This is a fairly long piece of Fan Fiction. If its TL;DR or just not your thing I'd recommend heading over to Sindel's Universe. There has been a lot of blogs about Fanfest, but this appears to be the only one concentrating solely on a hot chick licking the people there! Anyway if you fancy a bit of Eve-O fiction, read on....
You're not a very nice person. Do you know that?
Yes, you!
If you are reading this then you more than likely play as a Capsuleer in Eve Online (unless Google has really screwed you over) and they are not very nice people. Read the novels, the chronicles, the back story and you'll see that you are pretty much a nasty piece of work. Oh, you may roleplay that you are a "good guy" and a "hero". But generally speaking all capsuleers are uncaring, selfish bastards who are also mass murderers.... and that includes me. They don't care for mortals, death means nothing to them, and that rubs off on how they treat others. How many battleships have you destroyed at 6,000 crew a time? How many pirate structures have you destroyed condemning thousands of families to death?
But I'm not only just a Capsuleer, I'm fighting for a cause, the Gallente Federation Militia in a galactic war. And we know what people can be like when they are in that situation. So how far would my character go in the name of the "cause"......
-o0o-
There was a flash of light from the stargate. Then nothing. A few seconds later the Hawk class Assault Frigate decloaked and aligned before slipping into warp to the other stargate millions of kilometers away.
"Frack all"
"Nothing? Again?"
"No sir, the system is empty."
The XO was sure they'd find some action here. The Capsuleer must have thought so too, he'd piloted the ship here after all. They'd been patrolling for hours and so far had not seen any real sign of the enemy.
"Sir, new ship ID in local, it's another capsuleer and it's Caldari Militia..."
Before the crewman at the tactical console could finish, the battlestations alarm sounded. The capsuleer was looking to engage, even though currently they did not know what they may be fighting against. That was not really a major issue. The Hawk was a tough ship and could hold it's own against much bigger ships, at least long enough to jump through a gate if needed. The 5-strong crew on the bridge readied themselves for the fight.
The Hawk dropped out of warp next to the stargate. The other capsuleer must be here, he didn't follow them through the last system and this was the only other gate in the system thought the XO. The scanner was not detecting any other ships. Therefore the enemy must still be here, holding it's cloaking field following the jump. The XO noted their capsuleer already had the weapon systems readied. Suddenly a ship decloaked 20km off to the port. The XO saw a Manticore class stealth bomber align whilst engaging it's cloaking device. It vanished in less than a second of it appearing.
"Damn it!" he thumped his fist into the arm rest of his chair.
He saw the weapons systems deactivate and the 'brace for jump' alarm sounded throughout the ship. Using a stargate was an unpleasant experience for most people. The artificial wormhole could play havoc with a bodies systems and stomach troubles, headaches and dizzyness were all common side-effects of gate travel. Capsuleers were immune to the effects whilst floating in their hydrostatic capsules. However, the crew were exposed, and whilst years of jumps hardened a person to the effects, there was always some discomfort.
The next system was empty again.
"Tac Officer, you have the bridge. I'm going to do the rounds"
The XO left the bridge via the lift and moved down to the next level of the ship. If a fight did suddenly break out and he wasn't on the bridge it would not be an issue. His job was more about human resources than deputising for the captain. On a normal ship the XO would never leave the bridge whilst in hostile space, but on a Capsuleer vessel his presence wasn't directly needed. Floating in the hydrostatic capsule, with his nervous system hooked up directly to the ship, the capsuleer was able to do the work of a command crew on his own. The ship moved where he willed it to move. He controlled the defensive and offensive systems, he could activate and deactivate major systems with a thought. However, capsuleers still needed a crew. No matter how advanced the ship, some things needed a physical body to do. Crews on capsuleer ships were significantly smaller than the same ship without a capsuleer, but nevertheless were still needed.
One entire deck of the frigate was dedicated to it's primary weapons systems. The XO found chief weapons officer Meeka carrying out an inventory of the ammunition. Like the XO, he was bored and looking for something to do.
"Are they all there?" the XO asked half jokingly.
"Depends if you're asking about my crew or the warheads. Warheads are easy. As we've not fired at anything yet, yes they are all here. The crew, they are getting some shut-eye. If we do start fighting they'll be here before we need to reload" Meeka ticked off another crate of Navy Issue Thorn kinetic rockets from his list.
"I'm just glad we're not using anything with a nuclear payload. Given how the Caldari Militia are currently, the payload would have decayed and turned to lead by now" That brought a chuckle from the XO as he headed for the exit.
In the galley deck he could smell lunch cooking. The cook was there and was stirring a huge pot. Usually when on a combat patrol, cooking was not undertaken. A pot of boiling food like that could become a major hazard if the artificial gravity systems went offline during a fight. However given their day so far, the cook had decided to take his chances. Not that the XO complained. The ready-to-eat meals that were normally served during combat sorties left a lot to be desired.
