A Path Through The Cold
Run, Run as fast as you can. You can't catch me I'm the Gingerbread Man.
The Gingerbread Man - Traditional Gallente Fairy Tale
The Aces Wild jumped through the gate, and very loudly landed on the other side. The gate induced cloaking laid a veil over the ship as it's pilot surveyed the situation. Hallan Turrek's mind raced inside his pod.
A mobile warp disruption bubble and an Arazu laid between him and the next gate. He slowly turned his camera drones to view his surroundings and noticed a few asteroid belts behind the gate. He told his navigation computer to warp in it's direction, and it quickly did so, shrugging off the cloak as it entered warp.
He landed on three Angel Cartel Battleships and three more Angel Cartel Frigates. Hallan turned his ship around and selected the planet that the next gate orbited and engaged warp again. The Cartel hadn't even managed to target him. That was for the best he imagined, the Cartel would pay a high price for his head.
He opened his navigation menu and created a bookmark just before landing. He then stared at the scene before him in disbelief as he realized he'd been pulled into a warp bubble orbiting the planet. He engaged his prototype cloaking device and began to burn his way out of it. No ships were waiting for him, and he figured he had cloaked before they got a fix on his location as none arrived. When he emerged from the bubble, he engaged his warp to the bookmark he'd created. The Aces Wild shook as it came out of warp again and shimmered softly before disappearing again in the dark night.
Hallan's directional scanner showed five small bubbles surrounding the gate accompanied by a single large bubble and a Caldari Navy Raven. Imagining that support could be on it's way any moment, Hallan dropped cloak again and engaged his warp drive. The Rifter sparkled in the starlight as Hallan's heart began to beat faster. He came out of warp inside a warp disruption bubble, pointed his ship in a direction and engaged his cloak. He was twenty eight kilometers away from the gate. He watched as the Raven headed in his direction. He'd cloaked fast enough to avoid a target lock, but not fast enough to avoid detection.
Hallan cursed mentally as the Raven passed four kilometers from his ship. The cloak would malfunction if anything came within two kilometers and Hallan knew it. Suddenly the Raven released a full load of Ogre's that began an orbit. The drones were regularly coming within three kilometers of his ship. Hallan selected the gate, and readied his microwarp drive. He turned the camera to see a web of warrior one in the direction he was flying. He changed his trajectory and headed towards the gate. He zoomed his camera out and saw that a huge web of warrior one's surrounded the gate. These guys were good.
Suddenly the Arazu came out of warp within five kilometers. So these two were working together. It released it's own load of Hobgoblin two's and began to perform an orbit around the Raven. It inched closer.
"Arazu's don't usually carry warp scramblers," he thought "That Raven would take to long to lock me if it carried a scrambler,"
The Gisti-B type microwarp drive he'd stolen from the Cartel had netted him nothing but trouble from them in the past, but today, he imagined it could save him. If he was right, there was nothing these guys could do about it. The gate was now twenty six kilometers away and his reduced speed while cloaked made that a long wait. The Arazu worried him though, and he decided to stick to plan A until it became prudent to make a run for it.
Then the cloud of Hobgoblin's disappeared into the Arazu's holds. It stopped in space for just a fraction of a moment before warping away. Hallan smiled inwardly and decloaked. He activated the microwarp drive and headed for the gate.
He was faster than the Raven by a long shot. It's lock hadn't even resolved by the time Hallan signaled for gate activation.
His smile melted away as he realized that another bubble awaited him on the other side of that gate.
It was unattended but Hallan knew the Raven was lumbering back to the gate while the Arazu was likely in warp to the gate as well. This system was full of capusleers and his name was probably plastered across all of the local intel channels. Hallan decided to take all available precautions.
He warped to a belt and cloaked. He was thankful the next gate was in scan range. No activity on the scan. He warped in, activated the gate and landed in an empty system.
"That's better," he thought, before engaging warp.
Run, Run as fast as you can. You can't catch me I'm the Gingerbread Man.
The Gingerbread Man - Traditional Gallente Fairy Tale
The Aces Wild jumped through the gate, and very loudly landed on the other side. The gate induced cloaking laid a veil over the ship as it's pilot surveyed the situation. Hallan Turrek's mind raced inside his pod.
