FAILED ORBIT

Kisogo....

All was black after the flash from the activated star-gate had faded away. Yet, Darius knew it was out there, waiting. The Caldari Crow, floating silently in it's cloaked cocoon, just waiting for the 'Run Rabbit Run' to make the first move.

“Don't crows feast on carrion?” Darius thought to himself, but then pushed that morbid thought out of his mental process.

He needed to concentrate right now. Concentrate on the safety of his crew and how to get this precious cargo to the riot plagued citizens of Kisogo, without loss of either. That last point was the kicker, here he was in an Amarrian stand-off and Darius was pretty sure he wasn't the one holding the Las-Pistol.

Activating the internal sensors, he verified that his last orders had been carried out and that his crew was as safe as possible in a situation like this. He then stretched his consciousness outwards, yearning to catch a glimpse of that damnable interceptor that had ruined his perfect run.

“Third times the charm....” Darius mused to himself. Then he saw it, a faint shimmer, behind the gate and a little above. Darius nodded to himself, realizing that the safety cloak was running out for his Caldari adversary.

He ran through some preliminary warp checks and then decided on his course. Normally he would've gone straight to the State War Academy. Kisogo's only space station and his regular point of drop-off for the supplies that he had been running out here. It was fast and easy and probably just what that pesky bird expected. Grimacing, he sent a tight-beam encoded transmission to his contact on the Academy station.

A small bit of the space-scape behind him changed and Darius knew that the Crow's cloak had dissipated.

“Now, while his sensor's are still muddled..” Darius internalized.

With but a thought the capsuleer's mind activated the sub-space thrusters on the 'Run Rabbit Run'. The ship shuddered from the force of going from all-stop to full ahead, and Darius noted the Nav-Officer on the command deck looking at his holographic displays in surprise. It always amused Darius at how much non-bonded ship captains played it safe with their vessels. He couldn't really blame them though, it's not like they had the connection to their ships. Intimately feeling the capabilities and knowing exactly how far systems and structures could be pushed.

Intermittent chirping brought Darius back from his musing to the situation at hand. He knew what that sound indicated. The Crow had fired up it's engines, was in pursuit and attempting to acquire a target lock.

“Almost there...” the flame-haired capsuleer thought to himself as he monitored the velocity read-outs.

He need to reach three-quarters of maximum velocity to enter warp in the most efficient manner, at this rate the interceptor would be all over him before that time. Another mental pulse and surprised glance from the Nav-Officer as the afterburners on the Iteron flawlessly dumped their contents into the engine core, nearly doubling the craft's speed.

“Just in time” Darius grunted, as that annoying chirp changed to a constant tone.

The Crow saw the familiar blip of the Iteron Mark III class vessel it was hunting appear before it. It's propulsion systems were still warming up after the safety cloak had dropped, but it's sensors were top-notch Caldari hardware. The capsuleer of the interceptor activated the weapon systems and started a lock process for his missile weapon systems.

“This is going to be to easy, seems Intel was right again” the Caldari reassured herself as his systems worked out the Iteron's trajectory. “He's heading right for the station”

Her Crow's over-drive capacitors had finished initializing just as the missile weapon system acquired a firm tone. Grinning to himself and at his soon to be easy kill, the Caldari put her thrusters to max out-put and prepared to fire a full salvo at the Gallente industrial's vulnerable aft. The nimble Caldari craft performed a dexterous, if not arrogant, roll-over and aligned itself on the same trajectory as it's target. The pilot noted the activation of the Iteron's afterburners and discounted the futile attempt to try and outrun her craft, smiling smugly to herself, she commanded her launchers to fire.

Darius restrained from chuckling to himself as his sensors informed him of the four incoming Caldari Navy light missiles. From the chatter he was receiving from his own command bridge, his crew was taking this development quite seriously. Unbeknownst to them however, this was exactly what Darius had wanted. He let a few more milliseconds tick by and then activated the shield boosters. The 'Run Rabbit Run' was immediately engulfed in the familiar pulsating blue haze just as the missile's impacted. The shield system funneled warning indicators into Darius' mind which were promptly discounted, he already knew what they were telling him. In layman's terms, the shields couldn't take much more of this, but it was enough to pull off the feint he had in mind.

The Iteron's shields pulsed as the ion boosters kicked in to resupply the damaged shields with more power. The interceptor capsuleer muttered a Caldari expletive and started the process of reloading her missile bays for another salvo, while training her rail guns for a burst. The shields on the 'Run Rabbit Run' pulsed again and Darius made his move. The afterburners had got him to full speed, now all he had to do was rely on his inertial dampeners.

“By the powers, I wish I had a holo-feed into that Crow's pod” was Darius' thought as he activated the autopilot and disengaged the afterburners “The look on that Caldari's face about now has got to be priceless!”

The Iteron came about forty-five degrees, the change in vector and missing afterburner thrust caused a dramatic reduction in speed. Something the capsuleer of the Crow had truly not anticipated, before she could register what had happened, let alone command her rails to fire, her craft had passed the 'Run Rabbit Run' and was out of gun range. Darius allowed himself a chuckle this time as he watched the interceptor barrel through his wash, it's speed suddenly turned into a disadvantage as it continued along the original course. Re-activating the afterburners, Darius again waited for that magic velocity number to appear so the auto-pilot could enter warp and get them out of here.

The Crow unfortunately knew something Darius did not. It's missiles had been reloaded and the capsuleer refrained from firing that close to avoid damage to a very expensive piece of State technology. Now however, the Iteron's maneuver had provided her with the perfect opportunity to release her payload. A mental caress and the launchers were set to bombardment mode as they rotated, tracking in on the re-aligning 'Run Rabbit Run'. Another thought and instantaneously the weapon system erupted into action. One salvo, Two salvo's, Three salvo's, Four salvo's, a total of sixteen missiles swarmed out of the interceptor, acquired their lock and streaked towards their target. It was now the Caldari's turn to wish for a visual link into Darius' pod.

