The Blood-Stained Stars/Chapter 4 - Queens And Drones

Main article: The Blood-Stained Stars

Mission 22 - Royal Jelly

Type	Encounter
Objective	Evacuate the FR Personnel from the area. You might get surprised by rogue drones. Stay on task, though.
Faction	Rogue Drones
Best damage to deal	EM Th
Damage to resist	Ex Kin Th
Rewards	150,000 ISK + ~140,000-241,000 ISK (bonus)

Mission briefing
The rogue drone you and I both want has been spotted in a deadspace pocket near one of our stations, building a swarm of drones. I think it's going to try and destroy that station. There are fifteen people on that expedition-- bring them all back home safely. You have a chance here to save some lives and deal with that drone once and for all.

Food Relief Corporation

The Food Relief corporation is owned and run by the Sisters of EVE. Food Relief (FR) is ostensibly responsible for delivering necessities (primarily food and medicine) to people in need in any empire. FR have never officially withheld their deliveries, but in recent times there have been occasions where their medicine drops were delayed or reduced due to unforeseen environmental conditions or a sudden outbreak of hostility on their caravan routes. Some political analysts maintain that these delays indirectly affected the outcomes of other factions' military campaigns.

Objective
Evacuate the Food Relief Personnel (15 x FR Personnel - 15.0 m³) from the area. You might get surprised by rogue drones. Stay on task, though. Location: Arnon

Notes
This is a rescue mission - and it is remarkably easy if you have a fast ship, despite a large number of rogue drones that will fill your overview. Fit a micro warp drive (MWD) or an afterburner to your ship, if you can. When you warp to the mission location, the Habitation Module will be about 80 km away. Head towards that container at top speed. Rogue drones will begin to appear, and appear, and appear - about 30 of them, in total - at ranges of 50-75 km away. Don't panic - you have plenty of time to pick up the personnel and get them into your cargo hold, as the growing swarm does not attack right away. When they finally do, it comes piecemeal, only a few rogue drones at a time. You do not have to destroy them - just pick up the personnel and return to the Arnon IX - Moon 3 - Sisters of EVE Bureau station to complete the mission.

Sister Alitura will be thankful: Bless you for saving those people. I know you didn’t do this out of charity, but your help is appreciated anyway. You have been paid, but when you’re ready, I have another lead on this drone.

(80km)

		WD	EWAR	L
	Habitation Module – Personnel Quarters

Slowly spawning (30 ships, 50-75 km)

		WD	EWAR	L
	18-23 x Drone Belphegor/Mammon/... Apis
	7-12 x Frigate Infestor Alvi

Mission 23 - Nature Pictures

Type	Courier
Objective	Transport Encoded Data Transmission (50 m³)
Rewards	150,000 ISK + ~185,000-210,000 ISK (bonus)

Mission briefing

I have a plan to help us track the rogue drone down. Up until now, we haven’t had a chance to get a good look at the damned thing. The good news is that one of my Sisters was able to get holopics and scans of the drone that will help us track it down. The bad news is that she’s doing missionary work near Guristas space. She can’t broadcast the data to us without raising suspicion from the pirates, so she’s going to leave a canister with the data as close to the edge of their space as she can. I need you to get that data and bring it back to me.

The Guristas

The Guristas are probably the largest pirate faction in New Eden. They are infamous for their raids into civilized territory, something that very few pirate clans are willing or able to do. The mission of these raids is most often simply to steal cargo or passengers from freighters for ransom, but on numerous occasions their main intention seems to be to sabotage empire installations (mining facilities, sentry guns, and the like). This has led to speculations that some unscrupulous empire companies (or even governments) are hiring the Guristas to take out property of the competition.

Objective
Go to Atlangeins V - Moon 13 - The Scope Development Studio, and pick up 1x Encoded Data Transmission (50 m³). Transport it back to Sister Alitura at Arnon IX - Moon 3 - Sisters of EVE Bureau station (0.8).

Notes
This is a simple, safe courier mission. Set your destination for Atlangeins and travel the four high sec jumps there. Pick up the cargo, return to Arnon, and report back to Sister Alitura to complete the mission.

