Signals in the Void 19

("Signals in the Void" is a character fan fiction story revolving around my adventures in exploration.)

It was a new thing for Jimmy holding an assault rifle, and though it felt almost like holding one of the welding or salvaging lasers the feel of it made him less uneasy.  Moving to catch up to the other mercenaries, Jimmy overhears Blake discussing their options when they get to the jammer drone.  The tone of the conversation didn't sound promising and checking equipment and weapons the rest of the mercenaries move forward with Jimmy following in the rear wondering if they have a plan.

Signals in the Void 18

("Signals in the Void" is a character fan fiction story revolving around my adventures in exploration.)

As my smart-bombs failed to activate around my ship, I continue to increase my speed to try and get behind the station.  I'm hoping to put something solid between the battleship drone's missiles and myself.  Having abandoned my curving orbit around the station to a more direct route past it, the large drone boat is going to have to try and catch up to me.  Though the smaller rogue drones are able to keep up, I will probably be able to keep the large one in a position which better suits me. 

Signals in the Void 16

("Signals in the Void" is a character fan fiction story revolving around my adventures in exploration.)

Blake leads the way down the corridor with his rifle nuzzled up to his shoulder.  He doesn't bother looking left or right because the other two assault troopers will each be watching their own side, which leave the logistics trooper to bring up the rear and keep an eye on Jimmy.  The party arrives at another set of doors, while the others keep watch and Jimmy does his jury-rigging method of opening doors; Blake consults the path to their destination on his helmet's internal display screen.  It looks like they have another long corridor and set of blast doors to deal with before they can try to make their way down the station levels.

Signals in the Void 15

("Signals in the Void" is a character fan fiction story revolving around my adventures in exploration.)

Abandoning my plan of docking near the maintenance hatch, I turn my Arbitrator away from the station and try to put as much distance as possible between me and the drones which are coming out of every nook and cranny of the station.  I leave my combat drones in the hands of my capable pilots, pausing periodically to lock and assign various targets.  By letting my drone pilots deal with blowing up the hostile drone ships; which allows me to focus on maneuvering my cruiser into a nice orbit of the station to see if I can't loop around and gain enough time to extract my salvage team.

Signals in the Void 14

("Signals in the Void" is a character fan fiction story revolving around my adventures in exploration.)

Planning a route to the drone which is emitting jamming frequencies is proving to be more difficult than Blake had hoped.  While he's happy Jimmy traced the source of the signals, the unfortunate part  is the location happens to be a few floors down.  From what Blake's forward scouts are telling him, the main pathways to that location are either sealed or have a high number of drones coming from those directions.  Counting the munitions which remain, the Dust mercenaries are lacking sufficient firepower to make a frontal assault.

Signals in the Void 13

("Signals in the Void" is a character fan fiction story revolving around my adventures in exploration.)

Some say capsuleers are fearless, that they aren't afraid to die, maybe they're not, maybe I'm just an exception.  But really deep down, does anyone really want to experience death?  Why do we fight so hard to avoid something that seems to have no hold over us?  They say the technology is perfect, that mistakes can't be made, but who gave us the capsule technology?  The Jove as I understand it, and look at them now, slaves to their technology and yet still unable to prevent their disease.  How long until something similar affects the capsuleers?  What's even scarier, is that I'll be around if it happens.

Signals in the Void 12

("Signals in the Void" is a character fan fiction story revolving around my adventures in exploration.)

The reports from Blake's forward scouts state the drones which they are encountering seem to be scouts themselves.  They aren't deadly but are made for fast movement and seem to be gathering intelligence about the structure of the walls.  The scouts report their attempts to shut down the drones but a few are slipping by.

Signals in the Void 10

("Signals in the Void" is a character fan fiction story revolving around my adventures in exploration.)

Watching the pile of metal stand up, Blake was already surging forwards shouting at workers to move out of the way.  As panic and understanding grips the salvage teams, Blake gets clear of the crowd and raises his assault rifle.  A few quick bursts of charged plasma at the core of the metallic monstrosity causes it to collapse on top of its previous kill.  Talking calmly on his communicator he orders several mercenaries to lead the way back to base camp while the others provide rear guard support.  Shaking his head in disbelief Blake wonders how rogue drones got past their scanners.  He hears more gunfire to the side as more drones begin dropping down from different sections of the ceiling. 

Signals in the Void 9

("Signals in the Void" is my attempt at an in character fan fiction revolving around my adventures in exploration.)

