Special word of thanks to mark726. I knew I had read that one of thee two Guristas leaders had a podding accident that had left him "different" but couldn't find the reference. mark726 led me here - http://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/The_Spirit_of_Crielere#Chapter_7. Ah the good old days when CCP gave us stories like that.
As my suggested alternative for those not into fan fiction I suggested you check this out at Through Newb Eyes which lists the current developments that are coming in the winter expansion. When you look at it listed out like that, there are a lot of changes!
Vengeance – Part 4
"Oh crap. Look at the mess she's making!"
Pitiful sobs.
"Well you did give Slasher a turn! Where do you think he gets his name from? The way he pisses?"
Laughter echos.
"Well I ain't cleaning all that up! OK who is left?"
"Just The Bull."
"Ooooo saving the best until last! Bull! She's all yours! Best be quick!"
More screams.
The capsuleer woke sobbing. He slammed his fist into the wall at the side of his bunk in rage. He rose and showered before walking to the pod gantry. A look of determination on his face.
The tactical screens in his quarters showed his targets locations. He didn't bother to review them again, only two of the pirates where together. The other five were on separate ships or in separate stations. However, they were all a distance away from his current location before he went to sleep and it was unlikely that had changed over the last few hours.
He stood on the pod gantry and activated the capsule sequence. He stood with his back to the pod, waiting for the snake like connections to interface with his body, waiting for the blackness.
Once he was in his pod and inside the assault ship, the Harpy undocked from the station and warped to the stargate. He had moved down from Jita into Nourvukaiken in the last few days. This was a major staging system for those capsuleers who ventured into low-sec, but preferred to live in hi-sec. Once he was into the system of Tama and into low-sec he made a number of jumps, putting some distance between himself and the higher security systems. Finally he decided he had gone deep enough into low-sec and went to work. He warped from asteroid belt to asteroid belt. Every pirate ship he found he destroyed. This time not stopping to capture prisoners, there was no need, he had what he wanted from the crews. This time he simply wanted to destroy their ships. In his mind every one of those ships he took down meant another pirate ship out of business and the chance of someone else suffering what he went though was diminished. He'd pause before the final volley on each ship, giving them the best chance to evacuate before annihilating the ship. After three hours he'd destroyed over 20 Guristas vessels and headed back to hi-sec.
The capsuleer docked back in station, showered and changed before heading down to the lower decks. With his rage subsided, he needed a drink, and to forget.
-o0o-
The miner sat in front of Gantor in his office in the Guristas headquarters station. The small man looked terrified. Gantor pulled the bottle of whisky out of his desk and poured him a drink.
"Have a drink and relax. I'm not going to hurt you. You simply saw something I was interested in. A capsuleer saved you from one of my ships. All I want is for you to tell me about that and then you'll be returned, unharmed, to your own station."
The miner just stared at Gantor in terror. Slowly he reached for the drink almost spilling the contents with his shaking hands. Gantor supposed he couldn't blame the man. After Jirai "Fatal" Laitanen's cloning "mishap", Korako "The Rabbit" Kosakami had taken over the running of the Guristas pirate faction almost entirely. "Mishap" was the nice way of putting it. In truth Fatal had simply bought a cheap clone as he was of the opinion he'd never get podded so why waste the money. The memory loss and mobility problems he'd suffered after he had been podded following the Crielere incident meant he was in no state to lead the faction and the Rabbit had been promoted from joint to sole leader. Gantor was the Rabbit's right-hand-man and therefore was seen as the second most powerful member of the Guristas faction currently.
"Well?"
"I.... I don't know what to say. I was mining and suddenly this Kestrel of yours warps in and gets a point on me. I'm ready to jump into the escape pod as I thinks I's dead. Then this Harpy turns up. Moved like plasma lightning it did. One second its dozens of clicks away, next it's on top of that Kestrel and destroys it."
"Did he warp off afterwards?"
"No, I assumed he was salvaging. He got right amongst the wreckage and then he grabbed each of the escape pods, but I didn't hang around to see what happened next. I learnt my lesson, you guys own the belts. I got out of there."
"And what was his name?"
