"I know, Sol." "I'm just saying, it's been awhile since we've had a good contract." "I know, Sol." "The last few weren't up to much, what with the war going on." "I'm aware of that." "So just be nice to this guy, no matter what you think." "Can you do that?" "Of course I can." "Shouldn't you be fixing the docking computer, or something?" "I'm just saying; we need the money, be nice." "John, I said be nice!" "Talk to him!" "Go away!" "Mr. Rourke, I assure you that this will be worth your while." "Although, may I suggest we retire to a...safer part of the ship?" "What do you mean, "safer"?" "Why?" "Because, I was followed!" "Seal the ship!" "Code Blue, Code Blue!" "Meet me in the cargo bay!" "Code blue?" "Hmm..." "Code Red, Code Orange..." "Code Yellow--ah, here it is!" "Code Blue." ""Armed incursion of the ship"?" "Ah, er, I don't suppose I could interest you in a Jelly Baby?" "Good job someone knows what Code Blue means." "Well, you wrote them." "And 15 of them, I might add." "I dread to think what Code Magnolia means." "Yeah, you should see Code Fuschia." "English subtitles by Calando" "Where's my gun?" "Wh-what have I done with it?" "Have you seen my gun?" "I don't know where you gun is, perhaps we could move along?" "Oh right, yeah, of course not, yeah." "I mean you brought all the other guns with you..." "They are cutting through the door, Mr. Rourke." "Ah, kitchen!" "The kitchen." "Right, follow me!" "You're paying for that!" "And that!" "Aw, I really liked that!" "You will be fully compensated..." "Should we emerge from thi, alive." "Ah!" "I just spotted something that might help there!" "Cover me!" "Me cover you?" "I'm sure there's Gunnery things going on here!" "Remind me who does that!" "One's run off!" "Move up!" "Oh, that's not good..." "Huh?" "(Pwned.)" "Now I remember why you're Gunnery!" "Well done with the big explodey thing." "Explodey thing?" "!" "It's got a proper name, you know!" "It's a Kinetic--heh, oh very funny." "Might I suggest we undock with haste?" "There are probably more on their way to us now." "They look unfriendly." "Yeah." "That battleship's locked us up." "And, oh look: we're jammed." "Ah, yes." "Another blackbird." "Are they free with cereal now, or something?" "I see you've escaped my security team." "Bravo." "The plucky, independent crew survive another scrape." "I've read up on you, Rourke." "But your usual blind luck and over-reliance on your wayward friends won't-- ...Why are you trying to dock with me?" "Oh, yeah, sorry about that." "Sol, docking computer's playing up again!" "Okay, hang on." "I'll hit it." "Your shoddy Minmatar equipment is the least of your problems!" "Yeah, yeah, yeah, hold on a second." "Sol?" "Yeah?" "While you're at it, fire up the sensor boosters." "Sensor boosters?" "And Charlie?" "Hit that Blackbird as soon as you get a lock." "There's a good chap." "Love to!" "Nobody likes an e-warfare ship." "What do you think" "Two things I've learned lately." "One: don't get jammed!" "Sir, their weapon systems are back online!" "And two..." "What?" "!" "Stationary ships don't react well to 1400's." "Get us out of here!" "I'm sorry, did he just run away from us?" "I do believe he did!" "Someone mark the calender." "Are we sure something scarier than us didn't just undock as well?" "Well, I thought of that, but there's no shuttles on scan." "When you've quite finished, get us into warp somewhere, Sol." "Right, you." "It's time we had a chat." "Your cool exterior's starting to get on my implants, Smith." "So how about filling me in on exactly what the hell is going on." "I really don't think this is the time or place to discuss this..." "Oh, I think it's the perfect time and place." "Very well." "I am an agent of certain interested parties" "Who are rather against the waste of resources" "That the current political situation represents." "So you mean you're black ops, then," "And by "political situation" you mean Caldari and Gallente killing each other again." "Indeed." "My superiors could see relations turning sour some time ago," "So they mobilized several plans to help prepare for the coming storm." "One of those plans was to set up a privateer fleet as a deniable, one-use-only asset for the future." "Should it ever be required." "How do you ever expect to make a fleet out of privateers?" ""Privateer" means independant." "Want me to look that word up for you?" "We use large amounts of money, Mr. Burke." "The captains involved are out and about, plying their merry trade as we speak." "But, what with the amount offered, and certain..." "'penalty clauses,'" "We would