"What's in the pot?
"Meat stew"
"What kind of meat?"
"The kind off an animal..... may be. You don't ask, I don't tell" the cook said grumpily.
The cook was well known to be in a foul mood pretty much most of the time. But as he prepared all their meals, nobody dared ask him why or make any smart comments for fear of receiving added "ingredients" in their next meal.
The XO skipped the habitation decks. Everyone there should be sleeping, plus he was keen to get to engineering. Truth be told he wished he could start in engineering, but that would be too obvious.
The heavy blast-doors slid open and the XO entered the engineering section. It was perhaps the largest section in the ship and was twice the size of the cargo bay. The main reactor and the core of the warp drive were housed here. A few engineers moved around the cavernous room on various gantries and walkways but generally it was quiet. Just like the bridge, these ships were built from a standard blueprint. They could be flown with a normal crew with a captain in the chair, or a capsuleer plus smaller crew. With a capsuleer wet-wired into the systems around half the normal compliment of crew were needed. This frigate, whilst small compared to a battleship, didn't feel small inside. The crew of 30 could walk around the ship and rarely bump into each other.
"Can I help you with anything..... sir!" The voice from behind made him jump. He span around to find Chief Tech Aralia behind him.
"Sorry sir, I made you jump. Anyone would think you were down here up to no
good" She smiled.
How does she do that he wondered. How does she hold this power over me? The
XO looked Aralia up and down. She was wearing the ship issue boots and engineering overalls same as everyone else, but somehow they looked different on her.
"It's hot in here isn't it.... sir" Aralia pulled the zipper of overalls down to her waist, it was clear she wasn't wearing anything underneath. The exposed flesh made the XO wet his lips in anticipation.
"Would you like to see the repairs to the backup reactor, sir? I'm sure you'll enjoy that and that you'll leave most.... satisfied" the XO couldn't speak. He just nodded. Damn it! How did she reduce him to a shy small boy with a simple look and that voice of hers.
Nobody paid them any notice as Aralia and the XO left the main engineering bay through a side corridor. At the end of the short corridor was another heavy blast door. The walls here were reinforced. Should anything happen to the main reactor, these walls were designed to ensure the back-up reactor was afforded some protected. Aralia keyed the correct sequence and the heavy blast-doors opened slowly. They both walked through into the much smaller emergency engineering bay. All the systems were offline and the back-up reactor itself was in hibernation mode. The room was dimly lit. The XO stood by the closing door as Aralia walked over to the dome structure that housed the backup reactor. She placed a hand on the grey metal, her back to the XO.
"You can feel the power vibrating through the shielding" she said before turning around and leaning against the dome, arching her back onto the domed structure.
She smiled at him and pulled her overalls down, beckoning him forward with her finger. She didn't need to ask twice.
-o0o-
The XO bent over to retrieve another article of his discarded uniform, a beaming smile on his face. He turned to face Aralia to say something but there was a flash. Then he felt a stabbing pain in his stomach. His hands went down to his midriff and when he brought them back up he saw they were covered in blood. A look of shock and confusion washed over his face. His legs felt wobbly and he collapsed to the floor. He looked up to see Arlia standing over him with a gun pointing at him.
"What........ why?" he croaked.
"Why? Oh come on! You're the XO. You should be able to work this out." She still had the gun leveled at him.
"You are State Pro?" his voice was not much more than a whisper.
"First guess! I told you that you'd be able to work it out."
"But we just...." Aralia cut him off.
"Yes we did didn't we. But after I eject in an escape pod in 10 minutes I might be floating in space for a few hours until the search and rescue team come and get me. Might as well go to sleep satisfied. You might be crewing for a bastard Gallente militia pilot, who is also a traitor to the State, but that doesn't mean you are, I mean you weren't, bad at everything" she smirked.
Aralia lent over him and grabbed his passcard that was hung around his neck.
"Thanks for this. This will help me deactivate the primary systems just as my comrades engage this ship in about, ooooo, 8 minutes. It'll be over quick."
She stood back up and looked down at him. "Although I don't think you'll live that long."
"No...... but...... neither will you" croaked the XO.
"Ha! Why do you think I brought us in here every time we had some fun for the last two months? The crew know what's going on between us two. I made sure they noticed. They'll not miss you for another 30 minutes, they'll all think we're still at it! And this room is so heavily shielded nobody will have heard the shot."
"Someone...... someone did!"
The smile died from Aralia's face. She suddenly looked worried.
"No! You're lying! Lying and dying! This plan was perfect. The are no cameras or voice recorders in here."