"I don't know, he was an egger. Wait, let me check the ships logs on my datapad." the miner pulled his datapad out, brought up the logs and slid it across to Gantor.
Gantor read the warp scramble notification and felt a glimmer of recollection as he saw the eggers name.
"Thank you. You'll be returned to station, oh, and do I need to tell you that if you ever make mention of this meeting, we'll kill you."
The miner just swallowed hard and nodded several times, he was escorted out of the office by the guards.
Gantor’s aide, who was stood in the corner, approached.
"I saw your face. The logs show something. Who is it?"
"The transponder on that ship must have been faked. Apparently, our ship was destroyed by a fiction character. It's crew taken by force by somebody from a story, some make-believe. In fact the official line is that egger probably doesn't exist."
"Sorry sir, I don't follow."
"Our faction and this egger officially have never crossed paths. That is because that entire incident was suppose to have been found to be a fictitious story. Lies, we thought, spread to instill animosity against us by another faction. It was about a year and a half ago. We were negotiating a protection arrangement with a megacorp at the time. There were other parties also looking to 'help' them. This story surfaced towards the end of the negotiations, making us look very bad. An internal investigation was conducted, no evidence was found that the event actually occurred. The file was closed, concluding one of our competitors made it up to harm our chances of winning the work. A smear campaign apparently and that was the end of it."
"And now sir?"
"Well, I think we need to reopen those files."
-o0o-
"Hey egger. We've popped your family back in their escape pod and set them adrift next to your pod. Your wife is, well, at least she's still alive, currently. Your daughter is in one piece, although not as innocent as she arrived thanks to our Melissa. Anyway, we'll reactive the comms so you can chat"
"Dad! Dad? Can you hear me! We need help. Moms hurt badly. Dad?"
"Oh yeah sorry. We only reactivated one-way comms. They cannot hear you."
"Dad! Are you there. Please. I cannot stop the bleeding. The things they did to her! The medi-kit isn't here!"
"Oh crap! Righto..... which one of your filthy pirate scum stole the medi-kit from that escape pod whilst it was here?"
Lots of laughter.
"Right. Let's reactivate the comms fully so they can speak and they know that daddy didn't abandon them. Anyone know which button we mapped it too? It's one of these two..... I think. One is activate the smart-bomb, the other is activate two-way comms. Neither button is labelled! Bloody pirates! Always doing half a job Let’s try this one here! Oh..... whoops!"
NO!
The capsuleer woke screaming in rage. The woman in his bed cowered back against the wall in fear, clutching the thin white sheet to her chest. He swung his feet off the bunk and staggered to the sink before vomiting. He was only partially aware of the young woman grabbing her clothes and payment and leaving in a hurry almost half dressed.
As he regained his composure he saw a red light blinking on one of the view screens. The sight made him quickly recover, anger flashed in his eyes. Some of his targets were near. Captain Vian's decoded datapad had given him much more than just a region. After his contact had bypassed the security protocols he'd been able to access the personnel files and he had tracked his targets to specific ships. He'd then been able to access the transponder list of those various ships. He finally had eyes on each of them.
The Capsuleer showered and entered his capsule. The Harpy was in space within seconds of his pod docking with the assault frigate. His prey was near and he wasn't going to let this opportunity go.
As my suggested alternative for those not into fan fiction I suggested you check this out at Through Newb Eyes which lists the current developments that are coming in the winter expansion. When you look at it listed out like that, there are a lot of changes!
Vengeance – Part 4
"Oh crap. Look at the mess she's making!"
Pitiful sobs.
"Well you did give Slasher a turn! Where do you think he gets his name from? The way he pisses?"
Laughter echos.
"Well I ain't cleaning all that up! OK who is left?"
"Just The Bull."
"Ooooo saving the best until last! Bull! She's all yours! Best be quick!"
More screams.
The capsuleer woke sobbing. He slammed his fist into the wall at the side of his bunk in rage. He rose and showered before walking to the pod gantry. A look of determination on his face.
The tactical screens in his quarters showed his targets locations. He didn't bother to review them again, only two of the pirates where together. The other five were on separate ships or in separate stations. However, they were all a distance away from his current location before he went to sleep and it was unlikely that had changed over the last few hours.
