Following the Crews: Aftermath

Rozalin Fuma and her gunnery crew survived the first weekend of the Alliance Tournament. She was not so lucky in the second weekend. On the first day of the second weekend of tournament matches, the ship that Rozalin manned went down near the beginning of the match, ending in the death of five hundred crewmen, including Rozalin.

The call to evacuate the ship went out as soon as it began taking damage to its structural integrity. As Rozalin directed her crew to the escape pods and survival suits, an explosion destroyed the turret hard point they were manning. Rozalin was not killed in the explosion, though she was seriously injured and her survival suit breached.

As her ship was one of the first to be destroyed in the match, salvage crews were unable to reach the wreckage for over ten minutes. Rozalin died from asphyxiation consistent with prolonged exposure to vacuum. Three of her ten-man crew also perished in the explosion. The other six gunnery members survived with minor injures.

As a tube child with no family, Rozalin's body will be converted to industrial biomass in accordance with Caldari regulations.

Axel Adell, however, survived the entire tournament, though not without injuries of his own. "I slipped and fell," he muttered as he held his arm in a sling. "I wasn't ready for a missile explosion hitting us and I fell. I broke my arm. It's frankly unacceptable, I could have severely jeopardized the rest of the crew with my carelessness."

Despite this, Axel, as a survivor who made it through the entire tournament, is entitled to a victory purse of 250,000 ISK. Enough to comfortably retire on. "It's more money than anyone in my family has ever had," he said. "I've got a lot of family back home. I can put my parents up in a nice house, send some nephews and nieces to college."

When asked if he'll retire and settle down on his own, he only smiles. "I'll never say never. But I came out of retirement once because I couldn't stand it. I don't know if I'd go back."

For some crew members, this was the last act of glory before retiring. But for many of them, who seek the thrill above and beyond the ISK, they'll be out there in ships tomorrow, putting their lives on the line for little fame, less ISK, and even less chance of survival.