EVE Fiction

“I’m reading you, techie -- Uh. Could... Could you speak up? I didn’t get that last part -- *huh*”
Before the young gallente could hear another reply, his personal walkie-talkie was surprisingly snatched from his hand.

“Gimme-that”, he heard the spike lieutenant growled from behind, “Techies: Power - NOW!”

After a short pause, the response of a young female sounded from the speaker. Her voice was quite soft, hinting that the person most likely did not possess much of a self-esteem, “”Th-That last heavy missile fused one of our primary conduits, just in case you haven’t noticed, boss... We were lucky it detonated just off our portside.””
“Are you deaf? I said: Power!”

“”Right, right - We’re almost up and running. Just a few more seconds - Lucky for us that we can recalibrate the power grid easily. *Sigh* What a mess ...””, she explained, “”Got to say... Good thing the coils can’t handle power surges that well. If they could have, they’d blow half of our power grid to shreds. Whatever those pirates are fielding, those missiles are definitely loaded with a new sort of warheads... Something with high yield electromagnetic pulses...””


" EM? With such potentials? Interesting... ", the gallente officer noted.
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever”, the spike lieutenant said and moved back to her throne, “Just get my ship back up ‘n’ runnin’!”

“”All right, all right! Engineering out -- bloody b -- ””, the voice responded and ended the transmission.

“-- I HEARD THAT!”, the young brutor woman growled loudly, but then calmed down, “More importantly now: What about them?!”

All of her arcing interfaces were offline, rendering her practically blind and reliant to such stations that were still active.

Another young man spoke from her right side, “Passive sensory and optics are still working. They’re still there, ma’am, holding their positions. Looks like they’ve been heavily damaged by our last assault”, he carefully explained, “I’m not sure, but it looks like their ship was ruptured by a critical internal explosion. Lots of components have been sprayed out into open space. Right now, that cruiser is adrift -- I doubt this is a ruse, ma’am. Our assault has devastated them.”
“Hmm... The blind fire actually hit something?”, somebody else wondered.
“Come on. They must be baiting us”, the woman’s voice replied from the darkness, “They managed to hurl that missile at us after all. They probably want to make sure that to hit us precisely this time...“”

“If they were that desperate, they’d be hurling more than just one of those... torpedos. Ma’am. I mean, they area of effect was tremendous. They missed us and they even managed to knock out our power grid.”
Another male gallente officer rubbed his head, “This pile of welded, duct-taped piece of crap couldn’t hold together even if --”
The young man felt his comrade suddenly holding his mouth, who hoped that the spike lieutenant overheard that line.

“Not just that”, the first gallente officer added, “They’d be performing further evasive actions, let alone attempting further electronic warfare, but all that seized. Maybe we did --”


“-- Wh-Whoa. Whoa, one moment, please”, another young man noted from the left side of her position, “... Spike Lieutenant. I am picking up a signal. Identified - Sounds like... No doubt, it’s a standardized status code. Verified. Code: SOS - Alpha.”

Other than hisses from the surroundings and the relayed tones sounding from the PA speakers, silence filled the bridge for the moment.

“That... would be... a critical SOS”, the gallente noted, “An utter assurance of distress... as well as an unconditional surrender - by military means that is.”
“This is not an official war, boy.”, a man added.
“I’m surprised they even use the standard code system...”


“Does this all mean that we DID really get them?”, the soft voice of a woman sounded from the helm station situated behind the spike lieutenant’s sophisticated seat.
“Even if this is not war and even if they may be pirates... but...”, the man carefully explained from the same area just besides the young woman, “...but when they transmit such, they truly mean to surrender. Even if they are cutthroats, they have a code of their own. It’s their last way of survival. In this galaxy, the code is respected...”

“Honor codes can be broken anytime”, the young man from the communication station replied, “While I understand their situation, they simply cannot be trusted. These pirates are nothing compared to any delinquents of known history. ”
“Even so. Soldiers, pirates and outlaws want to live on. They know when it’s over - and when it’s time to lay weapons and surrender to whatever foe. There’s a difference between them and true criminals”, the pilot answered back.
“I don’t get it. How can we know the real difference between... A pirate... and a pirate... Good gracious - How can you figure that out?”

After a sequence of static and frequency modulations, the aligned transmission was finally heard albeit full of codec errors and noises. All listened to the voice of a man who sounded injured and exhausted.

Clearly, he was demoralized... Anybody could sense that this was not a ruse.

“”A-Attention matari cruiser: As-yon-diir. This is... *moans* Third-Otan. Cease fire... We... surrender -””

“Honjrerr tej ‘As-hon-drch’, moron”, she mumbled, apparently stating the pronunciation in the matari dialect.
“What the - ? So what now? We’re to arrest them after all?”, a nearby officer asked, but the spike lieutenant urged him to hush.