"No. You forgot...... the one person who hears everything.... see's everything.... feels everything....." The XO was struggling to talk. "Can't you feel it in your ears?"
"What are you talking about... not even 'he' knows what's happening in here. There are no camera's, sensors or voice recorders. Not even our egger is aware whats happening in here. There is no......" then suddenly she turned white. All the colour drained from her face. "That's impossible, this area is sealed and cut-off."
The XO could feel it in his ears, and was sure now Aralia could, a pressure differential. The room was slowly depressurising. Aralia ran to the door and keyed the access code. A large buzzing noise sounded access denied.
"No please!" Aralia screamed into the air. The XO just placed his head back down on the deck and stared at the grey dimly lit ceiling high above. He'd been a fool. Firstly he'd let a covert member of the State Protectorate onto his ship. Secondly he'd let himself be manipulated by her. The passionate affair was simply a ruse by her so she could take him somewhere where he would not be missed. If her plan had worked, the crew would have been making crude jokes about them working up a sweat in the back-up reactor chamber whilst Aralia disabled the ships primary systems with his passcard as he lay dead on the floor. But the Capsuleer had found out. How long had he known? Could he have intervened before this? Could he have saved his life?
Aralia was trying to walk over to him. She was staggering badly. The atmosphere was so thin now they could hardly breathe. She raised her gun and fired. The shot ricocheted off the floor. She tried again, wide of the mark. She dropped to her knees and tried to fire again. The shot was even further away. Her breathing was long heavy rasps now. She turned the gun on herself staring at the XO.
"For...... for the State" she said in a whisper. But she lost consciousness before she pulled the trigger.
The XO smiled, his ship was safe, no doubt the capsuleer was prepared for the attack now. He finally passed out himself.
-o0o-
There was a bright light. It was blinding. He could hear feint voices. He felt detached from his body.
He heard the voices closer now. "He's coming around. Better send the message" was all he heard before it went black again.
Much later the XO opened his eye's. His vision was blurred but he could tell the ceiling was not the same as that in the reactor room. This one was white, low and brightly lit. He turned his head to the right, he was in some form of medical bay. He was wired up to a variety of machines. His vision was slightly blurred but clearing.
He turned his head to the left. A man was sat there, flicking through a datapad. He was Caldari and wearing expensive clothing, he had his feet up on a table and looked rather relaxed. He noticed the XO was awake and looking at him.
"Welcome back to the land of the living" the man swung his legs down from the table and stood. He bent down to place the datapad on a table. As he did the XO saw the sockets on the back of his neck. A capsuleer!
"You've been out of it for five days. A combination of being shot by a State Pro agent and the side-effects of the low-pressure environment. For the later I must apologise. It was the only way I could intervene"
"You..... you are Drackarn"
"Yes."
"The.... the.... ambush? The ship and crew?"
The capsuleer smiled. "Ah yes, the ambush. I really wish you could have seen that. Whilst that Caldari bitch was telling you the grand plan, I was on comms to my fellow Gallente corp members. When the squids sprang their trap they didn't find a disabled frigate drifting in space. They found a Shadows fleet. We wiped them all out and suffered no loses."
"Aralia?"
The smile dropped from the capsuleers face.
"She tried to take the cowards way out, but she failed, as she failed in killing us all."
The XO knew she was dead, surely the capsuleer has already dealt with her. Did they question her? Did they force her to talk....... the XO was confused over his emotions. That woman shot him, plotted to kill him and his crew mates. Yet the thought that she may have been "encouraged" to talk turned his stomach.
"What about me?" the XO asked.
Drackarn looked at him carefully and rubbed his chin.
"You were a fool. A fracking fool. Thinking with your little head nearly cost me a lot of money". The XO noted he spoke about the potential loss of money and didn't refer to the potential loss of life. Around 30 million Interstellar Kredits verses 30 or so lives. He didn't need to ask which one the capsuleer cared about, it was always about the ISK.
"I have yet to decide. The doctors, who I am paying a lot of money to, say you'll be out of here in another five days. You'll find orders awaiting you then. Think of it as a test." Drackarn turned to leave. "Pass and we'll carry on. Fail and....." he never finished the last sentence as he left. His words handing ominously in the air.
-o0o-
The XO had never been to this hanger before. In fact he never knew it existed. It was a private one berth facility at the back of the station. Apparently it was used by VIP's who wanted to keep their visit discreet. He looked up at the docking control office that overlooked the hanger. It was empty. Everywhere was empty. Nobody was around. As per his orders he boarded the Hawk via the forward bridge access. When he reached his seat some form of strange helmet with a blacked-out visor was on his chair. He sat down and placed the headset on. Suddenly his vision was replaced with a view of the ship.
