EVE Story – Losses and Gain
This is my entry to the Inspired By Images Of Eve Competition 2. More details and links to all entrants can be found at Starfleet Comms.
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“Oh, for crying out loud…” the disgruntled man said, punching the console in front of him. “Stupid Gallente ships can never shield tank properly…” The man was Havelle Cridemotte, and he was the captain of one of only a thousand Gallente ships that hadn’t been built with capsuleers in mind.
“Sorry sir, my fault. The armor nanites are still running, they’re using all the power. I’ll shut them do-” began his engineer.
“Don’t bother. Just get us to the Jita stargate. The sooner we dump whatever this crap is we were asked to pick up, the better off we’ll be,” Havelle interrupted, punching a few buttons on his console to shut everything but the engines and shields down. A few seconds later, there was a faint hum, a clanking sound and finally a sonic boom as the ship glided at warp velocity best the pale, yellow sun of the system they were in, a beautiful blue plume refracting off their slipstream.
Havelle was startled by the voice that awoke him from the slumber he had slipped into over the twenty jump journey. Bolting upright, he went to grab the pistol he kept with him at all times, before calming down as he realised it was just the ships computer letting him know they’d been allowed to dock at the Jita IV, Moon IV Navy Assembly plant.
“Thank god… hurry up and get that guy on screen… what’s his name… oh, you know the one,” he said, slumping back, glaring at the shadowed image that flickered onto his screen. “We’ve done what you asked. Money. Now.” The figure behind the screen smirked.
“Well, it certainly looks as if the… cargo… is authentic. Tell me, which ship was it in?”
“It was in a god-damn Paladin. You didn’t tell me I’d be up against a Marauder, you bastard… I lost five good men and women to do this. So you’ll forgive me if I’m not too pleased with myself.” Havelle spat back at the man. The man bowed his head slightly.
“Thirty Million ISK has just been sent to your account. Quite acceptable, is it not?” the man said. Havelle growled before shutting off the screen, and slumping back in the chair.
“Get us out of here, back to Luminaire,” he said. He closed his eyes, ignoring the glances from the crew. “Should’ve been a miner…” he whispered to himself.
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