expect around 90% of them to form up when required." "Sounds optimistic, even if you're buying their loyalty." "You can count us out." "Ah, Mr. Fodder, we didn't just choose anyone." "Myself and other agents chartered the crew and, uh, tested them for suitability." "Tested them?" "!" "Tested them" "Are you telling me what happened the first time we met was staged, by you?" "!" "That is it!" "You're going back in the airlock!" "Oh, no!" "No, Mr. Rourke, please, heavens!" "Our tests are a lot less severe." "No, I had incurred the wrath of my opposites by being..." "far too adept at my profession." "And you just happened to be there when they caught up with me." "How very fortunate you are here once again, when I am in need." ""Fortune" is not the word I'd use about getting my cargo bay shot up!" "You're bad news." "And who the hell were they, anyway?" "The answer to that lies with an agent of mine, who has had their cover, and subsequently my own..." ""Blown," as it were." "Clearly, they have uncovered something of note." "So I am here, because I need you to recover said agent." "Hm." "Sounds messy, it'll cost you." "I am willing to pay." "So it is a deal, then?" "Lads?" "Sure!" "Sounds like fun." "Yeah, we need the cash." "Yeah, it's a deal." "What station they at?" "Station?" "How was I supposed to know I'd be planetside?" "I was expecting a cargo ship interception, or something!" "He said an old prison facility." "Distract the escort, threaten the pilot, in and out in moments, that sort of thing!" "What do we know about breaking into a prison facility?" "Well, actually lads, might have an idea or two." "Looking good there, Sol!" "I feel ridiculous." "Where did you get this?" "The "One-Size-Fits-No-One" shop?" "They're a souvenier from an old job." "You and your shadowy past, Fodder-- Ew!" "Did you wash them?" "They are a bit second-hand, I admit." "So, these and that dodgy security key you've got are going to get us in, are they?" "It's an old facility on a back-water planet." "Not exactly maximum-security, and I know how they operate." "Get your suit on, and we'll shuttle down." "Right, the admin block's over there." "Let's go." "My suit itches." "Mine's painfully tight around my bo" "Hang on...what's this stain?" "Is this blood?" "This is blood, isn't it?" "Great." "Someone's blood's on my suit." "I did say they were second-hand!" "Now shut up and let me do the talking!" "Yeah, I'm here for the 111D on Sascha Culhane, the PRTF details are in that key I forwarded to you." "Get the prisoner out here quick, will you?" "I've got a 2-2-4 to be getting to." "You know how it is." "Jared said he'd be sending someone over." "Didn't realize it'd be this quick." "He did?" "Ah, yeah, he did." "Well of course, we don't like to keep Jared waiting, do we?" "No." "No, we don't." "Excellent." "Hold on...something's come back on this key." "Probably just a typo." "Right, we'll be off, then." "Hang on...this isn't right." "This is out-of-date!" "Well, I've been out in pirate space." "I've only just got back." "I might be out of the loop a bit." "Out-of-date...by two years?" "O-okay, that's very out-of-the-loop." "Hey, it was a long mission!" "Suddenly I get this call off of James" "Jared." "Jared, come here, do a 111D, blah, blah, you know what they're like." "It's chaos out there--oh, forget it." "PLAN B!" "So this is "Plan B," then, is it?" "Another gunfight, for the love of god!" "Shut up and get the shuttle started!" ""Let me do the talking," he says." ""I know how they operate," he says." "Get us back up to Clear Skies sharpish, Sol!" "There we go!" "One unit of "damsel in distress."" "Who said that?" "Who said that?" "!" "Was that you?" "Do I look like a damsel in distress?" "I was distressed by your rescue attempt, I'll tell you that!" "Am I rescued, or did we just crash into a scrapyard?" "Hey, woah, leave my ship alone!" "I wish I could." "Oh, well, there's the door; knock yourself out!" "How about I knock you out for getting me shot at, huh?" "!" "Now, Sascha, there's no time for socializing, I'm afraid." "Where did you dig this up from, Tarquin?" "Hey, we just saved--..." "Tarquin?" "Perhaps we could retire to somewhere more suited to debriefing." "Tarquin Smith?" "Yes, and somewhere more suitable to take a shower, as well." "I mean, if there are showers." "It doesn't look promising in this dump!" "Can we give her back?" "They're not exactly going to give her back, are they?" "Shall I put an advert in The Scope?" ""Wanted:" "Spy who was investigating our top-secret plans to disrupt a peace conference, misplaced by idiot." "Reward