It's Fan Fiction Friday time! As normal there is an alternative blog post/website for you here if you're not interested in Eve related fiction and you'd, in the words of Edmund Blackadder, rather French kiss a skunk, then go here. It is a new Factional Warfare news site and worth a visit. Otherwise this battle write-up is another option.
Vengeance – Part 3
"Whey-hey! We've got a live one here!"
No! Not like this. Please, anything but this!
"Where do you think she thinks she's going?"
Soft female sobbing.
"I dunno, but it’s going to take her some time to get there crawling on the deck like that! Anyway it's my turn!"
"Hey egger. Listen to this! This should be fun! Its Horse's turn!"
Another scream.
The capsuleer woke with a shrill female scream of pain filling his ears. However, his quarters were silent. The Gallente dancer he'd met earlier was laying next to him asleep. Sweat dripped off him even though the temperature in his quarters was ideal. He got up and washed his face. He looked at his reflection in the mirror, he didn't look good. The stress had taken its toll on him, he looked like he'd aged 10 years in the last 18 months.
How many of those ships were piloted by capsuleers? How many of those didn't have a care in the universe. The freighter pilots with holds full of goods heading off to make their fortune, the militia pilots returning to the low-sec war zone, the missioners going to take down a pirate base or rescue a damsel in distress in return for a fistfull of ISK from some corporate agent?
Finally, he looked over at the table and its hologram projector and considered the AI councillor program. May be talking about it would help? However, he knew he'd likely just get another lecture about the path he was taking and who was in his bed. He couldn't be bothered with that so he sat down at the table and looked over the three view screens. He had them set up to show currently reported pirate activity. He looked around the systems in the Black Rise region, there was a lot of space for his targets to hide in. None of them had shown themselves yet, but his data was limited and soon became old. He needed the datapad from a Guristas captain. Only those pads were able to access the main databases of the Guristas network.
Gantor pondered if he should mobilise one of the Guristas special forces units he commanded. Taking a capsuleer down in space was difficult, and it was certainly impossible to kill them. They'd just reclone in a secure facility. He'd not find out what had happened to all the crews. He'd need to capture the capsuleer on a station when he was out of his ship. An almost impossible task, but it could be done. They'd trained for this sort of thing. However he decided against it for the time being. Something about this whole thing just wasn't right, and he wanted more information before bring others in on it.
"Lets see what this miner has to say for himself first." he thought.
-o0o-
"Whey-hey! We've got a live one here!"
No! Not like this. Please, anything but this!
"Where do you think she thinks she's going?"
Soft female sobbing.
"I dunno, but it’s going to take her some time to get there crawling on the deck like that! Anyway it's my turn!"
"Hey egger. Listen to this! This should be fun! Its Horse's turn!"
Another scream.
The capsuleer woke with a shrill female scream of pain filling his ears. However, his quarters were silent. The Gallente dancer he'd met earlier was laying next to him asleep. Sweat dripped off him even though the temperature in his quarters was ideal. He got up and washed his face. He looked at his reflection in the mirror, he didn't look good. The stress had taken its toll on him, he looked like he'd aged 10 years in the last 18 months.
He walked over towards the viewport. He'd paid extra for some quarters on the exterior of the Jita 4-4 station facing the undock. These short-term rental quarters came with a view, and a hefty price tag. He only envisaged staying here a few days, he needed to upgrade his ships weapons and this was the best station in the cluster to do it. It was also close to the low-sec region of Black Rise. He viewed the undock for a while, watching the ships slowly glide out of the station and align before vanishing into warp. It was relaxing.
How many of those ships were piloted by capsuleers? How many of those didn't have a care in the universe. The freighter pilots with holds full of goods heading off to make their fortune, the militia pilots returning to the low-sec war zone, the missioners going to take down a pirate base or rescue a damsel in distress in return for a fistfull of ISK from some corporate agent?
Finally, he looked over at the table and its hologram projector and considered the AI councillor program. May be talking about it would help? However, he knew he'd likely just get another lecture about the path he was taking and who was in his bed. He couldn't be bothered with that so he sat down at the table and looked over the three view screens. He had them set up to show currently reported pirate activity. He looked around the systems in the Black Rise region, there was a lot of space for his targets to hide in. None of them had shown themselves yet, but his data was limited and soon became old. He needed the datapad from a Guristas captain. Only those pads were able to access the main databases of the Guristas network.
He picked up his own datapad and keyed in a few commands. The Black Rise regional map zoomed down to the northern area, whose systems were only a few jumps from his current location. The pirates were busy today. He really should head out, he needed that datapad if he was going to move forward. He stood up and walked forward to the screens scrutinising the nearest systems.
He sensed movement behind him. He looked over his shoulder and saw the Gallente dancer with the sheet wrapped around her. She was smiling.
