There is always a certain amount of surprise when your shields fail in a Strategic Cruiser. It feels as if all the hair on your body is standing on end and something is slowly burning the tips off. You become accustomed to it, surprise rapidly building as your skin warms from a million points of flame that you know will never reach you. But this time it was different...
***
I had just emerged from a wormhole leading to system-J120704 after a mission to establish a new planetary base. 100,000 souls had signed on to operate the facility for me, each had signed for 10 years with a payout clause if they died on the mission. Families were displaced and taken with, or the smarter ones had opted for a portion of their salary to be transferred home at a regular basis. Little did they know I was planning never to return to system-J120704, instead relying on the planet side Fluid Router to keep tabs.
As the wormhole collapsed behind me I felt no guilt. The money they were being paid was excessive for anyone of their stature. The old adage “If it seems too good to be true, then it probably is” holds as fast as Tungsten Carbide in New Eden. The workers would enjoy a much higher standard of living in my facility, and when finished with it the Fluid Router will self-dismantle, leaving them to develop on their own safely. Lucky for me the Gallentean human rights laws don’t hold in W-Space.
***
Immediately upon docking my pod was transferred from the Wreathe-class hauler to the “Dervish X-1700”, my Loki-class Strategic Cruiser. Regardless of the millions of compatible reconfigurations available, its had stayed in the exact same format since it was given to me. After being apart from this ship for 6 months the feeling of home was overwhelming. But something felt different, like wearing someone elses clothes.
Then it came to me, my drone bay was not full. Strange, the original payload of six Warrior II scout drones was still present. I counted them again like stones in my pocket. Yes! Six drones, each taking 5m3 each is 30m3, the maximum for a Loki-class hull. And yet there were spaces for 4 more of the drones in the bay. Like everything on the ship the bays looked as is they had been installed yesterday.
Querying the stations infonet I discovered that the original Loki design had been reconfigured due to some legal nonsense sometime in the last few months. The changes had been propagated free of charge while I was away. The rest of the ships modules were still online so without thinking I flew out of the station. A request for assistance was coming through on the corporate channel.
Sefem Velox accepts applications from many young capsuleers. Oredreth is one of our youngest having graduated from the academy only a few days before joining. He was operating out of Isendeldik in the Heimatar region and the local Navy were requesting our assistance with a gate blockade. A fleet of Angel Cartel battlecruisers were calling in reinforcements from the surrounding systems to assist with the blockade. Normally I wouldn’t bother with such a trivial mission but supporting the newcomers is a personal prerogative.
During the flight fitting data was instantaneously shared between our implants, my superior training and experience molding his Rifter-class Frigate into a more suitable implement of destruction.
“Oredreth, Engage and destroy targets with low signature radius... Weapons free!”
The textbook response to a constantly reinforced fleet is to destroy targets in a particular order so as to cause the least threat. This way reinforcement always arrive too late and your ship is never swamped. “Dervish” had been in much worse situations so instead targets were dropping from the moment we dropped from warp. 200mm Autocannons were continuously cycled stopping only to reload, excess rounds soaring off into deep space as I continuously locked and tracked new targets.
[[Shields at 67%, activating Large Shield Booster II. Charging boost amplifiers to maximum. Invulnerability Fields status:holding]]
With the first ten ships reduced to radioactive slag there was a brief interlude as we burned towards more reinforcing ships. My cohort of Warrior II scout drones were slaved to Oredreths firecontrol matrix. The Angel Cartel are known for their fearlessness but not for their intellegence.
[[Target shields failing.. Target hull failing.. kill
[[Shields at 53%. Boosting.. 67%]]
[[Target shields failing.. Target hull failing.. kill
[[Tar.. Target hul.. kill
[[Shields at 42%. Boosting.. 56%]]
[[Target shields failing.. Target hull failing.. kill
[[Target shields failing.. Target hull failing.. kill
[[Target shields failing.. Tar..]]
