EVE Fiction

Niamh took a moment to think about it, then finally replied: "Well, I know he's been coming here for almost a year drinking himself to numbness every single day..."
"And before that?"
"Hmm, I never met him before to be honest, but from what I've heard, he's been some kind of highly ranked officer pilot working for Caldari Navy. Quite an ace from what I've been told. Then took a job for some questionable individuals and things went wrong. No clue what went wrong there, what I gathered from the news, he basically slaughtered fifty thousand people. Which ended his career and he ended up here."
"The official reports, always cute and tidy." She responded smiling at Niamh.
"So... You know what happened?
"It took me a while to put the pieces together. From what I gathered, these so called individuals were actually high ranked Caldari Navy officers moving part of their capital fleet to Doril system, off the record of course. Jack was contacted to command this fleet, as he was well qualified for the job. It would of course ruin his career if something happened. But as it was a well paid job and Jack wanted slash needed the extra cash, which was no secret to Caldari Navy, he agreed to take it. It was little to no risk job, at least that's what they said. They had last 2 jumps left. The cyno jammer was about to go online. With only few seconds remaining, they jumped in. The plan was easy. Scout the system, lit the cyno, jump in, disable the cyno, cloak, recharge for the last jump. Scout the last system and do the final jump. As there was no reported thread, Jack's call was to proceed. Everything went according to plan. Expect one thing. The cyno jammer never went online. Someone spied on them. The entire route was known to a group of people. They took care of the jammer. Warped a cloaked bombed to the fleets position and lit their own cyno. Small fleet jumped in. But the plan wasn't to take them there, but to force them to jump out to Doril, where the main fleet was waiting. Jack made the expected call to not to fight, light the cyno as there was no real thread based on fraud intel, fleet jumped in and got slaughtered. Caldari Navy distanced themselves from the entire thing and reported it was Jack's own doing. How did he gain access to the fleet is of course a mystery to them.
For your own sake I wouldn't share this information with anyone. It's not... Well it's not safe for you to do so."
"Wow!" Niamh stood there speechless. "I had no idea. Aren't you in danger as well then? For knowing, and for telling me?"
She looked at Niamh. "I couldn't say I care enough, I was... How to put this delicately, terminated before."
Niamh stood there trying to process the new information. She could have sworn she knew Jack well enough. She never liked him, despised him to be exact. Him being actually innocent never crossed her mind.
Niamh looked at the mysterious woman. "Are you a..."
"Yes. Yes I am." She looked up at Niamh. "Not many of us around huh?" Smiling she reached the data pad again.
Niamh was stuck with her thoughts. She knew about capsuleers. The rare breed of humans capable of immortal life due to cloning technology. She knew the basics. At the moment of death, the entire mind is copied to a new clone and they simply wake up in a new body, safe from the danger. As if they never died. It is a very complicated and expensive tech. Only a few can afford it. Yet there one is, right in front of her.
"Does it hurt? I mean when you..."
"Die? It does. Depends on how you die. Sometimes it's quick and merciful. Sometimes you're not so lucky. But it helps knowing the pain is only temporary. You will wake up from that nightmare eventually."
"Does it change you?"
"It surely does. Not being afraid of death certainly is affecting the way you think and act. I've seen humble capsuleer as well as the opposite. Sometimes it's not pretty. Some lose touch with humanity."
Niamh suddenly had questions for hours, but was polite enough to know she should stop asking them.
"Speaking of devil." Niamh sent a nod towards the restroom and went back to minding her own business.
"Bah, you are still here..." Stated Jack the obvious. "I kinda hoped you'd be long gone. Well I'll be leaving now ladies, I surely had enough."
She looked at Niamh. "The drinks are on me. Jack I still have a job to offer. I'm Lee by the way."
Jack bursted out laughing. "So... you're a dude?"
"If you like." Lee smiled. "Think of it as a shortcut."
