The Blood-Stained Stars/Chapter 5 - Shifting Foundations

Main article: The Blood-Stained Stars

Mission 30 - An Eye on Everything

Type	Encounter
Objective	Investigate the smuggling hub and report back to Keita Eslin.
Factions	Angel CartelSerpentisSansha's Nation
Best damage to deal	Ex Kin Kin Th EM Th
Damage to resist	Ex Kin Th Kin EM Th
Rewards	200,000 ISK + ~173,000-260,000 ISK (bonus)

Keita Eslin

Mission briefing

The missing capsuleer you are looking for has been quite busy recently, as I'm sure you'll be interested to hear. The Krusual Tribe became aware of his actions just a couple of days ago, when he was caught smuggling something out of Minmatar space. We've seen a few of his accomplices since then, shifting back and forth between Minmatar and Amarr borders. You want information, we want information. Help us track down his friends, and we'll help you anyway we can when you find your capsuleer. Your first step will be to scout one of their major smuggling hubs and report back what information you can about the strength of security forces there.

Objective
Warp to the smuggling hub at the designated mission location in Hek, investigate, and report back to Agent Eslin.

Notes
Warp to the designated location. You will find yourself about 50km away from a sizable pirate fleet consisting of 3 frigates, 12 cruisers, and 7 battleships, plus a Nidhoggur class carrier.

Don't attack! Don't move! Don't do anything!

You'll get a message from Agent Eslin: "Looks like they're still getting reinforcements. They even have a stolen Nidhoggur. Alright, I have all the information I need, good work. Get back to me before they realize you're there, and we can discuss what comes next."

Before you fly back to the station and complete the mission, take a moment to do a "Look At" on the Nidhoggur carrier. You usually see these only in low-sec or 0.0 space, so check it out before leaving. The fleet won't attack if you simply look at them.

If you still want to fight the pirates just to get that high sec carrier kill, here are the details on the rats:

The carrier neuts 1200 GJ/30 seconds (40 GJ/s), but does no damage and does not have fighters. The carrier will only aggress if you approach close to it or attack it. Simply attacking the other ships will not agro the carrier. There are no warp disruptors in this mission. It is recommended to destroy all the other ships before attacking the carrier, that way you will not have to deal with the neuting while under fire. After all the other ships are dead, you can attack the carrier. When attacking the carrier, you should either use weapons that don't require capacitor (projectile weapons, missiles, or drones) or have a lot of cap batteries, rechargers, and/or cap boosters. The carrier will always stay stationary and is immune to all forms of EWAR and tackle. The carrier always drops a 5,000,000 ISK Minmatar Rear Admiral Tag, and may drop a large quantity of marines and small arms. The carrier does not drop capital modules, and does not have any noteworthy salvage. Salvaging the carrier will not yield T2 salvage.

Most of the incoming damage will come from the Serpentis and Angel battleships. The best way to destroy the pirate fleet is to keep at range, perhaps with a micro jump drive, and use long range weapons. A marauder or a Rattlesnake is recommended due to the high damage. When all the ships are close, the damage can exceed 600dps. The carrier can take several minutes to burn down even with a marauder, so it is recommended to engage it last.

Wave 1

		WD	EWAR	L
	3-4 x Elite Frigate Centii Loyal Enslaver/Manslayer/...
	3-4 x Elite Cruiser Centum Loyal Fiend/Hellhound
	3-4 x Battlecruiser Gistatis Primus/Legatus/...
	3 x Battlecruiser Corelatis Platoon leader/Captain/High Captain/...
	3-4 x Battleship Gist Cherubim/Seraphim
	3-4 x Battleship Core Grand/Lord Admiral
	1 x Carrier Republic Harkal

Bounties:

• ~11 million ISK

Mission 31 - The Uses of Force

Type	Talk to Agent
Objective	Report to Tarak Erand
Rewards	200,000 ISK + ~125,000-173,000 ISK (bonus)

Mission briefing

Alright, you'll need to take these surveillance captures over to a friend of mine. He'll want to see them before he commits his own forces to the fight. I'd have sent them over the network, but I'm afraid this mission is completely unauthorized. All of the evidence I've gathered so far has been through methods the Republic Fleet wouldn't turn a blind eye to, so we're reliant on his help. Once he has the information he needs, he'll probably want to send you in first to take out the heaviest security; then his people will follow in to clean up. Are you ready to commit yourself to this task, Capsuleer?

Tarak Erand

Objective
Report to Tarak Erand at Lustrevik VII - Moon 9 - Brutor Tribe Academy

Notes
Just two quick jumps away.

