

"Was it kept frozen?" "What do you take me for? A noob trader? I don't go heating up 937 thousand cubic meters of garbage when i'm sitting 40 meters above it no thanks. Been there done that the stench would kill me. Even in my pod!" The representation stopped talking and sat back with wide eyes. LittleAngel was stooped over and seemed to be gasping for air. But seemed to regain himself soon enough. "I see you're familiar with the smell." Raindrop's laugh resounded through the room. "You got a brand spanking new freighter and the first thing you could load was garbage? And that alone wasn't enough!? You had to fill it completely? You are out of control!" Raindrop smiled "47% says i'm in control". "I thought you owned 51%" LittleAngel stated. "Oh no not that but the profit on this load. Well once it's sold. I guess we can hang it outside the station in containers untill i have time to convert the garbage into isk."

LittleAngel massaged his temples. The meeting with Raindrop had taken too long. But finnaly he was on his way to work for the group. Trying to relax he called up the next plans. Some of which would work. And others would fail. The price of idea's is to fail a few times. Garbage wasn't something new but never worth the trouble untill now. An odd 40% profit wasn't bad either. Maybe there should be a freighter load waiting everytime the freighter visited the southern regions. Just in case.

Alentene VI-6 Roden Shipyards.

Somewhere in the offices of LittleHauling.

"And to conclude this meeting i'd like to introduce our new helpers." "You mean mindles goons." "No they aren't. They are the practical solution to a problem and we're giving these chaps the chance to become a pod pilot." "HA! cooped in a station doing research and never flying anything more then a shuttle?"

5 Young men stepped in the room looking nervous. They were wearing disposable suits soon to be disgarded when they entered their pod. LittleAngel coached them into a line. "Wizzkid1 to 5"

Raindrop held his smile back and tried not to think about bowling contests with frozen corpses adequatly named to their place in cue. "Nice to meet you kids." Number 2 displayed some nostril movement and aparently didn't like the renaming. Oh well it was an easy way to get into a pod and out of misery. "We're counting on you all to do your utmost best. This company is counting on your skills. heh. To make isk. Our key focus as you all should know by now. Have a good flight."

As if ordered the 5 kids turned and walked out into the hall, where LittleAngel instructed them to their shuttles and gave them each the automated pilot instructions to guide them through space.

"Where are they heading in such a hurry?" LittleAngel raised his shoulders with disinterest "Some low sec system with lab slots". "Bastard!" But in the back of his mind Raindrop knew he would have done the same. And maybe had a bowling tournament.

"I know you would have done the same Raindrop." LittleAngel walked out into the hallway and smiled, this new venture would soon be seeing the light. He stepped into the Elevator that went down to his hauler's berth. "Time to collect."

Alentene VI-6 Roden Shipyards.

Underneath a ship berth. Smoke and steam vents down into the maintenance tunnels that crawl directly under the platform. And above the giant hauler named Obelix slowly heats up and let's go of all matter frozen to it's giant surface. The engine ports still blowing heat into the atmosphere and all cargo entries opened full. But underneath the temperature is rising much quicker.

"Do you have any idea how much we've invested already? Who's build this trade group up? Sometimes i wonder. DO you even LISTEN to me?" a balled fist accompanied the monologue.

LittleAngel took it all in and let the words pass almost without thought. His eyes looked around briefly just when his listening capabilities were questioned. He thought he saw some movement. This wasn't his element. Sure he travelled a lot. Met a lot of people and always did good bussiness but he never had the need to go "here". The only place on any station without sensors thanks to the ships above disturbing any sensors. Especially now with "his" freighter parked above it. He pulled in some air and prepared to return the monologue without wasting more time.

The fist hit the side of the tunnel "Well?"

"Raindrop, I know we're running on minimal isk but on a high throughput. It's needed now to invest in more ways of moving minerals." Raindrops eye softened a little, somehow moving minerals, true or not, was always a good point to make with him. "You too will have to apreciate that we need to keep this baby moving to actually make back the isk that was invested in it." A grunt originated somewhere from the darkness and echoed back after a few milliseconds. This is indeed a creepy place LittleAngel thought. "We're focussing on the only thing which can increase our minerals through put even more. Production. I've told you a few times already that we're not aiming to make a profit on production. perse."

Sneaky bastard. Raindrop thought as he listened. Raindrop knew all too well that this was the only way to go. But didn't like the fact that he never tried it and this youngster dared to take the step and even forced him into learning production skills. The stench of the place began to penetrate his nostrils. "Fine" His fist left the dented tunnel for what it was and he started to walk away.

"Eh Raindrop don't forget you'll be needed to ship some production items soon. You'll need to hurry too. The kids are waiting for delivery." The silent fist that went up wasn't seen by LittleAngel as Raindrop stepped out onto the platform. But the increase in speed told him that the message was recieved. He turned the other way and walked back towards his own ship berth. "Time to collect."