Lonetrek region – Okela constellation
Tsuguwa system – Planet VI
Caldari Navy Assembly Plant Station
27 November YC 126
I was having my breakfast in the Navy canteen when a familiar figure approached my table.
“Mind if I join you,” asked Purkkoken Hanuken and, without waiting for my consent, plonked himself in the opposite chair.
He brought a tray covered with plates containing typical military fare among which I noticed a can of Quafe.
“You like that Gallentean staff?” I asked, wrinkling my nose.
“It’s not for me, it’s for you – for your indigestion, remember?” Purkkoken grinned and pushed the can to my side of the table.
“I don’t drink these sugary slops and, despite your best efforts, I don’t have indigestion”, I replied and pushed the can back.
“You might still get it, if you don’t finish your breakfast quickly.”
“What? Another mission? Man, why can’t you tell me about new assignments between meals?”
“Because,” explained Purkkoken, picking up a protein ball from his plate, “a well-fed capsuleer is more malleable during contract negotiations. I have to compensate for the difference in our Negotiation skill levels somehow.”
“But if you are going to send me to the dock before I have finished my breakfast, I will not achieve that blissful state and will be much inclined to force you pay a premium for my services.”
“Don’t fret, my friend. I am not going to spill the beans here. We’ll talk in my office when you are full,” said the agent with a smirk.
“So, what’s the trouble?” I asked Purkkoken when we arrived to his office.
“This is,” he answered tapping a still unopened can of Quafe, the only item remaining from his breakfast.
I picked up the can and inspected it.
“I am not a connoisseur, but looks legit to me. What is it? Contraband? Counterfeit?”
“I didn’t mean the drink, I meant the company,” said Purkkoken.
“Quafe is giving you a trouble?”
“No, they are having a trouble.”
“Huh, if a Gallentean company is in trouble we, as true Caldari patriots, should welcome the news and, if anything, should have caused that trouble in the first place,” I said pompously, with just a hint of a smile.
“Oh, Vlad! Don’t confuse politics with business. Quafe has a legitimate subsidiary in Caldari State and they have a big problem which they asked us to resolve.”
“Surely, they have their own security force. Why ask Caldari Navy?”
“Because it’s the ineptitude of their security force that caused the problem, and the CEO won’t let them anywhere near that incident. Listen, Quafe has a research and experimentation facility here. Recently, it developed a new drink called Quafe Unleashed that they say will revolutionise the whole soft drink industry. But then one of Quafe employees, a chap called Quince Nemirda, managed to exfiltrate the documents with the formula out of their station. Quafe thinks he is going to sell it to their competitors, and they want us to intercept the bastard. We tracked Nemirda to a deadspace pocket in Iidoken system and now we need you to retrieve the formula.”
“From his cold, dead hands?”
“Whichever way you prefer, mate. Nemirda is officially an outlaw, so no holds barred.”
Lonetrek region – Okela constellation
Iidoken system – Mission location
Having warped to the coordinates given by Purkkoken, I found an acceleration gate and a ship broadcasting Quince Nemirda’s callsign.
“Gotcha!” I exclaimed and targeted the thief.
Before I could acquire a lock Nemirda jumped through the gate and in his place arrived three Mercenary Rookies. They didn’t waste time and immediately started harassing my shield. The mercenaries were quite effective, and in 20 seconds managed to reduce my shield by 10%. However, that was all the fun they were going to get that day, as I started my MWD and sniped them from a safe distance. Having dealt with the Rookies, I activated the acceleration gate and soon found myself… by a roadhouse which had a landing pad and a couple of berthed Tayras. The setting would have looked rather unremarkable if it wasn’t for five more mercenaries and Quince Nemirda himself milling around in frigates.
This time there was no escape for Nemirda. I targeted his ship and, as soon as it was locked, sent him a volley of iron charges.
Suddenly the local radio came alive and I heard Nemirda’s voice yelling, “Hey, don’t shoot! I will…”
I was curious to hear what he had to say but I forgot to turn off the railguns, and the third volley went through the structure and ripped his State Shinai apart.
“Well, ‘from the cold, dead hands’ it is then,” I sighed and turned my attention to the mercenaries.
The Rookies went down as easily as their mates on the other side of the acceleration gate. One of the mercenaries, though, was classified as Leader and flew a better armed and armoured ship. While the Rookies didn’t manage to cause any damage, the Leader landed several solid hits on me with his Inferno missiles. It also took me quite a few volleys from my railguns before I finally popped his ship. Having turned all red triangles into grey ones, I looted the wrecks, demolished the remaining structures and returned to the Assembly Plant station.
Lonetrek region – Okela constellation
Tsuguwa system – Planet VI
Caldari Navy Assembly Plant Station
Purkkoken and I were in a mission debrief, inspecting the footage from my camera drones, when I noticed an interesting detail.
“Look here,” I pointed at Mercenary Leader, “this ship has Guristas logo, but that one,” I rewound the record and found an image of Mercenary Rookie, “has Angel Cartel emblem. How come they were flying in the same fleet?”
“How come Sansha’s Nation was flying together with Serpentis in Violent Expulsion?” Purkkoken asked rhetorically. “I would love to ask them but we rarely get a chance to interrogate their pilots. Hardly any of their ships are equipped with escape pods, so when the vessel is destroyed, that is it.”
“Hmm… Interesting things are going on in your constellation, mate.”
“Oh no,” moaned Purkkoken, “I have already stuck my neck out after that Serpentis encounter and had nearly lost the appendage attached to it. I am not going to pursue that line of investigation again, Vlad. Just forget about it.”
“Alright, alright,” I raised my hands placatingly.
At that moment the screen was showing the explosion of the roadhouse, and suddenly a horrible thought occurred to me – what if that roadhouse was just a regular business venture, not associated with the pirates, and I killed innocent people? I just assumed it was related to pirates because their ships were present, but there was no other indication that they were affiliated. I shared my concern with Purkkoken. The agent rewound the footage to the moment before the explosion and zoomed in on the sign which was written on the wall of the roadhouse: THE PIT.
Purkkoken laughed, “Congratulations, mate! You’ll be the the seventh.”
I was confused.
“Seventh what?”
“The seventh pilot who destroyed The Pit. You don’t need to worry about civilian casualties, Vlad. The Pit is an infamous pirate den. It doesn’t belong to any particular faction, which may actually explain why Angels were flying together with Guristas – they are all welcome at The Pit. Every time we knock down that ‘roadhouse’, it is rebuilt in a new place. So far we have demolished six reincarnations of that establishment in Lonetrek region. You’ve just destroyed the seventh.”
I breathed a sigh of relief.
“But,” continued Purkkoken, “you were right to be worried. In future, if a structure does not have a pirate logo or a faction name, assume it is civilian until proved otherwise. Now, let’s take a look at the formula you retrieved.”
The agent took a sheaf of papers that I picked up from Nemirda’s wreck.
“See, this was the blunder made by Quafe security – they restricted downloads to portable memory devices but did not put any controls around printers. So Nemirda simply printed the whole document and carried it out of the building in his backpack,” Purkkoken shook his head ruefully, but then his eyes narrowed, “What’s this?” asked he looking at the list of ingredients used to produce Quafe Unleashed, “Cryodelirazine?”
“What’s that cryo…dio…zine stuff?” I asked with interest.
“It’s a scientific name of a chemical substance also known as Blue Pill.”
“I see,” I nodded, realising the implications, and then added innocently, “Are you going to pursue that line of investigation?”
Purkkoken shot an alarmed look at me and folded the papers, “Definitely not!”