My “Equalizer” had arrived. His name was Dyolf Yendor. He had been my friend for around ten months, and in that short time we knew that we could trust our lives with each other. We were a complementary pair. I focused more in Industrial and Manufacturing with a smattering of combat and drone capability, and he came out of the Caldari State War Academy. This entailed a very combat heavy skill set with some other piloting skills as well.
It was inevitable that he would end up in a Drake. His was called Mayhem, and when he entered an engagement with it, that is exactly what he caused, MAYHEM!!!
Chetin had tasked me with going out and finding Dr. Calus’ former mentor, who had been on the bleeding edge of quantum particle physics and artificial intelligence. He had disappeared recently, and though there was no indication of foul play, the payment Chetin was offering me set off alarms in my head. Which is why I called in my “Equalizer”.
Dyolf and I had undocked and had made our way to the system where Professor Delainen was reported to be. As I called up the bookmark Chetin had given me, Dyolf and I went over our plan again. I was going to warp him in to the bookmarked area first. With his monster shields and missiles, as well as his drones he was going to take out any of the smaller hostiles. I would warp to him and with Thresher’s rails and drones I would focus on the cruiser size hostiles and up. If one of us finished our primary responsibilities first, we would swap over to assist the other.
I engaged Fleet Command and flipped the switch to send Dyolf in to harm’s way. Within 30 seconds of him disappearing into warp, I heard “come on in, the waters great!!!” over comms. I despaired of ever getting him to take combat seriously.
As Thresher slid out of warp my overview lit up with hostile indicators and flashes. I was about three thousand meters off of the port, stern, level quadrant of Mayhem and had a front row seat to hybrid rounds, missiles, artillery rounds, and autocannon rounds impacting his shields. He was giving as good as he got. Heavy missiles were blossoming from his launchers in all directions and making short work of the smaller targets. Something niggled at my consciousness about them, then it dawned on me, they were rogue drones, not the mercs I had half expected.
While this was playing through my head I was unconsciously picking the larger targets out of my overview and locking them up for some personal attention. As the targeting computer completed the first locks Thresher rails thumped and her Hammerheads screamed out of their launch tubes and made a beeline for their primary target. I set Thresher on a course to close on Dyolf and Mayhem so that we could provide a more concentrated core of destruction.
In short order we had cleared up the first pocket of hostiles, moved through a gate we found there, and were wrapping up the second pocket of hostiles. We were provided the fun of having to deal with neutralizer, stasis, and sentry towers in the second pocket. What a joy.
After dispatching the last hostile we closed on Professor Delainen’s laboratory and forcibly removed him from said premises. Needless to say it was a noisy ride back to Stirht for my crew, what with the professor yelling and screaming the whole way. I would say that Dyolf and I were none to gentle with the “good” professor when we delivered him to Chetin, but that would be stating the obvious.
Having received the payment for this run, I let Chetin know that I had had enough fun for one day and would be back tomorrow. Time to go grab the “Scow” and see what salvage we could gather from that engagement. For the mission: VGO Carebears = 45, Rogue Drones = 0.
Rayne Stryker