The Exodus of the Space Cat
19 Feb 2016Battlus
I was running some missions for the Prismatic Imperium out in Cubeo. Everything was normal operating procedure until my comms panel lit up like a Christmas tree. It was those damn Space Cats again. They locked everyone out of the comms network, most likely using Jmacncheeze's and Larzok's positions to infiltrate the network with ease. The only person not locked out were Drunk and the other Operation's Leaders. It took a bit, but they eventually lost their hold on the communication's network. Just then I received intel from Saunders'. They were there. I quickly launched my ASP out of the hanger and made a beeline for Wolf 1301. After a few jumps and a short ride in supercruise, I arrived at Saunders'. There they were. About 2 dozen pilots, consisting of both EXO and Space Cat, staring each other down in silence through the black void. I had received orders from NM007ACE to keep the Comms clear while the Space Cats gathered all of their ships from the station, so I did just that. I slowly conformed to my approach vector into the station, nervous with only an unshielded ASP with two burst lasers to protect me from their FDL's. I slowly drifted through the standoff, through the mailslot, and touched down on the landing pad.
I had the landing crew quickly stow the Star Runner and ready my newly outfitted Courier for flight. The Priwen hadn't been tested in combat yet, but the last people I wanted to test it on were my friends. I drifted out of the station, making sure to not collide with any of the two dozen ships sitting in the cold dark outside. I found a spot close to the station, and held there.
The mood was intense. The anxiousness of everyone seemed to fill the empty void between them with substance. Comms were dead, ships weren't moving, it felt like the system had fallen into a stasis. As we waited, seconds turned into minutes, and minutes turned into an hour. Half the Space Cats had left at that point, only two of their kind remained: ToxicKi11lor and Ayo MoNty. NM007Ace and Ayo MoNty were in a staredown in their pythons. Nose to nose. Cockpits level. Eye to eye. Just then Toxic jumped out of system, MoNty broke from and followed him out. I tailed MoNty until he made the high wake, signaled the all clear, and settled down in Saunders' for the night, still unable to grasp that some of the best men I knew left our ranks so suddenly.