offered."" "You did say someone would be coming." "I didn't say hand them over to the first people you see!" "Did I, you cretin?" "!" "They had papers..." "They were so old, they might as well have handed over stone tablets!" "How much did she know about our operation?" "Er, well, um..." "Well?" "!" "Sort of...all of it, sir." "Outstanding." "Well done on letting that go." "Consider yourself fueling POS towers for the next six months." "It's people like you that let the Caldari get anywhere in the first place!" "Tarquin?" "!" "Tarquin." "Can we please proceed?" "Sascha?" "Do you remember the Malkalen Incident?" "Oh, that's when Noir parked his mothership into the station in some sort of protest." "Killed himself, thousands of others, and pretty much kicked off the empire wars." "The unprovoked invasion of Luminaire by Tibus Heth caused the war." "This was just, well, a reaction to the situation." "Kind of an extreme one." "As extreme as this man!" "I've been undercover, watching Jared Mason." "Hey, he's the guy chasing Smith!" "He's also the head of a covert movement within the Gallente military, and the latest in lunatics with a similar idea to Noir." "A Gallente acting like a nutter?" "Who'd have thought." "Don't let the actions of a few cloud your judgement!" "Oh, of course not." "Just because 95% of them are mad doesn't mean the rest are." "Typical Caldari response!" "Don't forget who invaded who!" "Hey, up yours, missus!" "I'm on no-one's side but my own, here!" "Stop making out like it's all my fault somehow, I'm not interested." "It's attitudes like that which caused this war!" "Don't be so blinkered." "How would you like it if" "Please!" "This is unproductive." "Bicker after the debrief, if you must." "Yes, well, the majority of Gallente--as hard as this may be for some to believe" "Are trying to move towards a peace process, and have been for some time." "Thanks to them, the Caldari are receptive, and are hosting talks at the system of Teskanen." "And Jared is against these talks?" "Very much so." "His movement, 'Pure Gallente,' despise the Caldari for splitting off from the Federation in the past." "They see this war as an opportunity to knock the Caldari back for a long time," "And "reassert the dominance" of the Gallente race above it's so-called break-away faction." "He regards anyone trying to stop the war as traitors." "So is he actually a threat?" "Or just a carebear who's stared at an asteroid for too long?" "Oh, he is a threat, Mr. Burke." "Pure Gallente is the most powerful underground group within their military structure." "Which gives him access to a Mothership." "So, he'll nick one and crash it into the station where the talks are?" "That is the only logical conclusion." "The peace conference is scheduled to take place tomorrow, the delegates will already be there." "We need to act now." "Indeed, Sascha." "Mr. Rourke, it seems I have need of your courier services once more." "I need to get to the system of Deltole in order to co-ordinate a response to the situation." "It's only about ten jumps through Empire spa" "Double fee." "Ok, I've got this." "Big old capital ships can't use stargates, so they use jump drives, right?" "Yes..." "And jump drives need a cyno, cyriano, cynoro" "Cynosaural Field!" "That's the one--created in the system they want to jump into." "Aye..." "And you can jam them." "Yep." "So just send a warning, tell them to turn their jammer on, problem solved!" "Home in time for tea and crumpets." "I tell you, I'm wasted here." "Funny enough, someone else thought of all that," "But the big flaw in your master plan is that the comms to the system are run through the fleet guarding the in-gate." "They get to decide what's important and what isn't." "And they're Gallente?" "Yes." "And if they're in on Jareds' plan, the message will never get there, and he'll know Smith is on to him." "So send an interceptor or one of those cloaker wierdo's through." "I think that's the plan." "Wait, wait, w-why are we veering left?" "The computer's trying to dock with that freighter over there." "My sofa would do a better job than that thing." "If Smith runs this place, you'd think he could afford a couple of different suits." "You know, a bit of variety." "Yeah, well, lets just get our cash and" "Well, this is most troubling." "It seems the delegation required the ability to jump their support ships, so they didn't provide a Cynosaural Field Jammer." "That was good planning." "How much are these people paid again?" "Regardless of that, there is now an urgent need for one to be delivered." "Good luck