[[** Priority. Shields at 33%. Saturation of regeneration matrices imminent. Boosting]]
[[Target shields failing.. Target hull failing.. kill
[[Shield failure. Minor Armor Damage . Boosting.. 10%]]
[[Target shields failing.. Target hull failing.. kill
[[Reinforcements arriving. Cartel ships: 23]]
[[Shield failure. Minor Armor Damage. Boosting.. 5%]]
[[Target shields failing.. Target hull failing.. kill
[[Shield failure. Minor Armor Damage. Boosting.. 3%]]
[[Overheating Large Shield Booster II. Operational parameters exceeded. Boosting. 22%]]
[[Target shields failing.. Target hull failing.. kill
[[Reinforcements arriving. Cartel ships: 37]]
Needles. White hot ones. Its like you are surrounded by them, each time you jerk away from one piercing you, another sears into your opposite flank. Something must be wrong. This craft has stood against fleets twice this size! Quickly my subconscious is assigned some spare neural co-processing power.
Kielen: “run full diagnostic and import fitting data into the external fitting tool software we downloaded.”
Kielen: “diagnostic confirms all modules and subsystem operating within 99.98% of design specifications. Regeneration Matrices Index shows 0.554kps”
[[Target shields failing.. Target hull failing.. kill
Kielen: “554! thats 50% lower than last time I flew this ship! Kielen, query last recorded Index and locate the variance point. What else can do wrong?”
[[Target shields failing.. Target hull failing.. kill
[[Reload warning: Cartridge depleted. Reserves at 15%]]
Kielen: “no variance to design specifications detected. Design Specifications have been modified since the last flight.”
[[Target shields failing.. Target hull failing.. kill
[[Target shields failing.. Target hull failing.. kill
[[Target shields failing.. Tar..]]
[[** Priority. Armor at 33%. Hull damage imminent. Boosting]]
[[Overheating 10mn Afterburner II. Operational parameters exceeded. Velocity 1710m/sec]]
[[Drones returning.
“Oredreth, prepare to retreat. Something is wrong”
[[Warp field stabilized. Warp]]
It is normally easy to hide your shame in the darkness of space, but the presence of a young mind full of adoration makes it impossible. A tactics simulation is run somewhere in the back of my mind VERY rapidly as Oredreth floats beside me patiently.
[[Tactics: Recommend: ]]
[[Fitting Bottleneck: Signature Radius]]
[[Priority: Elimination of Target Painters]]
[[Priority Target: Arch Gisti Nomads]]
[[Tactics: Recommend: ]]
[[Fitting Bottleneck: Kinetic Resist]]
[[Priority: Elimination of Kinetic Damage]]
[[Priority Target: Arch Gistum Defeater]]
[[Tactics: Recommend: ]]
[[Priority: Ammunition Replenishment. Recommend: Nuclear M]]
Typically the only ammunition available in this system is more than 50% above market average. Another capsuleer financially preying on the freshly graduated demographic of this system. The local market also has no Armor Repairers for sale.
“Oredreth, target priority Nomad and Defeater class enemies. Keep your velocity up you may encounter some target aggression”
I carefully selected a location to re-enter battle. About 60kms from the blockading fleet. Hitting my almost burnt out afterburner I directed the “Dervish” to fly across the face of the approaching enemy fleet. Four Arch Gisti Nomads, eager for the kill, carelessly allowed their higher velocity to carry them further and further from their friends. They lasted less than six seconds once they were within range.
The three Defeaters proved much harder to deal with. The entire fleet had me locked before we even fired a single round into them. Tactics simulation reported their superior hulls were deflecting exactly 74% of the damage dealt. As long as the simulation held true we would be ok.
[[Overheating 10mn Afterburner II. Operational parameters exceeded. Velocity 1710m/sec]]
[[Combat Orbit: 18kms. Accuracy falloff reduced to 47%]]
[[Shields at 97%. Boosting.. 100%]]
[[Shields at 84%. Boosting.. 98%]]
[[Target shields failing.. Target hull failing.. kill
[[Shields at 63%. Boosting.. 77%]]
[[Target shields failing.. Target hull failing.. kill
[[Shields at 47%. Boosting.. 61%]]
[[Target shields failing.. Target hull failing.. kill
[[Shields at 47%. Boosting.. 61%.. Holding]]
[[Warning: 10mn Afterburner II reaching critical heat levels. Midslot thermal bleeding causing significant damage. Velocity reduced to 710m/s]]
Once the priority targets were destroyed the Cartel fleet was quickly overwhelmed. My share of the “generous” payment from Republic Fleet was used immediately repairing my burned out systems and a good portion of the hull. At least we have another fast learning pilot for the ranks of Sefem Velox.
KD Out
