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K'lek
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Posted - 2008.06.03 20:22:00 -
[1]
Edited by: K''lek on 03/06/2008 20:25:45
Gravus stared out the window at the docking bay of Jita IV. Everything from huge transports and small frigates made their way into the dockring and out the chute. He had been waiting in this holding pen, well fitted as it was, for almost two hours. Fine, let them play their game. He was sure they watching him right now, evaluating him from some room deep in the station.
Eventually the door chimed and a well groomed woman entered, her sculpted features moved suggestively as she slinked across the room and took a seat behind the desk. Gravus watched her in the reflection of the viewport, but said nothing. She thumbed through his file, even though he was sure it was committed to her AI node.
"Mr. K'Lek, very kind of you to come. Please, have a seat, make yourself comfortable." she motioned to the refreshment center, as well as a comfortable chair. No doubt it had sensors in it to detect his galvanic skin response. Still, he had to play by the rules, so he took the offered seat.
"Thank you Commissioner. Very kind of you to take the time to interview me." Gravus leaned back in his chair and looked at her. Yes, they had done their research. Fine blond hair, high cheekbones, large blue eyes and a perfect smile, he could practically see her on the vid, oozing desire and beckoning him to have a drink of Quafe. He wondered how much was original, and how much was sculpted. For all he knew, she was not even a "she".
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K'lek
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Posted - 2008.06.03 20:22:00 -
[2]
Edited by: K''lek on 03/06/2008 20:25:45
Gravus stared out the window at the docking bay of Jita IV. Everything from huge transports and small frigates made their way into the dockring and out the chute. He had been waiting in this holding pen, well fitted as it was, for almost two hours. Fine, let them play their game. He was sure they watching him right now, evaluating him from some room deep in the station.
Eventually the door chimed and a well groomed woman entered, her sculpted features moved suggestively as she slinked across the room and took a seat behind the desk. Gravus watched her in the reflection of the viewport, but said nothing. She thumbed through his file, even though he was sure it was committed to her AI node.
"Mr. K'Lek, very kind of you to come. Please, have a seat, make yourself comfortable." she motioned to the refreshment center, as well as a comfortable chair. No doubt it had sensors in it to detect his galvanic skin response. Still, he had to play by the rules, so he took the offered seat.
"Thank you Commissioner. Very kind of you to take the time to interview me." Gravus leaned back in his chair and looked at her. Yes, they had done their research. Fine blond hair, high cheekbones, large blue eyes and a perfect smile, he could practically see her on the vid, oozing desire and beckoning him to have a drink of Quafe. He wondered how much was original, and how much was sculpted. For all he knew, she was not even a "she".
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K'lek
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Posted - 2008.06.03 20:23:00 -
[3]
Edited by: K''lek on 03/06/2008 20:27:09
Edited by: K''lek on 03/06/2008 20:26:29
"Please, call me Pritha." she purred. "I see you are an original Alphabet Clone. Very interesting, usually they are not made full citizens. The old methods were so crude; it is amazing any of you survived. Let me assure you the advanced cloning we use is nothing like what you experienced. We make exact copies, no tinkering with the DNA sequences."
"Gravus Lek, my prime, was funny that way. Insisted we be made citizens as part of the cloning agreement. He refused to let them terminate us after our duty cycle."
She eyed him somewhat hungrily. "I see the made improvements to the phenotype, you must out mass your Prime by a good 20 kilos. You are a classic K-Q series? Special forces, hmm... quite the career. 6 years in Minimar space with no resupply. Impressive. Most K units are not that flexible."
Gravus shrugged. "That is why they wanted my Prime so badly to give rights to us clones when our tour was up. He is a very brilliant and resourceful scientist. Given our targets we needed to have a solid science background."
"I see that, says he jury rigged a comm laser and took out a marauding ship looking for a soft target. But you yourself have quite a knack it seems. According to this you took command after your Alpha Clone was damaged in this last raid. Care to tell me about it."
Damn her, she had to know he did not want to talk about it... Still, he knew it was part of the drill. He wanted SWA pod pilot status he reminded himself, so he needed to play the game.
"All twenty six of us went into the research base. We took the unusual step of taking the Z clone with us, we needed a way to hack the base Gibson. Turned out the Gurista who smuggled us into the base in a cargo ship sold us out to the Minmatar. Two paydays like that and I suspect he could have retired. The Gibson was loaded with black ice, nearly killed Z'lek before he could get out with the data. As it was, it left him a shell of his original intelligence. Enough to give A'lek the data we needed, and that is when the Minmatar forces stormed our position in the Core. A'lek and B'lek were killed before we had time to regroup." He gritted his teeth, remembering the bitter struggle. Pritha looked at him with vacant eyes, waiting for him to go on.
"I took command and the data from A'lek's corpse. We fought our way to the ship bay; our Gurrista friend had already left. What was left was a Pod ship. By this time only the grunt T-X series were still standing and my M series counterpart. Everyone was wounded, but M'lek insisted I take the Pod and get out with the data. He would hold them off long enough for me to get out, then I could trigger the overload circuits we set on the stations Reactor core." He paused and swallowed hard.