Mission 24 - Tracking or Scanning

Type	Agent interaction
Objective	Choose your path
Rewards	150,000 ISK + ~1,000 ISK (bonus)

Mission briefing

Tracking or Scanning. While you were acquiring the data, I found two leads. One is a Gallente reporter who claims to have tracked the drone after you were near the Food Relief station. Another is a Caldari mercenary spy who says he has a formula that can help you scan for the drone. Both offers are time-sensitive, and we have to pick one now. I leave the choice to you: Which do you want to pursue? Tracking the Queen (Part 1) >> A Scope reporter named Corin Risia managed to get some tracking data off the drone two days ago; the holos you got allowed him to confirm that it’s the same drone. He’s willing to sell us the data in exchange for extracting him from a Mordu’s Legion outpost. Mordu’s Legion are generally an honest group, but for some reason Risia needs to get out of there quickly. He thinks the Legion wants to kill him. Go to Mordu’s outpost and extract Corin Risa. He's afraid for his life, so expect anything. Bag of Blood >> Before we get the mercenary's help, we need to get him out of a jam. This guy goes by the name “Wolf Burgan”. Yeah, it's stupid, but I'm willing to cut him slack because he's a damn good tracker. Wolf's been all over the universe and hunted damn near everything at some point. You don't get that good without making a few enemies. Right now the Serpentis want his head in a bad way. Wolf may be a great captain, but he's not a capsuleer. If he croaks, there's no resurrection. The Serpentis know it. We're going to use this to our advantage. Thanks to a previous indictment, the local law at a nearby station has a sample of Wolf's DNA. You should have no trouble getting access to it just by virtue of being a capsuleer. Bring me Wolf's DNA sample, and I can hatch my crazy scheme.

Picking Sides
As you continue to work with one empire over the other, you will gain favor with that empire and lose it with the other. Even simple decisions can lead to gaining standing with one faction and losing it with another.

This is the first mission in the arc that gives you a choice in where you want to pursue the story.

This choice will only affect your next three missions and will not change the final reward.

"Accept option" auto completes Tracking or Scanning and starts next mission.

Mission 25 A - Tracking the Queen (Part 1)

Type	Encounter
Objective	Get the Scope reporter out of Mordu's Legion space and destroy his captors.
Faction	Mordu's Legion
Best damage to deal	Kin EM
Damage to resist	Kin Th
Warp disruption	Yes
EWAR	Web
Rewards	150,000 ISK + ~129,000-243,000 ISK (bonus)
Extra	Combat is optional

Mission briefing

A Scope reporter named Corin Risia managed to get some tracking data off the drone two days ago; the holos you got allowed him to confirm that it’s the same drone. He’s willing to sell us the data in exchange for extracting him from a Mordu’s Legion outpost. Mordu’s Legion are generally an honest group, but for some reason Risia needs to get out of there quickly. He thinks the Legion wants to kill him. Go to Mordu’s outpost and extract Corin Risa. He's afraid for his life, so expect anything.

Mordu’s Legion

The Legion, mostly consisting of old Caldari veterans from the war with the Federation and young hotheads eager for action, is the largest and most famous mercenary corps in New Eden. They accept members from any race, as long as they are not known enemies of the Caldari State, and non-Caldari that have served in the Legion for a long time are offered Caldari citizenship on their retirement. The Legion is often employed by governments to settle issues that are not directly under anyone’s jurisdiction, especially when fast deployment and swift results are needed. Their reputation as combat experts as well as fair and honest warriors has never been tarnished.

Objective
Get the Scope reporter, Corin Risia (1 m³) and return him to Sister Alitura at the Arnon IX - Moon 3 - Sisters of EVE Bureau station

• Possible glitch on mission reads "and destroy his captors." This will not let you turn in the mission by snatch and grabbing Risia. Warping back to the mission and briefly engaging frigates allowed mission completion of the mission. Note: In this instance, Mordus frigates were heavily tanked and used web and point. I warped out when scram failed.

Notes
Fit an afterburner or micro warp drive on your ship if you can - speed helps here. When you warp into the mission, Risia's Wrecked Ship container will be about 45 km away. Make a beeline for it, and loot it to put Risia into your cargo hold. When you do this, you'll see seven Mordus frigates appear at 45-60 km range. You do not need to destroy these ships to fulfill the mission - just warp back to Sister Alitura's station before they can get in range. If you wait too long, the enemy frigates will web you - don't wait around to let this happen.

On arrival - Corin Risia
Hey! Get me out of here before a patrol finds us here!

