A Surprise Ending

Meet Flinn Echerie. He is a Brutix pilot who lives in highsec. He is the founder, CEO, and sole member of his own highsec industrial corp. He is also engaged in rebellion against the New Order. Now, I know what you're thinking: "Is he crazy, resisting the Code? This guy is obviously going to get himself ganked." A reasonable assumption. But today's story has a surprise ending.

Fellow miner Lanieth Voltor praised Flinn for protecting the asteroid belt with his Brutix. When she had to leave, Flinn assured her that he would keep the belt safe in the meantime.

Again, I know what you're thinking. You assume that Flinn's Brutix is going to be blown up, because that's the fate of everyone who stands in opposition to highsec's ruling elite. I would ask that you put those preconceptions--no matter how strongly held they may be--aside today. This story is going to be a little different.

You see? A few minutes later, Lanieth returned, and the carebears' conversation continued. Nobody died. Incidentally, this conversation is typical. Because of the New Order, even bot-aspirants are driven to speak in local from time to time. The miners shared stories of being ganked by our Agents.

Flinn declared himself an enemy of the New Order and bragged about his plans to avenge his mining barge's death, and to facilitate the illegal mining operations of others. Once more, I would caution you against the presumption that this story will end with Flinn getting ganked. Keep an open mind. The world can be an unpredictable place. Just because the rest of the stories ended that way doesn't mean this one did.

Flinn did not get blown up immediately after announcing his intention to seek revenge against the Order. Instead, the carebears simply continued their little chat in tranquility.

...and then the Brutix got blown up.

"I knew it!", you say. Indeed you should know it. It is inevitable that every man, woman, and child who violates the Code will be brought to justice. There's no escaping it. You did well in predicting this outcome.

However... Did you, at any point, scroll to the end of the story, looking for the killmail, just to make sure? If so, you showed some signs of doubt. If you knew the Brutix was going to be ganked, you wouldn't have needed to scroll down. Keep working on that faith in the Code.

But I did promise a surprise ending to the story, so let's have a look at that Brutix. Was it fail-fit, like all the other anti-Order rebels' ships? Or did this rebel manage to put something decent together, for once?

The Brutix was completely fail-fit. Of course.

What was the surprise ending? Flinn was surprised when he got ganked. Rebels and bot-aspirants always are. They truly believe that their story will be the one that ends differently. Countless miners have been ganked and punished for their resistance, but they think--for no particular reason--that they will escape the same fate. Hopefully this post was an illustration of the futility of that belief. The New Order always wins.