EVE Fiction

This is my entry for the "A Day in the Life" Category. I've never done any writing before, but thought this would be fun. It is based largely on the story of my first few months in New Eden.





I'm a drifter. I don't like other people's way of doing things and I don't like rules. I am getting antsy. I flick my half-finished cigarette butt on the station floor and lean over a star map. My name is Jalep Malukker. My last name is about the only thing I ever got from my parents and I have always managed to get by just fine on my own, thank you.

“These missions are tiring. Aura is helpful, but she's just not my speed. I'm not making nearly enough ISK and killing rats just isn't for me. I need something else.”

Life in the Pator Tech School can only take you so far. At this point I'm ready to break out of the mold and figure my own way to make a living in New Eden. Trouble is, the learning curve here is steep. Really steep. Newbies like me aren't supposed to be successful. We're supposed to die a lot and pay homage to the Goliaths that have been here for eons before we can hope carve out our own niche. At least, that's what I'd heard. Good thing I don't listen well. I had heard of a place... people seem to mention it a lot when talking about lots of action...

“Jita,” I thought, surveying the map. “Where is this place and what's all the fuss about?”

Only four days old, I hop in my Burst and set a course for the system that seems to be the epicenter of this universe. It's a long journey, through 23 star systems. Jump after jump, I watch the blur of Minmatar, then Gallente, and finally Caldari space race past. More jumps. If nothing else, the trip has been a profoundly beautiful display of nebulae, planets, and stars. Finally, bleary eyed and drained, I come out of warp at the last gate. I jump through with anticipation in my gut.

Planets, moons, a sun – looks just like any other system to me.

“What's the big deal?” I mutter.

Jita IV Moon IV Caldari Navy Assembly Plant was where I was supposed to go, so I point my sturdy, if rusty, Burst towards the station and enter warp. Hopefully things will get interesting near the station. As my ship whirs down out of warp on the back side of the station, I am stunned. In awe. Never have I seen such a display, this is indeed quite unlike anything I'd ever seen. I maneuver around, observing.

“Good God, there must be hundreds of them,” I say, almost involuntarily.

The sheer number of ships, the mass of them, everywhere. Huge, imposing freighters bringing loads of goods to market. Massive battleships lumbering about, patrolling the area. Frigates parrying with each other in duels. Cruisers, battlecruisers, destroyers, mining barges, industrial ships. My eyes dart around, trying to take it all in at once. Not possible.

What happens next will define the arc of my New Eden career in ways I will not understand for months. A frigate explodes a few thousand meters from me. I see its charred yellow wreck, which looks similar to those I'd seen in my military missions. I move closer and take a peek inside. I am surprised to note almost two million ISK of modules sitting in the wreck. More than I'd made in my first four days of running missions.

“Now were talkin'.”

Two million ISK might as well have been enough to buy the entire galaxy to me, compared to what I'd seen thus far. I was salivating at the thought of all that loot. Without a second thought – or a first one, really- I grab the loot and begin to move towards another wreck which had just popped up close by.

“This is great! I am making money had over fist. Why hasn't anyone else thought of this?”

Then, I hear noises. I see flashes of red. There are timers on my HUD. Why is there a yellow skull and crossbones there? My heart starts to pound inside my chest. Before I know whats going on, my ship screams at me as its shields are stripped away, red. I fumble at the controls, desperately trying to do something, anything.

“Warp out! Warp out!” I scream, mashing the controls. My Burst lumbers slowly around, lazily finding its escape vector.”

There are.. rockets, I think, swarming in at me from some unknown origin. Lasers too, maybe. There is so much going on. My palms are sweating. I barely notice something about a 'warp scramble attempt.' In another second or two, my Burst's armor and hull are gone and my trusty ship erupts in to a fiery explosion.

Stunned, I float there in my tiny, vulnerable, egg of a pod, trying to figure out what just happened. Then more noises. More red. Suddenly I am starring at my own charred corpse spinning through space, as my consciousness is returned to another station. I have mail. An insurance payout for my now-destroyed Burst, and a general feeling of helplessness. My hands are still trembling.

“I was so close to bagging that loot. I've got to figure out what went wrong and fix it.”

As my ship exists warp outside of the Caldari Navy Assembly Plant, I smugly stare at the menacing mass of ships which earlier tried to destroy me.

“Go ahead and try to shoot at me now,” I mutter, winking at the CONCORD Police Captain nearby.