		WD	EWAR	L
	Risia Wrecked Ship

Patrol

		WD	EWAR	L
Group A (59-60km)
	3 x Frigate Mordus Gladius
Group B (55-60km)
	3 x Frigate Mordus Katana
	1 x Frigate Mordus Bounty Hunter

The Bounty Hunter leaves its group and rapidly approaches. At about 20km the web starts.

Mission 26 A - Tracking the Queen (Part 2)

Type	Courier
Objective	Deliver 1x Corin Risia (1 m3)
Rewards	150,000 ISK + ~80,000-138,000 ISK (bonus)

Mission briefing
You have rescued Corin Risia from Mordu's Legion, and now he needs to deliver his goods to the Sisters. Take him to Attyn V - Moon 2 - CBD Corporation Storage, where he can transmit the drone's tracking data.

This is a simple high sec courier mission. Don't forget to move Corin from Items in the station to your ship cargo hold. Take Corin Risia to his hideout at Attyn V Moon 2 station (two high-sec jumps) so he can transfer the rogue drone data to you.

Mission 27 A - Tracking the Queen (Part 3)

Type	Encounter
Objective	Deliver the drone's tracking data (1 m3) to the jet can and return to me after the job is done.
Faction	Mordu's Legion
Best damage to deal	Kin EM
Damage to resist	Kin Th
EWAR	Web
Rewards	150,000 ISK + ~175,000-250,000 ISK (bonus)
Extra	Killing is optional

Mission briefing
Now that we have the data, we can deliver it to a more secure, untraceable Sisters of EVE location. If you could take the data to Arnon, I'd appreciate it. Don't worry, this is completely safe; you'll be fine.

--The mission can be completed remotely and the next mission can be accepted remotely.--

Load the tracking data to a jet can at the designated mission location - don't forget to put the data container into your ship first. When you do, you may encounter six Mordu's Legion frigates at close range who will attack you. One will web you if you are within 10 km of that ship. You are not required to kill them to complete the mission. Fit an afterburner for speed, if you can. If you get destroyed and lose the Drone Tracking Data, don't worry. You can repeat the mission, but standings WILL be lost. TIP: Kill Mordus first, then get tracking data from station and put it in ;-)

On arival - Corin Risia
Doesn’t this seem odd to you? All these clandestine machinations for a single drone? I’ve sold more important information to seedier clients, and right in front of a Concord station, no less. There’s more to this than they’re letting on.

(30km)

		WD	EWAR	L
	Delivery Jetcan

When Mordus frigates spawn - Mordu's legion captain
There's the capsuleer who took Risia from us! Get him!

Wave

		WD	EWAR	L
	5 x Frigate Mordus Gladius/Katana
	1 x Frigate Mordus Bounty Hunter

Mission 25 B - Bag of Blood

Level	1
Type	Courier
Objective	Transport Wolf Burgan's DNA (1 m3)
Rewards	150,000 ISK + ~92,000-136,000 ISK (bonus)

Mission briefing

Before we get the mercenary's help, we need to get him out of a jam. This guy goes by the name “Wolf Burgan”. Yeah, it's stupid, but I'm willing to cut him slack because he's a damn good tracker. Wolf's been all over the universe and hunted damn near everything at some point. You don't get that good without making a few enemies. Right now the Serpentis want his head in a bad way. Wolf may be a great captain, but he's not a capsuleer. If he croaks, there's no resurrection. The Serpentis know it. We're going to use this to our advantage. Thanks to a previous indictment, the local law at a nearby station has a sample of Wolf's DNA. You should have no trouble getting access to it just by virtue of being a capsuleer. Bring me Wolf's DNA sample, and I can hatch my crazy scheme.

Objective
Pick up 1 x Wolf Burgan's DNA (1.0 m³) from Attyn V - Moon 13 - Poteque Pharmaceuticals Biotech Production station, and deliver it to Sister Alitura at Arnon IX - Moon 3 - Sisters of EVE Bureau station.

Notes
Simple courier mission. Set destination for Attyn - two high sec jumps away. Pick up the "Wolf Burgan's DNA", and deliver it to Sister Alitura in Arnon.

