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LaidyBlack
Minmatar
Republic Military School
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Posted - 2008.08.09 16:11:00 -
[1]
Part 1 : Adamintine
They were in her private viewing theatre.
She was leaning hard against the massive viewing screen, her hands flat against its cool surface, staring out into the arena of the conflict. The forcefield that surrounded the Gallente control tower shimmered. Within the field a portion of the Allied Fleet bobbed gently, graviton engines pulsing. Outside of the field hostile forces had gathered for this final assault on the sovereignty of the star system.
The skirts of her blue velvet gown pooled around her feet on the black and white stone floor. Her dark hair had loosened, strands falling about her shoulders.
He felt sorry for her. She was clearly in a battle of wills. Her opponent...herself. The Self, he knew, was the worst foe of all.
She turned her head and looked at him, her eyes were luminous with tears. She had sucked in her bottom lip. She seemed like a child, standing there, defiant and vulnerable all at once. She was set like a jewel in this luxurious room with itÆs finely carved walls of woods from distant worlds, the silken hangings, the precious rare books she loved stacked on small tables.
He stared calmly back at her, though he knew her eagle heart was in the process of breaking.
"You cannot. " He stated.
"I won't." She answered. They both knew she was lying and she was going to do it.
"Milady."
Her back straightened. She turned abruptly away from the screen. She smiled thinly at him. Her stubborn chin lifted, he saw one of her hands curl into a fist.
"Father Dibbles."
He sighed and gestured to the chair across the table from him. Obedient in this, at least, she returned to pick up her wine glass. She was too restless to sit, too exhausted to pace. She lifted the glass, inhaled the rich aroma of its contents, set it back down.
"I don't know what to do."
He raised his eyebrows. She glowered.
"I know what I want. I always know what I want."
He smiled. "I believe you."
"I'm tired." She sounded petulent now. "I want out of here." She finally sat back down in her chair. He was still watching her. He was a patient man, a study in economy of movement. He had found out years before that often all you had to do was wait. All you had to do was listen. Be still.
She sighed. "I want this."
"Waste of time. You know that. "
"Yes. It doesn't matter. In the end I probably won't get it anyway. I have so little real control over anything."
He didnÆt answer. He believed she was wrong. There was choice, in the end there was control over something.
She stood back up, unable to rest. He sensed energy building in her.
"It's still no good milady, wanting this. You know why."
She whipped around, furious at her advisor. "I know." Her voice snapped, low and frustrated. She was tired of being told what was right, what was best for everyone else, she didnæt want to hear ethics, she didnæt want to worry about other's pain. She damned well didnÆt want to hear about galatic politics and her position in them. She was angry at the self denial, the results it brought always left her hands empty, endless distances between her and what she wanted.
She was silhouetted against the view screen. He saw a sudden bloom of red and burning white as the hostile fleet warped in and the heavens lit up behind her, black and purple lightning crackling around the control tower as the assault began. The reflected colors flashed, illuminating the sharp planes of her cheekbones, the soft line of her mouth. He saw her lips curve into the sweetest smile he had ever seen.
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LaidyBlack
Minmatar
Republic Military School
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Posted - 2008.08.09 16:12:00 -
[2]
As the carrier suddenly swayed from the shock wave generated within the tower forcefield, he heard her say, "Dibbles." Then she was gone, launching herself like a bird of prey out of the viewing theatre. And so in moments of crisis are sudden choices made. He didn't bother to try and follow, there would be no stopping her now. Philosophical, he dumped the remaining wine from the carafe into his glass and sat back to enjoy it while the ship shook, setting off the warning lights.
The cool precise voice of the ship's main life support system was advising of vessel alignment in preparation of evacuation of the failing control tower. All passengers were to stow themselves safely in their cabins. Ignoring the admonitions, he took himself and his glass over to the viewing screen and waited. Fifteen minutes later her interceptor shot past like a falling star. She wildly circled the interior of the forcefield, then blew out of it, hostile turrets tracking her uselessly as she went into warp. As he watched, one craft detached itself from the main hostile fleet and followed.
Oh, the danger was great here. But not in the ways one would normally expect.
He sighed and sat back down to wait.
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Victoria Ehr
State Protectorate
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Posted - 2008.08.10 04:06:00 -
[3]
You are an outstanding writer LaidyBlack, I hope you continue with this story.
That is quite a viewing screen, and quite the emotion that lady has.
--------------------------------------------
The path to power is up!
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LaidyBlack
Minmatar
Republic Military School
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Posted - 2008.08.13 17:27:00 -
[4]
Thanx :)
I expect to post another part in 3-4 days. Perhaps sooner, if I have time to write.
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LaidyBlack
Minmatar
Republic Military School
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Posted - 2008.08.22 16:51:00 -
[5]
Edited by: LaidyBlack on 22/08/2008 16:51:35
Part II
It was always KonstantineÆs intention to be a careful man.
Unfortunately this interfered with how he actually lived his life.
He found himself susceptible to taking risks. Experience had taught him that risk came in a variety of forms, some more interesting than others. Risk stole all of oneÆs attention. It heightened the stakes and sang in the blood. In the form of Eden Hart, it also demanded and intriegued.