I dock up and quickly sell off my loot to the highest bidder, watching with glee as my wallet flashes its new balance: 1,352,543.73 ISK. I feel as if I am the richest person in all of New Eden.

With my loot sold, I get in touch with the local repair shop and ask for a quote to return my faithful ship to its original form. The Caldari repair technicians make a few unwelcome jokes about 'not having enough duct tape' and being 'fresh out of bubble gum' before we ink a deal and they get to work.

While I am waiting for the repairs to finish, I begin to review how I would pull off my next heist. I had bookmarked the Perimeter station where I had stayed waiting my timer out – every villain needs a hideout, and it seems mine would be the Poksu Mineral Group Mineral Reserve.

My ship's repairs are complete, she looks good as new. As I admire her, I realize that “Jalep Malukker's Vigil” does not have the same ring to it that other, more renowned villain's vehicles have. After some consideration, “The Mighty Sling” is born.

I hone my skills further over the next few weeks. Sniffing out duels for juicy loot and nabbing it before anyone can lay a hand on me. Looting wreck after wreck. Barely a month old, I realize I can be effective in New Eden. These behemoths, years older than me, are powerless to stop me as I steal everything in Jita that isn't nailed down.




I want more. I want that high I felt the first time I got away. Where can I find it? Where? After some more research, I have my answer.

“Low sec.” I groan, realizing it will surely mean more death, more pain.

Again I lean over my star map. My fingers glide across its sleek surface, hunting for a new destination. I get my loot from other's destroyed ships. So where is the destruction happening? I query the map for the most ship loses.

Rancer.

I've learned my lesson now, I research before jumping right in. Quickly I learn this is a place of some repute. Pirates of the most ruthless variety live here. Terrorizing anyone who tries to pass through. This month alone they've destroyed nearly a thousand ships. Ruining, no doubt, countless days and leaving a trail of smoking wrecks in their wake. Orphaning untold cargo. Perfect!

The first time I jumped in to Rancer is an experience I will not soon forget. As my grid loaded, I nearly went in to shock at sight of almost two dozen ships flashing yellow and red on my overview. Wrecks? Oh there were wrecks. Everywhere. I watched, cloaked, for a few seconds as these monsters ripped an industrial ship apart. They toyed with it for a bit. Like a cat with a caught mouse. Swatting it about for pleasure, without killing it. Then, when they'd had their fun, they turned it to scrap in a heartbeat. Gulp.

“No way I can scoop any of this loot without being popped, better warp off.”

I thought the action in Jita was fast. I thought I had gotten good at working under pressure. I thought I understood how to get away. I thought my ship was agile enough. I was wrong. The second. The very instant I press warp, I am scrambled, webbed, and taking damage. I blink, and I'm back in a station, reading mail from myself. It was that fast.

“You could have at least bought me dinner first,” I grumble.

These guys are pros. They know exactly what they are doing, and killing newbies like me is what they do for laughs. But there was so much loot on the field. I haven't let New Eden intimidate me yet and I'm not about to start now. Time for more research. What can I do to prevent these guys from catching me? I investigate warp core stabilizers, but quickly dismiss them as pointless against a group that large, that specialized.

After some consideration, I conclude my only option for avoiding the Rancer pirates' wrath – other than simply not going there, which is out of the question - is to never allow them to see me in the first place. I'll cloak.

More reading. I learn the limitations of cloaking, how if anything, even the tiniest object, gets too close to me I'll decloak and be insta-popped again. Intense.

My eyes bulge when I see the cost of a Prototype Cloaking Device. It will triple the cost of my looting Vigil. But I am determined. I want that high again and I want that loot. So I buy one. I train. I fit up my ship and I head back out.

“Get ready, Rancer, because I'm coming back.”

Thanks for reading!

"Carefully, like a surgen. A bomb technician. I get close to the wreck. Not too close, now."
Those were some great lines. Those and a few other details along the way helped make the story really fun and a great read.

Thanks! and congrats to you on such a well written story! Very deserving of the Grand Prize! I appreciate the encouragement to start my own blog, it's something I've considered before - maybe now's the time to look into it.

I admit my style is very down-to-earth. I am the type of person who prefers a somewhat blander aesthetic when it comes to fantasy. It's one of the reasons I enjoy Eve so much, as compared to WoW (All humans, vs mixed races). Anyhow, I appreciate your feedback and will certainly try to improve in the future.