Two years ago while living on the outer edges of the known galaxy I was enrolled within a Corporation called ‘Life-X.’ This corporation was primarily a pirate organisation whose mandate was to grief the local populace and rob unwary travellers of their possessions. We had our own alliance and all of us had good times.
All good things must come to and end and eventually our pickings had become a little thin so a discussion was held as to the alliances future in the area. It was decided that we should re-locate to a new patch where we could re-affirm our authority upon the fresh local populace. The alliance did not own a single POS so they were able to move around New Eden with ease.
After some recon and intelligence missions a new area was decided upon and a major fleet operation was undertaken to move the entire alliance in one convoy. The operation involved more than 80 battleships, all armed to the teeth and ready to obliterate anything which stood in it’s way. Our pilots felt invincible but little did we know that this would be the last time we would feel so superior.
On the appointed day our pilots converged in their respective systems and awaited further orders. During this time waiting for the order to proceed we’d noticed an odd frigate warping in at 100 km from our location then disappearing again. Some of the fleet voiced their concerns that it was an intel vessel…
“Does anyone know of that pilots corporation?”
“What’s he up to?”
“He could be an intel vessel? Should we really be waiting here for so long?”
After a delay the FC finally gave the order to proceed and as we got underway the ‘intel’ frigate was reported to our squad commander whom thought nothing of it.
Soon enough our fleet swelled to almost 80 ships as the alliance converged. It was a well organised convoy, the fleet commander was in control and had us jumping through each gate with perfect synchronisation.
“Jump on contact” came the static voice from the FC. In each system the gates jump drives activated and propelled our atoms into the next system with precision.
“Excuse me sir but we have lost a small group of ships, they’ve managed to drop behind somehow?” Came a concerned voice of a fleet member. It was unclear as to why this had happened but the FC was not interested in waiting.
“I’m sorry but we can’t wait, they’ll have to try to catch us up, jump on contact.”
We soon had reports that the stragglers had been engaged by hostile forces and needed assistance but as we were now deep into null sec it was decided that our primary goal still stood, to get to the new base of operations as quickly as possible. Little did we know that our journey would come to an abrupt end, and very soon.
As the FC gave the orders to jump into each new system, the intel reported no issues ahead until, all of a sudden he became excited by what he saw ahead through the next gate.
“Sir, we have a hostile carrier on the gate, two jumps ahead.”
“Are there any other locals in the area?”
“No sir, just the carrier.”
“Excellent, are you ready for a battle fleet?”
“Yes sir, we were born ready.”
“Okay, jump on contact, squad commanders order your pilots to web and scram the carrier, I do not want him destroyed, we should be able to ransom him.”
“Understood, fleet heading to the gate, jumping on contact.”
The fleet jumped once again and upon materialising in the system scanned for the carrier.
“He’s not here?” said my Squad commander.
“I’ve lost contact with our intel?” said the FC.
The covert ops ship had dropped from the fleet. It was unclear as to what had happened but we could not see the carrier or any other locals in the area except for one pilot.
“Hey, what’s that?” asked one of the pilots. He’d gotten his eyes on something in the distance.
Our camera drones swung round to the area of space he was indicating and focused on a shadow. I’d never seen a ship such as this before but even at a range of 100 km it was huge. It’s surfaces did not show much detail to give away it’s identity.
I zoomed in my lens to try to decipher the image. In a moment I realised with horror at what I was looking at. It was an Erebus class Titan.
No orders were given and the fleet sat motionless, the FC unable to speak. The seconds of silence seemed to last minutes until suddenly they were shattered by a huge flash. In an instant the entire fleet evaporated into dust.“[static]”
The fleet had just been obliterated by a Doomsday.
Moments later I found myself within my POD, bewildered at what had just happened. However there was no time to ponder as a score of hostile interceptors descended on our position and started to attack our defenceless fleet of PODs. It was ugly, pilots were being murdered by the second and the command structure fell apart instantly. Some orders were given to head back to the gate, others were given to flee in any direction.
I quickly picked an astronomical body and initiated my warp drive. As I hurtled toward the planet I could hear the screams of my fellow alliance members as they were hunted down by the fleet of interceptors. Arriving at the planet I selected the gate again and headed back.
My POD decelerated upon the gate and I could see bodies everywhere, floating frozen in the darkness. The fleet of interceptors were picking through the wrecks of our fleet, scooping up flesh as well as parts, I guess to keep as trophies. I jumped my POD on contact with the gate and was flung back toward the previous system.
I materialised on the other side only to find myself within a huge warp disruption sphere. Damn-it I thought. I was locked by several ships, my fragile hull decompressed from a barrage of enemy fire and I felt a flash of pain as my body was flung into space. My eyes froze almost immediately and my last sense was seeing the silhouette of a hundred ships descending on the gate ready to claim their share of the spoils.
What goes around comes around I guess...