Mission 32 - Goading the Leader

Level	1
Type	Encounter
Objective	Take out the Auxiliary Power Array
Factions	Guristas PiratesSerpentisAngel Cartel
Best damage to deal	Kin Th Kin Th Ex Kin
Damage to resist	Kin Th Th Kin Ex Kin
Rewards	200,000 ISK + ~120,000-150,000 ISK (bonus)

Tarak Erand

Mission briefing

Straight to business then, eh? Here's the plan: My men are currently standing by, ready to launch an assault on a poorly defended base nearby. This should draw a good portion of the security forces off the base we’re truly aiming for. That’s when you sweep in. Kill everything that moves, Capsuleer. If you can take out their reinforcements and logistics, then we’ll be able to clean up what’s left. I’m thinking that all this commotion should draw their leader out, or at least get his attention. We can see how it plays out once the bullets start flying. You’ll receive updates on the field once we launch our assault. Ready to roll?

Smuggling

Smuggling is one of the larger illegal industries in New Eden. Each nation in the cluster has numerous underground distribution cartels sourcing all sorts of illicit goods. Tracking the movement of ships and their cargo across borders is a monumental task that often spreads customs agents thin. For this reason, it isn’t hard for a determined smuggler to find loopholes that they can exploit in the busy shipping schedules.

Objective
Take out the Auxiliary Power Array. Location is within the system, follow the warp link.

Notes
Don't worry about the number of pirates on your overview - the smugglers and the Nidhogger will warp out as you fly towards the Array, leaving 4 watchmen remaining. These will aggress you when you get close to the array.

Mission is completed once the power array is destroyed. The pirate ships do not need to be destroyed.

Structures (~50km)

		WD	EWAR	L
	1 x Auxiliary Power Array
	4 x Smuggling Hub

Initial

		WD	EWAR	L
Smugglers (Depart the scene)
	3 x Frigate Smuggler
	3 x Cruiser Smuggler
	7 x Battlecruiser Smuggler
	8 x Battleship Smuggler
	1 x Carrier Stolen Nidhogger
Watchmen (Guristas and Serpentis ships)
	3 x Frigate Watchman
	1 x Cruiser Watchman

If the Power array is destroyed before the trigger the reinforcements will not arrive.

Reinforcements (Angel Cartel ships)

		WD	EWAR	L
	4 x Frigate Watchman

Agent hand-in message
My men finished cleaning up the remaining hostiles just a few moments ago. You'll be pleased to hear this though, <Pilot>. We caught someone trying to flee the scene; we think he knows something about the guys running this whole operation. He's been taken into questioning. If he does know anything, we'll have the information ourselves very shortly.

Mission 33 - Hunting the Lieutenants

Type	Encounter
Objective	Clear the facility of hostiles and capture any of the lieutenants present.
Faction	Mercenaries
Best damage to deal	Kin Th
Damage to resist	Kin Th
Rewards	200,000 ISK + ~70,000-88,000 ISK (bonus)

Mission briefing

That didn't take long. You can't get good mercenaries anymore. They crack before you even get to the fun stuff. He gave us the names of three lieutenants, supposedly the underlings for the man running this whole operation. If we can capture one of them, then maybe they'll know something about this missing capsuleer of yours. If they don't, then they should at least know where we can find their boss. The lieutenants are supposed to be meeting at a nearby deadspace facility, arranging some kind of “big deal”. We have no idea what this could involve: drugs, money, people. It might be anything, but it definitely means some more hired security to deal with. Once you clear the area, we should be able to scan the structures and locate the lieutenants, assuming they're still hanging around. Fly by and pick them up. If they refuse to board, pop a few shots off into the facility shields. That usually convinces people you mean business. So, feel like crashing the party, <Pilot>?

Objective
Clear the facility of hostiles and capture any of the lieutenants present. The mission objective location is located within the Lustrevik system.

Notes
Warp to the encounter location. You will be about 30km away from seven Mercenary Rookie ships. They all will soon target lock you. They were no challenge for a frigate ship (e.g. Rifter). After you kill them all a popup will display a message from the lieutenant and Tarak Errand will say:

"We were scanning the radio chatter of those guys you took out. They were trying to evacuate someone from that Habitation Module. It's vulnerable now without them guarding it, so you can fire a few rounds off into the building. That should flush him out."

After you have shot the Habitation Module (you do not have to destroy it completely) the next popup from the lieutenant will display:

"Alright, alright! Stop shooting, I’ll come with you!"

The mission is completed. You do not need to loot anything just safely warp back to the agent's home base.

When you turn in Tarak Errand will say:

"Good work, <Pilot>. I had a feeling we’d find at least one of them there. We’ll take him out back and encourage him to talk."