"Of what? Leeroy?!" Jack couldn't stop laughing.
"If you like, Jack. Either way, go home, get some rest. I will stop by tomorrow. Maybe you will be more willing to listen to my proposal."
"Yeah, whatever." Jack grabbed his jacket. "Maybe the world will end tomorrow... Ladies." With a wave gesture he left the bar.
Niamh looked at Lee. "Do you really think he's up for any job, or able to actually carry one?
Lee took a deep breath. "Well, if he's at least half the pilot he used to be." She paused for a second. "I think he's just perfect for my needs."
"Can't you get someone else to do the job?.
"Probably... But the matter is very risky and dangerous." Lee responded. "I need someone with not much to lose. I know it sounds harsh, but the reward isn't small. It's difficult to find skilled people willing to risk their life."
"Can't you hire a capsuleer?"
"For half a billion ISK, sure." Lee seemed concerned at this point. "Let's just say I need a normal person for this job. Capsuleers tend to ask questions I'm not comfortable answering at this poin."
"Oh dear, half a billion ISK. And I thought fifty thousand is a fortune." Niamh smiled. "We surely live in a different world."
"We share the same universe. Sometimes there's just more to things than we are aware of. If only you knew... Anyway, my business is done here for today. I'll see you tomorrow. Hopefully Jack as well."
"Oh I'm pretty sure he will be here." Niamh almost shouted at Lee leaving the bar.

Jack entered the room, noticing there's no one there, except those two girls at the bar staring at him. He stopped. For some reason he felt nervous. Like a fresh graduate attending his first job interview. He never attended a job interview before. Caldari Navy hired him the same day he graduated. It was no surprise considering his results. "Shape up!" He told himself and headed to the bar. "Ladies."
"Hello Jack, the usual?" Asked him Niamh nicely, hardly trying to hide amusement, slowly reaching for a bottle of whiskey. Jack froze for a moment. He could definitely use something strong to get rid of the nervosity, but at the same time he would like to keep his head clear. At least for a while.
"Nah, I'll have a beer, please."
"Jack being polite. I would have never guessed I'd live long enough to see the day." Niamh giggled.
Lee looked at Jack: "How are you today?"
Jack didn't feel like he had any patience left. He spent his entire day going through different scenarios, considering what kind of job he is actually willing to do. Even though he wasn't willing to admit it at first, at the end he came to a conclusion he's up for pretty much anything. Just to get out of the miserable existence he was living in.
"What's the job?" He asked right away.
"Straight to the business, fair enough." Lee quickly replied. "Let's take a seat over there." She pointed to a distant corner of the bar. She took her tea and headed there.
"I'll bring your beer in a minute." Niamh assured Jack he won't leave empty handed.
"So, the job..." Jack asked nervously. "How illegal is it?" Lee looked at him slowly and he became to worry even more. "Just tell me, let's get it over with."
"Jack, we are not smuggling anything illegal." Lee was looking at him with a serious face for a change. "The first part of the job is simple, if you take the job, we will leave Zoohen in about seven hours. Right after midnight. We will be headed to Geminate region."
"That's a freaking null security space." Jack interrupted her. "We will get blown up to pieces the first null sec system we jump into!"
"Relax Jack," Lee stopped him smiling, "we won't be flying a damn slow battleship. I have two light travel fitted Crow interceptors. You should be familiar with them. It is a Caldari design after all."
Jack took a second for a thought. "Yes, that's perfectly doable. Should be 99% safe. What's the system we are headed?"
Now Lee took a second to respond. "FDZ4-A. Planet VIII Moon - 3 station."
"Wait a second, that station belongs to a Society Of Conscious Thought. What the heck do you have to do with them. They don't talk to anyone." Jack seemed upset.
"Calm down!" Lee tried to calm him down, or at least to force him to lower his voice a little. She was also surprised Jack knows about them. People usually don't. "What do you know about Conscious Thought?"
