William Faulknerd
University of Caille
Gallente Federation
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Posted - 2012.10.13 19:28:00 -
[1] - Quote
Well, we ain't dead, thought Jax as he looked out the viewport of the Hurricane-class battlecruiser Venture.
Not that looking did him much good. The distortions crawling over the outer tritanium surface of the transparent port obscured the view. And those told him the ship was good and webbed. His ears told him still more: no high whine of the MicroWarpdrive meant it must still be scrammed, too. But no tick-tick-tick of the autocannons. No gut-rumbling churning from the neutralizers, nor hum of the thrusters neither. All stop, no fight. Yet here they were.
GÇ£We're dead,GÇ¥ said Carlisle, who, with Jax, comprised the entirety of the Venture's Ninth Maintenance Division, Non-Essential Systems, Delta Shift. Just two of some hundreds of souls aboard. Truth be told, the unseen, nigh immortal pilot whom they all called the Boss did all the heavy lifting via neural interfaces wired to and through his capsule amidships. Guns, jumps, drones and all else controlled by thought. Jax, Carlisle and the rest just kept the bugs out of the system, really. Or maybe, to the Boss's thinking, they were the bugs. Such philosophy was above Jax, and no one really knew the mind of the Boss -- not even Miss Brinkley, the XO.
GÇ£We ain't dead, else we wouldn't be having this here conversation,GÇ¥ Jax replied with a matter-of-fact confidence reserved for the truly inept. GÇ£They's in parlay is all.GÇ¥
Carlisle spit.
GÇ£That's fer yer parlay. We're dead.GÇ¥
Nothin' and less, that's what you know, thought Jax, who figured it better left unsaid. Carlisle was thick, never burdened with an overabundance of schoolin' as it were, but he could run a mean streak like few others.
Of course Jax had heard veteran spacers of mining, salv and even combat ops tell of how this kinda thing would go down long before he signed on with Venture for Class-2 wormhole living eight months back. A Boss might sometimes burn just to burn, they'd said, but all a Boss really cared about was ISK. And ships were just ISK made solid to their lot. That Boss over yonder and all his buddies with their webs and scrams would demand some ransom, sure, but Jax knew his Boss would pay up. More's the profit both ways, Jax reckoned. Not that his reckoning much mattered on issues financial. Or any issues otherwise, to be sure.
Still, he'd heard no comms from Lonnie, Sher or Cabot, nor any of the boys down in the galley. They always seemed more in the know than anyone, even the bridge crews or the XO her own self. Come to it, there'd been no comms from anyone since the hubbub died down.
It'd been maybe two minutes since the battle proper, such as it was. The Venture had landed on an inbound hole from another worm system with an allied battlecruiser, a Drake, in fleet. They'd been a mite surprised to see two ornery hostiles uncloak and two more come through in tow. All fancy strategic cruisers, wouldn't you know. And most like crewed by eunuchs, Jax mused, not without some bitterness.
The Drake had turned tail, no doubt back to the safety of the tower force field in system. Jax didn't hold that against him. It weren't death that one was scared of, nor loss of his crew neither, he thought. Just like his own Boss, all the one in the Drake cared for was ISK. Jax had no idea what a Drake must cost, but he imagined it'd be enough to feed the entire population of the stormy moon he'd once called home. Heck, maybe even buy the whole darn soggy thing in the deal.
With the Venture bumped and locked, no retreat possible, some token shots had to be fired. But even the likes of Jax knew how this was going to go well before the guns got hot. GÇ£Sure as showers.GÇ¥ That's what they'd say back home, he suddenly remembered. Sure as showers, they'd all bought a one way ticket to The Endless Void, and on a Hurricane to boot. That's barring the Boss, of course, who'd just wake up in some clone vat somewhere, spry as a morning mist maid.
Except it didn't go down that way. It all stopped. And here they were, so far from that simple, stupid and stormy moon Jax hadn't thought about in years. Just how many, he couldn't say.
A jarring thump pulled Jax out of his reflection. It was a familiar jolt, but entirely out of context, so it took all of two seconds for him to realize the Boss had split his pod from the Hurricane, just as he so often did swapping ships back at the tower. Looking out the viewport and through the distortion, Jax just barely caught a glimpse of the tiny capsule as it entered warp in the direction of that tower, the same as the Drake had done.
GÇ£Huh,GÇ¥ he said, making it a statement.
GÇ£He... a'jected?GÇ¥ said Carlisle, much more question-like, having no idea his perplexity was mirrored throughout the ship GÇô and on hostile comm channels too.
Suckers didn't see that comin', Jax thought in triumph, now resolved the Boss must be going for bigger guns or some such.
Minutes passed. Still staring out the viewport, Jax saw the webbing fade as the enormous wormhole flashed. Seconds later, another tiny pod emerged and, after a moment's pause, began heading toward them.
GÇ£Zis wessel 'as been surrendert und vill be commundeert,GÇ¥ came a crackling voice over shipwide comms as a new Boss hooked into the Venture, bold as you please. GÇ£Remain aut jor stahshunz.GÇ¥
GÇ£Well, jump me in Jita with a hold fulla PLEX!GÇ¥ cursed Carlisle, as though he knew what it meant. GÇ£Seems we're in fer a change a' scenery.GÇ¥
GÇ£Nah,GÇ¥ said Jax as he gazed at the pulsing maw the ship's sensors had reported led deeper into unknown space, seeing a blackness there darker than any storm. GÇ£We're dead.GÇ¥ |