| Author |
Topic |
Neb Daeman |
Posted - 2009.07.07 17:50:00 - [ 1]
Neb Daeman tried not to fidget as the recruitment officer in half moon oculars continued to scrutinize the data scrolling over the screen in front of him. This was no easy task, there was ore dust tickling the back of his neck and shoulders that was driving him mad with its itch.
Neb was unprepared. It was only by chance that he happened to be dropping off a delivery and seen the station recruitment offices with a notion to maybe pick up a form, have a read through the recruitment promotional material, maybe a copy of the holovid recording with the Ivy Sorority Girls in it. The last thing he'd expected when he trudged in, tired and grimy, was the bubbly girl with high heels and shocking red hair who started talking to him. Yes, he'd told her, he'd been thinking of joining for some time but just didn't know that much about what... yes, I suppose talking to someone about it would be a good idea but... the next thing he knew he was here, sat down and handed a keypad and asked for his ship and employment log password. No sooner had the girl smiled and told him she'd be right back than the man in the half moon oculars come in and sat on the other side of the suddenly very large and foreboding desk. He thanked Neb for coming today for an interview.
A WHAT?? It was like waking up at the controls with the proximity claxton ringing in your ears. There was something about the man that reminded Neb of the Monitor at his junior school. Something frighteningly stern and efficient. There were questions about his past, employment. As the man behind the desk looked through the ship logs he alighted upon a few of the not so glorious episodes and quizzed Neb in what seemed like incredible detail on what happened, who he spoke to, where exactly that delivery was made. The officer made copious notes on these.
Finally the man with half moon oculars looked up from the screen and stared directly at Neb, steepling his fingers and leaning back in the chair. Neb gulped. This is it he thought, wishing he'd thought to change, or at least wash before subjecting himself to such scrutiny. Not much of a first impression he supposed.
"You are aware that we are currently engaged in hostilities?"
"Yes, I saw that on the newscasts"
"Indeed. We are not an aggressive organisation by nature you understand. But we cannot allow anyone to attack us without responding. It just isn't... practical"
"Well yeah, I mean, you can't let people push you about eh? If people think you're a pushover before you know it everyone will be having a go at you"
"Quite. And you realise that it will not be possible for you to remain neutral. Even should you not wish to fight there will be those who will seek to destroy your ship. Normal interstellar travel will not be safe."
"Ah, thats okay I guess, I'm not exactly going to retire on these dirt hauling jobs anyway"
"As long as you understand the situation. Please place your palm on this pad" He passed the terminal over and Neb wiped his hand on the leg of his jumpsuit to clean the worst of the dust off it, with little appreciable effect. When he pressed down his hand and removed it the outline was clearly visible, in dirt. The man in the half moon oculars scowled at the pad but said nothing more and put it away.
"Your application has been processed sucessfully." He said levelly
"Does that mean I just wait for..."
"Good day" he cut him off curtly. Feeling dismissed Neb got up and went back out into the waiting area. No sooner had he closed the door feeling a little dejected but relieved that he could finally go back to his ship for a shower and some sleep than the bubbly girl bustled over.
"Oh brilliant, well done. You must have impressed him you know. I mean, he almost never takes to people like that." Neb allowed himself to be led by her across the office, dully aware that the front door seemed to be the other direction.
"I'm sorry", he said, furrowing his brow in confusion, "but what are you talking about?" |
Neb Daeman |
Posted - 2009.07.07 17:52:00 - [ 2]
"oh Mr Daeman" she laughed, reaching the double doors she'd been steering him towards and opening them with a flourish
"Welcome to Eve University!"
Neb stood like a slack jawed yokel as he looked out across the vast room that was part common room, part bar. On holoscreens all round the walls there was a picture of him, obviously taken from his interview with the stern recruitment officer, With “Welcome Neb Daeman” scrolling along the bottom. He was pulled along, smiling faces and cheers as people slapped him on the back, grabbed his hand and shook it or wished him well. He felt like he floated over towards the bar where a drink was pressed into his hand and what seemed like the whole room toasted his health.
Well, he thought to himself. This doesn't seem so bad. Not so bad at all.
