Monday 31 December 2012

Woof bloody woof

"But surely dogs can't talk--" Sacharissa began.
"Oh dear oh dear oh dear," said Gaspode, "Did I *say* I was talking?"
"Well, not in so many words--"
-- Sacharissa meets Gaspode the Wonder Dog
(Terry Pratchett, The Truth)


High above the Gusandall station, an AARGH covert operations specialist stands vigilant and resolute, ever watching... Watching the comings and goings of the space lanes through Gus and surrounds. Along with her associates in various systems, she is able to report any possible prey directly to the AARGH HQ.

On a rather quiet evening, with not even a hint of possible targets anywhere nearby she still patiently waited, a true virtue of hers. A Probe ventures into the once mighty fortress of Gusandall, once vibrant with frigates from all parts of the universe, now just a way point on journeys further afield.

Thinking nothing of it as the Probe docks at the station, she continues to watch her screens, a little Invader Zim to keep her company, The Probe undocks and she spots it out of the corner of her eye, again thinking nothing of it, probably only warp straight to Eifer or Ingunn if it were feeling a little frisky... But it doesn't warp... Instead slowly moving away from the station, my covops friend starts to pay a little more attention, an unaffiliated pilot, in a Probe, in lowesec, what the devil was he up to?

CYNO!

CYNO!

CYNO!

She repeats her cry three times.

LOOKS TO BE OUT OF DOCK RANGE!

I immediately board something more suited to a prolonged fight under station guns, my mighty Megathron 'Gaspode'

I undock with haste, reports still filtering through all the time, nothing has jumped through yet.
Once out of the dock, my systems calibrate and show the Probe and cyno 18km away, I pulse my mwd, drop a flight of Garde II sentry drones and lock up the probe, no need to tackle and wait to see what jumps through. The cyno is a good 15km away from the stations docking range

Not long to wait, a Thanatos carrier jumps through and I immediately tackle it, my sentry drones ordered to pop the Probe, they dutifully comply.

All attention is now on the carrier. It is scrammed and webbed, sentry drones and blasters start punching holes in her shields, eagerly straining to get at the meat of the Thanatos, it's massive armour tank. All the while, I calmly ask in a shared intel channel if there was anyone about interested in a carrier kill, the channel lit up like last weeks xmas lights, and folk started making all haste to the ghost town that Gusandall has become. Folk from all walks of life rushed for that one last piece of gold, to help the Sheriff of this little corner of outlaw space dispense justice.

My biggest concern was the carrier pilot self destructing, next up was the fact he deployed fighters in my general direction, but I ordered a full stop of my drives and held firm, my tank already being severely tested by the station guns. Next up on the concern-o-meter was the neut being applied to my capacitor, this fella wasn't going down without somewhat of a fight, but I was timing my cap booster cycles pretty well and continued to tank as more guns arrived.

The Thanatos now out of shields was having chunks of its armour decimated by the arrival of more and more guns, eventually nine other pilots joining in the festivities. The Thanatos tank wasn't holding up too well and as it hit structure the pilot declared he would self destruct... Too little too late my friend, this kind of cowardice would just not stand as we continued our assault. I had burnt through all my cap boosters , no cap left and at half armour, no reps as the Thanatos explodes.

The explosion from a capital ship is a joy to behold and this one more so as I haven't been on a carrier kill for a good long while, and this was the first capital ship to explode in Gus for even longer.

Sometimes a little fortune favours the brave but as most the entities that came to help were hostile I made my way back to the station and docked to survey the damage to Gaspode and bask in the glow of the shiny killmail.

Happy New Year every one, thanks for your time and continued support, all the best for 2013.
Stay strong and never surrender.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I can't believe that someone will open a cyno this far from the station. It seems that The Lady smiled upon you. :)