"Good morning. Good to see you are fit again" Drackarn's voice was transmitting through the speakers in the helmet. "The device you are wearing gives you access to the camera drones we capsuleers use to see when we are in our pods." The view span as the drones circled the ship. The XO wondered why he was being shown this, when was the test? A control panel appeared in his view.
"The headset allows limited control of the ship through direct brain scanning and iris tracking" Please focus on the ship start up controls on the screen in front of your eyes.
The XO looked over the floating control panel and found the startup panel. He focused on the correct sequence of buttons and heard the ship come to life. The reactor powered up and the engines started idling. He felt the ship move as it left the docking clamps and was hovering in the hanger, held in place with powerful tractor beams.
"Of course this interface is terribly limited and is working by following your eye movements with some minor input from your brain activity, you could never hope to do the same job as a capsuleer but it will suffice for this test"
"What's the test" the XO asked nervously.
"In a few moments I'll want you to test fire the afterburners. You might think that is a strange test, but you need to learn... every decision has consequences"
Suddenly the view of the ship broke up and went black. When it came back the view was divided into four separate screens plus the control panel along the bottom. The first panel activated, it was a zoomed out view of the ship. The second panel activated, it was a close up of the engines. The third panel activated. The XO swallowed hard. It was Aralia. She was hanging by her wrists. It looked like it was somewhere in this hanger. The last panel activated. It was a side view showing Aralia hanging directly behind the ship, at the same height as the engines.
"As I said, consequences" Drackarns voice came over the headset "Please test fire the afterburners whenever you are ready"
Aralia started screaming. The XO then realised she must be able to hear.
"Oh god, no" he muttered.
"Jon! Is that you?" Aralia said. The headset must have a microphone.
"Yes Aralia. It's me" He said solemly.
"Please don't do this. Please! Not like this. Come out here, bring me down and shoot me in the head. But not this. Please!" there was desperation in her voice. The capsuleer had gone quiet, but he still must be listening.
The XO closed his eyes he couldn't bear to see her hanging there.
"Open them!" Drackarn snapped. Jon opened his eye's instantly.
"Close your eyes again and you'll find youself hanging next to her. Now I'm giving you 60 seconds to complete the test"
Jon studied the last two panels. Even in this situation she looked beautiful, hanging there from a distance, but the close-up showed the terror in her eyes. Jon thought about the times they'd spent in the back-up reactor bay. The things they had done in there. His hand went up to remove the headset but stopped short. Then he remembered her standing there with the smoking gun pointing at him. The way she had sneered at him as he lay dying. The way she had described how the her and her militia were going to kill everyone on board his ship.
"Aralia" he whispered. He saw her look at the camera, still terrified.
"I love you...."
She smiled through her tears.
"But this is war."
The sudden realisation made her go wide-eyed. She mouthed the word 'no' as he activated the afterburner.
She screamed in pain and terror as the jet of flame struck her. The XO forced himself to watch, he dare not close his eyes. It was over in a matter of seconds. As the afterburner had run it's single cycle and deactivated all that was left was a length of chain, slowly swaying behind the ship. The end of the chain was melted and glowing bright orange from the heat.
The XO ripped the headset off and dropped to his knees before vomiting on the deck. He rolled over sobbing uncontrollably.
"This is war. Don't forget that." the capsuleers voice boomed over the speakers in the bridge.
"If you can live with what you have done today, we'll be leaving at 0800 sharp tomorrow"
The ships systems deactivated leaving the XO sobbing on the deck of the dimly lit ship.
-o0o-
"So are you going to tell him the truth" Aralia asked. She was secured to a metal chair in a small room, deep in an abandoned part of the station.
"May be" Drackarn had his back to her. He turned off the screen which showed the security footage of the bridge on the Hawk. "May be not. If he turns up in the morning then I know he's a man I can count on. If he doesn't, well who cares!"
"You fracking capsuleers are all evil!"
"Really?" Drackarn turned around and appeared to ponder the statement for a moment, "I would have said stringing you up behind the frigate and roasting you for real would have been properly evil. Using a computer-generated holographic simulation was just.... cruel?" He smirked at her.
"So why didn't you?"
"Oh don't get me wrong. I'd happily string you up there myself. But maybe I'd just use the engines on low power and take my time. The afterburner appears to be far too quick.
Araylia swallowed hard.
"But we have a live and kicking, covert agent of the Caldari State Protectorate here. I think you're worth more to us alive than dead. You look young enough not to be out of training long. I assume there is a hidden low-sec base where you slimy squids get taught your trade."
"You'll never get anything from me! I'll die first."
"We'll see." Drackarn walked to the door and started to leave. "We'll see."
As he left through the door and a large, bald headed man of Amarrian descent entered the room pushing a trolley covered by a white sheet.