While everyone appeared a little uneasy after the departure of their employer, the gang boss Frank kept people occupied working instead of dwelling on all the things that could go wrong.  He even hinted at a bonus for our work that the capsuleer Draiv Solregard would throw in if things continued to go well.  This was apparently enough to keep the majority of the crew working to make sure we had sufficient goods to ensure that bonus.  For Jimmy it was normally enough to be able to look around and see that the mercenaries were keeping a watchful eye.    Some of the crew whispered that the real reason the mercenaries were hired was to keep an eye on us and make sure we kept working.  While it could be plausible that sure is a lot of ISK to spend on taskmasters especially when those taskmasters are Dust mercenaries. 

Signals in the Void 8

("Signals in the Void" is my attempt at an in character fan fiction revolving around my adventures in exploration.)

The first few days of our exploration of this station had everybody pretty high strung.  Now that a few days have passed the crew's fatigue is starting to show, not to mention our supplies are running low.  I hadn't planned on remaining at this site for more than a couple of days at most but with how things are looking we'll be here longer than we already have been.  Usually everything is in such a state of disrepair which renders the salvage of valuable components fairly easy.  But this station is in remarkable condition for its age and the composition scans show plenty of areas with high value data or salvage. 

Signals in the Void 7

("Signals in the Void" is my attempt at an in character fan fiction revolving around my adventures in exploration.)

Jimmy looked around the maintenance room that they were using as a small staging area and figured if they started to find some good stuff in this old station or were planning on staying for an extended period of time, that they would need to upgrade to a larger area.  One of the senior members on the crew will determine when that is as Jimmy had just signed on.  Readying his salvaging equipment and hefting his backpack holding his torch cutting equipment he turned around to see some of the mercenaries and a few members of the science head off down the hall.  Walking over to where the salvage team was gathering he overheard a few whispers about the new group of mercenaries they were with and how unnatural they seemed.

Signals in the Void 6

("Signals in the Void" is my attempt at an in character fan fiction revolving around my adventures in exploration.)

As the rest of the science and salvage crews finish transferring over to the station and our small base camp, I move the Arbitrator back away from the station and head towards the group of spaceship wrecks we found earlier, while we wait for our inside teams to finish their preparations.  I think starting with the smaller ships will be a good approach and maybe help determine who was on which side. 

Signals in the Void 5

("Signals in the Void" is my attempt at an in character fan fiction revolving around my adventures in exploration.)

Waiting for my crew to break into the station, I make slight adjustments now and again to keep within a decent range so that they can exchange tools and equipment easier.  The outer hatches always take a minute to cut through but soon enough they should be able to access the electronics of the station and begin override procedures.  This will allow quick access through the corridors and may even give them the layout and the ability to identify which areas of the station have been compromised. 

Signals in the Void 4

("Signals in the Void" is my attempt at an in character fan fiction revolving around my adventures in exploration.)

The journey through low security space has gone smooth so far.  We didn't run afoul of any pirates as of yet and though the systems have a couple stations here and there it has been fairly low in the number of capsuleers that are about.  Of which I'm grateful, there a several pirate gangs who roam the area, not including the factions that are constantly fighting over these systems without making any real headway.  They may fight and lay claim to a system but it's really the pirate corporations that run the show. 

Signals in the Void 3

("Signals in the Void" is my attempt at an in character fan fiction revolving around my adventures in exploration.)

Having made my call to Captain Erhan, I swing the Anathema around with ease.  It is always interesting, how with a few modifications we can make ships as nimble as air, or into a tough brick.  I tend to prefer the good old tough Amarr armor over the flimsy shield technology that seems to dominate the current trends.  But there is always a balance to be struck, for my journey into low security space I will need to make sure I have just enough armor that I don't impede my maneuverability.  Even though I'll trust my armor in a fight, it's best to avoid the fight in the first place.

Signals in the Void, 2

("Signals in the Void" is my attempt at an in character fan fiction revolving around my adventures in exploration.)

Captain Erhan closed his connection with the capsuleer Draiv Solregard and opened comms to where they had their crew stationed.  Listing off several groups of people who were to make their way to the hanger and prep the cruiser class Arbitrator for flight.  Turning to another part of the console he brought up a three dimensional image of the cruiser which Draiv had requested to be modified.  He began going through the current fitting and started to make the necessary changes.  As he worked to make sure the ship's processor and power grid could handle the installation of new systems he periodically checked the progress of the crew to make sure things stayed on task. 

Signals in the Void

("Signals in the Void" is my attempt at an in character fan fiction revolving around my adventures in exploration.)

There are many choices that we make in our past, many of which lead us to our current profession.  Some choices are made for us by others, some are consequences for actions committed earlier.  The only thing to wonder is if you can continue living with your past.  Having switched professions and ideologies over the years I tend to have this self evaluation more often than others.  Past choices have been made, the only thing I can do is affect the future.