Episode II : The Miner

The apocalypse class battleship sat peacefully among the slowly rotating asteroids, the amber glow from it‘s busy mining equipment, and the reflection from the moon close by shimmering across it’s golden coloured armor plating. The captain of the vessel seemed blissfully unaware of the intruder’s presence as his cloud of mining drones lit up the belt of asteroids like dancing fireflies against the harsh blackness of space. Target locking was confirmed on the Blackbird’s HUD. The mighty apocalypse sprung into life with a burst of white hot reactor vapour from it’s main booster ports brining it into a rough allignment with the nearest stargate, he was trying to run. His mining lasers deactivated simultaneously to his mining drones pouring into the drone collection port as he approached the velocity required to activate his warp drive. A narrow channel of blue light burst from the lower hull of the Blackbird, in the general direction of it’s intended victim. The miner was not leaving this belt in a hurry, his warp drive had been frequency disrupted by the electronic warfare modules aboard the cruiser. The first salvo of Scourge heavy missiles blasted from the launchers, side winding across the lonely blackness of the belt on a direct collision course with the golden keel of the stricken apocalypse, which was still travelling at full speed toward it's intended sanctuary. Three direct hits. The missiles slammed into the shield of the battleship, detonating on impact and lighting the side of the ship up in an eerie brownish green glow for a few seconds. The second salvo was already on it’s way. The superstructure of the mighty Amarrian warship seemed to tremble as its shields were repeatedly pounded by missile impacts. Three more groups trailed toward the massive refelective expanse of the apocalypse’s heavily plated side. The guidance systems plotting evasive courses to prevent them from intercepting each other made them appear to be corkscrewing across the belt towards their destination. Verone took to the helm as the next batch of heavy missiles departed their tubes and looped around over the blackbird to avoid a collision. He wanted to be in closer, he liked to watch his victims carefully. Perhaps to learn from them, or perhaps to admire his crew’s work. The three missiles approached their intended destination, hurtling toward the engineering decks at 1.2 kilometres per second. He chuckled to himself, with slight grin as the camera drone relayed an image of the apocalypse to his heads up. The three scourges detonated in unison spewing debris and shimmering sections of hull and armor plating into space in a perfect sphere around the blast area. The next nine missiles approached and slammed into the ship’s armor in groups of three, breaching deep into the inner superstructure, and starting an internal fire that could be seen even from the orbiting distance the blackbird had taken up. Combat ceased, as debris from the stricken warship slowly vanished into the distance, to an unknown destination. Verone initialised communications and waited, as the two ship’s systems interacted to negotiate a suitable frequency to converse. The side of the apocalypse was consumed by a raging fire, as the oxygen escaping from inside was vented and burned up into the dark cold vacuum of space. Debris, supplies, and vacuum frozen crew members floated peacefully out from the gaping wound in the once mighty battleship’s hull. The communications screen on the heads up display flickered into life, and a message beamed across from the stricken mining vessel. “My corp fleet is en-route, let me go or you’ll pay the consequences.� “If you don’t do as I say my friend, you’ll be dead before your friends get here.� “What the hell’s your justification for blowing the hell out of my ship when I’m trying to make money?� “I’m just doing my job, and trying to make a living. You shoot asteroids, I shoot ships.� “Yeah well you’re out of luck this time, they’re on their way, and I’m not giving you anything.� “I’ll make you a deal, you wire fifteen million ISK to my bank account, and no more members of you crew, yourself included, has to die. Fifteen mil is a small price to pay to save an apocalypse class battleship.� “Screw you, they‘re two jumps out, you better get outta here fast pirate.� Verone pondered for a second. A difficult customer, weren’t they all these days? He surveyed the damage to the battleship via the camera drone's relayed images, as he orbited from the warp disruptor's optimal range. Missile impacts scarred the once perfectly smooth and reflective metallic surface of the amarrian vessel, some penetrating deep into the internal structure of the ship, exposing demolished decks and cargo bays from which debris and containers had been thrown during the bombardment. “Very well. I tried to reason with you, but you wouldn’t listen, now you will pay the price my friend." <> Within seconds a fresh reign of fire had begun on the crippled imperial warhorse. The first three missiles slammed into the crumbling structure, the sheer impact shuddering the entire structure. An immense ball of fire was ejected from the upper hull of the ship as the three scourges detonated beneath it, and was quickly dissipated by the cold lonely vacuum of space as the oxygen from deep within the ship was burned up. A further three missiles slammed into the ships exposed heart, detonating and tearing a path clean through the once mighty "pride of the imperial navy", so that the vast black expanse of space could be seen behind it. Three more were en route. The communications monitor lit up with an incoming transmission. Verone accepted, knowing full well the source of the signal. The blackbird's launchers deactivated, and began the automatic reload sequence. He wanted to be sure the lauchers were well supplied in case of any unexpected arrivals. “God damn it stop firing… I’ll pay.. I’ll pay damn it.� “Fifteen million or your ship. No offers.� The neocom lit up, steadily blinking a bright neon blue light over the Bank of Luminaire icon. Verone checked the transaction, and smiled broadly at the thought of being fifteen million ISK richer. The shallow blue pulses of light from the lower hull of the blackbird slowly diminished into the blackness, as the warp disruptor deactivated and began the cool off process. "Thank you for your co-operation, it's much appreciated. I am a man of my word, i think you'll find you're safe to engage your warp drive now." "You're marked pirate, my whole corp will be looking for you. Watch your back fool." <<>> Verone chuckled quietly to himself, another threat, from another victim. One more to add to the list of unfulfilled promises. He pitied the Apocalypse before him, being used as a vessel for little more than industrial purposes. A ship designed for the purpose of waging war on the Minmatar and surviving long, hostile engagements, reduced to that, A stripped bare version of the original ship modified for the collection of ores and minerals. The original designer would turn in his grave. He watched as the firey wreck that remained of the once proud Amarrian battleship limped slowly towards it's optimal warp engagement speed, listling heavily, and followed by a short trail of smoking debris and wreckage, one of it's main booster ports too badly damaged to vent off reactor vapor. Verone was pleased with the outcome of the engagement, and smiled to himself as the blackbird accellerated silently back into warp, the belt falling silent once again with his departure. - V