with that." "It just so happens, Mr. Burke, that there is a ship in this station with a large-enough cargo hold to fit the equipment in." "Before you go any further, I seem to recall that this was just a transport job." "And to my amazement, we got here intact." "So that's our business concluded, thanks." "We've got no reason at all to get our asses shot off in some military op." "I can give you many reasons." "Observe..." "Who are they?" "These are all the people that would die in the attack." "(They're actually financial contributers to Clear Skies 1!" ")" "That is a normal, populated station." "Caldari, Gallente, Minmatar, Amarrian, young, old -- No front lines here." "No borders, no boundaries." "So how long is that list?" "About 100,000." "They'll be dead from the attack before you could read it all." "It's still not our fight." "Not even stations are safe, anymore." "It's everybody's fight." "It's time to pick a side, John Rourke." "Why us?" "That's what I'd like to know!" "We have little time, and you are here with the right ship for the job." "After witnessing your performance under...'extreme' circumstances, I am quite confident of a reasonably-high chance of success." "I'm still not convinced" "And, if there was any act that would ease your conscience" "About the raid on the navy base all those years ago, then this would be it." "And what would you know about that?" "Only that the dock bay doors wouldn't open because of the alarm." "And Mr. Haffa, trapped in his freshly-stolen ship, was very insistent that you shoot them open from the outside." "But he failed to mention the tour shuttle directly behind those doors, and the families onboard that" "Alright." "That's enough." "You've made your point." "Your chance to exorcise some personal demons, then." "You will not be going in alone, I have already put the call out to mobilize the phantom fleet." "They will have but one job: to get you through that gate." "We also have some...upgrades for your ship, to somewhat enhance its resilience." "JR?" "A word." "You aren't seriously thinking of doing this, are you?" "Well it seems to me that" "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" "Do you know what you're talking about here?" "Fly through an enemy fleet?" "Voluntarily?" "And if we survive that, put ourselves in the way of a capital ship that's got a brick on the accelerator!" "This has gone far beyond just shifting Smith around!" "What the hell's wrong with you?" "!" "A hundred-thousand people could die!" "Making it 100,003 isn't going to help, is it?" "Don't get me wrong, I want to help, but this sounds like suicide!" "Oh come on Sol; we'll have the phantom fleet covering us," "We sneak through the gate, drop off the jammer, and go back to our normal life with a load of cash and an upgraded ship." "How hard can it be?" "Sneak?" "!" "Sneak through?" "!" "I don't even know where to start with what you just said!" "Are you really that daft?" "!" "Yeah." "Yes, he is." "I know, I don't know why I asked." "Look, I can't live with myself if I walk away from this." "I've gotta try and help, no matter how it turns out, and I've got my reasons." "If you guys don't want to come along, I'll understand." "Miss a gate fight?" "A real gate fight with a real fleet?" "Not a chance, haven't been in one of those for years." "Oh, well you're a lot of help!" "Voice of reason, right there." "Says the voice of reason that let Smith on board in the first place!" "Oh yes, so I did." "Fine." "Well, if you'll excuse me, I've got somewhere else to be." "Ah, come on, Sol." "He didn't mean it." "You won't get through that enemy fleet with your combined skills of "pressing the fire button," and "staring moodily out of the window."" "I'm not leaving, I'm here to the end." "You know that." "I'm just going to go and get a mirror so I can properly kiss my ass goodbye." "Magnificent, isn't it?" "Where did we acquire this from...?" "Umm, ah: an old fight with the Amarrians, it seems, several years ago." "The things you find, left lying around." "People are so careless." "And it's Amarrian." "Perfect!" "Nobody likes the Amarrians." "They get the blame for everything." "Yes umm...well, there will be good salvage from that." "I'm glad somebody's finally making use of it, it's been cluttering up this dock for years." "We've removed all the fittings and the armor plates already, and the structure is weak but" "It does still fly, doesn't it?" "I'll be very...upset, if it doesn't." "Yes, yes, the engines and shield emitters are still installed." "But do please take care." "See, the structure is