EVE Fiction

“Fabled Beauty” - Tom Hawkins

The hopeful soul roamed around the gate, searching for even the slightest shimmer of the fabled beauty. His Cormorant class destroyer drifted through the darkness, occasionally illuminated by the flash of the Iyen-Oursta gate to Perimeter as a fellow capsuleer jumped through.
He scrolled though the checklist he had made and attempted over the last few days; planning out bookmarks, jumping in and out of the gate, warping around the gate from near and far, using all sizes and classes of ships – yet still no sign of the Children.

His latest endeavor was to include a few scientists, and see if they could come up with any solutions as well. He opened up the ship's communications and over the speakers he thought, “Hello Yasen, anything of interest in the last few hours?” His computerized voice echoed dimly around the modified space within the destroyer's cargo hold, and three figures dressed in lab coats glanced up from the charts they were looking over.

“There has been nothing outside of normal parameters, sir.” Yasen Arita was a small, intelligent man and considered himself a good scientist. His team included two other Caldari scientists from Jita, where they had been working on gate harmonics for the incredibly busy trade hub. Up until now, he hadn't done much else with his career besides working on optimizing gate travel within a few systems. Yet later in his life, Yasen would look back on this research mission as the most stupid, risk taking, deadly, and haunting task of his life.

Yasen and his team took the contract with the capsuleer because every person who dealt with stargates had heard of the mysterious Lutins - the Children of Light as they were also known. A strange phenomena that occurred on the Perimeter gate within the Iyen-Oursta system. The opportunity to be the ones to discover what caused the phenomena was the chance of a lifetime. Also, the amount of ISK they were offered if successful could buy themselves a small continent on some paradise world, so that was a plus.

This was the third day running tests and monitoring results around the gate. Yasen had suggested that they bring along different isotopes and other materials that may have some influence on the gate. Crates of ice materials, plutonium, and miscellaneous junk were scattered throughout the rest of the hold, monitoring devices on each one. His team was wary of the radioactive waste, and had placed it as far away as possible, not wishing to be affected.

“Yasen,” the metallic voice came out again, “any other ideas? We're about done with the checklist, and have nothing to show for it. You were the scientist that said you had vast gate experience, and yet, nothing...”

Straightening his lab coat, Yasen gulped inaudibly and looked at his own checklist. “Well, sir, there is something that we can try, but I suggest going to a station to have the procedure done correctly.”

“Oh? What procedure are you thinking of?”

“The theory has been made, that a ship leaking plasma may activate the gate, if we dock with a station to have a vent installed, we can-”

“Ha!”The capsuleer's voice boomed, “ Where is the fun in that? If all we need is a little leaking plasma, we have someone that can give that easily...”

---

> Iyen-Oursta V Asteroid Belt I <

It was his first week out in empire space, and it had been a rough one so far. Flying in his Violator class frigate, Tuvon was facing towards the sun, waiting for their prey. His Serpentis training was almost complete, and now he just had to get a kill in empire space along with two other frigates in order to become a true Serpentis warrior. Not many made it through this final test, but he was determined to do so.

Nido, one of the other Initiates, came up on Tuvon's screen. “Tuvon, we've been dodging the police this whole time, and we still haven't seen a single good target yet! Command told us to bring home a kill, or don't come back, maybe we just shouldn't go back? Maybe we should just start our own little pirate group? Actually get some good ships instead of these stupid Violators...”

Tuvon just smiled, and shut off the feed. No one is going to take us seriously, not like they do the Serpentis. He thought. Nido's face quickly popped back up on the screen, looking annoyed.

“C'mon Tuvon, you know that we could do it!”

“Nido, we barely have two ISK to bounce between our wallets, how do you think we're going to pay for said 'good ships'?

“Well... We sell these Violators, and buy an Atron or something...”

“Heh, these Violators aren't worth anything, they're just a spit-shined version of a Velator. The Poddies get 'em for free whenever they want to. Now, just shut up, and keep your eyes open.”

“Whatever Tuvon, you'll come around to what I'm sayin'.” Nido's face disappeared from the screen once more, only voluntarily this time.

As he sat there in his chair, Tuvon mulled over what Nido had said, it wasn't the first time that it had been mentioned, but the thought of striking it out on their own was not in Tuvon's plans. To be great required great risks, great reward comes from great undertakings. Flying in a tiny frigate in an empire system was a great undertaking, probably a deadly one. He let the thought of death tumble around for a bit, and then let it go. Always a chance of that, but what was the point in worrying right now?

His heart leaped into his throat as a Cormorant class destroyer landed in the middle of the asteroid belt. Okay, huge point in worrying right now...

“Ah, well that was satisfying. Don't you agree Yasen?” The capsuleer sounded gleeful, like a child who had just tied his shoes for the first time. “I love watching the explosions, reminds me of grand old times. It's a thing of beauty, is it not?”

Yasen was standing on shaky legs, looking at the other two scientists, one of whom was starting to flutter their eyelids open. “Well, sir, I couldn't say, I didn't get to see your beautiful explosions, I am very grateful that you put a stop to the altercation however.”

“I'll be sure to send you the holoreel, so that it will be more than just a fable to tell your children. Well, back to the gate, yes?” The Cormorant swung around, aligning to the gate, back to try and find the Children once more.

---

> Two Years Later <

Yasen closed his terminal, the gates between Amarr and Ashab were now working at optimal levels for the traffic that was increasing monthly. The shuttle warped back to the station and was soon docking on the upper levels, away from the capsuleer's area.

He walked tiredly into his quarters, laying down on the couch and turned on the news. Stories of wars in the null regions took up some of the time, followed by too many wanted posters, and stories of capsuleers. There wasn't much on anymore that didn't have to do with them, them and their exploits throughout the systems.

He sat up when a picture and a name came up. The picture contained an all too familiar looking gate with a bright luminescent cloud floating around it. The title of the picture was, “A Fabled Beauty, Real or Not?” The voice talking about the story mentioned things about the picture, that a passing cargo ship had supposedly taken it in the Iyen-Oursta system. The Children of Light, the Lutins so long searched for. Yet another voice began talking, stating that it very well could be a fake, and whatever was being shown, couldn't be what the old stories had said.

Yasen shook his head, he didn't know whether or not to believe if it was real. He just knew what he had done was real, all the experiments they had done, yet try as they might, nothing. After a month, the capsuleer dropped them off at Jita, and Yasen didn't hear from him again. The possibilities, the theories came to his mind at regular intervals, things to try so that the Children would show themselves. And yet... Never again, never would he put himself under the command of a capsuleer.

He pressed a button on the control panel, and switched it over to a holoreel. It was a short one, three brief, brilliant explosions surrounding a smoking Cormorant. It was beautiful, in a way...

---

End.

Fabled Beauty,
By Tom Hawkins,
Dedicated to Mark726 and the Perimeter Gate in the Iyen-Oursta System.