Return and redemption

Sharley and I woke to find Jamira still fast asleep on my couch. We decided to left her rest while we prepped our ships. She went off to her Raven and me to my Thorax. I gave it a good check over and checked the condition of my 5 Hammerhead II's as well. These little guys do a lot of work for me. Next step was making sure I had enough ammunition. I just had a large supply of antimatter charges roll off the assembly line. I loaded 3,000 of the mid-size charges into the cargo hold. Most likely more than what I will need, but it's better than running out. I noticed there was something new in my hangar, those cases of Quafe Ultra Special Edition I ordered. I kept one case for myself, then contacted Sharley. "I'm sending some things to your hangar."

"Oh? What kind of things?" She asked.

"A dozen exotic dancers and boosters!" I told her.

She laughed. "Sounds fun."

Along with the Quafe, I sent her an assortment of missiles I had been collecting from various missions - Paradise Furys, Caldari Navy Issue Devestators, and Caldari Navy Issue Wraths. She contacted me right after she recieved them. "And where are the drugged up dancing girls?"

"They are not there? Did the other stuffs make it there OK?"

"I'm not even going to ask where these cruise missiles came from, but I will make better use of them than the last person that had them. And how did you know I needed a Quafe?"

With the ships ready we returned to my quarters for Jamira. She was awake when we got there and wondering where we had disappeared to.

"Ready to go back home?" I asked.

"Do I get to see you blow up those pirates first?"

"Absolutely not, but I will set up an uplink so you can watch friom the safety of the station. If my ship gets destroyed and I cannot escape, I'll just come back as a clone. Been there, done that. You don't have that option."

She looked disapointed.

"It's for your own good." I told her. Almost feel like I'm her mother or something. "But if you decide to become a capsuleer, you can fight alongside me and Sharley. The more the better."

"I don't think my father would approve."

"Mine didn't. I'm not saying that to encourage you to go against him, but only you can decide what is right for you. It's a hard life we live. Not everyone is as nice. Most are not."

"I understand." She sighed, still quite disappointed from the look on her face.

"You are going to be riding in my Thorax." I brought up an image of it on the terminal in my quarters. "Good looking ship, don't ya think?"

Jamira stared at it with a bit of an embarassed look on her face.

"I call him The Phighting Phallus, I think it's obvious why."

She giggled."It does look like one."

Sharley added with a laugh. "I call it the Penis of Death!"

"OK, so it's not just my dirty mind at work." I was laughing with her. "Get your things, don't want to keep daddy waiting."

"Sharley what are you flying?"

I switched the view to Sharley's Europae, Caldari Navy Issue Raven. I forgot for a moment that she was very self concious about her ships. She looked at Jamira sadly, "It's not as pretty as anything she has."

"But if it absolutely, positively, has to be destroyed right now, it's perfect." I quickly added.

Jamira looked at the angular and asymetrical battleship on the screen that totally dwarfed my cruiser. "That's just scary."

"I knew you wouldn't like it."

"I didn't mean it that way. It's just so big."

"And ugly." Sharley frowned.

"Stop it. You know you love the destruction it makes."

With Jamira in the passenger hold of my Thorax we set off for Dodixie. Only 3 jumps from here so the ride was quite short. It was a happy reunion for her and her extended family from the mining colony. I have to admit, I almost cried. I got to thinking what it might be like if I ever returned home to my native Intaki. I'd need a Domi or a 'thron at least to do it though. It's not that I'm looking to impress anyone, but there's not much in the way of security there.

And just like that we were off to Stetille. The mining colony was swarming with Serpentis. Frigates of all types, several cruisers and 2 battleships. Modified Megathron class battleships at that. I'm not sure what they were after here, but what ever it is has to be more that just ore. We both locked the 'throns with Sharley firing volleys of cruise misiles and me providing traget painting. A wall of frigates charged toward us. As they came they met heavy fire from my drones as I moved in close for a few quick dogfights. Too bad I couldn't see the looks on their faces as they were being run down by a cruiser. I may have rammed a few of them as I chased others. I think I exceeded my calculations. I've been critized by other pilots for flying a speed tanked Thorax, but it gets the job done.

Another wave of frigates soon followed with more warping in. My drones and I chewed through them. There had to be something more going on here than mining for the Serps to want it so bad. I'm no stranger to encountering large numbers of Serps. On a good day this is exactly what I go hunting for, but this is just insane. And why isn't the Navy doing something about this big of a presence? It's their mining outpost. I may have to do some further investigating. Somethings up, I just know it.

There's one drawback to a good speed tank and I was starting to feel it. More like my ship was starting to feel it. What the frigates lacked in firepower they made up for in sheer numbers. I took off from the fray and let my drones finish them off while I activated my armor repair systems. I hear Sharley on the comms. "Where do you think you are running off to?"

"Just getting out of range so I can repair my armor. I'm taking a beating here."

Just then a cruiser nailed me hard with a missile. There goes more armor. I really wish I could fit a launcher or two. I would like to know how they are doing it. I jammed the cruiser to prevent any further damage.

With the frigates wasted and no mare warping in, my drones moved in on the cruiser I was jamming. Shortly after, mysheilds and armor were back up and I rejoined the fray against the other cruisers. Sharley was still trading fire with the 'throns. Was almost a stalemate as they were tanking nearly everything the other was dealing out. I didn't have that issue with the cruisers. Too close and moving too fast to be tracked. They were, however more work to take down than the frigates. A few rounds with a blaster and a frigate becomes scrap, these cruisers were another story. I ran into another problem. The Serps had taken control of the outpost's sentry guns. Or maybe they brought their own. What ever the case, my ship did take a few hits from them. I quickly commanded my drones to return fire. Those had to be Serpentis sentries considering the time my drones took to waste each one. I'm sure the miners would have loved to have kept those.

As the last of the cruiser went up in smoke and flames, I knew what I had to do next. There was hardly a scratch on either 'thron or Sharleys Raven. Time for me to make this fight really unfair. I got in close to one of the 'throns, opened fire with all 5 blasters and sicked all 5 drones on it. Now it was starting to suffer. Then something I did not expect happened. The other one stopped firing at Sharley and started firing at me! I can move fast enough to escape most of the damage from the rails, but not the missiles. My ECM was not blinding it enough either. I sent my drones to it and contacted Sharley. "I'm taking heavy fire here, anything you can do?" I asked as I brought my armor repairer online and cut off 3 of my blasters.

"Already working on it!"

Now all her lauchers were on the other 'thron. Between that and my drones, it was gone rather quick. I felt the shockwave from it's explosion. One down, one to go. That was the good news, the bad part is by that time I was taking structural damage.

"Sweetie, your ass is on fire!" Called Sharley over the comms. "Do you think you can hang on a little longer? A few more volleys and this one is a goner."

"Yeah, but try to make it quick."

And it was. No more Serps, just shattered remains.