Ore, The Foundation

By Unnilseptium

He warped the small mining fleet into position near belt 7 around Aldrat IX. Several of the pilots had never been to an asteroid belt before, so he had decided to give them the grand tour by taking the scenic route.

As the ships came out of warp one by one he set course for the belt still 30km away. The sun, a shimmering disc in the distance, was partially eclipsed by the planet to their left. Its faint light flowing around the sphere creating a halo of silver and gold. To the right of the ship the asteroid, still in the shadow of the planet, appeared to be no more than a collection of dull rocks haphazardly thrown by the gods in a game of marbles.

He brought the fleet through a gap in the belt, turned off the ship's main engines and used the thrusters to bring the Hulk into a slow orbit around the rock. The fleet followed his lead and fell into position behind him. As they approached the daylight side of the asteroid the hitherto dreary rock sprung to life. As the light from the distant star hit the surface it's rays reflected in the scordite veins creating a spectacular show as it danced through the valleys and over the peaks. The sight still took his breath away and even after all these years he couldn't help but think that this symphony of light had been composed just for him.

In awe of the show below he sat there for a few seconds just watching the pale green light dancing with the shadows. He then initiated the second act by engaging the modulated strip miners and watched as their photon beams ripped through the asteroid's surface extracting it essence. After a few minutes he turned off the lasers as his sensors indicated that the ore had been depleted. Leaving it behind as the show had ended and the final curtain fallen he pulled the ship around and headed for the next rock.

The Hulk's cargo hold was approaching full so he ejected the ore into the day's first jetcan. Now that the can was in place the remainder of the fleet fell into orbit around it and started mining. The lasers spread out like a spider web with the jetcan in the centre. Even though it was only a small operation it did not take long for the first can to fill up. As the meter read 20000 m3 he picked switched on the radio and called in the hauler.

After a few moments the shining sleek Iteron V dropped out of warp 15km from the jetcan. The Iteron had always reminded Unnilseptium of a silverfish or perhaps a tadpole with its pyramidal head and long snakelike body. This one was piloted by one of his best friends, Amaya, a young gallentean pilot. Her and Unnilseptium had first teamed up when they were still both mining within the Kahnid kingdom in a system plagued by can flippers.

Amaya targeted the can and engaged the Iteron's tractor beam and pulled the first can in. She then brought the ship around and started inching towards the miners. The rate they had been going so far she would be running back and forth constantly all day. They had agreed to invest in an orca now that Unnil had the appropriate pilot's license, but they still needed about 150 million ISK to realise that goal. Until then they had to rely on the Iteron for hauling.

They had been mining for hours and there were now only a few ore rich asteroids left in the belt. He finished the rock he was currently mining and had started heading towards the next one when he noticed the three flashing red blobs on entering his radar screen. The signatures indicated that they were nothing more than low level pirates associated with the Angel Cartel. It was not at all uncommon for this to happen; the cartel had been pestering miners in the area for as long as he could remember. He notified the fleet of the incoming threat and then recalled his mining drones and deployed a wing of combat drones to deal with the approaching Raider frigates.

In his experience the Angel pilots frequenting these belts were rarely gifted with an overabundance of intelligence. They were more a nuisance than anything and tended wreak havoc to your mining drones if you forgot to recall them when they attacked.

As soon as they were within range he set his drones on them; this shouldn't take long. The first few shots eliminated the first frigate's shields and armour. When his drones came around for another attack their shots sliced through the Raider's hull like a warm knife through butter. One down, two to go. The two remaining frigates did not put up much of a fight and were soon transformed into wrecks as they fell victim to the fury of his drones. When would they ever learn?

He returned his attention to the few remaining asteroids. The last few cubic metres of ore were quickly extracted from the remaining rocks and when the belt had been completely depleted he gave the order to return to base.

When he arrived back at the station Amaya had already started refining the ore. By this time tomorrow the minerals would have been sold and they would all be a few million ISK richer. While it could be argued that mining was not the most profitable profession in New Eden he found it to be the most rewarding. He had always thought of mining, or rather the ore mined, as the foundation for the economy; without ore there would be no essential minerals available. If no minerals were available no production could take place. This in turn meant that none of the other professions would exist if it was not for those who procured the precious ore.

He turned his attention to tomorrow's operation...