"Not much." Jack replied quietly, noticing Lee's concern. "No one does. They are pretty much a mystery to anyone. They run a handful of schools. Not sure why really, as it's impossible to get into one. Except for a few lucky bastards. Rumor has it they are somehow connected to Jovians. Yeah, like they even exist." Jack couldn't resist the laughter. "That's pretty much all I know, or anyone else for that matter. So we get there, then what?"
"Then..." Lee paused. "Then there's the difficult part. But I can't tell you more 'till we get there."
"Look, I'm not flying to Geminate just to find out you have some crazy idea in your head I'm not willing to participate in, to be stuck in some null sec station with no way of return."
"Look." Lee looked at Jack somewhat concerned. "Here's the deal. If you decide to come with me to Geminate, the second we undock, fifty thousand of interstellar credits will be transferred to your account. Enough to cover your drinking habit for over a decade. We get to FDZ4-A and I will tell you what the next step is. If you won't like it, you can use the ceptor to get back, keep the ISK and go on with your life. If you, however, decide to continue, I can promise I have way more to offer. What do you say?"
Jack emptied his glass. There was no obvious fraud in what she offered so far. He can check the money transfer during the flight and if that clears, he can use some of the money to get back Zoohen in case he decides to back off and she won't let him use the interceptor to get back.
"Sounds reasonable." Jack nodes.
"Excellent. I'll see you at docking bay. Be there before midnight."

Traveling through high security systems was quick and easy. These usually didn't contain any real danger. At least not to an interceptor. Lee was worried about low sec systems ahead and possible gate camps with battleships and their smart bombs. Ceptor is a fast ship. But multiple smart bomb area effect could vaporise it in a heart beat as there's not much protection from them.
"Evati system ahead, don't jump in, I'll go first and scout it. This is one of the first three low security systems before null sec." Informed Lee Jack.
"Roger that, I'll wait at the gate."
Lee jumped in. Automatic 30 seconds cloaking defense mechanism activated as she appeared on the grid. Ship computer automatically connected to the subspace communication beacon informing her about basic situation in the solar system. There were 2 ships there with her at the gate. A Thrasher, destroyer class ship and a Deimos, tech 2 heavy assault cruiser. Lee informed him about the situation.
"That cruiser is no danger to us. But the dessie could be able to lock one of us." Jack raised his concerns.
"I agree. I'll try to warp off to the next gate. To see if they follow. No other ships on D-scan."
"Roger." Jack replied.
Lee activated autopilot sequence. Her ship decloaked and started moving towards the next gate.
"He's locking me..." The warp window opened and sucked her ship in. "And too slow! Alright I'm clear Jack, your turn. Good luck!"
"Ok, I'm jumping in now." Jack activated the jump sequence and appeared on grid within 20 clicks off them. They obviously didn't follow her. "Let's do this!"
Activating the align/warp sequence, his ship decloaked and began to move. The defense computer system instantly informed him he's being locked by another ship. Half a second later red LOCKED mark appeared on the screen.
"****!"
New defense window alerted him the second ship is trying to lock him as well. At the same time warning with his warp engine being warp disrupted popped up. He saw a flash light from where the Trasher was positioned as the Trasher fired from his artillery cannons. All that happened in the first secon after he decloaked.
"I'm dead!" He thought to himself. He felt an impact as the projectiles penetrated his shield. Another warning on the screen showed up with a critical shield status.
Jack felt helpless. There was absolutely nothing he could do. Another flash light assured him of his fate.
Suddenly the installed warp core stabiliser kicked in, neutralising the warp disruptor effect and his warp window opened.
Jack couldn't move. His heart was pumping adrenaline through his veins at a dangerously high rate. His reflexes were at peak level, yet he was unable to even think.
"Jack? Jack are you alright?! Jack come in!" He heard Lee's voice in the intercom.
"I'm here." He finally responded with a shaking voice.
