Closing In : Part 1

Sister [Kharitania] was unapologetic but candid about the situation. Yes, I had been ... misled ... over the exact nature of events, and, yes, information had been witheld from me, but it had been for my own good. Dagan was the primary issue and, she emphasised, I should concentrate on that.

I had, she said, travelled a long way on her service -- in return she was willing to offer me missions worth 250K ISk. The first of which was to deliver some documents, so that a 'legend' -- a credible background identity -- could be built for an agent to infiltrate the enemy's operations.

I meditated, then took the mission, delivering the chip and then making a discreet departure again, lest I had been observed. Once back with Sister K, I took on board the agent, and delivered her to a waiting spaceliner.

I was tempted to blow up the landing pad it had been using, but I was diverted by a message from the Minmater Security Agency, which offered me [unquestioned] support for my endeavour.

I returned to the station, cleared my jets with Sister K and went to my quarters, to meditate and to sleep.


When I woke, it was to be told that a Society ship had been sighted in-system and was suspected of trying to intercept communications, thereby endangering our agent's life, as she tried to report back to [Kharitania]. I took off on a mission to destroy or drive off the ship. Sister [Kharitania] warned that the Society ship would probably be protected: she asked me to spare the lives of the escort, but when I arrived, they attacked me, and I was forced to defend myself.

In fact, although they had good weapons, their ships were relatively weak, and offered me little salvage. I was about to return to base and report, when a message came in, on a Caldari channel, from an officer of the Ishukone Watch Security. He also offered me support in my work, so long as Dagan was handed over to them at the end. I now suspect that the Minmatar would also want my assistance in this regard, and cutting the man in half will, I fear, satisfy neither.

I returned and Sister [Kharitania] told me that Parthus, an ally of Dagan's was in-system -- if I could capture him, he might be induced to give useflu information. I went to the co-ordinates she gave me, warned that he would likely have guards. A group of rookie mercenraies attacked me, and I took them out, but then two tougher ships arrived and at once my capacitor was drained. I had heard of weapons like these, capable of draining the energy from an entire capacitor in cycles, but till today had never experienced one. Barely holding on to armor, I warped out, to a dead-spot and then from there to a station, to repair.

Going back I managed to despatch the guards, with Parthus apparently disinterested. According to my scan, he was in a battlecruiser, and as I orbited him it became clear that he was the source of the capdrain -- again I had to warp out, deeply in structure, and repair. Going back (most of my mission fee used up in the repair shop), I tried close orbiting, but again the cap drain forced me to fall away.