Javelin Jeopardy

The captain of the marauder class ship Killing Time activated the jump gate at the same time as the ship wide comm net. In cool synthetic tones she advised the crew of their pending engagement.

“Helm, be advised drives will be offline during the test. Engineering, power demands will possibly exceed standard tolerances, disengage safety protocols on my mark. Gunnery, commence javelin load and standby”

” Tactical, I will require targeting by distance and transversal as priority. Engage bastion on my mark”.

“Intel provided suggests that elements within Gallente Federation have managed to assemble a shipyard in deep space. Resistance to its destruction is likely to be considerable. I have taken a considered decision to test this platform with the new ammunition type and stress test of both it and the new ship configuration thar the bastion module provides. There may be some unexpected results”.

Warp tunnel collapse in 5. On your toes people”.

As the local starfield untwisted and the n-space effects disappeared into their normal quantum hideaways , the situation became clear. Hostiles ranging from the small interceptor classes, right up to a few battleships, and the captain knew that even without activating the bastion module that the Kronos could handle the situation.

“Gunnery, standby. Single rounds only, full salvo. Hold until disposition known. Tactical, signal enhancement on priority targets please”

“Bastion activation in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, mark”.

The ship came to a complete halt as all maneuvering thrusters became solely devoted to holding it in place under the kinetic stresses of the massive rail guns. The warp drive energy output diverted to supercharging the nanite repair arrays and armor reinforcement lattices.

The captain waited as tactical lit up with the ship electronics registering incoming target locks, and as they responded in kind. And on the first notification of weapons fire being turned aside by their shielding, she reactivated comms,  “Gunnery, you are clear to engage”.

The ruby light of twin target painters stabbed through the dark to illuminate the tiny interceptor. The massive 425mm railguns spoke once, and the target vanished. The captain maintained her silence, though even she was surprised at how effective this combination appeared to be.

Interceptor upon interceptor, frigate after frigate disintegrated under fire when the capsuleer felt something of an unexplained misgiving. The ship and crew were performing more than admirably, when tactical updated and the reason for that misgiving suddenly became abundantly clear.

The gallente had been fitting their ships to signal on destruction… and there had been plenty of that. Those signals called for reinforcements. A lot of reinforcements. The capsuleer took a microsecond to assess the situation and invoked the executive override protocols on all core functions. An additional seven battleships and a small host of support vessels had warped onto the battlefield.

The marauders shields disappeared under a hail of incoming plasma fire, and with the warp drive offline, an emergency exit was not an immediate option. The disengagement time of the bastion module was close to a minute, enough time to control and re-divert the massive energies being poured through the hull of the ship. A full minute until they could warp out. With armor ablating under the contained nuclear charges and the supercharged repair nanites working at capacity, the capsuleer opened comms once more.

“All crew, all crew we are under heavy fire. It is expected that the hostiles will reach optimal efficiency within 180 seconds. Overload protocols for repair systems are set and waiting. Executive override active but not engaged. Non-essential personnel to escape pods as a precaution”

“Gunnery free fire, I repeat, free fire”.

And with that the capsuleer waited and watched. Each individual moment assessed and reassessed. The amount of pressure on the repair systems stabilized at the very edges of their capabilities, enemy ships being destroyed giving a brief respite until the remaining moved closer in, their weapons hitting harder and harder.

30 seconds is a long time for anyone in such circumstances, more so for a cybernetically enhanced post-human. And again, in that time she was surprised. The overloading of the repair systems had not been needed. Things had been balanced on a knife edge for quite some time, then it became apparent that the tide of battle had swung their way.

The decision to mix some seasoned crew from the Angel with some fresher faces had been well repaid, and well pleased with the crew and ship performance, wondered just how good it could be once a further investment in time and equipment had been made.

 

H

 

P.S I managed to activate all the triggers in the second room of Enemies Abound part 3. The DPS was not inconsiderable, but despite having only a T2 LAR and hardeners, the Killing Time stood up remarkably well.

And yes, you can instapop NPC inties and frigates using javelin and 425 rails provided they don’t get too close (optimal 22k under bastion) and transversal is not up too much. The combination worked better than I expected…. just watch the $#%@& triggers.

 

P.P.S Have I mentioned just how much I dislike Jita?