"I can still see that light, you know. Killing one's self is hard enough. Having to live through it is harder." Those sensors in the chair must be screaming by now, he thought, as he relaxed his grip on the arms of the chair.
Pritha favored him with some puppy dog eyes and a smile. "Yes, I can see that. Please understand that the Caldari State is very thankful for your sacrifice. The data your retrieved, I am told, has already save billions of innocent lives." She closed the folder and put it away.
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K'lek
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Posted - 2008.06.03 20:23:00 -
[4]
Edited by: K''lek on 03/06/2008 20:27:09
Edited by: K''lek on 03/06/2008 20:26:29
"Please, call me Pritha." she purred. "I see you are an original Alphabet Clone. Very interesting, usually they are not made full citizens. The old methods were so crude; it is amazing any of you survived. Let me assure you the advanced cloning we use is nothing like what you experienced. We make exact copies, no tinkering with the DNA sequences."
"Gravus Lek, my prime, was funny that way. Insisted we be made citizens as part of the cloning agreement. He refused to let them terminate us after our duty cycle."
She eyed him somewhat hungrily. "I see the made improvements to the phenotype, you must out mass your Prime by a good 20 kilos. You are a classic K-Q series? Special forces, hmm... quite the career. 6 years in Minimar space with no resupply. Impressive. Most K units are not that flexible."
Gravus shrugged. "That is why they wanted my Prime so badly to give rights to us clones when our tour was up. He is a very brilliant and resourceful scientist. Given our targets we needed to have a solid science background."
"I see that, says he jury rigged a comm laser and took out a marauding ship looking for a soft target. But you yourself have quite a knack it seems. According to this you took command after your Alpha Clone was damaged in this last raid. Care to tell me about it."
Damn her, she had to know he did not want to talk about it... Still, he knew it was part of the drill. He wanted SWA pod pilot status he reminded himself, so he needed to play the game.
"All twenty six of us went into the research base. We took the unusual step of taking the Z clone with us, we needed a way to hack the base Gibson. Turned out the Gurista who smuggled us into the base in a cargo ship sold us out to the Minmatar. Two paydays like that and I suspect he could have retired. The Gibson was loaded with black ice, nearly killed Z'lek before he could get out with the data. As it was, it left him a shell of his original intelligence. Enough to give A'lek the data we needed, and that is when the Minmatar forces stormed our position in the Core. A'lek and B'lek were killed before we had time to regroup." He gritted his teeth, remembering the bitter struggle. Pritha looked at him with vacant eyes, waiting for him to go on.
"I took command and the data from A'lek's corpse. We fought our way to the ship bay; our Gurrista friend had already left. What was left was a Pod ship. By this time only the grunt T-X series were still standing and my M series counterpart. Everyone was wounded, but M'lek insisted I take the Pod and get out with the data. He would hold them off long enough for me to get out, then I could trigger the overload circuits we set on the stations Reactor core." He paused and swallowed hard.
"I can still see that light, you know. Killing one's self is hard enough. Having to live through it is harder." Those sensors in the chair must be screaming by now, he thought, as he relaxed his grip on the arms of the chair.
Pritha favored him with some puppy dog eyes and a smile. "Yes, I can see that. Please understand that the Caldari State is very thankful for your sacrifice. The data your retrieved, I am told, has already save billions of innocent lives." She closed the folder and put it away.
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K'lek
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Posted - 2008.06.03 20:25:00 -
[5]
"We at SWA take great pride in helping Pod pilots get started. It is a rare person that can step into a Pod without extensive training, and you did it under great stress. Based on the recommendations of Glasshouse Re-education Incorporated we feel you are stable enough to accept into SWA after your rehabilitation and re-integration into Civilian life." She fished out a datachip from the desk.
"This will entitle you to Pod Pilot status, a standard Modern Alpha clone, and a starting frigate. Here is the name of one of our Navy Contacts. I suspect you will not spend much time mining, so this will get you started."
He took the card. "You are probably right. You have a nice day, Miss Pritha." He left the room and headed for the docking bays. His ship was in block R, slot 25528.
....
A hidden door opened and a thin man in narrow rimmed glasses came over to the desk and retrieved the folder.
"Thank you very much, Pritha. Your contract is concluded and you may report to medical for a standard mem wipe of this event." He held out an ISK wafer containing her payment.
She got up and looked at him coldly. "He is not going to make it, is he?"
The man shrugged. "Not your concern, quite frankly. Statistically, 75% of all early clones experience Mindlock. Messy process, and Alphabet Phoneme Variation cloning should have been outlawed, it simply was not profitable in the long run. Pity really, he seemed to have a bright future."
Prithi took the chip from him and then walked out of the room. Never again, she said to herself.
Of course, that was what she said the last 15 times after she had finished a Clone interview. Medical had strict instructions to remove the memory of that too. Not precisely ethical, but she was the best Clone interviewer SWA had.
