Encapsulated

The Forge Region – Anttanen Constellation
Uitra System – Planet VI, Moon 4
State War Academy Station

22 May YC 121

The captives that I rescued in the previous mission were all well-off businessmen who had been kidnapped and held for ransom. When the doors of their transport container opened and they found themselves in the Academy Station instead of the Guristas prison, the hostages were so elated that they went straight to the bar to celebrate their lucky escape. I found myself in the centre of their carouse as they thought that I was single-handedly responsible for their rescue. I decided not to confuse the escapees with the details of the operation and let them shout drinks for me all night long. The upshot of that revelry was that next day I woke up in the afternoon with a royal hangover. Having glimpsed my mug in the mirror, I shuddered in horror and took the day off.

A day of abstinence did wonders to my cloned body and on Wednesday I felt ready for the next assignment and called Ijumachi to check if he had a new mission ready. Continue reading “Glue, Part 1”

The Forge Region – Anttanen Constellation
Uitra System – Planet VI, Moon 4
State War Academy Station

20 May YC 121

I quite enjoyed firing missiles at Guristas and was looking forward to flying another combat mission with the launcher granted by Ijumachi. Unfortunately, he had a different plan for me.

“Have you ever participated in a fleet?” asked the agent.

“No. Why?” replied I.

“We need to close that gap in your education. It’s an essential skill for every fighter pilot because most battles are fought not by solo capsuleers but by fleets. Do you know the most important thing about flying in a fleet?”

“Er… Keeping formation?” I hazarded a guess based on my rich experience of watching space operas. Continue reading “The Pacifist”

The Forge Region – Anttanen Constellation
Uitra System – Planet VI, Moon 4
State War Academy Station

17 May YC 121

After the last mission I felt like I started losing interest in the advanced military course. Honestly, I wouldn’t say that flying a ship through radioactive clouds was a military or, for that matter, an advanced skill. It took me a few days to get my ass off the couch and drag my body to Ijumachi’s office. Annoyingly, the agent was his usual energetic self and greeted me as if he was eagerly awaiting my arrival.

“Good morning, Mr Korff. How very opportune! I have a mission just for you.”

“Good morning, Mr Vuonolailen,” I replied listlessly. “Have you found another cloud?”

The agent looked confused, “Cloud? What cloud? Oh, you mean the cloud you had to go through during the last mission?” He lowered the voice and said confidentially, “Look, I know it was a monkey job, but that was one of those screwball assignments that get included into the curriculum from time to time. Because some idiot some time somewhere didn’t have enough sense to warp out of a radioactive cloud and lost his ship, now all the pilots have to undergo a ‘hostile environment’ training.”

I waved my hand dismissively, “Forget it, Mr Vuonolailen. I don’t blame you but such missions are really dispiriting.”

“Well, I hope we can fix it. Have you ever used missiles?” Continue reading “Weapon of Choice”

The Forge Region – Anttanen Constellation
Uitra System – Planet VI, Moon 4
State War Academy Station

12 May YC 121

Two or three days after my last meeting with Ijumachi I called him to request a new mission. My call was answered by his secretary who advised that Mr Vuonolailen was on extended emergency deployment and should be back next month. As it turned out, it took him full four weeks to return to the Academy. I was not given a notice and was quite surprised to spot him in a cafe where I had my breakfast.

“Welcome back, Mr Vuonolailen,” said I approaching his table. “Do you mind if I keep you company?”

“Oh, Mr Korff. I am so glad to see you,” beamed Ijumachi. “Please, take a seat.”

“Thank you,” said I moving my breakfast tray to his table. “How was your deployment?”

Ijumachi smiled, “It’s actually classified information but I can tell you a few things; they will soon be in newspapers anyway.” Continue reading “Don’t Look Back”

The Forge Region – Anttanen Constellation
Uitra System
Mission Location

14 April YC 121

The base, naturally, was located in a deadspace pocket so the only thing we found at the mission location was an acceleration gate.

I looked at Aura, “Ready?”

She made a deep breath and said firmly, “Yes.”

“Scared?”

Aura smiled shyly, “That too.”

“Okay, let’s not waste time – get us through the gate.”

“Aye-aye,” replied Aura and we jumped.

As soon as we arrived, I checked the overview, and it didn’t look right. There was a deadspace beacon, one ship and nothing else – no base, no structures, no nothing. The ship also looked strange; it wasn’t a pirate, it was some kind of a mercenary frigate.

“Where is the base?” asked I rhetorically. Continue reading “The Stand, Part 3”

The Forge Region – Anttanen Constellation
Uitra System – Planet VI, Moon 4
State War Academy Station

13 April YC 121

After the conversation with Ijumachi I spent the rest of the day studying various offensive and defensive modules that could help me in the offered mission. It was the first time I seriously thought about complete fitting of my ship because all previous missions could have been easily completed with half slots empty. I had started my research by checking all modules that could be fitted to a frigate but was quickly overwhelmed by the variety of equipment available on the market. Then I tried various online forums where experienced capsuleers shared their combat experience. To my disappointment, such thing as a perfect Merlin fit did not exist. There were multiple “brawling”, “kiting” and “sniping” doctrines whose proponents were engaged in heated discussions about their relative merits. It seemed that whatever fit one had there were always circumstances in which another fit would be preferable. The situation was complicated by the fact that I had absolutely no idea what to expect from my adversaries. Eventually, I came to a point of information overload and took a break.

A couple of beers refreshed my inflamed brain and reset my train of thought. In the absence of reliable intel I had to make assumptions about the potential strength of defences and fit my ship accordingly. I looked back at my encounters with pirates and tried to extrapolate them to “you will stand no chance” point. Here are my thoughts. Continue reading “The Stand, Part 2”

The Forge Region – Anttanen Constellation
Uitra System – Planet VI, Moon 4
State War Academy Station

13 April YC 121

After saving Gerhardt’s Phantom Lady I took a break from my studies and appeared in Ijumachi’s office only ten days later.

“I am so glad to see you, Mr Korff,” greeted me the agent. “In fact, I was about to call you.”

“Anything urgent?” asked I.

“Not exactly, but I’d say I have an assignment which would fit nicely into your training schedule. By the way, it was the success of your previous mission that helped us uncover new intel on the pirates.”

“How is that?”

“A few days ago our intelligence department received datapads found on the bodies of criminals who were killed during an attempt to hijack a civilian ship…” said Ijumachi and looked at me.

“Aha, let me guess – would that ship be a luxury yacht piloted by a Mr Oppenheimer?”

Ijumachi nodded with a smile and continued, “Those datapads contained a location of a pirate base thus far unknown to us.”

“Excuse me, out of interest, how did you manage to hack the pads?” interrupted I. Continue reading “The Stand, Part 1”

The Forge Region – Anttanen Constellation
Uitra System – Planet VI, Moon 4
State War Academy Station

3 April YC 121

Gerhardt produced his datapad and connected it to the big screen on the wall which miraculously survived the carnage. It showed Victorieux’s fitting control centre. Ger walked over to the display and pointed at the rigs and low-energy slots.

“See this? The Phantom Lady is fitted for speed and agility. Although she is a cruiser-sized bird, the inertial stabilisers ensure that its align time is under three seconds. So it’s quite possible that we entered warp at the same moment, and I was never vulnerable to the Plunderers’ attack.”

“Okay, I got it. Still, it doesn’t explain how you got to the station ahead of me,” said I. Continue reading “Vulnerability Management 101”