And I heard as it were the noise of thunder

During a quiet routine system patrol for bogies whilst at the command of the Cyclone class battlecruiser I decided to power down the thrusters and leave my ship in idle mode. Protocol strictly prohibits doing this whilst sat in the top belt of a low-security system, but, I figured the two guys in local who had been present for some time now wouldn't bring me any bother so I stepped out of the pod goo for a short moment to go to the ship's canteen for a sandwich and to stretch my legs.

As I walked back to my pod unit with my Golgothan fried beef and chilli sandwich in one hand and cold drink in the other, there was no cause for concern as each of the ship's warning system monitors I passed in the dank, dimly lit corridors flashed green. For a moment I kind of forgot that I was in charge of this hulking block of rusty scrap metal, my crew going about their business merrily.

The Cyclone in which I was flying was nothing special, it had the usual faithful tech II Minmatar 425 millimetre autocannons that were linked to some well-oiled tech II spin-happy Gyrostabilizers and add to that a tech II Tracking Enhancer a tech II large Shield Booster and tackle module but other than that you could label it in the tech one junk category. Most of the parts, including the tech II stuff were indeed thrown onto the ship from my own loot stash.

Ship fitting data and engineer's report [Cyclone, Cyclone]

Damage Control II [New, Rens market]

Tracking Enhancer II [New, Rens market]

Gyrostabilizer II [Reconditioned, previously fitted to damaged Rifter]

Gyrostabilizer II [Oil leak, will need repairing next service]

V-M15 Braced Multispectral Shield Matrix [Reconditioned, Caldari battlecruiser wreck]

Warp Disruptor II [New, Jita market]

Large Shield Booster II [Second-hand, previous fitments unknown]

Medium Electrochemical Capacitor Booster I, Cap Booster 800 [Re-load gears need replacing next service, sticking]

Y-T8 Overcharged Hydrocarbon I Microwarpdrive [blocked thruster, check throttle bodies next service]

425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M [New, Rens market]

425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M [New, Rens market, springs need replacing next service]

425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M [New, Rens market]

425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M [New, Rens market]

425mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M [New, Rens market]

Medium 'Gremlin' Power Core Disruptor I [Reconditioned, Bosboger parts bin]

5W Infectious Power System Malfunction [New, Jita market]

5W Infectious Power System Malfunction [New, Jita market, check faulty bleed valve next service]

Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I

Medium Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer I

Medium Anti-Kinetic Screen Reinforcer I

[Rigs all solid]

Warrior II x5 [Checked, ok]

Warrior II x3 [Checked, ok]

[Overall condition of ship - rusty]

------


Yeah so back to the sandwich. Beautiful. The bravery of the crews who risk life and limb exporting their beef from dangerous lands should be commended. As I took control of the ship again I checked the local communications systems, nothing had changed, still the same local count and no hostile ships on my 360 degree scan blip were spotted between the pos trash.

Then suddenly, PILGRIM! Right next to me in the belt. Alarms began to ring and sirens wailed as the two ships momentarily collided, the huge battlecruiser listing violently as it then bounced into an asteroid before managing to stabilise itself. The fight was on.

I had the wrong ammunition loaded as my drones were sent out to nibble at the recon ship, frustrated I bashed at my command console and ordered an immediate ammo switch. But in the panic I had switched to the wrong ammo! After firing off a few broadsides I again ordered the now correct ammunition change. My shields began to shine a bright red as I ordered an injection from the shield booster, the boosters whirred magnificently as they rebuked the incoming damage.

Then the lights went out and the ship made an uncomfortable sounding noise, the old girders creaked and the fittings rattled as the ship drifted with no power. The capacitor injector crew were of course on stand-by and quickly sorted the mess, injecting power back into the capacitors the lights flickered and we were back in business as we returned a few neut cycles for good measure.

Our cannons were hitting out under the stress of the tracking disruptor that was reducing the tracking capabilities of the hard-hitting guns, the damage was being applied but not how the gunnery crews would have liked. It was intense down there, every man to the pump, concentration at maximum.

It was a repeat cycle of blackouts and cap injection, each time we were neuted out of the fight we would wait on the boosters rescuing the situation, the kiss of life in combat terminology was well and truly our saviour. The large shield booster was now almost perma-running and overheated to fend off the incoming drone damage.

Each re-load cycle of the cap booster seemed to take longer and longer each time it was needed, as the fight drew on I noted that we were now running agonizingly low on boosters, it was getting close but the Pilgrim was now buckling under the strain of itself having to deal with my own neut cycles. The order was given to crank up the heat in the gunnery rooms as we sought to finish the menace that had stalked us and brought to the plate this fight.

Almost ten minutes had passed, it seemed like thirty but something had to give as steam and chemicals now filled the gunnery rooms. The heat was intense down there, nanobots raced to cool the heat and repair the holes that were now appearing, icey cool water injectors sprayed the hot metal as the cannons continued spewing out fiery hot projectiles at the foe.

Shield warning lights were now at the critical stage but the Pilgrim was deep into its armour and it now seemed that its own repper had stopped working as we suddenly began landing some solid blows. The noise from the gunnery crews changed from cautious silence to loud whoops of joy as one final wrecking shot of hot plasma slammed into the Pilgrim, shattering it into a thousand smoking gold pieces of Amarrian floating junk.

I immediately shut down all heat and switched to cooldown mode as we returned to station for an expensive repair job. Next to me was a standard blue pill that I had forgotten to take, I never did like mixing food with combat drugs.

Good fight.

MB.