Jovial

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." - Albert Einstein

Olibyan sat drinking a cold dark lager from a glass that looked much to expensive to hold beer. Probably custom, if he knew Bleys at all. He sat nearby, watching ships dock and undock through the large view screen. Bleys was worrying what looked like brandy from an equally expensive snifter.

"A whole lot of those Gnosis, coming and going.", offered Olibyan before taking another swallow of the lager.

"Quite. Marvelous ships. Its been some time since Jove tech surfaced on the open market.", Bleys mused. He still stared at the large view screen which carried the illusion of being a window. Windows were incredibly expensive on stations, let alone here in Jita.

Olibyan noticed yet another Gnosis working its way through traffic and towards the docks. "Can't say I care much for the lines. Looks fragile.", Olibyan stated. "Reminds me of a pig made from glass."

"That is not what makes it beautiful, my good man.", Bleys corrected. "The material engineering of the materials used is outstanding. Even the shield technologies are decades ahead of current science."

"Still looks like a pig in space to me. And a clumsy one."

Bleys turned from the view screen to consider Olibyan. "Harsh judgement, coming from a capital pilot."

"Just calling it as I see it. A Hurricane could do lapse around that. Hell, most Battlecruisers could.", Olibyan pointed out.

"Most battlecruisers are not so easily flown by rookies either." Bleys seemed to be getting a little annoyed, "How many Battlecruisers do you know with six lows AND mids? How many have such rounded turret, missile, and drone bonuses?"

"Its only comparable to a five percent hull bonus, or ten on the drones.", Olibyan allowed.

"Yes, but without months of training to reach twenty five percent." Bleys was much more annoyed now.

"Only five bonused weapons. Turns like a brick, I am told."

"Its an exploration ship. Not exactly intended for dog fights, my good man." Bleys took a sip of his brandy. "Still, do not forget those drones. You would be surprised at the damage output the ship is capable of."

"Numbers on paper. I still don't see why you sold four perfectly good Vindicators to buy up Gnosis." Olibyan frowned into his beer, "Those ARE good ships."

"I can buy more Vindicators anytime. Jove tech is rarely released. Besides, my good man, Vindicators are at a six month high. It was time to sell, as it were."

"Maybe."

"You need more imagination, old friend." Bleys stated as he turned back to the view screen. The two continued to drink in silence for a time, watching yet another Gnosis undock.

Electronic Counter Measures

"What is human warfare but just this; an effort to make the laws of God and nature take sides with one party." - Henry David Thoreau

Bleys looked over the guide on datapad. He had wrote it some time ago, or dictated it at the very least. Nothing in it was revolutionary. In fact, most of the guide was age old wisdom many people have known instinctively for years. Still, the pilots of Brave Newbie Inc. had not been around all that long. He had thought they would find the information useful.

For a few minutes Bleys tapped on the datapad here, gave it a little swipe there. Looking over the replies to the guide on the BNI organizational forums. They had picked away at the guide like a bunch of old ladies, both ungrateful and petty. Bleys frowned a bit, and read over the guide again:

• RANGE: You should keep your ship behind your friendly fleet. This requires the enemy to go through a field of hostile ships to reach you, greatly assisting your own survival. Still, remain within the optimal range of your ECM modules and aligned to warp out if heavily threatened.

• FOCUS: Do not focus your ECM on a single target. Activating concurrent ECM modules on a target that has been jammed has no additional effect. If the enemy has four ships on the field, and you have enough modules, they should get one ECM module each. Sometimes the jam will fail, but the enemy will still have to re-target before becoming useful. The disruption in their effectiveness is more damaging then perm-jamming only one enemy ship.

• PRIORITY: Do not just activate all your ECM modules on the primary. Target priority is as follows: Calls for jam targets from the Fleet Commander, any enemy ECM, any enemy logistics ships, enemy high damage ships, and enemy tackling ships.

• DIVERSITY: Do not fit all multi-spectral ECM modules. These modules have considerably shorter range, and range is largely what will keep you alive. Also, you should be fitting a mix of racial ECM modules and putting them on ships of the correct racial type. This also encourages you to spread your ECM over the enemy.

