Love and War

If I didn't neglect my thoughts so often, perhaps they wouldn't be so difficult to organize.  Nevertheless, the past several weeks have probably been the most significant of my career as a pilot and the most fulfilling as a person.  I've always considered myself a relatively disinterested party in most others' affairs, more than willing to greet most anyone, even those whose values greatly differ from my own, with a smile and a polite nod.  That's exactly how my first encounter with Deshat Mehatek went.

I dropped by the Amarr Legio Basilica because I was in the neighborhood.  I had no good reason to go, but I admire the architecture of the place; it's truly a work of art.  Sitting in front of the praying angel statue, there she was, and I offered my usual polite, yet unobtrusive, acknowledgment.  I couldn't believe my eyes when she scoffed at me, as though I were somehow beneath her.  Granted, I've heard some Amarrians behave in such a manner, and I've witnessed some less than civil conduct from a few, but I have never been so thoroughly rebuffed over a harmless smile.  At the time, I really didn't know what to make of it.

As fate would have it, the lady (I use the term loosely) began advertising her slave trading business.  Nothing unusual in the Empire, to be fair, but the things she put on display appalled pro- and anti-slavery pilots alike.  I'm not sure what motivated me to grow a spine over something that doesn't directly concern me, but I politely requested that she cease and desist.  That request was summarily rejected, and I found myself immediately processing the necessary paperwork to sanction a war declaration against her.

Since CONCORD authorized fighting, I have engaged her only once, destroying an Impairor-class frigate.  She claims that a single slave was aboard, and the loss of life and destruction of property, regardless of how minimal, weighs on my conscience.  An Imperial militia corporation has requested that I cease combat operations to allow the Empire to resolve the matter of Ms. Mehatek's slavery practices internally.  I've suspended my pursuit and hope to officially rescind the war declaration soon.

On a much more positive note, I'm quite smitten with a young lady that I met at a party several months ago.  I first met her at Three Sisters, where the proprietors had shipped in a fair amount of sand for the beach-themed event.  She struck me as a lovely subject for a sand sculpture, and we enjoyed a bit of idle chatter as I worked on it.  Since then, we've spoken occasionally, but hadn't met face to face again.  In fact, we had a standing agreement to have a drink together sometime, yet I never seriously expected that time to come around.

Before my little war started, however, I was speaking to her and brought up the usual offer of sharing a drink sometime, and she escalated the offer to dinner the very next night.  As fate would have it, her work kept her from meeting me at the appointed time.  Our next conversation, however, ended with her hopping a shuttle straight to my doorstep.  After months of flirtatious banter, there she was.

We've spent every spare moment together since.