"What happened there?"
"That damn destroyer was able to lock me in time and sent his greetings to my shields. That damn stab saved my freaking life. Shields at fifteen percent."
"Glad he wasn't in scram range huh?" Lee tried to make a joke. "Deep breath man, this ship is fitted exactly for this. The next system is clear, jump on contact."
"That woman must be crazy." He thought to himself. "50 grand, that's what your life is wort these days. I wonder what she meant by the second part of the job being more dangerous."

The remaining 8 jumps were relatively safe. A few ships showed up on D-scan, but no one tried to follow or attack them. Probably some freelancers minding their own business. The journey only took less than an hour, but Jack felt tired. He wasn't sure whether to blame the late hour or the attack he survived earlier. They docked up and took the lift to apartments at the very top of the station.
"So..." Jack broke the awkward elevator silence. "We are here. What's next?"
"I don't know about you, but I'm tired." Lee replied smiling. "First of all we find ourself a place to stay over night. A good friend of mine is expecting us, she might be able to help with that."
"Sounds like a good plan to me." Jack agreed.
The elevator stopped and with a quiet ring bell the door slid open. As they walked through long wide hallway, Jack noticed a woman standing in front of one of many paintings decorating the walls. This place seemed familiar. After a while he realised the color theme is similar to Niamh's bar. "Interesting coincidence." He thought to himself.
Lee was walking towards the woman and he followed her one step behind. As they were close enough, the woman turned around. She was looking at Jack with curiosity for a while. Long enough that Jack suddenly felt uncomfortable. It felt like she's probing his mind with her look. She finally turned her head to Lee.
"Lee, it's nice to see you again." She said slowly, with a very calm voice. It almost sounded magical to Jack. She seemed to be in her late twenties. The way she moved was very elegant. Jack felt like she's been around for centuries. She appeared very calm, mysteriously calm.
"I see you brought a friend."
"It's nice to see you again Tjor." Lee welcomed her back. "Yes, this is my friend Jack. Jack O'Hara." Lee turned to him. "Jack meet my friend Tjor Rusen."
"Pleasure." Jack responded offering Tjor his hand. Tjor shaked his hand and looked deeply into his eyes.
"I see great sadness in your eyes Jack." She said calmly. "I'm glad your paths crossed. She can heal."
Jack was standing there speechless, having no clue how to respond to that.
"You carry a name of your ancestors." She continued. "Old enough to remember the ancient gate collapse."
He had little to no clue what she meant by that. His name wasn't exactly common in the universe, he gave her credit for that.
"You two must be tired." Tjor changed the topic. "Let me show you to your rooms."
With these words she turned around and they both followed her.

"Yeah we can." Jack responded. "Except we have no freaking idea how many more are coming. Someone screwed up here. What the heck happened to the damn cyno jammer?"
"Fleet command to bravo delta!" Jack shouted to coms. "How's Doril look like?"
"Bravo delta to fleet command. Doril is clear. I repeat, Doril is clear."
"Roger bravo delta, stand by."
He felt another impact.
"Shields down to sixty percent."
"Fleet command to all carriers, we need some love here!" Jack responded instantly. "Triage is red!"
Massive energy spike bursted from surrounding carriers towards Jack's Chimera, remotely sending more juice to his ships shields.
"Shields back to ninety percent. We are holding."
"For now anyway!" Jack responded.
"Bridge to engineering. What's our status?"
"Engineering to bridge, 15 more seconds."
Jack took a moment to think. They can try to defend themselves. Risking more reinforcements, or the can simply jump out. Considering Doril is still green.
"Jack! Jack decide!" Shouted Tom at Jack.
Jack shook his head.
"Fleet command to all ships, preserve your capacitor, do not engage. We are jumping out."
"Fleet command to bravo delta, what's the situation?"
"Bravo delta to fleet command, no change here. Doril still green."
