Author |
Topic |
 Vikarion Caldari State Trade Consortium
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Posted - 2008.10.08 03:00:00 - [ 1]
Edited by: Vikarion on 02/11/2008 19:45:47 Edited by: Vikarion on 08/10/2008 03:07:54 The titanic vessel approaches the gate, gleaming golden in the light from the system's primary, like a third sun in a binary system. Cold running lights run along port and starboard sides, simulating the ship's slow forward motion. Deep in the bowels of the fearsome warship, a human brain suspended in a nerveless skull, itself suspended in a wet, sealed grave, carefully nudges the ship into a station just off the mammoth star gate.
Closer to the outer hull, just behind the massive layers of armor clothing the Abaddon, gunnery officers bawl at their crews to ready massive capacitor arrays for action. Huge lens crystals many times larger than a man are moved into position from the cargo bays by conveyors, as the background whining of tesseract capacitors fills the air with a tooth-gritting hum. Sweating ensigns covered in non-conductive suits - scant protection against sizzling voltages humming through cables wider than a man's height - monitored panels of blinking lights as multiple-core processors try to cope with the barely restrained power coursing through the weapons systems.
On the hull, just under the painted skin, nanites flow through microscopic capillaries, hardening into resistant patches as the great warship prepares for battle. Deep in the depths of the engine rooms, antimatter annihilates itself with matter, surging power into full capacitor banks as shielding and force fields strain to contain forces stronger than those found in a star. Here the technicians wear garments lined with lead, supposedly protection against minor reactor leaks, as if such would not lead to a new and sudden star.
Moving closer to the vast structure of the gate, the battleship crouches like a lion at the entrance to a burrow, waiting to pounce. A thrill of nervous excitement runs through the crew, as electric as the sparks arcing off of the capacitor relays of the ship's laser batteries. Nearby, through meters of thick armor-glass, a companion ship can be seen, a Myrmidon-class battlecruiser orbited like some great atomic particle by several drones, its primary method of attack.
"Gate fire detected" echoes through the abbreviated command center of the ship, relaying events already known to the pod pilot to the crew responsible for minutia a podder cannot bothered with. "Target detected."
Deep in the pod, wearing the ship as his own body, the pilot of the Abaddon uses the arrays of radar as easily as his own eyes, searching for telltale signature of the enemy. There! De-cloaking off the starboard side, the enemy ship slips into existence, a giant vessel in its own right, pride of the Minmatar Navy, a Maelstrom-class battleship. Rows of massive artillery pieces line its side, primed and ready, as powerful shield generators pulse insistently across the length of the ship, a blue halo rimming the extremities of its thermal dispersion panels.
The benefit of pod piloting is immediately apparent to anyone who has seen a podder ship in action. Motions of command are fluid, actions instant, as long as the pod pilot is decisive. As he is here. Deep in the engine room, the temperature spikes as drives flare, engineers frantically moderating plasma and radiation levels to drive incomprehensible mass towards the enemy ship. The chief engineer, Ian Malizek, feels a surge of pride as he watches his crew master problems and difficulties that arise with ease. They are Caldari by birth, originally trained in the operation of Caldari ships, sleek beasts that slide through space like birds of prey. The Abaddon is an Amarr beast, a monstrosity, but the crew has mastered its handling almost instinctually. The engineering systems are refreshing - multiple redundancies and fail-safes built in as a matter of course, the only downside being the necessity for more personnel. |
 Vikarion Caldari State Trade Consortium
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Posted - 2008.10.08 03:00:00 - [ 2]
Aboard the Maelstrom, giant cannons align. Gunnery officers carefully survey their target, the golden hull of the Abaddon, as Ladar sensors return target the new threat. Shield hardeners activate, modulating frequencies to compensate for whatever the Abaddon may be bringing to bear, as sweating ratings guide giant shells into the breeches of the main guns.
As the Abaddon heels over, the ships computer finally achieves a targeting solution on the Maelstrom, cutting through the intense spoofing and misdirection radiation emitted by all ships. Camera drones, directed by the pod pilot, focus on the Minmatar battleship as the warp disruptor activates with a faint hum. A wash of misleading sensor information suddenly disrupts the computations of the warp the ship is attempting to undertake, rendering accurate null-bubble formation impossible. The battleship is trapped.
Brilliant lances of light spike from the Abaddon, stabbing into the Matari ship of the line. They dance along the shields, seeking entry yet finding none, but shining the brilliance of a sun through the armored windows. Shields are the main defense of the Matari battleship, energy fields defending the vulnerable armor and structure from the ravening hunger of multi-frequency lasers. And they are not holding.