A mobile warp disruption bubble and an Arazu laid between him and the next gate. He slowly turned his camera drones to view his surroundings and noticed a few asteroid belts behind the gate. He told his navigation computer to warp in it's direction, and it quickly did so, shrugging off the cloak as it entered warp.
He landed on three Angel Cartel Battleships and three more Angel Cartel Frigates. Hallan turned his ship around and selected the planet that the next gate orbited and engaged warp again. The Cartel hadn't even managed to target him. That was for the best he imagined, the Cartel would pay a high price for his head.
He opened his navigation menu and created a bookmark just before landing. He then stared at the scene before him in disbelief as he realized he'd been pulled into a warp bubble orbiting the planet. He engaged his prototype cloaking device and began to burn his way out of it. No ships were waiting for him, and he figured he had cloaked before they got a fix on his location as none arrived. When he emerged from the bubble, he engaged his warp to the bookmark he'd created. The Aces Wild shook as it came out of warp again and shimmered softly before disappearing again in the dark night.
Hallan's directional scanner showed five small bubbles surrounding the gate accompanied by a single large bubble and a Caldari Navy Raven. Imagining that support could be on it's way any moment, Hallan dropped cloak again and engaged his warp drive. The Rifter sparkled in the starlight as Hallan's heart began to beat faster. He came out of warp inside a warp disruption bubble, pointed his ship in a direction and engaged his cloak. He was twenty eight kilometers away from the gate. He watched as the Raven headed in his direction. He'd cloaked fast enough to avoid a target lock, but not fast enough to avoid detection.
Hallan cursed mentally as the Raven passed four kilometers from his ship. The cloak would malfunction if anything came within two kilometers and Hallan knew it. Suddenly the Raven released a full load of Ogre's that began an orbit. The drones were regularly coming within three kilometers of his ship. Hallan selected the gate, and readied his microwarp drive. He turned the camera to see a web of warrior one in the direction he was flying. He changed his trajectory and headed towards the gate. He zoomed his camera out and saw that a huge web of warrior one's surrounded the gate. These guys were good.
Suddenly the Arazu came out of warp within five kilometers. So these two were working together. It released it's own load of Hobgoblin two's and began to perform an orbit around the Raven. It inched closer.
"Arazu's don't usually carry warp scramblers," he thought "That Raven would take to long to lock me if it carried a scrambler,"
The Gisti-B type microwarp drive he'd stolen from the Cartel had netted him nothing but trouble from them in the past, but today, he imagined it could save him. If he was right, there was nothing these guys could do about it. The gate was now twenty six kilometers away and his reduced speed while cloaked made that a long wait. The Arazu worried him though, and he decided to stick to plan A until it became prudent to make a run for it.
Then the cloud of Hobgoblin's disappeared into the Arazu's holds. It stopped in space for just a fraction of a moment before warping away. Hallan smiled inwardly and decloaked. He activated the microwarp drive and headed for the gate.
He was faster than the Raven by a long shot. It's lock hadn't even resolved by the time Hallan signaled for gate activation.
His smile melted away as he realized that another bubble awaited him on the other side of that gate.
It was unattended but Hallan knew the Raven was lumbering back to the gate while the Arazu was likely in warp to the gate as well. This system was full of capusleers and his name was probably plastered across all of the local intel channels. Hallan decided to take all available precautions.
He warped to a belt and cloaked. He was thankful the next gate was in scan range. No activity on the scan. He warped in, activated the gate and landed in an empty system.
"That's better," he thought, before engaging warp.
Excellent account of how to maneuver to avoid bubbles...and what to do if you get snagged by one. You got lucky with those drones not decloaking you!
ReplyDeleteI was just winging it really. These guys were well set up, but I think I still woulda made it if the drones'd decloaked me.
ReplyDeleteI was waiting for it, and I still woulda just shot for the gate. The Arazu woulda at best held a point on me till I went through, at worst a bit of DPS on me, but not enough to kill me.
Still a heart pounding situation, and a nice introduction to my newest story.
Great tale, Hallan, and an even better escape. How much of your stories is fiction and how much stuff that really happened. You always seem to have much more of a narrative than any of my adventures.
ReplyDeleteThis really happened, but it's part of the story I'm writing cause it leads to the next bit.
ReplyDeleteI went down to Guristas's space. ;)