very badly damaged and" "It won't have to go far." "Not far at all." "How's Smith's boys doing?" "I wish I knew..." "Half the stuff I've never seen before, and I'm sure most of the crates are marked 'Top Secret.'" "Top-secret duct tape?" "May as well be." "They're making modifications to bits of the ship I never even knew existed." "Mind you, have a look at the shields." "92% thermal resistance?" "Is that a typo?" "The modifications to your vessel proceed apace." "The fleet is forming up around the sun in Vaaralen, so meet them there." "Our presence here is no longer required, so I wish you good fortunes in your endeavors." "How'd it ever get to all this?" "These are the difficult times I spoke of." "Yeah, thanks for the Zen, Tarquin." "Must you persist in using that form of address?" "Possibly I use it, because that is your name." "Good luck, John." "Don't redock!" "Don't redock, what are you doing?" "Great; they fit a billion quid worth of stuff to the ship, and they don't fix the docking computer." "Is now a good time to mention the light above my console?" "So, that's pretty much the situation, Haf." "Are you in?" "You must be joking." "What?" "I've got better things to do with my life than end it early." "Oh, well, I suppose you never did care much about people on a station, as long as you've got your shiny toy." "Oh spare me the lecture." "You're happy to do a suicide run for people you don't know, but I get you to do me one small favor and you go on about it for years." ""Small favor?" There's a line you just don't cross, and you leapt over it that day!" "I mean I'd hardly call it" "And how many times have you benefited from this guilt-ridden ship?" "I tell you what: you don't like it, don't use it." "A hundred thousand people at risk, and you give me this?" "You know, I've always wondered..." "How do you sleep at night?" "Guess it's just us, then." "So what Smith said...is it true?" "About the raid?" "We've all got our history, John." "Yeah, well you were trying to save people, Sol." "I was just stealing something." "Space is a dangerous place, and you didn't know they were there, so..." "What are you looking at?" "Hm?" "Oh, just Mothership blueprints, in the vain hope that everyone else in the universe has missed a weak spot." "I doubt it." "Redundant bridges, triple-backups on all systems, hardened antimatter storage...my word, that's overengineered." "I know." "Short of sticking a Doomsday Device up its backside, I think the only way to kill one quickly is to ram it with a station." "But that's just getting silly." "We're at the rendezvous point." "The Fleet Commander's hailing us." "And it's Shady!" "Excuse me?" "Shady Slater!" "You know this guy?" "Hello, Fodder!" "Thought I could smell you." "Hello, mate!" "Haven't seen you since we turned those mineral thieves inside-out all those years ago." "Still independent of the big boys, then?" "Yeah, until about five minutes ago." "They dragged me away from a fat Crokite asteroid." "Just got settled in mining it and all this breaks loose," "So I have to leg it over here to run the show." "You're in charge?" "How'd that happen?" "You didn't volunteer, did you?" "Oh, I don't know." "I got offered money and lost my sense of perspective, I think." "Either that, or everyone else took one step back." "Oh, well that's reassuring, you being in charge." "If it was a mining op I'd understand, but this?" "Tell me about it." "Anyway, less of your cheek or I'll call your ship primary target by accident." "Get your heap aligned to the Teskanen gate." "We should have been there ages ago." "Well...it's not small." "Fleet, Shady here." "I do speeches about as well as I do fighting, you lucky people." "So I'll just say; you're getting paid a lot for this." "You only have to work together once, and the better you do, the more chance you have of coming out of it rich and alive." "And knowing you lot, that's in order of priority." "They're in-system." "Arrival is imminent, and their fleet composition is poor." "They'll not win this fight." "We have one job, and that's to get JR's lump of scaffolding through the gate." "Be ready to focus fire on any suspicious activity!" "Pay attention to the primary and secondary target calls!" "Once that's done, we disperse and never speak of this again." "Easy enough for even me to work out, so you lot should be able to." "Stand by, Heavy Interdictor." "I want them forced out of warp at optimal range!" "I imagine they know we're here by now, so start hoping it's the ship next to you that gets blown up, and not yours." "Well, that was inspiring." "So, what