Ripple Effects: Conclusion

Part 1

"Okay little sister, what's Plan B?" Rosewalker said looking at the holographic model of the old Nefantar stronghold.  "There are a lot of those Gist Angels hanging around there."

"Ruptures," Wandering Rose replied.  "We set up a couple of Ruptures with analyzers, park at the containers, deploy the drones, and kill all the scavengers and treasurer hunters until the interference ends and we get the blocks.  Easy."

"Easy, she says," Rosewalker said while rolling his eyes toward the ceiling.  "Did you forget we only brought one Rupture with us?  The other is sitting in the corporate hangar to be used to make a Muninn."

"Okay, so I go back to HQ, pick up the ship, go to Rens and do some shopping and come back," she said.  "No problem."

"Why go through so much bother to complete a 15,000 isk mission for a Caldari corporation?" Rosewalker inquired.

"I am not going to fail on the first mission I do in Ani," she replied, getting off the couch and walking over to her brother.  "More importantly, I gave my word that I'd do this," she continued, poking him in the chest.  "I keep my word, even if some know-it-all mystic thinks its foolish."

"Okay, okay.  Well, at least I get to shoot up more Angels," he sighed.

And shoot up more Angels they did.  They re-entered the debris field as a Thrasher departed and put the plan into action.  Each Rupture parked next to a container and once the opposition forces either scattered or died (mostly died) the pair gathered up the blocks plus some additional artifacts.  At this point Wandering Rose grew a little too confident and led her two-ship gang to do battle with the Angels at the other side of the field.  While battling that force, a new Angel force hit Wandering Rose and Rosewalker from behind.  While the pair worked at reducing the ships facing them, the Angels worked on destroying the siblings drones.  The Angels managed to destroy 7 of the 10 deployed drones before the remaining 3 made it back to the drone bay.  At that point, Wandering Rose called for a withdrawal from the field.

"Well, that didn't go too bad," Wandering Rose said as they landed at the Nakugard gate.

"It didn't go too well, either," Rosewalker replied.  "You had a good plan, but you didn't stick to it.  The plan was to do a smash and grab.  You should have pulled us out once we achieved the objective.  The amount of isk you're going to get for those blocks from that Caldari slimeball won't pay for the drones we lost."

"I know.  But at least I can say I completed the mission and my reputation won't be shot my first day in system," Wandering Rose said.  "I'll fly out to the site and drop off the merchandise.  See you back at the station."

A while later, Wandering Rose returned to the Republic University station.  She was not happy.

"Didn't go well, did it sis?" Rosewalker asked.

"No.  After turning in the blocks, he doesn't want to do business with me anymore," she replied.

"I believe it.  I don't know if you checked what those things are going for," Rosewalker said.

"No.  I was concentrating on fulfilling my end of the deal," she said.  "How much?"

"Well," Rosewalker began, "the buy orders are starting at 2.4 million isk each."

"Um," she stammered, "2.4 million?"

"Yep.  And you got 15,000 isk for them," Rosewalker pointed out.

"But I did fulfill the deal," Wandering Rose pointed out.

"Honor is fine, but most people would call you something," the mystic said.

"And what's that?" the CEO asked.

"Sucker."

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Not the most auspicious beginning to the Ani Campaign.  But things can only go up from here.