Give it to us, or we'll take it from you (pt. II)

Taking the Myrmidon (BC) padded all of our pockets. The pilot of the BC had a full set of expensive armor rigs fitted. Shortly after taking the Myrmidon (BC) a Vexor jumped into the system. The FC deemed the Vexor wasn’t worth ransoming so we just tore into it quickly, without remorse for the ship, the pod we popped after the ship was destroyed, nor the pilot’s frozen dead corpse we collected. It was just business as usual when we performed surgery on another Vexor that jumped into our system after the previous one.

After the engagement with the second Vexor, the system got quiet again until a Megathron Battleship (BS) warped to the empire gate from within the system. At first we were surprised, we all checked the Local comms channel, which confirmed that the Megathron (BS) pilot was in our system alone. We all assumed that he would just jump through the Stargate toward the next system. But the Megathron (BS) pilot did no such thing. He just sat there for a minute and stared us down. We played it smart, we decided if he wanted an engagement he would have to attack first, that way he wouldn’t be able to jump the gate until his turrets cooled down, thus giving us time to pop his ship. Surprisingly, he did attack first………and he hit us hard. It was on, I pushed the A-1 into high gear to get some distance between it and the BS as I let my heavy missiles start to dig into the Megathron’s (BS) shields. My corp mates who were fit for tackling closed in on him to web and scramble the mammoth BS, insuring he couldn’t flee the battle.

We made short work of the Megathron’s (BS) shields but my heavy missiles, along with everyone else’s payloads, seemed like they were just bouncing off of his armor because they were doing little to no damage. The Megathron’s (BS) armor tank was solid, my corp mates and I were hitting it with everything we could but the Megathron (BS) resisted a majority of the damage dealt, and then simply repaired what it couldn’t resist. By this time in the engagement those damn sentry guns had already started dumping their fire into my shields. The sentry guns knocked my shields down to about 26%, which forced me to disengage and warp the A-1out of the range of the sentry guns. The Megathron’s (BS) armor was still around 80%. I remained on the grid watching the battle unfold below me as I eagerly waited for my shields to regenerate so I could get back into the fight. The Megathron (BS) had already popped one of my corp mate’s ships and by the looks of Fleet Watch List; it was working on popping another. I had to get back into the engagement, my shields crept back up to a little over 40% and I nose dived the A-1 towards the gate then warped to it.

Back in the battle the tide began to turn in our favor. I opened up the missile launchers and let my heavy missiles pour into the Megathron’s (BS) armor. “His tank is starting to break”, the FC said over Fleet comms as cold as ice. The Megathron (BS) must have ran out of cap because it wasn’t repairing the damage we were dealing as effectively as it had when the fight began. Then the Megathron’s (BS) armor started to melt away under the barrage of ordinance we were pouring into it. The light produced from the exploding Megathron (BS) was bright and blue. We popped his pod for good measure and added his frozen corpse to the collection, just to be fair.

Give it to us, or we'll take it from you

The evening started out business as usual at the HQ station. I was reading over all of the combat action reports about the various starship battles that occurred in our system today. My Bridge Officer informing me of the “all hands” request coming from the squad enforcing a blockade at the empire gate interrupted me. An “all hands” request is a call from a Fleet Commander (FC) for all available pilots at the HQ to prepare a starship for combat and report to requested location as soon as possible (ASAP). My A-1 (Caracal Navy Issue) was currently being prepared for a new fit and was out of commission at the time. The only option I had available was to order the crew to get the E-4 (Blackbird) ready to un-dock. My Bridge Officer gave me a look full of uncertainty as I gave her the orders, but she saluted in acknowledgement, turned about and headed toward the dock to carry out my commands. In the back of my mind I totally agreed with my Bridge Officer’s moment of doubt. Any decent starship Captain knows that a Blackbird is not the ideal starship for blockade duty. One or two blasts from those sentry guns would have a Captain in his/her pod and his/her crew in evacuation modules faster than the time it took to complete this sentence. Nonetheless, the E-4 was combat ready and prepared to un-dock upon my embarkation.

As the E-4 was coming out of warp at the empire gate, I could hear the distinct sounds of the Stargate sentry guns firing upon the starships already present at the gate in tight formation. I had the Bridge Officer maneuver the E-4 to the center of the formation while the Comms Officer verified that the Fleet comms link was operational. I ordered the Sensor Officer to run a 360-degree scan of the immediate area; a Prophecy Battle Cruiser (BC) registered lurking around the Stargate but not on the same grid as it. I thought to myself, “what’s on this guy’s noodle? Surely he wasn’t gearing up to take on the strong-point blockade my corp mates and I have put in place.” I ordered my Sensor Officer to monitor the BC’s movements, then made a mental note to not engage anything first, unless I wanted to head back to the HQ station in my pod courtesy of the Stargate sentry guns.