“”- Over half of my crew is dead, with most of them being hurled out into space as we speak. We are slowly venting atmosphere with no chance sealing the damages... *mmhghh* As-yon-diir - You are the victor and we s-surrender. We show no hostility and understand should... should there be any sense of distrust. But we ensure you of our unconditional capitulation. I implore you of your mercy and the code of the Mhodanur Convention. -””
"Well... Somebody did their homework there...", the matari lieutenant scoffed.

“”- The internal explosion has rendered my cruiser immobile and our hull has been critically ruptured. We have taken the toll for our stubbornness - As-yon-diir, please, we are also surrendering because the rest of the pirate force has finally managed to flee, leaving us behind.
I... I have executed our former leader as he was not reasonable. He was also the one who dispatched the last missile attack! Please, this is the truth. He attempted a second launch of primed missiles despite all of our warnings that our ship was severely damaged... I lost a lot of good people...””

*GOOD?!*


““We have jettisoned our armaments and payload as of the code: We surrender. Please... Extract us. The remaining crew is on its way to the rescue capsules to abandon ship. I will take full responsibility for any acts occurred upon your vessel and your union.””

She looked over to the side, spotting the silhouette of the surveillance officer giving a thumbs-up gesture, signaling that this was true as he spotted the heavy missile bays along with their charges being ejected into the eternity of space. The enemy was not feinting. Of course, insisting a risky docking maneuver upon an instable ship was not quite an easy decision.

The spike lieutenant clutched a small object that was dangling just upon her left breast by a twisted cord, “Ari - No fun’s gonna happen today for you and your guys.”

The gallente officer indirectly understood that the spike lieutenant was not insisting to have her marines ready to slaughter anyone with hostile intentions. Apparently, the lieutenant was confident that no hostilities were going to occur, although the situation did ask for some heightened security. Nonetheless, it was obvious that Arison and her men would be standing by.

Although this cruiser did not have a real brig, there were compartments that were perfect for arrests.



Suddenly, the small bridge experienced a minor jolt along with the sound of power being infused through the veins of powergrid. Within a single moment, various interfaces flickered back into life and the bridge was flooded with a deep red light, signaling that while general power was retained that the ship was still applying backup power generation.

“Thank gods...”, the female pilot noted from behind with relief, “Spike, maneuvering profile is back online: Thrusters, vernier, chargers, afterburners - all green. We’re all mobile again. I can see now that we’re more or less on a parallel course with the drifting vessel.”
“Tactical: Back online. Weapons, countermeasures... all of them”, another officer noted and examined certain details, “Thank goodness. I doubt was I going to be able to hit anything manually without any targeting aids and ... oh... Crippled Guristas cruiser, just roughly 700 meters away.
In that case - I would actually manage to hit it from that distance after all, heh. How about that... I guess we don’t have to worry about shooting now. Looks like my blind fire in our last assault had some merit after all, too. ”
“Gratitude to the sebiestors back there. They know how to patch things up”, the Ojur, the other pilot, added, “At least this is over... I thought we were a goner. A minmatar cruiser without any speed or maneuverability is practically dead - even with all this extreme loads of armor we have.”

He was certain that she also carried a light pistol somewhere.

Despite her appearance, the spike lieutenant was well known throughout the ranks of junior officers - but mostly for very limited successes and awkward outcomes of situations. Eydis’ career before and even since he joined her had a series of bad luck... and she herself was still recovering from it. Her service record was rather mind-bogging, but in terms of reality, neither the Republic nor its troubled navy could be selective with vessel commanders.

The newly established Republic and the joint venture with the nations of the Gallente, the Amarr and the Caldari against the new terrors of NEW EDEN had to man their vessels appropriately. Every nation had their respective problems of mobilizing their navies; Many of these problems are considered unknown to each nation...
But one was obvious for the Minmatar Republic: The lack of experienced blood. The last wars had demanded an uncountable mass of honorable men and women on any side, forcing the Republic specifically in fielding young bloods from various castes as well as modernizing the cultural status quo.
The Gallente Federation had other issues especially with their younger generations, but that was a story to be told another time -as for the Caldari, and the Amarr.

The gallente first officer did not know much about where Eydis originally came from or to which caste or clan she truly was born into - After all, slave children were just a commodity for which the true Amarrian sadist did not care about other than their servitude.


The nickname Spike had more of a meaning than just a mere deviant of the rank Spike Lieutenant. There were key differences between the respective historical and cultural ranks attached to the prefix of Spike, Spear, Lance, Blade and Talon. This combined with heritage, caste and bloodline revealed series of a thriving army consisting of many talents.

The young gallente however had yet to find all the definitions for these specific tribal terms. The minmatari ways eluded it many times.



This confrontation though had a severe meaning. It was a head on battle between two formidable vessels.

Previously, all had begun with a series of assaults upon civilian trade routes and exposed stations with corporations that were too arrogant to invest resources in viable defenses many years ago, which had forced all the nations of NEW EDEN to pledge blood truce with one another.
However, only recently, one of the many raids proved to be a direct and intentional atrocious act resulting in the deaths of thousands. Something has changed in the psyches of the pirate masterminds. Motives were yet to be discovered but so far, all details led to the various pirate cartels that now were the prime targets of the nations.