Mission 26 B - Planting the Body

Type	Encounter
Objective	Plant the fake body in the outpost. Any Serpentis kills are optional.
Faction	Serpentis
Best damage to deal	Kin Th
Damage to resist	Th Kin
EWAR	Sensor dampening by Coreli Watchman/Patroller
Rewards	150,000 ISK + ~99,000-103,000 ISK (bonus)

Mission briefing

Yes, the body's done. I had the techs at the cloning lab imprint Wolf Burgan's DNA on one of their blank slabs of biomass. If you were to take a tissue sample, it would come back as one hundred percent Wolf Burgan. Of course, the slab is completely inert and only vaguely human-shaped, but that won't be a problem once we blow it up. There's a small outpost in Arnon, and the Serpentis are convinced that Wolf is hiding out there. Take the body and fly it to the outpost. Kill the Serpentis if you feel like it. You're going to place the fake body in the outpost, then fly away. This will activate the timed explosives Burgan planted. To any observer it should look like you swooped in and took out Burgan yourself, and the charred body with his DNA should sell it.

Warp into the deadspace mission room and place 1 unit of Wolf Burgan's Body Double into “Wolf Burgan's Hideout” container. There will be 12 enemies protecting this container and they will fire on you. Few more will also spawn once the body has been placed in the container.

You can choose to fight them or just rush in, place the DNA, and warp out. You will take a lot of damage as you get in range of the drop-off container. Use an afterburner, if you can, to maximize your speed.

warp-in

Initial defenders (Auto aggro)

		WD	EWAR	L
	11 x Frigate Coreli Watchman/Patroller/Guard/...
	1 x Destroyer Corelior Infantry

Spawn

		WD	EWAR	L
	4 x Frigate Coreli Spy/Agent
	1 x Cruiser Corelum Chief Scout/Spy

Mission 27 B - Chasing a Nightmare

Type	Encounter
Objective	Follow the mysterious drone
Rewards	150,000 ISK + 159,000 ISK (bonus)

Mission briefing
We've secured Wolf Burgan's aid. Now all you need to do is fly out to a few of the hot spots where the drone has been spotted. Burgan's staying behind, but he'll be connected to your systems remotely. He'll update you as the situation changes. Listen to what he says. Wolf will point you in the right direction.

Warp to the mission site. Then follow Wolf Burgan's instructions that pop-up. You will travel through one acceleration gate and then three “Spatial Rift” gates that act the same way as an acceleration gate. You will see the Mysterious Drone as you warp in, but it will quickly leave (making the Spatial Rifts upon exit). After the second drone sighting, Bargan will lose the signal and have you return to the station with the mission completed.

Mission 28 - Burning Down the Hive

Type	Encounter
Objective	Hunt down and remove all drones in the area.
Faction	Rogue Drones
Best damage to deal	EM Th
Damage to resist	Ex Kin Th
Warp disruption	Elite frigates
EWAR	Webs
Rewards	150,000 ISK + ~170,000-255,000 ISK (bonus)

Mission briefing
Based on the data you've provided me, I was able to locate where the drone and its swarm is heading: Arnon. Do whatever it takes to destroy it.

The epic arc has a few missions that can be difficult - and "Burning Down the Hive" is one of these. Rare is the new player who does not suffer his or her first ship loss in this mission.

The first room of this mission features multiple Strain Infester Alvi rogue drones that webify and warp disrupt your ship. If the rats get within range and point you, then you will not be able to warp out of the mission deadspace to preserve your ship. This is one of the only Level 1 missions that has warp disrupting rats; you will not see them commonly again until Level 3 missions.

How do I survive?

You must do two things to survive: Fit your ship properly, and use the correct tactics. In missions up to this one most players will have been taking the approach of diving in to the enemy group and fighting them at short range, warping out if you bite off more than you can handle. In this mission the presence of warp disruptors and the large number of enemy ships makes this unlikely to work. The key tactic to this mission is one called "kiting", where you fit long range weapons and keep the enemy at range so that they can't damage you much, and to avoid being caught by warp scramblers and webs.

The key here is to be fast, and to destroy the warp disrupting drones from outside their range (approximately 10 km). An afterburner is essential as these drones have a speed of 900 m/s. You should use long range weapons, aiming for a range of 15km. Tracking is not an issue. As usual for rogue drones, EM and/or Thermal damage is preferable. If your ship has a drone bay then this will help a lot, since your drones can damage enemies up to 25 km with no problems.

A Punisher with pulse lasers and long-range crystals (microwave or radio) has been effective in this mission, but for other races, fit light missiles, railguns, or artillery to get the range you need. A Destroyer with its range bonus and increased DPS (but reduced speed) may work better than a frigate. With the addition of drone destroyers, such as the Algos and the Dragoon, you can easily take down the entire mission with light drones at range. The choice is yours.