The scout reported over the Fleet comms link that potential hostiles are forming a small gang in the adjacent system, consisting of a Scorpion Battle Ship (BS) supported by a few other ships brining the total to 4 or 5. To be honest I can’t even remember what the other ship types were, once I heard the Scorpion was on deck all of my concentration went to that ship. I knew it would be primary target if the gang jumped into our system. I also knew that my only duty, if that occurred, would be to try and get a jam (electronic counter measure ECM sensor disruption to prevent a ship from targeting or achieving target lock) on it before it could jam any of my corp mate’s starships, or mine for that matter. However, the E-4’s sensors are a bit underpowered in comparison to the Scorpion, my only advantage would be achieving lock first and hit it with a sensor dampening module before attempting to jam it. That was my plan of attack; I issued those orders to the crew then waited with my corp mates in their starships poised and ready.

“Sir the Prophecy (BC) has just warped onto our grid at 200km away”, my Sensor Officer informed me. Then the scout opens up the Fleet comms link and says, “Looks like the gang is getting ready to jump in, they are moving closer to the gate”. “Ready the missile launchers, ECM mods and sensor damp”, I ordered. “Mods ready sir”, my Sensor Officer responded. “Missile launchers ready sir”, the Missile Chief shouted. We waited, but the gate never flashed to register that the hostile starship gang entered the system. All the while the Prophecy (BC) was getting closer and closer. “Watch that BC, don’t let it get to close”, the FC ordered over Fleet comms. When the Prophecy (BC) came into my targeting range I shouted “Get target lock on the BC, deactivate all mods”, but the BC’s signature radius was larger than I expected. The E-4 achieved sensor lock in a few seconds; however, a second sooner than the Sensor Officer could deactivate the last ECM module. Since the BC was at the edge of my targeting range I didn’t even get the jam on it, but I did get the Global Criminal Flag and those faithful sentry guns were turning in the E-4’s direction. “Bug out, get us out of range of those sentry guns but stay on the grid”, I ordered the Bridge Officer.

The E-4’s warp engines engaged and quickly moved the starship the short hop to get out of range before the sentry guns could lock and shred it. That was a close one, but the Prophecy is still hanging around un-phased and now I’m a flashing red light on his overview like the district in Amsterdam. So of course my E-4 (Blackbird) cruiser separated from the pack looked like lunch to the Prophecy pilot who is now headed in my direction. “214km and closing sir”, the Sensor Officer informed me. “Lets keep moving and warping around the grid, stay out of range of the sentry guns, and keep the BC over 150km away” I ordered. I wanted to stay on the Stargate’s grid in case the Scorpion (BS) and its gang jumped into system; the E-4’s ECM capabilities would be crucial if that occurred. I played the cat and mouse game with the BC until my Global Criminal countdown expired and the BC’s pilot grew tired of chasing me, never getting closer than 195km. The BC pilot warped of never to be seen again that night, and I returned to the formation and waited.

The next 20 minutes passed uneventful until a Hyperion (BS) warped onto the grid over 120km away from our blockade formation. “Sir the Hyperion is target locking us…sir the Hyperion has lock and is firing on us”, the Sensor Officer shouted in frenzy. The first volley took the E-4’s shields to a little over 20%, which I expected, I had already given the order to warp out of the Hyperion's (BS) range but the E-4 turning to align to warp was agonizingly slow. The second volley finished off the shields and dropped the E-4’s armor down to 40% as the warp engines engaged and launched the E-4 out of the Hyperion’s (BS) range. With that, the Hyperion (BS) warped off and then left the system, surely pissed he didn’t get the paper thin Blackbird (E-4) cruiser to pop in a couple of volleys. A sniper fitted BS is deadly to an ECM fitted ship with no tank. Then again, any ship is deadly to an ECM ship, being that the ECM ship will be the primary target in any engagement.

After the Hyperion (BS) left, the system got quiet. The FC called the blockade off and I returned to the HQ station to check on the status of the A-1. At the HQ station the Dock Officer informed me that the A-1 was ready to be re-fitted and asked me what modules did I want to fit. Now that question I had to think about, so I hopped in my Frigate with the largest cargo hold and headed off to the nearest regional market hub to go shopping.

I returned to the HQ station with a cargo hold full of shiny new modules to fit on the A-1. The A-1 was re-fitted and my corp mates and I were a bit bloodthirsty after all the tension from the minor skirmishes that occurred earlier that evening, so we decided to set up another blockade at the empire gate.

We got reports from the scout that a Myrmidon Battle Cruiser (BC) was approaching the gate in preparation to jump. The gate flashes when the Myrmidon (BC) jumps into our system. In the middle of the lion’s den, with 9 seething pirates encircling his lone BC while it emerges from jump cloak, must have been a demoralizing site for the Myrmidon pilot. Once I attained target lock I let my heavy missiles do the initiating, while my corp mates collectively webbed and scrambled the Myrmidon and introduced it to their ordinance payloads. The FC opened up a comms link with the Myrmidon pilot to initiate a ransom request. The Myrmidon pilot accepted the request then reluctantly ejected himself from the BC in his pod. The Myrmidon was now ours for the taking. What just transpired was piracy at its finest, ransoming, starship confiscation and murder. I forgot to mention that his pod was popped and his frozen carcass was stored in one of my corp mate’s cargo hold; adjacent to the exotic dancers’ berthing area.