Joe Phoenix > i did not say i wouldn't or couldn't. i said i will.. now.. or later.. i will

So its about three months ago and Im sitting in my fairly new Manticore "Stealth Bomber" orbiting some half dead rock picking the last of the plastic off the command couch and idley flicking through the Gal-Net comm channels looking for a clue to where /Emote has gone and secreted herself.

Now, to be frank, I wouldn't have described the Manticore as as a "bomber" such, its more of a PT Boat crossed with a submarine due to its cloaking device, the fact its teeny-tiny and it carries 3 Farfire LRM-Grade heavy torpedo tubes and a fitting for an madly-damaging bomb launcher but I guess thats not really much to do with the story.  Suffice to say PT Boat 13 was just the cutest lil bomber-car I'd managed to find myself so far and its stealthy nature suited me just fine.  Okay, its rust-brown (or as one unkind critic had suggested "the colour of Winnie the Pooh's pooh") but I guess its against the law of starship design for a ship to be cool, effective and also look hot.

I'm not sure why one particular comm-thread caught my eye, but for some reason I was drawn to it.  A small trading concern by the name of Imperial Commonwealth (herein known as IC) who, judging by their corporate mission statement, had very grandeois plans for the future of not only themselves but New Eden as a whole had got into a scuffling match with a corporation called Serene Storm Society (SSS).  It seems that the IC's CEO (corporate leader) had given SSS members several warnings to stay off his patch or they would get a smack in the mouth.  When SSS moved and gave the IC a pre-emptive smack in the mouth and caused rather expensive damage the leader of the IC, the very vocal Grand Commander Joe Phoenix had begun to request help from any interested parties.  This sounded like fun, so I read on, considering coming to the aid of the IC simply to get some more combat experience.  Little did I know what was to follow, and that the name of Grand Commander Joseth W.C.S. Phoenix would be one of the most significant I ever encountered in New Eden.

I set a course back into higher security systems, making some money bounty hunting independant pirates (or "rats" as they are known) who live out in the asteroid belts around most systems on the way in order to purchase weapons and ammunition for my ship.  The closer I got, the more interesting the story became.  It turned out most of this stuff with the IC and SSS had happened nearly a month ago.  In the intervening time, Phoenix had attempted to hire a mercenary unit to help defend his assets from the SSS attacks.  When the "mercenaries" turned out to be scamming him and ran off with his money without actually doing anything (Phoenix wasn't wise enough to use an escrow service and simply transferred the IsK to the mercenary's account), Joe became enraged and vowed to declare war on the offending scam artist.  It was a declaration that would never materialise.

Others were following these events with interest too.  One of these was Zedrik Cayne of Standards and Practices (IEEE) (see the following for more information: http://wiki.eveonline.com/wiki/Standards_and_Practices_(Player_corporation) and http://zedrikcayne.blogspot.com/ ).  Standards and Practices exist to promote healthy and efficent procedures within New Eden for the betterment of all the inhabitants and they provide investigations into allegations of poor management, health and safety violations, anti-social behaviour issues and disaster managment, amoungst others.  At one point, the IEEE were going to investigate SSS on behalf of the IC, but it became apparent that Commander Phoenix was unwilling to follow up on his threats to declare war, the focus of the investigation changed to the IC and in particualr its CEO..........