"No" he replied "I rarely can these days"
"Lets see what we can do about that. Sit back down."
"Couldn't sleep?" she asked.
"No" he replied "I rarely can these days"
"Lets see what we can do about that. Sit back down."
As he did she walked around the sofa and let the sheet fall to the floor before climbing on top of him, kissing him deeply and pulling his hands up to her chest as she lowered herself onto him.
An hour later they were both asleep in the bunk again.
"Yo! Fingers you want a turn?"
"Nah. I'm OK watching the entertainment with this 'un. We're enjoying the show aren't we babes? She must be enjoying it 'cus I can feel her enjoyment."
"Ha! Hear that egger? Apparently your daughter is enjoying the show with our Mellisa, we'll let you work out why we call her Fingers! We've still got a couple of guys to go so don't go anywhere will you?"
External factors prevent your warp drive from responding to this command.
For the second time that night the capsuleer woke in a cold sweat. However, this time he was not upset, he was angry.
-o0o-
"Missile salvo away, flight trajectory is A-OK, 5 seconds to impact."
Captain Vian watched the scourge missiles streak towards the helpless miner. As they struck home, the kinetic energy of their warheads slammed into the mining barge's shields making them shimmer against the blackness of deep space.
"Idiot civilians trying to make a fast buck in low-sec" he muttered.
"He is at 45% shields sir. Another dozen volleys and we should be able to begin negotiations."
The light missiles from the Kestrel frigate were not ideal against a tough mining barge, but Captain Vian had taken the risk. It had paid off too, the drone bay of the barge had been filled with mining drones. If the miner had stocked defensive combat drones they'd have been in serious trouble.
"Sir! New contact! Assault frigate on field! Thirty five clicks at one-eight-five mark two-ten."
Vian looked at his tactical display. A capsuleer. He'd be in range in within a minute, probably less.
"SIR!"
Vian watched his tactical read-out as the velocity of the Harpy jumped from 300 metres per second to well over 2000.
"Shit! He's got a micro warp drive on that thing! Helm get us out of here!"
Before the frigate could align the Harpy was on top of them. It's warp scrambler sending a graviton beam straight into the heart of their wrap drive disabling it. The neutron blasters of the assault frigate cut the Kestrel to pieces before they could even fire a single rack of missiles in self-defense.
It was almost ten minutes later when the captain started to come around. His head was throbbing and he was disorientated.
"Captain? Captain Vian! Are you OK?" the familiar voice of his XO sounded echoy and disembodied. The captains head slowly started to clear and he struggled to his feet with the XO supporting him, he realised he was in an escape pod.
"How'd I get here?"
"We dragged you sir. The initial volley from that Harpy disabled us and bust up the bridge pretty bad. A falling cross-beam hit your head and knocked you out cold. We were just able to get you into the escape pod before the ship was lost."
"Survivors?"
"A few sir, we're picking up several other escape pod beacons around the wreckage site. I'd estimate no more than two-dozen or so souls. We've had an automated message from the Sisters that says they've detected our distress beacon and ships are on the way. ETA 4 hours. The Harpy is still out there. We assuming it's looting or waiting for our backup to arrive so it can attack them too...." the XO was cut off as the escape pod lurched.
"What is happening?"
One of the crew rushed to a viewport.
"The Harpy! My god! Its pulling us in!"
-o0o-
The capsuleer was sat at a dining at the table eating when Captian Vian was brought in. Two guards escorted him to the table and he was pushed into the chair opposite the capsuleer.
"Good evening Captain." the capsuleer said in greeting.
"Same to you, egger. Got to say this is a first. I've been taken down by your kind before, but the first time I've been 'invited' to dinner after. You've got it completely the wrong way round. You're suppose to buy me dinner before you fuck me!"
"Did you buy the crew of that mining barge dinner before you attacked then?"
Vian stayed silent.
"First time I've actually got a Captain." The capsuleer pulled a small datapad from his pocket and tossed it at Vian who caught it.
"There are seven names there, comrades of yours. I need to find them"
Vian put the datapad down on the table without looking at it and sat back in the chair and folded his arms.
"No way!"
"Fine!" said the capsuleer "Computer! Security camera drone, cargo bay 1!"
The big screen in the room activated and showed the view of cargo bay one. Over two dozen people were stood there in Guristas uniforms. Vian looked at the screen nervously. He recognised his surviving crew.
"Life forms detected in cargobay. Please evacuate before issuing command." the robotic voice of the computer replied.
"Override safety protocols. Command code - gamma, four, eight, two, delta."
"Override code accepted. Outer door opening sequence commencing."
Large orange strobes started flashing at the far end of the cargo bay at each corner of the massive door. The crew members started to panic as the alarm went off. Scrambling desperately for doors and hatches only to find them all locked, sealed and secured.