Tactics

When you first warp to the mission location, there will be a few rogue drone ships and an acceleration gate. Destroy the drone ships; this first group has none of the scrambling ships. Once you are done, activate the acceleration gate.

Once your warp is done, sit and watch the rats move for a short time. You will receive a message that your drone - cruiser size and called the Mysterious Drone - has left through an acceleration gate. You will see that there are two groups of rogue drones, 14 in total, which merge and then separate. You will want to engage the two groups separately, unless you feel lucky. Once you see two distinct groups, lock one Strain Infester/Render Alvi and fire at it; you will likely miss since you are out of range, but that group (and only that group) of rats should still start chasing you.

Once the drones are chasing you, turn your camera 180 degrees in the opposite direction from them (so that they are 'behind' you) and double-click in space to move away from them. This is a tactic known as "kiting", where you move steadily away from your enemy while matching speed with them, keeping them at your optimal range. Keep an eye on your overview, and start shooting drones when they enter your range. If they're not catching up, slow down your ship; if they're gaining too fast, activate your afterburner. Make sure that none of the Strain Infester/Render Alvi drones get closer than 10km to you. The drones have short range weapons and will do very little damage at over 10km, while your weapons should be able to damage them consistently. Continue until all drones in the first group are destroyed, then repeat the process for the second group.

Fly back to the next acceleration gate and finish the mission; the drones in the last room pose no significant challenge.

Walkthrough

Multiple gated deadspace pockets. The acceleration gates are not locked. So once the warp disrupting drones are dead you can proceed to the next pocket.

Mission is completed when the frigate rats in the last room are dead.

Blitz: if you have a MWD it is possible to hit the acceleration gate before you get warp scrambled (but this is risky)

Pop-up - The Drone is escaping
The drone has escaped through that acceleration gate. Follow it.

Warp-in

		WD	EWAR	L
8 ships (20-30km)
	2-6 x Drone Belphegor/Mammon Apis
	2-6 x Frigate Infester/Render/Decimator/Sunder Alvi
	1 x Cruiser Mysterious Drone

Pop-up - The Drone is escaping
The drone has escaped through that acceleration gate. Follow it.

1st pocket

		WD	EWAR	L
Group A
	8 x Frigate Infester/Splinter/Render Alvi
Group B (6 ships)
	4-5 x Frigate Sunder/Raider/... Alvi
	1-2 x Elite Frigate Strain Infester/Render Alvi
	1 x Cruiser Mysterious Drone

Upon warping into the 2nd pocket
You'll never get the secrets of the rogue drone!

2nd pocket

		WD	EWAR	L
	5 x Frigate Render/Decimator Alvi
	1 x Cruiser Wrecker Alvum
	1 x Cruiser Mysterious Drone
	1 x Cruiser Mysterious Ship

Mission 29 - It's Not Over Yet

Type	Talk to Agent
Objective	Report to Keita Eslin
Rewards	150,000 ISK + ~169,000-258,000 ISK (bonus)

Mission briefing

Dagan was the pilot leading the fleet that the drones first destroyed, and a known terrorist. He was supposed to be dead. It's very important that he is made dead. The Sisters consider this a top priority. Dagan is heading for a system in Minmatar space. He can't have gone far. I'll connect you with Keita Eslin, Advisor to the Krusual Tribe. She can help you track down Dagan. I've been to Minmatar space quite a few times myself, <Pilot>. It's not so bad there, but just be careful where you wander and what you say. Their way of doing things can be a little rough around the edges at times, but I've also never known a Minmatar to not get a job done. In case you don't know, the Krusual can be a little sly. Just make sure this one looks after your interests, too. Still, I'm sure you can handle yourself.

Keita Eslin

Objective
Report to a new agent, Keita Eslin, located at Hek IV - Krusual Tribe Bureau station.

Notes
Time to see another agent, this time in Minnie space. Set your destination to Hek, and make the 13 high-sec jump trip, and report to Agent Eslin at the designated station.

Be warned: one of those 13 high-sec started to be under Insurgency Corruption - It is Corruption Stage 1 on 2 June 2024 but it can increase. Check Your way before start this jurney.

Next chapter: Chapter 5 - Shifting Foundations