The Asjhondr continued a steady drift not far from the shattered pirate cruiser Third-Otan.

The fielded vessel of the Minmatar Republic was an outdated variant of the ongoing Stabber-class. Unlike the modern variants of the Stabber, this obsolete variant known as the Backstabber-Class was still applied to naval services, mostly for training procedures and the handling of the complicated helms of minmatari ships. Compared to the modern variants, the Backstabber-class was a lot more resilient, fielded heavy armaments and relied on its high-powered afterburner thrusters. Its armaments were truly of a much heavier caliber compared to its later variant. But ever since the desperate needs for standing navy, the very obsolete Backstabber-class had its retirement cancelled...

Although part of the matari naval forces organization, the Asjhondr was one of many vessels dispatched to the fringes of its nation’s respective territory to support and be supported specific corporations. As of the truce and the Les Coriones Act, the major nations agreed to lay down their hostilities to combine their forces against the pirates. The act also called for private corporations to support the greater good.
Unfortunately, neither all serving forces entirely or truly agreed to this partnership of convenience - nor did this matari cruiser actually receive any sort of reinforcements today - but this was predictable as neither really trusted any side. While the Minmatar of course possessed a formidable relationship with the Gallente Federation, the Gallente forces were simply too widespread and out of reach to arrive on time.

A few seconds went by until the nervous Gallente lowered the pistol whilst activating the safety, “Sorry... but the Spike Lieutenant is out of her mind! They are PEOPLE. We can’t just kill them, we are not the ones to judge them. They are to be trialed as the Federation and the Act demands it! We are within the territory that demands the best of our humanity to be presented--”
“D-Drayson...”, a different officer noted, “We’re not within territorial space of the act - We’ve officially crossed the borderline and entered deadspace where the protocol ends...”, he explained.

This was a fact that did not support Drayson’s standpoint at all... but he knew facts were the point of all this.

The matari lieutenant did not say a word, but her silence spoke. The protocols, the Act, everything did not matter at this moment to her -- even if they were still within its reach. Even if he was the Gallente officer to assure that all was going by the rules... There were simply things that even he could not counter.

He dropped his arms and straightened his stance. His face had formed that of an angry young Gallente who was about to be forced into committing a hideous act, even if these pirates had conducted such much earlier. His hands trembled.

“Dr-Drayson”, the young female gallente helmswoman stammered, “We-We can’t... They’re living people! Acts, rules, hatred -- We can’t be guided by all these rules out here in space! We are people, living people, just as they are!”

“*Exhales* We are in deadspace... That is all, Kelsea... We are not guided by rules out here... and I know why we’ve come this far out”, having no choice, the gallente shook his head, lowered it and spoke at first with a low voice, “I... I hope your consciousness will suffer at least the slightest sorrow for this... Spike. Kelsea... We have no choice... even if we are Gallente - This is not our ship... This... is insanity...”,
he raised his head and took a deep breath before continuing slowly,
“Note that I protest against this with every nerve strain in my body - but I am a Gallente officer willing to maintain the chain of command as I believe in the Act, even if its reach ended almost five AUs away - but this event will not go away unnoticed... I assure you this, Spike. We will be brand-marked...scarred... by this.”

The queen remained silent upon her throne.

Jeris was right about his words long before - and had all right to be concerned... Warrior bloods were to be feared...

“Damn you... Spike... *Sigh* T-Tactical... Gunner, Four-forty-two millimeter turrets - Target: Third-Otan!”

The orders were hesitantly followed. The spike lieutenant’s eyes wandered to the upper left corner, observing how all targeting reticles encroached upon the desired target...

“Spike... Eydis... You cannot be serious about this...”, Ojur the male matari pilot said from behind.

Just before her final order was given, the voice of the Third-Otan commander sounded across the cockpit bridge, “”A-Asyondiir - What are you doing?! We surrender! We surrender!””

Eydis did not respond to his words other than the ultimate order in the matari dialect, “Valhall’...Eldur’ch...”

Drayson had no choice but to fulfill her demand, his final order was hesitant, yet the significant words left his lips in the manner it was to be ordered, “All turrets: F-Fire........... Fire! Fire!...”



Even the vacuum of space could not suffocate the flames of the heavy turrets spewing across the sides of the cruiser. The blazes were so intense that one could recognize the texture of the minmatar cruiser with ease.

The heavy autocannons kept firing, pummeling rounds into the open wounds of the vessel that cried for mercy. Each striking round of Sabot tore through decks, spraying their clouds of death into the interior world.

Little could one imagine what devastation the remaining souls were witnessing within the dying vessel... until one could begin to heed the desperate howls and woes of people sounding through the open radio frequencies - to be ignored and soon to be forgotten...
Layers of hull plating were blown away when secondary explosions occurred over and over again. Fire twisted and twirled to the symphony of death and decay. The phoenixes danced many times until the void embraced them...