Lonetrek region – Okela constellation
Tsuguwa system – Planet VI
Caldari Navy Assembly Plant Station
26 December YC 126
“Anything new and interesting for me?” I asked Purkkoken Honuken, making myself comfortable in his visitor chair.
“Actually, yes,” said the agent, “I have something new but I am not sure how interesting you will find it. Remember that ambassador evacuation mission?”
“Oh, yes. Have you figured out what Caldari Embassy was doing in Caldari space in a station called Caldari Consul?”
Purkkoken looked pained, “Well, I did ask my supervisor about that but I was told to mind my own business, so… no. Anyway, it looks like at least the Gallente media is in the know as they are making a huge fuss about that pullout. They called Caldari and Amarr overly sensitive ninnies on a Gallente channel which is broadcast in this very system. Their choice of words was seen as uncivilized by… sorry, I can’t tell you by whom, and I received a request to organise… erm… an accident with one of the Gallente communication arrays.”
“What kind of accident?” I asked suspiciously.
“Mmm… Say, a drunken capsuleer decided to use their antenna for target practice and broke it in the process. Irrevocably, if you catch my meaning.”
“And what kind of reaction should that capsuleer expect from Gallente Federation?”
“Ah,” Purkkoken said airily, “the usual one – they’ll probably decrease their standing toward the culprit and that will be the end of it. Feds will only start shooting when the standing is -5.0. You aren’t that low in their books, are you?”
I shook my head, “No. And what about security?”
The agent scoffed, “What security? It’s one of the thousands of transmission towers. It is cheaper to replace the whole thing than to keep security detail attached to it.”
I mused, “Hmm… so structure bashing again. You know what, can you hold this mission for me for a couple of hours? I have an idea.”
“Be my guest,” shrugged Purkkoken, “it’s not like I have a queue of communication array haters.”
I went to the dock, boarded Merimetso and woke up Aura.
“Darling, we are going shopping.”
“Yay!” Aura cheered, “What are we buying?”
“A structure bashing fit for the Cormorant. Remember those Infested Station Ruins which we found in Rogue Drone Infestation Sprout? It would have taken ages to destroy them with the rails. I plan to buy blasters.”
“Hmm… Have you chosen the model?”
“Actually, yes. If we leave alone polarised blasters, the best performance is provided by Modal Light Neutron Particle Accelerator I and Light Neutron Blaster II.”
“I expect that Tech II variation is somewhat better than Tech I?” asked Aura.
“You’ll be surprised but no,” answered I, “the damage modifier and the rate of fire are exactly the same.”
“So what’s the difference?”
“Ha! Here comes the kicker – Tech I variation is easier to fit than Tech II!”
Aura looked confused, “Then what’s the point of inventing that next-gen Tech II variation?”
I shrugged, “No idea, but I am buying Tech I. It is also cheaper in our region.”
Unfortunately, only three Modal Light Neutron Particle Accelerators were available for Ƶ690,000; the rest of the offers were around 1 million ISK mark. I bought the three cheap ones and headed to Jita hoping to find a better price for the remaining four blasters.
The Forge region – Kimotoro constellation
Jita system – Planet IV – Moon 4
Caldari Navy Assembly Plant
In Jita I met with disappointment – in the whole Forge region there was only one Tech I Modal Light Neutron Particle Accelerator available for Ƶ720,000, while the rest were sold for over 1,000,000 ISK and were more expensive than Tech II Light Neutron Blasters.
“If the performance is the same, but the price is lower, why don’t we buy Tech II blasters instead?” suggested Aura.
I nodded, “We can, but let’s check if we can fit them.”
I ran a quick fitting simulation and discovered that my power grid was lacking 0.3 MW to fit Tech II Light Neutron Blasters in the remaining four high slots.
I sighed, “I guess we’ll just have to cough up enough ISK for Tech I variation.”
“Wait a second,” interjected Aura, “Do you know that you can reduce Tech II blaster power grid requirements by 2% if you train Advanced Weapon Upgrades skill from your current level IV to level V? Then you will be able to fit the Tech II blasters.”