"Find out what she knows. I want their base of operations before tomorrow" the Amarrian nodded in silence and the capsuleer left the room without turning back.
-o0o-
You're not a very nice person. Do you know that?
Yes, you!
If you are reading this then you more than likely play as a Capsuleer in Eve Online (unless Google has really screwed you over) and they are not very nice people. Read the novels, the chronicles, the back story and you'll see that you are pretty much a nasty piece of work. Oh, you may roleplay that you are a "good guy" and a "hero". But generally speaking all capsuleers are uncaring, selfish bastards who are also mass murderers.... and that includes me. They don't care for mortals, death means nothing to them, and that rubs off on how they treat others. How many battleships have you destroyed at 6,000 crew a time? How many pirate structures have you destroyed condemning thousands of families to death?
But I'm not only just a Capsuleer, I'm fighting for a cause, the Gallente Federation Militia in a galactic war. And we know what people can be like when they are in that situation. So how far would my character go in the name of the "cause"......
-o0o-
There was a flash of light from the stargate. Then nothing. A few seconds later the Hawk class Assault Frigate decloaked and aligned before slipping into warp to the other stargate millions of kilometers away.
"Frack all"
"Nothing? Again?"
"No sir, the system is empty."
The XO was sure they'd find some action here. The Capsuleer must have thought so too, he'd piloted the ship here after all. They'd been patrolling for hours and so far had not seen any real sign of the enemy.
"Sir, new ship ID in local, it's another capsuleer and it's Caldari Militia..."
Before the crewman at the tactical console could finish, the battlestations alarm sounded. The capsuleer was looking to engage, even though currently they did not know what they may be fighting against. That was not really a major issue. The Hawk was a tough ship and could hold it's own against much bigger ships, at least long enough to jump through a gate if needed. The 5-strong crew on the bridge readied themselves for the fight.
The Hawk dropped out of warp next to the stargate. The other capsuleer must be here, he didn't follow them through the last system and this was the only other gate in the system thought the XO. The scanner was not detecting any other ships. Therefore the enemy must still be here, holding it's cloaking field following the jump. The XO noted their capsuleer already had the weapon systems readied. Suddenly a ship decloaked 20km off to the port. The XO saw a Manticore class stealth bomber align whilst engaging it's cloaking device. It vanished in less than a second of it appearing.
"Damn it!" he thumped his fist into the arm rest of his chair.
He saw the weapons systems deactivate and the 'brace for jump' alarm sounded throughout the ship. Using a stargate was an unpleasant experience for most people. The artificial wormhole could play havoc with a bodies systems and stomach troubles, headaches and dizzyness were all common side-effects of gate travel. Capsuleers were immune to the effects whilst floating in their hydrostatic capsules. However, the crew were exposed, and whilst years of jumps hardened a person to the effects, there was always some discomfort.
The next system was empty again.
"Tac Officer, you have the bridge. I'm going to do the rounds"
The XO left the bridge via the lift and moved down to the next level of the ship. If a fight did suddenly break out and he wasn't on the bridge it would not be an issue. His job was more about human resources than deputising for the captain. On a normal ship the XO would never leave the bridge whilst in hostile space, but on a Capsuleer vessel his presence wasn't directly needed. Floating in the hydrostatic capsule, with his nervous system hooked up directly to the ship, the capsuleer was able to do the work of a command crew on his own. The ship moved where he willed it to move. He controlled the defensive and offensive systems, he could activate and deactivate major systems with a thought. However, capsuleers still needed a crew. No matter how advanced the ship, some things needed a physical body to do. Crews on capsuleer ships were significantly smaller than the same ship without a capsuleer, but nevertheless were still needed.
One entire deck of the frigate was dedicated to it's primary weapons systems. The XO found chief weapons officer Meeka carrying out an inventory of the ammunition. Like the XO, he was bored and looking for something to do.
"Are they all there?" the XO asked half jokingly.
"Depends if you're asking about my crew or the warheads. Warheads are easy. As we've not fired at anything yet, yes they are all here. The crew, they are getting some shut-eye. If we do start fighting they'll be here before we need to reload" Meeka ticked off another crate of Navy Issue Thorn kinetic rockets from his list.
"I'm just glad we're not using anything with a nuclear payload. Given how the Caldari Militia are currently, the payload would have decayed and turned to lead by now" That brought a chuckle from the XO as he headed for the exit.
In the galley deck he could smell lunch cooking. The cook was there and was stirring a huge pot. Usually when on a combat patrol, cooking was not undertaken. A pot of boiling food like that could become a major hazard if the artificial gravity systems went offline during a fight. However given their day so far, the cook had decided to take his chances. Not that the XO complained. The ready-to-eat meals that were normally served during combat sorties left a lot to be desired.