The next day Neb was feeling delicate, but happy. The night before had been a blast. As he worked on recalibrating the magnetic sensor coils of his trusty old vexor he was content, despite the headache. As he lifted the ceramic pliers he caught sight of the fixed penalty notice he'd pinned up on the bulkhead. Following a particularly strong drink he never did get the name of someone made a friendly jibe at Neb's rather unkempt appearance. It had seemed a jolly good idea to all involved that they go skinny dipping in the water filtration station on the engineering sub floor. The shallow aeration vats were very conducive to relaxation and he'd been getting on very well with a girl called Aludria... or Eladria... something like that anyway, when station security arrived. They, it turned out, were not amused. Still, its not really a proper night out unless it lowers your station security a bit. Maybe it was just as well. If security had come in an hour later who knows what they might have caught Neb and Eladria up to...
A yell brought Neb out of his daydream. He looked out the viewport and waved to one of his new corpmates, Vasim.
“Hey Neb, c'mon, you're going to be late for the briefing”. Neb laughed and packed up his tools. He'd no idea what he'd agreed to go to but lately it seemed that saying “Yes” was working out good for him.
Vasim and Neb arrived at the back of the auditoriam and Vasim elbowed someone to their right and they made room for both of them to sit down. At the front the presentation had aready started but was seemed to be mainly about something that had already happened, some sort of engagement that had happened recently. There were graphs and whatnot but nothing Neb could make head or tail of. Instead he looked round the auditorium at the others present to see if he could spot the girl he met last night. She was nowhere to be seen but Neb was struck by the sheer number of people present. It must be well into the hundreds he mused and the room was packed, with a fair few standing at the back.
The report of the previous engagement, whatever it was, seemed to be finishing. The holo projector wavered and changed to a view of a deep space station.
“What's that?” Neb asked Vasim in a whisper
“The target” he replied. Neb swore he felt his heart stop momentarily. A Station, they were actually contemplating attacking a station. The view changed and a list of defense system schematics were displayed. Neb squinted at the numbers and gulped. The power output of any of those things looked like it could punch a hole in a moon. The view changed again to detils of logistics and Neb openly gaped. It would take him months, perhaps years, to haul that much deut! |
Neb Daeman |
Posted - 2009.07.07 17:53:00 - [ 3]
He shook his head in amazement. Part of him wished he could be there to see such a thing, it sure was going to be impressive to see the big guns of a station like that in action. His entusiasm was temptered however by the next report, intel on expected enemy fleet composition. While Neb was very fond of drone automation ( a little too fond for come of his school friends who thought him a Gallente sympathiser) he was not so fond of actually seeing a group of fighters from the pointy end.
Neb sat back and whistled quietly. Whoever was going to that party better have their affairs in order, he was glad it wasn't him. The guy at the podium was asking for a fleet to form for a recon and sweep mission. Neb, already precariously perched on the end of the bench in the back row, was nearly tumbled to the ground when Vasim stood up smartly. He looked up incredulously as Vasim received his instructions.
“Squad leader Vio, do you have all the pilots you need?”
“Yes sir, we're all set and ready to go” Vasim replied, clapping his hand on Neb Daeman's shoulder.
This time, he was certain his heart stopped.
Neb had to almost run to keep up as Vasim strode along the hanger gantry.
“But I don't do fleet stuff I never have I don't even have a ship for that sort of thing all I have is the old horse and she has salvagers I mean haha what good are salvagers going to be when someone is trying to ventilate you with an artillery cannon and its not like she can jigg out of the way like a rifter or anything and...” Vasim stopped his babbling with a raised hand.
“Look, don't worry about it. Just stick with me, do what I tell you and you'll be fine”. They had stopped and Vasim was looking directly at him with the glimmer of a smile.
“You'll be fine”
“What about.. I mean, my ship is...” Neb stammered
“Your ship is right here”. Vasim took Neb by the shoulders and turned him round. In the docking bay was a Tristan, its paintwork still immaculate and without the tell-tale pockmarks that indicated deep space use. Neb raised a quizzical eyebrow.