• REPEAT: Turn auto repeat OFF; you should manually apply your ECM modules. Allowing a couple seconds before reapplying the jams can tease an enemy with a chance to start targeting again. Sometimes this "hope" will keep a useless ship on the field when they would otherwise run. If you NEED to permanently jam an enemy ship, say enemy ECM, stagger multiple ECM modules. Try to get a second successful jam just before the current one runs out. Do not just turn the ECM modules all on and leave them on.

True, it was not perfect. In some areas it said to much, and in others it said to little. Still, Bleys felt someone might find it useful. Maybe he would have one of his men work on it further.

Tech Two Invention

"When a man tells you that he got rich through hard work, ask him: 'Whose?'" 
- Don Marquis

Dewayne liked to think of himself as a very interesting individual. After all, it was not every capsuleer who obtained degrees in Quantum Physics, Metallurgy, Laser Physics, Rocket Science, Nanite Engineering, and forty two other interesting sciences. Especially not from the University of Caille, on Luminaire. He told this to himself again as he walked the station corridors back to corporate home office.

As he walked, Dewayne pressed a device on the lapel of his coat. A light chime sounded, and an annoyed voice asked, "Yes? What is it Dasky?"

"Sir, I am back on station; delivery complete. Shall I return to my work in the laboratory?", Dewayne asked, keeping the electronic device pressed as he walked.

"Yeah, whatever. How soon will the next shipment be ready for Jita?", the voice still sounded annoyed.

"We already have 650 units completed, and another 200 units complete in 46 hours."

The voice stated simply, "Good." With a chime, the transmission cut off from the other end. Dewayne sighed.

Back at the lab, Dewayne returned to his work. Upgrading tech one warp disruptors into tech two was rather dull work, if you understood it:

1. Burn twenty different 300 run copies off a blueprint original.

2. Throw the copies in the mobile lab with a cryptic data interface, four datacores, and a meta four warp disruptor.

3. Cross your fingers that the automated lab machinery did not eat the blueprint copies.

The whole operation was pretty simple after that. Other capsuleers worked on supplying the materials from around New Eden. The hardest part was explaining to the buyers not to over buy any one product, and forget another. The prints were then used to construct tech two warp disruptors, and traders flew them out to various markets.

Things had worked out quite a bit differently then Dewayne intended. First, he had hoped to be doing ground breaking work. Reality was he was a minor scientist turning a modest profit for his employer Mr. Breighter. He was not exactly sure what Mr. Breighter's interest in the invention business was, but suspected either a tax shelter or money laundering. One thing was certain though, Mr. Breighter seemed to enjoy using him as an errand boy more then anything.

Dewayne sighed again. Dreams were for other people, who needs dreams when you have blueprints?

Key Lime Pie

"One of the sanest, surest, and most generous joys of life comes from being happy over the good fortune of others." - Robert A. Heinlein

Bleys lounged slouching deep into the leather chair as he read over the election results. His office was small but luxurious, space being the greatest luxury on board a station.

The results for the Council of Stellar Management votes held a small surprise or two, but nothing completely unexpected. Some people just did not understand marketing, branding, or politics after all. The votes proved that much, with Ripard 'Jester' Teg leading by a significant margin on the polls throughout the election.

"Mr. Dasky, see that the contents of Hanger 374 are transfered to Councillor Azariah", he said aloud while depressing a small button on the surface of the desk. "With my congratulations, of course."

"Very good, sir. I shall see it done personally", responded a voice coming from the air. No doubt Dewayne was eager for a break in processing numbers on spreadsheets.

Bleys kicked back in his chair, resting his boots on the top of the metal desk. Arms folded behind his head, he called up the contents of Hanger 374 on his monocle. One Bhaalgorn, Nightmare, Machariel, Rattlesnake, and Vindicator. The Rattlesnake had three shield extender rigs still fitted, but Bleys doubted Mike would mind. A bet was a bet.

Which reminded Bleys of another transaction with Councillor Azariah shortly before the election. He wondered if at the time Mike had thought of the full ramifications of receiving a shipment of 400 million ISK worth of military grade mindflood. Probably not. Being a 0.8 security status system, the delivery was likely in the same station and hanger.

Bleys wondered if he should also send a pie to Mike Azariah as a little reminder. Some people just do not understand politics.