Lonetrek region – Okela constellation
Tsuguwa system – Planet VI
Caldari Navy Assembly Plant Station
4 January YC 127
After a festive break I visited Purkkoken Honuken to check if he had got any missions for me. The agent looked tired and uncharacteristically gloomy.
“What’s up, mate?” I asked jovially, “Still having a Yoiul hangover?”
Purkkoken scoffed, “What Yoiul? I’ve been working non-stop since you had your little fun with the Dominix.”
I felt a bit offended by his choice of words and raised an eyebrow, “As far as I remember, you expressed your appreciation of my actions and enjoyed that encounter yourself in no small measure.”
Purkkoken sighed, “If only I knew what a hornet’s nest we were kicking I would never have offered that mission to anyone, especially you.”
“Me? What’s wrong about me?” I asked indignantly.
“Well… You seem to have a way with words which provokes a strong negative reaction from the target of your discourse.”
“Ha! I can provoke a strong positive reaction too, but that was not the objective of that mission.”
“I know, I know,” said the agent, “but I wish you limited yourself to a flyover near the battleship, and restrained from lecturing a Gallente admiral on his navigation skills.”
I gasped, “An admiral, you said? I didn’t see the insignia so I thought it was some kind of a comms officer.”
“Nah, mate. Rear Admiral Viremont-Lecaille, no less, was the object of your sermon which was delivered in the presence of a pack of Gallente journalists. The aforementioned journalists took a keen interest in the demonstration of the corvette’s approach to the battleship, and asked the admiral a lot of pointed questions, such as whether it was true that his shiny battleship could not hit the Caldari corvette with a gun. Having already been riled up by your jibes, those questions, as you can imagine, did nothing to improve his mood. As a result, he told the journalists in no uncertain terms not to poke their noses into things they knew nothing about. Being patriots, the journos refrained from expressing an opinion on that episode but what they did was publish the unedited transcript of your interaction with the admiral. Without a commentary, most of the public took your words for an empty bravado, but people in the know had a good laugh at the admiral’s expense. It was clear that he allowed an unfriendly vessel to get under the guns of his battleship and lost face. The admiral then kicked up such a stink about obnoxious Caldari who had no respect for the Federation Navy that some politicians were convinced that they had to take some action, to be more specific, a military action. Since then we have been having reports about a build-up of Gallente military presence in Caldari space.”
I listened to Purkkoken’s story dumbfounded. What looked like an irreverent joke turned out to be a catalyst for a large scale military conflict between Caldari and Gallente. I swallowed hard and said, “So what are our next steps?”
“We are just observing at the moment,” said Purkkoken, “and that’s where you can be useful. I have many agents in different stations who reported their observations to me but I don’t have eyes in one particular Gallente station in Ekura. I need you to fly there, gather intelligence and report back to me.”
“No shooting?” I asked, just in case.
The agent made round eyes, “Under no circumstances! If you have to lose your ship, so be it, but we can’t afford any action which can be perceived as a provocation.”
I shrugged, “Alright, just give me the coordinates.”
Lonetrek region – Okela constellation
Ekura system – Mission location
The Gallente station was in a deadspace pocket which I reached through an acceleration gate. Immediately my overview was flooded with a sea of red icons. I had counted eight battleships after which I didn’t bother tallying the sundry cruisers, frigates and sentry guns.

“I think we have seen enough,” said Aura, awed by the strength of the hostile fleet.
I tried to contact Purkkoken but he was not responding.
“Hmm, I don’t know,” I said, “Maybe we should get closer to the station to ensure we’ve got all the details.”
“Our sensors are good enough to gather all the necessary data from this distance,” hissed Aura.
“I just want to be sure. You keep raising Purkkoken and I’ll approach the station.”
For the moment, none of the Gallentean ships seemed to be interested in me. There were several groups, each one slowly moving around their assigned tactical position in space. The station was 68 clicks from me and the direct approach would not bring me into close contact with any wing of the Gallentean fleet. I started inching toward the station watching the overview for any signs of aggression. When I was halfway through, a flight of Gallentean frigates targeted me and started moving quickly in my direction.

“Have you got anything from Purkkoken yet?” I asked Aura in a strained voice.
“No, but I think it’s about time to wrap up this excursion,” replied Aura.
“A wing of frigates will not alpha me…” I began saying when suddenly Neocom started scrolling a list of notifications on my screen. In fact, it was just one repeating message:
Federation Praktor Hexeris misses you completely
“…but a battleship can,” Aura finished my sentence and yelled, “Warp out!”
I didn’t need any more encouragement and willed the Cormorant to warp to the gate, at the same time turning on the shield hardeners to soften any potential hits. Luckily, the battleship turrets could not track me well, and before I entered the warp I received only one grazing hit which nevertheless took 121 hit points out of my shield. I arrived to Tsuguwa gate with my blood saturated with adrenalin, and pumping the pod goo heavily in and out of my lungs.
Aura and I looked at each other, and I narrowed my eyes angrily, “I think we need to have a word with Mr Honuken.”
Lonetrek region – Okela constellation
Tsuguwa system – Planet VI
Caldari Navy Assembly Plant Station
I stormed into Purkkoken’s office and growled, “Where the hell have you been?”
The agent was speaking with someone on the commlink and raised his hand indicating that I had to wait.
“Yes, the mission was successful,” he was saying to his interlocutor, “we have confirmed Gallente military presence in Ekura… Yes… Thank you, sir.”
Purkkoken ended the connection and turned to me, smiling, “Good job, mate. We have now got intel from all systems in Okela. Ekura was the last one.”
“I wish I could say the same about your work,” I replied testily. “Why didn’t you answer my calls?”
“When?”
“About 20 minutes ago, when I was on the mission.”
Purkkoken shrugged his shoulders, “I had a meeting with another contractor. You know, I have other responsibilities and can’t hold your hand all the time.”
“If you are going to be my handler, you have to make yourself available during my missions. If you say you can’t do it, then I am not surprised you are still Level 1,” I said bitterly.
Purkkoken was taken aback by my aggressive tone and said in a placating tone, “But it was just a reconnaissance mission. What did you need me for anyway?”
“To tell me if the gathered intel was sufficient or, at the very least, to warn me that I could be shot at!”
Purkkoken went pale, “Gallente shot at you?”
“They did. Even managed to hit me once.”
“Did you provoke them or shoot back?”
“I didn’t return fire and I didn’t provoke them. I was just trying to get closer to their station to get more data.”
“You didn’t have to do it,” cried Purkkoken, “All I wanted to know was the strength of their deployed fleet which your overview showed as soon as you landed on the grid.”
“And this is exactly what I was trying to contact you about!” I shouted in response, “If you were available and told me you had enough data, I wouldn’t need to take that risk!”
“But the detailed instructions were in the mission brief!”
“No, they weren’t. I might have missed a thing or two in that wall of text but Aura didn’t. Go reread it yourself.”
Purkkoken groaned and buried his face in his hands and mumbled, “It will all go to shit,” then he sat upright with a resigned expression and said dryly, “I need to inform the Colonel about this incident. Do not let me detain you, Mr Korff.”
There was nothing else left to say and I walked out of the office.