Thoughts From the Commander #227

“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.”

– Abraham Lincoln

Thoughts From the Commander #226

There is no point in attempting to calm the storm that lives in you. Instead, harness it’s power and utilize it for something productive.

Holding the Line

“When everything is burning, you have to hold the line.”

DUVOLLE LABORATORIES FACTORY
GRISPIRE SOLAR SYSTEM
PLACID REGION
GALLENTE FEDERATION

The hangar was a flurry of activity, station crews conducting pre-launch checks on all of the vessels prepped on the line. I was standing on the gantry above Slatra, my Typhoon-class battleship. I walked down the stairs, and walked into the briefing room, cigarette between my teeth. Everyone was talking, until I entered the room, at which point they turned their attention to me.

I sat down at the head of the table and ashed my cigarette into an empty glass, “Alright ladies, this is how shit’s about to go down. Timer comes out in about five minutes. We’re going to launch out, get out to Dominica, and prepare for the ensuing shitstorm. The goal is to force a committed engagement. Once that happens, the party is really going to start. I’m probably going to end up sacrificing my Typhoon, but hold the line. We’ve got this.”

One of our new pilots raised his hand, “So boss, we’re going to roll in, and get blown away?” “At first,” I said with a sinister smirk, “Trust me. There’s a plan that’s been in the works. When the first shots get fired, shit’s going to get real.”

Within five minutes, we had already launched out from the station, and warped to Dominica, our Moon Harvesting Refinery. Gavin was already in Fire Control, “Alright man, here they come.”

I keyed comms, “Alright, everyone anchor up on me. And get ready for a fight.” Another pilot’s voice came over, “Jesus Christ! Look at how fucking many of them there are.” “Perfect,” I said with a smile, “They’re coming in close range. Drones out, watch your broadcasts, and if you start getting primaried, let logi do their work. Prop mods on, let’s go.”

I willed the massive Matari vessel right at their fleet, the microwarp drive engaged. In a matter of seconds, I knew that the ship was doomed already just from the warning klaxons of all of the target locks, “Oh shit. Not good. Not fucking good!” Trianna called out, “I’ve got four reps on you.” The controls had stopped responding, and Slatra began to roll to starboard, explosions shearing through the bulkheads, the reactor failing, “Gavin, call targets, I’ll be back.”

As Slatra exploded, I launched my Wolf-class Assault Frigate, Atganga from the Frigate Escape Bay, and engaged the warp drive, taking me back to Duvolle, where the station crew had already prepped Harbaror, my Naga-class battlecruiser, which I launched back out in. As I came out of warp above Dominica, I noticed Exil had launched out from the structure in a Pilgrim-class Force Reconnaissance Cruiser, and had lit a cynosural field beacon. I began locking targets and raining down destruction from the 425 millimeter railguns, and seconds later, the tide had turned. Deepwater Hooligans had brought a Machariel fleet to the engagement and a pair of Apostle-class Force Auxiliaries. As I fired, I didn’t notice that a trio of interceptors had gotten the drop on me, and Harbaror was shot out from under me.

It was fine.

I returned to Duvolle, and reshipped once more into Bogastrengr, my Cerberus-class Heavy Assault Cruiser, and rejoined the engagement, emplacing myself in among the Machariel-class battleships.

The next several minutes seemed to slow down as enemy ships were focused, and erupted into a wash of molten slag and shrapnel. The explosions lit up the dark skies, and we knew that it was only a matter of time before we broke their will to fight.

The order to align to the enemy Damnation-class Command Ship was given, and Gavin used the structure’s electronic warfare suite to warp disrupt and stasis webify the vessel, which our entire fleet then warped to at point blank range. The Damnation is a particularly hardy vessel, however, against the sheer volume of fire that it was receiving, it could not stand up to it, and was destroyed. Valtyr engaged the rack of smartbombs on board his vessel, ensuring the destruction of the pilot’s capsule.

At this point, Down Under Syndrome, Sedition and Usurper began to sound a full retreat, which was not without losses in and of itself.

We had suffered a few losses, but nothing compared to what the enemy had. The next half an hour was spent looting and salvaging the field as Dominica fully repaired and became fully operational once more. We thanked Deepwater for their support, and parted ways.

Battle Report

Thoughts From the Commander #225

The world is going to shit.

Thoughts From the Commander #224

A great reckoning is coming.

Thoughts From the Commander #223

Why is it no matter what you do, everything goes to shit?

Thoughts From the Commander #222

Just when things start looking up is when things really start going wrong.

Balance

“Sometimes someone commits an act that requires a counter-act to balance.”

DUVOLLE LABORATORIES FACTORY
GRISPIRE SOLAR SYSTEM
PLACID REGION
GALLENTE FEDERATION

I was sitting at my desk with my feet propped up, smoking a cigarette when my NeoCom chirped.  I sighed, and looked at the incoming message.  A pair of war declarations.

I did a little bit of research, and it didn’t take me long to realize that the corporations that had declared war on us primarily focused on destroying abandoned Upwell structures, which brought me to my conclusion.  A quick check of all alliance structures revealed that Nwalka had failed to keep the Tardis Foundries refineries fueled, and as a result, they had entered Abandoned status.

It didn’t take much at that point to remove his corporation from the alliance.

A messenger popped up on my NeoCom:

Nwalka > “We need to talk.”
Me > “No, we don’t.”
Nwalka > “Are you mad at me?”
Me > “You basically invited a war to my doorstep, and now you’re going to pay for it.  See you in 48 hours.”
Nwalka > “All the stations are fueled.”
Me > “Oh well, more timers to grind.”