“You don't think we'd expect you to pay for your own ticket into the big show did you?” Vasim laughed, handing Neb a datafiche with the deeds and access codes to the shiny new little ship as he walked away
“We leave in an hour”
Neb boarded the ship, savouring that new smell you couldn't fake and never lasted. Say what you like about the Gallente he mused, they knew how to make a comfy chair. He powered up the main core and had a look at what toys he had to play with. Hmm, not much he thought but by the maker he was going to be hard to hit. He looked at the navcon and noticed a few presets. Hmm he thought, this bears a little investigation. Time to see what this little baby could do.
Neb cleared docking control and laid in a course to one of the navcon points his ship had come pre installed. The warp engines sprung to life with smooth precision and he shot off. It wasn't the deep sonorous rumble he was used to from the vexor but was rather a higher more urgent zip that wasn't unpleasant for the difference. As the warp field folded smoothly and he dropped to normal relativistic propulsion Neb Daeman smiled and shook his head. He was rapidly learning that nothing seemed inpossible with this corp. Laid out before him was a view that could've come from one of the episodes of the Caldari War Drama “Forward Fleet Command”. Around a deep space station it was like Jita on Makers Day. If Jita were arranged in Battle ready fleet formations. A blinking light on the vox system alerted Neb to an incoming narrow band transmission. He thumbed the activate node
“Ah, you must be Vasim's new boy. Link in fella, I'm sending you an update on sub channel Gamma. Authenticate and uplink please” a cheery female voice announced. A familiar one at that, could it be? A rapidly strobing light indicated the promised incoming real-time data link request. |
Neb Daeman |
Posted - 2009.07.07 17:54:00 - [ 4]
Neb authorised his con to complete the handshake and reciprocal stream and he was synced with the lead ship, some sort of cruiser, maybe Amarr judging by the encryption cosine. After a brief pause the group was under way.
Neb was part of a group led by Vasim but they were far from the only ones. The considerable fleet was a sight to behold as they flew a sweeping pattern through the local star systems. Initially Neb Daeman concentrated hard, maintaining aspect bearing and relative signal range, poring over his scope and twitching at every probe signal that he located. Every moment he expected the worst. After a while he relaxed, getting the feel for what he was meant to do and keeping his formation tight with the group. His confidence that that fleet was a match for whatever they came across grew, bolstered by the snatched con chatter he was picking up. Like a town in the old wild west of Maker's world, the locals were making themselves scare while the big guns got ready to fight. Having spend more time than he'd liked in blockaded stations over the years it was exhilarating to be on the other side of the glass for a change. He could get used to this.
Despite a few brief sightings the enemy, it seemed, was not keen to engage the fleet. Mind you, Neb Daeman conceded, he wasn't sure he would if he were them either. When the command came to return, refuel and stand down Neb Daeman had very nearly broken in his seat to the way he liked it.
After a good meal and a snooze Neb went back down to the hanger bay. Had he been inclined to notice he might have commented on the number of people milling about. Had he been paying attention he might have remarked on the fact he had to wait for 3 elevators before he could even get to the level his Tristan was parked on. But he didn't. He powered up, yawning, and set the navcon for the rendezvous point as he had earlier. It was only as he cleared the perimeter that he realised his analogy earlier of the size of the fleet was now wholly inadequate. His navcon was almost overloaded with signal. This wasn't a fleet, this was an Armada!
Neb waited for the incoming data transmission and authenticated straight away, skirming in his seat in excitement. He scanned for Vasim's ship signature but didn't find it. He was obviously on some other duty for this trip out. No matter, Neb slotted into formation and made some adjustments to his navcon to stop it being overwhelmed by signal gain. An all stations broadcast from the Fleet Commander wishing them all luck and they were off, moving in waves. Waves! Neb Daeman grinned and fished out the grav harness for his seat to strap himself in. THIS was going to be interesting.
