Security: 0.6
The strategic cruiser, registered by CONCORD and designated "The Despair of Heretics," slid out of warp ten kilometers out from the Hostni gate, silent but uncloaked, it's massive Tech II pulse lasers deactivated. As the warp bubble collapsed, and space-time resolved itself around the Amarrian cruiser, the on-board navcom identified only four CONCORD frigates and a single CONCORD battlecruiser patrolling the gate, as a single Hulk struggled towards it's next jump on what was likely the end of a month long ore-haul out of nullsec, judging by the scarred plating and faulty drivecore on the massive exhumer. None seemed to either notice, or care about the appearance of the cruiser, so Akai eased up to full speed while still keeping an eye on the navcom, expecting at any minute a full blackops strikeforce to light a cyno and warp the whole fleet right on top of him.
About four clicks from the gate, he began to relax, slowly easing his mind back from flipping the "oh-shit" button, cloaking up and warping out before any cynosural fields started lighting up around him. Just then, a single Purifier-class stealth bomber suddenly appeared out of nowhere about fifteen clicks away from him, and quickly fired his engines and just as quickly disappeared as his cloak re-engaged; the slow moving Hulk, unaware of the bomber waiting in its path, came within the two kilometer limit of cloaking devices, most likely due to the pilot's focus upon Akai's Legion. Instantly, Akai flipped all five of his pulse turrets online, fired up his microwarp drive and braced himself inside the pod as the cruiser accelerated from about 183 m/s to around 1.3 k/s.
Heading directly for the last known coordinates of the Purifier, Akai curved first left then right, and then suddenly pulled an ancient maneuver known as a "Crazy Ivan," completely reversing direction while corkscrewing in a wide arc. All in an attempt to hopefully bump into the bomber, or at the very least come within two clicks to decloak it. The stealth bomber however, had different plans, as Aura (the shipboard VI) calmly notified Akai of a targeted lock: Purifier-class stealth bomber, twenty clicks out and closing fast.
Despite all of Akai's fancy flying, the pilot had apparently warped out under cloak, only to warp back in uncloaked exactly twenty three kilometers behind Akai's cruiser, directly within an EMP torpedo's optimal range. Before he could even finish executing a 180 degree turn, Akai noticed three torpedoes already streaking toward him, with another three more almost right behind them. Quickly overheating his microwarp drive, he spun out of the turn at close to 2 k/s, and dodged the first wave of unguided EMP torpedoes, only to take the next volley head-on.
Status showed that at least half of his shields were gone, but none of the internal systems were affected; turning off the microwarp drive to cool it down before it melted down, Akai opened fire with all five pulse turrets, each loaded with the very expensive but powerful Conflagration focus crystals. The frigate-sized Purifier shattered under the first salvo, exploding in a shower of metal and plasma discharge, but unexpectedly left a capsuleer's pod behind, despite the bomber's lack of CONCORD registry.
Scanners detected lifesigns within the pod, but noted that the pod was damaged in the explosion and it's drivecore had detonated in a secondary explosion, leaving it adrift with life-support failing. Making a split decision, Akai quickly covered the remaining ten clicks to the wreck and recovered the damaged pod, despite everything in his gut screaming at him to warp out and find a new route. Checking the wreckage one last time, he found a new Domination 10MN MicroWarp Drive worth at least seventy five million ISK on contract, and even better than the now damaged Tech II MWD he had on his cruiser.
Blasting the wreck with one last salvo to destroy the evidence, in case there was any surviving surveillance tracking his fight and salvaging of the bomber, Akai engaged his cloak and quietly made his way up to the Hostni gate and continued on towards Khanid Prime, three jumps away.
* * *
After the incident in Asesamy, there was little in the way of trouble, and it didn't seem as though the bomber had alerted any of his corporation, if he even belonged to one. Nonetheless, "The Despair of Heretics" stalked it's way through each of the systems en route to Khanid Prime under a full cloak, only decloaking to jump to the next system. Under a full comm silence since leaving Ashab, there was no real way any regular capsuleer could have located him, as his route had first wound through the Empire up towards Caldari space, and then back down towards the Khanid Kingdom via nullsec. While CONCORD could have tracked him, he was not (as of yet) either an outlaw or even of low enough security status to get added to the watchlists, and the more Akai thought about how that Purifier seemed to have been waiting there for him, the more concerned he became about taking the pod with him. I shouldn't have even touched that wreck, but I just couldn't leave someone to die in hard vacuum, not even this poor son-of-a-bitch who thought he could tackle a Legion in a bomber; Akai thought to himself with a morbid chuckle, as he made the final jump to Khanid Prime.
