As the raptor rounded the Paleo station bulkhead, a bead of sweat dripped down Keactes brow. The sun, which was previously occluded by the station came into sight; it felt warm and reminded him of his former life planetside. Keacte glanced down at his boosters and ocular implant filter – he had 10mins left – which was just enough time for this, and then home.
The comm crackled and Tanaka came over on his headset – “Perrigen wormhole clear, probes are up and off scan, I am ready”.
Keacte, took a final draw from his rolled cigarette, and flicked the butt to the floor of the cockpit. He got distracted slightly as he watched the burning embers slowly flickering and turning through the air changing from a vivid and glossy red and into ash. This planetside homegrown was far better than the Thera muck that they were peddling at the outpost, and it was considerably cheaper too.
As he exhaled, the familiar sight of ShrinkWrapped filled the station undock and undock zone,
“Right, here’s how this goes down tonight – we have only 10 minutes left on our boosters – we have a HVT – this has gotta be clinical – in and out –back home for the 22:00. You got that boys and girls? – no fucking around this time. Call your bubbles, and do yourselves and me a favour, quit with those fireworks. You got it? – now align yourself to NVD sig”
“Alpha squad ready”, “Bravo ready”, “Charlie ready”, “Delta ready”
“Hole is crit but stable” Fidel came over on comms - “I never quite believe these scanners Keacte – you need to get the good ones – can we just get the upgrades loaded some time this YC”
Keacte thrust the control down. - “Warping fleet”.
A couple of seconds elapsed. The Amarrian engineer (note, read as smuggler) had warned Keacte that the nanos were toast after his last run through Vale, but had promised that they would hold out. That was no small amount of nanite mind – the fact it had started this time was a bonus.
“Warp drive active”.
The familiar voice echoed through the cockpit, and Keacte’s back was thrust into the seat – BAM! The air in his lungs felt like it was being sucked out, and the temperature felt like it had gone up around 10 degrees. He was in warp – and had around 220AU to travel before the fight. It may have been the dregs of the booster had settled in the ocular filter, but he could feel that coldness returning to his body as his adrenaline started lurching through his body.
“Deploy those probes Tanaka – I want that Thanatos.” Keacte reduced the speed of his voice – as aa degree of anxiety was filtering through his body. Keacte reached to the upper right console, hit the side of it and the needle juddered. All this technology and a slap to a console was all that was needed, the needle stabilised and he felt a wave of calm over him
“Probes are up and scanning – 9 seconds boss”
“150AU – 15 seconds, talk to me – what’s going on?””
“5 seconds, 4, 3, 2, 1”
A silence descended comms -there was an anticipation of what was about to happen. This squadron was hungry. They wanted this as much as Keacte did.
“100%, in warp – 25AU – pulling probes – we might have him”
“60 out, hold on the hole guys, no one through until we have established point – I repeat - hold on the hole!” screamed Keacte.
The fleet had nothing on scan and was less than 10 seconds out, and about to drop out of warp, keacte had evaded detection passing through Thera – one of the more common choke points for bold capsuleers..
“Landing – he’s 30km off – I’m burning – he’s active!”
“HOLLLLD!! Get ready. HOLD GATE!”
It felt like an eternity. Time dilation in space is a common thing, and with it, your mind tends to get skewed, and wanders, minutes seem like days, and days often like minutes. It is an odd thing, and often makes you….
“POINT on Thanatos! Warp to Tanaka”
“NIIIICEEE!!!! Fleet Jump, warp to Tanaka, dictor bubble up as we land, max damage, and overheat – JUMMP JUMP JUMP! – defensive bubbles on grid, I don’t want that standing fleet on us – we have 8 minutes to do this.”
Keacte approached the wormhole, it was flashing from all of the ships entering, and it reminded him of his first venture into a wormhole all those years ago – wormholes are a trip into the unknown – either instant death, or survival. Either way, it felt good to be back.
As Keacte reanimated he saw the familiar Perrigen nebula, and initiated warp to Tanaka.
“How are you holding?”
“Pretty well … considering” there was a low rumble of static over his comms – possibly feedback from his overheated MWD, but more likely from the incoming fighter damage - that Malediction was going to be in need of an overhaul after this, and it wouldn’t be the last time.
“Warping fleet”
The familiar warp tunnel flash felt significantly quicker now, and as the fleet loaded grid, the Sanshas had already been decimated and the battlefield was littered with debris.
“Grab the Thanatos, & Tanaka get out” yelled Keacte on comms. Multiple points were called, and the night sky was lit up with explosions. The clock was ticking.
The rumble of the fight was so loud. Indescribably loud. That was one thing that Keacte still couldn’t get a handle on.
“Dictor bubble up aligned to station – I am cloaked – I’ll roll another one shortly” said Loon.
“Good man! - Get stuck in guys – it’s feeding time! Woohooo!” shouted Keacte – he was overheating his guns and had managed to get a tight orbit and getting under the fighters damage.
The signal beacon from the Thanotos was lit, and it was taking heavy damage bleeding into shield. Just as it hit armour, a lone covops declocked at around 150km off the Thanatos. It was the same old familiar pattern. The locals were prepared this time.
“Starlite – I need you on that Covops location now”
“Roger that, booshing…… …… point”, Starlite booshed to the Covops, grabbing tackle and almost instantaneously Alpha squad warped up and killed the Covops and his capsule. Had they got the drop? Keacte wasn’t sure. It really was 50:50.
The Thanny was into low armour now, with the acrid smoke filling the air around the fight - debris everywhere.
“Guys that covops, may have just given the fleet a drop – I need you to overheat on that Thanny!”
The Thanatos lurched forward and downwards slightly, and the starboard quarterdeck flashed, and seemed to drop about 10km or so. Keactes guns fell silent, as he sat forward in his cockpit, and the night sky was filed the glorious flash of the explosion.
“Loot the field, grid is ours, nicely done Tanaka, awesome work as always - SW169 return to base”.
Keacte reached down to the console, the booster was nearly out – less than 2minutes.
“Recon, 93PI – hostiles engaged, Thera hole active – Phoenix at a crab beacon – FC do you want it”
“Haha,. Boost up boys and girls, we’ll have to catch the 23:00 showing tonight ! Fleet align GF07!”
