I sat alone in the large living room of my mansion, well at least that's what they told me it was, I liked to think of it as more of a compound or fortress. Though sadly few would ever know why I thought that but alas so many things would have to follow me to the grave.

A silent alert was sent from the perimeter alarm system, to my house and finally to my internal augmentations informing me that living tissue had crossed an invisible line that was my land. With out leaving my chair I told the house to open the gate, turn off the auto guns, and finally open the front door.

She was here.

Grinning I stood as she entered the main hall way and saw into the living room.

"Baby! I'm so glad you found the place, it's good to see you."

"Find the place! You can almost see it from space how could I miss it?" She retorted jovially.

"You like it?" I asked as I motioned for her to have a seat.

"Does it have a hot tub?" She asked smiling as she sat.

"Haha, you wanna try it out?"

"I would love to but sadly I'm here on business."

"Well then let's get down to it so you can come back some day for pleasure."

She chucked, as she looked up waiting for me to continue.

"How are things in grey?"

"Good... We're growing bigger every day." I could tell she was wondering where I was going with things.

"So I've heard, I've also heard VPR is growing, ITAN has been running police activities in grey, and TGFT has started up combating um "liberators" more then ever."

"Ain't nothing we can't handle." She said stubbornly.

"I ain't saying y'all can't, I'm just saying I don't think it's right that the Itani should attempt to lay claim to grey with out the Serco doing some thing back to them..."

I trailed off as her face lit up.

"Are you saying you want to ally with CLM?"

"Yes Mystic. That is what I'm saying."

"Do you have any idea what that would mean?"

"The UiT could get very mad at the Serco and attempt to kill us all for collaborating with CLM..."

"With pirates, that's what they will say, they will say your a pirate, that your nation is full of pirates. Are you sure about this?"

"Remember only the victors get to write history. If they win I'll be a terrorist and most likely a psychotic warlord. If we win I'll be a hero, a military genius, who allied my para military forces with UiT freedom fighters to over throw any opposition to our nations."

"Freedom fighters? Haha you've always had such a way with words!"

I smiled as she burst out in a fit of laughter. I was about to go on when her com rang. I waited as she finished her conversation.

"It was Shape, how do you feel about a short hop over to Deneb?"

"It is a romantic place..."

She winked at me as we both stood up to leave.

"So you want to pirate huh?"

"No I always sucked at doing that in ships, I just wanna kill stuff."

She turned and smiled at me as we walked to my docking bay. I laughed as I returned the smile.

Five dollers, cold cash up front.

~ Calvin

And then you'll join the Itani side so we can win the war?

No, the itani are hardasses. I'll join the itani's side for free, pick up a free t-shirt, ship, weps, then go over and blow newbies up in their space until they kick me out.

Profit :D

Oh, and..

Borb and mystic flying in a connie

C-O-N-N-I-E Funky!
First comes pirating, then comes trading, then comes mining out of a de-neb station!

Heh.

OMG their mining togeather! eewwww!
/set11yearold 0

But seriously borb, you're a really good writer.
I'm assuming you actually joined clm? Or am I just jumping around like lightning in steelwool?

The nations plan to invade grey do they? Bring your war here will you?

I oppose the Serco if they are in grey then to grey I shall go.

And there you'll have yer arse handed to you. Medium rare, with a side of plasma shrapnel.

Leave grey and go fight your war at the border.

I don't work for the Serco anymore, pus-bag. I freelance as I see fit and I know no border.

I'll see you 'round: don't get too attached to the relative peace & quiet of gray.

Hmm, im kinda un-easy working along-side the serco again, I mean, I did betray them, and i'm fairly sure they are only doing it for personal gain, but meh, I aint commander, I just do what i'm told, I guess...

Betheshee was quiet, actually the entire trip had been uneventful, but had given me time to relax and try to figure out this invitation I was responding to. Borb was a good friend, but this was the first time he had ever invited me to his compound. Count Borb...the things this guy managed to pull off sometimes was nothing short of amazing.

As I neared the planet's surface, I was aghast. I had thought Borb's "summer house" was just that. What I was looking at was a huge estate, with security that would rival the military. It didn't take long for me to navigate my way to the front doors. "Very impressive Borby", I said aloud as I passed by the area where the auto guns were aimed directly at the head of a passerby .

The front door opened as I approached, I walked into a very large foyer, facing an equally impressive living area. Borb stood to greet me, with that devilish smile of his.

"Baby! I'm so glad you found the place, it's good to see you."

"Find the place!" I laughed" You can almost see it from space, how could I miss it?"

"You like it?" He asked as I made myself comfortable on the large sofa and asked,
"Does it have a hot tub?"

"Haha, you wanna try it out?" It was tempting, but I was here for other things.

"I would love to but sadly I'm here on business."

"Well then let's get down to it so you can come back some day for pleasure."

There was that smile again, it was contagious and I had to laugh.

