Taoist Dragon

The Rage That Burns.

Taoist woke as the heater kicked in. His captain's quarters were always cold in this clapped out station.


He was still fuming over the fight he had yesterday with a Jaguar pilot in the Sotrenzur system. His new Malediction interceptor performed flawlessly. The crew operated brilliantly apart from a little hitch with overheating the afterburner which almost burnt it out. Overall the new ship and crew were a pleasure to fly with. So why was he mad?

He was beating the Jaguar. Then local traffic spiked with about 10 of the target's corp mates. ARGH!!! Can't a guy just get a nice 1v1 for a change! Just as the fleet arrived Taoist had engaged the warp engines and left grid...

Taoist growled loudly with frustration startling the playmate that was sleeping next to him. She jerked upright and laid her hand on his shoulder to comfort him, that was her job after all, to provide comfort. The touch triggered something in Taoist. He lashed out with his fist and caught the girl on the side of the head. She was sent sprawling across the bed and onto the floor. Taoist stood up and stalked around the bed ready to finish her, the need to see blood overwhelming every sense.

As he came around the bed the girl lay wide eyed on the floor, tears flowing and breathing hard. She looked beautiful lying there panting in fear. Taoist moved towards her and she whimpered, he liked that.

Then something went 'click' in his head. What the hell was he doing?! He was a warrior! He straightened and stormed out of the room to the hangar viewing platform. This was crazy he had better control than that. Ever since he had decided upon to live a warrior's life he had become aware of an inner fire. This fire coursed through his veins whilst in combat and left him wanting more and more. This was more than adrenaline it was as if he finally connected to his inner soul, his purpose, and when he followed it he was at one with the universe. But recently it had changed. Now all he wanted to do was destroy, anything, everything.

He went back into the quarters to retrieve his flight jacket. Someone was about to be killed! The girl had dressed herself and was just about to leave when he entered. She shrank away from him fearing another attack.

"Leave" said Taoist without looking at her. "Come back tonight."

She looked fearfully at him then ran out the door, it sliding almost silently back into the recess.

"Get your arses into gear!" Taoist growled over the comm to the malediction crew as he stalked toward his pod.

Once the interceptor was warmed up he undocked from the station and did a quick sweep though Sotrenzur. Quiet. Damn! He was burning with the need to spill blood. He plotted a quick route through the nearby systems and jumped into Gusandall. Doing a quick scan he picked up a Rifter's signature in a nearby deadspace complex. Perfect! Engaging warp he ordered the crew to battle stations.

"I want this short and bloody! Load the Nova Rage rockets!" he barked as the warp core kicked in. It was always such a thrill to fly the interceptor it was so fast.

Landing on the gate there was a slight delay.



"ACTIVATE THE GATE DAMMIT!" yelled Taoist. The navigator jumped to comply.

The acceleration gate powered up to slingshot the malediction through to the deadspace pocket. Nothing! The rifter had spotted him on scan and left.

"DAMN!" Taoist growled and punched the comm screen in front of him. Even in the viscus liquid goo of the pod he had enough force to smash his fist right though the screen. The nanites within the pod goo quickly set about patching his knuckles and the comms screen. He paid it no attention as he quickly engaged warp to a deep space safespot.

Once out of warp he immediately engaged warp again back to the complex. He hoped the target would do a scan and re enter the complex.

As he was warping he scanend the complex as it came into range. YES! the rifter was back on scan. He landed on grid with the gate a fraction of a second before the rifter. Got to love how fast this thing was.

Ordering immediate engagement he spun the malediction around and started setting up his orbit against his target. This was somewhat complicated by the proximity of the acceleration gate and he had to manually pilot between the struts to ensure that he kept his speed up.

With the rifter locked he activated the rocket pods and the single laser that was fitted. The malediction vibrated with the rapid firing of the rockets and the pulse generation of the laser. It was like a symphony of destruction to Taoist. As the first rockets slammed into the rifter and the laser cut across its path a grin formed on Taoist's face as he saw the tell tale flare of failing shields. Moments later they flickered out and the armour started shredding.

He checked his damage read out only to find that the rifter was barely even scratching his shields. Nice! Then came the explosion that Taoist was waiting for. He tried to lock the pod but the scrambler was in mid cycle and the pod warped out. Next time! Scooping the loot he set off for his home station.

Once he docked he told the crew to carry out a complete system check while he went back to his quarters. He strolled back to his quarters nice and relaxed now that he had destroyed something. Upon entering he spotted the playmate he ordered out earlier. She was reclining in the lounge and grinned when he entered. He was just about to say something when she reached around the back of the lounge and pulled out a set of handcuffs and a small riding whip.

She grinned.

Taoist grinned.


-Taoist.