"Alright." Jack nods. "Tom keep an eye on D-scan."
"You got it Jack!"
Jack took a last moment to reconsider, but couldn't find a better solution.
"Fleet command to bravo delta. Light the cyno, we are coming in!"
"Bravo delta to fleet command, cyno's up!"
"Fleet command to all ships, lock on bravo delta coordinates and jump! Go now!"
Jack's fleet left the grid, appearing in Doril system one by one around bravo delta's bright cyno. When Jack's ship landed on grid, Jack's jaw dropped as he looked outside from the massive glass wall of the ships bridge.
10 Archon carriers, 15 Moros dreadnoughts and 10 Bhaalgorns, heavy electronic warfare battleships were all lined up waiting for them. For everyone in Jack's fleet, time froze. No one was able to say anything. The view was too overwhelming, too scary.
"Sir, we are being locked..." With these words, massive energy strings striked from those battleships, hitting every single ship in Jack's fleet, targeting their capacitors, as these Bhaalgorns began to neutralise every single bit of their energy. With their capacitors critically low after the jump, it was only a matter of seconds before they ran dry.
"Hail them, hail them now!" Jack shouted in panic.
Massive flash light caused by firing from cannons of those dreadnoughts blinded them for a brief moment. One of the friendly carriers exploded.
Jack had no orders for his fleet. There was nothing he could do. He never felt this betrayed in his entire life. And he had no clue who to blame. The single look outside broke him. All these people are going to die under his command. He ordered evac, the only thing he could.

Tjor removed her hand from Jack's forehead and he regained consciousness. She stepped back a bit.
"I'm deeply sorry Mr O'Hara, but we needed to know." She said calmly. "Your scars are deep, but you still can heal."
Jack stood there in shock. Looking at Tjor, with dozens of questions. How is this possible? Who the heck is she? How did she do that? Is she Jovian?
"Is revenge what you seek?" She interrupted his thought process.
"I don't even know who to blame." He replied after a while.
"What makes you feel you have to blame someone?" She asked kindly.
He felt no judgement in her question. "Someone is responsible for what happened, someone has to be brought to justice."
"Sometimes there is no justice." Tjor responded. "Though most actions have consequences, sometimes revenge is not the right course of action." She paused for a second. "If that wasn't you in the command seat that day, someone else would take that place. It wouldn't change the situation. Revenge won't change what happened, revenge won't bring those lives back. You should let go and focus on what's ahead. But first, you need to forgive yourself. Free yourself from the past. It's time to start looking forward again."
"Get some rest Mr O'Hara. It appears you might need it." With these words Tjor left the room.

Lee watched her leaving until she disappeared behind the corner. She felt enormous pressure. They chose her and she didn't have a clue why.
"Excuse me." She apologised to those two. "Order your breakfast, I'll be back in a minute."
She walked to the restroom and stopped in front of a mirror covering the whole top half of the wall and looked deeply into her own eyes. "Why you?" She whispered after a minute, then closed her eyes. Visualising the star map with the route she had completely memorised. Jumping from system to system and going through their layouts. She knew the position of every planet, star gate and station in each of these solar systems. The deeper she went on the route in her mind, the more dangerous it seemed. Anything could happen there... Anything. The pressure overwhelmed her for a moment. She couldn't care less about her life, but this time she wouldn't be alone onboard. She opened her eyes and washed her face, then looked back into the mirror, very close this time, eyes focused on her scar. "No more lives..."

Lee left the restroom, just about in time to witness Tiamat shooting a tiny piece of butter with her spoon straight on Jack's nose. Jack not expecting that froze and looked her. A few seconds passed when Tiamat started to laugh.
"You!" Jack shouted and began to tickle her. She screamed and laughed even louder, trying to get out of reach, but Jack holded her tight.
Lee smiled and sat down, enjoying them having fun.
