EVE Fiction

Luse, Obray, Verge Vendor - Deadspace
The ship juddered and lurched to the side under the incessant barrage of antimatter charges that were directed at the Atron. Kristof Roxton could feel every hit as he willed the ship forward to the thin long object that hung in the deadspace area. Another hit penetrated the failing shields and Kristof felt three more lives extinguish on board his vessel.

Kristof mentally activated the armour repair module and on the ship’s exterior a dozen holes opened in the hull and from them emerged a swarm of nanites that made the hull look semi-organic as they covered the tungsten armour plating. Kristof needed to reach firing distance of the long thin object, a stasis tower. That had been a surprise on entry to this deadspace area. The tower effectively slowed the Atron to a crawl making it an easier target for the Serpentis Corporation pilots.

A vid-com link opened in Kristof’s HUD displaying the face of Captain Roche who was now sporting a bleeding slashed cut across his cheek. Kristof couldn’t see much of the state of the Atron bridge from this view but he already knew the extent of the damage taken, as a Capsuleer his connection to the ship fed him regular real time damage reports.

“Mr Roxton, that last hit has caused a rupture in one of the coolant tanks and three of my men are trapped down there.”
“I am sorry Captain Roche but the resulting coolant leak from the damage we took was spreading fast and would have killed more crewmen so I locked the area. The three down in engineering are dead.”
There was a visible hesitation on Roche’s face but the man regained his composure.
“The nanites have successfully repaired the tungsten plates, starting manual repairs internally.”
“Very good Captain Roche, maintain an active link with the repair nanites as I have a feeling their services are not yet concluded.”
“Aye sir.

Captain Roche was a good man and Kristof was not unfeeling towards his crew. Though live crew were unnecessary for a Capsuleer Kristof liked the company and the feel of their thoughts as they went about their duties.

Kristof returned his focus on the battle raging around him, the ambush had been unexpected. Wolf had been expecting them and the most obvious betrayer was the Agent who had given him these coordinates. Though that made little sense as Agent Seville Eyron would profit from Wolf’s extinction. A discussion was needed on his return.
Kristof aimed the ship’s weapons at a Corelli Protector that was closing in and within a few seconds it was vaporised. But still the other Serpentis frigates came on, as if their crews had a death wish. He sent out instructions mentally to his crew as well as operating some of the modules himself. He particularly liked this aspect of being a Capsuleer, of becoming one with the ship.

Capsuleers were more than just immortal; they were the apex in symbiosis of man and machine.

Kristof sent another Serpentis crew to the icy blackness of the void, there were only five vessels left and not one of them was Wolf. So far the Wolf clone had been elusive and had not been gloating as he usually did. Obviously this had gotten serious. The clone’s most likely hiding place was aboard the stasis tower, someone had to be operating it.

Kristof sent the Atron into a barrel roll as an enemy frigate closed in for what it thought was the kill. He shifted shield energy to protect the ship from the coming attack and the enemy’s fire was absorbed by the energy field. Four carefully aimed shots at this close range turned the enemy frigate into a cloud of metal shrapnel which bounced harmlessly off the Atron’s tungsten armour.

The stasis tower was getting closer and Kristof made a mental note to get better ranged weapons fitted after this. Another antimatter charge penetrated to the structure of the Atron as Kristof levelled it out. The repair nanites that crawled over the armour were self-replicating which meant there was no shortage of them. Kristof checked his gauge in the centre of his HUD, the Atron’s shields were struggling to regenerate under the assault and armour integrity was down again to 80% despite the best efforts of the repair nanites. There was a bit of structural damage too. A warning message scrolled across the screen informing him that two of the gun placements had run dry of ammo. He sent a message to the nearby crew to reload.

Whilst that was happening Kristof fired the remaining gun placements damaging one of the enemy. Then two warp signatures appeared on his HUD, two more Serpentis frigates had arrived. Was there no end to the reinforcements that Wolf had available? Thankfully they were currently out of optimal range and their shots either missed or splashed harmlessly against the Atron’s hull.

It only took five seconds to reload the empty gun emplacements and Kristof targeted the damaged frigate which exploded in a ball of superheated gasses and twisted metal. A lucky shot by one of the remaining frigates slammed into unprotected hull and the kinetic absorbers were working overtime to prevent the power of the blast knocking the ship off from its trajectory.

The target reticule on the HUD was showing that the stasis tower had come into range.

Kristof directed all the firepower of the Atron at the stasis tower, overriding the two hardpoints that were currently crewed. The crew were used to this so it came as no surprise to them. With a few seconds the tower’s shields were down, once this tower was destroyed the Atron would be able to maneuver at full speed again making it much more difficult for the Serpentis frigates to attack.

The HUD suddenly detected an encrypted comms signal from Wolf’s ship; he was calling for help, most likely for a cruiser to come pick him up. Wolf’s guns were also still working and he had turned his ship and was slowly aligning to a firing position. If Wolf got to the firing position then Kristof would be waking up in the clone lab on the CAS station orbiting Clellinon VI and Wolf would be free to escape and tracking him again would be next to impossible.
Kristof couldn’t let that happen. He sent an apology to the minds of Captain Roche and the few members of the bridge crew who still clung to life. Kristof initiated the Atron’s self-destruct sequence and using the thrusters he moved the ship closer to Wolf’s frigate.

As the countdown sped towards zero and the power core reached critical mass AURA began emergency ejection procedures and Kristof’s pod was propelled into the void away from the Atron. The explosion was spectacular and indicated that it had taken Wolf’s ship with it. The shockwave caught up with Kristof’s pod and thrust him further outwards.

Already Kristof’s brain map had been transmitted to the clone lab at the CAS station and a clone was on standby in case his pod got destroyed. The pod’s sensors were not as sophisticated as an actual ship. He confirmed the destruction of Wolf’s vessel though and there were no pods or containers on the HUD overview. The signal from Wolf’s ship had also ceased, it had been using a Serpentis encryption which confirmed Kristof’s suspicions that he had been calling for help. It was probably a good idea not to be here when the help arrived.

Setting the nav computer’s destination to the Clellinon system Kristof activated the Pod’s warp engine and departed the deadspace zone heading for home. During the warp flight Kristof brought up the other encrypted communication that had transpired during the fight. It was definitely a Gallente encryption and it only took him a few minutes to hack into it. It was a data burst on the combat situation and was sent to the Clellinon Stargate on a secure frequency. Someone back on Clellinon had been updated on the situation in the deadspace zone. Kristof wondered if he was flying back to a trap.