Initial

		WD	EWAR	L
	7 x Frigate Mercenary Rookie

Mission 34 - Valuable Cargo

Type	Talk to Agent
Objective	Report to Keita Eslin
Rewards	200,000 ISK + ~80,000-105,000 ISK (bonus)

Mission briefing

Keita says she found something in the evidence you brought over from your tours around State and Federation space. She thinks it might help her people direct the interrogation of Kirus, so we need you to take him back to her. We have a strong overlap of aims here, Capsuleer. You want to find this capsuleer, and we want to hamper smuggling operations in our space. So long as your work takes you down this path, we will be happy to offer our assistance. We will speak again perhaps, once Keita has gleaned some information from Kirus. If we don’t, then let me say that it’s been a pleasure having you as a friend and ally of the Minmatar people. I hope the good work doesn’t stop with the end of your investigation. Good work and good luck. I hope you find the answers you seek. I'm sure Keita will help.

Keita Eslin

Objective
Report to Keita Eslin, located in Hek IV - Krusual Tribe Bureau (0.8)

Notes
Again, another two quick jumps away.

Mission 35 - Marked for Death

Type	Encounter
Objective	Assassinate Izia Tabar
Faction	Mercenaries
Best damage to deal	Kin Th
Damage to resist	Kin Th
Rewards	200,000 ISK + ~105,000-144,000 ISK (bonus)

Mission briefing

We’ve been working tirelessly over all the intelligence you delivered to me. A lot of it we already knew, but after some cross-analysis, we discovered that there was a particular location that only Lieutenant Kirus and a few others had access to. Kirus caved when he saw that we knew the coordinates to his employer’s hideout. This guy’s alias is Izia Tabar. He's a battle-hardened smuggler baron; CONCORD’s wanted him for a long time now. We have his location, Capsuleer. Can we rely on you to end this? I’d expect his place to be well defended, but if we lose him now it all counts for nothing.

Objective
Assassinate Izia Tabar located within the Hek system.

Notes
Warp into the encounter. Be cautious. At first, you will see a pack of five Mercenary Rookie ships in about 20km distance. Killing them will cause the second pack of five Mercenary Rookie ships to show up. After all 10 ships are destroyed the named ship Izia Tabar will spawn. That is your mission target. Izia Tabar is harder to kill and very fast. Kill him and you will have completed the mission.

On turn-in Keita Eslin says: "You have done exceptionally well, <Pilot>. Our teams will head over to Tabar’s compound now and comb the area for further evidence. Get back to me when you are ready for one last assignment. It is about time the Minmatar repaid you for all you’ve done, and I have some information about how we can make that happen."

Initial (20 km)

		WD	EWAR	L
	5 x Frigate Mercenary Rookie

Reinforcement 1 (20 km)

		WD	EWAR	L
	5 x Frigate Mercenary Rookie

Reinforcement 2

		WD	EWAR	L
	1 x Frigate Izia Tabar

Mission 36 - Thwarting the Succession

Type	Encounter
Objective	Run interference for the Krusual spy in Tabar's training compound.
Faction	Mercenaries
Best damage to deal	Kin Th
Damage to resist	Kin Th
Rewards	200,000 ISK + ~102,000-134,000 ISK (bonus)

Mission briefing

Before you arrived, we managed to get one of our people inside Tabar's recruitment and training facility. He informed us that the missing capsuleer you seek passed through this place briefly. Moments ago, we received word that our man is now trapped there. We had hoped that Tabar's assassination would scatter the remnants of his forces and provide an easy escape, but we had no such luck. One of Tabar's remaining lieutenants, an Ammatar by the name of Mizara Nefra, has returned to the facility and taken over. Not only is our spy and your only lead caught in the spider's web, but this smuggling crew may operate again someday unless we put a stop to this. You must run interference for us. Kill Mizara and his followers so that our agent has a chance of escaping undetected.

Objective
Kill mercenaries to let the Krusual spy escape.

Notes
Warp to the encounter. You will land about 25km away from three Mercenary Rookie ships, which you will have to destroy. Then three Mercenary Fighter ships and Mizara will spawn. After you destroyed Mizara the mission is complete.

When you turn in Kaita Eslin says: "You've destroyed a pirate ring that would have taken us months to work through. High marks all around."

Initial (25 km)

		WD	EWAR	L
	3 x Frigate Mercenary Rookie

Reinforcements

		WD	EWAR	L
	3 x Frigate Mercenary Fighter
	1 x Elite Frigate Mizara

Mission 37 - Certificate of Death

Type	Talk to Agent
Objective	Report to Dovirch Anselm
Rewards	200,000 ISK + ~159,000-210,000 ISK (bonus)

Mission briefing
You've done good work for me, and I have one last request. Go and tell Mizara's Amarr masters that she will work for them no more.

Dovirch Anselm

Objective
Report to Dovirch Anselm, located at Tanoo V - Moon 1 - Ammatar Consulate Bureau.

Notes
You have to travel to Dovirch Anselm, 10 jumps away through high security space.

Next chapter: Chapter 6 - A Breach of Trust