Eve Online - Blazing

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7

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Meanwhile... 


"Commander, word from our vanguard fleet, unknown enemy forces have appeared and have engaged our forces, heavy casualties reported." 

"Composition?" the commander asked. 


"Five cruisers holding position outside the range of our own ships, firing at long range, Warp signature suggests a lot more however." 

"We've had eyes on that gate for a month now, how did they slip through?" the XO asked. 

From the shadowy command seat the commander spoke up again. 

"Covert Ops Cyno..." lisping as she sang the words. 

"If that's the case we're dealing with some heavy duty counter-intelligence, who knows what else they have hidden in cloak." the tactical advisor concluded. 

"Ma'am, field-intel, phase one completed, the enemy forces have performed their alpha strike and are slacking, phase two in motion." 

"too easy" the commander muttered coldly. 

"Oh, hold on, more intel... looks like you were right commander, a Sin class blackops Battleship and several bombers just decloaked and are picking up the pace." 

"Open a local comm." 

The commander got up, the narrow lines of her slender form bathing in light as the communications officer responded. 

"This is field command strategic cruiser Lillium, prepare for departure." 

On que, eight Tengu-class Caldari strategic cruisers in various configurations shot past the viewscreen of her own ship, breaking their perfect formation and aligning to the intended jumpgate. 

"Ma'am, Delta wing is requesting permission to join up." 

Standing still, she turned her head to look at the comm officer's console, her bionic eye replacement showing behind her dark glasses, it's lenses turning and sliding, focussing on the screen. 
She saw Delta Wing's composition, Rohks and Ravens, and plenty of them. 

"Tell them they can come if they can keep up, we are not stopping." 

She stepped down from her podium, a beam of light caressing her pale face as her long silvery white hair radiated. 

"Set the course and go..." 





"What do you mean, gone!" Hasarith yelled. 

"I don't know how else you want me to put it" 

"Surely there must be some news, SOMETHING known about the opp?!" 

"All communications were cut the moment the fleet jumped in, we have no way of reaching them, they could have a fleet of Titans in there for all we know" 

Hasarith smashed his fists on the table. 
"DAMNIT!" 

He took a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself, finally rising to face Francis. 

"Get me Tegrin, put out a corp-wide call, gather every able-bodied soldier and ship." He stated calmly, but Francis could see the storm behind his eyes. 

"That's suicide, long-range scans indicate several Warp disruption bubbles deployed around the gate, all approach vectors are sealed, and a sizable force of battlecruisers and frigates are camping with intent to kill, and we don't know what's on the other side." 

"Then I'll go in alone, the Powersurge could out-run every single one of them, I'll..." 

"Now that's the Hasarith I know, no teamwork needed when you can run and gun, eh?" a familair voice behind him teased. 

"Epion!" Hasarith yelled, as he turned to face his friend. 

"Hey Has, where's your brother, I need a word with him?" 

"Trapped behind a Gank in a one-way system, knowing him, knee-deep in trouble but safe." 

"That sounds like fun, when're we goin'?" 

"What? Woah, not so fast you two, you don't know what you are warping into!" 

Both men looked at the handler with apathy. 

"When have we ever?" Hasarith responded. 
The conversation was over as far as he was concerned, now was a time for action. 

The two war heroes left the room, leaving the baffled handler behind. 

"So where'r we goin' anyway?" Epion asked again 

"TD-128, nullsec space..." Hasarith replied, causing Epion to stop dead in his tracks. 

"You... you're kidding." 

It didn't take Hasarith long to draw an obvious conclusion, he crossed his arms as he faced his friend. 
"What do you know?" 

"I just spend the last two weeks there applying forward recon for a mercenary group, fending off goons and privateers while they set up a tripple-POS defended capitol shipyard!" 

He pressed closer to Hasarith. 

"That system is a staging ground, the forefront to an invasion force, and you're telling me Deetex is stuck in there?!" 

They both looked back at the hallway they had just come from, and started running back. 

The room they had left, not minutes ago, was empty. 

"Gone..." Epion started. 

Hasarith kicked over a large table, the surface, polycarbonat glass, shattered violantly. 

"Now what?" Epion asked. 

"We concentrate on what's important, if frenchy has a personal cloak he's probably long gone by now." 
He walked towards a mail terminal. 

"Put out a bounty on him, make it a high one, I'll... what the..." 
He stopped as he pulled up the Sardaukar comm channels. 
Casualty reports were flooding in, hundreds of requests for backup, countless clones activated and quickly terminated again. 