“Hmm… I thought I had trained those engineering skills to the max already. And how long will it take me to get to level V?”
Aura grimaced apologetically, “33 days, but you should be able to use your skill injectors to train that skill immediately.”
I rolled my eyes, “Aura, those injectors cost more than the difference between Tech I and Tech II blasters. It’s just not worth it.”
I was about to close the fit simulation window when Aura stopped me and pointed at one of the Light Neutron Blasters, “Look at that!”
“What?” I asked, confused.
“The blaster damage.”
“Okay, it’s 40.3 DPS. So what?”
“And now look at the Particle Accelerator damage.”
I checked the accelerator in another high slot and its DPS was 38.1.
“How come?” I exclaimed in bewilderment. “They have identical damage stats.”
Aura smiled triumphantly, “Do you remember studying Small Blaster Specialization?”
I slapped my forehead, “But of course! It gives me 2% bonus per skill level to Tech II blaster damage. That explains the difference in DPS.”
“And,” continued Aura, “you’ve trained it only to level III. So eventually you can increase the damage further by 4%.”
I scratched my chin thoughtfully, “Hmm… Interesting… Still, I am not at the stage where I need to squeeze the last drops of DPS out of my ship. I’ll tell you what, we’ll buy three Tech II blasters and one Particle Accelerator to ensure we have enough power supply. This way we’ll get maximum DPS for my skill level, and in the meantime I’ll start training Advanced Weapon Upgrades to level V.”
Aura agreed to the compromise and I ended up with this fit.
[Cormorant, Merimetso II] Damage Control II Magnetic Field Stabilizer II 5MN Cold-Gas Enduring Microwarpdrive Kinetic Shield Hardener I Thermal Shield Hardener I Light Neutron Blaster II Light Neutron Blaster II Light Neutron Blaster II Modal Light Neutron Particle Accelerator I Modal Light Neutron Particle Accelerator I Modal Light Neutron Particle Accelerator I Modal Light Neutron Particle Accelerator I Small Hybrid Burst Aerator I Small Hybrid Collision Accelerator I Antimatter Charge S x22593
Lonetrek region – Okela constellation
Tsuguwa system – Mission location
I jumped back to the Assembly Plant station in Tsuguwa and formally accepted the mission. Purkkoken gave me the deadspace pocket coordinates, and soon Aura and I were looking at a Gallente communication array which transmitted uncivilised messages to him who could not be named.

I started moving into a close orbit around the antenna when Aura urgently said, “Vlad, I have a better idea. See that canister under the array, it’s a fuel depot. I think it will be much faster to destroy the transmitter if we blow up the depot with all its fuel first. The explosion will either wipe out the antenna outright or will damage it significantly.”
I frowned, “No, Aura, I don’t want to be anywhere near that depot if it explodes. And we have to be within two clicks from it. We now have blasters, not railguns, remember?”
“But you also have a mobile depot and railguns in your hold,” Aura pointed out, “so you can fit the rails and shoot the depot from a safe distance.”
“It’s not just that. We went to all this trouble buying the structure-bashing fit and now I intend to test it. Besides, the mission objective is the array, not the fuel depot. If we target the depot, it may not be seen as reasonable collateral damage, and Purkkoken will subtracted its cost from our mission bonus.”
Aura’s face took a sulky expression and I quickly tried to reassure her, “It’s a good idea, Aura, just not for this mission. But I’ll keep it in mind for future encounters.”
Aura was appeased and we proceeded with structure bashing. The result was astounding – my damage rate was 270 DPS and the blasters burned through the communication tower as if it was made of cardboard. A minute and a half later the tower exploded and the mission was over.
“Actually, not completely over yet,” I mumbled.
I switched to the local broadcast channel, said “Oops,” and loudly hiccuped.
“Now it’s done,” I said contentedly.
Aura frowned, “What was that?”
“Purkkoken asked me to make it look like an accident – as if a drunken pilot used the tower for target practice. I nearly forgot that part.”
Aura rolled her eyes and scoffed, “Very convincing!”