I could stand to kill a few people for some Drop or Crash on the side. Amazing what that stuff will do on the field, one good dose on the wrist and youre suddenly wearing a necklace made of kidneys and ball bearings with a depleted nova knife in one hand.

Suffice to say, thats a lot of ISK and Im sure his less entrepeneural types are shocked he just threw it away. Caldari Colonel makes about 40 ISK a month last I heard, so to be a grunt and hear about that kind of expenditure - seemingly for fun and games - must play the heart strings a bit.

Think we all owe those grunts a formal apology for being able to live to see our earnings. Poor bastards. Must feel real bad to diewithout even getting to see the end of the contract.

You dont know much about Mordu then. Guy has a habit of taking the more important contracts and going out in the field to supervise the success personally. Much beyond that, I hear most of his mercs retire after a few years; maybe a decade.

Gods and spirits, soldier, please stop.

Respectfully (mostly), it may be truer to say that anyone can sit back and tell people that anyone can sit back and tell people what to do.

Good administrators are hard to come by; not "just anyone" can do the job. Just ask the Caldari about their experience with an MTAC operator-turned-near-dictator. They're meritocratic for a reason; Tibus Heth was the exception that demonstrated the reason for the rule.

As for Mordu, he has a bit more to him than you seem to give him credit for. That article is a little out of date, mind you.

Interesting, Vermaak. Tell me, why is it you dont have a band of hellions of your own? Is that simply by choice, preferring to waste your talent - assuming it is so easy - or it is because maybe when the world is saying that youre wrong, defiantly proclaiming otherwise is your method of convincing..?

Different skills are required to lead than to follow, or even to advise, soldier. Those, combined with the insight to make the right decisions and the will to see them through, are a rare and precious gift. The ability to issue commands to capable, disciplined, and intelli!gent soldiers may require no special talent, but holding their loyalty through two wars and many, many mercenary campaigns is rather an accomplishment.

You are suggesting, without apparent support, that the leader of the greatest mercenary company in New Eden is greatly overrated. Considering his history, and the honor with which he has led his men ... respectfully, you cast your own judgment into question more than his.

Tred carefully soldier. In offending Mordu you offend the memory of my mother and father before me. He is the most honorable individual I know, and I owe him far more than I can ever provide.

Mordu has chosen to run a mercenary company, rather than the harsh outline of a civilization.

I'm assuming you're not speaking of the Sisters of Eve, but of the "pirate factions." Soldier, you may wish to live among some of those entities before you praise them too highly. They are not as universally "evil" as some self-righteous capsuleers wish to make them out as, but, for the most part, they are what a hard life has made them: the barbarians at the gates.

None taken.

My father worked as an officer under him... So when we speak of how much Caldari officers are paid, I know the cost firsthand. My mother was an Intaki refugee. In a sense, I owe my existence to Mordu-haan.

I just wish I could undue the damage I cause to my relations with the Legion.

Ligori kaashivon Mordu...

He deserves better.

Hah. As if Sansha would allow one of his own to flutter off with any sort of freedom. Youre either a mindless cybernetic slave or a 'True' Sansha, and Kuvakei doesnt let those go so easily. Youve quite the reputation, but much like youre immediate dismissal of Mordu's leadership, Im not so gullible.

Life was hard for a half-breed growing up in the State. My parents died when I was young, the damned Dragonaurs set off a bomb in their car, but the Legion continued to provide for me. They sent me a pension and a few of my father's comrades turned up to support me, but as a teenager that didn't really mean that much. It just showed me what happens when you resist the culture in the State. No matter how much progress you think you make, some baka will come along and turn everything back to zero.

So I learned to adapt, tried to fend for myself. I had to reinvent who I was so people could finally see me as an equal and not just some Intaki's bastard child. A group of patriots offered me a chance. That was all I really wanted, a chance.

I was young, and I did a lot of stupid things to achieve that dream, to be seen as true Caldari. Something about watching others die around me for a living though... Something about knowing what it feels like to be the one bleeding out... To be the guy trying to stick a nanite injector into your buddy as grenades go off left and right...

It gives you some context.

The Legion did so much for me, and I threw it in their faces. They tried so hard to turn me into something worthwhile... And I reset that all to zero. That is all you need to know. It was the second biggest mistake in my life.

I've been trying to do some light work for them now, namely knocking down Dragonaur cells when they crop up in Caldari space. It is a start, but I don't think I will ever make it up to them fully.