"What's in the pot?
"Meat stew"
"What kind of meat?"
"The kind off an animal..... may be. You don't ask, I don't tell" the cook said grumpily.
The cook was well known to be in a foul mood pretty much most of the time. But as he prepared all their meals, nobody dared ask him why or make any smart comments for fear of receiving added "ingredients" in their next meal.
The XO skipped the habitation decks. Everyone there should be sleeping, plus he was keen to get to engineering. Truth be told he wished he could start in engineering, but that would be too obvious.
The heavy blast-doors slid open and the XO entered the engineering section. It was perhaps the largest section in the ship and was twice the size of the cargo bay. The main reactor and the core of the warp drive were housed here. A few engineers moved around the cavernous room on various gantries and walkways but generally it was quiet. Just like the bridge, these ships were built from a standard blueprint. They could be flown with a normal crew with a captain in the chair, or a capsuleer plus smaller crew. With a capsuleer wet-wired into the systems around half the normal compliment of crew were needed. This frigate, whilst small compared to a battleship, didn't feel small inside. The crew of 30 could walk around the ship and rarely bump into each other.
"Can I help you with anything..... sir!" The voice from behind made him jump. He span around to find Chief Tech Aralia behind him.
"Sorry sir, I made you jump. Anyone would think you were down here up to no
good" She smiled.
How does she do that he wondered. How does she hold this power over me? The
XO looked Aralia up and down. She was wearing the ship issue boots and engineering overalls same as everyone else, but somehow they looked different on her.
"It's hot in here isn't it.... sir" Aralia pulled the zipper of overalls down to her waist, it was clear she wasn't wearing anything underneath. The exposed flesh made the XO wet his lips in anticipation.
"Would you like to see the repairs to the backup reactor, sir? I'm sure you'll enjoy that and that you'll leave most.... satisfied" the XO couldn't speak. He just nodded. Damn it! How did she reduce him to a shy small boy with a simple look and that voice of hers.
Nobody paid them any notice as Aralia and the XO left the main engineering bay through a side corridor. At the end of the short corridor was another heavy blast door. The walls here were reinforced. Should anything happen to the main reactor, these walls were designed to ensure the back-up reactor was afforded some protected. Aralia keyed the correct sequence and the heavy blast-doors opened slowly. They both walked through into the much smaller emergency engineering bay. All the systems were offline and the back-up reactor itself was in hibernation mode. The room was dimly lit. The XO stood by the closing door as Aralia walked over to the dome structure that housed the backup reactor. She placed a hand on the grey metal, her back to the XO.
"You can feel the power vibrating through the shielding" she said before turning around and leaning against the dome, arching her back onto the domed structure.
She smiled at him and pulled her overalls down, beckoning him forward with her finger. She didn't need to ask twice.
-o0o-
The XO bent over to retrieve another article of his discarded uniform, a beaming smile on his face. He turned to face Aralia to say something but there was a flash. Then he felt a stabbing pain in his stomach. His hands went down to his midriff and when he brought them back up he saw they were covered in blood. A look of shock and confusion washed over his face. His legs felt wobbly and he collapsed to the floor. He looked up to see Arlia standing over him with a gun pointing at him.
"What........ why?" he croaked.
"Why? Oh come on! You're the XO. You should be able to work this out." She still had the gun leveled at him.
"You are State Pro?" his voice was not much more than a whisper.
"First guess! I told you that you'd be able to work it out."
"But we just...." Aralia cut him off.
"Yes we did didn't we. But after I eject in an escape pod in 10 minutes I might be floating in space for a few hours until the search and rescue team come and get me. Might as well go to sleep satisfied. You might be crewing for a bastard Gallente militia pilot, who is also a traitor to the State, but that doesn't mean you are, I mean you weren't, bad at everything" she smirked.
Aralia lent over him and grabbed his passcard that was hung around his neck.
"Thanks for this. This will help me deactivate the primary systems just as my comrades engage this ship in about, ooooo, 8 minutes. It'll be over quick."
She stood back up and looked down at him. "Although I don't think you'll live that long."
"No...... but...... neither will you" croaked the XO.
"Ha! Why do you think I brought us in here every time we had some fun for the last two months? The crew know what's going on between us two. I made sure they noticed. They'll not miss you for another 30 minutes, they'll all think we're still at it! And this room is so heavily shielded nobody will have heard the shot."
"Someone...... someone did!"
The smile died from Aralia's face. She suddenly looked worried.
"No! You're lying! Lying and dying! This plan was perfect. The are no cameras or voice recorders in here."
"No. You forgot...... the one person who hears everything.... see's everything.... feels everything....." The XO was struggling to talk. "Can't you feel it in your ears?"