"Heeelp!" Tiamat screamed and finally managed to escape, running from the table. She stopped after a few meters when she was sure Jack is not following, still laughing madly. Reaching to her pocket she took out a white tissue and waved with it.
"I surrender!" Making sure it's safe she carefully came back. "Let me help you with that!" She giggled and used the tissue to clean the butter from Jack's nose.
Lee felt happy watching them, there was something magical and pure between those two.
"There! Now your nose is shining!" Tiamat laughed again. Jack did put on a resigning face, but Lee interrupted them.
"I apologise guys, but I have something to discuss and I'm afraid we are running out of time." She gave them a moment and when she was sure they pay attention she continued.
"Our next stop is Venal region. The entire region belongs to Guristas pirates. Our destination is HD-JVQ system, roughly 25 jumps from here. It is a delivery mission, we will dock up at the outposts orbiting one of the moons."
"Lee?" Jack interrupted. "Are you insane? That's like the very edge of this galaxy, almost as far as you can go!"
"I know..." Lee paused. "It gets worse."
"What do you mean?"
"We can not use the fast interceptors we came here with. We will use tech 3 cruisers instead."
"Now that's a bummer. How many in fleet?" Jack bit his lip.
Lee's face changed from serious to desperate. "It's only three of us, two ships."
"What!?" Jack shouted while he jumped on his feet. "You do realise that's just impossible, it's a suicide!"
"That's not all Jack."
"Oh there's more bad news?" Jack made a surprised sarcastic face.
"Yes." Lee continued. "You'll be with me onboard and..." She paused again. "We will be the only fight capable ship in fleet. Tiamat's ship is only fitted for scouting and command links purposes."
"Ok I'm out of here!" Jack turned around and was about to walk away, but Tiamat grabbed his sleeve. He stopped and looked at her.
"Jack?" Tiamat smiled at him. "Jack you grumpy cat sit down and hear her out." She said jokingly. "It's not that bad I promise!"
Jack stood there, looking at both of them, unsure whether he wants to hear more. So far he didn't like the situation a single bit. There were very little chances they could succeed and he knew it. "If I walk away, what exactly am I going back to..." He thought to himself.
"Alright, what's the plan?" He finally decided to give them a chance and sat back down.
"You owe me!" Tiamat pointed her finger at Lee and smiled.
"I always do my dear!" Lee smiled back.
"Ok, here goes. Tiamat will be our eyes. She will always be ahead scouting the route and providing intel. She's got cloak fitted and should be relatively safe. We will only proceed when it's safe to do so and avoid any dangerous situation if possible. If we still get into trouble, we try to run. Fighting is only the last option. If we do this right, it's doable. Jack you'll be there with me. I need your tactical expertise in case we need it. Tiamat knows what to do. Questions?"
"Yeah..." Jack dived in. Why can't we get more people? Or fly the captors? It would be so much easier, and also faster!"
Lee waited with her answer, she wasn't sure how many informations she can share. "It is a very specific task." She finally answered. "There are some specific rules I have to follow. Such as ship class and offensive capabilities."
"Is this some kind of a trial by Society?" Jack interrupted.
"Yes, yes you could say that."
"And what's in it for me? I'm not flying to the edge of the galaxy for fifty grand. It's nice money, but surely not enough to die for. At least not for me!"
"No Jack." Lee giggled. "I wouldn't expect you to do all this for that kind of money. As I promised earlier, if you join me I have way more to offer."
"I'm listening." Jack replied nervously.
"Alright, here's the deal. We get to HD-JVQ and back to Zoohen. Your job is done and as a reward I will get you brand new, fully fitted Ferox battlecruiser. All yours to keep. You can do freelancing, bounty hunting, whatever you please."
Jack was surprised, speechless.
"On top of that..." She continued. "Fifty million of interstellar credits will be wired directly to your account. That's eighty million worth ship and fittings plus fifty cash. The question is, are you in?"

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I just read it loved it cant wait for more keep up the good work

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