"Warning. Outer door opening. 30 seconds before seals are released. Evacuate cargo bay!" the robotic voice of the computer flooded the small dining room along with the terrified screams of the Guristas crew.
"You fracking animal!" Vian tried to rise from the chair but a guard place a heavy hand on his shoulder and forced him back down into his seat. The capsuleer just sat there, cutting another chunk off his thick bloody steak, glancing up at the screen between bites.
"Warning. Outer door opening. 20 seconds before seals are released. Evacuate cargo bay!"
Vian picked up his datapad and looked at the names the capsuleer had provided. He quickly grabbed his own datapad and accessed the Guristas network.
"OK, OK. I've got a few systems where each of them have been recently from recent kill-reports. Now deactivate that outer door!"
"Warning. Outer door opening. 10 seconds before seals are released. Evacuate cargo bay!"
The capsuleer just turned to the screen and sat in slience.
"Warning. Outer door opening. 5 seconds before seals are released. Evacuate cargo bay!"
"NO! YOU BASTARD! I DID WHAT YOU WANTED!"
"3, 2, 1.... Doors opening!"
The guards had to pin Vian down to the chain as the cargo bay door opened. However, there was no hiss of escaping air, no blackness the other side of the door, just a brightly lit hanger and a number of armed guards.
"We really need to get the pressure sensor on the outside of cargo bay one's door fixed. It keeps thinking its a vacuum when we're safely docked in station"
Vian just sat there, deflated. He'd been played.
"Thanks for this." the capsuleer said whilst scooping both datapads up. "Put him with his crew and ship them to the facility." he said to the guards.
Vian left with the men in silence.
-o0o-
"Sir, we've caught a break!"
Gantor looked up from his desk, his assistant was stood in the doorway.
"We've had another incident with that capsuleer. However, this time there was a miner at the belt where the engagement took place. He was shooting his mouth off in a bar later that day how the egger saved him from one of our ships and even saw them take the surviving crew alive. One of our agents overheard him and got a positive ID on the miner."
Gantor smiled. A break at last.
"I want that miner tagged and bagged and brought here ASAP" Gantor said. If it was all true, may be that miner could give them a name. May be he could find out what the hell was going on here!
"Yes sir!" the aide quickly left.
An hour later they were both asleep in the bunk again.
"Yo! Fingers you want a turn?"
"Nah. I'm OK watching the entertainment with this 'un. We're enjoying the show aren't we babes? She must be enjoying it 'cus I can feel her enjoyment."
"Ha! Hear that egger? Apparently your daughter is enjoying the show with our Mellisa, we'll let you work out why we call her Fingers! We've still got a couple of guys to go so don't go anywhere will you?"
External factors prevent your warp drive from responding to this command.
For the second time that night the capsuleer woke in a cold sweat. However, this time he was not upset, he was angry.
-o0o-
"Missile salvo away, flight trajectory is A-OK, 5 seconds to impact."
Captain Vian watched the scourge missiles streak towards the helpless miner. As they struck home, the kinetic energy of their warheads slammed into the mining barge's shields making them shimmer against the blackness of deep space.
"Idiot civilians trying to make a fast buck in low-sec" he muttered.
"He is at 45% shields sir. Another dozen volleys and we should be able to begin negotiations."
The light missiles from the Kestrel frigate were not ideal against a tough mining barge, but Captain Vian had taken the risk. It had paid off too, the drone bay of the barge had been filled with mining drones. If the miner had stocked defensive combat drones they'd have been in serious trouble.
"Sir! New contact! Assault frigate on field! Thirty five clicks at one-eight-five mark two-ten."
Vian looked at his tactical display. A capsuleer. He'd be in range in within a minute, probably less.
"Hold position, keep firing on the barge. We've got time before he's got us in range. I want that barge......."
"SIR!"
Vian watched his tactical read-out as the velocity of the Harpy jumped from 300 metres per second to well over 2000.
"Shit! He's got a micro warp drive on that thing! Helm get us out of here!"
Before the frigate could align the Harpy was on top of them. It's warp scrambler sending a graviton beam straight into the heart of their wrap drive disabling it. The neutron blasters of the assault frigate cut the Kestrel to pieces before they could even fire a single rack of missiles in self-defense.
It was almost ten minutes later when the captain started to come around. His head was throbbing and he was disorientated.
"Captain? Captain Vian! Are you OK?" the familiar voice of his XO sounded echoy and disembodied. The captains head slowly started to clear and he struggled to his feet with the XO supporting him, he realised he was in an escape pod.
"How'd I get here?"
"We dragged you sir. The initial volley from that Harpy disabled us and bust up the bridge pretty bad. A falling cross-beam hit your head and knocked you out cold. We were just able to get you into the escape pod before the ship was lost."
"Survivors?"