He stood on the pod gantry and activated the capsule sequence. He stood with his back to the pod, waiting for the snake like connections to interface with his body, waiting for the blackness.
Once he was in his pod and inside the assault ship, the Harpy undocked from the station and warped to the stargate. He had moved down from Jita into Nourvukaiken in the last few days. This was a major staging system for those capsuleers who ventured into low-sec, but preferred to live in hi-sec. Once he was into the system of Tama and into low-sec he made a number of jumps, putting some distance between himself and the higher security systems. Finally he decided he had gone deep enough into low-sec and went to work. He warped from asteroid belt to asteroid belt. Every pirate ship he found he destroyed. This time not stopping to capture prisoners, there was no need, he had what he wanted from the crews. This time he simply wanted to destroy their ships. In his mind every one of those ships he took down meant another pirate ship out of business and the chance of someone else suffering what he went though was diminished. He'd pause before the final volley on each ship, giving them the best chance to evacuate before annihilating the ship. After three hours he'd destroyed over 20 Guristas vessels and headed back to hi-sec.
-o0o-
The miner sat in front of Gantor in his office in the Guristas headquarters station. The small man looked terrified. Gantor pulled the bottle of whisky out of his desk and poured him a drink.
"Have a drink and relax. I'm not going to hurt you. You simply saw something I was interested in. A capsuleer saved you from one of my ships. All I want is for you to tell me about that and then you'll be returned, unharmed, to your own station."
The miner just stared at Gantor in terror. Slowly he reached for the drink almost spilling the contents with his shaking hands. Gantor supposed he couldn't blame the man. After Jirai "Fatal" Laitanen's cloning "mishap", Korako "The Rabbit" Kosakami had taken over the running of the Guristas pirate faction almost entirely. "Mishap" was the nice way of putting it. In truth Fatal had simply bought a cheap clone as he was of the opinion he'd never get podded so why waste the money. The memory loss and mobility problems he'd suffered after he had been podded following the Crielere incident meant he was in no state to lead the faction and the Rabbit had been promoted from joint to sole leader. Gantor was the Rabbit's right-hand-man and therefore was seen as the second most powerful member of the Guristas faction currently.
"Well?"
"I.... I don't know what to say. I was mining and suddenly this Kestrel of yours warps in and gets a point on me. I'm ready to jump into the escape pod as I thinks I's dead. Then this Harpy turns up. Moved like plasma lightning it did. One second its dozens of clicks away, next it's on top of that Kestrel and destroys it."
"Did he warp off afterwards?"
"No, I assumed he was salvaging. He got right amongst the wreckage and then he grabbed each of the escape pods, but I didn't hang around to see what happened next. I learnt my lesson, you guys own the belts. I got out of there."
"And what was his name?"
"I don't know, he was an egger. Wait, let me check the ships logs on my datapad." the miner pulled his datapad out, brought up the logs and slid it across to Gantor.
"Thank you. You'll be returned to station, oh, and do I need to tell you that if you ever make mention of this meeting, we'll kill you."
The miner just swallowed hard and nodded several times, he was escorted out of the office by the guards.
Gantor’s aide, who was stood in the corner, approached.
"I saw your face. The logs show something. Who is it?"
"The transponder on that ship must have been faked. Apparently, our ship was destroyed by a fiction character. It's crew taken by force by somebody from a story, some make-believe. In fact the official line is that egger probably doesn't exist."
"Sorry sir, I don't follow."
"Our faction and this egger officially have never crossed paths. That is because that entire incident was suppose to have been found to be a fictitious story. Lies, we thought, spread to instill animosity against us by another faction. It was about a year and a half ago. We were negotiating a protection arrangement with a megacorp at the time. There were other parties also looking to 'help' them. This story surfaced towards the end of the negotiations, making us look very bad. An internal investigation was conducted, no evidence was found that the event actually occurred. The file was closed, concluding one of our competitors made it up to harm our chances of winning the work. A smear campaign apparently and that was the end of it."
"And now sir?"
"Well, I think we need to reopen those files."