He knew her location before he arrived in the HED-GP system. The fact of her presence had already been commented upon by the members of his corporation. Her alliance had fielded queries about her from the public, the newsfeeds perpetually featured her, and it seemed that everywhere he looked, he could find reels of her playing over and over again: The Queen of Harts caught and sold by the paparazzi of a universe hungry to put a softer face on a conflict that was razing worlds, shattering moons, and dividing political entities to the point that all out war was about to tear apart entire factions.
He was confounded by what had happened. He resented the intrusion, the unexpected twist of events. Once it had all seemed very simple.
And now. Complications. Konstantine tried to push them to the back of his mind as he sat at the hostile POS with his fleet and watched the conflagration of the last control tower that stood between the Coalition and their domination of this bottleneck system into unsecured space. As the shields of the tower began to fail, he observed the remainder of the opposing fleet behind the POS force field.
So close.
Shields were now gone on the tower.
A few large warp disrupt bubbles had been placed around the tower. He could see it was a half hearted effort. Public opinion did have an effect and Command within the Coalition really did not want to have to deal with the consequences of Eden Hart if they actually captured her in battle. It was preferable to persuade her to join a Coalition alliance. Not all battles were fought on the field. They were also won in corporate boardrooms, victory bought with high salaries, prestige and exotic bonuses. So far, the lady had shown high resists to such offers.
He scanned the ships within the force field. They were aligning. Orders were given to prepare for tackler warp to possible cynosural fields that would be popping up to jump out the enemy capitols.
Armor had gone on the tower, structure was beginning to bleed.
At eighty percent structure gone, the Coalition Fleet poised itself. At ninety five percent structure gone, an interceptor launched itself from one of the hostile carriers. Eden Hart. There were exclamations on comms. A suddenly flurry of activity as her ship tore around the interior of the force field. Dozens of targeting systems began to attempt to stupidly target her, attention detoured from the tower crackling under the assault of dreads. There were shouts of laughter on comms.
Konstantine could feel his heart speeding up, the nerves singing up his arms as nearly all of his focus centered on her. When the tower was at ninety nine percent structure she whipped out of the tower force field and Konstantine forgot to be careful. He forgot every reason for anything except for one thing and sent his ship hurtling towards the gate she had warped to.
Behind them as the tower exploded sending out shockwaves, the capital ships in the dissipating force field warped to the sudden bloom of cynosural fields. The Coalition Fleet, distracted by EdenÆs exit , attempted to swiftly orient itself. Konstantine could hear a roar followed by curses on Command, as one fleet commander, notorious for his furies, lit into the Coalition for their stupidity.
His own CEO addressed him directly: I hope you know what you are doing.
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LaidyBlack
Minmatar
Republic Military School
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Posted - 2008.08.24 02:56:00 -
[6]
DOMINATION
2 years ago:
This is how it begins.
0.0
She slams the shuttle through the next gate. HED-GP. They said that this stargate would be the worst. This system the most likely to be camped. The most likely to die in.
She lands on the other side. Five in local. Small gatecamp. Apocalypse, diemos, eris, and *lol* a caracal. Where was the fifth.
Twelve seconds of auto cloak.
ôLouderö she whispers and the ship raises the volume on the music already crashing through the interior of the ship. A riff tears through her brain and she directs the shuttle towards a planet. As her ship materializes and whips around, the eris drops a warp disruption probe. The shuttle rockets forward then hits the edge of the disrupt field, a light missile from the caracal slaps into it taking out half the shields. The shuttle skews as a cacophony of sound screams along her neural pathways.
ôGo go go goàö She snarls at the shuttle as it gathers itself and hurls into warp. As it flies, she makes bookmarks in space. One two three four. Shuttle lands at the next gate. The fifth in local sits there in a crow. Heart pounding, no time no time. Move. Gate activation, jumps through and no one on the inner gate. She hurtles onward. Next gate. Next system. The music shifts into a deep thrum, she feels it in her chest, beating, radiating outward to her spine and down her arms.
Ten more jumps, ten more systems and she finds the momentum that drove her this far fading away. The shuttleÆs sound system responds to her mood, stringed instruments winding into a spirel downward. She creeps the ship away into empty space and the lights lower. She needs time, she needs to think.
Ship hangs like an ornament between adamantine stars, hard bright cold points. Unbreakable. Except, she thinks, eventually everything wears down, slows down, falls aparts, centers cannot hold. Cracks breaks falls apart.
She thinks about control. SheÆs lost control. She thinks about how it is to try and hold on. To grip so tightly to the life one has that the life one could have chokes and dies in front of her. To fear, to be afraid to move in any direction. What if? What if the wrong step, what if someone is unhappy, what if they suffer. What if : falls apart, cracks, breaks?
Guilt. The Great Paralyzer. Fear and pain The Great Motivator.
Lost heart. Lost in space. Afraid to move. Afraid to sit still for long. She wants to run, shy, hide away never let anyone find again.
She waits. She sits. She looks at all the pretty stars. She feels the sinking in her solar plexus, the despair. She hates guilt, she despises weakness, she feels like her hands cannot hold on anymore. She takes it all and creates a box in her mind, folds it up, places carefully, stacks neatly. She sorts, she calms. The ship hums as it surges back up to full power, the shuttles trembles with her body as mind merges back into brain. Vibration basses the shuttle towards the next stargate and she pretends not to have falls apart cracks breaks.
She is adamantine and glitters onward.
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