I left my newbie corp and all I got was... Insomnia

Name: Insomnia
Class: Ishtar Heavy Assault Ship
Manufacturer: CreoDron
Top Speed: 650 m/s
Warp Speed: 3.75 AU/s
Align time: 4.9
Service: None
Status: Not finished popping the bubblewrap
Freaky fact: She had a surprise gift in the cargohold

When some people graduate, they get a car.

Some get a trip to Lumi.

I received a fully fitted Ishtar from my friends!

I had mentioned my racing team that after graduation that I was at long last going to finish Cruisers V, then see what kind of fun ship I could get to fly then. In my mind I was flying an Arazu already -if it's cloaky, it must be good, non?- but Kay stoked my curiosity about an Ishtar... and actually persuaded me that one would be a good choice.

When I came back from vacation I had finished reading Cruisers and started with Heavy Assault Ships, aiming to ride on by the end of the week. As it turns out, before I was done training, my friends were out shopping for one.

There was an awkward moment when I told Kay I had proudly bought my first Ishtar. She was silent for a moment, my contracts started blinking and demon came back with something like "you already had an Ishtar. Look at contracts now."

Huh? Clearly something was going on behind my back.

Inside the giftbox

Wow! Hahaha, thank you Kay, demon and Searaph!

So I returned mine to the store (now she is a blockade runner) and went to Tash, to pick up the gift the very minute I was finished training.

The fit is very nice indeed, and almost everything is stuff I can use, except for the autocannons. Also, it all fits together with my skills. The last item in the cargohold was a sweet touch as well, I think I will call her "Fiona" and lodge her with the Ogres (sold separately).

Ogres on patrol

I think that the fit is meant for missioning, with the cap rechargers, the tank rigs and armor reps. Sit down, let the drones loose and wait. Tank, in the low slots, how odd -aligns in way over two seconds, definitely not a racer. I suspect it will need some changes before taking her into lowsec or a wormhole and, of course, a cloak on that free slot. Never leave home without your cloak. Now I just need to start training sentries, autocannons and start practicing.

Oh, and the name was such a nice, subtle touch. Insomnia.

Almost a hint. It means they want me to tag along missioning when it is very, very late at night...

This is the coolest graduation gift. Thank you so very much! :)

Shipswitch

UC Odotte
August 109. Season 3, less than an hour before ISGC race 10.

So I dropped by the hangar where everything was ready for the ISGC race, as usual, but the lights were off. Unusual. "Lights on!" I called, expecting to see my shiny golden arrowhead of a frigate. And on they went...

o.O

She's GREEN?! And slimey green at that? What the flap? Someone's idea of a joke, to paint my ship before the race? The final race of a perfect season?

And where was the wall? You know, the front right armor, the part left exposed to the hallway so anyone at UC could walk up and write a message? "Beat an inty, undying respect," "Speed Fairy!" "Good girls go to Lumi, bad girls go to 0.0, have fun!" But the wall was shiny, polished and smooth... My messages were gone.

"Braaaaaaax!"

The lights on the perch went on and his voice came through the system "ah, Quin... look closer s'il vous plaît." There were actually several people up there, giggling and pointing. Well, here is your close look, you fat Mannar joker, before I climb and push you out that window.

"Mirror mirror," I said, "systems check." The answer came back in contralto instead of baritone. -Aura? Why hello, it has been a long time - do not get too comfy, I will have you erased again in no time- No modules. No rigs. She was as good as packaged.

She is... not... my ship?

Breathed in. -Relax- She actually looked different, here and there. Fins and thrusters and circuitry. Sort of evil and menacing. Then I spotted this little green triangle and some words. "Khanid Innovation." She was an interceptor.

"What...?" The room erupted with laugther. "SURPRISE!!!"

"Quin, meet ze Tsiap-tsiap, a Malediction class interceptor. Wiz ze compliments and ze personal note from Monsieur Asabona himself."

"Asa-who?"

"Ganortchar Asabona, ze CEO of Khanid Innovation, zinks UC racing a Malediction hull would be 'mutually beneficial,' seeing how you have done such a good job on ze Executioner..."

"Oh. Cool..." A crazy plan was spinning in my head. Fifty minutes to race start and I was 20 jumps away. -Please Quin, do not do anything stupid- "And, say, how long would it take you to fit her?" -Stupid, stupid... you are about to finish a perfect frigate season, unbeaten, and want to risk flying an interceptor? Ah, but would it not be even more perfect if, by any chance, I actually win this one?

"We have your modules and can improvise rigs, mais not your favourites exactly... Look, we just wanted to show you zis but did not intend to..."

Here is to doing stupid things for fun. "Naah, go for it! And while you guys are doing that, blank that ugly name and get me some red colouring. This should be fun..."

On the news the following day...

Quintrala, individual frigate champion and perky Gallentean redhead, startled the audience when she emerged in an ominous green Malediction.

Me and my Poison Apple came in 5th place. Every possible mistake to make, I made. She was way too fast. I mis-warped. She would not handle waypoint approaches as gracefully as A Wing and a Prayer. I missed my frigate. That interceptor handled like a brick. -Together, we suck!

But we can smooth out the rough edges. She will be fast and nimble, I will learn to cope with the speed. We have time ahead. An entire new racing season, in a different class.

It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship... ;)

Racing Series
See what happened next

Ship Profile: A Wing and a Prayer

Name: A Wing and a Prayer
Class: T1 Frigate
Manufacturer: Amarr Imperial Navy
Top Speed: 11.9 km/s (pre-nerf)
Warp Speed: 6 AU/s
Align time: 1.2 s
Service: ISGC Seasons 3 (University of Caille), Season 4 (loan to Venture Racing Team)
Status: Lost 5 November 113, racing
Freaky fact: Was part of a subtle revenge plan, called off

The first thing many will point out, yes it is an Amarrian frigate. So what? Well, it is not like the craftmanship compares to a Roden or a Duvolle ride. Amarr Navy? No leather lined passenger seats, little or no ergonomics, some of the trimmings are really, ew, utilitarian like that one handle, or the odd ugly service hatch in plain sight. Zero luxury. Nor does it have the raw engine power on a Boundless or any other Minmatar ship. Can't fit a nice egonics system, even the basic sound system on a Caldari ship will kill the CPU dead on mine; flap, I can't even chat on local without having navi problems.

And you know what? Whatever!

This one is mine mine mine and I love her. Look at her, a golden, shiny, beautiful arrowpoint. Built for speed. A Wing and a Prayer, she is called and... can you see the wing logo on the right side? The name was a good idea at the time, and I still think so. A mix of raw speed and fragile beauty.

See here, the Ammy Navy got a couple of things right. Totally right. The ship herself is very fast, and very light to begin with. Now the armor has been removed in so many places to install racing stuff - you can see the holes and some electronics right inside - yes that is the work of our UC boffins. They took their time to patch her back and in the meantime, I had to race a sieve. Also, there is so much polycardboard inside that you can probably push her around by hand. She has been altered and tweaked so much that by now, she is as close to an interceptor as she can get, while still being T1. She thinks she is an inty, I swear. Did you know she can beat an Ares in a series of short jumps? Of course the Ares will win on the long ones, but still, wicked riding...

The point is, she is the fastest racing frigate, ever. I flew her mostly during season 3 of the ISGC racing league and we won the T1 championship :D We won every single race we flew together... except that exhibition we lost to Tak on season 5 with the navi error. And the S6 one we lost to Kay, on the long jumps. My bad, 'cause she? She is perfect!