"A few sir, we're picking up several other escape pod beacons around the wreckage site. I'd estimate no more than two-dozen or so souls. We've had an automated message from the Sisters that says they've detected our distress beacon and ships are on the way. ETA 4 hours. The Harpy is still out there. We assuming it's looting or waiting for our backup to arrive so it can attack them too...." the XO was cut off as the escape pod lurched.
"What is happening?"
One of the crew rushed to a viewport.
"The Harpy! My god! Its pulling us in!"
-o0o-
The capsuleer was sat at a dining at the table eating when Captian Vian was brought in. Two guards escorted him to the table and he was pushed into the chair opposite the capsuleer.
"Good evening Captain." the capsuleer said in greeting.
"Same to you, egger. Got to say this is a first. I've been taken down by your kind before, but the first time I've been 'invited' to dinner after. You've got it completely the wrong way round. You're suppose to buy me dinner before you fuck me!"
"Did you buy the crew of that mining barge dinner before you attacked then?"
Vian stayed silent.
"First time I've actually got a Captain." The capsuleer pulled a small datapad from his pocket and tossed it at Vian who caught it.
"There are seven names there, comrades of yours. I need to find them"
Vian put the datapad down on the table without looking at it and sat back in the chair and folded his arms.
"No way!"
"Fine!" said the capsuleer "Computer! Security camera drone, cargo bay 1!"
The big screen in the room activated and showed the view of cargo bay one. Over two dozen people were stood there in Guristas uniforms. Vian looked at the screen nervously. He recognised his surviving crew.
"Computer. Cargo bay one. Open outer doors."
"Life forms detected in cargobay. Please evacuate before issuing command." the robotic voice of the computer replied.
"Override safety protocols. Command code - gamma, four, eight, two, delta."
"Override code accepted. Outer door opening sequence commencing."
Large orange strobes started flashing at the far end of the cargo bay at each corner of the massive door. The crew members started to panic as the alarm went off. Scrambling desperately for doors and hatches only to find them all locked, sealed and secured.
"Warning. Outer door opening. 30 seconds before seals are released. Evacuate cargo bay!" the robotic voice of the computer flooded the small dining room along with the terrified screams of the Guristas crew.
"You fracking animal!" Vian tried to rise from the chair but a guard place a heavy hand on his shoulder and forced him back down into his seat. The capsuleer just sat there, cutting another chunk off his thick bloody steak, glancing up at the screen between bites.
"Warning. Outer door opening. 20 seconds before seals are released. Evacuate cargo bay!"
Vian picked up his datapad and looked at the names the capsuleer had provided. He quickly grabbed his own datapad and accessed the Guristas network.
"OK, OK. I've got a few systems where each of them have been recently from recent kill-reports. Now deactivate that outer door!"
"Warning. Outer door opening. 10 seconds before seals are released. Evacuate cargo bay!"
The capsuleer just turned to the screen and sat in slience.
"Warning. Outer door opening. 5 seconds before seals are released. Evacuate cargo bay!"
"NO! YOU BASTARD! I DID WHAT YOU WANTED!"
"3, 2, 1.... Doors opening!"
The guards had to pin Vian down to the chain as the cargo bay door opened. However, there was no hiss of escaping air, no blackness the other side of the door, just a brightly lit hanger and a number of armed guards.
"We really need to get the pressure sensor on the outside of cargo bay one's door fixed. It keeps thinking its a vacuum when we're safely docked in station"
Vian just sat there, deflated. He'd been played.
"Thanks for this." the capsuleer said whilst scooping both datapads up. "Put him with his crew and ship them to the facility." he said to the guards.
Vian left with the men in silence.
-o0o-
"Sir, we've caught a break!"
Gantor looked up from his desk, his assistant was stood in the doorway.
"We've had another incident with that capsuleer. However, this time there was a miner at the belt where the engagement took place. He was shooting his mouth off in a bar later that day how the egger saved him from one of our ships and even saw them take the surviving crew alive. One of our agents overheard him and got a positive ID on the miner."
Gantor smiled. A break at last.
"I want that miner tagged and bagged and brought here ASAP" Gantor said. If it was all true, may be that miner could give them a name. May be he could find out what the hell was going on here!
"Yes sir!" the aide quickly left.
Gantor pondered if he should mobilise one of the Guristas special forces units he commanded. Taking a capsuleer down in space was difficult, and it was certainly impossible to kill them. They'd just reclone in a secure facility. He'd not find out what had happened to all the crews. He'd need to capture the capsuleer on a station when he was out of his ship. An almost impossible task, but it could be done. They'd trained for this sort of thing. However he decided against it for the time being. Something about this whole thing just wasn't right, and he wanted more information before bring others in on it.
"Lets see what this miner has to say for himself first." he thought.
-o0o-
You know, ever since you started using the word 'facility' it makes me wonder what is there awaiting the poor Guristas crew when they arrive there...
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