are our chances, then?" "Normally I'd lie to you and say it'd be alright." "But, this time though?" "I don't know." "It's a good job we're not on our own, then." "I'd better head down and pull the safeties." "Still...warping to a gate where you know for sure there's gonna be a fight?" "Kinda makes the blood sing, even after all these years." "Get that Interdictor!" "Aw, great, we're 40 km off the gate!" "It'll take four minutes to get there." "We're in trouble." "Protect Clear Skies!" "Hit the ones hitting them!" "I'm feeling unloved, how we doing?" "We've a hell of a tank but we're way too far from that gate, nothing can withstand this for long enough!" "We aren't going to make it." "Time for one last surprise from Mr. Smith, then." "A Micro Warp Drive?" "In a battleship?" "!" "Are you insane?" "!" "They aren't built for this!" "Go on, my son!" "We're still getting a right royal shoeing, we'll just about make it before the shields let go!" "Stop him reaching the gate!" "Is anyone in range of that tackler?" "It's gonna web him!" "It's got us." "We've got seconds before the shields go, are we in range?" "No...we didn't make it." "You and tacklers, John." "I swear, you get jammed more often than a Jita stargate!" "What are you doing here?" "Saving your ass." "Again." "Besides, I never did say how I slept at night:" "Badly." "He's done it, John!" "We're moving again!" "Destroy that Widow!" "We're taking less fire, as well; they're attacking Haffa!" "That's bought us some time!" "Bug out, Haf!" "You've done it, now go!" "While they shoot at me, they don't shoot at you." "Save the station, John." "Haf, we will!" "Now go, jump out!" "He's got no tank, JR!" "He's falling to bits!" "Now are we even?" "...Yes." "This is Captain John Rourke of the Clear Skies, broadcasting on Caldari emergency channel Oscar Mike Foxtrot Golf." "We have urgent information regarding the safety of the delegation at the station." "Please accept and authenticate this prerecorded message packet" "Sir, the message checks out." "It's official." "This is serious business Captain Rourke, I understand you have a Cyno Jammer with you?" "Yes sir, we need to get it deployed" "Sir," "A Cynosaural Field has been detected in close proximity to the station." "Wing one and two, with me." "The rest of you, stay on gate." "Ensign, warp us to that Cyno." "Yes, sir." "Comms, open a channel to the station, Priority One." "They need to start evac." "Station, begin immediate evacuation of all personnel." "Say again, begin immediate evacuation of all personnel." "Understood, fleet." "Evacuation alarms set, and militia mobilizing." "Estimate three-zero minutes for eight-five percent." "Repeat, three-zero minutes for eight-five percent evac." "That jammer is no use now, with the Cyno already up." "We're too late!" "After all this, we're too late!" "We still might be able to stop it." "Get to your optimals, load heavy ammunition." "What in Divinity's Edge?" "!" "That's not a Mothership..." "That's a TITAN!" "Avatar-class Titan, supercapital of Amarrian origin, two-five-zero-k shielding." "Armor class, three-five-zero-k." "Locking on, what's the DPS?" "Trajectory one, seven, five, mark four." "Calculating transverse and falloff now." "Get us into firing range, now!" "Existing structural damage detected, no armor installed." "It's a junker; no fittings, no armor plating, and the structure's falling to bits." "One tap in the right place and she will fall apart." "Shields are full, though." "It'll take over 20 minutes to get through them; we're too damn late!" "Jared Mason, this is Commander Mallozzi of the Caldari Navy." "I'm ordering you to stand down and shut off your engines." "Do you seriously expect that to happen?" "Now, after all my efforts?" "Last time I saw you, all your effort was going into running awawy from me!" "Ah, Rourke!" "You've been a headache to me, you know, but that is all." "Observe..." "All your efforts have been futile, for I am here, and I will succeed in what I came to do." "Jared, there are innocent people on that station." "Innocent?" "!" "No one here is innocent, no one!" "The Caldari brought this upon themselves, and anyone who sides with them dies with them!" "Open fire!" "Oh, bring it on, please!" "Station, we aren't going to stop it in time." "It's going to hit you." "We've only evacuated 3%!" "it'll take at least half an hour" "You've got just under six minutes." "Save as many as you can." "Sir, the wings at the gate report the Gallente defense fleet is jumping through and engaging." "They request our assistance urgently." "Fleet, prepare