He had a cold swagger about him. His hair was dark brown, cut short. His mouth was firmly closed and his jaw set square. He was browsing through something on his holo-tab, she could see the light flickering across the glasses as the screen scrolled up and then flickered through different tabs. He settled on a post. Looked up at her and smirked.
“Yes?”
“You look like fresh meat. Did someone ‘Gank’ you?” His head tilted to the side, inviting a comment.
She frowned. From the Voluval on his face she knew he was a Kanenald from somewhere near Rens. One of those smug metropolitan types that think they are better than everyone else. ”Bakheth’ scum.’ She thought. She sighed looked down at the bar, thought ‘Mehar! What the hell’.
“Yes. Someone destroyed my ship and pod.”
“You need to do something about your fit.”
‘You need to do something about your manners’ she thought. There was a short pause and without any invitation he continued.
“I mean look. From this readout you didn’t even have a multispec hardener fitted. I’m surprised you survived ‘belt rats’ let alone a ‘Ganker’.”
It was true, she had struggled to control the shields when Gurista’s attacked but she didn’t think it was THAT bad. Johnny had told her to invest in a shield hardener, preferably tech II. But obviously she was focused on getting the skills to handle tech II crystals to boost yield. She hadn’t thought about the vulnerability of the ship. She was getting irritated now. ‘What a wanker!’
“Johnny did say we needed one of those. And excuse me, but what the hell is a ‘Ganker’?”
“You don’t know what a Ganker is?” Behind the glasses she could see the eyebrows rising.
“Err no.”
‘But I bet I am about to find out’. She thought as she shifted her leather clad butt uneasily in the stool. There was an uncomfortable squeaking noise of new leather/butt on leather.
He looked up, seemingly exasperated and then shook his head.
“Gankers are pod pilots who enjoy ‘podding’. They get off on destroying your ship and pod before CONCORD can save you.”
“What?”
“Yup, there are people who get off on podding you. Kinda like jerking off on you or dry humping you while you wait in a queue.” He glanced sideways as if half expecting someone to start jerking off on him.
“Why? Why would anyone…..”
“Because they can. It’s that simple. There are all sorts of arguments about it. You could argue that they love their name flashing up in lights on the kill boards. Gives them some sort of notoriety or something. I think that it is really just ’cause they can.”
“What a bunch of morons!”
“Hmmm… you could say that, but you could also say someone who doesn’t bother equipping their ship properly is the real moron.”
“Are you calling me a moron?” Now she really was getting angry. She could feel the heat building at the back of her neck.
“No, no! Look I’m sorry. It’s just that is what ‘they’ would say!”
“I can’t believe you just called me a moron! Twat!” She couldn’t help herself. Usually if a thought came into her head it would eventually find its way out ….and become ‘a thing’.
“Steady on now. No need to get your knickers in a twist! I’m just sayin’….”
“What exactly? Just what are you sayin’? That Johnny’s death is my fault? That somehow I am the one who pulled the trigger on the neutron blasters? I mean what sort of stoopid is that?”
“Of course not. Gay Pride what’s-his-face, or whatever, is responsible for his own behaviour. But HE would argue that YOU are responsible for begging to be killed. Half asleep floating around on a belt with your ass hanging out.”
“I was only mining. I mean how the fuck does someone make a big deal out of that? What sort of moron would….” She was getting increasingly frustrated with this conversation, had a banging headache and just wanted to go to sleep.
“I know, I know. Maybe look at it another way – I mean some of these people have kinda turned this into an art form.”
“What-the-fuck, are you on? An art form. Do you want me to put that in the letter to Johnny’s family? Sorry Johnny died the way he did, my ass was hanging out and Gay Pride Boooom wanted to make some art – the explosion made a pretty picture if that helps.”
“No no of course not. But they think that managing to ‘gank’ you effectively is somehow. ‘Winning a game’.” He was getting into this now, she could tell. But there was nothing worse than being ‘mansplained’ to, especially after a ‘gank’. He wasn’t stopping either.
“Think about it, CONCORD’s response can be pretty much timed. You only have so many seconds to cut through a ship’s shields, armour and structure.”
“You admire these Mathera fucker’s don’t you?”
“Of course not. But as you say they are Mathera fuckkas!” With that he flicked off his holo-tab, stood up and went to leave. “I have sent through a fit you might like to think about for your ship. Maybe think about it eh?”
“Yeah right Mathera fuckka!” She stood and stomped off from the bar before he could reply. Her holo-tab blinked with the message.
Everyday Eve 