Darius Shakor ducked low as he entered the hatch of the ship from the station hangar boarding platform. The air was dusty, warm and it was dark inside illuminated only by the occasional dim lights from various system consoles that littered the sides of the narrow passage that lead to the bridge elevator. It did not matter though, as he knew his way through the ship as well as he knew the tracks through dense folia of his home island on Matar. To Darius, simply knowing his way through the passages of his ships was not nearly enough knowledge that a captain should know. As Darius passed through the dim and musty passages he could recount exactly where each duct and pipe came from and where it was going, the thickness of the hull and armour on the outer walls in that section and where each bundle of low hanging cables was going and what it's purpose was. Every bolt and weld in his ship was something that a captain should know better than his own home. Because for hours, days or even months at a time, this ship would be his home. As such, the connection between captain and ship was something that few people in that privileged position could possibly comprehend.

However, as Darius stepped onto the caged platform that would take him to his command deck, he felt nothing for this ship. It was such a strange feeling of conflicting emotions of familiarity and detachment that he had rarely felt in his career of captaining space ships, be it a cargo frigate, light attack ship or even a big bulky industrial ship. To Darius this ship was a stranger that he had yet to face.

The ship was a Minmatar Rupture class heavy cruiser, a design that Darius knew well. Darius' familiarity with the ship layout was due to the fact that he had owned one previously to this one. His last Rupture, marked with his corporations naval insignia of ANS (Anubis Naval Security) was called the Barbarosa and to him, that ship was familiar. That ship was home. He had lost his ship, the flag ship of his navy fleet, in an altercation with some angry pirate thieves while helping an old friend who works with the Republic Security Services. A malfunction with his sensory equipment on the ANS Barbarosa when dropping from warp meant that he was unable to detect how close he was getting to the two larger cruisers and his target locks kept dropping. It was a sad decision to be forced to eject from his pride and home, but one that would ultimately save his life as the cruisers lost sight of him in the debris and he was able to retreat to the safety of a near by station.

As the events replayed through his mind, Darius' concentration was broken by the rattle of the elevator platform as it locked in place at the command deck. Again the sense of familiarity washed over him as he took the first step into the heart of his new ship. Though it was not the same. It had only been 2 days since the loss of his flagship so the feelings were still there and Darius could recount the feelings he would have when he stepped onto the bridge of the Barbarosa. He could feel everything he felt in every engagement with pirates. The feelings of the shockwaves that would reverberate through every bulkhead in the sturdy ship as his shields absorbed another blow, or the sense of raw power as his heavy launchers would fire yet another salvo of cruise missiles. However, this ship felt bare, empty and hollow. She had yet to prove herself as worthy as the old ship and no matter how much Darius tried, he could not translate those experiences on to this ship. Despite the fact that they were the same model, he could not even convince himself that they were the same ship. Maybe it was best not to try, he knew in his heart that they were not the same.

As such, Darius came to the conclusion that he would not rename the new ship with the same as the old. He must find a new name for the ship to carry her new experiences and to seek her personality. She didn't even have any weapons yet, let alone a name or even a soul. 'All in good time' he thought as he prowled the deck and inspected the systems from the master consoles. When his checks were done, he was heartened to see that all systems were functioning perfectly. A good sign.

"Maybe this won't be so bad after all." He mused to himself as he strapped himself into the pod. After all, he always enjoyed putting a new ship through its paces.