Good morning gentle reader! Lately I’ve been testing the waters with a rookie co-pilot flying backup in an Orca and I have to say I’m quite impressed with his versatility. This young fellow has fairly revolutionized my day to day patrol activities and brought efficiency up to heights unknown until now.

As with any new endeavor, there is always a learning curve. Unfortunately in my line of work, mistakes mean criminals get away without paying the price for their offenses. Fortunately as I’ve become more accustomed to my new partner, I’ve been able to bring the swift hand of justice to bear.

Jade Azumi’s Abaddon was the first to fall, to be followed shortly by mikkelrev’s Maelstrom. mikkelrev was initially offered a fine of 100mil isk in lieu of the destruction of his ship, but instead he tried to pull a fast one to the tune of 100k isk. I obviously noticed and made him aware of his accounting error, collected the proper amount due, then found him guilty of attempted grand larceny. His Maelstrom was adjudicated forfeit to the aggrieved party (me).

My confidence was rising in my new co-pilot’s abilities, but as is often the case the local criminal element began dispersing as word of my swift and sure justice so I thought it prudent to further expand my patrols.

After relocating I stumble upon one “Sliceri” laying waste to a helpless population of Sansha refugees. In my attempt to clean up some of the carnage, I find myself targeted not only by Sliceri but also some of the grieving family members of those he’s recently slaughtered. Mistaking me as Sliceri’s accomplice no doubt, I have the great misfortune to find myself webbed by a defensive tower at exactly the same time Sliceri opens fire with his Apoc. My poor Vigil didn’t stand a chance.

As I warped back to get another ship I noticed Sliceri docking up and figured he would simply wait out the timer. I moved on to investigate another report and lost track of time, I noticed the timer expiring too late and the Apoc undocked from station as soon as it expired. I rushed back to the first room of his mission and secured another item from a wreck just as he was warping in. His prior assisted success had apparently made our offender overconfident. On landing, he immediately deployed drones, locked me, and engaged.

I settled my Vigil immediately into a 20km orbit and proceeded to dispatch his flight of T2 drones with extreme prejudice. As his drones were dying in tiny balls of fire, my new protege was enroute with the Orca. Once the Orca arrived I ordered it into a collision course with the Apoc to knock him out of warp alignment. Again my expectations were exceeded as the impact sent the hapless battleship spinning like a top. I quickly boarded the Hurricane that was stored in the Orca’s hangar, reestablished point, and proceeded to melt the Apoc’s defenses.

Once I’d taken him to structure, I decided to offer the pilot the opportunity to post bail and escape with his ship intact. He declined to pay the standard 100mil isk fine and instead thought to assault my innocent assistant and his pristine Orca. I guess if you’re going to lose a ship, you might as well do it with style. CONCORD soon arrived to assist me with finishing off the flaming Apoc, letting me do the lion’s share as per usual, and relieving Sliceri of some of his security status in the process.

Good evening gentle reader! You may have noticed the lack of recent entries, and if so do not despair. My services have been required in other capacities than the usual spacelane patrols and as such I’ve not been afforded the material or opportunity to record. I do have a milestone, and a brief cautionary tale to share with you, so please lend me your ears for a moment more.

The milestone I spoke of was the first time I’d been called to oversee a summary execution in the service of TEARS. For reasons unknown to a simple patrol officer like myself, one “MORBSTAR” and his private Corporation “THE BLACK HAND OF DEATH” drew the ire of the powers that be this past week and lo, war was declared. Determined to bring this blatant criminal to justice for his unspecified crimes, I set a course for my nearest locator agent who informed me that the target was currently somewhere in the Uedama solar system. I knew from my research the types of ships he was likely to be flying so I fit out a nasty looking Wolf and set a course for justice.

Arriving in Uedama I was pleased to see him still in system, so I headed towards the first asteroid belt on my overview to see if I could catch him in space (he hadn’t been docked when the locator report came in). I didn’t see him in the first belt, but I did see wrecks and cargo containers left strewn amongst the veldspar and I grinned in anticipation. Moving to the next belt down, imagine my glee when I see something flashy and red appear on my overview! MORBSTAR is engaging two pirate frigates in his Republic Fleet Firetail as I land on grid some 26 kilometers away. My particular Wolf fitting utilizes a short range warp scrambler so I overheat it and my propulsion module in the hope of catching before he gets away.

He never pauses from his current battle to address the MUCH greater threat that was bearing down on him. In short order I have him locked down and begin mercilessly pounding his Firetail while he…. continues to shoot the pirates? In a mere handful of volleys his ship explodes. Being somewhat disappointed that the battle was over so soon, I decide to try for another round and try to point his capsule before it can get away, knowing that it’s almost certainly a futile effort. Or is it?

Mr. MORBSTAR’s criminal record was updated to include 3 additional counts of Engaging in Combat while on Autopilot, 2 counts of Carebearing During Time of War, and 1 count of Negligent Capsuleering. Guilty verdict passed, sentence carried out. Fly safer than MORBSTAR gentle reader.