Indeed, the brash Gallente's chuckle quickly disappeared when the sensors notified him of the death-storm that was immanently about to impact with his craft. A mental check of the drive status and Darius knew that this was going to be extremely close, too close. The first salvo stuck the not quite replenished shield system, the missiles vaporizing themselves against the hardened ion protective shell. Both had done their job, the shield had protected the Iteron from a salvo and the missiles had damaged the shield. Unfortunately, that damage was enough that when the second wave of four missiles struck, a few seconds later, it only took a single missile to shunt the shield systems off-line. Sparks flew on board the 'Run Rabbit Run' as the shield boosters over-loaded and violently shut-down. The heavy industrial craft was rocked by the missile's impacting on it's bare armor.

Darius grimaced as he felt the shields fail and the damage done to the plates of his vessel. On the plus side, without the shield system active it freed up enough capacitor energy that he could divert into the warp engines and hopefully get them out of here. His thought was cut off by a stabbing pain as the third salvo impacted, unimpeded, into the 'Run Rabbit Run'. Darius was barely aware of the claxons and red warning lights flashing on within his ship's corridors, the only thing he saw was the rapidly plummeting read-out of his industrial's armor status. A gut-wrenching lurch overwhelmed him and immediately knew this was it, he had failed. Preparing for the disorientation of the clone activation process Darius' thoughts drifted back to his life, his Corp-mates, his be-loved Mother and Sister....

“Wait a tick!” he interrupted himself “We're not dead!”

Re-focusing on the incessant data that his ship was attempting to feed him, showed Darius that this was indeed true. That lurch had been the auto-pilot engaging the warp-drive and speeding them out of harm's way. Noticing that the holographic projection unit was undamaged and feeling ecstatic about their narrow escape, Darius activated it and focused his consciousness on the command bridge. He was not, however, prepared for bad news.

“Sir, we've got a problem” The Tactical and Nav Officer reported at the same time as soon as his holo-image appeared on the bridge.

The makings of Darius' victory speech vanished as he listened to the rest of what his officers had to say.

“Shield systems are off-line. Armor is at critical levels. It seems that we've dragged that last salvo of missiles with us in warp, as soon as we decelerate they'll impact”.

“How is that even possible?” Darius was flabbergasted. “I mean, doesn't that violate some section of warp theory, I've never heard of this before!”

“It's definitely not normal, Sir” the Science officer interjected from her station. “and while it does, technically, violate some of the current hypothesis' concerning warp technology, our specific situation was likely not included in their tests”. A wry smile crossed her lips. “Additionally, they've never had the experience with your rather unique streak of luck, Sir.” Her final comment elicited a stifled chuckle from the Nav Officer and a snort from behind the tactical console.

“Well, then I'm glad to be a part of furthering scientific research” Darius stated sarcastically “and at least you're all still in good humor about all of this. You'll need it in about twenty seconds”. He finished with a forced smile.

The five thousand four hundred and fifty three kilometer radius solid planet of Kisogo IX appeared in the view-port less than thirty seconds later. “It's remarkable what your brain notices at times like this.” Darius mused as he slowly watched the planet rotate before him. Bright splotches of light spaced about the planet's surface indicated the massive industrial complexes and sprawling arcologies of the Caldari Mega Corps, while thin, barely perceptible web-like lines connected these huge dots, like some sort of gigantic megalomaniac spider bent on capitalistic conquest.

Then there was a massive explosion. The entire ship quavered beneath the impact and warning claxons began wailing across all areas of the vessel. The four trailing Caldari Navy missiles had made impact. The 'Run Rabbit Run' pitched violently on it's axis, filling the screen in front with the looming visage of the planet below.

“Captain! Damage control reports that propulsion systems have been knocked off-line. Armor is null and we seem to be venting atmosphere from the engineering section!” The Nav-Officer stated tersely. “We're dead in space, Sir.”

“Systems show that we need an escape velocity of five point seven kilometers per second to maintain orbit of the planet” the Science officer added glumly “Our current momentum won't allow us to even stay in a low orbit, we're caught in the gravity well Sir”.

The shoulders of Darius' holographic image slumped and he issued his orders slowly and concisely.

“Abandon ship. Send the evacuation signal to all decks, get yourselves and the crew to the life-pods. I'll set their destinations to the station in system.”

The officers sat in silence for a moment or two then sprang into action. The Evac code was transmitted to all-decks and the bridge crew began filing out to assist with getting the crew into the pods in an organized manner.

The Science officer paused before leaving the bridge “What about you Sir?”

The image of Darius turned away from the approaching planet and smirked “I'm old-fashioned.” then waving off his own comment he continued “ Don't worry about me, get to that station and find my contact Rixx. If she doesn't find you first, she'll know what to do. Now go!” Darius shooed her off the bridge and mentally keyed the door shut behind her before she had a chance to respond.

'Run Rabbit Run' shuddered and Darius withdrew his consciousness back into his capsuleer's pod. Viewing the scene from a distance via the visual drones, it looked bad, real bad. The majority of the aft section of the Iteron was cavitated and the cowlings housing the business end of the ships propulsion system were mangled and almost unrecognizable. Darius watched with relief as life-pods began disengaging from the sides of the 'Run Rabbit Run', and one by one slowly winked out in brief flashes of their limited warp drives towards the Kisogo VII State War Academy station. Soon, he and his ship were alone and falling towards Kisogo IX.