At shield stabilization station one, Arlia screams as a giant shield capacitor fails, exploding in fragments of molten metal. Jekron Talle, standing nearby, is immolated instantly, and several others are wounded as automated systems switch on to quench the sudden heat. Frantically, Arlia checks her suit for punctures - if the ship dies, the suit and the Redeemer capsules are the only hope of safety against the vacuum of space. Finding none, she breathes a sigh of relief before returning to her station. The med teams and Damage Control will deal with the mess - it is her responsibility to avoid the next overload.
A great roar shakes the very frame of the Maelstrom as all eight cannons finally fire. Aboard the Abaddon, Serli Hesaf watches impassively as one of the huge shells streaks towards his position on the observation bow. The shell, correcting its preprogrammed course with micro-thrusters and internal gravitation systems, impacts scant meters away from his position on the armored prow, a tiny sun on the hull of the warship. The armor, meters thick, holds easily, nanites adjusting the adaptive plating layered between sheets of rolled tungsten to defeat the explosive shells. The shields of the Abaddon are puny, not even the equal of a battle cruiser's, but it has the thickest armor of any non-capital ship in New Eden, capable of defeating almost any assault.
As the Maelstrom desperately tries to rebuild its shields - funneling joules of energy from its capacitors directly into its shield systems - it staggers under another assault by the Abaddon. Shields fall as electromagnetic and thermal energies finally overload the last relay, and the surviving shield monitors, including Arlia Dreso, run for the escape pods as the room turns into an inferno. Scant seconds later, the room is vented to vacuum, extinguishing the fire and the lives of the remaining wounded abandoned by their comrades. Damage control teams, stymied by the lack of specialized equipment, can only weld the bulkhead doors shut and hope that the armor holds.
It cannot. Shrugging off the bombardment by its foe, the Abaddon has approached to close range, the best considering its loadout of multi-frequency lens crystals. White heat washes across armor plating, and deafening cracks echo through the corridors of the stricken Minmatar ship as thermal expansion sends its armor flying off of the ship.
|
 Vikarion Caldari State Trade Consortium
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Posted - 2008.10.08 03:01:00 - [ 3]
Trembling crewmen and women race for the Redeemer capsules as the capsuleer sends the command to abandon ship. Near the capsule monitoring station, Cesiki Estes jumps as the doorway to the capsule interface chamber slams shut, and seconds later, the muffled "crump" of explosive bolts releasing is overcome by the roar of fire as the capsule rockets out of the hull. Fortunately for Cesiki, the chamber has not decompressed yet, and he has plenty of time to make it to an escape capsule.
From the door way of her escape vehicle, Arlia beckons to a crewmate stumbling down maintenance corridor 85-F. Her motion is cut short as the wall glows red for a hundredth of a second before melting away in a blaze of fire. A beam of light consumes the man, his disintegrating body flash burned onto the back of Arlia's retinas as the superheated air throws her back into the pod violently. She is fortunate...the injuries she sustains are temporary, as the safety door shuts before the blast can wreck the inside of the chamber.
Not so for the engine crew. One of the beams lances through the entire engine compartment, super-heating the air before slicing open fission reactor number four, which immediately explodes, killing anyone who survived the blast long before vacuum exposure could effect them. A long stream of fiery debris and molten fissile material jets through the plating separating the reactors from the engine compartment, where it blooms into a fiery nova of destruction.
The ship reels. As the computer detects catastrophic damage, it issues the order to launch the Redeemer pods with whatever crew have made it to them. Thick metal doors slam shut and the pods, far different in nature and purpose from a capsuleer pod, launch from the hull. One crew member, barely making it, loses a leg to the descending gate of his section's pod. He counts himself lucky. His fellow survivors do as well, tying a tourniquet as the pod begins to broadcast its CONCORD rescue ship beacon.
On the Abaddon's gun deck, the crew members cheer as the Maelstrom is wracked by internal explosions. A magazine has been breached by the gluttonous fireball that the engineering and engine sections have become, and massive shells detonate in unison. With a tremendous roar, though it is silenced by the cold vacuum, the Maelstrom disappears in a giant fireball, and the Abaddon crew hear pinging sounds as pieces of the formerly majestic ship bounce off the hull or embed themselves in the armor. Maintenance workers groan as they imagine the work it will take to remove the fragments, but the mood is cheerful - they have survived another battle, and almost as good is the compensation: combat pay is triple the usual!
-Vikarion (c) 2008 All Eve related products, ships, and terminology are copyright of CCP.
