Chasing them complex runners

Many pilots now run complex missions deep inside space, hard to probe out but if done - then it could prove rich pickings for pirates. A mixed gang was in place as a call went out for more DPS. Someone from M34N corp had found a gang comprising a megathron, drake, drake and rokh inside a known complex. Due to spatial anomlies, the complex entrance tends to shift so relocating it was a boon and we assembled a fleet as quickly as we could. We hastily refitted with afterburners to ensure a decent turn of speed inside the odd conditions within a complex.


Warping in assembled and took stock. The fleet included:

Hurricane
Astarte
Stabber
Prophecy
Typhoon
Taranis

(sorry if I got the ship types wrong!)

We approached the first gate - the mission runners had been inside the complex for a while and we had to hurry. They could be finishing their last level and we were merely at the entrance. Speed was of the essence.

Activating the first gate, we were catapulted to the next level, deeper inside the spatial anomaly. It was empty, only wrecks visible and evidence of the passage of the mission runners. There was a second gate, 48km away and the fleet hit their afterburners and tore themselves over to the next gate. It took precious minutes to get the entire fleet there. We jumped into the next level and found that, like the first, it was empty apart from wrecks. Checking our scanners we realised that the megathron and rokh were now present and probably behind us. Maybe they were aware of our presence and were thinking of a trap?

We ploughed on. The third and fourth levels were like the first and second: disappointingly empty with the next gate always further away than expected. The last level was the location of the hive mother. Yes, the complex was infested with rogue drones of all strains. Some absolutely massive and horrifying. Bursting from the previous level, I saw the monstrosity for myself: a drone of massive proportions with mutated ships growing from it. In front were two Drake-class battlecruisers, all that remained of the mission team we were hunting. We had to avoid the hive mother but also tackle the drakes. We were also 60KM away and had to circle round. The mission runners appeared to be unconcerned about our presence (or oblivious) and continued to fire on the hive mother.

I was caught on some debris and my velocity stopped dead. Meanwhile, a tackle was made on one of the drakes by our taranis and battle (albeit long-range) was joined. I was set up for short-range destruction so was unable to participate. However, I did get close enough to be shot at by the hive mother.

One of the two drakes warped off while the tackled one was destroyed. The fleet stayed and destroyed the hive mother all the time waiting for the megathron and rokh. However, once the last drake was destroyed, the megathron and the rokh also disappeared, reckoning that our fleet was too big for them. Fair enough - we hovered all of the compounds dropped by the rogue drones, especially the huge cache by the hive mother.