to disengage and warp back to the Vaaralen gate at optimal." "What?" "You're leaving, just like that?" "Sorry, John; those people are lost to us now." "There's nothing we can do against a Titan." "We have to go back to stop those Gallente bastards, or they'll have a free fire on the evacuees." "He makes sense, JR." "We should go help." "We can't sit here and watch this when there's payback to be had!" "You're right." "Warp us to the gate, Sol!" "We may as well help there, seeing as we can't help he" "What the hell was that?" "!" "Big problem here, JR: core containment just let go." "The modifications weakened it, and it got too much of a kicking getting us through that gate!" "Well get it fixed sharpish, we're needed back there!" "No, John, you don't understand!" "This one's beyond fixing!" "What do you mean, "beyond fixing?"" "I'm saying that Engineering is about to be filled with hard radiation, and then the core is going to go up and take the rest of the ship" "And anything nearby, with it." "That's it, she's done." "We need to leave, right now." "One tap in the right place, eh Solomon?" "Okay." "All crew, all crew: abandon ship, abandon ship." "It's all going to plan~!" "Core containment failure in four minutes." "Staying to watch the show, John?" "Hmm~?" "How long have we got?" "About three minutes." "Hey!" "What the bloody hell are you doing?" "!" "You promised me three minutes, old friend!" "And now, to watch those traitors die." "From a safe distance, of course!" "Core containment failure in two minutes, thirty seconds." "Evacuate." "I don't know what you're trying to do, Johnny-boy, but you're too late." "Too late!" "Warning!" "Core containment failure in one minute." "Evacuate." "Well old girl, one last flight." "Docking into the mouth of hell." "...Docking?" "Where is he going?" "I think he's going for the Hydrazine tanks behind the engines..." "Come on, come on, you're Minmatar!" "Don't pick now of all times to work properly!" "Yes!" "...But that stuff's stable." "Not when the Warp Core goes up near it-- Oh my word!" "How big a bang is that going to make?" "How fast can this pod go?" "The Hydrazine tanks?" "No...no!" "2JZ-GTE "Clear Skies" Rest in peace." "NO!" "Sir, station reports that the Titan has...been destroyed." "Rourke, you've made a real enemy now!" "I'll burn everyone you've ever met!" "I'll...what the?" "!" "Well, that was" "No...no, NO!" "This is rescue vessel Calypso, please respond..." "This is rescue vessel Calypso, please respond, over." "This is rescue vessel Calypso, please respond..." "John Rourke, this is rescue vessel Calypso, please respond, over." "Sorry, sir." "We're getting nothing." "Let me try." "John?" "I know you're out there." "I know you can hear me." "You're pressing the wrong button again, aren't you?" "I told you, it's the other one." "The label's wrong." "Oh, right, that explains that." "Can you hurry up?" "It's cold, and I've banged my knee." "I believe we've helped the peace process along a great deal, Mr. Rourke." "And that means my job in this region is done, you'll no doubt be pleased to hear." "Doesn't really matter now, Mr. Smith." "With no ship, I guess this chapter of my life is over." "Is that it, then?" "No more adventures?" "Well, not even space stations are safe now, and I've gone up the ass of a Titan one-too-many times for my comfort, thanks." "Nope, that's it;" "I'm retiring from space." "You, planetside?" "I give it six months before you're back up here, tops." "It's in your blood, John." "Tell you what, when the Minmatar make a battleship that's actually finished, then I'll come back." "Well, in that case, look out the window." "Woah-ho-ho, what is that?" "!" "That, my dear chap, is a Maelstrom battleship." "What the Minmatar can design and build when they aren't trying to escape slavery at the same time." "They even attached the top wingy bit properly!" "How much does that cost?" "To us?" "Nothing." "It's a thank-you gift from Mr. Smith." "But as you're retiring, I guess we can sell it" "What idiot said anything about retiring?" "!" "Why would I retire?" "That's crazy talk, man!" "There's a whole universe out there, you know, full of adventure!" "Mr." "Rourke" "More like six seconds, than six months." "Mr." "Rourke..." "Is it fitted?" "Can we undock?" "John..." "I do hope you're going to insure it this time." "Er, well, y-yeah!" "Yeah, of course!" "Hey, you!" "How much is it to insure that?" "What, a Maelstrom battleship?" "Yeah!" "...About 30 million ISK, sir." "How much?" "!" "There!" "There it is!" "G-get over there and scoop it up, quick!" "Oh yes!"