Setting course for the Khanid Transport Storage station orbiting the storm-covered planet of Khanid Prime IX, Akai quickly finished up his post flight routines, and began the pod disconnection procedure, even as his ship was being towed into the station's docking bay. Stepping out of the pod once he had docked with the captain's platform inside the docking bay, Akai shook off the remaining goo from his hair and raced up the short flight of stairs, tossing on a wifebeater and a pair of beat combat pants as he made his way to the station computer. The miniature holo of his Legion popped up as he walked up to the deck, and the orange glow cast a weird light on his pupil-less eyes, as if they were lit with a secret inner fire.
Swiping his hand down through the holo-menu, Akai selected to open his cargobay and unloaded the damaged capsule onto the station storage platform, making sure it was safetly inside a life-support equipped station container, locked and bio-passware protected to boot. Scrolling back through the menu, he went into the ship's computer itself, bypassing the safety firewalls and deleted all of the ship's sensor logs from the previous 48 hours, hopefully covering his tracks if his Legion ever was impounded. Finally assured that he couldn't cover his ass any further, Akai descended into the storage holds deep in the bowels of the station, searching for the container holding the mysterious capsuleer. He wasn't followed, and there were fewer security cameras here, away from the heart of the Empire; but nonetheless Akai couldn't help feeling like he was being watched, carefully and purposely, and so he kept compulsively checking and rechecking his holstered plasma pistols strapped to his waist.
TO BE CONTINUED....
Status showed that at least half of his shields were gone, but none of the internal systems were affected; turning off the microwarp drive to cool it down before it melted down, Akai opened fire with all five pulse turrets, each loaded with the very expensive but powerful Conflagration focus crystals. The frigate-sized Purifier shattered under the first salvo, exploding in a shower of metal and plasma discharge, but unexpectedly left a capsuleer's pod behind, despite the bomber's lack of CONCORD registry.
Scanners detected lifesigns within the pod, but noted that the pod was damaged in the explosion and it's drivecore had detonated in a secondary explosion, leaving it adrift with life-support failing. Making a split decision, Akai quickly covered the remaining ten clicks to the wreck and recovered the damaged pod, despite everything in his gut screaming at him to warp out and find a new route. Checking the wreckage one last time, he found a new Domination 10MN MicroWarp Drive worth at least seventy five million ISK on contract, and even better than the now damaged Tech II MWD he had on his cruiser.
Blasting the wreck with one last salvo to destroy the evidence, in case there was any surviving surveillance tracking his fight and salvaging of the bomber, Akai engaged his cloak and quietly made his way up to the Hostni gate and continued on towards Khanid Prime, three jumps away.
* * *
After the incident in Asesamy, there was little in the way of trouble, and it didn't seem as though the bomber had alerted any of his corporation, if he even belonged to one. Nonetheless, "The Despair of Heretics" stalked it's way through each of the systems en route to Khanid Prime under a full cloak, only decloaking to jump to the next system. Under a full comm silence since leaving Ashab, there was no real way any regular capsuleer could have located him, as his route had first wound through the Empire up towards Caldari space, and then back down towards the Khanid Kingdom via nullsec. While CONCORD could have tracked him, he was not (as of yet) either an outlaw or even of low enough security status to get added to the watchlists, and the more Akai thought about how that Purifier seemed to have been waiting there for him, the more concerned he became about taking the pod with him. I shouldn't have even touched that wreck, but I just couldn't leave someone to die in hard vacuum, not even this poor son-of-a-bitch who thought he could tackle a Legion in a bomber; Akai thought to himself with a morbid chuckle, as he made the final jump to Khanid Prime.
Setting course for the Khanid Transport Storage station orbiting the storm-covered planet of Khanid Prime IX, Akai quickly finished up his post flight routines, and began the pod disconnection procedure, even as his ship was being towed into the station's docking bay. Stepping out of the pod once he had docked with the captain's platform inside the docking bay, Akai shook off the remaining goo from his hair and raced up the short flight of stairs, tossing on a wifebeater and a pair of beat combat pants as he made his way to the station computer. The miniature holo of his Legion popped up as he walked up to the deck, and the orange glow cast a weird light on his pupil-less eyes, as if they were lit with a secret inner fire.
Swiping his hand down through the holo-menu, Akai selected to open his cargobay and unloaded the damaged capsule onto the station storage platform, making sure it was safetly inside a life-support equipped station container, locked and bio-passware protected to boot. Scrolling back through the menu, he went into the ship's computer itself, bypassing the safety firewalls and deleted all of the ship's sensor logs from the previous 48 hours, hopefully covering his tracks if his Legion ever was impounded. Finally assured that he couldn't cover his ass any further, Akai descended into the storage holds deep in the bowels of the station, searching for the container holding the mysterious capsuleer. He wasn't followed, and there were fewer security cameras here, away from the heart of the Empire; but nonetheless Akai couldn't help feeling like he was being watched, carefully and purposely, and so he kept compulsively checking and rechecking his holstered plasma pistols strapped to his waist.
TO BE CONTINUED....
No comments:
Post a Comment