-o0o-
"Hey egger. We've popped your family back in their escape pod and set them adrift next to your pod. Your wife is, well, at least she's still alive, currently. Your daughter is in one piece, although not as innocent as she arrived thanks to our Melissa. Anyway, we'll reactive the comms so you can chat"
"Dad! Dad? Can you hear me! We need help. Moms hurt badly. Dad?"
"Oh yeah sorry. We only reactivated one-way comms. They cannot hear you."
"Dad! Are you there. Please. I cannot stop the bleeding. The things they did to her! The medi-kit isn't here!"
"Oh crap! Righto..... which one of your filthy pirate scum stole the medi-kit from that escape pod whilst it was here?"
Lots of laughter.
"Right. Let's reactivate the comms fully so they can speak and they know that daddy didn't abandon them. Anyone know which button we mapped it too? It's one of these two..... I think. One is activate the smart-bomb, the other is activate two-way comms. Neither button is labelled! Bloody pirates! Always doing half a job Let’s try this one here! Oh..... whoops!"
NO!
The capsuleer woke screaming in rage. The woman in his bed cowered back against the wall in fear, clutching the thin white sheet to her chest. He swung his feet off the bunk and staggered to the sink before vomiting. He was only partially aware of the young woman grabbing her clothes and payment and leaving in a hurry almost half dressed.
As he regained his composure he saw a red light blinking on one of the view screens. The sight made him quickly recover, anger flashed in his eyes. Some of his targets were near. Captain Vian's decoded datapad had given him much more than just a region. After his contact had bypassed the security protocols he'd been able to access the personnel files and he had tracked his targets to specific ships. He'd then been able to access the transponder list of those various ships. He finally had eyes on each of them.
After seven jumps he was close. He started scanning the asteroid belts assuming that the pirates would be laying in wait for some unsuspecting prey. On the 4th belt in the system he got a hit. A Moa class cruiser. It was time.
-o0o-
Captain Vian felt the shuttle drop out of warp. He pressed his face against a viewport. He could see a capsuleer structure ahead in orbit around a small moon. Vian saw the configuration. It was popularly known as a "death star". A large control tower surrounded by heavy defences. He could see multiple hardeners within the shield and a single habitation module. Outside of the shield were multiple gun and missile batteries as well as electronic warfare modules. Any ship warping to this location that wasn't seen as friendly by the automated defense systems would be cut to pieces.
-o0o-
Captain Vian felt the shuttle drop out of warp. He pressed his face against a viewport. He could see a capsuleer structure ahead in orbit around a small moon. Vian saw the configuration. It was popularly known as a "death star". A large control tower surrounded by heavy defences. He could see multiple hardeners within the shield and a single habitation module. Outside of the shield were multiple gun and missile batteries as well as electronic warfare modules. Any ship warping to this location that wasn't seen as friendly by the automated defense systems would be cut to pieces.
The shuttle passed inside the shield and approached the hab-mod. With a jolt they locked onto a docking arm. The internal communications of the shuttle crackled into life.
"Now hear this. In thirty seconds we will open the starboard hatch. It will remain open for 60 seconds. More than enough time for you to exit. After that the starboard hatch will close and the port hatch will open. Hopefully you can all see there is nothing but the vacuum of space that side of the ship. Therefore, anyone left inside the ship at that time will be flushed into space like a turd. I hope I've made myself clear."
Vian knew the voice over the comms wasn't the same as the capsuleer. It must be a pilot on his payroll. As the starboard hatch opened, Vian waited at the side and counted his crew through. Once he was sure everyone had left the shuttle he exited as well. He followed the two dozen crew down the docking arm until it opened up into a massive room. It reminded him a bit of a low-cost Caldari beach apartment block, but he could see what it was, a prison. A large central plaza surrounded with multiple levels of walkways with doors equally spaced around the edges. People were milling all around and stopped what they were doing when the new arrivals entered. Vian pushed his way to the front.
"Who's in charge here?" he asked loudly.
"That would be me." a short man rose from a table, he wore a Guristas officer uniform. "Lieutenant Commander Biggs. XO of the Moa class cruiser Super Nova."
"Captain Vian. And my ship was ripped to pieces by that egger. What is this place?"