It wasn't long before they dropped in system for the assault on the enemy station. Neb offered a quick prayer to the maker and warped. This time his de-warp was not the smooth effortless one it had been earlier that day. He decellerated and had to immediately bank as hard as he could out of the part of some sort of vicious looking drone. He almost felt sympathy for his central computer as it struggled to process the incoming information from his sensors. Bucking and weaving Neb struggled to make sense of the reading while avoiding collision with ships of every shape size and type from both sides. It was whirling frantic melee, high energy weapons fire blazing across the view screen and flac so thick it looked like a wall in space. Neb frantically adjusted the signal resolution of the con, fine tuning the filters he'd already configured. There! His primary assigned target was already being hit hard, its shields being battered by the combined fire of countless of his fleetmates. As he computed a firing solution and moved in an alarm activated, deafening even over all the com chatter and system alerts.
WARNING ACTIVE TARGET LOCK DETECTED
Dammit, he was almost in range to get a lock on the target. |
Neb Daeman |
Posted - 2009.07.07 17:54:00 - [ 5]
Cursing Neb Daeman disengaged and adjusted course, presenting minimum aspect signature to the incoming targeting beam as he'd been taught so long ago at the academy. He was grateful for the smooth speed with which the warp engines kicked in and he left into the darkness.
No sooner had he reached minimum safe range then he punched a hard recip course back into the navcon, plotting an angle that would drop him in as close to the target on the right bearing to hit it right off. Recalculating on the fly he warped. He dropped right into targeting range and locked. Just as he got a positive acquisition a huge and blinding explosion punched his ship, knocking it starboard like it was made of paper. Too late the proximity alarm warbled, fighting with the structural integrity alarm to be heard. Neb Daeman's heart slammed violently to the right, only the grav harness he'd donned preventing him from snapping his neck. Struggling to get the ship back under control all thoughts of his target were forgotten. His navcon had been damaged in the impact, it wouldn't accept commands and Neb knew that he would be dead in the water if he lost momentum. The proximity alarm sounded again and Neb banked blindly, there might be something in his path but there was definitely something incoming if he didn't move so it was his only chance to...
The noise of battle faded away and was replaced by a warm soft silence and darkness. Without it being something to be concerned or upset about there was something he almost remembered he had to do. What was it, he was sure he had known just a minute ago, something that had seemed important once. Suddenly a feeling like falling from a great height overcame him. He awoke. Naked and shivering in the cold as med techs washed off the remaining amniotic fluid from the tank. He sat bolt upright with a feeling of disorientated panic. The Ship! He ran, wearing only the paper jumpsuit the med techs provided, back to the corporation offices. As he arrived at the comon room fearing the worst he saw it full of activity he initially mistook for panic. Pilots were arriving een as he did, some bloodied, tired and scorched. He grabbed one as they passed
“What happened?”
“What happened? We did it, that's what happened!”
It was true, the screens that yesterday had shown his picture now displayed a slow motion loop of a space station exploding into atoms. They had done it! |
Neb Daeman |
Posted - 2009.07.07 17:56:00 - [ 6]
Phew that took more posts than I'd expected! Comments welcome, I hope you like my first shot at a spot of fan fiction.  |
Dierdra Vaal
Caldari
Eve University
Ivy League |
Posted - 2009.07.08 08:44:00 - [ 7]
Edited by: Dierdra Vaal on 08/07/2009 08:46:40
The above story was based on recent events in an Eve University war :)
I think it is an excellent display of the impressions of a newbie pilot who is thrown into a full-on war - a point of view often forgotten by older pilots. |
Lev Ni'ixu |
Posted - 2009.07.08 14:21:00 - [ 8]
A very enjoyable read. Only critique I have is that it's written as if he's piloting the ship from some sort of command chair, when we're all flying our ships from within pods. Well written though. And almost makes me wish I had joined Eve University in my younger days, especially if there's that many beautiful ladies running about  . |
Dierdra Vaal
Caldari
Eve University
Ivy League |
Posted - 2009.07.08 14:57:00 - [ 9]
 Originally by: Lev Ni'ixu
A very enjoyable read. Only critique I have is that it's written as if he's piloting the ship from some sort of command chair, when we're all flying our ships from within pods.
well clear skies doesnt have pod pilots either :P From what I saw in this forum there's a lot of debate about the actual use/function of the pod :) |
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