I wrote this as a more in-depth view of an engagement I conducted against a battleship of the Pineapple Express corporation in Eve Online. I was the Abaddon pilot. Comments appreciated. |
 Kimochi Rendar Veto. |
Posted - 2008.10.08 14:11:00 - [ 4]
An excellent read, Vikarion!  Loved the descriptions of the crew's actions and how the different ship systems work. Well done! |
 Vikarion Caldari State Trade Consortium
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Posted - 2008.10.08 23:36:00 - [ 5]
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 Garion Avarr Amarr Adhocracy Incorporated
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Posted - 2008.10.09 00:39:00 - [ 6]
THat's . . . well, lovely. |
 Susan Black Damage Unlimited Inc AN EYE F0R AN EYE |
Posted - 2008.10.09 00:59:00 - [ 7]
I will never look at blowing up ships the same way again... |
 Pittsburgh2989 Drusus Tech Enterprises Sylph Alliance |
Posted - 2008.10.09 02:39:00 - [ 8]
Very nice man |
 Sp4rt4nII70 Gnampf Inc.
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Posted - 2008.10.09 14:57:00 - [ 9]
Very well written and good descriptions of the feelings of the crewmembers on the ships :) Hope to see more from you/ |
 Valeronx Celestial Horizon Corp. Fallen Angels Alliance |
Posted - 2008.10.10 07:08:00 - [ 10]
A very interesting read, thanks Vikarion !  . |
 Scandar Ackbar |
Posted - 2008.10.24 00:43:00 - [ 11]
That was very well written and entertaining. Keep it up! |
 Haakelen Gallente The Scope
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Posted - 2008.10.24 05:37:00 - [ 12]
Superb work. Now you just need to write more.  |
 bumbblebee |
Posted - 2008.10.24 06:18:00 - [ 13]
off topic --- but hey in missions why cant we have rare drops in all missions if not a certin perctage of them ??? like some faction loot or t2 items all that is droped is crap mostly asll refinalbe things you might find a mod thats worth a mil or two but hey even most game games in the world online have rare drops why cant we ??? !!!!! make it worth the time to do them you used to have one mission in which oncw in a great while you had a chance at a faction drop which made the mission worth palying even addewd excitement to it a great deal of it you kow will i get one wont i ??? thats what makes a mission !!! |
 Kimochi Rendar Veto. |
Posted - 2008.10.24 09:22:00 - [ 14]
Originally by: bumbblebee off topic --- but hey in missions why cant we have rare drops in all missions if not a certin perctage of them ??? like some faction loot or t2 items all that is droped is crap mostly asll refinalbe things you might find a mod thats worth a mil or two but hey even most game games in the world online have rare drops why cant we ??? !!!!! make it worth the time to do them you used to have one mission in which oncw in a great while you had a chance at a faction drop which made the mission worth palying even addewd excitement to it a great deal of it you kow will i get one wont i ??? thats what makes a mission !!!
Crawl back under your bridge. |
 Tobias Xiaosen Total Xenophobia
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Posted - 2008.10.26 00:55:00 - [ 15]
Good read  |
 Syrian Gothia Caldari The Patriot Society |
Posted - 2008.10.26 19:15:00 - [ 16]
Relly nice read. plz make more ^^ |
 Anton Cyldragen |
Posted - 2008.10.27 03:47:00 - [ 17]
good read, nicely worded but i think you compared explosions/impacts/the baddon to the sun a few to many times, and i lol'd when u said tungsten plates rather than steel only because its what a pvper would say.
good job make more. |
 Vikarion Caldari State Trade Consortium
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Posted - 2008.10.27 06:25:00 - [ 18]
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 Anton Cyldragen |
Posted - 2008.10.27 21:10:00 - [ 19]
nobody uses steel in pvp but steel i think is the proper role playing term. |
 Aritico Kazo |
Posted - 2008.10.28 02:37:00 - [ 20]
that... is amazing.. no joke that was excellent |
 Kimochi Rendar Veto. |
Posted - 2008.10.28 14:41:00 - [ 21]
Originally by: Anton Cyldragen nobody uses steel in pvp but steel i think is the proper role playing term.
Erm.. Nope. If I was describing my ship's armour plating from a RP perspective, i'd call it Rolled Tungsten. Simply because it *is* Rolled Tungsten... |
 Leana Darkrider Minmatar Creatio -ex- nihilo The Donkey Rollers |
Posted - 2008.10.31 07:15:00 - [ 22]
very nice story there Vikarion.
If you have more work, pls post them.
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 Vikarion Caldari State Trade Consortium
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Posted - 2008.11.02 19:45:00 - [ 23]
Working on a new one now. From now on, all of my stories will end with [VIK] in their titles, just so I/you can keep tabs on them more easily. |
 Ciarente Re-Awakened Technologies Inc
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Posted - 2008.12.20 08:15:00 - [ 24]
Very nice read - adding a deeper perspective to the EVE experience. |
 Grek Forto Crosshair Corp
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Posted - 2008.12.20 14:50:00 - [ 25]
I enjoyed reading it!  |
 holocaust187 |
Posted - 2008.12.21 18:23:00 - [ 26]
nice story i enjoyed reading it |
 Verone Gallente Veto Corp |
Posted - 2008.12.21 20:37:00 - [ 27]
I quite enjoyed that, good sir.  |
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