"Sir, good to have a captain here. I guess you're in charge now. We call this place Hotel Egg and that's as much as we know. All the people here are Guristas, captured by the same capsuleer. This is the first time so many crew has arrived at once I have to say. Usually it's between four and six, you know from a single escape pod."
Vian looked at the people all around.
"Four to six per ship? But there are so many people here. He must have taken down dozens of our ships!"
"Aye sir. Tale is always the same. He takes down one of our ships. Scans for the highest ranking officer. Captures them alive. Forces them to help him try and locate a number of our comrades and then dumps us here on our own."
"On our own? No guards?"
"No sir. It's a self contained facility. We've got quarters, mess halls and galleys with stores. There are holo-vid suites, games rooms, even a zero-G sports hall. We're self sufficient. The stores are well stocked and that includes proper drink. It might be a prison, but we're got food and entertainment to last us a life time. To be honest, the living conditions here are better than the average cruiser, but its still a prison I'm afraid."
"I assume you've at least tried to escape?"
"Not me personally sir. I can introduce you to some of the older residents who have been here a few months who can explain the situation to you. There are automated defense systems, a few of the first arrivals tried to escape. All the exits from our areas are covered by sentry guns, laser traps, fly-mines, that sort of thing. Even if you could get past all that to the outer hatches, there would you go? A ship would need to dock here to pick you up and you'd need a large capsuleer fleet to get past the POS defenses. I know it sounds bad sir, but you might as well accept we're stuck here for now."
-o0o-
"Now hear this. In thirty seconds we will open the starboard hatch. It will remain open for 60 seconds. More than enough time for you to exit. After that the starboard hatch will close and the port hatch will open. Hopefully you can all see there is nothing but the vacuum of space that side of the ship. Therefore, anyone left inside the ship at that time will be flushed into space like a turd. I hope I've made myself clear."
Vian knew the voice over the comms wasn't the same as the capsuleer. It must be a pilot on his payroll. As the starboard hatch opened, Vian waited at the side and counted his crew through. Once he was sure everyone had left the shuttle he exited as well. He followed the two dozen crew down the docking arm until it opened up into a massive room. It reminded him a bit of a low-cost Caldari beach apartment block, but he could see what it was, a prison. A large central plaza surrounded with multiple levels of walkways with doors equally spaced around the edges. People were milling all around and stopped what they were doing when the new arrivals entered. Vian pushed his way to the front.
"Who's in charge here?" he asked loudly.
"That would be me." a short man rose from a table, he wore a Guristas officer uniform. "Lieutenant Commander Biggs. XO of the Moa class cruiser Super Nova."
"Captain Vian. And my ship was ripped to pieces by that egger. What is this place?"
"Sir, good to have a captain here. I guess you're in charge now. We call this place Hotel Egg and that's as much as we know. All the people here are Guristas, captured by the same capsuleer. This is the first time so many crew has arrived at once I have to say. Usually it's between four and six, you know from a single escape pod."
Vian looked at the people all around.
"Four to six per ship? But there are so many people here. He must have taken down dozens of our ships!"
"Aye sir. Tale is always the same. He takes down one of our ships. Scans for the highest ranking officer. Captures them alive. Forces them to help him try and locate a number of our comrades and then dumps us here on our own."
"On our own? No guards?"
"No sir. It's a self contained facility. We've got quarters, mess halls and galleys with stores. There are holo-vid suites, games rooms, even a zero-G sports hall. We're self sufficient. The stores are well stocked and that includes proper drink. It might be a prison, but we're got food and entertainment to last us a life time. To be honest, the living conditions here are better than the average cruiser, but its still a prison I'm afraid."
"I assume you've at least tried to escape?"
"Not me personally sir. I can introduce you to some of the older residents who have been here a few months who can explain the situation to you. There are automated defense systems, a few of the first arrivals tried to escape. All the exits from our areas are covered by sentry guns, laser traps, fly-mines, that sort of thing. Even if you could get past all that to the outer hatches, there would you go? A ship would need to dock here to pick you up and you'd need a large capsuleer fleet to get past the POS defenses. I know it sounds bad sir, but you might as well accept we're stuck here for now."
-o0o-
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