Velsharoon's Frozen Corpse

From DaveSpace

Hygelac leaned back into his grav-chair with frustrated a sigh, as he listened to the reports coming in from his station chiefs. Scanners were all clear, no sign of any pirates on the Local frequencies of the Maut system.

The construction and fitting of his Tempest class Battleship had been one of the happiest days of his life, an achievement all of his own without help from his estranged family just the skills of one of Salmissra's CEOs and Manufacturing expert Spit. Salmissra had become his new family, a motley collection of characters from all over the empire, each bringing a different talent to the rapidly growing corporation. As soon as the Tempest was named 'Ragnarok' and fully fitted, it was with a wild abandon that Hygelac assumed command and took the latest addition to his fleet out hunting. Hygelac had been running for a long time and it was time to start savouring some revenge. Watashi, as always was eagerly by his side with a few of his own scores to settle ... but events never seem to work out the way you plan them.

Watashi, always having been the brighter of the duo, had a notion to strip down a Mammoth Class Freighter and load it up with EW and other Jamming equipment as a kind of 'Q-Ship'. The idea being to sucker pirates into range before jamming them and calling Ragnarok out of nearby space. A perfect plan, or at least a perfect plan as long as the pirates were around to take the bait.

Above, Mammoth Class Industrial Vessel

Anxious to start righting some of the injustices of the past years, Watashi and Hyge headed towards Oulley, a spot known for it's pirate infestation. Watashi sped to the gate and jumped into Oulley with reckless abandon. Within seconds of arrival at the other side, Watashi raised the alarm. A sizable fleet of Pirate ships headed by the 'Bone Collectors' was lying in wait, heedless of the Gate's sentry guns they were massacring travellers attempting to pass. Watashi furiously tried to come up with a plan to get himself to safety but the distinctive sound of his ship de-cloaking from warp signalled his time was up. Nothing left to do, Watashi bade goodbye to his Rig and ejected.

It was a tense time at the other side of the gate in Orvolle. Hygelac and his command staff sat in silence on the bridge waiting for a comms report from Watashi. Agonizing minutes later communications started up again. Watashi had managed to escape the fleet in his Capsule, barely avoiding the hunter killers by using the Sun's magnetic field to hide. It was to the sounds of Ragnarok's crew cheering that Watashi set an alternate course back to Maut.

That was an hour ago and the Ragnarok had since returned to Maut to patrol a virtually empty system devoid of any pirate ships other than the computer controlled drone ships, of which the Serpentis Pirates were so fond, an unusual contrast to the hive of villainy that the Maut System had become recently. Hygelac was about to give the order to return to Osmeden when a sensor trace blinked onto the main screen. A Megathron class Battleship had just entered the system with an infamous signature - Velsharoon.

Velsharoon had been an infrequent thorn in the side of Salmissra, an ex-employee of 'Dream Scape' he had thrown his lot in with Pirates early this year, and used his knowledge of shipping and commerce to terrorize the trading lanes. He had been responsible for the killing of Dark Eagle, and then later Hamu all in the Maut area, Hygelac has been present on both occasions and was powerless to stop the pirate from hurting his comrades. This time would be different.

Calling in support on Corporation frequencies revealed that there was almost no other support in the Area. Watashi was still speeding back from his narrow escape in Oulley and wouldn't make it in time, and the usual Battleship pilots were all docked. Hygelac was preparing to take on Velsharoon alone, when one of Salmissra's unbloodied employees bravely stepped forwards to offer support. Insight was at the head of her recently commissioned MOA class Caldari cruiser, capable of delivering quite a punch, but with a green crew and an untested commander this was an act of outright heroism. It was some minutes before the hunter fleet was formed, two ships against this sly pirate.

An ambush was carefully laid in the first asteroid belt of the system, reasoning that Velsharoon would come through the belts methodically looking for easy prey, Insight and Hygelac's ships sat powered down, drifting amidst the celestial debris, waiting for the instant when all madness would be unleashed. Tense minutes passed, before reports of combat began appearing on Local frequencies of a pirate attack. Static and confusion eventually gave way to reveal coherent information: Velsharoon had let his own confidence get the better of him and his crew, warping into a belt at minimum range, he found himself hemmed in by asteroids and facing another Megathron class Battleship, under the command of Nicodeme of 'Roving Guns Inc.'! After fierce fighting Velsharoon lost his crew and his ship, escaping to the safety of the only Starbase in the area.

Cursing their ill luck, Hygelac and Insight set a course to the Osmeden Star Gate determined not to let Velsharoon escape so easily. Finding that Velsharoon wasn't making an immediate escape, Hygelac split the fleet. Sending Insight to guard that Adacyne Gate, whilst he guarded the entrance to Osmeden. With his usual flair for timing Watashi entered the system and hastily readied the crew of his Thorax Class Cruiser for battle, joining the hunt and orbiting the Starbase. They didn't have long to wait, Velsharoon had fled to the station and purchased the first scrapheap he could find on the market, desperate to flee the system. Watashi gave the alarm as Velsharoon's frigate sped from the station and into warp, Hygelac and Insight could only wait to see which Stargate he would try to make his escape through.

Proximity alert's sounded and the rest of the fleet were signalled to regroup as Velsharoon made his second mistake of the day and exited warp a mere 20km from the Osmeden Stargate and the combat readied Ragnarok. Thinking he was safe within the protection of the Sentry guns Velsharoon manoeuvred to the Gate preparing for jump. Hygelac had given the order to target the frigate some seconds ago and it was with a feral smile that Hygelac ordered the gun batteries to fire. As the Tempest's artillery began to impact the fleeing frigate, the Sentry Guns at the Gate began to tear into the Ragnarok's shields. Hygelac ordered all power directed to the shields and to ready for jump as the fist of the law beat down upon his ship. Watashi and Insight warped in to provide support as the first volley of Cruise Missiles and Torpedoes struck Velsharoon's fragile frigate. Velsharoon broadcast on local:

"Why?"

But Velsharoon had gone too far, this revenge would be final, pushing his ops officer aside, Hygelac targeted Velsharoon's escape Pod and sent the bastard into the cold embrace of the void with a scream of rage. "I promised Dark Eagle!"

More alarms sounded as the Tempest's shields finally collapsed under the intensity of the Sentry Gun barrage. Damage reports came flooding in as armour plating began to buckle around the ship. Watashi and Insight seeing the danger, were yelling over the comms channels for Hygelac to enter warp, as the lumbering behemoth aligned itself for warp with agonizing slowness. Then in a blink of light it was over as Ragnarok escaped into deepspace, shortly followed by Insight and Watashi with their prize. Velsharoon's Frozen Corpse.