"What's going on?" 
Hasarith didn't reply, after a few moments he turned the terminal off again. 

"We'd best be going" he muttered. 

Hasarith quickly left, his concentration all over the place. 

"Hasarith, what's goin' on, talk to me!" Epion yelled, not receiving any response. 

"Hasarith Seraphine Harkonnen, I demand your responce this instant!" 

That did the trick, Hasarith stopped and slowly turned his head. 

"We're being hunted." he finally muttered. 

"Wha'..?" 

"We are being hunted down, officers are missing and the troops are dropping like flies, those out on ops that choose to stand and fight are overwelmed by superior forces, and those who flee run into nothing but more blockades." 

"How?" 

"I don't know, whoever they are, they are well organized and all over Eve... getting out of this system won't be easy." 

"You think they have a camp set up around this station?" 

"According to the local channels, they do." 

"Then I'll take point with The Atlas, as a buffered omni-tank I should be able to soak up most of their fire while you run for it." 






"Sir, there's a system wide broadcast being aired, it's... it's directed at you, sir." 

Deetex looked up, more annoyed than confused. 

"play audio only" he ordered. 

"Aye sir" the comm officer replied, as he pressed a few buttons. 

"Attention all Sardaukar forces present in this system!" 

Deetex' face went pale as he heard the ever familair voice, muttering the voice's name as the broadcaster introduced himself. 

"I am Veerex Daemian Atreus, and I have a proposition for you." 

"Sir, you know this man?" 

"As you are undoubtably aware, you are out-manned, out-gunned, out-classed and cut off from the rest of Eve. I harbour no ill will towards the bulk of your forces, so I propose a cease fire, provided my following condition is met." 

"Here it comes" Deetex muttered. 

"I demand the immediate extradition of your fleet commander, the Sardaukar general known as Deetex Seraphine!" 

The bridge went quiet, all officers staring in disbelieve at their captain. 

"I await your response..." Veerex concluded, followed by a beep signalling the channel had closed. 

A pause fell, Interupted only by a message beep from one of the fleet management consoles. 

"the, uhm... Sir, the fleet is requesting instructions..." 

Deetex stood up and walked towards a viewport, the stars slightly blurred through the cloaking field, but recognizable. 

He bowed his head, sighing quietly. 

"All hands to the escape pods." he stated. 
"Order the fleet to abandon the formation and head, uncloaked, for the gate" 

He knew exactly what was going to happen if they chose to stay and fight, Veerex would bring in ship after ship, the gross bulk of his armada pouring down on their fledgling fleet in a succession of hard-hitting attack vessels. 
He continued to stare out at space as he heard some of his officers getting up and leaving. 

Some, but not all... 

He turned around, slightly annoyed. 

"I told you people to leave immediatly." 

He was blatently ignored, as the remaining offiers continued to do their jobs. 
"No no, if you refocus the repairs to the outer hull first" 
"But we can't do that with the cloak still up, what's next?" 
"Well the railguns are still charged and loaded, so it shouldn't be.." 

He looked around, taking time to learn each of the officer's faces. 

"You are in violation of a direct order, Sardaukar central command will have your heads for this." 

"With all due respect sir, I believe you are personally and negatively effected by the parameters of this assignment, we are reliefing you of duty." 

"As such you are a civilian, not only do we not take order from civilians but we as Sardaukar do not run when it means this civy has to be protected." 

"Take a seat sir, we could use your help... any suggestions you may have would be appreciated." 

Deetex smirked, as he headed back to his command chair. 

"Sir, one of the Nemesis pilots refuses to withdraw, and is requesting a new set of orders." 

"Instruct him to follow us under cloak, make sure he maintains a distance of seven kilometers at all times, and stays at our stern... does he have any bombs remaining?" 

"Compliment coming through now, he has one Lockbreaker shell and three Inferno Rage warheads remaining." 

Deetex started rubbing his chin, contemplating his options. 
"Not much to work with, but that ECM shell could be useful, tell him to load it up and get ready to fire it at my command." 

"Sir, if he pops that shell, we'll lose our target locks as well" One his officers panicked. 

"I am aware of that, but during the sensor blackout, we'll be able to cloak, reposition, and act at our own discression." 

One of the officers wisstled in amazement, it hadn't occured to them yet. 

"What then?" 

It was the root question, the core of their collective concern... 
What would they do once they had cloaked. 

"Then... every single one of you will head to an escape pod, I'll trigger this ship's self-destruct and send it's burning wreckage straight to Veerex' flagship."