We chatted a bit, about how things were going in Grey and with CLM in particular, I was proud to tell him that we were getting bigger and stronger every day.
We discussed the recent goings on,including the Vprs numbers growing, TGFT taking a more combative stance and ITAN running police activities in Grey .

At this last I slightly bristled and informed him that it was nothing we could not handle.

"I ain't saying y'all can't, I'm just saying I don't think it's right that the Itani should attempt to lay claim to Grey with out the Serco doing some thing back to them..." he trailed off.
It dawned on me suddenly what this was all about, but I had to ask.
"Are you saying you want to ally with CLM?"

He looked straight into my eyes and replied that was exactly what he was saying.

We discussed what this would mean all around
"The Uit could get very mad at the Serco and attempt to kill us all for collaborating with CLM..."

"With pirates, that's what they will say, they will say you're a pirate, that your nation is full of pirates. Are you sure about this?" It wasn't that I was against allying with Borb,he had covered my backside on more than one occaision, but I wanted to be sure he had thought this through. That he remembered the stigma of being a pirate and was willing to risk having himself and his entire guild branded thusly.

"Remember only the victors get to write history. If they win I'll be a terrorist and most likely a psychotic warlord," He continued," If we win I'll be a hero, a military genius, who allied my para military forces with Uit freedom fighters to over throw any opposition to our nations."

I had to laugh again, "Freedom fighters? You've always had such a way with words!"
Just then my comm rang, was Shape on the other end. "Hiya, whats up?"

"How long would it take you to get to Deneb?"

"Not too long, I'm in Betheshee visiting with Borby as a matter of fact"

"Even better, both of you get to Deneb, we are having a family reunion of sorts"

"Sure thing, is the entire family going to be there?"

"As many as we can get anyway"

"Great, been a long time since we all were together in one place, see ya soon"
As I finished up I looked at Borb.

"It was Shape, how do you feel about a short hop over to Deneb?"

"It is a romantic place..." he said with a smile.

I gave him a wink as we started walking,"So you want to pirate huh?"

"No I always sucked at doing that in ships, I just wanna kill stuff."
I had no response to that bit of honesty, all I could do was look at him and smile.
He laughed all the way to the docking bay.

As we neared my Maud Borb shouted out, "I'm driving!"

"Umm, I don't think so, no one flies my baby but me...." I laughed at his petulant look,
"no pouting, it wont work"

"Oh well had to give it a try anyway"

"So you're a Count huh?, well dont expect me to bow or curtsy or any of that bull"

Our friendly banter continued all the way to Deneb, which alone would have been boring, but with Borb's continued good humor it was quiet enjoyable. Though I enjoyed the idea of a reunion, I had to wonder, just what the cause was behind it. Sure we had seen each other on and off, in ones and twos and such, but it had been a while since all of us were together. We had all went in different directions, some of us continued in the pirate lifestyle, others had renewed national ties. Would these choices affect our relationships? I shook myself mentally, of course it wouldnt affect us, we were a family by choice after all.

Finally we arrived.

For the record: SKV does not condone pirate activity in nation space. However, SKV lays no claim to grey space and will not actively engage local pirates, but will defend Itani and UIT civilians from pirate attacks if necessary.

Another thing for the record.
1 guild != the entire Serco Dominion.
Especially the research institutes (such as the First University of Terra II) cannot completely ally themselves with a group of criminals, even though there may be cooperation from time to time. However, since we maintain contacts with prominent scientific institutions and scientists from the UIT and even the Itani Nation, we cannot condone such a course of action and will maintain our neutrality.

The views of the F.U. of Terra II are not necessarily my own.

-- mifune toshiro kanchou, Head of the Department of Medical Robotics Advancement Research, First University of Terra II

Except Niki right? He's the pilot that can be disavowed.

SKV doesn't condone piracy, but still allows Niki to pirate. Further proof of their hipocrisy.

MB reviews the roster of [SKV] and sighs in relief. "It's a good thing SKV doesn't condone piracy, I sure would be overwhelmed having to fight that bunch... Wait a second!"

Niki is [S]pecial.

To the best of my knowledge, Niki has not pirated anyone who I wouldn't have taken the same action against in quite a long time. I thought we were past all that. If this is a recent claim, once again you're welcome to report a specific incident to myself or Bojan. But making the general statement that Niki pirates without any evidence of a specific situation, as I've stated before, I can do absolutely nothing about.

It's like accusing someone of being a murderer without anyone actually being dead or missing. So again, if there is a CURRENT or RECENT specific incident of Niki pirating someone who SKV is not instructed to attack, feel free to report it. But please avoid making generalized claims like the ones jex is so good at. I can't do anything about those.

(OOC: Please don't report anything like fighting out of boredom. We all know Vendetta is Space Quake and players fight for fun. Until content is added, there's not much else for players to do, so we fight. You can't consider everything in an RP context yet. Once there is content and more players, we can be more selective in who we fight. To the best of my knowledge we still don't fight anyone who doesn't want a fight. Special circumstances withstanding. But you can file a complaint if there was a specific action of piracy taken against you.)