"What are you talking about... not even 'he' knows what's happening in here. There are no camera's, sensors or voice recorders. Not even our egger is aware whats happening in here. There is no......" then suddenly she turned white. All the colour drained from her face. "That's impossible, this area is sealed and cut-off."
The XO could feel it in his ears, and was sure now Aralia could, a pressure differential. The room was slowly depressurising. Aralia ran to the door and keyed the access code. A large buzzing noise sounded access denied.
"No please!" Aralia screamed into the air. The XO just placed his head back down on the deck and stared at the grey dimly lit ceiling high above. He'd been a fool. Firstly he'd let a covert member of the State Protectorate onto his ship. Secondly he'd let himself be manipulated by her. The passionate affair was simply a ruse by her so she could take him somewhere where he would not be missed. If her plan had worked, the crew would have been making crude jokes about them working up a sweat in the back-up reactor chamber whilst Aralia disabled the ships primary systems with his passcard as he lay dead on the floor. But the Capsuleer had found out. How long had he known? Could he have intervened before this? Could he have saved his life?
Aralia was trying to walk over to him. She was staggering badly. The atmosphere was so thin now they could hardly breathe. She raised her gun and fired. The shot ricocheted off the floor. She tried again, wide of the mark. She dropped to her knees and tried to fire again. The shot was even further away. Her breathing was long heavy rasps now. She turned the gun on herself staring at the XO.
"For...... for the State" she said in a whisper. But she lost consciousness before she pulled the trigger.
The XO smiled, his ship was safe, no doubt the capsuleer was prepared for the attack now. He finally passed out himself.
-o0o-
There was a bright light. It was blinding. He could hear feint voices. He felt detached from his body.
He heard the voices closer now. "He's coming around. Better send the message" was all he heard before it went black again.
Much later the XO opened his eye's. His vision was blurred but he could tell the ceiling was not the same as that in the reactor room. This one was white, low and brightly lit. He turned his head to the right, he was in some form of medical bay. He was wired up to a variety of machines. His vision was slightly blurred but clearing.
He turned his head to the left. A man was sat there, flicking through a datapad. He was Caldari and wearing expensive clothing, he had his feet up on a table and looked rather relaxed. He noticed the XO was awake and looking at him.
"Welcome back to the land of the living" the man swung his legs down from the table and stood. He bent down to place the datapad on a table. As he did the XO saw the sockets on the back of his neck. A capsuleer!
"You've been out of it for five days. A combination of being shot by a State Pro agent and the side-effects of the low-pressure environment. For the later I must apologise. It was the only way I could intervene"
"You..... you are Drackarn"
"Yes."
"The.... the.... ambush? The ship and crew?"
The capsuleer smiled. "Ah yes, the ambush. I really wish you could have seen that. Whilst that Caldari bitch was telling you the grand plan, I was on comms to my fellow Gallente corp members. When the squids sprang their trap they didn't find a disabled frigate drifting in space. They found a Shadows fleet. We wiped them all out and suffered no loses."
"Aralia?"
The smile dropped from the capsuleers face.
"She tried to take the cowards way out, but she failed, as she failed in killing us all."
The XO knew she was dead, surely the capsuleer has already dealt with her. Did they question her? Did they force her to talk....... the XO was confused over his emotions. That woman shot him, plotted to kill him and his crew mates. Yet the thought that she may have been "encouraged" to talk turned his stomach.
"What about me?" the XO asked.
Drackarn looked at him carefully and rubbed his chin.
"You were a fool. A fracking fool. Thinking with your little head nearly cost me a lot of money". The XO noted he spoke about the potential loss of money and didn't refer to the potential loss of life. Around 30 million Interstellar Kredits verses 30 or so lives. He didn't need to ask which one the capsuleer cared about, it was always about the ISK.
"I have yet to decide. The doctors, who I am paying a lot of money to, say you'll be out of here in another five days. You'll find orders awaiting you then. Think of it as a test." Drackarn turned to leave. "Pass and we'll carry on. Fail and....." he never finished the last sentence as he left. His words handing ominously in the air.
-o0o-
The XO had never been to this hanger before. In fact he never knew it existed. It was a private one berth facility at the back of the station. Apparently it was used by VIP's who wanted to keep their visit discreet. He looked up at the docking control office that overlooked the hanger. It was empty. Everywhere was empty. Nobody was around. As per his orders he boarded the Hawk via the forward bridge access. When he reached his seat some form of strange helmet with a blacked-out visor was on his chair. He sat down and placed the headset on. Suddenly his vision was replaced with a view of the ship.
"Good morning. Good to see you are fit again" Drackarn's voice was transmitting through the speakers in the helmet. "The device you are wearing gives you access to the camera drones we capsuleers use to see when we are in our pods." The view span as the drones circled the ship. The XO wondered why he was being shown this, when was the test? A control panel appeared in his view.