I have never taken kindly to individuals being incompetent, and creating situations that threaten the operations or members of my Alliance, and I wasn’t about to start now.  A few moments later, the Warning Order and Operational Plan had been drafted and sent out.

Tardis Foundries is out of time.

END

Thoughts From the Commander #221

When the end comes, all we have are scars and memories.

A Fall From Grace

“Sometimes you are your own worst enemy.  But you would rather play the victim because it’s easier.”

ST. MARY’S ISLAND
ODOTTE SOLAR SYSTEM
SINQ LAISON REGION
GALLENTE FEDERATION

I had just docked when Halos came walking across the hangar.  She let out a low whistle as I dismounted from Hepta, the new Tengu-class Strategic Cruiser that she had just bought for the purpose of hunting for her upcoming Black Ops fleet, “That is a damned pretty ship.  Thanks again for doing this.”  “No worries.  Just make sure you have your bridge here, and I get telemetry of his jump range,” I replied.

That evening, the amassing fleet was preparing, meanwhile, I launched out to stage near a hot zone.  I heard the call of “Hunters Green” and got to work.  Moments later, the other hunter that had been appointed by Halos found something.  He tackled it utilizing warp disruptors and stasis webifiers, only to engage the cynosural field generator on his ship.  It was in that moment we realized how fucked up the rest of the night was going to be.  The pilot of the Redeemer-class Black Ops battleship had loaded the wrong fuel into his bay, leaving the other hunter to die.  Meanwhile, I found a nice safe spot in the system I was in, and engaged my covert ops cloak to wait for Halos to sort out the clusterfuck.  During the time, I started taking notes.

It took approximately fifteen minutes to sort that out, and the whole time Halos was trying to get someone else to take over the fleet, despite the fact it was her fleet to run, as she was the one risking being purged from the Fleet Commander roster.

RANCER SOLAR SYSTEM
SINQ LAISON REGION
GALLENTE FEDERATION

I noticed a large group of Machariel-class battleships on a gate, meaning that they were likely attempting to smartbomb small vessels and capsules.  I also knew that the odds of catching them were slim, as they typically fit multiple warp core stabilizers to their ships to prevent being caught.  Well, unfortunately for the one I had isolated, I had both a warp disruptor and warp scrambler on board.  I called for fleet, and engaged the covert cynosural field generator on board Hepta, and the bridge went up.  Numerous stealth bombers and force recon cruisers jumped in, and in a matter of seconds, the once-proud Angel Cartel battleship evaporated into a sea of debris and molten slag.  Once my cynosural field generator finished cycling, I cloaked and warped away.

It took twenty minutes to get people back to the bridge.

Kill: Machariel

LAMADENT SOLAR SYSTEM
SINQ LAISON REGION
GALLENTE FEDERATION

After the fleet finally got back to the bridge, I had already identified a target.  A mining fleet, which was clearly bait, in an ice belt.  I knew it was bait, the fleet knew it was bait, but I went for it anyway.  I disengaged my cloak, and engaged a warp disruptor on the Procurer-class Mining Barge, and a warp scrambler on the Miasmos-class Industrial.

As I engaged the covert cynosural field generator on Hepta, I began firing on a Retriever-class Mining Barge.  The bridge went up, and the entire mining fleet, which consisted of one Procurer, two Retrievers and a Miasmos were spread across the ice belt like a sick form of shrapnel confetti.

As I cloaked and warped off, a Panther-class battleship warped to the ice belt, clearly confused by what had happened, as nothing remained except for wreckage.

On the way back from this jump, Halos lost her Loki-class Strategic Cruiser to the pilots of the mercenary group, P I R A T, as she still had an active suspect timer.  She threw a rage fit and attempted to pass the fleet off on me, despite the fact I was hunting, which would make me ineffective as both.  Furthermore, when she was offered a bomber for free by another pilot in her fleet, it was called shit, and that she didn’t want it, but finally took it anyway.

Kill: Procurer
Kill: Miasmos
Kill: Retriever 1
Kill: Retriever 2

Loss: Loki

OLD MAN STAR SOLAR SYSTEM
SINQ LAISON REGION
GALLENTE FEDERATION

I was fucking tired.  I was tired of the bitching.  I just wanted to get one last good score and go home.

I jumped into Old Man Star, and found the gate being camped by a Muninn-class Heavy Assault Cruiser and a Gnosis-class Combat Battlecruiser.

I disengaged my cloak and engaged my microwarp drive, and burned toward the Muninn.  As I closed the gap, I disengaged the propulsion module, and slowed, only to lock and apply the warp scrambler and disruptor to the Muninn.

I engaged the cynosural field generator again.

The fleet jumped, and killed the Muninn.

As the fleet was resetting, I told Halos that I was calling it for the night, and asked what she wanted me to do with the Tengu that I was flying, that she had paid for, to which she responded to keep it.

Kill: Muninn

DUVOLLE LABORATORIES FACTORY
GRISPIRE SOLAR SYSTEM
PLACID REGION
GALLENTE FEDERATION

I lit a cigarette as I sat down at the desk in my quarters, only to file my report on the fleet, and the performance of the fleet commander.  I also filed my recommendation to remove her from command status due to the lack of control of her fleet, the failure to double-check that her bridge pilot was utilizing the correct fuel, the bitching about her ship loss and treating people like shit when they offered her a ship.

The next day I woke up to a message stating that the roster purge had been completed.

I also had a message from Halos telling me to give her the Tengu she had purchased for her fleet back, despite having told me I could keep it.  The reasoning was because I recommended her removal from command.

For anyone who knows anything about pirates, asking nicely will get you nothing, and being a bitch will likely get you killed.

I sent her a simple one-word response.

“No.”

END