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K'lek
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Posted - 2008.06.03 20:25:00 -
[6]
Edited by: K''lek on 03/06/2008 20:29:56
Edited by: K''lek on 03/06/2008 20:29:12
"We at SWA take great pride in helping Pod pilots get started. It is a rare person that can step into a Pod without extensive training, and you did it under great stress. Based on the recommendations of Glasshouse Re-education Incorporated we feel you are stable enough to accept into SWA after your rehabilitation and re-integration into Civilian life." She fished out a datachip from the desk.
"This will entitle you to Pod Pilot status, a standard Modern Alpha clone, and a starting frigate. Here is the name of one of our Navy Contacts. I suspect you will not spend much time mining, so this will get you started."
"You are probably right. You have a nice day, Miss Pritha." He committed her face, her eyes, even her smell to his near perfect memory. Then he took the card and headed for the docking bays. His ship was in block R, slot 25528.
....
A hidden door opened and a thin man in narrow rimmed glasses came over to the desk and retrieved the folder.
"Thank you very much, Pritha. Your contract is concluded and you may report to medical for a standard mem wipe of this event." He held out an ISK wafer containing her payment.
She got up and looked at him coldly. "He is not going to make it, is he?"
The man shrugged. "Not your concern, quite frankly. Statistically, 75% of all early clones experience Mindlock even with the latest Pods money can buy. Messy process, and Alphabet Phoneme Variation cloning should have been outlawed, it simply was not profitable in the long run. Pity really, he seemed to have a bright future."
Prithi took the chip from him and then walked out of the room. Never again, she said to herself.
Of course, that was what she said the last 15 times after she had finished a Clone interview. Medical had strict instructions to remove the memory of that too. Not precisely ethical, but she was the best Clone interviewer SWA had.
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K'lek
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Posted - 2008.06.03 20:53:00 -
[7]
Editor's note:
Hello! I hope you enjoyed my story, I am fairly new here to Eve and I thought I would introduce myself, and my alter ego Gravus.
I am a long time MMORPG player in the fantasy realm and am finding Eve to be a fun alternate outlet for my creativity. And blowing things up is very therapeutic...
Gravus is the product of a phenotype variation cloning process. Much like the process in "A Brave New World" by Huxley and "Downbelow Station" plus "Forty Thousand in Gehenna" by C.J. Cherryh the original Gravus Lek was cloned into 26 variations to make a cohesive Special Forces Group. A and B clones are command clones, Z is a super-mind Mentat, some are mechanics, some are medics. Others like Gravus are combat orientated, some being bred for pure killing and toughness, others for more adaptive roles.
The K series is the most intelligent of the combat variants, often a pilot or a squad commander. In Gravus's case, he is both, his Prime being very talented mentally, but with a typical scientists physique.
The APV cloning process was very unreliable, and after a few noted failures it was discontinued. Very few survived, many were considered chattel owned by the corporations and were "liquidated". In Gravus's case the Prime insisted the clones be given their full citizenship rights at the end of their contract and use his first name instead of just being <grade>'Lek. K'lek's natural Pod affinity and data the Lek clones retrieved was so valuable (Sorry, I can't tell you what it was, I don't have clearance for that information) that the company decided to let the agreement stand. and put Gravus through the Glasshouse rehabilitation process to ready him for normal entry into civilian life as a Pod Pilot.
Whether or not he has truly adapted remains to be seen...
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Gravus K'lek
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Posted - 2008.08.12 18:27:00 -
[8]
"What do you mean you can't build it?" Gravus took back the blueprint and the ISK credits.
"I can build it. Not buildin' it. Won't build it." The greasy mechanic wiped his hands on a cloth as he walked away. Despite the near extinction of petroleum based lubricants, all mechanics seem to still be covered in greas.
This was the fifth system he had tried to get the ship built. Despite lavish bonus offers, no one was interested. Gravus ran his fingers over the BPC. Someday she would fly. Time for a drink, it had been a long haul from Jita to Piekura.
A dark cloaked man sat next to him while he nursed a drink and watched ships glide in and out of the docking bays.
"I know where you can get it built." said the man. "Some call me Ray."
Gravus motioned for the bartender to buy Ray a drink.
"All right Ray, you have my attention. Where can I get it built?"
Ray handed him a data chip. "Try this mechanic. It is in 0.0 space, but that is the only place you are going to get that built. Not much use for Gurista's around here. Even less now that the war has broken out."
"Your fee?" asked Gravus before he took the chip.
"Oh, don't worry, I will get mine when you have that built."
....
Gravus looked over the ship. It was a fine job, all the alterations were hidden under standard markings. Looked like a stock Merlin from top to bottom.
The mechanic walked over. "She is fitted like you requested. Should be no problems with Concord so long as you don't power up the weapons bays."
"Here is the final bill, I took some extra off for that Shuttle. I got a request for a smuggler and it will fit the bill."
Gravus did not like doing business with the smugglers, but at least they were not pirates. "I will transfer the funds as soon as the pod is linked up. Pleasure doing business with you."
Three hours later he had finished the preflights and had clearance to launch. The Worm slid out of the bay and into free space.. flight was what she was born for and the ship responded with smooth precision not found in a mass produced ship.
After the jump he set a course for the nearest asteroid belt. "Alright, let's see what you can do. Let's go hunt."
The ship thrummed with what felt like pleasure as it accelerated into warp.
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