"The headset allows limited control of the ship through direct brain scanning and iris tracking" Please focus on the ship start up controls on the screen in front of your eyes.
The XO looked over the floating control panel and found the startup panel. He focused on the correct sequence of buttons and heard the ship come to life. The reactor powered up and the engines started idling. He felt the ship move as it left the docking clamps and was hovering in the hanger, held in place with powerful tractor beams.
"Of course this interface is terribly limited and is working by following your eye movements with some minor input from your brain activity, you could never hope to do the same job as a capsuleer but it will suffice for this test"
"What's the test" the XO asked nervously.
"In a few moments I'll want you to test fire the afterburners. You might think that is a strange test, but you need to learn... every decision has consequences"
Suddenly the view of the ship broke up and went black. When it came back the view was divided into four separate screens plus the control panel along the bottom. The first panel activated, it was a zoomed out view of the ship. The second panel activated, it was a close up of the engines. The third panel activated. The XO swallowed hard. It was Aralia. She was hanging by her wrists. It looked like it was somewhere in this hanger. The last panel activated. It was a side view showing Aralia hanging directly behind the ship, at the same height as the engines.
"As I said, consequences" Drackarns voice came over the headset "Please test fire the afterburners whenever you are ready"
Aralia started screaming. The XO then realised she must be able to hear.
"Oh god, no" he muttered.
"Jon! Is that you?" Aralia said. The headset must have a microphone.
"Yes Aralia. It's me" He said solemly.
"Please don't do this. Please! Not like this. Come out here, bring me down and shoot me in the head. But not this. Please!" there was desperation in her voice. The capsuleer had gone quiet, but he still must be listening.
The XO closed his eyes he couldn't bear to see her hanging there.
"Open them!" Drackarn snapped. Jon opened his eye's instantly.
"Close your eyes again and you'll find youself hanging next to her. Now I'm giving you 60 seconds to complete the test"
Jon studied the last two panels. Even in this situation she looked beautiful, hanging there from a distance, but the close-up showed the terror in her eyes. Jon thought about the times they'd spent in the back-up reactor bay. The things they had done in there. His hand went up to remove the headset but stopped short. Then he remembered her standing there with the smoking gun pointing at him. The way she had sneered at him as he lay dying. The way she had described how the her and her militia were going to kill everyone on board his ship.
"Aralia" he whispered. He saw her look at the camera, still terrified.
"I love you...."
She smiled through her tears.
"But this is war."
The sudden realisation made her go wide-eyed. She mouthed the word 'no' as he activated the afterburner.
She screamed in pain and terror as the jet of flame struck her. The XO forced himself to watch, he dare not close his eyes. It was over in a matter of seconds. As the afterburner had run it's single cycle and deactivated all that was left was a length of chain, slowly swaying behind the ship. The end of the chain was melted and glowing bright orange from the heat.
The XO ripped the headset off and dropped to his knees before vomiting on the deck. He rolled over sobbing uncontrollably.
"This is war. Don't forget that." the capsuleers voice boomed over the speakers in the bridge.
"If you can live with what you have done today, we'll be leaving at 0800 sharp tomorrow"
The ships systems deactivated leaving the XO sobbing on the deck of the dimly lit ship.
-o0o-
"So are you going to tell him the truth" Aralia asked. She was secured to a metal chair in a small room, deep in an abandoned part of the station.
"May be" Drackarn had his back to her. He turned off the screen which showed the security footage of the bridge on the Hawk. "May be not. If he turns up in the morning then I know he's a man I can count on. If he doesn't, well who cares!"
"You fracking capsuleers are all evil!"
"Really?" Drackarn turned around and appeared to ponder the statement for a moment, "I would have said stringing you up behind the frigate and roasting you for real would have been properly evil. Using a computer-generated holographic simulation was just.... cruel?" He smirked at her.
"So why didn't you?"
"Oh don't get me wrong. I'd happily string you up there myself. But maybe I'd just use the engines on low power and take my time. The afterburner appears to be far too quick.
Araylia swallowed hard.
"But we have a live and kicking, covert agent of the Caldari State Protectorate here. I think you're worth more to us alive than dead. You look young enough not to be out of training long. I assume there is a hidden low-sec base where you slimy squids get taught your trade."
"You'll never get anything from me! I'll die first."
"We'll see." Drackarn walked to the door and started to leave. "We'll see."
As he left through the door and a large, bald headed man of Amarrian descent entered the room pushing a trolley covered by a white sheet.
"Find out what she knows. I want their base of operations before tomorrow" the Amarrian nodded in silence and the capsuleer left the room without turning back.
-o0o-
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